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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35944-8.txt b/35944-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f8d5cae --- /dev/null +++ b/35944-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6404 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 2(of 3), by +Frances Eleanor Trollope + +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: That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 2(of 3) + +Author: Frances Eleanor Trollope + +Release Date: April 24, 2011 [EBook #35944] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE. + + BY FRANCES ELEANOR TROLLOPE + +AUTHOR OF "AUNT MARGARET'S TROUBLE," "A CHARMING FELLOW," "LIKE SHIPS +UPON THE SEA," ETC. + + + _IN THREE VOLUMES._ + VOL. II. + + LONDON: + RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON + + Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. + + 1888. + + (_All rights reserved._) + + + + +THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Four months in their passage leave traces, more or less perceptible, on +us all. On the first evening of May's arrival, her grandmother drew her +to the window, where the rosy light of a fine summer evening shone full +on her face, and scrutinized her long and lovingly. Then she kissed her +grand-daughter's cheek, and tapping her lightly on the forehead, said, +"This is not the big baby I parted from. You're a woman now, my lass. +God bless thee!" May stoutly declared that she was not changed at all; +that she had returned from all the pomps and vanities just the same May +as ever. But on her side she found changes. + +On her first view of it in the glow of a rosy sunset, Jessamine Cottage +had been looking its best. The little parlour was fragrant with flowers, +and May's tiny bedroom was a pleasant nest of white dimity, smelling of +lavender and dried rose-leaves. She thought the house delightful. But a +very brief acquaintance showed it to be badly built and +inconvenient--one of those paltry "bandboxes" of which Mrs. Dobbs had +been wont to speak with contempt. Moreover, there was an indefinable air +of greater poverty than she remembered in Friar's Row; and--last and +worst of all--she thought granny herself looking ill. When she hinted +this privately to Uncle Jo, he scouted the idea. Ill? No, no; Sarah was +never ill. There was nothing amiss with Sarah. But the suggestion made +him look at his old friend with new observation, and he was forced to +acknowledge to himself that she was not quite so active as formerly. But +he still would not admit the idea of illness. "She'll be all right now +she's got you back again, Miranda," said Mr. Weatherhead, incautiously. +"It's the sperrit, you see--the sperrit has been preying on the body. +There's where it is." + +The idea that granny had been fretting at her absence strengthened May +in her resolution not to return to London. If it were absolutely +insisted upon she must, she supposed, keep the compact and pay her visit +to Glengowrie. But after that she would resume her place by her +grandmother's side--the place to which duty and affection equally bound +her. She wrote to her father announcing this intention. And she +suggested that the money spent on her expenses in London would be far +better employed in paying granny handsomely for her board. "I do not +think she is so well off as she used to be," wrote May in simple good +faith. "And I am sure, my dear father, you will feel with me that we are +bound to do anything in the world we can to help her, after all her +goodness to me." + +The subject which mainly occupied Mrs. Dobbs's waking thoughts after +May's arrival was the unknown "gentleman of princely fortune" who might +turn out to be May's fate. But, try as she would, she could find no clue +to May's feeling about this individual, nor could she discover who he +might be. Once she tried a joking question of a general kind about +sweethearts and admirers, but May's response was as far as possible from +the tone of a lovelorn maiden. + +"Oh, for goodness' sake, granny, don't talk of such things. It makes me +_sick_!" was her very unexpected exclamation. And then, with a little +judicious cross-questioning, the story of Theodore Bransby's wooing came +out. + +"Well, well, well, child, you needn't be so fierce! Poor young man! I +can't help feeling sorry for his disappointment," said Mrs. Dobbs. + +"Don't waste your sorrow on him, granny; he ought to have known better." + +"Well, as to that, May----" began her grandmother, with a slow smile +spreading over her face. + +"Now, granny _dear_, only listen! At any rate he might have known better +_when he was told_, mightn't he? But he would not take 'no' for an +answer; and when Uncle Frederick spoke to him the next day, he was quite +rude, and declared--it makes me so hot when I think of it!--declared he +had been encouraged! The idea of his daring to say such a thing! And, +you know all the time I quite thought he was as good as engaged to Conny +Hadlow. Everybody said so in Oldchester." + +"'Everybody' is a person who makes a good many mistakes about his +neighbours' affairs, May. Mrs. Simpson says that young Bransby is not +coming down here this summer." + +"So much the better! However, in any case, he would not honour you with +one of his condescending visits _now_. Do you remember that evening when +he called in Friar's Row? How little we thought----" + +May chatted with as much apparent candour and frankness as ever. But in +all her descriptions of the people whom she met in London there was not +one who seemed to fit Mrs. Dormer-Smith's unknown. + +"Maybe her saying no word is a sign she likes him," reflected Mrs. +Dobbs; "girls will keep a secret of that kind very close. They are shy +of it even in their own thoughts. If I saw him and her together, I could +make a shrewd guess as to how things are." + +But there was no chance of her seeing them together, and the gentleman +of princely fortune remained wrapped in mystery. + +Meanwhile, May went to see her old friends, and was pronounced by most +of them to be quite unspoiled by her London season. But one critical +spirit, at least, there was in Oldchester, who did not look on Miss +Cheffington with unmixed approbation: Mr. Sebastian Bach Simpson +declared that she gave herself airs. + +One of the first visits which May paid was to the old house in College +Quad. The Canon received her with his former paternal benevolence; but, +at first, a slight indefinable chill was perceptible in Mrs. Hadlow's +usually cordial manner. A little maternal jealousy on the subject of +Theodore Bransby rankled in her mind. It was true that Constance did not +seem to care for him; would not probably have accepted him had he asked +her. But, under all the circumstances, Mrs. Hadlow was strongly of +opinion that he ought to have asked her. And then a rumour reached +Oldchester of Theodore's attentions to Miss Cheffington. But there was +no resisting May's warm and single-minded praises of her friend. It +seemed that Conny's prospects had grown unexpectedly brilliant. Mr. Owen +Rivers, who had recently reappeared in Oldchester after his own erratic +fashion, walking in one morning unexpectedly to his aunt's quaint old +sitting-room, pronounced his cousin to have made a great social success. +"You know my opinion of the worth of that game, Aunt Jane," said he. +"But, such as it is, Conny has won it. Old Lord Castlecombe is in love +with her. And--which is far more important--so is Mrs. Griffin. You and +I always knew she was handsome. But there are certain people to whom the +evidence of their senses is as nothing compared with the evidence of +peers, and griffins, and such-like heraldic creatures." + +"My Aunt Pauline is in love with Conny, too," declared May. "I ought to +be jealous; for Aunt Pauline is always quoting Constance Hadlow to me as +an example of everything that is delightful in a girl. But I knew it +before. I didn't wait for the heraldic creatures, did I, Mrs. Hadlow?" + +And so the old affectionate, familiar intercourse was resumed, and May +was welcomed in the old way. The Canon missed his daughter, and had not +consented easily to her prolonged absence. He liked to see young faces +around him; and May's face was particularly pleasant to him. At first +May had refused to leave her grandmother. But Mrs. Dobbs urged her to +spend some hours every day with the Hadlows. "I have my own occupations +in the daytime," she said; "and when you come home of an evening, and +tell me all your sayings and doings, I can enjoy it comfortably. I don't +want you hanging about this poky little place all day, my lass." + +The girl was the more easily persuaded to do as her grandmother wished +in this matter from her own secret resolve to fix herself in Oldchester. +She did not grudge the hours given to her friends. There would be plenty +more time to be spent with granny. So she thought; reckoning on the +morrow with the assurance of youth. Day after day she sat during the hot +afternoon hours under the black shadow of the old yew tree in the +Canon's garden; sometimes volunteering to do some task of needlework for +Mrs. Hadlow, sometimes winding wool for the Canon's grey socks, +sometimes making up posies for the adornment of the sitting-room. And +there was Fox, the terrier, dividing his attentions between her and his +mistress; the peaceful Wend flowing by on the other side of the hedge; +the garden blooming, the birds twittering, the distant schoolboys +shouting, the sweet cathedral bells chiming,--everything as it had been +last summer. + +And yet not quite as it had been. There was some subtle difference +between these afternoons and the afternoons of last summer. + +It was not merely that Constance was missed, nor that Theodore Bransby +no longer made one of the group beneath the yew tree. Of these changes +one was scarcely to be regretted--for Conny was enjoying herself +extremely, and only desired to prolong her leave of absence--and the +other was undoubtedly satisfactory. But this could not surely suffice to +make it a deep delight to sit silent and wind balls of gray worsted for +half an hour at a stretch! Was it the negative joy of Theodore's absence +which caused May to look forward with her first waking thoughts to those +hours in the garden, and to live them over again in her mind when she +lay down to rest at night? It seemed as if the London season, far from +spoiling her for simple things, had marvellously enhanced the quiet +pleasures of her home life, and given them a new intensity. + +They were very quiet pleasures, truly. Mary Rayne and the Burton girls +seldom appeared in College Quad now that Constance was away. Mrs. Hadlow +had no lawn-tennis court, as has already been set forth; and persons who +gave up their garden-ground to the frivolous purpose of growing flowers +could not expect their younger friends to spare them many minutes out of +a summer's day. Visitors of the sterner sex were chiefly represented by +Major Mitton and Dr. Hatch, with a liberal sprinkling of the elder +cathedral clergy. + +The eldest Miss Burton said to May once, "I can't imagine how you stand +the dull life down here after your aunt's house in town! But I suppose +you are simply resting on your oars. We hear you are to go to Glengowrie +in the autumn. How delicious! The Duchess is sure to have her house +filled with nice people." + +May emphatically denied that she was dull in Oldchester. Dull! She had +never, she thought, been so happy in her life. "I wonder," said she to +Mrs. Hadlow that same afternoon, "whether Violet Burton feels Oldchester +to be dull. And if not, why should she assume that I do?" + +"Violet has a serious object in life, you know. She is the best tennis +player in the county. One cannot be dull with an absorbing pursuit of +that sort," answered Mrs. Hadlow, who, with all her genial benevolence, +had an occasional turn of the tongue which proved her kinship with her +nephew Owen. + +"The fact is," observed the latter, who was lying under the yew tree +with a pipe in his mouth, and an uncut magazine in his hand, "that each +of us carries his own supply of dulness about with him independently of +external circumstances. Not but what there are conceivable cases where +external circumstances would have a tremendous dulness-producing power; +such as being banished to a desolate shore beyond the reach of 'baccy;' +or having to read the Parliamentary debates right through every day." + +"Or being obliged to attend a musical afternoon at Miss Piper's London +lodging three times a week," put in May, laughing. "You don't know what +a hopeless heretic he is, Mrs. Hadlow. Even amiable Mr. Sweeting gave +him up in despair. And Lady Moppett thinks he ought to be +excommunicated." + +"Well, I suppose he need not have gone to Miss Piper's unless he had +chosen to do so," said Aunt Jane. "Owen is rather fond of being pitied +for having his own way. He ate his cake in the shape of enjoying Miss +Piper's music, and had it in the shape of declaring himself a victim." + +"_Enjoying----?_ Good heavens!" exclaimed Owen, waving his pipe in +protest. + +"Why did you go, then?" + +To this simple query Owen made no other response than muttering, with +his pipe between his teeth again, that there were "compensations." + +"Owen," said his aunt abruptly, after a long silence, "you are a most +unsatisfactory spectacle to behold." + +"That's disappointing, Aunt Jane. I flattered myself that I was a thing +of beauty and a joy for ever." + +"I shouldn't care about your not being ornamental, if only you were +useful. But it is dreadful to see you wasting your life." + +"I assure you I am employing my life in a very agreeable manner just +now," answered Owen, resting on his elbow, and glancing up from under +the shadow of his straw hat. + +"Agreeable! That is not the point." + +"It's _my_ point." + +"Ah! Well, we won't begin a wrangle, Owen; but----" + +"My dear Aunt Jane! Do I ever wrangle with you?" + +"You do worse. I'm afraid you are incorrigible. But every one else sees +that I am right. Ask May what she thinks." + +May started, and coloured violently; but she kept her eyes on the +needlework in her hand, and said nothing. + +"No; I shall not ask Miss Cheffington. She is a partisan, and would be +sure to side with you." + +"Not at all. May has her own opinions; haven't you, May?" + +"One can't help having opinions," returned May shyly. + +"Good gracious! Miss Cheffington, what an extraordinarily wild +assertion! 'Can't help having opinions----'? One might suppose you had +been nurtured among sages, and had never heard of Mr. Thomas Carlyle's +celebrated majority." + +"I have been nurtured by Granny," rejoined May, lifting her eyes for the +first time with a bright, brief glance. + +"Ay," exclaimed Mrs. Hadlow, "I'd advise you to ask Mrs. Dobbs what +_she_ thinks of a young man with your education and talents--oh, you +need not disclaim having brains, it only makes your case so much the +worse!--sitting lazily in his form, and letting all sorts of +dunderheaded tortoises win the race." + +"Bravo, Aunt Jane! I like 'dunderheaded tortoises.' 'Mobled Queen is +good.'" + +"You wouldn't enjoy hearing Mrs. Dobbs's opinion, I can tell you. I know +very well what she would say," pursued Mrs. Hadlow, more than half +angry. + +"I should like to ask her myself," said Owen, rising to his feet. "Do +you think I might, Miss Cheffington?" + +"Of course! If you have courage!" answered May, looking up with a smile. + +"I'm quite in earnest; I have long wished to know Mrs. Dobbs. Do you +think she would consider it a liberty if I were to call?" + +May cast her eyes down again, and became very busy with her needlework. +"No," she answered; "I don't think Granny would consider it a liberty; +she knows about you. I mean she knows you are Mrs. Hadlow's nephew." + +Mrs. Hadlow gave no more thought to this conversation, and May, although +she gave many thoughts to it, told herself that Mr. Rivers had only been +jesting, and that nothing was more unlikely than that he should fulfil +his words. She told herself so, with all the more insistence because at +the bottom of her heart she longed that he and "Granny" should know each +other. + +Nevertheless, on the very next afternoon, when May was absent, Owen +Rivers did call at Jessamine Cottage. + +He was at once received with cordiality for his aunt's sake, but he soon +earned a welcome for his own. Jo Weatherhead took to him amazingly. +"That's what I call a gentleman," said he, "a real gentleman--sterling +metal, and not Brummagem electro-plating. What a difference from that +young Bransby! A stuck-up, impudent--but, Lord! what could one expect +from an old Rabbitt's grandson! There's where it is." + +"Mr. Rivers is a good Radical, Jo," Mrs. Dobbs answered slyly. Whereupon +Jo nodded his head with undiminished complacency, and declared that if +it wasn't for such Radicals as _them_, Radicalism might soon shut up +shop altogether; concluding with his favourite apophthegm that many good +things came down from above, but very few mounted up from below. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Owen Rivers was greatly attracted by Mrs. Dobbs. He admired her +uprightness of character, and downrightness of speech; her shrewd common +sense, combined with unpretending simplicity; her indomitable strength +of purpose, tempered by broad good nature. At the very beginning of +their acquaintance, he told her that he had been recommended by his aunt +Jane to take her (Mrs. Dobbs's) opinion as to his mode of life. And when +Mrs. Dobbs tried to put him off by declaring that Mrs. Hadlow must have +been joking, he answered that he, at any rate, was not joking; and +begged her to speak candidly. + +"If I speak at all, I shall speak candidly, you may depend," said Mrs. +Dobbs. + +And, in truth, Owen soon found that he had no cause to complain of her +lack of plain speaking. Mrs. Dobbs was wholly and heartily on the side +of Aunt Jane, and held many a stout argument with the young man. + +"But, pray, how is one to manage?" asked Owen. "My aunt says, 'Go into a +profession.' Easier said than done! Besides, although I might not object +to be Lord Chancellor--or even, perhaps, Admiral of the Fleet--I have no +relish for the intermediate stages, which makes a difficulty." + +"That's all stuff and nonsense," said Mrs. Dobbs bluntly. "It's a shame +to see a gentleman with your book-learning, and good gifts, wasting the +advantages God has given him." + +"Wasting my advantages! That's Aunt Jane's pet phrase. But those are +mere words, you know." + +"Words are words, for certain. And nuts are nuts. Only some of 'em hold +sound kernels, whilst others have got nothing inside but dust." + +"Well, come now, let us get at the kernel," said Owen, half earnest, +half amused. "What would you have me do, Mrs. Dobbs?" + +"Do! Any honest work that's of use to your fellow creatures." + +"Such as stone-breaking, for instance?" + +"Better than nothing." + +"And my 'advantages' would not then be wasted, I presume?" + +"You might be getting a quarter per cent. for 'em--or maybe +less--instead of doubling your capital. But that would be better than +keeping all you've got in a stocking, like some ignorant old woman, and +pulling out a shilling at a time whenever you happen to want it." + +Many such passages of arms did they have; and Owen told himself that +Mrs. Dobbs was a very interesting study. Meanwhile, from the superior +vantage ground of her seniority, she had been making one or two studies +of _him_; and the result of them induced her to give him a hint as to +May's prospects. "I shall let him know how the land lies," said she to +herself. "Very likely he's in no danger. So much the better. But I'll +act fair by the young man. He's one of them quiet-looking sort that +feels very deeply; though, for all his humble-mindedness, he's a deal +too proud to show it." + +Accordingly Mrs. Dobbs took her opportunity one afternoon when Owen +strolled in somewhat earlier than usual. He and his hostess were +_tête-á-tête_; for May had gone to lunch with Mrs. Martin Bransby, and +to enjoy a romp afterwards with the children, who adored her. + +"Do you know this Duchess my grand-daughter is going to visit, Mr. +Rivers?" began Mrs. Dobbs abruptly. + +"To the best of my belief I never saw her in my life. My acquaintance +among duchesses is not extensive." + +"Nor yet her mother--Mrs. Griffin?" + +"Mrs. Griffin I have seen; and I make her a bow when we meet. That's +about all." + +"They are very kind to May." + +"Small blame to them! And yet I don't know; it is to their credit, when +one comes to think of it." + +"May talks of wishing to give up her visit." + +"She is unwilling to leave you, I believe." + +"Yes; bless her! But I mustn't give in to that." Then with a little air +of hesitation very unusual with her, Mrs. Dobbs proceeded: "I want you +and Mrs. Hadlow and all her friends not to encourage her in that idea. +The fact is, it is very important that May should not miss going to +Glengowrie this autumn. More important than she knows." + +Owen Rivers leant forward with a sudden attentive contraction of the +brows. "What is it?" he asked brusquely. Then, remembering himself, he +added, "I beg your pardon. I didn't mean to put a conversational pistol +to your head; nor to demand any secrets from you." + +"I don't know that there are any secrets, Mr. Rivers. But you understand +there are certain--certain opportunities which I am bound to give May, +if I can. I'm not one for forcing buckets of water down any horse's +throat, but unless you take him to the water he can't drink if he would. +The truth is, that I am anxious about my grandchild's future. When I am +gone, she will be left very desolate, poor lamb!" She paused suddenly, +and pressed her lips together. Then, after a minute's silence, she went +on more firmly, "God knows I never wished my poor daughter to marry +above her station; her marriage was a sore stroke to me. But now, +whatever you and me may think about distinctions of rank, it's certain +that May has a right to a lady's place in the world, through her +father's birth and family. I sacrificed a good deal in parting from her +at all--sacrificed my feelings, I mean--and I don't want it all to be +wasted. I want the child to get some good out of it, do you see, Mr. +Rivers?" + +"I see." + +"And don't you think I'm right?" + +"Yes; the horse ought to have his choice in that matter of drinking." + +"I'm glad you agree with me. My dear old friend Jo Weatherhead is half +inclined to think me wrong. He says I ought to consider the child's +happiness first and foremost, and that, if being with fine folks don't +make her happy, I ought to let her give them up. But May is very young +still--barely eighteen; she hasn't had time to judge. I wouldn't have +her think, later on, that this or that good thing might have befallen +her if she had had her chance and seen more of the world. It's bitter to +look back on opportunities lost or wasted, and that," added Mrs. Dobbs, +changing her tone, and shaking hands with the young man, who had risen +to go away, "is why I take the liberty of scolding _you_ now and then. +But I hope an old granny like me may speak her mind without offence? +That's one of our privileges." + +It seemed clear that Owen Rivers, at all events, was not offended. His +visits to Jessamine Cottage grew longer and more frequent. It became an +established custom for him to drop in at tea-time. Very often when May +had been spending the afternoon at the Canon's house, he would escort +her home through the fields. That was a longer way than by the streets; +but so much pleasanter, that their preference for it was surely very +natural. + +Oh, those rambles by the Wend, with the pearly evening sky above them, +the dewy, flower-speckled grass under foot, and in their ears the sound +of the sweet chimes, which seemed but to accompany some still sweeter +melody, felt not heard. May gave herself no account of the charm which +encompassed her. She looked not "before and after," but was happy, as +youth alone can be happy, in the intense sweetness of the present. Later +life has happiness of its own; but not that. It may be more or less, but +it is different. Those young delights can no more return than a rose can +furl itself again into a rosebud. And as to Owen, if his day-dream was +sometimes pierced by a sharp ray of common sense from the work-a-day +world, he turned his eyes away, and plunged still deeper into the +rainbow-tinted cloudland of young love. + +It could not hurt _her_, he argued. It could hurt no one but himself, +and he was prepared to suffer. She was sweet and kind; but she had +not--she could not have--any special feeling of tenderness for him. If, +indeed, that could be possible----! But what was there in him to attract +so lovely and lovable a creature as May Cheffington? A strongly-marked +trait in Owen's character was what Mrs. Hadlow, being hotly provoked by +some manifestation of it, had once designated as "pig-headed modesty!" +It was obstinate enough, truly, at times; and it had a warp of +inflexible pride in the woof of it. But it was genuine modesty for all +that. Still he would not so resolutely have shut his eyes to the +possibility that this matter of falling in love might be mutual, but for +Mrs. Dobbs's well-meant words of warning. May was going away in a week +or two--away out of his reach, perhaps for ever. Since she was in no +danger, he need, surely, have no scruple in enjoying these few happy +moments in her company. They would probably be the last. No one +suspected his feeling, and he could keep his own counsel. + +He honestly believed that no one suspected him. His Aunt Jane, whose +observation might have been the most to be dreaded, was in truth blind +to what was going on under her eyes. In the first place, it was nothing +new or unusual for Owen to spend his afternoons under the yew tree in +her garden; nor for May Cheffington to be there also. And it did not +occur, it scarcely could have occurred, to Conny's mother, that Conny +was being a second time supplanted by this girl so much her inferior in +beauty. And then, too, it must be acknowledged, that neither May nor +Owen thought it necessary to trouble Mrs. Hadlow with any detailed +report of the number of visits which her nephew paid to Jessamine +Cottage; nor with a chronicle of their many evening strolls beside the +Wend. Such strange tricks does love play with all: making the simple +cunning, and the straightforward wily, almost in spite of themselves! +While as for Mrs. Dobbs, her usual keenness with regard to her +grand-daughter was baffled by a vision of "the gentleman of princely +fortune" on whom May had been said to look favourably; and there were +but few opportunities for other eyes to note the behaviour of Owen and +May towards each other. + +The custom of the Saturday evening whist-parties, at which Mr. and Mrs. +Simpson and Mr. Weatherhead were the only guests, had been unavoidably +broken through at the time of Mrs. Dobbs's removal from Friar's Row: +and, although efforts had been made to renew it, it had somehow +languished, like a plant whose roots have been disturbed. Sometimes two +or three weeks would elapse without the Simpsons appearing at Jessamine +Cottage on the accustomed Saturday evening. The amiable Amelia tried to +compensate for these gaps in their social intercourse by running in at +odd moments to see Mrs. Dobbs. She would frequently call on her way home +from Mrs. Bransby's, or some other house where she gave lessons, and +chat in her discursive style: smilingly unconscious, for the most part, +whether Mrs. Dobbs vouchsafed her any attention or not; but always too +sweet-tempered to resent it, if she chanced to discover that Mrs. Dobbs +had not heard three sentences of all she had been saying. On one topic +she was, at any rate, sure of being listened to: the words "our dear +Miranda" were certain to arouse Mrs. Dobbs from her deepest fit of +musing; and fits of musing had become more and more frequent with her of +late. + +It was not clear whether Mrs. Simpson had taken to call May "Miranda" by +way of ceremoniously acknowledging her place in the world as a young +lady who had been presented at Court; or whether she considered three +syllables to be intrinsically more genteel than one; or whether she had +simply caught the word from the fashionable journals which had +chronicled the appearance of Miss Miranda Cheffington at various +festivities of the season. Mrs. Simpson's reasons for doing or leaving +undone were usually of a tangled kind, and an endeavour to extricate one +of them often resulted in pulling up a number of others by the roots. At +all events, Mrs. Simpson had taken to speak of May as "our dear +Miranda," and the words infallibly insured her an attentive hearing from +Mrs. Dobbs for whatever might follow them. If Mr. Weatherhead chanced to +be present at any of Amelia's erratic visits, he listened willingly to +all the gossip she might pour forth. It was always good-natured gossip. +Sebastian might bear a grudge here and there, and might impute shabby +motives to the conduct of his fellow-creatures; but Amelia never. There +seemed to be an excess of saccharine matter in her disposition which +flavoured every word she said. This species of excess being somewhat +uncommon, many persons pronounced poor Mrs. Simpson to be an arrant +humbug. But, had she been consciously a humbug, she would assuredly have +distributed her sweet speeches with more discretion; for nothing is less +popular than uncritical eulogy--of other people. + +There was an unusual air of excitement about her when she appeared one +afternoon in Jessamine Cottage. She found its mistress knitting in her +accustomed arm-chair, with Jo Weatherhead seated opposite to her reading +aloud paragraphs from a local newspaper. + +"My _dear_ Mrs. Dobbs," cried Amelia, bursting in breathlessly, "how do +you do? _And_ Mr. Weatherhead! Now this is quite against rules--or, at +least, against custom; for I am sure you would never make such a rule. +You are far too hospitable. But as I _was_ passing--so nice to be +neighbours instead of Friar's Row, though I shall ever look on Friar's +Row with affection for the sake of old times. What is it the poet says +about 'portions and parcels of the dreadful past'? Only there was +nothing dreadful in our little suppers; and Martha's stewed tripe beyond +praise." + +"I hope you are going to eat some of our little supper to-night," said +Mrs. Dobbs, composedly. "It's Saturday, you know." + +"How odd you should say that! It is exactly the remark I made to Bassy +this morning! Oh yes; certainly. And, as I was saying just now, it's +quite _hors ligne_, as the French express it, to inflict myself on you +twice in one day." + +"You know you are very welcome." + +"You're always _so_ kind, dear Mrs. Dobbs! I have been busy teaching all +the morning. This very moment I have come from Miss Piper's and----" + +"You are not giving _her_ lessons, are you?" asked Mrs. Dobbs, looking +up with a smile. + +"Oh dear, no! Not, I'm sure, that she would not be an excellent pupil; +indeed, both of them in their different styles. One the accomplished +musician, and the other so domesticated. No doubt you will hear of it +from our dear Miranda, for of course she will be invited. But I thought +I would mention it." + +"Mention what?--eh?" asked Jo Weatherhead, with impatient curiosity. + +"The party. They are going to give a musical party. Though really I +might omit the adjective, for who could imagine the Miss Pipers giving a +party that _wasn't_ musical? To be sure some persons find it rather +trying. Bassy, for instance, _cannot_ altogether approve the new school. +But then he was brought up in the strictest classical principles, and he +is so very clever himself, that of course----!" + +Some native gift of incoherency which distinguished Mrs. Simpson's mind +enabled her to reconcile the most conflicting claims on her admiration. + +"Ho, ho! a party, eh? A musical party?" said Mr. Weatherhead. + +"Yes; but of course there is nothing remarkable in _that_," replied Mrs. +Simpson, very unexpectedly. + +"Nothing at all remarkable, I should think," assented Mrs. Dobbs. + +"Ah! But the _point_ is--oh, pussy! Poor old pussy, _did_ I hurt her? +Dear, dear, dear!" + +In the act of throwing herself forward from her place on the sofa, in +order to touch Mrs. Dobbs's arm, and thus emphasize her communication, +Amelia had accidentally set her foot on the tail of the old tabby cat, +who at once protested in the frankest manner. + +"I'm so sorry! I am so very nearsighted. Poor old pussums! Come and let +us make it up--won't you, like a dear?" + +Poor old pussums, however, declined these advances, and took up her +position on the other side of her mistress's ample skirts; whence for +some time she glared distrustfully at every fresh manifestation of Mrs. +Simpson's playful vivacity. + +"Well, for goodness' sake tell us the point, if there is one!" cried Mr. +Weatherhead, who had been irritably rubbing his nose during this +episode. + +"Ah! Naughty impatience! That is so like a gentleman! Gentlemen are +dreadfully impatient in general; don't you agree with me, Mrs. Dobbs? +However, it really will be quite a musical treat. Mr. Cleveland Turner +is one of the most rising musicians of the day; I believe nobody can +understand his compositions without severe preliminary training. Mr. +Sweeting, too, is _most_ amiable; he has taken a country house in the +neighbourhood. And Miss Piper has invited a young lady down to stay with +her who sings divinely--quite divinely, Miss Piper says; and, indeed, I +have no doubt she does, for I _saw_ her name mentioned in the _Morning +Post_ at a very aristocratic _soirée_. And Bassy and I are to be +invited!" + +"Are you, now? Well, I'm glad of it," said Mrs. Dobbs heartily. She knew +this was a distinction which would give her friends pleasure. + +"Yes; Bassy is to accompany the young lady's songs on the piano. Mr. +Cleveland Turner will not accompany;--or, at least, not anything of a +tuneful sort. He doesn't like it. Well, you know, there's no accounting +for tastes, is there? Most people think strawberries delicious. But I +_have_ known a person who couldn't touch them--_invariably_ produced a +rash!" + +With which lucid illustration Mrs. Simpson rose, and declared she must +positively be going. After an effusive leavetaking--in the course of +which the old tabby leaped on to the back of Mrs. Dobbs's chair, where +she sat arching her spine and growling--the good lady set forth on her +way down the little garden-path in front of the house. But scarcely had +she reached the gate, when she turned and tripped back again with a +girlish step, which neither increase of years nor flesh had much +sobered. "I never delivered my message," she said; "and really it is an +extraordinary instance of my absence of mind, for that was the chief +reason why I came at all at this hour. I was at Mrs. Bransby's about +four o'clock, and left our dear Miranda there." + +Here she paused so long that Mrs. Dobbs replied, "Yes; I knew May was +going to call there." + +"Now I dare say you will scarcely credit it," said Amelia, with her head +on one side, her spectacles glistening, and an arch smile illumining her +countenance, "but, for the moment, I had totally forgotten again what I +was going to say!" + +"Lord bless the woman!" muttered Jo Weatherhead, in a tone not, perhaps, +quite so inaudible as politeness required. + +"But I have it now. This is the message; our dear Miranda begged me to +tell you that she will remain at Mrs. Bransby's for afternoon tea, and +come home in the cool of the evening. Mrs. Bransby--indeed, all the +family--are _most_ kind to her. Of course I don't mean to say that after +the brilliant scenes of London society it can be any particular treat to +her, although anything more truly elegant than Mrs. Bransby's new cream +broché I never beheld in my life. However, they pressed our dear Miranda +to stay. And she remarked to me that 'Granny would not be left alone, +for she knew Mr. Weatherhead was coming.' And now"--looking at her +watch--"I must _fly_, or I shall be too late for tea; and then what +would Bassy say?" She tripped once more down the garden path, stopped at +the gate to wave her hand, and at length finally departed. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Meanwhile, May was playing with Mrs. Martin Bransby's children, in the +delightful old walled garden; and Mrs. Martin Bransby herself was +looking on from the shade of a trellised arbour. These two had become +very good friends. Whether Mrs. Bransby was or was not aware of her +stepson's rejected suit, May had no means of knowing; but she felt +instinctively that Mrs. Bransby was not likely to be super-sensitive on +her stepson's behalf, nor to bear her a grudge for having refused him. +Theodore's absence was not lamented in his own home. His young +half-brothers and sisters openly rejoiced at it; and even his father +felt that life went on more pleasantly without him. + +May's popularity with the children was a sure passport to their mother's +heart; while on her side Mrs. Bransby had developed a most endearing +trait of character: she liked Owen Rivers, and was always happy to +welcome him to her house. Although Owen admired her beauty and elegance +extremely, there was no alloy of coquetry in the preference she showed +for his company. Indeed, Owen told his Aunt Jane that Mrs. Bransby's +delight in adorning her graceful person came nearer to being a pure case +of _l'Art pour l'Art_ than any he had ever witnessed. Nevertheless, the +most transcendental of artists enjoys appreciation. So it chanced that +on this special afternoon, Mr. Rivers being announced just when she was +urging May to remain and drink tea with her, Mrs. Bransby at once +suggested that perhaps Mr. Rivers would stay too, and be kind enough to +see Miss Cheffington home. Mr. Rivers handsomely acceded to the +proposal; and these three persons passed a very agreeable afternoon +together. + +The romping, happy children, with that disregard for any "plurality of +worlds" theory which belongs to their age, accepted the whole +arrangement as being ordained for their sole and peculiar enjoyment. +Under this impression they declined to allow Owen to remain lounging +beside their mother in the shade, but imperiously required him "not to +be lazy," but to "come and play." He withstood the clamour of the boys +for some time; but when three-year-old Enid toddled up to him, and +gravely seized one of his hands with both hers, evidently under the +conviction that she was quite able to drag him off with her by main +force, it was impossible to resist any longer. A very noisy game--known +to the younger Bransbys under the alliterative appellation of "Tiggy, +Tiggy, touchwood," and which involved a great deal of confused rushing +about, and shrill vociferation--was proceeding in the liveliest manner, +when forth from the long window of the drawing-room stepped a figure at +sight of whom Martin, the eldest boy, stopped short in a headlong +course, and Bobby and Billy were so surprised that they checked a wild +halloo in their very throats. + +It was Theodore. He was dressed in travelling garb (Theodore had +appropriate costumes for every department of life; and adhered to them +as punctiliously as a Chinese), and was advancing with his usual erect +gravity towards his step-mother, when, catching sight of May and Owen, +he stopped, surprised in his turn. + +"Dear me, Theodore, is that you?" said Mrs. Bransby, rising and coming +forward. "When did you arrive? We did not expect you. You did not write, +did you?" + +"No; I took a sudden resolution to run down for a week. I wished to +consult my father about a little matter of business, and I wanted change +of air besides." + +In answer to Mrs. Bransby's nervous inquiries whether the servants had +attended to him, and whether she should order his room to be prepared, +he replied-- + +"Thanks; I have given the necessary orders. My valise has been carried +upstairs. I will go and wash my hands, and then I shall ask you for a +cup of tea, if you please," glancing at the table already spread beneath +the trees. Then he marched up to May, who was standing on the lawn, with +a look of little less dismay than the children ingenuously exhibited. He +raised his hat with one hand, and shook her reluctant hand with the +other, saying in his deliberate accents-- + +"This is truly an unexpected favour of Fortune. I knew you were in +Oldchester, but I scarcely hoped to find you _here_. How do you do, +Rivers?" (This in an indefinable tone of condescension.) Then again +addressing himself to May, he said, "You have not had any communication +from town this morning?" + +"No." + +"Nor from Combe Park?" + +"Oh no!" + +"Ah! I imagined not. May I beg the favour of a word with you presently? +I am only going to get rid of some of the dust of travel. You will still +be here when I return?" + +May was tempted to declare that she positively must go home immediately. +But before she could speak Mrs. Bransby answered for her: "Oh, of course +Miss Cheffington will be here still. I do not mean to let her run away +just yet." + +Then, with another formal bow, Theodore returned to the house and +disappeared through the drawing-room window. + +There was an awkward silence, broken by Martin's exclaiming, in a solemn +tone, "He's just like the vampire." + +The laugh which followed came as a relief to the embarrassment of the +elders. + +"Martin!" exclaimed his mother reprovingly. + +"Well, mother, he _is_," persisted Martin, who was unspeakably disgusted +at the sudden quenching of the festivities. "What does he come stalking +and prowling like that for? He's _exactly_ like the vampire!" + +May and Owen avoided each other's eye, feeling a guilty consciousness +that Martin had in a great measure expressed their own sentiments. +Certainly, the whole party appeared to have been suddenly iced. The +three younger children were dismissed to the nursery; and Martin and his +sister Ethel voluntarily withdrew, feeling that all the fun was over. A +large slice of cake apiece was looked upon as very inadequate amends, +and accepted under protest. + +"I should think he might have stayed in London when he _was_ there," +grumbled Martin, as he walked away, viciously digging his heels into the +turf at every step by way of a vent to his injured feelings. "Nobody +wants stalking, prowling vampires _here_. Why couldn't he stop in +London?" + +As though "stalking, prowling vampires" were generally admitted to be +popular members of society in the metropolis. + +Mr. Rivers and the two ladies beguiled the time until Theodore should +return, by drinking tea and discussing Miss Piper's forthcoming musical +party. Curiously enough no one said a word about young Bransby. They all +seemed to avoid the topic by a tacit understanding. But though out of +sight, he was not out of mind--at any rate, he was not out of May's +mind. She was secretly wondering what he could have to say to her. Could +he possibly intend to renew his offer of marriage? The idea seemed a +wild one; nevertheless, it darted through her mind. One could never +tell, she thought, what his obstinate self-conceit might lead him to do. +However, May resolved, come what might, to cling tightly to Mrs. +Bransby's sheltering presence so long as she remained in that house; and +in going home she would have the protection of Mr. Rivers's escort. Even +Theodore Bransby could scarcely propose to her before these witnesses! + +At length Theodore reappeared, brushed and trim, in speckless raiment. +He took his place at the tea-table; and after the exchange of a few +commonplace remarks, silence stole over the company. Theodore seemed to +be waiting for something; and from time to time he looked at Owen as +though expecting him to take his leave. Finally he cleared his throat, +and said gravely, "Miss Cheffington, I see you are not taking any more +tea; may I crave the favour of a few words with you?" + +"Oh, please, I think I _will_ have some more tea," said May, hastily +pushing her cup towards Mrs. Bransby. Theodore, who had half risen from +his chair, bowed, resumed his seat, and folded his arms in a waiting +attitude. Then May added, with desperate resolution, "Will you not be +kind enough to say what you have to say, now? I must be going home +immediately; and I'm sure there can be no secrets to tell." She buried +her face in her teacup to hide the colour which flamed into her cheeks +as she said the words. + +"If you desire it," returned Theodore stiffly, "of course I shall obey. +I merely thought you might prefer to receive painful tidings in----" + +"Painful!" cried May, turning pale, and suddenly interrupting him. "Is +anything the matter with Granny?" + +A glance at his raised eyebrows reassured her, for the next moment she +said, "Oh, how stupid I am! Of course you could know nothing, you have +only just arrived. It isn't--it isn't my father, is it?" + +"Pray do not alarm yourself, Miss Cheffington. Captain Cheffington is, +so far as I know, perfectly well." + +"Wouldn't it be better to speak out?" said Owen. As soon as he had +spoken, he felt that he had no right to put in his word. But he could +not help it; Theodore's self-important slowness was too exasperating. + +"Yes; do, please," said May. + +"There is no cause for alarm, as I said," returned Theodore, trying to +look as if he had not heard Owen's suggestion. "But a shock--a slight +shock--is apt to be felt at the announcement of sudden death, even in +the case of a total stranger." + +"Sudden death!" + +"Yes; I regret to inform you that your cousin, George Cheffington, has +been killed by the accidental discharge of a gun, when he was on a +shooting expedition up the country." + +All three of his listeners drew a deep sigh of relief. + +"Oh!" sighed May, the colour returning to her cheeks and lips, "I felt a +horrible fear for the moment about Aunt Pauline!" + +"This is a very important event," said Theodore, looking over his cravat +with his House-of-Commons air, and indicating by his tone that the fate +of Aunt Pauline was a matter of comparative insignificance. + +"I am sorry for poor old Lord Castlecombe," said May. + +"It will, of course, be a severe blow to your great-uncle; all the more +so that Mr. Lucius Cheffington is in deplorably weak health." + +"Lucius is never very strong, is he?" + +"He is never robust, but this season he has been extremely delicate. I +have reason to believe that a very high medical authority has expressed +considerable anxiety about him." + +"Does Aunt Pauline know?--I mean about George Cheffington's death?" + +Theodore drew himself up even more stiffly than usual as he answered, "I +am not aware what means Mrs. Dormer-Smith may have had of hearing the +news; but my impression is that it can scarcely yet have been +communicated to her. The original telegram to Lord Castlecombe only +reached him yesterday." + +"Did they--Lucius, or any of them--ask you to tell me?" inquired May. It +now for the first time struck her as being odd that Theodore Bransby +should have been selected for such an office. + +"Ahem! No. I was not precisely commissioned to inform you. But I was +anxious to spare you the shock of hearing of this disaster +accidentally." + +The fact was that Theodore had seen the telegram in a London newspaper +of that morning. + +There ensued a short silence. Then Theodore said to his step-mother, +with an elaborate shivering movement of the shoulders, "Don't you think +it grows very damp and chilly? I cannot consider it prudent to remain +here whilst the dews are falling." + +No one was sorry for this excuse to break up the sitting. Mrs. Bransby +made a move towards the house; and May said it was time for her to be +going home. + +"With your permission, I will have the pleasure of escorting you, Miss +Cheffington," said Theodore. + +"Oh no, please!--thank you. Mr. Rivers said----" + +"I have undertaken to see Miss Cheffington safe home," said Rivers. And +Mrs. Bransby suggested that Theodore must be tired with his journey; +and, moreover, that dinner would be ready at eight. But he disregarded +both suggestions. "I shall enjoy a stroll at this cool hour; and I don't +mean to dine. I lunched rather late, and will have something light +cooked for my supper about ten. Do you mean to go, Rivers? Oh! well, +I'll join you as far as Mrs. Dobbs's house." + +Of course, under the circumstances it was impossible for May to say a +word to prevent him. And accordingly he walked from his father's door on +one side of her, while Owen strode on the other. As for May, she had +been ready to cry at first with vexation and resentment; but after a +while the sense of something ludicrous in the behaviour of her bodyguard +so overcame her, that she was very near bursting out into a fit of +almost hysterical laughter. + +The two young men were full of smouldering animosity towards each other. +But they both manifested this feeling chiefly by a severe, and almost +sullen, demeanour towards May. She felt that she was being marched along +between them more like a detected malefactor than a young lady whom one +of them, at least, had besieged with tender proposals. If she addressed +a word to Owen, he answered her in dry monosyllables; if she spoke to +Theodore, he replied as from a lofty pinnacle of freezing politeness. + +"It only needs a pair of handcuffs to make the thing complete," said May +to herself. Then she finally gave up all attempts to be conversational, +and so they arrived at Jessamine Cottage in solemn silence. + +As they walked up the little garden-path in the gathering dusk, they +were overtaken by Mr. and Mrs. Simpson. The latter, as soon as she +recognized them, began to pour forth a fluent stream of talk, which did +not cease when Martha opened the door; and then, in some confused way +which neither May nor Owen could afterwards account for, they all found +themselves crowding into the little parlour together. As for Theodore, +he had from the first resolved to go in if Rivers went in, and to remain +as long as Rivers remained. + +Mrs. Dobbs looked up astonished at sight of Theodore. She glanced +inquiringly at May, who had a queer look on her face, half-distressed, +half-amused. Jo Weatherhead rose, staring glumly at the new arrivals, of +whom Sebastian brought up the rear, with an expression of countenance +which showed that his temper was bristling like his hair. But Mrs. +Simpson's sprightly eloquence spread itself impartially over all these +shades of feeling, as water makes a smooth and level surface above the +roughest bottom. + +"_So_ astonished, dear Mrs. Dobbs, to find Mr. Bransby, junior! Having +not the slightest idea that he was in Oldchester, you know; and what a +singular coincidence our coming upon them all three _just at your very +door_, was it not?" + +"Well," observed Sebastian in his rasping voice, "considering that we +were coming to sup with Mrs. Dobbs, and that Miss May was on her way +home, it would have been stranger if we had met at any one else's door." + +"Now, Bassy, I will not be overwhelmed by your stern logic. Ladies are +privileged to indulge in some _little_ play of the imagination. +Besides"--with an arch smile of triumph--"it really was the _fact_ in +this case. Oh! thank you, Mr. Weatherhead; any chair will do for me. +Don't let me disturb----! I suppose I may venture to make a shrewd +guess, Mr. Bransby, that you have come down to attend Miss Piper's +musical party? A great compliment, indeed, when one considers your +professional occupations. But the bow cannot always be bent. Even Homer, +I believe, is said _sometimes_----Oh, no; he nods, I fancy: which, of +course, is different. I really believe that Miss Hadlow will be the +_only_ star of our Oldchester firmament absent from the festive scene. +Now acknowledge, dear Mrs. Dobbs, that you were surprised as I was. You +did not expect this addition of 'youth at the prow'--if I may venture on +the expression--to our little circle this evening. At the same time I +must confess that three such sober young persons I never beheld. They +were all as silent as----It put me in mind of those beautiful lines: +'Not a drum was heard; not a funeral note, As his----' Not, of course, +that there was anything of a funereal nature. Far from it." + +This last touch overcame May's self-command. She burst into a fit of +uncontrollable laughter; breaking out afresh every time she glanced at +Owen's face, provoked and frowning (though with a twitch at the corner +of the mouth which showed he had to make an effort not to laugh, too); +or at Theodore's, solemnly bewildered. She laughed until the tears +poured down her cheeks; and her grandmother exclaimed, "May, May! Don't +be so silly, child! You'll get hysterical if you go on that way." But +the outburst relieved the nervous tension from which the girl had been +suffering; and as she wiped her eyes she was conscious that the laughter +had saved her from shedding tears of a different sort. + +"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Simpson," she said. "I don't know what +possessed me." + +"Don't think of apologizing, my dear Miranda. Indeed, why should you? +Nothing is more delightful than the unaffected hilarity of youth. I'm +sure I always enjoy it," returned the good Amelia, with a beaming glance +around her. + +"It's lucky Amelia doesn't mind being laughed at," said Sebastian +bitterly. + +"Oh fie, Bassy! We must distinguish, love. That all depends on who +laughs, and _how_ they laugh," observed his wife, with unexpected +perspicuity. + +"No doubt," said Theodore, "Miss Cheffington's nerves have been agitated +by the sad news which I brought her this evening." He spoke in a low +mysterious tone, addressing himself apparently to Mrs. Dobbs, although +he did not do so by name. At these words Mr. Weatherhead pricked up his +ears; and, although he had previously made up his mind not to say a word +to this "young spark" until the "young spark" should speak to him, his +curiosity so far overcame his dignity that he could not help +ejaculating-- + +"Sad news, ha! What news? What sad news,--eh?" + +Theodore turned to Mrs. Dobbs, and pointedly ignored poor Jo, as he +said, "Miss Cheffington will doubtless take a fitting opportunity of +speaking with you about this event in her family." + +"It's nothing that deeply concerns _us_, Uncle Jo!" broke in May, +flushing indignantly, and speaking with impetuosity. "A certain Mr. +George Cheffington has been accidentally killed out in Africa. But since +neither you, nor I, nor Granny ever saw him--nor even heard of him until +quite lately--we cannot pretend to be overwhelmed with grief." + +"Nay! George Cheffington killed?" exclaimed Mrs. Dobbs. + +Theodore had turned very pale, as he always did when angered. (May had +certainly meant to hit him, but she had no idea that the unkindest cut +of all had been her publicly addressing Mr. Weatherhead as "Uncle Jo.") +He answered slowly, "_I_ should not have chosen this moment when you +are--er--entertaining these--ahem!--your friends, to impart the +intelligence. But Miss Cheffington has taken the matter out of my +hands." + +"George Cheffington," repeated Mrs. Dobbs, pondering. "Why, let me see, +now; he'll be Lord Castlecombe's eldest son. Poor old man! Oh, I'm sorry +to hear it: very sorry. It's hard for the old to see their hopes die +before them." + +"I'm sorry for him, too, Granny," whispered May, somewhat penitent and +ashamed of her vehemence. She had certainly betrayed a touch of the +Cheffington imperiousness, and had spoken in a manner quite inconsistent +with meek amiability. She had also made Theodore Bransby feel +considerable resentment. Nevertheless, he had never been less inclined +than at that moment to relinquish the hope of making her his wife. Our +passions have various methods of special pleading. But if reason presses +them too hard, they will boldly substitute an "in spite of" for a +"because," and pursue their aim as though, like Beauty, they were "their +own excuse for being." + +"Don't let us intrude on a scene of family affliction," said Mr. Simpson +dryly. "Now, Amelia! We had better withdraw, I think." + +"Don't you talk nonsense, Sebastian Simpson," returned Mrs. Dobbs, +without ceremony. "Sit down, Amelia. I'm sorry I can't ask you young +gentlemen to stay and share our plain supper, for the truth is I don't +know that there's enough of it. But my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Simpson, +would break an old charter if they didn't remain." + +After that the two young men had, of course, nothing to do but to take +their leave. Owen's good humour had quite returned. Wisdom and virtue +should, no doubt, have made him disapprove of Miss May's little outbreak +of hot temper. But the truth is, that this fallible young man had +enjoyed her attack on Bransby. When the latter approached May to say +"Good night," he murmured reproachfully, "You were rather severe on me, +Miss Cheffington. I had no idea of displeasing you by what I said." + +She was conscience-stricken in a moment, and answered quite humbly, "I +beg your pardon if I offended you. But I thought you were not civil to +Mr. Weatherhead, and that vexed me. Please forgive me." And she endured +the tender pressure of her hand which immediately followed, as some +expiation of her offence. + +Mrs. Dobbs detained Jo Weatherhead that night for a moment, after Mr. +and Mrs. Simpson had gone away, and May was in bed. + +"I say, Jo, the death of yon poor man in Africa may bring about strange +changes," said Mrs. Dobbs, looking at him gravely. + +"Changes! How? What changes?" + +"Well, not changes for me and you, except through other folks. But do +you know that after Lucius Cheffington--who, they say, is but +sickly--Lord Castlecombe's next heir is my precious son-in-law?" + +"No!" exclaimed Mr. Weatherhead, making his mouth into a perfect round O +of astonishment. + +"Ay; but he is, though." + +"Next heir! Viscount Castlecombe, of Combe Park, and all the property!" +gasped Jo. + +"I don't know about the property. Only what's entailed, I suppose. But +if Lucius was to die, Augustus would be next heir to the title, as sure +as you stand there, Jo Weatherhead." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Probably of all the persons in Oldchester who knew or cared anything +about the death of George Cheffington, May was the only one who did not +immediately begin to make some calculations based on that event. The +contingency of her father's succeeding to the family honours had not +occurred to her. And her thoughts and feelings were now occupied with +other things. But Oldchester gossips discussed it with gusto; or, at +least, that small minority of them who interested themselves in the +fortunes of the Castlecombe family. The old lord was little personally +known in Oldchester, and the city had long outgrown any sense of the +overweening importance of a Viscount Castlecombe of Combe Park, which it +might have had a century earlier. To most of the rich manufacturers of +the place (whether they really thought themselves "as good as a lord" or +not) a lord whom they never beheld, and into whose house neither they +nor their children had the remotest chance of being admitted, was, at +any rate, genuinely uninteresting. + +In the rural parts of the county it was otherwise. People there could +not be indifferent to the domestic history of a large land-owner who +resided during the greater part of the year on his estate. In many a +country dwelling, from luxurious mansions down to mere labourers' +cottages, George Cheffington's untimely death was canvassed. From a +matrimonial point of view he had been considered the best match in the +county, and dowagers with daughters to marry had looked forward to the +time (often spoken of, but always postponed) when he should give up his +colonial appointment, settle down on his inheritance, and choose a wife. +And there was a large number of persons (tenants and dependents) to whom +the heir's character and conduct were matters of deep importance. To +these, Mr. Lucius Cheffington suddenly became an interesting personage. +Lucius had been very little at Combe Park since his boyhood, and the +report which gradually spread in the neighbourhood that he was a chronic +invalid, was received with many head-shakings and long faces. It seemed +impossible that a Cheffington should be delicate or weakly. "Look at the +old lord," people said; "why, he was sound and tough as a yew-tree!" And +the last time Mr. George was at home he had proved himself a true chip +of the old block by out-riding, out-walking, and out-cricketing all his +contemporaries. + +But that was years ago. Now George was stricken down in his strength, +Lucius lay ill of a low fever in London, and Lord Castlecombe sat lonely +and sorrow-laden in the home of his fathers. + +The old man was not one to seek for sympathy, nor even to tolerate much +manifestation of it. The only being to whom for many weeks he mentioned +his dead son's name was a superannuated stable-helper, who had set +"Master George" on his first pony, and in whose mind that somewhat +selfish and hardhearted individual had never outgrown the engaging +period of boyhood. "Master George" was the old man's idol, and "Master +George" had, to a great extent, reciprocated the man's liking, partly, +perhaps, from the sort of gratified vanity which makes us all prize the +exclusive attachment of any generally unamiable creature, biped or +quadruped. Old Dick was characterized by his fellow-servants as a crusty +old curmudgeon, and was notorious for a formidable power of swearing, +which he wielded freely, without much respect of persons. + +The first day after receiving the news of his son's death, Lord +Castlecombe towards evening walked out in a very unfrequented part of +the grounds, a path between two high holly hedges, leading by a back way +to the stable-yard; and there, with his hat pulled low on his brow, his +head bent, and his hands clasped behind him, he paced slowly, plunged in +bitter meditation. When he came to the corner whence the stables were +visible, he caught sight of old Dick seated on an ancient horse-block, +and busily rubbing at something in his hand. Lord Castlecombe stopped +short, and looked at the man, who evidently saw him, but made no sign, +neither ceased a moment from his occupation. After a minute or so Lord +Castlecombe called to him to ask what he was doing, and received no +answer. He repeated his question. Still no reply. A third time he spoke, +in a harsh, angry tone. And then Dick turned round upon him, and, with a +tremendous volley of oaths, answered furiously, "What am I doing of? I'm +a rubbing up Master George's little silver spurs as you gave him first +time he ever rode to hounds. I've allus kep' 'em bright from that day to +this. And I arn't a-going to leave off now, because some d----d +blundering fool as didn't ought never to have been trusted with a gun--I +wish I'd the rewarding of him, curse him!--has been and put an end to +the boy. That's what I'm a doing of, if ye _must_ know!" + +A tear fell on the little burnished spur; and then another, and another. +But old Dick rubbed on. And his master, after a short silence, came and +laid his hand upon his shoulder, and then walked away without a word. + +After that Dick was privileged to do what the boldest parson's wife in +the county dared not attempt:--talk to Lord Castlecombe about his son +George. + +Most of the letters of condolence which he received Lord Castlecombe +tossed aside contemptuously after glancing at the first line. But one +letter he read through, with a heavy frown on his face, and an +occasional drawing down of the corners of his mouth into a bitter smile, +far more sinister than the frown. It was from his niece Pauline; and its +composition had cost her much thought and anxiety. She flattered herself +that she had avoided saying a word which could jar on her uncle's +irascible temper. And the letter in itself was a good letter enough; but +it was a letter which should not have been written at all, if her object +were to soothe and conciliate Lord Castlecombe. Pauline did not allude +directly to her brother Augustus; but the very fact of her writing +seemed to bring his existence offensively into notice. She refrained +from expressing any special anxiety about the health of her cousin +Lucius. Yet the few words in which she "hoped to hear of his speedy +recovery," made the old man writhe as he read them. Pauline had tried to +combine duty with policy. It was, of course, her duty to condole with +her uncle in his bereavement, and it was clearly desirable not to +irritate the dislike with which, as she more than surmised, he regarded +Augustus. But the whole calculation was based on a misapprehension of +Lord Castlecombe's feeling towards her brother. It was neither more nor +less than hatred. And now jealousy was added to it:--a strange, savage +jealousy, on behalf of his sons. George--his strong, healthy, hardy +eldest-born--was gone. And Lucius--Lucius was not dying! No, no; not so +bad as that. But he was very weakly. And to think for one instant of the +possibility that Augustus Cheffington might some day reign in their +stead--might lord it over the heritage which he had so carefully +garnered for his own sons--was maddening. Any one but Augustus, he said +to himself. Any distant scion, the son of some impoverished far-away +cousin, parson, lawyer, apothecary. Any one, any one, but Augustus! + +But of the passionate intensity of this hatred Pauline had no suspicion. +A cleverer and more acute woman than she might not have guessed it. No +one, in fact, ever guessed it; unless it were Lucius, and he only in +part. His own sensitive antipathy to Augustus was an incomparably +feebler sentiment. Lucius had no strain of his father's vigour, whether +for good or ill. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith had also written by the same post to May. This epistle +was more hastily dashed off, and faithfully reflected the wavering mood +of the writer. One of her first preoccupations was whether, under the +circumstances, it would or would not be desirable for May to pay the +promised visit to Glengowrie at this juncture. She did not disguise from +herself that George Cheffington's death opened up the possibility of a +very different future for May from any which could hitherto have been +contemplated. It became a question whether it would be prudent to accept +Mr. Bragg. At all events it would be well to avoid precipitation. Mr. +Bragg was a fine match for a dowerless girl:--even for a (dowerless) +Miss Cheffington. But what if May's father were destined to become a +wealthy Peer of the realm? That might be still but a distant +possibility. Lucius was not thought to be in any present danger, and +certainly might recover. Of course he might recover. And he might marry, +and transmit the title and estates in the direct line. But--Pauline felt +that there was a "but" of vast import. + +And then there were minor cares connected with that great duty towards +"society" which she so diligently endeavoured to perform. + + "I am _most_ anxious about your mourning," she wrote to May. + "It is positively preying on my mind. Of course, nothing could + be in worse taste than any assumption of woe in this case. You + never saw poor George, and the kinship is not a very close one. + In fact, had it been one of the Buckinghamshire Cheffingtons, + to whom you are related in exactly the same degree, I do not + know that any mourning at all would have been necessary for + you. But, of course, the heir to the head of our family + occupies a different position. At any rate, do not err on the + side of exaggeration. White, with _noeuds_ of pale + heliotrope, and jet ornaments; or some black fabric of light + texture, with a little jet beading, would probably meet the + case. But it is impossible for me to give you precise + directions. I am too far away to know what is _bien porté_ at + this moment. Would that I could be near you! But I cannot break + my 'cure' at this point. Carlsbad has done me good, on the + whole; although, of course, the anxiety on your account, + connected with this painful news, has to some extent thrown me + back. Mrs. Griffin's taste might be thoroughly trusted; and, if + she would undertake to order your mourning from Amélie----. But + now I think of it, Mrs. Griffin will not return to England + until she leaves the Engadine for Glengowrie. And here, again, + I am greatly perplexed what to advise in your best interests. + _All things considered_, it might be well for you to put off + going to the Duchess. There will be the excuse of this terrible + news about poor George, you know. + + "I fear that I have written in a sadly _décousu_ fashion; but I + cannot help it, and my poor head warns me to leave off. As + usual, I have to pay for intense mental effort. Carlsbad has + not altered that." And the letter concluded with a postscript: + "Pearl-gray gloves." + +The only clear idea which May gathered from this letter was that her +aunt virtually held her released from her promise to go to Glengowrie, +and left her free to do as she pleased. She carried the letter to her +grandmother, saying, "Granny, I shall not go to Scotland after all. I +shall stay with you, whether you like it or not. Oh, don't ask me to +_explain_. I often feel with regard to Aunt Pauline like a deaf person +watching dancers. There is something which regulates her movements, no +doubt. But it is generally mysterious to me." + +Mrs. Dobbs privately thought that in this case she held a clue to the +mystery. "Ay," she said to herself, "Mrs. Dormer-Smith sees, just as I +saw from the first hearing of it, that great changes may come to pass +from this poor man's death. And she don't want May to commit herself too +soon. Lord save us! 'tis a sad, low, worldly way of looking at such a +matter." At this point some scarcely-articulate whisper of conscience +made Mrs. Dobbs's brow redden; and she added mentally, "Well, but if May +likes him? If the man's in earnest, and she likes him, it'll all come +right in the end." Nevertheless, Mrs. Dobbs had begun to entertain +shrewd doubts as to May's caring one straw for the unknown gentleman of +princely fortune. + +May, meanwhile, made haste to put her escape beyond the danger of Aunt +Pauline's changing her mind. She wrote to Mrs. Griffin, saying that she +should not be able to accept the Duchess's kind invitation to +Glengowrie. She gave no reason. The excuse which Aunt Pauline had +suggested she could not find it in her conscience to put forward. "If I +had wished very much to go, that would not have stood in my way," she +said to herself. "And it would be base and shocking to play the +hypocrite about such a tragedy." + +Neither did she think for a moment of refusing Miss Piper's invitation. +There had not been wanting a hint that she ought to do so. Mrs. Bransby +asked her if she meant to go to the musical party at Garnet Lodge; and, +being answered in the affirmative, said, "Well, it seemed to me that it +would be quite overstrained to refuse. But Theodore persisted that you +would not go; said it would be _inconvenable_. He almost quarrelled with +me about it. You know Theodore's infallible way of laying down the law." + +It need scarcely be said that if anything could have strengthened the +young lady's determination to attend Miss Piper's party, it would have +been hearing that Theodore Bransby took upon himself to object to her +doing so. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Like the fairy Pari-Banou's magic tent, which could shelter an army of +ten thousand men, and yet was capable of being folded into the smallness +of a handkerchief, what one calls "the world" shrinks and stretches to +suit the individual case. Into the world of Polly and Patty Piper Lord +Castlecombe and his family sorrows entered not at all. They might +occasionally be viewed afar from the tent door; but even that distant +recognition was not vouchsafed to them now, when the great event of the +musical party absorbed the attention of the two sisters. + +In addition to Miss Clara Bertram and Mr. Cleveland Turner, the occasion +was to be graced by the presence of Signor Vincenzo Valli. He was on a +visit to a noble family in Mr. Sweeting's neighbourhood, and had +volunteered to accompany that gentleman and his _protégé_ to Miss +Piper's party. This honour, like other honours, was somewhat of a +burthen as well as a distinction. The programme of the evening's +performance, so carefully and anxiously arranged beforehand, must be +modified to suit Signor Valli; who, if he condescended to sing at all, +would do so only in accordance with his own caprice. And this would +probably occasion difficulties; since, although Miss Bertram's +amiability might be reckoned on, Mr. Cleveland Turner took a more +stiff-necked view of his own importance, and would not be disposed to +yield the _pas_ to Valli. Still Miss Piper had no cowardly regrets on +hearing of the distinction which was to befall her. She rose to the +occasion, and was prepared to undergo almost any impertinence from the +popular singing master with a Spartan smile. + +"I ought to understand how to manage artists, if anybody does," said +she, remembering the many cups of tea she had poured out for that +_irritable genus_ in old times. + +But the crowning interest and glory of the evening to her would be the +performance of an air from "Esther," which Miss Bertram had promised to +sing. The Misses Piper had invited her to visit them at first from +disinterested kindness; the young singer being tired with the work of +the season, and in need of rest and change of air. Under these +circumstances, both the sisters were too thoroughly gentlewomen to hint +at her singing for them. But Clara Bertram, casting about in her mind +for some way to show her gratitude to the kindly old maids, had herself +proposed to sing "something from 'Esther.'" And the offer was too +tempting to be refused. + +The composition selected was of the most infantile simplicity, and could +have been learned by heart in ten minutes. But a copy of it had been +sent to town a fortnight ago for Miss Bertram to "study." And Mr. +Simpson had been supposed to be "studying" the accompaniment for an +equal length of time. In fact, the performance of the air from "Esther" +was the original germ out of which the musical party at Garnet Lodge had +been developed. + +Clara Bertram arrived in Oldchester the morning before the great day: +partly in order that she might not be over-tired, and partly to give the +opportunity for a rehearsal of the air with Mr. Simpson. "Oh, I'm sure +we need not trouble Mr. Simpson," Clara began thoughtlessly. "It is +certain to go all right." But Miss Polly would not allow such a lax view +of responsibility. + +"Excuse me, my dear," she said, "but the music of 'Esther' is +not quite a drawing-room ballad. Not that you will not sing it +charmingly--perfectly! There is no doubt about that. But there is a +certain breadth--a certain style of phrasing, necessary for sacred +music. It is most important that the accompanist should understand your +_reading_ of the air. Indeed, I am anxious to hear it myself. I have my +own idea as to the proper rendering of the opening phrase, 'Hear, O +King, and grant me my petition!' But I shan't say a word until I have +heard you. Your idea may be better than mine; Ha, ha, ha! Who knows? +'Hear, O King, and grant----?' My own notion would be to begin +softly--almost _sotto voce_--in a timid manner: 'Hear, O King;' and then +to rise into a _crescendo_ as the strain proceeds 'and grant me my +PETITION!' But I won't say a word. You must sing it as you _feel_ it." + +May was, by special favour, admitted to the rehearsal. She had called to +see Clara Bertram on the afternoon of her arrival, and was ushered into +the long, low, old-fashioned drawing-room, where she found Miss Piper +seated at one end of it, amid a wilderness of rout-seats, and Mr. +Sebastian Bach Simpson at the piano, near to which Miss Bertram was +standing. + +"Oh, it's dear May Cheffington!" said Miss Piper, who had turned round +sharply at the opening of the door. "Yes, yes; come in, my dear. Not at +home to anybody else, Rachel! Not to _anybody_, do you hear? Now come +and sit down by me, my dear. She is going to try 'Hear, O King.' Very +glad to see you; you are so sympathetic, and such a favourite with +Clara! There now, don't make her talk! Nothing worse for the voice than +talking. Come and sit down." + +May was, indeed, scarcely allowed to exchange greetings with her friend, +who whispered smilingly, "We'll have our chat by-and-by." + +Then Mr. Simpson struck up the first chords of the symphony, and there +was breathless silence. He had not played three bars, however, before +Miss Piper jumped up and ran to the piano. + +"Oh, I beg pardon, Mr. Simpson, for offering a suggestion to so sound a +musician as yourself, but _don't_ you think a little more stress might +be laid on that chord of the diminished seventh? It prepares the way, +you see, for the pleading tone of the composition. _Le-da_, +_de-da_--like that! Oh, thank you! _Quite_ my meaning. Please go on." + +But Mr. Simpson did not proceed far without receiving another +"suggestion." + +"A little more force and fulness, don't you think, in that resolution of +the discord? I should like a richer effect." + +"I don't know how to make it richer," rasped out Mr. Simpson. "It is the +simple common chord, just four notes--C, E, G, C. I sounded 'em all. I +can play the bass as an octave, if you think _that_'ll be any richer." + +"Oh, thank you! Yes, I really think it will. You see 'Esther' was scored +for full orchestra, and the composer's ear hankers after the +instrumental effects. But that octave in the bass is a _great_ +improvement. Many thanks!" + +And in this fashion the symphony was at length got through. + +Then Clara uplifted her pure, clear voice, and sang. May listened in +delight. Surely Miss Polly must be enchanted! Even Mr. Simpson's hard +visage relaxed, as the thrilling notes rose in sweet pathetic pleading. +When they ceased, he wheeled round on the music-stool, and exclaimed +with the most unwonted fervour, "It's the loveliest soprano voice I've +heard since your great namesake, Clara Novello. Some of your notes +remind me of her altogether. Not that I expect to hear anything _quite_ +like her 'Let the Bright Seraphim,' on this side of paradise." + +May turned to Miss Piper. But, to her astonishment, Miss Piper's face +did not express unmingled delight. There was some slight and indefinable +shade on it. + +"Well, I do think that is most beautiful," said May. + +"Do you, my dear? Do you really?" + +"Why, how is it possible to think otherwise, Miss Piper? No one could, +surely!" + +"Well, it is very kind of you to say so, my dear; and, to be frank, it +shows a power of appreciation not quite common at your age. Of course it +would be affectation on my part, at this time of day, and with my +reputation behind me, to say I am surprised. But I am gratified, very +much gratified. And don't you think Miss Bertram did _her_ part +delightfully?" + +May looked at her blankly, unable to say a word in reply. Fortunately, +no reply was needed, for Miss Piper bustled up to Clara and thanked her, +and praised her. But still her manner fell decidedly short of its usual +cordial heartiness. At length, with many apologies and flowery speeches, +she begged that the air might be repeated, if Clara were sure it would +not tire her; and, this being at once conceded, she asked, hesitatingly, +"And would you mind if I offered a little suggestion? Just a hint!" + +"Certainly not, dear Miss Piper! I will do my best to carry out your +idea." + +"Oh, that is so sweet of you! Thank you a thousand times! If Mr. Simpson +will kindly oblige us once more----? Now, you see, it is just here, on +that G in alt, where the voice rises on the words, 'Grant, oh, grant me +my petition!' The sound 'grant,' according to my original conception, +should be given with a sort of wail--not, of course, an unmusical sound, +but just with a tinge of sadness expressive of the then miserable and +depressed condition of the Jewish nation, and at the same time with a +tone--an _underlying_ tone, as it were--conveying the latent hope (which +really was in Queen Esther's mind all along, you know) that by her +efforts brighter days might yet be in store for them. You feel what I +mean?" + +"I will try my best," answered Clara gently. And then she sang the air +again--precisely as she had sung it before. + +"_Now_," cried Miss Piper, jumping up and clapping her hands in an +ecstasy of triumph, "it is _perfect_--absolutely perfect!" + +She poured out unstinted thanks and compliments to both singer and +accompanist, observing to the latter that this recalled the great days +of the public performance of "Esther," and that she considered Miss +Bertram's rendering of "Hear, O King," far superior to that of the +well-known vocalist who had sung it originally. "But then, you see, +_she_ could not, or would not, take a hint. Consequently--although, of +course, she sang the notes perfectly--she never fully mastered my +conception. Now a word has been enough to show Miss Bertram the inner +meaning of my music; and she interprets it in the most _exquisite_ +manner." + +Before going away May contrived to have a few words with Clara Bertram +in her room. + +"It is such a pleasure to hear you sing again," said May. "How I wish +Granny could hear you!" + +"Will not your grandmother be here to-morrow evening?" + +"Oh no," answered May, colouring. "She does not go out to parties. +Granny does not belong to the class of the ladies and gentlemen who come +here. Her husband was a tradesman in this town. But she is the finest +creature in the world. And she has more real dignity than any one I +know." + +"Your grandmother lives here? But then--how is it--your mother is not a +foreigner?" + +"A foreigner? Good gracious! No. My mother was Miss Susan Dobbs. She +died years ago, when I was a little child. Why do you ask?" + +"Oh, nothing. I fancied--Valli said something about having known Madame +Cheffington abroad." + +"That was possible. My parents lived abroad for years. My father is on +the Continent now. I and the two little brothers before me were born in +Belgium." + +"Oh! I suppose that must be it," said Clara slowly. "Valli talks at +random sometimes." + +"Signor Valli talks very much at random if he ever said my mother was a +foreigner. By the way, do you know he is to be here to-morrow evening?" + +"Yes; so I hear." + +"You do not hear it with rapture, apparently." + +"No; I do not like him very much." + +"He likes _you_ very much, if appearances may be trusted," said May +laughingly. + +"He is always making love to me after his fashion. That is why I do not +like him." + +Clara spoke gravely, but with her habitual serenity. There was something +in her manner which seemed to be akin to her voice; something clear, but +not cold: a crystal with the sun in it. + +"Oh, that is hideous, isn't it?" cried May, with eager fellow-feeling. +"When people want to marry you, and you shudder at the bare idea of +marrying _them_." + +"I don't think Valli wants to marry me," answered Clara calmly. "Indeed, +I believe he feels a great deal of hostility towards me at times. He is +never satisfied unless his pupils will, more or less, flirt with him--a +kind of philandering which I object to. Besides, it wastes one's time. +But he has been spoiled more than you would believe by fashionable +ladies. I suppose you never read much of George Sands' writings?" + +"No," answered May, opening great eyes of wonder. + +"Nor I, except 'Consuelo,' and the sequel to it. I read them for the +musical part, which is wonderfully good. Well, in the 'Comtesse de +Rudolstadt' there is a certain Monsieur de Poelnitz, of whom it is said +that _en qualité d'ex-roué il n'aimait pas les filles vertueuses_. It +always seems to me that Valli, in his quality of philanderer, dislikes +women who won't flirt, whether he wants to flirt with them himself or +not." + +"How odious! How despicable!" + +"And yet he has his good qualities. He is very faithful and generous to +his family, and sends a great part of his earnings to them in their +little Sicilian village." + +Then, seeing that May still looked very much shocked and astonished, +Clara added, in a lighter tone, "But let us talk of something more +pleasant. You were speaking of your grandmamma. If you think she would +like it, I should be so glad to go and sing to her at her own home." + +"Like it! Of course she would like it! And I scarcely know how to thank +you as you ought to be thanked, for fear of sounding like Miss Piper!" + +Clara smiled. "Miss Piper and her sister are both very kind to me," she +said. + +"Yes; but I wish Miss Polly wasn't so ridiculous. Of course, her music +is poor and silly. It is only your beautiful singing that makes it sound +well. But then you could make 'Baa, baa, blacksheep,' sound well! And +then to hear the outrageous, conceited nonsense she talks----! I wonder +that you can endure it so meekly. _I_ couldn't!" answered May, with the +trenchant intolerance of her eighteen years. + +"Oh yes, you could, under the circumstances. I am only too glad to give +the kind old lady any pleasure. And she is _not_ so outrageously +conceited--for an amateur. But now I fear I must turn you out, much as I +should like you to stay; for Miss Piper sent me upstairs to lie down; +and if she finds I am not doing so, I shall have to drink another cupful +of Miss Patty's excellent beef-tea, which is so strong, it makes me feel +quite tipsy!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +On the following evening Garnet Lodge wore a brilliantly festive +appearance. Miss Polly was dressed betimes. An unprecedented variety of +geological specimens adorned her wrists and fingers, and hung over the +bosom of her lavender satin gown. She was walking up and down the +drawing-room, surveying the rows of empty rout-seats, fully +three-quarters of an hour before the earliest guest could be expected to +arrive. She was strung up for the great occasion; but, although excited, +she was not apprehensive. Miss Patty, on the other hand, was very +nervous. + +"I _am_ a little anxious about the jellies, Polly; and about that new +waiter from Winnick's. But I could face all that, if it wasn't for +'Hear, O King!' To think of hearing it again after all these years! I'm +afraid it will upset me. I'll take a back place near the door for I'm +sure to cry; and then I can slip out if necessary." + +"You need not be ashamed of your tears, my dear Patty. Very probably you +will not be the only person powerfully affected." + +"Well, I don't know. I don't remember that anybody cried when 'Esther' +was brought out at Mercers' Hall," returned Miss Patty thoughtfully. + +The first persons to arrive were Mr. and Mrs. Simpson. Amelia was +resplendent in a new pink silk gown, which seemed to magnify her florid +proportions, and made her a conspicuous object from every part of the +room. She was beaming with delight; and her gratification at finding +herself in Garnet Lodge under the present circumstances was so frankly +and exuberantly expressed, as to cause some mortification to her +husband. + +"This is, indeed, a memorable evening, dear Misses Piper," she began; +for Patty had by this time joined her sister in the drawing-room. "I was +telling Bassy that he ought to feel himself honoured by being selected +to officiate--if I may so express it--at the pianoforte on this +extremely interesting and auspicious occasion." + +"The honour is to me, Mrs. Simpson," answered Polly Piper politely. + +"There!" turning suddenly round with such vehemence as to sweep down a +rout-seat with her pink silk skirts. "What did I tell you, Bassy? +Whatever may be the opinion of certain persons enriched by +manufactures--and yet, after all, what should we do without +manufactures? How many of us would be capable of dealing with the raw +material? Blankets, for instance: take a sheep! But still I always say +to Bassy, 'Believe me, the _real_ gentry acknowledge and revere the +position of the Fine Arts!'" + +"Now, Amelia; hadn't you better mind what you're doing?" said Mr. +Simpson, setting the fallen rout-seat on its legs again. She irritated +him occasionally, but he admired her smart gown very much nevertheless, +and thought she looked remarkably well in it, and "quite the lady." + +Other guests arriving now claimed the hostess's attention. And presently +Clara Bertram, in her simple black evening dress, came into the room. +Then appeared Mrs. Martin Bransby on the arm of her stepson, and bearing +excuses from her husband, who was not feeling well enough to come out +that evening. Her appearance called forth ejaculations of admiration +from Mrs. Simpson, which, however exaggerated they might sound, were +quite sincere. Mrs. Simpson gave utterance to a kind of prose rhapsody +on the subject of Mrs. Bransby's dress; and then, bowing graciously to +Theodore, said, "And Mr. Bransby Junior, too. When I had the pleasure of +unexpectedly, and, indeed, fortuitously, meeting him the other evening +at the house of a mutual friend, I remarked that he was paying Miss +Piper a high compliment in abandoning Thetis" (the good lady probably +meant Themis) "for the seductions of Apollo. But we are told, on the +poet's authority, that 'music hath charms to soothe the savage----' Not, +of course, that the epithet is applicable in _this_ case. Quite the +contrary." Then, turning her glistening spectacles on the young man, she +playfully added, "But, in addition to the magic of the lyre, we have +what Hamlet--if I mistake not--so eloquently characterizes as 'metal +more attractive:' a collection of youth and beauty which might really, +without hyperbole, be termed a bevy." + +"That is an intolerable woman," muttered Theodore between his teeth, as +he conducted his step-mother to a seat. + +"Oh, poor Simmy!" remonstrated Mrs. Bransby. "She is a good creature. +But to-night she is in what Bobby and Billy call one of her 'dictionary +moods.'" + +Rapidly the room filled up. Besides many other Oldchester notabilities +with whom this chronicle is not concerned, there were present Major +Mitton, Canon and Mrs. Hadlow (the latter bringing May under her wing), +Owen Rivers, who came alone, Dr. Hatch, and Mr. Bragg. + +Mr. Bragg, after paying his respects to the ladies of the house, and +standing for a few minutes in his silent, forlorn-looking way, went up +to May, and said, "Will you come and have a cup of tea, Miss +Cheffington? They say hot tea cools you. That seems strange, don't it? +But I believe it's true. Rule of contraries, I suppose." + +May did not wish for any tea; but she saw Theodore Bransby hovering in +the distance, and she accepted Mr. Bragg's proffered arm almost eagerly. +She rather liked Mr. Bragg. His slow, quiet, common-sensible manner was +soothing. And she knew enough of his unostentatious good works in +Oldchester to have a considerable esteem for him. + +He piloted May into the dining-room, where tea and coffee were being +served, and where the new waiter from Winnick's was, so far, conducting +himself in an exemplary manner. + +"Have one of those little cakes, Miss Cheffington? They look very good." + +"No, thank you." + +Mr. Bragg provided May with a cup of tea, and then took one of the +little cakes himself. "They eat uncommonly short," said he with strong, +though quiet, approbation. "All the eatables seem good." + +"Not a doubt of it. Miss Patty is a wonderful housekeeper." + +"Now, do you suppose she made those little cakes herself?" + +"I cannot tell; but I am sure she could if she chose. She makes +excellent cakes." + +"Ah! I remember her giving me some very good ideas about a beefsteak +pudding. I tried to make my cook do one according to her receipt; but it +didn't answer," said Mr. Bragg with a sigh. Presently he remarked, as he +slowly stirred his tea round and round, "This is a bad job about Mr. +George Cheffington." + +"Yes; I am very sorry for Lord Castlecombe." + +"Ah, your uncle--or great-uncle is he?--I'm not much of a hand at +remembering the ins and outs of families--is hard hit. But he bears up +wonderfully, to outward appearance." + +"Have you seen him, Mr. Bragg?" + +"Yes; saw him o' Monday about some business. He's a keen hand at a +bargain, is Lord Castlecombe. I don't know that I ever met with a +keener." + +"Poor old man!" + +"Ay, that's what _I_ say, Miss Cheffington. Keenness and all that is +very well, so long as you've got somebody to be keen for. But it's a +dreary thing to be alone in advancing years. I feel it myself, though +I'm--well, I dare say nigh upon twenty years younger than his Lordship." + +There was a little pause, during which Mr. Bragg sipped his tea and ate +another cake. Then he repeated, "It's a dreary thing to be alone." + +"Are you alone, Mr. Bragg?" asked May, feeling that she was expected to +say something. "I thought you had sons and daughters." + +"Only one son, and he's away in South America--settled in Buenos Ayres +years ago. He's a rich man already, is Joshua. I started him well, +though I hadn't so much money in those days as I have now, not by a +deal, and he's done well. And he married a lady with money--a Spanish +merchant's daughter. No; there's no likelihood of Josh coming home to +England to keep me company, even supposing I wanted him to." + +Then ensued another pause. Then Mr. Bragg said, "I'm to have the +pleasure of meeting you at Glengowrie this autumn, I understand." + +"No; I have decided not to go. I have written to Mrs. Griffin to say +so." + +"Oh! What--on account of this death in your family?" + +"No, I cannot say that. It would be mere pretence. I never saw George +Cheffington in my life; and he was not a very close relation." Mr. Bragg +nodded approvingly. "That's a straightforward way of looking at it," he +said. "But I'm disappointed you ain't to be at Glengowrie." + +"Thank you. But my absence will not make much difference, I should say." + +"I don't know. It might make a deal of difference," returned Mr. Bragg, +speaking even more slowly than was his wont. "But where _shall_ you be +then?" + +"Where I like best to be; here, with Granny." + +"Granny?" + +"My grandmother, Mrs. Dobbs. You must know her by name, at all events, +for you are her tenant." + +"What! old Dobbs the ironmonger's widow?--begging your pardon." + +May drew herself up with a proud movement of the head, which might have +satisfied even the deceased dowager that there was a strong strain of +the Cheffington nature in her. "There is nothing to beg pardon for, Mr. +Bragg," she said haughtily. "You cannot suppose that I am ashamed of my +grandparents." + +"You've no call to be ashamed of them; but people don't always see +things in the right light," answered Mr. Bragg composedly. "Yes; to be +sure, now I come to think of it, Mrs. Dobbs's daughter did marry--Ah! Of +course, Susan Dobbs was your mother! I never knew her to speak to; but I +remember her. Uncommonly pretty she was, too. Why I might ha' +known--But, you see, your aunt, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, never mentioned your +mother's family." + +At this moment Owen Rivers approached them. He said he had been sent by +Mrs. Bransby to look for May; and, thereupon, carried her off to the +drawing-room. Mr. Bragg remained behind, pondering for a minute or so. +"To think of this girl being Lord Castlecombe's grand-niece _and_ old +Dobbs's grand-daughter! Well, things do turn out queer in this world!" +Then Mr. Bragg also repaired to the drawing-room. + +The musical portion of the evening went off brilliantly. But the great +success was undoubtedly Clara Bertram's performance of "Hear, O King!" +She sang poor Polly Piper's bald and _jejeune_ phrases in a way which +made such of the elder auditors as remembered its first performance ask +themselves, wonderingly, if this were indeed the music they had listened +to long ago. And she concluded with a _cadenza_, so expressive and +beautiful that Mr. Simpson, raptly listening, very nearly omitted to +play the final chords. + +When the song was over, there was a burst of applause, and an unusually +loud clapping together of kid-gloved palms. But, from the doorway, where +he had stood to listen, Valli precipitated himself through the crowd +like some swift missile; clearing his way, utterly regardless of +intervening backs and shoulders, male or female, and rushing up to Miss +Bertram, he exclaimed, "_Divinamente!_" + +"I am glad you are content," she answered in English. + +But Valli went on volubly in his own tongue, "Content? No; 'content' is +not the word. I am enchanted. You sang divinely! Demon of a girl, never +in all your life did you sing a song of _mine_ like that! What possessed +you?" + +"Gratitude," answered Clara quietly. + +Miss Piper now came up and kissed her effusively. Composer and singer +were soon surrounded by a little crowd, to whose polite exclamations of +"Charming!" "Immense treat!" "Really delicious!" and so forth, Miss +Polly kept replying, with lofty magnanimity, "Oh, but you must not +attribute all the honour to _me_! I assure you that more depends upon +the execution than you are, perhaps, aware of." + +This first triumph had a subtle effect on Mr. Cleveland Turner. He was +moved by it to play a dashing _valse de concert_ in place of a +composition of his own, modelled on a great original, which he entitled +"Twilight in the Gardens of Walhalla." It had been much praised in +esoteric circles. But it was somewhat trying to the unregenerate ear; so +much so, that a profane and flippant outsider had rechristened it +"Feeding Time in the Gardens of the Royal Zoological Society." Mr. +Sweeting afterwards mildly reproached his young friend for not having +performed it, and thus doing something towards improving and elevating +the taste of Oldchester. + +"It's no answer, my dear boy, to say they wouldn't have liked it," said +Mr. Sweeting. "No answer at all!" + +But it is to be feared that Cleveland Turner had some depraved enjoyment +of the applause which resulted from his lapse into heresy. + +Signor Valli, determined not to be eclipsed in popularity, and utterly +indifferent to the improvement of Oldchester's musical taste, made +himself unprecedentedly amiable. He sang vivacious Neapolitan street +songs, quaint Tuscan _stornelli_, pathetic Sicilian airs. And these +tuneful productions were greatly relished by that vast majority of the +listeners, who had not progressed so far as to connect ugliness with +righteousness--in music. + +When Valli at length rose from the piano, Mrs. Simpson made a sudden +plunge across the room, and presented herself breathlessly before him. +He was in a group of persons, among whom were Mr. Sweeting, Cleveland +Turner, and Miss Piper. Amelia's round, plump face was flushed by heat +and excitement to a rose-pink hue, several shades deeper than that of +her gown; and her spectacles glittered with a blank and baffling +brightness. + +"I cannot," she said, "quit this elegant scene of the Muses without +offering my poor tribute to you, Signor" (which she pronounced +"senior"), "for the delightful addition your performances have +contributed to refined enjoyment." + +Valli looked up rather bewildered, and, not knowing what else to do, +made her a profound bow. + +"I trust," continued the lady, "that I may be allowed to congratulate +you, signor, in the harmonious words of our great poet, upon your +'linked sweetness, long drawn out'--not, I'm sure, that any one present +considered for a moment that you were drawing it out at all _too_ long!" +And with a sweeping curtsey, in the performance of which she overwhelmed +Mr. Sweeting's legs in a flood of pink silk skirt, and backed heavily on +to Mr. Cleveland Turner's toes, Amelia withdrew, beaming. + +At supper Valli was in high good humour. He had been presented to Mrs. +Bransby, and was gratified to find himself placed beside her at the +supper-table, she being incontestably the most beautiful woman in the +room. Major Mitton sat near them, and pleased Valli by praises of his +singing--a pleasure not at all diminished by his quick perception that +the good major had no knowledge whatever of the subject. + +"It's a real treat, I assure you," said Major Mitton, "to hear a toon. I +don't pretend to be a great connoisseur, but I can enjoy a toon. Ah, +they may say what they please, but there's no music like Italian music, +and nobody can sing it like Italians." + +This led to some reminiscences of the major's garrison life in Malta; +and to the mention of the _prima donna_ Bianca Moretti. Mrs. Bransby +recognized this name as that of the heroine of Miss Piper's story, told +at her dinner-party several months ago. + +"Oh, you have heard the Moretti?" said Valli. "Yes; she _could_ sing. By +the way, I hear she is a kind of _marâtre_--how do you call it?--to that +pretty Miss Cheffington." + +"Miss Cheffington? Oh, impossible!" + +"Pardon! Not at all impossible! I mean the young lady opposite, at the +other end of the table, sitting between those two young men. I know one +of them--the one with the blonde smooth head. I meet him in society. He +is tremendously annoying--_nojoso_--what you call a bore." + +"That is Miss Cheffington, certainly. But you don't mean to say that +Signora Moretti has married her father?" + +"Oh, married!" answered Valli, with a shrug. "She has been living with +him for years; that is what I mean. I hear _la Bianca_ has grown steady +now. But she had a _jeunesse pas mal orageuse_." + +Major Mitton tried to change the subject, glancing uneasily at Mrs. +Bransby. But Valli was impervious to the hint. Not that he had any +intention of outraging the proprieties, or any suspicion that he was +doing so. Mrs. Bransby was not a _jeune meess_. He had heard of English +cant and hypocrisy long before he came to England. But he had been +agreeably surprised to find them conspicuous by their absence in the +section of London fashionable society which he chiefly frequented. So he +went on narrating anecdotes of _la Bianca_ and her adventures, until +Mrs. Bransby rose, and quietly left the table. Upon this, Major Mitton +and several other men drew closer to Valli. And the consequence was +that, not only the mess-table, but other circles in Oldchester, were +regaled the next day with some choice morsels of scandal, in which the +name of Gus Cheffington figured conspicuously. + +But whatever might be the subsequent results of that talk, Miss Piper's +musical party had undoubtedly turned out a great success. + +That night, when the sisters were alone together, they sat up for an +hour discussing the events of the evening in a glow of pleasurable +excitement. Every point was remembered and dwelt upon, but of course +their interest centred in the song from "Esther." + +"It was a real triumph, Polly," said Miss Patty. "There can't be two +opinions about that. But--there, I thought I wouldn't tell you; but I +can't help it--I overheard Signor Valli and that Cleveland Turner, whom +I never did like, and never shall, speaking of 'Hear, O King,' in a +sneering, slighting manner." + +Quoth Miss Polly with a lofty smile, and laying her hand on her sister's +shoulder, "My dear Patty, I am not at all surprised to hear it. I have +experience of artists, if anybody has, and in the best of them I have +always observed one defect in judging my music--professional jealousy!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The day after the party at Garnet Lodge Mrs. Dobbs was surprised by the +announcement from her old servant, Martha, that Mr. Bragg was at the +gate, and would be glad to speak with her if she was at liberty. + +"Quite at liberty, Martha, and very happy to see Mr. Bragg. Now what can +_he_ want?" said Mrs. Dobbs to the faithful Jo Weatherhead, who was in +his usual place by the hearth. + +"Something about the house in Friar's Row?" suggested Jo. + +"Ah! I suppose so. Though I don't know what there can be to say. +However, it's no use guessing. It's like staring at the outside of a +letter instead of reading it. He'll speak for himself." + +Meanwhile Mr. Bragg had alighted from the plain brougham which had +brought him from his country house; and, walking up the garden path, and +in at the open door, presented himself in the little parlour. + +"I hope you'll excuse my calling, Mrs. Dobbs. You and me have met years +ago." + +"No excuse needed, Mr. Bragg. I remember you very well. This is my +brother-in-law, Mr. Weatherhead. Please to sit down." + +Mr. Bragg sat down; and he and his hostess looked at each other for a +moment attentively. + +Mr. Bragg was a large, solidly built man, with an impression on his face +of perplexity and resolution subtly mingled together. It is a look which +may be often seen on the countenance of an intelligent workman, whose +employment brings him into conflict with physical phenomena--at once so +docile and so intractable; so simply and so eternally mysterious. The +expression had long survived the days of Mr. Bragg's personal struggle +with facts of a metallic nature. In his present position, as a man of +large wealth and influence, he had to deal chiefly with the more complex +phenomena of humanity, and very seldom found it so trustworthy in the +manipulation as the iron and lead and tin and steel of his younger days. + +Mrs. Dobbs marked the changes wrought by time and circumstances in +Joshua Bragg. She remembered him--he had even been temporarily in her +husband's employment, at one time--in a well-worn suit of working +clothes, and with chronically black finger-nails. She saw him now, +dressed with quiet good taste (for he left that matter to his London +tailor), with irreproachably clean hands--on which, however, toil had +left ineffaceable traces--and a massive watch chain worth half a year's +earnings of his former days. + +"You're very little changed in the main, Mr. Bragg. And the years +haven't been hard on you," said Mrs. Dobbs, summing up the result of her +observations. + +"No; I believe I don't feel the burthen of years much; not bodily, that +is. In the mind, I think I do. You see, I've come to a time of life when +a man can't keep putting off his own comfort and happiness to the day +after to-morrow. Which," added Mr. Bragg thoughtfully, "is exactly where +young folks have the pull, I think." + +"That's queer, too, Mr. Bragg!" remarked Jo Weatherhead. "Putting off +your own comfort and happiness seems a poor way to enjoy yourself, sir." + +"Ah, but what you only _mean_ to do, always comes up to your +expectations; and what you _do_ do, doesn't!" rejoined Mr. Bragg, with a +slow, emphatic nod of the head. + +"Well, but as to 'feeling the burthen of years,' that's putting it too +strong," said Mrs. Dobbs. "You have no right to feel that burthen yet +awhile. Why, you must be--let me see!--under fifty-three." + +"Fifty-three last birthday." + +"Ay; I wasn't far out. Lord, that's no age! I might be your mother, Mr. +Bragg." + +"I'm glad to hear you say so!--I mean, I'm glad you don't think me too +old--not quite an old fellow, in short." + +"No; to be sure not!" + +Mr. Bragg was silent for fully a minute. Then he said, "Well, whether +I'm quite an old fellow or not, I'm too old to trust much to the day +after to-morrow. So, if not inconvenient to you, Mrs. Dobbs, I should +like to say a few words to you about a matter that has been on my mind +for some little time." + +"Certainly, Mr. Bragg. I'm quite at your service." + +Mr. Bragg looked slowly round the little parlour; looked out of the +window at the tiny garden; looked at Mr. Weatherhead; finally looked at +Mrs. Dobbs again, and said, "It's a private matter." + +"I had better go, Sarah," said Jo. "I shall look round again at +tea-time;" and he made a show of rising from his chair, very slowly and +reluctantly. + +"Oh, perhaps you've no call to go away, Jo. I have no business secrets +from my brother-in-law, Mr. Bragg. He is my oldest and best friend in +the world." + +Mr. Bragg rubbed his chin slowly with his hand, and answered with a +certain embarrassment, but quite straightforwardly, "It's a matter +private to _me_." + +After this Jo Weatherhead had nothing for it but to take his departure, +and to endeavour to calm the fever of his curiosity with tobacco. + +Mrs. Dobbs remained alone with her visitor, wondering more and more what +could be the subject of his proposed communication. Her thoughts, in +connection with Mr. Bragg, persistently hovered about the house in +Friar's Row. But his first words scattered them in widespread confusion. + +"Your grand-daughter, Miss Cheffington, tells me that she is not going +to Glengowrie Castle this autumn, Mrs. Dobbs." + +"Why--no--I believe not," answered Mrs. Dobbs, looking at him curiously. + +"In that case I don't think I shall go there myself. I'm no sportsman. I +always feel lonely in a house full of strangers. And, besides--I was +invited partic'larly to meet Miss Cheffington." + +Mrs. Dobbs preserved her outward composure; but something seemed to +whirl and spin in her brain; and, although she kept her eyes fixed on +Mr. Bragg, she saw neither him nor anything else in the room for several +seconds. + +"I was asked through Mrs. Griffin. You may have heard speak of her?" + +Mrs. Dobbs made an affirmative movement of the head. She could not have +articulated a word at that moment to save her life. + +"Mrs. Griffin is a well-meaning lady. But she's a lady who now and then +gets out of her depth, along of not--what you might call minding her own +business. But she always means to be kind. And the best of us make +mistakes." + +"Ah, that we do!" assented Mrs. Dobbs huskily. + +"Well, Mrs. Griffin is always telling me that my money--'a princely +fortune' she calls it: but it's a good deal more than _that_, by what I +can hear about princes--lays me under an obligation to marry again." + +At the words "princely fortune" Mrs. Dobbs winced, and a deep red flush +came into her face; but she answered quietly, "Wealth has its +responsibilities, of course, Mr. Bragg." + +"Yes, it has; and its troubles. But when all's said and done, it's +pleasanter to be rich than poor. I've tried both." + +"No doubt. Only--one may pay too dear even for being rich." + +"Well, I should be sorry for any lady I married to consider that she +paid too dear for being rich." + +"Oh, I meant no offence, Mr. Bragg." + +"There's nothing you may not pay too dear for, I suppose; except a quiet +conscience. You may pay too dear for a wife. And there's two sides to +every"--he was about to say "bargain," but he substituted the word +"arrangement." + +Mrs. Dobbs had taken up her knitting, and was twisting and pulling it +with her fingers in a restless, nervous way. When Mr. Bragg made a +pause, and looked at her, she said, "Of course, that's quite true." + +He went on, "I make bold to hope, Mrs. Dobbs, that you'll give me credit +in what I'm going to say, for having some serious reason, and not +talking idly, out of pride and vanity; in short, for not being what you +might call a fool." + +"Yes, I will, Mr. Bragg." + +"Thank ye. On that understanding I may say, between ourselves, that Mrs. +Griffin has mentioned to me several quarters where I shouldn't meet with +a refusal in case I went to look for a wife. I couldn't have supposed it +myself--at least, not to the extent it really does run to. But the fact +has been brought to my knowledge, so that there's no possibility of +making any mistake about it. More than one young lady--some of 'em +titled, too," said Mr. Bragg, with an odd glimmer of complacency +flitting for a moment like a will-o'-the-wisp above the solid _terra +firma_ of his native good sense. "More than one, and more than two, have +been what you might call trotted out for me." + +Mrs. Dobbs's fingers twitched and pulled at the wool on her +knitting-needles, and the muscles round her mouth seemed to tighten. But +she said not a word. + +Mr. Bragg continued, "Now, perhaps you think I have no business to take +up your time with all this, when it's no concern of yours?" + +Still Mrs. Dobbs did not speak; so he added-- + +"But it does concern you in a way." + +She made a visible effort to say, quietly, "Ah, indeed! How's that?" + +But this time she was perfectly sure beforehand of what he was going to +say. + +"I'm coming to that in one moment." Here Mr. Bragg paused, took out his +handkerchief, and passed it over his face before proceeding. "I +mentioned that Mrs. Griffin sometimes gets out of her depth (with the +best of intentions) when minding other people's business. She got a +little out of her depth when attending to mine. She somehow took it for +granted that I should be quite content to marry any lady of high family, +who would look handsome in my diamonds and spend my money in the +fashionablest style. She was consequently a good deal taken aback when I +offered some objections to one or two parties of her recommendation. But +I managed to make her understand at last. Said I, 'Mrs. Griffin, I don't +undervalue the honour; but I'm too old to wear a tight shoe for the sake +of appearances.' The fact was, I did not feel myself what you might call +_drawn_ towards any of these young ladies. I couldn't fancy them sitting +opposite to me at my own fireside with a kind look on their faces. Now, +the reason I say all this to you," continued Mr. Bragg, laying his +massive hand on the elbow of Mrs. Dobbs's chair, "is because there is a +young lady that I _do_ feel drawn towards--a young lady I've had +opportunities of observing at home and abroad. And it was talking of +this young lady that I said one day to Mrs. Griffin, 'Now, if you could +find some one like Miss May Cheffington who'd condescend to have me, I +should think myself a very fortunate man.' She quite jumped at the +idea." + +"Jumped, indeed!" burst out Mrs. Dobbs, indignantly. "Then she took a +most unwarrantable liberty. She could know nothing about Miss May +Cheffington's feeling in the matter. What business had _she_ to jump?" + +"Nay, nay, my good lady! My good lady! You don't understand. She jumped +at the idea on _my_ account. Why, Lord bless me, you couldn't +suppose----! She told me at once that May Cheffington was the +purest-minded and most unworldly girl she ever knew. I remember her very +words; for I couldn't help thinking at the time how queer it was that +Mrs. Griffin should admire unworldliness so much." + +There was a long pause. Mrs. Dobbs was greatly moved from her usual +self-possession. She could not trust herself to speak, while Mr. Bragg +was surprised, and somewhat offended, by her reception of what he had to +say. + +He had really, all things considered, very little purse pride. But he +had been accustomed for many years to be dumbly conscious of the power +of his wealth, as an elephant is dumbly conscious of the power of his +weight; and for a few moments he felt as the elephant might feel if he +were subjected to the mysterious process which we hear of as +"levitation," and suddenly found himself brushed aside like a fly. Mr. +Bragg did not wish to bear down his fellow-creatures unduly by force of +wealth. But wealth had come to be a large factor in his social specific +gravity. + +After a while, Mrs. Dobbs said tremulously, and by no means graciously, +"Well, I don't see what I can do for you in the matter." + +"I am not asking you to do anything for me, Mrs. Dobbs. I was not aware +till last night that you were any relation to Miss Cheffington, or, +leastways, I had forgotten it, for I believe I did hear of your +daughter's marriage years ago. When I became aware of it, I thought you +would take it as a mark of respect and goodwill if I came and spoke to +you confidentially. But you don't appear to see it in that light." + +Mrs. Dobbs turned round and offered him her hand, saying, "I ask your +pardon if I have said anything to offend you. You don't deserve it; you +are very far from deserving it. But I'm shaken; my nerve isn't what it +was. I haven't been so upset since my poor dear daughter Susy ran away +and got married." She was trembling, and her restless fingers were +making sad work with the knitting. + +"Well, well, there's no occasion for you to put yourself about, you +know. I should like you to tell me just this--under the circumstances I +think there's no objection to my putting the question--is there anybody +else in the field before me?" + +"N-no; I think not. I can't say." + +"If the young lady has no other attachment," said Mr. Bragg, in his +slow, pondering way, "I don't see why I should not be able to make her +happy. What do _you_ think?" + +"You're a deal older than the child: there's a great disparity, Joshua!" +answered Mrs. Dobbs, reverting, in her agitation, to the familiar form +in which she had addressed him thirty years back. + +"So there is, but that can't be helped; we must just reckon with it as +so much alloy. There wouldn't be much romance--couldn't be; but a vast +number of people get on very well without romance, and are useful and +happy. I have some reason to believe," added Mr. Bragg, looking at her a +little askance--for there was no knowing whether this fiery old woman +might not take offence again--"that certain members of Miss C.'s family +would approve." + +Mrs. Dobbs answered with unexpected meekness. "There's no need to tell +me _that_. And you mustn't suppose, Mr. Bragg, that I don't +appreciate--that I don't know how the world in general would look upon +your offer." + +"Why, you see, it doesn't amount exactly to an offer. I thought I would +talk matters over with you, and, what you might call, put the case. You +see," said Mr. Bragg, placing the forefinger of his right hand upon the +thumb of his left, "for my part I could undertake that any lady who did +me the honour to marry me should have steady kindness and respect. I +wouldn't marry a woman I didn't respect, not if she was the handsomest +one in the world and a duke's daughter. Then," placing his two +forefingers together, "I ain't a bad temper, nor a jealous temper. +Lastly," here he shifted the forefinger of his right hand to the middle +finger of his left, "though I don't want to lay too much stress upon +money, yet it's a fact that my wife, and, in the course of nature, my +widow, would be a very rich woman." + +"I suppose you know," said Mrs. Dobbs, leaning her forehead on her hand, +and letting the knitting slide from her knees to the floor, "that May's +father is alive?" + +"Yes; I do know it. And I've got something to say to you on that score. +And I'm sure you will agree with me that it is very desirable for Miss +C. to have protection and guidance. I'm not speaking for myself now, you +understand. Her aunt, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, is a very genteel lady, with +very high connections. But--quite between ourselves, you know--I +wouldn't give much for her headpiece." + +Mrs. Dobbs was looking at him eagerly, and scarcely allowed him to +finish his sentence before she said, "But you have something to say +about Captain Cheffington?" + +"Well, perhaps you know it. If you don't, you ought to. He has been +travelling about for years with an Italian opera-singer. She is with him +now in Brussels. And people say he has married her." + +Mrs. Dobbs clasped her hands together, and ejaculated, almost in a +whisper, "Oh, my poor child!" + +Mr. Bragg could not tell whether she were thinking of her daughter, or +her grand-daughter. Perhaps the images of both were in her mind. + +"You had not heard of it, then? Ah! It's a bad prospect for Miss C." + +"But is it true? So many stories get about. It seems incredible to me +that Augustus, so selfish as he is, should have bound himself in that +way." + +"I hear it confirmed on all hands. It's an old story now, and pretty +widely known. But, look at it which way you will, it's an ugly, +disreputable kind of business, Mrs. Dobbs." + +She was silent for a while, sitting with her head sunk on her breast, +and her hands clasped before her. Then she said, almost as if speaking +to herself, "God knows! The woman _may_ not be bad or wicked. How are we +to judge?" + +Mr. Bragg drew his hand away from the elbow of Mrs. Dobbs's chair, where +it had been resting, and said, in a tone of solemn disapprobation, "I +don't think there can be much doubt as to the character of the--person, +Mrs. Dobbs. I understand she became so notorious in Brussels through +keeping a gaming-house, or something of that kind, as to call for the +interference of the police." + +"May I ask how this information reached you?" said Mrs. Dobbs, turning +round and looking full at him. + +Mr. Bragg hesitated for a few moments before answering. "It has come to +me from various quarters; but the latest is an Italian singer, who has +been chattering a good deal. He was at Miss Piper's. There's always a +certain amount of risk in having public performers in your house. I +don't encourage 'em myself--never did from a boy; and I think it a pity +that Miss Piper does. Her sister and me are quite agreed on that point." +Mr. Bragg here pushed back his chair and stood up. "I should wish you to +understand," he said, "that I should have thought it my duty to tell you +this, feeling the interest I do in Miss C., quite independent of our +previous conversation." + +"I understand. Thank you." + +"With regard to that conversation, you can, if you think it advisable, +what you might call _sound_ your grand-daughter. I think that might +avoid disagreeables for both parties. It can't be pleasant for a +sensitive young lady to refuse an offer. And I don't mind saying that it +would be extremely unpleasant to me to _be_ refused. A man of my age +and--well, I may say my position, don't like to look ridic'lous. Of +course you don't care much for _my_ feelings: can't be expected to; but +I think, on reflection, you'll see that by coming to you first in this +way, I've also done the best I could to spare the feelings of Miss C." + +With that Mr. Bragg shook hands with his hostess, and, quietly letting +himself out of the house, walked to his brougham, and was driven away to +the office in Friar's Row. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +To one so habitually resolute, sagacious, and self-reliant as Mrs. +Dobbs, the shock of discovering that she has been living under a +delusion is severe. It is not merely mortifying--it is alarming. After +her conversation with Mr. Bragg, Mrs. Dobbs felt like a person who, +walking along what seems to be like a solid path, suddenly finds his +foot sink into a quagmire. The firmer and bolder the tread, the greater +the danger. + +She had not been conscious, until the disenchantment came, how much hope +and pride she had lavished on the image conjured up in her fancy by +Pauline's "gentleman of princely fortune." The image had been vague, it +is true, but brilliant. All that she knew of Mrs. Dormer-Smith's pride +of birth, her contemptuous rejection of young Bransby's suit, the +importance she attached to introducing her niece into the "best set," +and so forth, served to strengthen Mrs. Dobbs in all kinds of delusions. +She had taken it for granted that the sort of person whom Pauline could +approve of as May's husband must possess certain qualifications. She no +more thought, for instance, of doubting that he would be a gentleman, +than that he would be a white man. The "princely fortune" added +something chivalrous to the idea of him in her mind, since he was ready +to share it with portionless May. And now these airy visions had been +rolled aside like glittering clouds; and the solid, prosaic, ugly fact +presented itself in the form of Joshua Bragg! + +Mrs. Dobbs sat for more than an hour after he had left her, with bowed +head and hands clasped, scarcely stirring. For a while she could not +order her thoughts. Her mind was confused. Images came and went without +her will. Under all was a bitter sense of disappointment, and a vague +disquietude for the future. At first she had dismissed the notion of +May's marrying Mr. Bragg, as one too preposterous to be entertained for +a moment; but by degrees she began to ask herself whether she might not +be as mistaken here as she had been in other undoubting judgments. Mr. +Bragg was a man of probity, and--or so she had hitherto thought him--of +excellent sense. Oldchester held many substantial proofs of his +benevolence. Could it be possible that girlish May was willing to think +of this man for a husband? Mrs. Dobbs tried to look at the matter +judicially. + +There were many instances of happy marriages where the disparity in +years was as great as in this case. Who could be happier than Martin +Bransby and his beautiful young wife? But this example had not the +effect of reconciling Mrs. Dobbs to the possibility of May's accepting +the great tin-tack maker. Martin Bransby was a man whom any woman might +love--well educated, clever, genial, of a handsome presence, and with +manners of fine old-fashioned courtesy. There could be no comparison +between Martin Bransby and Joshua Bragg. + +No, no, no! Such a match would be a mere coarse bargain. The very +thought of it was an outrage to May. And yet--the pendulum of her +thoughts swinging suddenly in the opposite direction--she remembered +that neither Mrs. Dormer-Smith nor Mrs. Griffin had so considered it. +And was it not true what Mr. Bragg had said--that many people did very +well without romance, and were useful and happy? Self-distrust, once +aroused, became wild and uncontrollable. She fought against her better +instincts; telling herself that she was a fool, and that the world was +no place for story-book sentimentality. If May married this man she +would be safe from the gusts of fortune; she would be honoured and +caressed (for it was clear that society accepted Mr. Bragg without qualm +or question), and she would have boundless possibilities of doing good. +_This_, surely, at all events, was a worthy aim! + +At this point--just as after a conflict between winds and waves there +sometimes comes a sudden calm and the serenity of sunshine--the turmoil +of her mind was stilled all at once, and she saw clearly. She lifted up +her head and said aloud-- + +"'What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose +his own soul?' Lord, forgive me! I was arguing on the devil's side every +bit as much as that poor creature, Mrs. Dormer-Smith. And without her +excuse of knowing no better! The whole thing is plain enough. If May +could bring herself to care for the man--and such unlikely things happen +in _that_ line that one daren't say it's downright impossible!--she'd do +right to marry him; if not, she'd do wrong. And that's all about it." + +Here, at least, was a firm foothold. And having struggled out of the +quagmire, Mrs. Dobbs was able to consider the other subject of Mr. +Bragg's talk with her--the rumour that Captain Cheffington had married +again. If it were true, and, above all, if his new wife were such a one +as Mr. Bragg had described, there was a new source of anxiety as to +May's future. + +As she was meditating on this point, Jo Weatherhead returned, eager to +hear all about her interview with Bragg, and to impart to her something +he had just heard himself. Mrs. Dobbs was glad to be able to feed Jo's +hungry curiosity by telling him the reports about her son-in-law, since +she could not betray Mr. Bragg's confidence respecting May. She found +that he had been hearing a version of them from Mr. Simpson, whom he had +met in the road. Valli's utterances at Miss Piper's supper-table had +already revived all kinds of obsolete gossip about Captain Cheffington. + +"It'll be terrible for my poor lamb if half the bad things they say are +true," said Mrs. Dobbs, shaking her head. + +Jo's private opinion was that Captain Cheffington's conduct under any +given circumstances was pretty sure to be the worst possible; but he +tried to comfort his old friend, as he had succeeded in comforting +himself, by setting forth that her father's behaviour, be it what it +might, could scarcely affect May's happiness very deeply, seeing that +she had been entirely separated from him for so long. + +"And as to her position in the world, that you think so much of"--Mrs. +Dobbs winced at this, and turned her head away--"why, I shrewdly +suspect, Sarah, that a deal worse things than ever reached you and me +have been known about Captain Cheffington in aristocratic circles this +long time back. And yet Miranda has been received among the tip-toppest +people as if she belonged to 'em. And there's her own great-uncle, the +Lord Viscount Castlecombe of Combe Park, a nobleman notorious for his +heighth" (Jo did not mean his stature), "has quite taken to her, by all +accounts." + +After some consultation, they agreed together that it would be well for +Mrs. Dobbs to tell her grand-daughter something of the reports which +were flying about, lest they might reach her accidentally, or, in a +still more painful way, through malice, and find her unprepared. +Moreover, Jo urged his old friend to write boldly to Augustus demanding +an answer as to the truth of the statement that he had married a second +wife. Mrs. Dobbs at length consented to do so, although she had little +hope of eliciting the truth by those means. But Jo was strongly of +opinion that if Captain Cheffington were not married he would be +desirous, for many reasons, of repudiating the statement; and if he were +married he might not be displeased at this opportunity of saying so, +although pride, or indolence, or a hundred other motives, might prevent +him from making the opportunity for himself. + +The communication was made to May when she came home from College Quad +that afternoon. And, although greatly surprised at first, it did not +produce so much effect as her grandmother had anticipated. + +May had enough of the healthy, unquestioning veneration of a child for +its parent to take her father on trust; and Mrs. Dobbs had always been +careful not to lower Captain Cheffington in his daughter's esteem. But +May did not--naturally could not--feel for him any of that strong +personal attachment which is apt to look jealously on interlopers. She +regarded him with a somewhat hazy affection, largely compounded of +imagination and dim childish traditions. Some added tenderness sprang, +perhaps, from the notion that "poor papa" had been unfortunate, and that +the world had treated him below his deserts. + +After the first surprise was over, she said, "But why should he keep it +secret? Wouldn't he have told you, granny?" + +"Perhaps not, May; I hear from him very seldom, as you know." + +"Very seldom! Yes; but in such a case as this! Perhaps, though, papa +thought it might hurt your feelings, on account of mamma." + +"Perhaps," returned Mrs. Dobbs drily. + +"People are unreasonably sensitive sometimes, are they not? As for me, +it never entered into my head to think of my father's marrying again; +but now I do think of it, it seems to me that it would be a very good +thing." + +"Its goodness or badness would depend, of course, on--circumstances." + +"I do really think more and more that it would be a good thing, granny. +Papa must have many lonely hours, you know. He likes Continental life +best, to be sure; but still he is far away from his own country and his +own people. It seems almost selfish in us not to have thought of it +_for_ him. Oh, I hope she is a nice, kind woman, who will be good to him +and take care of him. I think I ought to write at once and assure him +that I have no grudge in my heart about it. And I'm sure you have none +either; have you, granny dear?" + +Mrs. Dobbs found it at once more painful and more difficult than she had +foreseen to breathe degrading suspicions into this frank, pure mind. But +it was necessary not to allow May to cherish what might prove to be +disastrous illusions. + +"It isn't all such plain sailing, May," she answered slowly. "I will +write to your father, and you had better wait for his reply. We don't +know that he is married at all. And if he is, we don't know that there's +much to be glad about. They do say that the lady is not a fit match for +your father." + +"_He_ is the best judge of that, I should think," returned May. Then she +added, her young face flushing with a generous impulse, "I dare say +people may have said the same of my own dear mother." + +"No, May. No one ever said of your own dear mother what is said of this +woman." + +There was a sternness in her grandmother's voice and face which startled +the girl. + +"What do they say, granny?" she asked quickly. + +Mrs. Dobbs checked herself. "Oh, I cannot tell you exactly. There are +lots of stories about. Some will have it that--her character is not +quite blameless." + +"_Who_ dares to say so of my father's wife?" + +"Hush! May. There's no need to call her your father's wife yet. Signor +Valli says the person in question----" + +"Signor Valli? Then I don't believe a word of it. Not one word. I know +he talks wildly, and jumps at things. Why, he told Clara Bertram that my +mother was a foreigner, and that he had met her. So you see how accurate +and trustworthy Signor Valli is." Then, after a moment, as if struck by +a sudden thought, she asked, "Is--_she_ a foreigner?" + +"I believe so." + +"Then that is what he meant, I suppose." + +"It's right to tell you, May, that Signor Valli is not the only one who +has heard disagreeable things." + +"Oh, of course, they all baa' one after the other! You have no idea, +granny, what foolish back-biting talk goes on among the people whom Aunt +Pauline calls 'society.' I've seen them roll a morsel of gossip over and +over, while it kept growing all the time like a snow-ball--or a +mud-ball. And no doubt many people whom Aunt Pauline doesn't call +'society' are as bad. A sheep is a sheep, whichever side of the hedge it +is on," said this young censor with fine scorn. + +Mrs. Dobbs in her heart did not put implicit faith in the stories which +reached her. The young and the old--when they are sound-hearted--are +both prone to disbelieve slander--the young from innocence, the old from +experience; for there is no lesson more surely taught by life than the +evil lightness with which evil is attributed. + +But with regard to these particular stories, unwelcome corroboration was +given to Mrs. Dobbs by Clara Bertram. Clara carried out her proposal of +going to sing at Jessamine Cottage. She went there one afternoon when +May was absent at the Hadlows', and introduced herself. There were only +Mrs. Dobbs and Mr. Weatherhead to listen to her; but she sat down at the +old square piano--feebly tinkling now, but tinkling always in tune, like +the conscientious ghost of a defunct instrument--and sang her best. Her +audience, though limited, was highly appreciative; and she soon found +that their applause was not given ignorantly. + +Apart from the charm of her singing, Clara won their sympathies by her +kindly, unaffected simplicity. She inspired trustfulness. One must have +been blindly false one's self to doubt her truth. Mrs. Dobbs was moved +to question her a little about Valli. + +"Of course, you have heard this gossip about May's father?" she said. + +"Yes. To say the truth, I almost hoped you might speak on this subject; +and so I purposely came when I thought May would not be here. I hinted +to her something that Valli had said to me; but I saw she knew nothing." + +"I have told her. At least I have told her enough to prevent her being +taken by surprise." + +"I am glad of that. I think you have done very wisely." + +"This Signor Valli, now," said Mrs. Dobbs musingly. "I suppose he tells +lies sometimes, eh?" + +Clara reflected for a moment before she answered. "In one way--yes. That +is to say, if he hated you, and saw you give a penny to a beggar, he +would impute some nefarious motive for the action, and say so without +scruple; but I don't believe he would be likely to invent +circumstances." + +Then she went on to tell how Miss Polly Piper remembered a dreadful +story about some gambling transactions; and how Major Mitton had +furbished up his Maltese reminiscences; and how everybody found +something to say, and not one good thing among them all. + +Jo Weatherhead listened with a kind of dread enjoyment. So much curious +gossip _could_ not but be interesting; yet he wished with all his heart, +for May's sake, that it were not true. + +"I speak openly to you," said Clara; "but I am reticent about all this +with other people. Pray believe that." + +Mrs. Dobbs did believe it. Clara seemed to have become intimate with +them all at once. + +"May I come again?" asked the young singer as she took her leave. + +"May you come! _Will_ you come? I didn't ask you, because, when a person +generously gives me one pearl of price, it is not my way to snatch at +the whole string. Your time is precious; your voice is precious." + +"Dear Mrs. Dobbs, your kindness is precious. Not that I am ungrateful +for the kindness bestowed on me by--other people; but there is such a +delightful feeling of homeliness here. And then, although you have +praised me too much, I must say that you and Mr. Weatherhead are good +judges of music." + +"Well, I won't go so far as to deny that you _might_ strew your pearls +before certain animals who would value them less," replied Mrs. Dobbs. + +As for Jo Weatherhead, he became so enthusiastic in Miss Bertram's +praises behind her back, that Mrs. Dobbs laughingly declared he was in +love with her. And perhaps he was, a little. Many more such humble +innocent "loves" spring up and die around us every day than we reck of. +They do not ripen into fruit, but simply blossom like the wayside +flowers; and the world is all the sweeter for them. + +When May came home that evening, she was delighted to hear of the +favourable impression her friend had made; although she declared it was +shabby of Clara to have come in her absence. May brought the news from +College Quad that Constance had written home for a prolonged leave of +absence, having been invited by the duchess to accompany Mrs. Griffin to +Glengowrie. + +"Canon Hadlow grumbles a little," said May; "but he will let her go. And +I am so glad; I hated the idea of going; but Conny will enjoy it, and +everybody else will soon find out that she is the right girl in the +right place--which, I am sure, I should not have been." + +"Mr. Bragg is not going to Glengowrie either, I understand," said Mrs. +Dobbs, growing very red, and coughing to hide her embarrassment. + +"No; Mr. Bragg and I are quite agreed in not liking that sort of thing. +He says he feels lonely in a strange house; and so do I. If the duke and +duchess were my _friends_, it would be different." + +"Mr. Bragg has a good deal of sense, I think." + +"Plenty of common sense." + +"And--ahem!--and good feeling--don't you think?" + +"What's the matter with your throat, granny? Shall I get you a glass of +water?--Oh yes; he does a great deal of good with his wealth. Canon +Hadlow was saying only this afternoon that Mr. Bragg gives away very +large sums in private, besides the public subscriptions, where every one +sees his name." + +"Mr. Bragg was here the other day to speak to me--on business--No, no; I +don't want any water! Sit still, child. And I think you are a great +favourite of his." + +"It's quite mutual, granny. Often and often, in London, I used to prefer +a quiet talk with Mr. Bragg to the foolish chatter of smart people." + +"Ay, ay! But 'smart people' need not be foolish, May." + +"N--no; they _need_ not. Only so many of them--especially the young +men--seem to think it part of their smartness to put on a kind of +foolishness." + +Mrs. Dobbs looked wistfully at her grand-daughter. In that process of +"sounding" May, which Mr. Bragg had recommended, and which Mrs. Dobbs +was endeavouring to carry out, there arose this difficulty: the chords +gave forth a full response to every touch; but who should interpret the +meaning of the notes? Mrs. Dobbs had been accustomed to read May's +feelings by swift intuition. She was now afraid to trust to that. Her +interview with Mr. Bragg had upset so many of her preconceived ideas as +to what could be considered probable, or even possible, in the matter of +her grandchild's marriage, that her judgment seemed paralyzed. And then +to risk a mistake which should involve May's life-long unhappiness, +would be too tremendous a responsibility! + +Measured by Mrs. Dobbs's unquiet thoughts it seemed a long time, but in +reality less than a minute elapsed between May's last words and her +saying-- + +"Talking of smart people, granny, don't you think Aunt Pauline is sure +to know the truth about papa?" + +"I cannot tell. There might be reasons why she should not have heard it, +May." + +"Well, at all events, I have been thinking that I will write to her and +ask. If she does know, and is keeping her knowledge back from me for any +reason--some of Aunt Pauline's mysterious dancing before deaf people, +you know--that will make her speak out." + +"I don't see why you should not write to her, if you choose, May." + +Mrs. Dobbs had little doubt that Mrs. Dormer-Smith would be annoyed and +perturbed by May's writing to her on the subject, whether the story of +the marriage were true or false, and whether she herself had or had not +heard of it. But Mrs. Dobbs was in no mood to shield Pauline from +annoyance or perturbation. + +"She and her 'gentleman of princely fortune,' indeed!" said Mrs. Dobbs +to herself. "Why couldn't she say old Joshua Bragg? and then one would +have known where one was." + +So it was settled that May should write to her aunt. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Theodore Bransby at first indignantly repudiated Valli's scandals about +Captain Cheffington. He was quite unprepared for them, having, it may be +remembered, heard nothing of Miss Piper's story, told at the +dinner-party in his father's house; and having, moreover, loftily +snubbed every one in Oldchester who ventured to hint anything to the +disparagement of his distinguished friend. What could Oldchester know +about such persons as the Cheffingtons? + +But general testimony and public opinion were too strong for him, and he +was forced to give up his distinguished friend. He fell back on +mysterious hints of sympathy and intimacy with "the family," and +allusions to what "poor dear Lucius" had said to him on the last +occasion of their dining together at Mrs. Dormer-Smith's. + +In his heart, Theodore was deeply annoyed. He considered that Captain +Cheffington (supposing report to speak truly) had not only derogated +from his proper place in the world, but had, in some sense, personally +injured him (Theodore) by forming a connection so far beneath him. +Nevertheless, it was very possible that Captain Cheffington might some +day come to be Viscount Castlecombe, and much would be forgiven to a +wealthy peer of the realm. Theodore was conscious that he himself could +forgive much to such a one. He was not prone to indulge in idle fancies, +yet he caught himself once or twice writing on a corner of his +blotting-pad the words "Hon. Mrs. Theodore Bransby," with pensive +sentiment. But let her father's fate and fortunes be what they might, +Theodore felt that he must still desire to marry May Cheffington. The +recognition of this feeling in himself gave him an agreeable sense of +his own elevation of soul. That fellow Rivers talked a vast deal of +flashy nonsense, which dazzled people; but it was possible to take a +serious and sensible view of life without being commonplace. Theodore +did not by any means wish to be, or to be thought, commonplace. + +He had just been called to the Bar, and ought by this time to have begun +his professional career on the Midland Circuit. But he lingered in +Oldchester on the plea of delicate health. It was not so much the +presence of May Cheffington as that of Owen Rivers which chained him +there. If Rivers would but have left Oldchester, Theodore would have +turned his back on it also with small reluctance. The dull, vague +jealousy of Rivers, which he began to feel long ago, had become acute. +Rivers would have been a distasteful personage to him under any +circumstances; but viewed as a rival, he inspired something like +loathing. And yet the desire to watch him--not to lose sight of him so +long as May should be in Oldchester--was irresistible. Theodore had +never come so near quarrelling with his step-mother as on the subject of +Owen Rivers; but he had failed in causing the latter to be excluded, or +even coldly received, by Mrs. Bransby. + +There was a painful scene one day at luncheon, when Martin, Mrs. +Bransby's eldest boy, vehemently took up the cudgels in defence of his +absent friend, Owen, of whom Theodore had been speaking with sneering +contempt. Martin was ordered away from the table for being impertinent +to his half-brother. But general sympathy was with the culprit; and Mr. +Bransby said when the boy had left the room-- + +"Of course, it would not do to allow Martin to be saucy; but you are too +hard upon Rivers, Theodore. He may have his faults; but, if he be idle, +he is not self-indulgent. Rivers has a Spartan disdain of personal +luxuries; and although he doesn't work, no one suffers by that but +himself. He is incapable of a mean thought, has a most noble +truthfulness of nature, and is a gentleman to the core." + +Theodore turned deadly white, and answered, "I am sorry not to be able +to agree with you, sir. To be a lounging hanger-on, as Rivers is at the +Hadlows', is not compatible with my conception of a gentleman." + +He rose as he spoke, and left the room, so as to cut off any possibility +of a reply. + +Mrs. Bransby had sat by with downcast eyes, parted lips, and beating +heart. She was divided between delight at hearing her husband assert his +own opinion against Theodore and her constitutional timidity and dread +of a quarrel. When Theodore was gone, she put her hand on her husband's +shoulder, and said-- + +"It is like you, dear Martin, to stand up for the absent. We are +all--the children and I--so fond of young Rivers." + +"I hate priggishness, and I hate spitefulness," rejoined Martin Bransby, +with a sparkle in his fine dark eyes. + +The old man's face had flushed when he uttered his protest. It was an +unusual outburst; for of late--whether from failing health, or from +whatever cause--Mr. Bransby had more and more shrunk from opposing or +contradicting Theodore. He seemed almost timidly anxious to conciliate +him; and was evidently distressed by any symptom of ill-will between his +eldest son and the rest of the family. After a while the flush died from +his cheek, and the fire from his eye. He sat with bowed head, softly +caressing the white jewelled hand which had slidden down from his +shoulder. Presently he said-- + +"Don't let us cherish feuds, or blow up resentment, Loui. If there are +subjects on which Theodore thinks differently from you--and me; and me, +too, my dear--let us avoid them. He has his good points, though he has +weak ones--as we all have. Let us spare them. Theodore may be very +helpful to the boys when I am gone. And I have it very much at heart +that there should be peace and goodwill between them." + +In Theodore's mind, however, the little incident rankled. He was silent +about it. But that was no indication that he had either forgiven or +forgotten it. + +He was also annoyed and disappointed at seeing May Cheffington so seldom +during this sojourn at home. He had formerly met her constantly at +College Quad; but he could not now frequent Canon Hadlow's house as he +had done in old days, even had he wished it. And although it appeared +that Mrs. Bransby had struck up a great friendship with May during his +absence, May's visits to her were very brief and rare. Theodore half +suspected that his step-mother perversely stinted her invitations to the +girl, for the express purpose of vexing him, and at length he plainly +asked her how it was that Miss Cheffington came to their house so +seldom. Mrs. Bransby was tempted to give him her real opinion as to the +reason, but she refrained. She would not vex Martin by saying sharp +things to his son. So she answered vaguely that Miss Cheffington now +passed a good deal of her time at Garnet Lodge with her friend, Clara +Bertram. + +"Excuse me," said Theodore, tilting his chair, and looking down as from +the summit of Mont Blanc upon his step-mother. "The Dormer-Smiths were +very kind to that little Bertram girl in town, and Mrs. Dormer-Smith +launched her in some of the best houses; but--pardon me for setting you +right--she is not quite on such a footing as to be a _friend_ of Miss +Cheffington's." + +However, he acted on the hint accidentally given, and began to honour +the Miss Pipers with frequent visits. + +The good-natured old maids received him very kindly; but it may be +doubted whether he were particularly welcome to any of the persons who +had taken the habit of dropping in nearly every evening at Garnet Lodge. + +Major Mitton and Dr. Hatch were old _habitués_; but the circle now +included some new ones. Mr. Bragg was often there. (Theodore considered +it a striking proof of the incurable commonness of Mr. Bragg's +tastes--already illustrated, to Theodore's apprehension, by a memorable +instance--that he, to whom some of the best county society was +accessible, and who had even been invited to Glengowrie, should prefer +the middle-class sitting-room, and the middle-class gossip of Polly and +Patty Piper.) There was, too, the inevitable Owen Rivers, and +occasionally Mr. Sweeting and Cleveland Turner would drive over from the +country-house which the former had hired in the neighbourhood. Miss +Bertram's visit was prolonged; in Theodore's opinion very unduly. It +might be all very well to invite her for professional purposes; but, +once the musical party was over, it was absurd to keep the girl as a +visitor in the house. Altogether, there was much that Theodore +disapproved of at Garnet Lodge; but, as he told himself, he went there +for a purpose totally disconnected with its owners. And if he did some +violence to his social principles by condescending to frequent such an +undistinguished and _bourgeois_ set of people, he was resolved to make +amends by totally dropping their acquaintance in the, not distant, +future. + +As to May, although he genuinely believed that the Dormer-Smiths had +influenced her against him, he was not so foolish as to think that she +had been coerced, or that she was at all in love with him. Nevertheless, +a vast deal might depend on the influence of those around her, in the +case of a girl so young, so fresh-hearted, and so inexperienced. He had +faith in his own perseverance and constancy. The main point--the only +vital point--was to prevent any rival from succeeding. So long as May +were free he had good hope. It was quite certain that the Cheffington +family would never sanction her marrying Owen Rivers. _That_ must be +taken as absolutely sure. And, indeed, Miss Cheffington herself would +probably scout the idea. But with regard to what Rivers hoped and +intended Theodore could not be mistaken. There, at least, he was +clear-sighted. It was disgraceful on the part of a fellow like Rivers, +subsisting in idleness on a beggarly pittance, and without prospects for +the future, or advantages in the present, to aspire to such a girl as +May Cheffington. Of course, Rivers knew very well that it would prove a +good speculation. May might prove to be the sole heiress of a rich +nobleman. At any rate, she would certainly inherit her grandmother's +money. Mrs. Dobbs's savings, however paltry, would be a sufficient bait +for Rivers, who had none of that ambition for fine tailoring, +upholstery, and the paraphernalia of fashionable life which becomes a +gentleman. Jealousy apart, perhaps that which made Owen peculiarly +offensive to him was to see a man at once so poor, so contented, and so +free from any misgivings as to his right to be generally respected. + +On his side, it must be owned that Owen wasted no cordiality on +Theodore. To see May speaking civilly to that correctly dressed and +dignified young man caused Mr. Rivers a certain irritation which +occasionally manifested itself in the most unreasonable ill-humour +towards her. + +"I really believe you _like_ his empty arrogance," he said to her once. +"Why else you should sit and listen to him with that complacent air, I +cannot conceive." + +"Oh, I enjoy it of all things," answered May mischievously; "otherwise I +should, of course, cut him short by remarking, in a loud voice, and with +a ferocious glare, 'Mr. Bransby, I look upon you as a tedious prig.' How +delightful social intercourse would become if we had all reached that +fine point of sincerity!" + +But there were other causes of dislike between the young men unconnected +with May Cheffington. Owen felt not only admiration, but regard, for +Mrs. Bransby, and resented her stepson's demeanour towards her, while +Theodore was embittered by hearing Owen's praises in his own family. + +The perception of this lurking enmity between them made May anxious to +smoothe asperities and prevent a rupture. In her heart, although she +admitted he had done nothing to startle or offend her of late, she +intensely disliked Theodore Bransby; yet she found herself in a position +of taking his part against Owen. Owen was too absolute, too inflexible, +too implacable, she said. After all, Theodore had always conducted +himself irreproachably. He might not be agreeable to _them_ (May had +innocently come to join herself with Owen in this kind of partnership in +sentiment), but probably _they_ were not always agreeable to other +people; they ought to be tolerant if they wished to be tolerated--and +the like sage reflections. All which pretty lectures, though they made +Owen no whit less obdurate towards Theodore, melted his heart into ever +softer tenderness for May. + +She had not gone to Glengowrie. The reprieve he had allowed himself, +after which she was to depart, and he must steel himself to endure her +absence for, probably, the remainder of his life, had expired. But May +was still there. And there, too, was he. He was free to go away at any +moment. But he lingered. He began to suffer sharp pangs of regret when +he thought of the lost opportunities which lay behind him; for now +sometimes it seemed to him as if this sweet, pure girl might come to +love him. And what had he to offer her? How could he ask her to share +such a life as his? Owen had held certain uncompromising theories: such +as that a woman who hesitated to partake poverty with the man she +professed to love was not worth winning; and that a man must be but a +poor creature who should weigh a woman's fortune against himself, and +fear to woo a well-dowered girl lest he might be thought to love her +money bags and not her. And he had long ago decided that with _his_ +marriage, at least (supposing that unlikely event ever took place), +considerations of money should have nothing to do on either side. But +theories--even true theories--are apt to find themselves a little out of +breath when suddenly confronted with the fact. + +The advice so vigorously given by Mrs. Dobbs to do some honest work, if +it were but breaking stones upon the road, took a new significance when +he thought of May. That on this point May agreed with her grandmother's +view he had ascertained, although a shy consciousness restrained her +from urging him to change his course of life. He began to cast about in +his mind for some possible employment; but he found, as so many others +had found before him, how difficult it is to turn "general acquirements" +into a definite channel. + +A chance word of Mr. Bragg's at length suddenly suggested a hope to him. + +Mr. Bragg mentioned one evening at Garnet Lodge that he purposed making +a journey into Spain, partly on matters connected with his son's +business; and said that he should like to find some trustworthy person +to accompany him as secretary and interpreter. + +"I don't speak any foreign language myself," said Mr. Bragg. "Of course, +there's always somebody that knows English; and pounds sterling are a +pretty universal language, I find, and make themselves understood +everywhere. But still, you're at a disadvantage with people who can talk +your tongue while you can't talk theirs." + +"But you could send somebody, couldn't you?" suggested Miss Patty. +"Spain, I've heard, is such a horrid country." + +"Horrid!" cried Major Mitton indignantly. (He was strong in +recollections of sundry youthful escapades and excursions from "Gib.") +"Most delightful country! Most picturesque, poetical, and----" + +"Oh yes; but I meant the cooking," explained Miss Patty. + +Mr. Bragg, however, valorously declared himself ready to face the perils +of Spanish cookery. His son was not satisfied with his correspondent at +Barcelona. Mr. Bragg wanted change of air; and since he had given up the +idea of visiting the Highlands this autumn, he would take this +opportunity of seeing foreign parts, and at the same time looking into +matters at Barcelona for his son. + +Owen's heart beat fast as the thought occurred to him of offering +himself to Mr. Bragg as secretary for this journey. He hurried after Mr. +Bragg when the latter's carriage was announced, and stopped him in the +hall to ask when and where he could have a private interview with him. +Mr. Bragg answered in his slow, ruminating way, as he took his coat from +the servant-- + +"An interview with me? Oh, well, why not come over to lunch? My house +ain't beyond a pleasant walk for your young legs." + +"No, thank you; I won't come to luncheon. But I want an appointment--I +shall not take up much of your time--on business." + +"Oh, on business, is it?" said Mr. Bragg. It was curious to note how +evidently the sound of the word made him bring his mind to bear on what +was said to him, with a new and keener attention. "On business! It's +nothing you could write, I suppose." + +"Yes; I could write it. Shall I?" + +"I think it would be the best plan, if you don't mind. You see I find, +in a general way, that talk--what you might call, branches out so. Now a +letter limits a man. I don't mean this for your partic'lar case, you +know, but speaking in a general way. Perhaps, if we find afterwards that +there is anything to talk over, you might look me up at my office in +Friar's Row. It'll be easier to settle all that when I know what the +business is. Good night. My respects to your aunt." + +Owen hastened to his lodgings, and set himself at once to compose a +letter to Mr. Bragg. Seeing that it was then past eleven o'clock at +night, and that Mr. Bragg had set out for his country-house, it was +scarcely probable that he should have found a secretary between that +hour and the following morning. But Owen felt as if every moment's delay +might be fatal. Oldchester persons, who had seen him lounging on Canon +Hadlow's lawn, and merely knew him as a young man fond of smoking, and +reading, and such unprofitable employments, would have been amazed at +the impetuous energy he threw into the writing of this letter. But the +same weight of character which gives massiveness to repose adds a +formidable momentum to action. + +The main difficulty, he soon found, was to make his letter short. This, +after several failures, and the tearing up of three copies, he +accomplished to a fair extent, if not wholly to his own satisfaction. +When he had finished the letter, he put it into a cover, stamped and +addressed it, and went out to post it with his own hand. By that time it +was considerably past midnight. The letter could have been delivered by +hand in Friar's Row next morning, and would probably have reached Mr. +Bragg equally soon. But it was a relief to Owen in his restless, +impetuous mood to have done something irrevocable. And there are few +actions in life so obviously irrevocable as posting a letter. This is +what he had written-- + + "DEAR SIR, + + "I venture to offer myself for the post of your secretary + during the journey you propose making to Spain. + + "My qualifications are--Honesty; a fair knowledge of the + Spanish language; and considerable experience of travelling in + Spain, where I have made two long tours on foot. Perhaps I + ought to add to these good health, and willingness to be + useful. My disadvantages are--Ignorance of the forms of + mercantile correspondence, and inexperience of the duties of a + secretary. I believe I could learn both very quickly. + + "I have hitherto been a man without occupation. I am now + anxious to have one by which I can earn money. Should you, on + inquiry and consideration, think I could honestly earn some as + your secretary, I should be grateful if you would give me a + trial. + + "I am ready to wait on you at your office, or elsewhere, in + case you wish for an interview, and remain, + + "Dear Sir, + "Yours truly, + "OWEN RIVERS." + +The following afternoon Owen was summoned to see Mr. Bragg at his +office. The old house in Friar's Row had been painted and varnished +inside and out. Plate glass glittered in the window panes, and elaborate +brass handles shone on the doors. Owen had never been in the house +during the days of Mrs. Dobbs's occupation. But he knew that May had +spent much of her childhood there; and he looked round the private room +into which he was shown with a tender glance such as probably never +before rested on those mahogany office fittings, morocco-covered chairs, +and neatly ranged account-books. + +Mr. Bragg was sitting at a writing-table, and held out his hand without +rising, when Owen entered. + +"Sit down, Mr. Rivers," he said, pointing to a chair opposite to his +own, on the other side of the table. + +Owen sat down, and remained waiting in silence. + +"Well, so you think you'd like to go to Spain with me?" said Mr. Bragg, +slowly rubbing his chin, and looking thoughtfully at the young man. + +"I should like to get work to do, Mr. Bragg. I don't care much where it +is. But it struck me that I might be useful to you in Spain." + +"Ah! Well, I was surprised at your letter." + +"Nothing in it that you object to, I hope?" + +"Oh no. Oh dear, no. Only I didn't know you was in want of employment. +And I should have thought----" + +"Yes?" + +"I should have thought you'd ha' liked some more--what you might call +professional employment." + +"A man can't step into a profession from one day to another. And +besides, the professions are overstocked. There's no elbow-room in any +of them--especially for a poor man." + +"Ah! Yes; I hear that sort of thing is said a great deal; but it seems +to me that might be a reason for giving up living altogether. There's a +good many of us in all classes, one way and another; but a man has got +to _make_ room for himself." + +"You have a right to say so, Mr. Bragg, and I have no right to dispute +it: for you have tried and succeeded, and I have not even tried." + +"Ah! That seems a pity--with your education, and all. However, I didn't +intend to branch out, as I said to you last night. With regard to the +point in hand, I would just say at once that this situation would be +strictly tempor'y, you understand. It couldn't be looked on in the light +of what you might call an opening." + +"I understand." + +"At the same time it might--I don't say it would--lead _to_ an opening," +continued Mr. Bragg, indenting the paper before him by drawing his +thumb-nail along it with a strong, steady movement, as though he +mentally saw the opening in question, and were mapping out the way to +it. + +"I quite understand that if you engaged me as secretary for this +journey, you would not bind yourself to anything beyond. Whether +anything further came of it, or not, would depend, first, on my +suitableness; and next, on circumstances." + +"That's it," said Mr. Bragg, leaning back in his chair, and nodding +slowly. + +"Well, Mr. Bragg, I can only say I would do my best. As to my knowledge +of Spanish, I'm not afraid. I began to learn the language first for the +sake of reading Cervantes, as so many people have done before me; but +since then I have acquired a colloquial knowledge of it by talking with +all sorts of Spaniards when I was tramping about their country." + +"I _have_ heard," said Mr. Bragg, not displeased to show himself +acquainted with the literary aspect of the matter, "of a man that +learned Spanish in order to read a book called 'Don Quixote.'" + +"Just as I did." + +"Oh! _Did_ you? I thought you mentioned a different name. And can you +write it?" + +"Fairly well; but I should have to learn the commercial style." + +"There'd be more need, perhaps, for you to understand it than to write +it yourself. All communications with my son in Buenos Ayres could, of +course, be written in English." + +Mr. Bragg here made a long, thoughtful pause. It was so long a pause +that Owen at length broke it by saying with a smile, though the colour +rose to his brow-- + +"As to my character, I can't give you one from my last place, because I +never had a place; but my uncle, Canon Hadlow, will, I believe, +guarantee my trustworthiness." + +He felt a queer little shock when Mr. Bragg, instead of protesting +himself fully satisfied on that score, answered in a matter-of-fact +tone-- + +"Ah! yes, I dare say he will. I make no doubt but what that'll be all +right." Then, after a second, shorter pause, he continued, "There's one +point, Mr. Rivers, that I must put quite plain. I expect everybody in my +employment to obey orders. Now, you see, you, having been what you might +call brought up a gentleman, might not----" + +"Oh, I hope you don't think that insubordination is part of a +gentleman's bringing up?" + +"It hadn't ought to be; but it's best to be clear." + +"Clearly, then, I can undertake to obey your orders; and I would only +warn you to give them carefully, because I shall carry them out to the +letter. If you ordered me to make a bonfire of your bank-notes, I should +burn 'em all without mercy." + +Mr. Bragg laughed his quiet, inward laugh. There was something in the +conception of himself ordering bank-notes to be burned, which keenly +touched his not very lively sense of the ludicrous. + +"All right," said he. "I'll take _that_ risk." + +"Then am I to conclude--may I hope that you will engage me?" asked Owen, +with nervous eagerness. + +"Why, I shall ask leave to turn it over in my mind a little longer. But +I'll undertake not to keep you waiting beyond to-morrow morning. You +see, if I do make an offer, it's best you should have it in writing. And +sim'larly, if you accept it, I ought to have that in writing." + +"Thank you. Then I need not intrude longer on your time." + +"No intrusion at all, Mr. Rivers. Good morning to you." + +Owen turned round at the door, and coming back to the writing-table, +said, "May I ask you to keep my application to yourself for the +present?" + +"Certainly," answered Mr. Bragg. But he looked slightly surprised. + +"Of course, I don't mean the thing to be secret so far as I am +concerned." + +"Why, no; we couldn't hardly keep it secret," said Mr. Bragg gravely. + +"Of course not. But if your answer should be favourable, I should like +to be the first to tell--a--a person--the one or two persons who take +any interest in me." + +"But I shall have to say a word to your uncle; and that's pretty well +the same thing as saying it to your aunt, I take it." + +"Oh yes; to be sure. I didn't mean you not to mention it to _them_." + +"All right. I certainly shall not mention it to anybody else," returned +Mr. Bragg. + +And when the young man was gone, he said to himself, "I wonder who else +there is I _could_ mention it to that would care two straws one way or +the other. I like his way. He don't jaw like that young Bransby. And he +didn't try to soap me." + +The next day Owen Rivers was formally engaged as travelling secretary to +Mr. Bragg for three months, beginning from October, which was now near +at hand. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Mrs. Dobbs had judged rightly as to the effect of May's letter on her +Aunt Pauline. That sorely tried lady was overwhelmed at this time by +various troubles. She did not write to May, but addressed a very long +and somewhat rambling letter to Mrs. Dobbs. After the strongest +expressions of dismay and horror at the rumour of her brother's +marriage, Pauline proceeded-- + + "I really cannot answer May's letter--at all events, not at + present. I am deeply distressed that she should have addressed + me on the subject at all. It is such terribly bad form in a + girl of her age to appear cognisant of _anything_ not brought + to her knowledge by the proper channels. I had heard a vague + report of the connection--which was bad enough. But who could + have supposed that Augustus would have degraded himself to the + point of _marrying_ such a person! But I ought not to trouble + you with my feelings on this matter, for I am very sure you + cannot imagine one tithe of the various distressing results to + the family which will flow from it. It is much to be regretted + that May so precipitately decided not to go to Glengowrie; + particularly under recent untoward circumstances. I learn from + a friend in town that my cousin, Mr. Lucius Cheffington, is + much better. I do not mean, of course, that this is an untoward + circumstance; but it alters the position of affairs. I scarcely + know what I write. You may not be aware--few persons are + aware--of the delicate state of my nervous system. I suffer + keenly from any mental pressure. And of late I seem to have had + nothing else! My cure at this place has been sadly interfered + with by anxiety for others. But, really whether poor dear + Lucius recover or not, if this story from Belgium is true, my + niece's position will be a most painful one. From the tone of + her letter to me, I can see that she does not at all take in + the situation. You can tell her one thing from me: If my + brother were to succeed to the title to-morrow, he would have + nothing but what the entail gives him. So if she imagines + otherwise it would be well to undeceive her. You won't mind my + saying that in this respect the circumstances of my brother's + first marriage were peculiarly unfortunate, since they + prevented any settlement being made for the children." + +"Ay," said Mrs. Dobbs, interrupting her reading at this point, "not to +mention that by that time Augustus had nothing left to settle!" + +Then she resumed the letter-- + + "You and I, my dear Mrs. Dobbs, must join our forces in face of + these new and trying circumstances. The more I think of it the + more I regret that my niece has missed the opportunity of going + to Glengowrie, especially since I have learned that Mrs. + Griffin is going to chaperon another young lady in her stead. + In society it is fatal to drop out of sight--you are forgotten + immediately--and I cannot expect Mrs. Griffin to do more than + she has done. Indeed, both she and the dear duchess have been + extraordinarily kind--I fear May scarcely appreciates _how_ + kind; but the truth is that she is singularly--I scarcely know + what word to use--not dull, but indifferent on certain points. + There is an apathy about her sometimes which has caused her + uncle and myself a great deal of distress. But really she + _must_ rouse herself from it now. It is a great comfort to us + to know that you, my dear Mrs. Dobbs, take a sound view of my + niece's position, and have her best interests at heart. + + "Believe me, + + "Very truly yours, + + "P. DORMER-SMITH. + + "P.S.--I have _this moment_ received a letter from Miss Hadlow, + in which she mentions, amongst other items of news, that the + gentleman whom I wrote of as being interested in May has + declined his invitation to Glengowrie, and is now in + Oldchester! There appears to be something absolutely + providential in this. I know you have great influence over May. + Pray exert it to make her see what is right. I have never been + able to get her to look on her social position as involving + certain _duties_. But, indeed, in her case, the duty + immediately before her of obtaining a splendid settlement and a + fine position is an easy one. I have seen cases of real + _sacrifice_ to this social obligation endured without murmur. + Since they are both in Oldchester, it must surely be easy to + give the gentleman every opportunity of presenting his suit. + Indeed, there may be better opportunities than at Glengowrie. + The longer we live the more we realize how everything is + overruled for good. + + "P. D. S." + + "I reopen this to write an essential word:--The name of the + gentleman I have alluded to! You may form some conception of + the pressure on my brain from my having omitted to do so + before. He is a Mr. Bragg--a man of very large wealth, and + received everywhere. I know that my uncle has more than once + received him at Combe Park. And he would, I dare say, have got + some chaperon there, and had May down for a time; but, of + course, under the bereavement we have all just suffered in the + death of my cousin George, this cannot be at present. But there + surely must be, among the better families in Oldchester, some + whom Mr. Bragg visits? Possibly the bishop, if he is there; or, + perhaps the dean? I know Lady Mary slightly. Pray lose no time, + my dear Mrs. Dobbs, in ascertaining this." + +Mrs. Dobbs pondered long after reading this epistle. In May's absence +she often turned over in her mind the advantages of an alliance with Mr. +Bragg; remembered favourable precedents; and taught herself to think +that it might be. The sight of the girl's face, and the sound of her +voice, were apt to scatter these fancies as sunrise scatters the mists. +But they returned when May disappeared again, and haunted all the old +woman's lonely hours. + +One morning, after an evening spent at Garnet Lodge, when Mrs. Dobbs was +alone with her grandchild, and was meditating how she should approach +the subject chiefly in her thoughts, May unexpectedly began-- + +"Granny, do you know I have something to say that will surprise you." + +"Have you, May? Nothing ought to surprise me at seventy odd. But, +somehow, things do surprise me still." + +"Of course they do, granny! I think it is only blockheads who are never +astonished, because one thing is much the same to them as another." + +"Well, I'm glad I can prove myself no blockhead at such an easy rate. +What is your surprise about, May?" + +"It's about--Mr. Bragg." + +The colour came into May's cheeks as she looked up with a bright, shy +glance from her favourite low seat beside granny's knee. But it was +nothing to the deep, sudden flush which dyed Mrs. Dobbs's face. She +looked at her grandchild almost vacantly for a moment, and then grew +paler than before. But May did not observe all this. She sat smiling to +herself, with the colour varying in her face, as it so easily did on the +very slightest emotion, her hands clasped round her knees, and her +bright head bent down, as she continued-- + +"I have had my suspicions for some time past; but I said nothing until +last night. Then, when I went into Clara's room to put my hat on, I just +gave her a tiny hint; and she said very likely I was right, and did not +laugh at me a bit. But I dare say you will laugh at me, granny." + +"Let us hear, my lass," said Mrs. Dobbs, moistening her lips, which felt +parched. + +"Well--_I_ think that Mr. Bragg has a motive in coming so often to +Garnet Lodge." + +"I suppose he has." + +"Ah, but a very special motive--a _matrimonial_ motive. There, granny!" + +Mrs. Dobbs looked down with a singular expression at the shining brown +hair so near to her hand which rested on the elbow of her easy-chair. +But she did not caress it as she habitually did when within reach. She +sat quite still, and merely said-- + +"So you think it surprising that Mr. Bragg should have matrimonial +intentions, do you?" + +"Oh no. It isn't _that_. Mr. Bragg is a very kind-hearted man, and would +be sure to make a good husband. And, do you know, he is very far from +stupid, granny." + +"I dare say. Joshua Bragg always had his head screwed on the right way." + +"His manner is against him. Of course, he is uneducated; and rather +slow. But, after all, that doesn't matter so very much." + +"And he's rich," added Mrs. Dobbs in a dry tone. + +"Ever so rich! I am sure he must have heaps and heaps of money, or else +Aunt Pauline would not approve of him so highly." + +"And not quite decrepit." + +"Decrepit! What a word to use, granny! No; I should think not, indeed!" + +"H'm! Neither a brute, nor in his dotage; and immensely rich--I don't +know what a woman can wish for more!" said Mrs. Dobbs, with increasing +bitterness. + +"Why, granny!" exclaimed May, looking up. "I thought you rather liked +Mr. Bragg! I have always heard you speak well of him." + +The hand on the chair-arm clenched and unclenched itself nervously, as +Mrs. Dobbs answered in short, jerky sentences, and as though she were +forcing herself with an effort to utter them, "Oh, so I do. Joshua Bragg +is an honest kind of man. I've nothing against him. Don't think that, my +lass." + +"Well, granny, but now for the surprise. I wonder you have not guessed +it by this time. Who do you think is the lady?" + +"I can't guess. Tell it out, May, and have done with it." + +"To be sure there is not much choice. If it were not one, it _must_ be +the other! But I have made up my mind that Mr. Bragg and Miss Patty will +make a match of it! What do you say to _that_, granny?" + +Mrs. Dobbs said nothing; but gasped, and laid her head back on the +cushion of her chair. + +"I thought you would be surprised! But when one comes to think of it, it +seems very suitable, doesn't it? Mr. Bragg admires Miss Patty's cookery +above everything. And she is such a kind, charitable soul, she would do +worlds of good with riches. And they agree on so many points--even their +crotchets. And, do you know, Miss Patty would look ten years younger if +she would leave off that yellow wig. She has such nice soft grey hair +that she brushes back! I have settled that she is to leave off the wig +when she marries Mr. Bragg, and take to picturesque mob caps. I have +been arranging all sorts of things in my own mind. I'm quite coming out +in the character of a matchmaker, granny!" + +In the midst of her chatter the girl looked up, and uttered an +exclamation of dismay. Her grandmother's head still lay back against the +cushion of the chair; her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be +laughing to herself. But the tears were pouring down her cheeks. At +May's exclamation she opened her arms wide, and then pressed the girl's +bright brown head against her breast, saying brokenly-- + +"Don't be feared, child! I'm all right. I couldn't help laughing a bit. +It's so--so funny to think of old Joshua and--and Miss Patty!" + +"But you are crying, too, granny! Is anything the matter? Do tell me." + +"Nothing, child; I'm all right. Poor Joshua! He was a good lad when he +worked for your grandfather. And--and--I remember _her_ a little miss in +a white frock and blue sash. It brings up old times, that's all, May. +Lord, what fools we are when we try to be cunning!" and Mrs. Dobbs went +off again into a fit of laughter, interspersed with sobs. + +"I didn't try to be cunning!" said May indignantly. + +"_You_, my lamb! Whoever thought you did?" returned her grandmother, +wiping her eyes and kissing May's forehead. + +By and by she resumed her usual solid self-possession. She told May that +she did not agree in her view of the state of the case, and advised her +not to hint her matchmaking project to any one. "You have said a word to +Miss Bertram, and that can't be taken back; but she is wise beyond her +years, and will not chatter." + +"But there's nothing wrong in the idea, granny," protested May, who was +considerably puzzled by her grandmother's unusual demeanour. + +"No, no, nothing wrong; only Mr. Bragg might not like it--he might be +looking after a young wife, who knows? Anyway, we will keep our ideas to +ourselves." + +As she spoke, the latch of the garden-gate clicked, and, following May's +glance, Mrs. Dobbs saw from the open window Owen Rivers advancing up the +path towards the house. + +The "gentleman of princely fortune," whose image had interposed between +her shrewd apprehension and the facts before her, having melted away +like a phantom, she perceived that here was a new influence to be +reckoned with--a new force which, whether for good or ill, might help to +shape her grandchild's future. + +"May I come in?" asked Owen. + +"Come in, Mr. Rivers." + +Mrs. Dobbs felt as though she had invited embodied Destiny to cross her +threshold--Destiny, in the prosaic guise of a blue-eyed, square-built +young man, in a shooting-jacket and a wide-awake hat. But that Power +does not often appear to mortals with much outward pomp and +circumstance. We are like children who think a king must needs go about +in royal robes, crowned and sceptred. But the decree which changes our +lives is mostly signed by some plain figure in everyday clothes, whom we +should not turn our heads to look upon. + +Owen entered the little parlour, and came and stood opposite to Mrs. +Dobbs's chair, without any of the customary salutations. "Well," said he +eagerly; "I have some news for you." + +"Lord, ha' mercy! This is a day of news," muttered Mrs. Dobbs under her +breath. Then she said aloud, "I hope it's good news?" + +"I have found some work to do. Is that good?" + +Mrs. Dobbs clapped her hands softly. "Very good," she said. Half an hour +ago her approbation would have been more heartily expressed; but she was +looking at him now with different eyes, and considering his prospects +with a new and serious interest. + +"You haven't asked me what the work is," said Owen, just a little +disappointed by her quietude. + +"I suppose it is _not_ stone-breaking? But if it is, I stick to my +colours. Better that than nothing." + +"You will say, Mrs. Dobbs, that I am luckier than I deserve to be. I am +engaged as secretary to a man who is about to travel in Spain. I happen +to know Spanish. Luck again; for I learnt it merely to amuse myself." + +"Yes; I do think that isn't bad for a beginning, and I hope it will lead +to something more. Who is the gentleman, if I may ask?" + +Before Owen could answer, May, who had perched herself on the elbow of +Jo Weatherhead's vacant chair, said, "I think I can guess. It's Mr. +Bragg." + +"Mr. Bragg!" echoed her grandmother, as if doubtful of having heard +aright. + +"I remember hearing him talk of a journey into Spain, and of wanting to +find a gentleman to go with him. Am I not right?" + +"Quite right," answered Owen. + +"Mr. Bragg! Well, that _is_ strange!" whispered Mrs. Dobbs to herself. + +Owen had taken a chair, and sat bending forward, with his elbows on his +knees, pleating and puckering in his fingers the brim of his soft felt +hat. He had not hitherto so much as looked towards May; now he +straightened himself in his chair, and, fixing his eyes on her +earnestly, asked-- + +"And what do _you_ say to my news, Miss Cheffington?" + +"I say, as granny says, that I am very glad," she answered, smiling, but +speaking in a subdued tone. + +"It's more to the purpose to ask what Canon and Mrs. Hadlow say to it," +put in Mrs. Dobbs. "I hope they are pleased?" + +"I dare say--I have no doubt--I--I have not seen Aunt Jane yet. The fact +is, I am on my way to College Quad; but I thought I would look in here +as I passed, and tell you that I have followed your advice, Mrs. Dobbs." + +The direct road from Owen's lodgings to College Quad was a short, and +nearly straight, line. To visit Jessamine Cottage "on the way" from one +to the other was analogous to going round by Edinburgh on a journey from +London to Leeds. + +"I wanted a little patting on the back and cheering up, you see," +continued Owen. + +"Cheering up!" cried May. "Oh! but I remember that Mrs. Hadlow said you +always liked to be pitied for having your own way. You must require a +great deal of consolation, truly, for the prospect of travelling in that +delightful country!" + +Owen nodded, and carefully fitted one pleat of his hat-brim into +another, as he answered, "I dare say my appetite for consolation is +bigger than you imagine." + +"I think it is Mr. Bragg who needs cheering up. Poor man, he little +knows what a peremptory, protestant, and positive secretary he will +have!" retorted May, with a half shy, half saucy, wholly mischievous, +glance. + +"Not at all! Now, that is just the kind of mistake which Aunt Jane so +often makes. But if I serve, I mean to serve honestly, and to be +thoroughly obedient; I have told Mr. Bragg so." And Owen proceeded to +justify himself, and to develop his views as to the duties of a +secretary, with superfluous energy and earnestness. + +The old woman sat watching them, and, as she looked, she was amazed at +her own previous blindness. How could she--how could any one--have seen +them together without perceiving that they were falling over head and +ears in love with each other? These two young creatures seemed, in her +old eyes, like a couple of children playing in a pleasure-boat. But she +knew that the river was running towards the sea--widening and deepening +with an irrevocable current. There was room for anxiety about the +future, no doubt. Yet a sense of relief in her mind--as if she had +escaped out of some oppressive atmosphere--revealed more and more +distinctly how repugnant the idea of May's marrying Mr. Bragg had really +been to her. + +"Sarah Dobbs," said she to herself severely, "you're a worldly, false +old woman! You're a nice one to find fault with that poor creature +Pauline! What were _you_ doing, pray, but sacrificing your conscience to +the mammon of unrighteousness? The Lord be praised, the dear child is +better, and purer, and honester than either of us old harridans!" + +Then she broke into the conversation between May and Owen, which by this +time had sunk into a low murmur, and asked abruptly whether the +engagement with Mr. Bragg was to lead to any further employment. + +Owen repeated what Mr. Bragg had said to him, as nearly as he could +remember it; and Mrs. Dobbs thought it hopeful. + +"Joshua Bragg is an honest man--a man to be relied on: one of the few +who generally means what he says, all that he says, and nothing but what +he says," said she, nodding thoughtfully. + +May was glad to find granny doing justice to Mr. Bragg; and remarked to +herself that, if it were possible to conceive granny's ever being +capricious, she would have called her capricious to-day in her varying +tone about that worthy man. + +"I shouldn't wonder," pursued Mrs. Dobbs, "if he put you in the way of +getting permanent employment--supposing you please him. He might get you +a place out in South America with his son. Young Joshua is in a great +way of business there, I'm told. Would you go if you had the chance?" +she asked suddenly, looking at Owen with a searching gaze. + +"Undoubtedly," he replied at once. + +"And you wouldn't mind being--being banished like from England?" + +"Mind? Oh, well, of course I should prefer a thousand a year and a villa +on the Thames; but a fellow who has been an idler up to four and twenty +must take any chance of earning something, and be thankful for it." + +"_That's_ right." Mrs. Dobbs drew a long breath of relief. + +"It would only be for a year or two; I should come back," added Owen +wistfully. + +Then he shook hands and went away, and Mrs. Dobbs and her grand-daughter +were left to discuss the news he had told them. May chatted away +cheerfully, even gaily. When Mr. Weatherhead arrived the subject was +talked over again. Jo's pleasure in the prospect opening before Mr. +Rivers was somewhat tempered by his sense of the incongruity involved in +"a gentleman like that, brimful of learning, and belonging to the old +landed gentry," being under the orders of Joshua Bragg! + +"There's no contradiction at all, Jo, if you look at it fairly," said +Mrs. Dobbs. "Mr. Bragg will command where he has a right to--that is, in +matters that he knows better than Mr. Rivers, for all his book-learning. +It isn't as if Joshua wanted to teach the young man how to be a +gentleman. I don't say it's not a good thing to be a gentleman, but it +ain't exactly a paying business nowadays, if ever it was, which I +doubt." + +"Ah, more's the pity!" said Jo, shaking his head. + +"Why, if I was a gentleman--or a lady--I shouldn't agree with you there, +Jo. If gentlehood don't mean something above and beyond what can be paid +for, 'tis a poor business. It seems to me just as pitiful for gentry to +expect money's worth for their old family, high breeding, and fine +manners, as it is for the grand workers of the world to grumble because +they can't have power over the past, as well as the present and the +future. Mr. Bragg ain't one of that sort. You'll never catch _him_ +inventing a family crest, or painting wild beasts on his carriage." + +Jo took his pipe out of his mouth, and looked with solemn approbation at +his old friend. "Sarah," said he, "you're right; and I believe you're a +better Conservative than me, when all's said and done." + +May had been silent during this discussion. She held some needlework in +her hands; but they were lying idly on her lap, and she was gazing out +of the window as intently as though the small suburban garden offered a +prospect of inexhaustible interest. The cessation of the voices roused +her. She looked round, and said softly-- + +"It's a good climate, isn't it, granny? Where Mr. Bragg's son lives, I +mean." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Before going to bed that night Mrs. Dobbs sat down and wrote a letter, +marked "private and confidential," to Mr. Bragg. + + "DEAR MR. BRAGG" (she wrote), + + "I think it my duty to let you know at once that the idea + mentioned in your conversation with me must be given up. I have + made quite sure in my own mind that there is no chance of its + coming to anything. I feel very much how right you were to + speak to me first. You have spared other people's feelings as + well as your own. When you asked me the question, I answered + you truly, to the best of my belief, that there was nobody else + in the field. But since our talk together I have found out that + I was wrong there. There _is_ another attachment. It may come + to something, or it may not. And you will understand that I am + putting a great confidence in you. But I know I can trust to + your honour as you trusted to mine. Not a word has passed my + lips of what you said to me, and never will. Of course, you may + think me mistaken, and choose to find out the state of the case + for yourself at first-hand. If you do so I shall not have a + word to say against it. Anyway, I know you will act upright + according to your conscience, as I have tried to act according + to mine. I want to tell you that I appreciate how generous your + intentions were, though I'm afraid I did not show it at the + time, being surprised and upset. + + "Believe me, + "With sincere respect, + "Yours truly, + "SARAH DOBBS." + +Shortly after that, Mr. Bragg came and called upon her. He thanked her +for her letter, and spoke in a friendly tone. But he seemed indisposed +to consider the matter as finished. + +"Young people sometimes don't know their own minds," he said. He further +declared that he had no present intention of speaking to May; but that, +as he was going abroad, he might--if nothing were settled +meanwhile--resume the subject on his return to England. + +"I'm quite sure in my own mind that it's no use," said Mrs. Dobbs +firmly. "And it's only fair to tell you so as strong as possible. +However, of course, you must act according to your own judgment." + +"There is one question I should like to ask if I might," said Mr. Bragg, +lingering at the door on his way out. "You and me can trust each other. +And, if you feel at liberty to tell me, I should like to know whether +the--the party you alluded to in your letter is Mr. Theodore Bransby." + +"Certainly not!" + +"Well, I'm glad of it. There was a talk of his paying Miss C. a great +deal of attention in town. In fact, I did hear she had refused him. +Understand, I'm not fishing as to that. It's no matter to me one way or +the other, so long as he is _not_ the party. I can't say that I know any +harm of the young man; but he's what you might call a poor sort of +metal: not pleasant to handle, and, I should fear, brittle in the +working. I really am relieved in my mind to know that he is not the +party. Thank ye." + +The news of Owen's engagement to Mr. Bragg was variously received by his +various acquaintances in Oldchester. Some laughed good-naturedly, some +ill-naturedly; some said it was a good thing the young man had at last +seen the necessity for exerting himself; some wondered why on earth he +had accepted such a position; and some--a good many those--wondered why +Mr. Bragg had accepted _him_. Mrs. Hadlow did not feel unmixed +satisfaction by any means. + +"It's just like Owen," she said to her husband. "There is such a +singular perversity about him! He has thrown away one straight stick +after the other, and now all of a sudden he clutches at this crooked +one, as eagerly as though his life depended on getting hold of it." + +Canon Hadlow, for his part, was well pleased enough. The sentiment at +the bottom of his wife's heart was that to employ a Rivers in any such +base mechanic business as writing commercial letters was like harnessing +a thoroughbred Arab to the dust-cart. But the canon could not, in the +nature of things, fully share that feeling. Nevertheless, he had a +strong regard for Owen, and spoke of him in high terms to Mr. Bragg. + +But the testimony in Owen's favour which chiefly impressed Mr. Bragg was +the testimony which Owen gave himself--by deeds, not words. + +Being moved by a certain energetic simplicity which belonged to him, to +perform the duties he had undertaken with the most complete thoroughness +he could command, he got a clerk who conducted the foreign +correspondence of a great Oldchester manufacturer to give him lessons +after business hours. He worked away evening after evening at the +composition of mercantile letters in Spanish until he succeeded in +producing epistles so surprisingly technical that his instructor +declared he went far beyond what was necessary in that line, and would +do well to mitigate his business style with a little good Spanish! He +studied, also, to improve his handwriting. It was a legible hand +already, since he wrote with the single-minded aim of being read. But he +strove to make it distinctly commercial in character, and succeeded. + +All this became known to Mr. Bragg, who said nothing. But, when it got +wind among the little circle of persons who frequented Garnet Lodge, it +was the subject of some raillery from Owen's friends. So long as the +raillery proceeded from such persons as Dr. Hatch or Major Mitten, there +was no offence in it; but with Theodore Bransby the case was different. + +Theodore was, in truth, delighted: first of all, because Rivers had, as +he phrased it, "entered Mr. Bragg's service" (a step which must for ever +disqualify him for aspiring to ally himself with the Cheffingtons, +supposing he were not disqualified already); and, secondly, because his +engagement would take him out of England for three months. So delighted +was Theodore, that his spirits rose to the unwonted pitch of attempting +some pleasantries. Now, there is nothing which more surely reveals the +quality, if not the quantity, of a man's mind than his notion of a joke. +Laughter, like wine, is a great betrayer of secrets; and for incurable +coarseness of feeling a stout cloak of gravity is "your only wear." + +Theodore would tilt his head, and say with a sneering smile, "Burton's +clerk declares that Rivers is as thorough-going as the man who blacked +himself all over to play Othello! _Do_ you write a page of round-hand +copies every morning before breakfast, Rivers?" or, "I hear that Rivers +has taken to frequent the commercial 'gents'' ordinary at the Bull in +order to pick up the correct phraseology." + +Owen paid very little attention to these sparkling sallies; but Mr. +Bragg, after listening for some time, broke silence one evening by +saying, in his quiet, ponderous way-- + +"You're rather hard on me, I think, Mr. Bransby." + +Theodore looked at him with sudden gravity and unfeigned surprise. "Hard +on _you_?" he exclaimed. + +"Oh, when a young gentleman is what you might call satirical, he's apt +to be harder than he means. You needn't look so serious. I'm not +offended." + +The moment Mr. Bragg declared he was not offended, Theodore began to +fear that he _was_; and, whatever might be his private opinion of the +millionaire, he had no intention of affronting him. So he protested that +Mr. Bragg must be under some misapprehension, and that he (Theodore) +could not even guess what he meant. + +"Oh, come, Mr. Bransby! It's pretty clear. I am but a plain business +man, but it isn't necessary to copy the company at the Bull in order to +come down to my level." + +"Good heavens, my dear sir! You can't suppose----! I +was--ahem!--merely----" Theodore paused an instant, and then went on +with a little disconcerted laugh. "Ha, ha, ha! I was merely paying my +humble tribute of admiration to Rivers's energy!" + +"Oh yes; I quite understand _that_. You appreciate seeing how a +honourable gentleman sets to work to keep his part of a bargain; whereas +a half-and-half chap, like that little clerk of Burton's, don't see the +highmindedness of it." + +Theodore was so entirely taken by surprise, and so uncertain how far Mr. +Bragg was in earnest, that he could but stammer out renewed assurances +that he had been misunderstood. And after that, he subsided into a glum +and dignified silence for the rest of the evening. + +He would probably have cut short his visit and gone away early but for +his persistent resolution never to leave Owen in possession of the field +when May was present. There was no question of seeing her home now; for +either old Martha was sent to fetch her, or one of Miss Piper's servants +walked with her to Jessamine Cottage. But, nevertheless, Theodore made a +point of outstaying Owen; or, at the very least, going away +simultaneously with him. On this particular evening, however, Dr. Hatch +interfered with this practice by requesting Theodore to accompany him +when his carriage was announced. + +"I want to have a word with you quietly," whispered the doctor, "and it +is almost impossible to do so in your father's house without alarming +Mrs. Bransby. Come along with me, and I'll give you a lift home." + +There was no refusing this invitation. But Theodore withdrew, comforted +by the conviction that his rival would have no chance of profiting by +his absence. + +Here, however, he reckoned without his hostess; for, Martha failing to +appear at her accustomed hour, and the maid who usually supplied her +place being ill, Miss Piper bustled into the drawing-room, after a brief +absence, demanding which of the gentlemen present would volunteer to +escort Miss Cheffington home. + +Mr. Bragg, who kept early hours, had already departed; and only Mr. +Sweeting, Major Mitton, and Owen remained. Mr. Sweeting begged to be +allowed the honour of lending Miss Cheffington his carriage. But May +declined the offer, saying that Mr. Sweeting's horses had a long enough +journey before them, and that, moreover, it being a lovely moonlight +night, she would prefer to walk. Upon this, Owen offered his services, +and Miss Piper at once accepted them. + +"It is a good deal out of your way," she said; "but I am sure you will +not mind for once, Mr. Rivers. I am responsible to Mrs. Dobbs for +sending her grand-daughter safely home." + +Owen assured Miss Piper that he should not mind at all. + +While May was putting on her wraps, Miss Polly and Miss Patty jocosely +reproached Major Mitton for not having displayed his usual gallantry in +offering to escort the young lady. + +"Major, Major, you are growing terribly lazy!" said Miss Polly. + +"You will lose your reputation for being the most devoted Squire of +Dames in Oldchester," added Miss Patty. + +"I'm getting to be an old fellow," returned the Major quietly. Then, as +they all three stood for a moment in the porch, watching the two young +figures pass down the garden in a glory of moonlight, the good Major +whispered to Miss Patty, "Do you think I was going to spoil _that_? Lord +bless me, one has been young one's self!" + +As soon as May and her companion had got clear of Garnet Lodge, the girl +said, "I find that I had never thoroughly done justice to Mr. Bragg. The +more I know of him, the more highly I think of him." + +"Lucky Mr. Bragg!" + +"But, now, did he not administer an admirable rebuke to Theodore +Bransby?" + +"Never mind Theodore. Let us talk about more interesting things." + +"What _can_ be more interesting?" asked May, laughing. + +"Ourselves." As she remained silent, he went on, "Do you know that we +have not had one opportunity for a quiet talk together since I got this +engagement?" + +"Haven't we?" + +"Ah! you don't remember so accurately as I do. But that was not to be +expected. Take my arm." + +She obeyed as simply as a child. She had been drawing on her gloves when +they left Garnet Lodge, but the operation had not been completed, and it +chanced that the hand next to Owen was ungloved. She laid her fingers, +which gleamed snow-white in the moonlight, on his sleeve. + +"You think I have done right in taking this employment?" he said. + +"Quite right." She turned her young face, and looked at him with a sweet +fervour of sympathy and approval. + +Owen raised the white, slender fingers to his lips, and then, replacing +them on his arm, laid his own warm, strong hand over them with a gentle +pressure. "You know why I did so, don't you, darling?" he said. + +"Yes, Owen," was the answer, given in a shy whisper, but with innocent +frankness. + +"My own dear love!" he exclaimed, pressing her arm strongly and suddenly +to his side. "There is no one like you in the world. Look at me, May. +Let me see your sweet, honest eyes." + +He caught her two hands in both his, and they stood for a moment at +arm's length, facing each other, and holding hands like two children. +The moonlight shone full on the young girl's fair face, and glittered on +the bright tear-drops in her eyes, as she raised them to Owen's. + +"What can I do to deserve you?" he said. "But why do I talk of desert? +You are God's gift, May, and no more to be earned than the blessed +sunshine." + +He put her arm under his once more, and they paced on again without +speaking. But to them the silence was full of voices. It was the silence +of a dream. They might have wandered Heaven knows whither had not their +feet instinctively carried them along the right path, and they found +themselves, almost with a start, arrived at the white palings in front +of Jessamine Cottage. + +"We must tell granny, mustn't we?" said May, looking up at Owen, with a +delicious sense of implicit reliance on him. + +"Yes; but I am terribly afraid. I hope she will not be angry." + +"Angry! How can you think so? Granny is fond of you." + +"But she is fonder of _you_, and she knows your value, although, thank +God, you don't! If you did, what chance should I have had? You know how +poor I am--not quite penniless, but very poor." + +"Not so poor as I, since I am really and truly quite penniless; but I +don't mind that, if you don't." + +Owen felt a desperate temptation to fold her in his arms and beseech her +to marry him to-morrow, throwing prudence and pounds sterling to the +winds. But the ardour of a genuine passion purifies the nobler soul, as +fire purifies the nobler metal, and burns away the dross of self. He +answered gravely-- + +"Our positions are very different, darling. I hope I have not done wrong +to tell you how dear you are to me?" + +"I think it would have been unkind and cruel to go away without telling +me," she answered bravely, though the sound of the words as she said +them brought the hot colour into her cheeks. + +"Thank you, dearest; that is the best comfort I could have, if I may +dare to believe it. But it does seem so wonderful that you should care +for me!" + +The contemplation of this wonder might have occupied them both for an +indefinite time but that they saw a light begin to shine through the +fanlight of the little entrance-hall of Jessamine Cottage. In the +stillness of the night the sound of their voices, subdued though they +were, had reached the ears of Mrs. Dobbs. She presently opened the door, +and stood looking at them as they hurried up the garden path. + +"Oh, granny dear, I'm afraid I'm late!" said May. "I did not guess that +you were sitting up for me." + +"Martha had a touch of her rheumatism, so I sent her to bed. I did not +mind waiting. I suppose Miss Piper's maid couldn't come with you? Was +that it?" asked Mrs. Dobbs. + +She lingered at the open door, expecting Owen to say "Good-night." But +May took her grandmother's hand and pulled her into the house, while he +followed them. When they reached the lamp-lighted parlour, May, still +holding her grandmother's hand with her left hand, stretched out her +right to Owen, and gently drew him forward. Then she flung her left arm +round the old woman's neck, and kissed her. There was no need for words. +Mrs. Dobbs sank down, white and tremulous, in her great chair, while May +nestled beside her on her knees, and tried to place Owen's hand, which +she still clasped, in that of her grandmother. But the old woman +brusquely drew her hand away. + +"You have done wrong," she said, turning to Owen, and scarcely able to +control the trembling of her lips. "I didn't think it of you. But men +are all alike; selfish, selfish, selfish!" + +"Why, granny!" exclaimed the girl, breathless with dismay. Then she +started up with a flash of impetuous indignation, and stood beside her +lover. "He is _not_ selfish!" she said vehemently. + +"Hush, May! Granny is right," said Owen in a low voice. "I told you that +I feared I had done wrong." + +Mrs. Dobbs still trembled, but she was struggling to regain her +self-command. "You might have waited yet awhile," she said brokenly. +"The child is young! You ought not to have bound her until you see your +way more clear." + +"Oh, believe me, I will not hold her bound," answered Owen. "I never +meant that. I ought not to have spoken yet. I feared so before, and now +that you say so, I know it. But I am not wholly selfish." + +May had stood listening silently, looking, with wide eyes and parted +lips, from one to the other. She now fell on her knees again beside her +grandmother, and, clasping the old woman's hands in both her own, cried +eagerly-- + +"But listen! If there was any fault, it was mine. I love him so much! +And he's going away. Think of that, granny! Come here and kneel down +beside me, Owen, and let her look you in the face. Think, if he had gone +away and never told me! And I so fond of him! You didn't guess how I +cried that night when I heard he was to leave England. He has made me so +happy--so happy! And we can wait. We don't mind being poor. You said you +were fond of him. And he is so good--and I love him so--and you to speak +to him so cruelly! Oh, granny, granny!" The tears were pouring down her +face, and dropping warm upon the wrinkled hands she held. + +Suddenly Mrs. Dobbs opened her arms, and folding May in one of them, +laid the other round Owen's shoulder as he knelt before her, and drew +them both into her embrace. + +"Come along, you two!" she said, sobbing and smiling. "I've got a +precious pair of babies to look after in my old age. No more common +sense between you than would lie on the point of a needle! No prudence, +no worldly wisdom, no regard for society--nothing but love and truth; +and what do you suppose _they'll_ fetch in the market?" + +After a few minutes she ordered Owen away. "I'm tired," she said. "And +we have all had our feelings worked up enough for one while. Go home +now, Mr. Rivers--well, well, Owen, then, if it must be!--go home, Owen, +and sleep, and dream. And to-morrow, when you're quite awake--broad, +staring, work-a-day-world awake, which you're not now, either of +you,--come here, and we will talk rationally." + +Owen obeyed heroically, and marched off without a word of remonstrance. +But May kept her grandmother listening and talking, long after he had +gone. She made Mrs. Dobbs go to bed, and sat by her bedside, pouring out +her young heart, joyfully secure of granny's understanding and sympathy, +until at length Mrs. Dobbs inexorably commanded her to go to rest. + +"Good night, dear, dearest, good, goodest granny!" said May, leaning +down to kiss her grandmother's broad, furrowed brow. "Only this one +last--very last--word! Do you know, I am very hopeful about Owen's +future, because I am sure that Mr. Bragg has taken a great fancy to him, +and appreciates him. And Mr. Bragg can make Owen's fortune if he likes." + +"Mr. Bragg," murmured Mrs. Dobbs, turning her head on her pillow. "Ah, +_there's_ a nice kettle of fish! I'm as big a baby as the children, for +up to this very instant I'd clean forgotten all about Mr. Bragg!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Before they parted Mrs. Dobbs had arranged with Owen that he should come +and have an interview with her at ten o'clock the following morning. But +as she desired to speak with him privately, she resolved to go to his +lodgings early enough to catch him before he should leave home. + +She found Owen already at his writing-desk, and, as he turned a startled +face on her, briefly assured him that all was well with May. + +"But I must have a private talk with you," she said. "And I can't get +that in my own house, without fussing and making mysteries." + +Owen was already acquainted with the main incidents in May's young life; +but Mrs. Dobbs proceeded to give him the history of her own daughter's +marriage, and a sketch of her son-in-law Augustus. + +"I'm not speaking in malice," she said; "but the real truth about +Captain Cheffington must always sound severe. As a general rule, I never +mention his name. But it is right and necessary that you should know +what manner of man May's father really is; because only by knowing that +can you understand how it is that the responsibility of guiding her +rests wholly and solely on my shoulders." + +"It could not rest on worthier ones," said Owen. + +"Ah! There we differ. It's a shame that the darling girl--such a lady as +she is in all her ways and words and innermost thoughts--should have no +better guidance than that of an ignorant old body like me. However, 'tis +as vain to cry for the moon to play ball with, as to get honour or duty, +or even honesty, out of Augustus. There's the naked truth." + +"Mrs. Dobbs, I can say from the bottom of my heart, that if ever good +came out of evil it has come to May. She has been thrown out of the +hands of a worthless father into those of the best of grandmothers. But +I suppose I ought to write to Captain Cheffington under the present +circumstances?" + +Mrs. Dobbs shook her head. "I wouldn't if I was you," she said. + +"I only thought that, since with all his faults he is fond of his +daughter----" + +"_Is he_?" interrupted Mrs. Dobbs, opening her eyes very wide. "Oh! +Well, that's news to me." + +"Of course, his fondness is not judicious. But still, as he has not much +money, he must make some sacrifice to pay a handsome sum to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith for having May with her in London." + +"He pay! Lord bless your innocent heart!" + +"Does he not? May told me he did." + +"Ah! May thinks so. You see I have thought it right to keep some respect +for her father in her mind--for her sake." + +"Then if Captain Cheffington did not furnish the money, who did?" asked +Owen. + +Had May been present, one glimpse of "granny's" face, blushing like a +girl's to the roots of her hair, would have betrayed the truth to her. +But Owen did not guess it so quickly. After a minute or so, however, as +Mrs. Dobbs remained silent, he added rather awkwardly-- + +"Did you pay the money?" + +"Look here, young man," answered Mrs. Dobbs. "You must give me your word +of honour that you'll never let out a syllable of this to May, without I +give you leave;--else you and me will quarrel." + +Owen took her broad, wrinkled hand in his, and kissed it as respectfully +as if he had been saluting a queen. "I promise to obey you," he said. +"But you make us all look very small and selfish beside you!" + +"We old folks, that have but a slack hold on life, must lay up our +stores of selfishness in other people's happiness. It's a paying +investment, my lad. I'm Oldchester born and bred, and you don't catch me +making many bad speculations." The old woman laughed as she spoke, but a +tear was trembling in her eye. "Come," said she. "We needn't go into all +that. There isn't much time to spare. I want to be back to breakfast +before May misses me." + +Then she proceeded to impress on Owen that she could not at present +sanction an engagement between him and her grand-daughter. Each must be +held to be free, at least until Owen should return from Spain, and be +able to see his future course a little more distinctly. This he promised +without difficulty. Next, Mrs. Dobbs insisted that May should go back to +her aunt's house, when the Dormer-Smiths returned to London for the +winter. May had shown great reluctance to do this; but Mrs. Dobbs +believed she would yield, if Owen backed up the proposal. With regard to +Captain Cheffington, Mrs. Dobbs recommended that secrecy should, for the +present, be preserved towards him, as well as towards the rest of the +world. + +"He cares not a straw for his daughter. Of that I can assure you. +Indeed, lately, since the dear child has taken her proper place in the +world, he has shown a strange kind of jealousy of her. He wrote me a +regular blowing-up letter, demanding money, and saying that since I was +so _rich_--Lord help me!--as to keep May in London in luxury, I ought at +least to assist May's father in his unmerited distress. And he made a +kind of a half-threat that he would come to England, and drag her away, +if he was not paid off." + +"The scoundrel! But you didn't--" + +"Didn't send him any money? No, my lad, I did _not_. First, because I +wouldn't; next, because I couldn't. But 'wouldn't' came first. There's +no use trying to put a wasp on a reasonable allowance of honey; you must +either let him gorge himself, or else keep him out of the hive +altogether. So now you know my conditions:--Firstly, no binding +engagement for three months at least; secondly, we three to keep our own +counsel for that time, and say no word of our secret to man, woman, or +child; thirdly, you to urge May to go back to London, and see a little +more of the world from under her aunt's wing. I make a great point of +that," added Mrs. Dobbs, looking at him searchingly; "but I see you're +rather glum over it. Are you afraid of May's being tempted to change her +mind?" + +"It isn't that," answered Owen, with unmistakable sincerity. "If she is +capable of changing her mind, I should be the first to leave her free to +do so. I don't say that it wouldn't go near to break my heart, but I +need not be ashamed as well as wretched; whereas, if I took advantage of +her innocence, and generosity, and inexperience to bind her to me, and +found out afterwards that she repented when it was too late----! But +that won't bear thinking of! No, I see nothing to object to in your +conditions; only I was thinking that it will be hard on you to part from +her again this winter." + +Mrs. Dobbs suddenly stretched out her hand towards him, with the palm +outward. "Stop!" she said. "I can go on all right enough if you don't +pity me." She set her lips tight, and stood for a few seconds breathing +hard through her nostrils, like a tired swimmer. Then the tension of her +face relaxed; she patted Owen's head, as if he had been six years old, +saying, "You're a good lad, and a gentleman; I know one when I see him." + +Before Mrs. Dobbs went away, Owen said a word to her on two points--the +probability that Augustus Cheffington might eventually be his uncle's +heir, and the rumour of his second marriage. As to the first point, +although she allowed it seemed likely that Augustus might inherit the +title, yet Mrs. Dobbs assured Owen (speaking on Mrs. Dormer-Smith's +authority) that he would certainly get no penny which it was in Lord +Castlecombe's power to bequeath. + +"If you're afraid of May being too rich," said Mrs. Dobbs, with a shrewd +smile, "I think I can reassure you." + +"Thank you," said Owen simply. He was struck by her delicacy of feeling, +and thought within himself, "That well-bred woman, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, +would have suspected me, not of _fearing_, but of hoping, that May would +be rich; and she would have hinted her suspicions in terms full of tact, +and a voice of exquisite refinement." + +With regard to the question of Captain Cheffington's second marriage, +Mrs. Dobbs declared herself utterly in the dark. + +"But," said she, "if I was obliged to make a bet, I should bet on no +marriage. Augustus is too selfish." + +When, later, Owen went to Jessamine Cottage, he found May very unwilling +to return to London for the winter. But she yielded at length. The other +conditions she acceded to willingly. But she made one stipulation; +namely, that "Uncle Jo" should be admitted to share their secret. + +"You know you can trust him implicitly, granny," said May. "He likes +news and gossip, but he will be true as steel when he once has given his +word to be silent." + +So it was agreed that Mr. Weatherhead should be taken into their +confidence. + +When May and Owen were alone together afterwards, he asked why she had +so specially insisted on this point. + +"Don't you see, Owen," she answered, "that it will be an immense comfort +to granny, when she is left alone, to have some one whom she can talk +with about--_us_?" + +Meanwhile no answer arrived from Captain Cheffington to the letter which +Mrs. Dobbs had written about the report of his marriage. May might have +been uneasy at his silence but for the new and absorbing interest in her +life, which confused chronology, and made time fly so rapidly that she +did not realize how long it was since her grandmother had written to +Belgium. + +The gossip set afloat by Valli at Miss Piper's party gradually died +away, being superseded in public attention by fresher topics. One of +these was the disquieting condition of Mr. Martin Bransby's health. The +old man had seemed to recover from the serious illness of last year. But +it must have shaken him more profoundly than was generally supposed at +the time; for after the first brief rally he seemed to be failing more +and more day by day. Dr. Hatch kept his own counsel. He was not a man to +interpret the code of professional etiquette too loosely on such a +point; but besides professional etiquette old friendship moved him to be +cautious and reticent in this case. He had some reasons for uneasiness +about Martin Bransby's circumstances, as well as his bodily health. This +uneasiness was vague truly; but it sufficed to make the good physician +keep a watch over his words. So all those who listened curiously to Dr. +Hatch's voluble, and apparently unguarded, talk about the Bransbys went +away no wiser than they came as to old Martin's real condition. + +To Martin Bransby's eldest son, however, Dr. Hatch did not think it +right to practise any concealment. On the evening when he invited +Theodore to drive home with him from Garnet Lodge, the doctor plainly +told the young man that he had grave fears for his father's life. + +Theodore seemed more moved than the doctor had expected. He was not +demonstrative indeed; but his voice betrayed considerable emotion as he +said, "But you do not give him up, Dr. Hatch? There surely is still +hope?" + +"There is hope. Yes; I cannot say there is no hope. But, my dear +fellow"--and the good doctor laid his hand kindly on Theodore's +shoulder--"we must be prepared for the worst." + +"You have not, I gather, mentioned your fears to Mrs. Bransby," said +Theodore, after a pause, during which he had been leaning back in the +corner of the carriage. + +"No, no, poor dear! No need to alarm her yet." + +"She must know, however, sooner or later," observed Theodore coldly. + +"I'm afraid she must. But why protract her misery? She is very +sensitive, devotedly attached to your father, and not too strong." + +"Mrs. Bransby always appears to me to enjoy good health enough to take +any exertion she feels inclined for." + +"I was not alluding to muscles, but nerves," returned the doctor drily. +"There is a little hysterical tendency. And her health is too valuable +to her children to be trifled with." + +They drove on in silence to Mr. Bransby's garden gates. Theodore +alighted, and stood at the carriage door. + +"Does my father know?" he asked in a low voice. + +"There, I confess, I am puzzled," said Dr. Hatch. "I have never told him +his danger in plain words; but he is too clever a man to be hoodwinked. +My own impression is, that your father suspects his state to be +critical, but shrinks from admitting it even to himself. I think there +must be some private reason for this," added the doctor, leaning forward +and peering into Theodore's face as he stood in the moonlight: the +moonlight which at that same moment was shining in May's eyes, looking +at her young lover. "It certainly does not arise from cowardice. Your +father is one of the manliest men I have ever known." + +If Theodore knew, or guessed, that his father had any secret reason for +anxiety, he did not betray it. + +"I have observed increasing weakness of character in him lately," he +said. + +The words might have been uttered so as to convey perfect filial +tenderness. But there was a subtle something in the tone suggestive of +contempt; or at least of remoteness from sympathy, which jarred +painfully on Dr. Hatch. He said "Good night" abruptly, and gave his +coachman the order to drive on. + +After this conversation, it somewhat surprised the doctor to learn that +Theodore meant to leave home at the beginning of October, although he +was not to enter on his practical career as a barrister until the +winter. He had accepted one or two invitations to country houses during +the pheasant shooting; and gave, as his reason for going at that time, +that his health required change of air. + +"_His_ health!" growled Dr. Hatch, when Mrs. Bransby gave him this piece +of news. "I should have thought he might stay and be of some use to his +father in business." + +"Oh, we are rather glad he is going," exclaimed Mrs. Bransby +impulsively. Then she said apologetically, "Martin does not want him at +home. Theodore has never taken any interest in office matters; and +Tuckey manages capitally. Tuckey is Martin's right hand." + +Mr. Tuckey was the confidential head clerk in the office which still +retained the name of the firm, "Cadell and Bransby," although Cadell had +departed this life twenty years ago, and the business had been, ever +since that time, wholly in the hands of Martin Bransby. + +Mrs. Bransby did not hint at one motive for Theodore's departure which +her woman's wit had revealed to her; namely, that Miss Cheffington would +be leaving Oldchester about the same time. It was true that Theodore had +calculated on this; and also on the fact that Owen Rivers would be +safely out of the way across the Pyrenees. But there was another motive +which lay deeper; and, indeed, formed a part of the very texture of +Theodore's temperament:--he shrank from the idea of being present during +his father's last illness. + +It has already been stated that he was subject to the dread of having +inherited his mother's consumptive tendency, and he shunned all +suggestions of sickness and death with the sort of instinct which makes +an animal select its food. The very mention of death produced the effect +of a physical chill on his nervous system. He was not without affection +for his father; although it had been much weakened by Mr. Bransby's +second marriage. Many persons who knew Theodore's tastes for gentility, +assumed that Miss Louisa Lutyer's descent from a good old family would +be gratifying to him, and help to make him accept the marriage +good-humouredly. But the fact was quite otherwise. Theodore constantly +suspected his step-mother of vaunting the superiority of her birth over +that of her predecessor. He had never seen either of his maternal +grandparents, and did not know all the details which Mrs. Dobbs could +have given him about the history of "Old Rabbitt." But he knew enough to +be aware that his mother had been a person of humble extraction. And he +could more easily have forgiven his father had the latter chosen a +person still humbler for his second wife. It was chiefly his +ever-present consciousness that Louisa was a gentlewoman by birth and +breeding, which made him jealously resent the luxuries with which his +father surrounded her, and even the fastidious elegance of her dress. +And, apart from all other considerations, it would have given him +sincere satisfaction to marry a wife who should have the undoubted right +to walk out of a drawing-room before Mrs. Martin Bransby. + +One of the many points of antagonism between Owen and Theodore was the +opposite feeling with which each regarded Mrs. Bransby. Owen had a +chivalrous devotion for her; Theodore was nothing less than chivalrous. +Owen's admiration was made tender and protecting by a large infusion of +pity; Theodore held that in marrying his father Miss Louisa Lutyer had +met with good fortune beyond her merits. As to his step-brothers and +sisters, Theodore's feeling towards them was one of cool repulsion, with +the single exception of little Enid, the youngest, whom he would have +petted, could he have separated her in all things from the rest. + +As soon as Owen's engagement with Mr. Bragg was assured, Owen called at +the Bransbys' to tell his news in person. On inquiring for Mrs. Bransby, +he was told that she was with her husband in the garden, and, being a +familiar visitor, the servant left him to find his way to them +unannounced. + +It was a warm September afternoon; everything in the old garden--the +lichen-tinted brick walls, the autumnal flowers, the deep velvet of the +turf, the foliage slightly touched with red and gold--looked mellow and +peaceful. Under the shadow of a tall elm-tree, whose topmost boughs were +swaying with the movement, and resounding with the caw of rooks, Martin +Bransby reclined on a long chair, and his wife sat on a garden bench a +yard or two away. When she saw Owen approaching, Mrs. Bransby laid her +finger on her lips, and then Owen saw that Mr. Bransby was asleep. + +The old man lay with his head supported on a crimson cushion, against +which his abundant silver hair was strongly relieved. The brows above +the closed eyelids were still dark. The placidity of repose enhanced the +beauty of his finely moulded features; but he was very pale, and his +cheeks and temples looked worn and thin. Mrs. Bransby welcomed Owen with +a smile and an outstretched hand. At the first glance he had thought +that she, too, looked pale and suffering, but the little glow of +animation in her face when she spoke effaced this impression. + +"Am I disturbing you?" asked Owen in a whisper. + +"No, no; sit down. You need not whisper, it is enough to speak low; he +sleeps heavily. I am so glad to see him sleep, for his nights have been +restless lately." As Mrs. Bransby spoke, she pushed aside a heap of +gay-coloured silks with which she was embroidering a rich velvet +cushion, and made room for Owen on the garden-seat beside her. "I know +your news already," she continued, "and I must congratulate you, +although you will be sadly missed. My boys will be in despair; we shall +all miss you." + +"I am glad, at all events, that you seem to approve of the step I have +taken." + +"Of course. All your friends must approve it. + +"Well, they are not so numerous as to make their unanimity absolutely +impossible." + +Then, after a short silence, during which Mrs. Bransby resumed her +embroidery, and Owen thoughtfully raked together some fallen leaves with +his stick, he said-- + +"But you don't know the extent of my good fortune. There is a +chance--rather a remote one, but still a chance--that this employment +may lead to more, and that I may get some work to do in South America." + +She started, and the gay embroidery fell from her hands on to the grass, +as she exclaimed with plaintive, down-drawn lips, like those of a child, +"Oh, not to South America! Don't go so far away!" + +He merely shook his head. + +"Oh, that is terrible!" she said. "I never thought of that! But, +perhaps, you will not go." + +"Very much, 'perhaps.' It would be better luck than I could expect." + +"And you really could have the heart to leave us all, and go off to the +other side of the globe? Oh, I can't bear to think of it!" + +"Don't speak so kindly! You will take away all my courage," he said, +looking for a moment at the beautiful eyes fixed on his face. + +"Ah, I am very selfish. Of course you ought to go, if going will lead to +a career for you. Although one can't help feeling that you will be, +somehow wasted in mere commercial pursuits. Yes, yes, of course, I am +wrong!" she added, hastily anticipating his rejoinder. "It is all very +proper and Spartan, no doubt. But I am not in the least Spartan, you +know." + +"People usually find it easy to be Spartan for their friends. Very few +keep their stoicism for themselves, and their soft-heartedness for +others--as you do!" + +He glanced involuntarily at Martin Bransby, as he spoke; and she +followed his glance with instant quickness of understanding. + +"How do you think he is looking? You do not think he seems worse, do +you?" she said. + +"No, indeed, no!" + +"I was afraid, when you talked about stoicism----" + +"No, I only meant that you always show great courage when Mr. Bransby is +ill." + +"I don't think I am naturally courageous. But love gives courage." + +"Yes,--the genuine sort of love." + +"Although it makes one frightened, too, in one way. I am sometimes very +uneasy about him." She turned a gaze of profound tenderness on her +husband's sleeping face. + +"I trust your uneasiness is needless," said Owen. "Mr. Bransby seems to +be going on well, does he not?" + +"Oh yes, I hope so. But he does not gain strength. His rest is very +troubled, and he talks in his sleep. And I think his spirits are much +less cheerful than they were. He has a great regard for you. He will +approve of what you are doing, I know. But he will be as sorry as the +rest of us to think of your going so far away." + +She said all this in her usual sweet voice, and with her usual soft +grace of manner. Then all at once she broke down in a sudden passion of +tears, and burying her face in her handkerchief, she sobbed out, "If you +go to South America he will never see you again;--never, never! I know +his days are numbered. They think they keep me in ignorance; but I know +it, I know it!" + +Owen was melted by her grief. In the eyes of sound-hearted manhood, +beauty, while it attracts, adds a sort of sacredness to a pure woman. To +see that lovely face convulsed with weeping made an impression on his +senses, such as he might have felt at seeing an exquisite work of art +defaced or mutilated. And beyond that, there was the warm human +sympathy, and the feeling of compassionate protection due to her sex. + +"Dearest Mrs. Bransby," he said, looking at her piteously, "pray, pray +take comfort. Oh, how I wish that I could give you any help or comfort!" + +She continued to weep softly and silently for a little while longer. +Then she wiped away her tears, and spoke with calmness. "Forgive me! It +was selfish to distress you," she said. "But it has relieved my heart to +cry a little. And you have always been so friendly. I have as great +reliance on you as if I had known you all my life." + +"As far as the will goes, you cannot over-rate my friendship. But the +power, alas! is small; or rather none." + +"No; don't say that. Whenever I have forced myself to look forward to +the great sorrow which may soon come upon me, I have said to myself, 'I +know Mr. Rivers would be good to me and the children, and would help us +with honest advice.' I have no one belonging to me--of my own +family--left to rely on. The boys and I would be very desolate and +forlorn, if we were left to guide ourselves by our own wisdom." + +"There is Theodore," said Owen. But he said it with dry awkwardness, as +though there were something in the words to be ashamed of. + +"Theodore does not love us," returned Mrs. Bransby quickly. "You were +praising me just now for caring about my friends. But you see how +selfish my thoughts were all the time! It does seem so dreary to imagine +you far away out of our reach!" + +She wore on her wrist a bracelet consisting of a broad gold band, in +which was set the portrait of her youngest child. Now, little Enid had a +special affection for Owen. She caressed him and tyrannized over him. +And whenever Bobby and Billy desired to coax Mr. Rivers into playing +with them, they conspired to make Enid prefer the request, secretly +agreeing that Mr. Rivers spoiled Enid, and would never resist her. In +short, Mr. Rivers was Enid's sworn knight, and did her suit and service. +The sweet, baby face looked out of its gold frame, with large, grave +eyes, and faintly smiling mouth, and soft yellow hair like the down on a +nestling bird. Owen took Mrs. Bransby's hand, and bent over it until his +lips touched little Enid's portrait. "Near or far," he said, "you and +your children may always count on my faithful affection." + +When he raised his head again, Theodore was standing in front of them. + +He had come noiselessly along the grass, and halted a little behind his +father's chair. Mrs. Bransby's head was turned in the opposite +direction, and she did not see him immediately. But Owen saw him, and +caught a singular expression on young Bransby's face which made his own +blood run swiftly with a confused sense of furious anger. It was an +expression of mingled surprise, suspicion, and an indescribable touch of +exultation. But even as Owen fixed his eyes on him sternly, the look was +gone; and Theodore's smooth face was as coolly supercilious as usual. + +"Your father has been having a good sleep, Theodore," said his +step-mother, when she saw him. + +"So I see," he answered. And, again, something singular in his tone made +Owen long to seize him and hurl him away out of Mrs. Bransby's presence. + +"Mr. Rivers has been telling me his news," said Mrs. Bransby. "We ought +to rejoice, I suppose. But I can't help feeling selfishly sorry." + +"We must hope that our loss will be his gain," replied Theodore. He felt +instinctively that Owen's eyes were still fastened on him. And Owen's +eyes, like many light-blue eyes, had the power of expressing an +intensity of fierceness when he was thoroughly incensed which few +persons would have found it easy to support. But Theodore had averted +his own gaze, and was looking down on his father with ostentatious +solicitude. + +The old man slightly moved his head, and Mrs. Bransby was by his side +instantly. "Are you refreshed by your sleep, dear Martin?" she asked as +he opened his eyes. + +"Yes, Loui, yes. Oh, there's Rivers! How are you, Rivers?" He rose from +his chair and shook hands with Owen, asking him to come to the house and +have tea. Mrs. Bransby offered her husband her arm, but he took her hand +and laid it tenderly upon his sleeve. "Not yet, Loui; not yet!" he said, +smiling down upon her. "I needn't lean upon you yet." Then the two +walked slowly side by side towards the house, leaving the young men to +follow. + +As they did so, crossing the wide lawn side by side, it suddenly +occurred to Theodore, with a shock of surprise, that he and Owen had not +exchanged any sort of greeting or salutation whatever. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +The Dormer-Smiths arrived in London early in November, and May joined +them almost immediately. Her aunt was delighted to find May looking +remarkably well. + +"Some good has come of her vegetating in Oldchester," said Pauline to +her husband. "Her complexion is radiant. Also I think her figure has +improved. If she _would_ but consent to have her stays taken in! +Smithson could manage it half an inch at a time; and might easily get +her waist down to eighteen inches. But there is that lamentable touch of +self-indulgent apathy about May! However, she has really a great deal of +charm; and, in spite of all the drawbacks connected with poor Augustus's +unfortunate marriage, she _looks_ thoroughbred." + +The two little boys, Harold and Wilfred, had returned from their sojourn +in a farm-house so much strengthened that their father seriously talked +of sending them into the country altogether for a couple of years. Even +Mrs. Dormer-Smith, although unwilling to relinquish her character of +chronic invalid, confessed that Carlsbad had done her good. In fact, the +whole family returned to London in improved health and spirits. A great +many "nice people" were to be in town for the winter; and the excuse of +May's presence, and the assistance of May's allowance, would enable +Pauline to enjoy society, and at the same time to satisfy that singular +worldly conscience of hers with the sense of duty fulfilled. + +There was a little disappointment at Mr. Bragg's absence from England. +But even here Mrs. Dormer-Smith had the not inconsiderable consolation +of knowing that if he were far from May's attractions, he was also far +from those of Constance Hadlow. And she more than ever rejoiced at that +providential interposition in the interests of the Cheffington family +which had kept Mr. Bragg away from Glengowrie. Another symptom which +filled Aunt Pauline with complacent hopes, was May's newly developed +interest in Mr. Bragg, and her eager willingness to talk about his +Spanish tour. Pauline was inclined to attribute something of this +improved state of mind to Mrs. Dobbs's influence; and confessed to +herself that the old woman was doing all she could to compensate the +House of Cheffington for the injury done to it by the disastrous +_mésalliance_. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith's cheerfulness at this time would have been absolutely +unclouded but for the dread hanging over her about her brother. She had +given May to understand that the rumours spread by Valli and others were +based on error. And she even conveyed the idea to her niece (although +scrupulously abstaining from explicit falsehood) that Captain +Cheffington himself had denied those rumours in private communications +to her and Frederick. But the fact was that Augustus had remained +inflexibly silent. The Dormer-Smiths knew nothing of him. And so +completely had he dropped out of the society of all with whom they were +likely to consort, that a doubt sometimes crossed Pauline's mind as to +whether her brother were still living or not. + +Meanwhile, every week May received a letter from Owen, forwarded by Mrs. +Dobbs. The latter had restricted the correspondence to one letter a week +on each side. Owen wrote very joyously. His work was easy--too easy, he +said; and he was constantly seeking opportunities to be useful to his +employer. Mr. Bragg he pronounced to be an excellent master: clearheaded +in his commands, and reasonable in his exactions. He seemed to approve +of his secretary so far; and although he was rather taciturn, and not +prone to encourage sanguine expectations, yet Owen began to have good +hope that Mr. Bragg would not turn him adrift when the three months' +engagement should be at an end. + +May now became decidedly more popular in society than she had been +during the height of the season. Happiness, like sunshine, beautifies +common things; and the new brightness of her outlook on it was reflected +by the world around her. That feeling which she had expressed in writing +to her grandmother--the forlorn feeling of a child who, in the midst of +some gay spectacle, wearily cries to go home--had disappeared. She knew +that when the curtain should fall on the puppet-show in Vanity Fair, her +own true love was waiting to welcome her. + +Sometimes she speculated on how Aunt Pauline would take the revelation +of her attachment to Owen Rivers. That she should have had any doubt on +the subject proved her ignorance of Aunt Pauline's views. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith would not for the world have expressed to May any gross or +sordid sentiments about marriage. She had not the slightest idea that +she entertained any such herself! But, as she had long ago said, there +are many things--never put into words--which "girls brought up in a +certain _monde_ learn by instinct." Now in that kind of instinct May was +greatly deficient. + +May reflected that her aunt had spurned Theodore Bransby's proposal on +the avowed ground of his being "nobody." And she understood--or thought +she understood--that Aunt Pauline accorded a tangible existence only to +such persons as could be proved by genealogical records to have had a +certain number of great-grandfathers. Now, thus considered, Owen was +very undeniably and solidly "somebody." He was poor, certainly; but how +often had Aunt Pauline mingled her plaintive regrets with Mrs. Griffin's +about the increasing worship of Mammon which vulgarized London society! +And although Aunt Pauline sometimes showed a deference for wealth which +was rather puzzling in the face of these utterances, yet May observed +that her personal liking and admiration were given on very different +grounds. Witness her regard for Constance Hadlow! + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith even kept up an intermittent correspondence with that +young lady. Constance's letters were precisely of the kind which Mrs. +Dormer-Smith delighted in--budgets of social gossip selected with +unerring tact. Constance had returned to Oldchester, but she did not +spend many consecutive weeks in her parents' house, being invited to +visit among "the _élite_ of the county aristocracy," as Mrs. Simpson +phrased it. Miss Hadlow had, in fact, achieved what might be called, all +things considered, a brilliant social position. Her visit to Glengowrie +had been a great success. She had made a conquest of the duchess; and +also--though that was comparatively of small consequence--of the duke. +Mrs. Griffin was charmed that her _protégée_ had done her so much +honour; and promised to take her into society the following season, if +Canon and Mrs. Hadlow would give her leave to come to town. Indeed, Mrs. +Griffin began seriously to revolve in her mind whether she could not +contrive to marry Charley Rivers's grand-daughter, and secure her a fine +establishment. Mrs. Griffin was proud of her achievements in that line, +which, though few, were brilliant. Like a certain famous Italian +singing-master, who was wont in his old age to decline unpromising +pupils on the ground that it was not worth his while to make _seconde +donne_, Mrs. Griffin practised only the higher branches of matchmaking; +and refused to fly her falcons at anything under twenty thousand a +year--or a peerage. + +What made Miss Hadlow's letters particularly interesting to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith at this time, was that the former was frequently staying in +the neighbourhood of Combe Park, and occasionally met Lord Castlecombe +and Lucius, whom she reported to be constantly ailing--as, indeed, he +had been since before his brother's death. But his state did not seem to +inspire any immediate apprehension. And Constance even said a word now +and then about "creaking wheels," and intimated her belief that Mr. +Lucius Cheffington would probably outlive many more robust-looking +persons. + +But it was not only these polite chronicles which kept the Dormer-Smith +household informed as to the doings of Oldchester people. Mrs. Dobbs, of +course, wrote frequently to her grandchild. The saddest news which she +had to give May was the continuous and rapid decline of Mr. Bransby's +health. Theodore was still away from home, Mrs. Dobbs wrote, and she +commented severely on his heartless neglect of his father. She had +learned through Mrs. Simpson that old Martin Bransby showed great +anxiety for his son's return; and it was reported that he had caused a +letter to be written, telling Theodore that he desired to speak with +him, and urging him to come home without delay. + +In the first days of December the end came. Martin Bransby died--rather +suddenly at the last--and his eldest son was not with him. On being +telegraphed to he arrived in Oldchester with the utmost possible +despatch--but too late to see his father alive. + +"People are very sorry for the widow and her children," wrote Mrs. +Dobbs; "for it's beginning to be said now that they're left rather badly +off, and that the bulk of everything will go to Theodore. I don't know +any facts, one way or the other; but I do know that foolish folk cackle +louder over a grave than almost anywhere else. So we may hope things are +not so bad with that pretty, gentle woman as Oldchester gossip makes +out." + +One of May's first thoughts on reading this letter was, "How grieved +Owen will be!" She grieved herself for the kindly old man who had always +been good to her, and for the grief of those who loved him. And she +incurred a mild rebuke from her aunt by appearing at a dinner party that +evening with pale cheeks and red eyelids. + +Contrary to Mrs. Dobbs's hope, it turned out that the gossip had for +once been correct. Martin Bransby's affairs were left in a strange +entanglement. There were many debts, and, as it seemed, very little +money to meet them. People inquired how he had got rid of the handsome +property left him by his father. He had not got rid of it in the +ordinary sense of the words; but the bulk of it was as far beyond his +control as though he had thrown it into the sea. + +At the time of Martin Bransby's first marriage, old Rabbitt had made +most stringent arrangements in his daughter's interest. Not only her own +dowry (which was a handsome one), but nearly the whole of Martin's +property was strictly settled on her and her children. Mr. Rabbitt was +enabled to drive a hard bargain by his command of ready money. He +advanced a large sum to his son-in-law for the purchase of Cadell's +share in the firm. Mr. Cadell was old, and wished to retire; the +opportunity was favourable, and promised brilliant results. Nor were +these promises belied by experience. The old-established solicitor's +business was a very flourishing and lucrative one. Martin Bransby was +soon able to pay back the loan to his father-in-law with interest. Old +Rabbitt observed that this was only taking from one hand to give to the +other, for it would all come back to him and his in the end. As a matter +of fact, old Rabbitt left every penny he had in the world to his +daughter and her children after her; but the money was strictly tied up +out of her husband's reach. + +This seemed a trifling matter in those days to Martin Bransby. Whom +should he desire to enrich but his own children? and things were going +so well in the office that it seemed probable he might amass another +fortune. But when, after his second marriage, a young family began to +gather round him, he could not help regretting the terms of his original +marriage settlement. As soon as Theodore came of age Mr. Bransby made an +attempt to induce him to relinquish some part of the property in favour +of his younger brothers and sisters; but the attempt failed, and was +never repeated. Mr. Bransby was deeply wounded by Theodore's attitude, +and, on his side, Theodore considered his father's request unreasonable +and unfair. + +"If I might venture on a suggestion, I would advise your retrenching a +little, sir," he had said with icy politeness; "in that way you would +soon save enough to provide for Mrs. Bransby and her children in a style +fully equal to what they have any right to expect from you." + +The remembrance of that interview was a thorn in the flesh of Martin +Bransby, and it left in Theodore's mind increased resentment against his +father's second marriage. + +But Theodore's advice, however unfilially proffered, was sound enough. +Retrenchment in the daily expenses of that easy-going and lavish +household would have been judicious; but then to retrench would have +been to deprive Louisa of the luxuries and elegancies which so became +her, and which gave her so much pleasure. Instead of taking this +disagreeable method, Mr. Bransby tried speculation. He made one or two +lucky strokes, but at the first loss became panic-stricken, and threw +good money after bad in a kind of desperation. + +After his death something of all this leaked out in a confused way, to +the public astonishment. "To think of Martin Bransby's money matters +being in a bad way!" people said. "There must be more in this than meets +the eye, for he was acknowledged to be a first-rate man of business." + +In brief, as much amazement was expressed as though "men of business" +were commonly infallible, and the world had never heard of a man of +business whose conduct was not ruled by self-restraining prudence. At +the same time many persons declared they had long ago prophesied +disaster, and had even warned Martin to put some check on his wife's +extravagance. But such little inconsistencies as these are but pebbles +in the stream of general gossip; diversifying it with an agreeable +ripple, but never checking its flow. + +May wrote an affectionate letter of condolence to Mrs. Bransby. She +received no answer to it; and presently she learned that Mrs. Bransby +and her children had left Oldchester, and gone to London. Constance +Hadlow did not mention the family at all in writing to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. They had fallen out of the sphere of her observation; +and no one can be expected to turn away his telescope from +contemplating the fixed stars in order to stare at common terrestrial +phenomena--especially phenomena of a non-metallic and unproductive +nature. + +About Christmas time Theodore Bransby called unexpectedly at Mrs. +Dormer-Smith's house in London. He came early in the forenoon--so early, +indeed, that Mrs. Dormer-Smith was not yet visible. On asking to see +Miss Cheffington, he was shown into a room where May was sitting with +the children. (Harold and Wilfred were now permitted to spend part of +the morning with their cousin, at her particular request. And it was +found that this arrangement answered the double purpose of delighting +the boys, and leaving Cecile more leisure for needlework.) + +May started and flushed on hearing Mr. Theodore Bransby's name +announced. But the first glimpse of Theodore disarmed her wrath. He was +paler than ever--or seemed to be so, in his deep mourning, and there was +unmistakable sorrow in his face. May rose quickly, and gave him her hand +in silence. There were tears in her eyes, and the unexpected sight of +tears in his, made her forgive him for pressing her hand harder, and +holding it longer than mere politeness warranted. + +"I have been so sorry!" said May. + +"Thank you," he answered. "You are always kind and good." + +"So sorry for you all--the widow--the poor children--!" added May, as a +bright drop brimmed over, and rolled down her cheek. + +Theodore relinquished her hand, and rapidly passing his handkerchief +across his eyes, gave a dry, husky, little cough in his throat. It was a +sound which curiously repelled sympathy. + +"You were not in Oldchester when your dear father died," said May. She +did not intend any covert reproach. Her words were prompted by a pitying +thought of the undying regret which must haunt Theodore on this score. + +"No; I was not there. I know I have been blamed for that." + +"Oh, indeed I had no such meaning!" + +"I well believe it. But I _have_ been blamed--most unjustly. I went away +with my father's full consent; indeed, he thought I needed the change. +He wrote to me when he found himself growing worse, to ask me to come +back. Of course I meant to comply with that request. You cannot doubt +it?" + +"I have no right to doubt it," answered May gently. + +"No, but pray listen! I wish to justify myself in your eyes. The truth +is, I was in the act of packing my valise to return to Oldchester when a +telegram reached me, saying that my father's danger was imminent. I was +in Yorkshire, in a country house, where there was but one postal +delivery a day. Letters were often delayed, and, in fact, my father's +letter had preceded the telegram only by a few hours." + +"Oh, how sad! I am so sorry for you!" cried May, clasping her hands. She +felt some generous compunction for having done him injustice. + +"Yes; I have lost a good father," said Theodore. + +"You have, indeed. And what a loss is Mrs. Bransby's!" + +A subtle change came over his face, although he did not seem to move a +muscle, and he made no answer. + +"How is she?" asked May, leaning forward eagerly. + +Theodore's eyebrows took their old supercilious curve, as he replied, +"Mrs. Bransby? Oh, she's quite well, I believe." + +"Believe! Have you not seen her lately?" + +"Oh yes; I have seen her. She appeared perfectly well. I did not at +first quite take in the sense of your question; but I see now what you +meant. Every one has not such keen sensibilities as you, May." + +Even this familiar use of her name she let pass, although it jarred upon +her. + +"I am sure Mrs. Bransby is not insensible," she answered. "And she loved +your father dearly." + +"I am not disputing it. But she was, and is, a doating mother, and her +feelings are greatly engrossed by her children. In one way this is happy +for her. She does not feel the void, the loneliness, which oppresses +me." + +It seemed to May that there might be some truth in this. Theodore was +not generally beloved. Cold as he seemed, he doubtless missed his +father's affection. He would feel isolated and forlorn. This might be in +great part his own fault; but May pitied him. She softened towards him +still more when he went on to speak of his plans for assisting his young +step-brothers. He had already offered to send Martin to school at his +own expense. He was endeavouring to be of use to Mrs. Bransby. She was, +unfortunately, very unpractical, and rather impracticable; but he hoped +that, when her grief calmed down, she would listen to reason and take +advice. + +"Is she not well off?" asked May, moved by genuine interest in the widow +and her family. + +Theodore shook his head. "I may tell _you_," he said, "that she is in +very straitened circumstances. I do not proclaim this generally, because +people who know how indefatigably my poor father worked, and what a +large income he earned, are apt to blame her, and accuse her of +extravagance." + +While he was still speaking, a message came from Mrs. Dormer-Smith +asking Mr. Bransby to go to her in the drawing-room. She, too, was +touched by his mourning garb and pale face, and received him with +sympathetic gentleness. May's report of his behaviour in Oldchester had +been favourable, in so far that he had not attempted to renew his suit. +But what most of all conciliated Mrs. Dormer-Smith was the thought of +Mr. Bragg. Now that her niece was so near making a splendid marriage, it +was easier to forgive Theodore's presumption. Doubtless the young man +had already seen his error; and really, putting aside that one +aberration, he was very nice! + +Her good opinion was increased in the course of their private +conversation, which turned on matters very interesting to Pauline. +Theodore had seen her uncle lately; he had, moreover, had a good deal of +talk with him about matters political. A vacancy was likely to occur +shortly in the representation of that division of the county where Lord +Castlecombe's landed property was situated. The Castlecombes were +anxious to oppose a threatened Radical candidate, and Theodore had +offered to stand. + +On his elder brother's death, Lucius Cheffington had resigned his post +in the Civil Service, and, under normal circumstances, his father would +have desired that he should return to the House of Commons; but his +health was at present too feeble to warrant his attempting any exertion. +Then old Lord Castlecombe thought it would be well to put some one into +the vacant seat who might be willing to resign it whenever Lucius should +be able and willing to come forward again as a candidate. This was not +expressed, but understood; and Lord Castlecombe had approved of +Theodore's ready comprehension of the state of the case, and his clear +view of the advantages such an arrangement would afford to himself. +Election expenses, even in these days of purity and the ballot, retain +as mysterious a rapidity of growth as Jack's beanstalk, and the +assistance of Lord Castlecombe would be very solidly valuable. On the +other hand, Theodore considered that, ambition apart, it would be useful +to him in his career as a barrister to write M.P. after his name, and +was willing to assume some share of the cost of the canvass. The old +lord discovered in this sententious young gentleman two merits--the +possession of money, and the knowledge how to spend it advantageously. + +Lucius acquiesced passively in all his father's arrangements; but he +could not be induced to thaw half a degree in his personal relations +with Theodore. + +"The fellow is an intolerable prig," he said to his father; "and his +vulgarity is of a particularly objectionable kind--the fine pretentious +kind." + +"Oh, of course, he's a d--d snob," answered my lord, with cheerful +candour. "But what the deuce does that matter? We are not going to take +him to our arms; only to throw him into the arms of the voters! And I +can tell you, it will be a vast deal better to have him for our member +than Mr. Butter, the Radical button-maker. At any rate, this young +Bransby won't go in for abolishing the Peers, or starting a Separatist +crusade in the Scilly Islands." + +In the course of his talk with Mrs. Dormer-Smith, Theodore hinted to her +as much of his political outlook as seemed good to him. The account of +his relations with Lord Castlecombe greatly impressed her; for she was +very sure her uncle would not waste any of his time and attention on an +entirely insignificant person. And Theodore's tone in speaking of the +political position of the Castlecombe family was such as to win her +complete approval and sympathy. + +When Pauline talked over his visit with her husband, after narrating +that part of it which concerned Lord Castlecombe, she added, "And the +young man has a great deal of proper feeling. I really begin to think +that mistake he made must have been in some way May's fault:--oh, not +intentionally, Frederick; but she is so--so unformed in her ideas! +However, we need not discuss all that; for I am convinced Mr. Bransby is +quite _safe_ now. I was going to say that he told me confidentially that +he would not advise us to encourage any intimacy between May and his +step-mother. She is in London, I believe; letting lodgings, or some +dreadful thing of that sort. It is just the kind of thing May would +delight in, if I would let her--visiting and championing people who are +in impossible positions, and talking all kinds of Quixotic nonsense +about them! However, this Mrs. Bransby is not the kind of person who +_can_ be encouraged. She is very handsome, I understand, and _tant soit +peu, coquette_. There was some not too creditable flirtation with young +Rivers before her husband's death; and Mr. Bransby evidently thinks she +is the kind of woman always to have some one dangling after her. He +spoke really very nicely, and said he hoped she might soon marry again, +as she is scarcely fit to be trusted with the responsibility of bringing +up a young family. You are so apt to indulge May in her whims, that I +thought it necessary to repeat all this with distinctness. You must see, +as I do, that it would be quite disastrous for May to keep up any +intimacy with such a person as this Mrs. Bransby--a handsome, flirting, +needy widow! If she were even in society----!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +The sale of Martin Bransby's handsome furniture, books, plate, carriage, +and horses realized a considerable sum; but only a small portion of that +sum remained when all debts were paid. Theodore made all the +arrangements, and Mrs. Bransby passively acquiesced in them. She was +crushed by grief, and timidly acknowledged herself to be sadly helpless +and ignorant of business matters. + +It was Theodore who had decided that the family should leave Oldchester. +It was Theodore who had taken a house for them in a northern suburb of +London. It was Theodore who suggested that Mrs. Bransby might eke out +her income by receiving one or two lodgers. For Martin's schooling he +promised to be responsible; and he would also guarantee the rent of the +London house for one twelvemonth. But he could promise no further +assistance, giving as a sufficient reason for not doing more the heavy +claims on his purse which would result from his forthcoming political +candidature. + +A tiny annual sum was secured to the widow--a sum smaller than that +which she had been in the habit of spending on her dress; and this was +all she had to rely on to keep herself and her five children. It was +clear that an effort must be made to earn some money. + +Some articles of furniture remaining from the Oldchester sale nearly +sufficed to furnish the small London dwelling. The house, fortunately, +was clean, freshly painted, and in good repair; but the vulgar +wall-papers were an affliction to Mrs. Bransby's eyes, and the +dimensions of the rooms seemed to her painfully cramped. When she +ventured to hint as much to her stepson he gave her a severe lecture, +and begged her to understand that the days when her whims could be +lavishly indulged were over. + +"But it can scarcely be called a whim to want air for my children to +breathe!" returned Mrs. Bransby, with a flash of indignation which she +repented the next moment. And when Theodore pointed out that the house +was a remarkably airy one for the rent; and that he, in his kind +consideration, had taken a great deal of trouble to find a dwelling for +them in a healthy locality, she meekly apologized for having been +betrayed into any expression of impatience, and promised to make the +best of her new circumstances. + +They were such as might have depressed a stronger and less sensitive +person. When Theodore had gone away, and the children were in bed, and +the widow sat alone in the mean little room which, small as it was, was +but dimly illuminated by one candle, the sense of her forlorn position +weighed her down, and seemed to make the atmosphere thick with misery. +It was not the loss of material luxuries which afflicted her. A month +ago she would have felt that keenly; but now her great sorrow had +absorbed all minor troubles. Poverty! What was poverty, compared with +desolation of spirit? How willingly would she have faced severer bodily +hardships than any which threatened her if her lost husband could be +restored to her! + +She dropped her head on her folded arms resting on the table. The +widow's cap slipped aside, and a veil of bright, brown, waving hair fell +over her bowed face. She had been forced to restrain her tears all day. +There were the children to be thought of. There were Theodore's cold, +clear questions and suggestions to be answered. But now, in solitude, +her tears gushed out. She wept with long, deep-drawn sobs. The words of +the Litany seemed to be repeated over and over again, as by a voice +whispering in her ear, "The fatherless children, and widows, and all who +are desolate and oppressed." She rocked herself from side to side, and +moaned out, "Oh, come back to us! Come back, Martin--Martin!" + +A hand was gently laid on her shoulder. With a great start she raised +her head, and saw her eldest boy standing by her side. + +He was a handsome boy, very like his father. But now his naturally ruddy +face was pale, and his eyes had a depth of yearning tenderness in them +which went to his mother's heart. + +"Don't cry so, mother dear!" he said. "Father couldn't bear to see it, +if he knew." + +She clasped the boy in her arms; and, although she still wept, her sobs +were less convulsive, and she gradually grew calmer. Martin stood beside +her very quietly, occasionally stroking back the pretty soft hair which +strayed over her face, and was damp with tears. + +Presently Mrs. Bransby said, "I thought you were in bed, Martin. How +silently you came downstairs!" + +"I took off my shoes, mother," he answered, showing his feet. "I didn't +want to disturb the others. The children are asleep, and Phoebe is +snoring away." + +Phoebe was their one servant, a housemaid from their Oldchester +home--who had volunteered to remain with them and follow their fortunes. + +"Poor Phoebe! I dare say she is tired," said Mrs. Bransby. + +"I should think she _was_ rather. She has been working like a brick all +day," returned Martin. + +There was a little silence, during which Mrs. Bransby dried her eyes, +put up her dishevelled hair, and replaced her cap. + +"Ought you not to go to bed, my boy?" she said, looking wistfully at +him. + +"I want to stay and talk to you quietly a little, mother." + +Mrs. Bransby hesitated. "I should dearly like you to stay awhile, +Martin," she answered; "but I'm afraid it would not be right. You look +pale and worn out. You and I must help each other now to do what is +right;--and what--what _he_ would have wished," she added with quivering +lips. + +"Yes, mother," answered the boy eagerly. "That's just what I want; and I +know he would have wished me to spare you all the bother I can. So now +just listen, mother; indeed, indeed I couldn't sleep if I went to bed +now--and it's far wearier work to lie awake than to sit up and talk. +Look here, mother; Theodore has offered to send me to school, hasn't +he?" + +"Yes, Martin. I am very thankful for that. I don't see how I could have +afforded it." + +"Well, but now, I've been thinking that it would be better if Theodore +would give you that money, instead of paying for my schooling, and for +me to get a situation and earn something." + +"Earn! My darling boy, how could you earn anything?" + +"Why, mother, I could do all that the office boy did at Oldchester. Old +Tuckey told me once that he earned fifteen shillings a-week. Just fancy, +mother! That's a good lot, isn't it?" + +It looked a very childish face that he turned towards his mother: a face +with frank, sparkling eyes and rounded cheeks, to which the excitement +of making this proposition had brought back the roses. + +"Oh, Martin, my dearest boy, it is sweet of you to think of this! But +you are too young, darling." + +"I'm going on for thirteen, mother!" interrupted Martin. + +"Yes, dear; but still even that is very, very young," answered his +mother gravely, although the phantom of a smile flitted across her pale +face. + +Martin looked disappointed, and, for a moment, almost angry. He had a +naturally hot temper. But he battled down the temptation, and merely +said, "Well, mother, you need not decide anything to-night. You can +think it over. I believe I could earn something; and I'm sure that if I +can, I ought." + +"But your education, Martin!" + +"I might, perhaps, go on learning a little at home--in the evenings," he +rejoined, but more slowly, and less confidently than he had spoken +before. + +"You know, Martin, _he_ wished you to study. He was so proud of your +abilities--so fond of you----" Her voice broke, and she turned away her +head. + +"Yes, mother; but he was fonder of you," answered Martin simply. "I know +quite well that if father could speak to me now, this minute, he would +say, 'Martin, take care of your mother.' That's what he _did_ say one +day when I was alone with him, only a week before----" The boy paused, +made a violent struggle to master his emotion, and then went on bravely, +though his young face grew white to the lips, "And I'm going to do it, +please God!" + +The tears that poured down his mother's cheeks as she embraced him and +kissed his forehead were not all bitter. "Not desolate--not wholly +desolate," she murmered, "while I have you, my precious, precious son!" + +They sat awhile, talking of their means, and their plans, and their +prospects. Mrs. Bransby felt that although many of Martin's notions +were, of course, crude and childish, yet there was a strain of firm +manliness in him on which she could rely; and the boy had a quick +intelligence. Before parting from his mother for the night, he proposed +that she should write to Owen Rivers and ask his advice. "You'll believe +what Mr. Rivers says, mother, if you don't believe me. And I think +you'll find that _he_ will consider it my duty to earn something if I +can; anyway, he's such a good fellow, and has such a thundering lot of +sense, he's sure to give us good advice." + +The widow caught at the suggestion; she had almost as implicit faith in +Owen as her children had. She promised that Martin should enclose a +letter of his own in hers to Mr. Rivers; and when she bade the boy "good +night" at the door of his poor little chamber, she was surprised to find +her heart somewhat lightened of its load. + +"I say, look here, mother!" whispered Martin, beckoning her in from the +open door. "Don't those young shavers sleep like one o'clock?" He +pointed to Bobby and Billy, who occupied one large bed--a relic from the +Oldchester nursery--while Martin's little camp-bedstead was squeezed +into a corner of the same room. The two little fellows were sleeping the +profound sleep of healthy childhood. Bobby had a smile on his parted +lips, and Billy lay with one fat hand doubled up under his cheek, and +the other buried in the thick masses of his brother's curly hair. + +"This isn't half a bad room when the window's wide open," went on Martin +cheerfully. "I can see a tree--quite a good-sized elm--from my bed. Good +night, mother dear; I hope you'll sleep. I think this'll turn out an +awfully nice little house, when we get used to it." + +The two letters to Owen Rivers--Martin's and his mother's--were written +the next morning. Mrs. Bransby sent them under cover to Mr. Bragg, +addressed to Oldchester, to be forwarded, and with a line from herself +to Mr. Bragg, begging that he would let Mr. Rivers have them without +delay. She had written very fully and frankly to Owen, telling him, +without reserve, what her means were. Only on one point had she been +reticent--Theodore's conduct. In her heart she thought Theodore cruelly +cold and hard towards her and the children. But she would not complain +of him; he was her dear husband's son, and she felt as if it would be +disloyal to that honoured husband's memory to paint Theodore to others +as she saw him. + +Theodore's recommendation to his step-mother, to "take good, steady, +paying lodgers," was in the nature of those vague counsels we are all +apt to proffer freely to our neighbours; such as, to "cheer up;" not to +"yield to weakness;" to "look on the bright side;" to "dismiss +disagreeable thoughts;" to "set to work briskly and earn money," and the +like. That is to say, it was easier said than done. When, after the +family had been somewhat over a week in town, Theodore came again to see +them, and found that no steps had been taken to carry out this +suggestion, he showed considerable displeasure, and said a sharp word or +two about the difficulty of helping unpractical people. + +This word, "unpractical," was, in fact, a favourite reproach to apply to +poor Mrs. Bransby on the part of a great many persons. Mrs. Dormer-Smith +caught it up from Theodore. Constance Hadlow echoed the same phrase +when, at length, in answer to some private inquiries of Mrs. +Dormer-Smith's, she wrote about the Bransby family. + +May's first eager proposal to go and see Mrs. Bransby was met by her +aunt with an absolute refusal; but she was so urgent, and appealed so +strongly to her uncle, that Mrs. Dormer-Smith, making a virtue of +necessity (for she feared that if leave were refused May might go +without it), graciously consented that her niece should pay one visit to +Mrs. Bransby. + +"One visit will be enough, May," said Aunt Pauline. "Quite enough to +show that you feel kindly towards her, and that sort of thing. It is +really stretching a point. However, if it must be, it must be. I only +implore you not to talk about these people in society. Pray, _pray_ do +not _poser_ as a district visitor, or whatever it is called." + +May shrugged her shoulders, and was silent. She knew how vain it was to +reason with Aunt Pauline on a point of this kind; but she comforted +herself by looking forward to the time--very near now--when Owen would +return, and when, in some mysterious way, not explicable to her head, +but quite sufficing to her heart, all her difficulties would vanish +before his presence. And that same afternoon she set off to Collingwood +Place, Barnsbury Road, in a cab, attended by Smithson. + +Mrs. Bransby received her affectionately, and thanked her for her visit; +but she did not ask her to repeat it. She perceived, far more quickly +than May had perceived it, that Mrs. Dormer-Smith would not like her +niece to keep up any intimacy with a family who lived in Barnsbury, and +were served by one maid-of-all-work. When the children clung round May, +and clamoured to know when she was coming to see them again, Mrs. +Bransby interposed. She told them that May could not be running in and +out of their house in London as she had done in Oldchester; and they +must understand she could not take up the time of her aunt's maid in +making long journeys to Barnsbury. And she said privately to May-- + +"Don't get into trouble with your aunt by coming here, my dear. I know +you would help us if you could; but you cannot. But I ought not to say +that! It is helpful to know you are unchanged, and warm-hearted as ever. +Some day, please God, we may be able to see each freely." + +"Yes; some day!" cried May joyfully, thinking of him who would help to +make that and all the other good things possible. And then she coloured +vividly, as though she had betrayed a secret. + +Mrs. Bransby, however, did not notice this. She went on pensively, "And +yet I am almost afraid to look forward to any pleasant thing lest it +should be snatched away from me. Misfortune makes one a sad coward. I +have had a disappointment just lately--about Mr. Rivers. He is not +coming back so soon as was expected." + +"He is coming back at the end of this month," said May in a quick, +almost breathless way. + +"No. He _was_ to have returned to England at the end of December, but +that is altered. His present engagement is prolonged for some weeks. I +had a letter from him last evening from Barcelona, and he does not +expect to be in England before the latter part of January at the +soonest." + +May drove homeward much depressed and out of spirits. It was not only +that Owen's return was postponed, but that she had not been the first to +hear of it! To be sure, his weekly letter was not yet due, and he was +rigidly scrupulous in keeping his promise to Mrs. Dobbs about +corresponding with May. But need he have volunteered to give this news +to Mrs. Bransby before writing it to her? A dull feeling of discontent +seemed to oppress her; but on reaching home she tried to shake it off, +and to forget it in fighting her friend's battle against Aunt Pauline. + +Aunt Pauline had constructed for herself an image of Mrs. Bransby +founded on Theodore's hints. She had decided in her own mind that Mrs. +Bransby was a weak-minded, lounging, lazy woman, who, no longer able to +adorn herself with fine clothes, would sink into slattern-hood, and +throw herself and her family as a dead weight on to any shoulders who +would carry them. + +"A woman belonging to the provincial middle-class, who thinks of nothing +but dress," said Mrs. Dormer-Smith, shaking her head mournfully. "One +knows what _that_ must come to!" + +"But Mrs. Bransby thought of a great many things besides dress!" cried +May. "She thought of her household, and her children, and, above all, of +her husband." + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith merely shook her head again, with an air of mild +martyrdom, as though some one were unjustly accusing _her_. + +"And I assure you, Aunt Pauline," May continued, "that the little house +she is living in--poor and humble, of course, in comparison with her old +home--is a pattern of neatness." + +"You say 'poor and humble,' May; but do you not think that a house at +forty-five pounds a year is quite as good as she has any right to +expect, under the circumstances? _I_ do. And that poor young Bransby has +to be responsible for the rent." + +"I am sure Mrs. Bransby won't let him be out of pocket, if she can +possibly help it." + +"I dare say. But she is a sadly unpractical person." + +"It was most touching to see her with all those children about her, +trying to be cheerful and composed; and looking so lovely in her +melancholy mourning dress." + +"I presume she wears crape? Ah! There's no more extravagant wear. She +might have one dress trimmed with crape for occasions; but her ordinary +everyday frocks ought to be of plain black stuff. Hemstitched muslin +collars and cuffs, perhaps," added Mrs. Dormer-Smith, relenting at the +image of uncompromising ugliness she had herself conjured up. "But they +can be made at home, and need not cost much. Has she any lodgers?" + +"No, not yet. But there has been very little time. And it is difficult, +she says, to find suitable persons." + +"Yes, that is precisely the kind of thing one would expect her to say. +That is the speech of a thoroughly unpractical person." + +"The fact is," burst out May hotly, "it is unpractical to be poor! It is +unpractical to be left a widow, with five children, and only a miserable +pittance to keep them on!" + +It was intolerable to hear Aunt Pauline sitting in judgment on this poor +lady, of whom she really knew nothing whatever save her misfortunes. And +May was greatly astonished at the glib way in which her aunt, usually so +prosaically matter-of-fact, discoursed about Mrs. Bransby, putting in +visionary details with a lavish fancy. The girl had yet to learn that +the most narrow and commonplace minds are capable of wild exaggeration +within their own sphere, and that to be unimaginative is no guarantee +for truthfulness of perception. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith, whatever her defects might be, possessed almost +perfect gentleness of temper. She merely said softly, "May, May, when +will you understand that nothing can be worse form than that habit of +raving about people? You are so dreadfully emphatic!" + +"I don't care a straw about what you call 'good form'! I prefer good +substance," answered May, still in a glow of indignation. + +"My dear child, what does this woman matter to you?" + +"Matter! She is my friend. She has always been kind to me; and even if +she were not my friend, I would defend her against unfair accusations." + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith was silent for a few minutes. Then she said, in her +slow, somewhat muffled tones, "May, you compel me to say what I would +rather leave unsaid. Mrs. Bransby is not the kind of person your uncle +and I wish you to associate with. I do not assert that there has been +anything positively wrong in her conduct. Now oblige me by listening +quietly! If you start up in that melodramatic way, you will bring on one +of my nervous headaches. I was merely going to remark that a woman so +handsome as I am told she is, and so very much younger than her husband, +ought, in the most ordinary view of what is _convenable_, to avoid +anything like--like seeking to attract men's admiration, and that sort +of thing. But instead of that, Mrs. Bransby carried on a very flagrant +flirtation during her husband's lifetime with a young man considerably +her junior. It was noticed, of course, and commented on. If she was so +led away by foolish vanity when she had a sensible husband to guide her, +what will it be now that she is left to her own devices?" + +May stood staring at her aunt like one suddenly awakened out of sleep. +"This is all false," she said, after a moment; "false, and very cruel. +Who told you such things, Aunt Pauline?" + +"I decline to tell you, May. Some one who has had the means of knowing +what went on in this Bransby household, and some one whose judgment I +can trust. It must suffice to assure you that I am quite certain of my +facts." And, strange, as it may seem, Mrs. Dormer-Smith really thought +she was certain of them. + +May turned away contemptuously. "Mrs. Bransby is really very much to +blame," she said. "It is bad enough to be poor and unprotected, but to +be the most beautiful woman in all her circle of acquaintance as well, +is not to be forgiven!" + +Then May left her aunt's presence, and betook herself to her own room, +where she locked the door and burst out crying. These calumnies were +bewildering. She sat on the side of her bed for more than an hour, in a +drooping posture, depressed and miserable. As she thought over her +aunt's words, the belief flashed into her mind that Mrs. Dormer-Smith's +informant must have been Constance Hadlow. She did not suspect Constance +of having deliberately invented stories to the poor widow's discredit; +but she did think that Constance had repeated them, and that they had +lost none of their venom in her repetition. It chanced that on that very +morning her aunt had spoken of a letter just received from Miss Hadlow; +and May knew very well the sort of gossip which made up the staple of +that correspondence. Not for one moment did her suspicions point to +Theodore. The idea that he could have originated odious insinuations +against his father's wife was inconceivable to her. But Conny----She had +observed latterly a tendency in Conny to bitterness and detraction when +speaking of Mrs. Bransby. Was she jealous? And why? When they talked of +Mrs. Bransby's flirtations with a man younger than herself, whom did +they allude to? + +All at once May drew herself sharply into an upright attitude, while a +burning flush covered her face and throat. She dashed away some stray +tears with her handkerchief, and exclaimed, speaking out loud in her +excitement, "I will not _think_ of such mean, malicious, despicable +folly! I will turn my mind away from it. It is shameful even to be +conscious of anything so base-minded!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Two days after May's interview with Mrs. Bransby, Owen's weekly letter +arrived. In it he informed her of the unexpected postponement of his +return; and he mentioned having written this news to Mrs. Bransby in +answer to a letter from her appealing to him for help and advice. But he +did not expend many words on the Bransby family. He had to keep May +minutely informed of his own doings, and of his prospects, so far as he +could judge of them. And whatsoever time and space remained at his +disposal when this was accomplished was devoted to a theme which touched +him more nearly than the fortunes of gentle Louisa Bransby--although his +regard for her was very real. Owen was deeply in love, and wrote +love-letters. And that species of composition does not deal with +circumstantial and connected narrative--at any rate, about third +persons. + +But although Owen did not return to England at the end of December, Mr. +Bragg did. He appeared one day in Mrs. Dormer-Smith's drawing-room, when +he was received by that lady with marked graciousness, and by May with a +changing colour and shy eagerness which he might have been excused for +misinterpreting. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith was delighted. May's behaviour appeared to her to be +just what it ought to be. Uncle Frederick, too, who happened to be at +home--for Mr. Bragg called at so unfashionably an early hour that the +master of the house had not yet gone out to his club--had reason to be +gratified. He took the opportunity of consulting Mr. Bragg as to a +little investment he purposed making. And Mr. Bragg, while dissuading +him from that particular investment, spontaneously offered to put his +money into "a good thing" for him. + +"I make it a rule not to advise people in general about such matters," +said Mr. Bragg. "The responsibility's too great; not to mention that if +it once, what you might call got wind that I did give such advice, I +should have my time took up altogether with other people's business. And +I don't see the force of that." + +"Of course not! Most inconsiderate!" murmured Mr. Dormer-Smith. + +"But I reserve the right to make exceptions now and then," continued Mr. +Bragg. "And I shall be happy to be of use to you." + +All this while no word had been said about Owen. May's secret +consciousness made her too bashful to introduce his name. But at length +Mr. Bragg mentioned it of his own accord. It was in speaking of Mr. +Bransby's death. Mr. Bragg expressed kindly sympathy with the widow, and +added-- + +"She has one good friend, poor soul, anyway. My secretary takes the +greatest interest in her. You know him, Miss Cheffington--Mr. Owen +Rivers." + +"Yes," answered May, in as constrained a tone as though the subject were +distasteful to her. Yet the poor child was longing with all her heart to +speak of Owen, and to hear him spoken of. + +"To be sure you do. We used to meet him at the Miss Pipers' pretty well +every evening, didn't we? Besides, he's a cousin of your great friend, +Miss Hadlow." + +"Oh, of course!" exclaimed Mrs. Dormer-Smith, with a sudden remembrance +of that relationship, and a consequent increase of interest in Owen, +whom personally she knew but very slightly. "A cousin of Constance +Hadlow's! Yes, yes; I recall it now. Mrs. Griffin told me that his +grandfather, who married a Lespoony----" She stopped, remembering that +family genealogy was a subject not likely to be specially agreeable to +Mr. Bragg, and asked that gentleman sweetly, "How do you like him? Does +he do well?" + +"First rate!" answered Mr. Bragg emphatically. + +May coloured with pleasure, and turned aside her face, to hide a broad, +childlike smile which stole over it. + +"First rate," repeated Mr. Bragg. "He gives full satisfaction. Not but +what there are little what you may call _twists_ in him here and there. +He's peculiar in some ways. But I never did expect angels from heaven to +come down and do office-work for me. I consider myself lucky if I get +honesty and fair industry. Now, Mr. Rivers is more than honest--he's +honourable." + +"Isn't that a distinction without a difference in this case?" asked Mr. +Dormer-Smith lightly. + +"Well, no; I don't think so," answered Mr. Bragg in his slow, pondering +way. "You see, honesty makes a capital slow-combustion kind of fire, but +if you want a white heat you must have honour. I can't express myself +quite clear, but I have it in my mind." + +"And so Mr. Rivers takes a great interest in this Mrs. Bransby," said +Pauline. Her thoughts had been busy with this point ever since Mr. Bragg +had uttered the words. And she was pleased that May should hear +something like corroboration of the charge against Mrs. Bransby. + +"Uncommon. He's quite what you might call devoted to her." + +"She's a deuced pretty woman, isn't she?" put in Mr. Dormer-Smith, with +a little knowing laugh. + +Mr. Bragg replied, with perfect seriousness, "Mrs. Bransby is a lady of +great personal attractions, and, so far as I know of her, most amiable. +I'm sorry to hear she's left in poor circumstances. Martin Bransby seems +to have made most imprudent speculations. If he'd have come to me, poor +man, I could have given him some useful warnings; and would have done +it, too. I'd have made one of my exceptions in his favour." + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith's interest in the deceased Martin Bransby was too +slight to enchain her attention. When the widow was no longer being +spoken of, Pauline's thoughts flew off rapidly to the fashion and +texture of May's wedding-dress (which had already haunted her solitary +musings), and to the question whether Mr. Bragg would be likely to do +anything for her boy Cyril, who was just about to be entered at the +University. But her eyes remained fixed with a politely attentive look +on Mr. Bragg, and, when he ceased speaking, she murmured plaintively, as +being a safe thing to say, "That is so good of you!" + +As soon as Mr. Bragg was gone, May sat down to write an account of his +visit to Owen. Her heart swelled with pride as she repeated to him Mr. +Bragg's words about himself. Indeed, she was so enthusiastic about Mr. +Bragg, that Owen jestingly told her in his next letter that he was +growing jealous of his "master"--so he always termed Mr. Bragg. + +It was out of the question that May should hint to Owen a word of the +unkind things which were said of Mrs. Bransby. She could not bring her +pen to write them. It seemed to her as if she could never even speak +them to him. But she said all the most sympathetic and affectionate +things she could think of about the poor widow and her children, being +inspired by the malicious gossip only to a more chivalrous warmth on her +friend's behalf. But yet--that gossip was like a barbed seed that clings +where it alights, and could not wholly be shaken out of her memory. If +she could but have spoken with granny! She could not write all the +confused feelings that were in her mind. To have tried to do so would +have seemed almost like hinting something which might be construed into +a doubt of Owen! But if she could speak, with her living voice, +granny--who loved her so much, and would listen with such understanding +ears--would surely find the right words to conjure away the oppression +which weighed on her spirits! She was ashamed of not feeling so happy as +she had felt three weeks ago. And yet it was impossible to deny that a +cloud--light and filmy, but still a cloud--had come between her and the +sun. She was very lonely. Sometimes she was startled by the sudden +recognition of how completely aloof she was in spirit from the beings +around her. + +Next to Owen's letters, her little cousins were her chief comfort. She +had them with her as much as possible, helping them with their lessons, +and joining in their play. Their brother Cyril being now at home from +Harrow, the younger children received even less than the scanty share of +her attention which their mother had ever vouchsafed to them. Mr. +Dormer-Smith was a good deal engrossed by his eldest son; and Harold and +Wilfred would have been forlorn indeed, at this time, but for Cousin +May. Yes, the children were a great comfort to her; and, after them, she +liked Mr. Bragg's society better than that of most people! He was so +closely associated with Owen. + +Mr. Bragg had become a frequent and familiar guest at the Dormer-Smiths' +house. Uncle Frederick highly valued his advice and assistance in +financial matters, while Aunt Pauline was never tired of repeating his +praises. Only--as she privately complained to her husband--he "hung +fire" a little. + +"Why in the world he shouldn't speak out, I cannot conjecture," said +she, with that soft, suffering expression of countenance, which Mr. +Bragg's assiduous visits had recently banished for as much as two or +three days together. "It really is not May's fault this time. Nothing +could be nicer than she is to him. I should be uneasy about the +Hautenvilles, but that they are spending the winter at Rome. And +besides, Mrs. Griffin assured me that he wouldn't _look_ at Felicia. In +fact, he told her in plain terms that Miss Cheffington was the one young +lady he admired. Dear Mrs. Griffin! I shall never forget what a friend +she has been all through the affair. And the dear duchess! But really, +Mr. Bragg does hang fire most unaccountably! I think it is beginning to +tell on May herself a little. She mopes. Now, that is a _very_ serious +matter, for her complexion is of the delicate kind which will not stand +worry." + +The new year opened dark and damp in London. But the external gloom did +not quench social gaiety, of which there was a good deal going on at +this time. Mrs. Dormer-Smith entered into it, and insisted on May's +entering into it, as much as possible. She reflected that this would be +the last year during which she would have the assistance of May's +allowance, and that it would be well to profit by it to the utmost while +it lasted. The allowance was never expended in any way by which May +could not benefit. For example, if Mrs. Dormer-Smith were going to a +dinner-party without her niece, she would not spend May's money on the +hire of a carriage to save her own hard-worked brougham horse; but when +May accompanied her she would do so. And on such occasions she would +indulge in some little extra elegance of dress, on the plea (quite +genuinely preferred) that she _must_ be decently dressed in the girl's +interests. + +In spite of Theodore Bransby's recent mourning they frequently met in +society. + +"It is my duty to keep up my social connections," he would say to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith, with a grave, resigned air. And no one could have more +fully appreciated and approved the sentiment than she did. + +Theodore travelled rather frequently backwards and forwards between +London and Oldchester in these days. He was busy in the neighbourhood of +his native city, preparing the ground for his political campaign; while +he was constantly attracted to London by the hope of seeing May. He had +discovered that Mrs. Bransby wrote sometimes to Owen Rivers, and he +frequently volunteered to give her items of news about May, which he +thought and hoped she might transmit to Spain. Miss Cheffington had sat +near him at Lady A.'s dinner-party; he had escorted Miss Cheffington and +her aunt to Mrs. B.'s _soirée musicale_; Mrs. C. had given him a seat in +her box at the theatre--where he met Miss Cheffington; and so forth. + +"Miss Cheffington appears to be very gay!" said Mrs. Bransby once, with +a sigh, not envious, but regretful; her own life was so dull and dark. + +"Miss Cheffington is very much in the world, of course. Her birth and +her beauty entitle her to a good deal of attention, and she gets it. I +see no objection to that. On the contrary, it delights me that she +should be admired." + +His step-mother stared at him in sudden surprise. + +"Theodore!" she exclaimed impulsively. "There is nothing between you and +May, is there?" + +He drew himself up, and answered in as coldly offended a tone as though +he had not desired, and even angled for, that very question. "Excuse me, +Mrs. Bransby, but I do not think it well to use a young lady's name in +that way. It is too delicate a matter to be handled at all in its +present stage." + +"Don't you believe him, mother," said Martin when Theodore had gone +away. "May Cheffington isn't likely to think of _him_." + +"I don't know, Martin. It may not seem likely to us, because----" + +"Because we know what Theodore is," interposed Martin boldly. + +His mother let that suggestion lie, but she said, "You must remember, my +boy, that Theodore has many qualities which--which----He is very well +educated, and clever, and gentlemanlike." + +"No; that he is _not_!" put in the irrepressible Martin. + +"And he probably has a distinguished career before him. Besides, he is +rich now, you know." + +"As if May would care for _that_!" exclaimed Martin, with innocently +lofty disdain. + +"Her friends might care for it for her," answered Mrs. Bransby +thoughtfully. + +She had fallen into the habit of consulting with Martin on all kinds of +subjects. Sometimes she reproached herself for harassing the boy with +cares and questions beyond his years. But, in truth, it would have been +impossible at that time to keep Martin from sharing her cares; and the +pride of being allowed to share her counsels also, more than made him +amends. + +Mrs. Bransby had a lodger now--a lodger who was the incubus of her life. +He was an elderly German, engaged in the City; and, besides occupying +the chamber which Theodore had ordained must be let if possible, he +breakfasted with the family every day, and dined with them on Sundays. +The man was vulgar, greedy, and sullen in his manners. His habits at +table, without being absolutely gross, were revolting to Mrs. Bransby's +refinement. And his exigencies on the score of the Sunday dinner were +such as to keep her in constant anxiety, and to excite boundless +indignation in Phoebe. Phoebe, indeed, so detested Mr. Bucher, that +Mrs. Bransby was occasionally reduced to beg for a cessation of +hostilities; and (very much against the grain) to plead Mr. Bucher's +cause even with tears in her eyes. + +Such being the state of things, it can well be imagined with what an +ebullition of joy Mrs. Bransby hailed a letter from Owen Rivers, +announcing his approaching arrival in London, and proposing himself to +her as a lodger. He would like, he said, to board entirely with the +family, and offered terms which Mrs. Bransby feared were almost too +generous. Martin, it is needless to say, enthusiastically welcomed the +idea of having Owen Rivers to live with them. And Phoebe's delight in +the prospect of Mr. Bucher's being speedily superseded, made her +volunteer to prepare his favourite pudding on the very next Sunday, +although hitherto she had obstinately professed the blankest ignorance +of its composition. + +Before, however, giving the unpopular Mr. Bucher notice to quit her +house, Mrs. Bransby thought herself bound to consult Theodore. Her mind +misgave her lest Theodore, who, as she knew, detested Owen Rivers, +should strongly set his face against receiving him; and she wrote her +letter to her stepson in considerable trepidation. But, to her surprise, +she speedily received an answer entirely approving the plan. It was not +gracious; Theodore was never gracious to her. But that was a small +matter in comparison with obtaining his consent to the arrangement, and +this consent was unmistakably given. + +"I believe," he wrote, "that you will be justified in taking Rivers for +a lodger, if you wish it. I meet his employer, Mr. Bragg, very +frequently at the house of Mrs. Dormer-Smith, and he apparently intends +to retain Rivers in his service--at all events, for the present. You +will, therefore, I should say, be quite sure of regular payments." + +So Owen's offer was joyfully and gratefully accepted. + +He had, of course, written to tell May as nearly as possible the time of +his arrival in England, but he had not mentioned his scheme of living at +the Bransbys, fearing lest it might not be practicable. He did not, in +fact, receive Mrs. Bransby's reply to his proposal until he was on his +way home. He found it addressed, as he had directed Mrs. Bransby, to the +"Poste Restante" in Paris, where he spent one day on business for Mr. +Bragg. And thus it chanced that the first intimation which May received +of the matter came from Theodore Bransby. + +He was dining at the Dormer-Smiths'. Mr. Bragg was there also. It was +what Mrs. Dormer-Smith called "a _very_ quiet little dinner--just one or +two people, quite cosily," and had been given simply and solely for Mr. +Bragg. There was but one other guest, Lady Moppett. Mrs. Dormer-Smith +did not consider Lady Moppett to be worth cultivating. She was rich, but +not "in the best set." Moreover, she had a craze for music. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith's private sentiment about all the Arts was akin to that of +the Turkish potentate who inquired at a ball why they did not make their +slaves dance for them, instead of taking all that trouble themselves! +She considered, in fact, that the Muses ought to be kept in their +places. But she would never have uttered any word approaching to such a +Boeotian phrase. She had an almost perfect taste in phrases. There, +however, sat Lady Moppett at her dinner-table. Mr. Dormer-Smith had +stipulated for "some human being to speak to." Mr. Bragg must, of +course, be left to May, and Mr. Dormer-Smith could not endure young +Bransby. Theodore was not generally popular with his own sex, but +Pauline had quite reinstated him in her good graces. And, indeed, how +was it possible not to feel agreeably towards a young man whom Lord +Castlecombe himself delighted to honour? + +Lady Moppett was an old acquaintance of her host's, as has been stated. +And, except on the subject of music, she was a good-humoured woman +enough; making amends for the inflexible rigidity of her dogma as to the +divine art by a rather broad indulgence towards the merely moral +shortcomings of her fellow-creatures. Mr. Dormer-Smith led her out to +dinner. Mr. Bragg, of course, conducted his hostess; and Theodore, +therefore, had to give May his arm to the dining-room. There was no help +for that. But the party was small and the table was round, and Mr. Bragg +would not be far sundered from May. And once in the drawing-room, Aunt +Pauline would take care that he should have abundant opportunities for +private conversation with her niece. + +May endured Theodore's proximity far more graciously than would have +been the case three months ago. He was not naturally quick at discerning +the effect he produced on others, nor careful to spare their feelings. +But Love stimulates the perceptions in a wonderful way. Prosaic though +his subjects may be, the Arch-Magician has lost nothing of his cunning; +and under his potent influence Theodore Bransby developed some little +sympathetic insight into May's feelings. He even divined that part of +her new, soft kindliness of manner towards himself was due to pity for +his bereavement. And he had learned in a more unmistakeable way--for she +had told him so--that she approved his care of his step-mother and young +brothers and sisters. Theodore was pretty safe in vaunting his +disinterested efforts on their behalf. Mrs. Bransby and May were +effectually kept apart, and neither of them suspected that this was +chiefly his doing. + +He now, as he sat by May's side, had something in his mind which he +greatly desired she should hear. But some feeling, unaccountable to +himself--or, at least, which he did not choose to account for--made him +hesitate to utter it to her directly. At length, in a little pause of +the conversation, he bent slightly forward towards Mr. Bragg, who sat +opposite to him, and said-- + +"I suppose you do not propose returning to Spain, Mr. Bragg?" + +"Me? Oh no. I don't think I've any call to do so. And there's plenty for +me to look after elsewhere." + +"Of course! Transactions on such a colossal scale! When I heard that +Rivers was coming back to London, I concluded that you had wound up the +business which took you to Spain." + +"Mr. Rivers has been very helpful to me, indeed. I feel myself under an +obligation to him." + +To say the truth, Mr. Bragg was impelled to offer this testimony--even +at the cost of dragging it in somewhat inopportunely--by his lively +remembrance of sundry spiteful speeches made by young Bransby in former +times; but rather to his surprise, Theodore did not now seek to divert +the conversation from Owen's praises. + +"Yes; Rivers has come out wonderfully well, I understand," said +Theodore. "I hear a good deal about him. He is in constant +correspondence with Mrs. Bransby; as, perhaps, you know?" + +"Oh!" said Mr. Bragg quietly. "No; I can't say I know it. By the way, I +do call to mind Mrs. Bransby sending me a letter for him some time ago. +Well, he may be in correspondence with her." + +"Oh, he _is_. I have reason to know it, for I think he is the sole topic +of conversation at my step-mother's house just now. The whole family are +in a fever of excitement about his coming to live with them." + +Without turning his head, or even glancing at May, he felt that she was +listening with a new and suddenly concentrated attention; and he said to +himself, with a glow of elation, "_She_ did not know it." + +"Ah! Really?" said Mr. Bragg, addressing himself to his dinner. The +matter did not seem to him one of any very special interest. If young +Rivers went to lodge at Mrs. Bransby's, it would probably be a good +arrangement for both. + +"Who's that? Anybody I know?" asked Lady Moppett from her place at the +host's right hand. + +Theodore answered, "I was merely speaking of a man named Rivers, +who----" + +"Owen Rivers? Oh, of course I know him. A dreadful heretic! He +enunciates the most intolerable, old-fashioned stuff! And he's so +frightfully obstinate; battles, and argues one down, positively! I +really have no patience. But what about him? Is he going to be married?" + +"Not that I know of," replied Theodore, with his correct air, and an odd +effect, as though his white cravat and shirt-front had been suddenly +petrified. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon. I thought you said something of the sort." + +"By Jove, more unlikely things have happened," put in Mr. Dormer-Smith +jocosely. "He's exposing himself to a tremendous fire. Dangerous work +for a fellow to live under the roof of a lovely and captivating woman +who sets him up as a kind of 'guide, philosopher, and friend,'--eh?" + +"Dangerous! I should think the end of _that_ arrangement is a foregone +conclusion!" exclaimed Lady Moppett. "Mr. Rivers is a very agreeable +young fellow--when he isn't talking about music. But who's your 'lovely +and captivating woman?' Does anybody know her?" + +There was an instant's pause, during which Pauline cast an expressive +glance of the most poignant reproach at her husband. Then Theodore +answered very gravely, "Mr. Dormer-Smith was merely jesting. The lady is +Mrs. Martin Bransby--my father's widow." + +END OF VOL. II. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 2(of 3), by +Frances Eleanor Trollope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 35944-8.txt or 35944-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/4/35944/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 2(of 3) + +Author: Frances Eleanor Trollope + +Release Date: April 24, 2011 [EBook #35944] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE.</h1> + +<h2>BY FRANCES ELEANOR TROLLOPE</h2> + +<h3>AUTHOR OF "AUNT MARGARET'S TROUBLE," "A CHARMING FELLOW," "LIKE SHIPS +UPON THE SEA," ETC.</h3> + + +<h3><i>IN THREE VOLUMES.</i><br /> +VOL. II.</h3> + +<h3>LONDON:<br /> +RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON</h3> + +<h3>Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.</h3> + +<h3>1888.</h3> + +<h3>(<i>All rights reserved.</i>)</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE.</h2> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<p>Four months in their passage leave traces, more or less perceptible, on +us all. On the first evening of May's arrival, her grandmother drew her +to the window, where the rosy light of a fine summer evening shone full +on her face, and scrutinized her long and lovingly. Then she kissed her +grand-daughter's cheek, and tapping her lightly on the forehead, said, +"This is not the big baby I parted from. You're a woman now, my lass. +God bless thee!" May stoutly declared that she was not changed at all; +that she had returned from all the pomps and vanities just the same May +as ever. But on her side she found changes.</p> + +<p>On her first view of it in the glow of a rosy sunset, Jessamine Cottage +had been looking its best. The little parlour was fragrant with flowers, +and May's tiny bedroom was a pleasant nest of white dimity, smelling of +lavender and dried rose-leaves. She thought the house delightful. But a +very brief acquaintance showed it to be badly built and +inconvenient—one of those paltry "bandboxes" of which Mrs. Dobbs had +been wont to speak with contempt. Moreover, there was an indefinable air +of greater poverty than she remembered in Friar's Row; and—last and +worst of all—she thought granny herself looking ill. When she hinted +this privately to Uncle Jo, he scouted the idea. Ill? No, no; Sarah was +never ill. There was nothing amiss with Sarah. But the suggestion made +him look at his old friend with new observation, and he was forced to +acknowledge to himself that she was not quite so active as formerly. But +he still would not admit the idea of illness. "She'll be all right now +she's got you back again, Miranda," said Mr. Weatherhead, incautiously. +"It's the sperrit, you see—the sperrit has been preying on the body. +There's where it is."</p> + +<p>The idea that granny had been fretting at her absence strengthened May +in her resolution not to return to London. If it were absolutely +insisted upon she must, she supposed, keep the compact and pay her visit +to Glengowrie. But after that she would resume her place by her +grandmother's side—the place to which duty and affection equally bound +her. She wrote to her father announcing this intention. And she +suggested that the money spent on her expenses in London would be far +better employed in paying granny handsomely for her board. "I do not +think she is so well off as she used to be," wrote May in simple good +faith. "And I am sure, my dear father, you will feel with me that we are +bound to do anything in the world we can to help her, after all her +goodness to me."</p> + +<p>The subject which mainly occupied Mrs. Dobbs's waking thoughts after +May's arrival was the unknown "gentleman of princely fortune" who might +turn out to be May's fate. But, try as she would, she could find no clue +to May's feeling about this individual, nor could she discover who he +might be. Once she tried a joking question of a general kind about +sweethearts and admirers, but May's response was as far as possible from +the tone of a lovelorn maiden.</p> + +<p>"Oh, for goodness' sake, granny, don't talk of such things. It makes me +<i>sick</i>!" was her very unexpected exclamation. And then, with a little +judicious cross-questioning, the story of Theodore Bransby's wooing came +out.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, well, child, you needn't be so fierce! Poor young man! I +can't help feeling sorry for his disappointment," said Mrs. Dobbs.</p> + +<p>"Don't waste your sorrow on him, granny; he ought to have known better."</p> + +<p>"Well, as to that, May——" began her grandmother, with a slow smile +spreading over her face.</p> + +<p>"Now, granny <i>dear</i>, only listen! At any rate he might have known better +<i>when he was told</i>, mightn't he? But he would not take 'no' for an +answer; and when Uncle Frederick spoke to him the next day, he was quite +rude, and declared—it makes me so hot when I think of it!—declared he +had been encouraged! The idea of his daring to say such a thing! And, +you know all the time I quite thought he was as good as engaged to Conny +Hadlow. Everybody said so in Oldchester."</p> + +<p>"'Everybody' is a person who makes a good many mistakes about his +neighbours' affairs, May. Mrs. Simpson says that young Bransby is not +coming down here this summer."</p> + +<p>"So much the better! However, in any case, he would not honour you with +one of his condescending visits <i>now</i>. Do you remember that evening when +he called in Friar's Row? How little we thought——"</p> + +<p>May chatted with as much apparent candour and frankness as ever. But in +all her descriptions of the people whom she met in London there was not +one who seemed to fit Mrs. Dormer-Smith's unknown.</p> + +<p>"Maybe her saying no word is a sign she likes him," reflected Mrs. +Dobbs; "girls will keep a secret of that kind very close. They are shy +of it even in their own thoughts. If I saw him and her together, I could +make a shrewd guess as to how things are."</p> + +<p>But there was no chance of her seeing them together, and the gentleman +of princely fortune remained wrapped in mystery.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, May went to see her old friends, and was pronounced by most +of them to be quite unspoiled by her London season. But one critical +spirit, at least, there was in Oldchester, who did not look on Miss +Cheffington with unmixed approbation: Mr. Sebastian Bach Simpson +declared that she gave herself airs.</p> + +<p>One of the first visits which May paid was to the old house in College +Quad. The Canon received her with his former paternal benevolence; but, +at first, a slight indefinable chill was perceptible in Mrs. Hadlow's +usually cordial manner. A little maternal jealousy on the subject of +Theodore Bransby rankled in her mind. It was true that Constance did not +seem to care for him; would not probably have accepted him had he asked +her. But, under all the circumstances, Mrs. Hadlow was strongly of +opinion that he ought to have asked her. And then a rumour reached +Oldchester of Theodore's attentions to Miss Cheffington. But there was +no resisting May's warm and single-minded praises of her friend. It +seemed that Conny's prospects had grown unexpectedly brilliant. Mr. Owen +Rivers, who had recently reappeared in Oldchester after his own erratic +fashion, walking in one morning unexpectedly to his aunt's quaint old +sitting-room, pronounced his cousin to have made a great social success. +"You know my opinion of the worth of that game, Aunt Jane," said he. +"But, such as it is, Conny has won it. Old Lord Castlecombe is in love +with her. And—which is far more important—so is Mrs. Griffin. You and +I always knew she was handsome. But there are certain people to whom the +evidence of their senses is as nothing compared with the evidence of +peers, and griffins, and such-like heraldic creatures."</p> + +<p>"My Aunt Pauline is in love with Conny, too," declared May. "I ought to +be jealous; for Aunt Pauline is always quoting Constance Hadlow to me as +an example of everything that is delightful in a girl. But I knew it +before. I didn't wait for the heraldic creatures, did I, Mrs. Hadlow?"</p> + +<p>And so the old affectionate, familiar intercourse was resumed, and May +was welcomed in the old way. The Canon missed his daughter, and had not +consented easily to her prolonged absence. He liked to see young faces +around him; and May's face was particularly pleasant to him. At first +May had refused to leave her grandmother. But Mrs. Dobbs urged her to +spend some hours every day with the Hadlows. "I have my own occupations +in the daytime," she said; "and when you come home of an evening, and +tell me all your sayings and doings, I can enjoy it comfortably. I don't +want you hanging about this poky little place all day, my lass."</p> + +<p>The girl was the more easily persuaded to do as her grandmother wished +in this matter from her own secret resolve to fix herself in Oldchester. +She did not grudge the hours given to her friends. There would be plenty +more time to be spent with granny. So she thought; reckoning on the +morrow with the assurance of youth. Day after day she sat during the hot +afternoon hours under the black shadow of the old yew tree in the +Canon's garden; sometimes volunteering to do some task of needlework for +Mrs. Hadlow, sometimes winding wool for the Canon's grey socks, +sometimes making up posies for the adornment of the sitting-room. And +there was Fox, the terrier, dividing his attentions between her and his +mistress; the peaceful Wend flowing by on the other side of the hedge; +the garden blooming, the birds twittering, the distant schoolboys +shouting, the sweet cathedral bells chiming,—everything as it had been +last summer.</p> + +<p>And yet not quite as it had been. There was some subtle difference +between these afternoons and the afternoons of last summer.</p> + +<p>It was not merely that Constance was missed, nor that Theodore Bransby +no longer made one of the group beneath the yew tree. Of these changes +one was scarcely to be regretted—for Conny was enjoying herself +extremely, and only desired to prolong her leave of absence—and the +other was undoubtedly satisfactory. But this could not surely suffice to +make it a deep delight to sit silent and wind balls of gray worsted for +half an hour at a stretch! Was it the negative joy of Theodore's absence +which caused May to look forward with her first waking thoughts to those +hours in the garden, and to live them over again in her mind when she +lay down to rest at night? It seemed as if the London season, far from +spoiling her for simple things, had marvellously enhanced the quiet +pleasures of her home life, and given them a new intensity.</p> + +<p>They were very quiet pleasures, truly. Mary Rayne and the Burton girls +seldom appeared in College Quad now that Constance was away. Mrs. Hadlow +had no lawn-tennis court, as has already been set forth; and persons who +gave up their garden-ground to the frivolous purpose of growing flowers +could not expect their younger friends to spare them many minutes out of +a summer's day. Visitors of the sterner sex were chiefly represented by +Major Mitton and Dr. Hatch, with a liberal sprinkling of the elder +cathedral clergy.</p> + +<p>The eldest Miss Burton said to May once, "I can't imagine how you stand +the dull life down here after your aunt's house in town! But I suppose +you are simply resting on your oars. We hear you are to go to Glengowrie +in the autumn. How delicious! The Duchess is sure to have her house +filled with nice people."</p> + +<p>May emphatically denied that she was dull in Oldchester. Dull! She had +never, she thought, been so happy in her life. "I wonder," said she to +Mrs. Hadlow that same afternoon, "whether Violet Burton feels Oldchester +to be dull. And if not, why should she assume that I do?"</p> + +<p>"Violet has a serious object in life, you know. She is the best tennis +player in the county. One cannot be dull with an absorbing pursuit of +that sort," answered Mrs. Hadlow, who, with all her genial benevolence, +had an occasional turn of the tongue which proved her kinship with her +nephew Owen.</p> + +<p>"The fact is," observed the latter, who was lying under the yew tree +with a pipe in his mouth, and an uncut magazine in his hand, "that each +of us carries his own supply of dulness about with him independently of +external circumstances. Not but what there are conceivable cases where +external circumstances would have a tremendous dulness-producing power; +such as being banished to a desolate shore beyond the reach of 'baccy;' +or having to read the Parliamentary debates right through every day."</p> + +<p>"Or being obliged to attend a musical afternoon at Miss Piper's London +lodging three times a week," put in May, laughing. "You don't know what +a hopeless heretic he is, Mrs. Hadlow. Even amiable Mr. Sweeting gave +him up in despair. And Lady Moppett thinks he ought to be +excommunicated."</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose he need not have gone to Miss Piper's unless he had +chosen to do so," said Aunt Jane. "Owen is rather fond of being pitied +for having his own way. He ate his cake in the shape of enjoying Miss +Piper's music, and had it in the shape of declaring himself a victim."</p> + +<p>"<i>Enjoying——?</i> Good heavens!" exclaimed Owen, waving his pipe in +protest.</p> + +<p>"Why did you go, then?"</p> + +<p>To this simple query Owen made no other response than muttering, with +his pipe between his teeth again, that there were "compensations."</p> + +<p>"Owen," said his aunt abruptly, after a long silence, "you are a most +unsatisfactory spectacle to behold."</p> + +<p>"That's disappointing, Aunt Jane. I flattered myself that I was a thing +of beauty and a joy for ever."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't care about your not being ornamental, if only you were +useful. But it is dreadful to see you wasting your life."</p> + +<p>"I assure you I am employing my life in a very agreeable manner just +now," answered Owen, resting on his elbow, and glancing up from under +the shadow of his straw hat.</p> + +<p>"Agreeable! That is not the point."</p> + +<p>"It's <i>my</i> point."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Well, we won't begin a wrangle, Owen; but——"</p> + +<p>"My dear Aunt Jane! Do I ever wrangle with you?"</p> + +<p>"You do worse. I'm afraid you are incorrigible. But every one else sees +that I am right. Ask May what she thinks."</p> + +<p>May started, and coloured violently; but she kept her eyes on the +needlework in her hand, and said nothing.</p> + +<p>"No; I shall not ask Miss Cheffington. She is a partisan, and would be +sure to side with you."</p> + +<p>"Not at all. May has her own opinions; haven't you, May?"</p> + +<p>"One can't help having opinions," returned May shyly.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious! Miss Cheffington, what an extraordinarily wild +assertion! 'Can't help having opinions——'? One might suppose you had +been nurtured among sages, and had never heard of Mr. Thomas Carlyle's +celebrated majority."</p> + +<p>"I have been nurtured by Granny," rejoined May, lifting her eyes for the +first time with a bright, brief glance.</p> + +<p>"Ay," exclaimed Mrs. Hadlow, "I'd advise you to ask Mrs. Dobbs what +<i>she</i> thinks of a young man with your education and talents—oh, you +need not disclaim having brains, it only makes your case so much the +worse!—sitting lazily in his form, and letting all sorts of +dunderheaded tortoises win the race."</p> + +<p>"Bravo, Aunt Jane! I like 'dunderheaded tortoises.' 'Mobled Queen is +good.'"</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't enjoy hearing Mrs. Dobbs's opinion, I can tell you. I know +very well what she would say," pursued Mrs. Hadlow, more than half +angry.</p> + +<p>"I should like to ask her myself," said Owen, rising to his feet. "Do +you think I might, Miss Cheffington?"</p> + +<p>"Of course! If you have courage!" answered May, looking up with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I'm quite in earnest; I have long wished to know Mrs. Dobbs. Do you +think she would consider it a liberty if I were to call?"</p> + +<p>May cast her eyes down again, and became very busy with her needlework. +"No," she answered; "I don't think Granny would consider it a liberty; +she knows about you. I mean she knows you are Mrs. Hadlow's nephew."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hadlow gave no more thought to this conversation, and May, although +she gave many thoughts to it, told herself that Mr. Rivers had only been +jesting, and that nothing was more unlikely than that he should fulfil +his words. She told herself so, with all the more insistence because at +the bottom of her heart she longed that he and "Granny" should know each +other.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, on the very next afternoon, when May was absent, Owen +Rivers did call at Jessamine Cottage.</p> + +<p>He was at once received with cordiality for his aunt's sake, but he soon +earned a welcome for his own. Jo Weatherhead took to him amazingly. +"That's what I call a gentleman," said he, "a real gentleman—sterling +metal, and not Brummagem electro-plating. What a difference from that +young Bransby! A stuck-up, impudent—but, Lord! what could one expect +from an old Rabbitt's grandson! There's where it is."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Rivers is a good Radical, Jo," Mrs. Dobbs answered slyly. Whereupon +Jo nodded his head with undiminished complacency, and declared that if +it wasn't for such Radicals as <i>them</i>, Radicalism might soon shut up +shop altogether; concluding with his favourite apophthegm that many good +things came down from above, but very few mounted up from below.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<p>Owen Rivers was greatly attracted by Mrs. Dobbs. He admired her +uprightness of character, and downrightness of speech; her shrewd common +sense, combined with unpretending simplicity; her indomitable strength +of purpose, tempered by broad good nature. At the very beginning of +their acquaintance, he told her that he had been recommended by his aunt +Jane to take her (Mrs. Dobbs's) opinion as to his mode of life. And when +Mrs. Dobbs tried to put him off by declaring that Mrs. Hadlow must have +been joking, he answered that he, at any rate, was not joking; and +begged her to speak candidly.</p> + +<p>"If I speak at all, I shall speak candidly, you may depend," said Mrs. +Dobbs.</p> + +<p>And, in truth, Owen soon found that he had no cause to complain of her +lack of plain speaking. Mrs. Dobbs was wholly and heartily on the side +of Aunt Jane, and held many a stout argument with the young man.</p> + +<p>"But, pray, how is one to manage?" asked Owen. "My aunt says, 'Go into a +profession.' Easier said than done! Besides, although I might not object +to be Lord Chancellor—or even, perhaps, Admiral of the Fleet—I have no +relish for the intermediate stages, which makes a difficulty."</p> + +<p>"That's all stuff and nonsense," said Mrs. Dobbs bluntly. "It's a shame +to see a gentleman with your book-learning, and good gifts, wasting the +advantages God has given him."</p> + +<p>"Wasting my advantages! That's Aunt Jane's pet phrase. But those are +mere words, you know."</p> + +<p>"Words are words, for certain. And nuts are nuts. Only some of 'em hold +sound kernels, whilst others have got nothing inside but dust."</p> + +<p>"Well, come now, let us get at the kernel," said Owen, half earnest, +half amused. "What would you have me do, Mrs. Dobbs?"</p> + +<p>"Do! Any honest work that's of use to your fellow creatures."</p> + +<p>"Such as stone-breaking, for instance?"</p> + +<p>"Better than nothing."</p> + +<p>"And my 'advantages' would not then be wasted, I presume?"</p> + +<p>"You might be getting a quarter per cent. for 'em—or maybe +less—instead of doubling your capital. But that would be better than +keeping all you've got in a stocking, like some ignorant old woman, and +pulling out a shilling at a time whenever you happen to want it."</p> + +<p>Many such passages of arms did they have; and Owen told himself that +Mrs. Dobbs was a very interesting study. Meanwhile, from the superior +vantage ground of her seniority, she had been making one or two studies +of <i>him</i>; and the result of them induced her to give him a hint as to +May's prospects. "I shall let him know how the land lies," said she to +herself. "Very likely he's in no danger. So much the better. But I'll +act fair by the young man. He's one of them quiet-looking sort that +feels very deeply; though, for all his humble-mindedness, he's a deal +too proud to show it."</p> + +<p>Accordingly Mrs. Dobbs took her opportunity one afternoon when Owen +strolled in somewhat earlier than usual. He and his hostess were +<i>tête-á-tête</i>; for May had gone to lunch with Mrs. Martin Bransby, and +to enjoy a romp afterwards with the children, who adored her.</p> + +<p>"Do you know this Duchess my grand-daughter is going to visit, Mr. +Rivers?" began Mrs. Dobbs abruptly.</p> + +<p>"To the best of my belief I never saw her in my life. My acquaintance +among duchesses is not extensive."</p> + +<p>"Nor yet her mother—Mrs. Griffin?"</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Griffin I have seen; and I make her a bow when we meet. That's +about all."</p> + +<p>"They are very kind to May."</p> + +<p>"Small blame to them! And yet I don't know; it is to their credit, when +one comes to think of it."</p> + +<p>"May talks of wishing to give up her visit."</p> + +<p>"She is unwilling to leave you, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Yes; bless her! But I mustn't give in to that." Then with a little air +of hesitation very unusual with her, Mrs. Dobbs proceeded: "I want you +and Mrs. Hadlow and all her friends not to encourage her in that idea. +The fact is, it is very important that May should not miss going to +Glengowrie this autumn. More important than she knows."</p> + +<p>Owen Rivers leant forward with a sudden attentive contraction of the +brows. "What is it?" he asked brusquely. Then, remembering himself, he +added, "I beg your pardon. I didn't mean to put a conversational pistol +to your head; nor to demand any secrets from you."</p> + +<p>"I don't know that there are any secrets, Mr. Rivers. But you understand +there are certain—certain opportunities which I am bound to give May, +if I can. I'm not one for forcing buckets of water down any horse's +throat, but unless you take him to the water he can't drink if he would. +The truth is, that I am anxious about my grandchild's future. When I am +gone, she will be left very desolate, poor lamb!" She paused suddenly, +and pressed her lips together. Then, after a minute's silence, she went +on more firmly, "God knows I never wished my poor daughter to marry +above her station; her marriage was a sore stroke to me. But now, +whatever you and me may think about distinctions of rank, it's certain +that May has a right to a lady's place in the world, through her +father's birth and family. I sacrificed a good deal in parting from her +at all—sacrificed my feelings, I mean—and I don't want it all to be +wasted. I want the child to get some good out of it, do you see, Mr. +Rivers?"</p> + +<p>"I see."</p> + +<p>"And don't you think I'm right?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; the horse ought to have his choice in that matter of drinking."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you agree with me. My dear old friend Jo Weatherhead is half +inclined to think me wrong. He says I ought to consider the child's +happiness first and foremost, and that, if being with fine folks don't +make her happy, I ought to let her give them up. But May is very young +still—barely eighteen; she hasn't had time to judge. I wouldn't have +her think, later on, that this or that good thing might have befallen +her if she had had her chance and seen more of the world. It's bitter to +look back on opportunities lost or wasted, and that," added Mrs. Dobbs, +changing her tone, and shaking hands with the young man, who had risen +to go away, "is why I take the liberty of scolding <i>you</i> now and then. +But I hope an old granny like me may speak her mind without offence? +That's one of our privileges."</p> + +<p>It seemed clear that Owen Rivers, at all events, was not offended. His +visits to Jessamine Cottage grew longer and more frequent. It became an +established custom for him to drop in at tea-time. Very often when May +had been spending the afternoon at the Canon's house, he would escort +her home through the fields. That was a longer way than by the streets; +but so much pleasanter, that their preference for it was surely very +natural.</p> + +<p>Oh, those rambles by the Wend, with the pearly evening sky above them, +the dewy, flower-speckled grass under foot, and in their ears the sound +of the sweet chimes, which seemed but to accompany some still sweeter +melody, felt not heard. May gave herself no account of the charm which +encompassed her. She looked not "before and after," but was happy, as +youth alone can be happy, in the intense sweetness of the present. Later +life has happiness of its own; but not that. It may be more or less, but +it is different. Those young delights can no more return than a rose can +furl itself again into a rosebud. And as to Owen, if his day-dream was +sometimes pierced by a sharp ray of common sense from the work-a-day +world, he turned his eyes away, and plunged still deeper into the +rainbow-tinted cloudland of young love.</p> + +<p>It could not hurt <i>her</i>, he argued. It could hurt no one but himself, +and he was prepared to suffer. She was sweet and kind; but she had +not—she could not have—any special feeling of tenderness for him. If, +indeed, that could be possible——! But what was there in him to attract +so lovely and lovable a creature as May Cheffington? A strongly-marked +trait in Owen's character was what Mrs. Hadlow, being hotly provoked by +some manifestation of it, had once designated as "pig-headed modesty!" +It was obstinate enough, truly, at times; and it had a warp of +inflexible pride in the woof of it. But it was genuine modesty for all +that. Still he would not so resolutely have shut his eyes to the +possibility that this matter of falling in love might be mutual, but for +Mrs. Dobbs's well-meant words of warning. May was going away in a week +or two—away out of his reach, perhaps for ever. Since she was in no +danger, he need, surely, have no scruple in enjoying these few happy +moments in her company. They would probably be the last. No one +suspected his feeling, and he could keep his own counsel.</p> + +<p>He honestly believed that no one suspected him. His Aunt Jane, whose +observation might have been the most to be dreaded, was in truth blind +to what was going on under her eyes. In the first place, it was nothing +new or unusual for Owen to spend his afternoons under the yew tree in +her garden; nor for May Cheffington to be there also. And it did not +occur, it scarcely could have occurred, to Conny's mother, that Conny +was being a second time supplanted by this girl so much her inferior in +beauty. And then, too, it must be acknowledged, that neither May nor +Owen thought it necessary to trouble Mrs. Hadlow with any detailed +report of the number of visits which her nephew paid to Jessamine +Cottage; nor with a chronicle of their many evening strolls beside the +Wend. Such strange tricks does love play with all: making the simple +cunning, and the straightforward wily, almost in spite of themselves! +While as for Mrs. Dobbs, her usual keenness with regard to her +grand-daughter was baffled by a vision of "the gentleman of princely +fortune" on whom May had been said to look favourably; and there were +but few opportunities for other eyes to note the behaviour of Owen and +May towards each other.</p> + +<p>The custom of the Saturday evening whist-parties, at which Mr. and Mrs. +Simpson and Mr. Weatherhead were the only guests, had been unavoidably +broken through at the time of Mrs. Dobbs's removal from Friar's Row: +and, although efforts had been made to renew it, it had somehow +languished, like a plant whose roots have been disturbed. Sometimes two +or three weeks would elapse without the Simpsons appearing at Jessamine +Cottage on the accustomed Saturday evening. The amiable Amelia tried to +compensate for these gaps in their social intercourse by running in at +odd moments to see Mrs. Dobbs. She would frequently call on her way home +from Mrs. Bransby's, or some other house where she gave lessons, and +chat in her discursive style: smilingly unconscious, for the most part, +whether Mrs. Dobbs vouchsafed her any attention or not; but always too +sweet-tempered to resent it, if she chanced to discover that Mrs. Dobbs +had not heard three sentences of all she had been saying. On one topic +she was, at any rate, sure of being listened to: the words "our dear +Miranda" were certain to arouse Mrs. Dobbs from her deepest fit of +musing; and fits of musing had become more and more frequent with her of +late.</p> + +<p>It was not clear whether Mrs. Simpson had taken to call May "Miranda" by +way of ceremoniously acknowledging her place in the world as a young +lady who had been presented at Court; or whether she considered three +syllables to be intrinsically more genteel than one; or whether she had +simply caught the word from the fashionable journals which had +chronicled the appearance of Miss Miranda Cheffington at various +festivities of the season. Mrs. Simpson's reasons for doing or leaving +undone were usually of a tangled kind, and an endeavour to extricate one +of them often resulted in pulling up a number of others by the roots. At +all events, Mrs. Simpson had taken to speak of May as "our dear +Miranda," and the words infallibly insured her an attentive hearing from +Mrs. Dobbs for whatever might follow them. If Mr. Weatherhead chanced to +be present at any of Amelia's erratic visits, he listened willingly to +all the gossip she might pour forth. It was always good-natured gossip. +Sebastian might bear a grudge here and there, and might impute shabby +motives to the conduct of his fellow-creatures; but Amelia never. There +seemed to be an excess of saccharine matter in her disposition which +flavoured every word she said. This species of excess being somewhat +uncommon, many persons pronounced poor Mrs. Simpson to be an arrant +humbug. But, had she been consciously a humbug, she would assuredly have +distributed her sweet speeches with more discretion; for nothing is less +popular than uncritical eulogy—of other people.</p> + +<p>There was an unusual air of excitement about her when she appeared one +afternoon in Jessamine Cottage. She found its mistress knitting in her +accustomed arm-chair, with Jo Weatherhead seated opposite to her reading +aloud paragraphs from a local newspaper.</p> + +<p>"My <i>dear</i> Mrs. Dobbs," cried Amelia, bursting in breathlessly, "how do +you do? <i>And</i> Mr. Weatherhead! Now this is quite against rules—or, at +least, against custom; for I am sure you would never make such a rule. +You are far too hospitable. But as I <i>was</i> passing—so nice to be +neighbours instead of Friar's Row, though I shall ever look on Friar's +Row with affection for the sake of old times. What is it the poet says +about 'portions and parcels of the dreadful past'? Only there was +nothing dreadful in our little suppers; and Martha's stewed tripe beyond +praise."</p> + +<p>"I hope you are going to eat some of our little supper to-night," said +Mrs. Dobbs, composedly. "It's Saturday, you know."</p> + +<p>"How odd you should say that! It is exactly the remark I made to Bassy +this morning! Oh yes; certainly. And, as I was saying just now, it's +quite <i>hors ligne</i>, as the French express it, to inflict myself on you +twice in one day."</p> + +<p>"You know you are very welcome."</p> + +<p>"You're always <i>so</i> kind, dear Mrs. Dobbs! I have been busy teaching all +the morning. This very moment I have come from Miss Piper's and——"</p> + +<p>"You are not giving <i>her</i> lessons, are you?" asked Mrs. Dobbs, looking +up with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear, no! Not, I'm sure, that she would not be an excellent pupil; +indeed, both of them in their different styles. One the accomplished +musician, and the other so domesticated. No doubt you will hear of it +from our dear Miranda, for of course she will be invited. But I thought +I would mention it."</p> + +<p>"Mention what?—eh?" asked Jo Weatherhead, with impatient curiosity.</p> + +<p>"The party. They are going to give a musical party. Though really I +might omit the adjective, for who could imagine the Miss Pipers giving a +party that <i>wasn't</i> musical? To be sure some persons find it rather +trying. Bassy, for instance, <i>cannot</i> altogether approve the new school. +But then he was brought up in the strictest classical principles, and he +is so very clever himself, that of course——!"</p> + +<p>Some native gift of incoherency which distinguished Mrs. Simpson's mind +enabled her to reconcile the most conflicting claims on her admiration.</p> + +<p>"Ho, ho! a party, eh? A musical party?" said Mr. Weatherhead.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but of course there is nothing remarkable in <i>that</i>," replied Mrs. +Simpson, very unexpectedly.</p> + +<p>"Nothing at all remarkable, I should think," assented Mrs. Dobbs.</p> + +<p>"Ah! But the <i>point</i> is—oh, pussy! Poor old pussy, <i>did</i> I hurt her? +Dear, dear, dear!"</p> + +<p>In the act of throwing herself forward from her place on the sofa, in +order to touch Mrs. Dobbs's arm, and thus emphasize her communication, +Amelia had accidentally set her foot on the tail of the old tabby cat, +who at once protested in the frankest manner.</p> + +<p>"I'm so sorry! I am so very nearsighted. Poor old pussums! Come and let +us make it up—won't you, like a dear?"</p> + +<p>Poor old pussums, however, declined these advances, and took up her +position on the other side of her mistress's ample skirts; whence for +some time she glared distrustfully at every fresh manifestation of Mrs. +Simpson's playful vivacity.</p> + +<p>"Well, for goodness' sake tell us the point, if there is one!" cried Mr. +Weatherhead, who had been irritably rubbing his nose during this +episode.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Naughty impatience! That is so like a gentleman! Gentlemen are +dreadfully impatient in general; don't you agree with me, Mrs. Dobbs? +However, it really will be quite a musical treat. Mr. Cleveland Turner +is one of the most rising musicians of the day; I believe nobody can +understand his compositions without severe preliminary training. Mr. +Sweeting, too, is <i>most</i> amiable; he has taken a country house in the +neighbourhood. And Miss Piper has invited a young lady down to stay with +her who sings divinely—quite divinely, Miss Piper says; and, indeed, I +have no doubt she does, for I <i>saw</i> her name mentioned in the <i>Morning +Post</i> at a very aristocratic <i>soirée</i>. And Bassy and I are to be +invited!"</p> + +<p>"Are you, now? Well, I'm glad of it," said Mrs. Dobbs heartily. She knew +this was a distinction which would give her friends pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Yes; Bassy is to accompany the young lady's songs on the piano. Mr. +Cleveland Turner will not accompany;—or, at least, not anything of a +tuneful sort. He doesn't like it. Well, you know, there's no accounting +for tastes, is there? Most people think strawberries delicious. But I +<i>have</i> known a person who couldn't touch them—<i>invariably</i> produced a +rash!"</p> + +<p>With which lucid illustration Mrs. Simpson rose, and declared she must +positively be going. After an effusive leavetaking—in the course of +which the old tabby leaped on to the back of Mrs. Dobbs's chair, where +she sat arching her spine and growling—the good lady set forth on her +way down the little garden-path in front of the house. But scarcely had +she reached the gate, when she turned and tripped back again with a +girlish step, which neither increase of years nor flesh had much +sobered. "I never delivered my message," she said; "and really it is an +extraordinary instance of my absence of mind, for that was the chief +reason why I came at all at this hour. I was at Mrs. Bransby's about +four o'clock, and left our dear Miranda there."</p> + +<p>Here she paused so long that Mrs. Dobbs replied, "Yes; I knew May was +going to call there."</p> + +<p>"Now I dare say you will scarcely credit it," said Amelia, with her head +on one side, her spectacles glistening, and an arch smile illumining her +countenance, "but, for the moment, I had totally forgotten again what I +was going to say!"</p> + +<p>"Lord bless the woman!" muttered Jo Weatherhead, in a tone not, perhaps, +quite so inaudible as politeness required.</p> + +<p>"But I have it now. This is the message; our dear Miranda begged me to +tell you that she will remain at Mrs. Bransby's for afternoon tea, and +come home in the cool of the evening. Mrs. Bransby—indeed, all the +family—are <i>most</i> kind to her. Of course I don't mean to say that after +the brilliant scenes of London society it can be any particular treat to +her, although anything more truly elegant than Mrs. Bransby's new cream +broché I never beheld in my life. However, they pressed our dear Miranda +to stay. And she remarked to me that 'Granny would not be left alone, +for she knew Mr. Weatherhead was coming.' And now"—looking at her +watch—"I must <i>fly</i>, or I shall be too late for tea; and then what +would Bassy say?" She tripped once more down the garden path, stopped at +the gate to wave her hand, and at length finally departed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + + +<p>Meanwhile, May was playing with Mrs. Martin Bransby's children, in the +delightful old walled garden; and Mrs. Martin Bransby herself was +looking on from the shade of a trellised arbour. These two had become +very good friends. Whether Mrs. Bransby was or was not aware of her +stepson's rejected suit, May had no means of knowing; but she felt +instinctively that Mrs. Bransby was not likely to be super-sensitive on +her stepson's behalf, nor to bear her a grudge for having refused him. +Theodore's absence was not lamented in his own home. His young +half-brothers and sisters openly rejoiced at it; and even his father +felt that life went on more pleasantly without him.</p> + +<p>May's popularity with the children was a sure passport to their mother's +heart; while on her side Mrs. Bransby had developed a most endearing +trait of character: she liked Owen Rivers, and was always happy to +welcome him to her house. Although Owen admired her beauty and elegance +extremely, there was no alloy of coquetry in the preference she showed +for his company. Indeed, Owen told his Aunt Jane that Mrs. Bransby's +delight in adorning her graceful person came nearer to being a pure case +of <i>l'Art pour l'Art</i> than any he had ever witnessed. Nevertheless, the +most transcendental of artists enjoys appreciation. So it chanced that +on this special afternoon, Mr. Rivers being announced just when she was +urging May to remain and drink tea with her, Mrs. Bransby at once +suggested that perhaps Mr. Rivers would stay too, and be kind enough to +see Miss Cheffington home. Mr. Rivers handsomely acceded to the +proposal; and these three persons passed a very agreeable afternoon +together.</p> + +<p>The romping, happy children, with that disregard for any "plurality of +worlds" theory which belongs to their age, accepted the whole +arrangement as being ordained for their sole and peculiar enjoyment. +Under this impression they declined to allow Owen to remain lounging +beside their mother in the shade, but imperiously required him "not to +be lazy," but to "come and play." He withstood the clamour of the boys +for some time; but when three-year-old Enid toddled up to him, and +gravely seized one of his hands with both hers, evidently under the +conviction that she was quite able to drag him off with her by main +force, it was impossible to resist any longer. A very noisy game—known +to the younger Bransbys under the alliterative appellation of "Tiggy, +Tiggy, touchwood," and which involved a great deal of confused rushing +about, and shrill vociferation—was proceeding in the liveliest manner, +when forth from the long window of the drawing-room stepped a figure at +sight of whom Martin, the eldest boy, stopped short in a headlong +course, and Bobby and Billy were so surprised that they checked a wild +halloo in their very throats.</p> + +<p>It was Theodore. He was dressed in travelling garb (Theodore had +appropriate costumes for every department of life; and adhered to them +as punctiliously as a Chinese), and was advancing with his usual erect +gravity towards his step-mother, when, catching sight of May and Owen, +he stopped, surprised in his turn.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, Theodore, is that you?" said Mrs. Bransby, rising and coming +forward. "When did you arrive? We did not expect you. You did not write, +did you?"</p> + +<p>"No; I took a sudden resolution to run down for a week. I wished to +consult my father about a little matter of business, and I wanted change +of air besides."</p> + +<p>In answer to Mrs. Bransby's nervous inquiries whether the servants had +attended to him, and whether she should order his room to be prepared, +he replied—</p> + +<p>"Thanks; I have given the necessary orders. My valise has been carried +upstairs. I will go and wash my hands, and then I shall ask you for a +cup of tea, if you please," glancing at the table already spread beneath +the trees. Then he marched up to May, who was standing on the lawn, with +a look of little less dismay than the children ingenuously exhibited. He +raised his hat with one hand, and shook her reluctant hand with the +other, saying in his deliberate accents—</p> + +<p>"This is truly an unexpected favour of Fortune. I knew you were in +Oldchester, but I scarcely hoped to find you <i>here</i>. How do you do, +Rivers?" (This in an indefinable tone of condescension.) Then again +addressing himself to May, he said, "You have not had any communication +from town this morning?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Nor from Combe Park?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no!"</p> + +<p>"Ah! I imagined not. May I beg the favour of a word with you presently? +I am only going to get rid of some of the dust of travel. You will still +be here when I return?"</p> + +<p>May was tempted to declare that she positively must go home immediately. +But before she could speak Mrs. Bransby answered for her: "Oh, of course +Miss Cheffington will be here still. I do not mean to let her run away +just yet."</p> + +<p>Then, with another formal bow, Theodore returned to the house and +disappeared through the drawing-room window.</p> + +<p>There was an awkward silence, broken by Martin's exclaiming, in a solemn +tone, "He's just like the vampire."</p> + +<p>The laugh which followed came as a relief to the embarrassment of the +elders.</p> + +<p>"Martin!" exclaimed his mother reprovingly.</p> + +<p>"Well, mother, he <i>is</i>," persisted Martin, who was unspeakably disgusted +at the sudden quenching of the festivities. "What does he come stalking +and prowling like that for? He's <i>exactly</i> like the vampire!"</p> + +<p>May and Owen avoided each other's eye, feeling a guilty consciousness +that Martin had in a great measure expressed their own sentiments. +Certainly, the whole party appeared to have been suddenly iced. The +three younger children were dismissed to the nursery; and Martin and his +sister Ethel voluntarily withdrew, feeling that all the fun was over. A +large slice of cake apiece was looked upon as very inadequate amends, +and accepted under protest.