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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/35945-8.txt b/35945-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3853c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/35945-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6755 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 3(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. 3(of 3) + +Author: Frances Eleanor Trollope + +Release Date: April 24, 2011 [EBook #35945] + +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. III. + + LONDON: + RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON + + Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. + + 1888. + + (_All rights reserved._) + + + + +THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +The following morning Mrs. Dormer-Smith was in a flutter of excitement. +She left her bedroom fully an hour earlier than was her wont. But before +she did so she sent a message begging May not to absent herself from the +house. For even in this wintry season May was in the habit of walking +out every morning with the children whenever there came a gleam of good +weather. Smithson, Mrs. Dormer-Smith's maid, who was charged with the +message, volunteered to add, with a glance at May's plain morning +frock-- + +"Mr. Bragg is expected, I believe, Miss." + +"Very well, Smithson. Tell my aunt I will not go out without her +permission." + +Smithson still lingered. "Shall I--would you like me to lay out your +grey merino, Miss?" she asked. + +"Oh no, thank you!" answered May, opening her eyes in surprise. "If I do +go out, it will only be to take a turn in the square with the children. +This frock will do quite well." + +Smithson retired. And then Harold, who was engaged in a somewhat languid +struggle with a French verb, looked up savagely, and said-- + +"I hate Mr. Bragg." + +Wilfred, seated at the table with a big book before him, which was +supposed to convey useful knowledge by means of coloured illustrations, +immediately echoed-- + +"I hate Mr. Bragg." + +"Hush, hush! That will never do!" said May. "Little boys musn't hate +anybody. Besides, Mr. Bragg is a very good, kind man. Why should you +dislike him?" + +"Because he's going to take you away," answered Harold slowly. + +"Nonsense! I dare say Mr. Bragg will not ask to see me at all. And if he +does, I shall not be away above a few minutes." + +"Shan't you?" asked Harold doubtfully. + +"Of course not! What have you got into your head?" + +"Yesterday, when they didn't think I was listening, I heard Smithson say +to Cécile----" + +May stopped the child decisively. "Hush, Harold! You know I never allow +you to repeat the tittle-tattle of the nursery. And I am shocked to hear +that you listened to what was not intended for your ears. That is not +like a gentleman. You know we agreed that you are to be a real gentleman +when you grow up--that is, a man of honour." + +"_I_ didn't listen!" cried Wilfred eagerly. + +"I am glad you did not." + +"No, _I_ didn't listen, Cousin May. I was in Cyril's room. Cyril gave me +a long, long piece of string;--ever so long!" + +May laughed. "Your virtue is not of a difficult kind, Master Willy! You +never do any mischief that is quite out of your reach." Then, seeing +that Harold looked still crest-fallen, she kissed his forehead, and said +kindly, "And Harold will not listen again. He did not remember that it +is dishonourable." + +The child was silent, with his eyes cast down on his lesson-book, for a +while. Then he raised them, and looking searchingly at May, said, "I +say, Cousin May, I mean to marry you when I grow up." + +"And so do I!" said Wilfred, determined not to be outdone. + +"Very well. But I couldn't think of marrying any one who did not know +his French verbs. So you had better learn that one at once." + +Harold's naturally rather dull and heavy face grew suddenly bright; and +he settled himself to his lesson with a little shrug, and a shake like a +puppy. "No; you wouldn't marry any one who didn't know French, would +you?" said he emphatically. + +"And _I_ know F'ench!" pleaded Wilfred. + +"There now, be quiet, both of you, and let me finish my letter," said +May. And there was nearly unbroken silence among them. + +Meantime Mr. Bragg was having an interview with Mrs. Dormer-Smith. He +had gradually made up his mind to put the same question to her that he +had put to Mrs. Dobbs: namely, whether May were free to receive his +proposals. He could not help being uneasy about young Bransby's +relations with May. Mrs. Dobbs, it was true, had denied that her +granddaughter thought of him at all; and Mr. Bragg did not doubt Mrs. +Dobbs's veracity. But he underrated her sagacity; or, rather, her +opportunities for knowing the truth. She lived very much outside of +May's world. She might divine the state of May's feelings, and yet be +mistaken as to their object. The story he had heard of young Bransby's +having been rejected by Miss Cheffington could not be true; for was not +young Bransby a constant visitor at her aunt's house--frequenting it on +a footing of familiarity--talking to May herself with a certain air of +confidential understanding? He had observed this particularly during +last night's dinner. + +But if, on the other hand, the possibility of Mrs. Dobbs being mistaken +on this question were once admitted, all sorts of other possibilities +poured in after it as by a sluice-gate, and lifted Mr. Bragg's hopes to +a higher level. At any rate, he resolved to take some decisive step. +Time had been lost already. He had told Mrs. Dobbs that he was too old +to trust to the day after to-morrow; and that was now three months ago! +Hence his visit to Mrs. Dormer-Smith by appointment--an appointment made +verbally the preceding evening, with the request that she would mention +it to no one; least of all to Miss Cheffington. + +Aunt Pauline was, of course, quite sure beforehand what was to be the +subject of their conversation; and was not in the least surprised +(although inwardly much elated) when Mr. Bragg broached it. + +"Understand me, ma'am," said Mr. Bragg. "I only wish you to tell me +truly whether, according to the best of your belief, Miss C.'s +affections are engaged. I ask no questions beyond that. I don't want to +pry." + +"Engaged! Oh dear, no; I assure you----" + +"Excuse me, ma'am. But I mean a little more than that," said Mr. Bragg, +slightly hastening the steady stride of his speech, lest she should +interrupt him again. "Of course, I don't expect you to be inside of your +niece's heart. A deal of uncertainty must prevail in what you may call +assaying any human being's feelings. You may use the wrong test for one +thing. But ladies are keen observers; specially where they like--or, for +the matter of that, dislike--any one very much. And what I want to know +is this: Have you any reason to think Miss C. is in love with any one?" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith, who was listening with a bland smile, almost started +at this crude inquiry. She felt the need of all her self-command to +preserve that repose of manner which she considered essential to +good-breeding. But she answered gently, though firmly-- + +"My dear Mr. Bragg, that is out of the question. My niece is entirely +disengaged. A girl of her birth and breeding is not likely to entertain +any vulgar kind of romance in secret!" + +"Thank you, ma'am," said Mr. Bragg. Then he added ponderingly, "It might +not be vulgar, though!" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith privately thought Mr. Bragg no competent judge of what +might, or might not, be vulgar in a Cheffington. She merely replied, +with a certain suave dignity, referring to a former speech of his-- + +"Do I understand rightly that you desire to speak with Miss Cheffington +yourself?" + +"If you please, ma'am. Yes; I think I should like to go through with +it." + +"I will send for her to come here, Mr. Bragg." + +She rang the bell and gave her orders; and during the pause which +ensued, neither she nor Mr. Bragg spoke a word. He was absorbed in his +own thoughts, and by no means as fully master of himself as usual. She +was plaintively regretting that May had refused to change her morning +frock for something more becoming. "Not that it can be of vital +importance _now_," thought Mrs. Dormer-Smith, faintly smiling to +herself, with half-closed eyes. + +Presently the door opened, and May stood on the threshold. + +"Come in, darling," said her aunt. "Mr. Bragg wishes to speak with you. +And I will only assure you that he does so with my and your uncle's full +knowledge and approbation." With that, Aunt Pauline glided into the back +drawing-room, and withdrew by a door opening on to the staircase, which +she shut behind her, immensely to May's surprise. + +All at once a nameless dread came over the girl, chilling her like a +cold wind. They had some bad news to give her of Owen! She turned +suddenly so deadly pale as to startle Mr. Bragg; and looking up at him +with piteous, frightened eyes, stammered faintly, "What is the matter?" + +"Nothing at all! Nothing is the matter that need frighten you, my dear +young lady. Lord bless me, you look quite scared!" + +His genuine tone reassured her. And the colour began to return to lips +and cheeks. But the wilful blood now rushed too hotly into her face. Her +second thought was, "They have found out my engagement to Owen!" And +although this contingency could be confronted with a very different +feeling, and with sufficient courage, yet she could not control the +tell-tale blush. + +"Just you sit down there, and don't worrit yourself, Miss Cheffington," +said Mr. Bragg. In his earnestness he reverted to the phraseology of his +early days. "There's no hurry in the world. If you was startled, just +you take your own time to come round." + +"Thank you," answered May, dropping into the armchair he pushed forward. + +"I am very sorry to have alarmed you," she said. "I'm afraid I must be +growing nervous! I never thought I should be able to lay claim to that +interesting malady." + +Although she smiled, and tried to speak playfully, she had really been +shaken, and she profited by the advice, which Mr. Bragg repeated, to +"sit still, and take her own time about coming round." + +By-and-by she said, almost in her usual voice, "Will you not sit down, +Mr. Bragg? I am quite ready to listen to you." + +Mr. Bragg hesitated a moment. He would have preferred to stand. He would +have felt more at his ease, so. But, looking down on the slight young +figure before him, it occurred to him that it would be--in some +vaguely-felt way--taking an unfair advantage of the girl to dominate her +by his tall stature. So he brought himself nearer to her level by +sitting down on an ottoman opposite, and not very near to her. + +"I suppose," said he, after a little silence, during which he looked +down with an intent and anxious frown at the floor, "I suppose you can't +give a guess at what I'm going to say?" + +May believed she had guessed it already. But she answered, "I would +rather not guess, please. I would rather that you told me." + +"Well, perhaps it may simplify matters if I mention that I have had some +conversation on the subject with Mrs. Dobbs." + +"With Granny?" exclaimed May, looking full at him in profound +astonishment. + +"Yes; it's some little while ago, now. Mrs. Dobbs spoke very +straightforward, and very kind, too; but I'm bound to say she did _not_ +give me any encouragement." + +May stared at him in a kind of fascination. She could not remove her +eyes from his face. And she began to perceive a dreadful +clear-sightedness dawning above the confusion of her thoughts. + +Mr. Bragg was not looking at her. He was leaning a little forward, with +his arms resting on his knees, and his hands loosely clasped together. +He went on speaking in a ruminating way; sometimes emphasizing his +phrase by a slight movement from the wrist of his clasped hands, and as +if he were, with some difficulty, reading off the words he was uttering +from the Oriental rug at his feet. + +"You see, Miss Cheffington, of course I'm aware there's a great +difference in years. But that's not the biggest difference in reality. I +don't believe myself that I'm so very much older in some ways than I was +at five-and-twenty. I was always a steady kind of a chap, and I never +had much to say for myself--never was what you might call lively, you +know." + +May sat spell-bound; looking at him fixedly, and with that dawn of +clear-sightedness rapidly illumining many things, to her unspeakable +consternation. + +"No; it isn't the years that make the biggest difference. I'm below you +in education, of course, Miss Cheffington, and in a deal besides, no +doubt. But I can be trusted to mean all I say--though I'm not able to +say all I mean, by a long chalk." + +As he said this he raised his eyes for the first time, and looked at +her. She was still regarding him with the same fascinated, almost +helpless, gaze. But when she met his clear, honest, grey eyes, with a +wistful expression in them which was pathetically contrasted with the +massive strength of his head and face, she was suddenly inspired to +say-- + +"Please, Mr. Bragg, will you hear me? I want to tell you something +before you--before you say any more. I think you are my friend, and if +you don't mind, I should like to tell you a secret. May I?" + +He nodded, keeping his eyes on her now steadily. + +"Well, I--I hope you will forgive me for troubling you with my +confidence. I _know_ you will respect it. If I had not such a high +esteem and regard for you I--I _could_ not say it." She stopped an +instant, there was a choking feeling in her throat. She paused, mastered +it, and went on. "I have promised to marry some one whom I love very +much, and no one knows about it but Granny." + +When she had spoken, she hid her hot face in her hands, and cried +silently. + +There was absolute stillness in the room for some minutes. At length she +looked up and saw Mr. Bragg still sitting as before, with loosely +clasped hands and downcast eyes. May rose to her feet, and said timidly, +"I hope you are not angry with me for--for telling you?" + +Mr. Bragg stood up also, and placing one broad, powerful hand on her +head, as a father might have done, looked down gravely at her upturned +face. + +"Angry! Lord bless you, my child, what must I be made of to be angry +with _you_?" + +"Oh, thank you, Mr. Bragg! And will you promise--but I know you +will--not to betray me?" + +He did not notice this question. His mind was working uneasily. He +thrust his hands into his pockets, and walked to the other side of the +room and back, before saying-- + +"This person that you've promised to marry, is he one that your people +here"--he jerked his head over his shoulder in the direction in which +Mrs. Dormer-Smith had disappeared--"would approve of?" + +"Oh, yes!" answered May. Then she added, not quite so confidently, "I +think so. At any rate, I am very proud to be loved by him." + +"And Mrs. Dobbs--" + +"Oh, of course, dear Granny thinks no one could be too good for me," +said May apologetically. "But she knows his worth." + +"Will you please tell me how long Mrs. Dobbs has known of this?" asked +Mr. Bragg, with a touch of sternness. + +"Known? She knew, of course, as soon as I knew myself--on the +twenty-seventh of last September," answered poor May, with damask-rose +cheeks. + +Mr. Bragg made a mental calculation of dates. His face relaxed; and he +now replied to May's previous question. + +"Yes, of course, I'll promise not to say a word till you give me leave. +Especially since Mrs. Dobbs knows all about it. Otherwise, you're young +to guide yourself entirely in a matter so serious as this is." + +She thanked him again, and dried some stray tear-drops that hung on her +pretty eyelashes. + +He stood for a moment looking at her intently. But there was nothing in +his gaze to startle her maiden innocence, or make her shrink from him; +it was an honest, earnest, kindly, though melancholy look. + +"Well," said he at last, "you're not so curious as some young ladies. +You haven't asked me what it was I was going to say to you." + +"I dare say it was nothing serious," she answered quickly. "In any case +I am quite sure you will say, and leave unsaid, all that is right." + +"That's a--what you might call a pretty large order, Miss Cheffington. +I'm an awkward brute sometimes, I dare say, but I'll tell you this much: +If I don't say what I was going to say, it isn't from pride. I _have_ +had that feeling, but I haven't it now, in talking to you. No, it isn't +from pride, but because I want you and me to be friends--downright good +friends, you know. And, perhaps, it would be more agreeable for you not +to have anything concerning me in your memory that you'd wish to be what +you might call sponged out of the record. I appreciate your behaviour, +Miss Cheffington. You acted generous, and like the noble-hearted young +lady I've always thought you, when you told me that secret of yours. Why +now----Come, come, don't you fret yourself!" he exclaimed softly, for +the tears were again trickling down her cheeks. + +"You are so--so very kind and good to me!" she said brokenly. + +"Lord bless me, what else could I be? There, there, don't you vex +yourself by fancying me cast down or disappointed about--anything in +particular. A man doesn't come to my age without getting used to +disappointments, big and little." + +He took up his hat and stopped her by a gesture as she moved towards the +bell. + +"No; don't ring, please! I've got an appointment in the City, and not +much time to spare if I walk it. So I'll just let myself out quietly, +without disturbing anybody. You can mention to your aunt that I shall +have the honour of calling on her again very soon. Good-bye, Miss +Cheffington." + +May held out her hand. He touched it very lightly with his fingers, and +then relinquished it silently. + +"You are sure," she said pleadingly, "you are quite sure you are not +angry with me?" + +"There ain't a many things I'm so sure of as I am of that," answered Mr. +Bragg, in his ordinary quiet tones. And then he opened the door and was +gone. + +He went down the stairs, and through the hall, and into the street +without being challenged. He shut the street door softly behind him, +with a kind of instinct of escape; and marched away rather quickly, but +square and steady as ever. + +After a while he looked at his watch, hesitated, and finally hailed a +hansom cab. + +"Poultry! You can take it easy. I'm not in a hurry," he said to the +driver, as he got into the vehicle. + +Then Mr. Bragg leaned back, and began to think. He had a habit of +frequently closing his eyes when meditating, and this habit it was which +had impelled him to get into a cab, since a pedestrian in the streets of +London could only indulge in it at the risk of his life; and Mr. Bragg +had no--not even the most passing--temptation to suicide. He shut his +eyes tight now, tilted his hat backward from his forehead, and reviewed +the situation. + +He had behaved very well to May, and was conscious of having behaved +well to her; she deserved the best and most considerate treatment; but +Mr. Bragg was no angel, and he was extremely angry with Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. He felt some irritation--very unreasonably, as he would +by-and-by acknowledge--against Mrs. Dobbs--she had been rather +exasperatingly in the right. But Mrs. Dormer-Smith had been most +exasperatingly in the wrong, and he was very angry with her. Why had she +not confessed that she knew nothing at all about her niece's feelings? +It was clear she was quite ignorant of them. She had only to say that +she could not undertake to answer for May; that would at least have been +honest! + +"I dare say I might have spoken, all the same," Mr. Bragg admitted to +himself. "I think p'r'aps I should. I'd got to that point where a man +_must_ know for himself what the answer is to that question, and when +'likely' or 'unlikely' won't serve his turn. But I could ha' managed +different. I needn't have looked like a Tomnoddy. Trotted out +there--making a reg'lar show of a man; not a doubt but what that flunkey +knew all about it. Woman's a fool!" + +Mr. Bragg's indignation rolled off like thunder in these broken +growlings. And beneath it all--deeper than all--there lay an aching +sorrow. It would not break his heart, as he knew; it might not even +spoil his dinner; but it was a real sorrow, nevertheless. In the moment +of assuring him that he must not hope to win her, May had seemed to him +better worth winning than ever; her soft touch had opened a long +sealed-up spring of tenderness. There was some rough poetry within him, +none the less pathetic because he knew thoroughly, sensitively, how +unable he was to give it expression, and how ridiculous the mere +suggestion of his trying to do so would seem to most people. He +resolutely refrained as much as possible from letting his mind busy +itself with these hidden feelings; his very thoughts seemed to hurt them +at that moment. + +He preferred to nurse his wrath against Mrs. Dormer-Smith, and to resent +her having betrayed him into an undignified position. Mr. Bragg had been +prosperous and powerful for many years, and the sense of being balked +was very irksome to him; more irksome than in the days of his poverty, +when youth and hope were elastic, and battle seemed a not unwelcome +condition of existence. + +But before he reached the end of his eastward journey Mr. Bragg began to +speculate about the man whom May loved. In spite of Mrs. Dobbs's +emphatic denial, he could not dismiss the idea that Theodore Bransby was +the man. He had gathered the impression that Mrs. Dobbs did not like +Theodore, and he remembered May's deprecating words, "Granny would not +think any one too good for me!" which seemed to indicate that Mrs. Dobbs +had not hailed the engagement with rapture. Thinking over the dates, he +concluded--quite correctly--that May's lover, whoever he might be, had +declared himself not long after his (Bragg's) interview with Mrs. Dobbs. +Now, Theodore Bransby had been in Oldchester at that time, as he well +remembered. + +Why Theodore, if it were he, should keep his engagement secret from the +Dormer-Smiths, was not easily explicable. But Mr. Bragg knew the young +man's political projects; and it might be that Theodore would wish to +approach May's family armed with all the importance which a successful +electoral campaign would give him. One thing Mr. Bragg felt tolerably +sure of--that Aunt Pauline would regret acutely the declension from a +nephew-in-law with fifty thousand a year, to one whose income did not +count as many hundreds! It was, perhaps, rather agreeable to Mr. Bragg +to think of this. It was certainly a comfort to him to be able to +dislike May's lover on independent grounds. He had always entertained an +antipathy towards the young man; and, however sincere and tender his +interest in May Cheffington might be, it did not modify, by a hair's +breadth, his opinion of young Bransby. + +"And, after all, it may not be him!" said Mr. Bragg, reflectively and +ungrammatically. "But if it isn't him, it can't be anybody I know." + +The person he had appointed to meet in the City was an Oldchester man; +and when the business part of their interview was concluded, he said to +Mr. Bragg-- + +"There's bad news from Combe Park. Haven't you heard? Oh! why they say +Mr. Lucius Cheffington can't live many days. So that scamp, +What's-his-name, the nephew, will come in for it all. The old lord's +awfully savage, I'm told. Shouldn't wonder if it balks young Bransby's +hopes of getting his seat. Old Castlecombe won't like paying election +expenses for him _now_. Great pity! He's a very rising young man, and a +credit to Oldchester." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +When Mr. Bragg was gone, May felt a cowardly temptation to run away to +her own room, and there recover her composure in solitude. But she +reflected that that would be scarcely fair to her aunt, who, no doubt, +was waiting with some impatience to hear the result of the interview. So +she dried her eyes, and resolutely ascended the stairs to her aunt's +room. + +The gentle, refined voice which had once so charmed her (but which, as +she had long since learned, could utter sentiments singularly at +variance with its own sweetness) answered her tap at the door by saying, +"Is that dear May? Come in." May entered, and saw her aunt reclining in +a lounging chair by the fireside. A book lay open beside her; but she +evidently had not been reading recently. She looked up at May's flushed +face and tear-swollen eyes, and these traces of emotion seemed to her +satisfactory indications of what had passed. "He has spoken! It's all +right!" she said to herself. Then aloud, with a tender smile, holding +out both her hands, "Well, darling?" + +The softness of her tone had a perversely hardening effect on May. If +her aunt had expected her to accept Mr. Bragg--and May was not dull +enough to doubt this, now that her eyes were illumined by that dawn of +clear-sightedness which had been so amazing to her--the least she could +do was to be quiet and common-sensible about it. Any assumption of +sentiment seemed to May to be sickening under the circumstances. So she +answered dryly-- + +"Mr. Bragg desired me to tell you that he will have the honour of +calling on you again before long." + +"Is he gone?" asked Mrs. Dormer-Smith, with a momentary twinge of +anxiety. + +"Yes; he is gone. He had an appointment in the City, and was rather +pressed for time; so he could not stay to take leave of you." + +"Oh!" exclaimed her aunt, sinking back among her cushions with a smile, +"I forgive him." Then seeing May turn away as if to leave the room, she +suddenly sat up again, and said with an air of gentle reproach, "And +have you nothing to say to me, dear May?" + +"Nothing particular, Aunt Pauline." + +"Nothing particular! I do not think that is very kindly said, May." + +May's conscience told her the same thing. She had yielded to a movement +of temper. The most sensitive chords in her own nature had been jarred, +and were still quivering. But that was no reason why she should be +unkind or uncivil to her aunt; she repented, and, with her usual +impulsive candour, said-- + +"I beg your pardon, Aunt Pauline. I ought not to have answered you so." + +"You have been agitated, dear child. Come here, and sit down by me. Now +tell me, May--you surely will tell _me_--Mr. Bragg has proposed to you, +has he not?" + +"No, Aunt Pauline." + +"_What?_" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith would have been shocked if she could have seen her own +face in the glass at that moment. The vulgarest market-woman's +countenance could not have expressed surprise and consternation more +unrestrainedly. + +"I think he, perhaps, would have asked me to marry him: but I stopped +him." + +"You stopped him?" echoed her aunt, with clasped hands. But a little +gleam of hope revived her. The matter had been mismanaged in some way. +May was so deplorably devoid of tact! All might yet be well. "And why, +for pity's sake, May, did you stop him?" + +"Because, as I could not accept him, Aunt Pauline, I wished to spare him +as much as possible." + +"Could not accept him! Good heavens, May, this is frightful! Have you +lost your senses? Do you know who and what Mr. Bragg is?" + +"He is a good, honest man; and I esteem him and like him." + +"And is not that enough? Do you know that there are girls of--I won't +say better family, but--higher rank than yours, who would give their +ears to be----But it can't be! You are a foolish, inexperienced child, +who don't understand your own good fortune. You cannot be allowed to +throw away this splendid opportunity. I will write to Mr. Bragg myself, +and----" + +"Stay, Aunt Pauline. Please to understand that I will never, under any +circumstances, dream of marrying Mr. Bragg. He is quite persuaded of +this. He and I understand each other very well, and we mean to continue +good friends; but pray do not lower your own dignity by writing to him +on this subject!" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith burst into tears. "Go away, you ungrateful child," she +said, from behind her pocket-handkerchief. "I could not have believed +you would have behaved in this manner after all I have done for you!" + +May would have been more distressed than she was had the spectacle of +her aunt's tears been rarer. But she had seen Mrs. Dormer-Smith weep +from, what seemed to her, very inadequate motives:--even once at the +misfit of a new gown. Nevertheless, she tried to soothe her aunt. + +"Please don't cry, Aunt Pauline. I can't bear you to think me +ungrateful. But, after all, what have I done? I dare say--I am sure, +indeed, that you are only anxious for my welfare. And what sort of a +life could I expect if I married a man I could not love?" + +"I beg you will not talk such nursery-maid's nonsense to me, +May," returned her aunt, sprinkling some rose-water on her +pocket-handkerchief, and dabbing her wet cheeks with it. "Could not +love, indeed! Why could you not love him? Do you expect to rant through +a _grande passion_ like a heroine on the stage? I am shocked at you, +May! Girls in your position owe a duty to society." + +May knew that her aunt was unanswerable when she broached these +mysterious dogmas about "society"--unanswerable, at all events, by her. +She could as soon have attempted a theological argument with a devotee +of Mumbo Jumbo. So she held her peace, and stood still, anxious to +escape, and yet fearful of seeming to be unfeeling by going away at that +moment. One idea at length suggested itself to her as a possible +consolation for her aunt, and she proceeded to offer it with +unreflecting rashness. + +"But, Aunt Pauline," she said, "after all, you know, Mr. Bragg is a very +low-born man. He was once a common artisan in Oldchester. And you +remember you even thought Theodore Bransby presumptuous----" + +The immediate reply to this well-meant suggestion was a fresh burst of +tears. "You are too insupportable, May. One might suppose you to be an +idiot! What has been the use of all my care, and my endeavours to make +you look at things as a girl of your condition ought to look at them? +Mr. Bragg could have placed you in a brilliant position. Now, I dare +say, he will marry Felicia Hautenville. I have no doubt he will, and it +will serve you right if he does. You think of no one but yourself. What +do you suppose that worthy woman, Mrs. Dobbs, will say when she hears of +your behaviour? After all the money she has spent on sending you to +London!" + +May turned round suddenly. "What do you say, Aunt Pauline?" she asked, +almost breathlessly. "Granny has spent money to send me to London?" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith caught at a forlorn hope. Might it not be possible, +even now, to influence May through her affection for her grandmother? + +"Of course, May," she replied, with an injured air. "Where do you +suppose the money came from? Your uncle and I, as you must be well +aware, find it difficult enough to keep up our position in society, with +Cyril to place in the world, and those two little boys to provide for!" + +"But papa!" gasped May. "I thought my father was paying----" + +"You chose to assume it. I never told you so. Mrs. Dobbs particularly +wished us to keep the arrangement secret, and we did so. I appreciate +her wisdom _now_ in keeping it secret from you, May; for your conduct +to-day shows you to be destitute of the most ordinary tact and +prudence." + +"And Granny--dear old Granny--has been depriving herself of money to +keep me in town!" exclaimed the girl, still entirely possessed with this +new revelation. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith gallantly tried to improve her opportunity. She raised +herself into an upright posture in her chair, and said solemnly, "Yes, +May; and a nice return you make for it! The good old creature, no doubt, +has been pinching herself for years on your account. She has paid for +your schooling, your dress, and everything; she even contrives, I dare +say, by enduring some privations" (Mrs. Dormer-Smith did not in the +least suppose this to be the case, but she felt it was a rhetorical +"point," and likely to affect her niece), "she even contrives to give +you a season in town, with charming toilettes from Amélie, and a +presentation dress that a duke's daughter might have worn, and +everything which a right-minded girl ought to appreciate--and this is +her reward! You refuse one of the finest matches in England! I cannot +believe you will persist in such _wicked_ perversity, May," continued +Pauline, rising to new heights of moral elevation. "No, I cannot believe +you will be so ungrateful to that good old soul, and, indeed, I may say, +to Providence! Really, there is something almost impious in it. Mrs. +Dobbs does all she can to counteract the results of your father's +unfortunate marriage--we _all_ do all we can; circumstances are so +ordered by a Superior Power as to give you the chance of catching--of +attracting the regard of a man of princely fortune--_you_, rather than a +dozen other girls whose people have been looking after him for the last +three seasons, and all this you reject! Toss it away, like a baby with a +toy! No, May; you _are_ a Cheffington--you _are_ my poor unfortunate +brother's own flesh and blood, and I will not believe it of you." Then, +sinking back in her chair, she added in a faint voice, "Go away now, if +you please, and send Smithson to me. I shall have to speak to your uncle +when he comes in, and I really dread it. He will be so shocked--so +astonished! As for me, I am utterly _hors de combat_ for the day, of +course." + +May willingly escaped to her own room, and locked herself in. Her +thoughts were in a strange tumult, busied chiefly with this news about +Mrs. Dobbs. Why had she not guessed it before? Was there any one in the +world like that staunch, generous, unselfish woman? This explained her +giving up her old, comfortable home in Friar's Row. This explained a +hundred other circumstances. May thought, between laughing and crying, +of Jo Weatherhead's eccentric eulogy on her grandmother as compared with +classical heroines, and she longed to tell him that he was right. The +full tide of love and sympathy and gratitude towards "Granny" rose in +her breast above all other emotions, and, for the moment, even Mr. +Bragg's wonderful proposals, and her aunt's still more wonderful +reception of them, were forgotten. It even overflowed and temporarily +obliterated impressions and feelings far keener than any which poor Mr. +Bragg had power to awake in her heart. + +What a fool's paradise had she been living in! And what a mistaken image +of her father she had been cherishing all this time! He had contributed +nothing to her support; he had coolly left the whole care of her to +others; he had been thoroughly selfish and indifferent. Every one seemed +selfish but Granny! One thing she hastily resolved on: not to remain +another week in London at her grandmother's expense. + +When Mr. Dormer-Smith came home, and was duly informed by his wife of +May's incredible conduct, his dismay was nearly as great as Pauline's. +Perhaps his surprise was even greater; for he had accepted his wife's +assurances that May was quite prepared to give Mr. Bragg a favourable +answer. He could not bring himself to regard May's behaviour with such +lofty moral reprobation as his wife did, but he certainly thought the +girl had acted foolishly, and even blameably. + +Mr. Dormer-Smith was extremely anxious not to offend or disgust Mr. +Bragg. To have a man of that wealth in the family might be the making of +all their fortunes. Already Mr. Bragg's advice and assistance had +profited him. He and his wife had even privately reckoned on Mr. Bragg's +doing something handsome (in a testamentary way) for their younger +children. May was very fond of her cousins, and what would a few +thousands be to Mr. Bragg? Now the unexpected news which met him broke +up all these glittering hopes, as a thaw melts the frost-diamonds. + +"You must speak with her, Frederick. I have said all I can, and I really +am not equal to another scene," said Pauline. + +She had subsided into an attitude of calm despondency, and seemed to be +supported chiefly by the sense of her own unappreciated merits. She did +not mention that she had already written a private and confidential +letter to Mr. Bragg, and despatched it by special messenger to the hotel +where he usually stayed when in London. + +Mr. Bragg had no town house, and the choosing and furnishing of a +suitable mansion for him and his bride had been one of the rewards of +virtue which Mrs. Dormer-Smith had, for some time past, been +anticipating for herself. May was so young and inexperienced, and Mr. +Bragg--dear, good, rich man!--had so little knowledge of the fashionable +world, that Pauline confidently expected to be for some years to come +the presiding genius of the elegant entertainments to which they would +invite only the very best society. For--giving the rein to her +fancy--Pauline had resolved that Mr. and Mrs. Bragg were to be extremely +exclusive. A well-born girl who, without fortune or title, had succeeded +in marrying a millionnaire, might surely--if there were any poetical +justice at all in the world--indulge herself in the refined pleasure of +social selection, and quietly decline to receive those doubtful +"Borderers" who made society, as Mrs. Griffin often complained, so sadly +mixed! + +All this was not to be relinquished without a struggle. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith would do her duty to the last. Duty had commanded her to +make an immediate appeal to Mr. Bragg not to take May's answer as final; +but duty did not, she considered, require her to tell her husband +anything about it until she saw how it turned out. + +"You _must_ see her, Frederick," repeated Mrs. Dormer-Smith. And +Frederick accordingly sent for May to come and speak with him. + +He awaited her in the drawing-room; and when May entered the room her +eye fell on the easy-chair which Mr. Bragg had placed for her, standing +out just where she had left it. The whole scene came back to her mind as +vividly as if she saw it in a picture before her bodily eyes; and the +colour rose to her forehead. + +Her uncle went to her, and took her hand kindly. "Well, May," said he, +"what is all this I hear?" He was leading her towards the armchair; but +May avoided it, and took another seat, and Mr. Dormer-Smith dropped into +the armchair opposite to her, himself. + +In considering what could have been the motives which had induced her to +reject Mr. Bragg, he had prepared himself to listen to some--perhaps +foolishly--romantic talk on May's part. Mr. Bragg certainly could not, +by any stretch of friendship, be considered romantic. But Uncle +Frederick would try to show his niece how much sounder and solider a +foundation for domestic happiness Mr. Bragg was able to offer her than +any amount of the qualities which go to make up a young lady's hero of +romance. + +What he was not at all prepared for was May's saying earnestly, as she +leant forward with clasped hands, "Oh, Uncle Frederick what is all this +_I_ hear? My dear, good grandmother has been impoverishing herself to +pay for keeping me in London! Why did you not tell me the truth? Nothing +should have induced me to accept such a sacrifice!" + +Mr. Dormer-Smith was not a ready or flexible man by nature; and it took +him a minute or so to alter the sight, so to speak, of the big gun he +had been getting into position to mow down May's resistance against +making a splendid marriage. + +"Why--eh? Oh, Mrs. Dobbs's allowance! Oh yes. Well, my dear, you have +pretty well answered your own question. If you had known, you would not +have consented to come to town, and take your proper place in society. +Your aunt considered it most important that you should do so. And I'm +sure, May, you must allow that she has done her very best for you in +every way." + +"_Her_ very best!" thought May; "yes, perhaps!" Then she said aloud, +"Aunt Pauline has been very kind to me. But how could there be any +'proper place' for me in society, unless I could honestly afford to take +it? To get it by imposing privations on my grandmother, who is not +bound, except by her own abundant goodness, to do anything for me at +all--this surely could not be right or just, could it?" + +Mr. Dormer-Smith was not prepared with a cogent answer on the spur of +the moment. So he fell back on murmuring some faint echoes of his wife's +maxims about "duty to society." But he had not Pauline's sincere +convictions on the subject, and did it but feebly. + +"And, oh, Uncle Frederick," proceeded May; "what a mean impostor I have +been all this time!" + +"Impostor, my dear? No, no; that's nonsense, you know." + +He was rather relieved to find May talking nonsense. That seemed much +more normal and natural in a girl of her age than being so deuced +logical and high-strung, and that sort of thing. + +"That," he repeated firmly, "is really nonsense." + +"But, Uncle Frederick, I was appearing before everybody under false +pretences. People thought--I thought myself--that my father supplied all +my expenses." + +Mr. Dormer-Smith pursed up his mouth and puffed out his breath with a +little contemptuous sound. Then he answered-- + +"Your father! My dear May, your father hasn't paid a penny piece for you +since you were seven years old." + +May was silent for a minute or so. She could not help some bitter +thoughts of her father, but it was not for her to utter them. At length +she said-- + +"I cannot go on accepting my grandmother's sacrifice, Uncle Frederick. I +will not." + +It occurred to Mr. Dormer-Smith, as it had occurred to his wife, that +May's affection for Mrs. Dobbs might supply the fulcrum they wanted for +their lever. He answered-- + +"Well, my dear, I don't blame your feeling, though it is a little +overstrained, perhaps. But you have it in your own power to more than +pay back all Mrs. Dobbs has done for you." + +"How?" asked May innocently. + +"Why, I am sure Mr. Bragg would be only too delighted----" + +"Oh, Mr. Bragg! I was not thinking of Mr. Bragg, and I would rather not +talk of him just now." + +This was a little too much. Mr. Dormer-Smith's face assumed a very +serious, not to say severe, expression as he looked at his niece and +said-- + +"Excuse me, May, but you must think of him, and talk of him also. That +was the subject I sent for you to speak about. I don't know how we have +drifted away from it. Your aunt tells me that you have not actually +refused Mr. Bragg, but merely stopped him from proposing to you. Now, if +that is the case, the matter is not past mending. No doubt Mr. Bragg may +feel a little offended." + +"He is not in the least offended," interposed May. + +"Ah! Well, so much the better. But you can hardly expect me to believe +that he particularly enjoyed the interview! Mr. Bragg is a person of a +great deal of importance in the world, and not accustomed to be treated +as if he were of no consequence. However," proceeded Mr. Dormer-Smith, +relaxing into a milder tone, "I dare say he can make allowances for a +young lady taken by surprise--it seems you did not expect his proposal?" + +"Expect it! How on earth could I have expected it?" + +"Some girls would. However, let us stick to the point. I don't think it +is too late for you to make everything well again." + +"Uncle Frederick, I am bound to assure you most positively that I can +never marry Mr. Bragg." + +"Now, don't be obstinate, May. What is your objection to him?" + +The girl hesitated. Then she replied, looking up with pleading eyes, +"How can I say, Uncle Frederick? One does not marry a man simply because +one has no particular objection to him. Mr. Bragg is old enough to be my +grandfather!" + +"No; scarcely that. Look here, May, I have a great affection for you. +You have been very good and kind to my little boys, and they doat on +you. I am not ungrateful for all you have done for the children, +although I may not have said much about it." + +May was melted in an instant by these words of kindness, and said +warmly, "And _I_ am not ungrateful, Uncle Frederick. I know you mean +well by me, and Aunt Pauline, too." + +"Certainly we do. Naturally so! Well now, just listen to me, my dear. If +you were my own daughter I should give you just the same advice. I +should be very glad and thankful for a daughter of mine to marry Mr. +Bragg. I know a great deal more of the world than you do--or ever will, +please God!--for it isn't a very pleasant kind of knowledge--and I tell +you honestly, there are very few men, young or old, in the society we +frequent, whom I'd choose for your husband rather than Mr. Bragg. He is +a little uneducated, and unpolished, of course. We needn't pretend not +to know that. But he is a man of sound heart and sound principles--a man +whose private life will bear looking into. I'm talking to you as if I +really were your father, May; and I do assure you that I would not urge +you to marry a man twice as rich as he is, if I knew him to be--to be +what some men are, and what you in your innocence have no idea of. I +want you to believe that, May." + +"I do believe it, Uncle Frederick," sobbed May, taking his hand, and +kissing it. + +"There, there, my dear, don't cry! I couldn't talk in this way to many +girls of your age; but you have so much sense and right feeling! I +wanted you to understand that I'm not an altogether hard, worldly kind +of man, ready to offer you up to Mammon--eh? Look here, May; I would +stand by you against--against every one, if I thought you were going to +be sacrificed. But you must trust a little to the experience of those +older than yourself, my dear. Come, come, there now, don't distress +yourself! You are not to be pressed and hurried, you know. You will +think it all over quietly. Go to your own room and lie down a while. I +will take care that you are not disturbed or worried in any way." + +He led her gently to the door. She was now sobbing uncontrollably. She +longed to tell her uncle the truth about her engagement, but she thought +that loyalty to Owen and to her grandmother forbade her to speak out +fully without their leave. As she was quitting the room, she turned +round, and, making a strong effort to speak firmly, said-- + +"Uncle Frederick, I shall never, as long as I live, forget the kind +words you have said to me. And, whatever happens, don't believe I am +ungrateful." + +"Well, Frederick?" said Mrs. Dormer-Smith, when her husband re-appeared +in her room. + +Frederick walked to the window, took out his pocket-handkerchief, and +answered from behind it, rather huskily-- + +"Well, I don't know. I almost hope it may come right." + +"Do you? Do you really? Well, that is a feeble ray of comfort. But it is +rather too bad to have to undergo all this wear and tear of feeling, in +order to secure that perverse child's fortune in spite of herself!" + +There was a long pause, during which Mr. Dormer-Smith continued to look +out of the window, and to blow his nose in a furtive kind of way. "I +wonder----" he began slowly, and then stopped himself. + +"You wonder--Frederick? Pray speak out! I assure you I am not able to +stand much more suspense and anxiety." + +"I was merely going to say, I wonder if there can be any one else." + +"Any one else?" + +"Any man she cares for." + +"Good Heavens, Frederick, who should there be? Really, you are not very +considerate to startle me with such extraordinary suppositions without +the least preparation. There is no one, of course." + +"You are sure?" + +"I am sure there is no one _possible_. I know, of course, every man she +has danced with, or who has paid her the smallest attention, and there +is not one who could be thought of for a moment, even if Mr. Bragg did +not exist. I should not hesitate to speak very strongly if I suspected +her of any culpable folly of that kind. A girl without a farthing in the +world! And her father, my poor unfortunate brother Augustus, in Heaven +knows what dreadful position! That May, under all the circumstances, can +behave in this way, is too intolerable. The more one thinks of it the +more flagrant it seems. No sense of duty! No consideration for her +family! I shall be compelled to say to her----" + +Suddenly, in the midst of these fluent, softly uttered sentences, Mr. +Dormer-Smith turned round, wiped his eyes, blew his nose defiantly, and +said, with an explosion of feeling-- + +"The girl's a fine creature, and, by God, I won't have her baited!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Each mortal's private feelings are the measure of the importance of +events to him. And it often happens that while our neighbours are +pitying or envying us, on account of some circumstance which, all the +world agrees, must have a weighty bearing on our fate, we are mainly +indifferent to it, and are occupied with some inner grief or joy, which +would seem to them very trivial. + +To have received and rejected an offer of marriage from a man worth +fifty thousand a year would have been deemed by most of May +Cheffington's acquaintance about as important an event as could have +happened to her--short of death! But to her it was absolutely as +nothing, compared with the facts that Owen was on the point of returning +to England, and that he was to live in Mrs. Bransby's house. + +Why did this second fact seem to embitter the sweetness of the first? + +No, it was not the fact, she told herself, that was bitter; the +bitterness lay in the manner of its coming to her knowledge. Why had not +Owen written to her? There could be no reason to conceal it! Of course, +none! Owen was doing all that was right, no doubt. But to allow her to +hear of this step for the first time from Theodore Bransby at a +dinner-table conversation--this it was which irked her. So, at least, +she had declared to herself last night. Then the tone in which her uncle +and all of them had spoken of Mrs. Bransby and Owen had jarred upon her +painfully. Theodore had not joined in the tasteless banter; but then +Theodore's way of receiving it--with a partly stiff, partly deprecatory +air, as though there could possibly be anything serious in it--was +almost worse! + +The pathway of life which had stretched so clear and fair before her but +a short while ago, seemed now to have contracted into a tangled maze, in +which she lost herself. The events of the morning had made May resolve +that all secrecy as to her engagement must come to an end. She must see +Owen immediately on his arrival in London. But how to do so? She did not +know whether he was or was not in England at that very moment! Well, at +all events she knew Mrs. Bransby's address, and could write to him +there. + +This thought gave her a pang. And the pang was intensified by the sudden +and vivid perception--as one sees a whole landscape by a lightning-flash +out of a black sky--that it was caused by jealousy! + +Jealousy! She, May Cheffington, jealous--and of Owen? Yes; it might be +painful, humiliating, incredible, but it was true. The flash had been +inexorably sharp and clear. + +To young creatures, every revelation that they--even _they_--are subject +to the common woes, pains, and passions of humanity about which they may +have talked glibly enough, is an amazement and a shock. Still earlier in +our earthly course we doubt that Death himself can touch us. What child +ever realizes that it must die? It is only after many lessons that we +begin to accept our share of mortal frailties and afflictions as a +matter of course. + +Poor May felt sick at heart. Oh, if she could but see Granny! She longed +for the motherly affection which had never failed her since the day her +father left her--a rather forlorn little waif, whom no one seemed ready +to love or welcome--in the old house in Friar's Row. She thought that to +sit quite still and silent by Granny's knee, while Granny's kind old +hand softly stroked her hair, would charm away all her troubles, or at +least lull them to sleep. + +But for the present she could not rest. When she left her uncle, and +felt secure from interruption in her own room, she sat down and wrote +two letters. The first was to Owen, begging him to come and see her +without delay, and at the same time telling him that circumstances had +arisen which made it desirable to declare their engagement. The second +letter was to Granny. + +To Granny she poured out her gratitude. She thanked her and scolded her +in a breath. Who had ever been so generous, and so careful to conceal +their generosity? And yet Granny had done very wrong to make such a +sacrifice as was involved in giving up the old home in Friar's Row. + +"Had I known this a week ago," wrote May, "I do believe I should have +tried to coax Mr. Bragg into breaking the lease, and _making_ you go +back to the old house which you loved. But I cannot ask any favour of +Mr. Bragg now!" Then she told her grandmother all about her interview +with Mr. Bragg, and her aunt's bitter disappointment, and her uncle's +kind behaviour, although she could see that he was disappointed too. "I +wonder," she added, "if you will be as astonished as I was? Perhaps not. +I remember some things you said when I told you my grand scheme for +marrying Miss Patty! Oh, dear me, I feel like some one who has been +walking in his sleep--calmly and unconsciously tripping over the most +insecure places. But now I have been suddenly awakened, and I feel +chilly, and frightened, and all astray." + +When she had written them, she resolved to post the letters herself. +Since she had volunteered to take her little cousins out for a walk +occasionally, the stringent rule which forbade her to leave the house +unattended by a servant had been relaxed--it was so very convenient to +get rid of the little boys for an hour or two at a time! It left Cécile +free to do a great deal of needlework, a large proportion of it expended +on the alteration and re-trimming, and so forth, of May's own toilettes. +Mrs. Dormer-Smith was strictly conscientious as to that; and since May +never went beyond the limits of the neighbouring square, there could be +no objection to the arrangement. One point, however, Aunt Pauline had +insisted on--that these walks should always take place in the morning, +or, at all events, during that portion of the day which did duty for the +morning in her vocabulary. The proprieties greatly depend, as we know, +on chronology; and many things which are permissible before luncheon +become _taboo_ immediately after it. + +By the time May had finished her letters, however, it was well on in the +afternoon. Carriages were rolling through the fashionable quarters of +the town, and the footman's rat-tat-tat sounded monotonously like a +gigantic _tam-tam_, sacred to the worship of society. + +May went downstairs, and, opening the hall-door, found herself in the +street alone, for the first time since she had lived under her aunt's +roof. There was a pillar letter-box, she knew, not far distant. To this +she proceeded, and dropped her letters into it. It had been a fine day +for a London winter; but the last faint glimmer of daylight had almost +disappeared as she turned to go back home. + +There was an assemblage of vehicles waiting before a house which she had +passed on her way to the post-box. Now, as she returned, there was a +stir among them. Servants were calling up the coachmen, and opening and +shutting carriage doors. A number of fashionably dressed persons, mostly +women, came down the steps of the house and drove away. May paused a +moment to let a couple of ladies sweep past her on their way to their +carriage. As she did so, she heard her name called; and, looking round, +she saw Clara Bertram's face at the window of a cab drawn up near the +kerbstone. + +"Is it really you?" exclaimed Clara, as they shook hands. "I could +scarcely believe my eyes! What are you doing here alone?" + +"I have been posting some letters." Then, reading an expression of +surprise in the other girl's eyes, she added quickly, "You wonder why I +should have done so myself. For a simple reason: I did not wish the +address of one of them to be seen. But Granny knows all about it." + +"I am quite sure, dear, you have some good reason for what you have +done," answered Clara, in her quiet, sincere tones. + +"And you?" asked May. "What are _you_ doing here?" + +"I have been singing at a _matinée_ in that house. I was just about to +drive off, when I caught a glimpse of you. I was not sure that it was +not your ghost in the dusk!" + +"I suppose you are constantly engaged now?" + +"Yes; I have a great deal to do." + +"Oh, I hear of you. Your praises are in every one's mouth. Lady Moppett +declares you are rapidly becoming the first concert singer of the day. +She is as proud of you as if she had invented you! Indeed, she does say +you are her 'discovery': as if you were a Polynesian island! I could +find it in my heart to envy you, Clara. It must be so glorious to be +independent, and earn one's own living!" + +Clara smiled a faint little smile. "I am thankful to be able to earn +something," she said. "But I don't think I should care so much about it +if it were only for myself." + +"No, of course, dear! I know," rejoined May quickly. She had been told +that the young singer entirely supported an invalid father and sister. +Then she added, "Your voice is a great gift. There are so few things a +woman can do to earn money." + +"Why, one would suppose that _you_ wanted to earn money!" said Clara, +smiling. + +"Perhaps." + +Clara looked more closely at her friend. The street lamps were now +lighted, and she could see May's face distinctly. "You are not looking +well, dear," she exclaimed. "You seem fagged." + +"I am sick of London. I want to go home to Granny and be at peace," +answered May wearily. Then she went on quickly, to stave off any +possible questionings as to her state of mind. "But I must return for +the present to my aunt's house. Good-bye." + +"Stay!" cried Clara. "Will you not get into the cab, and let me drive +you home?" + +"Drive! It is an affair of some two or three minutes at most." + +"Well, then, if you have half an hour to spare, let me drive you round +the square, and then drop you at home. I have been wanting for three or +four days past to speak to you quietly. I can't bear to lose this rare +opportunity. We do not meet very often." Then seeing that her friend +hesitated, she asked, "Are you thinking about the cost of the cab for +me?" + +"Yes," answered May frankly. + +"I thought so! That is just like you. But, indeed, you need have no +scruples. The cab is engaged for the afternoon. When I sing at people's +houses, unless they send a carriage for me, the cab-fare is 'considered +in my wages.' Do come in!" + +May complied, and the cab moved away slowly. + +When they had proceeded a few yards, Clara said, "I wanted to tell +you--I think it right to tell you--something I have learned on good +authority. Your father--I hope it won't distress you--is really +married." + +May's first thought was that here again her Aunt Pauline had deceived +her! + +"Are you sure?" she asked. + +"Yes, I think I may say so." + +"And how did you learn it?" + +"From Valli." + +"Oh, from Signor Valli! But you told me he was not to be trusted." + +"In some ways not. But I do not doubt what he says on this subject. He +has no motive to invent the information. He cares nothing about the +matter--except that I think he rather likes La--Mrs. Cheffington than +not." + +"Is she a foreigner?" asked May, with a little more interest than she +had hitherto shown. Her listless way of receiving the news had surprised +her friend. + +"Yes, an Italian. At least, she is Italian by language, if not by law; +for she comes from Trieste. But she is almost Cosmopolitan; for she has +travelled about the world a great deal. She is--or was--an opera-singer. +Her name in the theatre is Bianca Moretti. She was rather celebrated at +one time." Clara paused a moment, and then added, "I hope this news does +not grieve you, dear?" + +"No," answered May dreamily, "it does not grieve me. If my father is +content, why should I grieve? He and I have been parted--in spirit as +well as body--for so many years, that his marriage can make but little +difference to me." + +"I was afraid you might feel----Of course, Captain Cheffington's family +will look on it as a dreadful _mésalliance_." + +May was silent for a few minutes. Then she said a very unexpected +thing-- + +"Poor woman! I hope he is good to her!" + +"I suppose," said Clara, rather hesitatingly, "that the reason why +Captain Cheffington has not announced his marriage to his relations is +that he thinks they would object to receive an opera-singer." + +"Possibly," answered May. (In her heart she thought, "The reason is that +he cares nothing for any of us.") + +"It must be that," proceeded Clara. "For as far as I can make out there +seems to be no concealment about it in Brussels." + +Then they arrived at Mrs. Dormer-Smith's house, and May alighted and +bade her friend farewell. + +"Thank you, Clara," she said, "for telling me the truth. I loathe +mysteries and concealments. When one thinks of it, they are despicable." + +"Unless when one conceals something to shield others," suggested Clara +gently. + +She had told her friend what she believed to be the truth so far as the +fact of her father's marriage was concerned. But she had not given her +all the details and comments which Signor Valli had imparted to her on +the subject. His view of the matter was not flattering to Captain +Cheffington. Valli declared, with cynical plainness of speech, that +Captain Cheffington had married La Bianca merely to have the right to +confiscate her professional earnings. Latterly these had become very +scanty. La Bianca did not grow younger, and her voice was rapidly +failing her. A good deal of gambling had gone on in her house at one +time. But it had been put a stop to--or, at least, shorn of its former +proportions by the ugly incident of which Miss Polly Piper had brought +back a version to Oldchester. Since that, things had not gone well with +the Cheffington _ménage_. Captain Cheffington had become insupportable, +irritable, impossible! He was, moreover, a _malade imaginaire_; a +querulous, selfish, tyrannous fellow; always bewailing his hard fate, +and the sacrifice he had made in so far derogating from his rank as to +marry an opera-singer. La Bianca was a slave to his caprices. To be sure +she was not precisely a lamb. There were occasions when she flamed up, +and made quarrels and scenes. + +"But," said Signor Valli, "he is an enormous egoist, and, with a woman, +the bigger egoist you are, the surer to subjugate her. La Bianca would +have stabbed a man who loved her devotedly, for half the ill-treatment +she endures from that cold, stiff ramrod of an Englishman." + +Such was Vincenzo Valli's version of the case; and Clara Bertram, in +listening to him, believed that, in the main, it was a true one. Valli +had recently been in Brussels, where he had seen the Cheffingtons; and +one or two other foreign musicians whom she knew had come upon them from +time to time, and had given substantially the same account of them. As +to persons in the rank of life to which Captain Cheffington still +claimed to belong, they were no more likely to come across him now than +if he were living on the top of the Andes. + +May went into the house wearily. In the hall she met her uncle +Frederick, who had just come in, and had seen the cab drive away. + +"Who was that with you, May?" he asked, in some surprise. + +"It was Miss Bertram," she answered. Then she asked her uncle to step +for a moment into the dining-room. When he had done so, and closed the +door, she said quietly, "My father is married to a foreign opera-singer; +they are living in Brussels. Did you and Aunt Pauline know this?" + +"Know it? Certainly not!" + +May was relieved to hear this, and drew a long breath. The sensation of +living in an atmosphere of deception had oppressed her almost with a +feeling of physical suffocation. She then told her uncle all that Clara +Bertram had said. + +Mr. Dormer-Smith puckered his brows, and looked more disturbed than she +had expected. "This will be another blow for your aunt," he said +gloomily. + +"I don't see why Aunt Pauline should distress herself," she answered +coldly; "my father is not likely to trouble her. Married or unmarried, +my father seems determined to keep aloof from us all." Then she went to +her own room. + +Mr. Dormer-Smith shrank from communicating this news to his wife, and as +he went upstairs he anticipated a disagreeable scene. He did not very +greatly care about the matter himself, for he agreed with May that it +was unlikely Augustus would trouble any of the family with his presence; +and to keep away was all that he required of his brother-in-law. On +entering his wife's room, he found her still in a morning wrapper, +reclining on her long chair; but her hair had been dressed, and she +announced her intention of coming down to dinner. Her countenance, too, +wore an unexpected expression of placidity, almost cheerfulness. The +country post had arrived, and there were several letters scattered on a +little table by Mrs. Dormer-Smith's elbow. + +Her husband went and placed himself with his back to the fire, which was +burning with a pleasant glow in the grate. "Well," he said, in a +sympathizing tone, to his wife, "how are you feeling now, Pauline?" + +They had not met since his outburst about May, and he had been rather +nervously uncertain of his reception. Pauline never sulked, never +stormed, and rarely scolded. But when she felt herself to be injured, +she would be overpoweringly plaintive. Her plaintiveness seemed to wrap +you round, and damp you, and chill you to the bone, like a Scotch mist, +and when used retributively was felt--by her husband, at all events--to +be very terrible. But on this occasion, as has been said, there was a +certain mild serenity in her face which was reassuring. + +"Thanks, Frederick," she answered. "There seems to be a _little_ less +pressure on the brain. Smithson bathed my forehead for three-quarters of +an hour after you were gone." + +Mr. Dormer-Smith hastened to change the subject. "Post in, I see," he +said. "Any news?" + +"I have a very nice letter from Constance Hadlow," answered Pauline, +with her eyes absently fixed on the fire. "How thoughtful that girl is! +What tact! What proper feeling! Ah! the contrast between her and May is +painful at times." + +Mr. Dormer-Smith made a little inarticulate sound, which might mean +anything. Despite her beauty, which he admired, Miss Hadlow was no great +favourite of his. But he would not imperil the present calm in his +domestic atmosphere by saying so. + +"Misfortunes," pursued Pauline, still gazing at the fire, "never come +singly, they say; and really I believe it." + +"Does Miss Hadlow announce any misfortune?" + +"Oh no!--at least, we are bound not to look on it as a misfortune. Who +could wish him to linger, poor fellow? She is staying near Combe Park, +and she says Lucius has been quite given up by the doctors. It is a +question of days--perhaps of hours." + +"No? By George! Poor old Lucius!" returned Mr. Dormer-Smith, with a +touch of real feeling in his tone. + +"Of course, this will make an immense difference in May's prospects. I +don't mean to say that she will easily find another millionnaire, with +such extraordinarily liberal ideas about settlements as Mr. Bragg hinted +to me this morning; _that_ is, humanly speaking, not possible," said +Mrs. Dormer-Smith solemnly. "Still, the affair may not be such an +irretrievable disaster as we feared." + +"How do you mean?" asked Frederick, whose mind, as we know, moved rather +slowly. + +"It _must_ make a difference to her," repeated his wife in a musing +tone. "The only child and heiress of the future Viscount Castlecombe, of +course----" + +"By George! I didn't think of that at the moment. Yes, Gus is the next. +I suppose that's quite certain?" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith did not even condescend to answer this query, but +merely raised her eyebrows with a superior and melancholy smile. + +Frederick pondered a minute or so; then he said, "You say 'heiress,' but +I don't think your uncle would leave Gus a pound more than he couldn't +help leaving him." + +"I fear that is likely. Still, there is much of the land that must come +to Augustus, and Uncle George has enormously improved the estate. Do you +know I begin to hope that I may see my poor unfortunate brother come +back and take his proper place in the world? When I remember what he was +five-and-twenty years ago, it does seem cruel that he should have been +absolutely eclipsed during all this time. I recollect so well the day he +first appeared in his uniform. He was brilliant. Poor Augustus!" + +Mr. Dormer-Smith felt that the difficulty of telling his wife what he +had just heard assumed a new shape. He had feared to add to the load of +what Pauline considered family misfortunes; now it seemed as if his news +would dash her rising spirits, and darken roseate hopes. He passed his +large hand over his mouth and chin, and said, with his eyes fixed +uneasily on his wife, who was still contemplating the fire with an air +of abstraction-- + +"Ah! Yes. But--there may be a Lady Castlecombe to find a place in the +world for." + +"Not improbable. I hope there may be. Augustus is little past the prime +of life. It would compensate for much if----" + +"I'm sorry to say, Pauline, that there's no chance of that--I mean of +such a marriage as you are thinking of. I came upstairs on purpose to +tell you. In one way it won't make any difference to _us_. And I'm sure +your brother has never deserved much affection or consideration from +you. But still, I know it will worry you." + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith sat upright, with her hands grasping the two arms of +her chair, and said, with a sort of despairing calm, "Be good enough to +go on, Frederick. I entreat you to be explicit. I dare say you mean +well, but I do not think I _can_ endure much more suspense." + +"Well, you know the rumours we've heard from time to time about that +disreputable Italian woman in Brussels--opera-singer, or something of +the kind? Well--I'm afraid there's no use deluding ourselves; I think it +comes on good authority--your brother has married her." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Although the little house in Collingwood Terrace had not, perhaps, fully +justified Martin's cheery prophecy that it would turn out an "awfully +jolly little place when once they got used to it," yet there, as +elsewhere, peace, goodwill, order, and cleanliness mitigated what was +mean and unpleasant. Mrs. Bransby's love of personal adornment rested on +a better basis than vanity, although she was, doubtless, no more free +from vanity than many a plainer woman. She had an artistic pleasure in +beauty and elegance, and an objection to sluttishness in all its Protean +forms, which might almost be described as the moral sense applied to +material things. Her delicate taste suffered, of course, from much that +surrounded her in the squeezed little suburban house. But, far from +sinking into a helpless slattern, according to the picture of her +painted by Mrs. Dormer-Smith's commonplace fancy, she exerted herself to +the utmost to make a pleasant and cheerful home for her children. Her +life was one of real toil, although many well-meaning ladies of the +Dormer-Smith type would have looked with suspicion on the care Mrs. +Bransby took of her hands, and would have been able to sympathize more +thoroughly with her troubles if her collars and cuffs had occasionally +shown a crease or a stain. + +Mr. Rivers's room had been prepared with the most solicitous care. It +was a labour of love with all the family. Martin and his sister Ethel +did good work, and even the younger children insisted on "helping," to +the irreparable damage of their pinafores, and temporary eclipse of +their rosy faces by dust and blacklead. The young ones were elated by +the prospect of seeing their playfellow Owen once again; Martin relied +on his assistance to persuade Mrs. Bransby that he (Martin) should and +could earn something; and even Mrs. Bransby could not help building on +Owen's arrival to bring some amelioration into her life beyond the +substantial assistance of his weekly payments. + +He arrived in the evening, and was received by the children with +enthusiasm, and by Mrs. Bransby with an effort to be calm and cheerful, +and to suppress her tears, which touched him greatly, seeing her, as he +did for the first time, in her widow's garb. He was touched, too, by her +almost humble anxiety that he should be content with the accommodation +provided for him, and earnestly assured her that he considered himself +luxuriously lodged. + +And, indeed, for himself he was more than satisfied; but he could not +help contrasting this mean little house with Mrs. Bransby's beautiful +home in Oldchester, and he found it singularly painful to see her in +these altered circumstances. In this respect, as in so many others, his +feeling differed as widely as possible from Theodore's. For Theodore, +although fastidious and exacting as to all that regarded his own +comfort, sincerely considered his step-mother's home to be in all +respects quite good enough for her, and had privately taxed her with +insensibility and ingratitude for showing so little satisfaction in it. + +All the family, including Phoebe, who grinned a recognition from the +top of the kitchen stairs, agreed in declaring Owen to be looking +remarkably well. He was somewhat browned by the Spanish sunshine, and he +had an indefinable air of bright hopefulness. In Oldchester he used to +look more dreamy. + +"It is business which is grinding my faculties to a fine edge," he +answered laughingly, when Mrs. Bransby made some remark to the above +effect. "I shall become quite dangerously sharp if I go on at this +rate." + +"I don't think you look at all sharp," replied Mrs. Bransby gently. + +Whereupon Martin told his mother that she was not polite; and Bobby and +Billy giggled; and they all sat down to their evening meal very +cheerfully. + +When the table was cleared, and the younger children had gone away to +bed under Ethel's superintendence, Mrs. Bransby said, "You smoke, do you +not, Mr. Rivers?" + +"Not here, in your sitting-room." + +"Oh, pray do! It does not annoy me in the least." + +Owen hesitated, and Martin thereupon put in his word. "Mother does not +mind it, really. Not decent, human kind of tobacco such as gentlemen +use. That beast, old Bucher, used to smoke a great pipe that smelt like +double-distilled essence of public-house tap-rooms." + +"Well, a cigarette, if I may," said Owen, pulling out his case. Then, +drawing the only comfortable easy-chair in the room towards the +fireside, he asked, "Is that where you like to have it?" + +"That is your chair," said Mrs. Bransby timidly. + +"Good Heavens!" exclaimed Owen, genuinely shocked, "what have I done to +make you suppose I could possibly be capable of taking your seat?" + +He gently took her hand and led her to the chair. Then, looking round +the little parlour, he spied a footstool, which he placed beneath her +feet. As he looked up from doing so, he saw her sweet pale face, with +the delicate curves of the mouth twitching nervously in an endeavour to +smile, and the soft dark eyes full of tears. "You must not spoil me in +this fashion," she began. But the attempt to speak was too much for her. +She broke down, and covered her face with her trembling hands. + +Martin instantly crossed the room, and stood close beside her, placing +one arm round her shoulders, and turning away from Owen, so as to fence +his mother in. The boy's protecting attitude was pathetically eloquent. +And so was the way in which his mother presently laid her head down upon +his shoulder. They remained thus for a little while. Owen stood by the +fire with his elbow on the mantelpiece, and his forehead resting on his +hand. And all three were silent. + +At length, when Martin felt that his mother was no longer trembling, and +that her sobs were subsiding, he looked round and said, "Mother's upset +by being treated properly. No wonder! It's like meeting with a white man +after living among cannibals. If you had ever seen that beast Bucher, +you'd understand it." + +"Shall I go away?" asked Owen. + +Mrs. Bransby quickly held out one hand entreatingly, while she dried her +eyes with the other. "Please stay!" she said. "And please light your +cigarette! And please draw your chair near the fire, and make yourself +as comfortable--or as little uncomfortable--as you can! Forgive me. I do +not often break down in this way; do I, Martin?" + +"No," answered Martin, moving the lamp so as to throw his mother's +tear-stained face into shadow, and then squeezing his own chair into the +corner beside hers, "no; you were cheerful enough with Bucher. Well, of +course one _had_ either to take Bucher from the ludicrous side, or else +shoot him through the head, and have done with him!" + +"I see," said Owen, nodding, and not sorry to hide his own emotion under +cover of a joke. "And Mrs. Bransby was unable to make up her mind to +justifiably homicide him?" + +"Yes. He _was_ a beast, though, and no mistake! Phoebe was in such a +rage with him once, that she threatened to throw a hot batter-pudding at +his head. I'm sorry now she didn't," added Martin, with pensive regret. + +Then they talked quietly. Mrs. Bransby, with womanly tact, led Owen to +speak about himself and his prospects. There was little to tell in the +way of incident. He had been working steadily, and did not dislike his +work. And he had been well contented with his treatment by Mr. Bragg. +Mr. Bragg had made him an offer to send him, in the spring, to Buenos +Ayres. It might be an opening to fortune. + +"I suppose you will go? Of course, you will go!" said Mrs. Bransby. + +She could not help her voice and her face betraying some disappointment. +They did not, however, betray all she felt; for the prospect of Owen's +going away again so soon sent a desolate chill to her heart. Owen looked +at her quickly, and then as quickly looked away and tossed the end of +his cigarette into the fire, before lighting another. + +"I don't know," he answered, bending down over the flame; "it will +require some consideration. I believe the alternative is open to me of +remaining in Mr. Bragg's employment in England. Anyway, there is time +enough before I need decide--several months, I hope." + +Mrs. Bransby breathed a low sigh of relief; then she said, in a +perceptibly more cheerful tone, "It seems so odd to think of you writing +business letters, and making up accounts, and being altogether turned +into a--a----" + +"A clerk." + +"No; not precisely that. You are Mr. Bragg's secretary, are you not?" + +"What I am aiming at--what I hope to be--_is_ a clerk, you know. If I +called myself a field marshal or an archbishop it would not alter the +fact; but it does seem odd to me, too, when I think of it. Better luck +than I deserve, as my shrewd old friend Mrs. Dobbs said to me." + +"Talking of Mrs. Dobbs, May Cheffington came to see me here." + +Owen had heard regularly from May every week; he carried her last letter +in his breast-pocket at that moment (not the note which she had posted +herself--that had not yet reached Collingwood Terrace), so that he was +not starving for news of her. Nevertheless, he felt a wild temptation to +cry out, "Tell me about her! Talk of nothing else!" But he answered +composedly, "That was quite right; she ought, of course, to have come to +see you." + +"She only came once," observed Martin. + +"That was not her fault," said his mother. "She could not, as I told you +all, make frequent journeys here--she could not command her time or her +aunt's servants; she goes out a great deal." + +"Her aunt lives for the world, you see," said Owen apologetically. + +"Oh, there is no reason why May should not enjoy her youth and all her +advantages," answered Mrs. Bransby softly; "she is a very sweet, lovable +creature--much too good for----" Mrs. Bransby here checked herself, and +stopped abruptly. + +"Oh, mother! that's all bosh!" cried Martin, flushing hotly. "I mean +that notion of yours. Now, I ask you, Mr. Rivers, is it likely that May +Cheffington would _think_ of marrying Theodore? Ah! you may well look +flabbergasted! Anybody would who knew them both. You see, mother, Mr. +Rivers takes it just as I did. You don't think it likely, do you, Mr. +Rivers?" + +Owen had recovered from the first startling effect of hearing those two +names coupled together; but he was inwardly raging and lavishing a +variety of the most unparliamentary epithets on Theodore. + +"If you ask my candid opinion, I _don't_ think it likely," he answered +curtly. + +"Of course not!" exclaimed the boy. "It's only Theodore's bounce; I told +mother so." + +"Why, you don't mean that Bransby has the confounded impudence to +say----" + +"No, no," interposed Mrs. Bransby. "Don't let us exaggerate. Theodore +has never made any explicit statement on the subject. But he meets May +very frequently in society. He is constantly invited by Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. They are thrown a great deal together. May has evidently +become much more kind and gracious to him of late--for I remember when +she used positively to run away from him!--and as for him, he is as much +attached to her as he can be to any human being. I do believe that." + +"Attached your granny!" cried Martin, apparently unable to find a polite +phrase strong enough to convey his deep disdain. "Theodore is much +attached to number one, and that's about the beginning and the end of +_his_ attachments!" + +"Hush, Martin," said his mother severely. "You are talking of what you +don't understand. And you know how much I dislike to hear you use that +tone about--your brother." + +She brought out the word "brother" with an obvious effort. In truth, she +had a repugnance to speaking, or even thinking, of Theodore as her +children's brother. But it was a repugnance for which she blamed +herself. + +"I think," she added, "that you had better go to bed, Martin." + +The boy rose with an instant obedience, which had not always +characterized him in the happy Oldchester days, and bent over his mother +to kiss her. + +"I'm very sorry. I did not mean to vex you, mother," he whispered. +"You're not angry with me, are you?" + +"I _can't_ be angry with you, my darling boy. But I must do my duty. You +know _he_ would say, I was right to correct you." + +Martin lifted up his face cheerfully, with the happy elasticity of +boyish spirits. "All right, mother. Good night. Good night, Mr. Rivers." + +"Good night, old fellow," responded Owen, grasping the boy's hand +heartily. He felt very strongly in sympathy with Martin, just then. + +Martin lingered. "May I ask just one thing, mother?" he said wistfully. + +"You know we agreed not to tease Mr. Rivers with our affairs immediately +on his arrival, Martin," replied his mother. Then, unable to resist his +pleading face, she said, "If it really is only one question, perhaps Mr. +Rivers would not mind----?" + +"What is it you want to know, Martin? Speak out," said Owen. + +"It's about the question I asked in my letter," replied Martin, blushing +and eager. "Don't you think I ought to try and help mother? And don't +you think I might have a chance of earning something?" + +"That's two questions," said Owen, with a smile. "But I'll answer them +both. To number one, yes, undoubtedly. To number two, perhaps; but we +must have patience." + +"There, mother!" cried Martin, triumphantly turning his glowing face and +sparkling eyes towards her. Then he shut the door, and rushed upstairs: +his round young cheeks dimpled with smiles, and his heart so full of +joyous hopes, that he was impelled to find some vent for his overflowing +spirits by hurling his bolster at Bobby and Billy, who were sitting up +in bed, broad awake. Thereupon there ensued smothered sounds of +scuffling and laughter, mingled with the occasional thud of a bolster +against the wall; until Phoebe, sharply rapping at the door, announced +that unless Mr. Martin was in bed in two minutes, she would take away +the light, and leave him to undress in the dark. + +When the widow was alone with Owen she began to pour forth the praises +of her eldest boy. She hoped Mr. Rivers did not think her selfish in +letting the boy share so much of her cares and anxieties. But although +only a child in years he was so helpful, so loving, so sensible--had +such a manly desire to shield her and spare her! And then, after asking +Owen's advice about the boy, she added, naďvely-- + +"Only, please, don't advise me to make a drudge of him. He is so clever, +he ought to be educated. His dear father looked forward to his doing so +well at school and college." + +"If I am to advise, really," said Owen, "I ought first to understand the +state of the case with as much accuracy as possible." + +Mrs. Bransby at once told him the details of her circumstances as +succinctly as she could. There was a small sum secured to her, but so +small as barely to suffice for finding them all in food. Theodore had +made himself responsible for the rent during one twelvemonth. He had +also (or so she had understood him) promised to send Martin to his old +school for a couple of years. But it now appeared that his offer was +limited to paying for Martin's being taught at a neighbouring day school +of a very inferior kind. And even this seemed precarious. + +"I thought at one time," said Mrs. Bransby, "that I might, perhaps, +earn, a little money by teaching. But I must do what I can to educate +Ethel and Enid and the younger boys until they get beyond me. I fear I +could not find time to go out and give lessons, even if I succeeded in +getting an engagement. So I am trying to get some sewing to do. I can +use my needle, you know, while I hear Ethel say her French lesson, and +make Bobby and Billy spell words of two syllables." + +Poor Mrs. Bransby spoke with much diffidence of her plans and projects. +She had a very humble opinion of her own powers, and was touchingly +willing to be ruled and directed. Owen suggested that it might have been +better for her to have remained in Oldchester, where she was among +friends. But she answered that she had had scarcely any choice in the +matter. It was Theodore who had decided that she was to remove to +London. It was Theodore who had chosen that house for her. In the first +days of her loss she had blindly accepted all Theodore's directions. + +"Perhaps I was to blame," she said. "But I was so overwhelmed, and I +felt so helpless; and it seemed right to listen to Theodore. +But--although I never say a harsh word about him to strangers, nor to +the children if I can help it--I cannot pretend to you, who know us all +so well, that he is kind to us. Martin resents his behaviour very much. +I do my best, but it is impossible to make my boy feel cordially towards +his half-brother." + +"Of course it is!" said Owen. Then he closed his lips. He would not +trust himself to talk of Theodore at that moment. + +It was a comfort to Mrs. Bransby to speak openly to a sympathizing +listener, and one whom she could thoroughly trust. She talked on for a +long time; and at length, looking at her watch, accused herself of +selfishness in keeping Owen so long from the rest which he must need +after his journey. As she returned the watch to her pocket, she said +deprecatingly-- + +"Perhaps you think I ought not to possess so handsome a watch under the +present circumstances? Theodore was quite displeased when he saw it, and +said it ought to be sold. But, you see, I need some kind of watch; and +this is an excellent time-keeper; and--and my dear husband gave it to me +on the last birthday we spent together." + +She turned away to hide the tears that brimmed up into her eyes; and, +going to a little side table, lit her chamber candle. + +Owen rose from his chair. "Look here, Mrs. Bransby," he said. "Of course +we must have more talk together, and more time to consider matters; but +it seems to me that Martin is right in wishing to earn something. Young +as he is, it might be possible to find some employment for him which +should bring in a weekly sum worth having. And as to his education--it +has occurred to me that I could, at least, keep him from forgetting what +he has learnt already; and, perhaps, coach him on a little further. An +hour or two every evening, steadily occupied, would do a good deal. It +would be a great pleasure to me to be able to do this small service for +you. That is to say," he went on quickly, in order to check the outburst +of thanks which trembled on her lips, "if you are good enough to allow +me the advantage of continuing to occupy a room here. I hope you will be +able to put up with me. I don't _think_ that Phoebe will want to throw +a hot batter-pudding at my head. But that may be my vanity! Good night. +Don't say any more now, please. We will think it over on both sides. I +will smoke one more cigarette, if I may, before I turn in." + +He opened the door, and held it open for her. As she passed him, she +paused an instant, and said in a low, trembling voice, "God bless you!" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +The next morning's post brought Owen May's note. She had written it +hurriedly--not so much from stress of time as under the influence of +that kind of hurry which comes from thronging thoughts and eager +emotions. The sight of her handwriting was a joyful surprise to Owen; +and he wondered, as he tore open the cover, how she could have learned +his arrival so quickly. But he found that she had written simply in the +hope that he might get her letter as soon as possible, and without any +knowledge of the fact that he was already in London. + +The contents of it did not much disquiet him. She had something to say +to him: he must come and speak with her as soon as possible after his +arrival. She was safe and well, he knew; and, with that knowledge, he +thought that he could defy fortune. As to urging him to go to her +quickly--that was, he told himself with a smile, a superfluous +injunction. What need of persuasion to do that which he ardently longed +to do? + +He rapidly planned out the hours of his day. At ten o'clock he must be +with Mr. Bragg in the City. He had received a telegram in Paris making +that appointment. He would probably find duties to detain him there +until the afternoon. Between two and three o'clock, however, he thought +he could reach Mrs. Dormer-Smith's house at Kensington. From what he +knew of the habits of the household, he judged that May would be at home +at that hour. + +He had much to think of regarding the future. A momentous decision lay +with him. Had Mr. Bragg's offer of sending him to Buenos Ayres come a +couple of months earlier, he might have accepted it. It was not, of +course, a certain road to success; and it had many draw-backs--chief +among them being banishment from England. But, as he had told Mrs. +Dobbs, he was ready to face that if it were required of him, +understanding that he who starts late in a race must needs run hard. But +latterly he had come to think that it might not be best for May that he +should go; and to do what was best for her was the supreme aim of his +life. He discovered from her letters that she was not happy and +contented in her aunt's house. The necessity of concealing her +engagement was already painful and oppressive. How could she endure it +for two years? Truly, she might announce it, and go back to Oldchester +to her grandmother's house (for Owen had more than a suspicion that the +Dormer-Smiths would be very unwilling to keep her with them as the +betrothed bride of Mr. Bragg's clerk!) + +But there were other objections. Theodore Bransby, Owen was inwardly +convinced, was his rival. He might try to injure him in his absence. The +absent are always in the wrong. Or Theodore might annoy May with +persecutions. If he and May were to wait for each other, had they not +better wait, at all events, in the same hemisphere? Owen knew very well +that _some_ money--a decent competency--was indispensable to his +marriage. But that he might now reasonably hope to obtain in England. +The balance of his judgment, the more he reflected on the situation, +inclined the more decisively towards remaining. + +Other considerations than what was due to May could not have inclined +the scale one hair's breadth in these deliberations. But when he thought +over his last evening's interview with Mrs. Bransby, it pleased him to +believe that his stay, if he stayed, would be very welcome to her and +hers. + +He felt a profound and tender compassion for the widow. He admired her +patience, and the simple way in which she tried to do hard duties; +accepting them as matters of course. And he was filled with indignation +against Theodore Bransby. To these sentiments may be added the sense +that Mrs. Bransby relied on him; and the recollection of that day in the +Oldchester garden, when he had solemnly promised to be a friend to her +and her children at their need. All these were powerful incentives to +help her and stand by her. + +There was in Owen a somewhat unusual combination of heat and +steadfastness. He seldom belied his first impulse--the mark of a rarely +sincere character, swayed only by honest motives. The offer he had made +last night to teach Martin he was not inclined to repent of in the "dry +light" of next morning. It was plain, too, that his contribution to the +weekly income was a matter of serious importance to the family;--far +more so than he had any idea of when he first proposed to board with +them, although the offer had been made in the hope of assisting them. He +turned over in his mind various projects on their behalf as he walked +down to the City. It occurred to him that he might do well to speak to +Mr. Bragg on the subject. It was even possible that Mr. Bragg might find +some place for young Martin. Owen had a high opinion of his employer's +rectitude and good sense; and he thought him, moreover, a kindly +disposed man. But he had no glimpse of the tenderness which was hidden +under Mr. Bragg's plain, unattractive exterior, nor of the yearning for +some affection in his daily life, which sometimes made the millionnaire +look back regretfully on the days when he and his comely young wife +toiled together; and when he, Joshua Bragg, in his fustian working suit, +had been the dearest being on earth to a loving woman. + +Mr. Bragg appeared that day at his place of business looking as usual. +He was clean shaven, and soberly and appropriately attired. He was +attentive to the matter in hand, mindful of details, accurate, +deliberate--all as usual. And yet, so subtle is the quality of the +spiritual atmosphere which we all carry about with us, there was not a +junior clerk in the place who did not feel that there was a cloud on Mr. +Bragg's mind, and did not wonder "what was up with the governor." + +One wag opined that "Old Grimalkin had caught him at last." By which +irreverent phrase the profane fellow meant that the Most Noble the +Dowager Marchioness of Hautenville had succeeded in arranging an +alliance between Mr. Bragg and her daughter, the Lady Felicia. For it +was an open secret in the office, and the theme of infinite jest there, +that Lady Hautenville pursued this aim with an indomitable, and even +ferocious, perseverance worthy of the Berseker race from which she +professed to trace her descent. Her ladyship's hired barouche might +often be seen during the season, floating like a high-beaked ship of the +Vikings on the busy tide of commercial life, and coasting down towards +that plebeian shore of Tom Tiddler, where Mr. Joshua Bragg picked up so +much gold and silver. She would willingly have made as clean a sweep of +all his treasure as any piratical Scandinavian who ever carried off the +peaceful wealth of Kentish villages. Neither craft nor valour were +wanting to her. She made ingenious excuses to see him:--sometimes she +wanted to consult him as to the investment of non-existent sums of +money; sometimes to engage his presence at some fashionable gathering, +where he was, of course, peculiarly fitted to shine. She sent in to his +office little perfumed notes, directed by the fair hand of Felicia in +Brobdingnagian characters. Felicia herself, bright-eyed and crowned with +gorgeous bonnets--spoil gallantly wrested from some lily-livered West +End milliner, who had not the courage to refuse her credit,--sat by her +mother's side, and smiled with haughty fascination on Mr. Bragg, +whenever he could be coaxed forth to speak with their ladyships at the +carriage door. And every creature in Mr. Bragg's wholesale office, down +to the sharp Cockney urchin who sprinkled and swept the floors, +perfectly understood why Lady Hautenville did all these things, and +watched her proceedings as a spectacle of very high sporting interest. + +Thus it was that when the wag before-mentioned opined that "Grimalkin +had caught the governor," by way of accounting for Mr. Bragg's low +spirits, it was received with the benevolence due to a deserving old +jest which has seen service. But when a younger man ventured to +suggest--more than half seriously--that, "perhaps the governor was in +love," the suggestion was received with genuine hilarity, and the +originator of it immediately took credit for having fully intended a +capital joke. + +Owen Rivers, arriving punctually, was shown into Mr. Bragg's private +room. There he was greeted with the invariable grave, "How do you do, +Mr. Rivers?" And then, after a moment, Mr. Bragg added, "So you've got +over punctual. I thought you _might_ manage without an extra day in +Paris. But you must have put your shoulder to the wheel to do it." A +speech expressive, in Mr. Bragg's mouth, of very marked approbation. + +Then Owen proceeded to report what he had done in Paris, and to lay +letters and papers before Mr. Bragg; and for some time they attended to +various matters of business. When these were over, Owen said-- + +"When could I speak to you about some affairs of my own?" + +"Well, now, p'raps; if you don't want to be long." + +"Half an hour?" + +Mr. Bragg looked at his watch, nodded, and, leaning his head on his +hand, prepared to listen with quiet attention. + +Owen began by saying that he was inclined towards remaining in England +rather than accepting the opportunity of going abroad; whereat Mr. Bragg +looked thoughtful, but waited to hear him out without interruption. Then +Owen went on to speak of Mrs. Bransby and her altered circumstances, and +of his wish and intention to assist and stand by her. + +When he ceased Mr. Bragg, having heard him with careful attention, +said-- + +"The first point to be considered is your own position. Concerning the +situation we spoke of, I think I can promise to keep you on as my--what +you might call _business_ secretary. As to a private secretary, I don't +have much private correspondence, and what I have, I can pretty well +manage myself. I should expect you to take a journey now and then into +foreign parts if necessary. Terms as before. But I tell you frankly, I +see no immediate prospect of a rise for you. If you went to Buenos Ayres +you might have a chance--only a chance, of course--of getting into +something on your own account. One 'ud be steady as far as it went; the +other 'ud be like what you might call a throw of the dice at +backgammon--chance _and_ play. It's for you to choose. With regard to +Mrs. Bransby, I--of course----Look here, Mr. Rivers, I'm a deal older +than you--old enough to be your father--and I should like to give you a +little word of advice, if I could do it without offence." + +"I shall take it gratefully, Mr. Bragg, whether I act upon it or not." + +"Oh! as to acting upon it," said Mr. Bragg slowly; "it's a great thing +to be sure that your advice won't be picked up and pitched back at your +head like a stone. Well, you must understand that I don't mean any +disrespect to Mrs. Bransby, who is an excellent lady, I've no doubt. I +haven't much acquaintance with her, though I have dined at her table. +Her husband, Martin Bransby, I knew for years. I was his client, and had +reason to be well satisfied with him in all respects. So, you +understand, my feeling is quite friendly. But I would just drop a word +of warning. You're a young man, and Mrs. Bransby, though she's older +than you are, is still a young woman. And what's more, she's a very +handsome woman. And----Ah, I see you're making ready to shy back that +stone, by-and-by. But just listen one moment. For you, at your age, to +get entangled in that sort of engagement, and to undertake the charge of +a ready-made family of hungry boys and girls, would be simply ruin. +You'd repent it; and then she'd repent it because you did, and you'd all +be miserable together; that's all." + +Owen's mouth was set, and his eyes sparkling with a rather dangerous +look. But he answered quietly, "Thank you, Mr. Bragg. I am sure you mean +well, or why should you trouble yourself to speak at all on the matter?" + +"Just so; I'm glad you see that." + +"But may I ask what put the idea of any--any 'entanglement,' as you call +it, between me and Mrs. Bransby into your head?" + +"Understand me, Mr. Rivers; I meant all in honour, you know." + +Owen winced. The very assurance was almost offensive, but he returned, +"I spoke very stupidly and awkwardly; I'll amend my phrase. I should +have said, what put it into your head that I was likely to marry Mrs. +Bransby?" + +"Put it into my head? Well, when a young man feels a soft sort of +compassion for a beautiful woman who--who throws herself a good deal on +his sympathy, and looks to him for help and advice and all the rest of +it, and when the young man and the beautiful woman have opportunities of +seeing each other pretty constantly, why then I believe such a thing has +been heard of in history as their falling in love with each other. It +don't need much 'putting into your head' to see that when you've come to +my years." + +"Are you quite sure," persisted Owen, "that no suggestion of this kind +was made to you by any third person? I have a particular reason for +wishing to know." + +Mr. Bragg pondered. He had, in fact, heard Theodore's hints and +innuendos at the Dormer-Smiths, and although he was not consciously +moved by them in what he had now said, there could be no doubt that the +idea had been originally suggested to him by young Bransby and Pauline; +Owen's words to-day had merely revived those impressions. After a long +pause, he answered-- + +"Well, I think I _have_ heard it spoken of; but, if so, all the more +reason for you to be cautious." + +"I thought so!" said Owen. "Spoken of by----" + +"Why, by Mrs. B.'s step-son for one; so you may suppose there was +nothing said against the lady. _He_'d think it an uncommon good thing, I +dare say; it would relieve him of a burthen. He might wash his hands of +the family if she was to marry again." + +"Relieve him of a burthen!" cried Owen, starting up from his chair. +"Have you any idea what he does for his father's widow and children, Mr. +Bragg? Theodore Bransby is a liar. I know him. There's nothing too base +for him to insinuate against his stepmother, who is, I declare to God, +one of the best and most innocent women breathing! Theodore has a grudge +against her and her children--a jealous, petty, despicable kind of +grudge; and he's a mean-minded scoundrel!" He checked himself in walking +furiously about the room, and turned to Mr. Bragg with an apology. "I +beg your pardon, but I _cannot_ talk coolly of that fellow." + +"I'm inclined to agree with you, and yet I wish I could think better of +him; or rather, I wish he was somebody else altogether," said Mr. Bragg +enigmatically, thinking of May. + +"Mr. Bragg," said Owen, with a sudden inspiration, "will you come to +Collingwood Terrace and see Mrs. Bransby? You will learn more about them +all with your own eyes and ears in ten minutes than I could convey to +you in an hour. You shall take them unprepared. If you would look in +this evening about their tea-time you would find them all at home; it +would be a kind and natural act on your part, and would need no +explanation. Do come." + +"Well, yes; I will," answered Mr. Bragg. "Perhaps I ought to have done +so before. Any way, I'll come; just put down the address." + +"Thank you. Shall I write those Spanish letters now?" + +"Ah! you'd better. Mr. Barker, there, will give you a seat for the +present in his room." + +And so they parted. + +Mr. Bragg was by no means reassured as to his secretary being in +considerable danger from the widow's fascinations. He remarked to +himself that Rivers had not said one word explicitly denying any +attachment between them, but he felt a new bond of sympathy with Rivers. +It was agreeable to meet with such thorough fellow-feeling about +Theodore Bransby. Perhaps a mutual dislike is a stronger tie than a +mutual friendship, because our hatreds need more justifying than our +affections. + +By the time Owen's business was transacted, and he had eaten some food +at a neighbouring chop-house, it was past two o'clock, and then he set +out for Mrs. Dormer-Smith's house on foot. It was a long way off, but it +seemed to him more tolerable to walk than to jog along on the top of an +omnibus, or to burrow underground in the crowded railway. In his +impatient and excited frame of mind the rapid exercise was a relief. + +It was barely three o'clock when he reached the house in Kensington. The +servant who opened the door murmured something in a low voice, about the +ladies not receiving visitors in consequence of a family affliction. +Being further interrogated, he believed that Mrs. Dormer-Smith's cousin, +Lord Castlecombe's son, was dead. + +"Tell Miss Cheffington that I am here," said Owen. "Give her this card, +and say I am waiting to see her." + +His manner was so peremptory that, after a brief hesitation, the man +took the card, and ushered Owen into the dining-room to wait. The room +was dimmer than the dim wintry day without need have made it, by reason +of the red blinds being partly drawn down, and filling it with a lurid +gloom. + +The servant had not been gone many seconds before the door opened, and a +rather pale face, not raised very high above the level of the floor, +peeped into the room. The eyes belonging to the face soon made out +Owen's figure in the dimness, and a childish voice said, in a subdued +and stealthy tone, "Hulloa!" + +"Hulloa!" returned Owen, in a tone not quite so subdued, but still low; +for there was a general hush in the house which would have made ordinary +speech seem startling. + +"Do you want May?" asked the child. + +"Yes; I do." + +"I heard you tell James to give her your card. Who are you?" + +"I'm Owen. Who are you?" replied Owen, listening all the while for the +expected footfall. + +"I'm Harold." + +Upon this, a second rather pale face, still nearer to the ground, peeped +in at the door; and a second childish voice piped out faintly, "And I'm +Wilfred." Then the two children marched solemnly into the room, shutting +the door behind them, and stared at Owen with judicial gravity. + +"May's my cousin," said Harold, after contemplating the stranger for a +while in silence. + +"And May's my cousin, too," observed Wilfred. + +"I'm fond of her," pursued Harold. + +"So am I," exclaimed Owen, walking across the room impatiently. "But why +doesn't she come? Where is she? Do you know?" + +"Yes," replied Harold, with deliberation; "I know." + +"What can that man be about? He can't have given her the message!" said +Owen, speaking half to himself, his nervous impatience rising with every +minute of delay. + +Harold looked profoundly astute, as he answered, with a series of +emphatic nods, "No; he didn't. He took the card to Smithson; and I know +what Smithson will do; she'll read it first herself, and then she'll +take it to mamma, and then perhaps mamma will tell May--if you're +a--what is it?--a proper person. _Are_ you a proper person?" + +"I say," said Owen suddenly, "will you go and fetch May? Tell her Owen +is here waiting. Do go, there's a good boy!" + +"Is May fond of you?" inquired Harold hesitating. + +"May will be pleased with you if you go and fetch her. Run! Be off at +once now--quick!" + +After one searching look at Owen's face, the child disappeared swiftly +and silently. In less than two minutes a light footstep was heard +descending the stairs at headlong speed. The door opened, and May, +almost breathless with haste and surprise, half stumbled into the dark +room, and he caught her in his arms. + +"Is it really you?" she exclaimed, looking up at him with one hand on +his shoulder, and the other pushing back the hair from her forehead. + +Owen took the hand which rested on his shoulder, and pressed it to his +lips. "It is very really I," he said, with his eyes fixed on her face in +a tender rapture. + +"It seems like a dream! So unexpected!" + +"Unexpected! Why, you summoned me, and of course I am here!" + +"Yes, it really does seem as if my note had been a spell to bring you +across the seas." + + "'Over seas, over mountains, + Love will find out the way!' + +It doesn't alter that truth, that I happened to arrive in England only +last night." + +"Only last night! How strange it seems! And you never let me know----" + +"Darling, by the time it was quite certain what day I should be in +England, a letter would not have outstripped me. I got my orders by +telegram. Oh, my love, what a long, long time it seems since I looked on +your dear face!" + +"Tell me all about yourself, Owen. I want to hear everything." + +"So you shall. But you must explain first the meaning of your note. Tell +me now--sit down here--what has happened?" + +"I have so many things to say, I scarcely know where to begin!" + +"Begin with what was in your mind when you wrote that note." + +May sat down close to him, and began in a low voice, little above a +whisper, and with some confusion, to narrate the story of Mr. Bragg's +wooing, and its effect on her aunt and uncle. As he listened, Owen's +face expressed the most unbounded amazement. + +"Oh, it can't be!" he exclaimed. "It's impossible! There must be some +mistake!" + +May laughed, though the tears were in her eyes. "You are not very +civil," she said. "Nobody else seemed to think it impossible." + +"But _old Bragg_!" repeated Owen incredulously. + +"Perhaps he was temporarily insane, but I really think he meant it," +answered May, blushing so bewitchingly, that Owen could not resist the +temptation to kiss the glowing cheek so close to his lips. + +At this point, Harold called out in a resolute tone, "You mustn't kiss +May." + +The lovers started. They had forgotten the children--had forgotten +everything in the world except each other. But the two little boys had +followed May into the room, and had been witnessing the interview in +dumb astonishment. It was characteristic that they now held each other +by the hand, as though seeking support from union, in the presence of +this stranger, who might, they instinctively felt, turn out to be a +common enemy. + +"Halloa!" said Owen. "Here's another rival. Their name seems to be +Legion." + +"It was Harold who told me you were here," said May. + +"Yes; I sent him to fetch you," answered Owen. Then he added +ungratefully, "They might as well be sent off now, mightn't they?" + +"Oh, let them stay. There are no secrets now. At least, I hope you will +agree with me that we ought to say out the truth. Come here, Harold and +Wilfred. You must love Owen, for my sake." + +Harold advanced and stood in front of them. + +"I say," he said, with a curious look at Owen, "I'm going to marry May +when I grow up." + +"_Are_ you? That's a little awkward." + +"Why is it a little awkward?" demanded Harold gravely. + +"Well, because, to tell the truth, I was rather hoping to marry her +myself." + +The child had evidently intended to draw forth this explicit statement, +for he looked full at Owen, and said doggedly, "I just thought you +were!" Then he suddenly turned away and hid his face on May's lap. Upon +which Wilfred, conscious of a cloud in the air, began to cry softly. + +"Don't be angry with them, poor little fellows!" said May, checking some +manifestation of impatience on Owen's part. Then she coaxed the +children, and soothed them, and the childish emotion, brief though +poignant, soon passed. And at length Harold lifted up his face, and, +after a short struggle, said-- + +"I will shake hands with him, if you like, but I won't love him--not if +he kisses you." + +"All right, old fellow," said Owen, taking the child's hand. "I +sympathize with your feelings." + +Wilfred, of course, put out his small paw to be shaken like his +brother's, and peace once more reigned. + +May then hurriedly--for she knew not how long they might remain +uninterrupted--repeated what Clara Bertram had told her of her father's +marriage; and, lastly, she spoke in terms of deep affection and +gratitude of "Granny's" generosity. But on this point, as we know, Owen +was already informed. + +All that he now heard strengthened and justified the strong inclination +he already felt to abandon the idea of Buenos Ayres and to remain in +England at all costs. With her father more completely cut off from his +family than ever by this new marriage, her aunt hostile, her uncle, to +say the least, dissatisfied, and sure to oppose her engagement when it +should be announced, and no one friend in the world to rely upon except +her grandmother, May's position would be very desolate if he, too, were +far away on the other side of the world. Mrs. Dobbs was the trustiest +and most devoted of parents, but she was old; and, moreover, she would +have no power to insist on keeping May with her should her father take +it into his head to decide otherwise. No; he must and would remain at +hand to protect and watch over her. These were the sole considerations +which decided him to come to this resolution then and there. But as soon +as he had taken his resolution the thought arose pleasantly in his mind +that it would bring some cheerfulness into the household at Collingwood +Terrace, and he expressed it impulsively by saying all at once-- + +"I have made up my mind, darling, to stay in London. Poor Mrs. Bransby +will be overjoyed. She is in such need of some one to stand by her." + +May felt a little chill, like the breath of a cold wind. In the first +warm delight of seeing her lover again, all the lurking jealousy, which +she hated herself for feeling, but which was alive in spite of her hate, +had been forgotten. But his words revived it. "Is she?" she answered. + +"Oh yes; I have not had time to tell you--haven't even _begun_ to say +the thousand things I want to say to you." + +"You could not have written them, I suppose?" said May, withdrawing her +chair slightly from its close proximity to his, and thereby allowing +Harold, who had been watching for this opportunity, to wedge himself in +between them. + +"No; I could not have written all about _her_, because I have only just +heard many of the details." + +"All about '_her_'? You mean about Mrs. Bransby?" + +"Of course. Poor soul, she has been so harshly, so cruelly treated! +Theodore's conduct is----" + +"You know I have no partiality for him," interrupted May. "But I think +you are a little unjust, or at least mistaken, in this instance. +Theodore Bransby has done a great deal for his stepmother." + +"Done a great deal for her! Good Heavens, my dear child, you can't +conceive with what meanness he treats her! It's dastardly. A woman who +was so idolized, so tended, so petted----And what a sweet creature she +is! And as lovely as ever! Her sorrows seem only to have spiritualized +her beauty." + +"Yes," said May. And the dry monosyllable cost her a painful effort to +utter it. Perhaps the constraint of her tone, the deadness of her +manner--naturally so warm and cordial--would have aroused Owen's +surprise, and led to an explanation. But they were interrupted here by +the door being thrown open, not violently, but very wide open, and the +appearance of Mrs. Dormer-Smith on the threshold. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Even in the moment of her first dismay, that admirable woman Pauline +Dormer-Smith was true to the great social duty of keeping up +appearances. She turned her head over her shoulder to James, who was +hovering uneasily in the background, and said softly, "Oh yes; it _is_ +Mr. Owen Rivers. That is quite right"--as if Mr. Owen Rivers's presence +were the most natural and welcome thing in the world. Then, shutting the +door on James and on society, she advanced towards the two young people, +who had risen on her entrance, and said, with a kind of reproachful +feebleness, conveying the impression that she was reduced to the last +stage of debility, and that it was entirely their fault, "I had scarcely +credited the footman's statement that you were here having a private +interview with my niece, Mr. Rivers. He tells me that he informed you of +the family affliction which has befallen us. Under the circumstances, +you must allow me to say that I think you have shown some want of +delicacy in insisting on being admitted." + +May glanced at Owen, but as he did not speak on the instant, she did. +She took her aunt's passive fingers in her own, and said, "Aunt Pauline, +he had a right to insist on seeing me, because----" + +"Excuse me, May," interrupted Mrs. Dormer-Smith, waving the girl off, "I +beg you will go to your own room; _I_ will speak with this gentleman." + +Her tone would have suited the announcement that she was prepared to +undergo martyrdom; and she sank into a chair in an attitude of graceful +exhaustion. + +"No, Aunt Pauline, I _cannot_ go away until I have spoken," cried May +pleadingly. "Please to hear me. I wished to tell you the truth long ago, +but I was bound by a promise; now we are both agreed that it is right to +speak out, are we not?" she said, looking across at Owen. It seemed to +her that he was less eager to claim her, less proud of her affection, +less ardently loving, than her imagination had pictured him. There was +something in the quietude of his attitude which depressed and mortified +her; it was like--almost like indifference. An insidious jealousy was +discolouring everything which she looked on with her "mind's eye." It is +not always a sufficient defence against a poison of that sort to have a +noble, candid nature, any more than it is a sufficient defence against +foul air to have sound, healthy lungs; it will fasten sometimes on the +worthiest qualities: a humble opinion of ourselves, a high admiration +for others. The hinted slanders which May had heard had aroused no baser +suspicion in her than that Owen perhaps did not love her so entirely as +he at first had fancied--that his sympathy and compassion and admiration +for Louisa Bransby were strong enough to compete with his attachment for +_her_. And she knew by her own heart that if this were so his love was +not such a love as she had dreamed of--not such a love as she had given +to him. And yet all the while she was struggling against the influence +of this subtly-penetrating distrust, and trying to shake it off, like an +ugly dream. + +"I am engaged to marry Owen Rivers," she said abruptly, after a pause +which lasted but an instant, but which had seemed long to her. + +"No, no; I must beg you to retire. I cannot hear this sort of thing," +returned her aunt, waving her hand again, and turning away her head. +"_You_, at least, must understand, Mr. Rivers, that it is entirely out +of the question. How you can have entertained so preposterous an idea I +cannot imagine. You must have seen something of the world, I presume? +You ought to be able to perceive that--but, in short, the thing is +preposterous, and cannot be seriously discussed for a moment." + +May Cheffington's blood was rising. "I do not intend to discuss it," she +said haughtily. + +"Dearest, since your aunt addresses me, let me reply to her," said Owen. +He spoke in a quiet tone, although inwardly he was excited and indignant +enough. "I must tell you, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, that we are neither of us +acting on a rash impulse. We have been parted for more than three +months, during which time May has been free to give me up without +breaking any pledge, or incurring--from me, at least--any reproaches. If +she had wavered--if she had found that she had mistaken her own +feelings--she was free as air. I should have made no claim, and laid no +blame, on her." + +"Made no claim on her!" repeated Mrs. Dormer-Smith. Then she laughed the +low laugh which, with her, indicated the very extremity of provocation. +"Oh, really! Ha, ha, ha! This is too monstrous. The whole thing appears +to me like insanity." + +"To marry without loving--_that_ appears to me like insanity," said May +scornfully. + +"May! I beseech you! Really, in the mouth of a young girl of your +breeding that sort of thing is inconceivable--I am tempted to use a +harsher word. _This_ then, is the reason why you have rejected one of +the most brilliant prospects! Are you aware, Mr. Rivers, that this +school-girl nonsense has prevented----" She caught herself up hastily, +and changed her phrase--"might have prevented Miss Cheffington from +obtaining one of the most splendid establishments in England?" + +"Aunt Pauline!" cried May with hot indignation. "How can you say so? I +would never have thought of marrying Mr. Bragg, even if Owen had not +existed!" + +"But apart from that," pursued Mrs. Dormer-Smith, ignoring the +interruption, "your pretensions would have been quite inadmissible. You +have heard of the death of my poor cousin Lucius. You had probably +calculated on it. I do not mean to bring any special accusation against +you there. Of course, in the case of a person of poor dear Lucius's +social importance all sorts of calculations were made by all sorts of +people. My brother Augustus is now the next heir to the family title and +estates. Under these circumstances I leave it to your own good sense to +determine whether he is likely to consent to his daughter's +marrying--really I am ashamed to speak of it seriously!--a person who, +in however praiseworthy a manner, is filling the position of a hired +clerk!" + +This shaft fell harmless, since both May and her lover were honestly +free from any sense of humiliation in the fact of Owen's being a hired +clerk, and sincerely willing to accept that position for him. + +Owen answered calmly, "You can probably judge far better than I, as to +what your brother is likely to think on that subject." Then turning +towards May, he said, "I think, my dearest, that you had better leave +your aunt and me to speak quietly together. You have been sufficiently +pained and agitated already. You look quite pale! Go, darling, and leave +me to speak with Mrs. Dormer-Smith." + +"Agitated!" echoed that lady. "We have all been sufficiently agitated. +What I have endured from pressure on the brain is unspeakable. Certainly +you had better go away, May, I have said so several times already." + +May walked slowly to the door. "I will do as you wish," she said to +Owen. + +"You see I am right, dear, do you not?" + +"Yes; I suppose so." + +The listlessness of her tone, he interpreted as a sign of her being +weary and over-wrought. And, in truth, it was partly due to that cause. + +As she moved across the room, two little figures crept out from a dark +corner, behind an armchair, and followed her. + +"Good gracious!" cried Mrs. Dormer-Smith faintly. "What is that? Have +those children been here all the time?" She always spoke of Harold and +Wilfred as "those children," in a distant tone as though they were +somebody else's intrusive little boys. On this occasion, however, she +did not altogether disapprove of their presence. It was certainly less +_inconvenable_ that they should have been known by the servants to be +present at the interview, than if May had been without even that small +amount of _chaperonage_. She had no idea that it was Harold who had +brought about the interview, or he might not have got off so easily! + +"Go away, little boys," she said, in her sweet, soft voice. "Go away +upstairs. Cannot Cécile find some lessons for you to do? You really must +not prowl about this part of the house in the afternoon." + +The children trotted after their cousin willingly enough. They never +wished to stay with their mother. + +"We shall meet again soon, my dear one," whispered Owen, as he opened +the door. And then, with Mrs. Dormer-Smith's eyes fixedly regarding him, +he took May's cold little hand in his own, and kissed it, before she +passed out. + +Pauline observed his demeanour with an unbiassed judgment. She would, in +the cause of duty, willingly have had him kidnapped and sent off to New +Caledonia at that moment. But she said to herself, "He has the manner of +a gentleman. It is most disastrous!" For she felt that this circumstance +increased her own difficulties. + +"Now, Mrs. Dormer-Smith," said Owen, when the door was shut, "I can +answer you with more perfect frankness than I should have liked to +employ in May's presence. You were so kind as to say that you would +leave it to my good sense to determine whether Captain Cheffington was +likely to consent to my marriage with his daughter. My answer is quite +simple. I do not intend to ask his consent." + +"You do not intend--to ask--his consent?" ejaculated Pauline, leaning +back in her chair, and, in the extremity of her astonishment at this +young man's audacity, letting fall a hand-screen which she had been +using to shield her face from the fire. + +Owen picked it up and restored it to her before repeating, "No; I do not +intend to ask his consent." + +"And do you hope to persuade my niece to disregard her father's +authority?--Not to mention other members of the family who have a right +to be heard!" + +"There is only one member of the family who has a right to be +heard--Mrs. Dobbs. And her consent I hope I have obtained." + +Pauline was for the moment stricken speechless by hearing Mrs. Dobbs +mentioned as a member of the family. "The family!" Good heavens, what +was the world coming to? She pressed her hand to her forehead with a +bewildered look. + +Owen went on resolutely. "As to parental authority--Mrs. Dormer-Smith, +your brother has abdicated all parental authority over May. He abandoned +her--pardon me, I _must_ use that word; for it is the only one which +expresses what I mean--when she was a young, motherless child. He went +away to his own occupations, or pleasures--any way, he went to live his +own life in his own way, utterly careless of May's welfare and +happiness. You may tell me that he was sure of her finding the tenderest +treatment under her grandmother's roof. He was not sure of it; for he +never troubled himself to consider the question. But if he had been +sure, he had no right to leave his child as he did. At any rate, having +done so, it is too late to pretend that she is morally bound to consider +his wishes." + +Pauline put her handkerchief to her eyes. "My poor brother Augustus is +much to be pitied," she murmured. "Allowances must be made for a man in +his position. That unfortunate marriage----" + +"I have never been told," said Owen, "that Miss Susan Dobbs seized upon +Captain Cheffington and compelled him by main force to marry her. +And--judging from what I know of her mother and daughter--I should think +it unlikely." + +"Oh, one understands that sort of thing," returned Pauline, with languid +disdain. "A young woman in her class of life is not to be judged by our +standards. No doubt she thought herself justified in doing the best she +could for herself." + +"It strikes me that she did very badly for herself--lamentably badly. I +do not wish to say anything needlessly offensive, but we are in the way +of plain speaking, and I must point out to you that so far from any +consideration being due to your brother, he is--from the point of view +of an honest man wishing to marry May--a person to be decidedly ashamed +of. There are in the city of Oldchester, his late wife's native place, +many tradesmen, and even mechanics, who would strongly object to connect +themselves by marriage with Captain Cheffington." + +To say that Mrs. Dormer-Smith was astonished by this speech would be but +faintly to express her sensations. She was bewildered. She had often +heard Augustus severely blamed. She had been compelled to blame him +herself. Of course he ought not to have thrown away his career as he had +done. They had agreed as to that. But all this blame had assumed that +Augustus had chiefly injured--firstly, himself; and in the second place, +and more indirectly, the whole Cheffington family. + +Persons who live exclusively in any one narrow sphere are apt to have a +strange simplicity, or ignorance, as one may choose to call it, as to +large sections of their fellow-creatures outside that sphere. And in no +class is that kind of _naďveté_ more commonly found than in the class to +which Mrs. Dormer-Smith belonged, where it is often intensified by the +conviction that they possess what is called "knowledge of the world" in +a supreme degree. + +It was far too late in the day to bring much enlightenment to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. Owen's words merely struck her mind with a shock of wonder +and dismay, and then glanced off again. The impression of having +received a shock, however, did remain with her, and made her as +resentful as was possible to her placid nature. In speaking of Mr. +Rivers afterwards to her husband, she said-- + +"I believe him, Frederick, to be a Nihilist." + +But for the present her mind was concentrated on the aim of breaking off +what Owen chose to call his engagement to her niece, and she was not to +be turned aside from it. She addressed herself to argue the case with +Owen. In argument she possessed the immense advantage--if it be an +advantage to reduce one's adversary to silence--of supposing that the +statement of any one truth on her part was a sufficient answer to any +other truth which might be advanced against her. As, for instance, when +Owen insisted on Captain Cheffington's having forfeited all moral claim +to May's duty and affection, she replied that it was a dreadful thing to +set a child against a parent; and when Owen denied the right of May's +relatives to prevent her from making a marriage of affection, she +retorted that Mr. Rivers came of undeniably gentle blood himself, and +ought to understand her (Mrs. Dormer-Smith's) strong family feeling. + +But when even this powerful kind of logic failed to make any impression +on Owen's obduracy, she changed her attack, and inquired what he was +prepared to offer to her niece, in exchange for the magnificent prospect +of being Mrs. Joshua Bragg, with settlements and pin-money such as every +duke's daughter would desire, and very few dukes' daughters achieved. + +"But, my dear madam," said Owen, "why speak of that alternative when May +has assured you, in my presence, that nothing would induce her to marry +Mr. Bragg?" + +"Oh, Mr. Rivers, I am surprised you know so little of the world! May is +a mere child: peculiarly childish for her age. Besides, even supposing +she definitively rejected Mr. Bragg, there will be other good matches +open to her _now_. The death of my poor cousin Lucius has made a vast +difference in all that, as you must be well aware." + +"To me, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, it has made no difference. May is herself. +That is why I love her. She is not in the least transfigured, in my +imagination, by being the daughter of a man who may, or may not, be Lord +Castlecombe at some future day!" + +"Oh," said Mrs. Dormer-Smith, shaking her head with the old plaintive +air, "you need not entertain any doubts as to my brother's succession. +He is the next heir. And the estates--at least the bulk of them--are +entailed." + +"Good heavens!" cried Owen, in despair, "can you not understand that I +care not one straw whether they are entailed or not? That I would +proudly and joyfully make May my wife--she being what she is--if her +father trundled a barrow through the streets?" + +Whether Mrs. Dormer-Smith could, or could not, understand this, at any +rate she certainly did not believe it. She merely shook her head once +more, and said softly-- + +"I think you ought to consider her prospects a little, Mr. Rivers. It +appears to me that your views are entirely selfish." + +This seemed very hopeless. With a last effort to come to an +understanding, Owen took refuge in a plain and categorical statement of +facts. He had loved May when she was penniless. So far as he knew, she +was so still. He hoped to be able to offer her a modest home. She had +not been accustomed to luxury or show--the season in London having been +a mere episode, and not the main part of her life. Absolute destitution +they were quite secure from. + +He possessed one hundred and fifty pounds a year of his own. (Pauline +gave a little shudder at this. It positively seemed to her worse than +nothing at all. With nothing certain in the way of income, a boundless +field was left open for possibilities. But a hundred and fifty pounds a +year was a hard, hideous, circumscribing fact, like the bars of a cage!) +He was receiving about as much again for his services as secretary. +Moreover, he had tried his hand at literature, not unsuccessfully. He +had earned a few pounds by his pen already, and hoped to earn more. That +was the state of the case. If May, God bless her! were content with it, +he submitted that no one else could fairly object. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith rose from her chair, to signify that the interview was +at an end. Indeed, what use could there be in prolonging it? + +"I confess," she said, "you have astonished me, Mr. Rivers. If May--an +inexperienced young girl not yet nineteen--is content, you think no one +else has a right to interfere! At that rate, if she chose to marry the +footman, we must all stand by without raising a finger to prevent it. +That is, certainly, very extraordinary doctrine." + +Owen drew himself up, and looked full at her with those blue eyes, which +could shine so fiercely upon occasion as he answered-- + +"I have already admitted the right of one person to be consulted about +May's future:--the benevolent, unselfish, high-minded woman, who +befriended her, and cherished her, and was a mother to her, when she was +deserted by every one else. As to her marrying the footman--it is clear, +madam, that she might have married the hangman, for all the effort _you_ +would have made to prevent it, until Mrs. Dobbs bribed you to take some +notice of your niece! But in marrying a Rivers of Riversmead I need not, +I suppose, inform you that she will confer on you the honour of a +connection with a race of gentlemen compared with whom--if we are to +stand on genealogies--half the names in the Peerage are a mere +fungus-growth of yesterday." + +It was the first word he had said to her which was less than courteously +forbearing. And it was the first word which gave her a momentary twinge +of regret that his suit was altogether inadmissible. She contrasted his +bearing with that of May's two other wooers:--Bransby the smooth, and +Bragg the unpolished; and she said to herself with a sigh, that there +was no doubt about this young man's pedigree, and that "_bon sang ne +peut mentir_." But not therefore did she flinch from her position. She +answered him in the same words she had used years ago to her brother, in +that very room. + +"It will not do, Mr. Rivers. I assure you, it will not do!" + +Then she bent her head with quiet grace, and moved to go away. + +"One instant, Mrs. Dormer-Smith!" Owen said, following her to the door +of the dining-room. "I wish, if you please, to speak with May again +before I go away." + +"Impossible. I cannot, compatibly with my duty, consent to your seeing +her now, or at any future time." + +"Am I to understand that you forbid me your house?" + +"If you please. Unless, indeed, you consent to come in any other +character than as my niece's suitor. In that case it would give me great +pleasure to receive you as I have done before." + +He stood looking at her rather blankly. The position was undeniably +awkward. It was impossible--for May's sake, if from no other +consideration--to make a scene of violence, and insist upon seeing her. +And, even if he did so, Mrs. Dormer-Smith might still resist. She was +mistress of the situation so far. Even in his vexation and perplexity, +the ludicrous side of the affair struck him. + +"Well," said he, after a moment, taking up his hat, "I cannot intrude +into your house against your will. Our only resource must be to meet +elsewhere. I warn you we shall do so. Of course, it is idle to suppose +that you have the power to keep us apart." + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith shook her head, and repeated with gentle obstinacy, +"It will not do, Mr. Rivers. I really am very sorry, but it will _not_ +do." + +"War, then, is declared between us?" + +"Oh, I hope not! I trust you will think better of it," she said in a +mildly persuasive tone, as though she were suggesting that he should +leave off tea, or take to woollen clothing. "_I_, at least, have no +warlike intentions, Mr. Rivers; for I am going to ask you to do me a +favour. Be so very kind as to wait until I ring, and let my servant show +you out in a civilized manner. It is quite unnecessary to publish our +differences of opinion to the servants' hall." + +Accordingly she rang the bell, and, when James appeared, said sweetly, +in an audible voice, "Good-bye, Mr. Rivers." Whereupon Owen made her a +profound bow, and departed. + +As he passed through the hall, he looked about him wistfully in the hope +that May might be lingering near--might possibly be looking down from +the upper part of the staircase. But she did not appear. The house was +profoundly silent. James stood waiting with the door in his hand. There +was no help for it. He strode away with various conflicting feelings, +thoughts, projects, and hopes struggling in his mind--of which the +uppermost at that special moment was a strong inclination to burst out +laughing. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +It was not until Owen had nearly reached Collingwood Terrace that the +thought struck him, "What if Mr. Bragg should withdraw his countenance +from him, and dismiss him from his employment, when he learned that he +was betrothed to May?" + +The idea of Mr. Bragg in the light of a rival disconcerted and confused +all his previous conceptions of his employer. At the first blush it had +appeared ludicrous--incredible; but, on reflection, there was, he found, +nothing so extravagant in it. Mr. Bragg had a right to seek a wife to +please himself; he was but little past middle life, after all; and as to +the disparity in years between him and May, that was certainly not +unprecedented. He had taken his rejection well, and manfully--even with +a touch of chivalry; but he might not, any the more, be disposed to +continue his favour towards Owen when he should discover the state of +the case. He might even suspect that there had been some kind of plot to +deceive him! That was a very uncomfortable thought, and sent the blood +tingling through Owen's veins. + +There was clearly but one thing to be done--to tell Mr. Bragg the truth +at all hazards. As he walked along the pavement within a few hundred +yards of Mrs. Bransby's door, he reflected that the revelation would +come better and more gracefully from May than from himself, he was not +supposed to be aware of what had passed between May and Mr. Bragg--it +was best that he should still seem to ignore it. He had a sympathetic +sense that Mr. Bragg's wounded feelings might endure May's delicate +handling, while they would shrink resentfully from any masculine touch. + +Owen regretted now more than ever that he had not seen May again before +leaving her aunt's house; they had had no time to consult together, or +to form any plan of action for the future. Their interview seemed, in +Owen's recollection, to have passed like a swift gleam of light in a sky +over which the clouds are flying. (It had, in sober fact, lasted above +half an hour before Mrs. Dormer-Smith's appearance on the scene.) And +now he was forbidden the house! Forbidden to see her! And yet he told +himself over and over again that he could not have acted otherwise than +he had acted at the time. Well, it was too absurd to suppose that she +could be treated as a prisoner. They must meet soon, and meanwhile there +was a penny post in the land, and her letters, at least, would not be +tampered with. He would write to her the moment he got home; she would +receive his letter the next morning, and by that same afternoon she +could put Mr. Bragg in possession of the fact of her engagement. + +And after she had done so---- + +The "afterwards" seemed hazy, certainly. But at least there was no doubt +as to the plain duty of both of them not to keep their engagement any +longer secret from Mr. Bragg. It was a comfort to see clearly the right +course as regarded the steps immediately before them. For the rest--they +had youth and hope, and they loved each other! + +Owen let himself into the house with his latch-key, and went straight to +his own room to write to May. When the note was finished, he took it out +and posted it, and then proceeded to the sitting-room. + +The table was spread for tea; all the tea equipage bright and glistening +as cleanliness could make it. A cheerful fire burned in the grate. Bobby +and Billy, seated side by side on a couple of low stools in one corner, +were occupied with a big book full of coloured pictures. Ethel was +sewing. Martin stood leaning against the mantelpiece close to his +mother's armchair. And in a chair at the opposite corner of the hearth +sat Mr. Bragg, with Enid on his knee! + +When Owen entered, Mr. Bragg said, "Well, Mr. Rivers, you see I've found +my way to Mrs. Bransby's. I ought to have come and paid her my respects +before now. But _you_ know I've had my hands pretty full since I came +back to England." + +Something in his tone and his look seemed to convey a hint to be silent +as to their conversation of that morning; and accordingly Owen made no +allusion to it. + +"It is so pleasant to see an Oldchester face, is it not?" said Mrs. +Bransby. + +"_Some_ Oldchester faces," returned Owen, laughing. Then he said, "Well, +Enid, have you not a word to say to me? Won't you come and give me a +kiss?" + +Miss Enid, who was a born coquette, and who was, moreover, greatly +interested in Mr. Bragg's massive watch-chain and seal, replied with +imperious brevity, "No; don't want to." + +Mr. Bragg looked down gravely on the small creature, and then up at +Owen, as he said--half shyly, and yet with a certain tinge of +complacency, "Why, she _would_ come and set on my knee, almost the first +minute she saw me." + +"Perhaps you had better get down, baby," said Mrs. Bransby. "I am afraid +she may be troublesome." + +"Troublesome? Lord, no! Why, I don't feel she's there, no more than a +fly. Let her bide," said Mr. Bragg. + +"Ah, _I_ know what she is:--she's fickle," observed Owen, drawing up his +chair. + +"_Not_ pickle!" declared Miss Enid, with great majesty. + +"Yes, you are! False, fleeting, perjured Enid!" said Owen. + +He was delighted to perceive that the little home and its inmates had +evidently made a favourable impression on Mr. Bragg. Observing that +gentleman in the new light of May's revelation, he saw something in his +face which he had not seen there before:--a regretful, far-away look, +whenever he was not speaking, or being spoken to. It was wonderfully +strange, certainly, to think of him as May's wooer! And yet not absurd, +as it had appeared at first. In Mr. Bragg's presence, the absurdity, +somehow, vanished. The simplicity and reality of the man gave him +dignity. Owen even began to feel something like a vague and respectful +compassion for Mr. Bragg; and every now and then the peculiarity of +their mutual position would come over him with a fresh sense of +surprise. + +"We have been having a little conversation, Mrs. Bransby and me, about +her boy here," said Mr. Bragg, glancing across at Martin, who coloured, +and smiled with repressed eagerness. Mr. Bragg continued to observe him +thoughtfully. "He tells me he wants to help his mother; and he's not +afraid or ashamed of work, it seems." + +"Ashamed!" broke out Martin. "No, I hope I ain't such a cad as that!" + +"Martin!" cried his mother anxiously. She was nervous lest he should +give offence. + +But Mr. Bragg answered with a little nod, which certainly did not +express disapprobation, "Well, the boy's about right. To be ashamed of +the wrong things, does belong to--what you might call a cad. I expect," +pursued Mr. Bragg musingly, "that if we could always apply our shame in +the right place, we should all of us do better than we do." + +"I suppose I dare not offer you any tea at this hour?" said Mrs. Bransby +gently. "You have not dined, of course." + +"Well, no; not under the _name_ of dinner, I haven't! But I ate a hearty +luncheon; and I believe that's about as much dinner as I want; to do me +any good, you know. I'll have a cup of tea, please." + +Mrs. Bransby certainly felt no misapplied shame as to the humbleness and +poverty of her surroundings; and was far too truly a gentlewoman to +think of apologizing for them. Ethel, who was growing to be quite a +notable little housewife, quietly fetched another cup and saucer from +the kitchen; and that was all the difference which Mr. Bragg's presence +made in the ordinary arrangements. + +Enid insisted on having her high chair placed close to Mr. Bragg at +table; and, but for her sister's watchful interposition, she would have +demonstrated her sudden affection for him by transferring sundry morsels +of bread-and-butter which she had been tightly squeezing in her small +fingers from her plate to his, with the patronizing remark, "Oo have +dat. I can't eat any more." + +While the meal was still in progress there came a knock at the street +door. It was a very peculiar knock; consisting of two or three sharp +raps, followed by one solemn rap, and then--after an appreciable +interval--by several more hurried little raps, as if the hand at the +knocker had forgotten all about its previous performances, and were +beginning afresh. + +"Who can this be?" said Mrs. Bransby, looking up in surprise. Visitors +at any time were rare with her now; and at that hour, unprecedented. + +"Old Bucher come back to say he can't live without us," suggested +Martin. + +Whereupon Bobby and Billy, with consternation in their faces, exclaimed +simultaneously, "Oh, I _say_!" And Enid, perceiving the general +attention to be diverted from her, took that opportunity to polish the +bowl of her spoon, by rubbing it softly against Mr. Bragg's coat sleeve. + +The family were not kept long in suspense. As soon as the door was +opened, a well-known voice was heard saying volubly, "Ah! at tea, are +they? Well, never mind! Take in my card, if you please, and----Dear me! +I haven't got one! But if you will kindly say, an old friend from +Oldchester begs leave to wait on Mrs. Bransby." + +"Why, it's Simmy!" cried the children, starting up, and rushing to the +door. "Here's a lark!" exclaimed Bobby. While Billy, tugging at the +visitor's skirt, roared out hospitably, "Come along! Mother's in there. +Come in! Mother, here's Simmy!" + +Mrs. Sebastian Bach Simpson it was. She appeared on the +threshold--rubicund visage, glittering spectacles, filmy curls, and +girlish giggle, all as usual; and began to apologize for what she called +her "unauthorized yet perhaps not wholly inexcusable intrusion," with +her old amiability and incoherency. She had come prepared to keep up a +cheerful mien, having decided, in her own mind, not to distress the +feelings of the family by any lachrymose allusions. But when Mrs. +Bransby rose up to welcome her, and not only took her by the hand, but +kissed her on the cheek, and led her towards the place of honour in +the armchair, this proceeding so overcame the kind-hearted creature +that she abruptly turned her back on them all, pulled out her +pocket-handkerchief, and burst into tears. + +"I really must apol--apologize," she sobbed, still presenting the broad +back of a very smart shawl to the company--an attitude which made her +elaborate politeness extremely comical; for she addressed her speech +point-blank to the wall-paper, with abundance of bows and gestures. "I +am ashamed, indeed. Pray excuse me! The suddenness of the emo--emotion, +and the sight of the dear children, coupled with--I believe--a slight +touch of the prevalent influenza, but nothing in the least infectious, +dear Mrs. Bransby! But pray do not allow me to disturb the harmony of +this fest--festive meeting with 'most admired disorder,' as our immortal +bard puts it! Although what there is to admire in disorder, and who +admired it, must probably remain for ever ambiguous." + +By the end of this speech--the utterance of which had been interrupted +by several interludes of pocket-handkerchief--Mrs. Simpson was +sufficiently composed to turn round, and take the chair offered to her. +The children were grinning undisguisedly. "Simmy" was associated in +their minds with many pleasant and many comical recollections. Mrs. +Bransby was smiling too. But perhaps it was only the warning spectacle +of Mrs. Simpson's emotion which enabled her to choke down her own +inclination to cry. + +"This is a most pleasant surprise," she said. "When did you arrive in +London?" + +"Why, the fact is----" began Amelia. But suddenly interrupting herself, +she jumped up from her seat, and made Mr. Bragg a sweeping curtsey. +"Pardon me," she exclaimed, "if, in the first moment, I was oblivious of +your presence! Although not personally acquainted, Oldchester people +claim the privilege of recognizing Mr. Bragg as one of our native +products. An unforeseen honour, indeed! And--do my eyes deceive me, or +have I the pleasure of greeting Mr. Owen Rivers? What an extraordinary +coincidence! I had _heard_ you were residing here in the character of a +boarder," she added, as emphatically as though that were an obvious +reason for being surprised to see him there. "Really, I seem to be +transported back into our ancient city; and should scarcely start to +hear the cathedral chimes, or the steam-whistle from the brewery, or any +of the dear familiar sounds--although the steam whistle, I must admit, +is trying, and, in certain forms of nervous disorder, I believe, +excruciating." + +It was not easy, at any time, to obtain a clear and collected answer to +a question from Mrs. Simpson. But in her present state of excitement the +difficulty was immensely increased. Her language--partly in honour of +Mr. Bragg--was so flowery, and she kept darting up every discursive +cross-alley which opened out of the main line of talk in so bewildering +a fashion, as to become at moments unintelligible. And it was a long +time before any of the party elicited from her how it was that she came +to be in London. At length, however, it appeared that "Bassy" was +entrusted with a commission to buy a pianoforte; and having found a +substitute to take his organ and attend to his pupils for a week, he and +his wife had suddenly resolved to take a holiday in London together. + +"I had, of course, intended to seek you out, dear Mrs. Bransby," she +said; "ever mindful, as I must be, of the many kind favours I have +received from you and"--here she gulped dangerously; but recovered +herself and went on--"from all the family. But we came away in such a +hurry at the last, a cheap excursion train being, in fact, our immediate +motive." + +"Locomotive," put in Martin jocosely. + +"Quite so," said Amelia, with the utmost suavity. "A very proper +correction." Then, seeing his mischievous face dimpling with laughter, +she exclaimed, "Oh, of course!