</p> + +<p>"I should think he might have stayed in London when he <i>was</i> there," +grumbled Martin, as he walked away, viciously digging his heels into the +turf at every step by way of a vent to his injured feelings. "Nobody +wants stalking, prowling vampires <i>here</i>. Why couldn't he stop in +London?"</p> + +<p>As though "stalking, prowling vampires" were generally admitted to be +popular members of society in the metropolis.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rivers and the two ladies beguiled the time until Theodore should +return, by drinking tea and discussing Miss Piper's forthcoming musical +party. Curiously enough no one said a word about young Bransby. They all +seemed to avoid the topic by a tacit understanding. But though out of +sight, he was not out of mind—at any rate, he was not out of May's +mind. She was secretly wondering what he could have to say to her. Could +he possibly intend to renew his offer of marriage? The idea seemed a +wild one; nevertheless, it darted through her mind. One could never +tell, she thought, what his obstinate self-conceit might lead him to do. +However, May resolved, come what might, to cling tightly to Mrs. +Bransby's sheltering presence so long as she remained in that house; and +in going home she would have the protection of Mr. Rivers's escort. Even +Theodore Bransby could scarcely propose to her before these witnesses!</p> + +<p>At length Theodore reappeared, brushed and trim, in speckless raiment. +He took his place at the tea-table; and after the exchange of a few +commonplace remarks, silence stole over the company. Theodore seemed to +be waiting for something; and from time to time he looked at Owen as +though expecting him to take his leave. Finally he cleared his throat, +and said gravely, "Miss Cheffington, I see you are not taking any more +tea; may I crave the favour of a few words with you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, please, I think I <i>will</i> have some more tea," said May, hastily +pushing her cup towards Mrs. Bransby. Theodore, who had half risen from +his chair, bowed, resumed his seat, and folded his arms in a waiting +attitude. Then May added, with desperate resolution, "Will you not be +kind enough to say what you have to say, now? I must be going home +immediately; and I'm sure there can be no secrets to tell." She buried +her face in her teacup to hide the colour which flamed into her cheeks +as she said the words.</p> + +<p>"If you desire it," returned Theodore stiffly, "of course I shall obey. +I merely thought you might prefer to receive painful tidings in——"</p> + +<p>"Painful!" cried May, turning pale, and suddenly interrupting him. "Is +anything the matter with Granny?"</p> + +<p>A glance at his raised eyebrows reassured her, for the next moment she +said, "Oh, how stupid I am! Of course you could know nothing, you have +only just arrived. It isn't—it isn't my father, is it?"</p> + +<p>"Pray do not alarm yourself, Miss Cheffington. Captain Cheffington is, +so far as I know, perfectly well."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't it be better to speak out?" said Owen. As soon as he had +spoken, he felt that he had no right to put in his word. But he could +not help it; Theodore's self-important slowness was too exasperating.</p> + +<p>"Yes; do, please," said May.</p> + +<p>"There is no cause for alarm, as I said," returned Theodore, trying to +look as if he had not heard Owen's suggestion. "But a shock—a slight +shock—is apt to be felt at the announcement of sudden death, even in +the case of a total stranger."</p> + +<p>"Sudden death!"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I regret to inform you that your cousin, George Cheffington, has +been killed by the accidental discharge of a gun, when he was on a +shooting expedition up the country."</p> + +<p>All three of his listeners drew a deep sigh of relief.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" sighed May, the colour returning to her cheeks and lips, "I felt a +horrible fear for the moment about Aunt Pauline!"</p> + +<p>"This is a very important event," said Theodore, looking over his cravat +with his House-of-Commons air, and indicating by his tone that the fate +of Aunt Pauline was a matter of comparative insignificance.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry for poor old Lord Castlecombe," said May.</p> + +<p>"It will, of course, be a severe blow to your great-uncle; all the more +so that Mr. Lucius Cheffington is in deplorably weak health."</p> + +<p>"Lucius is never very strong, is he?"</p> + +<p>"He is never robust, but this season he has been extremely delicate. I +have reason to believe that a very high medical authority has expressed +considerable anxiety about him."</p> + +<p>"Does Aunt Pauline know?—I mean about George Cheffington's death?"</p> + +<p>Theodore drew himself up even more stiffly than usual as he answered, "I +am not aware what means Mrs. Dormer-Smith may have had of hearing the +news; but my impression is that it can scarcely yet have been +communicated to her. The original telegram to Lord Castlecombe only +reached him yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Did they—Lucius, or any of them—ask you to tell me?" inquired May. It +now for the first time struck her as being odd that Theodore Bransby +should have been selected for such an office.</p> + +<p>"Ahem! No. I was not precisely commissioned to inform you. But I was +anxious to spare you the shock of hearing of this disaster +accidentally."</p> + +<p>The fact was that Theodore had seen the telegram in a London newspaper +of that morning.</p> + +<p>There ensued a short silence. Then Theodore said to his step-mother, +with an elaborate shivering movement of the shoulders, "Don't you think +it grows very damp and chilly? I cannot consider it prudent to remain +here whilst the dews are falling."</p> + +<p>No one was sorry for this excuse to break up the sitting. Mrs. Bransby +made a move towards the house; and May said it was time for her to be +going home.</p> + +<p>"With your permission, I will have the pleasure of escorting you, Miss +Cheffington," said Theodore.</p> + +<p>"Oh no, please!—thank you. Mr. Rivers said——"</p> + +<p>"I have undertaken to see Miss Cheffington safe home," said Rivers. And +Mrs. Bransby suggested that Theodore must be tired with his journey; +and, moreover, that dinner would be ready at eight. But he disregarded +both suggestions. "I shall enjoy a stroll at this cool hour; and I don't +mean to dine. I lunched rather late, and will have something light +cooked for my supper about ten. Do you mean to go, Rivers? Oh! well, +I'll join you as far as Mrs. Dobbs's house."</p> + +<p>Of course, under the circumstances it was impossible for May to say a +word to prevent him. And accordingly he walked from his father's door on +one side of her, while Owen strode on the other. As for May, she had +been ready to cry at first with vexation and resentment; but after a +while the sense of something ludicrous in the behaviour of her bodyguard +so overcame her, that she was very near bursting out into a fit of +almost hysterical laughter.</p> + +<p>The two young men were full of smouldering animosity towards each other. +But they both manifested this feeling chiefly by a severe, and almost +sullen, demeanour towards May. She felt that she was being marched along +between them more like a detected malefactor than a young lady whom one +of them, at least, had besieged with tender proposals. If she addressed +a word to Owen, he answered her in dry monosyllables; if she spoke to +Theodore, he replied as from a lofty pinnacle of freezing politeness.</p> + +<p>"It only needs a pair of handcuffs to make the thing complete," said May +to herself. Then she finally gave up all attempts to be conversational, +and so they arrived at Jessamine Cottage in solemn silence.</p> + +<p>As they walked up the little garden-path in the gathering dusk, they +were overtaken by Mr. and Mrs. Simpson. The latter, as soon as she +recognized them, began to pour forth a fluent stream of talk, which did +not cease when Martha opened the door; and then, in some confused way +which neither May nor Owen could afterwards account for, they all found +themselves crowding into the little parlour together. As for Theodore, +he had from the first resolved to go in if Rivers went in, and to remain +as long as Rivers remained.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs looked up astonished at sight of Theodore. She glanced +inquiringly at May, who had a queer look on her face, half-distressed, +half-amused. Jo Weatherhead rose, staring glumly at the new arrivals, of +whom Sebastian brought up the rear, with an expression of countenance +which showed that his temper was bristling like his hair. But Mrs. +Simpson's sprightly eloquence spread itself impartially over all these +shades of feeling, as water makes a smooth and level surface above the +roughest bottom.</p> + +<p>"<i>So</i> astonished, dear Mrs. Dobbs, to find Mr. Bransby, junior! Having +not the slightest idea that he was in Oldchester, you know; and what a +singular coincidence our coming upon them all three <i>just at your very +door</i>, was it not?"</p> + +<p>"Well," observed Sebastian in his rasping voice, "considering that we +were coming to sup with Mrs. Dobbs, and that Miss May was on her way +home, it would have been stranger if we had met at any one else's door."</p> + +<p>"Now, Bassy, I will not be overwhelmed by your stern logic. Ladies are +privileged to indulge in some <i>little</i> play of the imagination. +Besides"—with an arch smile of triumph—"it really was the <i>fact</i> in +this case. Oh! thank you, Mr. Weatherhead; any chair will do for me. +Don't let me disturb——! I suppose I may venture to make a shrewd +guess, Mr. Bransby, that you have come down to attend Miss Piper's +musical party? A great compliment, indeed, when one considers your +professional occupations. But the bow cannot always be bent. Even Homer, +I believe, is said <i>sometimes</i>——Oh, no; he nods, I fancy: which, of +course, is different. I really believe that Miss Hadlow will be the +<i>only</i> star of our Oldchester firmament absent from the festive scene. +Now acknowledge, dear Mrs. Dobbs, that you were surprised as I was. You +did not expect this addition of 'youth at the prow'—if I may venture on +the expression—to our little circle this evening. At the same time I +must confess that three such sober young persons I never beheld. They +were all as silent as——It put me in mind of those beautiful lines: +'Not a drum was heard; not a funeral note, As his——' Not, of course, +that there was anything of a funereal nature. Far from it."</p> + +<p>This last touch overcame May's self-command. She burst into a fit of +uncontrollable laughter; breaking out afresh every time she glanced at +Owen's face, provoked and frowning (though with a twitch at the corner +of the mouth which showed he had to make an effort not to laugh, too); +or at Theodore's, solemnly bewildered. She laughed until the tears +poured down her cheeks; and her grandmother exclaimed, "May, May! Don't +be so silly, child! You'll get hysterical if you go on that way." But +the outburst relieved the nervous tension from which the girl had been +suffering; and as she wiped her eyes she was conscious that the laughter +had saved her from shedding tears of a different sort.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Simpson," she said. "I don't know what +possessed me."</p> + +<p>"Don't think of apologizing, my dear Miranda. Indeed, why should you? +Nothing is more delightful than the unaffected hilarity of youth. I'm +sure I always enjoy it," returned the good Amelia, with a beaming glance +around her.</p> + +<p>"It's lucky Amelia doesn't mind being laughed at," said Sebastian +bitterly.</p> + +<p>"Oh fie, Bassy! We must distinguish, love. That all depends on who +laughs, and <i>how</i> they laugh," observed his wife, with unexpected +perspicuity.</p> + +<p>"No doubt," said Theodore, "Miss Cheffington's nerves have been agitated +by the sad news which I brought her this evening." He spoke in a low +mysterious tone, addressing himself apparently to Mrs. Dobbs, although +he did not do so by name. At these words Mr. Weatherhead pricked up his +ears; and, although he had previously made up his mind not to say a word +to this "young spark" until the "young spark" should speak to him, his +curiosity so far overcame his dignity that he could not help +ejaculating—</p> + +<p>"Sad news, ha! What news? What sad news,—eh?"</p> + +<p>Theodore turned to Mrs. Dobbs, and pointedly ignored poor Jo, as he +said, "Miss Cheffington will doubtless take a fitting opportunity of +speaking with you about this event in her family."</p> + +<p>"It's nothing that deeply concerns <i>us</i>, Uncle Jo!" broke in May, +flushing indignantly, and speaking with impetuosity. "A certain Mr. +George Cheffington has been accidentally killed out in Africa. But since +neither you, nor I, nor Granny ever saw him—nor even heard of him until +quite lately—we cannot pretend to be overwhelmed with grief."</p> + +<p>"Nay! George Cheffington killed?" exclaimed Mrs. Dobbs.</p> + +<p>Theodore had turned very pale, as he always did when angered. (May had +certainly meant to hit him, but she had no idea that the unkindest cut +of all had been her publicly addressing Mr. Weatherhead as "Uncle Jo.") +He answered slowly, "<i>I</i> should not have chosen this moment when you +are—er—entertaining these—ahem!—your friends, to impart the +intelligence. But Miss Cheffington has taken the matter out of my +hands."</p> + +<p>"George Cheffington," repeated Mrs. Dobbs, pondering. "Why, let me see, +now; he'll be Lord Castlecombe's eldest son. Poor old man! Oh, I'm sorry +to hear it: very sorry. It's hard for the old to see their hopes die +before them."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry for him, too, Granny," whispered May, somewhat penitent and +ashamed of her vehemence. She had certainly betrayed a touch of the +Cheffington imperiousness, and had spoken in a manner quite inconsistent +with meek amiability. She had also made Theodore Bransby feel +considerable resentment. Nevertheless, he had never been less inclined +than at that moment to relinquish the hope of making her his wife. Our +passions have various methods of special pleading. But if reason presses +them too hard, they will boldly substitute an "in spite of" for a +"because," and pursue their aim as though, like Beauty, they were "their +own excuse for being."</p> + +<p>"Don't let us intrude on a scene of family affliction," said Mr. Simpson +dryly. "Now, Amelia! We had better withdraw, I think."</p> + +<p>"Don't you talk nonsense, Sebastian Simpson," returned Mrs. Dobbs, +without ceremony. "Sit down, Amelia. I'm sorry I can't ask you young +gentlemen to stay and share our plain supper, for the truth is I don't +know that there's enough of it. But my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Simpson, +would break an old charter if they didn't remain."</p> + +<p>After that the two young men had, of course, nothing to do but to take +their leave. Owen's good humour had quite returned. Wisdom and virtue +should, no doubt, have made him disapprove of Miss May's little outbreak +of hot temper. But the truth is, that this fallible young man had +enjoyed her attack on Bransby. When the latter approached May to say +"Good night," he murmured reproachfully, "You were rather severe on me, +Miss Cheffington. I had no idea of displeasing you by what I said."</p> + +<p>She was conscience-stricken in a moment, and answered quite humbly, "I +beg your pardon if I offended you. But I thought you were not civil to +Mr. Weatherhead, and that vexed me. Please forgive me." And she endured +the tender pressure of her hand which immediately followed, as some +expiation of her offence.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs detained Jo Weatherhead that night for a moment, after Mr. +and Mrs. Simpson had gone away, and May was in bed.</p> + +<p>"I say, Jo, the death of yon poor man in Africa may bring about strange +changes," said Mrs. Dobbs, looking at him gravely.</p> + +<p>"Changes! How? What changes?"</p> + +<p>"Well, not changes for me and you, except through other folks. But do +you know that after Lucius Cheffington—who, they say, is but +sickly—Lord Castlecombe's next heir is my precious son-in-law?"</p> + +<p>"No!" exclaimed Mr. Weatherhead, making his mouth into a perfect round O +of astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Ay; but he is, though."</p> + +<p>"Next heir! Viscount Castlecombe, of Combe Park, and all the property!" +gasped Jo.</p> + +<p>"I don't know about the property. Only what's entailed, I suppose. But +if Lucius was to die, Augustus would be next heir to the title, as sure +as you stand there, Jo Weatherhead."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + + +<p>Probably of all the persons in Oldchester who knew or cared anything +about the death of George Cheffington, May was the only one who did not +immediately begin to make some calculations based on that event. The +contingency of her father's succeeding to the family honours had not +occurred to her. And her thoughts and feelings were now occupied with +other things. But Oldchester gossips discussed it with gusto; or, at +least, that small minority of them who interested themselves in the +fortunes of the Castlecombe family. The old lord was little personally +known in Oldchester, and the city had long outgrown any sense of the +overweening importance of a Viscount Castlecombe of Combe Park, which it +might have had a century earlier. To most of the rich manufacturers of +the place (whether they really thought themselves "as good as a lord" or +not) a lord whom they never beheld, and into whose house neither they +nor their children had the remotest chance of being admitted, was, at +any rate, genuinely uninteresting.</p> + +<p>In the rural parts of the county it was otherwise. People there could +not be indifferent to the domestic history of a large land-owner who +resided during the greater part of the year on his estate. In many a +country dwelling, from luxurious mansions down to mere labourers' +cottages, George Cheffington's untimely death was canvassed. From a +matrimonial point of view he had been considered the best match in the +county, and dowagers with daughters to marry had looked forward to the +time (often spoken of, but always postponed) when he should give up his +colonial appointment, settle down on his inheritance, and choose a wife. +And there was a large number of persons (tenants and dependents) to whom +the heir's character and conduct were matters of deep importance. To +these, Mr. Lucius Cheffington suddenly became an interesting personage. +Lucius had been very little at Combe Park since his boyhood, and the +report which gradually spread in the neighbourhood that he was a chronic +invalid, was received with many head-shakings and long faces. It seemed +impossible that a Cheffington should be delicate or weakly. "Look at the +old lord," people said; "why, he was sound and tough as a yew-tree!" And +the last time Mr. George was at home he had proved himself a true chip +of the old block by out-riding, out-walking, and out-cricketing all his +contemporaries.</p> + +<p>But that was years ago. Now George was stricken down in his strength, +Lucius lay ill of a low fever in London, and Lord Castlecombe sat lonely +and sorrow-laden in the home of his fathers.</p> + +<p>The old man was not one to seek for sympathy, nor even to tolerate much +manifestation of it. The only being to whom for many weeks he mentioned +his dead son's name was a superannuated stable-helper, who had set +"Master George" on his first pony, and in whose mind that somewhat +selfish and hardhearted individual had never outgrown the engaging +period of boyhood. "Master George" was the old man's idol, and "Master +George" had, to a great extent, reciprocated the man's liking, partly, +perhaps, from the sort of gratified vanity which makes us all prize the +exclusive attachment of any generally unamiable creature, biped or +quadruped. Old Dick was characterized by his fellow-servants as a crusty +old curmudgeon, and was notorious for a formidable power of swearing, +which he wielded freely, without much respect of persons.</p> + +<p>The first day after receiving the news of his son's death, Lord +Castlecombe towards evening walked out in a very unfrequented part of +the grounds, a path between two high holly hedges, leading by a back way +to the stable-yard; and there, with his hat pulled low on his brow, his +head bent, and his hands clasped behind him, he paced slowly, plunged in +bitter meditation. When he came to the corner whence the stables were +visible, he caught sight of old Dick seated on an ancient horse-block, +and busily rubbing at something in his hand. Lord Castlecombe stopped +short, and looked at the man, who evidently saw him, but made no sign, +neither ceased a moment from his occupation. After a minute or so Lord +Castlecombe called to him to ask what he was doing, and received no +answer. He repeated his question. Still no reply. A third time he spoke, +in a harsh, angry tone. And then Dick turned round upon him, and, with a +tremendous volley of oaths, answered furiously, "What am I doing of? I'm +a rubbing up Master George's little silver spurs as you gave him first +time he ever rode to hounds. I've allus kep' 'em bright from that day to +this. And I arn't a-going to leave off now, because some d——d +blundering fool as didn't ought never to have been trusted with a gun—I +wish I'd the rewarding of him, curse him!—has been and put an end to +the boy. That's what I'm a doing of, if ye <i>must</i> know!"</p> + +<p>A tear fell on the little burnished spur; and then another, and another. +But old Dick rubbed on. And his master, after a short silence, came and +laid his hand upon his shoulder, and then walked away without a word.</p> + +<p>After that Dick was privileged to do what the boldest parson's wife in +the county dared not attempt:—talk to Lord Castlecombe about his son +George.</p> + +<p>Most of the letters of condolence which he received Lord Castlecombe +tossed aside contemptuously after glancing at the first line. But one +letter he read through, with a heavy frown on his face, and an +occasional drawing down of the corners of his mouth into a bitter smile, +far more sinister than the frown. It was from his niece Pauline; and its +composition had cost her much thought and anxiety. She flattered herself +that she had avoided saying a word which could jar on her uncle's +irascible temper. And the letter in itself was a good letter enough; but +it was a letter which should not have been written at all, if her object +were to soothe and conciliate Lord Castlecombe. Pauline did not allude +directly to her brother Augustus; but the very fact of her writing +seemed to bring his existence offensively into notice. She refrained +from expressing any special anxiety about the health of her cousin +Lucius. Yet the few words in which she "hoped to hear of his speedy +recovery," made the old man writhe as he read them. Pauline had tried to +combine duty with policy. It was, of course, her duty to condole with +her uncle in his bereavement, and it was clearly desirable not to +irritate the dislike with which, as she more than surmised, he regarded +Augustus. But the whole calculation was based on a misapprehension of +Lord Castlecombe's feeling towards her brother. It was neither more nor +less than hatred. And now jealousy was added to it:—a strange, savage +jealousy, on behalf of his sons. George—his strong, healthy, hardy +eldest-born—was gone. And Lucius—Lucius was not dying! No, no; not so +bad as that. But he was very weakly. And to think for one instant of the +possibility that Augustus Cheffington might some day reign in their +stead—might lord it over the heritage which he had so carefully +garnered for his own sons—was maddening. Any one but Augustus, he said +to himself. Any distant scion, the son of some impoverished far-away +cousin, parson, lawyer, apothecary. Any one, any one, but Augustus!</p> + +<p>But of the passionate intensity of this hatred Pauline had no suspicion. +A cleverer and more acute woman than she might not have guessed it. No +one, in fact, ever guessed it; unless it were Lucius, and he only in +part. His own sensitive antipathy to Augustus was an incomparably +feebler sentiment. Lucius had no strain of his father's vigour, whether +for good or ill.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith had also written by the same post to May. This epistle +was more hastily dashed off, and faithfully reflected the wavering mood +of the writer. One of her first preoccupations was whether, under the +circumstances, it would or would not be desirable for May to pay the +promised visit to Glengowrie at this juncture. She did not disguise from +herself that George Cheffington's death opened up the possibility of a +very different future for May from any which could hitherto have been +contemplated. It became a question whether it would be prudent to accept +Mr. Bragg. At all events it would be well to avoid precipitation. Mr. +Bragg was a fine match for a dowerless girl:—even for a (dowerless) +Miss Cheffington. But what if May's father were destined to become a +wealthy Peer of the realm? That might be still but a distant +possibility. Lucius was not thought to be in any present danger, and +certainly might recover. Of course he might recover. And he might marry, +and transmit the title and estates in the direct line. But—Pauline felt +that there was a "but" of vast import.</p> + +<p>And then there were minor cares connected with that great duty towards +"society" which she so diligently endeavoured to perform.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I am <i>most</i> anxious about your mourning," she wrote to May. +"It is positively preying on my mind. Of course, nothing could +be in worse taste than any assumption of woe in this case. You +never saw poor George, and the kinship is not a very close one. +In fact, had it been one of the Buckinghamshire Cheffingtons, +to whom you are related in exactly the same degree, I do not +know that any mourning at all would have been necessary for +you. But, of course, the heir to the head of our family +occupies a different position. At any rate, do not err on the +side of exaggeration. White, with <i>nœuds</i> of pale +heliotrope, and jet ornaments; or some black fabric of light +texture, with a little jet beading, would probably meet the +case. But it is impossible for me to give you precise +directions. I am too far away to know what is <i>bien porté</i> at +this moment. Would that I could be near you! But I cannot break +my 'cure' at this point. Carlsbad has done me good, on the +whole; although, of course, the anxiety on your account, +connected with this painful news, has to some extent thrown me +back. Mrs. Griffin's taste might be thoroughly trusted; and, if +she would undertake to order your mourning from Amélie——. But +now I think of it, Mrs. Griffin will not return to England +until she leaves the Engadine for Glengowrie. And here, again, +I am greatly perplexed what to advise in your best interests. +<i>All things considered</i>, it might be well for you to put off +going to the Duchess. There will be the excuse of this terrible +news about poor George, you know.</p> + +<p>"I fear that I have written in a sadly <i>décousu</i> fashion; but I +cannot help it, and my poor head warns me to leave off. As +usual, I have to pay for intense mental effort. Carlsbad has +not altered that." And the letter concluded with a postscript: +"Pearl-gray gloves."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The only clear idea which May gathered from this letter was that her +aunt virtually held her released from her promise to go to Glengowrie, +and left her free to do as she pleased. She carried the letter to her +grandmother, saying, "Granny, I shall not go to Scotland after all. I +shall stay with you, whether you like it or not. Oh, don't ask me to +<i>explain</i>. I often feel with regard to Aunt Pauline like a deaf person +watching dancers. There is something which regulates her movements, no +doubt. But it is generally mysterious to me."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs privately thought that in this case she held a clue to the +mystery. "Ay," she said to herself, "Mrs. Dormer-Smith sees, just as I +saw from the first hearing of it, that great changes may come to pass +from this poor man's death. And she don't want May to commit herself too +soon. Lord save us! 'tis a sad, low, worldly way of looking at such a +matter." At this point some scarcely-articulate whisper of conscience +made Mrs. Dobbs's brow redden; and she added mentally, "Well, but if May +likes him? If the man's in earnest, and she likes him, it'll all come +right in the end." Nevertheless, Mrs. Dobbs had begun to entertain +shrewd doubts as to May's caring one straw for the unknown gentleman of +princely fortune.</p> + +<p>May, meanwhile, made haste to put her escape beyond the danger of Aunt +Pauline's changing her mind. She wrote to Mrs. Griffin, saying that she +should not be able to accept the Duchess's kind invitation to +Glengowrie. She gave no reason. The excuse which Aunt Pauline had +suggested she could not find it in her conscience to put forward. "If I +had wished very much to go, that would not have stood in my way," she +said to herself. "And it would be base and shocking to play the +hypocrite about such a tragedy."</p> + +<p>Neither did she think for a moment of refusing Miss Piper's invitation. +There had not been wanting a hint that she ought to do so. Mrs. Bransby +asked her if she meant to go to the musical party at Garnet Lodge; and, +being answered in the affirmative, said, "Well, it seemed to me that it +would be quite overstrained to refuse. But Theodore persisted that you +would not go; said it would be <i>inconvenable</i>. He almost quarrelled with +me about it. You know Theodore's infallible way of laying down the law."</p> + +<p>It need scarcely be said that if anything could have strengthened the +young lady's determination to attend Miss Piper's party, it would have +been hearing that Theodore Bransby took upon himself to object to her +doing so.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + + +<p>Like the fairy Pari-Banou's magic tent, which could shelter an army of +ten thousand men, and yet was capable of being folded into the smallness +of a handkerchief, what one calls "the world" shrinks and stretches to +suit the individual case. Into the world of Polly and Patty Piper Lord +Castlecombe and his family sorrows entered not at all. They might +occasionally be viewed afar from the tent door; but even that distant +recognition was not vouchsafed to them now, when the great event of the +musical party absorbed the attention of the two sisters.</p> + +<p>In addition to Miss Clara Bertram and Mr. Cleveland Turner, the occasion +was to be graced by the presence of Signor Vincenzo Valli. He was on a +visit to a noble family in Mr. Sweeting's neighbourhood, and had +volunteered to accompany that gentleman and his <i>protégé</i> to Miss +Piper's party. This honour, like other honours, was somewhat of a +burthen as well as a distinction. The programme of the evening's +performance, so carefully and anxiously arranged beforehand, must be +modified to suit Signor Valli; who, if he condescended to sing at all, +would do so only in accordance with his own caprice. And this would +probably occasion difficulties; since, although Miss Bertram's +amiability might be reckoned on, Mr. Cleveland Turner took a more +stiff-necked view of his own importance, and would not be disposed to +yield the <i>pas</i> to Valli. Still Miss Piper had no cowardly regrets on +hearing of the distinction which was to befall her. She rose to the +occasion, and was prepared to undergo almost any impertinence from the +popular singing master with a Spartan smile.</p> + +<p>"I ought to understand how to manage artists, if anybody does," said +she, remembering the many cups of tea she had poured out for that +<i>irritable genus</i> in old times.</p> + +<p>But the crowning interest and glory of the evening to her would be the +performance of an air from "Esther," which Miss Bertram had promised to +sing. The Misses Piper had invited her to visit them at first from +disinterested kindness; the young singer being tired with the work of +the season, and in need of rest and change of air. Under these +circumstances, both the sisters were too thoroughly gentlewomen to hint +at her singing for them. But Clara Bertram, casting about in her mind +for some way to show her gratitude to the kindly old maids, had herself +proposed to sing "something from 'Esther.'" And the offer was too +tempting to be refused.</p> + +<p>The composition selected was of the most infantile simplicity, and could +have been learned by heart in ten minutes. But a copy of it had been +sent to town a fortnight ago for Miss Bertram to "study." And Mr. +Simpson had been supposed to be "studying" the accompaniment for an +equal length of time. In fact, the performance of the air from "Esther" +was the original germ out of which the musical party at Garnet Lodge had +been developed.</p> + +<p>Clara Bertram arrived in Oldchester the morning before the great day: +partly in order that she might not be over-tired, and partly to give the +opportunity for a rehearsal of the air with Mr. Simpson. "Oh, I'm sure +we need not trouble Mr. Simpson," Clara began thoughtlessly. "It is +certain to go all right." But Miss Polly would not allow such a lax view +of responsibility.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, my dear," she said, "but the music of 'Esther' is +not quite a drawing-room ballad. Not that you will not sing it +charmingly—perfectly! There is no doubt about that. But there is a +certain breadth—a certain style of phrasing, necessary for sacred +music. It is most important that the accompanist should understand your +<i>reading</i> of the air. Indeed, I am anxious to hear it myself. I have my +own idea as to the proper rendering of the opening phrase, 'Hear, O +King, and grant me my petition!' But I shan't say a word until I have +heard you. Your idea may be better than mine; Ha, ha, ha! Who knows? +'Hear, O King, and grant——?' My own notion would be to begin +softly—almost <i>sotto voce</i>—in a timid manner: 'Hear, O King;' and then +to rise into a <i>crescendo</i> as the strain proceeds 'and grant me my +<span class="smcap">Petition</span>!' But I won't say a word. You must sing it as you <i>feel</i> it."</p> + +<p>May was, by special favour, admitted to the rehearsal. She had called to +see Clara Bertram on the afternoon of her arrival, and was ushered into +the long, low, old-fashioned drawing-room, where she found Miss Piper +seated at one end of it, amid a wilderness of rout-seats, and Mr. +Sebastian Bach Simpson at the piano, near to which Miss Bertram was +standing.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's dear May Cheffington!" said Miss Piper, who had turned round +sharply at the opening of the door. "Yes, yes; come in, my dear. Not at +home to anybody else, Rachel! Not to <i>anybody</i>, do you hear? Now come +and sit down by me, my dear. She is going to try 'Hear, O King.' Very +glad to see you; you are so sympathetic, and such a favourite with +Clara! There now, don't make her talk! Nothing worse for the voice than +talking. Come and sit down."</p> + +<p>May was, indeed, scarcely allowed to exchange greetings with her friend, +who whispered smilingly, "We'll have our chat by-and-by."</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Simpson struck up the first chords of the symphony, and there +was breathless silence. He had not played three bars, however, before +Miss Piper jumped up and ran to the piano.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I beg pardon, Mr. Simpson, for offering a suggestion to so sound a +musician as yourself, but <i>don't</i> you think a little more stress might +be laid on that chord of the diminished seventh? It prepares the way, +you see, for the pleading tone of the composition. <i>Le-da</i>, +<i>de-da</i>—like that! Oh, thank you! <i>Quite</i> my meaning. Please go on."</p> + +<p>But Mr. Simpson did not proceed far without receiving another +"suggestion."</p> + +<p>"A little more force and fulness, don't you think, in that resolution of +the discord? I should like a richer effect."</p> + +<p>"I don't know how to make it richer," rasped out Mr. Simpson. "It is the +simple common chord, just four notes—C, E, G, C. I sounded 'em all. I +can play the bass as an octave, if you think <i>that</i>'ll be any richer."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you! Yes, I really think it will. You see 'Esther' was scored +for full orchestra, and the composer's ear hankers after the +instrumental effects. But that octave in the bass is a <i>great</i> +improvement. Many thanks!"</p> + +<p>And in this fashion the symphony was at length got through.</p> + +<p>Then Clara uplifted her pure, clear voice, and sang. May listened in +delight. Surely Miss Polly must be enchanted! Even Mr. Simpson's hard +visage relaxed, as the thrilling notes rose in sweet pathetic pleading. +When they ceased, he wheeled round on the music-stool, and exclaimed +with the most unwonted fervour, "It's the loveliest soprano voice I've +heard since your great namesake, Clara Novello. Some of your notes +remind me of her altogether. Not that I expect to hear anything <i>quite</i> +like her 'Let the Bright Seraphim,' on this side of paradise."</p> + +<p>May turned to Miss Piper. But, to her astonishment, Miss Piper's face +did not express unmingled delight. There was some slight and indefinable +shade on it.</p> + +<p>"Well, I do think that is most beautiful," said May.</p> + +<p>"Do you, my dear? Do you really?"</p> + +<p>"Why, how is it possible to think otherwise, Miss Piper? No one could, +surely!"</p> + +<p>"Well, it is very kind of you to say so, my dear; and, to be frank, it +shows a power of appreciation not quite common at your age. Of course it +would be affectation on my part, at this time of day, and with my +reputation behind me, to say I am surprised. But I am gratified, very +much gratified. And don't you think Miss Bertram did <i>her</i> part +delightfully?"</p> + +<p>May looked at her blankly, unable to say a word in reply. Fortunately, +no reply was needed, for Miss Piper bustled up to Clara and thanked her, +and praised her. But still her manner fell decidedly short of its usual +cordial heartiness. At length, with many apologies and flowery speeches, +she begged that the air might be repeated, if Clara were sure it would +not tire her; and, this being at once conceded, she asked, hesitatingly, +"And would you mind if I offered a little suggestion? Just a hint!"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not, dear Miss Piper! I will do my best to carry out your +idea."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is so sweet of you! Thank you a thousand times! If Mr. Simpson +will kindly oblige us once more——? Now, you see, it is just here, on +that G in alt, where the voice rises on the words, 'Grant, oh, grant me +my petition!' The sound 'grant,' according to my original conception, +should be given with a sort of wail—not, of course, an unmusical sound, +but just with a tinge of sadness expressive of the then miserable and +depressed condition of the Jewish nation, and at the same time with a +tone—an <i>underlying</i> tone, as it were—conveying the latent hope (which +really was in Queen Esther's mind all along, you know) that by her +efforts brighter days might yet be in store for them. You feel what I +mean?"</p> + +<p>"I will try my best," answered Clara gently. And then she sang the air +again—precisely as she had sung it before.</p> + +<p>"<i>Now</i>," cried Miss Piper, jumping up and clapping her hands in an +ecstasy of triumph, "it is <i>perfect</i>—absolutely perfect!"</p> + +<p>She poured out unstinted thanks and compliments to both singer and +accompanist, observing to the latter that this recalled the great days +of the public performance of "Esther," and that she considered Miss +Bertram's rendering of "Hear, O King," far superior to that of the +well-known vocalist who had sung it originally. "But then, you see, +<i>she</i> could not, or would not, take a hint. Consequently—although, of +course, she sang the notes perfectly—she never fully mastered my +conception. Now a word has been enough to show Miss Bertram the inner +meaning of my music; and she interprets it in the most <i>exquisite</i> +manner."</p> + +<p>Before going away May contrived to have a few words with Clara Bertram +in her room.</p> + +<p>"It is such a pleasure to hear you sing again," said May. "How I wish +Granny could hear you!"</p> + +<p>"Will not your grandmother be here to-morrow evening?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no," answered May, colouring. "She does not go out to parties. +Granny does not belong to the class of the ladies and gentlemen who come +here. Her husband was a tradesman in this town. But she is the finest +creature in the world. And she has more real dignity than any one I +know."</p> + +<p>"Your grandmother lives here? But then—how is it—your mother is not a +foreigner?"</p> + +<p>"A foreigner? Good gracious! No. My mother was Miss Susan Dobbs. She +died years ago, when I was a little child. Why do you ask?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing. I fancied—Valli said something about having known Madame +Cheffington abroad."</p> + +<p>"That was possible. My parents lived abroad for years. My father is on +the Continent now. I and the two little brothers before me were born in +Belgium."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I suppose that must be it," said Clara slowly. "Valli talks at +random sometimes."</p> + +<p>"Signor Valli talks very much at random if he ever said my mother was a +foreigner. By the way, do you know he is to be here to-morrow evening?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; so I hear."</p> + +<p>"You do not hear it with rapture, apparently."</p> + +<p>"No; I do not like him very much."</p> + +<p>"He likes <i>you</i> very much, if appearances may be trusted," said May +laughingly.</p> + +<p>"He is always making love to me after his fashion. That is why I do not +like him."</p> + +<p>Clara spoke gravely, but with her habitual serenity. There was something +in her manner which seemed to be akin to her voice; something clear, but +not cold: a crystal with the sun in it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is hideous, isn't it?" cried May, with eager fellow-feeling. +"When people want to marry you, and you shudder at the bare idea of +marrying <i>them</i>."</p> + +<p>"I don't think Valli wants to marry me," answered Clara calmly. "Indeed, +I believe he feels a great deal of hostility towards me at times. He is +never satisfied unless his pupils will, more or less, flirt with him—a +kind of philandering which I object to. Besides, it wastes one's time. +But he has been spoiled more than you would believe by fashionable +ladies. I suppose you never read much of George Sands' writings?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered May, opening great eyes of wonder.</p> + +<p>"Nor I, except 'Consuelo,' and the sequel to it. I read them for the +musical part, which is wonderfully good. Well, in the 'Comtesse de +Rudolstadt' there is a certain Monsieur de Poelnitz, of whom it is said +that <i>en qualité d'ex-roué il n'aimait pas les filles vertueuses</i>. It +always seems to me that Valli, in his quality of philanderer, dislikes +women who won't flirt, whether he wants to flirt with them himself or +not."</p> + +<p>"How odious! How despicable!"</p> + +<p>"And yet he has his good qualities. He is very faithful and generous to +his family, and sends a great part of his earnings to them in their +little Sicilian village."</p> + +<p>Then, seeing that May still looked very much shocked and astonished, +Clara added, in a lighter tone, "But let us talk of something more +pleasant. You were speaking of your grandmamma. If you think she would +like it, I should be so glad to go and sing to her at her own home."</p> + +<p>"Like it! Of course she would like it! And I scarcely know how to thank +you as you ought to be thanked, for fear of sounding like Miss Piper!"</p> + +<p>Clara smiled. "Miss Piper and her sister are both very kind to me," she +said.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but I wish Miss Polly wasn't so ridiculous. Of course, her music +is poor and silly. It is only your beautiful singing that makes it sound +well. But then you could make 'Baa, baa, blacksheep,' sound well! And +then to hear the outrageous, conceited nonsense she talks——! I wonder +that you can endure it so meekly. <i>I</i> couldn't!" answered May, with the +trenchant intolerance of her eighteen years.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, you could, under the circumstances. I am only too glad to give +the kind old lady any pleasure. And she is <i>not</i> so outrageously +conceited—for an amateur. But now I fear I must turn you out, much as I +should like you to stay; for Miss Piper sent me upstairs to lie down; +and if she finds I am not doing so, I shall have to drink another cupful +of Miss Patty's excellent beef-tea, which is so strong, it makes me feel +quite tipsy!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + + +<p>On the following evening Garnet Lodge wore a brilliantly festive +appearance. Miss Polly was dressed betimes. An unprecedented variety of +geological specimens adorned her wrists and fingers, and hung over the +bosom of her lavender satin gown. She was walking up and down the +drawing-room, surveying the rows of empty rout-seats, fully +three-quarters of an hour before the earliest guest could be expected to +arrive. She was strung up for the great occasion; but, although excited, +she was not apprehensive. Miss Patty, on the other hand, was very +nervous.</p> + +<p>"I <i>am</i> a little anxious about the jellies, Polly; and about that new +waiter from Winnick's. But I could face all that, if it wasn't for +'Hear, O King!' To think of hearing it again after all these years! I'm +afraid it will upset me. I'll take a back place near the door for I'm +sure to cry; and then I can slip out if necessary."</p> + +<p>"You need not be ashamed of your tears, my dear Patty. Very probably you +will not be the only person powerfully affected."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know. I don't remember that anybody cried when 'Esther' +was brought out at Mercers' Hall," returned Miss Patty thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>The first persons to arrive were Mr. and Mrs. Simpson. Amelia was +resplendent in a new pink silk gown, which seemed to magnify her florid +proportions, and made her a conspicuous object from every part of the +room. She was beaming with delight; and her gratification at finding +herself in Garnet Lodge under the present circumstances was so frankly +and exuberantly expressed, as to cause some mortification to her +husband.</p> + +<p>"This is, indeed, a memorable evening, dear Misses Piper," she began; +for Patty had by this time joined her sister in the drawing-room. "I was +telling Bassy that he ought to feel himself honoured by being selected +to officiate—if I may so express it—at the pianoforte on this +extremely interesting and auspicious occasion."</p> + +<p>"The honour is to me, Mrs. Simpson," answered Polly Piper politely.</p> + +<p>"There!" turning suddenly round with such vehemence as to sweep down a +rout-seat with her pink silk skirts. "What did I tell you, Bassy? +Whatever may be the opinion of certain persons enriched by +manufactures—and yet, after all, what should we do without +manufactures? How many of us would be capable of dealing with the raw +material? Blankets, for instance: take a sheep! But still I always say +to Bassy, 'Believe me, the <i>real</i> gentry acknowledge and revere the +position of the Fine Arts!'"</p> + +<p>"Now, Amelia; hadn't you better mind what you're doing?" said Mr. +Simpson, setting the fallen rout-seat on its legs again. She irritated +him occasionally, but he admired her smart gown very much nevertheless, +and thought she looked remarkably well in it, and "quite the lady."</p> + +<p>Other guests arriving now claimed the hostess's attention. And presently +Clara Bertram, in her simple black evening dress, came into the room. +Then appeared Mrs. Martin Bransby on the arm of her stepson, and bearing +excuses from her husband, who was not feeling well enough to come out +that evening. Her appearance called forth ejaculations of admiration +from Mrs. Simpson, which, however exaggerated they might sound, were +quite sincere. Mrs. Simpson gave utterance to a kind of prose rhapsody +on the subject of Mrs. Bransby's dress; and then, bowing graciously to +Theodore, said, "And Mr. Bransby Junior, too. When I had the pleasure of +unexpectedly, and, indeed, fortuitously, meeting him the other evening +at the house of a mutual friend, I remarked that he was paying Miss +Piper a high compliment in abandoning Thetis" (the good lady probably +meant Themis) "for the seductions of Apollo. But we are told, on the +poet's authority, that 'music hath charms to soothe the savage——' Not, +of course, that the epithet is applicable in <i>this</i> case. Quite the +contrary." Then, turning her glistening spectacles on the young man, she +playfully added, "But, in addition to the magic of the lyre, we have +what Hamlet—if I mistake not—so eloquently characterizes as 'metal +more attractive:' a collection of youth and beauty which might really, +without hyperbole, be termed a bevy."</p> + +<p>"That is an intolerable woman," muttered Theodore between his teeth, as +he conducted his step-mother to a seat.</p> + +<p>"Oh, poor Simmy!" remonstrated Mrs. Bransby. "She is a good creature. +But to-night she is in what Bobby and Billy call one of her 'dictionary +moods.'"</p> + +<p>Rapidly the room filled up. Besides many other Oldchester notabilities +with whom this chronicle is not concerned, there were present Major +Mitton, Canon and Mrs. Hadlow (the latter bringing May under her wing), +Owen Rivers, who came alone, Dr. Hatch, and Mr. Bragg.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg, after paying his respects to the ladies of the house, and +standing for a few minutes in his silent, forlorn-looking way, went up +to May, and said, "Will you come and have a cup of tea, Miss +Cheffington? They say hot tea cools you. That seems strange, don't it? +But I believe it's true. Rule of contraries, I suppose."</p> + +<p>May did not wish for any tea; but she saw Theodore Bransby hovering in +the distance, and she accepted Mr. Bragg's proffered arm almost eagerly. +She rather liked Mr. Bragg. His slow, quiet, common-sensible manner was +soothing. And she knew enough of his unostentatious good works in +Oldchester to have a considerable esteem for him.</p> + +<p>He piloted May into the dining-room, where tea and coffee were being +served, and where the new waiter from Winnick's was, so far, conducting +himself in an exemplary manner.</p> + +<p>"Have one of those little cakes, Miss Cheffington? They look very good."</p> + +<p>"No, thank you."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg provided May with a cup of tea, and then took one of the +little cakes himself. "They eat uncommonly short," said he with strong, +though quiet, approbation. "All the eatables seem good."</p> + +<p>"Not a doubt of it. Miss Patty is a wonderful housekeeper."</p> + +<p>"Now, do you suppose she made those little cakes herself?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell; but I am sure she could if she chose. She makes +excellent cakes."</p> + +<p>"Ah! I remember her giving me some very good ideas about a beefsteak +pudding. I tried to make my cook do one according to her receipt; but it +didn't answer," said Mr. Bragg with a sigh. Presently he remarked, as he +slowly stirred his tea round and round, "This is a bad job about Mr. +George Cheffington."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I am very sorry for Lord Castlecombe."</p> + +<p>"Ah, your uncle—or great-uncle is he?—I'm not much of a hand at +remembering the ins and outs of families—is hard hit. But he bears up +wonderfully, to outward appearance."</p> + +<p>"Have you seen him, Mr. Bragg?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; saw him o' Monday about some business. He's a keen hand at a +bargain, is Lord Castlecombe. I don't know that I ever met with a +keener."</p> + +<p>"Poor old man!"</p> + +<p>"Ay, that's what <i>I</i> say, Miss Cheffington. Keenness and all that is +very well, so long as you've got somebody to be keen for. But it's a +dreary thing to be alone in advancing years. I feel it myself, though +I'm—well, I dare say nigh upon twenty years younger than his Lordship."</p> + +<p>There was a little pause, during which Mr. Bragg sipped his tea and ate +another cake. Then he repeated, "It's a dreary thing to be alone."</p> + +<p>"Are you alone, Mr. Bragg?" asked May, feeling that she was expected to +say something. "I thought you had sons and daughters."</p> + +<p>"Only one son, and he's away in South America—settled in Buenos Ayres +years ago. He's a rich man already, is Joshua. I started him well, +though I hadn't so much money in those days as I have now, not by a +deal, and he's done well. And he married a lady with money—a Spanish +merchant's daughter. No; there's no likelihood of Josh coming home to +England to keep me company, even supposing I wanted him to."</p> + +<p>Then ensued another pause. Then Mr. Bragg said, "I'm to have the +pleasure of meeting you at Glengowrie this autumn, I understand."</p> + +<p>"No; I have decided not to go. I have written to Mrs. Griffin to say +so."</p> + +<p>"Oh! What—on account of this death in your family?"</p> + +<p>"No, I cannot say that. It would be mere pretence. I never saw George +Cheffington in my life; and he was not a very close relation." Mr. Bragg +nodded approvingly. "That's a straightforward way of looking at it," he +said. "But I'm disappointed you ain't to be at Glengowrie."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. But my absence will not make much difference, I should say."</p> + +<p>"I don't know. It might make a deal of difference," returned Mr. Bragg, +speaking even more slowly than was his wont. "But where <i>shall</i> you be +then?"</p> + +<p>"Where I like best to be; here, with Granny."</p> + +<p>"Granny?"</p> + +<p>"My grandmother, Mrs. Dobbs. You must know her by name, at all events, +for you are her tenant."</p> + +<p>"What! old Dobbs the ironmonger's widow?—begging your pardon."</p> + +<p>May drew herself up with a proud movement of the head, which might have +satisfied even the deceased dowager that there was a strong strain of +the Cheffington nature in her. "There is nothing to beg pardon for, Mr. +Bragg," she said haughtily. "You cannot suppose that I am ashamed of my +grandparents."</p> + +<p>"You've no call to be ashamed of them; but people don't always see +things in the right light," answered Mr. Bragg composedly. "Yes; to be +sure, now I come to think of it, Mrs. Dobbs's daughter did marry—Ah! Of +course, Susan Dobbs was your mother! I never knew her to speak to; but I +remember her. Uncommonly pretty she was, too. Why I might ha' +known—But, you see, your aunt, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, never mentioned your +mother's family."</p> + +<p>At this moment Owen Rivers approached them. He said he had been sent by +Mrs. Bransby to look for May; and, thereupon, carried her off to the +drawing-room. Mr. Bragg remained behind, pondering for a minute or so. +"To think of this girl being Lord Castlecombe's grand-niece <i>and</i> old +Dobbs's grand-daughter! Well, things do turn out queer in this world!" +Then Mr. Bragg also repaired to the drawing-room.</p> + +<p>The musical portion of the evening went off brilliantly. But the great +success was undoubtedly Clara Bertram's performance of "Hear, O King!" +She sang poor Polly Piper's bald and <i>jejeune</i> phrases in a way which +made such of the elder auditors as remembered its first performance ask +themselves, wonderingly, if this were indeed the music they had listened +to long ago. And she concluded with a <i>cadenza</i>, so expressive and +beautiful that Mr. Simpson, raptly listening, very nearly omitted to +play the final chords.</p> + +<p>When the song was over, there was a burst of applause, and an unusually +loud clapping together of kid-gloved palms. But, from the doorway, where +he had stood to listen, Valli precipitated himself through the crowd +like some swift missile; clearing his way, utterly regardless of +intervening backs and shoulders, male or female, and rushing up to Miss +Bertram, he exclaimed, "<i>Divinamente!</i>"</p> + +<p>"I am glad you are content," she answered in English.</p> + +<p>But Valli went on volubly in his own tongue, "Content? No; 'content' is +not the word. I am enchanted. You sang divinely! Demon of a girl, never +in all your life did you sing a song of <i>mine</i> like that! What possessed +you?"</p> + +<p>"Gratitude," answered Clara quietly.</p> + +<p>Miss Piper now came up and kissed her effusively. Composer and singer +were soon surrounded by a little crowd, to whose polite exclamations of +"Charming!" "Immense treat!" "Really delicious!" and so forth, Miss +Polly kept replying, with lofty magnanimity, "Oh, but you must not +attribute all the honour to <i>me</i>! I assure you that more depends upon +the execution than you are, perhaps, aware of."</p> + +<p>This first triumph had a subtle effect on Mr. Cleveland Turner. He was +moved by it to play a dashing <i>valse de concert</i> in place of a +composition of his own, modelled on a great original, which he entitled +"Twilight in the Gardens of Walhalla." It had been much praised in +esoteric circles. But it was somewhat trying to the unregenerate ear; so +much so, that a profane and flippant outsider had rechristened it +"Feeding Time in the Gardens of the Royal Zoological Society." Mr. +Sweeting afterwards mildly reproached his young friend for not having +performed it, and thus doing something towards improving and elevating +the taste of Oldchester.</p> + +<p>"It's no answer, my dear boy, to say they wouldn't have liked it," said +Mr. Sweeting. "No answer at all!"</p> + +<p>But it is to be feared that Cleveland Turner had some depraved enjoyment +of the applause which resulted from his lapse into heresy.</p> + +<p>Signor Valli, determined not to be eclipsed in popularity, and utterly +indifferent to the improvement of Oldchester's musical taste, made +himself unprecedentedly amiable. He sang vivacious Neapolitan street +songs, quaint Tuscan <i>stornelli</i>, pathetic Sicilian airs. And these +tuneful productions were greatly relished by that vast majority of the +listeners, who had not progressed so far as to connect ugliness with +righteousness—in music.</p> + +<p>When Valli at length rose from the piano, Mrs. Simpson made a sudden +plunge across the room, and presented herself breathlessly before him. +He was in a group of persons, among whom were Mr. Sweeting, Cleveland +Turner, and Miss Piper. Amelia's round, plump face was flushed by heat +and excitement to a rose-pink hue, several shades deeper than that of +her gown; and her spectacles glittered with a blank and baffling +brightness.</p> + +<p>"I cannot," she said, "quit this elegant scene of the Muses without +offering my poor tribute to you, Signor" (which she pronounced +"senior"), "for the delightful addition your performances have +contributed to refined enjoyment."</p> + +<p>Valli looked up rather bewildered, and, not knowing what else to do, +made her a profound bow.</p> + +<p>"I trust," continued the lady, "that I may be allowed to congratulate +you, signor, in the harmonious words of our great poet, upon your +'linked sweetness, long drawn out'—not, I'm sure, that any one present +considered for a moment that you were drawing it out at all <i>too</i> long!" +And with a sweeping curtsey, in the performance of which she overwhelmed +Mr. Sweeting's legs in a flood of pink silk skirt, and backed heavily on +to Mr. Cleveland Turner's toes, Amelia withdrew, beaming.</p> + +<p>At supper Valli was in high good humour. He had been presented to Mrs. +Bransby, and was gratified to find himself placed beside her at the +supper-table, she being incontestably the most beautiful woman in the +room. Major Mitton sat near them, and pleased Valli by praises of his +singing—a pleasure not at all diminished by his quick perception that +the good major had no knowledge whatever of the subject.</p> + +<p>"It's a real treat, I assure you," said Major Mitton, "to hear a toon. I +don't pretend to be a great connoisseur, but I can enjoy a toon. Ah, +they may say what they please, but there's no music like Italian music, +and nobody can sing it like Italians."</p> + +<p>This led to some reminiscences of the major's garrison life in Malta; +and to the mention of the <i>prima donna</i> Bianca Moretti. Mrs. Bransby +recognized this name as that of the heroine of Miss Piper's story, told +at her dinner-party several months ago.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you have heard the Moretti?" said Valli. "Yes; she <i>could</i> sing. By +the way, I hear she is a kind of <i>marâtre</i>—how do you call it?—to that +pretty Miss Cheffington."</p> + +<p>"Miss Cheffington? Oh, impossible!"</p> + +<p>"Pardon! Not at all impossible! I mean the young lady opposite, at the +other end of the table, sitting between those two young men. I know one +of them—the one with the blonde smooth head. I meet him in society. He +is tremendously annoying—<i>nojoso</i>—what you call a bore."</p> + +<p>"That is Miss Cheffington, certainly. But you don't mean to say that +Signora Moretti has married her father?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, married!" answered Valli, with a shrug. "She has been living with +him for years; that is what I mean. I hear <i>la Bianca</i> has grown steady +now. But she had a <i>jeunesse pas mal orageuse</i>."</p> + +<p>Major Mitton tried to change the subject, glancing uneasily at Mrs. +Bransby. But Valli was impervious to the hint. Not that he had any +intention of outraging the proprieties, or any suspicion that he was +doing so. Mrs. Bransby was not a <i>jeune meess</i>. He had heard of English +cant and hypocrisy long before he came to England. But he had been +agreeably surprised to find them conspicuous by their absence in the +section of London fashionable society which he chiefly frequented. So he +went on narrating anecdotes of <i>la Bianca</i> and her adventures, until +Mrs. Bransby rose, and quietly left the table. Upon this, Major Mitton +and several other men drew closer to Valli. And the consequence was +that, not only the mess-table, but other circles in Oldchester, were +regaled the next day with some choice morsels of scandal, in which the +name of Gus Cheffington figured conspicuously.</p> + +<p>But whatever might be the subsequent results of that talk, Miss Piper's +musical party had undoubtedly turned out a great success.</p> + +<p>That night, when the sisters were alone together, they sat up for an +hour discussing the events of the evening in a glow of pleasurable +excitement. Every point was remembered and dwelt upon, but of course +their interest centred in the song from "Esther."</p> + +<p>"It was a real triumph, Polly," said Miss Patty. "There can't be two +opinions about that. But—there, I thought I wouldn't tell you; but I +can't help it—I overheard Signor Valli and that Cleveland Turner, whom +I never did like, and never shall, speaking of 'Hear, O King,' in a +sneering, slighting manner."</p> + +<p>Quoth Miss Polly with a lofty smile, and laying her hand on her sister's +shoulder, "My dear Patty, I am not at all surprised to hear it. I have +experience of artists, if anybody has, and in the best of them I have +always observed one defect in judging my music—professional jealousy!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + + +<p>The day after the party at Garnet Lodge Mrs. Dobbs was surprised by the +announcement from her old servant, Martha, that Mr. Bragg was at the +gate, and would be glad to speak with her if she was at liberty.</p> + +<p>"Quite at liberty, Martha, and very happy to see Mr. Bragg. Now what can +<i>he</i> want?" said Mrs. Dobbs to the faithful Jo Weatherhead, who was in +his usual place by the hearth.</p> + +<p>"Something about the house in Friar's Row?" suggested Jo.</p> + +<p>"Ah! I suppose so. Though I don't know what there can be to say. +However, it's no use guessing. It's like staring at the outside of a +letter instead of reading it. He'll speak for himself."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Mr. Bragg had alighted from the plain brougham which had +brought him from his country house; and, walking up the garden path, and +in at the open door, presented himself in the little parlour.</p> + +<p>"I hope you'll excuse my calling, Mrs. Dobbs. You and me have met years +ago."</p> + +<p>"No excuse needed, Mr. Bragg. I remember you very well. This is my +brother-in-law, Mr. Weatherhead. Please to sit down."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg sat down; and he and his hostess looked at each other for a +moment attentively.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg was a large, solidly built man, with an impression on his face +of perplexity and resolution subtly mingled together. It is a look which +may be often seen on the countenance of an intelligent workman, whose +employment brings him into conflict with physical phenomena—at once so +docile and so intractable; so simply and so eternally mysterious. The +expression had long survived the days of Mr. Bragg's personal struggle +with facts of a metallic nature. In his present position, as a man of +large wealth and influence, he had to deal chiefly with the more complex +phenomena of humanity, and very seldom found it so trustworthy in the +manipulation as the iron and lead and tin and steel of his younger days.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs marked the changes wrought by time and circumstances in +Joshua Bragg. She remembered him—he had even been temporarily in her +husband's employment, at one time—in a well-worn suit of working +clothes, and with chronically black finger-nails. She saw him now, +dressed with quiet good taste (for he left that matter to his London +tailor), with irreproachably clean hands—on which, however, toil had +left ineffaceable traces—and a massive watch chain worth half a year's +earnings of his former days.</p> + +<p>"You're very little changed in the main, Mr. Bragg. And the years +haven't been hard on you," said Mrs. Dobbs, summing up the result of her +observations.</p> + +<p>"No; I believe I don't feel the burthen of years much; not bodily, that +is. In the mind, I think I do. You see, I've come to a time of life when +a man can't keep putting off his own comfort and happiness to the day +after to-morrow. Which," added Mr. Bragg thoughtfully, "is exactly where +young folks have the pull, I think."</p> + +<p>"That's queer, too, Mr. Bragg!" remarked Jo Weatherhead. "Putting off +your own comfort and happiness seems a poor way to enjoy yourself, sir."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but what you only <i>mean</i> to do, always comes up to your +expectations; and what you <i>do</i> do, doesn't!" rejoined Mr. Bragg, with a +slow, emphatic nod of the head.</p> + +<p>"Well, but as to 'feeling the burthen of years,' that's putting it too +strong," said Mrs. Dobbs. "You have no right to feel that burthen yet +awhile. Why, you must be—let me see!—under fifty-three."</p> + +<p>"Fifty-three last birthday."</p> + +<p>"Ay; I wasn't far out. Lord, that's no age! I might be your mother, Mr. +Bragg."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to hear you say so!—I mean, I'm glad you don't think me too +old—not quite an old fellow, in short."</p> + +<p>"No; to be sure not!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg was silent for fully a minute. Then he said, "Well, whether +I'm quite an old fellow or not, I'm too old to trust much to the day +after to-morrow. So, if not inconvenient to you, Mrs. Dobbs, I should +like to say a few words to you about a matter that has been on my mind +for some little time."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Mr. Bragg. I'm quite at your service."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg looked slowly round the little parlour; looked out of the +window at the tiny garden; looked at Mr. Weatherhead; finally looked at +Mrs. Dobbs again, and said, "It's a private matter."</p> + +<p>"I had better go, Sarah," said Jo. "I shall look round again at +tea-time;" and he made a show of rising from his chair, very slowly and +reluctantly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, perhaps you've no call to go away, Jo. I have no business secrets +from my brother-in-law, Mr. Bragg. He is my oldest and best friend in +the world."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg rubbed his chin slowly with his hand, and answered with a +certain embarrassment, but quite straightforwardly, "It's a matter +private to <i>me</i>."</p> + +<p>After this Jo Weatherhead had nothing for it but to take his departure, +and to endeavour to calm the fever of his curiosity with tobacco.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs remained alone with her visitor, wondering more and more what +could be the subject of his proposed communication. Her thoughts, in +connection with Mr. Bragg, persistently hovered about the house in +Friar's Row. But his first words scattered them in widespread confusion.</p> + +<p>"Your grand-daughter, Miss Cheffington, tells me that she is not going +to Glengowrie Castle this autumn, Mrs. Dobbs."</p> + +<p>"Why—no—I believe not," answered Mrs. Dobbs, looking at him curiously.</p> + +<p>"In that case I don't think I shall go there myself. I'm no sportsman. I +always feel lonely in a house full of strangers. And, besides—I was +invited partic'larly to meet Miss Cheffington."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs preserved her outward composure; but something seemed to +whirl and spin in her brain; and, although she kept her eyes fixed on +Mr. Bragg, she saw neither him nor anything else in the room for several +seconds.</p> + +<p>"I was asked through Mrs. Griffin. You may have heard speak of her?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs made an affirmative movement of the head. She could not have +articulated a word at that moment to save her life.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Griffin is a well-meaning lady. But she's a lady who now and then +gets out of her depth, along of not—what you might call minding her own +business. But she always means to be kind. And the best of us make +mistakes."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that we do!" assented Mrs. Dobbs huskily.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mrs. Griffin is always telling me that my money—'a princely +fortune' she calls it: but it's a good deal more than <i>that</i>, by what I +can hear about princes—lays me under an obligation to marry again."</p> + +<p>At the words "princely fortune" Mrs. Dobbs winced, and a deep red flush +came into her face; but she answered quietly, "Wealth has its +responsibilities, of course, Mr. Bragg."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it has; and its troubles. But when all's said and done, it's +pleasanter to be rich than poor. I've tried both."</p> + +<p>"No doubt. Only—one may pay too dear even for being rich."</p> + +<p>"Well, I should be sorry for any lady I married to consider that she +paid too dear for being rich."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I meant no offence, Mr. Bragg."</p> + +<p>"There's nothing you may not pay too dear for, I suppose; except a quiet +conscience. You may pay too dear for a wife. And there's two sides to +every"—he was about to say "bargain," but he substituted the word +"arrangement."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs had taken up her knitting, and was twisting and pulling it +with her fingers in a restless, nervous way. When Mr. Bragg made a +pause, and looked at her, she said, "Of course, that's quite true."</p> + +<p>He went on, "I make bold to hope, Mrs. Dobbs, that you'll give me credit +in what I'm going to say, for having some serious reason, and not +talking idly, out of pride and vanity; in short, for not being what you +might call a fool."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will, Mr. Bragg."</p> + +<p>"Thank ye. On that understanding I may say, between ourselves, that Mrs. +Griffin has mentioned to me several quarters where I shouldn't meet with +a refusal in case I went to look for a wife. I couldn't have supposed it +myself—at least, not to the extent it really does run to. But the fact +has been brought to my knowledge, so that there's no possibility of +making any mistake about it. More than one young lady—some of 'em +titled, too," said Mr. Bragg, with an odd glimmer of complacency +flitting for a moment like a will-o'-the-wisp above the solid <i>terra +firma</i> of his native good sense. "More than one, and more than two, have +been what you might call trotted out for me."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs's fingers twitched and pulled at the wool on her +knitting-needles, and the muscles round her mouth seemed to tighten. But +she said not a word.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg continued, "Now, perhaps you think I have no business to take +up your time with all this, when it's no concern of yours?"</p> + +<p>Still Mrs. Dobbs did not speak; so he added—</p> + +<p>"But it does concern you in a way."</p> + +<p>She made a visible effort to say, quietly, "Ah, indeed! How's that?"</p> + +<p>But this time she was perfectly sure beforehand of what he was going to +say.</p> + +<p>"I'm coming to that in one moment." Here Mr. Bragg paused, took out his +handkerchief, and passed it over his face before proceeding. "I +mentioned that Mrs. Griffin sometimes gets out of her depth (with the +best of intentions) when minding other people's business. She got a +little out of her depth when attending to mine. She somehow took it for +granted that I should be quite content to marry any lady of high family, +who would look handsome in my diamonds and spend my money in the +fashionablest style. She was consequently a good deal taken aback when I +offered some objections to one or two parties of her recommendation. But +I managed to make her understand at last. Said I, 'Mrs. Griffin, I don't +undervalue the honour; but I'm too old to wear a tight shoe for the sake +of appearances.' The fact was, I did not feel myself what you might call +<i>drawn</i> towards any of these young ladies. I couldn't fancy them sitting +opposite to me at my own fireside with a kind look on their faces. Now, +the reason I say all this to you," continued Mr. Bragg, laying his +massive hand on the elbow of Mrs. Dobbs's chair, "is because there is a +young lady that I <i>do</i> feel drawn towards—a young lady I've had +opportunities of observing at home and abroad. And it was talking of +this young lady that I said one day to Mrs. Griffin, 'Now, if you could +find some one like Miss May Cheffington who'd condescend to have me, I +should think myself a very fortunate man.' She quite jumped at the +idea."</p> + +<p>"Jumped, indeed!" burst out Mrs. Dobbs, indignantly. "Then she took a +most unwarrantable liberty. She could know nothing about Miss May +Cheffington's feeling in the matter. What business had <i>she</i> to jump?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, nay, my good lady! My good lady! You don't understand. She jumped +at the idea on <i>my</i> account. Why, Lord bless me, you couldn't +suppose——! She told me at once that May Cheffington was the +purest-minded and most unworldly girl she ever knew. I remember her very +words; for I couldn't help thinking at the time how queer it was that +Mrs. Griffin should admire unworldliness so much."</p> + +<p>There was a long pause. Mrs. Dobbs was greatly moved from her usual +self-possession. She could not trust herself to speak, while Mr. Bragg +was surprised, and somewhat offended, by her reception of what he had to +say.</p> + +<p>He had really, all things considered, very little purse pride. But he +had been accustomed for many years to be dumbly conscious of the power +of his wealth, as an elephant is dumbly conscious of the power of his +weight; and for a few moments he felt as the elephant might feel if he +were subjected to the mysterious process which we hear of as +"levitation," and suddenly found himself brushed aside like a fly. Mr. +Bragg did not wish to bear down his fellow-creatures unduly by force of +wealth. But wealth had come to be a large factor in his social specific +gravity.</p> + +<p>After a while, Mrs. Dobbs said tremulously, and by no means graciously, +"Well, I don't see what I can do for you in the matter."</p> + +<p>"I am not asking you to do anything for me, Mrs. Dobbs. I was not aware +till last night that you were any relation to Miss Cheffington, or, +leastways, I had forgotten it, for I believe I did hear of your +daughter's marriage years ago. When I became aware of it, I thought you +would take it as a mark of respect and goodwill if I came and spoke to +you confidentially. But you don't appear to see it in that light."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs turned round and offered him her hand, saying, "I ask your +pardon if I have said anything to offend you. You don't deserve it; you +are very far from deserving it. But I'm shaken; my nerve isn't what it +was. I haven't been so upset since my poor dear daughter Susy ran away +and got married." She was trembling, and her restless fingers were +making sad work with the knitting.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, there's no occasion for you to put yourself about, you +know. I should like you to tell me just this—under the circumstances I +think there's no objection to my putting the question—is there anybody +else in the field before me?"</p> + +<p>"N-no; I think not. I can't say."</p> + +<p>"If the young lady has no other attachment," said Mr. Bragg, in his +slow, pondering way, "I don't see why I should not be able to make her +happy. What do <i>you</i> think?"</p> + +<p>"You're a deal older than the child: there's a great disparity, Joshua!" +answered Mrs. Dobbs, reverting, in her agitation, to the familiar form +in which she had addressed him thirty years back.</p> + +<p>"So there is, but that can't be helped; we must just reckon with it as +so much alloy. There wouldn't be much romance—couldn't be; but a vast +number of people get on very well without romance, and are useful and +happy. I have some reason to believe," added Mr. Bragg, looking at her a +little askance—for there was no knowing whether this fiery old woman +might not take offence again—"that certain members of Miss C.'s family +would approve."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs answered with unexpected meekness. "There's no need to tell +me <i>that</i>. And you mustn't suppose, Mr. Bragg, that I don't +appreciate—that I don't know how the world in general would look upon +your offer."</p> + +<p>"Why, you see, it doesn't amount exactly to an offer. I thought I would +talk matters over with you, and, what you might call, put the case. You +see," said Mr. Bragg, placing the forefinger of his right hand upon the +thumb of his left, "for my part I could undertake that any lady who did +me the honour to marry me should have steady kindness and respect. I +wouldn't marry a woman I didn't respect, not if she was the handsomest +one in the world and a duke's daughter. Then," placing his two +forefingers together, "I ain't a bad temper, nor a jealous temper. +Lastly," here he shifted the forefinger of his right hand to the middle +finger of his left, "though I don't want to lay too much stress upon +money, yet it's a fact that my wife, and, in the course of nature, my +widow, would be a very rich woman."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you know," said Mrs. Dobbs, leaning her forehead on her hand, +and letting the knitting slide from her knees to the floor, "that May's +father is alive?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I do know it. And I've got something to say to you on that score. +And I'm sure you will agree with me that it is very desirable for Miss +C. to have protection and guidance. I'm not speaking for myself now, you +understand. Her aunt, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, is a very genteel lady, with +very high connections. But—quite between ourselves, you know—I +wouldn't give much for her headpiece."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs was looking at him eagerly, and scarcely allowed him to +finish his sentence before she said, "But you have something to say +about Captain Cheffington?"</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps you know it. If you don't, you ought to. He has been +travelling about for years with an Italian opera-singer. She is with him +now in Brussels. And people say he has married her."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs clasped her hands together, and ejaculated, almost in a +whisper, "Oh, my poor child!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg could not tell whether she were thinking of her daughter, or +her grand-daughter. Perhaps the images of both were in her mind.</p> + +<p>"You had not heard of it, then? Ah! It's a bad prospect for Miss C."</p> + +<p>"But is it true? So many stories get about. It seems incredible to me +that Augustus, so selfish as he is, should have bound himself in that +way."</p> + +<p>"I hear it confirmed on all hands. It's an old story now, and pretty +widely known. But, look at it which way you will, it's an ugly, +disreputable kind of business, Mrs. Dobbs."</p> + +<p>She was silent for a while, sitting with her head sunk on her breast, +and her hands clasped before her. Then she said, almost as if speaking +to herself, "God knows! The woman <i>may</i> not be bad or wicked. How are we +to judge?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg drew his hand away from the elbow of Mrs. Dobbs's chair, where +it had been resting, and said, in a tone of solemn disapprobation, "I +don't think there can be much doubt as to the character of the—person, +Mrs. Dobbs. I understand she became so notorious in Brussels through +keeping a gaming-house, or something of that kind, as to call for the +interference of the police."</p> + +<p>"May I ask how this information reached you?" said Mrs. Dobbs, turning +round and looking full at him.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg hesitated for a few moments before answering. "It has come to +me from various quarters; but the latest is an Italian singer, who has +been chattering a good deal. He was at Miss Piper's. There's always a +certain amount of risk in having public performers in your house. I +don't encourage 'em myself—never did from a boy; and I think it a pity +that Miss Piper does. Her sister and me are quite agreed on that point." +Mr. Bragg here pushed back his chair and stood up. "I should wish you to +understand," he said, "that I should have thought it my duty to tell you +this, feeling the interest I do in Miss C., quite independent of our +previous conversation."</p> + +<p>"I understand. Thank you."</p> + +<p>"With regard to that conversation, you can, if you think it advisable, +what you might call <i>sound</i> your grand-daughter. I think that might +avoid disagreeables for both parties. It can't be pleasant for a +sensitive young lady to refuse an offer. And I don't mind saying that it +would be extremely unpleasant to me to <i>be</i> refused. A man of my age +and—well, I may say my position, don't like to look ridic'lous. Of +course you don't care much for <i>my</i> feelings: can't be expected to; but +I think, on reflection, you'll see that by coming to you first in this +way, I've also done the best I could to spare the feelings of Miss C."</p> + +<p>With that Mr. Bragg shook hands with his hostess, and, quietly letting +himself out of the house, walked to his brougham, and was driven away to +the office in Friar's Row.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + + +<p>To one so habitually resolute, sagacious, and self-reliant as Mrs. +Dobbs, the shock of discovering that she has been living under a +delusion is severe. It is not merely mortifying—it is alarming. After +her conversation with Mr. Bragg, Mrs. Dobbs felt like a person who, +walking along what seems to be like a solid path, suddenly finds his +foot sink into a quagmire. The firmer and bolder the tread, the greater +the danger.</p> + +<p>She had not been conscious, until the disenchantment came, how much hope +and pride she had lavished on the image conjured up in her fancy by +Pauline's "gentleman of princely fortune." The image had been vague, it +is true, but brilliant. All that she knew of Mrs. Dormer-Smith's pride +of birth, her contemptuous rejection of young Bransby's suit, the +importance she attached to introducing her niece into the "best set," +and so forth, served to strengthen Mrs. Dobbs in all kinds of delusions. +She had taken it for granted that the sort of person whom Pauline could +approve of as May's husband must possess certain qualifications. She no +more thought, for instance, of doubting that he would be a gentleman, +than that he would be a white man. The "princely fortune" added +something chivalrous to the idea of him in her mind, since he was ready +to share it with portionless May. And now these airy visions had been +rolled aside like glittering clouds; and the solid, prosaic, ugly fact +presented itself in the form of Joshua Bragg!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs sat for more than an hour after he had left her, with bowed +head and hands clasped, scarcely stirring. For a while she could not +order her thoughts. Her mind was confused. Images came and went without +her will. Under all was a bitter sense of disappointment, and a vague +disquietude for the future. At first she had dismissed the notion of +May's marrying Mr. Bragg, as one too preposterous to be entertained for +a moment; but by degrees she began to ask herself whether she might not +be as mistaken here as she had been in other undoubting judgments. Mr. +Bragg was a man of probity, and—or so she had hitherto thought him—of +excellent sense. Oldchester held many substantial proofs of his +benevolence. Could it be possible that girlish May was willing to think +of this man for a husband? Mrs. Dobbs tried to look at the matter +judicially.</p> + +<p>There were many instances of happy marriages where the disparity in +years was as great as in this case. Who could be happier than Martin +Bransby and his beautiful young wife? But this example had not the +effect of reconciling Mrs. Dobbs to the possibility of May's accepting +the great tin-tack maker. Martin Bransby was a man whom any woman might +love—well educated, clever, genial, of a handsome presence, and with +manners of fine old-fashioned courtesy. There could be no comparison +between Martin Bransby and Joshua Bragg.</p> + +<p>No, no, no! Such a match would be a mere coarse bargain. The very +thought of it was an outrage to May. And yet—the pendulum of her +thoughts swinging suddenly in the opposite direction—she remembered +that neither Mrs. Dormer-Smith nor Mrs. Griffin had so considered it. +And was it not true what Mr. Bragg had said—that many people did very +well without romance, and were useful and happy? Self-distrust, once +aroused, became wild and uncontrollable. She fought against her better +instincts; telling herself that she was a fool, and that the world was +no place for story-book sentimentality. If May married this man she +would be safe from the gusts of fortune; she would be honoured and +caressed (for it was clear that society accepted Mr. Bragg without qualm +or question), and she would have boundless possibilities of doing good. +<i>This</i>, surely, at all events, was a worthy aim!</p> + +<p>At this point—just as after a conflict between winds and waves there +sometimes comes a sudden calm and the serenity of sunshine—the turmoil +of her mind was stilled all at once, and she saw clearly. She lifted up +her head and said aloud—</p> + +<p>"'What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose +his own soul?' Lord, forgive me! I was arguing on the devil's side every +bit as much as that poor creature, Mrs. Dormer-Smith. And without her +excuse of knowing no better! The whole thing is plain enough. If May +could bring herself to care for the man—and such unlikely things happen +in <i>that</i> line that one daren't say it's downright impossible!—she'd do +right to marry him; if not, she'd do wrong. And that's all about it."</p> + +<p>Here, at least, was a firm foothold. And having struggled out of the +quagmire, Mrs. Dobbs was able to consider the other subject of Mr. +Bragg's talk with her—the rumour that Captain Cheffington had married +again. If it were true, and, above all, if his new wife were such a one +as Mr. Bragg had described, there was a new source of anxiety as to +May's future.</p> + +<p>As she was meditating on this point, Jo Weatherhead returned, eager to +hear all about her interview with Bragg, and to impart to her something +he had just heard himself. Mrs. Dobbs was glad to be able to feed Jo's +hungry curiosity by telling him the reports about her son-in-law, since +she could not betray Mr. Bragg's confidence respecting May. She found +that he had been hearing a version of them from Mr. Simpson, whom he had +met in the road. Valli's utterances at Miss Piper's supper-table had +already revived all kinds of obsolete gossip about Captain Cheffington.</p> + +<p>"It'll be terrible for my poor lamb if half the bad things they say are +true," said Mrs. Dobbs, shaking her head.</p> + +<p>Jo's private opinion was that Captain Cheffington's conduct under any +given circumstances was pretty sure to be the worst possible; but he +tried to comfort his old friend, as he had succeeded in comforting +himself, by setting forth that her father's behaviour, be it what it +might, could scarcely affect May's happiness very deeply, seeing that +she had been entirely separated from him for so long.</p> + +<p>"And as to her position in the world, that you think so much of"—Mrs. +Dobbs winced at this, and turned her head away—"why, I shrewdly +suspect, Sarah, that a deal worse things than ever reached you and me +have been known about Captain Cheffington in aristocratic circles this +long time back. And yet Miranda has been received among the tip-toppest +people as if she belonged to 'em. And there's her own great-uncle, the +Lord Viscount Castlecombe of Combe Park, a nobleman notorious for his +heighth" (Jo did not mean his stature), "has quite taken to her, by all +accounts."</p> + +<p>After some consultation, they agreed together that it would be well for +Mrs. Dobbs to tell her grand-daughter something of the reports which +were flying about, lest they might reach her accidentally, or, in a +still more painful way, through malice, and find her unprepared. +Moreover, Jo urged his old friend to write boldly to Augustus demanding +an answer as to the truth of the statement that he had married a second +wife. Mrs. Dobbs at length consented to do so, although she had little +hope of eliciting the truth by those means. But Jo was strongly of +opinion that if Captain Cheffington were not married he would be +desirous, for many reasons, of repudiating the statement; and if he were +married he might not be displeased at this opportunity of saying so, +although pride, or indolence, or a hundred other motives, might prevent +him from making the opportunity for himself.</p> + +<p>The communication was made to May when she came home from College Quad +that afternoon. And, although greatly surprised at first, it did not +produce so much effect as her grandmother had anticipated.</p> + +<p>May had enough of the healthy, unquestioning veneration of a child for +its parent to take her father on trust; and Mrs. Dobbs had always been +careful not to lower Captain Cheffington in his daughter's esteem. But +May did not—naturally could not—feel for him any of that strong +personal attachment which is apt to look jealously on interlopers. She +regarded him with a somewhat hazy affection, largely compounded of +imagination and dim childish traditions. Some added tenderness sprang, +perhaps, from the notion that "poor papa" had been unfortunate, and that +the world had treated him below his deserts.</p> + +<p>After the first surprise was over, she said, "But why should he keep it +secret? Wouldn't he have told you, granny?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not, May; I hear from him very seldom, as you know."</p> + +<p>"Very seldom! Yes; but in such a case as this! Perhaps, though, papa +thought it might hurt your feelings, on account of mamma."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," returned Mrs. Dobbs drily.</p> + +<p>"People are unreasonably sensitive sometimes, are they not? As for me, +it never entered into my head to think of my father's marrying again; +but now I do think of it, it seems to me that it would be a very good +thing."</p> + +<p>"Its goodness or badness would depend, of course, on—circumstances."</p> + +<p>"I do really think more and more that it would be a good thing, granny. +Papa must have many lonely hours, you know. He likes Continental life +best, to be sure; but still he is far away from his own country and his +own people. It seems almost selfish in us not to have thought of it +<i>for</i> him. Oh, I hope she is a nice, kind woman, who will be good to him +and take care of him. I think I ought to write at once and assure him +that I have no grudge in my heart about it. And I'm sure you have none +either; have you, granny dear?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs found it at once more painful and more difficult than she had +foreseen to breathe degrading suspicions into this frank, pure mind. But +it was necessary not to allow May to cherish what might prove to be +disastrous illusions.</p> + +<p>"It isn't all such plain sailing, May," she answered slowly. "I will +write to your father, and you had better wait for his reply. We don't +know that he is married at all. And if he is, we don't know that there's +much to be glad about. They do say that the lady is not a fit match for +your father."</p> + +<p>"<i>He</i> is the best judge of that, I should think," returned May. Then she +added, her young face flushing with a generous impulse, "I dare say +people may have said the same of my own dear mother."</p> + +<p>"No, May. No one ever said of your own dear mother what is said of this +woman."</p> + +<p>There was a sternness in her grandmother's voice and face which startled +the girl.</p> + +<p>"What do they say, granny?" she asked quickly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs checked herself. "Oh, I cannot tell you exactly. There are +lots of stories about. Some will have it that—her character is not +quite blameless."</p> + +<p>"<i>Who</i> dares to say so of my father's wife?"</p> + +<p>"Hush! May. There's no need to call her your father's wife yet. Signor +Valli says the person in question——"</p> + +<p>"Signor Valli? Then I don't believe a word of it. Not one word. I know +he talks wildly, and jumps at things. Why, he told Clara Bertram that my +mother was a foreigner, and that he had met her. So you see how accurate +and trustworthy Signor Valli is." Then, after a moment, as if struck by +a sudden thought, she asked, "Is—<i>she</i> a foreigner?"</p> + +<p>"I believe so."</p> + +<p>"Then that is what he meant, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"It's right to tell you, May, that Signor Valli is not the only one who +has heard disagreeable things."</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course, they all baa' one after the other! You have no idea, +granny, what foolish back-biting talk goes on among the people whom Aunt +Pauline calls 'society.' I've seen them roll a morsel of gossip over and +over, while it kept growing all the time like a snow-ball—or a +mud-ball. And no doubt many people whom Aunt Pauline doesn't call +'society' are as bad. A sheep is a sheep, whichever side of the hedge it +is on," said this young censor with fine scorn.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs in her heart did not put implicit faith in the stories which +reached her. The young and the old—when they are sound-hearted—are +both prone to disbelieve slander—the young from innocence, the old from +experience; for there is no lesson more surely taught by life than the +evil lightness with which evil is attributed.</p> + +<p>But with regard to these particular stories, unwelcome corroboration was +given to Mrs. Dobbs by Clara Bertram. Clara carried out her proposal of +going to sing at Jessamine Cottage. She went there one afternoon when +May was absent at the Hadlows', and introduced herself. There were only +Mrs. Dobbs and Mr. Weatherhead to listen to her; but she sat down at the +old square piano—feebly tinkling now, but tinkling always in tune, like +the conscientious ghost of a defunct instrument—and sang her best. Her +audience, though limited, was highly appreciative; and she soon found +that their applause was not given ignorantly.</p> + +<p>Apart from the charm of her singing, Clara won their sympathies by her +kindly, unaffected simplicity. She inspired trustfulness. One must have +been blindly false one's self to doubt her truth. Mrs. Dobbs was moved +to question her a little about Valli.</p> + +<p>"Of course, you have heard this gossip about May's father?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes. To say the truth, I almost hoped you might speak on this subject; +and so I purposely came when I thought May would not be here. I hinted +to her something that Valli had said to me; but I saw she knew nothing."</p> + +<p>"I have told her. At least I have told her enough to prevent her being +taken by surprise."</p> + +<p>"I am glad of that. I think you have done very wisely."</p> + +<p>"This Signor Valli, now," said Mrs. Dobbs musingly. "I suppose he tells +lies sometimes, eh?"</p> + +<p>Clara reflected for a moment before she answered. "In one way—yes. That +is to say, if he hated you, and saw you give a penny to a beggar, he +would impute some nefarious motive for the action, and say so without +scruple; but I don't believe he would be likely to invent +circumstances."</p> + +<p>Then she went on to tell how Miss Polly Piper remembered a dreadful +story about some gambling transactions; and how Major Mitton had +furbished up his Maltese reminiscences; and how everybody found +something to say, and not one good thing among them all.</p> + +<p>Jo Weatherhead listened with a kind of dread enjoyment. So much curious +gossip <i>could</i> not but be interesting; yet he wished with all his heart, +for May's sake, that it were not true.</p> + +<p>"I speak openly to you," said Clara; "but I am reticent about all this +with other people. Pray believe that."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs did believe it. Clara seemed to have become intimate with +them all at once.</p> + +<p>"May I come again?" asked the young singer as she took her leave.</p> + +<p>"May you come! <i>Will</i> you come? I didn't ask you, because, when a person +generously gives me one pearl of price, it is not my way to snatch at +the whole string. Your time is precious; your voice is precious."</p> + +<p>"Dear Mrs. Dobbs, your kindness is precious. Not that I am ungrateful +for the kindness bestowed on me by—other people; but there is such a +delightful feeling of homeliness here. And then, although you have +praised me too much, I must say that you and Mr. Weatherhead are good +judges of music."</p> + +<p>"Well, I won't go so far as to deny that you <i>might</i> strew your pearls +before certain animals who would value them less," replied Mrs. Dobbs.</p> + +<p>As for Jo Weatherhead, he became so enthusiastic in Miss Bertram's +praises behind her back, that Mrs. Dobbs laughingly declared he was in +love with her. And perhaps he was, a little. Many more such humble +innocent "loves" spring up and die around us every day than we reck of. +They do not ripen into fruit, but simply blossom like the wayside +flowers; and the world is all the sweeter for them.</p> + +<p>When May came home that evening, she was delighted to hear of the +favourable impression her friend had made; although she declared it was +shabby of Clara to have come in her absence. May brought the news from +College Quad that Constance had written home for a prolonged leave of +absence, having been invited by the duchess to accompany Mrs. Griffin to +Glengowrie.</p> + +<p>"Canon Hadlow grumbles a little," said May; "but he will let her go. And +I am so glad; I hated the idea of going; but Conny will enjoy it, and +everybody else will soon find out that she is the right girl in the +right place—which, I am sure, I should not have been."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bragg is not going to Glengowrie either, I understand," said Mrs. +Dobbs, growing very red, and coughing to hide her embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"No; Mr. Bragg and I are quite agreed in not liking that sort of thing. +He says he feels lonely in a strange house; and so do I. If the duke and +duchess were my <i>friends</i>, it would be different."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bragg has a good deal of sense, I think."</p> + +<p>"Plenty of common sense."</p> + +<p>"And—ahem!—and good feeling—don't you think?"</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with your throat, granny? Shall I get you a glass of +water?—Oh yes; he does a great deal of good with his wealth. Canon +Hadlow was saying only this afternoon that Mr. Bragg gives away very +large sums in private, besides the public subscriptions, where every one +sees his name."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bragg was here the other day to speak to me—on business—No, no; I +don't want any water! Sit still, child. And I think you are a great +favourite of his."</p> + +<p>"It's quite mutual, granny. Often and often, in London, I used to prefer +a quiet talk with Mr. Bragg to the foolish chatter of smart people."</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay! But 'smart people' need not be foolish, May."</p> + +<p>"N—no; they <i>need</i> not. Only so many of them—especially the young +men—seem to think it part of their smartness to put on a kind of +foolishness."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs looked wistfully at her grand-daughter. In that process of +"sounding" May, which Mr. Bragg had recommended, and which Mrs. Dobbs +was endeavouring to carry out, there arose this difficulty: the chords +gave forth a full response to every touch; but who should interpret the +meaning of the notes? Mrs. Dobbs had been accustomed to read May's +feelings by swift intuition. She was now afraid to trust to that. Her +interview with Mr. Bragg had upset so many of her preconceived ideas as +to what could be considered probable, or even possible, in the matter of +her grandchild's marriage, that her judgment seemed paralyzed. And then +to risk a mistake which should involve May's life-long unhappiness, +would be too tremendous a responsibility!</p> + +<p>Measured by Mrs. Dobbs's unquiet thoughts it seemed a long time, but in +reality less than a minute elapsed between May's last words and her +saying—</p> + +<p>"Talking of smart people, granny, don't you think Aunt Pauline is sure +to know the truth about papa?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell. There might be reasons why she should not have heard it, +May."</p> + +<p>"Well, at all events, I have been thinking that I will write to her and +ask. If she does know, and is keeping her knowledge back from me for any +reason—some of Aunt Pauline's mysterious dancing before deaf people, +you know—that will make her speak out."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why you should not write to her, if you choose, May."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs had little doubt that Mrs. Dormer-Smith would be annoyed and +perturbed by May's writing to her on the subject, whether the story of +the marriage were true or false, and whether she herself had or had not +heard of it. But Mrs. Dobbs was in no mood to shield Pauline from +annoyance or perturbation.</p> + +<p>"She and her 'gentleman of princely fortune,' indeed!" said Mrs. Dobbs +to herself. "Why couldn't she say old Joshua Bragg? and then one would +have known where one was."</p> + +<p>So it was settled that May should write to her aunt.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + + +<p>Theodore Bransby at first indignantly repudiated Valli's scandals about +Captain Cheffington. He was quite unprepared for them, having, it may be +remembered, heard nothing of Miss Piper's story, told at the +dinner-party in his father's house; and having, moreover, loftily +snubbed every one in Oldchester who ventured to hint anything to the +disparagement of his distinguished friend. What could Oldchester know +about such persons as the Cheffingtons?</p> + +<p>But general testimony and public opinion were too strong for him, and he +was forced to give up his distinguished friend. He fell back on +mysterious hints of sympathy and intimacy with "the family," and +allusions to what "poor dear Lucius" had said to him on the last +occasion of their dining together at Mrs. Dormer-Smith's.</p> + +<p>In his heart, Theodore was deeply annoyed. He considered that Captain +Cheffington (supposing report to speak truly) had not only derogated +from his proper place in the world, but had, in some sense, personally +injured him (Theodore) by forming a connection so far beneath him. +Nevertheless, it was very possible that Captain Cheffington might some +day come to be Viscount Castlecombe, and much would be forgiven to a +wealthy peer of the realm. Theodore was conscious that he himself could +forgive much to such a one. He was not prone to indulge in idle fancies, +yet he caught himself once or twice writing on a corner of his +blotting-pad the words "Hon. Mrs. Theodore Bransby," with pensive +sentiment. But let her father's fate and fortunes be what they might, +Theodore felt that he must still desire to marry May Cheffington. The +recognition of this feeling in himself gave him an agreeable sense of +his own elevation of soul. That fellow Rivers talked a vast deal of +flashy nonsense, which dazzled people; but it was possible to take a +serious and sensible view of life without being commonplace. Theodore +did not by any means wish to be, or to be thought, commonplace.</p> + +<p>He had just been called to the Bar, and ought by this time to have begun +his professional career on the Midland Circuit. But he lingered in +Oldchester on the plea of delicate health. It was not so much the +presence of May Cheffington as that of Owen Rivers which chained him +there. If Rivers would but have left Oldchester, Theodore would have +turned his back on it also with small reluctance. The dull, vague +jealousy of Rivers, which he began to feel long ago, had become acute. +Rivers would have been a distasteful personage to him under any +circumstances; but viewed as a rival, he inspired something like +loathing. And yet the desire to watch him—not to lose sight of him so +long as May should be in Oldchester—was irresistible. Theodore had +never come so near quarrelling with his step-mother as on the subject of +Owen Rivers; but he had failed in causing the latter to be excluded, or +even coldly received, by Mrs. Bransby.</p> + +<p>There was a painful scene one day at luncheon, when Martin, Mrs. +Bransby's eldest boy, vehemently took up the cudgels in defence of his +absent friend, Owen, of whom Theodore had been speaking with sneering +contempt. Martin was ordered away from the table for being impertinent +to his half-brother. But general sympathy was with the culprit; and Mr. +Bransby said when the boy had left the room—</p> + +<p>"Of course, it would not do to allow Martin to be saucy; but you are too +hard upon Rivers, Theodore. He may have his faults; but, if he be idle, +he is not self-indulgent. Rivers has a Spartan disdain of personal +luxuries; and although he doesn't work, no one suffers by that but +himself. He is incapable of a mean thought, has a most noble +truthfulness of nature, and is a gentleman to the core."</p> + +<p>Theodore turned deadly white, and answered, "I am sorry not to be able +to agree with you, sir. To be a lounging hanger-on, as Rivers is at the +Hadlows', is not compatible with my conception of a gentleman."</p> + +<p>He rose as he spoke, and left the room, so as to cut off any possibility +of a reply.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bransby had sat by with downcast eyes, parted lips, and beating +heart. She was divided between delight at hearing her husband assert his +own opinion against Theodore and her constitutional timidity and dread +of a quarrel. When Theodore was gone, she put her hand on her husband's +shoulder, and said—</p> + +<p>"It is like you, dear Martin, to stand up for the absent. We are +all—the children and I—so fond of young Rivers."</p> + +<p>"I hate priggishness, and I hate spitefulness," rejoined Martin Bransby, +with a sparkle in his fine dark eyes.</p> + +<p>The old man's face had flushed when he uttered his protest. It was an +unusual outburst; for of late—whether from failing health, or from +whatever cause—Mr. Bransby had more and more shrunk from opposing or +contradicting Theodore. He seemed almost timidly anxious to conciliate +him; and was evidently distressed by any symptom of ill-will between his +eldest son and the rest of the family. After a while the flush died from +his cheek, and the fire from his eye. He sat with bowed head, softly +caressing the white jewelled hand which had slidden down from his +shoulder. Presently he said—</p> + +<p>"Don't let us cherish feuds, or blow up resentment, Loui. If there are +subjects on which Theodore thinks differently from you—and me; and me, +too, my dear—let us avoid them. He has his good points, though he has +weak ones—as we all have. Let us spare them. Theodore may be very +helpful to the boys when I am gone. And I have it very much at heart +that there should be peace and goodwill between them."</p> + +<p>In Theodore's mind, however, the little incident rankled. He was silent +about it. But that was no indication that he had either forgiven or +forgotten it.</p> + +<p>He was also annoyed and disappointed at seeing May Cheffington so seldom +during this sojourn at home. He had formerly met her constantly at +College Quad; but he could not now frequent Canon Hadlow's house as he +had done in old days, even had he wished it. And although it appeared +that Mrs. Bransby had struck up a great friendship with May during his +absence, May's visits to her were very brief and rare. Theodore half +suspected that his step-mother perversely stinted her invitations to the +girl, for the express purpose of vexing him, and at length he plainly +asked her how it was that Miss Cheffington came to their house so +seldom. Mrs. Bransby was tempted to give him her real opinion as to the +reason, but she refrained. She would not vex Martin by saying sharp +things to his son. So she answered vaguely that Miss Cheffington now +passed a good deal of her time at Garnet Lodge with her friend, Clara +Bertram.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," said Theodore, tilting his chair, and looking down as from +the summit of Mont Blanc upon his step-mother. "The Dormer-Smiths were +very kind to that little Bertram girl in town, and Mrs. Dormer-Smith +launched her in some of the best houses; but—pardon me for setting you +right—she is not quite on such a footing as to be a <i>friend</i> of Miss +Cheffington's."</p> + +<p>However, he acted on the hint accidentally given, and began to honour +the Miss Pipers with frequent visits.</p> + +<p>The good-natured old maids received him very kindly; but it may be +doubted whether he were particularly welcome to any of the persons who +had taken the habit of dropping in nearly every evening at Garnet Lodge.</p> + +<p>Major Mitton and Dr. Hatch were old <i>habitués</i>; but the circle now +included some new ones. Mr. Bragg was often there. (Theodore considered +it a striking proof of the incurable commonness of Mr. Bragg's +tastes—already illustrated, to Theodore's apprehension, by a memorable +instance—that he, to whom some of the best county society was +accessible, and who had even been invited to Glengowrie, should prefer +the middle-class sitting-room, and the middle-class gossip of Polly and +Patty Piper.) There was, too, the inevitable Owen Rivers, and +occasionally Mr. Sweeting and Cleveland Turner would drive over from the +country-house which the former had hired in the neighbourhood. Miss +Bertram's visit was prolonged; in Theodore's opinion very unduly. It +might be all very well to invite her for professional purposes; but, +once the musical party was over, it was absurd to keep the girl as a +visitor in the house. Altogether, there was much that Theodore +disapproved of at Garnet Lodge; but, as he told himself, he went there +for a purpose totally disconnected with its owners. And if he did some +violence to his social principles by condescending to frequent such an +undistinguished and <i>bourgeois</i> set of people, he was resolved to make +amends by totally dropping their acquaintance in the, not distant, +future.</p> + +<p>As to May, although he genuinely believed that the Dormer-Smiths had +influenced her against him, he was not so foolish as to think that she +had been coerced, or that she was at all in love with him. Nevertheless, +a vast deal might depend on the influence of those around her, in the +case of a girl so young, so fresh-hearted, and so inexperienced. He had +faith in his own perseverance and constancy. The main point—the only +vital point—was to prevent any rival from succeeding. So long as May +were free he had good hope. It was quite certain that the Cheffington +family would never sanction her marrying Owen Rivers. <i>That</i> must be +taken as absolutely sure. And, indeed, Miss Cheffington herself would +probably scout the idea. But with regard to what Rivers hoped and +intended Theodore could not be mistaken. There, at least, he was +clear-sighted. It was disgraceful on the part of a fellow like Rivers, +subsisting in idleness on a beggarly pittance, and without prospects for +the future, or advantages in the present, to aspire to such a girl as +May Cheffington. Of course, Rivers knew very well that it would prove a +good speculation. May might prove to be the sole heiress of a rich +nobleman. At any rate, she would certainly inherit her grandmother's +money. Mrs. Dobbs's savings, however paltry, would be a sufficient bait +for Rivers, who had none of that ambition for fine tailoring, +upholstery, and the paraphernalia of fashionable life which becomes a +gentleman. Jealousy apart, perhaps that which made Owen peculiarly +offensive to him was to see a man at once so poor, so contented, and so +free from any misgivings as to his right to be generally respected.</p> + +<p>On his side, it must be owned that Owen wasted no cordiality on +Theodore. To see May speaking civilly to that correctly dressed and +dignified young man caused Mr. Rivers a certain irritation which +occasionally manifested itself in the most unreasonable ill-humour +towards her.</p> + +<p>"I really believe you <i>like</i> his empty arrogance," he said to her once. +"Why else you should sit and listen to him with that complacent air, I +cannot conceive."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I enjoy it of all things," answered May mischievously; "otherwise I +should, of course, cut him short by remarking, in a loud voice, and with +a ferocious glare, 'Mr. Bransby, I look upon you as a tedious prig.' How +delightful social intercourse would become if we had all reached that +fine point of sincerity!"