--_locomotive_. Very good, Martin! Ah, I +am as absent as ever, you see!" Here she playfully shook her head until +sundry metallic bobs upon her bonnet fell off, and had to be hunted for +and picked up. "Well, so it was. I was hurried away by Bassy's +impetuosity--although, in justice to him, I must state that the time +bills were peremptory, and there was no margin for delay or +deliberation--almost without a carpet bag! I had no opportunity, +therefore, of inquiring of any mutual friend in Oldchester for your +address." + +"There are scarcely any who know it, or care to know it," said Mrs. +Bransby, in a low voice. + +"Oh, pardon me, dear Mrs. Bransby! No, no; that must not be said, for +the honour of Oldchester! Your memory is affectionately cherished by all +the more refined and sympathetic souls among us. Only last week Mr. +Crump, the butcher, was respectfully inquiring for news of you. You +remember Crump! A worthy man, whose spirit--notwithstanding the dictum +of the Swan of Avon--is by no means 'subdued to what it works in,' +beyond a transient greasiness, which lies merely on the surface." + +"Yes; I remember him very well. But who, then, was it who directed you +to this house?" asked Mrs. Bransby, hoping that her guest was not aware +why Martin had suddenly retired behind the window curtains in a paroxysm +of laughter. + +"Ah! That, again, is one of the most extraordinary circumstances! Who do +you think it was?" + +"I cannot tell at all." + +"Guess!" + +"Miss Piper, perhaps," suggested Ethel. + +"Not _exactly_ Miss Piper," said Mrs. Simpson, with strong emphasis on +the qualifying adverb, as though her informant's identity were only +barely distinguishable from that of Miss Piper. "But you burn, Ethel! +You are very near. However, I will not keep you longer in suspense. It +was Miss Clara Bertram." + +"Oh! I might have thought of her, for she is a neighbour of ours," said +Mrs. Bransby. + +"Is she?" asked Owen. + +"Yes; she lives in a house with a rather good garden, not far from here. +The situation is a little inconvenient for her profession, I fancy. But +she has invalid relatives, to whom the garden is a great boon. We met +accidentally in the street one day, and she recognized me at once. I was +surprised that she did so." + +"Nay, _I_ should rather have been surprised had she forgotten you," said +Mrs. Simpson, "'For the heart,'" dear Mrs. Bransby, "'that once truly +loves, _never_ forgets, but as fondly loves on to the----' Not, of +course, that there was anything beyond the very slightest acquaintance +between you and Miss Bertram in Oldchester. Bassy is, in fact, at her +house now, with a few musical professors, whom she kindly invited us to +meet--the artistic element which is so akin to Bassy's soul--combined +with the seductions of the Indian weed, of which Miss Bertram's papa is +quite a devotee--so that, you see, finding you were so near, I slipped +away to see you; and I have promised to return before it is time to go +back to the boarding-house where we are staying." + +At this point Mr. Bragg got up to take his leave. + +"I shall look in again before long, Mrs. Bransby, if you'll allow me," +he said; "and we'll have a little more talk about my young friend there. +Good night to you, ma'am," turning to shake hands with Mrs. Simpson. + +This brought that lady "to her legs" in more senses than one. She +favoured Mr. Bragg with a long and enthusiastic address, embracing an +extraordinary variety of topics, from the proud pre-eminence of British +commerce, to the force of friendship as portrayed in the classical +example of Damon and Pythias. + +"I will not ask, in the beautiful words of the Caledonian ditty, 'Should +auld acquaintance be forgot, and days o' lang syne?' for I am certain +that you are entirely incapable of doing anything of the sort, as is +proved by your presence beneath this refined roof-tree," said Mrs. +Simpson. "But I _must_ bear my humble testimony to the eminent virtues +of our exquisite friend--if I may be allowed the privilege of calling +her so. I have seen her basking in prosperity, and unspoiled by the +smiles of fortune, and now in the cold shade of comparatively untoward +circumstances, she beams with the same congenial lustre. In short," +cried Amelia, suddenly abandoning what Bobby and Billy called her +"dictionary" style for a homelier language which came straight from her +heart, "a better wife and mother, a gentler mistress, a kinder friend +there never was, or could be, in this world." + +Owen offered to accompany Mr. Bragg in order to show him the way to the +nearest cabstand, and they left the house together. + +"She's a sing'lar character," observed Mr. Bragg, after they had walked +a few steps. + +"You mean Mrs. Simpson?" + +"Ah, yes; Mrs. Simpson. There's too much clack about her; and her talk's +puzzling from being--what you might call of a zigzag sort of a nature; +and she's cast in a queer kind of a mould altogether. But I think she +rings true, and that's the main thing, in mortals or metals." + +"I'm quite sure her praise of Mrs. Bransby is true, at any rate," said +Owen warmly. + +"H'm!" grunted Mr. Bragg, and walked on in silence. When they came +within view of a cabstand, he turned round, and said he would not +trouble Owen to come any further with him. And just as the latter was +about to say "Good-night," Mr. Bragg observed meditatively, "She has +that little place beautifully neat, and as clean as a new pin. Seems to +be bringing up those children in the right way, too. Poor soul! it's a +heavy charge for a delicate lady like her. I think I shall be able to do +something for that eldest boy. But p'r'aps you'd better not say anything +at present--eh? It's cruel to raise up false hopes; and some folks build +such a wonderful high scaffolding of expectations on a word or two; and +if there's not bricks enough to do anything adequate to the +scaffolding--why, then that's awkward. Good night, Mr. Rivers." + +Owen well knew that hopes had already been aroused by the mere presence +of the rich man in that poor little home. But he knew, also, that there +was no danger of Mrs. Bransby's hopes turning into claims; and that she +would be humbly grateful for very small help. He felt almost elated on +her behalf as he returned to Collingwood Terrace. "I only hope," he said +to himself, "that Mr. Bragg won't visit any of my sins on Mrs. Bransby's +head, when he finds them out! But no; to do the old boy justice, I +believe he is above that." + +Meanwhile, Amelia Simpson had been imparting a budget of Oldchester +news. After many discursive sallies she came to the topic of Lucius +Cheffington's recent death. He had died since the Simpsons' departure +from Oldchester, but his case had been known to be hopeless for several +days previous. The old lord was said to be dreadfully cut up; more so, +even, than on the death of his eldest son. But Lucius had always been +understood to be his father's favourite. + +"And they do say," continued Mrs. Simpson, "that to a certain fair young +friend of ours the blow will be very severe." + +"A young friend of ours! Do you mean May Cheffington?" + +"Ah, no! Our dear Miranda knew scarcely anything of her noble relatives +at Combe Park. And even the _most_ affectionate disposition--and I'm +sure our dear Miranda is imbued with every proper feeling--can scarcely +cling with personal devotion to an almost total stranger, although +united by the ties of kindred! No; I was speaking of Miss Hadlow." + +"Constance!" + +"Yes, although I have never been on terms to address her by her +baptismal appellation, that, I confess, is the young lady I _do_ mean." + +Then Mrs. Simpson went on to tell her astonished listener how that +Constance Hadlow had been visiting some county magnates in the near +neighbourhood of Combe Park during the latter part of Lucius's illness; +how she had been admitted to see and talk with the invalid, when other +persons had been excluded with scant courtesy; how she had rapidly come +to be on a footing of intimacy at the great house, which astonished the +neighbourhood; and how at length that fact was explained by the current +report that if Lucius had recovered--which at one time appeared not +unlikely--he would have married her, with his father's full approbation. + +"I did not venture to allude to the subject before Mr. Rivers--how brown +he has become! Quite the southern hue of romance!--because, you know, he +was said at one time to be desperately in love with his cousin; and I +feared to hurt his feelings." + +"Oh, I don't think it would hurt his feelings," said Mrs. Bransby; "I +really do not believe he cares at all for his cousin, in that way." + +"I'm sure he doesn't!" cried Ethel, who took a thoroughly feminine +interest in the subject. + +"Ethel! I scarcely think you know anything at all about the matter. And +I am sure it is not for a little girl like you to give an opinion." + +"No, mother. Only--Martin and I know who we should _like_ him to marry. +Don't we, Martin?" + +Martin was rather shamefaced at being thus brought publicly into the +discussion, and rebuffed his sister with a lofty air. + +"Oh, don't talk bosh and silliness," he rejoined. "Girls are always +bothering about a fellow's getting married. Leave him alone. He's very +well as he is." + +"He is certainly most affable, and thoroughly the gentleman," observed +Mrs. Simpson, with her universal, beaming benevolence. + +"Oh, he is good!" cried the widow, clasping her hands. "So delicately +considerate! Such a true, loyal friend!" + +In her own mind she was convinced that Mr. Bragg's visit was entirely +due to Owen's influence. And her heart was overflowing with gratitude. + +A new idea darted into Mrs. Simpson's imagination, always ready to +accept a romantic view of things. How charming it would be if young Mr. +Rivers were to marry the beautiful widow! They would make a delightful +couple. Considerations of ways and means entered no more into Mrs. +Simpson's calculations than they would have entered into little Enid's. +The building of her castles in the air was entirely independent of +money. + +But there was, at bottom, a more common sensible reason which made the +idea that Owen might marry Mrs. Bransby, agreeable to Amelia Simpson. In +spite of the sympathy of Mr. Crump, the butcher, and other congenial +spirits, it could not be denied that some rumours of a very unpleasant +sort had recently been circulated in Oldchester to the discredit of Mrs. +Bransby. When it became known that young Rivers, on his return from +Spain, was to live in her house, the rumours began to take a more +definite shape. No one could trace them to their source--perhaps no one +tried very seriously to do so. + +People asked each other if they had not always thought there was +something a little odd--not quite becoming and _nice_--in the way that +young Rivers used to be running in and out of Martin Bransby's house, at +all times and seasons. Even during poor Mr. Bransby's lifetime, strange +things had been said--at least, it now appeared so; for very few of the +gossips professed to have heard any whispers of scandal _themselves_, +while Martin lived. There was a strange story of young Rivers being +caught kissing Mrs. Bransby's hand in the garden. There might be no harm +in kissing a lady's hand. But, under the circumstances, there was +something, almost revolting, was there not? And, then, why was Mrs. +Bransby in such a hurry to run away from Oldchester?--away from all her +friends and all her husband's friends? Surely she would have done better +to remain there! At all events Mr. Theodore Bransby had been much +annoyed by her doing so; and had replied to old friends, who spoke to +him on the subject, that he could not control his step-mother's actions; +could only advise her for the best; and should endeavour to assist her +and her children, _if she would allow him to do so_. Of course people +understood when he said that, that Mrs. Bransby was acting contrary to +his judgment. And now, Mr. Rivers was actually going to reside in her +house! It positively was not decent! No wonder Theodore looked +distressed, and avoided the subject. It must be altogether a very +painful affair for him. + +This kind of scandal, with its inevitable _crescendo_, had been very +differently received by Sebastian Simpson and his wife. He could not be +said to encourage it; but neither did he repudiate it indignantly. But +Amelia was true and devoted to Mrs. Bransby, and incurred some +unpopularity by her enthusiastic praises of that absent lady. But there +were also people who said what a good creature Mrs. Simpson was, and +that--although she was a goose, and had probably been quite taken +in--they liked to see her stand up for those who had been kind to her. + +Under these circumstances, it was a great triumph for Amelia to find Mr. +Bragg--the respectable, the influential, the _rich_ Mr. Bragg--visiting +Mrs. Bransby on a friendly footing, and treating her with marked +kindness and respect. Simple though she might be, Amelia was not at all +too simple to understand that the millionaire's approbation would carry +weight with it. But now the idea of a marriage between Owen and the +widow seemed still more delightful than the mere clearing of Mrs. +Bransby's character from all aspersions. People had said that, as for +_him_, the young man was probably suffering under a temporary +infatuation. And that, even supposing the best, and taking the most +charitable view of this--_flirtation_, it was out of the question that +he should think of marrying a woman of Mrs. Bransby's age, and with five +children to support! + +Why should it be out of the question? Amelia said to herself. The few +years' difference in their ages was of no consequence at all. And as to +the family--Mr. Bragg would probably take Owen into partnership. He was +evidently devotedly fond of them both! She had privately arranged the +details of the wedding in her own mind before Owen returned from +conducting Mr. Bragg to his cab. + +When he did so, Mrs. Simpson declared it was time for her to go, and got +up from her chair. But between that and her actual departure a great +many words had still to intervene. She reverted to the death in the +Castlecombe family; made a brief excursion to the report of Captain +Cheffington's second marriage, "truly deplorable! But still, or dear +Miranda is happily launched among the _élite_ of the _beau_ _monde_, so, +perhaps, it is not so bad after all!" And then suddenly added-- + +"By the way, dear Mrs. Bransby, it _was_ reported that your step-son, +Mr. Theodore, intended to withdraw his candidature at the next election. +But I am told on the _best_ authority--Mr. Lowe, the political +agent--that that is a mistake. So I hope we may see him among the +legislators. Quite the figure for it, I'm sure. However, of course, you +must know all that news far better than I. I hope to _see_ our dear +Miranda before leaving town." + +Owen observed, with indignation, that the mention of Theodore appeared +to have suggested May to her mind. Nor did the circumstance escape Mrs. +Bransby. + +"Do you say you shall see May Cheffington?" she asked. + +"Yes; I purpose calling. Although well aware of Mrs. Dormer-Smith's high +social position, still I think our dear Miranda's warm heart will +welcome one who has so recently seen her beloved grandmamma. Ah, we do +not easily relinquish the fond memories of childhood. Thank you, my dear +Ethel. _Is_ that my pocket-handkerchief? Really! I wonder how it came +there!" (Ethel had picked it up from under the tea-table.) "I believe +that even in the princely halls--I _think_ I left my umbrella in the +passage. Eh? Oh, Bobby has found it--in the princely halls of +Castlecombe her memory will revert to Friar's Row. In the words of the +poet, 'though strangers may roam, those hills and those valleys I once +called my home'--although, of course, Oldchester is _not_ mountainous. +And as to roaming, I presume that hills and valleys are always more or +less liable to be roamed over by strangers, whether one calls them one's +home or not." + +By this time Mrs. Simpson had got herself out of the room into the +narrow outer passage; and, seeing Owen put on his great coat again, in +order to escort her, she stopped to protest against his taking that +trouble. + +"Oh, pray! _Too_ kind! It is but a stone's throw from here, and I am not +at all afraid. Sure of the way? Well, no; not _quite_ sure. I took two +wrong turnings in coming. But I can easily inquire for Marlborough +House. Eh? Oh, Blenheim Lodge is it? To be sure! Marlborough House is +the august residence----However, _historically_ speaking I was not so +far wrong, was I? Well, if you insist, Mr. Rivers, I will accept your +polite attention with gratitude. Good-bye, once more, dear children. If +I possibly can come again before leaving London, dear Mrs. Bransby----" + +At this point Owen perceived that decisive measures were necessary, if +the good lady's farewells were not to last until midnight. He took Mrs. +Simpson's arm, signed to Phoebe to open the door, and led his fair +charge outside it, almost before she knew what was happening. + +"Excuse me for hurrying you," he said; "but the night is cold; Mrs. +Bransby is not very strong; and I thought it imprudent--for both of +you--to stand talking in that draughty passage." + +"Oh, _quite_ right. Thank you a thousand times. She is deserving, +indeed, of every delicate care and attention." + +A slighter circumstance would have sufficed to confirm Mrs. Simpson's +romantic fancies. She said to herself that Mr. Rivers's devotion was +chivalrous indeed. And she forthwith proceeded to sound Mrs. Bransby's +praises, in an unbroken stream of eloquence, all the way to Blenheim +Lodge. Owen had intended to ask her one or two questions--about Mrs. +Dobbs, and as to when she thought of calling at Mrs. Dormer-Smith's +house. He had even held a half-formed intention of entrusting her with a +message for May. But it was hopeless to arrest her flow of +speech--unless by making his request in a more serious fashion than he +thought it prudent to do. Amelia's goodwill might be relied on. But she +was absolutely devoid of discretion. And, at all events, if he said +nothing, there would be no ground for her to build a blunder on. + +He little knew! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +When Mrs. Dormer-Smith practised any deception--a necessity which +unfortunately arose rather frequently in the prosecution of her duty to +society--she was wont to call it diplomacy. She called it so to herself, +in her most private cogitations. She was not a woman whose conscience +could be satisfied by any but the best chosen phraseology. + +In speaking to May of her conversation with Owen, she gave a +"diplomatic" version of it. It was May herself who innocently suggested +the line her aunt took. When she found that Owen had left the house +without any further farewell to her, she said not a word, she demanded +no explanation; but the disappointed look in her eyes, the drooping +curves of her young mouth, were sufficiently eloquent. Had she fired up +into indignation against her aunt, assuming as a matter of course that +Owen had been refused permission to see her again, that would have +seemed quite in accordance with her character. This was, in fact, what +Pauline had prepared herself to meet. But this quietude was strange. It +seemed as though May were _ready_ to be wounded. Her aunt thought that +it would not have occurred to the girl--who was high-spirited enough in +certain directions--to suspect that her lover might be less eager to see +her again than she was to see him, unless some previous fact or fancy +had put the suspicion into her head. Fact or fancy, Mrs. Dormer-Smith +thought it mattered little which, so long as the suspicion were there. + +Of course it would not do to pretend that Owen had not asked to see her. +That would be a clumsy falsehood, sure of speedy detection; and, +besides, Mrs. Dormer-Smith wished to avoid explicit falsehood. She was +only diplomatic. + +"I was obliged, I need scarcely tell you, May," she said, "to refuse Mr. +Rivers's request for some more words with you. It would have been a +gross dereliction of duty on my part to permit it." + +"He did ask to see me, then?" said May, with a bright eager look in her +eyes. It was a look her aunt was well acquainted with, and usually +presaged some speech which had to be deplored as being "odd," or "bad +form." + +"Oh yes," replied Mrs. Dormer-Smith wearily. "Of course, he asked; I had +to go through all that. Under the circumstances he could scarcely do +less." + +The shadow of the eyelashes suddenly drooped down over the bright eyes; +and Aunt Pauline saw that her shot had told. + +"Has it ever occurred to you, May," Mrs. Dormer-Smith went on, "that you +are prejudicing the future of this gentleman?" + +May looked up quickly, but made no answer. + +"Of course, it cannot be allowed to go on--this _engagement_, as he +absurdly terms it." + +"It is an engagement," interrupted May in a low voice. + +Her aunt passed over the interruption, and continued. "But I think that +in justice to him you ought to reflect that meanwhile you are injuring +his prospects. I do not mean," she added with gentle sarcasm, "that you +will injure him by preventing him from marrying the Widow Bransby; +because I cannot honestly say that I think _that_ a good prospect for +any young man." + +"All those stories are malicious falsehoods," said May resolutely; but +her throat was painfully constricted, and her heart felt like lead in +her breast. + +"My dear child, one scarcely sees why people should trouble themselves +to _invent_ stories about this lady and gentleman, who, after all, are +persons of very small importance. But at any rate the stories are +circulated, and believed. Under these circumstances it seems to me +a--well, to say the least, an indiscreet proceeding, that Mr. Rivers, +the moment he returns to England, should rush to Mrs. Bransby's house, +and take up his abode there! However, it may be quite a usual sort of +thing among persons in their position. Very likely. I only know that in +_our_ world it would not do. We are less Arcadian. When I spoke of +injuring Mr. Rivers's prospects, I meant as between him and his +employer." + +"Oh!" cried May, turning round with a pale indignant face. A confused +crowd of words seemed to be struggling in her mind; but she was unable, +for the moment, to utter one of them. + +"_Dear_ May," said her aunt, "do not, I beg and implore you, do not be +tragic! I don't think I _could_ stand that sort of thing. It would be +the last straw." + +"Do you think--do you mean that Mr. Bragg would turn Owen away, out of +spite?" asked May in a quiet tone, after a short silence. + +"We need not employ such a word as that. But Mr. Bragg made you an offer +of marriage, and we can hardly expect him to find it pleasant when he is +told 'the young lady refused you in order to marry your clerk.'" + +"Not 'in order to----' You know I have assured you that under no +circumstances would I have married Mr. Bragg." + +"Yes, May; you have assured me so. But you are not yet nineteen; and +I--alas!--was nineteen more than nineteen years ago. It struck me that +Mr. Rivers was desirous that you should take your full share of +responsibility in the matter. And he seemed a little anxious about his +place. At all events he brought forward the salary he is earning with +Mr. Bragg as an important element in the financial budget with which he +favoured me. (How the man could think for a moment that your family +would consent!) I gathered that he was decidedly unwilling to lose it." + +"He only took it for my sake." + +"Ah! That was particularly kind of him. Well, it strikes me that he +would now like to keep it for his own. Of course I must write to your +father. I presume you will admit that it is proper to inform him of the +state of the case?" + +"You can write if you choose, Aunt Pauline. It will make no difference, +_now_." + +"I think you will find it will make a considerable difference! +Circumstances have entirely altered your father's position in the world. +You will be daughter and heiress to a peer of the realm." + +There was a long pause. May stood with one foot on the fender before a +bright fire in her aunt's dressing-room, her elbow on the mantel-shelf, +and her cheek resting in her hand. + +Then Mrs. Dormer-Smith resumed softly, "Perhaps I deceive myself--the +wish may be father to the thought--but I confess I got the impression +that it might not be hopeless to induce Mr. Rivers to withdraw, +voluntarily, from his false position. Of course he could do no less than +stand to it so long as you appeared resolved to stand to it; but----I +hope and trust, May, that if it should be as I think, you would not +insist on being obstinate?" + +"You know, as well as I know it myself, Aunt Pauline, that I would die +sooner than hold him bound for one instant, unless----But I won't answer +you as if I took your words seriously." + +Upon that she managed to walk out of the room with dignity and dry eyes. +But the poor child, for all her brave words, did take her aunt's hint so +seriously as to throw herself on the bed in her own room, and lie +sobbing there for an hour. + +To her husband, Mrs. Dormer-Smith had reported the interview with Owen +as accurately as she could. She did, indeed, declare her belief that the +young man was a Nihilist. But that was said genuinely enough. A man of +gentle birth, who deliberately stated--apparently with sympathetic +approval--that there were mechanics who would be ashamed to own Captain +Cheffington as a father-in-law, was, in her opinion, evidently prepared +to demolish the existing bases of human society. + +Mr. Dormer-Smith was very sorry for his niece: more sorry than he +thought it necessary to express at that moment to Pauline. But still he +agreed with his wife that every effort ought to be made to prevent her +marrying so disastrously. It might have been supposed, perhaps, that Mr. +Dormer-Smith, not having found his own mode of life productive of +unalloyed felicity, in spite of a fair income, aristocratic connections, +and a wife devoted to keeping up their position in society, would have +been not unwilling to let May try her fate in a different fashion. But +it is a common experience that, although the possession of certain +things gives them not the smallest gleam of happiness, yet, to a large +class of minds, the thought of doing without these things suggests +misery. The unusual is a terrible scarecrow, and keeps many weak-minded +birds from the cherries. + +Mr. Dormer-Smith was to go down to Combe Park to attend the funeral of +his deceased cousin-in-law. He had some liking for Lucius, and thought, +as he sat in the railway carriage speeding down to the little wayside +station beyond Oldchester, where he was to alight, that it was a truly +inscrutable dispensation which took away Lucius--a man at least +harmless, and of honourable principles--and left Augustus alive; and he +could not help regretting the death of Lucius on May's account. Lucius +had been, in his dry, peculiar manner, very kind towards his young +cousin. He had resented her father's neglect of her; and he treated her, +when they met, with a certain air of protection, and almost tenderness, +such as one might assume towards a child or an animal that one knew to +have been hardly used. Frederick thought it not impossible that, had +Lucius lived, his influence might have been brought to bear on May for +her good. But Lucius was gone; and Augustus remained to disgrace the +family and annoy his relations more than ever. + +This, however, was not Pauline's idea. Although her brother's second +marriage had, apparently, receded into the background, in consequence of +these new troubles about May, yet it had really been occupying many of +Mrs. Dormer-Smith's thoughts. She certainly considered it to be not +_quite_ so terrible a business now that Lucius--poor dear Lucius!--was +out of the way, as it would have been had he lived. A Viscountess +Castlecombe might be floated, Pauline said to herself, where a Mrs. +Augustus Cheffington would stick in the mud. They could live chiefly +abroad--not, of course, in a shabby street in Brussels; but on the +Riviera, for instance. A warm climate had always suited Augustus. And as +for herself, she, Pauline, would never willingly pass an hour in England +between the first of November and the last of April. It really would not +be at all disagreeable to spend one or two of the winter months with +one's brother and sister-in-law--thank Heaven that, at least, she was +not English! So many deviations from "good form" might be got over on +the plea of foreign manners--at some charming, sunny place, say St. +Raphael! That was not so far from Nice as to preclude the enjoyment of +some little gaiety and society. They would have a villa of their own, of +course. Perhaps, Augustus might build himself one. That sort of life +would enable them to catch a good many travellers on the wing. And, with +sufficient tact and _savoir faire_ (which Pauline flattered herself she +could supply), it might be possible to fill their house with a +succession of "nice" people. The "nicest" people were sometimes rather +less exigent on the other side of the Channel! At any rate, there would +be less difficulty in "floating" Lady Castlecombe on the stream of +society abroad than at home. Augustus would be rich; Uncle George could +not prevent that, let him do what he would with his savings and his +investments. For the estates were strictly entailed; and Uncle George +had nursed them into something like treble their value when he succeeded +to the property. Mrs. Griffin heard from Lady Mary, the Dean of +Oldchester's wife, who had it from the Rector of Combe, that Lord +Castlecombe was crushed by the loss of Lucius. Augustus might not have +to wait very long for his inheritance. How strangely things turn out! +Well, she would write very kindly and gently to her brother. There was +the excuse of addressing him about May; and she would take the +opportunity of sending a civil word to his wife. It must be done +delicately, of course. But Augustus should see that there was no +disposition to be hostile, on the part of his sister, at any rate. + +It was in the forenoon of the day after Owen's visit that Mrs. +Dormer-Smith was thus meditating. Her husband had started for Combe +Park. The house was very quiet; the fire in her dressing-room was very +warm; several budgets of gossip had arrived by the post from various +country houses, and lay unopened within reach of her hand. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith felt that there was a certain "luxury of woe" in a family +affliction which justified one in saying "not at home," and sitting in a +wadded dressing-gown, without causing one either heart-ache or anxiety. +And she had been softly rocking herself in the day-dreams recorded +above, when they were interrupted as suddenly, if not as fatally, as +those of La Fontaine's milkmaid. James stood before her with a visiting +card on a salver, and a cloud of depression--which was the utmost +revelation of ill-humour his well-trained visage ever allowed itself, +above-stairs--on his shaven countenance. + +"What is this, James? What do you mean by bringing me cards here--and +now?" + +"I _said_ 'not at home,' ma'am, but the--the party didn't seem to +understand; and, unfortunately, Miss Cheffington happening to pass +through the hall at that moment----" + +"Who is it? Where is the person?" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith took the card and examined it through her eyeglass +with a sinking heart. Could that subversive young man have returned? Or +was there, perchance, some other suitor in the field? An anarchical +shoemaker, possibly! Pauline's confidence in Mrs. Dobbs had been +completely blown into the air by learning that she had approved and +encouraged May's engagement to a young man who calmly avowed that he +possessed one hundred and fifty pounds a year of his own; and she +felt that any dreadful revelation might be made at any moment. But +the name on the card was not a masculine one, at any rate. Mrs. +Something-or-other Simpson, she read on it. + +"Is the--lady with Miss Cheffington now, James?" + +"Yes, ma'am. Miss Cheffington took her into the dining-room. I thought +that, as last time--I mean as Smithson wasn't in the way--I'd better let +you know, ma'am." + +"Did the lady ask for me?" + +"N-no; I--well, I really hardly know, ma'am." + +"You hardly know?" + +"Well, ma'am, she talked a great deal, and so--so----It was uncommonly +difficult to follow what she said. At first I thought she announced her +name as being Oldchester. I _did_ say 'not at home' twice, but it was no +use; and then Miss Cheffington happening to pass through the hall----" + +"That will do." + +James retired with an injured air, and Mrs. Dormer-Smith was left to +consider within herself whether duty required her to be present at the +interview between May and this unknown Mrs. Simpson, or whether she +might indulge herself by sitting still and reading Mrs. Griffin's last +letter in comfort and quietude. After a brief deliberation, she resolved +to go downstairs. There was no knowing who or what the woman might be. +James had said something about Oldchester. No doubt she came from that +place. Perhaps she was an emissary of Mr. Rivers! Pauline, as she rose +and drew a shawl round her shoulders, before facing the chillier +atmosphere of the staircase, breathed a pious hope that her brother +Augustus might sooner or later compensate her for all the sacrifices she +was making on behalf of May. + +Before she reached the dining-room, she heard the sound of a fluent +monologue. May was not speaking at all, so far as Mrs. Dormer-Smith +could make out. When she entered the room, she found the girl sitting +beside a stout, florid woman, dressed in _trente-six couleurs_--as +Pauline phrased it to herself--who was holding forth with a profusion of +"nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles." + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith made this stranger a bow of such freezing politeness +as ought to have petrified her on the spot; and, turning to May, +inquired with raised eyebrows, "Who is your friend, May?" + +But Amelia Simpson had not the least suspicion that she was being +snubbed in the most superior style known to modern science. She rose, +with her usual impulsive vehemence, from her chair, and said smilingly-- + +"Mrs. Dormer-Smith? I thought so! Permit me to apologize for a seeming +breach of etiquette. I am well aware that my call ought properly to have +been paid to _you_, the mistress of this elegant mansion; but, being +_personally_ unknown--although we are not so 'remote, unfriended, +melancholy, or slow'--not that I use the epithet in a slang sense, I +assure you!--in Oldchester, as to be unaware that Mrs. Dormer-Smith, the +accomplished relative of our dear Miranda, is in all respects 'a glass +of fashion and a mould of form.' Only I wish our divine bard had chosen +any other word than 'mould,' which somehow is inextricably connected in +my mind with short sixes." + +"Oh!" ejaculated Pauline, in a faint voice, as she sank into a chair; +and she remained gazing at the visitor with a helpless air. + +At another time, May would have had a keen and enjoying sense of the +comic elements in this little scene; but although she saw them now as +distinctly as she ever could have done, she was too unhappy to enjoy +them. She said quietly-- + +"This is Mrs. Simpson, Aunt Pauline. Her husband is professor of music +at Oldchester; and they are both very old friends of dear Granny." + +Now, Pauline was not prepared to break altogether with Mrs. Dobbs. Mrs. +Dobbs had behaved very badly in that matter of young Rivers; but +something must be excused to ignorance; and her allowance for May +continued to be paid up every quarter with exemplary punctuality. Let +matters turn out as well as possible, there must still be a "meantime" +during which Mrs. Dobbs's money would be valuable--and, indeed, +indispensable--if May were to remain under her aunt's roof. It occurred +to Pauline to invite this incredibly attired person to share Cécile's +early dinner in the housekeeper's room, and then to withdraw herself and +May on the plea of some imaginary engagement. She was just about to +carry out this idea when the reiteration of a name in Mrs. Simpson's +rapid talk struck her ear, and excited her curiosity: "Mrs. Bransby." +Amelia was talking volubly to May about Mrs. Bransby. She had resumed +what she was pleased to call her "conversation" with May, having made +some sort of incoherent apology to Mrs. Dormer-Smith, to the effect that +she had a very short time to remain, and "so many interesting topics of +mutual interest to discuss." + +She rambled on about her last evening's visit to Collingwood Terrace. +Mr. Rivers and dear Mrs. Bransby would make a charming couple; and as to +the difference in years--what did years signify? And the difference was +not so great, after all. Mr. Rivers was very steady and staid for his +age; and Mrs. Bransby looked so wonderfully youthful!--not a line in her +forehead, in spite of all her troubles. And then Mr. Bragg's friendship +and countenance would be so valuable! He evidently approved it all. And +if he gave Mr. Rivers a share in his business--"even a comparatively +small share," said Amelia, feeling that she was keeping well within the +limits of probability, and even displaying a certain business-like +sobriety of conjecture--considering how colossal an affair _that_ was, +everything would be made smooth for them. Mrs. Bransby's children +evidently adored Mr. Rivers--which was _so_ delightful! And as for Mr. +Rivers's devotion to Mrs. Bransby, no one could doubt that who saw them +together. (This was said rather to a shadowy audience of Oldchester +persons, who had declared that, however ridiculous Mrs. Bransby might +make herself, young Rivers was not likely to tie himself for life to a +middle-aged woman with a family, than to Amelia's present hearers.) And +after all the unkind things which had been reported in Oldchester, it +would be a heartfelt joy to Mrs. Bransby's friends to see her widowhood +so happily brought to a close. + +"What unkind things have been reported in Oldchester? What do you mean?" +asked May. She spoke eagerly, but quite firmly. There was no tremor in +her voice, no rising of unbidden tears to her eyes. Her whole heart and +soul were concentrated on getting at the truth. + +Amelia pulled herself up a little. She had been running on rather too +heedlessly. Some things had latterly been said of Mrs. Bransby which +could scarcely be repeated with propriety to a young lady--at least, +according to Amelia's code of what was proper. + +"Oh, my dear Miranda," she stammered, "the world is ever censorious; but +as the lyric bard so beautifully puts it-- + + 'I'd weep when friends deceive me, + If _thou_ wert like them, untrue.' + +Although why it is taken for granted that friends--in any true sense of +the word--should be expected to deceive, I must leave to meta-physics to +determine!" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith here put in her word. "Oh, we had already heard of +these scandals," she said. "My niece was inclined to doubt their +existence, I believe. I hope you are convinced now, May!" + +"Really!" exclaimed Mrs. Simpson, glancing with growing uneasiness from +May to her aunt. Something, she perceived, was wrong--but what? + +"Dear Mrs. Simpson," said May, "I am very sure that whoever else was +unkind and scandalous, you were not." + +"Ever the same sweet nature!" murmured Amelia; "but, perhaps, it was not +so much that people were unkind, not exactly unkind, but mistaken. You +see, when a person tells you a thing, positively, there is a certain +unkindness in not believing it! And yet, on the other hand, one would +not willingly accept evil reports of a fellow-creature. There is a +difficulty in harmoniously blending the two horns of this dilemma--if I +may be allowed to say so--which, to some extent, excuses error." + +The good lady's habitual confusion of ideas was increased by the nervous +fear that she had said something unfortunate. She brought her visit to +an end earlier than she otherwise might have done; and in taking +effusive leave of May she whispered-- + +"I trust I did not commit any solecism against the code of manners which +belongs to the _élite_ of the _haut ton_, in alluding to our fair +friend, Mrs. B----?" + +"No, no," answered May gently; "don't vex yourself by thinking so." + +Mrs. Simpson brightened up a little, and asked aloud, "And what message +shall I give to grandmamma?" + +May scarcely recognized "Granny" under this appellation, adopted in +honour of Mrs. Dormer-Smith's social distinction. But after an instant +she said-- + +"Oh, give her my dear love; I shall write to her to-morrow. And, please, +my love to Uncle Jo." + +"Ah, I recognize our dear Miranda's affectionate constancy there!" cried +Amelia. "Mr. Weatherhead will be much gratified." + +"Gratified! I think he would have a right to be disgusted if I forgot +him! Dear, good, honest, kind-hearted Uncle Jo!" + +"_Who_ is this person?" demanded Pauline, genuinely aghast at the idea +that some hitherto unknown brother of Susan Dobbs was in existence. The +one extenuating circumstance in that unfortunate marriage had always +appeared to her to be the fact that Susan was an only child. + +"He is a certain Mr. Joseph Weatherhead," answered May, with great +distinctness. "He was originally a bookbinder's apprentice, and then a +printer and bookseller in a small way of business at Birmingham. He is +my grandmother's brother-in-law, and one of the best men in the world. +He used to give me shillings when I went back to school; and once I +remember--that was just before my father left me on granny's hands--he +noticed that my boots were disgracefully shabby, and took me out and +bought me a new pair." + +Then Mrs. Simpson went away in a nervous flutter, and with the positive, +though puzzled, conviction that there was something very wrong indeed +between the aunt and niece. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Of course Mrs. Dormer-Smith availed herself to the utmost of Mrs. +Simpson's revelations. They were most valuable. And they had the effect +of confirming her own vague suspicions in an unexpected manner. That +which had been merely "diplomatic" colouring in her presentment of the +situation to May, turned out to be real, solid, vulgar fact! + +The state of things was certainly very singular. But she did not doubt +that she had discovered the true explanation of it. Mr. Rivers had +probably been infatuated with Mrs. Bransby before her husband's death. +Such infatuations were by no means rare at their respective ages. The +lady had been willing to coquette after a sentimental fashion: which, +also, was not unprecedented! There had probably been no serious +intention of evil-doing on either side. "At all events we can give them +the benefit of the doubt!" reflected Pauline charitably. Meanwhile, Mr. +Rivers had met with May. He had been thrown a great deal into her +society, had been encouraged by her stupid old grandmother, had thought +her connections and prospects desirable, and had probably admired +herself a good deal. Pauline did not see why not. It was very possible +for a man to admire more than one woman at a time! Mr. Rivers makes love +to May, persuades her to enter into a clandestine engagement, and goes +abroad. But then something unforeseen happens: _the husband dies_; and +all the old feeling is revived. Mr. Rivers hastens back to England. The +widow is pathetic--helpless--throws herself on his advice and support. +He goes to live under her roof, and the mischief is done! A handsome, +scheming woman, under these circumstances, might well be irresistible. +As to him, of course he had behaved badly in a way. But, after all, one +must accept men as they are. And, as Pauline said to herself, the folly +of young men in such matters, and their invincible tendency to sacrifice +themselves to the wrong woman, are simply unfathomable! At any rate +whether her cousin's death had made Rivers more willing to fulfil his +engagement to May; or whether he would be glad of a pretext to break +with her in order to marry Mrs. Bransby and her five children; May must +clearly perceive that _she_ could have nothing more to say to him. + +All these considerations, and the conclusion to which they led, Mrs. +Dormer-Smith administered to her niece, in larger or smaller doses, +during the remainder of the day. Sometimes it was by way of a few drops +at a time:--a hint, a word, perhaps merely a sigh, accompanied by an +expressive shrug of the shoulders. Sometimes it was a copious pouring +forth of the evidence. Sometimes it was an appeal to May's pride: +sometimes to her principles. + +The girl was worn out with fighting against shadows. And, though they +might be shadows, they were gathering darkly. + +The worst was that she was, in one sense, as solitary as though she had +been alone on a desert island. There was absolutely no communion of +spirit between her and her aunt on this subject. Had her uncle been +there, she thought that even he would have understood her better. She +could write, of course, to granny; and of course granny would answer +her. But another whole long day must elapse before she could have the +comfort of granny's letter: even supposing it were sent without a post's +delay. She could not see Owen. She was not sure, at moments, whether she +wished to see him. And then again, with a sudden revulsion of feeling, +she would long for his presence. + +She had in her pocket the note he had written on the previous evening, +begging her to inform Mr. Bragg of their engagement. It had reached her +hands only an hour or two before Amelia Simpson's visit; and was, as +yet, unanswered. The note had been dashed off quickly, as we know. And +to May, disheartened and confused as she was already by her aunt's +version of the interview with Owen, it seemed needlessly brief and dry. + +He begged May to tell Mr. Bragg of their engagement at once. Under the +circumstances he thought Mr. Bragg ought to know it, and the +announcement would come best from her. He had not had a moment in which +to speak of it during their hurried interview. But he did not doubt that +May would feel as he felt on this point. She had better, if possible, +send her communication so that Mr. Bragg should receive it that same +afternoon; since he certainly ought to know the truth soon, at any cost. + +These last words had reference to the possibility that the revelation +might affect the fortunes of the Bransby family. But May knew nothing of +that; and they jarred on her. Why should Owen speak to her of the +"cost"? It was almost like a boast that he was ready to sacrifice +himself. In talking to Aunt Pauline he had shown that he was anxious not +to lose his situation. For her sake? Oh yes; no doubt for her sake. But +the words jarred on her. The lightest touch will jar upon a bruise. + +And then the loneliness of spirit was so trying! Solitude may sometimes +be a good counsellor for the brain. But it is rarely so for the heart. +Nothing so strengthens our best impulses, faiths, and affections as to +see them reflected in the soul of a fellow-creature. To the young +especially, want of sympathy with their emotions is like want of +daylight to a flower. Those who have travelled half way along life's +journey are apt to forget how much diffidence is often mingled with a +young girl's acceptance of love. The gift seems so unspeakably great! A +trembling sense of unreality sometimes comes with the recognition of its +preciousness and beauty. + +"Can it be? Am _I_ really loved so much? Dare I believe it?" These +questions are often asked by sensitive young hearts. Happiness begets +humility in the finer sort of nature. + +Elder spectators, looking on at the old, ever-new story, find it clear +and simple enough. But to the actors it may seem complex and difficult. +Lookers on, in any case, see but a small portion of the drama of our +lives. The intensest part of it--the most poignant tragedy, the sunniest +comedy--is played within ourselves by invisible forces. Truly, and in +dread earnest, "we are such stuff as dreams are made of." + +All the day May kept Owen's note in her pocket, and when evening came, +she had neither answered it, nor written to Mr. Bragg. Owen was right, +no doubt, in saying that Mr. Bragg ought to know the truth. But what +_was_ the truth? In the whirlpool of her agitated thoughts sometimes one +answer would float uppermost, and sometimes another. Could her aunt be +right in saying that she would prejudice Owen's future by holding him to +his word? Holding him! But it was rather for Owen to hold her. He could +not suspect that his claim would be disallowed. He, at least, had no +reason to doubt the completeness of her love for him. And then a scarlet +blush would burn her cheeks, and hot tears would be forced from her +eyes, by a thought which touched her maiden pride to the quick:--was he +not leaving it to her to claim him? If she wrote that letter to Mr. +Bragg, she would, in fact, be claiming him. + +She had told Mr. Bragg, she remembered, when he asked her if her family +approved of the man she had promised to marry, that she, at any rate, +was proud to be loved by him. Yes; but too proud to accept a love that +was not eagerly given. Oh, it was all weariness, and bitterness, and +perturbation of spirit! + +Sometimes, for a moment, the recollection of Owen's look and Owen's +words would pierce the clouds like a ray of sunshine, and her heart +would cry out, "Why am I troubled and tormented by lies and foolishness? +Owen is loyal, tender, and true--the soul of truth and honour! I need +only trust to him, and all will be well." But then Aunt Pauline would +repeat some of poor Amelia Simpson's glowing words about "the charming +couple" in Collingwood Terrace--made all the more impressive by the fact +that Aunt Pauline really believed them; and the fog would gather again, +and she would ask herself, "How if he should be loyal against his +inclination?" + +In the evening she said to her aunt, "Aunt Pauline, I will go away from +London; I will go to Granny. I could not, in any case, continue to take +her money for keeping me here. I will go down to Oldchester; that will +be best. And Owen and I can arrange afterwards what we will do." For not +by a word would she betray a doubt of Owen. To her aunt she upheld his +faithfulness unwaveringly; she upheld it, indeed, in her own heart, +chiding down her doubts as one chides down a snarling dog. But though +she could chide, she could not remove them; they were there, crouching. +She was conscious of their existence, as pain is felt in a dream. + +But it did not at all suit Mrs. Dormer-Smith's views that her niece +should go away in that fashion. "I cannot let you leave my house, May," +she said; "I am responsible for you to your father." + +Then May rebelled. She declared that Granny had been father and mother +and friend to her, and that she did not feel she owed any filial duty +except to Granny. + +Pauline privately thought that she recognized the influence of Mr. +Rivers in this speech. She put her handkerchief to her eyes, and +observed plaintively that she was sorry May had no touch of affection +for _her_ or for her uncle, who had striven to treat her as their own +child. She was genuinely hurt, and thought she had reason to complain of +the girl's ingratitude. May recognized that her aunt was sincere in +this. She, too, felt that Aunt Pauline had meant to do well for her, +although it had all turned out amiss. She thought of the day of her +first arrival in town, of her aunt's affectionate reception of her, and +gentle sweetness ever since, until these last unhappy days. Her thoughts +went back farther--to the time when the dowager was alive, and her aunt +used to see her in the dreary old house at Richmond, and mourn over her +clothes, and kiss her kindly when she went away. + +With a sudden impulse she knelt down beside Mrs. Dormer-Smith's chair, +and put her arms round her. + +"Aunt Pauline," she said, "I know you have meant to be kind. You _have_ +been kind. No doubt I have given you trouble and anxiety; partly, +perhaps, by my fault, but more by my misfortune. I am not insensible of +all that. But, dear Aunt Pauline, I want you to believe--do, pray, +believe--that it would be cruel to separate me from Owen. Nothing +_shall_ part us, except his own will," she added in a low voice. Then, +after an instant, she went on, pressing her soft young face against her +aunt's shoulder, "Perhaps you think I don't care so very deeply for him? +Of course you cannot know; you have never seen us together; it has all +come upon you quite suddenly. But, indeed, indeed, if I had to give him +up, I think it would break my heart. Oh, dear Aunt Pauline, do be kind +to us, and help us! I have no mother. And I--I love him so!" + +Pauline folded the sobbing girl in her arms. Perhaps she had never felt +the great duty she owed to society so hard of fulfilment as at that +moment. It was really frightful to think of the havoc wrought by the +selfish recklessness of that Nihilist with his hundred and fifty pounds +a year! The recollection of the cold-blooded effrontery with which he +had mentioned the sum made her shudder. + +For a little time she held her niece silently in a motherly embrace. +Then she said softly, "This is very sad and distressing, dear May." And +her own eyes were full of tears. "However much I may disapprove"--(the +clinging arms around her shoulders relaxed their hold a little here; but +she gently pressed the girl close to her again)--"and--and deplore the +state of the case, it is most painful to me to see you suffer. But we +must not allow feeling to override all considerations of what is right +and proper. We must not forget that we have duties--duties towards +society." + +May quietly removed one arm from her aunt's neck, and began to dry her +eyes. + +"I don't say that those duties are easy. Those who have no position in +the world to keep up may be enviable in some respects. I'm sure I am +often tempted to envy the people one sees riding in omnibuses," said +Pauline, with what she felt to be a bold but forcible hyperbole. "But +_noblesse oblige_. You and I are both born Cheffingtons. It may be all +very well for the _bourgeoisie_ to indulge in sentiment, and +sweet-hearts, and that sort of thing; but from us society expects +something different. There are certain opportunities which, it appears +to me, it is absolutely flying in the face of Providence to neglect. I +know perfectly well that if the Hautenvilles had the slightest inkling +of an idea that you had refused Mr. Bragg, Felicia would come flying +back from Rome like a whirlwind. However, I will not dwell on that now. +You are dreadfully worn out, my poor child, and your eyes will not be +fit to be seen for a week. Rose-water the last thing before going to +bed. There is nothing so soothing. Poor child! I _must_ steel myself to +do my duty, May; but it really is excessively trying. Go to rest now, +dear, and sleep off your agitation. To-morrow we will talk more calmly." + +May had gently withdrawn herself from her aunt's embrace, and had risen +from her knees. "To-morrow I will go to Granny," she said quietly. + +"Ah, no, dearest! that cannot be. It is out of the question. But you may +write to Mrs. Dobbs and hear what she says." + +Pauline had resolved to write herself to Mrs. Dobbs, detailing all she +knew (and a great deal more which she thought she knew) about Mr. +Rivers's conduct, and setting forth the change in May's position as the +daughter of the future Lord Castlecombe. Things were very different from +what they had been three or four months ago. Even Mrs. Dobbs--although +she had turned out so disappointingly foolish as to this preposterous +love affair--must see that. + +"Good night, dear child; you will get over this distress; and you will +acknowledge hereafter, I am quite confident, that you have had a good +escape. As to that odious woman, _she_ is sure to be miserable, whether +he marries her or not, that's one comfort!" said Aunt Pauline. + +The sight of May's tearful white face exacerbated her virtuous +indignation against Mrs. Bransby; nor was this feeling in the slightest +degree mitigated by her strong desire that Mrs. Bransby should marry +young Rivers, and take him out of their way for ever. + +"Good night, Aunt Pauline," answered May, bending down, and slightly +touching her aunt's forehead with her lips. + +Pauline embraced the girl tenderly. "Poor darling!" she murmured. "Don't +forget the rose-water." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +When May went up to her room, she neglected her aunt's advice as to the +rose-water. She sat down beside the fire, and tried to think of what she +had best do. + +Help from her aunt was clearly not to be hoped for. She did not feel +anger against Aunt Pauline at that moment. She had felt it some time +before, but not now. Would it not be like feeling angry with a Chinese +for not comprehending English? They simply did not understand one +another. There was a barrier between their minds--at least, on the one +subject which May had at heart--which, as it seemed, neither of them +could pass or penetrate. + +She would go to Granny! There she would find love and sympathy, and the +sheltering mother-wings she yearned for. And, at the bottom of her +heart, there was the half-unconscious feeling that Granny would be a +staunch partisan of Owen's, and would be able to justify her trust in +him. + +But then Aunt Pauline had refused to let her go, and had said she might +write. Write! and lose time, and probably fail to convince Granny of the +sick longing, the positive _need_ she felt to get away from London. +There would be correspondence and discussion, and then her uncle would +come back, and there would be more discussion, and she could not see +Owen. If she wrote to him and he came, he would not be admitted to the +house; and she could not go to him. + +Well, then, she would run away. There was nothing for it but to run away +to Granny, and she made up her mind to do so. Nothing should prevent +her. Nothing! She started up and took her purse out of a drawer. She was +but slenderly provided with pocket-money, the bulk of her allowance from +Mrs. Dobbs being administered by Aunt Pauline. She counted out the +contents of the little smart _porte-monnaie_ with deep anxiety. There +was half a sovereign and some silver. Only fifteen shillings! That would +not suffice to carry her to Oldchester--and then she must have a cab. +She could not find her way to the station on foot: and, besides, it +would take such a long time! How much time she did not know exactly; but +she remembered that it had seemed a rather long drive from the terminus +to Kensington. And even if she could walk the distance, she would not +know at what hour to set out in order to catch the express train, which +would bring her into Oldchester a little after five o'clock the same +evening. + +A little thrill ran through her veins as she pictured herself arriving +at Jessamine Cottage in one of the station flys, looking from the +vehicle at the cheerful firelight which would surely be shining from the +parlour window at that hour. And then Martha would come to the door, and +not recognize her at first in the darkness; and Granny would cry out in +surprise at the sound of her voice; and then there would be the dear +motherly arms round her, the dear motherly breast to lay her troubled +head upon, the blessed sense of rest, and trust, and comfort! + +Feverishly May counted and re-counted her money. The fifteen shillings +remained inexorably fifteen, and no more. All sorts of schemes passed +through her mind. Cécile might perhaps lend her some money--or Smithson! +But to ask for a loan from either of them would excite too much wonder +and suspicion; it would at once be reported to her aunt. + +Suddenly there darted into her mind the recollection that Harold had +some money. Uncle Frederick had given the child half a sovereign on his +birthday, a day or two ago. That was an inspiration! She would ask +Harold to lend her the money, and to keep the secret until she should be +gone. She knew that she could trust him; the child was staunch, and +would be proud of being confided in. Poor little Harold! She remembered +that it was he who had told her of Owen's presence in the house on that +day--when was it? _Yesterday?_ Impossible! It was weeks--months ago, +surely! A large part of her life seemed to have passed since then. + +May lay down to rest, tired out with the various emotions of the day, +but with her brain so beleaguered by shifting thoughts and images that +she was certain she should not be able to sleep. But she might at least +rest her body, which felt bruised and weary, as though she had been +walking with a heavy burthen all day long. She dropped off to sleep, +nevertheless, almost immediately, but soon awoke again with a start and +a sensation of falling swiftly, and a vague terror. But at length, +towards morning, she did sleep continuously and heavily; and when she +next awoke her watch, and a dull yellowish glimmer through the +window-blind, told her it was day. + +It was a dismal London morning, wet and cold. The wind was howling among +the chimney-pots, and sending down showers of soot and smoke, mingled +with sleet. It was the day appointed for the funeral of Lucius +Cheffington. Mr. Dormer-Smith was not expected home that night; the +trains did not fit conveniently. It had therefore been arranged that he +should stay at Combe Park until the following morning. Her uncle's +absence made her opportunity, May thought. The train she wished to +travel by started from London, she believed, at about two o'clock; but +she resolved to be at the terminus much earlier. The departure might be +at some minutes before two; it would be too dreadful to miss the train! +She felt an irrational hurry and eagerness to be gone, as if each +minute's delay might be fatal. She knew the feeling was groundless, but +it mastered her. + +Preparations she had none to make, except clothing herself in a warm +gown, and putting a few toilet necessaries into a little handbag. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith always breakfasted late, and, during the cold weather, in +her own room; and May shared the morning meal with her uncle. To-day, at +her request, Harold and Wilfred were allowed to come downstairs and +breakfast with her. This arrangement suited Cécile, who much preferred +breakfasting with Smithson in the housekeeper's room to cutting +bread-and-butter and pouring out milk-and-water in the nursery. + +As soon as the meal was over, May asked Harold for the loan of his +golden half-sovereign. His first reply was a severe blow. "You mean that +yellow sixpence papa gave me? I haven't got it, Cousin May." + +May felt as though the child had struck her. But the next moment he +added-- + +"Papa put it into that little box with a slit in it. You can't get it +out. Nobody can get it out. It belongs to me, you know; only I can't buy +anything with it. Papa says it's proper--property." + +May coaxed him to bring the box to her room, and found that it was +closed by a little cheap lock, which it would be perfectly easy to force +open. When she proposed this strong measure to Harold, he demurred at +first; but finally yielded, on his cousin's saying that she wanted the +money very much, and would be unhappy if she could not get it. A +glove-box lined with quilted satin was offered him by way of immediate +compensation; and he was promised that his yellow sixpence should be +repaid with ample interest in the shape of coin which would not share +the inconvenient dignity of being "property," but might be freely spent. + +May felt as if she were a criminal as she wrenched open the little +money-box, and took out the half-sovereign, which lay glistening amid a +small heap of pennies and sixpences. Harold stood watching her intently. + +"You do look funny, Cousin May!" he said. "Your cheeks are quite white, +and your eyes are queer, and your hand burns. Mine is ever so cold. +Feel!" He put his little red, cold hand on May's forehead, and the touch +seemed deliciously refreshing to her. + +"My head aches a little, Harold. I shall soon be well, though. I am +going to see my dear granny. I have often told you about her. She is so +good and kind! She makes people well when they are sick or sorry." + +Harold's experience of being made well when he was sick was not of such +a nature as to make this praise particularly attractive to him. + +"I s'pose she gives you powders?" he said, in a disparaging tone, and +then added gloomily, "I wouldn't go to her, if I was you." + +May kissed him, and assured him that Granny's methods were all pleasant +ones. + +Wilfred--who had been kept outside the room during the financial +transaction, as being too young to be trusted with a secret of such +importance--was now admitted in compliance with his reiterated petition; +and the two little fellows stood quietly watching their cousin, as in a +hurried, feverish way, she put a few articles into her little bag, and +took a fur-lined cloak out of the wardrobe, and laid her hat and gloves +ready on the bed. + +"I say, Cousin May," said Harold, all at once, "you'll come back again, +sha'n't you?" + +She looked down at the child's upturned face, with a start. It had not +occurred to her before, but the thought now struck her that it was very +likely she should never return to that house. + +"I will see _you_ again, darlings, if I live," she said, bending down to +kiss and embrace the children. + +Wilfred, always inclined to be tearful, showed symptoms of setting up a +sympathetic wail. But Harold said, with a dogged little setting of the +lips-- + +"Well, if you don't come back, I know what I shall do. I've got all +those pennies left in the box, and I shall buy a stick and a bundle, and +run away, and go along the high road ever so far, till I find you." + +"I shall come too," cried Wilfred. "Papa gave _me_ sixpence!" + +All three looked, indeed, almost equally childish and innocent: Harold +and Wilfred, with their project of running away, derived from a nursery +story-book, and May clutching the "yellow sixpence" as a talisman that +was to carry her afar from all trouble and persecution! + +She did not, of course, mean to leave Aunt Pauline in any anxiety as to +what had become of her; but she wanted to get a good start. After some +deliberation, she wrote a short note to her aunt, and entrusted it to +Harold. His instructions were to keep it until luncheon-time, and then +give it to his mother. But, in case he heard them asking for May in the +house, and wondering where she was, he might deliver it sooner. In any +case, he must not give it to Cécile or Smithson, but place it in his +mother's own hand. This latter was a service which Harold felt to be a +severe one; but he undertook it, with a feeling akin to that of a knight +doing battle with giants and dragons, on behalf of his liege lady. Not +that his mother would be harsh or cruel; that was quite out of the +question. She would not even scold him much, probably; but she would +look at him with that complaining air of disapproval, as if he were an +unmerited affliction, and call him and his brother "those dreadful +little boys," and send him away to the nursery, all which things the +child felt keenly in his heart, although he was entirely unable to +analyze them in his brain. + +May also wrote to Owen, telling him of her departure, and confessing +that she had not written to Mr. Bragg. + +"What is the use of my remaining in London, when we cannot meet?" she +wrote. "We are as far apart, really, as when you were in Spain. I am +worn out, dear Owen, and feel that I need Granny's help. Do not be angry +with me for taking this step without consulting you. You will know I am +safe and well-cared for with Granny, who is your friend, instead of +having to fight against the arguments of those who are hostile to you." +Then, in a postscript, she added, "Mrs. Simpson came here yesterday. She +said she had seen you. You did not send me any message by her. Perhaps +you did not know she meant to see me?" This note she put in her pocket +to be posted at the station. + +It was now past twelve o'clock; for early hours were not kept in the +Dormer-Smith household. May's nervous impatience to be gone was no +longer to be resisted. She took the children into the little back room +where she had been accustomed to give them their lessons, and on her own +responsibility gave them a book full of coloured pictures which Cécile +never entrusted to their mischievous little fingers without her personal +supervision. And this unusual indulgence delighted them and absorbed +their attention. Then she stole back to her own chamber, and looked out +of the window. The rain was still falling at intervals in driving +showers. All the better! There was the less chance of any one whom she +knew in that neighbourhood being abroad to recognize her. + +She had told Smithson immediately after breakfast that she was going to +her own room, and did not wish to be disturbed until luncheon-time. She +now put on her hat and gloves, wrapped herself in the warm cloak, and +carrying a tiny umbrella, which looked very unequal to offering much +resistance to the wind and rain that were now sweeping along the street, +she crept downstairs and let herself out at the hall door. + +She had to walk some distance before reaching a cabstand, and by the +time she did so her feet were wet. She had no boots fitted to keep out +mud and damp. Aunt Pauline considered thick boots superfluous in London. +In the country, of course, it was quite "the right thing" to tramp about +in all weathers, and proper _chaussures_ must be provided for the +purpose. Although, had it been a dogma laid down by "the best people" +that one ought to march barefoot through the mire, Aunt Pauline would +have desired May to conform to that as well as to all other sacred +ordinances of the social creed. + +May was driven to the railway station in due course by a cabman who, on +being asked what she had to pay, contented himself with only twice his +fare. She found she was much too early for the express train. But there +was a slow train going within half an hour. It would not reach +Oldchester until after the express, although starting before it; but May +decided to travel by it. She was frightened at the idea of remaining in +the big terminus, where she might be seen and recognized by some passing +acquaintance at any moment. And the idea of being actually on the road +to granny, safely shut up in a railway carriage out of reach, was +tempting. She took her ticket, the purchase of which reduced her +funds to the last shilling, and was put into a carriage by +herself--first-class passengers by that train not being numerous. + +The girl's head was throbbing, and the damp chill to her feet made her +shiver. She leaned back in a corner of the carriage, and closed her +eyes. The train trundled along, its progress arrested by frequent +stoppages. The dim daylight faded. At wayside stations the reflections +from the lamps shone with a melancholy gleam in inky pools of +rain-water. May began to suffer from want of food. She was not hungry; +but she felt the need, although not the desire, for some sustenance. At +one place where they stopped a quarter of an hour, she thought of +getting some tea; but there was a crowd of men in front of a counter +where beer and spirits were being sold, but where she saw no tea; and +the steam from damp great coats, mingled with tobacco-smoke and close +air, made her feel sick. She tottered back to the carriage, carrying +with her a huge fossilized bun, which she tried, not very successfully, +to nibble at intervals; and at length she fell into an uneasy doze. + +She was awakened by the opening of the carriage-door, and a voice +saying, "You'll be all right here, sir." A dark lantern flashed in her +eyes. A hat-box and dressing-bag were put into the carriage by an +obsequious porter. A gentleman entered and took his seat in the corner +farthest away from her. The door was slammed to, and they moved on +again. + +May put up her hand to her forehead in a dazed manner. She felt +confused, and could not, for the moment, understand where she was. Her +head ached and throbbed painfully. Then she recollected it all, and +wondered what o'clock it was, and whether they were drawing near +Oldchester. + +"Can you tell me what station that was?" she asked in a faint voice, of +her fellow-traveller. + +The gentleman turned his head sharply, and peered at her where she sat +in the darkness of her corner-seat. He could not distinguish her face; +for, before his entrance, she had drawn the movable shade half across +the lamp in the roof of the carriage. Thinking he had not heard, or had +not understood her, she repeated the question-- + +"What is the name of that last station, if you please?" + +Upon which the gentleman, instead of making any such reply as might have +been expected, exclaimed, "Lord bless my soul!" and leaving his place at +the other extremity of the carriage, he came and seated himself opposite +to her. "It _is_ Miss Cheffington!" he said, in a tone of the utmost +wonder. And then May recognized Mr. Bragg. + +"My dear young lady, how come you to be travelling alone--by this train? +Is anything the matter?" + +His tone was so sincere and earnest, his face and manner so gentle and +fatherly, that May at once felt she could trust him fully and +fearlessly. + +"I am so glad it's you, Mr. Bragg, and not a stranger!" she said, +putting her hand out to take his. + +"Thank you," said Mr. Bragg simply. "I'm glad it _is_ me, if I can be of +any use to you." Then he asked again, "Is anything the matter?" + +"N--no; nothing very serious. I have run away from Aunt Pauline----" + +"Run away!" + +"And I'm going to Granny. You won't feel it your duty to give me up as a +fugitive from justice, will you?" she said, trying to smile, with very +tremulous lips. + +"Mrs. Dormer-Smith has never been treating you bad or cruel?" said Mr. +Bragg wonderingly. "No, no; she _couldn't_." + +"No, truly, she could not be consciously cruel to me, or to any one; but +she has ideas which--she tried to persuade me----We don't understand one +another, that's the truth." + +Mr. Bragg all at once remembered a certain private note despatched to +his hotel in town by Mrs. Dormer-Smith, wherein she had assured him that +May was an inexperienced child, who didn't know her own mind, and begged +him not to take her too absolutely at her word. He had never replied to +that note, having, indeed, nothing to say which it would be agreeable to +his correspondent to hear. But he recalled other instances in which +ladies of the highest gentility had hunted him (or, rather, not +_him_--he had no illusions of vanity on that point--but his large +fortune) with a ruthless unscrupulosity which had amazed him, and a +gallant perseverance in the teeth of discouragement which almost +extorted admiration. And the question stole into his mind, "Could Mrs. +Dormer-Smith have been persecuting May on _his_ account?" The idea was +inexpressibly painful to him. But, anyway, he was relieved and thankful +to find that the girl did not shrink from him, but was sweet and +gracious as ever. + +"Well, to be sure," he said in his slow, pondering way, "'tis a strange +chance that we should meet just now, isn't it? For I've just come from +your family place, you know." + +"From where?" + +"From the home of your ancestors, as Mr. Theodore Bransby calls it. You +asked me the name of that station I got in at. Well, it's Combe St. +Mildred's, the station for Combe Park you know." + +"Is it? Then we cannot be far from Oldchester." + +"Not very far in miles; but this is an uncommon slow train--stops +everywhere. Stops just now at Wendhurst Junction; the express runs +through. I'm afraid you're very tired, Miss Cheffington." He could not +see her at all distinctly, but her voice betrayed great weariness, he +thought. + +"Not very--yes, rather. It does not matter now; we shall soon be there." + +"Yes," went on Mr. Bragg, "I've been attending the funeral." + +"Oh yes. Poor Lucius! I had forgotten that it was for to-day," said May, +with a self-reproachful feeling. "He was very kind to me, although, at +first, he seemed so dry and eccentric. I think he liked me. I know I +liked him." + +"Yes; no doubt but what he liked you. _That_ can't be disputed. And it +does him honour, in my opinion. I suppose I ought to congratulate you, +Miss Cheffington--although congratulating may seem out of place with a +crape band round your hat. And yet I don't know!" + +"Congratulate me! Do you mean because my father is the heir? I think +there is more sorrow in Lord Castlecombe's heart than there can be +satisfaction in any one else's?" answered May. She was surprised at this +manifestation of coarseness of feeling in Mr. Bragg. It was the first +she had ever observed in him. + +"Your father? Lord bless me, no! Nothing to do with your father. I was +alluding to your cousin's last will and testament. I was present when it +was read, by Lord Castlecombe's desire, although having no particular +claim that I know of. Still, when we came back from the old churchyard, +his lordship invited me into the library, and the will was read out then +by Wagget, the lawyer, poor Martin Bransby's successor." + +"But what has all that to do with me?" asked May, sitting upright, and +holding on by the elbows of the seat. As she did so, everything seemed +to waver and swim before her eyes. The cushions on which she sat seemed +to be sinking down through the earth. The long fast, her broken sleep on +the previous night, the tears she had shed, and all the emotions of this +journey, which to her was an adventure fraught with all kinds of +anxieties, were telling upon her. But she made a desperate effort to +listen--not to be ill, not to give trouble. The train was to stop +shortly. She would hold up her courage until then. Had not the gloom +caused by the lamp-shade baffled Mr. Bragg's observation, he would have +been startled by her countenance. + +As it was, he merely answered, "Well, because your cousin has left +you all the little property he inherited from his mother. It isn't a +great fortune--a matter of four hundred and fifty, or five hundred +pound a year, as well as I can make out. But it's all in sound +investments--mostly Government securities--and it's settled on you every +penny of it." + +But May, struggling against a sick sensation of faintness, was scarcely +able to grasp the meaning of what was said to her. Her eyes grew dim; +she half-rose up from her seat, made a vague movement with her hands, +such as one makes in falling and clutching at whatever is nearest, and +then sank down in a heap on the floor of the carriage, like a wounded +bird. She was in a dead swoon, and her young face looked piteously white +and wan under the crude glare of the gas, as the train moved slowly, +with much resounding clangour, into the big station at Wendhurst +Junction. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +With that indescribably dreadful rushing, whirling sensation in the +brain, which can never be forgotten by whoever has once experienced it, +May Cheffington recovered out of her swoon, and her senses returned to +her. + +She was lying on a cushioned seat in the ladies' waiting-room at +Wendhurst Junction. Her dress had been loosened, her own warm cloak had +been spread over her as a coverlet, a woollen shawl was thrown across +her feet, and an elderly woman was sprinkling water on her forehead. She +opened her eyes, and then shut them again lazily. The glare of the gas +made her blink, and the sense of rest was, for the moment, all she +wanted. + +"She'll do now," said the elderly woman, wiping May's wet forehead with +a handkerchief. Then she went to the door of the room, and half opening +it, said to some one outside, "Coming round beautiful, sir; she'll be +all right now." + +"Who's there?" asked May, in a little feeble, drowsy voice. + +"Your pa, dear. He _has_ been in a taking about you. But I'm telling him +you're as right as right can be. So you are, ain't you? There's a +pretty!" + +Every second that passed was bringing more clearness to May's mind, more +animation to her frame. By the time the elderly woman had finished +speaking, May said-- + +"Oh, ask him to come in. Ask him, pray, to come here and speak to me!" + +This message being transmitted, the door was opened, and in walked Mr. +Bragg, with a most disturbed and anxious countenance. + +May was lying with her head supported on a pillow formed of a great coat +hastily rolled up, which the attendant had covered with her own white +apron. The pretty soft brown hair, dabbled here and there with water, +was hanging in disorder. Her eyes looked very large and bright in her +pale face. Mr. Bragg came and stood beside her, and looked at her with a +sort of tender, pitying trepidation: as an amiable giant might +contemplate Ariel with a broken wing: longing to help, but fearing to +hurt, the delicate creature. + +May put out her hand and took hold of Mr. Bragg's as innocently as +little Enid might have done. "Oh, I am so sorry!" she said. + +"Yes," returned Mr. Bragg, in a subdued voice. "And I'm so sorry, too. +But you are feeling better now, ain't you?" + +"Oh, but I mean I am sorry for _you_. Sorry to frighten you and to give +you so much trouble." + +"Trouble! Well, I don't know about that. This good lady here has been +taking what trouble there was to take. Not such a vast deal, was it, +ma'am?" + +The "good lady" who had begun to doubt the correctness of her assumption +that these two were father and daughter, smoothed the shawl over May's +feet, and murmured that they were not to mention it. + +Mr. Bragg pulled out his watch impatiently. + +"What! haven't they found anybody yet?" he said. "I sent off a man in a +fly ten minutes ago." + +The attendant observed apologetically that the first doctor they'd gone +to might not have been at home, and then they'd have to go on a goodish +bit further. + +May started up on her elbow. + +"Doctor!" she cried, in dismay. "You haven't sent for a doctor?" + +"Yes, I have," answered Mr. Bragg, dismayed in his turn by her evident +distress. "I couldn't do less. You might have been dying for anything I +knew. You don't know how bad you looked!" + +"But I don't want a doctor. I'm quite well. I only want to go on. I want +to go on to Granny." + +And May's head fell back on the pillow, while a tear forced its way +beneath the closed eyelids. + +"You came by the slow down, didn't you? Ah, well, there's no passenger +train going on that way before eleven-five to-night," observed the +elderly female. + +At this intelligence the tears poured down May's cheeks, and she turned +away her head on the cushion. + +"Don't cry! Don't fret!" exclaimed Mr. Bragg. "You shall be in +Oldchester within an hour if the medical man says you're able to travel. +I'll speak to the station-master at once. Only we _must_ hear what the +doctor says, mustn't we? I dursn't run a risk, now durst I? You see that +yourself. You're what you might call laid on my conscience to take care +of. Good Lord, will this fool of a fellow never come back? I told him to +drive as fast as he could pelt." + +May was crying now less from vexation than from exhaustion. + +"I'm _not_ ill, indeed," she murmured, trying to check her tears. + +"But, my dear young lady, people don't faint dead away like that, and +look so white and ghastly, without there's _something_ the matter. It +wasn't the news I told you upset you like that, surely?" + +"No; of course not. I think it was because I--I had had no dinner." + +"Lord bless me!" cried Mr. Bragg. "Why, you're starving! _That's_ what +it is, then!" + +In his anxious solicitude for her Mr. Bragg would have ordered +everything eatable to be brought which the refreshment-room afforded. +But he yielded to May's entreaty that she might have a cup of tea and a +piece of bread. The attendant suggested a teaspoonful of brandy in the +tea, but at this May shook her head. Mr. Bragg, however, thought the +suggestion a good one, and producing a small flask from his travelling +bag, insisted on pouring a few drops of its contents into the cup of +tea. + +"That's fine old Cognac," he said; "like a cordial. I wouldn't ask you +to swallow the stuff they sell here; but this'll do you nothing but +good. Dear me, if I'd only thought of giving you some of this before!" + +He was quite self-reproachful, and May had some difficulty in persuading +him that no blame could possibly attach to him for not having +administered a dose of brandy to her as soon as they met in the railway +carriage. + +By this time the doctor sent for from Wendhurst had arrived. A brief +interview with his patient convinced him that she was perfectly well +able to travel on as far as Oldchester. + +"Rather delicate nervous organization, you see," said the doctor to Mr. +Bragg, when he left May. "And there has been some mental distress; +family troubles, she tells me; and then the long fast, and the journey, +quite sufficient to account--oh, thanks, thanks. She'll be all right +after a good night's rest, I haven't the least doubt." And the doctor +withdrew with a bow; for Mr. Bragg, apologizing for having disturbed him +and brought him so far through the rain, had put a handsome fee into his +hand. + +Mr. Bragg had also mentioned in the hearing of the waiting-room +attendant, who was hovering inquisitively in the background, that the +young lady had been put under his charge, and that he had just left the +house of her great-uncle, Lord Castlecombe. He was aware that he himself +was far too well-known a man in those parts for the adventure not to be +talked about. And his experience of life had taught him that, while it +is as difficult to check gossip as to bring a runaway horse to a +standstill, yet that both may generally be turned to the right or left, +by a cool hand. + +His sagacity was amply justified. For the waiting-room attendant, for +weeks afterwards, would narrate to passing lady travellers how that +sweet young lady, Lord Castlecombe's grandniece, was so cut up by the +death of her cousin that she fainted right away coming back from the +funeral at Combe Park, not having been able to touch food for more than +twelve hours in consequence of her grief; and how Mr. Bragg, the great +Oldchester manufacturer, who was taking charge of the young lady on her +journey home, was so kind and anxious, and quite like a father to her; +and how they both repeatedly said, "Mrs. Tupp, if it hadn't been for +your care and attention, we don't know whatever we _should_ have done." + +Soon after the doctor had departed, Mr. Bragg came back to May, and +informed her that arrangements had been made for their starting for +Oldchester in three-quarters of an hour, if that would be agreeable to +her. And in reply to her wondering inquiry as to how that could have +been managed, he said quietly, "Oh, I've got a special train. I'm a +director of this line, and they know me here pretty well." + +May had always understood that a special train was an immensely costly +matter. But in her ignorance she was by no means sure that it might not +be part of the privileges of a railway director to have special trains +run for his service gratis, whensoever he should require them. Which, +probably, was precisely what Mr. Bragg desired her to suppose. + +He then called aside the attendant, and held a short colloquy with her +in the adjoining room, the result of which was to put the worthy Mrs. +Tupp into a great fuss and flutter. She dashed at a cupboard in the wall +and plunged her hand into it, drawing it out again with a battered old +black bonnet dangling by one string, as though she had been fishing at a +venture and brought up _that_ rather unexpectedly. Further, Mrs. Tupp, +with many apologies, took the checked shawl which had been laid over +May's feet and put it on her own shoulders; and then, assuring Mr. +Bragg, in a speech which it took some time to deliver, that she wouldn't +be gone not ten minutes, for her house was close by--better than half a +mile before you really come into Wendhurst High Street, going the +shortest way from the station--she finally disappeared. + +"Now, Miss Cheffington," said Mr. Bragg, "I want you to do something to +oblige me. Will you?" + +"Most gladly, if I can; but I'm afraid it will turn out to be something +to oblige _me_," answered May, looking up at him timidly. "Don't you +want some food? I dare say you do." + +"Why, no, Miss Cheffington, I can't say I do; I ate a most uncommon +hearty luncheon. I wonder why people always eat so much when there's a +funeral going on! Besides, it isn't dinner-time yet, you know." + +"Isn't it? I have no idea what o'clock it is. If you told me it was the +middle of next week, I don't think I should feel surprised," and she +smiled with one of her old, bright looks. + +"That's right," said Mr. Bragg. "You're picking up. Well, now, I was +going to say that I noticed in the refreshment-room a cold roast fowl, +which didn't look at all nasty; no, really, not at all nasty," insisted +Mr. Bragg, with the air of one who is aware that his statement may not +unreasonably be received with incredulity. "And if you'll let them bring +it in here on a tray, and try to eat a bit of it, and drink another cup +of tea--no! I promise not to put any brandy in it,--I shall esteem it a +favour." + +Of course there was no refusing this. But May said wistfully, "I was +going to ask you--would you mind--I have something to say to you; and if +I don't say it soon that woman will be here. She is coming back +immediately." + +"Why, as to that, Miss Cheffington, I don't think she is. From what I +can make out, she's the kind of person that never can realize to +themselves that fifteen minutes, one after the other, end to end, make +up a quarter of an hour. She lost a lot of time here talking, and I saw +her stop to tell the young woman at the bar over yonder what a hurry she +was in. No; I make no doubt but what she'll be back before we start, but +not just yet awhile." + +The roast chicken and some freshly made tea were brought in due course, +and Mr. Bragg had the satisfaction of seeing May partake of both. Then +he professed his readiness to hear what she wished to say. + +"Are you comfortable? Light not too much for you? There! Now--provided +you don't overtire yourself, nor yet what you might call overtry +yourself--I'm listening." + +He sat down in a chair nearly opposite to the fire, so that his profile +was turned to May, and looked thoughtfully into the hot coals, folding +his arms in an attitude of massive quietude which was characteristic of +him. + +"First of all, you must let me thank you for all your kindness," said +May. + +"No, don't do that," he answered, without removing his gaze from the +fire. Then he repeated musingly, "No, no; don't do that! Don't ye do +that!" + +Then ensued a pause. It lasted so long that Mr. Bragg, glancing round at +the girl, said-- + +"That wasn't all you had in your mind to say, was it?" + +"No, Mr. Bragg." + +"Perhaps you've changed your mind about speaking? Well, don't you worrit +yourself. You do just what you feel most agreeable to yourself, you +know." + +"But I want to speak! I was so anxious to tell you----This chance, which +I could never have expected or dreamt of, gives me the opportunity, and +now--now I don't know how to begin!" + +He was silent for a moment, pondering. Then he said, "Could I help you? +I wonder if it is about a certain conversation you and me had together a +few days back?" + +"Yes--partly." + +"Well, now, you remember that on that occasion I said to you that I +hoped we might be friends, you and me--real, true friends. You remember, +don't you?" + +"Gratefully." + +"Well, I meant what I said. If you have been----" He was about to say +"persecuted," but changed the word. "If you have been any way bothered +in consequence of that conversation, I'm truly sorry for it. But don't +let it make any difference as between you and me. Your aunt, Mrs. +Dormer-Smith, she's a most well-meaning lady, and has beautiful manners. +But she's liable to make mistakes like the rest of us. And don't you +fret, you know. You're going to your grandmother, Mrs. Dobbs, you tell +me. And she's a woman of wonderful good sense. She'll understand some +things better than what your aunt can. It'll be all right. Don't you +worrit yourself." + +He spoke in a gentle, soothing tone, such as one might use to a child, +and kept nodding his head slowly as he spoke, still with his eyes fixed +on the fire. + +"It isn't that! I mean--I wanted to tell you something!" + +He turned his head now quickly, and looked at her. Her eyes were cast +down, and she was plucking nervously at the fur lining of the cloak +which lay on the seat beside her. + +"Is it something about that confidence that you made me, and that I look +upon as an honour, and always shall? Well, now, if you're going to speak +about that, I shall take it as a sign that you really mean to be friends +with me, and trust me. And there's nothing in the world would make me so +proud as that you should trust me, full and free." + +Then she told him all the story of her engagement to Owen. How it had +been kept secret for three months by her grandmother's express +stipulation. How, when Owen returned to England, they had revealed it to +Mrs. Dormer-Smith; how that lady had disapproved and forbidden Owen the +house, and had written to Captain Cheffington requesting him to +interpose his parental authority; how, finally, May had felt so +miserable and lonely, that she had made up her mind to leave her aunt's +house and take refuge with her grandmother. + +Mr. Bragg sat like a rock while she told her story, hesitatingly and +shyly at first, but gathering courage as she went on. When she first +mentioned Owen's name, his brows contracted for a moment, in a way which +might mean anger, or perplexity, or simply surprise. But he remained +otherwise quite unmoved to all appearance, and perfectly silent. + +When May had finished her little story, she said timidly, as she had +said to him on that memorable day in her aunt's house, "You are not +angry, Mr. Bragg?" + +He answered nearly as he had answered then, but without looking at her, +and keeping his gaze on the fire, "Angry, my child! No; how could I be +angry with you? You have never deceived me. You have been true and +honest from first to last." + +"But I mean, you are not--you are not angry with Owen?" + +The answer did not come quite so promptly this time; but after a few +seconds, he said, "I don't know that I've the least right to be angry +with Mr. Rivers. Only I should have liked it better if he had told me +how things were, plain and straightforward, when we were talking +about--something else." He brought his speech to an abrupt conclusion. + +Upon this May assured him that Owen had never desired secrecy. The +engagement had been kept secret in deference to "Granny." And as soon as +her aunt knew it, Owen had urged her (May) to tell Mr. Bragg also, +feeling himself in a false position until the truth was revealed. + +"I ought to have written to you yesterday," she said guiltily. "It's my +fault, indeed it is!" + +Mr. Bragg got up from his chair, and muttering something about "getting +a little air," walked out on to the long platform. + +There was certainly no lack of air outside there. A damp raw wind was +driving through the station, making the lamps blink. Mr. Bragg had no +great coat, that garment having been rolled up to serve as May's pillow. +But he marched up and down the long platform with his hands behind his +back, at a steady and by no means rapid pace, apparently insensible to +the cold. + +Owen Rivers! So the man May was engaged to was his secretary, Mr. +Rivers! That was very surprising. Mr. Rivers was not at all the sort of +man he should have expected that exquisite young creature to care about. +But Mr. Bragg would have been puzzled to describe the sort of man he +would have expected her to care about. He had never seen any man he +thought worthy of her, and it might safely be predicted that he never +would; seeing that Mr. Bragg was in love with May, and would certainly +never be in love with May's husband, let him be the finest fellow in the +world. + +One suspicion he at once dismissed from his mind--that Owen had ever +been in the least danger from Mrs. Bransby's fascinations. No; when a +man was betrothed to a girl like May Cheffington he was safe enough from +anything of that kind, argued Mr. Bragg. Indeed, his visit to the +widow's house had given him a favourable impression of all its inmates. +It was impossible, he thought, to be in Mrs. Bransby's presence without +perceiving her to be worthy of respect. Searching his memory, he +discovered that the first hint of her having any designs on young Rivers +had come from Theodore Bransby, and now the motive of the hint began to +dawn upon him. Theodore, as he had long ago perceived, hated Rivers. Mr. +Bragg now understood why. He paced up and down the draughty platform, +solitary and meditative, for full ten minutes. It was a dead time, and +the whole station seemed nearly deserted. + +Then he returned to the waiting-room, of which May was still the sole +occupant. He stirred the fire into a blaze, and then sat down opposite +to it as before. May looked at him nervously and anxiously. She did not +venture to speak first. + +"I'll tell you one thing, Miss Cheffington," said Mr. Bragg, all at +once. "What you told me has been a relief to my mind in one way." + +She looked up inquiringly. + +"Yes, it has been a relief to my mind, and I'm bound to acknowledge it. +I was afraid at one time--indeed, I'd almost made up my mind, though +terribly against the grain--that you was engaged to some one else." + +"Some one else!" exclaimed May, opening great eyes of wonder, and +speaking in a tone which conveyed her _naďf_ persuasion that, in that +sense, there did not exist any one else. "Why, whom can you mean?" + +Mr. Bragg reflected an instant. Then he said, "I'll tell you. Yes, I'll +tell you, for he's tried to thrust it in people's faces as far as he +dared. Mr. Theodore Bransby." + +May fell back on her seat with a gesture of mute astonishment. + +"Ah, yes; you're wondering how I could be such a blockhead as to think +that possible. But if it had been true, you'd ha' wondered how I could +be such a blockhead as to think anything else possible," said Mr. Bragg. +It was the sole touch of bitterness which escaped him throughout the +interview. After a brief pause he went on, "Not, you understand, that I +mean to deny Mr. Rivers is far superior to young Bransby--out of all +comparison, superior to him. I may, perhaps, consider Mr. Rivers +fort'nate beyond his merits. That's a question we won't enter into, +because you and me can't help but look at it from different points of +view. But I must bear testimony that he's always behaved like a real +gentleman in his duties with me; and, so far as I know, he's thoroughly +upright and honourable." + +May considered this to be but faint praise. But she graciously made +allowances. Granny, however, knew better. When Mr. Bragg's words were +repeated to Granny, she exclaimed, "Well done, Joshua Bragg! That was +spoken like a generous-minded man." + +By this time the engine which was to draw them to Oldchester was in +readiness. Mr. Bragg inquired impatiently for the "good lady" of the +waiting-room. And then May learned that that person was to accompany +them on the journey, lest Miss Cheffington should need any attendance on +the way. + +"And, indeed," said Mrs. Tupp, afterwards, "if the young lady had been a +princess royal, there couldn't have been more fuss made over her. S'loon +carriage, and everything! Of course, it was an effort for me to go along +with 'em at such short notice, and so entirely unexpected. But as they +said to me, 'Mrs. Tupp,' they said, 'had it not have been for your +kindness and attention, we don't know what we should have done.' And the +gentleman certainly made it worth my while." As he certainly did! + +At the present moment, however, Mrs. Tupp was by no means in a +complacent frame of mind. She was seen hurriedly approaching from the +extremity of the station, very breathless and exhausted, attired in her +Sunday bonnet, and shawl to match, confronting Mr. Bragg, who stood, +sternly, watch in hand, at the door of the carriage. + +"I told you so, Miss Cheffington," said he to May, who was already made +luxuriously comfortable within the carriage. "Now, ma'am! No, don't +trouble yourself to explain, please. Because in exactly two seconds and +a half we're off. _Would_ you be so kind?" This to a guard who stood +looking on beside the station-master. In a moment they had taken Mrs. +Tupp between them, and, assisted from behind by a youthful porter, +managed to hoist her into the carriage by main force. Mr. Bragg took his +place opposite to May. The whistle sounded, and they glided from beneath +the roof of the station, and at an increasing speed across the dark +country through the streaming rain. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +"And you got jealous! You actually were jealous of Owen and that poor, +dear, pretty Mrs. Bransby?" + +"Yes, Granny." + +"And you were such a _goose_--I won't use a stronger word, though I +could--as to pay any attention to what that idiot of an aunt of +yours--Lord forgive me!--chose to say in her anger and disappointment?" + +"Yes, Granny." + +"And you let the jabber of poor Amelia Simpson--as kind a soul as ever +breathed, but as profitable to listen to as the chirping of sparrows on +the house-top--prey upon your mind, and bias your common sense?" + +"Yes, Granny." + +"Why, then, I'm ashamed of you, May! Downright ashamed--there now!" + +"Oh, thank you, Granny!" + +And May seized her grandmother's hands one after the other as the old +woman drew them away impatiently, and kissed them in a kind of rapture. + +This little scene, with but slight variations, had been enacted several +times since May's arrival on the previous evening at Jessamine Cottage. +May had ceased to make any excuses for herself, or to endeavour to +describe and account for her state of mind. She was only too thankful to +have her doubts treated with supreme disdain. To be scolded and chidden, +and told that she did not deserve such a true lover as Owen, was such +happiness as she could not be grateful enough for! + +"Jealous of Owen because a parcel of mischievous magpies had nothing +better to do than to dig their foolish bills into a poor widow's +reputation? Why, I think you must have had softening of the brain!" Mrs. +Dobbs would say. Whereupon May would kneel down, and bury her face in +her grandmother's lap, and laugh and cry, and murmur in a smothered +voice-- + +"Bless you, Granny darling!" + +"Not but what," Mrs. Dobbs admitted afterwards in a private +confabulation with Jo Weatherhead, "not but what I do think it's pretty +well enough to soften any one's brain to undergo a long course of Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. I thought I knew pretty well what she was, and I told you +so long ago, Jo Weatherhead, as you must well remember. But, mercy! I +hadn't an idea! Her goings on, from what the child tells me, and that +_fool_ of a letter she's written to me, display a wrongheadedness and an +aggravating kind of imbecility that beats everything." + +Mr. Weatherhead, for his part, was inclined to be seriously wrathful +with everybody who had contributed to make May unhappy--not excluding +Mr. Owen Rivers, who, said Jo, might have had more gumption than to rush +to Mrs. Bransby's the moment he returned to England, and make such a +fuss about her, just as though _she_, and not May, were the object of +his solicitude and affection. + +"And I think, Sarah," said honest Jo, "that you're too hard on Miranda. +It's all very fine, but it seems to me that she _had_ enough, and more +than enough, to make her uneasy. What with disagreeable things being +dinned into her ears from morning to night, and facts that couldn't be +denied, interpreted all wrong, and no friend near to interpret 'em +right, and her own modesty and humble-mindedness making her suspect that +the young man had offered to her before he was sure of his own mind, and +had begun to repent--take it altogether, I consider it's unkind and +unfair to bully her as you do, Sarah, and so I tell you." + +"You do, do you?" answered Mrs. Dobbs, who had listened with much +composure to this attack. "Well, I'm not likely to quarrel with you for +_that_. But you needn't worry yourself about May. I think I understand +the case pretty well. If you doubt it, just try sympathizing with her, +and telling her you think Mr. Rivers behaved bad and thoughtless. You'll +see how pleased she'll be with you, and what a lot of gratitude you'll +get for taking her part. Try it, Jo." + +Mr. Weatherhead, on reflection, did not try it. + +The unexpected legacy from Lucius Cheffington to his cousin was hailed +by Mrs. Dobbs with heartfelt thankfulness. May's account of it at first +was a very vague one. She had only imperfectly heard Mr. Bragg's +communication in the railway carriage. And, indeed, at that moment, it +had seemed to her an affair of very secondary importance. But now, when +it occurred to her that this money would render them so independent as +to put it out of the question for Owen to have to seek his fortune in +South America, or any other distant part of the world, she was as elated +by it as the best regulated mind could desire. + +"And it isn't so _very_ much money, after all, is it, Granny?" she said, +with an air of satisfaction, which Mrs. Dobbs did not quite understand. + +"Well," she answered, "it seems a pretty good deal of money to me. +Between four and five hundred a year, as I understand." + +"Yes; but it isn't a _fortune_. Mr. Bragg said it wasn't a fortune. I +mean--it is very little more than Owen has with what he earns, Granny." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Mrs. Dobbs, a light beginning to dawn upon her. "I see. +Well, you can't have the proud satisfaction of marrying him without a +penny belonging to you. But perhaps he might take a situation for five +years on the Guinea Coast, so as to bring his income up above yours." + +"Oh, Granny!" + +"Why not? It would be quite as natural and sensible as his wanting to +marry poor Mrs. Bransby and her five children. Things are getting too +comfortable to be let alone. The least he can do is to undergo a course +of yellow fever, and----" + +"Granny, how can you?" And the young arms were round Granny, and the +blushing face hidden in Granny's breast. + +"Was I ever so foolish about Dobbs, I wonder?" murmured Mrs. Dobbs, as +she stroked the girl's hair. "He was a good-looking young fellow, was +Isaac, in our courting days, and a temper like a sunshiny morning, and +we were over head and ears in love, I know that; and--yes, I believe I +was every bit as soft-hearted and silly, the Lord be praised!" + +Mr. Bragg called at Jessamine Cottage about noon the day after May's +return. He asked to see Mrs. Dobbs, and remained talking with her alone +for some time. He had made up his mind, he told her, to give Mr. Rivers +a permanent post in his employment, if he chose to accept it. He thought +of offering him the management of the Oldchester office, if, after a +three months' trial, he found it suited him, and he suited it. There was +no technical knowledge of the manufacture needed for this post: merely a +clear head, honesty, the power of keeping accounts, and of conducting a +large business correspondence. + +"I think he can do it," said Mr. Bragg; "and, if he can, he may." Then +he informed Mrs. Dobbs that he had telegraphed to Mr. Rivers to come +down to Oldchester. He would there find, at the office in Friar's Row, a +letter with all details. "As for me," said Mr. Bragg, "I shall cross him +on the road. I am going to town by the three-thirty express. You needn't +mention what I've told you to Miss C. I thought, perhaps, she'd like +better to hear it--as an agreeable bit of news, I hope--from him." + +What more may have passed between them Granny never reported. He went +away without seeing May, merely leaving a message, "His kind regards, +and he hoped she was feeling well and rested." + +"Oh, I wish I had seen him!" exclaimed May, when this message was +faithfully delivered by Granny. "I wanted so much to thank him again. +It's too bad! I wonder why he went away without seeing me." + +"Do you?" said Granny shortly. "Well, perhaps he thought he'd had bother +enough with you for one while. He's got other things to do besides +dancing attendance on young ladies who wander about the world, fainting +from want of food, and requiring special trains, and all manner of +dainties." Privately she observed to Mr. Weatherhead that innocence was +mighty cruel sometimes, as could be exemplified any day by trusting a +young child with a kitten. + +"H'm! Mr. Bragg isn't exactly a kitten, Sarah," returned Jo. + +"True, a kitten will scratch! He's a man, and a good 'un; and I'll tell +you what, Jo, if Joshua Bragg wanted his shoes blacked, I'd go down on +my old knees to do it for him." + +May's legacy was a great piece of news for Mr. Weatherhead. He was not +only delighted at it for her sake, but he enjoyed the importance of +disseminating it. Jo went about the city from the house of one +acquaintance to another. He also looked in at the Black Bull, where he +ordered a glass of brandy-and-water in honour of May's good fortune. The +item of news he brought was a welcome contribution to the general fund +of gossip. The subjects of Mr. Lucius Cheffington's funeral, and how the +old lord had taken the death, and whether Captain Cheffington would come +back to England now that he was the heir, and make it up with his uncle, +were by this time beginning to be worn a little threadbare; or, at all +events, had lost their first gloss. + +In this way it speedily became known to those interested in the matter +that May Cheffington had arrived at her grandmother's house. Among +others, the intelligence reached Theodore Bransby. Theodore had been +frequently in Oldchester of late, on business of various kinds, chiefly +connected with the approaching election. He had never relinquished the +hope of winning May; and he believed that the death of Lucius was a +circumstance favourable to his hopes. He did not doubt that the new turn +of affairs would bring Captain Cheffington to England forthwith; and he +as little doubted that many doors--including Mr. Dormer-Smith's--would +be opened widely to Captain Cheffington now, which had been closed to +him for years. Moreover, Theodore was convinced that one immediate +result of her father's presence would be to separate May altogether from +Mrs. Dobbs, and the unfitting associates who haunted her house, and +claimed acquaintanceship with Miss Cheffington. May, he knew, had a weak +affection for the vulgar old woman. But her father's authority would be +strong enough to sever her from Mrs. Dobbs; and, for the rest, Captain +Cheffington was his friend; whereas he was instinctively aware that Mrs. +Dobbs was not. Latterly, too, ever since his father's death, May's +manner to him had been very gentle. + +He was meditating these things as he walked up the garden path to +Jessamine Cottage. May caught sight of him from the window, and sprang +up in consternation, crying to Granny to tell Martha he was not to be +admitted. Mrs. Dobbs, however, told May to run upstairs out of the way, +and determined to receive the visitor herself. + +"I'm so afraid he will persist in asking for me! He is wonderfully +obstinate, Granny!" said May, ready to fly upstairs at the first sound +of the expected knock at the door. + +"Ah!" rejoined Mrs. Dobbs, setting her mouth rather grimly, "so am I. +Show the gentleman into the parlour, Martha." + +Theodore was ushered into the little room, and found Mrs. Dobbs seated +in state in her big chair. The place was far smaller and poorer than the +house in Friar's Row, but in Theodore's eyes it was preferable. There +was the possibility of some pretentions to gentility on the part of a +dweller in Jessamine Cottage, whereas Friar's Row, though it might, +perhaps, be comfortable, was hopelessly ungenteel. + +Theodore, when he entered the room, made a low bow, which, unlike his +salutation on a former occasion, was distinctly a bow, and not a +nondescript gesture halfway between a bow and a nod. He had learned by +experience that it did not answer to treat Mrs. Dobbs _de haut en bas_. +He also made a movement as if to shake hands; but this Mrs. Dobbs +ignored, and asked him to sit down, in a coldly civil voice. + +She had been knitting when he came in, but laid the needles and worsted +aside on his entrance, and sat looking at him with her hands folded in +her lap. + +Theodore could scarcely tell why, but this action seemed to prelude +nothing pleasant. There was an air of being armed at all points about +the old woman, as she sat there looking at him with a steady attention +unshared by her knitting. But possibly the work had been laid aside out +of politeness. In any case, Theodore told himself that _he_ was not +likely to be disconcerted by such a trifle. + +"How do you do, Mrs. Dobbs?" he asked, when he was seated. + +"Very well, I'm much obliged to you." + +Here ensued a pause. + +"It is some time since we met, Mrs. Dobbs." + +"It's over a twelvemonth since you called at my house in Friar's Row, +Mr. Theodore Bransby." + +Another pause. + +"There has been trouble in the Cheffington family since then," said +Theodore, at length. "Ah, how strange and unexpected was the death of +the eldest son! Lucius, of course, was always delicate. Still, he might +have lived. His death has been a sad blow to Lord Castlecombe." + +Theodore considered himself to be condescending and conciliatory, in +thus assuming that Mrs. Dobbs took some part in the affliction of the +noble family. In his heart he resented her having the most distant +connection with them. But he intended to be polite. + +"There has been trouble in other families besides the Cheffingtons," +returned Mrs. Dobbs gravely, with her eyes on the young man's mourning +garments. + +"Oh! Yes. Of course. But no trouble with which you can be expected to +concern yourself," he answered. He was annoyed, and preserved his smooth +manner only by an effort. + +"And, anyway," continued Mrs. Dobbs, "Lord Castlecombe's sons have left +no fatherless children, nor widows, nor any one to be desolate and +oppressed--like your poor father did." + +Theodore raised his eyebrows in his favourite supercilious fashion. +"Your figurative language is a little stronger than the case requires," +he said. + +"Widowhood is a desolate thing, and poverty oppressive. There's no +figure in that, I'm sorry to say." + +"Oh, really? I was not aware," said Theodore, nettled, in spite of +himself, into showing some _hauteur_, "that Mrs. Bransby and her family +had excited so much interest in you!" + +"No; I dare say not. I believe you were not. I think it very likely +you'd be surprised if you knew how many folks in Oldchester and out of +it are interested in them." + +The young man sat silent, casting about for something to say which +should put down this old woman, without absolutely quarrelling with her. +He was glad to remember that he had always disliked her. But he had come +there with a purpose, and he did not intend to be turned aside from it. +Seeing that he did not speak, Mrs. Dobbs said, "Might I ask if you did +me the favour to call merely to condole upon the death of my late +daughter's husband's cousin?" + +This was an opening for what he wanted to say, and he availed himself of +it. He replied, stiffly, that the principal object of his visit had been +to see Miss Cheffington, who, he was told, had returned to Oldchester; +and that, in one sense, his visit might be held to be congratulatory, +inasmuch as Miss Cheffington inherited something worth having under her +cousin's will. He did not fear being suspected of any interested motive +here. Besides that he was rich enough to make the money a matter of +secondary importance; his conscience was absolutely clear on this score. +He had desired, and offered, to marry May when she was penniless; he +still desired it, but truly none the more for her inheritance. + +"Oh! So you've heard of the legacy, have you?" said Mrs. Dobbs. + +"Heard of it! My good lady, I was present at the reading of the will. +There were very few persons at the funeral; it was poor Lucius's wish +that it should be private, but I thought it my duty to attend. There are +peculiar relations between the family and myself, which made me desirous +of paying that compliment to his memory. I think there was no other +stranger present except Mr. Bragg. You have heard of him? Of course! All +Oldchester persons are acquainted with the name of Bragg. After the +ceremony Lord Castlecombe invited us into the library, and the will was +read. I understood that the deceased had wished its contents to be made +known as soon as possible." + +This narration of his distinguished treatment at Combe Park was soothing +to the young man's self-esteem. He ended his speech with patronizing +suavity. But Mrs. Dobbs remained silent and irresponsive. + +"I wish," said Theodore, after vainly awaiting a word from her, "to see +Miss Cheffington, if you please." + +Mrs. Dobbs slowly shook her head. He repeated the request, in a louder +and more peremptory tone. + +"Oh, I heard you quite well before," she said composedly; "but I'm sorry +to say your wish can't be complied with." + +"Miss Cheffington is in this house, is she not?" + +"Yes, she is at home; but you can't see her." + +Theodore grew a shade paler than usual, and answered sharply, "But I +insist upon seeing her." He threw aside the mask of civility. It +evidently was wasted here. + +"'Insist' is an unmannerly word to use; and a ridiculous one under the +circumstances--which, perhaps, you'll mind more. You can't see my +granddaughter." + +He glared at her in a white rage. Theodore's anger was never of the +blazing, explosive sort. If fire typifies that passion in most persons, +in him it resembled frost. His metal turned cold in wrath; but it would +skin the fingers which incautiously touched it. A fit of serious anger +was apt, also, to make him feel ill and tremulous. + +"May I ask why I cannot see her?" he said, almost setting his teeth as +he spoke. + +"Because she wishes to avoid you. She fled away when she saw you +coming," answered Mrs. Dobbs, with pitiless frankness. + +He drew two or three long breaths, like a person who has been running +hard, before saying, "That is very strange! It is only a few days ago +that Miss Cheffington was sitting beside me at dinner; talking to me in +the sweetest and most gracious manner." + +"As to sitting beside you, I suppose she had to sit where she was put! +And as to sweetness--no doubt she was civil. But, at any rate, she +declines to see you now. She has said so as plain as plain English can +express it." + +"Your statement is incredible. Suppose I say I don't believe it! What +guarantee have I that you are telling me the truth?" + +"None at all," she answered quietly. + +He stared blankly for a moment. Then he said, "Mrs. Dobbs, for some +reason, or no reason, you hate me. That is a matter of perfect +indifference to me." (His white lips, twitching nostrils, and icily +gleaming eyes, told a different tale.) "But I am not accustomed to be +treated with impertinence by persons of your class." + +"Only by your betters?" interpolated Mrs. Dobbs. + +"And, moreover, I shall take immediate steps to inform Captain +Cheffington of your behaviour. He will scarcely approve his daughter's +remaining with a person who--who----" + +"Says, she'd rather not see Mr. Theodore Bransby." + +"Who insults his friends. With regard to Miss Cheffington, I have no +doubt you will endeavour to poison her mind against me. But you may +possibly find yourself baffled. I have made proposals to Miss +Cheffington--no doubt you are acquainted with the fact--which, although +not immediately accepted, were not definitively rejected: at least, not +by the young lady herself. And I shall take an answer from no one else. +Miss Cheffington's demeanour to me, of late, has been distinctly +encouraging. If it be now changed, I shall know quite well to whose low +cunning and insolent interference to attribute it. But you may find +yourself mistaken in your reckoning, Mrs. Dobbs. Captain Cheffington is +my friend: and Captain Cheffington will hardly be disposed to leave his +daughter in such hands when I tell him all." + +He was speaking in a laboured way, and his lips and hands were +tremulous. + +Mrs. Dobbs looked at him gravely, but with no trace of anger. "Look +here," she said when he paused, apparently from want of breath--"you may +as well know it first as last--May is engaged to be married; has been +engaged more than three months." + +Theodore gave a kind of gasp, and turned of so ghastly a pallor that +Mrs. Dobbs, without another word, went to a closet in the room, unlocked +it, took out a decanter with some sherry in it, poured out a brimming +glassful of the wine, and, placing one hand behind the young man's head, +put the glass to his lips with the other. He made a feeble movement to +reject it. + +"Off with it!" she said in the voice of a nurse talking to a refractory +child. + +He swallowed the sherry without further resistance, and a tinge of +colour began to return to his face. + +"You haven't got too much strength," observed Mrs. Dobbs, as she stood +and watched him. "Your mother was delicate, and I suppose you take after +her." + +She had no intention, no consciousness, of doing so, but, in speaking +thus, she touched a sensitive chord. Any allusion to his mother's feeble +constitution made him nervous. He closed his eyes, and murmured that he +feared he had caught a chill at the funeral; that the sensation of +shivering pointed to that. + +Mrs. Dobbs stood looking down on him as he sat with his head thrown back +in the chair. + +"And so, my lad, you think I hate you?" she said. "Why, I should be +sorry to be obliged to hate your father's son; or, for that matter, your +mother's son either. She was a good, quiet, peaceable sort of young +woman. I remember her well, and your grandfather, old Rabbitt, that kept +the Castlecombe Arms when I was young. No; I don't hate you. Not a bit! +But I'll tell you what I do hate; I hate to see young creatures, that +ought by rights to be generous, and trusting, and affectionate, and +maybe a little bit foolish--there's a kind of foolishness that's better +than over-wisdom in the young--I hate to see 'em setting themselves up, +valuing themselves on their 'cuteness; ashamed of them that have gone +before 'em. I hate to see 'em hard-hearted to the helpless. Young things +may be cruel from thoughtlessness; but, to be cruel out of +meanness--well, I'll own I do hate that. But as for you, it comes into +my head that perhaps I've been a bit too hard on you." + +Mrs. Dobbs here laid her broad hand on his shoulder. He would fain have +shaken it off. But, although the wine had greatly restored him, he +thought it prudent to remain quiet, and recover himself completely +before going away. + +"You are but a lad to me," continued Mrs. Dobbs. "And perhaps I've been +hard on you. There's a deal of excuse to be made. You love my +granddaughter, after your fashion--and nobody can love better than his +best--and it's bitter not to be loved again. You'll get over it. Folks +with redder blood in their veins than you, have got over it before +to-day. But I know you can't think so now; and it's bitter. But if +you'll take an old woman's advice--an old woman that knew your mother +and grandmother, and is old enough to be your grandmother +herself--you'll just make up your mind to bear a certain amount of pain +without flinching:--like as if you'd got a bullet in battle, or broke +your collar-bone out hunting--and turn your thoughts to helping other +folks in their trouble. There's no cure for the heart-ache like that, +take my word for it. Come now, you just face it like a man, and try my +recipe! You've got good means and good abilities. Do some good with 'em! +Some young fellows when they're out of spirits, take to climbing up +mountains, slaughtering wild beasts, or getting into scrimmages with +savages--by the way, I did hear that you were going into Parliament--but +there's your stepmother now, with her five children, your young brothers +and sisters, on her hands. Just you go in for making her life easier. +There's a good work ready and waiting for you." + +Theodore moved his shoulder brusquely, and Mrs. Dobbs immediately +withdrew her hand. He stood up and said stiffly, "I must offer you my +acknowledgments for the wine you administered." + +Mrs. Dobbs merely waved her hand, as though putting that aside, and +continued to look at him, with a grave expression, which was not without +a certain broad, motherly compassion. + +"I presume the name of the man to whom Miss Cheffington has engaged +herself is not a secret?" + +"It is Mrs. Hadlow's nephew; Mr. Owen Rivers," answered Mrs. Dobbs +simply. + +He had felt as sure of what she was going to say as though he had seen +the words printed before him; nevertheless, the sound of the name seemed +to pierce him like a sword-blade. He drew himself up with a strong +effort to be cutting and contemptuous. But as he went on speaking, he +lost his self-command and prudence. + +"Miss Cheffington is to be congratulated, indeed! Captain Cheffington +will, no doubt, be delighted at the alliance you have contrived for his +daughter! Mr. Owen Rivers! A clerk in Mr. Bragg's counting-house--which, +however, is probably the most respectable occupation he has ever +followed! Mr. Owen Rivers, whose name is scandalously connected +throughout Oldchester with that of the person you were so kind as to +recommend to my good offices just now! A person whose conduct disgraces +my family, and dishonours my father's memory! Mr. Owen Rivers, who----" + +"Hush! Hold your tongue!" cried Mrs. Dobbs, fairly clapping one hand +over his mouth, and pointing with the other to the window. + +There at the bottom of the garden was Owen, hurriedly alighting from a +cab; and May, who had witnessed his arrival from an upper window, +presently came flying down the pathway into his arms. + +Theodore had but a lightning-swift glimpse of this little scene, for +Mrs. Dobbs saying, "Come along here!" resolutely pulled him by the arm +into a back room, and so to a door opening on to a lane behind the +house. He was astonished at this summary proceeding, but he affected +somewhat more bewilderment than he really felt, so as to cover his +retreat. And he muttered something about having to deal with a mad +woman. + +"Now go!" said Mrs. Dobbs, opening the door. "I can forgive a deal to +love and jealousy and disappointment, but that cowardly lie is not to be +forgiven. To think that you--_you_--should be Martin Bransby's son! Why, +it's enough to make your father turn in his grave!" + +And with that she thrust him out, and shut the door upon him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith's affectionate letter to her brother produced a result +which she had not at all anticipated when she wrote it. He arrived in +England by the next steamboat from Ostend, and took up his quarters in +her house. He had come ostensibly for the purpose of visiting Combe +Park, and patching up a reconciliation with his uncle. This, indeed, was +a pet scheme with Pauline. She had hinted at it in writing to her +brother. Now that George and "poor dear Lucius" were gone, Lord +Castlecombe might not dislike to be on good terms with his heir. He was +old and lonely, and, as Pauline's correspondents had assured her, +greatly broken down by the death of his sons. + +Frederick scarcely knew which to regret the most--his niece's departure +or his brother-in-law's arrival. He missed May very much, but very +shortly he began to be reconciled to her engagement. Rivers was a +gentleman and an honest fellow, and might be trusted to take care of +May's money, which Mr. Dormer-Smith thought would be otherwise in +imminent jeopardy from the arrival on the scene of May's papa. + +That gentleman, indeed, who had at first taken the news of his +daughter's engagement with supreme indifference, showed some lively +symptoms of disapprobation on learning the fact of Lucius's bequest. A +daughter dependent on the bounty of Mrs. Dobbs for food, shelter, and +raiment, was an uninteresting person enough; but a daughter who +possessed between four and five hundred a-year of her own, ought not to +be allowed to marry without her father's consent. Frederick dryly +remarked that May's capital was stringently tied up in the hands of +trustees, whether she were married or single. Whereupon Augustus +indulged in very strong language respecting his dead cousin; and +declared that the terms of the will were a pointed and intentional +insult to _him_, who was his child's natural guardian. + +Still, although the capital was secure, Frederick knew that the income +was not. And the more he observed his brother-in-law, the more he felt +how desirable it was that May should have a husband to take care of her. + +Captain Cheffington had not improved during his years of exile. He +smoked all day long; and even at night in his bed, incensing May's +chamber, which he occupied, with clouds of tobacco-smoke. He had +contracted other unpleasant habits, and his temper was diabolical. He +had not brought his wife to England with him. He would sit for hours +with his slippered feet on the fender in his sister's dressing-room, +railing at the absent Mrs. Augustus Cheffington in a way which was most +grievous to Pauline; for he showed not the least reticence in the +presence of Smithson. Talk of "floating"--how would it be possible to +"float" a woman of whom her own husband spoke in that way? + +He had no very grave charges to bring against La Bianca after all. She +had been faithful to him, and stuck to him, and worked for him. But he +bewailed his fate in having tied himself to "a third-rate Italian +opera-singer, without an idea in her head beyond painting her face and +squalling!" It was just his cursed luck. Why couldn't Lucius die, since +he meant to die, six months earlier? + +At another time, he would openly rejoice in the death of his cousins, +and express a fervent hope that the old boy wasn't going to last much +longer. Pauline would remonstrate, and put her handkerchief to her eyes, +and beg her brother not to speak so heartlessly of his own family: +especially of "poor dear Lucius." But Augustus pooh-pooh'd this as +confounded humbug. He was uncommonly glad to be the heir of Combe Park, +and thought it about time that his family, and his country, and the +human race generally, made him some amends for the years he had passed +under a cloud! _He_ would show them how to enjoy life when he came into +possession of "his property," as he had taken to call Lord Castlecombe's +estate. He planned out several changes in the disposal of the land, and +decided what rent he would take for the house and home-park. For he did +not intend to live in this d----d foggy little island, where one had +bronchitis if one hadn't got rheumatism, and rheumatism if one hadn't +got bronchitis. In one respect his visions coincided with his sister's, +since he talked of having a villa on the Mediterranean coast, not far +from Monte Carlo; but they differed from hers in several important +points: notably in providing no place for her in the villa. + +Frederick would sometimes throw a shade over these rosy dreams by +observing doggedly that, for his part, he doubted the likelihood of Lord +Castlecombe's speedy decease, and that, looking at them both, he was +inclined to consider Uncle George's life the better of the two; so that, +on the whole, domestic life in Mr. Dormer-Smith's smart house at +Kensington was by no means harmonious. Meanwhile Pauline, with +considerable pains and earnest meditation, composed a letter to her +uncle on behalf of Augustus; she did not venture to entrust the task to +Augustus himself. It would be impossible to persuade him to be as smooth +and conciliatory as the case demanded. But she wrote a letter which, she +thought, combined diplomacy with pathos, and from which she hoped for +some satisfactory result. But the reply she received by return of post +was of such a nature that she hastily thrust it into the fire lest +Augustus should see it, and told him and her husband that "poor dear +Uncle George was not yet equal to the effort of seeing Augustus, after +the great shock he had suffered." Uncle George had, in fact, stated in +the plainest terms that if Captain Cheffington ventured to show himself +in Combe Park, the servants had orders to turn him out forcibly! + +The object for which Captain Cheffington had come to England at that +time being thus baulked, it would have appeared natural that he should +return to his wife in Brussels. But day followed day, until nearly three +weeks had elapsed since Lucius Cheffington's death, and still Augustus +remained at Kensington. Every morning, with a dreadful regularity, Mr. +Dormer-Smith inquired of his wife if she knew whether her brother were +going away in the course of that day; and every morning the shower of +tears with which Mrs. Dormer-Smith received the inquiry, and which +generally formed her only answer to it, became more copious. Augustus, +on the whole, was the least uncomfortable of the trio. He had contrived +to raise a little ready money on his expectations; he was well lodged +and well fed; the change to London (now that he had a few pounds in his +pocket) was not unwelcome after Brussels; and as to his brother-in-law's +undisguised dislike to his presence, he had grown far too callous to +heed it, so long as it suited him to ignore it. Not but that he took +note of it in his mind keenly enough, and promised himself the pleasure +of paying off Frederick with interest, as soon as he should come into +"his property." + +All this time a humble household in Oldchester was a great deal happier +than the wintry days were long. The news of Captain Cheffington's +arrival in England had at first disturbed May. Perhaps he might insist +on seeing her; and she shrank from seeing him. But she thought it her +duty to write to him and inform him herself of her engagement; and +neither Owen nor her grandmother opposed her doing so. + +If May had any lingering illusion about her father, or any hope that he +would manifest some gleam of parental tenderness towards her, the +illusion and the hope were short-lived. The reply to her communications +was a hurried scrawl, haughtily regretting that Mr. Owen Rivers had not +thought proper to wait upon him and ask his consent to the marriage, +which he totally disapproved of! And adding that although Rivers of +Riversmead was undoubtedly good blood, it appeared that the traditions +of gentlemanlike behaviour had been lost by the present bearer of the +name, since he entered the service of a tradesman. The letter ended with +a peremptory demand for fifty pounds. + +May and Owen had planned that granny was to return to Friar's Row on +their marriage. Mr. Bragg was willing to break the lease which he held, +and to remove his office to another house hard by. And Mrs. Dobbs, with +all her goods and chattels, was to be reinstated in her old home. As +this scheme was to be kept secret from Granny for the present, it +involved a vast deal of delightful mystery and plotting. Jo Weatherhead +was admitted to the conspiracy, and enjoyed it with the keenest relish. + +A word or two had been said as to Mrs. Dobbs taking up her abode with +the young couple when they should be married. But this Granny instantly +and inflexibly refused. + +"No, no, children; I'm not quite so foolish as that! It's very well for +Owen to take May for better for worse. But it would be a little too much +to take May and her grandmother for better for worse!" + +Of course it was not long before Owen took his betrothed to see Canon +and Mrs. Hadlow. They walked together to the old house in College Quad, +where, however, their news had preceded them. The Hadlows were very +cordial. Both of them were very fond of May; and Aunt Jane loudly hoped +that Owen appreciated his good fortune, and declared it was far above +his deserts, though in her heart she thought no girl in England too good +for her favourite nephew. The lovers were affectionately bidden to come +again as often as they could, and brighten up the old place with the +sight of their happy young faces. + +They agreed, as they walked home together, that the home in College Quad +seemed a little gloomy and lonely without Conny. Conny was still away. +She had only been at home on a flying visit of a few days during several +months past. She was now staying with a Lady Belcraft, who had a +handsome house at Combe St. Mildred's. Mrs. Hadlow had told them so; and +a word or two, uttered in the same breath, about Theodore Bransby being +often in that neighbourhood, suggested a suspicion that Theodore might +be thinking of returning to his old love. This idea annoyed Owen +extremely. The hint which suggested it had been dropped almost in the +moment of saying "good-bye" to Mrs. Hadlow, or he would have attempted +at once to sound her on the subject. + +He had interrogated his aunt privately--while May was being petted and +made much of by the kind old canon--as to a rumour which was rife in +Oldchester--namely, that Constance had been betrothed to Lucius +Cheffington. But Aunt Jane positively denied this. She admitted that the +gossip bad reached her own ears, and that she had spoken to her daughter +about it. + +"But Conny entirely disabused me of any such notion. She said that, in +the first place, nothing was farther from Lucius's thoughts than +love-making; and that, in the second place, it would have been a most +imprudent marriage for her, since she could only expect to be speedily +left a widow with a very slender jointure. Conny was never romantic, you +know," said Aunt Jane, with a quick, half-humorous glance at her nephew. + +Owen began to consider with himself whether it might not be his duty to +acquaint Canon Hadlow with many parts of Theodore's conduct which were +certainly unknown to him. All inquiries conducted either by himself or +by Jo Weatherhead--who ferreted out information with untiring zeal and +delight in the task--showed more and more plainly that the calumnies +concerning Mrs. Bransby could be traced, for the most part, to her +step-son, and in no single instance beyond him. May had long ago +acquitted Constance Hadlow of speaking or writing evil things of the +widow. Constance had not, in fact, expended any attention whatever on +the Bransby family since their departure from Oldchester. + +She was spending her time very agreeably. Her hostess, Lady Belcraft, +was a widow. She was a great crony of Mrs. Griffin's, and delighted with +Mrs. Griffin's _protégée_. Having, so to speak, retired from business on +her own account (her two daughters being married and settled long ago), +Lady Belcraft was still most willing to renew the toils of the chase on +behalf of a friend. She and Mrs. Griffin had carefully examined the +county list of possible matches for Constance Hadlow; and had agreed +that there was good hope of a speedy find, a capital run, and a +successful finish. + +It so happened that on the same afternoon when May and Owen were paying +their visit to College Quad, Theodore Bransby was making a call at the +residence of Lady Belcraft in Combe St. Mildred's. + +Ever since his interview with Mrs. Dobbs--now several days ago--Theodore +had been considering his own case with minute and concentrated +attention. We are all of us, it must be owned, supremely interesting to +ourselves; but Theodore's interest in himself was of a jealously +exclusive kind. His health was undoubtedly delicate. He had felt the +loss of a home to which he could repair when he was ailing or out of +sorts ever since his father's death. He found, too, that he was apt to +become hipped and nervous when alone. He came to the conclusion that he +needed a wife to take care of him, and, after grave consideration, he +resolved to marry Constance Hadlow. + +If he could by a word have destroyed Rivers and obtained possession of +May Cheffington, he would have said that word without hesitation or +remorse; but since that could not be, he did not intend to wear the +willow. He would marry Constance. That she would have accepted him long +ago he was well assured; and his circumstances were far more prosperous +now than in those days. Canon and Mrs. Hadlow could not but be impressed +by his disinterestedness in coming forward now that he was in the +enjoyment of a handsome independence. And, on his side, he believed he +was choosing prudently. If he were ill, the attentions of a wife--a +refined and cultured woman, dependent, moreover, on him for the comfort +of her daily life--would be far preferable to those of a hireling nurse, +who would have the power of going away whenever she found her position +disagreeable. But this was only one side of the question. When he grew +stronger (he always looked forward to growing stronger) Constance would +be an admirable helpmate from a social point of view. She had acquired +influential friends, was received in the best houses, and would do his +taste infinite credit, and whether as a politician or a barrister she +might have it in her power to forward his ambitions. + +It was as the result of these meditations that he called at Lady +Belcraft's. + +He had met her occasionally in society, and she knew perfectly who he +was. But there was a distinct film of ice over the politeness with which +she received him when he was ushered into her drawing-room. She thought +this little attorney's son was taking something like a liberty in +appearing there uninvited. She forgave him, however, immediately when, +in his most correct manner, he asked for Miss Hadlow. + +Really it might do, thought Lady Belcraft. The young man was very well +off, and presentable, and all that, and dear Conny, though simply +charming, had not a penny in the world (neither was dear Conny her +ladyship's own daughter). Yes; she positively thought it might do! She +was so sorry that Miss Hadlow was not within, but she expected her every +moment. She was walking, she believed, in the park. "The Park" at Combe +St. Mildred's meant Combe Park. Oh, yes; she was aware that Mr. Bransby +was an old acquaintance. Playfellows from childhood? Really! That sort +of thing always had such a hold on one--was so extremely----Oh, there +was dear Conny coming up the drive. + +Lady Belcraft sent a message by a servant, begging Miss Hadlow to come +into the drawing-room, where she presently appeared. + +She was dressed in a winter toilet of carefully-studied simplicity, and +looked radiantly handsome. Theodore gazed at her as if he had never seen +her before. Self-possessed she had always been, but she had now acquired +something more than that--an air of conscious distinction--of "being +somebody," as Theodore phrased it in his own mind, which he admired and +wondered at. + +"Here's an old friend of yours, Conny," said Lady Belcraft. + +Constance had been pulling off her gloves as she entered the room, and +she now extended a white, well cared-for hand to Theodore, with a cool +little, "Oh, how d'ye do?" and the faintest of smiles. + +Her hostess thought within herself that if there really was anything +between her and young Bransby, Conny's behaviour was marvellous, and +that all the training bestowed on her own daughters had left them far +below the point of finish attained by this provincial clergyman's +daughter. + +"Did you walk far? Are you tired?" she asked. + +"No, thanks, dear Lady Belcraft; I am not at all tired. I went to my +favourite group of beeches. It's a capital day for walking. And what is +the news in Oldchester, Theodore?" + +Her calling him "Theodore" in the old familiar way seemed to have the +mysterious effect of putting him under her feet; it implied such +superiority and security. Theodore was conscious of this, but it did not +displease him; she had doubtless resented his not making the expected +offer earlier. He had thought when he met her in London that hurt +_amoure propre_ had much to do with her cavalier treatment of him. But +he had a charm to smoothe her ruffled plumes. + +After a little commonplace conversation, Lady Belcraft recollected some +orders which she wanted to give personally to her gardener, and, with a +brief excuse, left the room. Constance perfectly understood why she had +done so, Theodore did not; but he seized the occasion which, he +imagined, hazard had thrown in his way. + +"I am very glad of this opportunity of speaking with you alone, +Constance," he began very solemnly. + +There was no trepidation such as he had felt in speaking to May. He +neither trembled, nor stammered, nor grew hot and cold by turns. That +chapter was closed. He was turning over a new and quite different leaf. + +"Yes?" said Constance. "Really!" She removed her hat, smoothed the thick +dark braids of her hair before a mirror, and sat down with graceful +composure. + +"I don't think we have met, Constance, since----" He glanced at his +black clothes. + +"No; I think not. I was very sorry. I begged mamma to give you a message +from me when she wrote to condole with Mrs. Bransby." + +"I merely allude to that sad subject in order to assure you that I am +not unmindful of what is proper and becoming under the circumstances; +and lest you should think me guilty of heartless precipitation." + +He was beginning to enjoy the rounding off of his sentences--a pleasure +he had never tasted in May's company; strong emotion being unfavourable +to polished periods. + +"Oh, I don't think you were ever guilty of precipitation," answered +Constance quietly. But the mirror opposite reflected a flash of her +handsome eyes. + +"Nothing," continued Theodore, "could be in worse taste than to neglect +the accustomed forms of respect. A period of twelve months would not be +too long to mourn for a parent so excellent as my father; but six months +could not be considered to outrage decorum. And I should not urge----" + +He paused. He had been on the point of saying that he would not press +for the marriage taking place before the summer, when he happily +remembered that he had not yet gone through the form of asking Constance +whether she would marry him or not. To him it seemed so like merely +taking up the thread of a story temporarily interrupted, that he had +lost sight of the probability that Constance's mind had not been keeping +pace with his own on the subject. But it recurred to him in time. + +Constance was sitting on a low couch near the fireside, at some distance +from him. He now took his place beside her. There was a certain +awkwardness in making a proposal of marriage across a spacious room. + +"There can be no need of many words between us, Constance," he began, +with as much tenderness of manner as he could call up. Then he stopped. +Constance had drawn away the skirt of her gown on the side next to him, +and was examining it attentively. "What is the matter?" he asked. + +"I thought you had accidentally set your boot on the hem of my frock," +she said. "And the roads are so muddy, although it is fine overhead! But +it's all right. I beg your pardon: you were saying----?" + +This interruption was disconcerting. He had had in his head an elaborate +sentence which was now dispersed and irrecoverable. He must begin all +over again. However, when fairly started once more, his eloquence did +not fail him. He offered his hand and fortune to Miss Hadlow, "in good +set terms." + +She was silent when he had finished, and he ventured to take her hand. + +"Am I not to have an answer, dearest Constance?" he asked. + +She drew her hand away very gently and with perfect composure before +saying, as she looked full at him with her fine dark eyes-- + +"You are not joking, then?" + +"_Joking!_" + +"Well, I know you are not given to joking, and this would certainly be +an inconceivably bad joke; but it is almost more inconceivable that you +should be in earnest." + +He was fairly bewildered, and doubtful of her meaning. + +"However," she continued, "if you really expect a serious answer, you +must have it. No, thank you." + +He stood up erect and stiff, as if moved by a spring. She remained +leaning back in an easy attitude on the couch, and looking at him. + +"I----Constance!----I don't understand you!" he exclaimed. + +"I refuse you," she replied in a gentle voice, and with her best society +drawl. "Distinctly, decidedly, and unhesitatingly. I think you _must_ +understand that. Won't you stay and see Lady Belcraft?" (Theodore had +taken up his hat, and was moving towards the door.) "Oh, very well. I +will make your excuses." + +She rang the bell, which was within reach of her hand, and Theodore +walked out of the room without proffering another word. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Canon Hadlow had resolved that his daughter, when she returned to +Oldchester for May's wedding, to which she was, of course, invited, +should remain in her own home at least for some months. He had grown +very discontented with her prolonged and frequent absences. Mrs. Hadlow, +at the earnest request of Constance, backed by a polite invitation from +Lady Belcraft, went to Combe St. Mildred's to remain there one day, and +bring her daughter back with her. + +But, instead of doing so, she sent a telegram home, desiring that a box +of clothes might be packed and sent to her; and, most surprising of all, +the box was to be addressed to Dover. This item of news was disseminated +by the Hadlows' servant, whose duty it was to see the trunk conveyed to +the railway station. And the woman declared she believed, from what she +could make out, that her mistress was going to France. + +Of course, the canon knew the truth. But the canon was not visible to +callers. He had a cold, and kept his room. All the circle of the +Hadlows' acquaintance--and the circle seemed to be immediately widened +by the dropping into its midst of this puzzling bit of news, as a stone +dropped into water is surrounded by a ring of ever-increasing +circumference--were, however, spared further conjecture by the +publication, in due course, of the supplement to the _Times_ newspaper +of Tuesday, the twenty-seventh of February. It contained the +announcement of the marriage at the British Embassy in Paris, on the +preceding Saturday, of Viscount Castlecombe to Constance Jane, only +daughter of the Reverend Edward Hadlow, Canon of Oldchester. + +The general public, or as much of it as had ever heard of the parties +concerned--for that vast entity the general public is really as +divisible as a jelly-fish; each portion being perfect for all purposes +of its existence, when cut off from the rest--was ranged, as is usual in +such cases, in two main camps; those who couldn't have believed it +beforehand, though an angel from Heaven had announced it, and those who +had all along had their suspicions, and were not so _very_ much +surprised as you expected. But only the nearest friends and relatives of +the family enjoyed the not inconsiderable advantage for judging the +matter, of really knowing anything about it. + +Owen was the first person whom his uncle admitted to see him. The old +man was greatly overcome. His daughter's marriage was a blow to him. It +gave a rude shock to the ideal Constance, whom he had loved and admired +with a sort of delicate paternal chivalry. There could be no question of +love in such a marriage as this--no question, even, of gratitude, or +reverence, or any of the finer feelings. To the pure-hearted, +simple-minded old man, it seemed to be a sad degradation for his +daughter. Not a soul except his wife ever fully understood his state of +mind on the subject; for he spoke of it to no one. Mrs. Dobbs, perhaps, +came nearest to doing so. She had a great reverence and admiration for +the canon, and considerable sympathetic insight into his feelings. And +when, afterwards, people said in her presence how proud and elated Canon +Hadlow must be at his daughter's making so great a match, she would +tighten her lips, and observe _sotto voce_ that you might as well expect +a Christian saint to be gratified by being decorated with the peacock's +feather of a Chinese mandarin. + +When Mrs. Hadlow came home, of course more particulars were divulged. +Many came out by degrees in confidential talks with her nephew. Mrs. +Hadlow spoke to him quite openly. + +Constance had earnestly begged her mother to go to her at Combe St. +Mildred's, and almost immediately on her arrival there had announced +that she was about to marry Lord Castlecombe, and that everything was +arranged for the ceremony to take place in Paris; since, under the +circumstances, they both felt that it could not be managed too quietly. +She much wished her mother and father to accompany her to Paris, in +order that everything might be _en rčgle_. + +When the first astonishment was over, Mrs. Hadlow impulsively tried to +dissuade her daughter from taking this step. It was dreadful, it was +really monstrous to think of her Conny marrying that old man, who was +several years the senior of her own father! A man, too, of a hard, +unamiable character--one who was much feared, little respected, and +loved not at all! She was revolted by the idea. And as to the canon, she +could not bear to think of what he would feel. He would never allow it! +It was hopeless to think of gaining his consent. + +When her mother's tearful excitement had somewhat subsided, Constance +pointed out that she had a very sincere regard for Lord Castlecombe, who +had behaved in every way excellently towards her; that as to "falling in +love," as depicted by poets and novelists, she had her private opinion, +which was, briefly, that all that was about as historically true as the +adventures of Oberon and Titania; and that, at all events, she was +sufficiently acquainted with her own character to be persuaded that +_she_ was incapable of that species of temporary insanity. Further, with +regard to her father's consent, she deeply regretted to hear that he was +likely to withhold it; since she would, in that case, be compelled to +marry without it, which would be very painful to her. (And when she said +that it would be painful to her, her mother knew that she spoke quite +sincerely.) She was of full age to judge for herself in the matter, and +could not think of breaking her word to Lord Castlecombe. She further +pointed out that although, of course, Oldchester people would chatter +about her--she spoke already, as though she were looking down on those +common mortals from the serene and luminous elevation of some fixed +star--yet there could be nothing scandalous said if she were known to be +accompanied to Paris by her mother. As to papa, his health, and his +duties, and many other excuses might be alleged for his not undertaking +a journey at that inclement season. + +Constance spoke with perfect calmness, and without the slightest +disrespect of manner. But Mrs. Hadlow was made aware within five minutes +that nothing on earth which she had power to say or do would, for an +instant, shake her daughter's resolve to be a viscountess. There was +nothing to be done but to put the best face possible on the matter, and +go to Paris. She could not allow her child to travel thither alone. The +bridegroom had already preceded them, to make all needful preparations. + +Poor Mrs. Hadlow was in such a whirl of confusion and emotion as +scarcely to know what she was doing or saying. "Had Lady Belcraft known +of this?" she asked. Constance smiled rather scornfully, as she replied +that nobody would be more surprised than poor dear Lady Belcraft when +she should learn the news. No; Conny was not going to share the glory of +her capture with any one. And, in truth, such glory as belonged to it +was all her own. + +Mrs. Griffin, on hearing the news, was at first half inclined to be +sharp and spiteful at being kept in the dark. (Although, of course, she +did not allow herself to continue in that vulgar frame of mind.) But +Lady Belcraft was subdued, and almost prostrate in spirit before this +gifted young creature. "She's a wonderful young woman, my dear--a +wonderful young woman!" declared Lady Belcraft. + +Just before they landed from the steamboat at Calais, Constance said to +her mother, "Mamma, I do think you and papa are the most unworldly +people I ever heard of! You have never thought of saying a single word +about settlements." + +Mrs. Hadlow started, and looked blankly at her daughter. She stood +rebuked. "I have felt, ever since you told me, as if I had received a +stunning blow on the head which deprived me of half my faculties," she +answered. "But I ought to have thought of that. It is not too late now, +perhaps, to secure some provision for you; is it, Conny?" + +"I should not have thought of marrying Lord Castlecombe without a proper +settlement, mamma. We might have been married a fortnight ago if it had +not been for the delays of the lawyers; although matters were simplified +for them by my having nothing at all! I am quite satisfied with the +arrangements, and I hope you and papa will be so too. I think you will +admit that Lord Castlecombe has been very generous." + +Mrs. Hadlow was a woman of bright intelligence, and she had been apt to +consider Conny a little below the Rivers' standard of brains; but now, +as she looked and listened, she felt tempted to exclaim, like Lady +Belcraft, that this was a wonderful young woman. + +But what words can paint the effect of that fateful announcement in the +_Times_ on the family party assembled in Mr. Dormer-Smith's house at +Kensington! + +Augustus behaved so outrageously, used such vituperative language, and +comported himself altogether with such violence, that his brother-in-law +privately fortified himself by securing the presence of a policeman well +in view of the windows, on the opposite side of the way, before +requesting Captain Cheffington to withdraw at once from his house. Much +to his surprise, and immensely to his relief, the request was complied +with promptly. Captain Cheffington disappeared in a hansom cab, with a +smart travelling-bag, and followed by a second vehicle containing two +well-filled portmanteaus. Whereas, as James cynically remarked to the +cook, a cigar-case and a tooth-pick was about the amount of his luggage +when he arrived! James had not been fee'd. Augustus asserted his claim +to be considered one of the family by swearing at the servants, and +never giving any of them a sixpence. The explanation of this speedy +departure was shortly forthcoming in the shape of a variety of bills, +which poured in with astonishing rapidity. Augustus also, as has been +stated, had been clever enough to raise a little money on the strength +of his heirship. And Mr. Dormer-Smith had to endure some contumely from +creditors who had looked to getting something like twenty-five per cent. +above market-prices out of the captain, and were roused to a frenzy of +moral indignation when they discovered that he was safe out of England, +and beyond their reach. + +To Pauline the blow was the more severe because she persuaded herself +that she had been the victim of black ingratitude on the part of +Constance. + +"_That_ girl!" she would murmur, weeping. "That girl, whom I held up as +a model--and who really did behave perfectly when she was here--quite +_perfectly_--to think of that girl being the one to turn round on the +family in this treacherous way! I do not know how I shall endure to see +her face again." + +"Then don't see it," suggested Frederick. "If you think she has behaved +so badly, cut her, and have done with it." + +"Cut her!" exclaimed Pauline, sitting up from among the pillows in her +_chaise longue_, with a vinagrette in one hand and a pocket-handkerchief +in the other. "How can I cut my uncle's wife? She is now Lady +Castlecombe, Frederick! You seem to have no idea that private feelings +must give way to the duty one owes to society. I wonder who will present +her. I dare say Mrs. Griffin will persuade the duchess to do it. It +would not surprise me at all. Probably they will open the town house +now, and come up every season. Cut her! Frederick, you talk like that +Nihilist who is going to marry poor darling May!" + +Frederick more than ever thought that "poor darling May" was to be +congratulated on having secured the love and protection of the honest +young Englishman to whom his wife persisted in attributing anarchical +principles. He wrote a kind letter, in which he proposed to come down to +Oldchester and give his niece away at the marriage, if that would be +agreeable to her and Mr. Rivers. May's affectionate heart was overjoyed +by this proposal. A joint letter, signed by May and Owen, was sent by +return of post, in which both Aunt Pauline and Uncle Frederick were +warmly invited to the wedding. And May put in a special petition that +Harold and Wilfred should be allowed to be present. Granny would find a +nook for them in Jessamine Cottage. + +May also sent an invitation to Mrs. Bransby to be present, but she +replied that she would not bring her black gown to be a blot on their +brightness, but that no more loving prayers would be breathed for their +happiness than those of their affectionate friend Louisa Bransby. + +Neither did Aunt Pauline accept the invitation. She did not write +unkindly. Her reply seemed to be, indeed, a sort of homily on the text-- + + "How all unconscious of their doom + The little victims play." + +It was a sad business, but she was mildly compassionate and forbearing. +But the best of all was that Harold and Wilfred were to be permitted to +come. In fact, their father insisted on bringing them, to their +inexpressible rapture. They took to Granny at once, and she had to keep +a watch upon her tongue lest she should let slip before Mr. Dormer-Smith +the words she had said on first seeing the children-- + +"Poor dear motherless little fellows!" + +On the wedding morning a letter arrived for Mrs. Dobbs from Mr. Bragg. +Mr. Bragg was about to sail for Buenos Ayres on a twelve-months' visit +to his son. Before going away, he thought it would be agreeable to May +and her husband, he wrote, to be the means of communicating something to +Mrs. Bransby, which he hoped would be to her advantage. The new premises +which he had taken for his office, now removed from Friars' Row, were to +be furnished throughout, and a couple of rooms reserved for Mr. Bragg's +use whenever he wished to come into Oldchester from his country house. +Under these circumstances, a resident housekeeper would be required to +look after the place and govern the servants. Mr. Bragg hoped that Mrs. +Bransby would do him the favour to accept this post, and that she would +find herself more comfortable among her old friends in Oldchester, than +in the wilderness of London. Moreover, he enclosed a cheque for a +handsome sum of money, as to the disposal of which he thus wrote:-- + +"The cheque I would ask Mr. Rivers to apply to paying young Martin +Bransby's school fees for the ensuing year. And any little matter that +may be over can be used for the boy's books, and so on. He is a fine +boy, I think, and worth helping. Learning is a great thing. I never had +it myself, but I don't undervalue it for that. I have thought that this +would perhaps be the best way I could find of what you might call +testifying my appreciation of Mr. Rivers's services to me. I hope he +will accept it as a wedding present." + +To May he sent no gift. + +"I could offer her nothing but dross," he wrote, "and I don't want her +thoughts of me to be mixed up with gold and diamonds, and such poor +things as are oftentimes the best a rich man has to give. Some young +ladies would be disappointed at this. I don't believe she will. When +she's dressed and ready to go to church, just you please kiss her +forehead with a blessing in your mind, and--you needn't say anything to +her, but just say to yourself, 'this is from Joshua Bragg.'" + +Of the wedding, it may be said that, although it was no doubt in many +respects like other weddings, yet in several it was peculiar. And its +peculiarities were in such flagrant violation of the regulations of +society, that it was almost providential Mrs. Dormer-Smith escaped +witnessing it. + +In the first place, although Uncle Frederick was present, a welcome and +an honoured guest, May insisted that Mr. Weatherhead should give her +away. And, perhaps, nothing she had ever done in her life had caused +Granny more heartfelt satisfaction. As to "Uncle Jo," the honour nearly +overpowered him. His appearance in wedding garments, with an enormous +white waistcoat, and a bright rose-coloured tie, was an abiding joy to +all the little boys of the neighbourhood who were lucky enough to behold +him. + +Then the Miss Pipers fluttered into the church in such extremely bridal +attire, with long white veils attached to their bonnets, as utterly to +eclipse May, in her quiet travelling dress. May, however, wore two +ornaments of considerable value: a pearl bracelet and brooch, which had +arrived the previous evening. Inside each morocco case had been found a +slip of paper bearing respectively the inscriptions:--"To Miranda +Cheffington, with the good wishes of her great-uncle;" and "To dear May, +with the love of her affectionate friend, Constance Castlecombe." + +Lastly, Amelia Simpson was so florid in her raiment, and so exuberant in +her delight, as to be the observed of all observers. In her excitement, +she backed heavily upon people behind her, and trod upon the gowns of +people before her; knelt down at the wrong moment, and then, discovering +her mistake, jumped up again at the very instant when the rest of the +congregation were sinking on to their knees; dropped her metal-clasped +prayer-book with a crash in a solemn pause of silence; lost her +pocket-handkerchief, and, in her near-sightedness and confusion, seized +on Miss Polly Piper's long white veil to wipe her tear-dimmed +spectacles; and was, altogether, a severe trial to the nerves of the +officiating clergyman. + +Many other friends were there. Major Mitton, with his amiable face, and +erect, soldierly figure; Dr. Hatch, who said he doubted whether he could +snatch a moment to witness the ceremony, but who remained to the very +last, to wish the young couple God speed! when they drove away from the +door of the church on their honeymoon trip. Even Sebastian Bach Simpson +was in a softened mood. The entire absence of pretension about the whole +affair conciliated his good will; and he played Mendelssohns' "Wedding +March" as a voluntary, when the bride and bridegroom walked down the +church arm-in-arm, with unusual spirit and heartiness. And so May and +Owen began their voyage of life together, followed by many good wishes, +and by less of envy, hatred, malice, and uncharitableness, than perhaps +fall to the lot of most mortals. + + * * * * * + +Marriage, which is the end of most story-books, is but the beginning of +many stories; but this chronicle cannot follow the personages who have +figured in it much beyond that fateful chapter of the wedding-day. + +One or two facts may, however, be told, and a few outlines sketched in, +to indicate the course of future events on a more or less distant +horizon. + +For a long time Pauline clung, with the soft pertinacity which was part +of her character, to the hope that "poor dear Augustus" might yet +inherit the Castlecombe acres, and resume his place in society. Uncle +George could not live for ever! But one fine day the bells of Combe St. +Mildred's rang a merry peal, and the news spread like wildfire through +the village that an heir was born in a foreign city called Naples; and +that my lord and my lady--who was doing extremely well--and the +all-important baby were coming home to Combe Park as soon as ever my +lady was strong enough to travel. + +Then, indeed, Pauline felt that Providence had decided against her +brother, and that her own duty to society lay plain and clear before +her. + +During the following year or two she suffered considerable persecution +in the shape of appeals for money from Augustus. The first were in a +haughty strain, but before long they sank into the whine of the regular +begging-letter writer. She gave him what she could, for to the last she +had a soft place in her heart for her brother. But her husband, finding +the case hopeless, forbade her to give any more, and, as far as he +could, prevented Augustus's letters from reaching her. + +Captain Cheffington then brought his wife to London. He had little fear +of his creditors, having by this time sunk so low as not to be worth +powder and shot. He got his wife engaged, under her real name, at a +music-hall of the third class, and caused paragraphs to be inserted in +sundry sporting and theatrical prints to the effect that "the Mrs. +Augustus Cheffington, whose Italian bravura-singing was so successful a +feature in the nightly entertainment," etc., etc., was the niece by +marriage of a peer of the realm--Viscount Castlecombe of Combe Park; and +he furnished his relations liberally with copies of these papers. +Probably he had some hope that they would buy him off to save the honour +of the family, but in this he was totally at fault. The old lord who, in +the joy of his little son's birth seemed to have taken a new lease of +life, merely chuckled at "Gus's making such a confounded ass of +himself," and cared not a snap of the fingers for anything he could say +or do. + +Owen Rivers privately supplied his father-in-law with all the +necessaries, and some of the comforts, of life, on condition that he was +never to annoy May by making any kind of appeal to her; on the first +infringement of this condition the supplies would be withdrawn. And in +order to secure its not being all lost at the gaming-table, Owen paid +the money into the hands of La Bianca, who, according to her lights, was +by no means a bad wife, and was certainly a much better one than her +selfish and graceless husband deserved. + +Mrs. Bransby gratefully accepted the position offered to her, and +fulfilled its duties entirely to Mr. Bragg's satisfaction. Indeed, when +the latter returned from Buenos Ayres, he took the habit of spending a +good deal of time in the apartment reserved for him over the office. The +house--one of the roomy, old-fashioned mansions in Friar's +Row--contained ample accommodation for Mrs. Bransby's family. Miss Enid +completed, and maintained, her conquest of Mr. Bragg; and some persons +thought that it was this young lady's personal attractions which caused +him to spend so much of his time in Friar's Row; but other observers +thought differently. And, indeed, quite latterly, Mrs. Dormer-Smith has +had her ill-opinion of Mrs. Bransby strengthened by certain rumours +touching the likelihood of that lady's promotion to a higher position in +Mr. Bragg's household than that of paid housekeeper. + +"If _that_ should ever come off," says Mrs. Dormer-Smith, "I suppose +poor dear foolish May's eyes will be opened at last; and she may repent +when it is too late having thrown away her magnificent opportunity, to +be picked up by that _designing_ woman." + +When these mysterious forecasts are imparted to Lady Castlecombe, she +only smiles faintly, and says in her quiet, well-bred way, "Well, but +why not?" My lady has her own views on the subject--views in which the +discomfiture and mortification of Theodore Bransby form a conspicuous +and pleasing feature. But hitherto nothing has happened to justify the +previsions of either lady on this score. + +Theodore is not often seen in Oldchester now. The place is full of +disagreeable associations for him. His political candidature was a +failure: the Castlecombe influence on his behalf having been suddenly +withdrawn after his lordship's marriage--greatly to the perplexity of +his lordship's agent! + +Nevertheless, Mr. Theodore Bransby by no means despairs of being able to +write M.P. after his name at some future time. But if he ever does enter +Parliament, it will probably be on what our Continental neighbours term +"the extreme Left of the Chamber." For Theodore's political opinions +have undergone a great revulsion, and he is now loftily contemptuous of +the territorial aristocracy. In fact, he has been heard to support +advanced theories of an almost Communistic complexion--stopping short, +however, at the confiscation of other people's property, and maintaining +the inviolability of Government Stock, of which he is a large holder. +This sort of theory he finds to be quite compatible with the pursuit of +fashionable society. + +Although surrounded by every luxury which can minister to his personal +comfort, he is not at all extravagant, and, indeed, saves more than half +his annual income. This he does, not from positive avarice, but because +he feels ever more and more strongly that money is power. Moreover, it +will be well to have a handsome sum in hand whenever he marries: for he +is still firmly minded to find a wife who will devote herself to taking +care of him. Quite recently a paragraph has appeared in the Oldchester +newspaper announcing the probability of a marriage between "our +distinguished townsman, Mr. Theodore Bransby, whose career at the Bar is +being watched with pride and pleasure in his native city, and the Lady +Euphemia Haggistown, daughter of the Earl of Cauldkail, etc., etc., +etc." + +Lady Euphemia is a faded, timid, gentlewoman of some five or +six-and-thirty years of age, with neither money nor beauty. She is +sometimes haunted by the ghost of a romantic attachment to a penniless +young navy officer lost at sea hard upon twenty years ago. But she has a +soft, submissive desire to win the kindly regard of the remarkably stiff +and cold young gentleman whom her father has decided she is to marry +whenever he shall see fit to ask her. But poor Lady Effie does not +succeed in softening the implacable correctness of her suitor's +demeanour into anything very humanly sympathetic. Theodore is quite +certain to make the most of his wife's title and social standing in +dealing with the world in general, but it is to be feared that he may +think fit to balance matters by tyrannizing over her in private with +some rigour. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith often moralizes her family history, entangling herself +in many metaphysical knots in the course of her cogitations as to what +would have happened if something else had happened which never did +happen! + +Of course, if poor dear Augustus had not thrown himself away on Susan +Dobbs things would have been very different. But even in spite of that, +much might have been retrieved had he not made a second and still more +shocking _mésalliance_ with a strolling Italian singer; because, +probably, if Augustus had come home after the death of his cousin Lucius +in a proper spirit, and under not discreditable circumstances, and had +conducted himself so as to conciliate his uncle, the old man would never +have thought of marrying again. Constance Hadlow would never have become +Viscountess Castlecombe, and no heir would have appeared to thrust +Augustus from his inheritance. + +There was an ever-recurring difficulty in fixing the exact point at +which "poor dear Augustus's misfortunes" had become irretrievable. So +that, although Pauline was on perfectly civil terms with the +Castlecombes, and although Frederick was asked down to Combe Park for +the shooting every season, and although my lady was happy to receive the +Dormer-Smiths (with the least little indefinable touch of condescension) +whenever she was at her house in town; yet, in her confidential moments, +Pauline's intimate friends were never quite sure to which of the three +momentous alliances she was alluding, when she talked plaintively of +"That Unfortunate Marriage." + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 3(of 3), by +Frances Eleanor Trollope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 35945-8.txt or 35945-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/4/35945/ + +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. 3(of 3) + +Author: Frances Eleanor Trollope + +Release Date: April 24, 2011 [EBook #35945] + +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. III.</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 /> +</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>The following morning Mrs. Dormer-Smith was in a flutter of excitement. +She left her bedroom fully an hour earlier than was her wont. But before +she did so she sent a message begging May not to absent herself from the +house. For even in this wintry season May was in the habit of walking +out every morning with the children whenever there came a gleam of good +weather. Smithson, Mrs. Dormer-Smith's maid, who was charged with the +message, volunteered to add, with a glance at May's plain morning +frock—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bragg is expected, I believe, Miss."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Smithson. Tell my aunt I will not go out without her +permission."</p> + +<p>Smithson still lingered. "Shall I—would you like me to lay out your +grey merino, Miss?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh no, thank you!" answered May, opening her eyes in surprise. "If I do +go out, it will only be to take a turn in the square with the children. +This frock will do quite well."</p> + +<p>Smithson retired. And then Harold, who was engaged in a somewhat languid +struggle with a French verb, looked up savagely, and said—</p> + +<p>"I hate Mr. Bragg."</p> + +<p>Wilfred, seated at the table with a big book before him, which was +supposed to convey useful knowledge by means of coloured illustrations, +immediately echoed—</p> + +<p>"I hate Mr. Bragg."</p> + +<p>"Hush, hush! That will never do!" said May. "Little boys musn't hate +anybody. Besides, Mr. Bragg is a very good, kind man. Why should you +dislike him?"</p> + +<p>"Because he's going to take you away," answered Harold slowly.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! I dare say Mr. Bragg will not ask to see me at all. And if he +does, I shall not be away above a few minutes."</p> + +<p>"Shan't you?" asked Harold doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Of course not! What have you got into your head?"</p> + +<p>"Yesterday, when they didn't think I was listening, I heard Smithson say +to Cécile——"</p> + +<p>May stopped the child decisively. "Hush, Harold! You know I never allow +you to repeat the tittle-tattle of the nursery. And I am shocked to hear +that you listened to what was not intended for your ears. That is not +like a gentleman. You know we agreed that you are to be a real gentleman +when you grow up—that is, a man of honour."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> didn't listen!" cried Wilfred eagerly.</p> + +<p>"I am glad you did not."</p> + +<p>"No, <i>I</i> didn't listen, Cousin May. I was in Cyril's room. Cyril gave me +a long, long piece of string;—ever so long!"</p> + +<p>May laughed. "Your virtue is not of a difficult kind, Master Willy! You +never do any mischief that is quite out of your reach." Then, seeing +that Harold looked still crest-fallen, she kissed his forehead, and said +kindly, "And Harold will not listen again. He did not remember that it +is dishonourable."</p> + +<p>The child was silent, with his eyes cast down on his lesson-book, for a +while. Then he raised them, and looking searchingly at May, said, "I +say, Cousin May, I mean to marry you when I grow up."</p> + +<p>"And so do I!" said Wilfred, determined not to be outdone.</p> + +<p>"Very well. But I couldn't think of marrying any one who did not know +his French verbs. So you had better learn that one at once."</p> + +<p>Harold's naturally rather dull and heavy face grew suddenly bright; and +he settled himself to his lesson with a little shrug, and a shake like a +puppy. "No; you wouldn't marry any one who didn't know French, would +you?" said he emphatically.</p> + +<p>"And <i>I</i> know F'ench!" pleaded Wilfred.</p> + +<p>"There now, be quiet, both of you, and let me finish my letter," said +May. And there was nearly unbroken silence among them.</p> + +<p>Meantime Mr. Bragg was having an interview with Mrs. Dormer-Smith. He +had gradually made up his mind to put the same question to her that he +had put to Mrs. Dobbs: namely, whether May were free to receive his +proposals. He could not help being uneasy about young Bransby's +relations with May. Mrs. Dobbs, it was true, had denied that her +granddaughter thought of him at all; and Mr. Bragg did not doubt Mrs. +Dobbs's veracity. But he underrated her sagacity; or, rather, her +opportunities for knowing the truth. She lived very much outside of +May's world. She might divine the state of May's feelings, and yet be +mistaken as to their object. The story he had heard of young Bransby's +having been rejected by Miss Cheffington could not be true; for was not +young Bransby a constant visitor at her aunt's house—frequenting it on +a footing of familiarity—talking to May herself with a certain air of +confidential understanding? He had observed this particularly during +last night's dinner.</p> + +<p>But if, on the other hand, the possibility of Mrs. Dobbs being mistaken +on this question were once admitted, all sorts of other possibilities +poured in after it as by a sluice-gate, and lifted Mr. Bragg's hopes to +a higher level. At any rate, he resolved to take some decisive step. +Time had been lost already. He had told Mrs. Dobbs that he was too old +to trust to the day after to-morrow; and that was now three months ago! +Hence his visit to Mrs. Dormer-Smith by appointment—an appointment made +verbally the preceding evening, with the request that she would mention +it to no one; least of all to Miss Cheffington.</p> + +<p>Aunt Pauline was, of course, quite sure beforehand what was to be the +subject of their conversation; and was not in the least surprised +(although inwardly much elated) when Mr. Bragg broached it.</p> + +<p>"Understand me, ma'am," said Mr. Bragg. "I only wish you to tell me +truly whether, according to the best of your belief, Miss C.'s +affections are engaged. I ask no questions beyond that. I don't want to +pry."</p> + +<p>"Engaged! Oh dear, no; I assure you——"</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, ma'am. But I mean a little more than that," said Mr. Bragg, +slightly hastening the steady stride of his speech, lest she should +interrupt him again. "Of course, I don't expect you to be inside of your +niece's heart. A deal of uncertainty must prevail in what you may call +assaying any human being's feelings. You may use the wrong test for one +thing. But ladies are keen observers; specially where they like—or, for +the matter of that, dislike—any one very much. And what I want to know +is this: Have you any reason to think Miss C. is in love with any one?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith, who was listening with a bland smile, almost started +at this crude inquiry. She felt the need of all her self-command to +preserve that repose of manner which she considered essential to +good-breeding. But she answered gently, though firmly—</p> + +<p>"My dear Mr. Bragg, that is out of the question. My niece is entirely +disengaged. A girl of her birth and breeding is not likely to entertain +any vulgar kind of romance in secret!"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, ma'am," said Mr. Bragg. Then he added ponderingly, "It might +not be vulgar, though!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith privately thought Mr. Bragg no competent judge of what +might, or might not, be vulgar in a Cheffington. She merely replied, +with a certain suave dignity, referring to a former speech of his—</p> + +<p>"Do I understand rightly that you desire to speak with Miss Cheffington +yourself?"</p> + +<p>"If you please, ma'am. Yes; I think I should like to go through with +it."</p> + +<p>"I will send for her to come here, Mr. Bragg."</p> + +<p>She rang the bell and gave her orders; and during the pause which +ensued, neither she nor Mr. Bragg spoke a word. He was absorbed in his +own thoughts, and by no means as fully master of himself as usual. She +was plaintively regretting that May had refused to change her morning +frock for something more becoming. "Not that it can be of vital +importance <i>now</i>," thought Mrs. Dormer-Smith, faintly smiling to +herself, with half-closed eyes.</p> + +<p>Presently the door opened, and May stood on the threshold.</p> + +<p>"Come in, darling," said her aunt. "Mr. Bragg wishes to speak with you. +And I will only assure you that he does so with my and your uncle's full +knowledge and approbation." With that, Aunt Pauline glided into the back +drawing-room, and withdrew by a door opening on to the staircase, which +she shut behind her, immensely to May's surprise.</p> + +<p>All at once a nameless dread came over the girl, chilling her like a +cold wind. They had some bad news to give her of Owen! She turned +suddenly so deadly pale as to startle Mr. Bragg; and looking up at him +with piteous, frightened eyes, stammered faintly, "What is the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing at all! Nothing is the matter that need frighten you, my dear +young lady. Lord bless me, you look quite scared!"</p> + +<p>His genuine tone reassured her. And the colour began to return to lips +and cheeks. But the wilful blood now rushed too hotly into her face. Her +second thought was, "They have found out my engagement to Owen!" And +although this contingency could be confronted with a very different +feeling, and with sufficient courage, yet she could not control the +tell-tale blush.</p> + +<p>"Just you sit down there, and don't worrit yourself, Miss Cheffington," +said Mr. Bragg. In his earnestness he reverted to the phraseology of his +early days. "There's no hurry in the world. If you was startled, just +you take your own time to come round."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," answered May, dropping into the armchair he pushed forward.</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry to have alarmed you," she said. "I'm afraid I must be +growing nervous! I never thought I should be able to lay claim to that +interesting malady."</p> + +<p>Although she smiled, and tried to speak playfully, she had really been +shaken, and she profited by the advice, which Mr. Bragg repeated, to +"sit still, and take her own time about coming round."</p> + +<p>By-and-by she said, almost in her usual voice, "Will you not sit down, +Mr. Bragg? I am quite ready to listen to you."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg hesitated a moment. He would have preferred to stand. He would +have felt more at his ease, so. But, looking down on the slight young +figure before him, it occurred to him that it would be—in some +vaguely-felt way—taking an unfair advantage of the girl to dominate her +by his tall stature. So he brought himself nearer to her level by +sitting down on an ottoman opposite, and not very near to her.</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said he, after a little silence, during which he looked +down with an intent and anxious frown at the floor, "I suppose you can't +give a guess at what I'm going to say?"</p> + +<p>May believed she had guessed it already. But she answered, "I would +rather not guess, please. I would rather that you told me."</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps it may simplify matters if I mention that I have had some +conversation on the subject with Mrs. Dobbs."</p> + +<p>"With Granny?" exclaimed May, looking full at him in profound +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Yes; it's some little while ago, now. Mrs. Dobbs spoke very +straightforward, and very kind, too; but I'm bound to say she did <i>not</i> +give me any encouragement."</p> + +<p>May stared at him in a kind of fascination. She could not remove her +eyes from his face. And she began to perceive a dreadful +clear-sightedness dawning above the confusion of her thoughts.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg was not looking at her. He was leaning a little forward, with +his arms resting on his knees, and his hands loosely clasped together. +He went on speaking in a ruminating way; sometimes emphasizing his +phrase by a slight movement from the wrist of his clasped hands, and as +if he were, with some difficulty, reading off the words he was uttering +from the Oriental rug at his feet.</p> + +<p>"You see, Miss Cheffington, of course I'm aware there's a great +difference in years. But that's not the biggest difference in reality. I +don't believe myself that I'm so very much older in some ways than I was +at five-and-twenty. I was always a steady kind of a chap, and I never +had much to say for myself—never was what you might call lively, you +know."</p> + +<p>May sat spell-bound; looking at him fixedly, and with that dawn of +clear-sightedness rapidly illumining many things, to her unspeakable +consternation.</p> + +<p>"No; it isn't the years that make the biggest difference. I'm below you +in education, of course, Miss Cheffington, and in a deal besides, no +doubt. But I can be trusted to mean all I say—though I'm not able to +say all I mean, by a long chalk."</p> + +<p>As he said this he raised his eyes for the first time, and looked at +her. She was still regarding him with the same fascinated, almost +helpless, gaze. But when she met his clear, honest, grey eyes, with a +wistful expression in them which was pathetically contrasted with the +massive strength of his head and face, she was suddenly inspired to +say—</p> + +<p>"Please, Mr. Bragg, will you hear me? I want to tell you something +before you—before you say any more. I think you are my friend, and if +you don't mind, I should like to tell you a secret. May I?"</p> + +<p>He nodded, keeping his eyes on her now steadily.</p> + +<p>"Well, I—I hope you will forgive me for troubling you with my +confidence. I <i>know</i> you will respect it. If I had not such a high +esteem and regard for you I—I <i>could</i> not say it." She stopped an +instant, there was a choking feeling in her throat. She paused, mastered +it, and went on. "I have promised to marry some one whom I love very +much, and no one knows about it but Granny."</p> + +<p>When she had spoken, she hid her hot face in her hands, and cried +silently.</p> + +<p>There was absolute stillness in the room for some minutes. At length she +looked up and saw Mr. Bragg still sitting as before, with loosely +clasped hands and downcast eyes. May rose to her feet, and said timidly, +"I hope you are not angry with me for—for telling you?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg stood up also, and placing one broad, powerful hand on her +head, as a father might have done, looked down gravely at her upturned +face.</p> + +<p>"Angry! Lord bless you, my child, what must I be made of to be angry +with <i>you</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you, Mr. Bragg! And will you promise—but I know you +will—not to betray me?"</p> + +<p>He did not notice this question. His mind was working uneasily. He +thrust his hands into his pockets, and walked to the other side of the +room and back, before saying—</p> + +<p>"This person that you've promised to marry, is he one that your people +here"—he jerked his head over his shoulder in the direction in which +Mrs. Dormer-Smith had disappeared—"would approve of?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" answered May. Then she added, not quite so confidently, "I +think so. At any rate, I am very proud to be loved by him."</p> + +<p>"And Mrs. Dobbs—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course, dear Granny thinks no one could be too good for me," +said May apologetically. "But she knows his worth."</p> + +<p>"Will you please tell me how long Mrs. Dobbs has known of this?" asked +Mr. Bragg, with a touch of sternness.</p> + +<p>"Known? She knew, of course, as soon as I knew myself—on the +twenty-seventh of last September," answered poor May, with damask-rose +cheeks.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg made a mental calculation of dates. His face relaxed; and he +now replied to May's previous question.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course, I'll promise not to say a word till you give me leave. +Especially since Mrs. Dobbs knows all about it. Otherwise, you're young +to guide yourself entirely in a matter so serious as this is."</p> + +<p>She thanked him again, and dried some stray tear-drops that hung on her +pretty eyelashes.</p> + +<p>He stood for a moment looking at her intently. But there was nothing in +his gaze to startle her maiden innocence, or make her shrink from him; +it was an honest, earnest, kindly, though melancholy look.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he at last, "you're not so curious as some young ladies. +You haven't asked me what it was I was going to say to you."</p> + +<p>"I dare say it was nothing serious," she answered quickly. "In any case +I am quite sure you will say, and leave unsaid, all that is right."</p> + +<p>"That's a—what you might call a pretty large order, Miss Cheffington. +I'm an awkward brute sometimes, I dare say, but I'll tell you this much: +If I don't say what I was going to say, it isn't from pride. I <i>have</i> +had that feeling, but I haven't it now, in talking to you. No, it isn't +from pride, but because I want you and me to be friends—downright good +friends, you know. And, perhaps, it would be more agreeable for you not +to have anything concerning me in your memory that you'd wish to be what +you might call sponged out of the record. I appreciate your behaviour, +Miss Cheffington. You acted generous, and like the noble-hearted young +lady I've always thought you, when you told me that secret of yours. Why +now——Come, come, don't you fret yourself!" he exclaimed softly, for +the tears were again trickling down her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"You are so—so very kind and good to me!" she said brokenly.</p> + +<p>"Lord bless me, what else could I be? There, there, don't you vex +yourself by fancying me cast down or disappointed about—anything in +particular. A man doesn't come to my age without getting used to +disappointments, big and little."</p> + +<p>He took up his hat and stopped her by a gesture as she moved towards the +bell.</p> + +<p>"No; don't ring, please! I've got an appointment in the City, and not +much time to spare if I walk it. So I'll just let myself out quietly, +without disturbing anybody. You can mention to your aunt that I shall +have the honour of calling on her again very soon. Good-bye, Miss +Cheffington."</p> + +<p>May held out her hand. He touched it very lightly with his fingers, and +then relinquished it silently.</p> + +<p>"You are sure," she said pleadingly, "you are quite sure you are not +angry with me?"</p> + +<p>"There ain't a many things I'm so sure of as I am of that," answered Mr. +Bragg, in his ordinary quiet tones. And then he opened the door and was +gone.</p> + +<p>He went down the stairs, and through the hall, and into the street +without being challenged. He shut the street door softly behind him, +with a kind of instinct of escape; and marched away rather quickly, but +square and steady as ever.</p> + +<p>After a while he looked at his watch, hesitated, and finally hailed a +hansom cab.</p> + +<p>"Poultry! You can take it easy. I'm not in a hurry," he said to the +driver, as he got into the vehicle.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Bragg leaned back, and began to think. He had a habit of +frequently closing his eyes when meditating, and this habit it was which +had impelled him to get into a cab, since a pedestrian in the streets of +London could only indulge in it at the risk of his life; and Mr. Bragg +had no—not even the most passing—temptation to suicide. He shut his +eyes tight now, tilted his hat backward from his forehead, and reviewed +the situation.</p> + +<p>He had behaved very well to May, and was conscious of having behaved +well to her; she deserved the best and most considerate treatment; but +Mr. Bragg was no angel, and he was extremely angry with Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. He felt some irritation—very unreasonably, as he would +by-and-by acknowledge—against Mrs. Dobbs—she had been rather +exasperatingly in the right. But Mrs. Dormer-Smith had been most +exasperatingly in the wrong, and he was very angry with her. Why had she +not confessed that she knew nothing at all about her niece's feelings? +It was clear she was quite ignorant of them. She had only to say that +she could not undertake to answer for May; that would at least have been +honest!</p> + +<p>"I dare say I might have spoken, all the same," Mr. Bragg admitted to +himself. "I think p'r'aps I should. I'd got to that point where a man +<i>must</i> know for himself what the answer is to that question, and when +'likely' or 'unlikely' won't serve his turn. But I could ha' managed +different. I needn't have looked like a Tomnoddy. Trotted out +there—making a reg'lar show of a man; not a doubt but what that flunkey +knew all about it. Woman's a fool!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg's indignation rolled off like thunder in these broken +growlings. And beneath it all—deeper than all—there lay an aching +sorrow. It would not break his heart, as he knew; it might not even +spoil his dinner; but it was a real sorrow, nevertheless. In the moment +of assuring him that he must not hope to win her, May had seemed to him +better worth winning than ever; her soft touch had opened a long +sealed-up spring of tenderness. There was some rough poetry within him, +none the less pathetic because he knew thoroughly, sensitively, how +unable he was to give it expression, and how ridiculous the mere +suggestion of his trying to do so would seem to most people. He +resolutely refrained as much as possible from letting his mind busy +itself with these hidden feelings; his very thoughts seemed to hurt them +at that moment.</p> + +<p>He preferred to nurse his wrath against Mrs. Dormer-Smith, and to resent +her having betrayed him into an undignified position. Mr. Bragg had been +prosperous and powerful for many years, and the sense of being balked +was very irksome to him; more irksome than in the days of his poverty, +when youth and hope were elastic, and battle seemed a not unwelcome +condition of existence.</p> + +<p>But before he reached the end of his eastward journey Mr. Bragg began to +speculate about the man whom May loved. In spite of Mrs. Dobbs's +emphatic denial, he could not dismiss the idea that Theodore Bransby was +the man. He had gathered the impression that Mrs. Dobbs did not like +Theodore, and he remembered May's deprecating words, "Granny would not +think any one too good for me!" which seemed to indicate that Mrs. Dobbs +had not hailed the engagement with rapture. Thinking over the dates, he +concluded—quite correctly—that May's lover, whoever he might be, had +declared himself not long after his (Bragg's) interview with Mrs. Dobbs. +Now, Theodore Bransby had been in Oldchester at that time, as he well +remembered.</p> + +<p>Why Theodore, if it were he, should keep his engagement secret from the +Dormer-Smiths, was not easily explicable. But Mr. Bragg knew the young +man's political projects; and it might be that Theodore would wish to +approach May's family armed with all the importance which a successful +electoral campaign would give him. One thing Mr. Bragg felt tolerably +sure of—that Aunt Pauline would regret acutely the declension from a +nephew-in-law with fifty thousand a year, to one whose income did not +count as many hundreds! It was, perhaps, rather agreeable to Mr. Bragg +to think of this. It was certainly a comfort to him to be able to +dislike May's lover on independent grounds. He had always entertained an +antipathy towards the young man; and, however sincere and tender his +interest in May Cheffington might be, it did not modify, by a hair's +breadth, his opinion of young Bransby.</p> + +<p>"And, after all, it may not be him!" said Mr. Bragg, reflectively and +ungrammatically. "But if it isn't him, it can't be anybody I know."</p> + +<p>The person he had appointed to meet in the City was an Oldchester man; +and when the business part of their interview was concluded, he said to +Mr. Bragg—</p> + +<p>"There's bad news from Combe Park. Haven't you heard? Oh! why they say +Mr. Lucius Cheffington can't live many days. So that scamp, +What's-his-name, the nephew, will come in for it all. The old lord's +awfully savage, I'm told. Shouldn't wonder if it balks young Bransby's +hopes of getting his seat. Old Castlecombe won't like paying election +expenses for him <i>now</i>. Great pity! He's a very rising young man, and a +credit to Oldchester."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<p>When Mr. Bragg was gone, May felt a cowardly temptation to run away to +her own room, and there recover her composure in solitude. But she +reflected that that would be scarcely fair to her aunt, who, no doubt, +was waiting with some impatience to hear the result of the interview. So +she dried her eyes, and resolutely ascended the stairs to her aunt's +room.</p> + +<p>The gentle, refined voice which had once so charmed her (but which, as +she had long since learned, could utter sentiments singularly at +variance with its own sweetness) answered her tap at the door by saying, +"Is that dear May? Come in." May entered, and saw her aunt reclining in +a lounging chair by the fireside. A book lay open beside her; but she +evidently had not been reading recently. She looked up at May's flushed +face and tear-swollen eyes, and these traces of emotion seemed to her +satisfactory indications of what had passed. "He has spoken! It's all +right!" she said to herself. Then aloud, with a tender smile, holding +out both her hands, "Well, darling?"</p> + +<p>The softness of her tone had a perversely hardening effect on May. If +her aunt had expected her to accept Mr. Bragg—and May was not dull +enough to doubt this, now that her eyes were illumined by that dawn of +clear-sightedness which had been so amazing to her—the least she could +do was to be quiet and common-sensible about it. Any assumption of +sentiment seemed to May to be sickening under the circumstances. So she +answered dryly—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bragg desired me to tell you that he will have the honour of +calling on you again before long."</p> + +<p>"Is he gone?" asked Mrs. Dormer-Smith, with a momentary twinge of +anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Yes; he is gone. He had an appointment in the City, and was rather +pressed for time; so he could not stay to take leave of you."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed her aunt, sinking back among her cushions with a smile, +"I forgive him." Then seeing May turn away as if to leave the room, she +suddenly sat up again, and said with an air of gentle reproach, "And +have you nothing to say to me, dear May?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing particular, Aunt Pauline."</p> + +<p>"Nothing particular! I do not think that is very kindly said, May."</p> + +<p>May's conscience told her the same thing. She had yielded to a movement +of temper. The most sensitive chords in her own nature had been jarred, +and were still quivering. But that was no reason why she should be +unkind or uncivil to her aunt; she repented, and, with her usual +impulsive candour, said—</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Aunt Pauline. I ought not to have answered you so."</p> + +<p>"You have been agitated, dear child. Come here, and sit down by me. Now +tell me, May—you surely will tell <i>me</i>—Mr. Bragg has proposed to you, +has he not?"</p> + +<p>"No, Aunt Pauline."</p> + +<p>"<i>What?</i>"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith would have been shocked if she could have seen her own +face in the glass at that moment. The vulgarest market-woman's +countenance could not have expressed surprise and consternation more +unrestrainedly.</p> + +<p>"I think he, perhaps, would have asked me to marry him: but I stopped +him."</p> + +<p>"You stopped him?" echoed her aunt, with clasped hands. But a little +gleam of hope revived her. The matter had been mismanaged in some way. +May was so deplorably devoid of tact! All might yet be well. "And why, +for pity's sake, May, did you stop him?"</p> + +<p>"Because, as I could not accept him, Aunt Pauline, I wished to spare him +as much as possible."</p> + +<p>"Could not accept him! Good heavens, May, this is frightful! Have you +lost your senses? Do you know who and what Mr. Bragg is?"</p> + +<p>"He is a good, honest man; and I esteem him and like him."</p> + +<p>"And is not that enough? Do you know that there are girls of—I won't +say better family, but—higher rank than yours, who would give their +ears to be——But it can't be! You are a foolish, inexperienced child, +who don't understand your own good fortune. You cannot be allowed to +throw away this splendid opportunity. I will write to Mr. Bragg myself, +and——"</p> + +<p>"Stay, Aunt Pauline. Please to understand that I will never, under any +circumstances, dream of marrying Mr. Bragg. He is quite persuaded of +this. He and I understand each other very well, and we mean to continue +good friends; but pray do not lower your own dignity by writing to him +on this subject!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith burst into tears. "Go away, you ungrateful child," she +said, from behind her pocket-handkerchief. "I could not have believed +you would have behaved in this manner after all I have done for you!"</p> + +<p>May would have been more distressed than she was had the spectacle of +her aunt's tears been rarer. But she had seen Mrs. Dormer-Smith weep +from, what seemed to her, very inadequate motives:—even once at the +misfit of a new gown. Nevertheless, she tried to soothe her aunt.</p> + +<p>"Please don't cry, Aunt Pauline. I can't bear you to think me +ungrateful. But, after all, what have I done? I dare say—I am sure, +indeed, that you are only anxious for my welfare. And what sort of a +life could I expect if I married a man I could not love?"</p> + +<p>"I beg you will not talk such nursery-maid's nonsense to me, +May," returned her aunt, sprinkling some rose-water on her +pocket-handkerchief, and dabbing her wet cheeks with it. "Could not +love, indeed! Why could you not love him? Do you expect to rant through +a <i>grande passion</i> like a heroine on the stage? I am shocked at you, +May! Girls in your position owe a duty to society."</p> + +<p>May knew that her aunt was unanswerable when she broached these +mysterious dogmas about "society"—unanswerable, at all events, by her. +She could as soon have attempted a theological argument with a devotee +of Mumbo Jumbo. So she held her peace, and stood still, anxious to +escape, and yet fearful of seeming to be unfeeling by going away at that +moment. One idea at length suggested itself to her as a possible +consolation for her aunt, and she proceeded to offer it with +unreflecting rashness.</p> + +<p>"But, Aunt Pauline," she said, "after all, you know, Mr. Bragg is a very +low-born man. He was once a common artisan in Oldchester. And you +remember you even thought Theodore Bransby presumptuous——"</p> + +<p>The immediate reply to this well-meant suggestion was a fresh burst of +tears. "You are too insupportable, May. One might suppose you to be an +idiot! What has been the use of all my care, and my endeavours to make +you look at things as a girl of your condition ought to look at them? +Mr. Bragg could have placed you in a brilliant position. Now, I dare +say, he will marry Felicia Hautenville. I have no doubt he will, and it +will serve you right if he does. You think of no one but yourself. What +do you suppose that worthy woman, Mrs. Dobbs, will say when she hears of +your behaviour? After all the money she has spent on sending you to +London!"</p> + +<p>May turned round suddenly. "What do you say, Aunt Pauline?" she asked, +almost breathlessly. "Granny has spent money to send me to London?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith caught at a forlorn hope. Might it not be possible, +even now, to influence May through her affection for her grandmother?</p> + +<p>"Of course, May," she replied, with an injured air. "Where do you +suppose the money came from? Your uncle and I, as you must be well +aware, find it difficult enough to keep up our position in society, with +Cyril to place in the world, and those two little boys to provide for!"</p> + +<p>"But papa!" gasped May. "I thought my father was paying——"</p> + +<p>"You chose to assume it. I never told you so. Mrs. Dobbs particularly +wished us to keep the arrangement secret, and we did so. I appreciate +her wisdom <i>now</i> in keeping it secret from you, May; for your conduct +to-day shows you to be destitute of the most ordinary tact and +prudence."</p> + +<p>"And Granny—dear old Granny—has been depriving herself of money to +keep me in town!" exclaimed the girl, still entirely possessed with this +new revelation.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith gallantly tried to improve her opportunity. She raised +herself into an upright posture in her chair, and said solemnly, "Yes, +May; and a nice return you make for it! The good old creature, no doubt, +has been pinching herself for years on your account. She has paid for +your schooling, your dress, and everything; she even contrives, I dare +say, by enduring some privations" (Mrs. Dormer-Smith did not in the +least suppose this to be the case, but she felt it was a rhetorical +"point," and likely to affect her niece), "she even contrives to give +you a season in town, with charming toilettes from Amélie, and a +presentation dress that a duke's daughter might have worn, and +everything which a right-minded girl ought to appreciate—and this is +her reward! You refuse one of the finest matches in England! I cannot +believe you will persist in such <i>wicked</i> perversity, May," continued +Pauline, rising to new heights of moral elevation. "No, I cannot believe +you will be so ungrateful to that good old soul, and, indeed, I may say, +to Providence! Really, there is something almost impious in it. Mrs. +Dobbs does all she can to counteract the results of your father's +unfortunate marriage—we <i>all</i> do all we can; circumstances are so +ordered by a Superior Power as to give you the chance of catching—of +attracting the regard of a man of princely fortune—<i>you</i>, rather than a +dozen other girls whose people have been looking after him for the last +three seasons, and all this you reject! Toss it away, like a baby with a +toy! No, May; you <i>are</i> a Cheffington—you <i>are</i> my poor unfortunate +brother's own flesh and blood, and I will not believe it of you." Then, +sinking back in her chair, she added in a faint voice, "Go away now, if +you please, and send Smithson to me. I shall have to speak to your uncle +when he comes in, and I really dread it. He will be so shocked—so +astonished! As for me, I am utterly <i>hors de combat</i> for the day, of +course."</p> + +<p>May willingly escaped to her own room, and locked herself in. Her +thoughts were in a strange tumult, busied chiefly with this news about +Mrs. Dobbs. Why had she not guessed it before? Was there any one in the +world like that staunch, generous, unselfish woman? This explained her +giving up her old, comfortable home in Friar's Row. This explained a +hundred other circumstances. May thought, between laughing and crying, +of Jo Weatherhead's eccentric eulogy on her grandmother as compared with +classical heroines, and she longed to tell him that he was right. The +full tide of love and sympathy and gratitude towards "Granny" rose in +her breast above all other emotions, and, for the moment, even Mr. +Bragg's wonderful proposals, and her aunt's still more wonderful +reception of them, were forgotten. It even overflowed and temporarily +obliterated impressions and feelings far keener than any which poor Mr. +Bragg had power to awake in her heart.</p> + +<p>What a fool's paradise had she been living in! And what a mistaken image +of her father she had been cherishing all this time! He had contributed +nothing to her support; he had coolly left the whole care of her to +others; he had been thoroughly selfish and indifferent. Every one seemed +selfish but Granny! One thing she hastily resolved on: not to remain +another week in London at her grandmother's expense.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Dormer-Smith came home, and was duly informed by his wife of +May's incredible conduct, his dismay was nearly as great as Pauline's. +Perhaps his surprise was even greater; for he had accepted his wife's +assurances that May was quite prepared to give Mr. Bragg a favourable +answer. He could not bring himself to regard May's behaviour with such +lofty moral reprobation as his wife did, but he certainly thought the +girl had acted foolishly, and even blameably.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dormer-Smith was extremely anxious not to offend or disgust Mr. +Bragg. To have a man of that wealth in the family might be the making of +all their fortunes. Already Mr. Bragg's advice and assistance had +profited him. He and his wife had even privately reckoned on Mr. Bragg's +doing something handsome (in a testamentary way) for their younger +children. May was very fond of her cousins, and what would a few +thousands be to Mr. Bragg? Now the unexpected news which met him broke +up all these glittering hopes, as a thaw melts the frost-diamonds.</p> + +<p>"You must speak with her, Frederick. I have said all I can, and I really +am not equal to another scene," said Pauline.</p> + +<p>She had subsided into an attitude of calm despondency, and seemed to be +supported chiefly by the sense of her own unappreciated merits. She did +not mention that she had already written a private and confidential +letter to Mr. Bragg, and despatched it by special messenger to the hotel +where he usually stayed when in London.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg had no town house, and the choosing and furnishing of a +suitable mansion for him and his bride had been one of the rewards of +virtue which Mrs. Dormer-Smith had, for some time past, been +anticipating for herself. May was so young and inexperienced, and Mr. +Bragg—dear, good, rich man!—had so little knowledge of the fashionable +world, that Pauline confidently expected to be for some years to come +the presiding genius of the elegant entertainments to which they would +invite only the very best society. For—giving the rein to her +fancy—Pauline had resolved that Mr. and Mrs. Bragg were to be extremely +exclusive. A well-born girl who, without fortune or title, had succeeded +in marrying a millionnaire, might surely—if there were any poetical +justice at all in the world—indulge herself in the refined pleasure of +social selection, and quietly decline to receive those doubtful +"Borderers" who made society, as Mrs. Griffin often complained, so sadly +mixed!</p> + +<p>All this was not to be relinquished without a struggle. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith would do her duty to the last. Duty had commanded her to +make an immediate appeal to Mr. Bragg not to take May's answer as final; +but duty did not, she considered, require her to tell her husband +anything about it until she saw how it turned out.</p> + +<p>"You <i>must</i> see her, Frederick," repeated Mrs. Dormer-Smith. And +Frederick accordingly sent for May to come and speak with him.</p> + +<p>He awaited her in the drawing-room; and when May entered the room her +eye fell on the easy-chair which Mr. Bragg had placed for her, standing +out just where she had left it. The whole scene came back to her mind as +vividly as if she saw it in a picture before her bodily eyes; and the +colour rose to her forehead.</p> + +<p>Her uncle went to her, and took her hand kindly. "Well, May," said he, +"what is all this I hear?" He was leading her towards the armchair; but +May avoided it, and took another seat, and Mr. Dormer-Smith dropped into +the armchair opposite to her, himself.</p> + +<p>In considering what could have been the motives which had induced her to +reject Mr. Bragg, he had prepared himself to listen to some—perhaps +foolishly—romantic talk on May's part. Mr. Bragg certainly could not, +by any stretch of friendship, be considered romantic. But Uncle +Frederick would try to show his niece how much sounder and solider a +foundation for domestic happiness Mr. Bragg was able to offer her than +any amount of the qualities which go to make up a young lady's hero of +romance.</p> + +<p>What he was not at all prepared for was May's saying earnestly, as she +leant forward with clasped hands, "Oh, Uncle Frederick what is all this +<i>I</i> hear? My dear, good grandmother has been impoverishing herself to +pay for keeping me in London! Why did you not tell me the truth? Nothing +should have induced me to accept such a sacrifice!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Dormer-Smith was not a ready or flexible man by nature; and it took +him a minute or so to alter the sight, so to speak, of the big gun he +had been getting into position to mow down May's resistance against +making a splendid marriage.</p> + +<p>"Why—eh? Oh, Mrs. Dobbs's allowance! Oh yes. Well, my dear, you have +pretty well answered your own question. If you had known, you would not +have consented to come to town, and take your proper place in society. +Your aunt considered it most important that you should do so. And I'm +sure, May, you must allow that she has done her very best for you in +every way."</p> + +<p>"<i>Her</i> very best!" thought May; "yes, perhaps!" Then she said aloud, +"Aunt Pauline has been very kind to me. But how could there be any +'proper place' for me in society, unless I could honestly afford to take +it? To get it by imposing privations on my grandmother, who is not +bound, except by her own abundant goodness, to do anything for me at +all—this surely could not be right or just, could it?