</p> + +<p>But there were other causes of dislike between the young men unconnected +with May Cheffington. Owen felt not only admiration, but regard, for +Mrs. Bransby, and resented her stepson's demeanour towards her, while +Theodore was embittered by hearing Owen's praises in his own family.</p> + +<p>The perception of this lurking enmity between them made May anxious to +smoothe asperities and prevent a rupture. In her heart, although she +admitted he had done nothing to startle or offend her of late, she +intensely disliked Theodore Bransby; yet she found herself in a position +of taking his part against Owen. Owen was too absolute, too inflexible, +too implacable, she said. After all, Theodore had always conducted +himself irreproachably. He might not be agreeable to <i>them</i> (May had +innocently come to join herself with Owen in this kind of partnership in +sentiment), but probably <i>they</i> were not always agreeable to other +people; they ought to be tolerant if they wished to be tolerated—and +the like sage reflections. All which pretty lectures, though they made +Owen no whit less obdurate towards Theodore, melted his heart into ever +softer tenderness for May.</p> + +<p>She had not gone to Glengowrie. The reprieve he had allowed himself, +after which she was to depart, and he must steel himself to endure her +absence for, probably, the remainder of his life, had expired. But May +was still there. And there, too, was he. He was free to go away at any +moment. But he lingered. He began to suffer sharp pangs of regret when +he thought of the lost opportunities which lay behind him; for now +sometimes it seemed to him as if this sweet, pure girl might come to +love him. And what had he to offer her? How could he ask her to share +such a life as his? Owen had held certain uncompromising theories: such +as that a woman who hesitated to partake poverty with the man she +professed to love was not worth winning; and that a man must be but a +poor creature who should weigh a woman's fortune against himself, and +fear to woo a well-dowered girl lest he might be thought to love her +money bags and not her. And he had long ago decided that with <i>his</i> +marriage, at least (supposing that unlikely event ever took place), +considerations of money should have nothing to do on either side. But +theories—even true theories—are apt to find themselves a little out of +breath when suddenly confronted with the fact.</p> + +<p>The advice so vigorously given by Mrs. Dobbs to do some honest work, if +it were but breaking stones upon the road, took a new significance when +he thought of May. That on this point May agreed with her grandmother's +view he had ascertained, although a shy consciousness restrained her +from urging him to change his course of life. He began to cast about in +his mind for some possible employment; but he found, as so many others +had found before him, how difficult it is to turn "general acquirements" +into a definite channel.</p> + +<p>A chance word of Mr. Bragg's at length suddenly suggested a hope to him.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg mentioned one evening at Garnet Lodge that he purposed making +a journey into Spain, partly on matters connected with his son's +business; and said that he should like to find some trustworthy person +to accompany him as secretary and interpreter.</p> + +<p>"I don't speak any foreign language myself," said Mr. Bragg. "Of course, +there's always somebody that knows English; and pounds sterling are a +pretty universal language, I find, and make themselves understood +everywhere. But still, you're at a disadvantage with people who can talk +your tongue while you can't talk theirs."</p> + +<p>"But you could send somebody, couldn't you?" suggested Miss Patty. +"Spain, I've heard, is such a horrid country."</p> + +<p>"Horrid!" cried Major Mitton indignantly. (He was strong in +recollections of sundry youthful escapades and excursions from "Gib.") +"Most delightful country! Most picturesque, poetical, and——"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes; but I meant the cooking," explained Miss Patty.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg, however, valorously declared himself ready to face the perils +of Spanish cookery. His son was not satisfied with his correspondent at +Barcelona. Mr. Bragg wanted change of air; and since he had given up the +idea of visiting the Highlands this autumn, he would take this +opportunity of seeing foreign parts, and at the same time looking into +matters at Barcelona for his son.</p> + +<p>Owen's heart beat fast as the thought occurred to him of offering +himself to Mr. Bragg as secretary for this journey. He hurried after Mr. +Bragg when the latter's carriage was announced, and stopped him in the +hall to ask when and where he could have a private interview with him. +Mr. Bragg answered in his slow, ruminating way, as he took his coat from +the servant—</p> + +<p>"An interview with me? Oh, well, why not come over to lunch? My house +ain't beyond a pleasant walk for your young legs."</p> + +<p>"No, thank you; I won't come to luncheon. But I want an appointment—I +shall not take up much of your time—on business."</p> + +<p>"Oh, on business, is it?" said Mr. Bragg. It was curious to note how +evidently the sound of the word made him bring his mind to bear on what +was said to him, with a new and keener attention. "On business! It's +nothing you could write, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I could write it. Shall I?"</p> + +<p>"I think it would be the best plan, if you don't mind. You see I find, +in a general way, that talk—what you might call, branches out so. Now a +letter limits a man. I don't mean this for your partic'lar case, you +know, but speaking in a general way. Perhaps, if we find afterwards that +there is anything to talk over, you might look me up at my office in +Friar's Row. It'll be easier to settle all that when I know what the +business is. Good night. My respects to your aunt."</p> + +<p>Owen hastened to his lodgings, and set himself at once to compose a +letter to Mr. Bragg. Seeing that it was then past eleven o'clock at +night, and that Mr. Bragg had set out for his country-house, it was +scarcely probable that he should have found a secretary between that +hour and the following morning. But Owen felt as if every moment's delay +might be fatal. Oldchester persons, who had seen him lounging on Canon +Hadlow's lawn, and merely knew him as a young man fond of smoking, and +reading, and such unprofitable employments, would have been amazed at +the impetuous energy he threw into the writing of this letter. But the +same weight of character which gives massiveness to repose adds a +formidable momentum to action.</p> + +<p>The main difficulty, he soon found, was to make his letter short. This, +after several failures, and the tearing up of three copies, he +accomplished to a fair extent, if not wholly to his own satisfaction. +When he had finished the letter, he put it into a cover, stamped and +addressed it, and went out to post it with his own hand. By that time it +was considerably past midnight. The letter could have been delivered by +hand in Friar's Row next morning, and would probably have reached Mr. +Bragg equally soon. But it was a relief to Owen in his restless, +impetuous mood to have done something irrevocable. And there are few +actions in life so obviously irrevocable as posting a letter. This is +what he had written—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,</p> + +<p>"I venture to offer myself for the post of your secretary +during the journey you propose making to Spain.</p> + +<p>"My qualifications are—Honesty; a fair knowledge of the +Spanish language; and considerable experience of travelling in +Spain, where I have made two long tours on foot. Perhaps I +ought to add to these good health, and willingness to be +useful. My disadvantages are—Ignorance of the forms of +mercantile correspondence, and inexperience of the duties of a +secretary. I believe I could learn both very quickly.</p> + +<p>"I have hitherto been a man without occupation. I am now +anxious to have one by which I can earn money. Should you, on +inquiry and consideration, think I could honestly earn some as +your secretary, I should be grateful if you would give me a +trial.</p> + +<p>"I am ready to wait on you at your office, or elsewhere, in +case you wish for an interview, and remain,</p> + +<p>"Dear Sir,</p> +<p>"Yours truly,</p> +<p>"<span class="smcap">Owen Rivers</span>."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The following afternoon Owen was summoned to see Mr. Bragg at his +office. The old house in Friar's Row had been painted and varnished +inside and out. Plate glass glittered in the window panes, and elaborate +brass handles shone on the doors. Owen had never been in the house +during the days of Mrs. Dobbs's occupation. But he knew that May had +spent much of her childhood there; and he looked round the private room +into which he was shown with a tender glance such as probably never +before rested on those mahogany office fittings, morocco-covered chairs, +and neatly ranged account-books.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg was sitting at a writing-table, and held out his hand without +rising, when Owen entered.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Mr. Rivers," he said, pointing to a chair opposite to his +own, on the other side of the table.</p> + +<p>Owen sat down, and remained waiting in silence.</p> + +<p>"Well, so you think you'd like to go to Spain with me?" said Mr. Bragg, +slowly rubbing his chin, and looking thoughtfully at the young man.</p> + +<p>"I should like to get work to do, Mr. Bragg. I don't care much where it +is. But it struck me that I might be useful to you in Spain."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Well, I was surprised at your letter."</p> + +<p>"Nothing in it that you object to, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no. Oh dear, no. Only I didn't know you was in want of employment. +And I should have thought——"</p> + +<p>"Yes?"</p> + +<p>"I should have thought you'd ha' liked some more—what you might call +professional employment."</p> + +<p>"A man can't step into a profession from one day to another. And +besides, the professions are overstocked. There's no elbow-room in any +of them—especially for a poor man."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Yes; I hear that sort of thing is said a great deal; but it seems +to me that might be a reason for giving up living altogether. There's a +good many of us in all classes, one way and another; but a man has got +to <i>make</i> room for himself."</p> + +<p>"You have a right to say so, Mr. Bragg, and I have no right to dispute +it: for you have tried and succeeded, and I have not even tried."</p> + +<p>"Ah! That seems a pity—with your education, and all. However, I didn't +intend to branch out, as I said to you last night. With regard to the +point in hand, I would just say at once that this situation would be +strictly tempor'y, you understand. It couldn't be looked on in the light +of what you might call an opening."</p> + +<p>"I understand."</p> + +<p>"At the same time it might—I don't say it would—lead <i>to</i> an opening," +continued Mr. Bragg, indenting the paper before him by drawing his +thumb-nail along it with a strong, steady movement, as though he +mentally saw the opening in question, and were mapping out the way to +it.</p> + +<p>"I quite understand that if you engaged me as secretary for this +journey, you would not bind yourself to anything beyond. Whether +anything further came of it, or not, would depend, first, on my +suitableness; and next, on circumstances."</p> + +<p>"That's it," said Mr. Bragg, leaning back in his chair, and nodding +slowly.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Bragg, I can only say I would do my best. As to my knowledge +of Spanish, I'm not afraid. I began to learn the language first for the +sake of reading Cervantes, as so many people have done before me; but +since then I have acquired a colloquial knowledge of it by talking with +all sorts of Spaniards when I was tramping about their country."</p> + +<p>"I <i>have</i> heard," said Mr. Bragg, not displeased to show himself +acquainted with the literary aspect of the matter, "of a man that +learned Spanish in order to read a book called 'Don Quixote.'"</p> + +<p>"Just as I did."</p> + +<p>"Oh! <i>Did</i> you? I thought you mentioned a different name. And can you +write it?"</p> + +<p>"Fairly well; but I should have to learn the commercial style."</p> + +<p>"There'd be more need, perhaps, for you to understand it than to write +it yourself. All communications with my son in Buenos Ayres could, of +course, be written in English."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg here made a long, thoughtful pause. It was so long a pause +that Owen at length broke it by saying with a smile, though the colour +rose to his brow—</p> + +<p>"As to my character, I can't give you one from my last place, because I +never had a place; but my uncle, Canon Hadlow, will, I believe, +guarantee my trustworthiness."</p> + +<p>He felt a queer little shock when Mr. Bragg, instead of protesting +himself fully satisfied on that score, answered in a matter-of-fact +tone—</p> + +<p>"Ah! yes, I dare say he will. I make no doubt but what that'll be all +right." Then, after a second, shorter pause, he continued, "There's one +point, Mr. Rivers, that I must put quite plain. I expect everybody in my +employment to obey orders. Now, you see, you, having been what you might +call brought up a gentleman, might not——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope you don't think that insubordination is part of a +gentleman's bringing up?"</p> + +<p>"It hadn't ought to be; but it's best to be clear."</p> + +<p>"Clearly, then, I can undertake to obey your orders; and I would only +warn you to give them carefully, because I shall carry them out to the +letter. If you ordered me to make a bonfire of your bank-notes, I should +burn 'em all without mercy."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg laughed his quiet, inward laugh. There was something in the +conception of himself ordering bank-notes to be burned, which keenly +touched his not very lively sense of the ludicrous.</p> + +<p>"All right," said he. "I'll take <i>that</i> risk."</p> + +<p>"Then am I to conclude—may I hope that you will engage me?" asked Owen, +with nervous eagerness.</p> + +<p>"Why, I shall ask leave to turn it over in my mind a little longer. But +I'll undertake not to keep you waiting beyond to-morrow morning. You +see, if I do make an offer, it's best you should have it in writing. And +sim'larly, if you accept it, I ought to have that in writing."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. Then I need not intrude longer on your time."</p> + +<p>"No intrusion at all, Mr. Rivers. Good morning to you."</p> + +<p>Owen turned round at the door, and coming back to the writing-table, +said, "May I ask you to keep my application to yourself for the +present?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly," answered Mr. Bragg. But he looked slightly surprised.</p> + +<p>"Of course, I don't mean the thing to be secret so far as I am +concerned."</p> + +<p>"Why, no; we couldn't hardly keep it secret," said Mr. Bragg gravely.</p> + +<p>"Of course not. But if your answer should be favourable, I should like +to be the first to tell—a—a person—the one or two persons who take +any interest in me."</p> + +<p>"But I shall have to say a word to your uncle; and that's pretty well +the same thing as saying it to your aunt, I take it."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes; to be sure. I didn't mean you not to mention it to <i>them</i>."</p> + +<p>"All right. I certainly shall not mention it to anybody else," returned +Mr. Bragg.</p> + +<p>And when the young man was gone, he said to himself, "I wonder who else +there is I <i>could</i> mention it to that would care two straws one way or +the other. I like his way. He don't jaw like that young Bransby. And he +didn't try to soap me."</p> + +<p>The next day Owen Rivers was formally engaged as travelling secretary to +Mr. Bragg for three months, beginning from October, which was now near +at hand.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs had judged rightly as to the effect of May's letter on her +Aunt Pauline. That sorely tried lady was overwhelmed at this time by +various troubles. She did not write to May, but addressed a very long +and somewhat rambling letter to Mrs. Dobbs. After the strongest +expressions of dismay and horror at the rumour of her brother's +marriage, Pauline proceeded—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I really cannot answer May's letter—at all events, not at +present. I am deeply distressed that she should have addressed +me on the subject at all. It is such terribly bad form in a +girl of her age to appear cognisant of <i>anything</i> not brought +to her knowledge by the proper channels. I had heard a vague +report of the connection—which was bad enough. But who could +have supposed that Augustus would have degraded himself to the +point of <i>marrying</i> such a person! But I ought not to trouble +you with my feelings on this matter, for I am very sure you +cannot imagine one tithe of the various distressing results to +the family which will flow from it. It is much to be regretted +that May so precipitately decided not to go to Glengowrie; +particularly under recent untoward circumstances. I learn from +a friend in town that my cousin, Mr. Lucius Cheffington, is +much better. I do not mean, of course, that this is an untoward +circumstance; but it alters the position of affairs. I scarcely +know what I write. You may not be aware—few persons are +aware—of the delicate state of my nervous system. I suffer +keenly from any mental pressure. And of late I seem to have had +nothing else! My cure at this place has been sadly interfered +with by anxiety for others. But, really whether poor dear +Lucius recover or not, if this story from Belgium is true, my +niece's position will be a most painful one. From the tone of +her letter to me, I can see that she does not at all take in +the situation. You can tell her one thing from me: If my +brother were to succeed to the title to-morrow, he would have +nothing but what the entail gives him. So if she imagines +otherwise it would be well to undeceive her. You won't mind my +saying that in this respect the circumstances of my brother's +first marriage were peculiarly unfortunate, since they +prevented any settlement being made for the children."</p></blockquote> + +<p>"Ay," said Mrs. Dobbs, interrupting her reading at this point, "not to +mention that by that time Augustus had nothing left to settle!"</p> + +<p>Then she resumed the letter—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"You and I, my dear Mrs. Dobbs, must join our forces in face of +these new and trying circumstances. The more I think of it the +more I regret that my niece has missed the opportunity of going +to Glengowrie, especially since I have learned that Mrs. +Griffin is going to chaperon another young lady in her stead. +In society it is fatal to drop out of sight—you are forgotten +immediately—and I cannot expect Mrs. Griffin to do more than +she has done. Indeed, both she and the dear duchess have been +extraordinarily kind—I fear May scarcely appreciates <i>how</i> +kind; but the truth is that she is singularly—I scarcely know +what word to use—not dull, but indifferent on certain points. +There is an apathy about her sometimes which has caused her +uncle and myself a great deal of distress. But really she +<i>must</i> rouse herself from it now. It is a great comfort to us +to know that you, my dear Mrs. Dobbs, take a sound view of my +niece's position, and have her best interests at heart.</p> + +<p>"Believe me,</p> + +<p>"Very truly yours,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">P. Dormer-Smith</span>.</p> + +<p>"P.S.—I have <i>this moment</i> received a letter from Miss Hadlow, +in which she mentions, amongst other items of news, that the +gentleman whom I wrote of as being interested in May has +declined his invitation to Glengowrie, and is now in +Oldchester! There appears to be something absolutely +providential in this. I know you have great influence over May. +Pray exert it to make her see what is right. I have never been +able to get her to look on her social position as involving +certain <i>duties</i>. But, indeed, in her case, the duty +immediately before her of obtaining a splendid settlement and a +fine position is an easy one. I have seen cases of real +<i>sacrifice</i> to this social obligation endured without murmur. +Since they are both in Oldchester, it must surely be easy to +give the gentleman every opportunity of presenting his suit. +Indeed, there may be better opportunities than at Glengowrie. +The longer we live the more we realize how everything is +overruled for good.</p> + +<p>"P. D. S."</p> + +<p>"I reopen this to write an essential word:—The name of the +gentleman I have alluded to! You may form some conception of +the pressure on my brain from my having omitted to do so +before. He is a Mr. Bragg—a man of very large wealth, and +received everywhere. I know that my uncle has more than once +received him at Combe Park. And he would, I dare say, have got +some chaperon there, and had May down for a time; but, of +course, under the bereavement we have all just suffered in the +death of my cousin George, this cannot be at present. But there +surely must be, among the better families in Oldchester, some +whom Mr. Bragg visits? Possibly the bishop, if he is there; or, +perhaps the dean? I know Lady Mary slightly. Pray lose no time, +my dear Mrs. Dobbs, in ascertaining this."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs pondered long after reading this epistle. In May's absence +she often turned over in her mind the advantages of an alliance with Mr. +Bragg; remembered favourable precedents; and taught herself to think +that it might be. The sight of the girl's face, and the sound of her +voice, were apt to scatter these fancies as sunrise scatters the mists. +But they returned when May disappeared again, and haunted all the old +woman's lonely hours.</p> + +<p>One morning, after an evening spent at Garnet Lodge, when Mrs. Dobbs was +alone with her grandchild, and was meditating how she should approach +the subject chiefly in her thoughts, May unexpectedly began—</p> + +<p>"Granny, do you know I have something to say that will surprise you."</p> + +<p>"Have you, May? Nothing ought to surprise me at seventy odd. But, +somehow, things do surprise me still."</p> + +<p>"Of course they do, granny! I think it is only blockheads who are never +astonished, because one thing is much the same to them as another."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad I can prove myself no blockhead at such an easy rate. +What is your surprise about, May?"</p> + +<p>"It's about—Mr. Bragg."</p> + +<p>The colour came into May's cheeks as she looked up with a bright, shy +glance from her favourite low seat beside granny's knee. But it was +nothing to the deep, sudden flush which dyed Mrs. Dobbs's face. She +looked at her grandchild almost vacantly for a moment, and then grew +paler than before. But May did not observe all this. She sat smiling to +herself, with the colour varying in her face, as it so easily did on the +very slightest emotion, her hands clasped round her knees, and her +bright head bent down, as she continued—</p> + +<p>"I have had my suspicions for some time past; but I said nothing until +last night. Then, when I went into Clara's room to put my hat on, I just +gave her a tiny hint; and she said very likely I was right, and did not +laugh at me a bit. But I dare say you will laugh at me, granny."</p> + +<p>"Let us hear, my lass," said Mrs. Dobbs, moistening her lips, which felt +parched.</p> + +<p>"Well—<i>I</i> think that Mr. Bragg has a motive in coming so often to +Garnet Lodge."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he has."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but a very special motive—a <i>matrimonial</i> motive. There, granny!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs looked down with a singular expression at the shining brown +hair so near to her hand which rested on the elbow of her easy-chair. +But she did not caress it as she habitually did when within reach. She +sat quite still, and merely said—</p> + +<p>"So you think it surprising that Mr. Bragg should have matrimonial +intentions, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no. It isn't <i>that</i>. Mr. Bragg is a very kind-hearted man, and would +be sure to make a good husband. And, do you know, he is very far from +stupid, granny."</p> + +<p>"I dare say. Joshua Bragg always had his head screwed on the right way."</p> + +<p>"His manner is against him. Of course, he is uneducated; and rather +slow. But, after all, that doesn't matter so very much."</p> + +<p>"And he's rich," added Mrs. Dobbs in a dry tone.</p> + +<p>"Ever so rich! I am sure he must have heaps and heaps of money, or else +Aunt Pauline would not approve of him so highly."</p> + +<p>"And not quite decrepit."</p> + +<p>"Decrepit! What a word to use, granny! No; I should think not, indeed!"</p> + +<p>"H'm! Neither a brute, nor in his dotage; and immensely rich—I don't +know what a woman can wish for more!" said Mrs. Dobbs, with increasing +bitterness.</p> + +<p>"Why, granny!" exclaimed May, looking up. "I thought you rather liked +Mr. Bragg! I have always heard you speak well of him."</p> + +<p>The hand on the chair-arm clenched and unclenched itself nervously, as +Mrs. Dobbs answered in short, jerky sentences, and as though she were +forcing herself with an effort to utter them, "Oh, so I do. Joshua Bragg +is an honest kind of man. I've nothing against him. Don't think that, my +lass."</p> + +<p>"Well, granny, but now for the surprise. I wonder you have not guessed +it by this time. Who do you think is the lady?"</p> + +<p>"I can't guess. Tell it out, May, and have done with it."</p> + +<p>"To be sure there is not much choice. If it were not one, it <i>must</i> be +the other! But I have made up my mind that Mr. Bragg and Miss Patty will +make a match of it! What do you say to <i>that</i>, granny?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs said nothing; but gasped, and laid her head back on the +cushion of her chair.</p> + +<p>"I thought you would be surprised! But when one comes to think of it, it +seems very suitable, doesn't it? Mr. Bragg admires Miss Patty's cookery +above everything. And she is such a kind, charitable soul, she would do +worlds of good with riches. And they agree on so many points—even their +crotchets. And, do you know, Miss Patty would look ten years younger if +she would leave off that yellow wig. She has such nice soft grey hair +that she brushes back! I have settled that she is to leave off the wig +when she marries Mr. Bragg, and take to picturesque mob caps. I have +been arranging all sorts of things in my own mind. I'm quite coming out +in the character of a matchmaker, granny!"</p> + +<p>In the midst of her chatter the girl looked up, and uttered an +exclamation of dismay. Her grandmother's head still lay back against the +cushion of the chair; her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be +laughing to herself. But the tears were pouring down her cheeks. At +May's exclamation she opened her arms wide, and then pressed the girl's +bright brown head against her breast, saying brokenly—</p> + +<p>"Don't be feared, child! I'm all right. I couldn't help laughing a bit. +It's so—so funny to think of old Joshua and—and Miss Patty!"</p> + +<p>"But you are crying, too, granny! Is anything the matter? Do tell me."</p> + +<p>"Nothing, child; I'm all right. Poor Joshua! He was a good lad when he +worked for your grandfather. And—and—I remember <i>her</i> a little miss in +a white frock and blue sash. It brings up old times, that's all, May. +Lord, what fools we are when we try to be cunning!" and Mrs. Dobbs went +off again into a fit of laughter, interspersed with sobs.</p> + +<p>"I didn't try to be cunning!" said May indignantly.</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i>, my lamb! Whoever thought you did?" returned her grandmother, +wiping her eyes and kissing May's forehead.</p> + +<p>By and by she resumed her usual solid self-possession. She told May that +she did not agree in her view of the state of the case, and advised her +not to hint her matchmaking project to any one. "You have said a word to +Miss Bertram, and that can't be taken back; but she is wise beyond her +years, and will not chatter."</p> + +<p>"But there's nothing wrong in the idea, granny," protested May, who was +considerably puzzled by her grandmother's unusual demeanour.</p> + +<p>"No, no, nothing wrong; only Mr. Bragg might not like it—he might be +looking after a young wife, who knows? Anyway, we will keep our ideas to +ourselves."</p> + +<p>As she spoke, the latch of the garden-gate clicked, and, following May's +glance, Mrs. Dobbs saw from the open window Owen Rivers advancing up the +path towards the house.</p> + +<p>The "gentleman of princely fortune," whose image had interposed between +her shrewd apprehension and the facts before her, having melted away +like a phantom, she perceived that here was a new influence to be +reckoned with—a new force which, whether for good or ill, might help to +shape her grandchild's future.</p> + +<p>"May I come in?" asked Owen.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Mr. Rivers."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs felt as though she had invited embodied Destiny to cross her +threshold—Destiny, in the prosaic guise of a blue-eyed, square-built +young man, in a shooting-jacket and a wide-awake hat. But that Power +does not often appear to mortals with much outward pomp and +circumstance. We are like children who think a king must needs go about +in royal robes, crowned and sceptred. But the decree which changes our +lives is mostly signed by some plain figure in everyday clothes, whom we +should not turn our heads to look upon.</p> + +<p>Owen entered the little parlour, and came and stood opposite to Mrs. +Dobbs's chair, without any of the customary salutations. "Well," said he +eagerly; "I have some news for you."</p> + +<p>"Lord, ha' mercy! This is a day of news," muttered Mrs. Dobbs under her +breath. Then she said aloud, "I hope it's good news?"</p> + +<p>"I have found some work to do. Is that good?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs clapped her hands softly. "Very good," she said. Half an hour +ago her approbation would have been more heartily expressed; but she was +looking at him now with different eyes, and considering his prospects +with a new and serious interest.</p> + +<p>"You haven't asked me what the work is," said Owen, just a little +disappointed by her quietude.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is <i>not</i> stone-breaking? But if it is, I stick to my +colours. Better that than nothing."</p> + +<p>"You will say, Mrs. Dobbs, that I am luckier than I deserve to be. I am +engaged as secretary to a man who is about to travel in Spain. I happen +to know Spanish. Luck again; for I learnt it merely to amuse myself."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I do think that isn't bad for a beginning, and I hope it will lead +to something more. Who is the gentleman, if I may ask?"</p> + +<p>Before Owen could answer, May, who had perched herself on the elbow of +Jo Weatherhead's vacant chair, said, "I think I can guess. It's Mr. +Bragg."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bragg!" echoed her grandmother, as if doubtful of having heard +aright.</p> + +<p>"I remember hearing him talk of a journey into Spain, and of wanting to +find a gentleman to go with him. Am I not right?"</p> + +<p>"Quite right," answered Owen.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bragg! Well, that <i>is</i> strange!" whispered Mrs. Dobbs to herself.</p> + +<p>Owen had taken a chair, and sat bending forward, with his elbows on his +knees, pleating and puckering in his fingers the brim of his soft felt +hat. He had not hitherto so much as looked towards May; now he +straightened himself in his chair, and, fixing his eyes on her +earnestly, asked—</p> + +<p>"And what do <i>you</i> say to my news, Miss Cheffington?"</p> + +<p>"I say, as granny says, that I am very glad," she answered, smiling, but +speaking in a subdued tone.</p> + +<p>"It's more to the purpose to ask what Canon and Mrs. Hadlow say to it," +put in Mrs. Dobbs. "I hope they are pleased?"</p> + +<p>"I dare say—I have no doubt—I—I have not seen Aunt Jane yet. The fact +is, I am on my way to College Quad; but I thought I would look in here +as I passed, and tell you that I have followed your advice, Mrs. Dobbs."</p> + +<p>The direct road from Owen's lodgings to College Quad was a short, and +nearly straight, line. To visit Jessamine Cottage "on the way" from one +to the other was analogous to going round by Edinburgh on a journey from +London to Leeds.</p> + +<p>"I wanted a little patting on the back and cheering up, you see," +continued Owen.</p> + +<p>"Cheering up!" cried May. "Oh! but I remember that Mrs. Hadlow said you +always liked to be pitied for having your own way. You must require a +great deal of consolation, truly, for the prospect of travelling in that +delightful country!"</p> + +<p>Owen nodded, and carefully fitted one pleat of his hat-brim into +another, as he answered, "I dare say my appetite for consolation is +bigger than you imagine."</p> + +<p>"I think it is Mr. Bragg who needs cheering up. Poor man, he little +knows what a peremptory, protestant, and positive secretary he will +have!" retorted May, with a half shy, half saucy, wholly mischievous, +glance.</p> + +<p>"Not at all! Now, that is just the kind of mistake which Aunt Jane so +often makes. But if I serve, I mean to serve honestly, and to be +thoroughly obedient; I have told Mr. Bragg so." And Owen proceeded to +justify himself, and to develop his views as to the duties of a +secretary, with superfluous energy and earnestness.</p> + +<p>The old woman sat watching them, and, as she looked, she was amazed at +her own previous blindness. How could she—how could any one—have seen +them together without perceiving that they were falling over head and +ears in love with each other? These two young creatures seemed, in her +old eyes, like a couple of children playing in a pleasure-boat. But she +knew that the river was running towards the sea—widening and deepening +with an irrevocable current. There was room for anxiety about the +future, no doubt. Yet a sense of relief in her mind—as if she had +escaped out of some oppressive atmosphere—revealed more and more +distinctly how repugnant the idea of May's marrying Mr. Bragg had really +been to her.</p> + +<p>"Sarah Dobbs," said she to herself severely, "you're a worldly, false +old woman! You're a nice one to find fault with that poor creature +Pauline! What were <i>you</i> doing, pray, but sacrificing your conscience to +the mammon of unrighteousness? The Lord be praised, the dear child is +better, and purer, and honester than either of us old harridans!"</p> + +<p>Then she broke into the conversation between May and Owen, which by this +time had sunk into a low murmur, and asked abruptly whether the +engagement with Mr. Bragg was to lead to any further employment.</p> + +<p>Owen repeated what Mr. Bragg had said to him, as nearly as he could +remember it; and Mrs. Dobbs thought it hopeful.</p> + +<p>"Joshua Bragg is an honest man—a man to be relied on: one of the few +who generally means what he says, all that he says, and nothing but what +he says," said she, nodding thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>May was glad to find granny doing justice to Mr. Bragg; and remarked to +herself that, if it were possible to conceive granny's ever being +capricious, she would have called her capricious to-day in her varying +tone about that worthy man.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder," pursued Mrs. Dobbs, "if he put you in the way of +getting permanent employment—supposing you please him. He might get you +a place out in South America with his son. Young Joshua is in a great +way of business there, I'm told. Would you go if you had the chance?" +she asked suddenly, looking at Owen with a searching gaze.</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly," he replied at once.</p> + +<p>"And you wouldn't mind being—being banished like from England?"</p> + +<p>"Mind? Oh, well, of course I should prefer a thousand a year and a villa +on the Thames; but a fellow who has been an idler up to four and twenty +must take any chance of earning something, and be thankful for it."</p> + +<p>"<i>That's</i> right." Mrs. Dobbs drew a long breath of relief.</p> + +<p>"It would only be for a year or two; I should come back," added Owen +wistfully.</p> + +<p>Then he shook hands and went away, and Mrs. Dobbs and her grand-daughter +were left to discuss the news he had told them. May chatted away +cheerfully, even gaily. When Mr. Weatherhead arrived the subject was +talked over again. Jo's pleasure in the prospect opening before Mr. +Rivers was somewhat tempered by his sense of the incongruity involved in +"a gentleman like that, brimful of learning, and belonging to the old +landed gentry," being under the orders of Joshua Bragg!</p> + +<p>"There's no contradiction at all, Jo, if you look at it fairly," said +Mrs. Dobbs. "Mr. Bragg will command where he has a right to—that is, in +matters that he knows better than Mr. Rivers, for all his book-learning. +It isn't as if Joshua wanted to teach the young man how to be a +gentleman. I don't say it's not a good thing to be a gentleman, but it +ain't exactly a paying business nowadays, if ever it was, which I +doubt."</p> + +<p>"Ah, more's the pity!" said Jo, shaking his head.</p> + +<p>"Why, if I was a gentleman—or a lady—I shouldn't agree with you there, +Jo. If gentlehood don't mean something above and beyond what can be paid +for, 'tis a poor business. It seems to me just as pitiful for gentry to +expect money's worth for their old family, high breeding, and fine +manners, as it is for the grand workers of the world to grumble because +they can't have power over the past, as well as the present and the +future. Mr. Bragg ain't one of that sort. You'll never catch <i>him</i> +inventing a family crest, or painting wild beasts on his carriage."</p> + +<p>Jo took his pipe out of his mouth, and looked with solemn approbation at +his old friend. "Sarah," said he, "you're right; and I believe you're a +better Conservative than me, when all's said and done."</p> + +<p>May had been silent during this discussion. She held some needlework in +her hands; but they were lying idly on her lap, and she was gazing out +of the window as intently as though the small suburban garden offered a +prospect of inexhaustible interest. The cessation of the voices roused +her. She looked round, and said softly—</p> + +<p>"It's a good climate, isn't it, granny? Where Mr. Bragg's son lives, I +mean."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + + +<p>Before going to bed that night Mrs. Dobbs sat down and wrote a letter, +marked "private and confidential," to Mr. Bragg.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Mr. Bragg</span>" (she wrote),</p> + +<p>"I think it my duty to let you know at once that the idea +mentioned in your conversation with me must be given up. I have +made quite sure in my own mind that there is no chance of its +coming to anything. I feel very much how right you were to +speak to me first. You have spared other people's feelings as +well as your own. When you asked me the question, I answered +you truly, to the best of my belief, that there was nobody else +in the field. But since our talk together I have found out that +I was wrong there. There <i>is</i> another attachment. It may come +to something, or it may not. And you will understand that I am +putting a great confidence in you. But I know I can trust to +your honour as you trusted to mine. Not a word has passed my +lips of what you said to me, and never will. Of course, you may +think me mistaken, and choose to find out the state of the case +for yourself at first-hand. If you do so I shall not have a +word to say against it. Anyway, I know you will act upright +according to your conscience, as I have tried to act according +to mine. I want to tell you that I appreciate how generous your +intentions were, though I'm afraid I did not show it at the +time, being surprised and upset.</p> + +<p>"Believe me,</p> +<p>"With sincere respect,</p> +<p>"Yours truly,</p> +<p>"<span class="smcap">Sarah Dobbs</span>."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Shortly after that, Mr. Bragg came and called upon her. He thanked her +for her letter, and spoke in a friendly tone. But he seemed indisposed +to consider the matter as finished.</p> + +<p>"Young people sometimes don't know their own minds," he said. He further +declared that he had no present intention of speaking to May; but that, +as he was going abroad, he might—if nothing were settled +meanwhile—resume the subject on his return to England.</p> + +<p>"I'm quite sure in my own mind that it's no use," said Mrs. Dobbs +firmly. "And it's only fair to tell you so as strong as possible. +However, of course, you must act according to your own judgment."</p> + +<p>"There is one question I should like to ask if I might," said Mr. Bragg, +lingering at the door on his way out. "You and me can trust each other. +And, if you feel at liberty to tell me, I should like to know whether +the—the party you alluded to in your letter is Mr. Theodore Bransby."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad of it. There was a talk of his paying Miss C. a great +deal of attention in town. In fact, I did hear she had refused him. +Understand, I'm not fishing as to that. It's no matter to me one way or +the other, so long as he is <i>not</i> the party. I can't say that I know any +harm of the young man; but he's what you might call a poor sort of +metal: not pleasant to handle, and, I should fear, brittle in the +working. I really am relieved in my mind to know that he is not the +party. Thank ye."</p> + +<p>The news of Owen's engagement to Mr. Bragg was variously received by his +various acquaintances in Oldchester. Some laughed good-naturedly, some +ill-naturedly; some said it was a good thing the young man had at last +seen the necessity for exerting himself; some wondered why on earth he +had accepted such a position; and some—a good many those—wondered why +Mr. Bragg had accepted <i>him</i>. Mrs. Hadlow did not feel unmixed +satisfaction by any means.</p> + +<p>"It's just like Owen," she said to her husband. "There is such a +singular perversity about him! He has thrown away one straight stick +after the other, and now all of a sudden he clutches at this crooked +one, as eagerly as though his life depended on getting hold of it."</p> + +<p>Canon Hadlow, for his part, was well pleased enough. The sentiment at +the bottom of his wife's heart was that to employ a Rivers in any such +base mechanic business as writing commercial letters was like harnessing +a thoroughbred Arab to the dust-cart. But the canon could not, in the +nature of things, fully share that feeling. Nevertheless, he had a +strong regard for Owen, and spoke of him in high terms to Mr. Bragg.</p> + +<p>But the testimony in Owen's favour which chiefly impressed Mr. Bragg was +the testimony which Owen gave himself—by deeds, not words.</p> + +<p>Being moved by a certain energetic simplicity which belonged to him, to +perform the duties he had undertaken with the most complete thoroughness +he could command, he got a clerk who conducted the foreign +correspondence of a great Oldchester manufacturer to give him lessons +after business hours. He worked away evening after evening at the +composition of mercantile letters in Spanish until he succeeded in +producing epistles so surprisingly technical that his instructor +declared he went far beyond what was necessary in that line, and would +do well to mitigate his business style with a little good Spanish! He +studied, also, to improve his handwriting. It was a legible hand +already, since he wrote with the single-minded aim of being read. But he +strove to make it distinctly commercial in character, and succeeded.</p> + +<p>All this became known to Mr. Bragg, who said nothing. But, when it got +wind among the little circle of persons who frequented Garnet Lodge, it +was the subject of some raillery from Owen's friends. So long as the +raillery proceeded from such persons as Dr. Hatch or Major Mitten, there +was no offence in it; but with Theodore Bransby the case was different.</p> + +<p>Theodore was, in truth, delighted: first of all, because Rivers had, as +he phrased it, "entered Mr. Bragg's service" (a step which must for ever +disqualify him for aspiring to ally himself with the Cheffingtons, +supposing he were not disqualified already); and, secondly, because his +engagement would take him out of England for three months. So delighted +was Theodore, that his spirits rose to the unwonted pitch of attempting +some pleasantries. Now, there is nothing which more surely reveals the +quality, if not the quantity, of a man's mind than his notion of a joke. +Laughter, like wine, is a great betrayer of secrets; and for incurable +coarseness of feeling a stout cloak of gravity is "your only wear."</p> + +<p>Theodore would tilt his head, and say with a sneering smile, "Burton's +clerk declares that Rivers is as thorough-going as the man who blacked +himself all over to play Othello! <i>Do</i> you write a page of round-hand +copies every morning before breakfast, Rivers?" or, "I hear that Rivers +has taken to frequent the commercial 'gents'' ordinary at the Bull in +order to pick up the correct phraseology."</p> + +<p>Owen paid very little attention to these sparkling sallies; but Mr. +Bragg, after listening for some time, broke silence one evening by +saying, in his quiet, ponderous way—</p> + +<p>"You're rather hard on me, I think, Mr. Bransby."</p> + +<p>Theodore looked at him with sudden gravity and unfeigned surprise. "Hard +on <i>you</i>?" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, when a young gentleman is what you might call satirical, he's apt +to be harder than he means. You needn't look so serious. I'm not +offended."</p> + +<p>The moment Mr. Bragg declared he was not offended, Theodore began to +fear that he <i>was</i>; and, whatever might be his private opinion of the +millionaire, he had no intention of affronting him. So he protested that +Mr. Bragg must be under some misapprehension, and that he (Theodore) +could not even guess what he meant.</p> + +<p>"Oh, come, Mr. Bransby! It's pretty clear. I am but a plain business +man, but it isn't necessary to copy the company at the Bull in order to +come down to my level."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens, my dear sir! You can't suppose——! I +was—ahem!—merely——" Theodore paused an instant, and then went on +with a little disconcerted laugh. "Ha, ha, ha! I was merely paying my +humble tribute of admiration to Rivers's energy!"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes; I quite understand <i>that</i>. You appreciate seeing how a +honourable gentleman sets to work to keep his part of a bargain; whereas +a half-and-half chap, like that little clerk of Burton's, don't see the +highmindedness of it."</p> + +<p>Theodore was so entirely taken by surprise, and so uncertain how far Mr. +Bragg was in earnest, that he could but stammer out renewed assurances +that he had been misunderstood. And after that, he subsided into a glum +and dignified silence for the rest of the evening.</p> + +<p>He would probably have cut short his visit and gone away early but for +his persistent resolution never to leave Owen in possession of the field +when May was present. There was no question of seeing her home now; for +either old Martha was sent to fetch her, or one of Miss Piper's servants +walked with her to Jessamine Cottage. But, nevertheless, Theodore made a +point of outstaying Owen; or, at the very least, going away +simultaneously with him. On this particular evening, however, Dr. Hatch +interfered with this practice by requesting Theodore to accompany him +when his carriage was announced.</p> + +<p>"I want to have a word with you quietly," whispered the doctor, "and it +is almost impossible to do so in your father's house without alarming +Mrs. Bransby. Come along with me, and I'll give you a lift home."</p> + +<p>There was no refusing this invitation. But Theodore withdrew, comforted +by the conviction that his rival would have no chance of profiting by +his absence.</p> + +<p>Here, however, he reckoned without his hostess; for, Martha failing to +appear at her accustomed hour, and the maid who usually supplied her +place being ill, Miss Piper bustled into the drawing-room, after a brief +absence, demanding which of the gentlemen present would volunteer to +escort Miss Cheffington home.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg, who kept early hours, had already departed; and only Mr. +Sweeting, Major Mitton, and Owen remained. Mr. Sweeting begged to be +allowed the honour of lending Miss Cheffington his carriage. But May +declined the offer, saying that Mr. Sweeting's horses had a long enough +journey before them, and that, moreover, it being a lovely moonlight +night, she would prefer to walk. Upon this, Owen offered his services, +and Miss Piper at once accepted them.</p> + +<p>"It is a good deal out of your way," she said; "but I am sure you will +not mind for once, Mr. Rivers. I am responsible to Mrs. Dobbs for +sending her grand-daughter safely home."</p> + +<p>Owen assured Miss Piper that he should not mind at all.</p> + +<p>While May was putting on her wraps, Miss Polly and Miss Patty jocosely +reproached Major Mitton for not having displayed his usual gallantry in +offering to escort the young lady.</p> + +<p>"Major, Major, you are growing terribly lazy!" said Miss Polly.</p> + +<p>"You will lose your reputation for being the most devoted Squire of +Dames in Oldchester," added Miss Patty.</p> + +<p>"I'm getting to be an old fellow," returned the Major quietly. Then, as +they all three stood for a moment in the porch, watching the two young +figures pass down the garden in a glory of moonlight, the good Major +whispered to Miss Patty, "Do you think I was going to spoil <i>that</i>? Lord +bless me, one has been young one's self!"</p> + +<p>As soon as May and her companion had got clear of Garnet Lodge, the girl +said, "I find that I had never thoroughly done justice to Mr. Bragg. The +more I know of him, the more highly I think of him."</p> + +<p>"Lucky Mr. Bragg!"</p> + +<p>"But, now, did he not administer an admirable rebuke to Theodore +Bransby?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind Theodore. Let us talk about more interesting things."</p> + +<p>"What <i>can</i> be more interesting?" asked May, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Ourselves." As she remained silent, he went on, "Do you know that we +have not had one opportunity for a quiet talk together since I got this +engagement?"</p> + +<p>"Haven't we?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! you don't remember so accurately as I do. But that was not to be +expected. Take my arm."</p> + +<p>She obeyed as simply as a child. She had been drawing on her gloves when +they left Garnet Lodge, but the operation had not been completed, and it +chanced that the hand next to Owen was ungloved. She laid her fingers, +which gleamed snow-white in the moonlight, on his sleeve.</p> + +<p>"You think I have done right in taking this employment?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Quite right." She turned her young face, and looked at him with a sweet +fervour of sympathy and approval.</p> + +<p>Owen raised the white, slender fingers to his lips, and then, replacing +them on his arm, laid his own warm, strong hand over them with a gentle +pressure. "You know why I did so, don't you, darling?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Owen," was the answer, given in a shy whisper, but with innocent +frankness.</p> + +<p>"My own dear love!" he exclaimed, pressing her arm strongly and suddenly +to his side. "There is no one like you in the world. Look at me, May. +Let me see your sweet, honest eyes."</p> + +<p>He caught her two hands in both his, and they stood for a moment at +arm's length, facing each other, and holding hands like two children. +The moonlight shone full on the young girl's fair face, and glittered on +the bright tear-drops in her eyes, as she raised them to Owen's.</p> + +<p>"What can I do to deserve you?" he said. "But why do I talk of desert? +You are God's gift, May, and no more to be earned than the blessed +sunshine."</p> + +<p>He put her arm under his once more, and they paced on again without +speaking. But to them the silence was full of voices. It was the silence +of a dream. They might have wandered Heaven knows whither had not their +feet instinctively carried them along the right path, and they found +themselves, almost with a start, arrived at the white palings in front +of Jessamine Cottage.</p> + +<p>"We must tell granny, mustn't we?" said May, looking up at Owen, with a +delicious sense of implicit reliance on him.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but I am terribly afraid. I hope she will not be angry."</p> + +<p>"Angry! How can you think so? Granny is fond of you."</p> + +<p>"But she is fonder of <i>you</i>, and she knows your value, although, thank +God, you don't! If you did, what chance should I have had? You know how +poor I am—not quite penniless, but very poor."</p> + +<p>"Not so poor as I, since I am really and truly quite penniless; but I +don't mind that, if you don't."</p> + +<p>Owen felt a desperate temptation to fold her in his arms and beseech her +to marry him to-morrow, throwing prudence and pounds sterling to the +winds. But the ardour of a genuine passion purifies the nobler soul, as +fire purifies the nobler metal, and burns away the dross of self. He +answered gravely—</p> + +<p>"Our positions are very different, darling. I hope I have not done wrong +to tell you how dear you are to me?"</p> + +<p>"I think it would have been unkind and cruel to go away without telling +me," she answered bravely, though the sound of the words as she said +them brought the hot colour into her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, dearest; that is the best comfort I could have, if I may +dare to believe it. But it does seem so wonderful that you should care +for me!"</p> + +<p>The contemplation of this wonder might have occupied them both for an +indefinite time but that they saw a light begin to shine through the +fanlight of the little entrance-hall of Jessamine Cottage. In the +stillness of the night the sound of their voices, subdued though they +were, had reached the ears of Mrs. Dobbs. She presently opened the door, +and stood looking at them as they hurried up the garden path.</p> + +<p>"Oh, granny dear, I'm afraid I'm late!" said May. "I did not guess that +you were sitting up for me."</p> + +<p>"Martha had a touch of her rheumatism, so I sent her to bed. I did not +mind waiting. I suppose Miss Piper's maid couldn't come with you? Was +that it?" asked Mrs. Dobbs.</p> + +<p>She lingered at the open door, expecting Owen to say "Good-night." But +May took her grandmother's hand and pulled her into the house, while he +followed them. When they reached the lamp-lighted parlour, May, still +holding her grandmother's hand with her left hand, stretched out her +right to Owen, and gently drew him forward. Then she flung her left arm +round the old woman's neck, and kissed her. There was no need for words. +Mrs. Dobbs sank down, white and tremulous, in her great chair, while May +nestled beside her on her knees, and tried to place Owen's hand, which +she still clasped, in that of her grandmother. But the old woman +brusquely drew her hand away.</p> + +<p>"You have done wrong," she said, turning to Owen, and scarcely able to +control the trembling of her lips. "I didn't think it of you. But men +are all alike; selfish, selfish, selfish!"</p> + +<p>"Why, granny!" exclaimed the girl, breathless with dismay. Then she +started up with a flash of impetuous indignation, and stood beside her +lover. "He is <i>not</i> selfish!" she said vehemently.</p> + +<p>"Hush, May! Granny is right," said Owen in a low voice. "I told you that +I feared I had done wrong."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs still trembled, but she was struggling to regain her +self-command. "You might have waited yet awhile," she said brokenly. +"The child is young! You ought not to have bound her until you see your +way more clear."</p> + +<p>"Oh, believe me, I will not hold her bound," answered Owen. "I never +meant that. I ought not to have spoken yet. I feared so before, and now +that you say so, I know it. But I am not wholly selfish."</p> + +<p>May had stood listening silently, looking, with wide eyes and parted +lips, from one to the other. She now fell on her knees again beside her +grandmother, and, clasping the old woman's hands in both her own, cried +eagerly—</p> + +<p>"But listen! If there was any fault, it was mine. I love him so much! +And he's going away. Think of that, granny! Come here and kneel down +beside me, Owen, and let her look you in the face. Think, if he had gone +away and never told me! And I so fond of him! You didn't guess how I +cried that night when I heard he was to leave England. He has made me so +happy—so happy! And we can wait. We don't mind being poor. You said you +were fond of him. And he is so good—and I love him so—and you to speak +to him so cruelly! Oh, granny, granny!" The tears were pouring down her +face, and dropping warm upon the wrinkled hands she held.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Mrs. Dobbs opened her arms, and folding May in one of them, +laid the other round Owen's shoulder as he knelt before her, and drew +them both into her embrace.</p> + +<p>"Come along, you two!" she said, sobbing and smiling. "I've got a +precious pair of babies to look after in my old age. No more common +sense between you than would lie on the point of a needle! No prudence, +no worldly wisdom, no regard for society—nothing but love and truth; +and what do you suppose <i>they'll</i> fetch in the market?"</p> + +<p>After a few minutes she ordered Owen away. "I'm tired," she said. "And +we have all had our feelings worked up enough for one while. Go home +now, Mr. Rivers—well, well, Owen, then, if it must be!—go home, Owen, +and sleep, and dream. And to-morrow, when you're quite awake—broad, +staring, work-a-day-world awake, which you're not now, either of +you,—come here, and we will talk rationally."</p> + +<p>Owen obeyed heroically, and marched off without a word of remonstrance. +But May kept her grandmother listening and talking, long after he had +gone. She made Mrs. Dobbs go to bed, and sat by her bedside, pouring out +her young heart, joyfully secure of granny's understanding and sympathy, +until at length Mrs. Dobbs inexorably commanded her to go to rest.</p> + +<p>"Good night, dear, dearest, good, goodest granny!" said May, leaning +down to kiss her grandmother's broad, furrowed brow. "Only this one +last—very last—word! Do you know, I am very hopeful about Owen's +future, because I am sure that Mr. Bragg has taken a great fancy to him, +and appreciates him. And Mr. Bragg can make Owen's fortune if he likes."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bragg," murmured Mrs. Dobbs, turning her head on her pillow. "Ah, +<i>there's</i> a nice kettle of fish! I'm as big a baby as the children, for +up to this very instant I'd clean forgotten all about Mr. Bragg!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + + +<p>Before they parted Mrs. Dobbs had arranged with Owen that he should come +and have an interview with her at ten o'clock the following morning. But +as she desired to speak with him privately, she resolved to go to his +lodgings early enough to catch him before he should leave home.</p> + +<p>She found Owen already at his writing-desk, and, as he turned a startled +face on her, briefly assured him that all was well with May.</p> + +<p>"But I must have a private talk with you," she said. "And I can't get +that in my own house, without fussing and making mysteries."</p> + +<p>Owen was already acquainted with the main incidents in May's young life; +but Mrs. Dobbs proceeded to give him the history of her own daughter's +marriage, and a sketch of her son-in-law Augustus.</p> + +<p>"I'm not speaking in malice," she said; "but the real truth about +Captain Cheffington must always sound severe. As a general rule, I never +mention his name. But it is right and necessary that you should know +what manner of man May's father really is; because only by knowing that +can you understand how it is that the responsibility of guiding her +rests wholly and solely on my shoulders."</p> + +<p>"It could not rest on worthier ones," said Owen.</p> + +<p>"Ah! There we differ. It's a shame that the darling girl—such a lady as +she is in all her ways and words and innermost thoughts—should have no +better guidance than that of an ignorant old body like me. However, 'tis +as vain to cry for the moon to play ball with, as to get honour or duty, +or even honesty, out of Augustus. There's the naked truth."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dobbs, I can say from the bottom of my heart, that if ever good +came out of evil it has come to May. She has been thrown out of the +hands of a worthless father into those of the best of grandmothers. But +I suppose I ought to write to Captain Cheffington under the present +circumstances?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs shook her head. "I wouldn't if I was you," she said.</p> + +<p>"I only thought that, since with all his faults he is fond of his +daughter——"</p> + +<p>"<i>Is he</i>?" interrupted Mrs. Dobbs, opening her eyes very wide. "Oh! +Well, that's news to me."</p> + +<p>"Of course, his fondness is not judicious. But still, as he has not much +money, he must make some sacrifice to pay a handsome sum to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith for having May with her in London."</p> + +<p>"He pay! Lord bless your innocent heart!"</p> + +<p>"Does he not? May told me he did."</p> + +<p>"Ah! May thinks so. You see I have thought it right to keep some respect +for her father in her mind—for her sake."</p> + +<p>"Then if Captain Cheffington did not furnish the money, who did?" asked +Owen.</p> + +<p>Had May been present, one glimpse of "granny's" face, blushing like a +girl's to the roots of her hair, would have betrayed the truth to her. +But Owen did not guess it so quickly. After a minute or so, however, as +Mrs. Dobbs remained silent, he added rather awkwardly—</p> + +<p>"Did you pay the money?"</p> + +<p>"Look here, young man," answered Mrs. Dobbs. "You must give me your word +of honour that you'll never let out a syllable of this to May, without I +give you leave;—else you and me will quarrel."</p> + +<p>Owen took her broad, wrinkled hand in his, and kissed it as respectfully +as if he had been saluting a queen. "I promise to obey you," he said. +"But you make us all look very small and selfish beside you!"</p> + +<p>"We old folks, that have but a slack hold on life, must lay up our +stores of selfishness in other people's happiness. It's a paying +investment, my lad. I'm Oldchester born and bred, and you don't catch me +making many bad speculations." The old woman laughed as she spoke, but a +tear was trembling in her eye. "Come," said she. "We needn't go into all +that. There isn't much time to spare. I want to be back to breakfast +before May misses me."</p> + +<p>Then she proceeded to impress on Owen that she could not at present +sanction an engagement between him and her grand-daughter. Each must be +held to be free, at least until Owen should return from Spain, and be +able to see his future course a little more distinctly. This he promised +without difficulty. Next, Mrs. Dobbs insisted that May should go back to +her aunt's house, when the Dormer-Smiths returned to London for the +winter. May had shown great reluctance to do this; but Mrs. Dobbs +believed she would yield, if Owen backed up the proposal. With regard to +Captain Cheffington, Mrs. Dobbs recommended that secrecy should, for the +present, be preserved towards him, as well as towards the rest of the +world.</p> + +<p>"He cares not a straw for his daughter. Of that I can assure you. +Indeed, lately, since the dear child has taken her proper place in the +world, he has shown a strange kind of jealousy of her. He wrote me a +regular blowing-up letter, demanding money, and saying that since I was +so <i>rich</i>—Lord help me!—as to keep May in London in luxury, I ought at +least to assist May's father in his unmerited distress. And he made a +kind of a half-threat that he would come to England, and drag her away, +if he was not paid off."</p> + +<p>"The scoundrel! But you didn't—"</p> + +<p>"Didn't send him any money? No, my lad, I did <i>not</i>. First, because I +wouldn't; next, because I couldn't. But 'wouldn't' came first. There's +no use trying to put a wasp on a reasonable allowance of honey; you must +either let him gorge himself, or else keep him out of the hive +altogether. So now you know my conditions:—Firstly, no binding +engagement for three months at least; secondly, we three to keep our own +counsel for that time, and say no word of our secret to man, woman, or +child; thirdly, you to urge May to go back to London, and see a little +more of the world from under her aunt's wing. I make a great point of +that," added Mrs. Dobbs, looking at him searchingly; "but I see you're +rather glum over it. Are you afraid of May's being tempted to change her +mind?"</p> + +<p>"It isn't that," answered Owen, with unmistakable sincerity. "If she is +capable of changing her mind, I should be the first to leave her free to +do so. I don't say that it wouldn't go near to break my heart, but I +need not be ashamed as well as wretched; whereas, if I took advantage of +her innocence, and generosity, and inexperience to bind her to me, and +found out afterwards that she repented when it was too late——! But +that won't bear thinking of! No, I see nothing to object to in your +conditions; only I was thinking that it will be hard on you to part from +her again this winter."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs suddenly stretched out her hand towards him, with the palm +outward. "Stop!" she said. "I can go on all right enough if you don't +pity me." She set her lips tight, and stood for a few seconds breathing +hard through her nostrils, like a tired swimmer. Then the tension of her +face relaxed; she patted Owen's head, as if he had been six years old, +saying, "You're a good lad, and a gentleman; I know one when I see him."</p> + +<p>Before Mrs. Dobbs went away, Owen said a word to her on two points—the +probability that Augustus Cheffington might eventually be his uncle's +heir, and the rumour of his second marriage. As to the first point, +although she allowed it seemed likely that Augustus might inherit the +title, yet Mrs. Dobbs assured Owen (speaking on Mrs. Dormer-Smith's +authority) that he would certainly get no penny which it was in Lord +Castlecombe's power to bequeath.</p> + +<p>"If you're afraid of May being too rich," said Mrs. Dobbs, with a shrewd +smile, "I think I can reassure you."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Owen simply. He was struck by her delicacy of feeling, +and thought within himself, "That well-bred woman, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, +would have suspected me, not of <i>fearing</i>, but of hoping, that May would +be rich; and she would have hinted her suspicions in terms full of tact, +and a voice of exquisite refinement."</p> + +<p>With regard to the question of Captain Cheffington's second marriage, +Mrs. Dobbs declared herself utterly in the dark.</p> + +<p>"But," said she, "if I was obliged to make a bet, I should bet on no +marriage. Augustus is too selfish."</p> + +<p>When, later, Owen went to Jessamine Cottage, he found May very unwilling +to return to London for the winter. But she yielded at length. The other +conditions she acceded to willingly. But she made one stipulation; +namely, that "Uncle Jo" should be admitted to share their secret.</p> + +<p>"You know you can trust him implicitly, granny," said May. "He likes +news and gossip, but he will be true as steel when he once has given his +word to be silent."</p> + +<p>So it was agreed that Mr. Weatherhead should be taken into their +confidence.</p> + +<p>When May and Owen were alone together afterwards, he asked why she had +so specially insisted on this point.</p> + +<p>"Don't you see, Owen," she answered, "that it will be an immense comfort +to granny, when she is left alone, to have some one whom she can talk +with about—<i>us</i>?"</p> + +<p>Meanwhile no answer arrived from Captain Cheffington to the letter which +Mrs. Dobbs had written about the report of his marriage. May might have +been uneasy at his silence but for the new and absorbing interest in her +life, which confused chronology, and made time fly so rapidly that she +did not realize how long it was since her grandmother had written to +Belgium.</p> + +<p>The gossip set afloat by Valli at Miss Piper's party gradually died +away, being superseded in public attention by fresher topics. One of +these was the disquieting condition of Mr. Martin Bransby's health. The +old man had seemed to recover from the serious illness of last year. But +it must have shaken him more profoundly than was generally supposed at +the time; for after the first brief rally he seemed to be failing more +and more day by day. Dr. Hatch kept his own counsel. He was not a man to +interpret the code of professional etiquette too loosely on such a +point; but besides professional etiquette old friendship moved him to be +cautious and reticent in this case. He had some reasons for uneasiness +about Martin Bransby's circumstances, as well as his bodily health. This +uneasiness was vague truly; but it sufficed to make the good physician +keep a watch over his words. So all those who listened curiously to Dr. +Hatch's voluble, and apparently unguarded, talk about the Bransbys went +away no wiser than they came as to old Martin's real condition.</p> + +<p>To Martin Bransby's eldest son, however, Dr. Hatch did not think it +right to practise any concealment. On the evening when he invited +Theodore to drive home with him from Garnet Lodge, the doctor plainly +told the young man that he had grave fears for his father's life.</p> + +<p>Theodore seemed more moved than the doctor had expected. He was not +demonstrative indeed; but his voice betrayed considerable emotion as he +said, "But you do not give him up, Dr. Hatch? There surely is still +hope?"</p> + +<p>"There is hope. Yes; I cannot say there is no hope. But, my dear +fellow"—and the good doctor laid his hand kindly on Theodore's +shoulder—"we must be prepared for the worst."</p> + +<p>"You have not, I gather, mentioned your fears to Mrs. Bransby," said +Theodore, after a pause, during which he had been leaning back in the +corner of the carriage.</p> + +<p>"No, no, poor dear! No need to alarm her yet."</p> + +<p>"She must know, however, sooner or later," observed Theodore coldly.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid she must. But why protract her misery? She is very +sensitive, devotedly attached to your father, and not too strong."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Bransby always appears to me to enjoy good health enough to take +any exertion she feels inclined for."</p> + +<p>"I was not alluding to muscles, but nerves," returned the doctor drily. +"There is a little hysterical tendency. And her health is too valuable +to her children to be trifled with."</p> + +<p>They drove on in silence to Mr. Bransby's garden gates. Theodore +alighted, and stood at the carriage door.</p> + +<p>"Does my father know?" he asked in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"There, I confess, I am puzzled," said Dr. Hatch. "I have never told him +his danger in plain words; but he is too clever a man to be hoodwinked. +My own impression is, that your father suspects his state to be +critical, but shrinks from admitting it even to himself. I think there +must be some private reason for this," added the doctor, leaning forward +and peering into Theodore's face as he stood in the moonlight: the +moonlight which at that same moment was shining in May's eyes, looking +at her young lover. "It certainly does not arise from cowardice. Your +father is one of the manliest men I have ever known."</p> + +<p>If Theodore knew, or guessed, that his father had any secret reason for +anxiety, he did not betray it.</p> + +<p>"I have observed increasing weakness of character in him lately," he +said.</p> + +<p>The words might have been uttered so as to convey perfect filial +tenderness. But there was a subtle something in the tone suggestive of +contempt; or at least of remoteness from sympathy, which jarred +painfully on Dr. Hatch. He said "Good night" abruptly, and gave his +coachman the order to drive on.</p> + +<p>After this conversation, it somewhat surprised the doctor to learn that +Theodore meant to leave home at the beginning of October, although he +was not to enter on his practical career as a barrister until the +winter. He had accepted one or two invitations to country houses during +the pheasant shooting; and gave, as his reason for going at that time, +that his health required change of air.</p> + +<p>"<i>His</i> health!" growled Dr. Hatch, when Mrs. Bransby gave him this piece +of news. "I should have thought he might stay and be of some use to his +father in business."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we are rather glad he is going," exclaimed Mrs. Bransby +impulsively. Then she said apologetically, "Martin does not want him at +home. Theodore has never taken any interest in office matters; and +Tuckey manages capitally. Tuckey is Martin's right hand."</p> + +<p>Mr. Tuckey was the confidential head clerk in the office which still +retained the name of the firm, "Cadell and Bransby," although Cadell had +departed this life twenty years ago, and the business had been, ever +since that time, wholly in the hands of Martin Bransby.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bransby did not hint at one motive for Theodore's departure which +her woman's wit had revealed to her; namely, that Miss Cheffington would +be leaving Oldchester about the same time. It was true that Theodore had +calculated on this; and also on the fact that Owen Rivers would be +safely out of the way across the Pyrenees. But there was another motive +which lay deeper; and, indeed, formed a part of the very texture of +Theodore's temperament:—he shrank from the idea of being present during +his father's last illness.</p> + +<p>It has already been stated that he was subject to the dread of having +inherited his mother's consumptive tendency, and he shunned all +suggestions of sickness and death with the sort of instinct which makes +an animal select its food. The very mention of death produced the effect +of a physical chill on his nervous system. He was not without affection +for his father; although it had been much weakened by Mr. Bransby's +second marriage. Many persons who knew Theodore's tastes for gentility, +assumed that Miss Louisa Lutyer's descent from a good old family would +be gratifying to him, and help to make him accept the marriage +good-humouredly. But the fact was quite otherwise. Theodore constantly +suspected his step-mother of vaunting the superiority of her birth over +that of her predecessor. He had never seen either of his maternal +grandparents, and did not know all the details which Mrs. Dobbs could +have given him about the history of "Old Rabbitt." But he knew enough to +be aware that his mother had been a person of humble extraction. And he +could more easily have forgiven his father had the latter chosen a +person still humbler for his second wife. It was chiefly his +ever-present consciousness that Louisa was a gentlewoman by birth and +breeding, which made him jealously resent the luxuries with which his +father surrounded her, and even the fastidious elegance of her dress. +And, apart from all other considerations, it would have given him +sincere satisfaction to marry a wife who should have the undoubted right +to walk out of a drawing-room before Mrs. Martin Bransby.</p> + +<p>One of the many points of antagonism between Owen and Theodore was the +opposite feeling with which each regarded Mrs. Bransby. Owen had a +chivalrous devotion for her; Theodore was nothing less than chivalrous. +Owen's admiration was made tender and protecting by a large infusion of +pity; Theodore held that in marrying his father Miss Louisa Lutyer had +met with good fortune beyond her merits. As to his step-brothers and +sisters, Theodore's feeling towards them was one of cool repulsion, with +the single exception of little Enid, the youngest, whom he would have +petted, could he have separated her in all things from the rest.</p> + +<p>As soon as Owen's engagement with Mr. Bragg was assured, Owen called at +the Bransbys' to tell his news in person. On inquiring for Mrs. Bransby, +he was told that she was with her husband in the garden, and, being a +familiar visitor, the servant left him to find his way to them +unannounced.</p> + +<p>It was a warm September afternoon; everything in the old garden—the +lichen-tinted brick walls, the autumnal flowers, the deep velvet of the +turf, the foliage slightly touched with red and gold—looked mellow and +peaceful. Under the shadow of a tall elm-tree, whose topmost boughs were +swaying with the movement, and resounding with the caw of rooks, Martin +Bransby reclined on a long chair, and his wife sat on a garden bench a +yard or two away. When she saw Owen approaching, Mrs. Bransby laid her +finger on her lips, and then Owen saw that Mr. Bransby was asleep.</p> + +<p>The old man lay with his head supported on a crimson cushion, against +which his abundant silver hair was strongly relieved. The brows above +the closed eyelids were still dark. The placidity of repose enhanced the +beauty of his finely moulded features; but he was very pale, and his +cheeks and temples looked worn and thin. Mrs. Bransby welcomed Owen with +a smile and an outstretched hand. At the first glance he had thought +that she, too, looked pale and suffering, but the little glow of +animation in her face when she spoke effaced this impression.</p> + +<p>"Am I disturbing you?" asked Owen in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"No, no; sit down. You need not whisper, it is enough to speak low; he +sleeps heavily. I am so glad to see him sleep, for his nights have been +restless lately." As Mrs. Bransby spoke, she pushed aside a heap of +gay-coloured silks with which she was embroidering a rich velvet +cushion, and made room for Owen on the garden-seat beside her. "I know +your news already," she continued, "and I must congratulate you, +although you will be sadly missed. My boys will be in despair; we shall +all miss you."</p> + +<p>"I am glad, at all events, that you seem to approve of the step I have +taken."</p> + +<p>"Of course. All your friends must approve it.</p> + +<p>"Well, they are not so numerous as to make their unanimity absolutely +impossible."</p> + +<p>Then, after a short silence, during which Mrs. Bransby resumed her +embroidery, and Owen thoughtfully raked together some fallen leaves with +his stick, he said—</p> + +<p>"But you don't know the extent of my good fortune. There is a +chance—rather a remote one, but still a chance—that this employment +may lead to more, and that I may get some work to do in South America."</p> + +<p>She started, and the gay embroidery fell from her hands on to the grass, +as she exclaimed with plaintive, down-drawn lips, like those of a child, +"Oh, not to South America! Don't go so far away!"</p> + +<p>He merely shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is terrible!" she said. "I never thought of that! But, +perhaps, you will not go."</p> + +<p>"Very much, 'perhaps.' It would be better luck than I could expect."</p> + +<p>"And you really could have the heart to leave us all, and go off to the +other side of the globe? Oh, I can't bear to think of it!"</p> + +<p>"Don't speak so kindly! You will take away all my courage," he said, +looking for a moment at the beautiful eyes fixed on his face.</p> + +<p>"Ah, I am very selfish. Of course you ought to go, if going will lead to +a career for you. Although one can't help feeling that you will be, +somehow wasted in mere commercial pursuits. Yes, yes, of course, I am +wrong!" she added, hastily anticipating his rejoinder. "It is all very +proper and Spartan, no doubt. But I am not in the least Spartan, you +know."</p> + +<p>"People usually find it easy to be Spartan for their friends. Very few +keep their stoicism for themselves, and their soft-heartedness for +others—as you do!"</p> + +<p>He glanced involuntarily at Martin Bransby, as he spoke; and she +followed his glance with instant quickness of understanding.</p> + +<p>"How do you think he is looking? You do not think he seems worse, do +you?" she said.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, no!"</p> + +<p>"I was afraid, when you talked about stoicism——"</p> + +<p>"No, I only meant that you always show great courage when Mr. Bransby is +ill."</p> + +<p>"I don't think I am naturally courageous. But love gives courage."</p> + +<p>"Yes,—the genuine sort of love."</p> + +<p>"Although it makes one frightened, too, in one way. I am sometimes very +uneasy about him." She turned a gaze of profound tenderness on her +husband's sleeping face.</p> + +<p>"I trust your uneasiness is needless," said Owen. "Mr. Bransby seems to +be going on well, does he not?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, I hope so. But he does not gain strength. His rest is very +troubled, and he talks in his sleep. And I think his spirits are much +less cheerful than they were. He has a great regard for you. He will +approve of what you are doing, I know. But he will be as sorry as the +rest of us to think of your going so far away."</p> + +<p>She said all this in her usual sweet voice, and with her usual soft +grace of manner. Then all at once she broke down in a sudden passion of +tears, and burying her face in her handkerchief, she sobbed out, "If you +go to South America he will never see you again;—never, never! I know +his days are numbered. They think they keep me in ignorance; but I know +it, I know it!"</p> + +<p>Owen was melted by her grief. In the eyes of sound-hearted manhood, +beauty, while it attracts, adds a sort of sacredness to a pure woman. To +see that lovely face convulsed with weeping made an impression on his +senses, such as he might have felt at seeing an exquisite work of art +defaced or mutilated. And beyond that, there was the warm human +sympathy, and the feeling of compassionate protection due to her sex.</p> + +<p>"Dearest Mrs. Bransby," he said, looking at her piteously, "pray, pray +take comfort. Oh, how I wish that I could give you any help or comfort!"</p> + +<p>She continued to weep softly and silently for a little while longer. +Then she wiped away her tears, and spoke with calmness. "Forgive me! It +was selfish to distress you," she said. "But it has relieved my heart to +cry a little. And you have always been so friendly. I have as great +reliance on you as if I had known you all my life."</p> + +<p>"As far as the will goes, you cannot over-rate my friendship. But the +power, alas! is small; or rather none."</p> + +<p>"No; don't say that. Whenever I have forced myself to look forward to +the great sorrow which may soon come upon me, I have said to myself, 'I +know Mr. Rivers would be good to me and the children, and would help us +with honest advice.' I have no one belonging to me—of my own +family—left to rely on. The boys and I would be very desolate and +forlorn, if we were left to guide ourselves by our own wisdom."</p> + +<p>"There is Theodore," said Owen. But he said it with dry awkwardness, as +though there were something in the words to be ashamed of.</p> + +<p>"Theodore does not love us," returned Mrs. Bransby quickly. "You were +praising me just now for caring about my friends. But you see how +selfish my thoughts were all the time! It does seem so dreary to imagine +you far away out of our reach!"</p> + +<p>She wore on her wrist a bracelet consisting of a broad gold band, in +which was set the portrait of her youngest child. Now, little Enid had a +special affection for Owen. She caressed him and tyrannized over him. +And whenever Bobby and Billy desired to coax Mr. Rivers into playing +with them, they conspired to make Enid prefer the request, secretly +agreeing that Mr. Rivers spoiled Enid, and would never resist her. In +short, Mr. Rivers was Enid's sworn knight, and did her suit and service. +The sweet, baby face looked out of its gold frame, with large, grave +eyes, and faintly smiling mouth, and soft yellow hair like the down on a +nestling bird. Owen took Mrs. Bransby's hand, and bent over it until his +lips touched little Enid's portrait. "Near or far," he said, "you and +your children may always count on my faithful affection."</p> + +<p>When he raised his head again, Theodore was standing in front of them.</p> + +<p>He had come noiselessly along the grass, and halted a little behind his +father's chair. Mrs. Bransby's head was turned in the opposite +direction, and she did not see him immediately. But Owen saw him, and +caught a singular expression on young Bransby's face which made his own +blood run swiftly with a confused sense of furious anger. It was an +expression of mingled surprise, suspicion, and an indescribable touch of +exultation. But even as Owen fixed his eyes on him sternly, the look was +gone; and Theodore's smooth face was as coolly supercilious as usual.</p> + +<p>"Your father has been having a good sleep, Theodore," said his +step-mother, when she saw him.</p> + +<p>"So I see," he answered. And, again, something singular in his tone made +Owen long to seize him and hurl him away out of Mrs. Bransby's presence.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Rivers has been telling me his news," said Mrs. Bransby. "We ought +to rejoice, I suppose. But I can't help feeling selfishly sorry."</p> + +<p>"We must hope that our loss will be his gain," replied Theodore. He felt +instinctively that Owen's eyes were still fastened on him. And Owen's +eyes, like many light-blue eyes, had the power of expressing an +intensity of fierceness when he was thoroughly incensed which few +persons would have found it easy to support. But Theodore had averted +his own gaze, and was looking down on his father with ostentatious +solicitude.</p> + +<p>The old man slightly moved his head, and Mrs. Bransby was by his side +instantly. "Are you refreshed by your sleep, dear Martin?" she asked as +he opened his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Loui, yes. Oh, there's Rivers! How are you, Rivers?" He rose from +his chair and shook hands with Owen, asking him to come to the house and +have tea. Mrs. Bransby offered her husband her arm, but he took her hand +and laid it tenderly upon his sleeve. "Not yet, Loui; not yet!" he said, +smiling down upon her. "I needn't lean upon you yet." Then the two +walked slowly side by side towards the house, leaving the young men to +follow.</p> + +<p>As they did so, crossing the wide lawn side by side, it suddenly +occurred to Theodore, with a shock of surprise, that he and Owen had not +exchanged any sort of greeting or salutation whatever.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + + +<p>The Dormer-Smiths arrived in London early in November, and May joined +them almost immediately. Her aunt was delighted to find May looking +remarkably well.</p> + +<p>"Some good has come of her vegetating in Oldchester," said Pauline to +her husband. "Her complexion is radiant. Also I think her figure has +improved. If she <i>would</i> but consent to have her stays taken in! +Smithson could manage it half an inch at a time; and might easily get +her waist down to eighteen inches. But there is that lamentable touch of +self-indulgent apathy about May! However, she has really a great deal of +charm; and, in spite of all the drawbacks connected with poor Augustus's +unfortunate marriage, she <i>looks</i> thoroughbred."</p> + +<p>The two little boys, Harold and Wilfred, had returned from their sojourn +in a farm-house so much strengthened that their father seriously talked +of sending them into the country altogether for a couple of years. Even +Mrs. Dormer-Smith, although unwilling to relinquish her character of +chronic invalid, confessed that Carlsbad had done her good. In fact, the +whole family returned to London in improved health and spirits. A great +many "nice people" were to be in town for the winter; and the excuse of +May's presence, and the assistance of May's allowance, would enable +Pauline to enjoy society, and at the same time to satisfy that singular +worldly conscience of hers with the sense of duty fulfilled.</p> + +<p>There was a little disappointment at Mr. Bragg's absence from England. +But even here Mrs. Dormer-Smith had the not inconsiderable consolation +of knowing that if he were far from May's attractions, he was also far +from those of Constance Hadlow. And she more than ever rejoiced at that +providential interposition in the interests of the Cheffington family +which had kept Mr. Bragg away from Glengowrie. Another symptom which +filled Aunt Pauline with complacent hopes, was May's newly developed +interest in Mr. Bragg, and her eager willingness to talk about his +Spanish tour. Pauline was inclined to attribute something of this +improved state of mind to Mrs. Dobbs's influence; and confessed to +herself that the old woman was doing all she could to compensate the +House of Cheffington for the injury done to it by the disastrous +<i>mésalliance</i>.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith's cheerfulness at this time would have been absolutely +unclouded but for the dread hanging over her about her brother. She had +given May to understand that the rumours spread by Valli and others were +based on error. And she even conveyed the idea to her niece (although +scrupulously abstaining from explicit falsehood) that Captain +Cheffington himself had denied those rumours in private communications +to her and Frederick. But the fact was that Augustus had remained +inflexibly silent. The Dormer-Smiths knew nothing of him. And so +completely had he dropped out of the society of all with whom they were +likely to consort, that a doubt sometimes crossed Pauline's mind as to +whether her brother were still living or not.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, every week May received a letter from Owen, forwarded by Mrs. +Dobbs. The latter had restricted the correspondence to one letter a week +on each side. Owen wrote very joyously. His work was easy—too easy, he +said; and he was constantly seeking opportunities to be useful to his +employer. Mr. Bragg he pronounced to be an excellent master: clearheaded +in his commands, and reasonable in his exactions. He seemed to approve +of his secretary so far; and although he was rather taciturn, and not +prone to encourage sanguine expectations, yet Owen began to have good +hope that Mr. Bragg would not turn him adrift when the three months' +engagement should be at an end.</p> + +<p>May now became decidedly more popular in society than she had been +during the height of the season. Happiness, like sunshine, beautifies +common things; and the new brightness of her outlook on it was reflected +by the world around her. That feeling which she had expressed in writing +to her grandmother—the forlorn feeling of a child who, in the midst of +some gay spectacle, wearily cries to go home—had disappeared. She knew +that when the curtain should fall on the puppet-show in Vanity Fair, her +own true love was waiting to welcome her.</p> + +<p>Sometimes she speculated on how Aunt Pauline would take the revelation +of her attachment to Owen Rivers. That she should have had any doubt on +the subject proved her ignorance of Aunt Pauline's views. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith would not for the world have expressed to May any gross or +sordid sentiments about marriage. She had not the slightest idea that +she entertained any such herself! But, as she had long ago said, there +are many things—never put into words—which "girls brought up in a +certain <i>monde</i> learn by instinct." Now in that kind of instinct May was +greatly deficient.</p> + +<p>May reflected that her aunt had spurned Theodore Bransby's proposal on +the avowed ground of his being "nobody." And she understood—or thought +she understood—that Aunt Pauline accorded a tangible existence only to +such persons as could be proved by genealogical records to have had a +certain number of great-grandfathers. Now, thus considered, Owen was +very undeniably and solidly "somebody." He was poor, certainly; but how +often had Aunt Pauline mingled her plaintive regrets with Mrs. Griffin's +about the increasing worship of Mammon which vulgarized London society! +And although Aunt Pauline sometimes showed a deference for wealth which +was rather puzzling in the face of these utterances, yet May observed +that her personal liking and admiration were given on very different +grounds. Witness her regard for Constance Hadlow!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith even kept up an intermittent correspondence with that +young lady. Constance's letters were precisely of the kind which Mrs. +Dormer-Smith delighted in—budgets of social gossip selected with +unerring tact. Constance had returned to Oldchester, but she did not +spend many consecutive weeks in her parents' house, being invited to +visit among "the <i>élite</i> of the county aristocracy," as Mrs. Simpson +phrased it. Miss Hadlow had, in fact, achieved what might be called, all +things considered, a brilliant social position. Her visit to Glengowrie +had been a great success. She had made a conquest of the duchess; and +also—though that was comparatively of small consequence—of the duke. +Mrs. Griffin was charmed that her <i>protégée</i> had done her so much +honour; and promised to take her into society the following season, if +Canon and Mrs. Hadlow would give her leave to come to town. Indeed, Mrs. +Griffin began seriously to revolve in her mind whether she could not +contrive to marry Charley Rivers's grand-daughter, and secure her a fine +establishment. Mrs. Griffin was proud of her achievements in that line, +which, though few, were brilliant. Like a certain famous Italian +singing-master, who was wont in his old age to decline unpromising +pupils on the ground that it was not worth his while to make <i>seconde +donne</i>, Mrs. Griffin practised only the higher branches of matchmaking; +and refused to fly her falcons at anything under twenty thousand a +year—or a peerage.</p> + +<p>What made Miss Hadlow's letters particularly interesting to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith at this time, was that the former was frequently staying in +the neighbourhood of Combe Park, and occasionally met Lord Castlecombe +and Lucius, whom she reported to be constantly ailing—as, indeed, he +had been since before his brother's death. But his state did not seem to +inspire any immediate apprehension. And Constance even said a word now +and then about "creaking wheels," and intimated her belief that Mr. +Lucius Cheffington would probably outlive many more robust-looking +persons.</p> + +<p>But it was not only these polite chronicles which kept the Dormer-Smith +household informed as to the doings of Oldchester people. Mrs. Dobbs, of +course, wrote frequently to her grandchild. The saddest news which she +had to give May was the continuous and rapid decline of Mr. Bransby's +health. Theodore was still away from home, Mrs. Dobbs wrote, and she +commented severely on his heartless neglect of his father. She had +learned through Mrs. Simpson that old Martin Bransby showed great +anxiety for his son's return; and it was reported that he had caused a +letter to be written, telling Theodore that he desired to speak with +him, and urging him to come home without delay.</p> + +<p>In the first days of December the end came. Martin Bransby died—rather +suddenly at the last—and his eldest son was not with him. On being +telegraphed to he arrived in Oldchester with the utmost possible +despatch—but too late to see his father alive.</p> + +<p>"People are very sorry for the widow and her children," wrote Mrs. +Dobbs; "for it's beginning to be said now that they're left rather badly +off, and that the bulk of everything will go to Theodore. I don't know +any facts, one way or the other; but I do know that foolish folk cackle +louder over a grave than almost anywhere else. So we may hope things are +not so bad with that pretty, gentle woman as Oldchester gossip makes +out."</p> + +<p>One of May's first thoughts on reading this letter was, "How grieved +Owen will be!" She grieved herself for the kindly old man who had always +been good to her, and for the grief of those who loved him. And she +incurred a mild rebuke from her aunt by appearing at a dinner party that +evening with pale cheeks and red eyelids.</p> + +<p>Contrary to Mrs. Dobbs's hope, it turned out that the gossip had for +once been correct. Martin Bransby's affairs were left in a strange +entanglement. There were many debts, and, as it seemed, very little +money to meet them. People inquired how he had got rid of the handsome +property left him by his father. He had not got rid of it in the +ordinary sense of the words; but the bulk of it was as far beyond his +control as though he had thrown it into the sea.</p> + +<p>At the time of Martin Bransby's first marriage, old Rabbitt had made +most stringent arrangements in his daughter's interest. Not only her own +dowry (which was a handsome one), but nearly the whole of Martin's +property was strictly settled on her and her children. Mr. Rabbitt was +enabled to drive a hard bargain by his command of ready money. He +advanced a large sum to his son-in-law for the purchase of Cadell's +share in the firm. Mr. Cadell was old, and wished to retire; the +opportunity was favourable, and promised brilliant results. Nor were +these promises belied by experience. The old-established solicitor's +business was a very flourishing and lucrative one. Martin Bransby was +soon able to pay back the loan to his father-in-law with interest. Old +Rabbitt observed that this was only taking from one hand to give to the +other, for it would all come back to him and his in the end. As a matter +of fact, old Rabbitt left every penny he had in the world to his +daughter and her children after her; but the money was strictly tied up +out of her husband's reach.</p> + +<p>This seemed a trifling matter in those days to Martin Bransby. Whom +should he desire to enrich but his own children? and things were going +so well in the office that it seemed probable he might amass another +fortune. But when, after his second marriage, a young family began to +gather round him, he could not help regretting the terms of his original +marriage settlement. As soon as Theodore came of age Mr. Bransby made an +attempt to induce him to relinquish some part of the property in favour +of his younger brothers and sisters; but the attempt failed, and was +never repeated. Mr. Bransby was deeply wounded by Theodore's attitude, +and, on his side, Theodore considered his father's request unreasonable +and unfair.</p> + +<p>"If I might venture on a suggestion, I would advise your retrenching a +little, sir," he had said with icy politeness; "in that way you would +soon save enough to provide for Mrs. Bransby and her children in a style +fully equal to what they have any right to expect from you."</p> + +<p>The remembrance of that interview was a thorn in the flesh of Martin +Bransby, and it left in Theodore's mind increased resentment against his +father's second marriage.</p> + +<p>But Theodore's advice, however unfilially proffered, was sound enough. +Retrenchment in the daily expenses of that easy-going and lavish +household would have been judicious; but then to retrench would have +been to deprive Louisa of the luxuries and elegancies which so became +her, and which gave her so much pleasure. Instead of taking this +disagreeable method, Mr. Bransby tried speculation. He made one or two +lucky strokes, but at the first loss became panic-stricken, and threw +good money after bad in a kind of desperation.</p> + +<p>After his death something of all this leaked out in a confused way, to +the public astonishment. "To think of Martin Bransby's money matters +being in a bad way!" people said. "There must be more in this than meets +the eye, for he was acknowledged to be a first-rate man of business."</p> + +<p>In brief, as much amazement was expressed as though "men of business" +were commonly infallible, and the world had never heard of a man of +business whose conduct was not ruled by self-restraining prudence. At +the same time many persons declared they had long ago prophesied +disaster, and had even warned Martin to put some check on his wife's +extravagance. But such little inconsistencies as these are but pebbles +in the stream of general gossip; diversifying it with an agreeable +ripple, but never checking its flow.</p> + +<p>May wrote an affectionate letter of condolence to Mrs. Bransby. She +received no answer to it; and presently she learned that Mrs. Bransby +and her children had left Oldchester, and gone to London. Constance +Hadlow did not mention the family at all in writing to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. They had fallen out of the sphere of her observation; +and no one can be expected to turn away his telescope from +contemplating the fixed stars in order to stare at common terrestrial +phenomena—especially phenomena of a non-metallic and unproductive +nature.</p> + +<p>About Christmas time Theodore Bransby called unexpectedly at Mrs. +Dormer-Smith's house in London. He came early in the forenoon—so early, +indeed, that Mrs. Dormer-Smith was not yet visible. On asking to see +Miss Cheffington, he was shown into a room where May was sitting with +the children. (Harold and Wilfred were now permitted to spend part of +the morning with their cousin, at her particular request. And it was +found that this arrangement answered the double purpose of delighting +the boys, and leaving Cecile more leisure for needlework.)</p> + +<p>May started and flushed on hearing Mr. Theodore Bransby's name +announced. But the first glimpse of Theodore disarmed her wrath. He was +paler than ever—or seemed to be so, in his deep mourning, and there was +unmistakable sorrow in his face. May rose quickly, and gave him her hand +in silence. There were tears in her eyes, and the unexpected sight of +tears in his, made her forgive him for pressing her hand harder, and +holding it longer than mere politeness warranted.</p> + +<p>"I have been so sorry!" said May.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," he answered. "You are always kind and good."</p> + +<p>"So sorry for you all—the widow—the poor children—!" added May, as a +bright drop brimmed over, and rolled down her cheek.</p> + +<p>Theodore relinquished her hand, and rapidly passing his handkerchief +across his eyes, gave a dry, husky, little cough in his throat. It was a +sound which curiously repelled sympathy.</p> + +<p>"You were not in Oldchester when your dear father died," said May. She +did not intend any covert reproach. Her words were prompted by a pitying +thought of the undying regret which must haunt Theodore on this score.</p> + +<p>"No; I was not there. I know I have been blamed for that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed I had no such meaning!"</p> + +<p>"I well believe it. But I <i>have</i> been blamed—most unjustly. I went away +with my father's full consent; indeed, he thought I needed the change. +He wrote to me when he found himself growing worse, to ask me to come +back. Of course I meant to comply with that request. You cannot doubt +it?"</p> + +<p>"I have no right to doubt it," answered May gently.</p> + +<p>"No, but pray listen! I wish to justify myself in your eyes. The truth +is, I was in the act of packing my valise to return to Oldchester when a +telegram reached me, saying that my father's danger was imminent. I was +in Yorkshire, in a country house, where there was but one postal +delivery a day. Letters were often delayed, and, in fact, my father's +letter had preceded the telegram only by a few hours."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how sad! I am so sorry for you!" cried May, clasping her hands. She +felt some generous compunction for having done him injustice.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I have lost a good father," said Theodore.</p> + +<p>"You have, indeed. And what a loss is Mrs. Bransby's!"</p> + +<p>A subtle change came over his face, although he did not seem to move a +muscle, and he made no answer.</p> + +<p>"How is she?" asked May, leaning forward eagerly.</p> + +<p>Theodore's eyebrows took their old supercilious curve, as he replied, +"Mrs. Bransby? Oh, she's quite well, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Believe! Have you not seen her lately?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes; I have seen her. She appeared perfectly well. I did not at +first quite take in the sense of your question; but I see now what you +meant. Every one has not such keen sensibilities as you, May."</p> + +<p>Even this familiar use of her name she let pass, although it jarred upon +her.</p> + +<p>"I am sure Mrs. Bransby is not insensible," she answered. "And she loved +your father dearly."</p> + +<p>"I am not disputing it. But she was, and is, a doating mother, and her +feelings are greatly engrossed by her children. In one way this is happy +for her. She does not feel the void, the loneliness, which oppresses +me."</p> + +<p>It seemed to May that there might be some truth in this. Theodore was +not generally beloved. Cold as he seemed, he doubtless missed his +father's affection. He would feel isolated and forlorn. This might be in +great part his own fault; but May pitied him. She softened towards him +still more when he went on to speak of his plans for assisting his young +step-brothers. He had already offered to send Martin to school at his +own expense. He was endeavouring to be of use to Mrs. Bransby. She was, +unfortunately, very unpractical, and rather impracticable; but he hoped +that, when her grief calmed down, she would listen to reason and take +advice.</p> + +<p>"Is she not well off?" asked May, moved by genuine interest in the widow +and her family.</p> + +<p>Theodore shook his head. "I may tell <i>you</i>," he said, "that she is in +very straitened circumstances. I do not proclaim this generally, because +people who know how indefatigably my poor father worked, and what a +large income he earned, are apt to blame her, and accuse her of +extravagance."</p> + +<p>While he was still speaking, a message came from Mrs. Dormer-Smith +asking Mr. Bransby to go to her in the drawing-room. She, too, was +touched by his mourning garb and pale face, and received him with +sympathetic gentleness. May's report of his behaviour in Oldchester had +been favourable, in so far that he had not attempted to renew his suit. +But what most of all conciliated Mrs. Dormer-Smith was the thought of +Mr. Bragg. Now that her niece was so near making a splendid marriage, it +was easier to forgive Theodore's presumption. Doubtless the young man +had already seen his error; and really, putting aside that one +aberration, he was very nice!</p> + +<p>Her good opinion was increased in the course of their private +conversation, which turned on matters very interesting to Pauline. +Theodore had seen her uncle lately; he had, moreover, had a good deal of +talk with him about matters political. A vacancy was likely to occur +shortly in the representation of that division of the county where Lord +Castlecombe's landed property was situated. The Castlecombes were +anxious to oppose a threatened Radical candidate, and Theodore had +offered to stand.</p> + +<p>On his elder brother's death, Lucius Cheffington had resigned his post +in the Civil Service, and, under normal circumstances, his father would +have desired that he should return to the House of Commons; but his +health was at present too feeble to warrant his attempting any exertion. +Then old Lord Castlecombe thought it would be well to put some one into +the vacant seat who might be willing to resign it whenever Lucius should +be able and willing to come forward again as a candidate. This was not +expressed, but understood; and Lord Castlecombe had approved of +Theodore's ready comprehension of the state of the case, and his clear +view of the advantages such an arrangement would afford to himself. +Election expenses, even in these days of purity and the ballot, retain +as mysterious a rapidity of growth as Jack's beanstalk, and the +assistance of Lord Castlecombe would be very solidly valuable. On the +other hand, Theodore considered that, ambition apart, it would be useful +to him in his career as a barrister to write M.P. after his name, and +was willing to assume some share of the cost of the canvass. The old +lord discovered in this sententious young gentleman two merits—the +possession of money, and the knowledge how to spend it advantageously.</p> + +<p>Lucius acquiesced passively in all his father's arrangements; but he +could not be induced to thaw half a degree in his personal relations +with Theodore.</p> + +<p>"The fellow is an intolerable prig," he said to his father; "and his +vulgarity is of a particularly objectionable kind—the fine pretentious +kind."</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course, he's a d—d snob," answered my lord, with cheerful +candour. "But what the deuce does that matter? We are not going to take +him to our arms; only to throw him into the arms of the voters! And I +can tell you, it will be a vast deal better to have him for our member +than Mr. Butter, the Radical button-maker. At any rate, this young +Bransby won't go in for abolishing the Peers, or starting a Separatist +crusade in the Scilly Islands."</p> + +<p>In the course of his talk with Mrs. Dormer-Smith, Theodore hinted to her +as much of his political outlook as seemed good to him. The account of +his relations with Lord Castlecombe greatly impressed her; for she was +very sure her uncle would not waste any of his time and attention on an +entirely insignificant person. And Theodore's tone in speaking of the +political position of the Castlecombe family was such as to win her +complete approval and sympathy.</p> + +<p>When Pauline talked over his visit with her husband, after narrating +that part of it which concerned Lord Castlecombe, she added, "And the +young man has a great deal of proper feeling. I really begin to think +that mistake he made must have been in some way May's fault:—oh, not +intentionally, Frederick; but she is so—so unformed in her ideas! +However, we need not discuss all that; for I am convinced Mr. Bransby is +quite <i>safe</i> now. I was going to say that he told me confidentially that +he would not advise us to encourage any intimacy between May and his +step-mother. She is in London, I believe; letting lodgings, or some +dreadful thing of that sort. It is just the kind of thing May would +delight in, if I would let her—visiting and championing people who are +in impossible positions, and talking all kinds of Quixotic nonsense +about them! However, this Mrs. Bransby is not the kind of person who +<i>can</i> be encouraged. She is very handsome, I understand, and <i>tant soit +peu, coquette</i>. There was some not too creditable flirtation with young +Rivers before her husband's death; and Mr. Bransby evidently thinks she +is the kind of woman always to have some one dangling after her. He +spoke really very nicely, and said he hoped she might soon marry again, +as she is scarcely fit to be trusted with the responsibility of bringing +up a young family. You are so apt to indulge May in her whims, that I +thought it necessary to repeat all this with distinctness. You must see, +as I do, that it would be quite disastrous for May to keep up any +intimacy with such a person as this Mrs. Bransby—a handsome, flirting, +needy widow! If she were even in society——!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + + +<p>The sale of Martin Bransby's handsome furniture, books, plate, carriage, +and horses realized a considerable sum; but only a small portion of that +sum remained when all debts were paid. Theodore made all the +arrangements, and Mrs. Bransby passively acquiesced in them. She was +crushed by grief, and timidly acknowledged herself to be sadly helpless +and ignorant of business matters.</p> + +<p>It was Theodore who had decided that the family should leave Oldchester. +It was Theodore who had taken a house for them in a northern suburb of +London. It was Theodore who suggested that Mrs. Bransby might eke out +her income by receiving one or two lodgers. For Martin's schooling he +promised to be responsible; and he would also guarantee the rent of the +London house for one twelvemonth. But he could promise no further +assistance, giving as a sufficient reason for not doing more the heavy +claims on his purse which would result from his forthcoming political +candidature.</p> + +<p>A tiny annual sum was secured to the widow—a sum smaller than that +which she had been in the habit of spending on her dress; and this was +all she had to rely on to keep herself and her five children. It was +clear that an effort must be made to earn some money.</p> + +<p>Some articles of furniture remaining from the Oldchester sale nearly +sufficed to furnish the small London dwelling. The house, fortunately, +was clean, freshly painted, and in good repair; but the vulgar +wall-papers were an affliction to Mrs. Bransby's eyes, and the +dimensions of the rooms seemed to her painfully cramped. When she +ventured to hint as much to her stepson he gave her a severe lecture, +and begged her to understand that the days when her whims could be +lavishly indulged were over.</p> + +<p>"But it can scarcely be called a whim to want air for my children to +breathe!" returned Mrs. Bransby, with a flash of indignation which she +repented the next moment. And when Theodore pointed out that the house +was a remarkably airy one for the rent; and that he, in his kind +consideration, had taken a great deal of trouble to find a dwelling for +them in a healthy locality, she meekly apologized for having been +betrayed into any expression of impatience, and promised to make the +best of her new circumstances.</p> + +<p>They were such as might have depressed a stronger and less sensitive +person. When Theodore had gone away, and the children were in bed, and +the widow sat alone in the mean little room which, small as it was, was +but dimly illuminated by one candle, the sense of her forlorn position +weighed her down, and seemed to make the atmosphere thick with misery. +It was not the loss of material luxuries which afflicted her. A month +ago she would have felt that keenly; but now her great sorrow had +absorbed all minor troubles. Poverty! What was poverty, compared with +desolation of spirit? How willingly would she have faced severer bodily +hardships than any which threatened her if her lost husband could be +restored to her!</p> + +<p>She dropped her head on her folded arms resting on the table. The +widow's cap slipped aside, and a veil of bright, brown, waving hair fell +over her bowed face. She had been forced to restrain her tears all day. +There were the children to be thought of. There were Theodore's cold, +clear questions and suggestions to be answered. But now, in solitude, +her tears gushed out. She wept with long, deep-drawn sobs. The words of +the Litany seemed to be repeated over and over again, as by a voice +whispering in her ear, "The fatherless children, and widows, and all who +are desolate and oppressed." She rocked herself from side to side, and +moaned out, "Oh, come back to us! Come back, Martin—Martin!"