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Dormer-Smith was not prepared with a cogent answer on the spur of +the moment. So he fell back on murmuring some faint echoes of his wife's +maxims about "duty to society." But he had not Pauline's sincere +convictions on the subject, and did it but feebly.</p> + +<p>"And, oh, Uncle Frederick," proceeded May; "what a mean impostor I have +been all this time!"</p> + +<p>"Impostor, my dear? No, no; that's nonsense, you know."</p> + +<p>He was rather relieved to find May talking nonsense. That seemed much +more normal and natural in a girl of her age than being so deuced +logical and high-strung, and that sort of thing.</p> + +<p>"That," he repeated firmly, "is really nonsense."</p> + +<p>"But, Uncle Frederick, I was appearing before everybody under false +pretences. People thought—I thought myself—that my father supplied all +my expenses."</p> + +<p>Mr. Dormer-Smith pursed up his mouth and puffed out his breath with a +little contemptuous sound. Then he answered—</p> + +<p>"Your father! My dear May, your father hasn't paid a penny piece for you +since you were seven years old."</p> + +<p>May was silent for a minute or so. She could not help some bitter +thoughts of her father, but it was not for her to utter them. At length +she said—</p> + +<p>"I cannot go on accepting my grandmother's sacrifice, Uncle Frederick. I +will not."</p> + +<p>It occurred to Mr. Dormer-Smith, as it had occurred to his wife, that +May's affection for Mrs. Dobbs might supply the fulcrum they wanted for +their lever. He answered—</p> + +<p>"Well, my dear, I don't blame your feeling, though it is a little +overstrained, perhaps. But you have it in your own power to more than +pay back all Mrs. Dobbs has done for you."</p> + +<p>"How?" asked May innocently.</p> + +<p>"Why, I am sure Mr. Bragg would be only too delighted——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Bragg! I was not thinking of Mr. Bragg, and I would rather not +talk of him just now."</p> + +<p>This was a little too much. Mr. Dormer-Smith's face assumed a very +serious, not to say severe, expression as he looked at his niece and +said—</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, May, but you must think of him, and talk of him also. That +was the subject I sent for you to speak about. I don't know how we have +drifted away from it. Your aunt tells me that you have not actually +refused Mr. Bragg, but merely stopped him from proposing to you. Now, if +that is the case, the matter is not past mending. No doubt Mr. Bragg may +feel a little offended."</p> + +<p>"He is not in the least offended," interposed May.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Well, so much the better. But you can hardly expect me to believe +that he particularly enjoyed the interview! Mr. Bragg is a person of a +great deal of importance in the world, and not accustomed to be treated +as if he were of no consequence. However," proceeded Mr. Dormer-Smith, +relaxing into a milder tone, "I dare say he can make allowances for a +young lady taken by surprise—it seems you did not expect his proposal?"</p> + +<p>"Expect it! How on earth could I have expected it?"</p> + +<p>"Some girls would. However, let us stick to the point. I don't think it +is too late for you to make everything well again."</p> + +<p>"Uncle Frederick, I am bound to assure you most positively that I can +never marry Mr. Bragg."</p> + +<p>"Now, don't be obstinate, May. What is your objection to him?"</p> + +<p>The girl hesitated. Then she replied, looking up with pleading eyes, +"How can I say, Uncle Frederick? One does not marry a man simply because +one has no particular objection to him. Mr. Bragg is old enough to be my +grandfather!"</p> + +<p>"No; scarcely that. Look here, May, I have a great affection for you. +You have been very good and kind to my little boys, and they doat on +you. I am not ungrateful for all you have done for the children, +although I may not have said much about it."</p> + +<p>May was melted in an instant by these words of kindness, and said +warmly, "And <i>I</i> am not ungrateful, Uncle Frederick. I know you mean +well by me, and Aunt Pauline, too."</p> + +<p>"Certainly we do. Naturally so! Well now, just listen to me, my dear. If +you were my own daughter I should give you just the same advice. I +should be very glad and thankful for a daughter of mine to marry Mr. +Bragg. I know a great deal more of the world than you do—or ever will, +please God!—for it isn't a very pleasant kind of knowledge—and I tell +you honestly, there are very few men, young or old, in the society we +frequent, whom I'd choose for your husband rather than Mr. Bragg. He is +a little uneducated, and unpolished, of course. We needn't pretend not +to know that. But he is a man of sound heart and sound principles—a man +whose private life will bear looking into. I'm talking to you as if I +really were your father, May; and I do assure you that I would not urge +you to marry a man twice as rich as he is, if I knew him to be—to be +what some men are, and what you in your innocence have no idea of. I +want you to believe that, May."</p> + +<p>"I do believe it, Uncle Frederick," sobbed May, taking his hand, and +kissing it.</p> + +<p>"There, there, my dear, don't cry! I couldn't talk in this way to many +girls of your age; but you have so much sense and right feeling! I +wanted you to understand that I'm not an altogether hard, worldly kind +of man, ready to offer you up to Mammon—eh? Look here, May; I would +stand by you against—against every one, if I thought you were going to +be sacrificed. But you must trust a little to the experience of those +older than yourself, my dear. Come, come, there now, don't distress +yourself! You are not to be pressed and hurried, you know. You will +think it all over quietly. Go to your own room and lie down a while. I +will take care that you are not disturbed or worried in any way."</p> + +<p>He led her gently to the door. She was now sobbing uncontrollably. She +longed to tell her uncle the truth about her engagement, but she thought +that loyalty to Owen and to her grandmother forbade her to speak out +fully without their leave. As she was quitting the room, she turned +round, and, making a strong effort to speak firmly, said—</p> + +<p>"Uncle Frederick, I shall never, as long as I live, forget the kind +words you have said to me. And, whatever happens, don't believe I am +ungrateful."</p> + +<p>"Well, Frederick?" said Mrs. Dormer-Smith, when her husband re-appeared +in her room.</p> + +<p>Frederick walked to the window, took out his pocket-handkerchief, and +answered from behind it, rather huskily—</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know. I almost hope it may come right."</p> + +<p>"Do you? Do you really? Well, that is a feeble ray of comfort. But it is +rather too bad to have to undergo all this wear and tear of feeling, in +order to secure that perverse child's fortune in spite of herself!"</p> + +<p>There was a long pause, during which Mr. Dormer-Smith continued to look +out of the window, and to blow his nose in a furtive kind of way. "I +wonder——" he began slowly, and then stopped himself.</p> + +<p>"You wonder—Frederick? Pray speak out! I assure you I am not able to +stand much more suspense and anxiety."</p> + +<p>"I was merely going to say, I wonder if there can be any one else."</p> + +<p>"Any one else?"</p> + +<p>"Any man she cares for."</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens, Frederick, who should there be? Really, you are not very +considerate to startle me with such extraordinary suppositions without +the least preparation. There is no one, of course."</p> + +<p>"You are sure?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure there is no one <i>possible</i>. I know, of course, every man she +has danced with, or who has paid her the smallest attention, and there +is not one who could be thought of for a moment, even if Mr. Bragg did +not exist. I should not hesitate to speak very strongly if I suspected +her of any culpable folly of that kind. A girl without a farthing in the +world! And her father, my poor unfortunate brother Augustus, in Heaven +knows what dreadful position! That May, under all the circumstances, can +behave in this way, is too intolerable. The more one thinks of it the +more flagrant it seems. No sense of duty! No consideration for her +family! I shall be compelled to say to her——"</p> + +<p>Suddenly, in the midst of these fluent, softly uttered sentences, Mr. +Dormer-Smith turned round, wiped his eyes, blew his nose defiantly, and +said, with an explosion of feeling—</p> + +<p>"The girl's a fine creature, and, by God, I won't have her baited!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + + +<p>Each mortal's private feelings are the measure of the importance of +events to him. And it often happens that while our neighbours are +pitying or envying us, on account of some circumstance which, all the +world agrees, must have a weighty bearing on our fate, we are mainly +indifferent to it, and are occupied with some inner grief or joy, which +would seem to them very trivial.</p> + +<p>To have received and rejected an offer of marriage from a man worth +fifty thousand a year would have been deemed by most of May +Cheffington's acquaintance about as important an event as could have +happened to her—short of death! But to her it was absolutely as +nothing, compared with the facts that Owen was on the point of returning +to England, and that he was to live in Mrs. Bransby's house.</p> + +<p>Why did this second fact seem to embitter the sweetness of the first?</p> + +<p>No, it was not the fact, she told herself, that was bitter; the +bitterness lay in the manner of its coming to her knowledge. Why had not +Owen written to her? There could be no reason to conceal it! Of course, +none! Owen was doing all that was right, no doubt. But to allow her to +hear of this step for the first time from Theodore Bransby at a +dinner-table conversation—this it was which irked her. So, at least, +she had declared to herself last night. Then the tone in which her uncle +and all of them had spoken of Mrs. Bransby and Owen had jarred upon her +painfully. Theodore had not joined in the tasteless banter; but then +Theodore's way of receiving it—with a partly stiff, partly deprecatory +air, as though there could possibly be anything serious in it—was +almost worse!</p> + +<p>The pathway of life which had stretched so clear and fair before her but +a short while ago, seemed now to have contracted into a tangled maze, in +which she lost herself. The events of the morning had made May resolve +that all secrecy as to her engagement must come to an end. She must see +Owen immediately on his arrival in London. But how to do so? She did not +know whether he was or was not in England at that very moment! Well, at +all events she knew Mrs. Bransby's address, and could write to him +there.</p> + +<p>This thought gave her a pang. And the pang was intensified by the sudden +and vivid perception—as one sees a whole landscape by a lightning-flash +out of a black sky—that it was caused by jealousy!</p> + +<p>Jealousy! She, May Cheffington, jealous—and of Owen? Yes; it might be +painful, humiliating, incredible, but it was true. The flash had been +inexorably sharp and clear.</p> + +<p>To young creatures, every revelation that they—even <i>they</i>—are subject +to the common woes, pains, and passions of humanity about which they may +have talked glibly enough, is an amazement and a shock. Still earlier in +our earthly course we doubt that Death himself can touch us. What child +ever realizes that it must die? It is only after many lessons that we +begin to accept our share of mortal frailties and afflictions as a +matter of course.</p> + +<p>Poor May felt sick at heart. Oh, if she could but see Granny! She longed +for the motherly affection which had never failed her since the day her +father left her—a rather forlorn little waif, whom no one seemed ready +to love or welcome—in the old house in Friar's Row. She thought that to +sit quite still and silent by Granny's knee, while Granny's kind old +hand softly stroked her hair, would charm away all her troubles, or at +least lull them to sleep.</p> + +<p>But for the present she could not rest. When she left her uncle, and +felt secure from interruption in her own room, she sat down and wrote +two letters. The first was to Owen, begging him to come and see her +without delay, and at the same time telling him that circumstances had +arisen which made it desirable to declare their engagement. The second +letter was to Granny.</p> + +<p>To Granny she poured out her gratitude. She thanked her and scolded her +in a breath. Who had ever been so generous, and so careful to conceal +their generosity? And yet Granny had done very wrong to make such a +sacrifice as was involved in giving up the old home in Friar's Row.</p> + +<p>"Had I known this a week ago," wrote May, "I do believe I should have +tried to coax Mr. Bragg into breaking the lease, and <i>making</i> you go +back to the old house which you loved. But I cannot ask any favour of +Mr. Bragg now!" Then she told her grandmother all about her interview +with Mr. Bragg, and her aunt's bitter disappointment, and her uncle's +kind behaviour, although she could see that he was disappointed too. "I +wonder," she added, "if you will be as astonished as I was? Perhaps not. +I remember some things you said when I told you my grand scheme for +marrying Miss Patty! Oh, dear me, I feel like some one who has been +walking in his sleep—calmly and unconsciously tripping over the most +insecure places. But now I have been suddenly awakened, and I feel +chilly, and frightened, and all astray."</p> + +<p>When she had written them, she resolved to post the letters herself. +Since she had volunteered to take her little cousins out for a walk +occasionally, the stringent rule which forbade her to leave the house +unattended by a servant had been relaxed—it was so very convenient to +get rid of the little boys for an hour or two at a time! It left Cécile +free to do a great deal of needlework, a large proportion of it expended +on the alteration and re-trimming, and so forth, of May's own toilettes. +Mrs. Dormer-Smith was strictly conscientious as to that; and since May +never went beyond the limits of the neighbouring square, there could be +no objection to the arrangement. One point, however, Aunt Pauline had +insisted on—that these walks should always take place in the morning, +or, at all events, during that portion of the day which did duty for the +morning in her vocabulary. The proprieties greatly depend, as we know, +on chronology; and many things which are permissible before luncheon +become <i>taboo</i> immediately after it.</p> + +<p>By the time May had finished her letters, however, it was well on in the +afternoon. Carriages were rolling through the fashionable quarters of +the town, and the footman's rat-tat-tat sounded monotonously like a +gigantic <i>tam-tam</i>, sacred to the worship of society.</p> + +<p>May went downstairs, and, opening the hall-door, found herself in the +street alone, for the first time since she had lived under her aunt's +roof. There was a pillar letter-box, she knew, not far distant. To this +she proceeded, and dropped her letters into it. It had been a fine day +for a London winter; but the last faint glimmer of daylight had almost +disappeared as she turned to go back home.</p> + +<p>There was an assemblage of vehicles waiting before a house which she had +passed on her way to the post-box. Now, as she returned, there was a +stir among them. Servants were calling up the coachmen, and opening and +shutting carriage doors. A number of fashionably dressed persons, mostly +women, came down the steps of the house and drove away. May paused a +moment to let a couple of ladies sweep past her on their way to their +carriage. As she did so, she heard her name called; and, looking round, +she saw Clara Bertram's face at the window of a cab drawn up near the +kerbstone.</p> + +<p>"Is it really you?" exclaimed Clara, as they shook hands. "I could +scarcely believe my eyes! What are you doing here alone?"</p> + +<p>"I have been posting some letters." Then, reading an expression of +surprise in the other girl's eyes, she added quickly, "You wonder why I +should have done so myself. For a simple reason: I did not wish the +address of one of them to be seen. But Granny knows all about it."</p> + +<p>"I am quite sure, dear, you have some good reason for what you have +done," answered Clara, in her quiet, sincere tones.</p> + +<p>"And you?" asked May. "What are <i>you</i> doing here?"</p> + +<p>"I have been singing at a <i>matinée</i> in that house. I was just about to +drive off, when I caught a glimpse of you. I was not sure that it was +not your ghost in the dusk!"</p> + +<p>"I suppose you are constantly engaged now?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I have a great deal to do."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hear of you. Your praises are in every one's mouth. Lady Moppett +declares you are rapidly becoming the first concert singer of the day. +She is as proud of you as if she had invented you! Indeed, she does say +you are her 'discovery': as if you were a Polynesian island! I could +find it in my heart to envy you, Clara. It must be so glorious to be +independent, and earn one's own living!"</p> + +<p>Clara smiled a faint little smile. "I am thankful to be able to earn +something," she said. "But I don't think I should care so much about it +if it were only for myself."</p> + +<p>"No, of course, dear! I know," rejoined May quickly. She had been told +that the young singer entirely supported an invalid father and sister. +Then she added, "Your voice is a great gift. There are so few things a +woman can do to earn money."</p> + +<p>"Why, one would suppose that <i>you</i> wanted to earn money!" said Clara, +smiling.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps."</p> + +<p>Clara looked more closely at her friend. The street lamps were now +lighted, and she could see May's face distinctly. "You are not looking +well, dear," she exclaimed. "You seem fagged."</p> + +<p>"I am sick of London. I want to go home to Granny and be at peace," +answered May wearily. Then she went on quickly, to stave off any +possible questionings as to her state of mind. "But I must return for +the present to my aunt's house. Good-bye."</p> + +<p>"Stay!" cried Clara. "Will you not get into the cab, and let me drive +you home?"</p> + +<p>"Drive! It is an affair of some two or three minutes at most."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, if you have half an hour to spare, let me drive you round +the square, and then drop you at home. I have been wanting for three or +four days past to speak to you quietly. I can't bear to lose this rare +opportunity. We do not meet very often." Then seeing that her friend +hesitated, she asked, "Are you thinking about the cost of the cab for +me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered May frankly.</p> + +<p>"I thought so! That is just like you. But, indeed, you need have no +scruples. The cab is engaged for the afternoon. When I sing at people's +houses, unless they send a carriage for me, the cab-fare is 'considered +in my wages.' Do come in!"</p> + +<p>May complied, and the cab moved away slowly.</p> + +<p>When they had proceeded a few yards, Clara said, "I wanted to tell +you—I think it right to tell you—something I have learned on good +authority. Your father—I hope it won't distress you—is really +married."</p> + +<p>May's first thought was that here again her Aunt Pauline had deceived +her!</p> + +<p>"Are you sure?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think I may say so."</p> + +<p>"And how did you learn it?"</p> + +<p>"From Valli."</p> + +<p>"Oh, from Signor Valli! But you told me he was not to be trusted."</p> + +<p>"In some ways not. But I do not doubt what he says on this subject. He +has no motive to invent the information. He cares nothing about the +matter—except that I think he rather likes La—Mrs. Cheffington than +not."</p> + +<p>"Is she a foreigner?" asked May, with a little more interest than she +had hitherto shown. Her listless way of receiving the news had surprised +her friend.</p> + +<p>"Yes, an Italian. At least, she is Italian by language, if not by law; +for she comes from Trieste. But she is almost Cosmopolitan; for she has +travelled about the world a great deal. She is—or was—an opera-singer. +Her name in the theatre is Bianca Moretti. She was rather celebrated at +one time." Clara paused a moment, and then added, "I hope this news does +not grieve you, dear?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered May dreamily, "it does not grieve me. If my father is +content, why should I grieve? He and I have been parted—in spirit as +well as body—for so many years, that his marriage can make but little +difference to me."</p> + +<p>"I was afraid you might feel——Of course, Captain Cheffington's family +will look on it as a dreadful <i>mésalliance</i>."</p> + +<p>May was silent for a few minutes. Then she said a very unexpected +thing—</p> + +<p>"Poor woman! I hope he is good to her!"</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said Clara, rather hesitatingly, "that the reason why +Captain Cheffington has not announced his marriage to his relations is +that he thinks they would object to receive an opera-singer."</p> + +<p>"Possibly," answered May. (In her heart she thought, "The reason is that +he cares nothing for any of us.")</p> + +<p>"It must be that," proceeded Clara. "For as far as I can make out there +seems to be no concealment about it in Brussels."</p> + +<p>Then they arrived at Mrs. Dormer-Smith's house, and May alighted and +bade her friend farewell.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Clara," she said, "for telling me the truth. I loathe +mysteries and concealments. When one thinks of it, they are despicable."</p> + +<p>"Unless when one conceals something to shield others," suggested Clara +gently.</p> + +<p>She had told her friend what she believed to be the truth so far as the +fact of her father's marriage was concerned. But she had not given her +all the details and comments which Signor Valli had imparted to her on +the subject. His view of the matter was not flattering to Captain +Cheffington. Valli declared, with cynical plainness of speech, that +Captain Cheffington had married La Bianca merely to have the right to +confiscate her professional earnings. Latterly these had become very +scanty. La Bianca did not grow younger, and her voice was rapidly +failing her. A good deal of gambling had gone on in her house at one +time. But it had been put a stop to—or, at least, shorn of its former +proportions by the ugly incident of which Miss Polly Piper had brought +back a version to Oldchester. Since that, things had not gone well with +the Cheffington <i>ménage</i>. Captain Cheffington had become insupportable, +irritable, impossible! He was, moreover, a <i>malade imaginaire</i>; a +querulous, selfish, tyrannous fellow; always bewailing his hard fate, +and the sacrifice he had made in so far derogating from his rank as to +marry an opera-singer. La Bianca was a slave to his caprices. To be sure +she was not precisely a lamb. There were occasions when she flamed up, +and made quarrels and scenes.</p> + +<p>"But," said Signor Valli, "he is an enormous egoist, and, with a woman, +the bigger egoist you are, the surer to subjugate her. La Bianca would +have stabbed a man who loved her devotedly, for half the ill-treatment +she endures from that cold, stiff ramrod of an Englishman."</p> + +<p>Such was Vincenzo Valli's version of the case; and Clara Bertram, in +listening to him, believed that, in the main, it was a true one. Valli +had recently been in Brussels, where he had seen the Cheffingtons; and +one or two other foreign musicians whom she knew had come upon them from +time to time, and had given substantially the same account of them. As +to persons in the rank of life to which Captain Cheffington still +claimed to belong, they were no more likely to come across him now than +if he were living on the top of the Andes.</p> + +<p>May went into the house wearily. In the hall she met her uncle +Frederick, who had just come in, and had seen the cab drive away.</p> + +<p>"Who was that with you, May?" he asked, in some surprise.</p> + +<p>"It was Miss Bertram," she answered. Then she asked her uncle to step +for a moment into the dining-room. When he had done so, and closed the +door, she said quietly, "My father is married to a foreign opera-singer; +they are living in Brussels. Did you and Aunt Pauline know this?"</p> + +<p>"Know it? Certainly not!"</p> + +<p>May was relieved to hear this, and drew a long breath. The sensation of +living in an atmosphere of deception had oppressed her almost with a +feeling of physical suffocation. She then told her uncle all that Clara +Bertram had said.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dormer-Smith puckered his brows, and looked more disturbed than she +had expected. "This will be another blow for your aunt," he said +gloomily.</p> + +<p>"I don't see why Aunt Pauline should distress herself," she answered +coldly; "my father is not likely to trouble her. Married or unmarried, +my father seems determined to keep aloof from us all." Then she went to +her own room.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dormer-Smith shrank from communicating this news to his wife, and as +he went upstairs he anticipated a disagreeable scene. He did not very +greatly care about the matter himself, for he agreed with May that it +was unlikely Augustus would trouble any of the family with his presence; +and to keep away was all that he required of his brother-in-law. On +entering his wife's room, he found her still in a morning wrapper, +reclining on her long chair; but her hair had been dressed, and she +announced her intention of coming down to dinner. Her countenance, too, +wore an unexpected expression of placidity, almost cheerfulness. The +country post had arrived, and there were several letters scattered on a +little table by Mrs. Dormer-Smith's elbow.</p> + +<p>Her husband went and placed himself with his back to the fire, which was +burning with a pleasant glow in the grate. "Well," he said, in a +sympathizing tone, to his wife, "how are you feeling now, Pauline?"</p> + +<p>They had not met since his outburst about May, and he had been rather +nervously uncertain of his reception. Pauline never sulked, never +stormed, and rarely scolded. But when she felt herself to be injured, +she would be overpoweringly plaintive. Her plaintiveness seemed to wrap +you round, and damp you, and chill you to the bone, like a Scotch mist, +and when used retributively was felt—by her husband, at all events—to +be very terrible. But on this occasion, as has been said, there was a +certain mild serenity in her face which was reassuring.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Frederick," she answered. "There seems to be a <i>little</i> less +pressure on the brain. Smithson bathed my forehead for three-quarters of +an hour after you were gone."</p> + +<p>Mr. Dormer-Smith hastened to change the subject. "Post in, I see," he +said. "Any news?"</p> + +<p>"I have a very nice letter from Constance Hadlow," answered Pauline, +with her eyes absently fixed on the fire. "How thoughtful that girl is! +What tact! What proper feeling! Ah! the contrast between her and May is +painful at times."</p> + +<p>Mr. Dormer-Smith made a little inarticulate sound, which might mean +anything. Despite her beauty, which he admired, Miss Hadlow was no great +favourite of his. But he would not imperil the present calm in his +domestic atmosphere by saying so.</p> + +<p>"Misfortunes," pursued Pauline, still gazing at the fire, "never come +singly, they say; and really I believe it."</p> + +<p>"Does Miss Hadlow announce any misfortune?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no!—at least, we are bound not to look on it as a misfortune. Who +could wish him to linger, poor fellow? She is staying near Combe Park, +and she says Lucius has been quite given up by the doctors. It is a +question of days—perhaps of hours."</p> + +<p>"No? By George! Poor old Lucius!" returned Mr. Dormer-Smith, with a +touch of real feeling in his tone.</p> + +<p>"Of course, this will make an immense difference in May's prospects. I +don't mean to say that she will easily find another millionnaire, with +such extraordinarily liberal ideas about settlements as Mr. Bragg hinted +to me this morning; <i>that</i> is, humanly speaking, not possible," said +Mrs. Dormer-Smith solemnly. "Still, the affair may not be such an +irretrievable disaster as we feared."</p> + +<p>"How do you mean?" asked Frederick, whose mind, as we know, moved rather +slowly.</p> + +<p>"It <i>must</i> make a difference to her," repeated his wife in a musing +tone. "The only child and heiress of the future Viscount Castlecombe, of +course——"</p> + +<p>"By George! I didn't think of that at the moment. Yes, Gus is the next. +I suppose that's quite certain?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith did not even condescend to answer this query, but +merely raised her eyebrows with a superior and melancholy smile.</p> + +<p>Frederick pondered a minute or so; then he said, "You say 'heiress,' but +I don't think your uncle would leave Gus a pound more than he couldn't +help leaving him."</p> + +<p>"I fear that is likely. Still, there is much of the land that must come +to Augustus, and Uncle George has enormously improved the estate. Do you +know I begin to hope that I may see my poor unfortunate brother come +back and take his proper place in the world? When I remember what he was +five-and-twenty years ago, it does seem cruel that he should have been +absolutely eclipsed during all this time. I recollect so well the day he +first appeared in his uniform. He was brilliant. Poor Augustus!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Dormer-Smith felt that the difficulty of telling his wife what he +had just heard assumed a new shape. He had feared to add to the load of +what Pauline considered family misfortunes; now it seemed as if his news +would dash her rising spirits, and darken roseate hopes. He passed his +large hand over his mouth and chin, and said, with his eyes fixed +uneasily on his wife, who was still contemplating the fire with an air +of abstraction—</p> + +<p>"Ah! Yes. But—there may be a Lady Castlecombe to find a place in the +world for."</p> + +<p>"Not improbable. I hope there may be. Augustus is little past the prime +of life. It would compensate for much if——"</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry to say, Pauline, that there's no chance of that—I mean of +such a marriage as you are thinking of. I came upstairs on purpose to +tell you. In one way it won't make any difference to <i>us</i>. And I'm sure +your brother has never deserved much affection or consideration from +you. But still, I know it will worry you."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith sat upright, with her hands grasping the two arms of +her chair, and said, with a sort of despairing calm, "Be good enough to +go on, Frederick. I entreat you to be explicit. I dare say you mean +well, but I do not think I <i>can</i> endure much more suspense."</p> + +<p>"Well, you know the rumours we've heard from time to time about that +disreputable Italian woman in Brussels—opera-singer, or something of +the kind? Well—I'm afraid there's no use deluding ourselves; I think it +comes on good authority—your brother has married her."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + + +<p>Although the little house in Collingwood Terrace had not, perhaps, fully +justified Martin's cheery prophecy that it would turn out an "awfully +jolly little place when once they got used to it," yet there, as +elsewhere, peace, goodwill, order, and cleanliness mitigated what was +mean and unpleasant. Mrs. Bransby's love of personal adornment rested on +a better basis than vanity, although she was, doubtless, no more free +from vanity than many a plainer woman. She had an artistic pleasure in +beauty and elegance, and an objection to sluttishness in all its Protean +forms, which might almost be described as the moral sense applied to +material things. Her delicate taste suffered, of course, from much that +surrounded her in the squeezed little suburban house. But, far from +sinking into a helpless slattern, according to the picture of her +painted by Mrs. Dormer-Smith's commonplace fancy, she exerted herself to +the utmost to make a pleasant and cheerful home for her children. Her +life was one of real toil, although many well-meaning ladies of the +Dormer-Smith type would have looked with suspicion on the care Mrs. +Bransby took of her hands, and would have been able to sympathize more +thoroughly with her troubles if her collars and cuffs had occasionally +shown a crease or a stain.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rivers's room had been prepared with the most solicitous care. It +was a labour of love with all the family. Martin and his sister Ethel +did good work, and even the younger children insisted on "helping," to +the irreparable damage of their pinafores, and temporary eclipse of +their rosy faces by dust and blacklead. The young ones were elated by +the prospect of seeing their playfellow Owen once again; Martin relied +on his assistance to persuade Mrs. Bransby that he (Martin) should and +could earn something; and even Mrs. Bransby could not help building on +Owen's arrival to bring some amelioration into her life beyond the +substantial assistance of his weekly payments.</p> + +<p>He arrived in the evening, and was received by the children with +enthusiasm, and by Mrs. Bransby with an effort to be calm and cheerful, +and to suppress her tears, which touched him greatly, seeing her, as he +did for the first time, in her widow's garb. He was touched, too, by her +almost humble anxiety that he should be content with the accommodation +provided for him, and earnestly assured her that he considered himself +luxuriously lodged.</p> + +<p>And, indeed, for himself he was more than satisfied; but he could not +help contrasting this mean little house with Mrs. Bransby's beautiful +home in Oldchester, and he found it singularly painful to see her in +these altered circumstances. In this respect, as in so many others, his +feeling differed as widely as possible from Theodore's. For Theodore, +although fastidious and exacting as to all that regarded his own +comfort, sincerely considered his step-mother's home to be in all +respects quite good enough for her, and had privately taxed her with +insensibility and ingratitude for showing so little satisfaction in it.</p> + +<p>All the family, including Phœbe, who grinned a recognition from the +top of the kitchen stairs, agreed in declaring Owen to be looking +remarkably well. He was somewhat browned by the Spanish sunshine, and he +had an indefinable air of bright hopefulness. In Oldchester he used to +look more dreamy.</p> + +<p>"It is business which is grinding my faculties to a fine edge," he +answered laughingly, when Mrs. Bransby made some remark to the above +effect. "I shall become quite dangerously sharp if I go on at this +rate."</p> + +<p>"I don't think you look at all sharp," replied Mrs. Bransby gently.</p> + +<p>Whereupon Martin told his mother that she was not polite; and Bobby and +Billy giggled; and they all sat down to their evening meal very +cheerfully.</p> + +<p>When the table was cleared, and the younger children had gone away to +bed under Ethel's superintendence, Mrs. Bransby said, "You smoke, do you +not, Mr. Rivers?"</p> + +<p>"Not here, in your sitting-room."</p> + +<p>"Oh, pray do! It does not annoy me in the least."</p> + +<p>Owen hesitated, and Martin thereupon put in his word. "Mother does not +mind it, really. Not decent, human kind of tobacco such as gentlemen +use. That beast, old Bucher, used to smoke a great pipe that smelt like +double-distilled essence of public-house tap-rooms."</p> + +<p>"Well, a cigarette, if I may," said Owen, pulling out his case. Then, +drawing the only comfortable easy-chair in the room towards the +fireside, he asked, "Is that where you like to have it?"</p> + +<p>"That is your chair," said Mrs. Bransby timidly.</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens!" exclaimed Owen, genuinely shocked, "what have I done to +make you suppose I could possibly be capable of taking your seat?"</p> + +<p>He gently took her hand and led her to the chair. Then, looking round +the little parlour, he spied a footstool, which he placed beneath her +feet. As he looked up from doing so, he saw her sweet pale face, with +the delicate curves of the mouth twitching nervously in an endeavour to +smile, and the soft dark eyes full of tears. "You must not spoil me in +this fashion," she began. But the attempt to speak was too much for her. +She broke down, and covered her face with her trembling hands.</p> + +<p>Martin instantly crossed the room, and stood close beside her, placing +one arm round her shoulders, and turning away from Owen, so as to fence +his mother in. The boy's protecting attitude was pathetically eloquent. +And so was the way in which his mother presently laid her head down upon +his shoulder. They remained thus for a little while. Owen stood by the +fire with his elbow on the mantelpiece, and his forehead resting on his +hand. And all three were silent.</p> + +<p>At length, when Martin felt that his mother was no longer trembling, and +that her sobs were subsiding, he looked round and said, "Mother's upset +by being treated properly. No wonder! It's like meeting with a white man +after living among cannibals. If you had ever seen that beast Bucher, +you'd understand it."</p> + +<p>"Shall I go away?" asked Owen.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bransby quickly held out one hand entreatingly, while she dried her +eyes with the other. "Please stay!" she said. "And please light your +cigarette! And please draw your chair near the fire, and make yourself +as comfortable—or as little uncomfortable—as you can! Forgive me. I do +not often break down in this way; do I, Martin?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Martin, moving the lamp so as to throw his mother's +tear-stained face into shadow, and then squeezing his own chair into the +corner beside hers, "no; you were cheerful enough with Bucher. Well, of +course one <i>had</i> either to take Bucher from the ludicrous side, or else +shoot him through the head, and have done with him!"</p> + +<p>"I see," said Owen, nodding, and not sorry to hide his own emotion under +cover of a joke. "And Mrs. Bransby was unable to make up her mind to +justifiably homicide him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. He <i>was</i> a beast, though, and no mistake! Phœbe was in such a +rage with him once, that she threatened to throw a hot batter-pudding at +his head. I'm sorry now she didn't," added Martin, with pensive regret.</p> + +<p>Then they talked quietly. Mrs. Bransby, with womanly tact, led Owen to +speak about himself and his prospects. There was little to tell in the +way of incident. He had been working steadily, and did not dislike his +work. And he had been well contented with his treatment by Mr. Bragg. +Mr. Bragg had made him an offer to send him, in the spring, to Buenos +Ayres. It might be an opening to fortune.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you will go? Of course, you will go!" said Mrs. Bransby.</p> + +<p>She could not help her voice and her face betraying some disappointment. +They did not, however, betray all she felt; for the prospect of Owen's +going away again so soon sent a desolate chill to her heart. Owen looked +at her quickly, and then as quickly looked away and tossed the end of +his cigarette into the fire, before lighting another.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," he answered, bending down over the flame; "it will +require some consideration. I believe the alternative is open to me of +remaining in Mr. Bragg's employment in England. Anyway, there is time +enough before I need decide—several months, I hope."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bransby breathed a low sigh of relief; then she said, in a +perceptibly more cheerful tone, "It seems so odd to think of you writing +business letters, and making up accounts, and being altogether turned +into a—a——"</p> + +<p>"A clerk."</p> + +<p>"No; not precisely that. You are Mr. Bragg's secretary, are you not?"</p> + +<p>"What I am aiming at—what I hope to be—<i>is</i> a clerk, you know. If I +called myself a field marshal or an archbishop it would not alter the +fact; but it does seem odd to me, too, when I think of it. Better luck +than I deserve, as my shrewd old friend Mrs. Dobbs said to me."</p> + +<p>"Talking of Mrs. Dobbs, May Cheffington came to see me here."</p> + +<p>Owen had heard regularly from May every week; he carried her last letter +in his breast-pocket at that moment (not the note which she had posted +herself—that had not yet reached Collingwood Terrace), so that he was +not starving for news of her. Nevertheless, he felt a wild temptation to +cry out, "Tell me about her! Talk of nothing else!" But he answered +composedly, "That was quite right; she ought, of course, to have come to +see you."</p> + +<p>"She only came once," observed Martin.</p> + +<p>"That was not her fault," said his mother. "She could not, as I told you +all, make frequent journeys here—she could not command her time or her +aunt's servants; she goes out a great deal."</p> + +<p>"Her aunt lives for the world, you see," said Owen apologetically.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there is no reason why May should not enjoy her youth and all her +advantages," answered Mrs. Bransby softly; "she is a very sweet, lovable +creature—much too good for——" Mrs. Bransby here checked herself, and +stopped abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, mother! that's all bosh!" cried Martin, flushing hotly. "I mean +that notion of yours. Now, I ask you, Mr. Rivers, is it likely that May +Cheffington would <i>think</i> of marrying Theodore? Ah! you may well look +flabbergasted! Anybody would who knew them both. You see, mother, Mr. +Rivers takes it just as I did. You don't think it likely, do you, Mr. +Rivers?"</p> + +<p>Owen had recovered from the first startling effect of hearing those two +names coupled together; but he was inwardly raging and lavishing a +variety of the most unparliamentary epithets on Theodore.</p> + +<p>"If you ask my candid opinion, I <i>don't</i> think it likely," he answered +curtly.</p> + +<p>"Of course not!" exclaimed the boy. "It's only Theodore's bounce; I told +mother so."</p> + +<p>"Why, you don't mean that Bransby has the confounded impudence to +say——"</p> + +<p>"No, no," interposed Mrs. Bransby. "Don't let us exaggerate. Theodore +has never made any explicit statement on the subject. But he meets May +very frequently in society. He is constantly invited by Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. They are thrown a great deal together. May has evidently +become much more kind and gracious to him of late—for I remember when +she used positively to run away from him!—and as for him, he is as much +attached to her as he can be to any human being. I do believe that."</p> + +<p>"Attached your granny!" cried Martin, apparently unable to find a polite +phrase strong enough to convey his deep disdain. "Theodore is much +attached to number one, and that's about the beginning and the end of +<i>his</i> attachments!"</p> + +<p>"Hush, Martin," said his mother severely. "You are talking of what you +don't understand. And you know how much I dislike to hear you use that +tone about—your brother."</p> + +<p>She brought out the word "brother" with an obvious effort. In truth, she +had a repugnance to speaking, or even thinking, of Theodore as her +children's brother. But it was a repugnance for which she blamed +herself.</p> + +<p>"I think," she added, "that you had better go to bed, Martin."</p> + +<p>The boy rose with an instant obedience, which had not always +characterized him in the happy Oldchester days, and bent over his mother +to kiss her.</p> + +<p>"I'm very sorry. I did not mean to vex you, mother," he whispered. +"You're not angry with me, are you?"</p> + +<p>"I <i>can't</i> be angry with you, my darling boy. But I must do my duty. You +know <i>he</i> would say, I was right to correct you."</p> + +<p>Martin lifted up his face cheerfully, with the happy elasticity of +boyish spirits. "All right, mother. Good night. Good night, Mr. Rivers."</p> + +<p>"Good night, old fellow," responded Owen, grasping the boy's hand +heartily. He felt very strongly in sympathy with Martin, just then.</p> + +<p>Martin lingered. "May I ask just one thing, mother?" he said wistfully.</p> + +<p>"You know we agreed not to tease Mr. Rivers with our affairs immediately +on his arrival, Martin," replied his mother. Then, unable to resist his +pleading face, she said, "If it really is only one question, perhaps Mr. +Rivers would not mind——?"</p> + +<p>"What is it you want to know, Martin? Speak out," said Owen.</p> + +<p>"It's about the question I asked in my letter," replied Martin, blushing +and eager. "Don't you think I ought to try and help mother? And don't +you think I might have a chance of earning something?"</p> + +<p>"That's two questions," said Owen, with a smile. "But I'll answer them +both. To number one, yes, undoubtedly. To number two, perhaps; but we +must have patience."</p> + +<p>"There, mother!" cried Martin, triumphantly turning his glowing face and +sparkling eyes towards her. Then he shut the door, and rushed upstairs: +his round young cheeks dimpled with smiles, and his heart so full of +joyous hopes, that he was impelled to find some vent for his overflowing +spirits by hurling his bolster at Bobby and Billy, who were sitting up +in bed, broad awake. Thereupon there ensued smothered sounds of +scuffling and laughter, mingled with the occasional thud of a bolster +against the wall; until Phœbe, sharply rapping at the door, announced +that unless Mr. Martin was in bed in two minutes, she would take away +the light, and leave him to undress in the dark.</p> + +<p>When the widow was alone with Owen she began to pour forth the praises +of her eldest boy. She hoped Mr. Rivers did not think her selfish in +letting the boy share so much of her cares and anxieties. But although +only a child in years he was so helpful, so loving, so sensible—had +such a manly desire to shield her and spare her! And then, after asking +Owen's advice about the boy, she added, naďvely—</p> + +<p>"Only, please, don't advise me to make a drudge of him. He is so clever, +he ought to be educated. His dear father looked forward to his doing so +well at school and college."</p> + +<p>"If I am to advise, really," said Owen, "I ought first to understand the +state of the case with as much accuracy as possible."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bransby at once told him the details of her circumstances as +succinctly as she could. There was a small sum secured to her, but so +small as barely to suffice for finding them all in food. Theodore had +made himself responsible for the rent during one twelvemonth. He had +also (or so she had understood him) promised to send Martin to his old +school for a couple of years. But it now appeared that his offer was +limited to paying for Martin's being taught at a neighbouring day school +of a very inferior kind. And even this seemed precarious.</p> + +<p>"I thought at one time," said Mrs. Bransby, "that I might, perhaps, +earn, a little money by teaching. But I must do what I can to educate +Ethel and Enid and the younger boys until they get beyond me. I fear I +could not find time to go out and give lessons, even if I succeeded in +getting an engagement. So I am trying to get some sewing to do. I can +use my needle, you know, while I hear Ethel say her French lesson, and +make Bobby and Billy spell words of two syllables."</p> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Bransby spoke with much diffidence of her plans and projects. +She had a very humble opinion of her own powers, and was touchingly +willing to be ruled and directed. Owen suggested that it might have been +better for her to have remained in Oldchester, where she was among +friends. But she answered that she had had scarcely any choice in the +matter. It was Theodore who had decided that she was to remove to +London. It was Theodore who had chosen that house for her. In the first +days of her loss she had blindly accepted all Theodore's directions.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I was to blame," she said. "But I was so overwhelmed, and I +felt so helpless; and it seemed right to listen to Theodore. +But—although I never say a harsh word about him to strangers, nor to +the children if I can help it—I cannot pretend to you, who know us all +so well, that he is kind to us. Martin resents his behaviour very much. +I do my best, but it is impossible to make my boy feel cordially towards +his half-brother."</p> + +<p>"Of course it is!" said Owen. Then he closed his lips. He would not +trust himself to talk of Theodore at that moment.</p> + +<p>It was a comfort to Mrs. Bransby to speak openly to a sympathizing +listener, and one whom she could thoroughly trust. She talked on for a +long time; and at length, looking at her watch, accused herself of +selfishness in keeping Owen so long from the rest which he must need +after his journey. As she returned the watch to her pocket, she said +deprecatingly—</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you think I ought not to possess so handsome a watch under the +present circumstances? Theodore was quite displeased when he saw it, and +said it ought to be sold. But, you see, I need some kind of watch; and +this is an excellent time-keeper; and—and my dear husband gave it to me +on the last birthday we spent together."</p> + +<p>She turned away to hide the tears that brimmed up into her eyes; and, +going to a little side table, lit her chamber candle.</p> + +<p>Owen rose from his chair. "Look here, Mrs. Bransby," he said. "Of course +we must have more talk together, and more time to consider matters; but +it seems to me that Martin is right in wishing to earn something. Young +as he is, it might be possible to find some employment for him which +should bring in a weekly sum worth having. And as to his education—it +has occurred to me that I could, at least, keep him from forgetting what +he has learnt already; and, perhaps, coach him on a little further. An +hour or two every evening, steadily occupied, would do a good deal. It +would be a great pleasure to me to be able to do this small service for +you. That is to say," he went on quickly, in order to check the outburst +of thanks which trembled on her lips, "if you are good enough to allow +me the advantage of continuing to occupy a room here. I hope you will be +able to put up with me. I don't <i>think</i> that Phœbe will want to throw +a hot batter-pudding at my head. But that may be my vanity! Good night. +Don't say any more now, please. We will think it over on both sides. I +will smoke one more cigarette, if I may, before I turn in."</p> + +<p>He opened the door, and held it open for her. As she passed him, she +paused an instant, and said in a low, trembling voice, "God bless you!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + + +<p>The next morning's post brought Owen May's note. She had written it +hurriedly—not so much from stress of time as under the influence of +that kind of hurry which comes from thronging thoughts and eager +emotions. The sight of her handwriting was a joyful surprise to Owen; +and he wondered, as he tore open the cover, how she could have learned +his arrival so quickly. But he found that she had written simply in the +hope that he might get her letter as soon as possible, and without any +knowledge of the fact that he was already in London.</p> + +<p>The contents of it did not much disquiet him. She had something to say +to him: he must come and speak with her as soon as possible after his +arrival. She was safe and well, he knew; and, with that knowledge, he +thought that he could defy fortune. As to urging him to go to her +quickly—that was, he told himself with a smile, a superfluous +injunction. What need of persuasion to do that which he ardently longed +to do?</p> + +<p>He rapidly planned out the hours of his day. At ten o'clock he must be +with Mr. Bragg in the City. He had received a telegram in Paris making +that appointment. He would probably find duties to detain him there +until the afternoon. Between two and three o'clock, however, he thought +he could reach Mrs. Dormer-Smith's house at Kensington. From what he +knew of the habits of the household, he judged that May would be at home +at that hour.</p> + +<p>He had much to think of regarding the future. A momentous decision lay +with him. Had Mr. Bragg's offer of sending him to Buenos Ayres come a +couple of months earlier, he might have accepted it. It was not, of +course, a certain road to success; and it had many draw-backs—chief +among them being banishment from England. But, as he had told Mrs. +Dobbs, he was ready to face that if it were required of him, +understanding that he who starts late in a race must needs run hard. But +latterly he had come to think that it might not be best for May that he +should go; and to do what was best for her was the supreme aim of his +life. He discovered from her letters that she was not happy and +contented in her aunt's house. The necessity of concealing her +engagement was already painful and oppressive. How could she endure it +for two years? Truly, she might announce it, and go back to Oldchester +to her grandmother's house (for Owen had more than a suspicion that the +Dormer-Smiths would be very unwilling to keep her with them as the +betrothed bride of Mr. Bragg's clerk!)</p> + +<p>But there were other objections. Theodore Bransby, Owen was inwardly +convinced, was his rival. He might try to injure him in his absence. The +absent are always in the wrong. Or Theodore might annoy May with +persecutions. If he and May were to wait for each other, had they not +better wait, at all events, in the same hemisphere? Owen knew very well +that <i>some</i> money—a decent competency—was indispensable to his +marriage. But that he might now reasonably hope to obtain in England. +The balance of his judgment, the more he reflected on the situation, +inclined the more decisively towards remaining.</p> + +<p>Other considerations than what was due to May could not have inclined +the scale one hair's breadth in these deliberations. But when he thought +over his last evening's interview with Mrs. Bransby, it pleased him to +believe that his stay, if he stayed, would be very welcome to her and +hers.</p> + +<p>He felt a profound and tender compassion for the widow. He admired her +patience, and the simple way in which she tried to do hard duties; +accepting them as matters of course. And he was filled with indignation +against Theodore Bransby. To these sentiments may be added the sense +that Mrs. Bransby relied on him; and the recollection of that day in the +Oldchester garden, when he had solemnly promised to be a friend to her +and her children at their need. All these were powerful incentives to +help her and stand by her.</p> + +<p>There was in Owen a somewhat unusual combination of heat and +steadfastness. He seldom belied his first impulse—the mark of a rarely +sincere character, swayed only by honest motives. The offer he had made +last night to teach Martin he was not inclined to repent of in the "dry +light" of next morning. It was plain, too, that his contribution to the +weekly income was a matter of serious importance to the family;—far +more so than he had any idea of when he first proposed to board with +them, although the offer had been made in the hope of assisting them. He +turned over in his mind various projects on their behalf as he walked +down to the City. It occurred to him that he might do well to speak to +Mr. Bragg on the subject. It was even possible that Mr. Bragg might find +some place for young Martin. Owen had a high opinion of his employer's +rectitude and good sense; and he thought him, moreover, a kindly +disposed man. But he had no glimpse of the tenderness which was hidden +under Mr. Bragg's plain, unattractive exterior, nor of the yearning for +some affection in his daily life, which sometimes made the millionnaire +look back regretfully on the days when he and his comely young wife +toiled together; and when he, Joshua Bragg, in his fustian working suit, +had been the dearest being on earth to a loving woman.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg appeared that day at his place of business looking as usual. +He was clean shaven, and soberly and appropriately attired. He was +attentive to the matter in hand, mindful of details, accurate, +deliberate—all as usual. And yet, so subtle is the quality of the +spiritual atmosphere which we all carry about with us, there was not a +junior clerk in the place who did not feel that there was a cloud on Mr. +Bragg's mind, and did not wonder "what was up with the governor."</p> + +<p>One wag opined that "Old Grimalkin had caught him at last." By which +irreverent phrase the profane fellow meant that the Most Noble the +Dowager Marchioness of Hautenville had succeeded in arranging an +alliance between Mr. Bragg and her daughter, the Lady Felicia. For it +was an open secret in the office, and the theme of infinite jest there, +that Lady Hautenville pursued this aim with an indomitable, and even +ferocious, perseverance worthy of the Berseker race from which she +professed to trace her descent. Her ladyship's hired barouche might +often be seen during the season, floating like a high-beaked ship of the +Vikings on the busy tide of commercial life, and coasting down towards +that plebeian shore of Tom Tiddler, where Mr. Joshua Bragg picked up so +much gold and silver. She would willingly have made as clean a sweep of +all his treasure as any piratical Scandinavian who ever carried off the +peaceful wealth of Kentish villages. Neither craft nor valour were +wanting to her. She made ingenious excuses to see him:—sometimes she +wanted to consult him as to the investment of non-existent sums of +money; sometimes to engage his presence at some fashionable gathering, +where he was, of course, peculiarly fitted to shine. She sent in to his +office little perfumed notes, directed by the fair hand of Felicia in +Brobdingnagian characters. Felicia herself, bright-eyed and crowned with +gorgeous bonnets—spoil gallantly wrested from some lily-livered West +End milliner, who had not the courage to refuse her credit,—sat by her +mother's side, and smiled with haughty fascination on Mr. Bragg, +whenever he could be coaxed forth to speak with their ladyships at the +carriage door. And every creature in Mr. Bragg's wholesale office, down +to the sharp Cockney urchin who sprinkled and swept the floors, +perfectly understood why Lady Hautenville did all these things, and +watched her proceedings as a spectacle of very high sporting interest.</p> + +<p>Thus it was that when the wag before-mentioned opined that "Grimalkin +had caught the governor," by way of accounting for Mr. Bragg's low +spirits, it was received with the benevolence due to a deserving old +jest which has seen service. But when a younger man ventured to +suggest—more than half seriously—that, "perhaps the governor was in +love," the suggestion was received with genuine hilarity, and the +originator of it immediately took credit for having fully intended a +capital joke.</p> + +<p>Owen Rivers, arriving punctually, was shown into Mr. Bragg's private +room. There he was greeted with the invariable grave, "How do you do, +Mr. Rivers?" And then, after a moment, Mr. Bragg added, "So you've got +over punctual. I thought you <i>might</i> manage without an extra day in +Paris. But you must have put your shoulder to the wheel to do it." A +speech expressive, in Mr. Bragg's mouth, of very marked approbation.</p> + +<p>Then Owen proceeded to report what he had done in Paris, and to lay +letters and papers before Mr. Bragg; and for some time they attended to +various matters of business. When these were over, Owen said—</p> + +<p>"When could I speak to you about some affairs of my own?"</p> + +<p>"Well, now, p'raps; if you don't want to be long."</p> + +<p>"Half an hour?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg looked at his watch, nodded, and, leaning his head on his +hand, prepared to listen with quiet attention.</p> + +<p>Owen began by saying that he was inclined towards remaining in England +rather than accepting the opportunity of going abroad; whereat Mr. Bragg +looked thoughtful, but waited to hear him out without interruption. Then +Owen went on to speak of Mrs. Bransby and her altered circumstances, and +of his wish and intention to assist and stand by her.</p> + +<p>When he ceased Mr. Bragg, having heard him with careful attention, +said—</p> + +<p>"The first point to be considered is your own position. Concerning the +situation we spoke of, I think I can promise to keep you on as my—what +you might call <i>business</i> secretary. As to a private secretary, I don't +have much private correspondence, and what I have, I can pretty well +manage myself. I should expect you to take a journey now and then into +foreign parts if necessary. Terms as before. But I tell you frankly, I +see no immediate prospect of a rise for you. If you went to Buenos Ayres +you might have a chance—only a chance, of course—of getting into +something on your own account. One 'ud be steady as far as it went; the +other 'ud be like what you might call a throw of the dice at +backgammon—chance <i>and</i> play. It's for you to choose. With regard to +Mrs. Bransby, I—of course——Look here, Mr. Rivers, I'm a deal older +than you—old enough to be your father—and I should like to give you a +little word of advice, if I could do it without offence."</p> + +<p>"I shall take it gratefully, Mr. Bragg, whether I act upon it or not."</p> + +<p>"Oh! as to acting upon it," said Mr. Bragg slowly; "it's a great thing +to be sure that your advice won't be picked up and pitched back at your +head like a stone. Well, you must understand that I don't mean any +disrespect to Mrs. Bransby, who is an excellent lady, I've no doubt. I +haven't much acquaintance with her, though I have dined at her table. +Her husband, Martin Bransby, I knew for years. I was his client, and had +reason to be well satisfied with him in all respects. So, you +understand, my feeling is quite friendly. But I would just drop a word +of warning. You're a young man, and Mrs. Bransby, though she's older +than you are, is still a young woman. And what's more, she's a very +handsome woman. And——Ah, I see you're making ready to shy back that +stone, by-and-by. But just listen one moment. For you, at your age, to +get entangled in that sort of engagement, and to undertake the charge of +a ready-made family of hungry boys and girls, would be simply ruin. +You'd repent it; and then she'd repent it because you did, and you'd all +be miserable together; that's all."</p> + +<p>Owen's mouth was set, and his eyes sparkling with a rather dangerous +look. But he answered quietly, "Thank you, Mr. Bragg. I am sure you mean +well, or why should you trouble yourself to speak at all on the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Just so; I'm glad you see that."</p> + +<p>"But may I ask what put the idea of any—any 'entanglement,' as you call +it, between me and Mrs. Bransby into your head?"</p> + +<p>"Understand me, Mr. Rivers; I meant all in honour, you know."</p> + +<p>Owen winced. The very assurance was almost offensive, but he returned, +"I spoke very stupidly and awkwardly; I'll amend my phrase. I should +have said, what put it into your head that I was likely to marry Mrs. +Bransby?"</p> + +<p>"Put it into my head? Well, when a young man feels a soft sort of +compassion for a beautiful woman who—who throws herself a good deal on +his sympathy, and looks to him for help and advice and all the rest of +it, and when the young man and the beautiful woman have opportunities of +seeing each other pretty constantly, why then I believe such a thing has +been heard of in history as their falling in love with each other. It +don't need much 'putting into your head' to see that when you've come to +my years."</p> + +<p>"Are you quite sure," persisted Owen, "that no suggestion of this kind +was made to you by any third person? I have a particular reason for +wishing to know."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg pondered. He had, in fact, heard Theodore's hints and +innuendos at the Dormer-Smiths, and although he was not consciously +moved by them in what he had now said, there could be no doubt that the +idea had been originally suggested to him by young Bransby and Pauline; +Owen's words to-day had merely revived those impressions. After a long +pause, he answered—</p> + +<p>"Well, I think I <i>have</i> heard it spoken of; but, if so, all the more +reason for you to be cautious."</p> + +<p>"I thought so!" said Owen. "Spoken of by——"</p> + +<p>"Why, by Mrs. B.'s step-son for one; so you may suppose there was +nothing said against the lady. <i>He</i>'d think it an uncommon good thing, I +dare say; it would relieve him of a burthen. He might wash his hands of +the family if she was to marry again."</p> + +<p>"Relieve him of a burthen!" cried Owen, starting up from his chair. +"Have you any idea what he does for his father's widow and children, Mr. +Bragg? Theodore Bransby is a liar. I know him. There's nothing too base +for him to insinuate against his stepmother, who is, I declare to God, +one of the best and most innocent women breathing! Theodore has a grudge +against her and her children—a jealous, petty, despicable kind of +grudge; and he's a mean-minded scoundrel!" He checked himself in walking +furiously about the room, and turned to Mr. Bragg with an apology. "I +beg your pardon, but I <i>cannot</i> talk coolly of that fellow."</p> + +<p>"I'm inclined to agree with you, and yet I wish I could think better of +him; or rather, I wish he was somebody else altogether," said Mr. Bragg +enigmatically, thinking of May.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bragg," said Owen, with a sudden inspiration, "will you come to +Collingwood Terrace and see Mrs. Bransby? You will learn more about them +all with your own eyes and ears in ten minutes than I could convey to +you in an hour. You shall take them unprepared. If you would look in +this evening about their tea-time you would find them all at home; it +would be a kind and natural act on your part, and would need no +explanation. Do come."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes; I will," answered Mr. Bragg. "Perhaps I ought to have done +so before. Any way, I'll come; just put down the address."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. Shall I write those Spanish letters now?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! you'd better. Mr. Barker, there, will give you a seat for the +present in his room."</p> + +<p>And so they parted.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg was by no means reassured as to his secretary being in +considerable danger from the widow's fascinations. He remarked to +himself that Rivers had not said one word explicitly denying any +attachment between them, but he felt a new bond of sympathy with Rivers. +It was agreeable to meet with such thorough fellow-feeling about +Theodore Bransby. Perhaps a mutual dislike is a stronger tie than a +mutual friendship, because our hatreds need more justifying than our +affections.</p> + +<p>By the time Owen's business was transacted, and he had eaten some food +at a neighbouring chop-house, it was past two o'clock, and then he set +out for Mrs. Dormer-Smith's house on foot. It was a long way off, but it +seemed to him more tolerable to walk than to jog along on the top of an +omnibus, or to burrow underground in the crowded railway. In his +impatient and excited frame of mind the rapid exercise was a relief.</p> + +<p>It was barely three o'clock when he reached the house in Kensington. The +servant who opened the door murmured something in a low voice, about the +ladies not receiving visitors in consequence of a family affliction. +Being further interrogated, he believed that Mrs. Dormer-Smith's cousin, +Lord Castlecombe's son, was dead.</p> + +<p>"Tell Miss Cheffington that I am here," said Owen. "Give her this card, +and say I am waiting to see her."</p> + +<p>His manner was so peremptory that, after a brief hesitation, the man +took the card, and ushered Owen into the dining-room to wait. The room +was dimmer than the dim wintry day without need have made it, by reason +of the red blinds being partly drawn down, and filling it with a lurid +gloom.</p> + +<p>The servant had not been gone many seconds before the door opened, and a +rather pale face, not raised very high above the level of the floor, +peeped into the room. The eyes belonging to the face soon made out +Owen's figure in the dimness, and a childish voice said, in a subdued +and stealthy tone, "Hulloa!"</p> + +<p>"Hulloa!" returned Owen, in a tone not quite so subdued, but still low; +for there was a general hush in the house which would have made ordinary +speech seem startling.</p> + +<p>"Do you want May?" asked the child.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I do."</p> + +<p>"I heard you tell James to give her your card. Who are you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm Owen. Who are you?" replied Owen, listening all the while for the +expected footfall.</p> + +<p>"I'm Harold."</p> + +<p>Upon this, a second rather pale face, still nearer to the ground, peeped +in at the door; and a second childish voice piped out faintly, "And I'm +Wilfred." Then the two children marched solemnly into the room, shutting +the door behind them, and stared at Owen with judicial gravity.</p> + +<p>"May's my cousin," said Harold, after contemplating the stranger for a +while in silence.</p> + +<p>"And May's my cousin, too," observed Wilfred.</p> + +<p>"I'm fond of her," pursued Harold.</p> + +<p>"So am I," exclaimed Owen, walking across the room impatiently. "But why +doesn't she come? Where is she? Do you know?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Harold, with deliberation; "I know."</p> + +<p>"What can that man be about? He can't have given her the message!" said +Owen, speaking half to himself, his nervous impatience rising with every +minute of delay.</p> + +<p>Harold looked profoundly astute, as he answered, with a series of +emphatic nods, "No; he didn't. He took the card to Smithson; and I know +what Smithson will do; she'll read it first herself, and then she'll +take it to mamma, and then perhaps mamma will tell May—if you're +a—what is it?—a proper person. <i>Are</i> you a proper person?"</p> + +<p>"I say," said Owen suddenly, "will you go and fetch May? Tell her Owen +is here waiting. Do go, there's a good boy!"</p> + +<p>"Is May fond of you?" inquired Harold hesitating.</p> + +<p>"May will be pleased with you if you go and fetch her. Run! Be off at +once now—quick!"</p> + +<p>After one searching look at Owen's face, the child disappeared swiftly +and silently. In less than two minutes a light footstep was heard +descending the stairs at headlong speed. The door opened, and May, +almost breathless with haste and surprise, half stumbled into the dark +room, and he caught her in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Is it really you?" she exclaimed, looking up at him with one hand on +his shoulder, and the other pushing back the hair from her forehead.</p> + +<p>Owen took the hand which rested on his shoulder, and pressed it to his +lips. "It is very really I," he said, with his eyes fixed on her face in +a tender rapture.</p> + +<p>"It seems like a dream! So unexpected!"</p> + +<p>"Unexpected! Why, you summoned me, and of course I am here!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it really does seem as if my note had been a spell to bring you +across the seas."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Over seas, over mountains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Love will find out the way!'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It doesn't alter that truth, that I happened to arrive in England only +last night."</p> + +<p>"Only last night! How strange it seems! And you never let me know——"</p> + +<p>"Darling, by the time it was quite certain what day I should be in +England, a letter would not have outstripped me. I got my orders by +telegram. Oh, my love, what a long, long time it seems since I looked on +your dear face!"</p> + +<p>"Tell me all about yourself, Owen. I want to hear everything."</p> + +<p>"So you shall. But you must explain first the meaning of your note. Tell +me now—sit down here—what has happened?"</p> + +<p>"I have so many things to say, I scarcely know where to begin!"</p> + +<p>"Begin with what was in your mind when you wrote that note."</p> + +<p>May sat down close to him, and began in a low voice, little above a +whisper, and with some confusion, to narrate the story of Mr. Bragg's +wooing, and its effect on her aunt and uncle. As he listened, Owen's +face expressed the most unbounded amazement.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it can't be!" he exclaimed. "It's impossible! There must be some +mistake!"</p> + +<p>May laughed, though the tears were in her eyes. "You are not very +civil," she said. "Nobody else seemed to think it impossible."</p> + +<p>"But <i>old Bragg</i>!" repeated Owen incredulously.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he was temporarily insane, but I really think he meant it," +answered May, blushing so bewitchingly, that Owen could not resist the +temptation to kiss the glowing cheek so close to his lips.</p> + +<p>At this point, Harold called out in a resolute tone, "You mustn't kiss +May."</p> + +<p>The lovers started. They had forgotten the children—had forgotten +everything in the world except each other. But the two little boys had +followed May into the room, and had been witnessing the interview in +dumb astonishment. It was characteristic that they now held each other +by the hand, as though seeking support from union, in the presence of +this stranger, who might, they instinctively felt, turn out to be a +common enemy.</p> + +<p>"Halloa!" said Owen. "Here's another rival. Their name seems to be +Legion."</p> + +<p>"It was Harold who told me you were here," said May.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I sent him to fetch you," answered Owen. Then he added +ungratefully, "They might as well be sent off now, mightn't they?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, let them stay. There are no secrets now. At least, I hope you will +agree with me that we ought to say out the truth. Come here, Harold and +Wilfred. You must love Owen, for my sake."</p> + +<p>Harold advanced and stood in front of them.</p> + +<p>"I say," he said, with a curious look at Owen, "I'm going to marry May +when I grow up."</p> + +<p>"<i>Are</i> you? That's a little awkward."</p> + +<p>"Why is it a little awkward?" demanded Harold gravely.</p> + +<p>"Well, because, to tell the truth, I was rather hoping to marry her +myself."</p> + +<p>The child had evidently intended to draw forth this explicit statement, +for he looked full at Owen, and said doggedly, "I just thought you +were!" Then he suddenly turned away and hid his face on May's lap. Upon +which Wilfred, conscious of a cloud in the air, began to cry softly.</p> + +<p>"Don't be angry with them, poor little fellows!" said May, checking some +manifestation of impatience on Owen's part. Then she coaxed the +children, and soothed them, and the childish emotion, brief though +poignant, soon passed. And at length Harold lifted up his face, and, +after a short struggle, said—</p> + +<p>"I will shake hands with him, if you like, but I won't love him—not if +he kisses you."</p> + +<p>"All right, old fellow," said Owen, taking the child's hand. "I +sympathize with your feelings."</p> + +<p>Wilfred, of course, put out his small paw to be shaken like his +brother's, and peace once more reigned.</p> + +<p>May then hurriedly—for she knew not how long they might remain +uninterrupted—repeated what Clara Bertram had told her of her father's +marriage; and, lastly, she spoke in terms of deep affection and +gratitude of "Granny's" generosity. But on this point, as we know, Owen +was already informed.</p> + +<p>All that he now heard strengthened and justified the strong inclination +he already felt to abandon the idea of Buenos Ayres and to remain in +England at all costs. With her father more completely cut off from his +family than ever by this new marriage, her aunt hostile, her uncle, to +say the least, dissatisfied, and sure to oppose her engagement when it +should be announced, and no one friend in the world to rely upon except +her grandmother, May's position would be very desolate if he, too, were +far away on the other side of the world. Mrs. Dobbs was the trustiest +and most devoted of parents, but she was old; and, moreover, she would +have no power to insist on keeping May with her should her father take +it into his head to decide otherwise. No; he must and would remain at +hand to protect and watch over her. These were the sole considerations +which decided him to come to this resolution then and there. But as soon +as he had taken his resolution the thought arose pleasantly in his mind +that it would bring some cheerfulness into the household at Collingwood +Terrace, and he expressed it impulsively by saying all at once—</p> + +<p>"I have made up my mind, darling, to stay in London. Poor Mrs. Bransby +will be overjoyed. She is in such need of some one to stand by her."</p> + +<p>May felt a little chill, like the breath of a cold wind. In the first +warm delight of seeing her lover again, all the lurking jealousy, which +she hated herself for feeling, but which was alive in spite of her hate, +had been forgotten. But his words revived it. "Is she?" she answered.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes; I have not had time to tell you—haven't even <i>begun</i> to say +the thousand things I want to say to you."</p> + +<p>"You could not have written them, I suppose?" said May, withdrawing her +chair slightly from its close proximity to his, and thereby allowing +Harold, who had been watching for this opportunity, to wedge himself in +between them.</p> + +<p>"No; I could not have written all about <i>her</i>, because I have only just +heard many of the details."</p> + +<p>"All about '<i>her</i>'? You mean about Mrs. Bransby?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. Poor soul, she has been so harshly, so cruelly treated! +Theodore's conduct is——"</p> + +<p>"You know I have no partiality for him," interrupted May. "But I think +you are a little unjust, or at least mistaken, in this instance. +Theodore Bransby has done a great deal for his stepmother."</p> + +<p>"Done a great deal for her! Good Heavens, my dear child, you can't +conceive with what meanness he treats her! It's dastardly. A woman who +was so idolized, so tended, so petted——And what a sweet creature she +is! And as lovely as ever! Her sorrows seem only to have spiritualized +her beauty."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said May. And the dry monosyllable cost her a painful effort to +utter it. Perhaps the constraint of her tone, the deadness of her +manner—naturally so warm and cordial—would have aroused Owen's +surprise, and led to an explanation. But they were interrupted here by +the door being thrown open, not violently, but very wide open, and the +appearance of Mrs. Dormer-Smith on the threshold.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + + +<p>Even in the moment of her first dismay, that admirable woman Pauline +Dormer-Smith was true to the great social duty of keeping up +appearances. She turned her head over her shoulder to James, who was +hovering uneasily in the background, and said softly, "Oh yes; it <i>is</i> +Mr. Owen Rivers. That is quite right"—as if Mr. Owen Rivers's presence +were the most natural and welcome thing in the world. Then, shutting the +door on James and on society, she advanced towards the two young people, +who had risen on her entrance, and said, with a kind of reproachful +feebleness, conveying the impression that she was reduced to the last +stage of debility, and that it was entirely their fault, "I had scarcely +credited the footman's statement that you were here having a private +interview with my niece, Mr. Rivers. He tells me that he informed you of +the family affliction which has befallen us. Under the circumstances, +you must allow me to say that I think you have shown some want of +delicacy in insisting on being admitted."</p> + +<p>May glanced at Owen, but as he did not speak on the instant, she did. +She took her aunt's passive fingers in her own, and said, "Aunt Pauline, +he had a right to insist on seeing me, because——"</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, May," interrupted Mrs. Dormer-Smith, waving the girl off, "I +beg you will go to your own room; <i>I</i> will speak with this gentleman."</p> + +<p>Her tone would have suited the announcement that she was prepared to +undergo martyrdom; and she sank into a chair in an attitude of graceful +exhaustion.</p> + +<p>"No, Aunt Pauline, I <i>cannot</i> go away until I have spoken," cried May +pleadingly. "Please to hear me. I wished to tell you the truth long ago, +but I was bound by a promise; now we are both agreed that it is right to +speak out, are we not?" she said, looking across at Owen. It seemed to +her that he was less eager to claim her, less proud of her affection, +less ardently loving, than her imagination had pictured him. There was +something in the quietude of his attitude which depressed and mortified +her; it was like—almost like indifference. An insidious jealousy was +discolouring everything which she looked on with her "mind's eye." It is +not always a sufficient defence against a poison of that sort to have a +noble, candid nature, any more than it is a sufficient defence against +foul air to have sound, healthy lungs; it will fasten sometimes on the +worthiest qualities: a humble opinion of ourselves, a high admiration +for others. The hinted slanders which May had heard had aroused no baser +suspicion in her than that Owen perhaps did not love her so entirely as +he at first had fancied—that his sympathy and compassion and admiration +for Louisa Bransby were strong enough to compete with his attachment for +<i>her</i>. And she knew by her own heart that if this were so his love was +not such a love as she had dreamed of—not such a love as she had given +to him. And yet all the while she was struggling against the influence +of this subtly-penetrating distrust, and trying to shake it off, like an +ugly dream.</p> + +<p>"I am engaged to marry Owen Rivers," she said abruptly, after a pause +which lasted but an instant, but which had seemed long to her.</p> + +<p>"No, no; I must beg you to retire. I cannot hear this sort of thing," +returned her aunt, waving her hand again, and turning away her head. +"<i>You</i>, at least, must understand, Mr. Rivers, that it is entirely out +of the question. How you can have entertained so preposterous an idea I +cannot imagine. You must have seen something of the world, I presume? +You ought to be able to perceive that—but, in short, the thing is +preposterous, and cannot be seriously discussed for a moment."</p> + +<p>May Cheffington's blood was rising. "I do not intend to discuss it," she +said haughtily.</p> + +<p>"Dearest, since your aunt addresses me, let me reply to her," said Owen. +He spoke in a quiet tone, although inwardly he was excited and indignant +enough. "I must tell you, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, that we are neither of us +acting on a rash impulse. We have been parted for more than three +months, during which time May has been free to give me up without +breaking any pledge, or incurring—from me, at least—any reproaches. If +she had wavered—if she had found that she had mistaken her own +feelings—she was free as air. I should have made no claim, and laid no +blame, on her."</p> + +<p>"Made no claim on her!" repeated Mrs. Dormer-Smith. Then she laughed the +low laugh which, with her, indicated the very extremity of provocation. +"Oh, really! Ha, ha, ha! This is too monstrous. The whole thing appears +to me like insanity."</p> + +<p>"To marry without loving—<i>that</i> appears to me like insanity," said May +scornfully.</p> + +<p>"May! I beseech you! Really, in the mouth of a young girl of your +breeding that sort of thing is inconceivable—I am tempted to use a +harsher word. <i>This</i> then, is the reason why you have rejected one of +the most brilliant prospects! Are you aware, Mr. Rivers, that this +school-girl nonsense has prevented——" She caught herself up hastily, +and changed her phrase—"might have prevented Miss Cheffington from +obtaining one of the most splendid establishments in England?"</p> + +<p>"Aunt Pauline!" cried May with hot indignation. "How can you say so? I +would never have thought of marrying Mr. Bragg, even if Owen had not +existed!"</p> + +<p>"But apart from that," pursued Mrs. Dormer-Smith, ignoring the +interruption, "your pretensions would have been quite inadmissible. You +have heard of the death of my poor cousin Lucius. You had probably +calculated on it. I do not mean to bring any special accusation against +you there. Of course, in the case of a person of poor dear Lucius's +social importance all sorts of calculations were made by all sorts of +people. My brother Augustus is now the next heir to the family title and +estates. Under these circumstances I leave it to your own good sense to +determine whether he is likely to consent to his daughter's +marrying—really I am ashamed to speak of it seriously!—a person who, +in however praiseworthy a manner, is filling the position of a hired +clerk!"</p> + +<p>This shaft fell harmless, since both May and her lover were honestly +free from any sense of humiliation in the fact of Owen's being a hired +clerk, and sincerely willing to accept that position for him.</p> + +<p>Owen answered calmly, "You can probably judge far better than I, as to +what your brother is likely to think on that subject." Then turning +towards May, he said, "I think, my dearest, that you had better leave +your aunt and me to speak quietly together. You have been sufficiently +pained and agitated already. You look quite pale! Go, darling, and leave +me to speak with Mrs. Dormer-Smith."</p> + +<p>"Agitated!" echoed that lady. "We have all been sufficiently agitated. +What I have endured from pressure on the brain is unspeakable. Certainly +you had better go away, May, I have said so several times already."</p> + +<p>May walked slowly to the door. "I will do as you wish," she said to +Owen.</p> + +<p>"You see I am right, dear, do you not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I suppose so."</p> + +<p>The listlessness of her tone, he interpreted as a sign of her being +weary and over-wrought. And, in truth, it was partly due to that cause.</p> + +<p>As she moved across the room, two little figures crept out from a dark +corner, behind an armchair, and followed her.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious!" cried Mrs. Dormer-Smith faintly. "What is that? Have +those children been here all the time?" She always spoke of Harold and +Wilfred as "those children," in a distant tone as though they were +somebody else's intrusive little boys. On this occasion, however, she +did not altogether disapprove of their presence. It was certainly less +<i>inconvenable</i> that they should have been known by the servants to be +present at the interview, than if May had been without even that small +amount of <i>chaperonage</i>. She had no idea that it was Harold who had +brought about the interview, or he might not have got off so easily!</p> + +<p>"Go away, little boys," she said, in her sweet, soft voice. "Go away +upstairs. Cannot Cécile find some lessons for you to do? You really must +not prowl about this part of the house in the afternoon."</p> + +<p>The children trotted after their cousin willingly enough. They never +wished to stay with their mother.</p> + +<p>"We shall meet again soon, my dear one," whispered Owen, as he opened +the door. And then, with Mrs. Dormer-Smith's eyes fixedly regarding him, +he took May's cold little hand in his own, and kissed it, before she +passed out.</p> + +<p>Pauline observed his demeanour with an unbiassed judgment. She would, in +the cause of duty, willingly have had him kidnapped and sent off to New +Caledonia at that moment. But she said to herself, "He has the manner of +a gentleman. It is most disastrous!" For she felt that this circumstance +increased her own difficulties.</p> + +<p>"Now, Mrs. Dormer-Smith," said Owen, when the door was shut, "I can +answer you with more perfect frankness than I should have liked to +employ in May's presence. You were so kind as to say that you would +leave it to my good sense to determine whether Captain Cheffington was +likely to consent to my marriage with his daughter. My answer is quite +simple. I do not intend to ask his consent."</p> + +<p>"You do not intend—to ask—his consent?" ejaculated Pauline, leaning +back in her chair, and, in the extremity of her astonishment at this +young man's audacity, letting fall a hand-screen which she had been +using to shield her face from the fire.</p> + +<p>Owen picked it up and restored it to her before repeating, "No; I do not +intend to ask his consent."</p> + +<p>"And do you hope to persuade my niece to disregard her father's +authority?—Not to mention other members of the family who have a right +to be heard!"</p> + +<p>"There is only one member of the family who has a right to be +heard—Mrs. Dobbs. And her consent I hope I have obtained."</p> + +<p>Pauline was for the moment stricken speechless by hearing Mrs. Dobbs +mentioned as a member of the family. "The family!" Good heavens, what +was the world coming to? She pressed her hand to her forehead with a +bewildered look.</p> + +<p>Owen went on resolutely. "As to parental authority—Mrs. Dormer-Smith, +your brother has abdicated all parental authority over May. He abandoned +her—pardon me, I <i>must</i> use that word; for it is the only one which +expresses what I mean—when she was a young, motherless child. He went +away to his own occupations, or pleasures—any way, he went to live his +own life in his own way, utterly careless of May's welfare and +happiness. You may tell me that he was sure of her finding the tenderest +treatment under her grandmother's roof. He was not sure of it; for he +never troubled himself to consider the question. But if he had been +sure, he had no right to leave his child as he did. At any rate, having +done so, it is too late to pretend that she is morally bound to consider +his wishes."</p> + +<p>Pauline put her handkerchief to her eyes. "My poor brother Augustus is +much to be pitied," she murmured. "Allowances must be made for a man in +his position. That unfortunate marriage——"</p> + +<p>"I have never been told," said Owen, "that Miss Susan Dobbs seized upon +Captain Cheffington and compelled him by main force to marry her. +And—judging from what I know of her mother and daughter—I should think +it unlikely."</p> + +<p>"Oh, one understands that sort of thing," returned Pauline, with languid +disdain. "A young woman in her class of life is not to be judged by our +standards. No doubt she thought herself justified in doing the best she +could for herself."</p> + +<p>"It strikes me that she did very badly for herself—lamentably badly. I +do not wish to say anything needlessly offensive, but we are in the way +of plain speaking, and I must point out to you that so far from any +consideration being due to your brother, he is—from the point of view +of an honest man wishing to marry May—a person to be decidedly ashamed +of. There are in the city of Oldchester, his late wife's native place, +many tradesmen, and even mechanics, who would strongly object to connect +themselves by marriage with Captain Cheffington."</p> + +<p>To say that Mrs. Dormer-Smith was astonished by this speech would be but +faintly to express her sensations. She was bewildered. She had often +heard Augustus severely blamed. She had been compelled to blame him +herself. Of course he ought not to have thrown away his career as he had +done. They had agreed as to that. But all this blame had assumed that +Augustus had chiefly injured—firstly, himself; and in the second place, +and more indirectly, the whole Cheffington family.</p> + +<p>Persons who live exclusively in any one narrow sphere are apt to have a +strange simplicity, or ignorance, as one may choose to call it, as to +large sections of their fellow-creatures outside that sphere. And in no +class is that kind of <i>naďveté</i> more commonly found than in the class to +which Mrs. Dormer-Smith belonged, where it is often intensified by the +conviction that they possess what is called "knowledge of the world" in +a supreme degree.</p> + +<p>It was far too late in the day to bring much enlightenment to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. Owen's words merely struck her mind with a shock of wonder +and dismay, and then glanced off again. The impression of having +received a shock, however, did remain with her, and made her as +resentful as was possible to her placid nature. In speaking of Mr. +Rivers afterwards to her husband, she said—</p> + +<p>"I believe him, Frederick, to be a Nihilist."</p> + +<p>But for the present her mind was concentrated on the aim of breaking off +what Owen chose to call his engagement to her niece, and she was not to +be turned aside from it. She addressed herself to argue the case with +Owen. In argument she possessed the immense advantage—if it be an +advantage to reduce one's adversary to silence—of supposing that the +statement of any one truth on her part was a sufficient answer to any +other truth which might be advanced against her. As, for instance, when +Owen insisted on Captain Cheffington's having forfeited all moral claim +to May's duty and affection, she replied that it was a dreadful thing to +set a child against a parent; and when Owen denied the right of May's +relatives to prevent her from making a marriage of affection, she +retorted that Mr. Rivers came of undeniably gentle blood himself, and +ought to understand her (Mrs. Dormer-Smith's) strong family feeling.</p> + +<p>But when even this powerful kind of logic failed to make any impression +on Owen's obduracy, she changed her attack, and inquired what he was +prepared to offer to her niece, in exchange for the magnificent prospect +of being Mrs. Joshua Bragg, with settlements and pin-money such as every +duke's daughter would desire, and very few dukes' daughters achieved.</p> + +<p>"But, my dear madam," said Owen, "why speak of that alternative when May +has assured you, in my presence, that nothing would induce her to marry +Mr. Bragg?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Rivers, I am surprised you know so little of the world! May is +a mere child: peculiarly childish for her age. Besides, even supposing +she definitively rejected Mr. Bragg, there will be other good matches +open to her <i>now</i>. The death of my poor cousin Lucius has made a vast +difference in all that, as you must be well aware."</p> + +<p>"To me, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, it has made no difference. May is herself. +That is why I love her. She is not in the least transfigured, in my +imagination, by being the daughter of a man who may, or may not, be Lord +Castlecombe at some future day!"</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Mrs. Dormer-Smith, shaking her head with the old plaintive +air, "you need not entertain any doubts as to my brother's succession. +He is the next heir. And the estates—at least the bulk of them—are +entailed."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens!" cried Owen, in despair, "can you not understand that I +care not one straw whether they are entailed or not? That I would +proudly and joyfully make May my wife—she being what she is—if her +father trundled a barrow through the streets?"</p> + +<p>Whether Mrs. Dormer-Smith could, or could not, understand this, at any +rate she certainly did not believe it. She merely shook her head once +more, and said softly—</p> + +<p>"I think you ought to consider her prospects a little, Mr. Rivers. It +appears to me that your views are entirely selfish."</p> + +<p>This seemed very hopeless. With a last effort to come to an +understanding, Owen took refuge in a plain and categorical statement of +facts. He had loved May when she was penniless. So far as he knew, she +was so still. He hoped to be able to offer her a modest home. She had +not been accustomed to luxury or show—the season in London having been +a mere episode, and not the main part of her life. Absolute destitution +they were quite secure from.</p> + +<p>He possessed one hundred and fifty pounds a year of his own. (Pauline +gave a little shudder at this. It positively seemed to her worse than +nothing at all. With nothing certain in the way of income, a boundless +field was left open for possibilities. But a hundred and fifty pounds a +year was a hard, hideous, circumscribing fact, like the bars of a cage!) +He was receiving about as much again for his services as secretary. +Moreover, he had tried his hand at literature, not unsuccessfully. He +had earned a few pounds by his pen already, and hoped to earn more. That +was the state of the case. If May, God bless her! were content with it, +he submitted that no one else could fairly object.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith rose from her chair, to signify that the interview was +at an end. Indeed, what use could there be in prolonging it?</p> + +<p>"I confess," she said, "you have astonished me, Mr. Rivers. If May—an +inexperienced young girl not yet nineteen—is content, you think no one +else has a right to interfere! At that rate, if she chose to marry the +footman, we must all stand by without raising a finger to prevent it. +That is, certainly, very extraordinary doctrine."</p> + +<p>Owen drew himself up, and looked full at her with those blue eyes, which +could shine so fiercely upon occasion as he answered—</p> + +<p>"I have already admitted the right of one person to be consulted about +May's future:—the benevolent, unselfish, high-minded woman, who +befriended her, and cherished her, and was a mother to her, when she was +deserted by every one else. As to her marrying the footman—it is clear, +madam, that she might have married the hangman, for all the effort <i>you</i> +would have made to prevent it, until Mrs. Dobbs bribed you to take some +notice of your niece! But in marrying a Rivers of Riversmead I need not, +I suppose, inform you that she will confer on you the honour of a +connection with a race of gentlemen compared with whom—if we are to +stand on genealogies—half the names in the Peerage are a mere +fungus-growth of yesterday."</p> + +<p>It was the first word he had said to her which was less than courteously +forbearing. And it was the first word which gave her a momentary twinge +of regret that his suit was altogether inadmissible. She contrasted his +bearing with that of May's two other wooers:—Bransby the smooth, and +Bragg the unpolished; and she said to herself with a sigh, that there +was no doubt about this young man's pedigree, and that "<i>bon sang ne +peut mentir</i>." But not therefore did she flinch from her position. She +answered him in the same words she had used years ago to her brother, in +that very room.</p> + +<p>"It will not do, Mr. Rivers. I assure you, it will not do!"</p> + +<p>Then she bent her head with quiet grace, and moved to go away.</p> + +<p>"One instant, Mrs. Dormer-Smith!" Owen said, following her to the door +of the dining-room. "I wish, if you please, to speak with May again +before I go away."</p> + +<p>"Impossible. I cannot, compatibly with my duty, consent to your seeing +her now, or at any future time."</p> + +<p>"Am I to understand that you forbid me your house?"</p> + +<p>"If you please. Unless, indeed, you consent to come in any other +character than as my niece's suitor. In that case it would give me great +pleasure to receive you as I have done before."</p> + +<p>He stood looking at her rather blankly. The position was undeniably +awkward. It was impossible—for May's sake, if from no other +consideration—to make a scene of violence, and insist upon seeing her. +And, even if he did so, Mrs. Dormer-Smith might still resist. She was +mistress of the situation so far. Even in his vexation and perplexity, +the ludicrous side of the affair struck him.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, after a moment, taking up his hat, "I cannot intrude +into your house against your will. Our only resource must be to meet +elsewhere. I warn you we shall do so. Of course, it is idle to suppose +that you have the power to keep us apart."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith shook her head, and repeated with gentle obstinacy, +"It will not do, Mr. Rivers. I really am very sorry, but it will <i>not</i> +do."</p> + +<p>"War, then, is declared between us?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope not! I trust you will think better of it," she said in a +mildly persuasive tone, as though she were suggesting that he should +leave off tea, or take to woollen clothing. "<i>I</i>, at least, have no +warlike intentions, Mr. Rivers; for I am going to ask you to do me a +favour. Be so very kind as to wait until I ring, and let my servant show +you out in a civilized manner. It is quite unnecessary to publish our +differences of opinion to the servants' hall."</p> + +<p>Accordingly she rang the bell, and, when James appeared, said sweetly, +in an audible voice, "Good-bye, Mr. Rivers." Whereupon Owen made her a +profound bow, and departed.</p> + +<p>As he passed through the hall, he looked about him wistfully in the hope +that May might be lingering near—might possibly be looking down from +the upper part of the staircase. But she did not appear. The house was +profoundly silent. James stood waiting with the door in his hand. There +was no help for it. He strode away with various conflicting feelings, +thoughts, projects, and hopes struggling in his mind—of which the +uppermost at that special moment was a strong inclination to burst out +laughing.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + + +<p>It was not until Owen had nearly reached Collingwood Terrace that the +thought struck him, "What if Mr. Bragg should withdraw his countenance +from him, and dismiss him from his employment, when he learned that he +was betrothed to May?"</p> + +<p>The idea of Mr. Bragg in the light of a rival disconcerted and confused +all his previous conceptions of his employer. At the first blush it had +appeared ludicrous—incredible; but, on reflection, there was, he found, +nothing so extravagant in it. Mr. Bragg had a right to seek a wife to +please himself; he was but little past middle life, after all; and as to +the disparity in years between him and May, that was certainly not +unprecedented. He had taken his rejection well, and manfully—even with +a touch of chivalry; but he might not, any the more, be disposed to +continue his favour towards Owen when he should discover the state of +the case. He might even suspect that there had been some kind of plot to +deceive him! That was a very uncomfortable thought, and sent the blood +tingling through Owen's veins.</p> + +<p>There was clearly but one thing to be done—to tell Mr. Bragg the truth +at all hazards. As he walked along the pavement within a few hundred +yards of Mrs. Bransby's door, he reflected that the revelation would +come better and more gracefully from May than from himself, he was not +supposed to be aware of what had passed between May and Mr. Bragg—it +was best that he should still seem to ignore it. He had a sympathetic +sense that Mr. Bragg's wounded feelings might endure May's delicate +handling, while they would shrink resentfully from any masculine touch.</p> + +<p>Owen regretted now more than ever that he had not seen May again before +leaving her aunt's house; they had had no time to consult together, or +to form any plan of action for the future. Their interview seemed, in +Owen's recollection, to have passed like a swift gleam of light in a sky +over which the clouds are flying. (It had, in sober fact, lasted above +half an hour before Mrs. Dormer-Smith's appearance on the scene.) And +now he was forbidden the house! Forbidden to see her! And yet he told +himself over and over again that he could not have acted otherwise than +he had acted at the time. Well, it was too absurd to suppose that she +could be treated as a prisoner. They must meet soon, and meanwhile there +was a penny post in the land, and her letters, at least, would not be +tampered with. He would write to her the moment he got home; she would +receive his letter the next morning, and by that same afternoon she +could put Mr. Bragg in possession of the fact of her engagement.</p> + +<p>And after she had done so——</p> + +<p>The "afterwards" seemed hazy, certainly. But at least there was no doubt +as to the plain duty of both of them not to keep their engagement any +longer secret from Mr. Bragg. It was a comfort to see clearly the right +course as regarded the steps immediately before them. For the rest—they +had youth and hope, and they loved each other!</p> + +<p>Owen let himself into the house with his latch-key, and went straight to +his own room to write to May. When the note was finished, he took it out +and posted it, and then proceeded to the sitting-room.</p> + +<p>The table was spread for tea; all the tea equipage bright and glistening +as cleanliness could make it. A cheerful fire burned in the grate. Bobby +and Billy, seated side by side on a couple of low stools in one corner, +were occupied with a big book full of coloured pictures. Ethel was +sewing. Martin stood leaning against the mantelpiece close to his +mother's armchair. And in a chair at the opposite corner of the hearth +sat Mr. Bragg, with Enid on his knee!</p> + +<p>When Owen entered, Mr. Bragg said, "Well, Mr. Rivers, you see I've found +my way to Mrs. Bransby's. I ought to have come and paid her my respects +before now. But <i>you</i> know I've had my hands pretty full since I came +back to England."</p> + +<p>Something in his tone and his look seemed to convey a hint to be silent +as to their conversation of that morning; and accordingly Owen made no +allusion to it.</p> + +<p>"It is so pleasant to see an Oldchester face, is it not?" said Mrs. +Bransby.</p> + +<p>"<i>Some</i> Oldchester faces," returned Owen, laughing. Then he said, "Well, +Enid, have you not a word to say to me? Won't you come and give me a +kiss?"</p> + +<p>Miss Enid, who was a born coquette, and who was, moreover, greatly +interested in Mr. Bragg's massive watch-chain and seal, replied with +imperious brevity, "No; don't want to."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg looked down gravely on the small creature, and then up at +Owen, as he said—half shyly, and yet with a certain tinge of +complacency, "Why, she <i>would</i> come and set on my knee, almost the first +minute she saw me."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you had better get down, baby," said Mrs. Bransby. "I am afraid +she may be troublesome."</p> + +<p>"Troublesome? Lord, no! Why, I don't feel she's there, no more than a +fly. Let her bide," said Mr. Bragg.</p> + +<p>"Ah, <i>I</i> know what she is:—she's fickle," observed Owen, drawing up his +chair.</p> + +<p>"<i>Not</i> pickle!" declared Miss Enid, with great majesty.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you are! False, fleeting, perjured Enid!" said Owen.</p> + +<p>He was delighted to perceive that the little home and its inmates had +evidently made a favourable impression on Mr. Bragg. Observing that +gentleman in the new light of May's revelation, he saw something in his +face which he had not seen there before:—a regretful, far-away look, +whenever he was not speaking, or being spoken to. It was wonderfully +strange, certainly, to think of him as May's wooer! And yet not absurd, +as it had appeared at first. In Mr. Bragg's presence, the absurdity, +somehow, vanished. The simplicity and reality of the man gave him +dignity. Owen even began to feel something like a vague and respectful +compassion for Mr. Bragg; and every now and then the peculiarity of +their mutual position would come over him with a fresh sense of +surprise.</p> + +<p>"We have been having a little conversation, Mrs. Bransby and me, about +her boy here," said Mr. Bragg, glancing across at Martin, who coloured, +and smiled with repressed eagerness. Mr. Bragg continued to observe him +thoughtfully. "He tells me he wants to help his mother; and he's not +afraid or ashamed of work, it seems."</p> + +<p>"Ashamed!" broke out Martin. "No, I hope I ain't such a cad as that!"</p> + +<p>"Martin!" cried his mother anxiously. She was nervous lest he should +give offence.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Bragg answered with a little nod, which certainly did not +express disapprobation, "Well, the boy's about right. To be ashamed of +the wrong things, does belong to—what you might call a cad. I expect," +pursued Mr. Bragg musingly, "that if we could always apply our shame in +the right place, we should all of us do better than we do."</p> + +<p>"I suppose I dare not offer you any tea at this hour?" said Mrs. Bransby +gently. "You have not dined, of course."</p> + +<p>"Well, no; not under the <i>name</i> of dinner, I haven't! But I ate a hearty +luncheon; and I believe that's about as much dinner as I want; to do me +any good, you know. I'll have a cup of tea, please."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bransby certainly felt no misapplied shame as to the humbleness and +poverty of her surroundings; and was far too truly a gentlewoman to +think of apologizing for them. Ethel, who was growing to be quite a +notable little housewife, quietly fetched another cup and saucer from +the kitchen; and that was all the difference which Mr. Bragg's presence +made in the ordinary arrangements.</p> + +<p>Enid insisted on having her high chair placed close to Mr. Bragg at +table; and, but for her sister's watchful interposition, she would have +demonstrated her sudden affection for him by transferring sundry morsels +of bread-and-butter which she had been tightly squeezing in her small +fingers from her plate to his, with the patronizing remark, "Oo have +dat. I can't eat any more."</p> + +<p>While the meal was still in progress there came a knock at the street +door. It was a very peculiar knock; consisting of two or three sharp +raps, followed by one solemn rap, and then—after an appreciable +interval—by several more hurried little raps, as if the hand at the +knocker had forgotten all about its previous performances, and were +beginning afresh.</p> + +<p>"Who can this be?" said Mrs. Bransby, looking up in surprise. Visitors +at any time were rare with her now; and at that hour, unprecedented.</p> + +<p>"Old Bucher come back to say he can't live without us," suggested +Martin.</p> + +<p>Whereupon Bobby and Billy, with consternation in their faces, exclaimed +simultaneously, "Oh, I <i>say</i>!" And Enid, perceiving the general +attention to be diverted from her, took that opportunity to polish the +bowl of her spoon, by rubbing it softly against Mr. Bragg's coat sleeve.</p> + +<p>The family were not kept long in suspense. As soon as the door was +opened, a well-known voice was heard saying volubly, "Ah! at tea, are +they? Well, never mind! Take in my card, if you please, and——Dear me! +I haven't got one! But if you will kindly say, an old friend from +Oldchester begs leave to wait on Mrs. Bransby."</p> + +<p>"Why, it's Simmy!" cried the children, starting up, and rushing to the +door. "Here's a lark!" exclaimed Bobby. While Billy, tugging at the +visitor's skirt, roared out hospitably, "Come along! Mother's in there. +Come in! Mother, here's Simmy!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sebastian Bach Simpson it was. She appeared on the +threshold—rubicund visage, glittering spectacles, filmy curls, and +girlish giggle, all as usual; and began to apologize for what she called +her "unauthorized yet perhaps not wholly inexcusable intrusion," with +her old amiability and incoherency. She had come prepared to keep up a +cheerful mien, having decided, in her own mind, not to distress the +feelings of the family by any lachrymose allusions. But when Mrs. +Bransby rose up to welcome her, and not only took her by the hand, but +kissed her on the cheek, and led her towards the place of honour in +the armchair, this proceeding so overcame the kind-hearted creature +that she abruptly turned her back on them all, pulled out her +pocket-handkerchief, and burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"I really must apol—apologize," she sobbed, still presenting the broad +back of a very smart shawl to the company—an attitude which made her +elaborate politeness extremely comical; for she addressed her speech +point-blank to the wall-paper, with abundance of bows and gestures. "I +am ashamed, indeed. Pray excuse me! The suddenness of the emo—emotion, +and the sight of the dear children, coupled with—I believe—a slight +touch of the prevalent influenza, but nothing in the least infectious, +dear Mrs. Bransby! But pray do not allow me to disturb the harmony of +this fest—festive meeting with 'most admired disorder,' as our immortal +bard puts it! Although what there is to admire in disorder, and who +admired it, must probably remain for ever ambiguous."</p> + +<p>By the end of this speech—the utterance of which had been interrupted +by several interludes of pocket-handkerchief—Mrs. Simpson was +sufficiently composed to turn round, and take the chair offered to her. +The children were grinning undisguisedly. "Simmy" was associated in +their minds with many pleasant and many comical recollections. Mrs. +Bransby was smiling too. But perhaps it was only the warning spectacle +of Mrs. Simpson's emotion which enabled her to choke down her own +inclination to cry.</p> + +<p>"This is a most pleasant surprise," she said. "When did you arrive in +London?"</p> + +<p>"Why, the fact is——" began Amelia. But suddenly interrupting herself, +she jumped up from her seat, and made Mr. Bragg a sweeping curtsey. +"Pardon me," she exclaimed, "if, in the first moment, I was oblivious of +your presence! Although not personally acquainted, Oldchester people +claim the privilege of recognizing Mr. Bragg as one of our native +products. An unforeseen honour, indeed! And—do my eyes deceive me, or +have I the pleasure of greeting Mr. Owen Rivers? What an extraordinary +coincidence! I had <i>heard</i> you were residing here in the character of a +boarder," she added, as emphatically as though that were an obvious +reason for being surprised to see him there. "Really, I seem to be +transported back into our ancient city; and should scarcely start to +hear the cathedral chimes, or the steam-whistle from the brewery, or any +of the dear familiar sounds—although the steam whistle, I must admit, +is trying, and, in certain forms of nervous disorder, I believe, +excruciating."</p> + +<p>It was not easy, at any time, to obtain a clear and collected answer to +a question from Mrs. Simpson. But in her present state of excitement the +difficulty was immensely increased. Her language—partly in honour of +Mr. Bragg—was so flowery, and she kept darting up every discursive +cross-alley which opened out of the main line of talk in so bewildering +a fashion, as to become at moments unintelligible. And it was a long +time before any of the party elicited from her how it was that she came +to be in London. At length, however, it appeared that "Bassy" was +entrusted with a commission to buy a pianoforte; and having found a +substitute to take his organ and attend to his pupils for a week, he and +his wife had suddenly resolved to take a holiday in London together.</p> + +<p>"I had, of course, intended to seek you out, dear Mrs. Bransby," she +said; "ever mindful, as I must be, of the many kind favours I have +received from you and"—here she gulped dangerously; but recovered +herself and went on—"from all the family. But we came away in such a +hurry at the last, a cheap excursion train being, in fact, our immediate +motive."</p> + +<p>"Locomotive," put in Martin jocosely.</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said Amelia, with the utmost suavity. "A very proper +correction." Then, seeing his mischievous face dimpling with laughter, +she exclaimed, "Oh, of course!—<i>locomotive</i>. Very good, Martin! Ah, I +am as absent as ever, you see!" Here she playfully shook her head until +sundry metallic bobs upon her bonnet fell off, and had to be hunted for +and picked up. "Well, so it was. I was hurried away by Bassy's +impetuosity—although, in justice to him, I must state that the time +bills were peremptory, and there was no margin for delay or +deliberation—almost without a carpet bag! I had no opportunity, +therefore, of inquiring of any mutual friend in Oldchester for your +address."</p> + +<p>"There are scarcely any who know it, or care to know it," said Mrs. +Bransby, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, pardon me, dear Mrs. Bransby! No, no; that must not be said, for +the honour of Oldchester! Your memory is affectionately cherished by all +the more refined and sympathetic souls among us. Only last week Mr. +Crump, the butcher, was respectfully inquiring for news of you. You +remember Crump! A worthy man, whose spirit—notwithstanding the dictum +of the Swan of Avon—is by no means 'subdued to what it works in,' +beyond a transient greasiness, which lies merely on the surface."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I remember him very well. But who, then, was it who directed you +to this house?" asked Mrs. Bransby, hoping that her guest was not aware +why Martin had suddenly retired behind the window curtains in a paroxysm +of laughter.</p> + +<p>"Ah! That, again, is one of the most extraordinary circumstances! Who do +you think it was?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell at all."</p> + +<p>"Guess!"</p> + +<p>"Miss Piper, perhaps," suggested Ethel.</p> + +<p>"Not <i>exactly</i> Miss Piper," said Mrs. Simpson, with strong emphasis on +the qualifying adverb, as though her informant's identity were only +barely distinguishable from that of Miss Piper. "But you burn, Ethel! +You are very near. However, I will not keep you longer in suspense. It +was Miss Clara Bertram."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I might have thought of her, for she is a neighbour of ours," said +Mrs. Bransby.</p> + +<p>"Is she?" asked Owen.</p> + +<p>"Yes; she lives in a house with a rather good garden, not far from here. +The situation is a little inconvenient for her profession, I fancy. But +she has invalid relatives, to whom the garden is a great boon. We met +accidentally in the street one day, and she recognized me at once. I was +surprised that she did so."</p> + +<p>"Nay, <i>I</i> should rather have been surprised had she forgotten you," said +Mrs. Simpson, "'For the heart,'" dear Mrs. Bransby, "'that once truly +loves, <i>never</i> forgets, but as fondly loves on to the——' Not, of +course, that there was anything beyond the very slightest acquaintance +between you and Miss Bertram in Oldchester. Bassy is, in fact, at her +house now, with a few musical professors, whom she kindly invited us to +meet—the artistic element which is so akin to Bassy's soul—combined +with the seductions of the Indian weed, of which Miss Bertram's papa is +quite a devotee—so that, you see, finding you were so near, I slipped +away to see you; and I have promised to return before it is time to go +back to the boarding-house where we are staying."</p> + +<p>At this point Mr. Bragg got up to take his leave.</p> + +<p>"I shall look in again before long, Mrs. Bransby, if you'll allow me," +he said; "and we'll have a little more talk about my young friend there. +Good night to you, ma'am," turning to shake hands with Mrs. Simpson.</p> + +<p>This brought that lady "to her legs" in more senses than one. She +favoured Mr. Bragg with a long and enthusiastic address, embracing an +extraordinary variety of topics, from the proud pre-eminence of British +commerce, to the force of friendship as portrayed in the classical +example of Damon and Pythias.</p> + +<p>"I will not ask, in the beautiful words of the Caledonian ditty, 'Should +auld acquaintance be forgot, and days o' lang syne?' for I am certain +that you are entirely incapable of doing anything of the sort, as is +proved by your presence beneath this refined roof-tree," said Mrs. +Simpson. "But I <i>must</i> bear my humble testimony to the eminent virtues +of our exquisite friend—if I may be allowed the privilege of calling +her so. I have seen her basking in prosperity, and unspoiled by the +smiles of fortune, and now in the cold shade of comparatively untoward +circumstances, she beams with the same congenial lustre. In short," +cried Amelia, suddenly abandoning what Bobby and Billy called her +"dictionary" style for a homelier language which came straight from her +heart, "a better wife and mother, a gentler mistress, a kinder friend +there never was, or could be, in this world."</p> + +<p>Owen offered to accompany Mr. Bragg in order to show him the way to the +nearest cabstand, and they left the house together.</p> + +<p>"She's a sing'lar character," observed Mr. Bragg, after they had walked +a few steps.</p> + +<p>"You mean Mrs. Simpson?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes; Mrs. Simpson. There's too much clack about her; and her talk's +puzzling from being—what you might call of a zigzag sort of a nature; +and she's cast in a queer kind of a mould altogether. But I think she +rings true, and that's the main thing, in mortals or metals."</p> + +<p>"I'm quite sure her praise of Mrs. Bransby is true, at any rate," said +Owen warmly.</p> + +<p>"H'm!" grunted Mr. Bragg, and walked on in silence. When they came +within view of a cabstand, he turned round, and said he would not +trouble Owen to come any further with him. And just as the latter was +about to say "Good-night," Mr. Bragg observed meditatively, "She has +that little place beautifully neat, and as clean as a new pin. Seems to +be bringing up those children in the right way, too. Poor soul! it's a +heavy charge for a delicate lady like her. I think I shall be able to do +something for that eldest boy. But p'r'aps you'd better not say anything +at present—eh? It's cruel to raise up false hopes; and some folks build +such a wonderful high scaffolding of expectations on a word or two; and +if there's not bricks enough to do anything adequate to the +scaffolding—why, then that's awkward. Good night, Mr. Rivers."</p> + +<p>Owen well knew that hopes had already been aroused by the mere presence +of the rich man in that poor little home. But he knew, also, that there +was no danger of Mrs. Bransby's hopes turning into claims; and that she +would be humbly grateful for very small help. He felt almost elated on +her behalf as he returned to Collingwood Terrace. "I only hope," he said +to himself, "that Mr. Bragg won't visit any of my sins on Mrs. Bransby's +head, when he finds them out! But no; to do the old boy justice, I +believe he is above that."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Amelia Simpson had been imparting a budget of Oldchester +news. After many discursive sallies she came to the topic of Lucius +Cheffington's recent death. He had died since the Simpsons' departure +from Oldchester, but his case had been known to be hopeless for several +days previous. The old lord was said to be dreadfully cut up; more so, +even, than on the death of his eldest son. But Lucius had always been +understood to be his father's favourite.</p> + +<p>"And they do say," continued Mrs. Simpson, "that to a certain fair young +friend of ours the blow will be very severe."</p> + +<p>"A young friend of ours! Do you mean May Cheffington?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, no! Our dear Miranda knew scarcely anything of her noble relatives +at Combe Park. And even the <i>most</i> affectionate disposition—and I'm +sure our dear Miranda is imbued with every proper feeling—can scarcely +cling with personal devotion to an almost total stranger, although +united by the ties of kindred! No; I was speaking of Miss Hadlow."</p> + +<p>"Constance!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, although I have never been on terms to address her by her +baptismal appellation, that, I confess, is the young lady I <i>do</i> mean."</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Simpson went on to tell her astonished listener how that +Constance Hadlow had been visiting some county magnates in the near +neighbourhood of Combe Park during the latter part of Lucius's illness; +how she had been admitted to see and talk with the invalid, when other +persons had been excluded with scant courtesy; how she had rapidly come +to be on a footing of intimacy at the great house, which astonished the +neighbourhood; and how at length that fact was explained by the current +report that if Lucius had recovered—which at one time appeared not +unlikely—he would have married her, with his father's full approbation.</p> + +<p>"I did not venture to allude to the subject before Mr. Rivers—how brown +he has become! Quite the southern hue of romance!—because, you know, he +was said at one time to be desperately in love with his cousin; and I +feared to hurt his feelings."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't think it would hurt his feelings," said Mrs. Bransby; "I +really do not believe he cares at all for his cousin, in that way."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure he doesn't!" cried Ethel, who took a thoroughly feminine +interest in the subject.</p> + +<p>"Ethel! I scarcely think you know anything at all about the matter. And +I am sure it is not for a little girl like you to give an opinion."</p> + +<p>"No, mother. Only—Martin and I know who we should <i>like</i> him to marry. +Don't we, Martin?"</p> + +<p>Martin was rather shamefaced at being thus brought publicly into the +discussion, and rebuffed his sister with a lofty air.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't talk bosh and silliness," he rejoined. "Girls are always +bothering about a fellow's getting married. Leave him alone. He's very +well as he is."</p> + +<p>"He is certainly most affable, and thoroughly the gentleman," observed +Mrs. Simpson, with her universal, beaming benevolence.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he is good!" cried the widow, clasping her hands. "So delicately +considerate! Such a true, loyal friend!"</p> + +<p>In her own mind she was convinced that Mr. Bragg's visit was entirely +due to Owen's influence. And her heart was overflowing with gratitude.</p> + +<p>A new idea darted into Mrs. Simpson's imagination, always ready to +accept a romantic view of things. How charming it would be if young Mr. +Rivers were to marry the beautiful widow! They would make a delightful +couple. Considerations of ways and means entered no more into Mrs. +Simpson's calculations than they would have entered into little Enid's. +The building of her castles in the air was entirely independent of +money.</p> + +<p>But there was, at bottom, a more common sensible reason which made the +idea that Owen might marry Mrs. Bransby, agreeable to Amelia Simpson. In +spite of the sympathy of Mr. Crump, the butcher, and other congenial +spirits, it could not be denied that some rumours of a very unpleasant +sort had recently been circulated in Oldchester to the discredit of Mrs. +Bransby. When it became known that young Rivers, on his return from +Spain, was to live in her house, the rumours began to take a more +definite shape. No one could trace them to their source—perhaps no one +tried very seriously to do so.</p> + +<p>People asked each other if they had not always thought there was +something a little odd—not quite becoming and <i>nice</i>—in the way that +young Rivers used to be running in and out of Martin Bransby's house, at +all times and seasons. Even during poor Mr. Bransby's lifetime, strange +things had been said—at least, it now appeared so; for very few of the +gossips professed to have heard any whispers of scandal <i>themselves</i>, +while Martin lived. There was a strange story of young Rivers being +caught kissing Mrs. Bransby's hand in the garden. There might be no harm +in kissing a lady's hand. But, under the circumstances, there was +something, almost revolting, was there not? And, then, why was Mrs. +Bransby in such a hurry to run away from Oldchester?—away from all her +friends and all her husband's friends? Surely she would have done better +to remain there! At all events Mr. Theodore Bransby had been much +annoyed by her doing so; and had replied to old friends, who spoke to +him on the subject, that he could not control his step-mother's actions; +could only advise her for the best; and should endeavour to assist her +and her children, <i>if she would allow him to do so</i>. Of course people +understood when he said that, that Mrs. Bransby was acting contrary to +his judgment. And now, Mr. Rivers was actually going to reside in her +house! It positively was not decent! No wonder Theodore looked +distressed, and avoided the subject. It must be altogether a very +painful affair for him.</p> + +<p>This kind of scandal, with its inevitable <i>crescendo</i>, had been very +differently received by Sebastian Simpson and his wife. He could not be +said to encourage it; but neither did he repudiate it indignantly. But +Amelia was true and devoted to Mrs. Bransby, and incurred some +unpopularity by her enthusiastic praises of that absent lady. But there +were also people who said what a good creature Mrs. Simpson was, and +that—although she was a goose, and had probably been quite taken +in—they liked to see her stand up for those who had been kind to her.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances, it was a great triumph for Amelia to find Mr. +Bragg—the respectable, the influential, the <i>rich</i> Mr. Bragg—visiting +Mrs. Bransby on a friendly footing, and treating her with marked +kindness and respect. Simple though she might be, Amelia was not at all +too simple to understand that the millionaire's approbation would carry +weight with it. But now the idea of a marriage between Owen and the +widow seemed still more delightful than the mere clearing of Mrs. +Bransby's character from all aspersions. People had said that, as for +<i>him</i>, the young man was probably suffering under a temporary +infatuation. And that, even supposing the best, and taking the most +charitable view of this—<i>flirtation</i>, it was out of the question that +he should think of marrying a woman of Mrs. Bransby's age, and with five +children to support!</p> + +<p>Why should it be out of the question? Amelia said to herself. The few +years' difference in their ages was of no consequence at all. And as to +the family—Mr. Bragg would probably take Owen into partnership. He was +evidently devotedly fond of them both! She had privately arranged the +details of the wedding in her own mind before Owen returned from +conducting Mr. Bragg to his cab.</p> + +<p>When he did so, Mrs. Simpson declared it was time for her to go, and got +up from her chair. But between that and her actual departure a great +many words had still to intervene. She reverted to the death in the +Castlecombe family; made a brief excursion to the report of Captain +Cheffington's second marriage, "truly deplorable! But still, or dear +Miranda is happily launched among the <i>élite</i> of the <i>beau</i> <i>monde</i>, so, +perhaps, it is not so bad after all!" And then suddenly added—</p> + +<p>"By the way, dear Mrs. Bransby, it <i>was</i> reported that your step-son, +Mr. Theodore, intended to withdraw his candidature at the next election. +But I am told on the <i>best</i> authority—Mr. Lowe, the political +agent—that that is a mistake. So I hope we may see him among the +legislators. Quite the figure for it, I'm sure. However, of course, you +must know all that news far better than I. I hope to <i>see</i> our dear +Miranda before leaving town."</p> + +<p>Owen observed, with indignation, that the mention of Theodore appeared +to have suggested May to her mind. Nor did the circumstance escape Mrs. +Bransby.</p> + +<p>"Do you say you shall see May Cheffington?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I purpose calling. Although well aware of Mrs. Dormer-Smith's high +social position, still I think our dear Miranda's warm heart will +welcome one who has so recently seen her beloved grandmamma. Ah, we do +not easily relinquish the fond memories of childhood. Thank you, my dear +Ethel. <i>Is</i> that my pocket-handkerchief? Really! I wonder how it came +there!" (Ethel had picked it up from under the tea-table.) "I believe +that even in the princely halls—I <i>think</i> I left my umbrella in the +passage. Eh? Oh, Bobby has found it—in the princely halls of +Castlecombe her memory will revert to Friar's Row. In the words of the +poet, 'though strangers may roam, those hills and those valleys I once +called my home'—although, of course, Oldchester is <i>not</i> mountainous. +And as to roaming, I presume that hills and valleys are always more or +less liable to be roamed over by strangers, whether one calls them one's +home or not."</p> + +<p>By this time Mrs. Simpson had got herself out of the room into the +narrow outer passage; and, seeing Owen put on his great coat again, in +order to escort her, she stopped to protest against his taking that +trouble.</p> + +<p>"Oh, pray! <i>Too</i> kind! It is but a stone's throw from here, and I am not +at all afraid. Sure of the way? Well, no; not <i>quite</i> sure. I took two +wrong turnings in coming. But I can easily inquire for Marlborough +House. Eh? Oh, Blenheim Lodge is it? To be sure! Marlborough House is +the august residence——However, <i>historically</i> speaking I was not so +far wrong, was I? Well, if you insist, Mr. Rivers, I will accept your +polite attention with gratitude. Good-bye, once more, dear children. If +I possibly can come again before leaving London, dear Mrs. Bransby——"</p> + +<p>At this point Owen perceived that decisive measures were necessary, if +the good lady's farewells were not to last until midnight. He took Mrs. +Simpson's arm, signed to Phœbe to open the door, and led his fair +charge outside it, almost before she knew what was happening.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me for hurrying you," he said; "but the night is cold; Mrs. +Bransby is not very strong; and I thought it imprudent—for both of +you—to stand talking in that draughty passage."</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>quite</i> right. Thank you a thousand times. She is deserving, +indeed, of every delicate care and attention."</p> + +<p>A slighter circumstance would have sufficed to confirm Mrs. Simpson's +romantic fancies. She said to herself that Mr. Rivers's devotion was +chivalrous indeed. And she forthwith proceeded to sound Mrs. Bransby's +praises, in an unbroken stream of eloquence, all the way to Blenheim +Lodge. Owen had intended to ask her one or two questions—about Mrs. +Dobbs, and as to when she thought of calling at Mrs. Dormer-Smith's +house. He had even held a half-formed intention of entrusting her with a +message for May. But it was hopeless to arrest her flow of +speech—unless by making his request in a more serious fashion than he +thought it prudent to do. Amelia's goodwill might be relied on. But she +was absolutely devoid of discretion. And, at all events, if he said +nothing, there would be no ground for her to build a blunder on.</p> + +<p>He little knew!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + + +<p>When Mrs. Dormer-Smith practised any deception—a necessity which +unfortunately arose rather frequently in the prosecution of her duty to +society—she was wont to call it diplomacy. She called it so to herself, +in her most private cogitations. She was not a woman whose conscience +could be satisfied by any but the best chosen phraseology.</p> + +<p>In speaking to May of her conversation with Owen, she gave a +"diplomatic" version of it. It was May herself who innocently suggested +the line her aunt took. When she found that Owen had left the house +without any further farewell to her, she said not a word, she demanded +no explanation; but the disappointed look in her eyes, the drooping +curves of her young mouth, were sufficiently eloquent. Had she fired up +into indignation against her aunt, assuming as a matter of course that +Owen had been refused permission to see her again, that would have +seemed quite in accordance with her character. This was, in fact, what +Pauline had prepared herself to meet. But this quietude was strange. It +seemed as though May were <i>ready</i> to be wounded. Her aunt thought that +it would not have occurred to the girl—who was high-spirited enough in +certain directions—to suspect that her lover might be less eager to see +her again than she was to see him, unless some previous fact or fancy +had put the suspicion into her head. Fact or fancy, Mrs. Dormer-Smith +thought it mattered little which, so long as the suspicion were there.</p> + +<p>Of course it would not do to pretend that Owen had not asked to see her. +That would be a clumsy falsehood, sure of speedy detection; and, +besides, Mrs. Dormer-Smith wished to avoid explicit falsehood. She was +only diplomatic.</p> + +<p>"I was obliged, I need scarcely tell you, May," she said, "to refuse Mr. +Rivers's request for some more words with you. It would have been a +gross dereliction of duty on my part to permit it."</p> + +<p>"He did ask to see me, then?" said May, with a bright eager look in her +eyes. It was a look her aunt was well acquainted with, and usually +presaged some speech which had to be deplored as being "odd," or "bad +form."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," replied Mrs. Dormer-Smith wearily. "Of course, he asked; I had +to go through all that. Under the circumstances he could scarcely do +less."</p> + +<p>The shadow of the eyelashes suddenly drooped down over the bright eyes; +and Aunt Pauline saw that her shot had told.</p> + +<p>"Has it ever occurred to you, May," Mrs. Dormer-Smith went on, "that you +are prejudicing the future of this gentleman?"</p> + +<p>May looked up quickly, but made no answer.</p> + +<p>"Of course, it cannot be allowed to go on—this <i>engagement</i>, as he +absurdly terms it."</p> + +<p>"It is an engagement," interrupted May in a low voice.</p> + +<p>Her aunt passed over the interruption, and continued. "But I think that +in justice to him you ought to reflect that meanwhile you are injuring +his prospects. I do not mean," she added with gentle sarcasm, "that you +will injure him by preventing him from marrying the Widow Bransby; +because I cannot honestly say that I think <i>that</i> a good prospect for +any young man."</p> + +<p>"All those stories are malicious falsehoods," said May resolutely; but +her throat was painfully constricted, and her heart felt like lead in +her breast.</p> + +<p>"My dear child, one scarcely sees why people should trouble themselves +to <i>invent</i> stories about this lady and gentleman, who, after all, are +persons of very small importance. But at any rate the stories are +circulated, and believed. Under these circumstances it seems to me +a—well, to say the least, an indiscreet proceeding, that Mr. Rivers, +the moment he returns to England, should rush to Mrs. Bransby's house, +and take up his abode there! However, it may be quite a usual sort of +thing among persons in their position. Very likely. I only know that in +<i>our</i> world it would not do. We are less Arcadian. When I spoke of +injuring Mr. Rivers's prospects, I meant as between him and his +employer."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried May, turning round with a pale indignant face. A confused +crowd of words seemed to be struggling in her mind; but she was unable, +for the moment, to utter one of them.</p> + +<p>"<i>Dear</i> May," said her aunt, "do not, I beg and implore you, do not be +tragic! I don't think I <i>could</i> stand that sort of thing. It would be +the last straw."</p> + +<p>"Do you think—do you mean that Mr. Bragg would turn Owen away, out of +spite?" asked May in a quiet tone, after a short silence.</p> + +<p>"We need not employ such a word as that. But Mr. Bragg made you an offer +of marriage, and we can hardly expect him to find it pleasant when he is +told 'the young lady refused you in order to marry your clerk.'"</p> + +<p>"Not 'in order to——' You know I have assured you that under no +circumstances would I have married Mr. Bragg."</p> + +<p>"Yes, May; you have assured me so. But you are not yet nineteen; and +I—alas!—was nineteen more than nineteen years ago. It struck me that +Mr. Rivers was desirous that you should take your full share of +responsibility in the matter. And he seemed a little anxious about his +place. At all events he brought forward the salary he is earning with +Mr. Bragg as an important element in the financial budget with which he +favoured me. (How the man could think for a moment that your family +would consent!) I gathered that he was decidedly unwilling to lose it."</p> + +<p>"He only took it for my sake."</p> + +<p>"Ah! That was particularly kind of him. Well, it strikes me that he +would now like to keep it for his own. Of course I must write to your +father. I presume you will admit that it is proper to inform him of the +state of the case?"</p> + +<p>"You can write if you choose, Aunt Pauline. It will make no difference, +<i>now</i>."</p> + +<p>"I think you will find it will make a considerable difference! +Circumstances have entirely altered your father's position in the world. +You will be daughter and heiress to a peer of the realm."</p> + +<p>There was a long pause. May stood with one foot on the fender before a +bright fire in her aunt's dressing-room, her elbow on the mantel-shelf, +and her cheek resting in her hand.</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Dormer-Smith resumed softly, "Perhaps I deceive myself—the +wish may be father to the thought—but I confess I got the impression +that it might not be hopeless to induce Mr. Rivers to withdraw, +voluntarily, from his false position. Of course he could do no less than +stand to it so long as you appeared resolved to stand to it; but——I +hope and trust, May, that if it should be as I think, you would not +insist on being obstinate?"</p> + +<p>"You know, as well as I know it myself, Aunt Pauline, that I would die +sooner than hold him bound for one instant, unless——But I won't answer +you as if I took your words seriously."</p> + +<p>Upon that she managed to walk out of the room with dignity and dry eyes. +But the poor child, for all her brave words, did take her aunt's hint so +seriously as to throw herself on the bed in her own room, and lie +sobbing there for an hour.</p> + +<p>To her husband, Mrs. Dormer-Smith had reported the interview with Owen +as accurately as she could. She did, indeed, declare her belief that the +young man was a Nihilist. But that was said genuinely enough. A man of +gentle birth, who deliberately stated—apparently with sympathetic +approval—that there were mechanics who would be ashamed to own Captain +Cheffington as a father-in-law, was, in her opinion, evidently prepared +to demolish the existing bases of human society.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dormer-Smith was very sorry for his niece: more sorry than he +thought it necessary to express at that moment to Pauline. But still he +agreed with his wife that every effort ought to be made to prevent her +marrying so disastrously. It might have been supposed, perhaps, that Mr. +Dormer-Smith, not having found his own mode of life productive of +unalloyed felicity, in spite of a fair income, aristocratic connections, +and a wife devoted to keeping up their position in society, would have +been not unwilling to let May try her fate in a different fashion. But +it is a common experience that, although the possession of certain +things gives them not the smallest gleam of happiness, yet, to a large +class of minds, the thought of doing without these things suggests +misery. The unusual is a terrible scarecrow, and keeps many weak-minded +birds from the cherries.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dormer-Smith was to go down to Combe Park to attend the funeral of +his deceased cousin-in-law. He had some liking for Lucius, and thought, +as he sat in the railway carriage speeding down to the little wayside +station beyond Oldchester, where he was to alight, that it was a truly +inscrutable dispensation which took away Lucius—a man at least +harmless, and of honourable principles—and left Augustus alive; and he +could not help regretting the death of Lucius on May's account. Lucius +had been, in his dry, peculiar manner, very kind towards his young +cousin. He had resented her father's neglect of her; and he treated her, +when they met, with a certain air of protection, and almost tenderness, +such as one might assume towards a child or an animal that one knew to +have been hardly used. Frederick thought it not impossible that, had +Lucius lived, his influence might have been brought to bear on May for +her good. But Lucius was gone; and Augustus remained to disgrace the +family and annoy his relations more than ever.</p> + +<p>This, however, was not Pauline's idea. Although her brother's second +marriage had, apparently, receded into the background, in consequence of +these new troubles about May, yet it had really been occupying many of +Mrs. Dormer-Smith's thoughts. She certainly considered it to be not +<i>quite</i> so terrible a business now that Lucius—poor dear Lucius!—was +out of the way, as it would have been had he lived. A Viscountess +Castlecombe might be floated, Pauline said to herself, where a Mrs. +Augustus Cheffington would stick in the mud. They could live chiefly +abroad—not, of course, in a shabby street in Brussels; but on the +Riviera, for instance. A warm climate had always suited Augustus. And as +for herself, she, Pauline, would never willingly pass an hour in England +between the first of November and the last of April. It really would not +be at all disagreeable to spend one or two of the winter months with +one's brother and sister-in-law—thank Heaven that, at least, she was +not English! So many deviations from "good form" might be got over on +the plea of foreign manners—at some charming, sunny place, say St. +Raphael! That was not so far from Nice as to preclude the enjoyment of +some little gaiety and society. They would have a villa of their own, of +course. Perhaps, Augustus might build himself one. That sort of life +would enable them to catch a good many travellers on the wing. And, with +sufficient tact and <i>savoir faire</i> (which Pauline flattered herself she +could supply), it might be possible to fill their house with a +succession of "nice" people. The "nicest" people were sometimes rather +less exigent on the other side of the Channel! At any rate, there would +be less difficulty in "floating" Lady Castlecombe on the stream of +society abroad than at home. Augustus would be rich; Uncle George could +not prevent that, let him do what he would with his savings and his +investments. For the estates were strictly entailed; and Uncle George +had nursed them into something like treble their value when he succeeded +to the property. Mrs. Griffin heard from Lady Mary, the Dean of +Oldchester's wife, who had it from the Rector of Combe, that Lord +Castlecombe was crushed by the loss of Lucius. Augustus might not have +to wait very long for his inheritance. How strangely things turn out! +Well, she would write very kindly and gently to her brother. There was +the excuse of addressing him about May; and she would take the +opportunity of sending a civil word to his wife. It must be done +delicately, of course. But Augustus should see that there was no +disposition to be hostile, on the part of his sister, at any rate.