</p> + +<p>A hand was gently laid on her shoulder. With a great start she raised +her head, and saw her eldest boy standing by her side.</p> + +<p>He was a handsome boy, very like his father. But now his naturally ruddy +face was pale, and his eyes had a depth of yearning tenderness in them +which went to his mother's heart.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry so, mother dear!" he said. "Father couldn't bear to see it, +if he knew."</p> + +<p>She clasped the boy in her arms; and, although she still wept, her sobs +were less convulsive, and she gradually grew calmer. Martin stood beside +her very quietly, occasionally stroking back the pretty soft hair which +strayed over her face, and was damp with tears.</p> + +<p>Presently Mrs. Bransby said, "I thought you were in bed, Martin. How +silently you came downstairs!"</p> + +<p>"I took off my shoes, mother," he answered, showing his feet. "I didn't +want to disturb the others. The children are asleep, and Phœbe is +snoring away."</p> + +<p>Phœbe was their one servant, a housemaid from their Oldchester +home—who had volunteered to remain with them and follow their fortunes.</p> + +<p>"Poor Phœbe! I dare say she is tired," said Mrs. Bransby.</p> + +<p>"I should think she <i>was</i> rather. She has been working like a brick all +day," returned Martin.</p> + +<p>There was a little silence, during which Mrs. Bransby dried her eyes, +put up her dishevelled hair, and replaced her cap.</p> + +<p>"Ought you not to go to bed, my boy?" she said, looking wistfully at +him.</p> + +<p>"I want to stay and talk to you quietly a little, mother."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bransby hesitated. "I should dearly like you to stay awhile, +Martin," she answered; "but I'm afraid it would not be right. You look +pale and worn out. You and I must help each other now to do what is +right;—and what—what <i>he</i> would have wished," she added with quivering +lips.</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother," answered the boy eagerly. "That's just what I want; and I +know he would have wished me to spare you all the bother I can. So now +just listen, mother; indeed, indeed I couldn't sleep if I went to bed +now—and it's far wearier work to lie awake than to sit up and talk. +Look here, mother; Theodore has offered to send me to school, hasn't +he?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Martin. I am very thankful for that. I don't see how I could have +afforded it."</p> + +<p>"Well, but now, I've been thinking that it would be better if Theodore +would give you that money, instead of paying for my schooling, and for +me to get a situation and earn something."</p> + +<p>"Earn! My darling boy, how could you earn anything?"</p> + +<p>"Why, mother, I could do all that the office boy did at Oldchester. Old +Tuckey told me once that he earned fifteen shillings a-week. Just fancy, +mother! That's a good lot, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>It looked a very childish face that he turned towards his mother: a face +with frank, sparkling eyes and rounded cheeks, to which the excitement +of making this proposition had brought back the roses.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Martin, my dearest boy, it is sweet of you to think of this! But +you are too young, darling."</p> + +<p>"I'm going on for thirteen, mother!" interrupted Martin.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear; but still even that is very, very young," answered his +mother gravely, although the phantom of a smile flitted across her pale +face.</p> + +<p>Martin looked disappointed, and, for a moment, almost angry. He had a +naturally hot temper. But he battled down the temptation, and merely +said, "Well, mother, you need not decide anything to-night. You can +think it over. I believe I could earn something; and I'm sure that if I +can, I ought."</p> + +<p>"But your education, Martin!"</p> + +<p>"I might, perhaps, go on learning a little at home—in the evenings," he +rejoined, but more slowly, and less confidently than he had spoken +before.</p> + +<p>"You know, Martin, <i>he</i> wished you to study. He was so proud of your +abilities—so fond of you——" Her voice broke, and she turned away her +head.</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother; but he was fonder of you," answered Martin simply. "I know +quite well that if father could speak to me now, this minute, he would +say, 'Martin, take care of your mother.' That's what he <i>did</i> say one +day when I was alone with him, only a week before——" The boy paused, +made a violent struggle to master his emotion, and then went on bravely, +though his young face grew white to the lips, "And I'm going to do it, +please God!"</p> + +<p>The tears that poured down his mother's cheeks as she embraced him and +kissed his forehead were not all bitter. "Not desolate—not wholly +desolate," she murmered, "while I have you, my precious, precious son!"</p> + +<p>They sat awhile, talking of their means, and their plans, and their +prospects. Mrs. Bransby felt that although many of Martin's notions +were, of course, crude and childish, yet there was a strain of firm +manliness in him on which she could rely; and the boy had a quick +intelligence. Before parting from his mother for the night, he proposed +that she should write to Owen Rivers and ask his advice. "You'll believe +what Mr. Rivers says, mother, if you don't believe me. And I think +you'll find that <i>he</i> will consider it my duty to earn something if I +can; anyway, he's such a good fellow, and has such a thundering lot of +sense, he's sure to give us good advice."</p> + +<p>The widow caught at the suggestion; she had almost as implicit faith in +Owen as her children had. She promised that Martin should enclose a +letter of his own in hers to Mr. Rivers; and when she bade the boy "good +night" at the door of his poor little chamber, she was surprised to find +her heart somewhat lightened of its load.</p> + +<p>"I say, look here, mother!" whispered Martin, beckoning her in from the +open door. "Don't those young shavers sleep like one o'clock?" He +pointed to Bobby and Billy, who occupied one large bed—a relic from the +Oldchester nursery—while Martin's little camp-bedstead was squeezed +into a corner of the same room. The two little fellows were sleeping the +profound sleep of healthy childhood. Bobby had a smile on his parted +lips, and Billy lay with one fat hand doubled up under his cheek, and +the other buried in the thick masses of his brother's curly hair.</p> + +<p>"This isn't half a bad room when the window's wide open," went on Martin +cheerfully. "I can see a tree—quite a good-sized elm—from my bed. Good +night, mother dear; I hope you'll sleep. I think this'll turn out an +awfully nice little house, when we get used to it."</p> + +<p>The two letters to Owen Rivers—Martin's and his mother's—were written +the next morning. Mrs. Bransby sent them under cover to Mr. Bragg, +addressed to Oldchester, to be forwarded, and with a line from herself +to Mr. Bragg, begging that he would let Mr. Rivers have them without +delay. She had written very fully and frankly to Owen, telling him, +without reserve, what her means were. Only on one point had she been +reticent—Theodore's conduct. In her heart she thought Theodore cruelly +cold and hard towards her and the children. But she would not complain +of him; he was her dear husband's son, and she felt as if it would be +disloyal to that honoured husband's memory to paint Theodore to others +as she saw him.</p> + +<p>Theodore's recommendation to his step-mother, to "take good, steady, +paying lodgers," was in the nature of those vague counsels we are all +apt to proffer freely to our neighbours; such as, to "cheer up;" not to +"yield to weakness;" to "look on the bright side;" to "dismiss +disagreeable thoughts;" to "set to work briskly and earn money," and the +like. That is to say, it was easier said than done. When, after the +family had been somewhat over a week in town, Theodore came again to see +them, and found that no steps had been taken to carry out this +suggestion, he showed considerable displeasure, and said a sharp word or +two about the difficulty of helping unpractical people.</p> + +<p>This word, "unpractical," was, in fact, a favourite reproach to apply to +poor Mrs. Bransby on the part of a great many persons. Mrs. Dormer-Smith +caught it up from Theodore. Constance Hadlow echoed the same phrase +when, at length, in answer to some private inquiries of Mrs. +Dormer-Smith's, she wrote about the Bransby family.</p> + +<p>May's first eager proposal to go and see Mrs. Bransby was met by her +aunt with an absolute refusal; but she was so urgent, and appealed so +strongly to her uncle, that Mrs. Dormer-Smith, making a virtue of +necessity (for she feared that if leave were refused May might go +without it), graciously consented that her niece should pay one visit to +Mrs. Bransby.</p> + +<p>"One visit will be enough, May," said Aunt Pauline. "Quite enough to +show that you feel kindly towards her, and that sort of thing. It is +really stretching a point. However, if it must be, it must be. I only +implore you not to talk about these people in society. Pray, <i>pray</i> do +not <i>poser</i> as a district visitor, or whatever it is called."</p> + +<p>May shrugged her shoulders, and was silent. She knew how vain it was to +reason with Aunt Pauline on a point of this kind; but she comforted +herself by looking forward to the time—very near now—when Owen would +return, and when, in some mysterious way, not explicable to her head, +but quite sufficing to her heart, all her difficulties would vanish +before his presence. And that same afternoon she set off to Collingwood +Place, Barnsbury Road, in a cab, attended by Smithson.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bransby received her affectionately, and thanked her for her visit; +but she did not ask her to repeat it. She perceived, far more quickly +than May had perceived it, that Mrs. Dormer-Smith would not like her +niece to keep up any intimacy with a family who lived in Barnsbury, and +were served by one maid-of-all-work. When the children clung round May, +and clamoured to know when she was coming to see them again, Mrs. +Bransby interposed. She told them that May could not be running in and +out of their house in London as she had done in Oldchester; and they +must understand she could not take up the time of her aunt's maid in +making long journeys to Barnsbury. And she said privately to May—</p> + +<p>"Don't get into trouble with your aunt by coming here, my dear. I know +you would help us if you could; but you cannot. But I ought not to say +that! It is helpful to know you are unchanged, and warm-hearted as ever. +Some day, please God, we may be able to see each freely."</p> + +<p>"Yes; some day!" cried May joyfully, thinking of him who would help to +make that and all the other good things possible. And then she coloured +vividly, as though she had betrayed a secret.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bransby, however, did not notice this. She went on pensively, "And +yet I am almost afraid to look forward to any pleasant thing lest it +should be snatched away from me. Misfortune makes one a sad coward. I +have had a disappointment just lately—about Mr. Rivers. He is not +coming back so soon as was expected."</p> + +<p>"He is coming back at the end of this month," said May in a quick, +almost breathless way.</p> + +<p>"No. He <i>was</i> to have returned to England at the end of December, but +that is altered. His present engagement is prolonged for some weeks. I +had a letter from him last evening from Barcelona, and he does not +expect to be in England before the latter part of January at the +soonest."</p> + +<p>May drove homeward much depressed and out of spirits. It was not only +that Owen's return was postponed, but that she had not been the first to +hear of it! To be sure, his weekly letter was not yet due, and he was +rigidly scrupulous in keeping his promise to Mrs. Dobbs about +corresponding with May. But need he have volunteered to give this news +to Mrs. Bransby before writing it to her? A dull feeling of discontent +seemed to oppress her; but on reaching home she tried to shake it off, +and to forget it in fighting her friend's battle against Aunt Pauline.</p> + +<p>Aunt Pauline had constructed for herself an image of Mrs. Bransby +founded on Theodore's hints. She had decided in her own mind that Mrs. +Bransby was a weak-minded, lounging, lazy woman, who, no longer able to +adorn herself with fine clothes, would sink into slattern-hood, and +throw herself and her family as a dead weight on to any shoulders who +would carry them.</p> + +<p>"A woman belonging to the provincial middle-class, who thinks of nothing +but dress," said Mrs. Dormer-Smith, shaking her head mournfully. "One +knows what <i>that</i> must come to!"</p> + +<p>"But Mrs. Bransby thought of a great many things besides dress!" cried +May. "She thought of her household, and her children, and, above all, of +her husband."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith merely shook her head again, with an air of mild +martyrdom, as though some one were unjustly accusing <i>her</i>.</p> + +<p>"And I assure you, Aunt Pauline," May continued, "that the little house +she is living in—poor and humble, of course, in comparison with her old +home—is a pattern of neatness."</p> + +<p>"You say 'poor and humble,' May; but do you not think that a house at +forty-five pounds a year is quite as good as she has any right to +expect, under the circumstances? <i>I</i> do. And that poor young Bransby has +to be responsible for the rent."</p> + +<p>"I am sure Mrs. Bransby won't let him be out of pocket, if she can +possibly help it."</p> + +<p>"I dare say. But she is a sadly unpractical person."</p> + +<p>"It was most touching to see her with all those children about her, +trying to be cheerful and composed; and looking so lovely in her +melancholy mourning dress."</p> + +<p>"I presume she wears crape? Ah! There's no more extravagant wear. She +might have one dress trimmed with crape for occasions; but her ordinary +everyday frocks ought to be of plain black stuff. Hemstitched muslin +collars and cuffs, perhaps," added Mrs. Dormer-Smith, relenting at the +image of uncompromising ugliness she had herself conjured up. "But they +can be made at home, and need not cost much. Has she any lodgers?"</p> + +<p>"No, not yet. But there has been very little time. And it is difficult, +she says, to find suitable persons."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is precisely the kind of thing one would expect her to say. +That is the speech of a thoroughly unpractical person."</p> + +<p>"The fact is," burst out May hotly, "it is unpractical to be poor! It is +unpractical to be left a widow, with five children, and only a miserable +pittance to keep them on!"</p> + +<p>It was intolerable to hear Aunt Pauline sitting in judgment on this poor +lady, of whom she really knew nothing whatever save her misfortunes. And +May was greatly astonished at the glib way in which her aunt, usually so +prosaically matter-of-fact, discoursed about Mrs. Bransby, putting in +visionary details with a lavish fancy. The girl had yet to learn that +the most narrow and commonplace minds are capable of wild exaggeration +within their own sphere, and that to be unimaginative is no guarantee +for truthfulness of perception.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith, whatever her defects might be, possessed almost +perfect gentleness of temper. She merely said softly, "May, May, when +will you understand that nothing can be worse form than that habit of +raving about people? You are so dreadfully emphatic!"</p> + +<p>"I don't care a straw about what you call 'good form'! I prefer good +substance," answered May, still in a glow of indignation.</p> + +<p>"My dear child, what does this woman matter to you?"</p> + +<p>"Matter! She is my friend. She has always been kind to me; and even if +she were not my friend, I would defend her against unfair accusations."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith was silent for a few minutes. Then she said, in her +slow, somewhat muffled tones, "May, you compel me to say what I would +rather leave unsaid. Mrs. Bransby is not the kind of person your uncle +and I wish you to associate with. I do not assert that there has been +anything positively wrong in her conduct. Now oblige me by listening +quietly! If you start up in that melodramatic way, you will bring on one +of my nervous headaches. I was merely going to remark that a woman so +handsome as I am told she is, and so very much younger than her husband, +ought, in the most ordinary view of what is <i>convenable</i>, to avoid +anything like—like seeking to attract men's admiration, and that sort +of thing. But instead of that, Mrs. Bransby carried on a very flagrant +flirtation during her husband's lifetime with a young man considerably +her junior. It was noticed, of course, and commented on. If she was so +led away by foolish vanity when she had a sensible husband to guide her, +what will it be now that she is left to her own devices?"</p> + +<p>May stood staring at her aunt like one suddenly awakened out of sleep. +"This is all false," she said, after a moment; "false, and very cruel. +Who told you such things, Aunt Pauline?"</p> + +<p>"I decline to tell you, May. Some one who has had the means of knowing +what went on in this Bransby household, and some one whose judgment I +can trust. It must suffice to assure you that I am quite certain of my +facts." And, strange, as it may seem, Mrs. Dormer-Smith really thought +she was certain of them.</p> + +<p>May turned away contemptuously. "Mrs. Bransby is really very much to +blame," she said. "It is bad enough to be poor and unprotected, but to +be the most beautiful woman in all her circle of acquaintance as well, +is not to be forgiven!"</p> + +<p>Then May left her aunt's presence, and betook herself to her own room, +where she locked the door and burst out crying. These calumnies were +bewildering. She sat on the side of her bed for more than an hour, in a +drooping posture, depressed and miserable. As she thought over her +aunt's words, the belief flashed into her mind that Mrs. Dormer-Smith's +informant must have been Constance Hadlow. She did not suspect Constance +of having deliberately invented stories to the poor widow's discredit; +but she did think that Constance had repeated them, and that they had +lost none of their venom in her repetition. It chanced that on that very +morning her aunt had spoken of a letter just received from Miss Hadlow; +and May knew very well the sort of gossip which made up the staple of +that correspondence. Not for one moment did her suspicions point to +Theodore. The idea that he could have originated odious insinuations +against his father's wife was inconceivable to her. But Conny——She had +observed latterly a tendency in Conny to bitterness and detraction when +speaking of Mrs. Bransby. Was she jealous? And why? When they talked of +Mrs. Bransby's flirtations with a man younger than herself, whom did +they allude to?</p> + +<p>All at once May drew herself sharply into an upright attitude, while a +burning flush covered her face and throat. She dashed away some stray +tears with her handkerchief, and exclaimed, speaking out loud in her +excitement, "I will not <i>think</i> of such mean, malicious, despicable +folly! I will turn my mind away from it. It is shameful even to be +conscious of anything so base-minded!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + + +<p>Two days after May's interview with Mrs. Bransby, Owen's weekly letter +arrived. In it he informed her of the unexpected postponement of his +return; and he mentioned having written this news to Mrs. Bransby in +answer to a letter from her appealing to him for help and advice. But he +did not expend many words on the Bransby family. He had to keep May +minutely informed of his own doings, and of his prospects, so far as he +could judge of them. And whatsoever time and space remained at his +disposal when this was accomplished was devoted to a theme which touched +him more nearly than the fortunes of gentle Louisa Bransby—although his +regard for her was very real. Owen was deeply in love, and wrote +love-letters. And that species of composition does not deal with +circumstantial and connected narrative—at any rate, about third +persons.</p> + +<p>But although Owen did not return to England at the end of December, Mr. +Bragg did. He appeared one day in Mrs. Dormer-Smith's drawing-room, when +he was received by that lady with marked graciousness, and by May with a +changing colour and shy eagerness which he might have been excused for +misinterpreting.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith was delighted. May's behaviour appeared to her to be +just what it ought to be. Uncle Frederick, too, who happened to be at +home—for Mr. Bragg called at so unfashionably an early hour that the +master of the house had not yet gone out to his club—had reason to be +gratified. He took the opportunity of consulting Mr. Bragg as to a +little investment he purposed making. And Mr. Bragg, while dissuading +him from that particular investment, spontaneously offered to put his +money into "a good thing" for him.</p> + +<p>"I make it a rule not to advise people in general about such matters," +said Mr. Bragg. "The responsibility's too great; not to mention that if +it once, what you might call got wind that I did give such advice, I +should have my time took up altogether with other people's business. And +I don't see the force of that."</p> + +<p>"Of course not! Most inconsiderate!" murmured Mr. Dormer-Smith.</p> + +<p>"But I reserve the right to make exceptions now and then," continued Mr. +Bragg. "And I shall be happy to be of use to you."</p> + +<p>All this while no word had been said about Owen. May's secret +consciousness made her too bashful to introduce his name. But at length +Mr. Bragg mentioned it of his own accord. It was in speaking of Mr. +Bransby's death. Mr. Bragg expressed kindly sympathy with the widow, and +added—</p> + +<p>"She has one good friend, poor soul, anyway. My secretary takes the +greatest interest in her. You know him, Miss Cheffington—Mr. Owen +Rivers."</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered May, in as constrained a tone as though the subject were +distasteful to her. Yet the poor child was longing with all her heart to +speak of Owen, and to hear him spoken of.</p> + +<p>"To be sure you do. We used to meet him at the Miss Pipers' pretty well +every evening, didn't we? Besides, he's a cousin of your great friend, +Miss Hadlow."</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course!" exclaimed Mrs. Dormer-Smith, with a sudden remembrance +of that relationship, and a consequent increase of interest in Owen, +whom personally she knew but very slightly. "A cousin of Constance +Hadlow's! Yes, yes; I recall it now. Mrs. Griffin told me that his +grandfather, who married a Lespoony——" She stopped, remembering that +family genealogy was a subject not likely to be specially agreeable to +Mr. Bragg, and asked that gentleman sweetly, "How do you like him? Does +he do well?"</p> + +<p>"First rate!" answered Mr. Bragg emphatically.</p> + +<p>May coloured with pleasure, and turned aside her face, to hide a broad, +childlike smile which stole over it.</p> + +<p>"First rate," repeated Mr. Bragg. "He gives full satisfaction. Not but +what there are little what you may call <i>twists</i> in him here and there. +He's peculiar in some ways. But I never did expect angels from heaven to +come down and do office-work for me. I consider myself lucky if I get +honesty and fair industry. Now, Mr. Rivers is more than honest—he's +honourable."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that a distinction without a difference in this case?" asked Mr. +Dormer-Smith lightly.</p> + +<p>"Well, no; I don't think so," answered Mr. Bragg in his slow, pondering +way. "You see, honesty makes a capital slow-combustion kind of fire, but +if you want a white heat you must have honour. I can't express myself +quite clear, but I have it in my mind."</p> + +<p>"And so Mr. Rivers takes a great interest in this Mrs. Bransby," said +Pauline. Her thoughts had been busy with this point ever since Mr. Bragg +had uttered the words. And she was pleased that May should hear +something like corroboration of the charge against Mrs. Bransby.</p> + +<p>"Uncommon. He's quite what you might call devoted to her."</p> + +<p>"She's a deuced pretty woman, isn't she?" put in Mr. Dormer-Smith, with +a little knowing laugh.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg replied, with perfect seriousness, "Mrs. Bransby is a lady of +great personal attractions, and, so far as I know of her, most amiable. +I'm sorry to hear she's left in poor circumstances. Martin Bransby seems +to have made most imprudent speculations. If he'd have come to me, poor +man, I could have given him some useful warnings; and would have done +it, too. I'd have made one of my exceptions in his favour."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith's interest in the deceased Martin Bransby was too +slight to enchain her attention. When the widow was no longer being +spoken of, Pauline's thoughts flew off rapidly to the fashion and +texture of May's wedding-dress (which had already haunted her solitary +musings), and to the question whether Mr. Bragg would be likely to do +anything for her boy Cyril, who was just about to be entered at the +University. But her eyes remained fixed with a politely attentive look +on Mr. Bragg, and, when he ceased speaking, she murmured plaintively, as +being a safe thing to say, "That is so good of you!"</p> + +<p>As soon as Mr. Bragg was gone, May sat down to write an account of his +visit to Owen. Her heart swelled with pride as she repeated to him Mr. +Bragg's words about himself. Indeed, she was so enthusiastic about Mr. +Bragg, that Owen jestingly told her in his next letter that he was +growing jealous of his "master"—so he always termed Mr. Bragg.</p> + +<p>It was out of the question that May should hint to Owen a word of the +unkind things which were said of Mrs. Bransby. She could not bring her +pen to write them. It seemed to her as if she could never even speak +them to him. But she said all the most sympathetic and affectionate +things she could think of about the poor widow and her children, being +inspired by the malicious gossip only to a more chivalrous warmth on her +friend's behalf. But yet—that gossip was like a barbed seed that clings +where it alights, and could not wholly be shaken out of her memory. If +she could but have spoken with granny! She could not write all the +confused feelings that were in her mind. To have tried to do so would +have seemed almost like hinting something which might be construed into +a doubt of Owen! But if she could speak, with her living voice, +granny—who loved her so much, and would listen with such understanding +ears—would surely find the right words to conjure away the oppression +which weighed on her spirits! She was ashamed of not feeling so happy as +she had felt three weeks ago. And yet it was impossible to deny that a +cloud—light and filmy, but still a cloud—had come between her and the +sun. She was very lonely. Sometimes she was startled by the sudden +recognition of how completely aloof she was in spirit from the beings +around her.</p> + +<p>Next to Owen's letters, her little cousins were her chief comfort. She +had them with her as much as possible, helping them with their lessons, +and joining in their play. Their brother Cyril being now at home from +Harrow, the younger children received even less than the scanty share of +her attention which their mother had ever vouchsafed to them. Mr. +Dormer-Smith was a good deal engrossed by his eldest son; and Harold and +Wilfred would have been forlorn indeed, at this time, but for Cousin +May. Yes, the children were a great comfort to her; and, after them, she +liked Mr. Bragg's society better than that of most people! He was so +closely associated with Owen.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg had become a frequent and familiar guest at the Dormer-Smiths' +house. Uncle Frederick highly valued his advice and assistance in +financial matters, while Aunt Pauline was never tired of repeating his +praises. Only—as she privately complained to her husband—he "hung +fire" a little.</p> + +<p>"Why in the world he shouldn't speak out, I cannot conjecture," said +she, with that soft, suffering expression of countenance, which Mr. +Bragg's assiduous visits had recently banished for as much as two or +three days together. "It really is not May's fault this time. Nothing +could be nicer than she is to him. I should be uneasy about the +Hautenvilles, but that they are spending the winter at Rome. And +besides, Mrs. Griffin assured me that he wouldn't <i>look</i> at Felicia. In +fact, he told her in plain terms that Miss Cheffington was the one young +lady he admired. Dear Mrs. Griffin! I shall never forget what a friend +she has been all through the affair. And the dear duchess! But really, +Mr. Bragg does hang fire most unaccountably! I think it is beginning to +tell on May herself a little. She mopes. Now, that is a <i>very</i> serious +matter, for her complexion is of the delicate kind which will not stand +worry."</p> + +<p>The new year opened dark and damp in London. But the external gloom did +not quench social gaiety, of which there was a good deal going on at +this time. Mrs. Dormer-Smith entered into it, and insisted on May's +entering into it, as much as possible. She reflected that this would be +the last year during which she would have the assistance of May's +allowance, and that it would be well to profit by it to the utmost while +it lasted. The allowance was never expended in any way by which May +could not benefit. For example, if Mrs. Dormer-Smith were going to a +dinner-party without her niece, she would not spend May's money on the +hire of a carriage to save her own hard-worked brougham horse; but when +May accompanied her she would do so. And on such occasions she would +indulge in some little extra elegance of dress, on the plea (quite +genuinely preferred) that she <i>must</i> be decently dressed in the girl's +interests.</p> + +<p>In spite of Theodore Bransby's recent mourning they frequently met in +society.</p> + +<p>"It is my duty to keep up my social connections," he would say to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith, with a grave, resigned air. And no one could have more +fully appreciated and approved the sentiment than she did.</p> + +<p>Theodore travelled rather frequently backwards and forwards between +London and Oldchester in these days. He was busy in the neighbourhood of +his native city, preparing the ground for his political campaign; while +he was constantly attracted to London by the hope of seeing May. He had +discovered that Mrs. Bransby wrote sometimes to Owen Rivers, and he +frequently volunteered to give her items of news about May, which he +thought and hoped she might transmit to Spain. Miss Cheffington had sat +near him at Lady A.'s dinner-party; he had escorted Miss Cheffington and +her aunt to Mrs. B.'s <i>soirée musicale</i>; Mrs. C. had given him a seat in +her box at the theatre—where he met Miss Cheffington; and so forth.</p> + +<p>"Miss Cheffington appears to be very gay!" said Mrs. Bransby once, with +a sigh, not envious, but regretful; her own life was so dull and dark.</p> + +<p>"Miss Cheffington is very much in the world, of course. Her birth and +her beauty entitle her to a good deal of attention, and she gets it. I +see no objection to that. On the contrary, it delights me that she +should be admired."</p> + +<p>His step-mother stared at him in sudden surprise.</p> + +<p>"Theodore!" she exclaimed impulsively. "There is nothing between you and +May, is there?"</p> + +<p>He drew himself up, and answered in as coldly offended a tone as though +he had not desired, and even angled for, that very question. "Excuse me, +Mrs. Bransby, but I do not think it well to use a young lady's name in +that way. It is too delicate a matter to be handled at all in its +present stage."</p> + +<p>"Don't you believe him, mother," said Martin when Theodore had gone +away. "May Cheffington isn't likely to think of <i>him</i>."</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Martin. It may not seem likely to us, because——"</p> + +<p>"Because we know what Theodore is," interposed Martin boldly.</p> + +<p>His mother let that suggestion lie, but she said, "You must remember, my +boy, that Theodore has many qualities which—which——He is very well +educated, and clever, and gentlemanlike."</p> + +<p>"No; that he is <i>not</i>!" put in the irrepressible Martin.</p> + +<p>"And he probably has a distinguished career before him. Besides, he is +rich now, you know."</p> + +<p>"As if May would care for <i>that</i>!" exclaimed Martin, with innocently +lofty disdain.</p> + +<p>"Her friends might care for it for her," answered Mrs. Bransby +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>She had fallen into the habit of consulting with Martin on all kinds of +subjects. Sometimes she reproached herself for harassing the boy with +cares and questions beyond his years. But, in truth, it would have been +impossible at that time to keep Martin from sharing her cares; and the +pride of being allowed to share her counsels also, more than made him +amends.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bransby had a lodger now—a lodger who was the incubus of her life. +He was an elderly German, engaged in the City; and, besides occupying +the chamber which Theodore had ordained must be let if possible, he +breakfasted with the family every day, and dined with them on Sundays. +The man was vulgar, greedy, and sullen in his manners. His habits at +table, without being absolutely gross, were revolting to Mrs. Bransby's +refinement. And his exigencies on the score of the Sunday dinner were +such as to keep her in constant anxiety, and to excite boundless +indignation in Phœbe. Phœbe, indeed, so detested Mr. Bucher, that +Mrs. Bransby was occasionally reduced to beg for a cessation of +hostilities; and (very much against the grain) to plead Mr. Bucher's +cause even with tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>Such being the state of things, it can well be imagined with what an +ebullition of joy Mrs. Bransby hailed a letter from Owen Rivers, +announcing his approaching arrival in London, and proposing himself to +her as a lodger. He would like, he said, to board entirely with the +family, and offered terms which Mrs. Bransby feared were almost too +generous. Martin, it is needless to say, enthusiastically welcomed the +idea of having Owen Rivers to live with them. And Phœbe's delight in +the prospect of Mr. Bucher's being speedily superseded, made her +volunteer to prepare his favourite pudding on the very next Sunday, +although hitherto she had obstinately professed the blankest ignorance +of its composition.</p> + +<p>Before, however, giving the unpopular Mr. Bucher notice to quit her +house, Mrs. Bransby thought herself bound to consult Theodore. Her mind +misgave her lest Theodore, who, as she knew, detested Owen Rivers, +should strongly set his face against receiving him; and she wrote her +letter to her stepson in considerable trepidation. But, to her surprise, +she speedily received an answer entirely approving the plan. It was not +gracious; Theodore was never gracious to her. But that was a small +matter in comparison with obtaining his consent to the arrangement, and +this consent was unmistakably given.</p> + +<p>"I believe," he wrote, "that you will be justified in taking Rivers for +a lodger, if you wish it. I meet his employer, Mr. Bragg, very +frequently at the house of Mrs. Dormer-Smith, and he apparently intends +to retain Rivers in his service—at all events, for the present. You +will, therefore, I should say, be quite sure of regular payments."</p> + +<p>So Owen's offer was joyfully and gratefully accepted.</p> + +<p>He had, of course, written to tell May as nearly as possible the time of +his arrival in England, but he had not mentioned his scheme of living at +the Bransbys, fearing lest it might not be practicable. He did not, in +fact, receive Mrs. Bransby's reply to his proposal until he was on his +way home. He found it addressed, as he had directed Mrs. Bransby, to the +"Poste Restante" in Paris, where he spent one day on business for Mr. +Bragg. And thus it chanced that the first intimation which May received +of the matter came from Theodore Bransby.</p> + +<p>He was dining at the Dormer-Smiths'. Mr. Bragg was there also. It was +what Mrs. Dormer-Smith called "a <i>very</i> quiet little dinner—just one or +two people, quite cosily," and had been given simply and solely for Mr. +Bragg. There was but one other guest, Lady Moppett. Mrs. Dormer-Smith +did not consider Lady Moppett to be worth cultivating. She was rich, but +not "in the best set." Moreover, she had a craze for music. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith's private sentiment about all the Arts was akin to that of +the Turkish potentate who inquired at a ball why they did not make their +slaves dance for them, instead of taking all that trouble themselves! +She considered, in fact, that the Muses ought to be kept in their +places. But she would never have uttered any word approaching to such a +Bœotian phrase. She had an almost perfect taste in phrases. There, +however, sat Lady Moppett at her dinner-table. Mr. Dormer-Smith had +stipulated for "some human being to speak to." Mr. Bragg must, of +course, be left to May, and Mr. Dormer-Smith could not endure young +Bransby. Theodore was not generally popular with his own sex, but +Pauline had quite reinstated him in her good graces. And, indeed, how +was it possible not to feel agreeably towards a young man whom Lord +Castlecombe himself delighted to honour?</p> + +<p>Lady Moppett was an old acquaintance of her host's, as has been stated. +And, except on the subject of music, she was a good-humoured woman +enough; making amends for the inflexible rigidity of her dogma as to the +divine art by a rather broad indulgence towards the merely moral +shortcomings of her fellow-creatures. Mr. Dormer-Smith led her out to +dinner. Mr. Bragg, of course, conducted his hostess; and Theodore, +therefore, had to give May his arm to the dining-room. There was no help +for that. But the party was small and the table was round, and Mr. Bragg +would not be far sundered from May. And once in the drawing-room, Aunt +Pauline would take care that he should have abundant opportunities for +private conversation with her niece.</p> + +<p>May endured Theodore's proximity far more graciously than would have +been the case three months ago. He was not naturally quick at discerning +the effect he produced on others, nor careful to spare their feelings. +But Love stimulates the perceptions in a wonderful way. Prosaic though +his subjects may be, the Arch-Magician has lost nothing of his cunning; +and under his potent influence Theodore Bransby developed some little +sympathetic insight into May's feelings. He even divined that part of +her new, soft kindliness of manner towards himself was due to pity for +his bereavement. And he had learned in a more unmistakeable way—for she +had told him so—that she approved his care of his step-mother and young +brothers and sisters. Theodore was pretty safe in vaunting his +disinterested efforts on their behalf. Mrs. Bransby and May were +effectually kept apart, and neither of them suspected that this was +chiefly his doing.</p> + +<p>He now, as he sat by May's side, had something in his mind which he +greatly desired she should hear. But some feeling, unaccountable to +himself—or, at least, which he did not choose to account for—made him +hesitate to utter it to her directly. At length, in a little pause of +the conversation, he bent slightly forward towards Mr. Bragg, who sat +opposite to him, and said—</p> + +<p>"I suppose you do not propose returning to Spain, Mr. Bragg?"</p> + +<p>"Me? Oh no. I don't think I've any call to do so. And there's plenty for +me to look after elsewhere."</p> + +<p>"Of course! Transactions on such a colossal scale! When I heard that +Rivers was coming back to London, I concluded that you had wound up the +business which took you to Spain."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Rivers has been very helpful to me, indeed. I feel myself under an +obligation to him."</p> + +<p>To say the truth, Mr. Bragg was impelled to offer this testimony—even +at the cost of dragging it in somewhat inopportunely—by his lively +remembrance of sundry spiteful speeches made by young Bransby in former +times; but rather to his surprise, Theodore did not now seek to divert +the conversation from Owen's praises.</p> + +<p>"Yes; Rivers has come out wonderfully well, I understand," said +Theodore. "I hear a good deal about him. He is in constant +correspondence with Mrs. Bransby; as, perhaps, you know?"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Mr. Bragg quietly. "No; I can't say I know it. By the way, I +do call to mind Mrs. Bransby sending me a letter for him some time ago. +Well, he may be in correspondence with her."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he <i>is</i>. I have reason to know it, for I think he is the sole topic +of conversation at my step-mother's house just now. The whole family are +in a fever of excitement about his coming to live with them."</p> + +<p>Without turning his head, or even glancing at May, he felt that she was +listening with a new and suddenly concentrated attention; and he said to +himself, with a glow of elation, "<i>She</i> did not know it."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Really?" said Mr. Bragg, addressing himself to his dinner. The +matter did not seem to him one of any very special interest. If young +Rivers went to lodge at Mrs. Bransby's, it would probably be a good +arrangement for both.</p> + +<p>"Who's that? Anybody I know?" asked Lady Moppett from her place at the +host's right hand.</p> + +<p>Theodore answered, "I was merely speaking of a man named Rivers, +who——"</p> + +<p>"Owen Rivers? Oh, of course I know him. A dreadful heretic! He +enunciates the most intolerable, old-fashioned stuff! And he's so +frightfully obstinate; battles, and argues one down, positively! I +really have no patience. But what about him? Is he going to be married?"</p> + +<p>"Not that I know of," replied Theodore, with his correct air, and an odd +effect, as though his white cravat and shirt-front had been suddenly +petrified.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I beg your pardon. I thought you said something of the sort."</p> + +<p>"By Jove, more unlikely things have happened," put in Mr. Dormer-Smith +jocosely. "He's exposing himself to a tremendous fire. Dangerous work +for a fellow to live under the roof of a lovely and captivating woman +who sets him up as a kind of 'guide, philosopher, and friend,'—eh?"</p> + +<p>"Dangerous! I should think the end of <i>that</i> arrangement is a foregone +conclusion!" exclaimed Lady Moppett. "Mr. Rivers is a very agreeable +young fellow—when he isn't talking about music. But who's your 'lovely +and captivating woman?' Does anybody know her?"</p> + +<p>There was an instant's pause, during which Pauline cast an expressive +glance of the most poignant reproach at her husband. Then Theodore +answered very gravely, "Mr. Dormer-Smith was merely jesting. The lady is +Mrs. Martin Bransby—my father's widow."</p> + + +<h3>END OF VOL. II.</h3> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 2(of 3), by +Frances Eleanor Trollope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 35944-h.htm or 35944-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/4/35944/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 2(of 3) + +Author: Frances Eleanor Trollope + +Release Date: April 24, 2011 [EBook #35944] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE. + + BY FRANCES ELEANOR TROLLOPE + +AUTHOR OF "AUNT MARGARET'S TROUBLE," "A CHARMING FELLOW," "LIKE SHIPS +UPON THE SEA," ETC. + + + _IN THREE VOLUMES._ + VOL. II. + + LONDON: + RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON + + Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. + + 1888. + + (_All rights reserved._) + + + + +THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Four months in their passage leave traces, more or less perceptible, on +us all. On the first evening of May's arrival, her grandmother drew her +to the window, where the rosy light of a fine summer evening shone full +on her face, and scrutinized her long and lovingly. Then she kissed her +grand-daughter's cheek, and tapping her lightly on the forehead, said, +"This is not the big baby I parted from. You're a woman now, my lass. +God bless thee!" May stoutly declared that she was not changed at all; +that she had returned from all the pomps and vanities just the same May +as ever. But on her side she found changes. + +On her first view of it in the glow of a rosy sunset, Jessamine Cottage +had been looking its best. The little parlour was fragrant with flowers, +and May's tiny bedroom was a pleasant nest of white dimity, smelling of +lavender and dried rose-leaves. She thought the house delightful. But a +very brief acquaintance showed it to be badly built and +inconvenient--one of those paltry "bandboxes" of which Mrs. Dobbs had +been wont to speak with contempt. Moreover, there was an indefinable air +of greater poverty than she remembered in Friar's Row; and--last and +worst of all--she thought granny herself looking ill. When she hinted +this privately to Uncle Jo, he scouted the idea. Ill? No, no; Sarah was +never ill. There was nothing amiss with Sarah. But the suggestion made +him look at his old friend with new observation, and he was forced to +acknowledge to himself that she was not quite so active as formerly. But +he still would not admit the idea of illness. "She'll be all right now +she's got you back again, Miranda," said Mr. Weatherhead, incautiously. +"It's the sperrit, you see--the sperrit has been preying on the body. +There's where it is." + +The idea that granny had been fretting at her absence strengthened May +in her resolution not to return to London. If it were absolutely +insisted upon she must, she supposed, keep the compact and pay her visit +to Glengowrie. But after that she would resume her place by her +grandmother's side--the place to which duty and affection equally bound +her. She wrote to her father announcing this intention. And she +suggested that the money spent on her expenses in London would be far +better employed in paying granny handsomely for her board. "I do not +think she is so well off as she used to be," wrote May in simple good +faith. "And I am sure, my dear father, you will feel with me that we are +bound to do anything in the world we can to help her, after all her +goodness to me." + +The subject which mainly occupied Mrs. Dobbs's waking thoughts after +May's arrival was the unknown "gentleman of princely fortune" who might +turn out to be May's fate. But, try as she would, she could find no clue +to May's feeling about this individual, nor could she discover who he +might be. Once she tried a joking question of a general kind about +sweethearts and admirers, but May's response was as far as possible from +the tone of a lovelorn maiden. + +"Oh, for goodness' sake, granny, don't talk of such things. It makes me +_sick_!" was her very unexpected exclamation. And then, with a little +judicious cross-questioning, the story of Theodore Bransby's wooing came +out. + +"Well, well, well, child, you needn't be so fierce! Poor young man! I +can't help feeling sorry for his disappointment," said Mrs. Dobbs. + +"Don't waste your sorrow on him, granny; he ought to have known better." + +"Well, as to that, May----" began her grandmother, with a slow smile +spreading over her face. + +"Now, granny _dear_, only listen! At any rate he might have known better +_when he was told_, mightn't he? But he would not take 'no' for an +answer; and when Uncle Frederick spoke to him the next day, he was quite +rude, and declared--it makes me so hot when I think of it!--declared he +had been encouraged! The idea of his daring to say such a thing! And, +you know all the time I quite thought he was as good as engaged to Conny +Hadlow. Everybody said so in Oldchester." + +"'Everybody' is a person who makes a good many mistakes about his +neighbours' affairs, May. Mrs. Simpson says that young Bransby is not +coming down here this summer." + +"So much the better! However, in any case, he would not honour you with +one of his condescending visits _now_. Do you remember that evening when +he called in Friar's Row? How little we thought----" + +May chatted with as much apparent candour and frankness as ever. But in +all her descriptions of the people whom she met in London there was not +one who seemed to fit Mrs. Dormer-Smith's unknown. + +"Maybe her saying no word is a sign she likes him," reflected Mrs. +Dobbs; "girls will keep a secret of that kind very close. They are shy +of it even in their own thoughts. If I saw him and her together, I could +make a shrewd guess as to how things are." + +But there was no chance of her seeing them together, and the gentleman +of princely fortune remained wrapped in mystery. + +Meanwhile, May went to see her old friends, and was pronounced by most +of them to be quite unspoiled by her London season. But one critical +spirit, at least, there was in Oldchester, who did not look on Miss +Cheffington with unmixed approbation: Mr. Sebastian Bach Simpson +declared that she gave herself airs. + +One of the first visits which May paid was to the old house in College +Quad. The Canon received her with his former paternal benevolence; but, +at first, a slight indefinable chill was perceptible in Mrs. Hadlow's +usually cordial manner. A little maternal jealousy on the subject of +Theodore Bransby rankled in her mind. It was true that Constance did not +seem to care for him; would not probably have accepted him had he asked +her. But, under all the circumstances, Mrs. Hadlow was strongly of +opinion that he ought to have asked her. And then a rumour reached +Oldchester of Theodore's attentions to Miss Cheffington. But there was +no resisting May's warm and single-minded praises of her friend. It +seemed that Conny's prospects had grown unexpectedly brilliant. Mr. Owen +Rivers, who had recently reappeared in Oldchester after his own erratic +fashion, walking in one morning unexpectedly to his aunt's quaint old +sitting-room, pronounced his cousin to have made a great social success. +"You know my opinion of the worth of that game, Aunt Jane," said he. +"But, such as it is, Conny has won it. Old Lord Castlecombe is in love +with her. And--which is far more important--so is Mrs. Griffin. You and +I always knew she was handsome. But there are certain people to whom the +evidence of their senses is as nothing compared with the evidence of +peers, and griffins, and such-like heraldic creatures." + +"My Aunt Pauline is in love with Conny, too," declared May. "I ought to +be jealous; for Aunt Pauline is always quoting Constance Hadlow to me as +an example of everything that is delightful in a girl. But I knew it +before. I didn't wait for the heraldic creatures, did I, Mrs. Hadlow?" + +And so the old affectionate, familiar intercourse was resumed, and May +was welcomed in the old way. The Canon missed his daughter, and had not +consented easily to her prolonged absence. He liked to see young faces +around him; and May's face was particularly pleasant to him. At first +May had refused to leave her grandmother. But Mrs. Dobbs urged her to +spend some hours every day with the Hadlows. "I have my own occupations +in the daytime," she said; "and when you come home of an evening, and +tell me all your sayings and doings, I can enjoy it comfortably. I don't +want you hanging about this poky little place all day, my lass." + +The girl was the more easily persuaded to do as her grandmother wished +in this matter from her own secret resolve to fix herself in Oldchester. +She did not grudge the hours given to her friends. There would be plenty +more time to be spent with granny. So she thought; reckoning on the +morrow with the assurance of youth. Day after day she sat during the hot +afternoon hours under the black shadow of the old yew tree in the +Canon's garden; sometimes volunteering to do some task of needlework for +Mrs. Hadlow, sometimes winding wool for the Canon's grey socks, +sometimes making up posies for the adornment of the sitting-room. And +there was Fox, the terrier, dividing his attentions between her and his +mistress; the peaceful Wend flowing by on the other side of the hedge; +the garden blooming, the birds twittering, the distant schoolboys +shouting, the sweet cathedral bells chiming,--everything as it had been +last summer. + +And yet not quite as it had been. There was some subtle difference +between these afternoons and the afternoons of last summer. + +It was not merely that Constance was missed, nor that Theodore Bransby +no longer made one of the group beneath the yew tree. Of these changes +one was scarcely to be regretted--for Conny was enjoying herself +extremely, and only desired to prolong her leave of absence--and the +other was undoubtedly satisfactory. But this could not surely suffice to +make it a deep delight to sit silent and wind balls of gray worsted for +half an hour at a stretch! Was it the negative joy of Theodore's absence +which caused May to look forward with her first waking thoughts to those +hours in the garden, and to live them over again in her mind when she +lay down to rest at night? It seemed as if the London season, far from +spoiling her for simple things, had marvellously enhanced the quiet +pleasures of her home life, and given them a new intensity. + +They were very quiet pleasures, truly. Mary Rayne and the Burton girls +seldom appeared in College Quad now that Constance was away. Mrs. Hadlow +had no lawn-tennis court, as has already been set forth; and persons who +gave up their garden-ground to the frivolous purpose of growing flowers +could not expect their younger friends to spare them many minutes out of +a summer's day. Visitors of the sterner sex were chiefly represented by +Major Mitton and Dr. Hatch, with a liberal sprinkling of the elder +cathedral clergy. + +The eldest Miss Burton said to May once, "I can't imagine how you stand +the dull life down here after your aunt's house in town! But I suppose +you are simply resting on your oars. We hear you are to go to Glengowrie +in the autumn. How delicious! The Duchess is sure to have her house +filled with nice people." + +May emphatically denied that she was dull in Oldchester. Dull! She had +never, she thought, been so happy in her life. "I wonder," said she to +Mrs. Hadlow that same afternoon, "whether Violet Burton feels Oldchester +to be dull. And if not, why should she assume that I do?" + +"Violet has a serious object in life, you know. She is the best tennis +player in the county. One cannot be dull with an absorbing pursuit of +that sort," answered Mrs. Hadlow, who, with all her genial benevolence, +had an occasional turn of the tongue which proved her kinship with her +nephew Owen. + +"The fact is," observed the latter, who was lying under the yew tree +with a pipe in his mouth, and an uncut magazine in his hand, "that each +of us carries his own supply of dulness about with him independently of +external circumstances. Not but what there are conceivable cases where +external circumstances would have a tremendous dulness-producing power; +such as being banished to a desolate shore beyond the reach of 'baccy;' +or having to read the Parliamentary debates right through every day." + +"Or being obliged to attend a musical afternoon at Miss Piper's London +lodging three times a week," put in May, laughing. "You don't know what +a hopeless heretic he is, Mrs. Hadlow. Even amiable Mr. Sweeting gave +him up in despair. And Lady Moppett thinks he ought to be +excommunicated." + +"Well, I suppose he need not have gone to Miss Piper's unless he had +chosen to do so," said Aunt Jane. "Owen is rather fond of being pitied +for having his own way. He ate his cake in the shape of enjoying Miss +Piper's music, and had it in the shape of declaring himself a victim." + +"_Enjoying----?_ Good heavens!" exclaimed Owen, waving his pipe in +protest. + +"Why did you go, then?" + +To this simple query Owen made no other response than muttering, with +his pipe between his teeth again, that there were "compensations." + +"Owen," said his aunt abruptly, after a long silence, "you are a most +unsatisfactory spectacle to behold." + +"That's disappointing, Aunt Jane. I flattered myself that I was a thing +of beauty and a joy for ever." + +"I shouldn't care about your not being ornamental, if only you were +useful. But it is dreadful to see you wasting your life." + +"I assure you I am employing my life in a very agreeable manner just +now," answered Owen, resting on his elbow, and glancing up from under +the shadow of his straw hat. + +"Agreeable! That is not the point." + +"It's _my_ point." + +"Ah! Well, we won't begin a wrangle, Owen; but----" + +"My dear Aunt Jane! Do I ever wrangle with you?" + +"You do worse. I'm afraid you are incorrigible. But every one else sees +that I am right. Ask May what she thinks." + +May started, and coloured violently; but she kept her eyes on the +needlework in her hand, and said nothing. + +"No; I shall not ask Miss Cheffington. She is a partisan, and would be +sure to side with you." + +"Not at all. May has her own opinions; haven't you, May?" + +"One can't help having opinions," returned May shyly. + +"Good gracious! Miss Cheffington, what an extraordinarily wild +assertion! 'Can't help having opinions----'? One might suppose you had +been nurtured among sages, and had never heard of Mr. Thomas Carlyle's +celebrated majority." + +"I have been nurtured by Granny," rejoined May, lifting her eyes for the +first time with a bright, brief glance. + +"Ay," exclaimed Mrs. Hadlow, "I'd advise you to ask Mrs. Dobbs what +_she_ thinks of a young man with your education and talents--oh, you +need not disclaim having brains, it only makes your case so much the +worse!--sitting lazily in his form, and letting all sorts of +dunderheaded tortoises win the race." + +"Bravo, Aunt Jane! I like 'dunderheaded tortoises.' 'Mobled Queen is +good.'" + +"You wouldn't enjoy hearing Mrs. Dobbs's opinion, I can tell you. I know +very well what she would say," pursued Mrs. Hadlow, more than half +angry. + +"I should like to ask her myself," said Owen, rising to his feet. "Do +you think I might, Miss Cheffington?" + +"Of course! If you have courage!" answered May, looking up with a smile. + +"I'm quite in earnest; I have long wished to know Mrs. Dobbs. Do you +think she would consider it a liberty if I were to call?" + +May cast her eyes down again, and became very busy with her needlework. +"No," she answered; "I don't think Granny would consider it a liberty; +she knows about you. I mean she knows you are Mrs. Hadlow's nephew." + +Mrs. Hadlow gave no more thought to this conversation, and May, although +she gave many thoughts to it, told herself that Mr. Rivers had only been +jesting, and that nothing was more unlikely than that he should fulfil +his words. She told herself so, with all the more insistence because at +the bottom of her heart she longed that he and "Granny" should know each +other. + +Nevertheless, on the very next afternoon, when May was absent, Owen +Rivers did call at Jessamine Cottage. + +He was at once received with cordiality for his aunt's sake, but he soon +earned a welcome for his own. Jo Weatherhead took to him amazingly. +"That's what I call a gentleman," said he, "a real gentleman--sterling +metal, and not Brummagem electro-plating. What a difference from that +young Bransby! A stuck-up, impudent--but, Lord! what could one expect +from an old Rabbitt's grandson! There's where it is." + +"Mr. Rivers is a good Radical, Jo," Mrs. Dobbs answered slyly. Whereupon +Jo nodded his head with undiminished complacency, and declared that if +it wasn't for such Radicals as _them_, Radicalism might soon shut up +shop altogether; concluding with his favourite apophthegm that many good +things came down from above, but very few mounted up from below. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Owen Rivers was greatly attracted by Mrs. Dobbs. He admired her +uprightness of character, and downrightness of speech; her shrewd common +sense, combined with unpretending simplicity; her indomitable strength +of purpose, tempered by broad good nature. At the very beginning of +their acquaintance, he told her that he had been recommended by his aunt +Jane to take her (Mrs. Dobbs's) opinion as to his mode of life. And when +Mrs. Dobbs tried to put him off by declaring that Mrs. Hadlow must have +been joking, he answered that he, at any rate, was not joking; and +begged her to speak candidly. + +"If I speak at all, I shall speak candidly, you may depend," said Mrs. +Dobbs. + +And, in truth, Owen soon found that he had no cause to complain of her +lack of plain speaking. Mrs. Dobbs was wholly and heartily on the side +of Aunt Jane, and held many a stout argument with the young man. + +"But, pray, how is one to manage?" asked Owen. "My aunt says, 'Go into a +profession.' Easier said than done! Besides, although I might not object +to be Lord Chancellor--or even, perhaps, Admiral of the Fleet--I have no +relish for the intermediate stages, which makes a difficulty." + +"That's all stuff and nonsense," said Mrs. Dobbs bluntly. "It's a shame +to see a gentleman with your book-learning, and good gifts, wasting the +advantages God has given him." + +"Wasting my advantages! That's Aunt Jane's pet phrase. But those are +mere words, you know." + +"Words are words, for certain. And nuts are nuts. Only some of 'em hold +sound kernels, whilst others have got nothing inside but dust." + +"Well, come now, let us get at the kernel," said Owen, half earnest, +half amused. "What would you have me do, Mrs. Dobbs?" + +"Do! Any honest work that's of use to your fellow creatures." + +"Such as stone-breaking, for instance?" + +"Better than nothing." + +"And my 'advantages' would not then be wasted, I presume?" + +"You might be getting a quarter per cent. for 'em--or maybe +less--instead of doubling your capital. But that would be better than +keeping all you've got in a stocking, like some ignorant old woman, and +pulling out a shilling at a time whenever you happen to want it." + +Many such passages of arms did they have; and Owen told himself that +Mrs. Dobbs was a very interesting study. Meanwhile, from the superior +vantage ground of her seniority, she had been making one or two studies +of _him_; and the result of them induced her to give him a hint as to +May's prospects. "I shall let him know how the land lies," said she to +herself. "Very likely he's in no danger. So much the better. But I'll +act fair by the young man. He's one of them quiet-looking sort that +feels very deeply; though, for all his humble-mindedness, he's a deal +too proud to show it." + +Accordingly Mrs. Dobbs took her opportunity one afternoon when Owen +strolled in somewhat earlier than usual. He and his hostess were +_tete-a-tete_; for May had gone to lunch with Mrs. Martin Bransby, and +to enjoy a romp afterwards with the children, who adored her. + +"Do you know this Duchess my grand-daughter is going to visit, Mr. +Rivers?" began Mrs. Dobbs abruptly. + +"To the best of my belief I never saw her in my life. My acquaintance +among duchesses is not extensive." + +"Nor yet her mother--Mrs. Griffin?" + +"Mrs. Griffin I have seen; and I make her a bow when we meet. That's +about all." + +"They are very kind to May." + +"Small blame to them! And yet I don't know; it is to their credit, when +one comes to think of it." + +"May talks of wishing to give up her visit." + +"She is unwilling to leave you, I believe." + +"Yes; bless her! But I mustn't give in to that." Then with a little air +of hesitation very unusual with her, Mrs. Dobbs proceeded: "I want you +and Mrs. Hadlow and all her friends not to encourage her in that idea. +The fact is, it is very important that May should not miss going to +Glengowrie this autumn. More important than she knows." + +Owen Rivers leant forward with a sudden attentive contraction of the +brows. "What is it?" he asked brusquely. Then, remembering himself, he +added, "I beg your pardon. I didn't mean to put a conversational pistol +to your head; nor to demand any secrets from you." + +"I don't know that there are any secrets, Mr. Rivers. But you understand +there are certain--certain opportunities which I am bound to give May, +if I can. I'm not one for forcing buckets of water down any horse's +throat, but unless you take him to the water he can't drink if he would. +The truth is, that I am anxious about my grandchild's future. When I am +gone, she will be left very desolate, poor lamb!" She paused suddenly, +and pressed her lips together. Then, after a minute's silence, she went +on more firmly, "God knows I never wished my poor daughter to marry +above her station; her marriage was a sore stroke to me. But now, +whatever you and me may think about distinctions of rank, it's certain +that May has a right to a lady's place in the world, through her +father's birth and family. I sacrificed a good deal in parting from her +at all--sacrificed my feelings, I mean--and I don't want it all to be +wasted. I want the child to get some good out of it, do you see, Mr. +Rivers?" + +"I see." + +"And don't you think I'm right?" + +"Yes; the horse ought to have his choice in that matter of drinking." + +"I'm glad you agree with me. My dear old friend Jo Weatherhead is half +inclined to think me wrong. He says I ought to consider the child's +happiness first and foremost, and that, if being with fine folks don't +make her happy, I ought to let her give them up. But May is very young +still--barely eighteen; she hasn't had time to judge. I wouldn't have +her think, later on, that this or that good thing might have befallen +her if she had had her chance and seen more of the world. It's bitter to +look back on opportunities lost or wasted, and that," added Mrs. Dobbs, +changing her tone, and shaking hands with the young man, who had risen +to go away, "is why I take the liberty of scolding _you_ now and then. +But I hope an old granny like me may speak her mind without offence? +That's one of our privileges." + +It seemed clear that Owen Rivers, at all events, was not offended. His +visits to Jessamine Cottage grew longer and more frequent. It became an +established custom for him to drop in at tea-time. Very often when May +had been spending the afternoon at the Canon's house, he would escort +her home through the fields. That was a longer way than by the streets; +but so much pleasanter, that their preference for it was surely very +natural. + +Oh, those rambles by the Wend, with the pearly evening sky above them, +the dewy, flower-speckled grass under foot, and in their ears the sound +of the sweet chimes, which seemed but to accompany some still sweeter +melody, felt not heard. May gave herself no account of the charm which +encompassed her. She looked not "before and after," but was happy, as +youth alone can be happy, in the intense sweetness of the present. Later +life has happiness of its own; but not that. It may be more or less, but +it is different. Those young delights can no more return than a rose can +furl itself again into a rosebud. And as to Owen, if his day-dream was +sometimes pierced by a sharp ray of common sense from the work-a-day +world, he turned his eyes away, and plunged still deeper into the +rainbow-tinted cloudland of young love. + +It could not hurt _her_, he argued. It could hurt no one but himself, +and he was prepared to suffer. She was sweet and kind; but she had +not--she could not have--any special feeling of tenderness for him. If, +indeed, that could be possible----! But what was there in him to attract +so lovely and lovable a creature as May Cheffington? A strongly-marked +trait in Owen's character was what Mrs. Hadlow, being hotly provoked by +some manifestation of it, had once designated as "pig-headed modesty!" +It was obstinate enough, truly, at times; and it had a warp of +inflexible pride in the woof of it. But it was genuine modesty for all +that. Still he would not so resolutely have shut his eyes to the +possibility that this matter of falling in love might be mutual, but for +Mrs. Dobbs's well-meant words of warning. May was going away in a week +or two--away out of his reach, perhaps for ever. Since she was in no +danger, he need, surely, have no scruple in enjoying these few happy +moments in her company. They would probably be the last. No one +suspected his feeling, and he could keep his own counsel. + +He honestly believed that no one suspected him. His Aunt Jane, whose +observation might have been the most to be dreaded, was in truth blind +to what was going on under her eyes. In the first place, it was nothing +new or unusual for Owen to spend his afternoons under the yew tree in +her garden; nor for May Cheffington to be there also. And it did not +occur, it scarcely could have occurred, to Conny's mother, that Conny +was being a second time supplanted by this girl so much her inferior in +beauty. And then, too, it must be acknowledged, that neither May nor +Owen thought it necessary to trouble Mrs. Hadlow with any detailed +report of the number of visits which her nephew paid to Jessamine +Cottage; nor with a chronicle of their many evening strolls beside the +Wend. Such strange tricks does love play with all: making the simple +cunning, and the straightforward wily, almost in spite of themselves! +While as for Mrs. Dobbs, her usual keenness with regard to her +grand-daughter was baffled by a vision of "the gentleman of princely +fortune" on whom May had been said to look favourably; and there were +but few opportunities for other eyes to note the behaviour of Owen and +May towards each other. + +The custom of the Saturday evening whist-parties, at which Mr. and Mrs. +Simpson and Mr. Weatherhead were the only guests, had been unavoidably +broken through at the time of Mrs. Dobbs's removal from Friar's Row: +and, although efforts had been made to renew it, it had somehow +languished, like a plant whose roots have been disturbed. Sometimes two +or three weeks would elapse without the Simpsons appearing at Jessamine +Cottage on the accustomed Saturday evening. The amiable Amelia tried to +compensate for these gaps in their social intercourse by running in at +odd moments to see Mrs. Dobbs. She would frequently call on her way home +from Mrs. Bransby's, or some other house where she gave lessons, and +chat in her discursive style: smilingly unconscious, for the most part, +whether Mrs. Dobbs vouchsafed her any attention or not; but always too +sweet-tempered to resent it, if she chanced to discover that Mrs. Dobbs +had not heard three sentences of all she had been saying. On one topic +she was, at any rate, sure of being listened to: the words "our dear +Miranda" were certain to arouse Mrs. Dobbs from her deepest fit of +musing; and fits of musing had become more and more frequent with her of +late. + +It was not clear whether Mrs. Simpson had taken to call May "Miranda" by +way of ceremoniously acknowledging her place in the world as a young +lady who had been presented at Court; or whether she considered three +syllables to be intrinsically more genteel than one; or whether she had +simply caught the word from the fashionable journals which had +chronicled the appearance of Miss Miranda Cheffington at various +festivities of the season. Mrs. Simpson's reasons for doing or leaving +undone were usually of a tangled kind, and an endeavour to extricate one +of them often resulted in pulling up a number of others by the roots. At +all events, Mrs. Simpson had taken to speak of May as "our dear +Miranda," and the words infallibly insured her an attentive hearing from +Mrs. Dobbs for whatever might follow them. If Mr. Weatherhead chanced to +be present at any of Amelia's erratic visits, he listened willingly to +all the gossip she might pour forth. It was always good-natured gossip. +Sebastian might bear a grudge here and there, and might impute shabby +motives to the conduct of his fellow-creatures; but Amelia never. There +seemed to be an excess of saccharine matter in her disposition which +flavoured every word she said. This species of excess being somewhat +uncommon, many persons pronounced poor Mrs. Simpson to be an arrant +humbug. But, had she been consciously a humbug, she would assuredly have +distributed her sweet speeches with more discretion; for nothing is less +popular than uncritical eulogy--of other people. + +There was an unusual air of excitement about her when she appeared one +afternoon in Jessamine Cottage. She found its mistress knitting in her +accustomed arm-chair, with Jo Weatherhead seated opposite to her reading +aloud paragraphs from a local newspaper. + +"My _dear_ Mrs. Dobbs," cried Amelia, bursting in breathlessly, "how do +you do? _And_ Mr. Weatherhead! Now this is quite against rules--or, at +least, against custom; for I am sure you would never make such a rule. +You are far too hospitable. But as I _was_ passing--so nice to be +neighbours instead of Friar's Row, though I shall ever look on Friar's +Row with affection for the sake of old times. What is it the poet says +about 'portions and parcels of the dreadful past'? Only there was +nothing dreadful in our little suppers; and Martha's stewed tripe beyond +praise." + +"I hope you are going to eat some of our little supper to-night," said +Mrs. Dobbs, composedly. "It's Saturday, you know." + +"How odd you should say that! It is exactly the remark I made to Bassy +this morning! Oh yes; certainly. And, as I was saying just now, it's +quite _hors ligne_, as the French express it, to inflict myself on you +twice in one day." + +"You know you are very welcome." + +"You're always _so_ kind, dear Mrs. Dobbs! I have been busy teaching all +the morning. This very moment I have come from Miss Piper's and----" + +"You are not giving _her_ lessons, are you?" asked Mrs. Dobbs, looking +up with a smile. + +"Oh dear, no! Not, I'm sure, that she would not be an excellent pupil; +indeed, both of them in their different styles. One the accomplished +musician, and the other so domesticated. No doubt you will hear of it +from our dear Miranda, for of course she will be invited. But I thought +I would mention it." + +"Mention what?--eh?" asked Jo Weatherhead, with impatient curiosity. + +"The party. They are going to give a musical party. Though really I +might omit the adjective, for who could imagine the Miss Pipers giving a +party that _wasn't_ musical? To be sure some persons find it rather +trying. Bassy, for instance, _cannot_ altogether approve the new school. +But then he was brought up in the strictest classical principles, and he +is so very clever himself, that of course----!" + +Some native gift of incoherency which distinguished Mrs. Simpson's mind +enabled her to reconcile the most conflicting claims on her admiration. + +"Ho, ho! a party, eh? A musical party?" said Mr. Weatherhead. + +"Yes; but of course there is nothing remarkable in _that_," replied Mrs. +Simpson, very unexpectedly. + +"Nothing at all remarkable, I should think," assented Mrs. Dobbs. + +"Ah! But the _point_ is--oh, pussy! Poor old pussy, _did_ I hurt her? +Dear, dear, dear!" + +In the act of throwing herself forward from her place on the sofa, in +order to touch Mrs. Dobbs's arm, and thus emphasize her communication, +Amelia had accidentally set her foot on the tail of the old tabby cat, +who at once protested in the frankest manner. + +"I'm so sorry! I am so very nearsighted. Poor old pussums! Come and let +us make it up--won't you, like a dear?" + +Poor old pussums, however, declined these advances, and took up her +position on the other side of her mistress's ample skirts; whence for +some time she glared distrustfully at every fresh manifestation of Mrs. +Simpson's playful vivacity. + +"Well, for goodness' sake tell us the point, if there is one!" cried Mr. +Weatherhead, who had been irritably rubbing his nose during this +episode. + +"Ah! Naughty impatience! That is so like a gentleman! Gentlemen are +dreadfully impatient in general; don't you agree with me, Mrs. Dobbs? +However, it really will be quite a musical treat. Mr. Cleveland Turner +is one of the most rising musicians of the day; I believe nobody can +understand his compositions without severe preliminary training. Mr. +Sweeting, too, is _most_ amiable; he has taken a country house in the +neighbourhood. And Miss Piper has invited a young lady down to stay with +her who sings divinely--quite divinely, Miss Piper says; and, indeed, I +have no doubt she does, for I _saw_ her name mentioned in the _Morning +Post_ at a very aristocratic _soiree_. And Bassy and I are to be +invited!" + +"Are you, now? Well, I'm glad of it," said Mrs. Dobbs heartily. She knew +this was a distinction which would give her friends pleasure. + +"Yes; Bassy is to accompany the young lady's songs on the piano. Mr. +Cleveland Turner will not accompany;--or, at least, not anything of a +tuneful sort. He doesn't like it. Well, you know, there's no accounting +for tastes, is there? Most people think strawberries delicious. But I +_have_ known a person who couldn't touch them--_invariably_ produced a +rash!" + +With which lucid illustration Mrs. Simpson rose, and declared she must +positively be going. After an effusive leavetaking--in the course of +which the old tabby leaped on to the back of Mrs. Dobbs's chair, where +she sat arching her spine and growling--the good lady set forth on her +way down the little garden-path in front of the house. But scarcely had +she reached the gate, when she turned and tripped back again with a +girlish step, which neither increase of years nor flesh had much +sobered. "I never delivered my message," she said; "and really it is an +extraordinary instance of my absence of mind, for that was the chief +reason why I came at all at this hour. I was at Mrs. Bransby's about +four o'clock, and left our dear Miranda there." + +Here she paused so long that Mrs. Dobbs replied, "Yes; I knew May was +going to call there." + +"Now I dare say you will scarcely credit it," said Amelia, with her head +on one side, her spectacles glistening, and an arch smile illumining her +countenance, "but, for the moment, I had totally forgotten again what I +was going to say!" + +"Lord bless the woman!" muttered Jo Weatherhead, in a tone not, perhaps, +quite so inaudible as politeness required. + +"But I have it now. This is the message; our dear Miranda begged me to +tell you that she will remain at Mrs. Bransby's for afternoon tea, and +come home in the cool of the evening. Mrs. Bransby--indeed, all the +family--are _most_ kind to her. Of course I don't mean to say that after +the brilliant scenes of London society it can be any particular treat to +her, although anything more truly elegant than Mrs. Bransby's new cream +broche I never beheld in my life. However, they pressed our dear Miranda +to stay. And she remarked to me that 'Granny would not be left alone, +for she knew Mr. Weatherhead was coming.' And now"--looking at her +watch--"I must _fly_, or I shall be too late for tea; and then what +would Bassy say?" She tripped once more down the garden path, stopped at +the gate to wave her hand, and at length finally departed. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Meanwhile, May was playing with Mrs. Martin Bransby's children, in the +delightful old walled garden; and Mrs. Martin Bransby herself was +looking on from the shade of a trellised arbour. These two had become +very good friends. Whether Mrs. Bransby was or was not aware of her +stepson's rejected suit, May had no means of knowing; but she felt +instinctively that Mrs. Bransby was not likely to be super-sensitive on +her stepson's behalf, nor to bear her a grudge for having refused him. +Theodore's absence was not lamented in his own home. His young +half-brothers and sisters openly rejoiced at it; and even his father +felt that life went on more pleasantly without him. + +May's popularity with the children was a sure passport to their mother's +heart; while on her side Mrs. Bransby had developed a most endearing +trait of character: she liked Owen Rivers, and was always happy to +welcome him to her house. Although Owen admired her beauty and elegance +extremely, there was no alloy of coquetry in the preference she showed +for his company. Indeed, Owen told his Aunt Jane that Mrs. Bransby's +delight in adorning her graceful person came nearer to being a pure case +of _l'Art pour l'Art_ than any he had ever witnessed. Nevertheless, the +most transcendental of artists enjoys appreciation. So it chanced that +on this special afternoon, Mr. Rivers being announced just when she was +urging May to remain and drink tea with her, Mrs. Bransby at once +suggested that perhaps Mr. Rivers would stay too, and be kind enough to +see Miss Cheffington home. Mr. Rivers handsomely acceded to the +proposal; and these three persons passed a very agreeable afternoon +together. + +The romping, happy children, with that disregard for any "plurality of +worlds" theory which belongs to their age, accepted the whole +arrangement as being ordained for their sole and peculiar enjoyment. +Under this impression they declined to allow Owen to remain lounging +beside their mother in the shade, but imperiously required him "not to +be lazy," but to "come and play." He withstood the clamour of the boys +for some time; but when three-year-old Enid toddled up to him, and +gravely seized one of his hands with both hers, evidently under the +conviction that she was quite able to drag him off with her by main +force, it was impossible to resist any longer. A very noisy game--known +to the younger Bransbys under the alliterative appellation of "Tiggy, +Tiggy, touchwood," and which involved a great deal of confused rushing +about, and shrill vociferation--was proceeding in the liveliest manner, +when forth from the long window of the drawing-room stepped a figure at +sight of whom Martin, the eldest boy, stopped short in a headlong +course, and Bobby and Billy were so surprised that they checked a wild +halloo in their very throats. + +It was Theodore. He was dressed in travelling garb (Theodore had +appropriate costumes for every department of life; and adhered to them +as punctiliously as a Chinese), and was advancing with his usual erect +gravity towards his step-mother, when, catching sight of May and Owen, +he stopped, surprised in his turn. + +"Dear me, Theodore, is that you?" said Mrs. Bransby, rising and coming +forward. "When did you arrive? We did not expect you. You did not write, +did you?" + +"No; I took a sudden resolution to run down for a week. I wished to +consult my father about a little matter of business, and I wanted change +of air besides." + +In answer to Mrs. Bransby's nervous inquiries whether the servants had +attended to him, and whether she should order his room to be prepared, +he replied-- + +"Thanks; I have given the necessary orders. My valise has been carried +upstairs. I will go and wash my hands, and then I shall ask you for a +cup of tea, if you please," glancing at the table already spread beneath +the trees. Then he marched up to May, who was standing on the lawn, with +a look of little less dismay than the children ingenuously exhibited. He +raised his hat with one hand, and shook her reluctant hand with the +other, saying in his deliberate accents-- + +"This is truly an unexpected favour of Fortune. I knew you were in +Oldchester, but I scarcely hoped to find you _here_. How do you do, +Rivers?" (This in an indefinable tone of condescension.) Then again +addressing himself to May, he said, "You have not had any communication +from town this morning?" + +"No." + +"Nor from Combe Park?" + +"Oh no!" + +"Ah! I imagined not. May I beg the favour of a word with you presently? +I am only going to get rid of some of the dust of travel. You will still +be here when I return?" + +May was tempted to declare that she positively must go home immediately. +But before she could speak Mrs. Bransby answered for her: "Oh, of course +Miss Cheffington will be here still. I do not mean to let her run away +just yet." + +Then, with another formal bow, Theodore returned to the house and +disappeared through the drawing-room window. + +There was an awkward silence, broken by Martin's exclaiming, in a solemn +tone, "He's just like the vampire." + +The laugh which followed came as a relief to the embarrassment of the +elders. + +"Martin!" exclaimed his mother reprovingly. + +"Well, mother, he _is_," persisted Martin, who was unspeakably disgusted +at the sudden quenching of the festivities. "What does he come stalking +and prowling like that for? He's _exactly_ like the vampire!" + +May and Owen avoided each other's eye, feeling a guilty consciousness +that Martin had in a great measure expressed their own sentiments. +Certainly, the whole party appeared to have been suddenly iced. The +three younger children were dismissed to the nursery; and Martin and his +sister Ethel voluntarily withdrew, feeling that all the fun was over. A +large slice of cake apiece was looked upon as very inadequate amends, +and accepted under protest. + +"I should think he might have stayed in London when he _was_ there," +grumbled Martin, as he walked away, viciously digging his heels into the +turf at every step by way of a vent to his injured feelings. "Nobody +wants stalking, prowling vampires _here_. Why couldn't he stop in +London?" + +As though "stalking, prowling vampires" were generally admitted to be +popular members of society in the metropolis. + +Mr. Rivers and the two ladies beguiled the time until Theodore should +return, by drinking tea and discussing Miss Piper's forthcoming musical +party. Curiously enough no one said a word about young Bransby. They all +seemed to avoid the topic by a tacit understanding. But though out of +sight, he was not out of mind--at any rate, he was not out of May's +mind. She was secretly wondering what he could have to say to her. Could +he possibly intend to renew his offer of marriage? The idea seemed a +wild one; nevertheless, it darted through her mind. One could never +tell, she thought, what his obstinate self-conceit might lead him to do. +However, May resolved, come what might, to cling tightly to Mrs. +Bransby's sheltering presence so long as she remained in that house; and +in going home she would have the protection of Mr. Rivers's escort. Even +Theodore Bransby could scarcely propose to her before these witnesses! + +At length Theodore reappeared, brushed and trim, in speckless raiment. +He took his place at the tea-table; and after the exchange of a few +commonplace remarks, silence stole over the company. Theodore seemed to +be waiting for something; and from time to time he looked at Owen as +though expecting him to take his leave. Finally he cleared his throat, +and said gravely, "Miss Cheffington, I see you are not taking any more +tea; may I crave the favour of a few words with you?" + +"Oh, please, I think I _will_ have some more tea," said May, hastily +pushing her cup towards Mrs. Bransby. Theodore, who had half risen from +his chair, bowed, resumed his seat, and folded his arms in a waiting +attitude. Then May added, with desperate resolution, "Will you not be +kind enough to say what you have to say, now? I must be going home +immediately; and I'm sure there can be no secrets to tell." She buried +her face in her teacup to hide the colour which flamed into her cheeks +as she said the words. + +"If you desire it," returned Theodore stiffly, "of course I shall obey. +I merely thought you might prefer to receive painful tidings in----" + +"Painful!" cried May, turning pale, and suddenly interrupting him. "Is +anything the matter with Granny?" + +A glance at his raised eyebrows reassured her, for the next moment she +said, "Oh, how stupid I am! Of course you could know nothing, you have +only just arrived. It isn't--it isn't my father, is it?" + +"Pray do not alarm yourself, Miss Cheffington. Captain Cheffington is, +so far as I know, perfectly well." + +"Wouldn't it be better to speak out?" said Owen. As soon as he had +spoken, he felt that he had no right to put in his word. But he could +not help it; Theodore's self-important slowness was too exasperating. + +"Yes; do, please," said May. + +"There is no cause for alarm, as I said," returned Theodore, trying to +look as if he had not heard Owen's suggestion. "But a shock--a slight +shock--is apt to be felt at the announcement of sudden death, even in +the case of a total stranger." + +"Sudden death!" + +"Yes; I regret to inform you that your cousin, George Cheffington, has +been killed by the accidental discharge of a gun, when he was on a +shooting expedition up the country." + +All three of his listeners drew a deep sigh of relief. + +"Oh!" sighed May, the colour returning to her cheeks and lips, "I felt a +horrible fear for the moment about Aunt Pauline!" + +"This is a very important event," said Theodore, looking over his cravat +with his House-of-Commons air, and indicating by his tone that the fate +of Aunt Pauline was a matter of comparative insignificance. + +"I am sorry for poor old Lord Castlecombe," said May. + +"It will, of course, be a severe blow to your great-uncle; all the more +so that Mr. Lucius Cheffington is in deplorably weak health." + +"Lucius is never very strong, is he?" + +"He is never robust, but this season he has been extremely delicate. I +have reason to believe that a very high medical authority has expressed +considerable anxiety about him." + +"Does Aunt Pauline know?--I mean about George Cheffington's death?" + +Theodore drew himself up even more stiffly than usual as he answered, "I +am not aware what means Mrs. Dormer-Smith may have had of hearing the +news; but my impression is that it can scarcely yet have been +communicated to her. The original telegram to Lord Castlecombe only +reached him yesterday." + +"Did they--Lucius, or any of them--ask you to tell me?" inquired May. It +now for the first time struck her as being odd that Theodore Bransby +should have been selected for such an office. + +"Ahem! No. I was not precisely commissioned to inform you. But I was +anxious to spare you the shock of hearing of this disaster +accidentally." + +The fact was that Theodore had seen the telegram in a London newspaper +of that morning. + +There ensued a short silence. Then Theodore said to his step-mother, +with an elaborate shivering movement of the shoulders, "Don't you think +it grows very damp and chilly? I cannot consider it prudent to remain +here whilst the dews are falling." + +No one was sorry for this excuse to break up the sitting. Mrs. Bransby +made a move towards the house; and May said it was time for her to be +going home. + +"With your permission, I will have the pleasure of escorting you, Miss +Cheffington," said Theodore. + +"Oh no, please!--thank you. Mr. Rivers said----" + +"I have undertaken to see Miss Cheffington safe home," said Rivers. And +Mrs. Bransby suggested that Theodore must be tired with his journey; +and, moreover, that dinner would be ready at eight. But he disregarded +both suggestions. "I shall enjoy a stroll at this cool hour; and I don't +mean to dine. I lunched rather late, and will have something light +cooked for my supper about ten. Do you mean to go, Rivers? Oh! well, +I'll join you as far as Mrs. Dobbs's house." + +Of course, under the circumstances it was impossible for May to say a +word to prevent him. And accordingly he walked from his father's door on +one side of her, while Owen strode on the other. As for May, she had +been ready to cry at first with vexation and resentment; but after a +while the sense of something ludicrous in the behaviour of her bodyguard +so overcame her, that she was very near bursting out into a fit of +almost hysterical laughter. + +The two young men were full of smouldering animosity towards each other. +But they both manifested this feeling chiefly by a severe, and almost +sullen, demeanour towards May. She felt that she was being marched along +between them more like a detected malefactor than a young lady whom one +of them, at least, had besieged with tender proposals. If she addressed +a word to Owen, he answered her in dry monosyllables; if she spoke to +Theodore, he replied as from a lofty pinnacle of freezing politeness. + +"It only needs a pair of handcuffs to make the thing complete," said May +to herself. Then she finally gave up all attempts to be conversational, +and so they arrived at Jessamine Cottage in solemn silence. + +As they walked up the little garden-path in the gathering dusk, they +were overtaken by Mr. and Mrs. Simpson. The latter, as soon as she +recognized them, began to pour forth a fluent stream of talk, which did +not cease when Martha opened the door; and then, in some confused way +which neither May nor Owen could afterwards account for, they all found +themselves crowding into the little parlour together. As for Theodore, +he had from the first resolved to go in if Rivers went in, and to remain +as long as Rivers remained. + +Mrs. Dobbs looked up astonished at sight of Theodore. She glanced +inquiringly at May, who had a queer look on her face, half-distressed, +half-amused. Jo Weatherhead rose, staring glumly at the new arrivals, of +whom Sebastian brought up the rear, with an expression of countenance +which showed that his temper was bristling like his hair. But Mrs. +Simpson's sprightly eloquence spread itself impartially over all these +shades of feeling, as water makes a smooth and level surface above the +roughest bottom. + +"_So_ astonished, dear Mrs. Dobbs, to find Mr. Bransby, junior! Having +not the slightest idea that he was in Oldchester, you know; and what a +singular coincidence our coming upon them all three _just at your very +door_, was it not?" + +"Well," observed Sebastian in his rasping voice, "considering that we +were coming to sup with Mrs. Dobbs, and that Miss May was on her way +home, it would have been stranger if we had met at any one else's door." + +"Now, Bassy, I will not be overwhelmed by your stern logic. Ladies are +privileged to indulge in some _little_ play of the imagination. +Besides"--with an arch smile of triumph--"it really was the _fact_ in +this case. Oh! thank you, Mr. Weatherhead; any chair will do for me. +Don't let me disturb----! I suppose I may venture to make a shrewd +guess, Mr. Bransby, that you have come down to attend Miss Piper's +musical party? A great compliment, indeed, when one considers your +professional occupations. But the bow cannot always be bent. Even Homer, +I believe, is said _sometimes_----Oh, no; he nods, I fancy: which, of +course, is different. I really believe that Miss Hadlow will be the +_only_ star of our Oldchester firmament absent from the festive scene. +Now acknowledge, dear Mrs. Dobbs, that you were surprised as I was. You +did not expect this addition of 'youth at the prow'--if I may venture on +the expression--to our little circle this evening. At the same time I +must confess that three such sober young persons I never beheld. They +were all as silent as----It put me in mind of those beautiful lines: +'Not a drum was heard; not a funeral note, As his----' Not, of course, +that there was anything of a funereal nature. Far from it." + +This last touch overcame May's self-command. She burst into a fit of +uncontrollable laughter; breaking out afresh every time she glanced at +Owen's face, provoked and frowning (though with a twitch at the corner +of the mouth which showed he had to make an effort not to laugh, too); +or at Theodore's, solemnly bewildered. She laughed until the tears +poured down her cheeks; and her grandmother exclaimed, "May, May! Don't +be so silly, child! You'll get hysterical if you go on that way." But +the outburst relieved the nervous tension from which the girl had been +suffering; and as she wiped her eyes she was conscious that the laughter +had saved her from shedding tears of a different sort. + +"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Simpson," she said. "I don't know what +possessed me." + +"Don't think of apologizing, my dear Miranda. Indeed, why should you? +Nothing is more delightful than the unaffected hilarity of youth. I'm +sure I always enjoy it," returned the good Amelia, with a beaming glance +around her. + +"It's lucky Amelia doesn't mind being laughed at," said Sebastian +bitterly. + +"Oh fie, Bassy! We must distinguish, love. That all depends on who +laughs, and _how_ they laugh," observed his wife, with unexpected +perspicuity. + +"No doubt," said Theodore, "Miss Cheffington's nerves have been agitated +by the sad news which I brought her this evening." He spoke in a low +mysterious tone, addressing himself apparently to Mrs. Dobbs, although +he did not do so by name. At these words Mr. Weatherhead pricked up his +ears; and, although he had previously made up his mind not to say a word +to this "young spark" until the "young spark" should speak to him, his +curiosity so far overcame his dignity that he could not help +ejaculating-- + +"Sad news, ha! What news? What sad news,--eh?" + +Theodore turned to Mrs. Dobbs, and pointedly ignored poor Jo, as he +said, "Miss Cheffington will doubtless take a fitting opportunity of +speaking with you about this event in her family." + +"It's nothing that deeply concerns _us_, Uncle Jo!" broke in May, +flushing indignantly, and speaking with impetuosity. "A certain Mr. +George Cheffington has been accidentally killed out in Africa. But since +neither you, nor I, nor Granny ever saw him--nor even heard of him until +quite lately--we cannot pretend to be overwhelmed with grief." + +"Nay! George Cheffington killed?" exclaimed Mrs. Dobbs. + +Theodore had turned very pale, as he always did when angered. (May had +certainly meant to hit him, but she had no idea that the unkindest cut +of all had been her publicly addressing Mr. Weatherhead as "Uncle Jo.") +He answered slowly, "_I_ should not have chosen this moment when you +are--er--entertaining these--ahem!--your friends, to impart the +intelligence. But Miss Cheffington has taken the matter out of my +hands." + +"George Cheffington," repeated Mrs. Dobbs, pondering. "Why, let me see, +now; he'll be Lord Castlecombe's eldest son. Poor old man! Oh, I'm sorry +to hear it: very sorry. It's hard for the old to see their hopes die +before them." + +"I'm sorry for him, too, Granny," whispered May, somewhat penitent and +ashamed of her vehemence. She had certainly betrayed a touch of the +Cheffington imperiousness, and had spoken in a manner quite inconsistent +with meek amiability. She had also made Theodore Bransby feel +considerable resentment. Nevertheless, he had never been less inclined +than at that moment to relinquish the hope of making her his wife. Our +passions have various methods of special pleading. But if reason presses +them too hard, they will boldly substitute an "in spite of" for a +"because," and pursue their aim as though, like Beauty, they were "their +own excuse for being." + +"Don't let us intrude on a scene of family affliction," said Mr. Simpson +dryly. "Now, Amelia! We had better withdraw, I think." + +"Don't you talk nonsense, Sebastian Simpson," returned Mrs. Dobbs, +without ceremony. "Sit down, Amelia. I'm sorry I can't ask you young +gentlemen to stay and share our plain supper, for the truth is I don't +know that there's enough of it. But my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Simpson, +would break an old charter if they didn't remain." + +After that the two young men had, of course, nothing to do but to take +their leave. Owen's good humour had quite returned. Wisdom and virtue +should, no doubt, have made him disapprove of Miss May's little outbreak +of hot temper. But the truth is, that this fallible young man had +enjoyed her attack on Bransby. When the latter approached May to say +"Good night," he murmured reproachfully, "You were rather severe on me, +Miss Cheffington. I had no idea of displeasing you by what I said." + +She was conscience-stricken in a moment, and answered quite humbly, "I +beg your pardon if I offended you. But I thought you were not civil to +Mr. Weatherhead, and that vexed me. Please forgive me." And she endured +the tender pressure of her hand which immediately followed, as some +expiation of her offence. + +Mrs. Dobbs detained Jo Weatherhead that night for a moment, after Mr. +and Mrs. Simpson had gone away, and May was in bed. + +"I say, Jo, the death of yon poor man in Africa may bring about strange +changes," said Mrs. Dobbs, looking at him gravely. + +"Changes! How? What changes?" + +"Well, not changes for me and you, except through other folks. But do +you know that after Lucius Cheffington--who, they say, is but +sickly--Lord Castlecombe's next heir is my precious son-in-law?" + +"No!" exclaimed Mr. Weatherhead, making his mouth into a perfect round O +of astonishment. + +"Ay; but he is, though." + +"Next heir! Viscount Castlecombe, of Combe Park, and all the property!" +gasped Jo. + +"I don't know about the property. Only what's entailed, I suppose. But +if Lucius was to die, Augustus would be next heir to the title, as sure +as you stand there, Jo Weatherhead." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Probably of all the persons in Oldchester who knew or cared anything +about the death of George Cheffington, May was the only one who did not +immediately begin to make some calculations based on that event. The +contingency of her father's succeeding to the family honours had not +occurred to her. And her thoughts and feelings were now occupied with +other things. But Oldchester gossips discussed it with gusto; or, at +least, that small minority of them who interested themselves in the +fortunes of the Castlecombe family. The old lord was little personally +known in Oldchester, and the city had long outgrown any sense of the +overweening importance of a Viscount Castlecombe of Combe Park, which it +might have had a century earlier. To most of the rich manufacturers of +the place (whether they really thought themselves "as good as a lord" or +not) a lord whom they never beheld, and into whose house neither they +nor their children had the remotest chance of being admitted, was, at +any rate, genuinely uninteresting. + +In the rural parts of the county it was otherwise. People there could +not be indifferent to the domestic history of a large land-owner who +resided during the greater part of the year on his estate. In many a +country dwelling, from luxurious mansions down to mere labourers' +cottages, George Cheffington's untimely death was canvassed. From a +matrimonial point of view he had been considered the best match in the +county, and dowagers with daughters to marry had looked forward to the +time (often spoken of, but always postponed) when he should give up his +colonial appointment, settle down on his inheritance, and choose a wife. +And there was a large number of persons (tenants and dependents) to whom +the heir's character and conduct were matters of deep importance. To +these, Mr. Lucius Cheffington suddenly became an interesting personage. +Lucius had been very little at Combe Park since his boyhood, and the +report which gradually spread in the neighbourhood that he was a chronic +invalid, was received with many head-shakings and long faces. It seemed +impossible that a Cheffington should be delicate or weakly. "Look at the +old lord," people said; "why, he was sound and tough as a yew-tree!" And +the last time Mr. George was at home he had proved himself a true chip +of the old block by out-riding, out-walking, and out-cricketing all his +contemporaries. + +But that was years ago. Now George was stricken down in his strength, +Lucius lay ill of a low fever in London, and Lord Castlecombe sat lonely +and sorrow-laden in the home of his fathers. + +The old man was not one to seek for sympathy, nor even to tolerate much +manifestation of it. The only being to whom for many weeks he mentioned +his dead son's name was a superannuated stable-helper, who had set +"Master George" on his first pony, and in whose mind that somewhat +selfish and hardhearted individual had never outgrown the engaging +period of boyhood. "Master George" was the old man's idol, and "Master +George" had, to a great extent, reciprocated the man's liking, partly, +perhaps, from the sort of gratified vanity which makes us all prize the +exclusive attachment of any generally unamiable creature, biped or +quadruped. Old Dick was characterized by his fellow-servants as a crusty +old curmudgeon, and was notorious for a formidable power of swearing, +which he wielded freely, without much respect of persons. + +The first day after receiving the news of his son's death, Lord +Castlecombe towards evening walked out in a very unfrequented part of +the grounds, a path between two high holly hedges, leading by a back way +to the stable-yard; and there, with his hat pulled low on his brow, his +head bent, and his hands clasped behind him, he paced slowly, plunged in +bitter meditation. When he came to the corner whence the stables were +visible, he caught sight of old Dick seated on an ancient horse-block, +and busily rubbing at something in his hand. Lord Castlecombe stopped +short, and looked at the man, who evidently saw him, but made no sign, +neither ceased a moment from his occupation. After a minute or so Lord +Castlecombe called to him to ask what he was doing, and received no +answer. He repeated his question. Still no reply. A third time he spoke, +in a harsh, angry tone. And then Dick turned round upon him, and, with a +tremendous volley of oaths, answered furiously, "What am I doing of? I'm +a rubbing up Master George's little silver spurs as you gave him first +time he ever rode to hounds. I've allus kep' 'em bright from that day to +this. And I arn't a-going to leave off now, because some d----d +blundering fool as didn't ought never to have been trusted with a gun--I +wish I'd the rewarding of him, curse him!--has been and put an end to +the boy. That's what I'm a doing of, if ye _must_ know!" + +A tear fell on the little burnished spur; and then another, and another. +But old Dick rubbed on. And his master, after a short silence, came and +laid his hand upon his shoulder, and then walked away without a word. + +After that Dick was privileged to do what the boldest parson's wife in +the county dared not attempt:--talk to Lord Castlecombe about his son +George. + +Most of the letters of condolence which he received Lord Castlecombe +tossed aside contemptuously after glancing at the first line. But one +letter he read through, with a heavy frown on his face, and an +occasional drawing down of the corners of his mouth into a bitter smile, +far more sinister than the frown. It was from his niece Pauline; and its +composition had cost her much thought and anxiety. She flattered herself +that she had avoided saying a word which could jar on her uncle's +irascible temper. And the letter in itself was a good letter enough; but +it was a letter which should not have been written at all, if her object +were to soothe and conciliate Lord Castlecombe. Pauline did not allude +directly to her brother Augustus; but the very fact of her writing +seemed to bring his existence offensively into notice. She refrained +from expressing any special anxiety about the health of her cousin +Lucius. Yet the few words in which she "hoped to hear of his speedy +recovery," made the old man writhe as he read them. Pauline had tried to +combine duty with policy. It was, of course, her duty to condole with +her uncle in his bereavement, and it was clearly desirable not to +irritate the dislike with which, as she more than surmised, he regarded +Augustus. But the whole calculation was based on a misapprehension of +Lord Castlecombe's feeling towards her brother. It was neither more nor +less than hatred. And now jealousy was added to it:--a strange, savage +jealousy, on behalf of his sons. George--his strong, healthy, hardy +eldest-born--was gone. And Lucius--Lucius was not dying! No, no; not so +bad as that. But he was very weakly. And to think for one instant of the +possibility that Augustus Cheffington might some day reign in their +stead--might lord it over the heritage which he had so carefully +garnered for his own sons--was maddening. Any one but Augustus, he said +to himself. Any distant scion, the son of some impoverished far-away +cousin, parson, lawyer, apothecary. Any one, any one, but Augustus! + +But of the passionate intensity of this hatred Pauline had no suspicion. +A cleverer and more acute woman than she might not have guessed it. No +one, in fact, ever guessed it; unless it were Lucius, and he only in +part. His own sensitive antipathy to Augustus was an incomparably +feebler sentiment. Lucius had no strain of his father's vigour, whether +for good or ill. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith had also written by the same post to May. This epistle +was more hastily dashed off, and faithfully reflected the wavering mood +of the writer. One of her first preoccupations was whether, under the +circumstances, it would or would not be desirable for May to pay the +promised visit to Glengowrie at this juncture. She did not disguise from +herself that George Cheffington's death opened up the possibility of a +very different future for May from any which could hitherto have been +contemplated. It became a question whether it would be prudent to accept +Mr. Bragg. At all events it would be well to avoid precipitation. Mr. +Bragg was a fine match for a dowerless girl:--even for a (dowerless) +Miss Cheffington. But what if May's father were destined to become a +wealthy Peer of the realm? That might be still but a distant +possibility. Lucius was not thought to be in any present danger, and +certainly might recover. Of course he might recover. And he might marry, +and transmit the title and estates in the direct line. But--Pauline felt +that there was a "but" of vast import. + +And then there were minor cares connected with that great duty towards +"society" which she so diligently endeavoured to perform. + + "I am _most_ anxious about your mourning," she wrote to May. + "It is positively preying on my mind. Of course, nothing could + be in worse taste than any assumption of woe in this case. You + never saw poor George, and the kinship is not a very close one. + In fact, had it been one of the Buckinghamshire Cheffingtons, + to whom you are related in exactly the same degree, I do not + know that any mourning at all would have been necessary for + you. But, of course, the heir to the head of our family + occupies a different position. At any rate, do not err on the + side of exaggeration. White, with _noeuds_ of pale + heliotrope, and jet ornaments; or some black fabric of light + texture, with a little jet beading, would probably meet the + case. But it is impossible for me to give you precise + directions. I am too far away to know what is _bien porte_ at + this moment. Would that I could be near you! But I cannot break + my 'cure' at this point. Carlsbad has done me good, on the + whole; although, of course, the anxiety on your account, + connected with this painful news, has to some extent thrown me + back. Mrs. Griffin's taste might be thoroughly trusted; and, if + she would undertake to order your mourning from Amelie----. But + now I think of it, Mrs. Griffin will not return to England + until she leaves the Engadine for Glengowrie. And here, again, + I am greatly perplexed what to advise in your best interests. + _All things considered_, it might be well for you to put off + going to the Duchess. There will be the excuse of this terrible + news about poor George, you know. + + "I fear that I have written in a sadly _decousu_ fashion; but I + cannot help it, and my poor head warns me to leave off. As + usual, I have to pay for intense mental effort. Carlsbad has + not altered that." And the letter concluded with a postscript: + "Pearl-gray gloves." + +The only clear idea which May gathered from this letter was that her +aunt virtually held her released from her promise to go to Glengowrie, +and left her free to do as she pleased. She carried the letter to her +grandmother, saying, "Granny, I shall not go to Scotland after all. I +shall stay with you, whether you like it or not. Oh, don't ask me to +_explain_. I often feel with regard to Aunt Pauline like a deaf person +watching dancers. There is something which regulates her movements, no +doubt. But it is generally mysterious to me." + +Mrs. Dobbs privately thought that in this case she held a clue to the +mystery. "Ay," she said to herself, "Mrs. Dormer-Smith sees, just as I +saw from the first hearing of it, that great changes may come to pass +from this poor man's death. And she don't want May to commit herself too +soon. Lord save us! 'tis a sad, low, worldly way of looking at such a +matter." At this point some scarcely-articulate whisper of conscience +made Mrs. Dobbs's brow redden; and she added mentally, "Well, but if May +likes him? If the man's in earnest, and she likes him, it'll all come +right in the end." Nevertheless, Mrs. Dobbs had begun to entertain +shrewd doubts as to May's caring one straw for the unknown gentleman of +princely fortune. + +May, meanwhile, made haste to put her escape beyond the danger of Aunt +Pauline's changing her mind. She wrote to Mrs. Griffin, saying that she +should not be able to accept the Duchess's kind invitation to +Glengowrie. She gave no reason. The excuse which Aunt Pauline had +suggested she could not find it in her conscience to put forward. "If I +had wished very much to go, that would not have stood in my way," she +said to herself. "And it would be base and shocking to play the +hypocrite about such a tragedy." + +Neither did she think for a moment of refusing Miss Piper's invitation. +There had not been wanting a hint that she ought to do so. Mrs. Bransby +asked her if she meant to go to the musical party at Garnet Lodge; and, +being answered in the affirmative, said, "Well, it seemed to me that it +would be quite overstrained to refuse. But Theodore persisted that you +would not go; said it would be _inconvenable_. He almost quarrelled with +me about it. You know Theodore's infallible way of laying down the law." + +It need scarcely be said that if anything could have strengthened the +young lady's determination to attend Miss Piper's party, it would have +been hearing that Theodore Bransby took upon himself to object to her +doing so. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Like the fairy Pari-Banou's magic tent, which could shelter an army of +ten thousand men, and yet was capable of being folded into the smallness +of a handkerchief, what one calls "the world" shrinks and stretches to +suit the individual case. Into the world of Polly and Patty Piper Lord +Castlecombe and his family sorrows entered not at all. They might +occasionally be viewed afar from the tent door; but even that distant +recognition was not vouchsafed to them now, when the great event of the +musical party absorbed the attention of the two sisters. + +In addition to Miss Clara Bertram and Mr. Cleveland Turner, the occasion +was to be graced by the presence of Signor Vincenzo Valli. He was on a +visit to a noble family in Mr. Sweeting's neighbourhood, and had +volunteered to accompany that gentleman and his _protege_ to Miss +Piper's party. This honour, like other honours, was somewhat of a +burthen as well as a distinction. The programme of the evening's +performance, so carefully and anxiously arranged beforehand, must be +modified to suit Signor Valli; who, if he condescended to sing at all, +would do so only in accordance with his own caprice. And this would +probably occasion difficulties; since, although Miss Bertram's +amiability might be reckoned on, Mr. Cleveland Turner took a more +stiff-necked view of his own importance, and would not be disposed to +yield the _pas_ to Valli. Still Miss Piper had no cowardly regrets on +hearing of the distinction which was to befall her. She rose to the +occasion, and was prepared to undergo almost any impertinence from the +popular singing master with a Spartan smile. + +"I ought to understand how to manage artists, if anybody does," said +she, remembering the many cups of tea she had poured out for that +_irritable genus_ in old times. + +But the crowning interest and glory of the evening to her would be the +performance of an air from "Esther," which Miss Bertram had promised to +sing. The Misses Piper had invited her to visit them at first from +disinterested kindness; the young singer being tired with the work of +the season, and in need of rest and change of air. Under these +circumstances, both the sisters were too thoroughly gentlewomen to hint +at her singing for them. But Clara Bertram, casting about in her mind +for some way to show her gratitude to the kindly old maids, had herself +proposed to sing "something from 'Esther.'" And the offer was too +tempting to be refused. + +The composition selected was of the most infantile simplicity, and could +have been learned by heart in ten minutes. But a copy of it had been +sent to town a fortnight ago for Miss Bertram to "study." And Mr. +Simpson had been supposed to be "studying" the accompaniment for an +equal length of time. In fact, the performance of the air from "Esther" +was the original germ out of which the musical party at Garnet Lodge had +been developed. + +Clara Bertram arrived in Oldchester the morning before the great day: +partly in order that she might not be over-tired, and partly to give the +opportunity for a rehearsal of the air with Mr. Simpson. "Oh, I'm sure +we need not trouble Mr. Simpson," Clara began thoughtlessly. "It is +certain to go all right." But Miss Polly would not allow such a lax view +of responsibility. + +"Excuse me, my dear," she said, "but the music of 'Esther' is +not quite a drawing-room ballad. Not that you will not sing it +charmingly--perfectly! There is no doubt about that. But there is a +certain breadth--a certain style of phrasing, necessary for sacred +music. It is most important that the accompanist should understand your +_reading_ of the air. Indeed, I am anxious to hear it myself. I have my +own idea as to the proper rendering of the opening phrase, 'Hear, O +King, and grant me my petition!' But I shan't say a word until I have +heard you. Your idea may be better than mine; Ha, ha, ha! Who knows? +'Hear, O King, and grant----?' My own notion would be to begin +softly--almost _sotto voce_--in a timid manner: 'Hear, O King;' and then +to rise into a _crescendo_ as the strain proceeds 'and grant me my +PETITION!' But I won't say a word. You must sing it as you _feel_ it." + +May was, by special favour, admitted to the rehearsal. She had called to +see Clara Bertram on the afternoon of her arrival, and was ushered into +the long, low, old-fashioned drawing-room, where she found Miss Piper +seated at one end of it, amid a wilderness of rout-seats, and Mr. +Sebastian Bach Simpson at the piano, near to which Miss Bertram was +standing. + +"Oh, it's dear May Cheffington!" said Miss Piper, who had turned round +sharply at the opening of the door. "Yes, yes; come in, my dear. Not at +home to anybody else, Rachel! Not to _anybody_, do you hear? Now come +and sit down by me, my dear. She is going to try 'Hear, O King.' Very +glad to see you; you are so sympathetic, and such a favourite with +Clara! There now, don't make her talk! Nothing worse for the voice than +talking. Come and sit down." + +May was, indeed, scarcely allowed to exchange greetings with her friend, +who whispered smilingly, "We'll have our chat by-and-by." + +Then Mr. Simpson struck up the first chords of the symphony, and there +was breathless silence. He had not played three bars, however, before +Miss Piper jumped up and ran to the piano. + +"Oh, I beg pardon, Mr. Simpson, for offering a suggestion to so sound a +musician as yourself, but _don't_ you think a little more stress might +be laid on that chord of the diminished seventh? It prepares the way, +you see, for the pleading tone of the composition. _Le-da_, +_de-da_--like that! Oh, thank you! _Quite_ my meaning. Please go on." + +But Mr. Simpson did not proceed far without receiving another +"suggestion." + +"A little more force and fulness, don't you think, in that resolution of +the discord? I should like a richer effect." + +"I don't know how to make it richer," rasped out Mr. Simpson. "It is the +simple common chord, just four notes--C, E, G, C. I sounded 'em all. I +can play the bass as an octave, if you think _that_'ll be any richer." + +"Oh, thank you! Yes, I really think it will. You see 'Esther' was scored +for full orchestra, and the composer's ear hankers after the +instrumental effects. But that octave in the bass is a _great_ +improvement. Many thanks!" + +And in this fashion the symphony was at length got through. + +Then Clara uplifted her pure, clear voice, and sang. May listened in +delight. Surely Miss Polly must be enchanted! Even Mr. Simpson's hard +visage relaxed, as the thrilling notes rose in sweet pathetic pleading. +When they ceased, he wheeled round on the music-stool, and exclaimed +with the most unwonted fervour, "It's the loveliest soprano voice I've +heard since your great namesake, Clara Novello. Some of your notes +remind me of her altogether. Not that I expect to hear anything _quite_ +like her 'Let the Bright Seraphim,' on this side of paradise." + +May turned to Miss Piper. But, to her astonishment, Miss Piper's face +did not express unmingled delight. There was some slight and indefinable +shade on it. + +"Well, I do think that is most beautiful," said May. + +"Do you, my dear? Do you really?" + +"Why, how is it possible to think otherwise, Miss Piper? No one could, +surely!" + +"Well, it is very kind of you to say so, my dear; and, to be frank, it +shows a power of appreciation not quite common at your age. Of course it +would be affectation on my part, at this time of day, and with my +reputation behind me, to say I am surprised. But I am gratified, very +much gratified. And don't you think Miss Bertram did _her_ part +delightfully?" + +May looked at her blankly, unable to say a word in reply. Fortunately, +no reply was needed, for Miss Piper bustled up to Clara and thanked her, +and praised her. But still her manner fell decidedly short of its usual +cordial heartiness. At length, with many apologies and flowery speeches, +she begged that the air might be repeated, if Clara were sure it would +not tire her; and, this being at once conceded, she asked, hesitatingly, +"And would you mind if I offered a little suggestion? Just a hint!" + +"Certainly not, dear Miss Piper! I will do my best to carry out your +idea." + +"Oh, that is so sweet of you! Thank you a thousand times! If Mr. Simpson +will kindly oblige us once more----? Now, you see, it is just here, on +that G in alt, where the voice rises on the words, 'Grant, oh, grant me +my petition!' The sound 'grant,' according to my original conception, +should be given with a sort of wail--not, of course, an unmusical sound, +but just with a tinge of sadness expressive of the then miserable and +depressed condition of the Jewish nation, and at the same time with a +tone--an _underlying_ tone, as it were--conveying the latent hope (which +really was in Queen Esther's mind all along, you know) that by her +efforts brighter days might yet be in store for them. You feel what I +mean?" + +"I will try my best," answered Clara gently. And then she sang the air +again--precisely as she had sung it before. + +"_Now_," cried Miss Piper, jumping up and clapping her hands in an +ecstasy of triumph, "it is _perfect_--absolutely perfect!" + +She poured out unstinted thanks and compliments to both singer and +accompanist, observing to the latter that this recalled the great days +of the public performance of "Esther," and that she considered Miss +Bertram's rendering of "Hear, O King," far superior to that of the +well-known vocalist who had sung it originally. "But then, you see, +_she_ could not, or would not, take a hint. Consequently--although, of +course, she sang the notes perfectly--she never fully mastered my +conception. Now a word has been enough to show Miss Bertram the inner +meaning of my music; and she interprets it in the most _exquisite_ +manner." + +Before going away May contrived to have a few words with Clara Bertram +in her room. + +"It is such a pleasure to hear you sing again," said May. "How I wish +Granny could hear you!" + +"Will not your grandmother be here to-morrow evening?" + +"Oh no," answered May, colouring. "She does not go out to parties. +Granny does not belong to the class of the ladies and gentlemen who come +here. Her husband was a tradesman in this town. But she is the finest +creature in the world. And she has more real dignity than any one I +know." + +"Your grandmother lives here? But then--how is it--your mother is not a +foreigner?" + +"A foreigner? Good gracious! No. My mother was Miss Susan Dobbs. She +died years ago, when I was a little child. Why do you ask?" + +"Oh, nothing. I fancied--Valli said something about having known Madame +Cheffington abroad." + +"That was possible. My parents lived abroad for years. My father is on +the Continent now. I and the two little brothers before me were born in +Belgium." + +"Oh! I suppose that must be it," said Clara slowly. "Valli talks at +random sometimes." + +"Signor Valli talks very much at random if he ever said my mother was a +foreigner. By the way, do you know he is to be here to-morrow evening?" + +"Yes; so I hear." + +"You do not hear it with rapture, apparently." + +"No; I do not like him very much." + +"He likes _you_ very much, if appearances may be trusted," said May +laughingly. + +"He is always making love to me after his fashion. That is why I do not +like him." + +Clara spoke gravely, but with her habitual serenity. There was something +in her manner which seemed to be akin to her voice; something clear, but +not cold: a crystal with the sun in it. + +"Oh, that is hideous, isn't it?" cried May, with eager fellow-feeling. +"When people want to marry you, and you shudder at the bare idea of +marrying _them_." + +"I don't think Valli wants to marry me," answered Clara calmly. "Indeed, +I believe he feels a great deal of hostility towards me at times. He is +never satisfied unless his pupils will, more or less, flirt with him--a +kind of philandering which I object to. Besides, it wastes one's time. +But he has been spoiled more than you would believe by fashionable +ladies. I suppose you never read much of George Sands' writings?" + +"No," answered May, opening great eyes of wonder. + +"Nor I, except 'Consuelo,' and the sequel to it. I read them for the +musical part, which is wonderfully good. Well, in the 'Comtesse de +Rudolstadt' there is a certain Monsieur de Poelnitz, of whom it is said +that _en qualite d'ex-roue il n'aimait pas les filles vertueuses_. It +always seems to me that Valli, in his quality of philanderer, dislikes +women who won't flirt, whether he wants to flirt with them himself or +not." + +"How odious! How despicable!" + +"And yet he has his good qualities. He is very faithful and generous to +his family, and sends a great part of his earnings to them in their +little Sicilian village." + +Then, seeing that May still looked very much shocked and astonished, +Clara added, in a lighter tone, "But let us talk of something more +pleasant. You were speaking of your grandmamma. If you think she would +like it, I should be so glad to go and sing to her at her own home." + +"Like it! Of course she would like it! And I scarcely know how to thank +you as you ought to be thanked, for fear of sounding like Miss Piper!" + +Clara smiled. "Miss Piper and her sister are both very kind to me," she +said. + +"Yes; but I wish Miss Polly wasn't so ridiculous. Of course, her music +is poor and silly. It is only your beautiful singing that makes it sound +well. But then you could make 'Baa, baa, blacksheep,' sound well! And +then to hear the outrageous, conceited nonsense she talks----! I wonder +that you can endure it so meekly. _I_ couldn't!" answered May, with the +trenchant intolerance of her eighteen years. + +"Oh yes, you could, under the circumstances. I am only too glad to give +the kind old lady any pleasure. And she is _not_ so outrageously +conceited--for an amateur. But now I fear I must turn you out, much as I +should like you to stay; for Miss Piper sent me upstairs to lie down; +and if she finds I am not doing so, I shall have to drink another cupful +of Miss Patty's excellent beef-tea, which is so strong, it makes me feel +quite tipsy!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +On the following evening Garnet Lodge wore a brilliantly festive +appearance. Miss Polly was dressed betimes. An unprecedented variety of +geological specimens adorned her wrists and fingers, and hung over the +bosom of her lavender satin gown. She was walking up and down the +drawing-room, surveying the rows of empty rout-seats, fully +three-quarters of an hour before the earliest guest could be expected to +arrive. She was strung up for the great occasion; but, although excited, +she was not apprehensive. Miss Patty, on the other hand, was very +nervous. + +"I _am_ a little anxious about the jellies, Polly; and about that new +waiter from Winnick's. But I could face all that, if it wasn't for +'Hear, O King!' To think of hearing it again after all these years! I'm +afraid it will upset me. I'll take a back place near the door for I'm +sure to cry; and then I can slip out if necessary." + +"You need not be ashamed of your tears, my dear Patty. Very probably you +will not be the only person powerfully affected." + +"Well, I don't know. I don't remember that anybody cried when 'Esther' +was brought out at Mercers' Hall," returned Miss Patty thoughtfully. + +The first persons to arrive were Mr. and Mrs. Simpson. Amelia was +resplendent in a new pink silk gown, which seemed to magnify her florid +proportions, and made her a conspicuous object from every part of the +room. She was beaming with delight; and her gratification at finding +herself in Garnet Lodge under the present circumstances was so frankly +and exuberantly expressed, as to cause some mortification to her +husband. + +"This is, indeed, a memorable evening, dear Misses Piper," she began; +for Patty had by this time joined her sister in the drawing-room. "I was +telling Bassy that he ought to feel himself honoured by being selected +to officiate--if I may so express it--at the pianoforte on this +extremely interesting and auspicious occasion." + +"The honour is to me, Mrs. Simpson," answered Polly Piper politely. + +"There!" turning suddenly round with such vehemence as to sweep down a +rout-seat with her pink silk skirts. "What did I tell you, Bassy? +Whatever may be the opinion of certain persons enriched by +manufactures--and yet, after all, what should we do without +manufactures? How many of us would be capable of dealing with the raw +material? Blankets, for instance: take a sheep! But still I always say +to Bassy, 'Believe me, the _real_ gentry acknowledge and revere the +position of the Fine Arts!'" + +"Now, Amelia; hadn't you better mind what you're doing?" said Mr. +Simpson, setting the fallen rout-seat on its legs again. She irritated +him occasionally, but he admired her smart gown very much nevertheless, +and thought she looked remarkably well in it, and "quite the lady." + +Other guests arriving now claimed the hostess's attention. And presently +Clara Bertram, in her simple black evening dress, came into the room. +Then appeared Mrs. Martin Bransby on the arm of her stepson, and bearing +excuses from her husband, who was not feeling well enough to come out +that evening. Her appearance called forth ejaculations of admiration +from Mrs. Simpson, which, however exaggerated they might sound, were +quite sincere. Mrs. Simpson gave utterance to a kind of prose rhapsody +on the subject of Mrs. Bransby's dress; and then, bowing graciously to +Theodore, said, "And Mr. Bransby Junior, too. When I had the pleasure of +unexpectedly, and, indeed, fortuitously, meeting him the other evening +at the house of a mutual friend, I remarked that he was paying Miss +Piper a high compliment in abandoning Thetis" (the good lady probably +meant Themis) "for the seductions of Apollo. But we are told, on the +poet's authority, that 'music hath charms to soothe the savage----' Not, +of course, that the epithet is applicable in _this_ case. Quite the +contrary." Then, turning her glistening spectacles on the young man, she +playfully added, "But, in addition to the magic of the lyre, we have +what Hamlet--if I mistake not--so eloquently characterizes as 'metal +more attractive:' a collection of youth and beauty which might really, +without hyperbole, be termed a bevy." + +"That is an intolerable woman," muttered Theodore between his teeth, as +he conducted his step-mother to a seat. + +"Oh, poor Simmy!" remonstrated Mrs. Bransby. "She is a good creature. +But to-night she is in what Bobby and Billy call one of her 'dictionary +moods.'" + +Rapidly the room filled up. Besides many other Oldchester notabilities +with whom this chronicle is not concerned, there were present Major +Mitton, Canon and Mrs. Hadlow (the latter bringing May under her wing), +Owen Rivers, who came alone, Dr. Hatch, and Mr. Bragg. + +Mr. Bragg, after paying his respects to the ladies of the house, and +standing for a few minutes in his silent, forlorn-looking way, went up +to May, and said, "Will you come and have a cup of tea, Miss +Cheffington? They say hot tea cools you. That seems strange, don't it? +But I believe it's true. Rule of contraries, I suppose." + +May did not wish for any tea; but she saw Theodore Bransby hovering in +the distance, and she accepted Mr. Bragg's proffered arm almost eagerly. +She rather liked Mr. Bragg. His slow, quiet, common-sensible manner was +soothing. And she knew enough of his unostentatious good works in +Oldchester to have a considerable esteem for him. + +He piloted May into the dining-room, where tea and coffee were being +served, and where the new waiter from Winnick's was, so far, conducting +himself in an exemplary manner. + +"Have one of those little cakes, Miss Cheffington? They look very good." + +"No, thank you." + +Mr. Bragg provided May with a cup of tea, and then took one of the +little cakes himself. "They eat uncommonly short," said he with strong, +though quiet, approbation. "All the eatables seem good." + +"Not a doubt of it. Miss Patty is a wonderful housekeeper." + +"Now, do you suppose she made those little cakes herself?" + +"I cannot tell; but I am sure she could if she chose. She makes +excellent cakes." + +"Ah! I remember her giving me some very good ideas about a beefsteak +pudding. I tried to make my cook do one according to her receipt; but it +didn't answer," said Mr. Bragg with a sigh. Presently he remarked, as he +slowly stirred his tea round and round, "This is a bad job about Mr. +George Cheffington." + +"Yes; I am very sorry for Lord Castlecombe." + +"Ah, your uncle--or great-uncle is he?--I'm not much of a hand at +remembering the ins and outs of families--is hard hit. But he bears up +wonderfully, to outward appearance." + +"Have you seen him, Mr. Bragg?" + +"Yes; saw him o' Monday about some business. He's a keen hand at a +bargain, is Lord Castlecombe. I don't know that I ever met with a +keener." + +"Poor old man!" + +"Ay, that's what _I_ say, Miss Cheffington. Keenness and all that is +very well, so long as you've got somebody to be keen for. But it's a +dreary thing to be alone in advancing years. I feel it myself, though +I'm--well, I dare say nigh upon twenty years younger than his Lordship." + +There was a little pause, during which Mr. Bragg sipped his tea and ate +another cake. Then he repeated, "It's a dreary thing to be alone." + +"Are you alone, Mr. Bragg?" asked May, feeling that she was expected to +say something. "I thought you had sons and daughters." + +"Only one son, and he's away in South America--settled in Buenos Ayres +years ago. He's a rich man already, is Joshua. I started him well, +though I hadn't so much money in those days as I have now, not by a +deal, and he's done well. And he married a lady with money--a Spanish +merchant's daughter. No; there's no likelihood of Josh coming home to +England to keep me company, even supposing I wanted him to." + +Then ensued another pause. Then Mr. Bragg said, "I'm to have the +pleasure of meeting you at Glengowrie this autumn, I understand." + +"No; I have decided not to go. I have written to Mrs. Griffin to say +so." + +"Oh! What--on account of this death in your family?" + +"No, I cannot say that. It would be mere pretence. I never saw George +Cheffington in my life; and he was not a very close relation." Mr. Bragg +nodded approvingly. "That's a straightforward way of looking at it," he +said. "But I'm disappointed you ain't to be at Glengowrie." + +"Thank you. But my absence will not make much difference, I should say." + +"I don't know. It might make a deal of difference," returned Mr. Bragg, +speaking even more slowly than was his wont. "But where _shall_ you be +then?" + +"Where I like best to be; here, with Granny." + +"Granny?" + +"My grandmother, Mrs. Dobbs. You must know her by name, at all events, +for you are her tenant." + +"What! old Dobbs the ironmonger's widow?--begging your pardon." + +May drew herself up with a proud movement of the head, which might have +satisfied even the deceased dowager that there was a strong strain of +the Cheffington nature in her. "There is nothing to beg pardon for, Mr. +Bragg," she said haughtily. "You cannot suppose that I am ashamed of my +grandparents." + +"You've no call to be ashamed of them; but people don't always see +things in the right light," answered Mr. Bragg composedly. "Yes; to be +sure, now I come to think of it, Mrs. Dobbs's daughter did marry--Ah! Of +course, Susan Dobbs was your mother! I never knew her to speak to; but I +remember her. Uncommonly pretty she was, too. Why I might ha' +known--But, you see, your aunt, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, never mentioned your +mother's family." + +At this moment Owen Rivers approached them. He said he had been sent by +Mrs. Bransby to look for May; and, thereupon, carried her off to the +drawing-room. Mr. Bragg remained behind, pondering for a minute or so. +"To think of this girl being Lord Castlecombe's grand-niece _and_ old +Dobbs's grand-daughter! Well, things do turn out queer in this world!" +Then Mr. Bragg also repaired to the drawing-room. + +The musical portion of the evening went off brilliantly. But the great +success was undoubtedly Clara Bertram's performance of "Hear, O King!" +She sang poor Polly Piper's bald and _jejeune_ phrases in a way which +made such of the elder auditors as remembered its first performance ask +themselves, wonderingly, if this were indeed the music they had listened +to long ago. And she concluded with a _cadenza_, so expressive and +beautiful that Mr. Simpson, raptly listening, very nearly omitted to +play the final chords. + +When the song was over, there was a burst of applause, and an unusually +loud clapping together of kid-gloved palms. But, from the doorway, where +he had stood to listen, Valli precipitated himself through the crowd +like some swift missile; clearing his way, utterly regardless of +intervening backs and shoulders, male or female, and rushing up to Miss +Bertram, he exclaimed, "_Divinamente!_" + +"I am glad you are content," she answered in English. + +But Valli went on volubly in his own tongue, "Content? No; 'content' is +not the word. I am enchanted. You sang divinely! Demon of a girl, never +in all your life did you sing a song of _mine_ like that! What possessed +you?" + +"Gratitude," answered Clara quietly. + +Miss Piper now came up and kissed her effusively. Composer and singer +were soon surrounded by a little crowd, to whose polite exclamations of +"Charming!" "Immense treat!" "Really delicious!" and so forth, Miss +Polly kept replying, with lofty magnanimity, "Oh, but you must not +attribute all the honour to _me_! I assure you that more depends upon +the execution than you are, perhaps, aware of." + +This first triumph had a subtle effect on Mr. Cleveland Turner. He was +moved by it to play a dashing _valse de concert_ in place of a +composition of his own, modelled on a great original, which he entitled +"Twilight in the Gardens of Walhalla." It had been much praised in +esoteric circles. But it was somewhat trying to the unregenerate ear; so +much so, that a profane and flippant outsider had rechristened it +"Feeding Time in the Gardens of the Royal Zoological Society." Mr. +Sweeting afterwards mildly reproached his young friend for not having +performed it, and thus doing something towards improving and elevating +the taste of Oldchester. + +"It's no answer, my dear boy, to say they wouldn't have liked it," said +Mr. Sweeting. "No answer at all!" + +But it is to be feared that Cleveland Turner had some depraved enjoyment +of the applause which resulted from his lapse into heresy. + +Signor Valli, determined not to be eclipsed in popularity, and utterly +indifferent to the improvement of Oldchester's musical taste, made +himself unprecedentedly amiable. He sang vivacious Neapolitan street +songs, quaint Tuscan _stornelli_, pathetic Sicilian airs. And these +tuneful productions were greatly relished by that vast majority of the +listeners, who had not progressed so far as to connect ugliness with +righteousness--in music. + +When Valli at length rose from the piano, Mrs. Simpson made a sudden +plunge across the room, and presented herself breathlessly before him. +He was in a group of persons, among whom were Mr. Sweeting, Cleveland +Turner, and Miss Piper. Amelia's round, plump face was flushed by heat +and excitement to a rose-pink hue, several shades deeper than that of +her gown; and her spectacles glittered with a blank and baffling +brightness. + +"I cannot," she said, "quit this elegant scene of the Muses without +offering my poor tribute to you, Signor" (which she pronounced +"senior"), "for the delightful addition your performances have +contributed to refined enjoyment." + +Valli looked up rather bewildered, and, not knowing what else to do, +made her a profound bow. + +"I trust," continued the lady, "that I may be allowed to congratulate +you, signor, in the harmonious words of our great poet, upon your +'linked sweetness, long drawn out'--not, I'm sure, that any one present +considered for a moment that you were drawing it out at all _too_ long!" +And with a sweeping curtsey, in the performance of which she overwhelmed +Mr. Sweeting's legs in a flood of pink silk skirt, and backed heavily on +to Mr. Cleveland Turner's toes, Amelia withdrew, beaming. + +At supper Valli was in high good humour. He had been presented to Mrs. +Bransby, and was gratified to find himself placed beside her at the +supper-table, she being incontestably the most beautiful woman in the +room. Major Mitton sat near them, and pleased Valli by praises of his +singing--a pleasure not at all diminished by his quick perception that +the good major had no knowledge whatever of the subject. + +"It's a real treat, I assure you," said Major Mitton, "to hear a toon. I +don't pretend to be a great connoisseur, but I can enjoy a toon. Ah, +they may say what they please, but there's no music like Italian music, +and nobody can sing it like Italians." + +This led to some reminiscences of the major's garrison life in Malta; +and to the mention of the _prima donna_ Bianca Moretti. Mrs. Bransby +recognized this name as that of the heroine of Miss Piper's story, told +at her dinner-party several months ago. + +"Oh, you have heard the Moretti?" said Valli. "Yes; she _could_ sing. By +the way, I hear she is a kind of _maratre_--how do you call it?--to that +pretty Miss Cheffington." + +"Miss Cheffington? Oh, impossible!" + +"Pardon! Not at all impossible! I mean the young lady opposite, at the +other end of the table, sitting between those two young men. I know one +of them--the one with the blonde smooth head. I meet him in society. He +is tremendously annoying--_nojoso_--what you call a bore." + +"That is Miss Cheffington, certainly. But you don't mean to say that +Signora Moretti has married her father?" + +"Oh, married!" answered Valli, with a shrug. "She has been living with +him for years; that is what I mean. I hear _la Bianca_ has grown steady +now. But she had a _jeunesse pas mal orageuse_." + +Major Mitton tried to change the subject, glancing uneasily at Mrs. +Bransby. But Valli was impervious to the hint. Not that he had any +intention of outraging the proprieties, or any suspicion that he was +doing so. Mrs. Bransby was not a _jeune meess_. He had heard of English +cant and hypocrisy long before he came to England. But he had been +agreeably surprised to find them conspicuous by their absence in the +section of London fashionable society which he chiefly frequented. So he +went on narrating anecdotes of _la Bianca_ and her adventures, until +Mrs. Bransby rose, and quietly left the table. Upon this, Major Mitton +and several other men drew closer to Valli. And the consequence was +that, not only the mess-table, but other circles in Oldchester, were +regaled the next day with some choice morsels of scandal, in which the +name of Gus Cheffington figured conspicuously. + +But whatever might be the subsequent results of that talk, Miss Piper's +musical party had undoubtedly turned out a great success. + +That night, when the sisters were alone together, they sat up for an +hour discussing the events of the evening in a glow of pleasurable +excitement. Every point was remembered and dwelt upon, but of course +their interest centred in the song from "Esther." + +"It was a real triumph, Polly," said Miss Patty. "There can't be two +opinions about that. But--there, I thought I wouldn't tell you; but I +can't help it--I overheard Signor Valli and that Cleveland Turner, whom +I never did like, and never shall, speaking of 'Hear, O King,' in a +sneering, slighting manner." + +Quoth Miss Polly with a lofty smile, and laying her hand on her sister's +shoulder, "My dear Patty, I am not at all surprised to hear it. I have +experience of artists, if anybody has, and in the best of them I have +always observed one defect in judging my music--professional jealousy!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The day after the party at Garnet Lodge Mrs. Dobbs was surprised by the +announcement from her old servant, Martha, that Mr. Bragg was at the +gate, and would be glad to speak with her if she was at liberty. + +"Quite at liberty, Martha, and very happy to see Mr. Bragg. Now what can +_he_ want?" said Mrs. Dobbs to the faithful Jo Weatherhead, who was in +his usual place by the hearth. + +"Something about the house in Friar's Row?" suggested Jo. + +"Ah! I suppose so. Though I don't know what there can be to say. +However, it's no use guessing. It's like staring at the outside of a +letter instead of reading it. He'll speak for himself." + +Meanwhile Mr. Bragg had alighted from the plain brougham which had +brought him from his country house; and, walking up the garden path, and +in at the open door, presented himself in the little parlour. + +"I hope you'll excuse my calling, Mrs. Dobbs. You and me have met years +ago." + +"No excuse needed, Mr. Bragg. I remember you very well. This is my +brother-in-law, Mr. Weatherhead. Please to sit down." + +Mr. Bragg sat down; and he and his hostess looked at each other for a +moment attentively. + +Mr. Bragg was a large, solidly built man, with an impression on his face +of perplexity and resolution subtly mingled together. It is a look which +may be often seen on the countenance of an intelligent workman, whose +employment brings him into conflict with physical phenomena--at once so +docile and so intractable; so simply and so eternally mysterious. The +expression had long survived the days of Mr. Bragg's personal struggle +with facts of a metallic nature. In his present position, as a man of +large wealth and influence, he had to deal chiefly with the more complex +phenomena of humanity, and very seldom found it so trustworthy in the +manipulation as the iron and lead and tin and steel of his younger days. + +Mrs. Dobbs marked the changes wrought by time and circumstances in +Joshua Bragg. She remembered him--he had even been temporarily in her +husband's employment, at one time--in a well-worn suit of working +clothes, and with chronically black finger-nails. She saw him now, +dressed with quiet good taste (for he left that matter to his London +tailor), with irreproachably clean hands--on which, however, toil had +left ineffaceable traces--and a massive watch chain worth half a year's +earnings of his former days. + +"You're very little changed in the main, Mr. Bragg. And the years +haven't been hard on you," said Mrs. Dobbs, summing up the result of her +observations. + +"No; I believe I don't feel the burthen of years much; not bodily, that +is. In the mind, I think I do. You see, I've come to a time of life when +a man can't keep putting off his own comfort and happiness to the day +after to-morrow. Which," added Mr. Bragg thoughtfully, "is exactly where +young folks have the pull, I think." + +"That's queer, too, Mr. Bragg!" remarked Jo Weatherhead. "Putting off +your own comfort and happiness seems a poor way to enjoy yourself, sir." + +"Ah, but what you only _mean_ to do, always comes up to your +expectations; and what you _do_ do, doesn't!" rejoined Mr. Bragg, with a +slow, emphatic nod of the head. + +"Well, but as to 'feeling the burthen of years,' that's putting it too +strong," said Mrs. Dobbs. "You have no right to feel that burthen yet +awhile. Why, you must be--let me see!--under fifty-three." + +"Fifty-three last birthday." + +"Ay; I wasn't far out. Lord, that's no age! I might be your mother, Mr. +Bragg." + +"I'm glad to hear you say so!--I mean, I'm glad you don't think me too +old--not quite an old fellow, in short." + +"No; to be sure not!" + +Mr. Bragg was silent for fully a minute. Then he said, "Well, whether +I'm quite an old fellow or not, I'm too old to trust much to the day +after to-morrow. So, if not inconvenient to you, Mrs. Dobbs, I should +like to say a few words to you about a matter that has been on my mind +for some little time." + +"Certainly, Mr. Bragg. I'm quite at your service." + +Mr. Bragg looked slowly round the little parlour; looked out of the +window at the tiny garden; looked at Mr. Weatherhead; finally looked at +Mrs. Dobbs again, and said, "It's a private matter." + +"I had better go, Sarah," said Jo. "I shall look round again at +tea-time;" and he made a show of rising from his chair, very slowly and +reluctantly. + +"Oh, perhaps you've no call to go away, Jo. I have no business secrets +from my brother-in-law, Mr. Bragg. He is my oldest and best friend in +the world." + +Mr. Bragg rubbed his chin slowly with his hand, and answered with a +certain embarrassment, but quite straightforwardly, "It's a matter +private to _me_." + +After this Jo Weatherhead had nothing for it but to take his departure, +and to endeavour to calm the fever of his curiosity with tobacco. + +Mrs. Dobbs remained alone with her visitor, wondering more and more what +could be the subject of his proposed communication. Her thoughts, in +connection with Mr. Bragg, persistently hovered about the house in +Friar's Row. But his first words scattered them in widespread confusion. + +"Your grand-daughter, Miss Cheffington, tells me that she is not going +to Glengowrie Castle this autumn, Mrs. Dobbs." + +"Why--no--I believe not," answered Mrs. Dobbs, looking at him curiously. + +"In that case I don't think I shall go there myself. I'm no sportsman. I +always feel lonely in a house full of strangers. And, besides--I was +invited partic'larly to meet Miss Cheffington." + +Mrs. Dobbs preserved her outward composure; but something seemed to +whirl and spin in her brain; and, although she kept her eyes fixed on +Mr. Bragg, she saw neither him nor anything else in the room for several +seconds. + +"I was asked through Mrs. Griffin. You may have heard speak of her?" + +Mrs. Dobbs made an affirmative movement of the head. She could not have +articulated a word at that moment to save her life. + +"Mrs. Griffin is a well-meaning lady. But she's a lady who now and then +gets out of her depth, along of not--what you might call minding her own +business. But she always means to be kind. And the best of us make +mistakes." + +"Ah, that we do!" assented Mrs. Dobbs huskily. + +"Well, Mrs. Griffin is always telling me that my money--'a princely +fortune' she calls it: but it's a good deal more than _that_, by what I +can hear about princes--lays me under an obligation to marry again." + +At the words "princely fortune" Mrs. Dobbs winced, and a deep red flush +came into her face; but she answered quietly, "Wealth has its +responsibilities, of course, Mr. Bragg." + +"Yes, it has; and its troubles. But when all's said and done, it's +pleasanter to be rich than poor. I've tried both." + +"No doubt. Only--one may pay too dear even for being rich." + +"Well, I should be sorry for any lady I married to consider that she +paid too dear for being rich." + +"Oh, I meant no offence, Mr. Bragg." + +"There's nothing you may not pay too dear for, I suppose; except a quiet +conscience. You may pay too dear for a wife. And there's two sides to +every"--he was about to say "bargain," but he substituted the word +"arrangement." + +Mrs. Dobbs had taken up her knitting, and was twisting and pulling it +with her fingers in a restless, nervous way. When Mr. Bragg made a +pause, and looked at her, she said, "Of course, that's quite true." + +He went on, "I make bold to hope, Mrs. Dobbs, that you'll give me credit +in what I'm going to say, for having some serious reason, and not +talking idly, out of pride and vanity; in short, for not being what you +might call a fool." + +"Yes, I will, Mr. Bragg." + +"Thank ye. On that understanding I may say, between ourselves, that Mrs. +Griffin has mentioned to me several quarters where I shouldn't meet with +a refusal in case I went to look for a wife. I couldn't have supposed it +myself--at least, not to the extent it really does run to. But the fact +has been brought to my knowledge, so that there's no possibility of +making any mistake about it. More than one young lady--some of 'em +titled, too," said Mr. Bragg, with an odd glimmer of complacency +flitting for a moment like a will-o'-the-wisp above the solid _terra +firma_ of his native good sense. "More than one, and more than two, have +been what you might call trotted out for me." + +Mrs. Dobbs's fingers twitched and pulled at the wool on her +knitting-needles, and the muscles round her mouth seemed to tighten. But +she said not a word. + +Mr. Bragg continued, "Now, perhaps you think I have no business to take +up your time with all this, when it's no concern of yours?" + +Still Mrs. Dobbs did not speak; so he added-- + +"But it does concern you in a way." + +She made a visible effort to say, quietly, "Ah, indeed! How's that?" + +But this time she was perfectly sure beforehand of what he was going to +say. + +"I'm coming to that in one moment." Here Mr. Bragg paused, took out his +handkerchief, and passed it over his face before proceeding. "I +mentioned that Mrs. Griffin sometimes gets out of her depth (with the +best of intentions) when minding other people's business. She got a +little out of her depth when attending to mine. She somehow took it for +granted that I should be quite content to marry any lady of high family, +who would look handsome in my diamonds and spend my money in the +fashionablest style. She was consequently a good deal taken aback when I +offered some objections to one or two parties of her recommendation. But +I managed to make her understand at last. Said I, 'Mrs. Griffin, I don't +undervalue the honour; but I'm too old to wear a tight shoe for the sake +of appearances.' The fact was, I did not feel myself what you might call +_drawn_ towards any of these young ladies. I couldn't fancy them sitting +opposite to me at my own fireside with a kind look on their faces. Now, +the reason I say all this to you," continued Mr. Bragg, laying his +massive hand on the elbow of Mrs. Dobbs's chair, "is because there is a +young lady that I _do_ feel drawn towards--a young lady I've had +opportunities of observing at home and abroad. And it was talking of +this young lady that I said one day to Mrs. Griffin, 'Now, if you could +find some one like Miss May Cheffington who'd condescend to have me, I +should think myself a very fortunate man.' She quite jumped at the +idea." + +"Jumped, indeed!" burst out Mrs. Dobbs, indignantly. "Then she took a +most unwarrantable liberty. She could know nothing about Miss May +Cheffington's feeling in the matter. What business had _she_ to jump?" + +"Nay, nay, my good lady! My good lady! You don't understand. She jumped +at the idea on _my_ account. Why, Lord bless me, you couldn't +suppose----! She told me at once that May Cheffington was the +purest-minded and most unworldly girl she ever knew. I remember her very +words; for I couldn't help thinking at the time how queer it was that +Mrs. Griffin should admire unworldliness so much." + +There was a long pause. Mrs. Dobbs was greatly moved from her usual +self-possession. She could not trust herself to speak, while Mr. Bragg +was surprised, and somewhat offended, by her reception of what he had to +say. + +He had really, all things considered, very little purse pride. But he +had been accustomed for many years to be dumbly conscious of the power +of his wealth, as an elephant is dumbly conscious of the power of his +weight; and for a few moments he felt as the elephant might feel if he +were subjected to the mysterious process which we hear of as +"levitation," and suddenly found himself brushed aside like a fly. Mr. +Bragg did not wish to bear down his fellow-creatures unduly by force of +wealth. But wealth had come to be a large factor in his social specific +gravity. + +After a while, Mrs. Dobbs said tremulously, and by no means graciously, +"Well, I don't see what I can do for you in the matter." + +"I am not asking you to do anything for me, Mrs. Dobbs. I was not aware +till last night that you were any relation to Miss Cheffington, or, +leastways, I had forgotten it, for I believe I did hear of your +daughter's marriage years ago. When I became aware of it, I thought you +would take it as a mark of respect and goodwill if I came and spoke to +you confidentially. But you don't appear to see it in that light." + +Mrs. Dobbs turned round and offered him her hand, saying, "I ask your +pardon if I have said anything to offend you. You don't deserve it; you +are very far from deserving it. But I'm shaken; my nerve isn't what it +was. I haven't been so upset since my poor dear daughter Susy ran away +and got married." She was trembling, and her restless fingers were +making sad work with the knitting. + +"Well, well, there's no occasion for you to put yourself about, you +know. I should like you to tell me just this--under the circumstances I +think there's no objection to my putting the question--is there anybody +else in the field before me?" + +"N-no; I think not. I can't say." + +"If the young lady has no other attachment," said Mr. Bragg, in his +slow, pondering way, "I don't see why I should not be able to make her +happy. What do _you_ think?" + +"You're a deal older than the child: there's a great disparity, Joshua!" +answered Mrs. Dobbs, reverting, in her agitation, to the familiar form +in which she had addressed him thirty years back. + +"So there is, but that can't be helped; we must just reckon with it as +so much alloy. There wouldn't be much romance--couldn't be; but a vast +number of people get on very well without romance, and are useful and +happy. I have some reason to believe," added Mr. Bragg, looking at her a +little askance--for there was no knowing whether this fiery old woman +might not take offence again--"that certain members of Miss C.'s family +would approve." + +Mrs. Dobbs answered with unexpected meekness. "There's no need to tell +me _that_. And you mustn't suppose, Mr. Bragg, that I don't +appreciate--that I don't know how the world in general would look upon +your offer." + +"Why, you see, it doesn't amount exactly to an offer. I thought I would +talk matters over with you, and, what you might call, put the case. You +see," said Mr. Bragg, placing the forefinger of his right hand upon the +thumb of his left, "for my part I could undertake that any lady who did +me the honour to marry me should have steady kindness and respect. I +wouldn't marry a woman I didn't respect, not if she was the handsomest +one in the world and a duke's daughter. Then," placing his two +forefingers together, "I ain't a bad temper, nor a jealous temper. +Lastly," here he shifted the forefinger of his right hand to the middle +finger of his left, "though I don't want to lay too much stress upon +money, yet it's a fact that my wife, and, in the course of nature, my +widow, would be a very rich woman." + +"I suppose you know," said Mrs. Dobbs, leaning her forehead on her hand, +and letting the knitting slide from her knees to the floor, "that May's +father is alive?" + +"Yes; I do know it. And I've got something to say to you on that score. +And I'm sure you will agree with me that it is very desirable for Miss +C. to have protection and guidance. I'm not speaking for myself now, you +understand. Her aunt, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, is a very genteel lady, with +very high connections. But--quite between ourselves, you know--I +wouldn't give much for her headpiece." + +Mrs. Dobbs was looking at him eagerly, and scarcely allowed him to +finish his sentence before she said, "But you have something to say +about Captain Cheffington?" + +"Well, perhaps you know it. If you don't, you ought to. He has been +travelling about for years with an Italian opera-singer. She is with him +now in Brussels. And people say he has married her." + +Mrs. Dobbs clasped her hands together, and ejaculated, almost in a +whisper, "Oh, my poor child!" + +Mr. Bragg could not tell whether she were thinking of her daughter, or +her grand-daughter. Perhaps the images of both were in her mind. + +"You had not heard of it, then? Ah! It's a bad prospect for Miss C." + +"But is it true? So many stories get about. It seems incredible to me +that Augustus, so selfish as he is, should have bound himself in that +way." + +"I hear it confirmed on all hands. It's an old story now, and pretty +widely known. But, look at it which way you will, it's an ugly, +disreputable kind of business, Mrs. Dobbs." + +She was silent for a while, sitting with her head sunk on her breast, +and her hands clasped before her. Then she said, almost as if speaking +to herself, "God knows! The woman _may_ not be bad or wicked. How are we +to judge?" + +Mr. Bragg drew his hand away from the elbow of Mrs. Dobbs's chair, where +it had been resting, and said, in a tone of solemn disapprobation, "I +don't think there can be much doubt as to the character of the--person, +Mrs. Dobbs. I understand she became so notorious in Brussels through +keeping a gaming-house, or something of that kind, as to call for the +interference of the police." + +"May I ask how this information reached you?" said Mrs. Dobbs, turning +round and looking full at him. + +Mr. Bragg hesitated for a few moments before answering. "It has come to +me from various quarters; but the latest is an Italian singer, who has +been chattering a good deal. He was at Miss Piper's. There's always a +certain amount of risk in having public performers in your house. I +don't encourage 'em myself--never did from a boy; and I think it a pity +that Miss Piper does. Her sister and me are quite agreed on that point." +Mr. Bragg here pushed back his chair and stood up. "I should wish you to +understand," he said, "that I should have thought it my duty to tell you +this, feeling the interest I do in Miss C., quite independent of our +previous conversation." + +"I understand. Thank you." + +"With regard to that conversation, you can, if you think it advisable, +what you might call _sound_ your grand-daughter. I think that might +avoid disagreeables for both parties. It can't be pleasant for a +sensitive young lady to refuse an offer. And I don't mind saying that it +would be extremely unpleasant to me to _be_ refused. A man of my age +and--well, I may say my position, don't like to look ridic'lous. Of +course you don't care much for _my_ feelings: can't be expected to; but +I think, on reflection, you'll see that by coming to you first in this +way, I've also done the best I could to spare the feelings of Miss C." + +With that Mr. Bragg shook hands with his hostess, and, quietly letting +himself out of the house, walked to his brougham, and was driven away to +the office in Friar's Row. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +To one so habitually resolute, sagacious, and self-reliant as Mrs. +Dobbs, the shock of discovering that she has been living under a +delusion is severe. It is not merely mortifying--it is alarming. After +her conversation with Mr. Bragg, Mrs. Dobbs felt like a person who, +walking along what seems to be like a solid path, suddenly finds his +foot sink into a quagmire. The firmer and bolder the tread, the greater +the danger. + +She had not been conscious, until the disenchantment came, how much hope +and pride she had lavished on the image conjured up in her fancy by +Pauline's "gentleman of princely fortune." The image had been vague, it +is true, but brilliant. All that she knew of Mrs. Dormer-Smith's pride +of birth, her contemptuous rejection of young Bransby's suit, the +importance she attached to introducing her niece into the "best set," +and so forth, served to strengthen Mrs. Dobbs in all kinds of delusions. +She had taken it for granted that the sort of person whom Pauline could +approve of as May's husband must possess certain qualifications. She no +more thought, for instance, of doubting that he would be a gentleman, +than that he would be a white man. The "princely fortune" added +something chivalrous to the idea of him in her mind, since he was ready +to share it with portionless May. And now these airy visions had been +rolled aside like glittering clouds; and the solid, prosaic, ugly fact +presented itself in the form of Joshua Bragg! + +Mrs. Dobbs sat for more than an hour after he had left her, with bowed +head and hands clasped, scarcely stirring. For a while she could not +order her thoughts. Her mind was confused. Images came and went without +her will. Under all was a bitter sense of disappointment, and a vague +disquietude for the future. At first she had dismissed the notion of +May's marrying Mr. Bragg, as one too preposterous to be entertained for +a moment; but by degrees she began to ask herself whether she might not +be as mistaken here as she had been in other undoubting judgments. Mr. +Bragg was a man of probity, and--or so she had hitherto thought him--of +excellent sense. Oldchester held many substantial proofs of his +benevolence. Could it be possible that girlish May was willing to think +of this man for a husband? Mrs. Dobbs tried to look at the matter +judicially. + +There were many instances of happy marriages where the disparity in +years was as great as in this case. Who could be happier than Martin +Bransby and his beautiful young wife? But this example had not the +effect of reconciling Mrs. Dobbs to the possibility of May's accepting +the great tin-tack maker. Martin Bransby was a man whom any woman might +love--well educated, clever, genial, of a handsome presence, and with +manners of fine old-fashioned courtesy. There could be no comparison +between Martin Bransby and Joshua Bragg. + +No, no, no! Such a match would be a mere coarse bargain. The very +thought of it was an outrage to May. And yet--the pendulum of her +thoughts swinging suddenly in the opposite direction--she remembered +that neither Mrs. Dormer-Smith nor Mrs. Griffin had so considered it. +And was it not true what Mr. Bragg had said--that many people did very +well without romance, and were useful and happy? Self-distrust, once +aroused, became wild and uncontrollable. She fought against her better +instincts; telling herself that she was a fool, and that the world was +no place for story-book sentimentality. If May married this man she +would be safe from the gusts of fortune; she would be honoured and +caressed (for it was clear that society accepted Mr. Bragg without qualm +or question), and she would have boundless possibilities of doing good. +_This_, surely, at all events, was a worthy aim! + +At this point--just as after a conflict between winds and waves there +sometimes comes a sudden calm and the serenity of sunshine--the turmoil +of her mind was stilled all at once, and she saw clearly. She lifted up +her head and said aloud-- + +"'What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose +his own soul?' Lord, forgive me! I was arguing on the devil's side every +bit as much as that poor creature, Mrs. Dormer-Smith. And without her +excuse of knowing no better! The whole thing is plain enough. If May +could bring herself to care for the man--and such unlikely things happen +in _that_ line that one daren't say it's downright impossible!--she'd do +right to marry him; if not, she'd do wrong. And that's all about it." + +Here, at least, was a firm foothold. And having struggled out of the +quagmire, Mrs. Dobbs was able to consider the other subject of Mr. +Bragg's talk with her--the rumour that Captain Cheffington had married +again. If it were true, and, above all, if his new wife were such a one +as Mr. Bragg had described, there was a new source of anxiety as to +May's future. + +As she was meditating on this point, Jo Weatherhead returned, eager to +hear all about her interview with Bragg, and to impart to her something +he had just heard himself. Mrs. Dobbs was glad to be able to feed Jo's +hungry curiosity by telling him the reports about her son-in-law, since +she could not betray Mr. Bragg's confidence respecting May. She found +that he had been hearing a version of them from Mr. Simpson, whom he had +met in the road. Valli's utterances at Miss Piper's supper-table had +already revived all kinds of obsolete gossip about Captain Cheffington. + +"It'll be terrible for my poor lamb if half the bad things they say are +true," said Mrs. Dobbs, shaking her head. + +Jo's private opinion was that Captain Cheffington's conduct under any +given circumstances was pretty sure to be the worst possible; but he +tried to comfort his old friend, as he had succeeded in comforting +himself, by setting forth that her father's behaviour, be it what it +might, could scarcely affect May's happiness very deeply, seeing that +she had been entirely separated from him for so long. + +"And as to her position in the world, that you think so much of"--Mrs. +Dobbs winced at this, and turned her head away--"why, I shrewdly +suspect, Sarah, that a deal worse things than ever reached you and me +have been known about Captain Cheffington in aristocratic circles this +long time back. And yet Miranda has been received among the tip-toppest +people as if she belonged to 'em. And there's her own great-uncle, the +Lord Viscount Castlecombe of Combe Park, a nobleman notorious for his +heighth" (Jo did not mean his stature), "has quite taken to her, by all +accounts." + +After some consultation, they agreed together that it would be well for +Mrs. Dobbs to tell her grand-daughter something of the reports which +were flying about, lest they might reach her accidentally, or, in a +still more painful way, through malice, and find her unprepared. +Moreover, Jo urged his old friend to write boldly to Augustus demanding +an answer as to the truth of the statement that he had married a second +wife. Mrs. Dobbs at length consented to do so, although she had little +hope of eliciting the truth by those means. But Jo was strongly of +opinion that if Captain Cheffington were not married he would be +desirous, for many reasons, of repudiating the statement; and if he were +married he might not be displeased at this opportunity of saying so, +although pride, or indolence, or a hundred other motives, might prevent +him from making the opportunity for himself. + +The communication was made to May when she came home from College Quad +that afternoon. And, although greatly surprised at first, it did not +produce so much effect as her grandmother had anticipated. + +May had enough of the healthy, unquestioning veneration of a child for +its parent to take her father on trust; and Mrs. Dobbs had always been +careful not to lower Captain Cheffington in his daughter's esteem. But +May did not--naturally could not--feel for him any of that strong +personal attachment which is apt to look jealously on interlopers. She +regarded him with a somewhat hazy affection, largely compounded of +imagination and dim childish traditions. Some added tenderness sprang, +perhaps, from the notion that "poor papa" had been unfortunate, and that +the world had treated him below his deserts. + +After the first surprise was over, she said, "But why should he keep it +secret? Wouldn't he have told you, granny?" + +"Perhaps not, May; I hear from him very seldom, as you know." + +"Very seldom! Yes; but in such a case as this! Perhaps, though, papa +thought it might hurt your feelings, on account of mamma." + +"Perhaps," returned Mrs. Dobbs drily. + +"People are unreasonably sensitive sometimes, are they not? As for me, +it never entered into my head to think of my father's marrying again; +but now I do think of it, it seems to me that it would be a very good +thing." + +"Its goodness or badness would depend, of course, on--circumstances." + +"I do really think more and more that it would be a good thing, granny. +Papa must have many lonely hours, you know. He likes Continental life +best, to be sure; but still he is far away from his own country and his +own people. It seems almost selfish in us not to have thought of it +_for_ him. Oh, I hope she is a nice, kind woman, who will be good to him +and take care of him. I think I ought to write at once and assure him +that I have no grudge in my heart about it. And I'm sure you have none +either; have you, granny dear?" + +Mrs. Dobbs found it at once more painful and more difficult than she had +foreseen to breathe degrading suspicions into this frank, pure mind. But +it was necessary not to allow May to cherish what might prove to be +disastrous illusions. + +"It isn't all such plain sailing, May," she answered slowly. "I will +write to your father, and you had better wait for his reply. We don't +know that he is married at all. And if he is, we don't know that there's +much to be glad about. They do say that the lady is not a fit match for +your father." + +"_He_ is the best judge of that, I should think," returned May. Then she +added, her young face flushing with a generous impulse, "I dare say +people may have said the same of my own dear mother." + +"No, May. No one ever said of your own dear mother what is said of this +woman." + +There was a sternness in her grandmother's voice and face which startled +the girl. + +"What do they say, granny?" she asked quickly. + +Mrs. Dobbs checked herself. "Oh, I cannot tell you exactly. There are +lots of stories about. Some will have it that--her character is not +quite blameless." + +"_Who_ dares to say so of my father's wife?" + +"Hush! May. There's no need to call her your father's wife yet. Signor +Valli says the person in question----" + +"Signor Valli? Then I don't believe a word of it. Not one word. I know +he talks wildly, and jumps at things. Why, he told Clara Bertram that my +mother was a foreigner, and that he had met her. So you see how accurate +and trustworthy Signor Valli is." Then, after a moment, as if struck by +a sudden thought, she asked, "Is--_she_ a foreigner?" + +"I believe so." + +"Then that is what he meant, I suppose." + +"It's right to tell you, May, that Signor Valli is not the only one who +has heard disagreeable things." + +"Oh, of course, they all baa' one after the other! You have no idea, +granny, what foolish back-biting talk goes on among the people whom Aunt +Pauline calls 'society.' I've seen them roll a morsel of gossip over and +over, while it kept growing all the time like a snow-ball--or a +mud-ball. And no doubt many people whom Aunt Pauline doesn't call +'society' are as bad. A sheep is a sheep, whichever side of the hedge it +is on," said this young censor with fine scorn. + +Mrs. Dobbs in her heart did not put implicit faith in the stories which +reached her. The young and the old--when they are sound-hearted--are +both prone to disbelieve slander--the young from innocence, the old from +experience; for there is no lesson more surely taught by life than the +evil lightness with which evil is attributed. + +But with regard to these particular stories, unwelcome corroboration was +given to Mrs. Dobbs by Clara Bertram. Clara carried out her proposal of +going to sing at Jessamine Cottage. She went there one afternoon when +May was absent at the Hadlows', and introduced herself. There were only +Mrs. Dobbs and Mr. Weatherhead to listen to her; but she sat down at the +old square piano--feebly tinkling now, but tinkling always in tune, like +the conscientious ghost of a defunct instrument--and sang her best. Her +audience, though limited, was highly appreciative; and she soon found +that their applause was not given ignorantly. + +Apart from the charm of her singing, Clara won their sympathies by her +kindly, unaffected simplicity. She inspired trustfulness. One must have +been blindly false one's self to doubt her truth. Mrs. Dobbs was moved +to question her a little about Valli. + +"Of course, you have heard this gossip about May's father?" she said. + +"Yes. To say the truth, I almost hoped you might speak on this subject; +and so I purposely came when I thought May would not be here. I hinted +to her something that Valli had said to me; but I saw she knew nothing." + +"I have told her. At least I have told her enough to prevent her being +taken by surprise." + +"I am glad of that. I think you have done very wisely." + +"This Signor Valli, now," said Mrs. Dobbs musingly. "I suppose he tells +lies sometimes, eh?" + +Clara reflected for a moment before she answered. "In one way--yes. That +is to say, if he hated you, and saw you give a penny to a beggar, he +would impute some nefarious motive for the action, and say so without +scruple; but I don't believe he would be likely to invent +circumstances." + +Then she went on to tell how Miss Polly Piper remembered a dreadful +story about some gambling transactions; and how Major Mitton had +furbished up his Maltese reminiscences; and how everybody found +something to say, and not one good thing among them all. + +Jo Weatherhead listened with a kind of dread enjoyment. So much curious +gossip _could_ not but be interesting; yet he wished with all his heart, +for May's sake, that it were not true. + +"I speak openly to you," said Clara; "but I am reticent about all this +with other people. Pray believe that." + +Mrs. Dobbs did believe it. Clara seemed to have become intimate with +them all at once. + +"May I come again?" asked the young singer as she took her leave. + +"May you come! _Will_ you come? I didn't ask you, because, when a person +generously gives me one pearl of price, it is not my way to snatch at +the whole string. Your time is precious; your voice is precious." + +"Dear Mrs. Dobbs, your kindness is precious. Not that I am ungrateful +for the kindness bestowed on me by--other people; but there is such a +delightful feeling of homeliness here. And then, although you have +praised me too much, I must say that you and Mr. Weatherhead are good +judges of music." + +"Well, I won't go so far as to deny that you _might_ strew your pearls +before certain animals who would value them less," replied Mrs. Dobbs. + +As for Jo Weatherhead, he became so enthusiastic in Miss Bertram's +praises behind her back, that Mrs. Dobbs laughingly declared he was in +love with her. And perhaps he was, a little. Many more such humble +innocent "loves" spring up and die around us every day than we reck of. +They do not ripen into fruit, but simply blossom like the wayside +flowers; and the world is all the sweeter for them. + +When May came home that evening, she was delighted to hear of the +favourable impression her friend had made; although she declared it was +shabby of Clara to have come in her absence. May brought the news from +College Quad that Constance had written home for a prolonged leave of +absence, having been invited by the duchess to accompany Mrs. Griffin to +Glengowrie. + +"Canon Hadlow grumbles a little," said May; "but he will let her go. And +I am so glad; I hated the idea of going; but Conny will enjoy it, and +everybody else will soon find out that she is the right girl in the +right place--which, I am sure, I should not have been." + +"Mr. Bragg is not going to Glengowrie either, I understand," said Mrs. +Dobbs, growing very red, and coughing to hide her embarrassment. + +"No; Mr. Bragg and I are quite agreed in not liking that sort of thing. +He says he feels lonely in a strange house; and so do I. If the duke and +duchess were my _friends_, it would be different." + +"Mr. Bragg has a good deal of sense, I think." + +"Plenty of common sense." + +"And--ahem!--and good feeling--don't you think?" + +"What's the matter with your throat, granny? Shall I get you a glass of +water?--Oh yes; he does a great deal of good with his wealth. Canon +Hadlow was saying only this afternoon that Mr. Bragg gives away very +large sums in private, besides the public subscriptions, where every one +sees his name." + +"Mr. Bragg was here the other day to speak to me--on business--No, no; I +don't want any water! Sit still, child. And I think you are a great +favourite of his." + +"It's quite mutual, granny. Often and often, in London, I used to prefer +a quiet talk with Mr. Bragg to the foolish chatter of smart people." + +"Ay, ay! But 'smart people' need not be foolish, May." + +"N--no; they _need_ not. Only so many of them--especially the young +men--seem to think it part of their smartness to put on a kind of +foolishness." + +Mrs. Dobbs looked wistfully at her grand-daughter. In that process of +"sounding" May, which Mr. Bragg had recommended, and which Mrs. Dobbs +was endeavouring to carry out, there arose this difficulty: the chords +gave forth a full response to every touch; but who should interpret the +meaning of the notes? Mrs. Dobbs had been accustomed to read May's +feelings by swift intuition. She was now afraid to trust to that. Her +interview with Mr. Bragg had upset so many of her preconceived ideas as +to what could be considered probable, or even possible, in the matter of +her grandchild's marriage, that her judgment seemed paralyzed. And then +to risk a mistake which should involve May's life-long unhappiness, +would be too tremendous a responsibility! + +Measured by Mrs. Dobbs's unquiet thoughts it seemed a long time, but in +reality less than a minute elapsed between May's last words and her +saying-- + +"Talking of smart people, granny, don't you think Aunt Pauline is sure +to know the truth about papa?" + +"I cannot tell. There might be reasons why she should not have heard it, +May." + +"Well, at all events, I have been thinking that I will write to her and +ask. If she does know, and is keeping her knowledge back from me for any +reason--some of Aunt Pauline's mysterious dancing before deaf people, +you know--that will make her speak out." + +"I don't see why you should not write to her, if you choose, May." + +Mrs. Dobbs had little doubt that Mrs. Dormer-Smith would be annoyed and +perturbed by May's writing to her on the subject, whether the story of +the marriage were true or false, and whether she herself had or had not +heard of it. But Mrs. Dobbs was in no mood to shield Pauline from +annoyance or perturbation. + +"She and her 'gentleman of princely fortune,' indeed!" said Mrs. Dobbs +to herself. "Why couldn't she say old Joshua Bragg? and then one would +have known where one was." + +So it was settled that May should write to her aunt. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Theodore Bransby at first indignantly repudiated Valli's scandals about +Captain Cheffington. He was quite unprepared for them, having, it may be +remembered, heard nothing of Miss Piper's story, told at the +dinner-party in his father's house; and having, moreover, loftily +snubbed every one in Oldchester who ventured to hint anything to the +disparagement of his distinguished friend. What could Oldchester know +about such persons as the Cheffingtons? + +But general testimony and public opinion were too strong for him, and he +was forced to give up his distinguished friend. He fell back on +mysterious hints of sympathy and intimacy with "the family," and +allusions to what "poor dear Lucius" had said to him on the last +occasion of their dining together at Mrs. Dormer-Smith's. + +In his heart, Theodore was deeply annoyed. He considered that Captain +Cheffington (supposing report to speak truly) had not only derogated +from his proper place in the world, but had, in some sense, personally +injured him (Theodore) by forming a connection so far beneath him. +Nevertheless, it was very possible that Captain Cheffington might some +day come to be Viscount Castlecombe, and much would be forgiven to a +wealthy peer of the realm. Theodore was conscious that he himself could +forgive much to such a one. He was not prone to indulge in idle fancies, +yet he caught himself once or twice writing on a corner of his +blotting-pad the words "Hon. Mrs. Theodore Bransby," with pensive +sentiment. But let her father's fate and fortunes be what they might, +Theodore felt that he must still desire to marry May Cheffington. The +recognition of this feeling in himself gave him an agreeable sense of +his own elevation of soul. That fellow Rivers talked a vast deal of +flashy nonsense, which dazzled people; but it was possible to take a +serious and sensible view of life without being commonplace. Theodore +did not by any means wish to be, or to be thought, commonplace. + +He had just been called to the Bar, and ought by this time to have begun +his professional career on the Midland Circuit. But he lingered in +Oldchester on the plea of delicate health. It was not so much the +presence of May Cheffington as that of Owen Rivers which chained him +there. If Rivers would but have left Oldchester, Theodore would have +turned his back on it also with small reluctance. The dull, vague +jealousy of Rivers, which he began to feel long ago, had become acute. +Rivers would have been a distasteful personage to him under any +circumstances; but viewed as a rival, he inspired something like +loathing. And yet the desire to watch him--not to lose sight of him so +long as May should be in Oldchester--was irresistible. Theodore had +never come so near quarrelling with his step-mother as on the subject of +Owen Rivers; but he had failed in causing the latter to be excluded, or +even coldly received, by Mrs. Bransby. + +There was a painful scene one day at luncheon, when Martin, Mrs. +Bransby's eldest boy, vehemently took up the cudgels in defence of his +absent friend, Owen, of whom Theodore had been speaking with sneering +contempt. Martin was ordered away from the table for being impertinent +to his half-brother. But general sympathy was with the culprit; and Mr. +Bransby said when the boy had left the room-- + +"Of course, it would not do to allow Martin to be saucy; but you are too +hard upon Rivers, Theodore. He may have his faults; but, if he be idle, +he is not self-indulgent. Rivers has a Spartan disdain of personal +luxuries; and although he doesn't work, no one suffers by that but +himself. He is incapable of a mean thought, has a most noble +truthfulness of nature, and is a gentleman to the core." + +Theodore turned deadly white, and answered, "I am sorry not to be able +to agree with you, sir. To be a lounging hanger-on, as Rivers is at the +Hadlows', is not compatible with my conception of a gentleman." + +He rose as he spoke, and left the room, so as to cut off any possibility +of a reply. + +Mrs. Bransby had sat by with downcast eyes, parted lips, and beating +heart. She was divided between delight at hearing her husband assert his +own opinion against Theodore and her constitutional timidity and dread +of a quarrel. When Theodore was gone, she put her hand on her husband's +shoulder, and said-- + +"It is like you, dear Martin, to stand up for the absent. We are +all--the children and I--so fond of young Rivers." + +"I hate priggishness, and I hate spitefulness," rejoined Martin Bransby, +with a sparkle in his fine dark eyes. + +The old man's face had flushed when he uttered his protest. It was an +unusual outburst; for of late--whether from failing health, or from +whatever cause--Mr. Bransby had more and more shrunk from opposing or +contradicting Theodore. He seemed almost timidly anxious to conciliate +him; and was evidently distressed by any symptom of ill-will between his +eldest son and the rest of the family. After a while the flush died from +his cheek, and the fire from his eye. He sat with bowed head, softly +caressing the white jewelled hand which had slidden down from his +shoulder. Presently he said-- + +"Don't let us cherish feuds, or blow up resentment, Loui. If there are +subjects on which Theodore thinks differently from you--and me; and me, +too, my dear--let us avoid them. He has his good points, though he has +weak ones--as we all have. Let us spare them. Theodore may be very +helpful to the boys when I am gone. And I have it very much at heart +that there should be peace and goodwill between them." + +In Theodore's mind, however, the little incident rankled. He was silent +about it. But that was no indication that he had either forgiven or +forgotten it. + +He was also annoyed and disappointed at seeing May Cheffington so seldom +during this sojourn at home. He had formerly met her constantly at +College Quad; but he could not now frequent Canon Hadlow's house as he +had done in old days, even had he wished it. And although it appeared +that Mrs. Bransby had struck up a great friendship with May during his +absence, May's visits to her were very brief and rare. Theodore half +suspected that his step-mother perversely stinted her invitations to the +girl, for the express purpose of vexing him, and at length he plainly +asked her how it was that Miss Cheffington came to their house so +seldom. Mrs. Bransby was tempted to give him her real opinion as to the +reason, but she refrained. She would not vex Martin by saying sharp +things to his son. So she answered vaguely that Miss Cheffington now +passed a good deal of her time at Garnet Lodge with her friend, Clara +Bertram. + +"Excuse me," said Theodore, tilting his chair, and looking down as from +the summit of Mont Blanc upon his step-mother. "The Dormer-Smiths were +very kind to that little Bertram girl in town, and Mrs. Dormer-Smith +launched her in some of the best houses; but--pardon me for setting you +right--she is not quite on such a footing as to be a _friend_ of Miss +Cheffington's." + +However, he acted on the hint accidentally given, and began to honour +the Miss Pipers with frequent visits. + +The good-natured old maids received him very kindly; but it may be +doubted whether he were particularly welcome to any of the persons who +had taken the habit of dropping in nearly every evening at Garnet Lodge. + +Major Mitton and Dr. Hatch were old _habitues_; but the circle now +included some new ones. Mr. Bragg was often there. (Theodore considered +it a striking proof of the incurable commonness of Mr. Bragg's +tastes--already illustrated, to Theodore's apprehension, by a memorable +instance--that he, to whom some of the best county society was +accessible, and who had even been invited to Glengowrie, should prefer +the middle-class sitting-room, and the middle-class gossip of Polly and +Patty Piper.) There was, too, the inevitable Owen Rivers, and +occasionally Mr. Sweeting and Cleveland Turner would drive over from the +country-house which the former had hired in the neighbourhood. Miss +Bertram's visit was prolonged; in Theodore's opinion very unduly. It +might be all very well to invite her for professional purposes; but, +once the musical party was over, it was absurd to keep the girl as a +visitor in the house. Altogether, there was much that Theodore +disapproved of at Garnet Lodge; but, as he told himself, he went there +for a purpose totally disconnected with its owners. And if he did some +violence to his social principles by condescending to frequent such an +undistinguished and _bourgeois_ set of people, he was resolved to make +amends by totally dropping their acquaintance in the, not distant, +future. + +As to May, although he genuinely believed that the Dormer-Smiths had +influenced her against him, he was not so foolish as to think that she +had been coerced, or that she was at all in love with him. Nevertheless, +a vast deal might depend on the influence of those around her, in the +case of a girl so young, so fresh-hearted, and so inexperienced. He had +faith in his own perseverance and constancy. The main point--the only +vital point--was to prevent any rival from succeeding. So long as May +were free he had good hope. It was quite certain that the Cheffington +family would never sanction her marrying Owen Rivers. _That_ must be +taken as absolutely sure. And, indeed, Miss Cheffington herself would +probably scout the idea. But with regard to what Rivers hoped and +intended Theodore could not be mistaken. There, at least, he was +clear-sighted. It was disgraceful on the part of a fellow like Rivers, +subsisting in idleness on a beggarly pittance, and without prospects for +the future, or advantages in the present, to aspire to such a girl as +May Cheffington. Of course, Rivers knew very well that it would prove a +good speculation. May might prove to be the sole heiress of a rich +nobleman. At any rate, she would certainly inherit her grandmother's +money. Mrs. Dobbs's savings, however paltry, would be a sufficient bait +for Rivers, who had none of that ambition for fine tailoring, +upholstery, and the paraphernalia of fashionable life which becomes a +gentleman. Jealousy apart, perhaps that which made Owen peculiarly +offensive to him was to see a man at once so poor, so contented, and so +free from any misgivings as to his right to be generally respected. + +On his side, it must be owned that Owen wasted no cordiality on +Theodore. To see May speaking civilly to that correctly dressed and +dignified young man caused Mr. Rivers a certain irritation which +occasionally manifested itself in the most unreasonable ill-humour +towards her. + +"I really believe you _like_ his empty arrogance," he said to her once. +"Why else you should sit and listen to him with that complacent air, I +cannot conceive." + +"Oh, I enjoy it of all things," answered May mischievously; "otherwise I +should, of course, cut him short by remarking, in a loud voice, and with +a ferocious glare, 'Mr. Bransby, I look upon you as a tedious prig.' How +delightful social intercourse would become if we had all reached that +fine point of sincerity!" + +But there were other causes of dislike between the young men unconnected +with May Cheffington. Owen felt not only admiration, but regard, for +Mrs. Bransby, and resented her stepson's demeanour towards her, while +Theodore was embittered by hearing Owen's praises in his own family. + +The perception of this lurking enmity between them made May anxious to +smoothe asperities and prevent a rupture. In her heart, although she +admitted he had done nothing to startle or offend her of late, she +intensely disliked Theodore Bransby; yet she found herself in a position +of taking his part against Owen. Owen was too absolute, too inflexible, +too implacable, she said. After all, Theodore had always conducted +himself irreproachably. He might not be agreeable to _them_ (May had +innocently come to join herself with Owen in this kind of partnership in +sentiment), but probably _they_ were not always agreeable to other +people; they ought to be tolerant if they wished to be tolerated--and +the like sage reflections. All which pretty lectures, though they made +Owen no whit less obdurate towards Theodore, melted his heart into ever +softer tenderness for May. + +She had not gone to Glengowrie. The reprieve he had allowed himself, +after which she was to depart, and he must steel himself to endure her +absence for, probably, the remainder of his life, had expired. But May +was still there. And there, too, was he. He was free to go away at any +moment. But he lingered. He began to suffer sharp pangs of regret when +he thought of the lost opportunities which lay behind him; for now +sometimes it seemed to him as if this sweet, pure girl might come to +love him. And what had he to offer her? How could he ask her to share +such a life as his? Owen had held certain uncompromising theories: such +as that a woman who hesitated to partake poverty with the man she +professed to love was not worth winning; and that a man must be but a +poor creature who should weigh a woman's fortune against himself, and +fear to woo a well-dowered girl lest he might be thought to love her +money bags and not her. And he had long ago decided that with _his_ +marriage, at least (supposing that unlikely event ever took place), +considerations of money should have nothing to do on either side. But +theories--even true theories--are apt to find themselves a little out of +breath when suddenly confronted with the fact. + +The advice so vigorously given by Mrs. Dobbs to do some honest work, if +it were but breaking stones upon the road, took a new significance when +he thought of May. That on this point May agreed with her grandmother's +view he had ascertained, although a shy consciousness restrained her +from urging him to change his course of life. He began to cast about in +his mind for some possible employment; but he found, as so many others +had found before him, how difficult it is to turn "general acquirements" +into a definite channel. + +A chance word of Mr. Bragg's at length suddenly suggested a hope to him. + +Mr. Bragg mentioned one evening at Garnet Lodge that he purposed making +a journey into Spain, partly on matters connected with his son's +business; and said that he should like to find some trustworthy person +to accompany him as secretary and interpreter. + +"I don't speak any foreign language myself," said Mr. Bragg. "Of course, +there's always somebody that knows English; and pounds sterling are a +pretty universal language, I find, and make themselves understood +everywhere. But still, you're at a disadvantage with people who can talk +your tongue while you can't talk theirs." + +"But you could send somebody, couldn't you?" suggested Miss Patty. +"Spain, I've heard, is such a horrid country." + +"Horrid!" cried Major Mitton indignantly. (He was strong in +recollections of sundry youthful escapades and excursions from "Gib.") +"Most delightful country! Most picturesque, poetical, and----" + +"Oh yes; but I meant the cooking," explained Miss Patty. + +Mr. Bragg, however, valorously declared himself ready to face the perils +of Spanish cookery. His son was not satisfied with his correspondent at +Barcelona. Mr. Bragg wanted change of air; and since he had given up the +idea of visiting the Highlands this autumn, he would take this +opportunity of seeing foreign parts, and at the same time looking into +matters at Barcelona for his son. + +Owen's heart beat fast as the thought occurred to him of offering +himself to Mr. Bragg as secretary for this journey. He hurried after Mr. +Bragg when the latter's carriage was announced, and stopped him in the +hall to ask when and where he could have a private interview with him. +Mr. Bragg answered in his slow, ruminating way, as he took his coat from +the servant-- + +"An interview with me? Oh, well, why not come over to lunch? My house +ain't beyond a pleasant walk for your young legs." + +"No, thank you; I won't come to luncheon. But I want an appointment--I +shall not take up much of your time--on business." + +"Oh, on business, is it?" said Mr. Bragg. It was curious to note how +evidently the sound of the word made him bring his mind to bear on what +was said to him, with a new and keener attention. "On business! It's +nothing you could write, I suppose." + +"Yes; I could write it. Shall I?" + +"I think it would be the best plan, if you don't mind. You see I find, +in a general way, that talk--what you might call, branches out so. Now a +letter limits a man. I don't mean this for your partic'lar case, you +know, but speaking in a general way. Perhaps, if we find afterwards that +there is anything to talk over, you might look me up at my office in +Friar's Row. It'll be easier to settle all that when I know what the +business is. Good night. My respects to your aunt." + +Owen hastened to his lodgings, and set himself at once to compose a +letter to Mr. Bragg. Seeing that it was then past eleven o'clock at +night, and that Mr. Bragg had set out for his country-house, it was +scarcely probable that he should have found a secretary between that +hour and the following morning. But Owen felt as if every moment's delay +might be fatal. Oldchester persons, who had seen him lounging on Canon +Hadlow's lawn, and merely knew him as a young man fond of smoking, and +reading, and such unprofitable employments, would have been amazed at +the impetuous energy he threw into the writing of this letter. But the +same weight of character which gives massiveness to repose adds a +formidable momentum to action. + +The main difficulty, he soon found, was to make his letter short. This, +after several failures, and the tearing up of three copies, he +accomplished to a fair extent, if not wholly to his own satisfaction. +When he had finished the letter, he put it into a cover, stamped and +addressed it, and went out to post it with his own hand. By that time it +was considerably past midnight. The letter could have been delivered by +hand in Friar's Row next morning, and would probably have reached Mr. +Bragg equally soon. But it was a relief to Owen in his restless, +impetuous mood to have done something irrevocable. And there are few +actions in life so obviously irrevocable as posting a letter. This is +what he had written-- + + "DEAR SIR, + + "I venture to offer myself for the post of your secretary + during the journey you propose making to Spain. + + "My qualifications are--Honesty; a fair knowledge of the + Spanish language; and considerable experience of travelling in + Spain, where I have made two long tours on foot. Perhaps I + ought to add to these good health, and willingness to be + useful. My disadvantages are--Ignorance of the forms of + mercantile correspondence, and inexperience of the duties of a + secretary. I believe I could learn both very quickly. + + "I have hitherto been a man without occupation. I am now + anxious to have one by which I can earn money. Should you, on + inquiry and consideration, think I could honestly earn some as + your secretary, I should be grateful if you would give me a + trial. + + "I am ready to wait on you at your office, or elsewhere, in + case you wish for an interview, and remain, + + "Dear Sir, + "Yours truly, + "OWEN RIVERS." + +The following afternoon Owen was summoned to see Mr. Bragg at his +office. The old house in Friar's Row had been painted and varnished +inside and out. Plate glass glittered in the window panes, and elaborate +brass handles shone on the doors. Owen had never been in the house +during the days of Mrs. Dobbs's occupation. But he knew that May had +spent much of her childhood there; and he looked round the private room +into which he was shown with a tender glance such as probably never +before rested on those mahogany office fittings, morocco-covered chairs, +and neatly ranged account-books. + +Mr. Bragg was sitting at a writing-table, and held out his hand without +rising, when Owen entered. + +"Sit down, Mr. Rivers," he said, pointing to a chair opposite to his +own, on the other side of the table. + +Owen sat down, and remained waiting in silence. + +"Well, so you think you'd like to go to Spain with me?" said Mr. Bragg, +slowly rubbing his chin, and looking thoughtfully at the young man. + +"I should like to get work to do, Mr. Bragg. I don't care much where it +is. But it struck me that I might be useful to you in Spain." + +"Ah! Well, I was surprised at your letter." + +"Nothing in it that you object to, I hope?" + +"Oh no. Oh dear, no. Only I didn't know you was in want of employment. +And I should have thought----" + +"Yes?" + +"I should have thought you'd ha' liked some more--what you might call +professional employment." + +"A man can't step into a profession from one day to another. And +besides, the professions are overstocked. There's no elbow-room in any +of them--especially for a poor man." + +"Ah! Yes; I hear that sort of thing is said a great deal; but it seems +to me that might be a reason for giving up living altogether. There's a +good many of us in all classes, one way and another; but a man has got +to _make_ room for himself." + +"You have a right to say so, Mr. Bragg, and I have no right to dispute +it: for you have tried and succeeded, and I have not even tried." + +"Ah! That seems a pity--with your education, and all. However, I didn't +intend to branch out, as I said to you last night. With regard to the +point in hand, I would just say at once that this situation would be +strictly tempor'y, you understand. It couldn't be looked on in the light +of what you might call an opening." + +"I understand." + +"At the same time it might--I don't say it would--lead _to_ an opening," +continued Mr. Bragg, indenting the paper before him by drawing his +thumb-nail along it with a strong, steady movement, as though he +mentally saw the opening in question, and were mapping out the way to +it. + +"I quite understand that if you engaged me as secretary for this +journey, you would not bind yourself to anything beyond. Whether +anything further came of it, or not, would depend, first, on my +suitableness; and next, on circumstances." + +"That's it," said Mr. Bragg, leaning back in his chair, and nodding +slowly. + +"Well, Mr. Bragg, I can only say I would do my best. As to my knowledge +of Spanish, I'm not afraid. I began to learn the language first for the +sake of reading Cervantes, as so many people have done before me; but +since then I have acquired a colloquial knowledge of it by talking with +all sorts of Spaniards when I was tramping about their country." + +"I _have_ heard," said Mr. Bragg, not displeased to show himself +acquainted with the literary aspect of the matter, "of a man that +learned Spanish in order to read a book called 'Don Quixote.'" + +"Just as I did." + +"Oh! _Did_ you? I thought you mentioned a different name. And can you +write it?" + +"Fairly well; but I should have to learn the commercial style." + +"There'd be more need, perhaps, for you to understand it than to write +it yourself. All communications with my son in Buenos Ayres could, of +course, be written in English." + +Mr. Bragg here made a long, thoughtful pause. It was so long a pause +that Owen at length broke it by saying with a smile, though the colour +rose to his brow-- + +"As to my character, I can't give you one from my last place, because I +never had a place; but my uncle, Canon Hadlow, will, I believe, +guarantee my trustworthiness." + +He felt a queer little shock when Mr. Bragg, instead of protesting +himself fully satisfied on that score, answered in a matter-of-fact +tone-- + +"Ah! yes, I dare say he will. I make no doubt but what that'll be all +right." Then, after a second, shorter pause, he continued, "There's one +point, Mr. Rivers, that I must put quite plain. I expect everybody in my +employment to obey orders. Now, you see, you, having been what you might +call brought up a gentleman, might not----" + +"Oh, I hope you don't think that insubordination is part of a +gentleman's bringing up?" + +"It hadn't ought to be; but it's best to be clear." + +"Clearly, then, I can undertake to obey your orders; and I would only +warn you to give them carefully, because I shall carry them out to the +letter. If you ordered me to make a bonfire of your bank-notes, I should +burn 'em all without mercy." + +Mr. Bragg laughed his quiet, inward laugh. There was something in the +conception of himself ordering bank-notes to be burned, which keenly +touched his not very lively sense of the ludicrous. + +"All right," said he. "I'll take _that_ risk." + +"Then am I to conclude--may I hope that you will engage me?" asked Owen, +with nervous eagerness. + +"Why, I shall ask leave to turn it over in my mind a little longer. But +I'll undertake not to keep you waiting beyond to-morrow morning. You +see, if I do make an offer, it's best you should have it in writing. And +sim'larly, if you accept it, I ought to have that in writing." + +"Thank you. Then I need not intrude longer on your time." + +"No intrusion at all, Mr. Rivers. Good morning to you." + +Owen turned round at the door, and coming back to the writing-table, +said, "May I ask you to keep my application to yourself for the +present?" + +"Certainly," answered Mr. Bragg. But he looked slightly surprised. + +"Of course, I don't mean the thing to be secret so far as I am +concerned." + +"Why, no; we couldn't hardly keep it secret," said Mr. Bragg gravely. + +"Of course not. But if your answer should be favourable, I should like +to be the first to tell--a--a person--the one or two persons who take +any interest in me." + +"But I shall have to say a word to your uncle; and that's pretty well +the same thing as saying it to your aunt, I take it." + +"Oh yes; to be sure. I didn't mean you not to mention it to _them_." + +"All right. I certainly shall not mention it to anybody else," returned +Mr. Bragg. + +And when the young man was gone, he said to himself, "I wonder who else +there is I _could_ mention it to that would care two straws one way or +the other. I like his way. He don't jaw like that young Bransby. And he +didn't try to soap me." + +The next day Owen Rivers was formally engaged as travelling secretary to +Mr. Bragg for three months, beginning from October, which was now near +at hand. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Mrs. Dobbs had judged rightly as to the effect of May's letter on her +Aunt Pauline. That sorely tried lady was overwhelmed at this time by +various troubles. She did not write to May, but addressed a very long +and somewhat rambling letter to Mrs. Dobbs. After the strongest +expressions of dismay and horror at the rumour of her brother's +marriage, Pauline proceeded-- + + "I really cannot answer May's letter--at all events, not at + present. I am deeply distressed that she should have addressed + me on the subject at all. It is such terribly bad form in a + girl of her age to appear cognisant of _anything_ not brought + to her knowledge by the proper channels. I had heard a vague + report of the connection--which was bad enough. But who could + have supposed that Augustus would have degraded himself to the + point of _marrying_ such a person! But I ought not to trouble + you with my feelings on this matter, for I am very sure you + cannot imagine one tithe of the various distressing results to + the family which will flow from it. It is much to be regretted + that May so precipitately decided not to go to Glengowrie; + particularly under recent untoward circumstances. I learn from + a friend in town that my cousin, Mr. Lucius Cheffington, is + much better. I do not mean, of course, that this is an untoward + circumstance; but it alters the position of affairs. I scarcely + know what I write. You may not be aware--few persons are + aware--of the delicate state of my nervous system. I suffer + keenly from any mental pressure. And of late I seem to have had + nothing else! My cure at this place has been sadly interfered + with by anxiety for others. But, really whether poor dear + Lucius recover or not, if this story from Belgium is true, my + niece's position will be a most painful one. From the tone of + her letter to me, I can see that she does not at all take in + the situation. You can tell her one thing from me: If my + brother were to succeed to the title to-morrow, he would have + nothing but what the entail gives him. So if she imagines + otherwise it would be well to undeceive her. You won't mind my + saying that in this respect the circumstances of my brother's + first marriage were peculiarly unfortunate, since they + prevented any settlement being made for the children." + +"Ay," said Mrs. Dobbs, interrupting her reading at this point, "not to +mention that by that time Augustus had nothing left to settle!" + +Then she resumed the letter-- + + "You and I, my dear Mrs. Dobbs, must join our forces in face of + these new and trying circumstances. The more I think of it the + more I regret that my niece has missed the opportunity of going + to Glengowrie, especially since I have learned that Mrs. + Griffin is going to chaperon another young lady in her stead. + In society it is fatal to drop out of sight--you are forgotten + immediately--and I cannot expect Mrs. Griffin to do more than + she has done. Indeed, both she and the dear duchess have been + extraordinarily kind--I fear May scarcely appreciates _how_ + kind; but the truth is that she is singularly--I scarcely know + what word to use--not dull, but indifferent on certain points. + There is an apathy about her sometimes which has caused her + uncle and myself a great deal of distress. But really she + _must_ rouse herself from it now. It is a great comfort to us + to know that you, my dear Mrs. Dobbs, take a sound view of my + niece's position, and have her best interests at heart. + + "Believe me, + + "Very truly yours, + + "P. DORMER-SMITH. + + "P.S.--I have _this moment_ received a letter from Miss Hadlow, + in which she mentions, amongst other items of news, that the + gentleman whom I wrote of as being interested in May has + declined his invitation to Glengowrie, and is now in + Oldchester! There appears to be something absolutely + providential in this. I know you have great influence over May. + Pray exert it to make her see what is right. I have never been + able to get her to look on her social position as involving + certain _duties_. But, indeed, in her case, the duty + immediately before her of obtaining a splendid settlement and a + fine position is an easy one. I have seen cases of real + _sacrifice_ to this social obligation endured without murmur. + Since they are both in Oldchester, it must surely be easy to + give the gentleman every opportunity of presenting his suit. + Indeed, there may be better opportunities than at Glengowrie. + The longer we live the more we realize how everything is + overruled for good. + + "P. D. S." + + "I reopen this to write an essential word:--The name of the + gentleman I have alluded to! You may form some conception of + the pressure on my brain from my having omitted to do so + before. He is a Mr. Bragg--a man of very large wealth, and + received everywhere. I know that my uncle has more than once + received him at Combe Park. And he would, I dare say, have got + some chaperon there, and had May down for a time; but, of + course, under the bereavement we have all just suffered in the + death of my cousin George, this cannot be at present. But there + surely must be, among the better families in Oldchester, some + whom Mr. Bragg visits? Possibly the bishop, if he is there; or, + perhaps the dean? I know Lady Mary slightly. Pray lose no time, + my dear Mrs. Dobbs, in ascertaining this." + +Mrs. Dobbs pondered long after reading this epistle. In May's absence +she often turned over in her mind the advantages of an alliance with Mr. +Bragg; remembered favourable precedents; and taught herself to think +that it might be. The sight of the girl's face, and the sound of her +voice, were apt to scatter these fancies as sunrise scatters the mists. +But they returned when May disappeared again, and haunted all the old +woman's lonely hours. + +One morning, after an evening spent at Garnet Lodge, when Mrs. Dobbs was +alone with her grandchild, and was meditating how she should approach +the subject chiefly in her thoughts, May unexpectedly began-- + +"Granny, do you know I have something to say that will surprise you." + +"Have you, May? Nothing ought to surprise me at seventy odd. But, +somehow, things do surprise me still." + +"Of course they do, granny! I think it is only blockheads who are never +astonished, because one thing is much the same to them as another." + +"Well, I'm glad I can prove myself no blockhead at such an easy rate. +What is your surprise about, May?" + +"It's about--Mr. Bragg." + +The colour came into May's cheeks as she looked up with a bright, shy +glance from her favourite low seat beside granny's knee. But it was +nothing to the deep, sudden flush which dyed Mrs. Dobbs's face. She +looked at her grandchild almost vacantly for a moment, and then grew +paler than before. But May did not observe all this. She sat smiling to +herself, with the colour varying in her face, as it so easily did on the +very slightest emotion, her hands clasped round her knees, and her +bright head bent down, as she continued-- + +"I have had my suspicions for some time past; but I said nothing until +last night. Then, when I went into Clara's room to put my hat on, I just +gave her a tiny hint; and she said very likely I was right, and did not +laugh at me a bit. But I dare say you will laugh at me, granny." + +"Let us hear, my lass," said Mrs. Dobbs, moistening her lips, which felt +parched. + +"Well--_I_ think that Mr. Bragg has a motive in coming so often to +Garnet Lodge." + +"I suppose he has." + +"Ah, but a very special motive--a _matrimonial_ motive. There, granny!" + +Mrs. Dobbs looked down with a singular expression at the shining brown +hair so near to her hand which rested on the elbow of her easy-chair. +But she did not caress it as she habitually did when within reach. She +sat quite still, and merely said-- + +"So you think it surprising that Mr. Bragg should have matrimonial +intentions, do you?" + +"Oh no. It isn't _that_. Mr. Bragg is a very kind-hearted man, and would +be sure to make a good husband. And, do you know, he is very far from +stupid, granny." + +"I dare say. Joshua Bragg always had his head screwed on the right way." + +"His manner is against him. Of course, he is uneducated; and rather +slow. But, after all, that doesn't matter so very much." + +"And he's rich," added Mrs. Dobbs in a dry tone. + +"Ever so rich! I am sure he must have heaps and heaps of money, or else +Aunt Pauline would not approve of him so highly." + +"And not quite decrepit." + +"Decrepit! What a word to use, granny! No; I should think not, indeed!" + +"H'm! Neither a brute, nor in his dotage; and immensely rich--I don't +know what a woman can wish for more!" said Mrs. Dobbs, with increasing +bitterness. + +"Why, granny!" exclaimed May, looking up. "I thought you rather liked +Mr. Bragg! I have always heard you speak well of him." + +The hand on the chair-arm clenched and unclenched itself nervously, as +Mrs. Dobbs answered in short, jerky sentences, and as though she were +forcing herself with an effort to utter them, "Oh, so I do. Joshua Bragg +is an honest kind of man. I've nothing against him. Don't think that, my +lass." + +"Well, granny, but now for the surprise. I wonder you have not guessed +it by this time. Who do you think is the lady?" + +"I can't guess. Tell it out, May, and have done with it." + +"To be sure there is not much choice. If it were not one, it _must_ be +the other! But I have made up my mind that Mr. Bragg and Miss Patty will +make a match of it! What do you say to _that_, granny?" + +Mrs. Dobbs said nothing; but gasped, and laid her head back on the +cushion of her chair. + +"I thought you would be surprised! But when one comes to think of it, it +seems very suitable, doesn't it? Mr. Bragg admires Miss Patty's cookery +above everything. And she is such a kind, charitable soul, she would do +worlds of good with riches. And they agree on so many points--even their +crotchets. And, do you know, Miss Patty would look ten years younger if +she would leave off that yellow wig. She has such nice soft grey hair +that she brushes back! I have settled that she is to leave off the wig +when she marries Mr. Bragg, and take to picturesque mob caps. I have +been arranging all sorts of things in my own mind. I'm quite coming out +in the character of a matchmaker, granny!" + +In the midst of her chatter the girl looked up, and uttered an +exclamation of dismay. Her grandmother's head still lay back against the +cushion of the chair; her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be +laughing to herself. But the tears were pouring down her cheeks. At +May's exclamation she opened her arms wide, and then pressed the girl's +bright brown head against her breast, saying brokenly-- + +"Don't be feared, child! I'm all right. I couldn't help laughing a bit. +It's so--so funny to think of old Joshua and--and Miss Patty!" + +"But you are crying, too, granny! Is anything the matter? Do tell me." + +"Nothing, child; I'm all right. Poor Joshua! He was a good lad when he +worked for your grandfather. And--and--I remember _her_ a little miss in +a white frock and blue sash. It brings up old times, that's all, May. +Lord, what fools we are when we try to be cunning!" and Mrs. Dobbs went +off again into a fit of laughter, interspersed with sobs. + +"I didn't try to be cunning!" said May indignantly. + +"_You_, my lamb! Whoever thought you did?" returned her grandmother, +wiping her eyes and kissing May's forehead. + +By and by she resumed her usual solid self-possession. She told May that +she did not agree in her view of the state of the case, and advised her +not to hint her matchmaking project to any one. "You have said a word to +Miss Bertram, and that can't be taken back; but she is wise beyond her +years, and will not chatter." + +"But there's nothing wrong in the idea, granny," protested May, who was +considerably puzzled by her grandmother's unusual demeanour. + +"No, no, nothing wrong; only Mr. Bragg might not like it--he might be +looking after a young wife, who knows? Anyway, we will keep our ideas to +ourselves." + +As she spoke, the latch of the garden-gate clicked, and, following May's +glance, Mrs. Dobbs saw from the open window Owen Rivers advancing up the +path towards the house. + +The "gentleman of princely fortune," whose image had interposed between +her shrewd apprehension and the facts before her, having melted away +like a phantom, she perceived that here was a new influence to be +reckoned with--a new force which, whether for good or ill, might help to +shape her grandchild's future. + +"May I come in?" asked Owen. + +"Come in, Mr. Rivers." + +Mrs. Dobbs felt as though she had invited embodied Destiny to cross her +threshold--Destiny, in the prosaic guise of a blue-eyed, square-built +young man, in a shooting-jacket and a wide-awake hat. But that Power +does not often appear to mortals with much outward pomp and +circumstance. We are like children who think a king must needs go about +in royal robes, crowned and sceptred. But the decree which changes our +lives is mostly signed by some plain figure in everyday clothes, whom we +should not turn our heads to look upon. + +Owen entered the little parlour, and came and stood opposite to Mrs. +Dobbs's chair, without any of the customary salutations. "Well," said he +eagerly; "I have some news for you." + +"Lord, ha' mercy! This is a day of news," muttered Mrs. Dobbs under her +breath. Then she said aloud, "I hope it's good news?" + +"I have found some work to do. Is that good?" + +Mrs. Dobbs clapped her hands softly. "Very good," she said. Half an hour +ago her approbation would have been more heartily expressed; but she was +looking at him now with different eyes, and considering his prospects +with a new and serious interest. + +"You haven't asked me what the work is," said Owen, just a little +disappointed by her quietude. + +"I suppose it is _not_ stone-breaking? But if it is, I stick to my +colours. Better that than nothing." + +"You will say, Mrs. Dobbs, that I am luckier than I deserve to be. I am +engaged as secretary to a man who is about to travel in Spain. I happen +to know Spanish. Luck again; for I learnt it merely to amuse myself." + +"Yes; I do think that isn't bad for a beginning, and I hope it will lead +to something more. Who is the gentleman, if I may ask?" + +Before Owen could answer, May, who had perched herself on the elbow of +Jo Weatherhead's vacant chair, said, "I think I can guess. It's Mr. +Bragg." + +"Mr. Bragg!" echoed her grandmother, as if doubtful of having heard +aright. + +"I remember hearing him talk of a journey into Spain, and of wanting to +find a gentleman to go with him. Am I not right?" + +"Quite right," answered Owen. + +"Mr. Bragg! Well, that _is_ strange!" whispered Mrs. Dobbs to herself. + +Owen had taken a chair, and sat bending forward, with his elbows on his +knees, pleating and puckering in his fingers the brim of his soft felt +hat. He had not hitherto so much as looked towards May; now he +straightened himself in his chair, and, fixing his eyes on her +earnestly, asked-- + +"And what do _you_ say to my news, Miss Cheffington?" + +"I say, as granny says, that I am very glad," she answered, smiling, but +speaking in a subdued tone. + +"It's more to the purpose to ask what Canon and Mrs. Hadlow say to it," +put in Mrs. Dobbs. "I hope they are pleased?" + +"I dare say--I have no doubt--I--I have not seen Aunt Jane yet. The fact +is, I am on my way to College Quad; but I thought I would look in here +as I passed, and tell you that I have followed your advice, Mrs. Dobbs." + +The direct road from Owen's lodgings to College Quad was a short, and +nearly straight, line. To visit Jessamine Cottage "on the way" from one +to the other was analogous to going round by Edinburgh on a journey from +London to Leeds. + +"I wanted a little patting on the back and cheering up, you see," +continued Owen. + +"Cheering up!" cried May. "Oh! but I remember that Mrs. Hadlow said you +always liked to be pitied for having your own way. You must require a +great deal of consolation, truly, for the prospect of travelling in that +delightful country!" + +Owen nodded, and carefully fitted one pleat of his hat-brim into +another, as he answered, "I dare say my appetite for consolation is +bigger than you imagine." + +"I think it is Mr. Bragg who needs cheering up. Poor man, he little +knows what a peremptory, protestant, and positive secretary he will +have!" retorted May, with a half shy, half saucy, wholly mischievous, +glance. + +"Not at all! Now, that is just the kind of mistake which Aunt Jane so +often makes. But if I serve, I mean to serve honestly, and to be +thoroughly obedient; I have told Mr. Bragg so." And Owen proceeded to +justify himself, and to develop his views as to the duties of a +secretary, with superfluous energy and earnestness. + +The old woman sat watching them, and, as she looked, she was amazed at +her own previous blindness. How could she--how could any one--have seen +them together without perceiving that they were falling over head and +ears in love with each other? These two young creatures seemed, in her +old eyes, like a couple of children playing in a pleasure-boat. But she +knew that the river was running towards the sea--widening and deepening +with an irrevocable current. There was room for anxiety about the +future, no doubt. Yet a sense of relief in her mind--as if she had +escaped out of some oppressive atmosphere--revealed more and more +distinctly how repugnant the idea of May's marrying Mr. Bragg had really +been to her. + +"Sarah Dobbs," said she to herself severely, "you're a worldly, false +old woman! You're a nice one to find fault with that poor creature +Pauline! What were _you_ doing, pray, but sacrificing your conscience to +the mammon of unrighteousness? The Lord be praised, the dear child is +better, and purer, and honester than either of us old harridans!" + +Then she broke into the conversation between May and Owen, which by this +time had sunk into a low murmur, and asked abruptly whether the +engagement with Mr. Bragg was to lead to any further employment. + +Owen repeated what Mr. Bragg had said to him, as nearly as he could +remember it; and Mrs. Dobbs thought it hopeful. + +"Joshua Bragg is an honest man--a man to be relied on: one of the few +who generally means what he says, all that he says, and nothing but what +he says," said she, nodding thoughtfully. + +May was glad to find granny doing justice to Mr. Bragg; and remarked to +herself that, if it were possible to conceive granny's ever being +capricious, she would have called her capricious to-day in her varying +tone about that worthy man. + +"I shouldn't wonder," pursued Mrs. Dobbs, "if he put you in the way of +getting permanent employment--supposing you please him. He might get you +a place out in South America with his son. Young Joshua is in a great +way of business there, I'm told. Would you go if you had the chance?" +she asked suddenly, looking at Owen with a searching gaze. + +"Undoubtedly," he replied at once. + +"And you wouldn't mind being--being banished like from England?" + +"Mind? Oh, well, of course I should prefer a thousand a year and a villa +on the Thames; but a fellow who has been an idler up to four and twenty +must take any chance of earning something, and be thankful for it." + +"_That's_ right." Mrs. Dobbs drew a long breath of relief. + +"It would only be for a year or two; I should come back," added Owen +wistfully. + +Then he shook hands and went away, and Mrs. Dobbs and her grand-daughter +were left to discuss the news he had told them. May chatted away +cheerfully, even gaily. When Mr. Weatherhead arrived the subject was +talked over again. Jo's pleasure in the prospect opening before Mr. +Rivers was somewhat tempered by his sense of the incongruity involved in +"a gentleman like that, brimful of learning, and belonging to the old +landed gentry," being under the orders of Joshua Bragg! + +"There's no contradiction at all, Jo, if you look at it fairly," said +Mrs. Dobbs. "Mr. Bragg will command where he has a right to--that is, in +matters that he knows better than Mr. Rivers, for all his book-learning. +It isn't as if Joshua wanted to teach the young man how to be a +gentleman. I don't say it's not a good thing to be a gentleman, but it +ain't exactly a paying business nowadays, if ever it was, which I +doubt." + +"Ah, more's the pity!" said Jo, shaking his head. + +"Why, if I was a gentleman--or a lady--I shouldn't agree with you there, +Jo. If gentlehood don't mean something above and beyond what can be paid +for, 'tis a poor business. It seems to me just as pitiful for gentry to +expect money's worth for their old family, high breeding, and fine +manners, as it is for the grand workers of the world to grumble because +they can't have power over the past, as well as the present and the +future. Mr. Bragg ain't one of that sort. You'll never catch _him_ +inventing a family crest, or painting wild beasts on his carriage." + +Jo took his pipe out of his mouth, and looked with solemn approbation at +his old friend. "Sarah," said he, "you're right; and I believe you're a +better Conservative than me, when all's said and done." + +May had been silent during this discussion. She held some needlework in +her hands; but they were lying idly on her lap, and she was gazing out +of the window as intently as though the small suburban garden offered a +prospect of inexhaustible interest. The cessation of the voices roused +her. She looked round, and said softly-- + +"It's a good climate, isn't it, granny? Where Mr. Bragg's son lives, I +mean." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Before going to bed that night Mrs. Dobbs sat down and wrote a letter, +marked "private and confidential," to Mr. Bragg. + + "DEAR MR. BRAGG" (she wrote), + + "I think it my duty to let you know at once that the idea + mentioned in your conversation with me must be given up. I have + made quite sure in my own mind that there is no chance of its + coming to anything. I feel very much how right you were to + speak to me first. You have spared other people's feelings as + well as your own. When you asked me the question, I answered + you truly, to the best of my belief, that there was nobody else + in the field. But since our talk together I have found out that + I was wrong there. There _is_ another attachment. It may come + to something, or it may not. And you will understand that I am + putting a great confidence in you. But I know I can trust to + your honour as you trusted to mine. Not a word has passed my + lips of what you said to me, and never will. Of course, you may + think me mistaken, and choose to find out the state of the case + for yourself at first-hand. If you do so I shall not have a + word to say against it. Anyway, I know you will act upright + according to your conscience, as I have tried to act according + to mine. I want to tell you that I appreciate how generous your + intentions were, though I'm afraid I did not show it at the + time, being surprised and upset. + + "Believe me, + "With sincere respect, + "Yours truly, + "SARAH DOBBS." + +Shortly after that, Mr. Bragg came and called upon her. He thanked her +for her letter, and spoke in a friendly tone. But he seemed indisposed +to consider the matter as finished. + +"Young people sometimes don't know their own minds," he said. He further +declared that he had no present intention of speaking to May; but that, +as he was going abroad, he might--if nothing were settled +meanwhile--resume the subject on his return to England. + +"I'm quite sure in my own mind that it's no use," said Mrs. Dobbs +firmly. "And it's only fair to tell you so as strong as possible. +However, of course, you must act according to your own judgment." + +"There is one question I should like to ask if I might," said Mr. Bragg, +lingering at the door on his way out. "You and me can trust each other. +And, if you feel at liberty to tell me, I should like to know whether +the--the party you alluded to in your letter is Mr. Theodore Bransby." + +"Certainly not!" + +"Well, I'm glad of it. There was a talk of his paying Miss C. a great +deal of attention in town. In fact, I did hear she had refused him. +Understand, I'm not fishing as to that. It's no matter to me one way or +the other, so long as he is _not_ the party. I can't say that I know any +harm of the young man; but he's what you might call a poor sort of +metal: not pleasant to handle, and, I should fear, brittle in the +working. I really am relieved in my mind to know that he is not the +party. Thank ye." + +The news of Owen's engagement to Mr. Bragg was variously received by his +various acquaintances in Oldchester. Some laughed good-naturedly, some +ill-naturedly; some said it was a good thing the young man had at last +seen the necessity for exerting himself; some wondered why on earth he +had accepted such a position; and some--a good many those--wondered why +Mr. Bragg had accepted _him_. Mrs. Hadlow did not feel unmixed +satisfaction by any means. + +"It's just like Owen," she said to her husband. "There is such a +singular perversity about him! He has thrown away one straight stick +after the other, and now all of a sudden he clutches at this crooked +one, as eagerly as though his life depended on getting hold of it." + +Canon Hadlow, for his part, was well pleased enough. The sentiment at +the bottom of his wife's heart was that to employ a Rivers in any such +base mechanic business as writing commercial letters was like harnessing +a thoroughbred Arab to the dust-cart. But the canon could not, in the +nature of things, fully share that feeling. Nevertheless, he had a +strong regard for Owen, and spoke of him in high terms to Mr. Bragg. + +But the testimony in Owen's favour which chiefly impressed Mr. Bragg was +the testimony which Owen gave himself--by deeds, not words. + +Being moved by a certain energetic simplicity which belonged to him, to +perform the duties he had undertaken with the most complete thoroughness +he could command, he got a clerk who conducted the foreign +correspondence of a great Oldchester manufacturer to give him lessons +after business hours. He worked away evening after evening at the +composition of mercantile letters in Spanish until he succeeded in +producing epistles so surprisingly technical that his instructor +declared he went far beyond what was necessary in that line, and would +do well to mitigate his business style with a little good Spanish! He +studied, also, to improve his handwriting. It was a legible hand +already, since he wrote with the single-minded aim of being read. But he +strove to make it distinctly commercial in character, and succeeded. + +All this became known to Mr. Bragg, who said nothing. But, when it got +wind among the little circle of persons who frequented Garnet Lodge, it +was the subject of some raillery from Owen's friends. So long as the +raillery proceeded from such persons as Dr. Hatch or Major Mitten, there +was no offence in it; but with Theodore Bransby the case was different. + +Theodore was, in truth, delighted: first of all, because Rivers had, as +he phrased it, "entered Mr. Bragg's service" (a step which must for ever +disqualify him for aspiring to ally himself with the Cheffingtons, +supposing he were not disqualified already); and, secondly, because his +engagement would take him out of England for three months. So delighted +was Theodore, that his spirits rose to the unwonted pitch of attempting +some pleasantries. Now, there is nothing which more surely reveals the +quality, if not the quantity, of a man's mind than his notion of a joke. +Laughter, like wine, is a great betrayer of secrets; and for incurable +coarseness of feeling a stout cloak of gravity is "your only wear." + +Theodore would tilt his head, and say with a sneering smile, "Burton's +clerk declares that Rivers is as thorough-going as the man who blacked +himself all over to play Othello! _Do_ you write a page of round-hand +copies every morning before breakfast, Rivers?" or, "I hear that Rivers +has taken to frequent the commercial 'gents'' ordinary at the Bull in +order to pick up the correct phraseology." + +Owen paid very little attention to these sparkling sallies; but Mr. +Bragg, after listening for some time, broke silence one evening by +saying, in his quiet, ponderous way-- + +"You're rather hard on me, I think, Mr. Bransby." + +Theodore looked at him with sudden gravity and unfeigned surprise. "Hard +on _you_?" he exclaimed. + +"Oh, when a young gentleman is what you might call satirical, he's apt +to be harder than he means. You needn't look so serious. I'm not +offended." + +The moment Mr. Bragg declared he was not offended, Theodore began to +fear that he _was_; and, whatever might be his private opinion of the +millionaire, he had no intention of affronting him. So he protested that +Mr. Bragg must be under some misapprehension, and that he (Theodore) +could not even guess what he meant. + +"Oh, come, Mr. Bransby! It's pretty clear. I am but a plain business +man, but it isn't necessary to copy the company at the Bull in order to +come down to my level." + +"Good heavens, my dear sir! You can't suppose----! I +was--ahem!--merely----" Theodore paused an instant, and then went on +with a little disconcerted laugh. "Ha, ha, ha! I was merely paying my +humble tribute of admiration to Rivers's energy!" + +"Oh yes; I quite understand _that_. You appreciate seeing how a +honourable gentleman sets to work to keep his part of a bargain; whereas +a half-and-half chap, like that little clerk of Burton's, don't see the +highmindedness of it." + +Theodore was so entirely taken by surprise, and so uncertain how far Mr. +Bragg was in earnest, that he could but stammer out renewed assurances +that he had been misunderstood. And after that, he subsided into a glum +and dignified silence for the rest of the evening. + +He would probably have cut short his visit and gone away early but for +his persistent resolution never to leave Owen in possession of the field +when May was present. There was no question of seeing her home now; for +either old Martha was sent to fetch her, or one of Miss Piper's servants +walked with her to Jessamine Cottage. But, nevertheless, Theodore made a +point of outstaying Owen; or, at the very least, going away +simultaneously with him. On this particular evening, however, Dr. Hatch +interfered with this practice by requesting Theodore to accompany him +when his carriage was announced. + +"I want to have a word with you quietly," whispered the doctor, "and it +is almost impossible to do so in your father's house without alarming +Mrs. Bransby. Come along with me, and I'll give you a lift home." + +There was no refusing this invitation. But Theodore withdrew, comforted +by the conviction that his rival would have no chance of profiting by +his absence. + +Here, however, he reckoned without his hostess; for, Martha failing to +appear at her accustomed hour, and the maid who usually supplied her +place being ill, Miss Piper bustled into the drawing-room, after a brief +absence, demanding which of the gentlemen present would volunteer to +escort Miss Cheffington home. + +Mr. Bragg, who kept early hours, had already departed; and only Mr. +Sweeting, Major Mitton, and Owen remained. Mr. Sweeting begged to be +allowed the honour of lending Miss Cheffington his carriage. But May +declined the offer, saying that Mr. Sweeting's horses had a long enough +journey before them, and that, moreover, it being a lovely moonlight +night, she would prefer to walk. Upon this, Owen offered his services, +and Miss Piper at once accepted them. + +"It is a good deal out of your way," she said; "but I am sure you will +not mind for once, Mr. Rivers. I am responsible to Mrs. Dobbs for +sending her grand-daughter safely home." + +Owen assured Miss Piper that he should not mind at all. + +While May was putting on her wraps, Miss Polly and Miss Patty jocosely +reproached Major Mitton for not having displayed his usual gallantry in +offering to escort the young lady. + +"Major, Major, you are growing terribly lazy!" said Miss Polly. + +"You will lose your reputation for being the most devoted Squire of +Dames in Oldchester," added Miss Patty. + +"I'm getting to be an old fellow," returned the Major quietly. Then, as +they all three stood for a moment in the porch, watching the two young +figures pass down the garden in a glory of moonlight, the good Major +whispered to Miss Patty, "Do you think I was going to spoil _that_? Lord +bless me, one has been young one's self!" + +As soon as May and her companion had got clear of Garnet Lodge, the girl +said, "I find that I had never thoroughly done justice to Mr. Bragg. The +more I know of him, the more highly I think of him." + +"Lucky Mr. Bragg!" + +"But, now, did he not administer an admirable rebuke to Theodore +Bransby?" + +"Never mind Theodore. Let us talk about more interesting things." + +"What _can_ be more interesting?" asked May, laughing. + +"Ourselves." As she remained silent, he went on, "Do you know that we +have not had one opportunity for a quiet talk together since I got this +engagement?" + +"Haven't we?" + +"Ah! you don't remember so accurately as I do. But that was not to be +expected. Take my arm." + +She obeyed as simply as a child. She had been drawing on her gloves when +they left Garnet Lodge, but the operation had not been completed, and it +chanced that the hand next to Owen was ungloved. She laid her fingers, +which gleamed snow-white in the moonlight, on his sleeve. + +"You think I have done right in taking this employment?" he said. + +"Quite right." She turned her young face, and looked at him with a sweet +fervour of sympathy and approval. + +Owen raised the white, slender fingers to his lips, and then, replacing +them on his arm, laid his own warm, strong hand over them with a gentle +pressure. "You know why I did so, don't you, darling?" he said. + +"Yes, Owen," was the answer, given in a shy whisper, but with innocent +frankness. + +"My own dear love!" he exclaimed, pressing her arm strongly and suddenly +to his side. "There is no one like you in the world. Look at me, May. +Let me see your sweet, honest eyes." + +He caught her two hands in both his, and they stood for a moment at +arm's length, facing each other, and holding hands like two children. +The moonlight shone full on the young girl's fair face, and glittered on +the bright tear-drops in her eyes, as she raised them to Owen's. + +"What can I do to deserve you?" he said. "But why do I talk of desert? +You are God's gift, May, and no more to be earned than the blessed +sunshine." + +He put her arm under his once more, and they paced on again without +speaking. But to them the silence was full of voices. It was the silence +of a dream. They might have wandered Heaven knows whither had not their +feet instinctively carried them along the right path, and they found +themselves, almost with a start, arrived at the white palings in front +of Jessamine Cottage. + +"We must tell granny, mustn't we?" said May, looking up at Owen, with a +delicious sense of implicit reliance on him. + +"Yes; but I am terribly afraid. I hope she will not be angry." + +"Angry! How can you think so? Granny is fond of you." + +"But she is fonder of _you_, and she knows your value, although, thank +God, you don't! If you did, what chance should I have had? You know how +poor I am--not quite penniless, but very poor." + +"Not so poor as I, since I am really and truly quite penniless; but I +don't mind that, if you don't." + +Owen felt a desperate temptation to fold her in his arms and beseech her +to marry him to-morrow, throwing prudence and pounds sterling to the +winds. But the ardour of a genuine passion purifies the nobler soul, as +fire purifies the nobler metal, and burns away the dross of self. He +answered gravely-- + +"Our positions are very different, darling. I hope I have not done wrong +to tell you how dear you are to me?" + +"I think it would have been unkind and cruel to go away without telling +me," she answered bravely, though the sound of the words as she said +them brought the hot colour into her cheeks. + +"Thank you, dearest; that is the best comfort I could have, if I may +dare to believe it. But it does seem so wonderful that you should care +for me!" + +The contemplation of this wonder might have occupied them both for an +indefinite time but that they saw a light begin to shine through the +fanlight of the little entrance-hall of Jessamine Cottage. In the +stillness of the night the sound of their voices, subdued though they +were, had reached the ears of Mrs. Dobbs. She presently opened the door, +and stood looking at them as they hurried up the garden path. + +"Oh, granny dear, I'm afraid I'm late!" said May. "I did not guess that +you were sitting up for me." + +"Martha had a touch of her rheumatism, so I sent her to bed. I did not +mind waiting. I suppose Miss Piper's maid couldn't come with you? Was +that it?" asked Mrs. Dobbs. + +She lingered at the open door, expecting Owen to say "Good-night." But +May took her grandmother's hand and pulled her into the house, while he +followed them. When they reached the lamp-lighted parlour, May, still +holding her grandmother's hand with her left hand, stretched out her +right to Owen, and gently drew him forward. Then she flung her left arm +round the old woman's neck, and kissed her. There was no need for words. +Mrs. Dobbs sank down, white and tremulous, in her great chair, while May +nestled beside her on her knees, and tried to place Owen's hand, which +she still clasped, in that of her grandmother. But the old woman +brusquely drew her hand away. + +"You have done wrong," she said, turning to Owen, and scarcely able to +control the trembling of her lips. "I didn't think it of you. But men +are all alike; selfish, selfish, selfish!" + +"Why, granny!" exclaimed the girl, breathless with dismay. Then she +started up with a flash of impetuous indignation, and stood beside her +lover. "He is _not_ selfish!" she said vehemently. + +"Hush, May! Granny is right," said Owen in a low voice. "I told you that +I feared I had done wrong." + +Mrs. Dobbs still trembled, but she was struggling to regain her +self-command. "You might have waited yet awhile," she said brokenly. +"The child is young! You ought not to have bound her until you see your +way more clear." + +"Oh, believe me, I will not hold her bound," answered Owen. "I never +meant that. I ought not to have spoken yet. I feared so before, and now +that you say so, I know it. But I am not wholly selfish." + +May had stood listening silently, looking, with wide eyes and parted +lips, from one to the other. She now fell on her knees again beside her +grandmother, and, clasping the old woman's hands in both her own, cried +eagerly-- + +"But listen! If there was any fault, it was mine. I love him so much! +And he's going away. Think of that, granny! Come here and kneel down +beside me, Owen, and let her look you in the face. Think, if he had gone +away and never told me! And I so fond of him! You didn't guess how I +cried that night when I heard he was to leave England. He has made me so +happy--so happy! And we can wait. We don't mind being poor. You said you +were fond of him. And he is so good--and I love him so--and you to speak +to him so cruelly! Oh, granny, granny!" The tears were pouring down her +face, and dropping warm upon the wrinkled hands she held. + +Suddenly Mrs. Dobbs opened her arms, and folding May in one of them, +laid the other round Owen's shoulder as he knelt before her, and drew +them both into her embrace. + +"Come along, you two!" she said, sobbing and smiling. "I've got a +precious pair of babies to look after in my old age. No more common +sense between you than would lie on the point of a needle! No prudence, +no worldly wisdom, no regard for society--nothing but love and truth; +and what do you suppose _they'll_ fetch in the market?" + +After a few minutes she ordered Owen away. "I'm tired," she said. "And +we have all had our feelings worked up enough for one while. Go home +now, Mr. Rivers--well, well, Owen, then, if it must be!--go home, Owen, +and sleep, and dream. And to-morrow, when you're quite awake--broad, +staring, work-a-day-world awake, which you're not now, either of +you,--come here, and we will talk rationally." + +Owen obeyed heroically, and marched off without a word of remonstrance. +But May kept her grandmother listening and talking, long after he had +gone. She made Mrs. Dobbs go to bed, and sat by her bedside, pouring out +her young heart, joyfully secure of granny's understanding and sympathy, +until at length Mrs. Dobbs inexorably commanded her to go to rest. + +"Good night, dear, dearest, good, goodest granny!" said May, leaning +down to kiss her grandmother's broad, furrowed brow. "Only this one +last--very last--word! Do you know, I am very hopeful about Owen's +future, because I am sure that Mr. Bragg has taken a great fancy to him, +and appreciates him. And Mr. Bragg can make Owen's fortune if he likes." + +"Mr. Bragg," murmured Mrs. Dobbs, turning her head on her pillow. "Ah, +_there's_ a nice kettle of fish! I'm as big a baby as the children, for +up to this very instant I'd clean forgotten all about Mr. Bragg!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Before they parted Mrs. Dobbs had arranged with Owen that he should come +and have an interview with her at ten o'clock the following morning. But +as she desired to speak with him privately, she resolved to go to his +lodgings early enough to catch him before he should leave home. + +She found Owen already at his writing-desk, and, as he turned a startled +face on her, briefly assured him that all was well with May. + +"But I must have a private talk with you," she said. "And I can't get +that in my own house, without fussing and making mysteries." + +Owen was already acquainted with the main incidents in May's young life; +but Mrs. Dobbs proceeded to give him the history of her own daughter's +marriage, and a sketch of her son-in-law Augustus. + +"I'm not speaking in malice," she said; "but the real truth about +Captain Cheffington must always sound severe. As a general rule, I never +mention his name. But it is right and necessary that you should know +what manner of man May's father really is; because only by knowing that +can you understand how it is that the responsibility of guiding her +rests wholly and solely on my shoulders." + +"It could not rest on worthier ones," said Owen. + +"Ah! There we differ. It's a shame that the darling girl--such a lady as +she is in all her ways and words and innermost thoughts--should have no +better guidance than that of an ignorant old body like me. However, 'tis +as vain to cry for the moon to play ball with, as to get honour or duty, +or even honesty, out of Augustus. There's the naked truth." + +"Mrs. Dobbs, I can say from the bottom of my heart, that if ever good +came out of evil it has come to May. She has been thrown out of the +hands of a worthless father into those of the best of grandmothers. But +I suppose I ought to write to Captain Cheffington under the present +circumstances?" + +Mrs. Dobbs shook her head. "I wouldn't if I was you," she said. + +"I only thought that, since with all his faults he is fond of his +daughter----" + +"_Is he_?" interrupted Mrs. Dobbs, opening her eyes very wide. "Oh! +Well, that's news to me." + +"Of course, his fondness is not judicious. But still, as he has not much +money, he must make some sacrifice to pay a handsome sum to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith for having May with her in London." + +"He pay! Lord bless your innocent heart!" + +"Does he not? May told me he did." + +"Ah! May thinks so. You see I have thought it right to keep some respect +for her father in her mind--for her sake." + +"Then if Captain Cheffington did not furnish the money, who did?" asked +Owen. + +Had May been present, one glimpse of "granny's" face, blushing like a +girl's to the roots of her hair, would have betrayed the truth to her. +But Owen did not guess it so quickly. After a minute or so, however, as +Mrs. Dobbs remained silent, he added rather awkwardly-- + +"Did you pay the money?" + +"Look here, young man," answered Mrs. Dobbs. "You must give me your word +of honour that you'll never let out a syllable of this to May, without I +give you leave;--else you and me will quarrel." + +Owen took her broad, wrinkled hand in his, and kissed it as respectfully +as if he had been saluting a queen. "I promise to obey you," he said. +"But you make us all look very small and selfish beside you!" + +"We old folks, that have but a slack hold on life, must lay up our +stores of selfishness in other people's happiness. It's a paying +investment, my lad. I'm Oldchester born and bred, and you don't catch me +making many bad speculations." The old woman laughed as she spoke, but a +tear was trembling in her eye. "Come," said she. "We needn't go into all +that. There isn't much time to spare. I want to be back to breakfast +before May misses me." + +Then she proceeded to impress on Owen that she could not at present +sanction an engagement between him and her grand-daughter. Each must be +held to be free, at least until Owen should return from Spain, and be +able to see his future course a little more distinctly. This he promised +without difficulty. Next, Mrs. Dobbs insisted that May should go back to +her aunt's house, when the Dormer-Smiths returned to London for the +winter. May had shown great reluctance to do this; but Mrs. Dobbs +believed she would yield, if Owen backed up the proposal. With regard to +Captain Cheffington, Mrs. Dobbs recommended that secrecy should, for the +present, be preserved towards him, as well as towards the rest of the +world. + +"He cares not a straw for his daughter. Of that I can assure you. +Indeed, lately, since the dear child has taken her proper place in the +world, he has shown a strange kind of jealousy of her. He wrote me a +regular blowing-up letter, demanding money, and saying that since I was +so _rich_--Lord help me!--as to keep May in London in luxury, I ought at +least to assist May's father in his unmerited distress. And he made a +kind of a half-threat that he would come to England, and drag her away, +if he was not paid off." + +"The scoundrel! But you didn't--" + +"Didn't send him any money? No, my lad, I did _not_. First, because I +wouldn't; next, because I couldn't. But 'wouldn't' came first. There's +no use trying to put a wasp on a reasonable allowance of honey; you must +either let him gorge himself, or else keep him out of the hive +altogether. So now you know my conditions:--Firstly, no binding +engagement for three months at least; secondly, we three to keep our own +counsel for that time, and say no word of our secret to man, woman, or +child; thirdly, you to urge May to go back to London, and see a little +more of the world from under her aunt's wing. I make a great point of +that," added Mrs. Dobbs, looking at him searchingly; "but I see you're +rather glum over it. Are you afraid of May's being tempted to change her +mind?" + +"It isn't that," answered Owen, with unmistakable sincerity. "If she is +capable of changing her mind, I should be the first to leave her free to +do so. I don't say that it wouldn't go near to break my heart, but I +need not be ashamed as well as wretched; whereas, if I took advantage of +her innocence, and generosity, and inexperience to bind her to me, and +found out afterwards that she repented when it was too late----! But +that won't bear thinking of! No, I see nothing to object to in your +conditions; only I was thinking that it will be hard on you to part from +her again this winter." + +Mrs. Dobbs suddenly stretched out her hand towards him, with the palm +outward. "Stop!" she said. "I can go on all right enough if you don't +pity me." She set her lips tight, and stood for a few seconds breathing +hard through her nostrils, like a tired swimmer. Then the tension of her +face relaxed; she patted Owen's head, as if he had been six years old, +saying, "You're a good lad, and a gentleman; I know one when I see him." + +Before Mrs. Dobbs went away, Owen said a word to her on two points--the +probability that Augustus Cheffington might eventually be his uncle's +heir, and the rumour of his second marriage. As to the first point, +although she allowed it seemed likely that Augustus might inherit the +title, yet Mrs. Dobbs assured Owen (speaking on Mrs. Dormer-Smith's +authority) that he would certainly get no penny which it was in Lord +Castlecombe's power to bequeath. + +"If you're afraid of May being too rich," said Mrs. Dobbs, with a shrewd +smile, "I think I can reassure you." + +"Thank you," said Owen simply. He was struck by her delicacy of feeling, +and thought within himself, "That well-bred woman, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, +would have suspected me, not of _fearing_, but of hoping, that May would +be rich; and she would have hinted her suspicions in terms full of tact, +and a voice of exquisite refinement." + +With regard to the question of Captain Cheffington's second marriage, +Mrs. Dobbs declared herself utterly in the dark. + +"But," said she, "if I was obliged to make a bet, I should bet on no +marriage. Augustus is too selfish." + +When, later, Owen went to Jessamine Cottage, he found May very unwilling +to return to London for the winter. But she yielded at length. The other +conditions she acceded to willingly. But she made one stipulation; +namely, that "Uncle Jo" should be admitted to share their secret. + +"You know you can trust him implicitly, granny," said May. "He likes +news and gossip, but he will be true as steel when he once has given his +word to be silent." + +So it was agreed that Mr. Weatherhead should be taken into their +confidence. + +When May and Owen were alone together afterwards, he asked why she had +so specially insisted on this point. + +"Don't you see, Owen," she answered, "that it will be an immense comfort +to granny, when she is left alone, to have some one whom she can talk +with about--_us_?" + +Meanwhile no answer arrived from Captain Cheffington to the letter which +Mrs. Dobbs had written about the report of his marriage. May might have +been uneasy at his silence but for the new and absorbing interest in her +life, which confused chronology, and made time fly so rapidly that she +did not realize how long it was since her grandmother had written to +Belgium. + +The gossip set afloat by Valli at Miss Piper's party gradually died +away, being superseded in public attention by fresher topics. One of +these was the disquieting condition of Mr. Martin Bransby's health. The +old man had seemed to recover from the serious illness of last year. But +it must have shaken him more profoundly than was generally supposed at +the time; for after the first brief rally he seemed to be failing more +and more day by day. Dr. Hatch kept his own counsel. He was not a man to +interpret the code of professional etiquette too loosely on such a +point; but besides professional etiquette old friendship moved him to be +cautious and reticent in this case. He had some reasons for uneasiness +about Martin Bransby's circumstances, as well as his bodily health. This +uneasiness was vague truly; but it sufficed to make the good physician +keep a watch over his words. So all those who listened curiously to Dr. +Hatch's voluble, and apparently unguarded, talk about the Bransbys went +away no wiser than they came as to old Martin's real condition. + +To Martin Bransby's eldest son, however, Dr. Hatch did not think it +right to practise any concealment. On the evening when he invited +Theodore to drive home with him from Garnet Lodge, the doctor plainly +told the young man that he had grave fears for his father's life. + +Theodore seemed more moved than the doctor had expected. He was not +demonstrative indeed; but his voice betrayed considerable emotion as he +said, "But you do not give him up, Dr. Hatch? There surely is still +hope?" + +"There is hope. Yes; I cannot say there is no hope. But, my dear +fellow"--and the good doctor laid his hand kindly on Theodore's +shoulder--"we must be prepared for the worst." + +"You have not, I gather, mentioned your fears to Mrs. Bransby," said +Theodore, after a pause, during which he had been leaning back in the +corner of the carriage. + +"No, no, poor dear! No need to alarm her yet." + +"She must know, however, sooner or later," observed Theodore coldly. + +"I'm afraid she must. But why protract her misery? She is very +sensitive, devotedly attached to your father, and not too strong." + +"Mrs. Bransby always appears to me to enjoy good health enough to take +any exertion she feels inclined for." + +"I was not alluding to muscles, but nerves," returned the doctor drily. +"There is a little hysterical tendency. And her health is too valuable +to her children to be trifled with." + +They drove on in silence to Mr. Bransby's garden gates. Theodore +alighted, and stood at the carriage door. + +"Does my father know?" he asked in a low voice. + +"There, I confess, I am puzzled," said Dr. Hatch. "I have never told him +his danger in plain words; but he is too clever a man to be hoodwinked. +My own impression is, that your father suspects his state to be +critical, but shrinks from admitting it even to himself. I think there +must be some private reason for this," added the doctor, leaning forward +and peering into Theodore's face as he stood in the moonlight: the +moonlight which at that same moment was shining in May's eyes, looking +at her young lover. "It certainly does not arise from cowardice. Your +father is one of the manliest men I have ever known." + +If Theodore knew, or guessed, that his father had any secret reason for +anxiety, he did not betray it. + +"I have observed increasing weakness of character in him lately," he +said. + +The words might have been uttered so as to convey perfect filial +tenderness. But there was a subtle something in the tone suggestive of +contempt; or at least of remoteness from sympathy, which jarred +painfully on Dr. Hatch. He said "Good night" abruptly, and gave his +coachman the order to drive on. + +After this conversation, it somewhat surprised the doctor to learn that +Theodore meant to leave home at the beginning of October, although he +was not to enter on his practical career as a barrister until the +winter. He had accepted one or two invitations to country houses during +the pheasant shooting; and gave, as his reason for going at that time, +that his health required change of air. + +"_His_ health!" growled Dr. Hatch, when Mrs. Bransby gave him this piece +of news. "I should have thought he might stay and be of some use to his +father in business." + +"Oh, we are rather glad he is going," exclaimed Mrs. Bransby +impulsively. Then she said apologetically, "Martin does not want him at +home. Theodore has never taken any interest in office matters; and +Tuckey manages capitally. Tuckey is Martin's right hand." + +Mr. Tuckey was the confidential head clerk in the office which still +retained the name of the firm, "Cadell and Bransby," although Cadell had +departed this life twenty years ago, and the business had been, ever +since that time, wholly in the hands of Martin Bransby. + +Mrs. Bransby did not hint at one motive for Theodore's departure which +her woman's wit had revealed to her; namely, that Miss Cheffington would +be leaving Oldchester about the same time. It was true that Theodore had +calculated on this; and also on the fact that Owen Rivers would be +safely out of the way across the Pyrenees. But there was another motive +which lay deeper; and, indeed, formed a part of the very texture of +Theodore's temperament:--he shrank from the idea of being present during +his father's last illness. + +It has already been stated that he was subject to the dread of having +inherited his mother's consumptive tendency, and he shunned all +suggestions of sickness and death with the sort of instinct which makes +an animal select its food. The very mention of death produced the effect +of a physical chill on his nervous system. He was not without affection +for his father; although it had been much weakened by Mr. Bransby's +second marriage. Many persons who knew Theodore's tastes for gentility, +assumed that Miss Louisa Lutyer's descent from a good old family would +be gratifying to him, and help to make him accept the marriage +good-humouredly. But the fact was quite otherwise. Theodore constantly +suspected his step-mother of vaunting the superiority of her birth over +that of her predecessor. He had never seen either of his maternal +grandparents, and did not know all the details which Mrs. Dobbs could +have given him about the history of "Old Rabbitt." But he knew enough to +be aware that his mother had been a person of humble extraction. And he +could more easily have forgiven his father had the latter chosen a +person still humbler for his second wife. It was chiefly his +ever-present consciousness that Louisa was a gentlewoman by birth and +breeding, which made him jealously resent the luxuries with which his +father surrounded her, and even the fastidious elegance of her dress. +And, apart from all other considerations, it would have given him +sincere satisfaction to marry a wife who should have the undoubted right +to walk out of a drawing-room before Mrs. Martin Bransby. + +One of the many points of antagonism between Owen and Theodore was the +opposite feeling with which each regarded Mrs. Bransby. Owen had a +chivalrous devotion for her; Theodore was nothing less than chivalrous. +Owen's admiration was made tender and protecting by a large infusion of +pity; Theodore held that in marrying his father Miss Louisa Lutyer had +met with good fortune beyond her merits. As to his step-brothers and +sisters, Theodore's feeling towards them was one of cool repulsion, with +the single exception of little Enid, the youngest, whom he would have +petted, could he have separated her in all things from the rest. + +As soon as Owen's engagement with Mr. Bragg was assured, Owen called at +the Bransbys' to tell his news in person. On inquiring for Mrs. Bransby, +he was told that she was with her husband in the garden, and, being a +familiar visitor, the servant left him to find his way to them +unannounced. + +It was a warm September afternoon; everything in the old garden--the +lichen-tinted brick walls, the autumnal flowers, the deep velvet of the +turf, the foliage slightly touched with red and gold--looked mellow and +peaceful. Under the shadow of a tall elm-tree, whose topmost boughs were +swaying with the movement, and resounding with the caw of rooks, Martin +Bransby reclined on a long chair, and his wife sat on a garden bench a +yard or two away. When she saw Owen approaching, Mrs. Bransby laid her +finger on her lips, and then Owen saw that Mr. Bransby was asleep. + +The old man lay with his head supported on a crimson cushion, against +which his abundant silver hair was strongly relieved. The brows above +the closed eyelids were still dark. The placidity of repose enhanced the +beauty of his finely moulded features; but he was very pale, and his +cheeks and temples looked worn and thin. Mrs. Bransby welcomed Owen with +a smile and an outstretched hand. At the first glance he had thought +that she, too, looked pale and suffering, but the little glow of +animation in her face when she spoke effaced this impression. + +"Am I disturbing you?" asked Owen in a whisper. + +"No, no; sit down. You need not whisper, it is enough to speak low; he +sleeps heavily. I am so glad to see him sleep, for his nights have been +restless lately." As Mrs. Bransby spoke, she pushed aside a heap of +gay-coloured silks with which she was embroidering a rich velvet +cushion, and made room for Owen on the garden-seat beside her. "I know +your news already," she continued, "and I must congratulate you, +although you will be sadly missed. My boys will be in despair; we shall +all miss you." + +"I am glad, at all events, that you seem to approve of the step I have +taken." + +"Of course. All your friends must approve it. + +"Well, they are not so numerous as to make their unanimity absolutely +impossible." + +Then, after a short silence, during which Mrs. Bransby resumed her +embroidery, and Owen thoughtfully raked together some fallen leaves with +his stick, he said-- + +"But you don't know the extent of my good fortune. There is a +chance--rather a remote one, but still a chance--that this employment +may lead to more, and that I may get some work to do in South America." + +She started, and the gay embroidery fell from her hands on to the grass, +as she exclaimed with plaintive, down-drawn lips, like those of a child, +"Oh, not to South America! Don't go so far away!" + +He merely shook his head. + +"Oh, that is terrible!" she said. "I never thought of that! But, +perhaps, you will not go." + +"Very much, 'perhaps.' It would be better luck than I could expect." + +"And you really could have the heart to leave us all, and go off to the +other side of the globe? Oh, I can't bear to think of it!" + +"Don't speak so kindly! You will take away all my courage," he said, +looking for a moment at the beautiful eyes fixed on his face. + +"Ah, I am very selfish. Of course you ought to go, if going will lead to +a career for you. Although one can't help feeling that you will be, +somehow wasted in mere commercial pursuits. Yes, yes, of course, I am +wrong!" she added, hastily anticipating his rejoinder. "It is all very +proper and Spartan, no doubt. But I am not in the least Spartan, you +know." + +"People usually find it easy to be Spartan for their friends. Very few +keep their stoicism for themselves, and their soft-heartedness for +others--as you do!" + +He glanced involuntarily at Martin Bransby, as he spoke; and she +followed his glance with instant quickness of understanding. + +"How do you think he is looking? You do not think he seems worse, do +you?" she said. + +"No, indeed, no!" + +"I was afraid, when you talked about stoicism----" + +"No, I only meant that you always show great courage when Mr. Bransby is +ill." + +"I don't think I am naturally courageous. But love gives courage." + +"Yes,--the genuine sort of love." + +"Although it makes one frightened, too, in one way. I am sometimes very +uneasy about him." She turned a gaze of profound tenderness on her +husband's sleeping face. + +"I trust your uneasiness is needless," said Owen. "Mr. Bransby seems to +be going on well, does he not?" + +"Oh yes, I hope so. But he does not gain strength. His rest is very +troubled, and he talks in his sleep. And I think his spirits are much +less cheerful than they were. He has a great regard for you. He will +approve of what you are doing, I know. But he will be as sorry as the +rest of us to think of your going so far away." + +She said all this in her usual sweet voice, and with her usual soft +grace of manner. Then all at once she broke down in a sudden passion of +tears, and burying her face in her handkerchief, she sobbed out, "If you +go to South America he will never see you again;--never, never! I know +his days are numbered. They think they keep me in ignorance; but I know +it, I know it!" + +Owen was melted by her grief. In the eyes of sound-hearted manhood, +beauty, while it attracts, adds a sort of sacredness to a pure woman. To +see that lovely face convulsed with weeping made an impression on his +senses, such as he might have felt at seeing an exquisite work of art +defaced or mutilated. And beyond that, there was the warm human +sympathy, and the feeling of compassionate protection due to her sex. + +"Dearest Mrs. Bransby," he said, looking at her piteously, "pray, pray +take comfort. Oh, how I wish that I could give you any help or comfort!" + +She continued to weep softly and silently for a little while longer. +Then she wiped away her tears, and spoke with calmness. "Forgive me! It +was selfish to distress you," she said. "But it has relieved my heart to +cry a little. And you have always been so friendly. I have as great +reliance on you as if I had known you all my life." + +"As far as the will goes, you cannot over-rate my friendship. But the +power, alas! is small; or rather none." + +"No; don't say that. Whenever I have forced myself to look forward to +the great sorrow which may soon come upon me, I have said to myself, 'I +know Mr. Rivers would be good to me and the children, and would help us +with honest advice.' I have no one belonging to me--of my own +family--left to rely on. The boys and I would be very desolate and +forlorn, if we were left to guide ourselves by our own wisdom." + +"There is Theodore," said Owen. But he said it with dry awkwardness, as +though there were something in the words to be ashamed of. + +"Theodore does not love us," returned Mrs. Bransby quickly. "You were +praising me just now for caring about my friends. But you see how +selfish my thoughts were all the time! It does seem so dreary to imagine +you far away out of our reach!" + +She wore on her wrist a bracelet consisting of a broad gold band, in +which was set the portrait of her youngest child. Now, little Enid had a +special affection for Owen. She caressed him and tyrannized over him. +And whenever Bobby and Billy desired to coax Mr. Rivers into playing +with them, they conspired to make Enid prefer the request, secretly +agreeing that Mr. Rivers spoiled Enid, and would never resist her. In +short, Mr. Rivers was Enid's sworn knight, and did her suit and service. +The sweet, baby face looked out of its gold frame, with large, grave +eyes, and faintly smiling mouth, and soft yellow hair like the down on a +nestling bird. Owen took Mrs. Bransby's hand, and bent over it until his +lips touched little Enid's portrait. "Near or far," he said, "you and +your children may always count on my faithful affection." + +When he raised his head again, Theodore was standing in front of them. + +He had come noiselessly along the grass, and halted a little behind his +father's chair. Mrs. Bransby's head was turned in the opposite +direction, and she did not see him immediately. But Owen saw him, and +caught a singular expression on young Bransby's face which made his own +blood run swiftly with a confused sense of furious anger. It was an +expression of mingled surprise, suspicion, and an indescribable touch of +exultation. But even as Owen fixed his eyes on him sternly, the look was +gone; and Theodore's smooth face was as coolly supercilious as usual. + +"Your father has been having a good sleep, Theodore," said his +step-mother, when she saw him. + +"So I see," he answered. And, again, something singular in his tone made +Owen long to seize him and hurl him away out of Mrs. Bransby's presence. + +"Mr. Rivers has been telling me his news," said Mrs. Bransby. "We ought +to rejoice, I suppose. But I can't help feeling selfishly sorry." + +"We must hope that our loss will be his gain," replied Theodore. He felt +instinctively that Owen's eyes were still fastened on him. And Owen's +eyes, like many light-blue eyes, had the power of expressing an +intensity of fierceness when he was thoroughly incensed which few +persons would have found it easy to support. But Theodore had averted +his own gaze, and was looking down on his father with ostentatious +solicitude. + +The old man slightly moved his head, and Mrs. Bransby was by his side +instantly. "Are you refreshed by your sleep, dear Martin?" she asked as +he opened his eyes. + +"Yes, Loui, yes. Oh, there's Rivers! How are you, Rivers?" He rose from +his chair and shook hands with Owen, asking him to come to the house and +have tea. Mrs. Bransby offered her husband her arm, but he took her hand +and laid it tenderly upon his sleeve. "Not yet, Loui; not yet!" he said, +smiling down upon her. "I needn't lean upon you yet." Then the two +walked slowly side by side towards the house, leaving the young men to +follow. + +As they did so, crossing the wide lawn side by side, it suddenly +occurred to Theodore, with a shock of surprise, that he and Owen had not +exchanged any sort of greeting or salutation whatever. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +The Dormer-Smiths arrived in London early in November, and May joined +them almost immediately. Her aunt was delighted to find May looking +remarkably well. + +"Some good has come of her vegetating in Oldchester," said Pauline to +her husband. "Her complexion is radiant. Also I think her figure has +improved. If she _would_ but consent to have her stays taken in! +Smithson could manage it half an inch at a time; and might easily get +her waist down to eighteen inches. But there is that lamentable touch of +self-indulgent apathy about May! However, she has really a great deal of +charm; and, in spite of all the drawbacks connected with poor Augustus's +unfortunate marriage, she _looks_ thoroughbred." + +The two little boys, Harold and Wilfred, had returned from their sojourn +in a farm-house so much strengthened that their father seriously talked +of sending them into the country altogether for a couple of years. Even +Mrs. Dormer-Smith, although unwilling to relinquish her character of +chronic invalid, confessed that Carlsbad had done her good. In fact, the +whole family returned to London in improved health and spirits. A great +many "nice people" were to be in town for the winter; and the excuse of +May's presence, and the assistance of May's allowance, would enable +Pauline to enjoy society, and at the same time to satisfy that singular +worldly conscience of hers with the sense of duty fulfilled. + +There was a little disappointment at Mr. Bragg's absence from England. +But even here Mrs. Dormer-Smith had the not inconsiderable consolation +of knowing that if he were far from May's attractions, he was also far +from those of Constance Hadlow. And she more than ever rejoiced at that +providential interposition in the interests of the Cheffington family +which had kept Mr. Bragg away from Glengowrie. Another symptom which +filled Aunt Pauline with complacent hopes, was May's newly developed +interest in Mr. Bragg, and her eager willingness to talk about his +Spanish tour. Pauline was inclined to attribute something of this +improved state of mind to Mrs. Dobbs's influence; and confessed to +herself that the old woman was doing all she could to compensate the +House of Cheffington for the injury done to it by the disastrous +_mesalliance_. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith's cheerfulness at this time would have been absolutely +unclouded but for the dread hanging over her about her brother. She had +given May to understand that the rumours spread by Valli and others were +based on error. And she even conveyed the idea to her niece (although +scrupulously abstaining from explicit falsehood) that Captain +Cheffington himself had denied those rumours in private communications +to her and Frederick. But the fact was that Augustus had remained +inflexibly silent. The Dormer-Smiths knew nothing of him. And so +completely had he dropped out of the society of all with whom they were +likely to consort, that a doubt sometimes crossed Pauline's mind as to +whether her brother were still living or not. + +Meanwhile, every week May received a letter from Owen, forwarded by Mrs. +Dobbs. The latter had restricted the correspondence to one letter a week +on each side. Owen wrote very joyously. His work was easy--too easy, he +said; and he was constantly seeking opportunities to be useful to his +employer. Mr. Bragg he pronounced to be an excellent master: clearheaded +in his commands, and reasonable in his exactions. He seemed to approve +of his secretary so far; and although he was rather taciturn, and not +prone to encourage sanguine expectations, yet Owen began to have good +hope that Mr. Bragg would not turn him adrift when the three months' +engagement should be at an end. + +May now became decidedly more popular in society than she had been +during the height of the season. Happiness, like sunshine, beautifies +common things; and the new brightness of her outlook on it was reflected +by the world around her. That feeling which she had expressed in writing +to her grandmother--the forlorn feeling of a child who, in the midst of +some gay spectacle, wearily cries to go home--had disappeared. She knew +that when the curtain should fall on the puppet-show in Vanity Fair, her +own true love was waiting to welcome her. + +Sometimes she speculated on how Aunt Pauline would take the revelation +of her attachment to Owen Rivers. That she should have had any doubt on +the subject proved her ignorance of Aunt Pauline's views. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith would not for the world have expressed to May any gross or +sordid sentiments about marriage. She had not the slightest idea that +she entertained any such herself! But, as she had long ago said, there +are many things--never put into words--which "girls brought up in a +certain _monde_ learn by instinct." Now in that kind of instinct May was +greatly deficient. + +May reflected that her aunt had spurned Theodore Bransby's proposal on +the avowed ground of his being "nobody." And she understood--or thought +she understood--that Aunt Pauline accorded a tangible existence only to +such persons as could be proved by genealogical records to have had a +certain number of great-grandfathers. Now, thus considered, Owen was +very undeniably and solidly "somebody." He was poor, certainly; but how +often had Aunt Pauline mingled her plaintive regrets with Mrs. Griffin's +about the increasing worship of Mammon which vulgarized London society! +And although Aunt Pauline sometimes showed a deference for wealth which +was rather puzzling in the face of these utterances, yet May observed +that her personal liking and admiration were given on very different +grounds. Witness her regard for Constance Hadlow! + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith even kept up an intermittent correspondence with that +young lady. Constance's letters were precisely of the kind which Mrs. +Dormer-Smith delighted in--budgets of social gossip selected with +unerring tact. Constance had returned to Oldchester, but she did not +spend many consecutive weeks in her parents' house, being invited to +visit among "the _elite_ of the county aristocracy," as Mrs. Simpson +phrased it. Miss Hadlow had, in fact, achieved what might be called, all +things considered, a brilliant social position. Her visit to Glengowrie +had been a great success. She had made a conquest of the duchess; and +also--though that was comparatively of small consequence--of the duke. +Mrs. Griffin was charmed that her _protegee_ had done her so much +honour; and promised to take her into society the following season, if +Canon and Mrs. Hadlow would give her leave to come to town. Indeed, Mrs. +Griffin began seriously to revolve in her mind whether she could not +contrive to marry Charley Rivers's grand-daughter, and secure her a fine +establishment. Mrs. Griffin was proud of her achievements in that line, +which, though few, were brilliant. Like a certain famous Italian +singing-master, who was wont in his old age to decline unpromising +pupils on the ground that it was not worth his while to make _seconde +donne_, Mrs. Griffin practised only the higher branches of matchmaking; +and refused to fly her falcons at anything under twenty thousand a +year--or a peerage. + +What made Miss Hadlow's letters particularly interesting to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith at this time, was that the former was frequently staying in +the neighbourhood of Combe Park, and occasionally met Lord Castlecombe +and Lucius, whom she reported to be constantly ailing--as, indeed, he +had been since before his brother's death. But his state did not seem to +inspire any immediate apprehension. And Constance even said a word now +and then about "creaking wheels," and intimated her belief that Mr. +Lucius Cheffington would probably outlive many more robust-looking +persons. + +But it was not only these polite chronicles which kept the Dormer-Smith +household informed as to the doings of Oldchester people. Mrs. Dobbs, of +course, wrote frequently to her grandchild. The saddest news which she +had to give May was the continuous and rapid decline of Mr. Bransby's +health. Theodore was still away from home, Mrs. Dobbs wrote, and she +commented severely on his heartless neglect of his father. She had +learned through Mrs. Simpson that old Martin Bransby showed great +anxiety for his son's return; and it was reported that he had caused a +letter to be written, telling Theodore that he desired to speak with +him, and urging him to come home without delay. + +In the first days of December the end came. Martin Bransby died--rather +suddenly at the last--and his eldest son was not with him. On being +telegraphed to he arrived in Oldchester with the utmost possible +despatch--but too late to see his father alive. + +"People are very sorry for the widow and her children," wrote Mrs. +Dobbs; "for it's beginning to be said now that they're left rather badly +off, and that the bulk of everything will go to Theodore. I don't know +any facts, one way or the other; but I do know that foolish folk cackle +louder over a grave than almost anywhere else. So we may hope things are +not so bad with that pretty, gentle woman as Oldchester gossip makes +out." + +One of May's first thoughts on reading this letter was, "How grieved +Owen will be!" She grieved herself for the kindly old man who had always +been good to her, and for the grief of those who loved him. And she +incurred a mild rebuke from her aunt by appearing at a dinner party that +evening with pale cheeks and red eyelids. + +Contrary to Mrs. Dobbs's hope, it turned out that the gossip had for +once been correct. Martin Bransby's affairs were left in a strange +entanglement. There were many debts, and, as it seemed, very little +money to meet them. People inquired how he had got rid of the handsome +property left him by his father. He had not got rid of it in the +ordinary sense of the words; but the bulk of it was as far beyond his +control as though he had thrown it into the sea. + +At the time of Martin Bransby's first marriage, old Rabbitt had made +most stringent arrangements in his daughter's interest. Not only her own +dowry (which was a handsome one), but nearly the whole of Martin's +property was strictly settled on her and her children. Mr. Rabbitt was +enabled to drive a hard bargain by his command of ready money. He +advanced a large sum to his son-in-law for the purchase of Cadell's +share in the firm. Mr. Cadell was old, and wished to retire; the +opportunity was favourable, and promised brilliant results. Nor were +these promises belied by experience. The old-established solicitor's +business was a very flourishing and lucrative one. Martin Bransby was +soon able to pay back the loan to his father-in-law with interest. Old +Rabbitt observed that this was only taking from one hand to give to the +other, for it would all come back to him and his in the end. As a matter +of fact, old Rabbitt left every penny he had in the world to his +daughter and her children after her; but the money was strictly tied up +out of her husband's reach. + +This seemed a trifling matter in those days to Martin Bransby. Whom +should he desire to enrich but his own children? and things were going +so well in the office that it seemed probable he might amass another +fortune. But when, after his second marriage, a young family began to +gather round him, he could not help regretting the terms of his original +marriage settlement. As soon as Theodore came of age Mr. Bransby made an +attempt to induce him to relinquish some part of the property in favour +of his younger brothers and sisters; but the attempt failed, and was +never repeated. Mr. Bransby was deeply wounded by Theodore's attitude, +and, on his side, Theodore considered his father's request unreasonable +and unfair. + +"If I might venture on a suggestion, I would advise your retrenching a +little, sir," he had said with icy politeness; "in that way you would +soon save enough to provide for Mrs. Bransby and her children in a style +fully equal to what they have any right to expect from you." + +The remembrance of that interview was a thorn in the flesh of Martin +Bransby, and it left in Theodore's mind increased resentment against his +father's second marriage. + +But Theodore's advice, however unfilially proffered, was sound enough. +Retrenchment in the daily expenses of that easy-going and lavish +household would have been judicious; but then to retrench would have +been to deprive Louisa of the luxuries and elegancies which so became +her, and which gave her so much pleasure. Instead of taking this +disagreeable method, Mr. Bransby tried speculation. He made one or two +lucky strokes, but at the first loss became panic-stricken, and threw +good money after bad in a kind of desperation. + +After his death something of all this leaked out in a confused way, to +the public astonishment. "To think of Martin Bransby's money matters +being in a bad way!" people said. "There must be more in this than meets +the eye, for he was acknowledged to be a first-rate man of business." + +In brief, as much amazement was expressed as though "men of business" +were commonly infallible, and the world had never heard of a man of +business whose conduct was not ruled by self-restraining prudence. At +the same time many persons declared they had long ago prophesied +disaster, and had even warned Martin to put some check on his wife's +extravagance. But such little inconsistencies as these are but pebbles +in the stream of general gossip; diversifying it with an agreeable +ripple, but never checking its flow. + +May wrote an affectionate letter of condolence to Mrs. Bransby. She +received no answer to it; and presently she learned that Mrs. Bransby +and her children had left Oldchester, and gone to London. Constance +Hadlow did not mention the family at all in writing to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. They had fallen out of the sphere of her observation; +and no one can be expected to turn away his telescope from +contemplating the fixed stars in order to stare at common terrestrial +phenomena--especially phenomena of a non-metallic and unproductive +nature. + +About Christmas time Theodore Bransby called unexpectedly at Mrs. +Dormer-Smith's house in London. He came early in the forenoon--so early, +indeed, that Mrs. Dormer-Smith was not yet visible. On asking to see +Miss Cheffington, he was shown into a room where May was sitting with +the children. (Harold and Wilfred were now permitted to spend part of +the morning with their cousin, at her particular request. And it was +found that this arrangement answered the double purpose of delighting +the boys, and leaving Cecile more leisure for needlework.) + +May started and flushed on hearing Mr. Theodore Bransby's name +announced. But the first glimpse of Theodore disarmed her wrath. He was +paler than ever--or seemed to be so, in his deep mourning, and there was +unmistakable sorrow in his face. May rose quickly, and gave him her hand +in silence. There were tears in her eyes, and the unexpected sight of +tears in his, made her forgive him for pressing her hand harder, and +holding it longer than mere politeness warranted. + +"I have been so sorry!" said May. + +"Thank you," he answered. "You are always kind and good." + +"So sorry for you all--the widow--the poor children--!" added May, as a +bright drop brimmed over, and rolled down her cheek. + +Theodore relinquished her hand, and rapidly passing his handkerchief +across his eyes, gave a dry, husky, little cough in his throat. It was a +sound which curiously repelled sympathy. + +"You were not in Oldchester when your dear father died," said May. She +did not intend any covert reproach. Her words were prompted by a pitying +thought of the undying regret which must haunt Theodore on this score. + +"No; I was not there. I know I have been blamed for that." + +"Oh, indeed I had no such meaning!" + +"I well believe it. But I _have_ been blamed--most unjustly. I went away +with my father's full consent; indeed, he thought I needed the change. +He wrote to me when he found himself growing worse, to ask me to come +back. Of course I meant to comply with that request. You cannot doubt +it?" + +"I have no right to doubt it," answered May gently. + +"No, but pray listen! I wish to justify myself in your eyes. The truth +is, I was in the act of packing my valise to return to Oldchester when a +telegram reached me, saying that my father's danger was imminent. I was +in Yorkshire, in a country house, where there was but one postal +delivery a day. Letters were often delayed, and, in fact, my father's +letter had preceded the telegram only by a few hours." + +"Oh, how sad! I am so sorry for you!" cried May, clasping her hands. She +felt some generous compunction for having done him injustice. + +"Yes; I have lost a good father," said Theodore. + +"You have, indeed. And what a loss is Mrs. Bransby's!" + +A subtle change came over his face, although he did not seem to move a +muscle, and he made no answer. + +"How is she?" asked May, leaning forward eagerly. + +Theodore's eyebrows took their old supercilious curve, as he replied, +"Mrs. Bransby? Oh, she's quite well, I believe." + +"Believe! Have you not seen her lately?" + +"Oh yes; I have seen her. She appeared perfectly well. I did not at +first quite take in the sense of your question; but I see now what you +meant. Every one has not such keen sensibilities as you, May." + +Even this familiar use of her name she let pass, although it jarred upon +her. + +"I am sure Mrs. Bransby is not insensible," she answered. "And she loved +your father dearly." + +"I am not disputing it. But she was, and is, a doating mother, and her +feelings are greatly engrossed by her children. In one way this is happy +for her. She does not feel the void, the loneliness, which oppresses +me." + +It seemed to May that there might be some truth in this. Theodore was +not generally beloved. Cold as he seemed, he doubtless missed his +father's affection. He would feel isolated and forlorn. This might be in +great part his own fault; but May pitied him. She softened towards him +still more when he went on to speak of his plans for assisting his young +step-brothers. He had already offered to send Martin to school at his +own expense. He was endeavouring to be of use to Mrs. Bransby. She was, +unfortunately, very unpractical, and rather impracticable; but he hoped +that, when her grief calmed down, she would listen to reason and take +advice. + +"Is she not well off?" asked May, moved by genuine interest in the widow +and her family. + +Theodore shook his head. "I may tell _you_," he said, "that she is in +very straitened circumstances. I do not proclaim this generally, because +people who know how indefatigably my poor father worked, and what a +large income he earned, are apt to blame her, and accuse her of +extravagance." + +While he was still speaking, a message came from Mrs. Dormer-Smith +asking Mr. Bransby to go to her in the drawing-room. She, too, was +touched by his mourning garb and pale face, and received him with +sympathetic gentleness. May's report of his behaviour in Oldchester had +been favourable, in so far that he had not attempted to renew his suit. +But what most of all conciliated Mrs. Dormer-Smith was the thought of +Mr. Bragg. Now that her niece was so near making a splendid marriage, it +was easier to forgive Theodore's presumption. Doubtless the young man +had already seen his error; and really, putting aside that one +aberration, he was very nice! + +Her good opinion was increased in the course of their private +conversation, which turned on matters very interesting to Pauline. +Theodore had seen her uncle lately; he had, moreover, had a good deal of +talk with him about matters political. A vacancy was likely to occur +shortly in the representation of that division of the county where Lord +Castlecombe's landed property was situated. The Castlecombes were +anxious to oppose a threatened Radical candidate, and Theodore had +offered to stand. + +On his elder brother's death, Lucius Cheffington had resigned his post +in the Civil Service, and, under normal circumstances, his father would +have desired that he should return to the House of Commons; but his +health was at present too feeble to warrant his attempting any exertion. +Then old Lord Castlecombe thought it would be well to put some one into +the vacant seat who might be willing to resign it whenever Lucius should +be able and willing to come forward again as a candidate. This was not +expressed, but understood; and Lord Castlecombe had approved of +Theodore's ready comprehension of the state of the case, and his clear +view of the advantages such an arrangement would afford to himself. +Election expenses, even in these days of purity and the ballot, retain +as mysterious a rapidity of growth as Jack's beanstalk, and the +assistance of Lord Castlecombe would be very solidly valuable. On the +other hand, Theodore considered that, ambition apart, it would be useful +to him in his career as a barrister to write M.P. after his name, and +was willing to assume some share of the cost of the canvass. The old +lord discovered in this sententious young gentleman two merits--the +possession of money, and the knowledge how to spend it advantageously. + +Lucius acquiesced passively in all his father's arrangements; but he +could not be induced to thaw half a degree in his personal relations +with Theodore. + +"The fellow is an intolerable prig," he said to his father; "and his +vulgarity is of a particularly objectionable kind--the fine pretentious +kind." + +"Oh, of course, he's a d--d snob," answered my lord, with cheerful +candour. "But what the deuce does that matter? We are not going to take +him to our arms; only to throw him into the arms of the voters! And I +can tell you, it will be a vast deal better to have him for our member +than Mr. Butter, the Radical button-maker. At any rate, this young +Bransby won't go in for abolishing the Peers, or starting a Separatist +crusade in the Scilly Islands." + +In the course of his talk with Mrs. Dormer-Smith, Theodore hinted to her +as much of his political outlook as seemed good to him. The account of +his relations with Lord Castlecombe greatly impressed her; for she was +very sure her uncle would not waste any of his time and attention on an +entirely insignificant person. And Theodore's tone in speaking of the +political position of the Castlecombe family was such as to win her +complete approval and sympathy. + +When Pauline talked over his visit with her husband, after narrating +that part of it which concerned Lord Castlecombe, she added, "And the +young man has a great deal of proper feeling. I really begin to think +that mistake he made must have been in some way May's fault:--oh, not +intentionally, Frederick; but she is so--so unformed in her ideas! +However, we need not discuss all that; for I am convinced Mr. Bransby is +quite _safe_ now. I was going to say that he told me confidentially that +he would not advise us to encourage any intimacy between May and his +step-mother. She is in London, I believe; letting lodgings, or some +dreadful thing of that sort. It is just the kind of thing May would +delight in, if I would let her--visiting and championing people who are +in impossible positions, and talking all kinds of Quixotic nonsense +about them! However, this Mrs. Bransby is not the kind of person who +_can_ be encouraged. She is very handsome, I understand, and _tant soit +peu, coquette_. There was some not too creditable flirtation with young +Rivers before her husband's death; and Mr. Bransby evidently thinks she +is the kind of woman always to have some one dangling after her. He +spoke really very nicely, and said he hoped she might soon marry again, +as she is scarcely fit to be trusted with the responsibility of bringing +up a young family. You are so apt to indulge May in her whims, that I +thought it necessary to repeat all this with distinctness. You must see, +as I do, that it would be quite disastrous for May to keep up any +intimacy with such a person as this Mrs. Bransby--a handsome, flirting, +needy widow! If she were even in society----!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +The sale of Martin Bransby's handsome furniture, books, plate, carriage, +and horses realized a considerable sum; but only a small portion of that +sum remained when all debts were paid. Theodore made all the +arrangements, and Mrs. Bransby passively acquiesced in them. She was +crushed by grief, and timidly acknowledged herself to be sadly helpless +and ignorant of business matters. + +It was Theodore who had decided that the family should leave Oldchester. +It was Theodore who had taken a house for them in a northern suburb of +London. It was Theodore who suggested that Mrs. Bransby might eke out +her income by receiving one or two lodgers. For Martin's schooling he +promised to be responsible; and he would also guarantee the rent of the +London house for one twelvemonth. But he could promise no further +assistance, giving as a sufficient reason for not doing more the heavy +claims on his purse which would result from his forthcoming political +candidature. + +A tiny annual sum was secured to the widow--a sum smaller than that +which she had been in the habit of spending on her dress; and this was +all she had to rely on to keep herself and her five children. It was +clear that an effort must be made to earn some money. + +Some articles of furniture remaining from the Oldchester sale nearly +sufficed to furnish the small London dwelling. The house, fortunately, +was clean, freshly painted, and in good repair; but the vulgar +wall-papers were an affliction to Mrs. Bransby's eyes, and the +dimensions of the rooms seemed to her painfully cramped. When she +ventured to hint as much to her stepson he gave her a severe lecture, +and begged her to understand that the days when her whims could be +lavishly indulged were over. + +"But it can scarcely be called a whim to want air for my children to +breathe!" returned Mrs. Bransby, with a flash of indignation which she +repented the next moment. And when Theodore pointed out that the house +was a remarkably airy one for the rent; and that he, in his kind +consideration, had taken a great deal of trouble to find a dwelling for +them in a healthy locality, she meekly apologized for having been +betrayed into any expression of impatience, and promised to make the +best of her new circumstances. + +They were such as might have depressed a stronger and less sensitive +person. When Theodore had gone away, and the children were in bed, and +the widow sat alone in the mean little room which, small as it was, was +but dimly illuminated by one candle, the sense of her forlorn position +weighed her down, and seemed to make the atmosphere thick with misery. +It was not the loss of material luxuries which afflicted her. A month +ago she would have felt that keenly; but now her great sorrow had +absorbed all minor troubles. Poverty! What was poverty, compared with +desolation of spirit? How willingly would she have faced severer bodily +hardships than any which threatened her if her lost husband could be +restored to her! + +She dropped her head on her folded arms resting on the table. The +widow's cap slipped aside, and a veil of bright, brown, waving hair fell +over her bowed face. She had been forced to restrain her tears all day. +There were the children to be thought of. There were Theodore's cold, +clear questions and suggestions to be answered. But now, in solitude, +her tears gushed out. She wept with long, deep-drawn sobs. The words of +the Litany seemed to be repeated over and over again, as by a voice +whispering in her ear, "The fatherless children, and widows, and all who +are desolate and oppressed." She rocked herself from side to side, and +moaned out, "Oh, come back to us! Come back, Martin--Martin!" + +A hand was gently laid on her shoulder. With a great start she raised +her head, and saw her eldest boy standing by her side. + +He was a handsome boy, very like his father. But now his naturally ruddy +face was pale, and his eyes had a depth of yearning tenderness in them +which went to his mother's heart. + +"Don't cry so, mother dear!" he said. "Father couldn't bear to see it, +if he knew." + +She clasped the boy in her arms; and, although she still wept, her sobs +were less convulsive, and she gradually grew calmer. Martin stood beside +her very quietly, occasionally stroking back the pretty soft hair which +strayed over her face, and was damp with tears. + +Presently Mrs. Bransby said, "I thought you were in bed, Martin. How +silently you came downstairs!" + +"I took off my shoes, mother," he answered, showing his feet. "I didn't +want to disturb the others. The children are asleep, and Phoebe is +snoring away." + +Phoebe was their one servant, a housemaid from their Oldchester +home--who had volunteered to remain with them and follow their fortunes. + +"Poor Phoebe! I dare say she is tired," said Mrs. Bransby. + +"I should think she _was_ rather. She has been working like a brick all +day," returned Martin. + +There was a little silence, during which Mrs. Bransby dried her eyes, +put up her dishevelled hair, and replaced her cap. + +"Ought you not to go to bed, my boy?" she said, looking wistfully at +him. + +"I want to stay and talk to you quietly a little, mother." + +Mrs. Bransby hesitated. "I should dearly like you to stay awhile, +Martin," she answered; "but I'm afraid it would not be right. You look +pale and worn out. You and I must help each other now to do what is +right;--and what--what _he_ would have wished," she added with quivering +lips. + +"Yes, mother," answered the boy eagerly. "That's just what I want; and I +know he would have wished me to spare you all the bother I can. So now +just listen, mother; indeed, indeed I couldn't sleep if I went to bed +now--and it's far wearier work to lie awake than to sit up and talk. +Look here, mother; Theodore has offered to send me to school, hasn't +he?" + +"Yes, Martin. I am very thankful for that. I don't see how I could have +afforded it." + +"Well, but now, I've been thinking that it would be better if Theodore +would give you that money, instead of paying for my schooling, and for +me to get a situation and earn something." + +"Earn! My darling boy, how could you earn anything?" + +"Why, mother, I could do all that the office boy did at Oldchester. Old +Tuckey told me once that he earned fifteen shillings a-week. Just fancy, +mother! That's a good lot, isn't it?" + +It looked a very childish face that he turned towards his mother: a face +with frank, sparkling eyes and rounded cheeks, to which the excitement +of making this proposition had brought back the roses. + +"Oh, Martin, my dearest boy, it is sweet of you to think of this! But +you are too young, darling." + +"I'm going on for thirteen, mother!" interrupted Martin. + +"Yes, dear; but still even that is very, very young," answered his +mother gravely, although the phantom of a smile flitted across her pale +face. + +Martin looked disappointed, and, for a moment, almost angry. He had a +naturally hot temper. But he battled down the temptation, and merely +said, "Well, mother, you need not decide anything to-night. You can +think it over. I believe I could earn something; and I'm sure that if I +can, I ought." + +"But your education, Martin!" + +"I might, perhaps, go on learning a little at home--in the evenings," he +rejoined, but more slowly, and less confidently than he had spoken +before. + +"You know, Martin, _he_ wished you to study. He was so proud of your +abilities--so fond of you----" Her voice broke, and she turned away her +head. + +"Yes, mother; but he was fonder of you," answered Martin simply. "I know +quite well that if father could speak to me now, this minute, he would +say, 'Martin, take care of your mother.' That's what he _did_ say one +day when I was alone with him, only a week before----" The boy paused, +made a violent struggle to master his emotion, and then went on bravely, +though his young face grew white to the lips, "And I'm going to do it, +please God!" + +The tears that poured down his mother's cheeks as she embraced him and +kissed his forehead were not all bitter. "Not desolate--not wholly +desolate," she murmered, "while I have you, my precious, precious son!" + +They sat awhile, talking of their means, and their plans, and their +prospects. Mrs. Bransby felt that although many of Martin's notions +were, of course, crude and childish, yet there was a strain of firm +manliness in him on which she could rely; and the boy had a quick +intelligence. Before parting from his mother for the night, he proposed +that she should write to Owen Rivers and ask his advice. "You'll believe +what Mr. Rivers says, mother, if you don't believe me. And I think +you'll find that _he_ will consider it my duty to earn something if I +can; anyway, he's such a good fellow, and has such a thundering lot of +sense, he's sure to give us good advice." + +The widow caught at the suggestion; she had almost as implicit faith in +Owen as her children had. She promised that Martin should enclose a +letter of his own in hers to Mr. Rivers; and when she bade the boy "good +night" at the door of his poor little chamber, she was surprised to find +her heart somewhat lightened of its load. + +"I say, look here, mother!" whispered Martin, beckoning her in from the +open door. "Don't those young shavers sleep like one o'clock?" He +pointed to Bobby and Billy, who occupied one large bed--a relic from the +Oldchester nursery--while Martin's little camp-bedstead was squeezed +into a corner of the same room. The two little fellows were sleeping the +profound sleep of healthy childhood. Bobby had a smile on his parted +lips, and Billy lay with one fat hand doubled up under his cheek, and +the other buried in the thick masses of his brother's curly hair. + +"This isn't half a bad room when the window's wide open," went on Martin +cheerfully. "I can see a tree--quite a good-sized elm--from my bed. Good +night, mother dear; I hope you'll sleep. I think this'll turn out an +awfully nice little house, when we get used to it." + +The two letters to Owen Rivers--Martin's and his mother's--were written +the next morning. Mrs. Bransby sent them under cover to Mr. Bragg, +addressed to Oldchester, to be forwarded, and with a line from herself +to Mr. Bragg, begging that he would let Mr. Rivers have them without +delay. She had written very fully and frankly to Owen, telling him, +without reserve, what her means were. Only on one point had she been +reticent--Theodore's conduct. In her heart she thought Theodore cruelly +cold and hard towards her and the children. But she would not complain +of him; he was her dear husband's son, and she felt as if it would be +disloyal to that honoured husband's memory to paint Theodore to others +as she saw him. + +Theodore's recommendation to his step-mother, to "take good, steady, +paying lodgers," was in the nature of those vague counsels we are all +apt to proffer freely to our neighbours; such as, to "cheer up;" not to +"yield to weakness;" to "look on the bright side;" to "dismiss +disagreeable thoughts;" to "set to work briskly and earn money," and the +like. That is to say, it was easier said than done. When, after the +family had been somewhat over a week in town, Theodore came again to see +them, and found that no steps had been taken to carry out this +suggestion, he showed considerable displeasure, and said a sharp word or +two about the difficulty of helping unpractical people. + +This word, "unpractical," was, in fact, a favourite reproach to apply to +poor Mrs. Bransby on the part of a great many persons. Mrs. Dormer-Smith +caught it up from Theodore. Constance Hadlow echoed the same phrase +when, at length, in answer to some private inquiries of Mrs. +Dormer-Smith's, she wrote about the Bransby family. + +May's first eager proposal to go and see Mrs. Bransby was met by her +aunt with an absolute refusal; but she was so urgent, and appealed so +strongly to her uncle, that Mrs. Dormer-Smith, making a virtue of +necessity (for she feared that if leave were refused May might go +without it), graciously consented that her niece should pay one visit to +Mrs. Bransby. + +"One visit will be enough, May," said Aunt Pauline. "Quite enough to +show that you feel kindly towards her, and that sort of thing. It is +really stretching a point. However, if it must be, it must be. I only +implore you not to talk about these people in society. Pray, _pray_ do +not _poser_ as a district visitor, or whatever it is called." + +May shrugged her shoulders, and was silent. She knew how vain it was to +reason with Aunt Pauline on a point of this kind; but she comforted +herself by looking forward to the time--very near now--when Owen would +return, and when, in some mysterious way, not explicable to her head, +but quite sufficing to her heart, all her difficulties would vanish +before his presence. And that same afternoon she set off to Collingwood +Place, Barnsbury Road, in a cab, attended by Smithson. + +Mrs. Bransby received her affectionately, and thanked her for her visit; +but she did not ask her to repeat it. She perceived, far more quickly +than May had perceived it, that Mrs. Dormer-Smith would not like her +niece to keep up any intimacy with a family who lived in Barnsbury, and +were served by one maid-of-all-work. When the children clung round May, +and clamoured to know when she was coming to see them again, Mrs. +Bransby interposed. She told them that May could not be running in and +out of their house in London as she had done in Oldchester; and they +must understand she could not take up the time of her aunt's maid in +making long journeys to Barnsbury. And she said privately to May-- + +"Don't get into trouble with your aunt by coming here, my dear. I know +you would help us if you could; but you cannot. But I ought not to say +that! It is helpful to know you are unchanged, and warm-hearted as ever. +Some day, please God, we may be able to see each freely." + +"Yes; some day!" cried May joyfully, thinking of him who would help to +make that and all the other good things possible. And then she coloured +vividly, as though she had betrayed a secret. + +Mrs. Bransby, however, did not notice this. She went on pensively, "And +yet I am almost afraid to look forward to any pleasant thing lest it +should be snatched away from me. Misfortune makes one a sad coward. I +have had a disappointment just lately--about Mr. Rivers. He is not +coming back so soon as was expected." + +"He is coming back at the end of this month," said May in a quick, +almost breathless way. + +"No. He _was_ to have returned to England at the end of December, but +that is altered. His present engagement is prolonged for some weeks. I +had a letter from him last evening from Barcelona, and he does not +expect to be in England before the latter part of January at the +soonest." + +May drove homeward much depressed and out of spirits. It was not only +that Owen's return was postponed, but that she had not been the first to +hear of it! To be sure, his weekly letter was not yet due, and he was +rigidly scrupulous in keeping his promise to Mrs. Dobbs about +corresponding with May. But need he have volunteered to give this news +to Mrs. Bransby before writing it to her? A dull feeling of discontent +seemed to oppress her; but on reaching home she tried to shake it off, +and to forget it in fighting her friend's battle against Aunt Pauline. + +Aunt Pauline had constructed for herself an image of Mrs. Bransby +founded on Theodore's hints. She had decided in her own mind that Mrs. +Bransby was a weak-minded, lounging, lazy woman, who, no longer able to +adorn herself with fine clothes, would sink into slattern-hood, and +throw herself and her family as a dead weight on to any shoulders who +would carry them. + +"A woman belonging to the provincial middle-class, who thinks of nothing +but dress," said Mrs. Dormer-Smith, shaking her head mournfully. "One +knows what _that_ must come to!" + +"But Mrs. Bransby thought of a great many things besides dress!" cried +May. "She thought of her household, and her children, and, above all, of +her husband." + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith merely shook her head again, with an air of mild +martyrdom, as though some one were unjustly accusing _her_. + +"And I assure you, Aunt Pauline," May continued, "that the little house +she is living in--poor and humble, of course, in comparison with her old +home--is a pattern of neatness." + +"You say 'poor and humble,' May; but do you not think that a house at +forty-five pounds a year is quite as good as she has any right to +expect, under the circumstances? _I_ do. And that poor young Bransby has +to be responsible for the rent." + +"I am sure Mrs. Bransby won't let him be out of pocket, if she can +possibly help it." + +"I dare say. But she is a sadly unpractical person." + +"It was most touching to see her with all those children about her, +trying to be cheerful and composed; and looking so lovely in her +melancholy mourning dress." + +"I presume she wears crape? Ah! There's no more extravagant wear. She +might have one dress trimmed with crape for occasions; but her ordinary +everyday frocks ought to be of plain black stuff. Hemstitched muslin +collars and cuffs, perhaps," added Mrs. Dormer-Smith, relenting at the +image of uncompromising ugliness she had herself conjured up. "But they +can be made at home, and need not cost much. Has she any lodgers?" + +"No, not yet. But there has been very little time. And it is difficult, +she says, to find suitable persons." + +"Yes, that is precisely the kind of thing one would expect her to say. +That is the speech of a thoroughly unpractical person." + +"The fact is," burst out May hotly, "it is unpractical to be poor! It is +unpractical to be left a widow, with five children, and only a miserable +pittance to keep them on!" + +It was intolerable to hear Aunt Pauline sitting in judgment on this poor +lady, of whom she really knew nothing whatever save her misfortunes. And +May was greatly astonished at the glib way in which her aunt, usually so +prosaically matter-of-fact, discoursed about Mrs. Bransby, putting in +visionary details with a lavish fancy. The girl had yet to learn that +the most narrow and commonplace minds are capable of wild exaggeration +within their own sphere, and that to be unimaginative is no guarantee +for truthfulness of perception. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith, whatever her defects might be, possessed almost +perfect gentleness of temper. She merely said softly, "May, May, when +will you understand that nothing can be worse form than that habit of +raving about people? You are so dreadfully emphatic!" + +"I don't care a straw about what you call 'good form'! I prefer good +substance," answered May, still in a glow of indignation. + +"My dear child, what does this woman matter to you?" + +"Matter! She is my friend. She has always been kind to me; and even if +she were not my friend, I would defend her against unfair accusations." + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith was silent for a few minutes. Then she said, in her +slow, somewhat muffled tones, "May, you compel me to say what I would +rather leave unsaid. Mrs. Bransby is not the kind of person your uncle +and I wish you to associate with. I do not assert that there has been +anything positively wrong in her conduct. Now oblige me by listening +quietly! If you start up in that melodramatic way, you will bring on one +of my nervous headaches. I was merely going to remark that a woman so +handsome as I am told she is, and so very much younger than her husband, +ought, in the most ordinary view of what is _convenable_, to avoid +anything like--like seeking to attract men's admiration, and that sort +of thing. But instead of that, Mrs. Bransby carried on a very flagrant +flirtation during her husband's lifetime with a young man considerably +her junior. It was noticed, of course, and commented on. If she was so +led away by foolish vanity when she had a sensible husband to guide her, +what will it be now that she is left to her own devices?" + +May stood staring at her aunt like one suddenly awakened out of sleep. +"This is all false," she said, after a moment; "false, and very cruel. +Who told you such things, Aunt Pauline?" + +"I decline to tell you, May. Some one who has had the means of knowing +what went on in this Bransby household, and some one whose judgment I +can trust. It must suffice to assure you that I am quite certain of my +facts." And, strange, as it may seem, Mrs. Dormer-Smith really thought +she was certain of them. + +May turned away contemptuously. "Mrs. Bransby is really very much to +blame," she said. "It is bad enough to be poor and unprotected, but to +be the most beautiful woman in all her circle of acquaintance as well, +is not to be forgiven!" + +Then May left her aunt's presence, and betook herself to her own room, +where she locked the door and burst out crying. These calumnies were +bewildering. She sat on the side of her bed for more than an hour, in a +drooping posture, depressed and miserable. As she thought over her +aunt's words, the belief flashed into her mind that Mrs. Dormer-Smith's +informant must have been Constance Hadlow. She did not suspect Constance +of having deliberately invented stories to the poor widow's discredit; +but she did think that Constance had repeated them, and that they had +lost none of their venom in her repetition. It chanced that on that very +morning her aunt had spoken of a letter just received from Miss Hadlow; +and May knew very well the sort of gossip which made up the staple of +that correspondence. Not for one moment did her suspicions point to +Theodore. The idea that he could have originated odious insinuations +against his father's wife was inconceivable to her. But Conny----She had +observed latterly a tendency in Conny to bitterness and detraction when +speaking of Mrs. Bransby. Was she jealous? And why? When they talked of +Mrs. Bransby's flirtations with a man younger than herself, whom did +they allude to? + +All at once May drew herself sharply into an upright attitude, while a +burning flush covered her face and throat. She dashed away some stray +tears with her handkerchief, and exclaimed, speaking out loud in her +excitement, "I will not _think_ of such mean, malicious, despicable +folly! I will turn my mind away from it. It is shameful even to be +conscious of anything so base-minded!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Two days after May's interview with Mrs. Bransby, Owen's weekly letter +arrived. In it he informed her of the unexpected postponement of his +return; and he mentioned having written this news to Mrs. Bransby in +answer to a letter from her appealing to him for help and advice. But he +did not expend many words on the Bransby family. He had to keep May +minutely informed of his own doings, and of his prospects, so far as he +could judge of them. And whatsoever time and space remained at his +disposal when this was accomplished was devoted to a theme which touched +him more nearly than the fortunes of gentle Louisa Bransby--although his +regard for her was very real. Owen was deeply in love, and wrote +love-letters. And that species of composition does not deal with +circumstantial and connected narrative--at any rate, about third +persons. + +But although Owen did not return to England at the end of December, Mr. +Bragg did. He appeared one day in Mrs. Dormer-Smith's drawing-room, when +he was received by that lady with marked graciousness, and by May with a +changing colour and shy eagerness which he might have been excused for +misinterpreting. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith was delighted. May's behaviour appeared to her to be +just what it ought to be. Uncle Frederick, too, who happened to be at +home--for Mr. Bragg called at so unfashionably an early hour that the +master of the house had not yet gone out to his club--had reason to be +gratified. He took the opportunity of consulting Mr. Bragg as to a +little investment he purposed making. And Mr. Bragg, while dissuading +him from that particular investment, spontaneously offered to put his +money into "a good thing" for him. + +"I make it a rule not to advise people in general about such matters," +said Mr. Bragg. "The responsibility's too great; not to mention that if +it once, what you might call got wind that I did give such advice, I +should have my time took up altogether with other people's business. And +I don't see the force of that." + +"Of course not! Most inconsiderate!" murmured Mr. Dormer-Smith. + +"But I reserve the right to make exceptions now and then," continued Mr. +Bragg. "And I shall be happy to be of use to you." + +All this while no word had been said about Owen. May's secret +consciousness made her too bashful to introduce his name. But at length +Mr. Bragg mentioned it of his own accord. It was in speaking of Mr. +Bransby's death. Mr. Bragg expressed kindly sympathy with the widow, and +added-- + +"She has one good friend, poor soul, anyway. My secretary takes the +greatest interest in her. You know him, Miss Cheffington--Mr. Owen +Rivers." + +"Yes," answered May, in as constrained a tone as though the subject were +distasteful to her. Yet the poor child was longing with all her heart to +speak of Owen, and to hear him spoken of. + +"To be sure you do. We used to meet him at the Miss Pipers' pretty well +every evening, didn't we? Besides, he's a cousin of your great friend, +Miss Hadlow." + +"Oh, of course!" exclaimed Mrs. Dormer-Smith, with a sudden remembrance +of that relationship, and a consequent increase of interest in Owen, +whom personally she knew but very slightly. "A cousin of Constance +Hadlow's! Yes, yes; I recall it now. Mrs. Griffin told me that his +grandfather, who married a Lespoony----" She stopped, remembering that +family genealogy was a subject not likely to be specially agreeable to +Mr. Bragg, and asked that gentleman sweetly, "How do you like him? Does +he do well?" + +"First rate!" answered Mr. Bragg emphatically. + +May coloured with pleasure, and turned aside her face, to hide a broad, +childlike smile which stole over it. + +"First rate," repeated Mr. Bragg. "He gives full satisfaction. Not but +what there are little what you may call _twists_ in him here and there. +He's peculiar in some ways. But I never did expect angels from heaven to +come down and do office-work for me. I consider myself lucky if I get +honesty and fair industry. Now, Mr. Rivers is more than honest--he's +honourable." + +"Isn't that a distinction without a difference in this case?" asked Mr. +Dormer-Smith lightly. + +"Well, no; I don't think so," answered Mr. Bragg in his slow, pondering +way. "You see, honesty makes a capital slow-combustion kind of fire, but +if you want a white heat you must have honour. I can't express myself +quite clear, but I have it in my mind." + +"And so Mr. Rivers takes a great interest in this Mrs. Bransby," said +Pauline. Her thoughts had been busy with this point ever since Mr. Bragg +had uttered the words. And she was pleased that May should hear +something like corroboration of the charge against Mrs. Bransby. + +"Uncommon. He's quite what you might call devoted to her." + +"She's a deuced pretty woman, isn't she?" put in Mr. Dormer-Smith, with +a little knowing laugh. + +Mr. Bragg replied, with perfect seriousness, "Mrs. Bransby is a lady of +great personal attractions, and, so far as I know of her, most amiable. +I'm sorry to hear she's left in poor circumstances. Martin Bransby seems +to have made most imprudent speculations. If he'd have come to me, poor +man, I could have given him some useful warnings; and would have done +it, too. I'd have made one of my exceptions in his favour." + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith's interest in the deceased Martin Bransby was too +slight to enchain her attention. When the widow was no longer being +spoken of, Pauline's thoughts flew off rapidly to the fashion and +texture of May's wedding-dress (which had already haunted her solitary +musings), and to the question whether Mr. Bragg would be likely to do +anything for her boy Cyril, who was just about to be entered at the +University. But her eyes remained fixed with a politely attentive look +on Mr. Bragg, and, when he ceased speaking, she murmured plaintively, as +being a safe thing to say, "That is so good of you!" + +As soon as Mr. Bragg was gone, May sat down to write an account of his +visit to Owen. Her heart swelled with pride as she repeated to him Mr. +Bragg's words about himself. Indeed, she was so enthusiastic about Mr. +Bragg, that Owen jestingly told her in his next letter that he was +growing jealous of his "master"--so he always termed Mr. Bragg. + +It was out of the question that May should hint to Owen a word of the +unkind things which were said of Mrs. Bransby. She could not bring her +pen to write them. It seemed to her as if she could never even speak +them to him. But she said all the most sympathetic and affectionate +things she could think of about the poor widow and her children, being +inspired by the malicious gossip only to a more chivalrous warmth on her +friend's behalf. But yet--that gossip was like a barbed seed that clings +where it alights, and could not wholly be shaken out of her memory. If +she could but have spoken with granny! She could not write all the +confused feelings that were in her mind. To have tried to do so would +have seemed almost like hinting something which might be construed into +a doubt of Owen! But if she could speak, with her living voice, +granny--who loved her so much, and would listen with such understanding +ears--would surely find the right words to conjure away the oppression +which weighed on her spirits! She was ashamed of not feeling so happy as +she had felt three weeks ago. And yet it was impossible to deny that a +cloud--light and filmy, but still a cloud--had come between her and the +sun. She was very lonely. Sometimes she was startled by the sudden +recognition of how completely aloof she was in spirit from the beings +around her. + +Next to Owen's letters, her little cousins were her chief comfort. She +had them with her as much as possible, helping them with their lessons, +and joining in their play. Their brother Cyril being now at home from +Harrow, the younger children received even less than the scanty share of +her attention which their mother had ever vouchsafed to them. Mr. +Dormer-Smith was a good deal engrossed by his eldest son; and Harold and +Wilfred would have been forlorn indeed, at this time, but for Cousin +May. Yes, the children were a great comfort to her; and, after them, she +liked Mr. Bragg's society better than that of most people! He was so +closely associated with Owen. + +Mr. Bragg had become a frequent and familiar guest at the Dormer-Smiths' +house. Uncle Frederick highly valued his advice and assistance in +financial matters, while Aunt Pauline was never tired of repeating his +praises. Only--as she privately complained to her husband--he "hung +fire" a little. + +"Why in the world he shouldn't speak out, I cannot conjecture," said +she, with that soft, suffering expression of countenance, which Mr. +Bragg's assiduous visits had recently banished for as much as two or +three days together. "It really is not May's fault this time. Nothing +could be nicer than she is to him. I should be uneasy about the +Hautenvilles, but that they are spending the winter at Rome. And +besides, Mrs. Griffin assured me that he wouldn't _look_ at Felicia. In +fact, he told her in plain terms that Miss Cheffington was the one young +lady he admired. Dear Mrs. Griffin! I shall never forget what a friend +she has been all through the affair. And the dear duchess! But really, +Mr. Bragg does hang fire most unaccountably! I think it is beginning to +tell on May herself a little. She mopes. Now, that is a _very_ serious +matter, for her complexion is of the delicate kind which will not stand +worry." + +The new year opened dark and damp in London. But the external gloom did +not quench social gaiety, of which there was a good deal going on at +this time. Mrs. Dormer-Smith entered into it, and insisted on May's +entering into it, as much as possible. She reflected that this would be +the last year during which she would have the assistance of May's +allowance, and that it would be well to profit by it to the utmost while +it lasted. The allowance was never expended in any way by which May +could not benefit. For example, if Mrs. Dormer-Smith were going to a +dinner-party without her niece, she would not spend May's money on the +hire of a carriage to save her own hard-worked brougham horse; but when +May accompanied her she would do so. And on such occasions she would +indulge in some little extra elegance of dress, on the plea (quite +genuinely preferred) that she _must_ be decently dressed in the girl's +interests. + +In spite of Theodore Bransby's recent mourning they frequently met in +society. + +"It is my duty to keep up my social connections," he would say to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith, with a grave, resigned air. And no one could have more +fully appreciated and approved the sentiment than she did. + +Theodore travelled rather frequently backwards and forwards between +London and Oldchester in these days. He was busy in the neighbourhood of +his native city, preparing the ground for his political campaign; while +he was constantly attracted to London by the hope of seeing May. He had +discovered that Mrs. Bransby wrote sometimes to Owen Rivers, and he +frequently volunteered to give her items of news about May, which he +thought and hoped she might transmit to Spain. Miss Cheffington had sat +near him at Lady A.'s dinner-party; he had escorted Miss Cheffington and +her aunt to Mrs. B.'s _soiree musicale_; Mrs. C. had given him a seat in +her box at the theatre--where he met Miss Cheffington; and so forth. + +"Miss Cheffington appears to be very gay!" said Mrs. Bransby once, with +a sigh, not envious, but regretful; her own life was so dull and dark. + +"Miss Cheffington is very much in the world, of course. Her birth and +her beauty entitle her to a good deal of attention, and she gets it. I +see no objection to that. On the contrary, it delights me that she +should be admired." + +His step-mother stared at him in sudden surprise. + +"Theodore!" she exclaimed impulsively. "There is nothing between you and +May, is there?" + +He drew himself up, and answered in as coldly offended a tone as though +he had not desired, and even angled for, that very question. "Excuse me, +Mrs. Bransby, but I do not think it well to use a young lady's name in +that way. It is too delicate a matter to be handled at all in its +present stage." + +"Don't you believe him, mother," said Martin when Theodore had gone +away. "May Cheffington isn't likely to think of _him_." + +"I don't know, Martin. It may not seem likely to us, because----" + +"Because we know what Theodore is," interposed Martin boldly. + +His mother let that suggestion lie, but she said, "You must remember, my +boy, that Theodore has many qualities which--which----He is very well +educated, and clever, and gentlemanlike." + +"No; that he is _not_!" put in the irrepressible Martin. + +"And he probably has a distinguished career before him. Besides, he is +rich now, you know." + +"As if May would care for _that_!" exclaimed Martin, with innocently +lofty disdain. + +"Her friends might care for it for her," answered Mrs. Bransby +thoughtfully. + +She had fallen into the habit of consulting with Martin on all kinds of +subjects. Sometimes she reproached herself for harassing the boy with +cares and questions beyond his years. But, in truth, it would have been +impossible at that time to keep Martin from sharing her cares; and the +pride of being allowed to share her counsels also, more than made him +amends. + +Mrs. Bransby had a lodger now--a lodger who was the incubus of her life. +He was an elderly German, engaged in the City; and, besides occupying +the chamber which Theodore had ordained must be let if possible, he +breakfasted with the family every day, and dined with them on Sundays. +The man was vulgar, greedy, and sullen in his manners. His habits at +table, without being absolutely gross, were revolting to Mrs. Bransby's +refinement. And his exigencies on the score of the Sunday dinner were +such as to keep her in constant anxiety, and to excite boundless +indignation in Phoebe. Phoebe, indeed, so detested Mr. Bucher, that +Mrs. Bransby was occasionally reduced to beg for a cessation of +hostilities; and (very much against the grain) to plead Mr. Bucher's +cause even with tears in her eyes. + +Such being the state of things, it can well be imagined with what an +ebullition of joy Mrs. Bransby hailed a letter from Owen Rivers, +announcing his approaching arrival in London, and proposing himself to +her as a lodger. He would like, he said, to board entirely with the +family, and offered terms which Mrs. Bransby feared were almost too +generous. Martin, it is needless to say, enthusiastically welcomed the +idea of having Owen Rivers to live with them. And Phoebe's delight in +the prospect of Mr. Bucher's being speedily superseded, made her +volunteer to prepare his favourite pudding on the very next Sunday, +although hitherto she had obstinately professed the blankest ignorance +of its composition. + +Before, however, giving the unpopular Mr. Bucher notice to quit her +house, Mrs. Bransby thought herself bound to consult Theodore. Her mind +misgave her lest Theodore, who, as she knew, detested Owen Rivers, +should strongly set his face against receiving him; and she wrote her +letter to her stepson in considerable trepidation. But, to her surprise, +she speedily received an answer entirely approving the plan. It was not +gracious; Theodore was never gracious to her. But that was a small +matter in comparison with obtaining his consent to the arrangement, and +this consent was unmistakably given. + +"I believe," he wrote, "that you will be justified in taking Rivers for +a lodger, if you wish it. I meet his employer, Mr. Bragg, very +frequently at the house of Mrs. Dormer-Smith, and he apparently intends +to retain Rivers in his service--at all events, for the present. You +will, therefore, I should say, be quite sure of regular payments." + +So Owen's offer was joyfully and gratefully accepted. + +He had, of course, written to tell May as nearly as possible the time of +his arrival in England, but he had not mentioned his scheme of living at +the Bransbys, fearing lest it might not be practicable. He did not, in +fact, receive Mrs. Bransby's reply to his proposal until he was on his +way home. He found it addressed, as he had directed Mrs. Bransby, to the +"Poste Restante" in Paris, where he spent one day on business for Mr. +Bragg. And thus it chanced that the first intimation which May received +of the matter came from Theodore Bransby. + +He was dining at the Dormer-Smiths'. Mr. Bragg was there also. It was +what Mrs. Dormer-Smith called "a _very_ quiet little dinner--just one or +two people, quite cosily," and had been given simply and solely for Mr. +Bragg. There was but one other guest, Lady Moppett. Mrs. Dormer-Smith +did not consider Lady Moppett to be worth cultivating. She was rich, but +not "in the best set." Moreover, she had a craze for music. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith's private sentiment about all the Arts was akin to that of +the Turkish potentate who inquired at a ball why they did not make their +slaves dance for them, instead of taking all that trouble themselves! +She considered, in fact, that the Muses ought to be kept in their +places. But she would never have uttered any word approaching to such a +Boeotian phrase. She had an almost perfect taste in phrases. There, +however, sat Lady Moppett at her dinner-table. Mr. Dormer-Smith had +stipulated for "some human being to speak to." Mr. Bragg must, of +course, be left to May, and Mr. Dormer-Smith could not endure young +Bransby. Theodore was not generally popular with his own sex, but +Pauline had quite reinstated him in her good graces. And, indeed, how +was it possible not to feel agreeably towards a young man whom Lord +Castlecombe himself delighted to honour? + +Lady Moppett was an old acquaintance of her host's, as has been stated. +And, except on the subject of music, she was a good-humoured woman +enough; making amends for the inflexible rigidity of her dogma as to the +divine art by a rather broad indulgence towards the merely moral +shortcomings of her fellow-creatures. Mr. Dormer-Smith led her out to +dinner. Mr. Bragg, of course, conducted his hostess; and Theodore, +therefore, had to give May his arm to the dining-room. There was no help +for that. But the party was small and the table was round, and Mr. Bragg +would not be far sundered from May. And once in the drawing-room, Aunt +Pauline would take care that he should have abundant opportunities for +private conversation with her niece. + +May endured Theodore's proximity far more graciously than would have +been the case three months ago. He was not naturally quick at discerning +the effect he produced on others, nor careful to spare their feelings. +But Love stimulates the perceptions in a wonderful way. Prosaic though +his subjects may be, the Arch-Magician has lost nothing of his cunning; +and under his potent influence Theodore Bransby developed some little +sympathetic insight into May's feelings. He even divined that part of +her new, soft kindliness of manner towards himself was due to pity for +his bereavement. And he had learned in a more unmistakeable way--for she +had told him so--that she approved his care of his step-mother and young +brothers and sisters. Theodore was pretty safe in vaunting his +disinterested efforts on their behalf. Mrs. Bransby and May were +effectually kept apart, and neither of them suspected that this was +chiefly his doing. + +He now, as he sat by May's side, had something in his mind which he +greatly desired she should hear. But some feeling, unaccountable to +himself--or, at least, which he did not choose to account for--made him +hesitate to utter it to her directly. At length, in a little pause of +the conversation, he bent slightly forward towards Mr. Bragg, who sat +opposite to him, and said-- + +"I suppose you do not propose returning to Spain, Mr. Bragg?" + +"Me? Oh no. I don't think I've any call to do so. And there's plenty for +me to look after elsewhere." + +"Of course! Transactions on such a colossal scale! When I heard that +Rivers was coming back to London, I concluded that you had wound up the +business which took you to Spain." + +"Mr. Rivers has been very helpful to me, indeed. I feel myself under an +obligation to him." + +To say the truth, Mr. Bragg was impelled to offer this testimony--even +at the cost of dragging it in somewhat inopportunely--by his lively +remembrance of sundry spiteful speeches made by young Bransby in former +times; but rather to his surprise, Theodore did not now seek to divert +the conversation from Owen's praises. + +"Yes; Rivers has come out wonderfully well, I understand," said +Theodore. "I hear a good deal about him. He is in constant +correspondence with Mrs. Bransby; as, perhaps, you know?" + +"Oh!" said Mr. Bragg quietly. "No; I can't say I know it. By the way, I +do call to mind Mrs. Bransby sending me a letter for him some time ago. +Well, he may be in correspondence with her." + +"Oh, he _is_. I have reason to know it, for I think he is the sole topic +of conversation at my step-mother's house just now. The whole family are +in a fever of excitement about his coming to live with them." + +Without turning his head, or even glancing at May, he felt that she was +listening with a new and suddenly concentrated attention; and he said to +himself, with a glow of elation, "_She_ did not know it." + +"Ah! Really?" said Mr. Bragg, addressing himself to his dinner. The +matter did not seem to him one of any very special interest. If young +Rivers went to lodge at Mrs. Bransby's, it would probably be a good +arrangement for both. + +"Who's that? Anybody I know?" asked Lady Moppett from her place at the +host's right hand. + +Theodore answered, "I was merely speaking of a man named Rivers, +who----" + +"Owen Rivers? Oh, of course I know him. A dreadful heretic! He +enunciates the most intolerable, old-fashioned stuff! And he's so +frightfully obstinate; battles, and argues one down, positively! I +really have no patience. But what about him? Is he going to be married?" + +"Not that I know of," replied Theodore, with his correct air, and an odd +effect, as though his white cravat and shirt-front had been suddenly +petrified. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon. I thought you said something of the sort." + +"By Jove, more unlikely things have happened," put in Mr. Dormer-Smith +jocosely. "He's exposing himself to a tremendous fire. Dangerous work +for a fellow to live under the roof of a lovely and captivating woman +who sets him up as a kind of 'guide, philosopher, and friend,'--eh?" + +"Dangerous! I should think the end of _that_ arrangement is a foregone +conclusion!" exclaimed Lady Moppett. "Mr. Rivers is a very agreeable +young fellow--when he isn't talking about music. But who's your 'lovely +and captivating woman?' Does anybody know her?" + +There was an instant's pause, during which Pauline cast an expressive +glance of the most poignant reproach at her husband. Then Theodore +answered very gravely, "Mr. Dormer-Smith was merely jesting. The lady is +Mrs. Martin Bransby--my father's widow." + +END OF VOL. II. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 2(of 3), by +Frances Eleanor Trollope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 35944.txt or 35944.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/4/35944/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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