</p> + +<p>It was in the forenoon of the day after Owen's visit that Mrs. +Dormer-Smith was thus meditating. Her husband had started for Combe +Park. The house was very quiet; the fire in her dressing-room was very +warm; several budgets of gossip had arrived by the post from various +country houses, and lay unopened within reach of her hand. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith felt that there was a certain "luxury of woe" in a family +affliction which justified one in saying "not at home," and sitting in a +wadded dressing-gown, without causing one either heart-ache or anxiety. +And she had been softly rocking herself in the day-dreams recorded +above, when they were interrupted as suddenly, if not as fatally, as +those of La Fontaine's milkmaid. James stood before her with a visiting +card on a salver, and a cloud of depression—which was the utmost +revelation of ill-humour his well-trained visage ever allowed itself, +above-stairs—on his shaven countenance.</p> + +<p>"What is this, James? What do you mean by bringing me cards here—and +now?"</p> + +<p>"I <i>said</i> 'not at home,' ma'am, but the—the party didn't seem to +understand; and, unfortunately, Miss Cheffington happening to pass +through the hall at that moment——"</p> + +<p>"Who is it? Where is the person?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith took the card and examined it through her eyeglass +with a sinking heart. Could that subversive young man have returned? Or +was there, perchance, some other suitor in the field? An anarchical +shoemaker, possibly! Pauline's confidence in Mrs. Dobbs had been +completely blown into the air by learning that she had approved and +encouraged May's engagement to a young man who calmly avowed that he +possessed one hundred and fifty pounds a year of his own; and she +felt that any dreadful revelation might be made at any moment. But +the name on the card was not a masculine one, at any rate. Mrs. +Something-or-other Simpson, she read on it.</p> + +<p>"Is the—lady with Miss Cheffington now, James?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am. Miss Cheffington took her into the dining-room. I thought +that, as last time—I mean as Smithson wasn't in the way—I'd better let +you know, ma'am."</p> + +<p>"Did the lady ask for me?"</p> + +<p>"N-no; I—well, I really hardly know, ma'am."</p> + +<p>"You hardly know?"</p> + +<p>"Well, ma'am, she talked a great deal, and so—so——It was uncommonly +difficult to follow what she said. At first I thought she announced her +name as being Oldchester. I <i>did</i> say 'not at home' twice, but it was no +use; and then Miss Cheffington happening to pass through the hall——"</p> + +<p>"That will do."</p> + +<p>James retired with an injured air, and Mrs. Dormer-Smith was left to +consider within herself whether duty required her to be present at the +interview between May and this unknown Mrs. Simpson, or whether she +might indulge herself by sitting still and reading Mrs. Griffin's last +letter in comfort and quietude. After a brief deliberation, she resolved +to go downstairs. There was no knowing who or what the woman might be. +James had said something about Oldchester. No doubt she came from that +place. Perhaps she was an emissary of Mr. Rivers! Pauline, as she rose +and drew a shawl round her shoulders, before facing the chillier +atmosphere of the staircase, breathed a pious hope that her brother +Augustus might sooner or later compensate her for all the sacrifices she +was making on behalf of May.</p> + +<p>Before she reached the dining-room, she heard the sound of a fluent +monologue. May was not speaking at all, so far as Mrs. Dormer-Smith +could make out. When she entered the room, she found the girl sitting +beside a stout, florid woman, dressed in <i>trente-six couleurs</i>—as +Pauline phrased it to herself—who was holding forth with a profusion of +"nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith made this stranger a bow of such freezing politeness +as ought to have petrified her on the spot; and, turning to May, +inquired with raised eyebrows, "Who is your friend, May?"</p> + +<p>But Amelia Simpson had not the least suspicion that she was being +snubbed in the most superior style known to modern science. She rose, +with her usual impulsive vehemence, from her chair, and said smilingly—</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dormer-Smith? I thought so! Permit me to apologize for a seeming +breach of etiquette. I am well aware that my call ought properly to have +been paid to <i>you</i>, the mistress of this elegant mansion; but, being +<i>personally</i> unknown—although we are not so 'remote, unfriended, +melancholy, or slow'—not that I use the epithet in a slang sense, I +assure you!—in Oldchester, as to be unaware that Mrs. Dormer-Smith, the +accomplished relative of our dear Miranda, is in all respects 'a glass +of fashion and a mould of form.' Only I wish our divine bard had chosen +any other word than 'mould,' which somehow is inextricably connected in +my mind with short sixes."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" ejaculated Pauline, in a faint voice, as she sank into a chair; +and she remained gazing at the visitor with a helpless air.</p> + +<p>At another time, May would have had a keen and enjoying sense of the +comic elements in this little scene; but although she saw them now as +distinctly as she ever could have done, she was too unhappy to enjoy +them. She said quietly—</p> + +<p>"This is Mrs. Simpson, Aunt Pauline. Her husband is professor of music +at Oldchester; and they are both very old friends of dear Granny."</p> + +<p>Now, Pauline was not prepared to break altogether with Mrs. Dobbs. Mrs. +Dobbs had behaved very badly in that matter of young Rivers; but +something must be excused to ignorance; and her allowance for May +continued to be paid up every quarter with exemplary punctuality. Let +matters turn out as well as possible, there must still be a "meantime" +during which Mrs. Dobbs's money would be valuable—and, indeed, +indispensable—if May were to remain under her aunt's roof. It occurred +to Pauline to invite this incredibly attired person to share Cécile's +early dinner in the housekeeper's room, and then to withdraw herself and +May on the plea of some imaginary engagement. She was just about to +carry out this idea when the reiteration of a name in Mrs. Simpson's +rapid talk struck her ear, and excited her curiosity: "Mrs. Bransby." +Amelia was talking volubly to May about Mrs. Bransby. She had resumed +what she was pleased to call her "conversation" with May, having made +some sort of incoherent apology to Mrs. Dormer-Smith, to the effect that +she had a very short time to remain, and "so many interesting topics of +mutual interest to discuss."</p> + +<p>She rambled on about her last evening's visit to Collingwood Terrace. +Mr. Rivers and dear Mrs. Bransby would make a charming couple; and as to +the difference in years—what did years signify? And the difference was +not so great, after all. Mr. Rivers was very steady and staid for his +age; and Mrs. Bransby looked so wonderfully youthful!—not a line in her +forehead, in spite of all her troubles. And then Mr. Bragg's friendship +and countenance would be so valuable! He evidently approved it all. And +if he gave Mr. Rivers a share in his business—"even a comparatively +small share," said Amelia, feeling that she was keeping well within the +limits of probability, and even displaying a certain business-like +sobriety of conjecture—considering how colossal an affair <i>that</i> was, +everything would be made smooth for them. Mrs. Bransby's children +evidently adored Mr. Rivers—which was <i>so</i> delightful! And as for Mr. +Rivers's devotion to Mrs. Bransby, no one could doubt that who saw them +together. (This was said rather to a shadowy audience of Oldchester +persons, who had declared that, however ridiculous Mrs. Bransby might +make herself, young Rivers was not likely to tie himself for life to a +middle-aged woman with a family, than to Amelia's present hearers.) And +after all the unkind things which had been reported in Oldchester, it +would be a heartfelt joy to Mrs. Bransby's friends to see her widowhood +so happily brought to a close.</p> + +<p>"What unkind things have been reported in Oldchester? What do you mean?" +asked May. She spoke eagerly, but quite firmly. There was no tremor in +her voice, no rising of unbidden tears to her eyes. Her whole heart and +soul were concentrated on getting at the truth.</p> + +<p>Amelia pulled herself up a little. She had been running on rather too +heedlessly. Some things had latterly been said of Mrs. Bransby which +could scarcely be repeated with propriety to a young lady—at least, +according to Amelia's code of what was proper.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear Miranda," she stammered, "the world is ever censorious; but +as the lyric bard so beautifully puts it—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'I'd weep when friends deceive me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If <i>thou</i> wert like them, untrue.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Although why it is taken for granted that friends—in any true sense of +the word—should be expected to deceive, I must leave to meta-physics to +determine!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith here put in her word. "Oh, we had already heard of +these scandals," she said. "My niece was inclined to doubt their +existence, I believe. I hope you are convinced now, May!"</p> + +<p>"Really!" exclaimed Mrs. Simpson, glancing with growing uneasiness from +May to her aunt. Something, she perceived, was wrong—but what?</p> + +<p>"Dear Mrs. Simpson," said May, "I am very sure that whoever else was +unkind and scandalous, you were not."</p> + +<p>"Ever the same sweet nature!" murmured Amelia; "but, perhaps, it was not +so much that people were unkind, not exactly unkind, but mistaken. You +see, when a person tells you a thing, positively, there is a certain +unkindness in not believing it! And yet, on the other hand, one would +not willingly accept evil reports of a fellow-creature. There is a +difficulty in harmoniously blending the two horns of this dilemma—if I +may be allowed to say so—which, to some extent, excuses error."</p> + +<p>The good lady's habitual confusion of ideas was increased by the nervous +fear that she had said something unfortunate. She brought her visit to +an end earlier than she otherwise might have done; and in taking +effusive leave of May she whispered—</p> + +<p>"I trust I did not commit any solecism against the code of manners which +belongs to the <i>élite</i> of the <i>haut ton</i>, in alluding to our fair +friend, Mrs. B——?"</p> + +<p>"No, no," answered May gently; "don't vex yourself by thinking so."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Simpson brightened up a little, and asked aloud, "And what message +shall I give to grandmamma?"</p> + +<p>May scarcely recognized "Granny" under this appellation, adopted in +honour of Mrs. Dormer-Smith's social distinction. But after an instant +she said—</p> + +<p>"Oh, give her my dear love; I shall write to her to-morrow. And, please, +my love to Uncle Jo."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I recognize our dear Miranda's affectionate constancy there!" cried +Amelia. "Mr. Weatherhead will be much gratified."</p> + +<p>"Gratified! I think he would have a right to be disgusted if I forgot +him! Dear, good, honest, kind-hearted Uncle Jo!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Who</i> is this person?" demanded Pauline, genuinely aghast at the idea +that some hitherto unknown brother of Susan Dobbs was in existence. The +one extenuating circumstance in that unfortunate marriage had always +appeared to her to be the fact that Susan was an only child.</p> + +<p>"He is a certain Mr. Joseph Weatherhead," answered May, with great +distinctness. "He was originally a bookbinder's apprentice, and then a +printer and bookseller in a small way of business at Birmingham. He is +my grandmother's brother-in-law, and one of the best men in the world. +He used to give me shillings when I went back to school; and once I +remember—that was just before my father left me on granny's hands—he +noticed that my boots were disgracefully shabby, and took me out and +bought me a new pair."</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Simpson went away in a nervous flutter, and with the positive, +though puzzled, conviction that there was something very wrong indeed +between the aunt and niece.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + + +<p>Of course Mrs. Dormer-Smith availed herself to the utmost of Mrs. +Simpson's revelations. They were most valuable. And they had the effect +of confirming her own vague suspicions in an unexpected manner. That +which had been merely "diplomatic" colouring in her presentment of the +situation to May, turned out to be real, solid, vulgar fact!</p> + +<p>The state of things was certainly very singular. But she did not doubt +that she had discovered the true explanation of it. Mr. Rivers had +probably been infatuated with Mrs. Bransby before her husband's death. +Such infatuations were by no means rare at their respective ages. The +lady had been willing to coquette after a sentimental fashion: which, +also, was not unprecedented! There had probably been no serious +intention of evil-doing on either side. "At all events we can give them +the benefit of the doubt!" reflected Pauline charitably. Meanwhile, Mr. +Rivers had met with May. He had been thrown a great deal into her +society, had been encouraged by her stupid old grandmother, had thought +her connections and prospects desirable, and had probably admired +herself a good deal. Pauline did not see why not. It was very possible +for a man to admire more than one woman at a time! Mr. Rivers makes love +to May, persuades her to enter into a clandestine engagement, and goes +abroad. But then something unforeseen happens: <i>the husband dies</i>; and +all the old feeling is revived. Mr. Rivers hastens back to England. The +widow is pathetic—helpless—throws herself on his advice and support. +He goes to live under her roof, and the mischief is done! A handsome, +scheming woman, under these circumstances, might well be irresistible. +As to him, of course he had behaved badly in a way. But, after all, one +must accept men as they are. And, as Pauline said to herself, the folly +of young men in such matters, and their invincible tendency to sacrifice +themselves to the wrong woman, are simply unfathomable! At any rate +whether her cousin's death had made Rivers more willing to fulfil his +engagement to May; or whether he would be glad of a pretext to break +with her in order to marry Mrs. Bransby and her five children; May must +clearly perceive that <i>she</i> could have nothing more to say to him.</p> + +<p>All these considerations, and the conclusion to which they led, Mrs. +Dormer-Smith administered to her niece, in larger or smaller doses, +during the remainder of the day. Sometimes it was by way of a few drops +at a time:—a hint, a word, perhaps merely a sigh, accompanied by an +expressive shrug of the shoulders. Sometimes it was a copious pouring +forth of the evidence. Sometimes it was an appeal to May's pride: +sometimes to her principles.</p> + +<p>The girl was worn out with fighting against shadows. And, though they +might be shadows, they were gathering darkly.</p> + +<p>The worst was that she was, in one sense, as solitary as though she had +been alone on a desert island. There was absolutely no communion of +spirit between her and her aunt on this subject. Had her uncle been +there, she thought that even he would have understood her better. She +could write, of course, to granny; and of course granny would answer +her. But another whole long day must elapse before she could have the +comfort of granny's letter: even supposing it were sent without a post's +delay. She could not see Owen. She was not sure, at moments, whether she +wished to see him. And then again, with a sudden revulsion of feeling, +she would long for his presence.</p> + +<p>She had in her pocket the note he had written on the previous evening, +begging her to inform Mr. Bragg of their engagement. It had reached her +hands only an hour or two before Amelia Simpson's visit; and was, as +yet, unanswered. The note had been dashed off quickly, as we know. And +to May, disheartened and confused as she was already by her aunt's +version of the interview with Owen, it seemed needlessly brief and dry.</p> + +<p>He begged May to tell Mr. Bragg of their engagement at once. Under the +circumstances he thought Mr. Bragg ought to know it, and the +announcement would come best from her. He had not had a moment in which +to speak of it during their hurried interview. But he did not doubt that +May would feel as he felt on this point. She had better, if possible, +send her communication so that Mr. Bragg should receive it that same +afternoon; since he certainly ought to know the truth soon, at any cost.</p> + +<p>These last words had reference to the possibility that the revelation +might affect the fortunes of the Bransby family. But May knew nothing of +that; and they jarred on her. Why should Owen speak to her of the +"cost"? It was almost like a boast that he was ready to sacrifice +himself. In talking to Aunt Pauline he had shown that he was anxious not +to lose his situation. For her sake? Oh yes; no doubt for her sake. But +the words jarred on her. The lightest touch will jar upon a bruise.</p> + +<p>And then the loneliness of spirit was so trying! Solitude may sometimes +be a good counsellor for the brain. But it is rarely so for the heart. +Nothing so strengthens our best impulses, faiths, and affections as to +see them reflected in the soul of a fellow-creature. To the young +especially, want of sympathy with their emotions is like want of +daylight to a flower. Those who have travelled half way along life's +journey are apt to forget how much diffidence is often mingled with a +young girl's acceptance of love. The gift seems so unspeakably great! A +trembling sense of unreality sometimes comes with the recognition of its +preciousness and beauty.</p> + +<p>"Can it be? Am <i>I</i> really loved so much? Dare I believe it?" These +questions are often asked by sensitive young hearts. Happiness begets +humility in the finer sort of nature.</p> + +<p>Elder spectators, looking on at the old, ever-new story, find it clear +and simple enough. But to the actors it may seem complex and difficult. +Lookers on, in any case, see but a small portion of the drama of our +lives. The intensest part of it—the most poignant tragedy, the sunniest +comedy—is played within ourselves by invisible forces. Truly, and in +dread earnest, "we are such stuff as dreams are made of."</p> + +<p>All the day May kept Owen's note in her pocket, and when evening came, +she had neither answered it, nor written to Mr. Bragg. Owen was right, +no doubt, in saying that Mr. Bragg ought to know the truth. But what +<i>was</i> the truth? In the whirlpool of her agitated thoughts sometimes one +answer would float uppermost, and sometimes another. Could her aunt be +right in saying that she would prejudice Owen's future by holding him to +his word? Holding him! But it was rather for Owen to hold her. He could +not suspect that his claim would be disallowed. He, at least, had no +reason to doubt the completeness of her love for him. And then a scarlet +blush would burn her cheeks, and hot tears would be forced from her +eyes, by a thought which touched her maiden pride to the quick:—was he +not leaving it to her to claim him? If she wrote that letter to Mr. +Bragg, she would, in fact, be claiming him.</p> + +<p>She had told Mr. Bragg, she remembered, when he asked her if her family +approved of the man she had promised to marry, that she, at any rate, +was proud to be loved by him. Yes; but too proud to accept a love that +was not eagerly given. Oh, it was all weariness, and bitterness, and +perturbation of spirit!</p> + +<p>Sometimes, for a moment, the recollection of Owen's look and Owen's +words would pierce the clouds like a ray of sunshine, and her heart +would cry out, "Why am I troubled and tormented by lies and foolishness? +Owen is loyal, tender, and true—the soul of truth and honour! I need +only trust to him, and all will be well." But then Aunt Pauline would +repeat some of poor Amelia Simpson's glowing words about "the charming +couple" in Collingwood Terrace—made all the more impressive by the fact +that Aunt Pauline really believed them; and the fog would gather again, +and she would ask herself, "How if he should be loyal against his +inclination?"</p> + +<p>In the evening she said to her aunt, "Aunt Pauline, I will go away from +London; I will go to Granny. I could not, in any case, continue to take +her money for keeping me here. I will go down to Oldchester; that will +be best. And Owen and I can arrange afterwards what we will do." For not +by a word would she betray a doubt of Owen. To her aunt she upheld his +faithfulness unwaveringly; she upheld it, indeed, in her own heart, +chiding down her doubts as one chides down a snarling dog. But though +she could chide, she could not remove them; they were there, crouching. +She was conscious of their existence, as pain is felt in a dream.</p> + +<p>But it did not at all suit Mrs. Dormer-Smith's views that her niece +should go away in that fashion. "I cannot let you leave my house, May," +she said; "I am responsible for you to your father."</p> + +<p>Then May rebelled. She declared that Granny had been father and mother +and friend to her, and that she did not feel she owed any filial duty +except to Granny.</p> + +<p>Pauline privately thought that she recognized the influence of Mr. +Rivers in this speech. She put her handkerchief to her eyes, and +observed plaintively that she was sorry May had no touch of affection +for <i>her</i> or for her uncle, who had striven to treat her as their own +child. She was genuinely hurt, and thought she had reason to complain of +the girl's ingratitude. May recognized that her aunt was sincere in +this. She, too, felt that Aunt Pauline had meant to do well for her, +although it had all turned out amiss. She thought of the day of her +first arrival in town, of her aunt's affectionate reception of her, and +gentle sweetness ever since, until these last unhappy days. Her thoughts +went back farther—to the time when the dowager was alive, and her aunt +used to see her in the dreary old house at Richmond, and mourn over her +clothes, and kiss her kindly when she went away.</p> + +<p>With a sudden impulse she knelt down beside Mrs. Dormer-Smith's chair, +and put her arms round her.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Pauline," she said, "I know you have meant to be kind. You <i>have</i> +been kind. No doubt I have given you trouble and anxiety; partly, +perhaps, by my fault, but more by my misfortune. I am not insensible of +all that. But, dear Aunt Pauline, I want you to believe—do, pray, +believe—that it would be cruel to separate me from Owen. Nothing +<i>shall</i> part us, except his own will," she added in a low voice. Then, +after an instant, she went on, pressing her soft young face against her +aunt's shoulder, "Perhaps you think I don't care so very deeply for him? +Of course you cannot know; you have never seen us together; it has all +come upon you quite suddenly. But, indeed, indeed, if I had to give him +up, I think it would break my heart. Oh, dear Aunt Pauline, do be kind +to us, and help us! I have no mother. And I—I love him so!"</p> + +<p>Pauline folded the sobbing girl in her arms. Perhaps she had never felt +the great duty she owed to society so hard of fulfilment as at that +moment. It was really frightful to think of the havoc wrought by the +selfish recklessness of that Nihilist with his hundred and fifty pounds +a year! The recollection of the cold-blooded effrontery with which he +had mentioned the sum made her shudder.</p> + +<p>For a little time she held her niece silently in a motherly embrace. +Then she said softly, "This is very sad and distressing, dear May." And +her own eyes were full of tears. "However much I may disapprove"—(the +clinging arms around her shoulders relaxed their hold a little here; but +she gently pressed the girl close to her again)—"and—and deplore the +state of the case, it is most painful to me to see you suffer. But we +must not allow feeling to override all considerations of what is right +and proper. We must not forget that we have duties—duties towards +society."</p> + +<p>May quietly removed one arm from her aunt's neck, and began to dry her +eyes.</p> + +<p>"I don't say that those duties are easy. Those who have no position in +the world to keep up may be enviable in some respects. I'm sure I am +often tempted to envy the people one sees riding in omnibuses," said +Pauline, with what she felt to be a bold but forcible hyperbole. "But +<i>noblesse oblige</i>. You and I are both born Cheffingtons. It may be all +very well for the <i>bourgeoisie</i> to indulge in sentiment, and +sweet-hearts, and that sort of thing; but from us society expects +something different. There are certain opportunities which, it appears +to me, it is absolutely flying in the face of Providence to neglect. I +know perfectly well that if the Hautenvilles had the slightest inkling +of an idea that you had refused Mr. Bragg, Felicia would come flying +back from Rome like a whirlwind. However, I will not dwell on that now. +You are dreadfully worn out, my poor child, and your eyes will not be +fit to be seen for a week. Rose-water the last thing before going to +bed. There is nothing so soothing. Poor child! I <i>must</i> steel myself to +do my duty, May; but it really is excessively trying. Go to rest now, +dear, and sleep off your agitation. To-morrow we will talk more calmly."</p> + +<p>May had gently withdrawn herself from her aunt's embrace, and had risen +from her knees. "To-morrow I will go to Granny," she said quietly.</p> + +<p>"Ah, no, dearest! that cannot be. It is out of the question. But you may +write to Mrs. Dobbs and hear what she says."</p> + +<p>Pauline had resolved to write herself to Mrs. Dobbs, detailing all she +knew (and a great deal more which she thought she knew) about Mr. +Rivers's conduct, and setting forth the change in May's position as the +daughter of the future Lord Castlecombe. Things were very different from +what they had been three or four months ago. Even Mrs. Dobbs—although +she had turned out so disappointingly foolish as to this preposterous +love affair—must see that.</p> + +<p>"Good night, dear child; you will get over this distress; and you will +acknowledge hereafter, I am quite confident, that you have had a good +escape. As to that odious woman, <i>she</i> is sure to be miserable, whether +he marries her or not, that's one comfort!" said Aunt Pauline.</p> + +<p>The sight of May's tearful white face exacerbated her virtuous +indignation against Mrs. Bransby; nor was this feeling in the slightest +degree mitigated by her strong desire that Mrs. Bransby should marry +young Rivers, and take him out of their way for ever.</p> + +<p>"Good night, Aunt Pauline," answered May, bending down, and slightly +touching her aunt's forehead with her lips.</p> + +<p>Pauline embraced the girl tenderly. "Poor darling!" she murmured. "Don't +forget the rose-water."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + + +<p>When May went up to her room, she neglected her aunt's advice as to the +rose-water. She sat down beside the fire, and tried to think of what she +had best do.</p> + +<p>Help from her aunt was clearly not to be hoped for. She did not feel +anger against Aunt Pauline at that moment. She had felt it some time +before, but not now. Would it not be like feeling angry with a Chinese +for not comprehending English? They simply did not understand one +another. There was a barrier between their minds—at least, on the one +subject which May had at heart—which, as it seemed, neither of them +could pass or penetrate.</p> + +<p>She would go to Granny! There she would find love and sympathy, and the +sheltering mother-wings she yearned for. And, at the bottom of her +heart, there was the half-unconscious feeling that Granny would be a +staunch partisan of Owen's, and would be able to justify her trust in +him.</p> + +<p>But then Aunt Pauline had refused to let her go, and had said she might +write. Write! and lose time, and probably fail to convince Granny of the +sick longing, the positive <i>need</i> she felt to get away from London. +There would be correspondence and discussion, and then her uncle would +come back, and there would be more discussion, and she could not see +Owen. If she wrote to him and he came, he would not be admitted to the +house; and she could not go to him.</p> + +<p>Well, then, she would run away. There was nothing for it but to run away +to Granny, and she made up her mind to do so. Nothing should prevent +her. Nothing! She started up and took her purse out of a drawer. She was +but slenderly provided with pocket-money, the bulk of her allowance from +Mrs. Dobbs being administered by Aunt Pauline. She counted out the +contents of the little smart <i>porte-monnaie</i> with deep anxiety. There +was half a sovereign and some silver. Only fifteen shillings! That would +not suffice to carry her to Oldchester—and then she must have a cab. +She could not find her way to the station on foot: and, besides, it +would take such a long time! How much time she did not know exactly; but +she remembered that it had seemed a rather long drive from the terminus +to Kensington. And even if she could walk the distance, she would not +know at what hour to set out in order to catch the express train, which +would bring her into Oldchester a little after five o'clock the same +evening.</p> + +<p>A little thrill ran through her veins as she pictured herself arriving +at Jessamine Cottage in one of the station flys, looking from the +vehicle at the cheerful firelight which would surely be shining from the +parlour window at that hour. And then Martha would come to the door, and +not recognize her at first in the darkness; and Granny would cry out in +surprise at the sound of her voice; and then there would be the dear +motherly arms round her, the dear motherly breast to lay her troubled +head upon, the blessed sense of rest, and trust, and comfort!</p> + +<p>Feverishly May counted and re-counted her money. The fifteen shillings +remained inexorably fifteen, and no more. All sorts of schemes passed +through her mind. Cécile might perhaps lend her some money—or Smithson! +But to ask for a loan from either of them would excite too much wonder +and suspicion; it would at once be reported to her aunt.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there darted into her mind the recollection that Harold had +some money. Uncle Frederick had given the child half a sovereign on his +birthday, a day or two ago. That was an inspiration! She would ask +Harold to lend her the money, and to keep the secret until she should be +gone. She knew that she could trust him; the child was staunch, and +would be proud of being confided in. Poor little Harold! She remembered +that it was he who had told her of Owen's presence in the house on that +day—when was it? <i>Yesterday?</i> Impossible! It was weeks—months ago, +surely! A large part of her life seemed to have passed since then.</p> + +<p>May lay down to rest, tired out with the various emotions of the day, +but with her brain so beleaguered by shifting thoughts and images that +she was certain she should not be able to sleep. But she might at least +rest her body, which felt bruised and weary, as though she had been +walking with a heavy burthen all day long. She dropped off to sleep, +nevertheless, almost immediately, but soon awoke again with a start and +a sensation of falling swiftly, and a vague terror. But at length, +towards morning, she did sleep continuously and heavily; and when she +next awoke her watch, and a dull yellowish glimmer through the +window-blind, told her it was day.</p> + +<p>It was a dismal London morning, wet and cold. The wind was howling among +the chimney-pots, and sending down showers of soot and smoke, mingled +with sleet. It was the day appointed for the funeral of Lucius +Cheffington. Mr. Dormer-Smith was not expected home that night; the +trains did not fit conveniently. It had therefore been arranged that he +should stay at Combe Park until the following morning. Her uncle's +absence made her opportunity, May thought. The train she wished to +travel by started from London, she believed, at about two o'clock; but +she resolved to be at the terminus much earlier. The departure might be +at some minutes before two; it would be too dreadful to miss the train! +She felt an irrational hurry and eagerness to be gone, as if each +minute's delay might be fatal. She knew the feeling was groundless, but +it mastered her.</p> + +<p>Preparations she had none to make, except clothing herself in a warm +gown, and putting a few toilet necessaries into a little handbag. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith always breakfasted late, and, during the cold weather, in +her own room; and May shared the morning meal with her uncle. To-day, at +her request, Harold and Wilfred were allowed to come downstairs and +breakfast with her. This arrangement suited Cécile, who much preferred +breakfasting with Smithson in the housekeeper's room to cutting +bread-and-butter and pouring out milk-and-water in the nursery.</p> + +<p>As soon as the meal was over, May asked Harold for the loan of his +golden half-sovereign. His first reply was a severe blow. "You mean that +yellow sixpence papa gave me? I haven't got it, Cousin May."</p> + +<p>May felt as though the child had struck her. But the next moment he +added—</p> + +<p>"Papa put it into that little box with a slit in it. You can't get it +out. Nobody can get it out. It belongs to me, you know; only I can't buy +anything with it. Papa says it's proper—property."</p> + +<p>May coaxed him to bring the box to her room, and found that it was +closed by a little cheap lock, which it would be perfectly easy to force +open. When she proposed this strong measure to Harold, he demurred at +first; but finally yielded, on his cousin's saying that she wanted the +money very much, and would be unhappy if she could not get it. A +glove-box lined with quilted satin was offered him by way of immediate +compensation; and he was promised that his yellow sixpence should be +repaid with ample interest in the shape of coin which would not share +the inconvenient dignity of being "property," but might be freely spent.</p> + +<p>May felt as if she were a criminal as she wrenched open the little +money-box, and took out the half-sovereign, which lay glistening amid a +small heap of pennies and sixpences. Harold stood watching her intently.</p> + +<p>"You do look funny, Cousin May!" he said. "Your cheeks are quite white, +and your eyes are queer, and your hand burns. Mine is ever so cold. +Feel!" He put his little red, cold hand on May's forehead, and the touch +seemed deliciously refreshing to her.</p> + +<p>"My head aches a little, Harold. I shall soon be well, though. I am +going to see my dear granny. I have often told you about her. She is so +good and kind! She makes people well when they are sick or sorry."</p> + +<p>Harold's experience of being made well when he was sick was not of such +a nature as to make this praise particularly attractive to him.</p> + +<p>"I s'pose she gives you powders?" he said, in a disparaging tone, and +then added gloomily, "I wouldn't go to her, if I was you."</p> + +<p>May kissed him, and assured him that Granny's methods were all pleasant +ones.</p> + +<p>Wilfred—who had been kept outside the room during the financial +transaction, as being too young to be trusted with a secret of such +importance—was now admitted in compliance with his reiterated petition; +and the two little fellows stood quietly watching their cousin, as in a +hurried, feverish way, she put a few articles into her little bag, and +took a fur-lined cloak out of the wardrobe, and laid her hat and gloves +ready on the bed.</p> + +<p>"I say, Cousin May," said Harold, all at once, "you'll come back again, +sha'n't you?"</p> + +<p>She looked down at the child's upturned face, with a start. It had not +occurred to her before, but the thought now struck her that it was very +likely she should never return to that house.</p> + +<p>"I will see <i>you</i> again, darlings, if I live," she said, bending down to +kiss and embrace the children.</p> + +<p>Wilfred, always inclined to be tearful, showed symptoms of setting up a +sympathetic wail. But Harold said, with a dogged little setting of the +lips—</p> + +<p>"Well, if you don't come back, I know what I shall do. I've got all +those pennies left in the box, and I shall buy a stick and a bundle, and +run away, and go along the high road ever so far, till I find you."</p> + +<p>"I shall come too," cried Wilfred. "Papa gave <i>me</i> sixpence!"</p> + +<p>All three looked, indeed, almost equally childish and innocent: Harold +and Wilfred, with their project of running away, derived from a nursery +story-book, and May clutching the "yellow sixpence" as a talisman that +was to carry her afar from all trouble and persecution!</p> + +<p>She did not, of course, mean to leave Aunt Pauline in any anxiety as to +what had become of her; but she wanted to get a good start. After some +deliberation, she wrote a short note to her aunt, and entrusted it to +Harold. His instructions were to keep it until luncheon-time, and then +give it to his mother. But, in case he heard them asking for May in the +house, and wondering where she was, he might deliver it sooner. In any +case, he must not give it to Cécile or Smithson, but place it in his +mother's own hand. This latter was a service which Harold felt to be a +severe one; but he undertook it, with a feeling akin to that of a knight +doing battle with giants and dragons, on behalf of his liege lady. Not +that his mother would be harsh or cruel; that was quite out of the +question. She would not even scold him much, probably; but she would +look at him with that complaining air of disapproval, as if he were an +unmerited affliction, and call him and his brother "those dreadful +little boys," and send him away to the nursery, all which things the +child felt keenly in his heart, although he was entirely unable to +analyze them in his brain.</p> + +<p>May also wrote to Owen, telling him of her departure, and confessing +that she had not written to Mr. Bragg.</p> + +<p>"What is the use of my remaining in London, when we cannot meet?" she +wrote. "We are as far apart, really, as when you were in Spain. I am +worn out, dear Owen, and feel that I need Granny's help. Do not be angry +with me for taking this step without consulting you. You will know I am +safe and well-cared for with Granny, who is your friend, instead of +having to fight against the arguments of those who are hostile to you." +Then, in a postscript, she added, "Mrs. Simpson came here yesterday. She +said she had seen you. You did not send me any message by her. Perhaps +you did not know she meant to see me?" This note she put in her pocket +to be posted at the station.</p> + +<p>It was now past twelve o'clock; for early hours were not kept in the +Dormer-Smith household. May's nervous impatience to be gone was no +longer to be resisted. She took the children into the little back room +where she had been accustomed to give them their lessons, and on her own +responsibility gave them a book full of coloured pictures which Cécile +never entrusted to their mischievous little fingers without her personal +supervision. And this unusual indulgence delighted them and absorbed +their attention. Then she stole back to her own chamber, and looked out +of the window. The rain was still falling at intervals in driving +showers. All the better! There was the less chance of any one whom she +knew in that neighbourhood being abroad to recognize her.</p> + +<p>She had told Smithson immediately after breakfast that she was going to +her own room, and did not wish to be disturbed until luncheon-time. She +now put on her hat and gloves, wrapped herself in the warm cloak, and +carrying a tiny umbrella, which looked very unequal to offering much +resistance to the wind and rain that were now sweeping along the street, +she crept downstairs and let herself out at the hall door.</p> + +<p>She had to walk some distance before reaching a cabstand, and by the +time she did so her feet were wet. She had no boots fitted to keep out +mud and damp. Aunt Pauline considered thick boots superfluous in London. +In the country, of course, it was quite "the right thing" to tramp about +in all weathers, and proper <i>chaussures</i> must be provided for the +purpose. Although, had it been a dogma laid down by "the best people" +that one ought to march barefoot through the mire, Aunt Pauline would +have desired May to conform to that as well as to all other sacred +ordinances of the social creed.</p> + +<p>May was driven to the railway station in due course by a cabman who, on +being asked what she had to pay, contented himself with only twice his +fare. She found she was much too early for the express train. But there +was a slow train going within half an hour. It would not reach +Oldchester until after the express, although starting before it; but May +decided to travel by it. She was frightened at the idea of remaining in +the big terminus, where she might be seen and recognized by some passing +acquaintance at any moment. And the idea of being actually on the road +to granny, safely shut up in a railway carriage out of reach, was +tempting. She took her ticket, the purchase of which reduced her +funds to the last shilling, and was put into a carriage by +herself—first-class passengers by that train not being numerous.</p> + +<p>The girl's head was throbbing, and the damp chill to her feet made her +shiver. She leaned back in a corner of the carriage, and closed her +eyes. The train trundled along, its progress arrested by frequent +stoppages. The dim daylight faded. At wayside stations the reflections +from the lamps shone with a melancholy gleam in inky pools of +rain-water. May began to suffer from want of food. She was not hungry; +but she felt the need, although not the desire, for some sustenance. At +one place where they stopped a quarter of an hour, she thought of +getting some tea; but there was a crowd of men in front of a counter +where beer and spirits were being sold, but where she saw no tea; and +the steam from damp great coats, mingled with tobacco-smoke and close +air, made her feel sick. She tottered back to the carriage, carrying +with her a huge fossilized bun, which she tried, not very successfully, +to nibble at intervals; and at length she fell into an uneasy doze.</p> + +<p>She was awakened by the opening of the carriage-door, and a voice +saying, "You'll be all right here, sir." A dark lantern flashed in her +eyes. A hat-box and dressing-bag were put into the carriage by an +obsequious porter. A gentleman entered and took his seat in the corner +farthest away from her. The door was slammed to, and they moved on +again.</p> + +<p>May put up her hand to her forehead in a dazed manner. She felt +confused, and could not, for the moment, understand where she was. Her +head ached and throbbed painfully. Then she recollected it all, and +wondered what o'clock it was, and whether they were drawing near +Oldchester.</p> + +<p>"Can you tell me what station that was?" she asked in a faint voice, of +her fellow-traveller.</p> + +<p>The gentleman turned his head sharply, and peered at her where she sat +in the darkness of her corner-seat. He could not distinguish her face; +for, before his entrance, she had drawn the movable shade half across +the lamp in the roof of the carriage. Thinking he had not heard, or had +not understood her, she repeated the question—</p> + +<p>"What is the name of that last station, if you please?"</p> + +<p>Upon which the gentleman, instead of making any such reply as might have +been expected, exclaimed, "Lord bless my soul!" and leaving his place at +the other extremity of the carriage, he came and seated himself opposite +to her. "It <i>is</i> Miss Cheffington!" he said, in a tone of the utmost +wonder. And then May recognized Mr. Bragg.</p> + +<p>"My dear young lady, how come you to be travelling alone—by this train? +Is anything the matter?"</p> + +<p>His tone was so sincere and earnest, his face and manner so gentle and +fatherly, that May at once felt she could trust him fully and +fearlessly.</p> + +<p>"I am so glad it's you, Mr. Bragg, and not a stranger!" she said, +putting her hand out to take his.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Mr. Bragg simply. "I'm glad it <i>is</i> me, if I can be of +any use to you." Then he asked again, "Is anything the matter?"</p> + +<p>"N—no; nothing very serious. I have run away from Aunt Pauline——"</p> + +<p>"Run away!"</p> + +<p>"And I'm going to Granny. You won't feel it your duty to give me up as a +fugitive from justice, will you?" she said, trying to smile, with very +tremulous lips.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dormer-Smith has never been treating you bad or cruel?" said Mr. +Bragg wonderingly. "No, no; she <i>couldn't</i>."</p> + +<p>"No, truly, she could not be consciously cruel to me, or to any one; but +she has ideas which—she tried to persuade me——We don't understand one +another, that's the truth."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg all at once remembered a certain private note despatched to +his hotel in town by Mrs. Dormer-Smith, wherein she had assured him that +May was an inexperienced child, who didn't know her own mind, and begged +him not to take her too absolutely at her word. He had never replied to +that note, having, indeed, nothing to say which it would be agreeable to +his correspondent to hear. But he recalled other instances in which +ladies of the highest gentility had hunted him (or, rather, not +<i>him</i>—he had no illusions of vanity on that point—but his large +fortune) with a ruthless unscrupulosity which had amazed him, and a +gallant perseverance in the teeth of discouragement which almost +extorted admiration. And the question stole into his mind, "Could Mrs. +Dormer-Smith have been persecuting May on <i>his</i> account?" The idea was +inexpressibly painful to him. But, anyway, he was relieved and thankful +to find that the girl did not shrink from him, but was sweet and +gracious as ever.</p> + +<p>"Well, to be sure," he said in his slow, pondering way, "'tis a strange +chance that we should meet just now, isn't it? For I've just come from +your family place, you know."</p> + +<p>"From where?"</p> + +<p>"From the home of your ancestors, as Mr. Theodore Bransby calls it. You +asked me the name of that station I got in at. Well, it's Combe St. +Mildred's, the station for Combe Park you know."</p> + +<p>"Is it? Then we cannot be far from Oldchester."</p> + +<p>"Not very far in miles; but this is an uncommon slow train—stops +everywhere. Stops just now at Wendhurst Junction; the express runs +through. I'm afraid you're very tired, Miss Cheffington." He could not +see her at all distinctly, but her voice betrayed great weariness, he +thought.</p> + +<p>"Not very—yes, rather. It does not matter now; we shall soon be there."</p> + +<p>"Yes," went on Mr. Bragg, "I've been attending the funeral."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes. Poor Lucius! I had forgotten that it was for to-day," said May, +with a self-reproachful feeling. "He was very kind to me, although, at +first, he seemed so dry and eccentric. I think he liked me. I know I +liked him."</p> + +<p>"Yes; no doubt but what he liked you. <i>That</i> can't be disputed. And it +does him honour, in my opinion. I suppose I ought to congratulate you, +Miss Cheffington—although congratulating may seem out of place with a +crape band round your hat. And yet I don't know!"</p> + +<p>"Congratulate me! Do you mean because my father is the heir? I think +there is more sorrow in Lord Castlecombe's heart than there can be +satisfaction in any one else's?" answered May. She was surprised at this +manifestation of coarseness of feeling in Mr. Bragg. It was the first +she had ever observed in him.</p> + +<p>"Your father? Lord bless me, no! Nothing to do with your father. I was +alluding to your cousin's last will and testament. I was present when it +was read, by Lord Castlecombe's desire, although having no particular +claim that I know of. Still, when we came back from the old churchyard, +his lordship invited me into the library, and the will was read out then +by Wagget, the lawyer, poor Martin Bransby's successor."</p> + +<p>"But what has all that to do with me?" asked May, sitting upright, and +holding on by the elbows of the seat. As she did so, everything seemed +to waver and swim before her eyes. The cushions on which she sat seemed +to be sinking down through the earth. The long fast, her broken sleep on +the previous night, the tears she had shed, and all the emotions of this +journey, which to her was an adventure fraught with all kinds of +anxieties, were telling upon her. But she made a desperate effort to +listen—not to be ill, not to give trouble. The train was to stop +shortly. She would hold up her courage until then. Had not the gloom +caused by the lamp-shade baffled Mr. Bragg's observation, he would have +been startled by her countenance.</p> + +<p>As it was, he merely answered, "Well, because your cousin has left +you all the little property he inherited from his mother. It isn't a +great fortune—a matter of four hundred and fifty, or five hundred +pound a year, as well as I can make out. But it's all in sound +investments—mostly Government securities—and it's settled on you every +penny of it."</p> + +<p>But May, struggling against a sick sensation of faintness, was scarcely +able to grasp the meaning of what was said to her. Her eyes grew dim; +she half-rose up from her seat, made a vague movement with her hands, +such as one makes in falling and clutching at whatever is nearest, and +then sank down in a heap on the floor of the carriage, like a wounded +bird. She was in a dead swoon, and her young face looked piteously white +and wan under the crude glare of the gas, as the train moved slowly, +with much resounding clangour, into the big station at Wendhurst +Junction.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + + +<p>With that indescribably dreadful rushing, whirling sensation in the +brain, which can never be forgotten by whoever has once experienced it, +May Cheffington recovered out of her swoon, and her senses returned to +her.</p> + +<p>She was lying on a cushioned seat in the ladies' waiting-room at +Wendhurst Junction. Her dress had been loosened, her own warm cloak had +been spread over her as a coverlet, a woollen shawl was thrown across +her feet, and an elderly woman was sprinkling water on her forehead. She +opened her eyes, and then shut them again lazily. The glare of the gas +made her blink, and the sense of rest was, for the moment, all she +wanted.</p> + +<p>"She'll do now," said the elderly woman, wiping May's wet forehead with +a handkerchief. Then she went to the door of the room, and half opening +it, said to some one outside, "Coming round beautiful, sir; she'll be +all right now."</p> + +<p>"Who's there?" asked May, in a little feeble, drowsy voice.</p> + +<p>"Your pa, dear. He <i>has</i> been in a taking about you. But I'm telling him +you're as right as right can be. So you are, ain't you? There's a +pretty!"</p> + +<p>Every second that passed was bringing more clearness to May's mind, more +animation to her frame. By the time the elderly woman had finished +speaking, May said—</p> + +<p>"Oh, ask him to come in. Ask him, pray, to come here and speak to me!"</p> + +<p>This message being transmitted, the door was opened, and in walked Mr. +Bragg, with a most disturbed and anxious countenance.</p> + +<p>May was lying with her head supported on a pillow formed of a great coat +hastily rolled up, which the attendant had covered with her own white +apron. The pretty soft brown hair, dabbled here and there with water, +was hanging in disorder. Her eyes looked very large and bright in her +pale face. Mr. Bragg came and stood beside her, and looked at her with a +sort of tender, pitying trepidation: as an amiable giant might +contemplate Ariel with a broken wing: longing to help, but fearing to +hurt, the delicate creature.</p> + +<p>May put out her hand and took hold of Mr. Bragg's as innocently as +little Enid might have done. "Oh, I am so sorry!" she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," returned Mr. Bragg, in a subdued voice. "And I'm so sorry, too. +But you are feeling better now, ain't you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I mean I am sorry for <i>you</i>. Sorry to frighten you and to give +you so much trouble."</p> + +<p>"Trouble! Well, I don't know about that. This good lady here has been +taking what trouble there was to take. Not such a vast deal, was it, +ma'am?"</p> + +<p>The "good lady" who had begun to doubt the correctness of her assumption +that these two were father and daughter, smoothed the shawl over May's +feet, and murmured that they were not to mention it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg pulled out his watch impatiently.</p> + +<p>"What! haven't they found anybody yet?" he said. "I sent off a man in a +fly ten minutes ago."</p> + +<p>The attendant observed apologetically that the first doctor they'd gone +to might not have been at home, and then they'd have to go on a goodish +bit further.</p> + +<p>May started up on her elbow.</p> + +<p>"Doctor!" she cried, in dismay. "You haven't sent for a doctor?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have," answered Mr. Bragg, dismayed in his turn by her evident +distress. "I couldn't do less. You might have been dying for anything I +knew. You don't know how bad you looked!"</p> + +<p>"But I don't want a doctor. I'm quite well. I only want to go on. I want +to go on to Granny."</p> + +<p>And May's head fell back on the pillow, while a tear forced its way +beneath the closed eyelids.</p> + +<p>"You came by the slow down, didn't you? Ah, well, there's no passenger +train going on that way before eleven-five to-night," observed the +elderly female.</p> + +<p>At this intelligence the tears poured down May's cheeks, and she turned +away her head on the cushion.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry! Don't fret!" exclaimed Mr. Bragg. "You shall be in +Oldchester within an hour if the medical man says you're able to travel. +I'll speak to the station-master at once. Only we <i>must</i> hear what the +doctor says, mustn't we? I dursn't run a risk, now durst I? You see that +yourself. You're what you might call laid on my conscience to take care +of. Good Lord, will this fool of a fellow never come back? I told him to +drive as fast as he could pelt."</p> + +<p>May was crying now less from vexation than from exhaustion.</p> + +<p>"I'm <i>not</i> ill, indeed," she murmured, trying to check her tears.</p> + +<p>"But, my dear young lady, people don't faint dead away like that, and +look so white and ghastly, without there's <i>something</i> the matter. It +wasn't the news I told you upset you like that, surely?"</p> + +<p>"No; of course not. I think it was because I—I had had no dinner."</p> + +<p>"Lord bless me!" cried Mr. Bragg. "Why, you're starving! <i>That's</i> what +it is, then!"</p> + +<p>In his anxious solicitude for her Mr. Bragg would have ordered +everything eatable to be brought which the refreshment-room afforded. +But he yielded to May's entreaty that she might have a cup of tea and a +piece of bread. The attendant suggested a teaspoonful of brandy in the +tea, but at this May shook her head. Mr. Bragg, however, thought the +suggestion a good one, and producing a small flask from his travelling +bag, insisted on pouring a few drops of its contents into the cup of +tea.</p> + +<p>"That's fine old Cognac," he said; "like a cordial. I wouldn't ask you +to swallow the stuff they sell here; but this'll do you nothing but +good. Dear me, if I'd only thought of giving you some of this before!"</p> + +<p>He was quite self-reproachful, and May had some difficulty in persuading +him that no blame could possibly attach to him for not having +administered a dose of brandy to her as soon as they met in the railway +carriage.</p> + +<p>By this time the doctor sent for from Wendhurst had arrived. A brief +interview with his patient convinced him that she was perfectly well +able to travel on as far as Oldchester.</p> + +<p>"Rather delicate nervous organization, you see," said the doctor to Mr. +Bragg, when he left May. "And there has been some mental distress; +family troubles, she tells me; and then the long fast, and the journey, +quite sufficient to account—oh, thanks, thanks. She'll be all right +after a good night's rest, I haven't the least doubt." And the doctor +withdrew with a bow; for Mr. Bragg, apologizing for having disturbed him +and brought him so far through the rain, had put a handsome fee into his +hand.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg had also mentioned in the hearing of the waiting-room +attendant, who was hovering inquisitively in the background, that the +young lady had been put under his charge, and that he had just left the +house of her great-uncle, Lord Castlecombe. He was aware that he himself +was far too well-known a man in those parts for the adventure not to be +talked about. And his experience of life had taught him that, while it +is as difficult to check gossip as to bring a runaway horse to a +standstill, yet that both may generally be turned to the right or left, +by a cool hand.</p> + +<p>His sagacity was amply justified. For the waiting-room attendant, for +weeks afterwards, would narrate to passing lady travellers how that +sweet young lady, Lord Castlecombe's grandniece, was so cut up by the +death of her cousin that she fainted right away coming back from the +funeral at Combe Park, not having been able to touch food for more than +twelve hours in consequence of her grief; and how Mr. Bragg, the great +Oldchester manufacturer, who was taking charge of the young lady on her +journey home, was so kind and anxious, and quite like a father to her; +and how they both repeatedly said, "Mrs. Tupp, if it hadn't been for +your care and attention, we don't know whatever we <i>should</i> have done."</p> + +<p>Soon after the doctor had departed, Mr. Bragg came back to May, and +informed her that arrangements had been made for their starting for +Oldchester in three-quarters of an hour, if that would be agreeable to +her. And in reply to her wondering inquiry as to how that could have +been managed, he said quietly, "Oh, I've got a special train. I'm a +director of this line, and they know me here pretty well."</p> + +<p>May had always understood that a special train was an immensely costly +matter. But in her ignorance she was by no means sure that it might not +be part of the privileges of a railway director to have special trains +run for his service gratis, whensoever he should require them. Which, +probably, was precisely what Mr. Bragg desired her to suppose.</p> + +<p>He then called aside the attendant, and held a short colloquy with her +in the adjoining room, the result of which was to put the worthy Mrs. +Tupp into a great fuss and flutter. She dashed at a cupboard in the wall +and plunged her hand into it, drawing it out again with a battered old +black bonnet dangling by one string, as though she had been fishing at a +venture and brought up <i>that</i> rather unexpectedly. Further, Mrs. Tupp, +with many apologies, took the checked shawl which had been laid over +May's feet and put it on her own shoulders; and then, assuring Mr. +Bragg, in a speech which it took some time to deliver, that she wouldn't +be gone not ten minutes, for her house was close by—better than half a +mile before you really come into Wendhurst High Street, going the +shortest way from the station—she finally disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Now, Miss Cheffington," said Mr. Bragg, "I want you to do something to +oblige me. Will you?"</p> + +<p>"Most gladly, if I can; but I'm afraid it will turn out to be something +to oblige <i>me</i>," answered May, looking up at him timidly. "Don't you +want some food? I dare say you do."</p> + +<p>"Why, no, Miss Cheffington, I can't say I do; I ate a most uncommon +hearty luncheon. I wonder why people always eat so much when there's a +funeral going on! Besides, it isn't dinner-time yet, you know."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it? I have no idea what o'clock it is. If you told me it was the +middle of next week, I don't think I should feel surprised," and she +smiled with one of her old, bright looks.</p> + +<p>"That's right," said Mr. Bragg. "You're picking up. Well, now, I was +going to say that I noticed in the refreshment-room a cold roast fowl, +which didn't look at all nasty; no, really, not at all nasty," insisted +Mr. Bragg, with the air of one who is aware that his statement may not +unreasonably be received with incredulity. "And if you'll let them bring +it in here on a tray, and try to eat a bit of it, and drink another cup +of tea—no! I promise not to put any brandy in it,—I shall esteem it a +favour."</p> + +<p>Of course there was no refusing this. But May said wistfully, "I was +going to ask you—would you mind—I have something to say to you; and if +I don't say it soon that woman will be here. She is coming back +immediately."</p> + +<p>"Why, as to that, Miss Cheffington, I don't think she is. From what I +can make out, she's the kind of person that never can realize to +themselves that fifteen minutes, one after the other, end to end, make +up a quarter of an hour. She lost a lot of time here talking, and I saw +her stop to tell the young woman at the bar over yonder what a hurry she +was in. No; I make no doubt but what she'll be back before we start, but +not just yet awhile."</p> + +<p>The roast chicken and some freshly made tea were brought in due course, +and Mr. Bragg had the satisfaction of seeing May partake of both. Then +he professed his readiness to hear what she wished to say.</p> + +<p>"Are you comfortable? Light not too much for you? There! Now—provided +you don't overtire yourself, nor yet what you might call overtry +yourself—I'm listening."</p> + +<p>He sat down in a chair nearly opposite to the fire, so that his profile +was turned to May, and looked thoughtfully into the hot coals, folding +his arms in an attitude of massive quietude which was characteristic of +him.</p> + +<p>"First of all, you must let me thank you for all your kindness," said +May.</p> + +<p>"No, don't do that," he answered, without removing his gaze from the +fire. Then he repeated musingly, "No, no; don't do that! Don't ye do +that!"</p> + +<p>Then ensued a pause. It lasted so long that Mr. Bragg, glancing round at +the girl, said—</p> + +<p>"That wasn't all you had in your mind to say, was it?"</p> + +<p>"No, Mr. Bragg."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you've changed your mind about speaking? Well, don't you worrit +yourself. You do just what you feel most agreeable to yourself, you +know."</p> + +<p>"But I want to speak! I was so anxious to tell you——This chance, which +I could never have expected or dreamt of, gives me the opportunity, and +now—now I don't know how to begin!"</p> + +<p>He was silent for a moment, pondering. Then he said, "Could I help you? +I wonder if it is about a certain conversation you and me had together a +few days back?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—partly."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, you remember that on that occasion I said to you that I +hoped we might be friends, you and me—real, true friends. You remember, +don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Gratefully."</p> + +<p>"Well, I meant what I said. If you have been——" He was about to say +"persecuted," but changed the word. "If you have been any way bothered +in consequence of that conversation, I'm truly sorry for it. But don't +let it make any difference as between you and me. Your aunt, Mrs. +Dormer-Smith, she's a most well-meaning lady, and has beautiful manners. +But she's liable to make mistakes like the rest of us. And don't you +fret, you know. You're going to your grandmother, Mrs. Dobbs, you tell +me. And she's a woman of wonderful good sense. She'll understand some +things better than what your aunt can. It'll be all right. Don't you +worrit yourself."</p> + +<p>He spoke in a gentle, soothing tone, such as one might use to a child, +and kept nodding his head slowly as he spoke, still with his eyes fixed +on the fire.</p> + +<p>"It isn't that! I mean—I wanted to tell you something!"</p> + +<p>He turned his head now quickly, and looked at her. Her eyes were cast +down, and she was plucking nervously at the fur lining of the cloak +which lay on the seat beside her.</p> + +<p>"Is it something about that confidence that you made me, and that I look +upon as an honour, and always shall? Well, now, if you're going to speak +about that, I shall take it as a sign that you really mean to be friends +with me, and trust me. And there's nothing in the world would make me so +proud as that you should trust me, full and free."</p> + +<p>Then she told him all the story of her engagement to Owen. How it had +been kept secret for three months by her grandmother's express +stipulation. How, when Owen returned to England, they had revealed it to +Mrs. Dormer-Smith; how that lady had disapproved and forbidden Owen the +house, and had written to Captain Cheffington requesting him to +interpose his parental authority; how, finally, May had felt so +miserable and lonely, that she had made up her mind to leave her aunt's +house and take refuge with her grandmother.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg sat like a rock while she told her story, hesitatingly and +shyly at first, but gathering courage as she went on. When she first +mentioned Owen's name, his brows contracted for a moment, in a way which +might mean anger, or perplexity, or simply surprise. But he remained +otherwise quite unmoved to all appearance, and perfectly silent.</p> + +<p>When May had finished her little story, she said timidly, as she had +said to him on that memorable day in her aunt's house, "You are not +angry, Mr. Bragg?"</p> + +<p>He answered nearly as he had answered then, but without looking at her, +and keeping his gaze on the fire, "Angry, my child! No; how could I be +angry with you? You have never deceived me. You have been true and +honest from first to last."</p> + +<p>"But I mean, you are not—you are not angry with Owen?"</p> + +<p>The answer did not come quite so promptly this time; but after a few +seconds, he said, "I don't know that I've the least right to be angry +with Mr. Rivers. Only I should have liked it better if he had told me +how things were, plain and straightforward, when we were talking +about—something else." He brought his speech to an abrupt conclusion.</p> + +<p>Upon this May assured him that Owen had never desired secrecy. The +engagement had been kept secret in deference to "Granny." And as soon as +her aunt knew it, Owen had urged her (May) to tell Mr. Bragg also, +feeling himself in a false position until the truth was revealed.</p> + +<p>"I ought to have written to you yesterday," she said guiltily. "It's my +fault, indeed it is!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg got up from his chair, and muttering something about "getting +a little air," walked out on to the long platform.</p> + +<p>There was certainly no lack of air outside there. A damp raw wind was +driving through the station, making the lamps blink. Mr. Bragg had no +great coat, that garment having been rolled up to serve as May's pillow. +But he marched up and down the long platform with his hands behind his +back, at a steady and by no means rapid pace, apparently insensible to +the cold.</p> + +<p>Owen Rivers! So the man May was engaged to was his secretary, Mr. +Rivers! That was very surprising. Mr. Rivers was not at all the sort of +man he should have expected that exquisite young creature to care about. +But Mr. Bragg would have been puzzled to describe the sort of man he +would have expected her to care about. He had never seen any man he +thought worthy of her, and it might safely be predicted that he never +would; seeing that Mr. Bragg was in love with May, and would certainly +never be in love with May's husband, let him be the finest fellow in the +world.</p> + +<p>One suspicion he at once dismissed from his mind—that Owen had ever +been in the least danger from Mrs. Bransby's fascinations. No; when a +man was betrothed to a girl like May Cheffington he was safe enough from +anything of that kind, argued Mr. Bragg. Indeed, his visit to the +widow's house had given him a favourable impression of all its inmates. +It was impossible, he thought, to be in Mrs. Bransby's presence without +perceiving her to be worthy of respect. Searching his memory, he +discovered that the first hint of her having any designs on young Rivers +had come from Theodore Bransby, and now the motive of the hint began to +dawn upon him. Theodore, as he had long ago perceived, hated Rivers. Mr. +Bragg now understood why. He paced up and down the draughty platform, +solitary and meditative, for full ten minutes. It was a dead time, and +the whole station seemed nearly deserted.</p> + +<p>Then he returned to the waiting-room, of which May was still the sole +occupant. He stirred the fire into a blaze, and then sat down opposite +to it as before. May looked at him nervously and anxiously. She did not +venture to speak first.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you one thing, Miss Cheffington," said Mr. Bragg, all at +once. "What you told me has been a relief to my mind in one way."</p> + +<p>She looked up inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it has been a relief to my mind, and I'm bound to acknowledge it. +I was afraid at one time—indeed, I'd almost made up my mind, though +terribly against the grain—that you was engaged to some one else."</p> + +<p>"Some one else!" exclaimed May, opening great eyes of wonder, and +speaking in a tone which conveyed her <i>naďf</i> persuasion that, in that +sense, there did not exist any one else. "Why, whom can you mean?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg reflected an instant. Then he said, "I'll tell you. Yes, I'll +tell you, for he's tried to thrust it in people's faces as far as he +dared. Mr. Theodore Bransby."</p> + +<p>May fell back on her seat with a gesture of mute astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes; you're wondering how I could be such a blockhead as to think +that possible. But if it had been true, you'd ha' wondered how I could +be such a blockhead as to think anything else possible," said Mr. Bragg. +It was the sole touch of bitterness which escaped him throughout the +interview. After a brief pause he went on, "Not, you understand, that I +mean to deny Mr. Rivers is far superior to young Bransby—out of all +comparison, superior to him. I may, perhaps, consider Mr. Rivers +fort'nate beyond his merits. That's a question we won't enter into, +because you and me can't help but look at it from different points of +view. But I must bear testimony that he's always behaved like a real +gentleman in his duties with me; and, so far as I know, he's thoroughly +upright and honourable."</p> + +<p>May considered this to be but faint praise. But she graciously made +allowances. Granny, however, knew better. When Mr. Bragg's words were +repeated to Granny, she exclaimed, "Well done, Joshua Bragg! That was +spoken like a generous-minded man."</p> + +<p>By this time the engine which was to draw them to Oldchester was in +readiness. Mr. Bragg inquired impatiently for the "good lady" of the +waiting-room. And then May learned that that person was to accompany +them on the journey, lest Miss Cheffington should need any attendance on +the way.</p> + +<p>"And, indeed," said Mrs. Tupp, afterwards, "if the young lady had been a +princess royal, there couldn't have been more fuss made over her. S'loon +carriage, and everything! Of course, it was an effort for me to go along +with 'em at such short notice, and so entirely unexpected. But as they +said to me, 'Mrs. Tupp,' they said, 'had it not have been for your +kindness and attention, we don't know what we should have done.' And the +gentleman certainly made it worth my while." As he certainly did!</p> + +<p>At the present moment, however, Mrs. Tupp was by no means in a +complacent frame of mind. She was seen hurriedly approaching from the +extremity of the station, very breathless and exhausted, attired in her +Sunday bonnet, and shawl to match, confronting Mr. Bragg, who stood, +sternly, watch in hand, at the door of the carriage.</p> + +<p>"I told you so, Miss Cheffington," said he to May, who was already made +luxuriously comfortable within the carriage. "Now, ma'am! No, don't +trouble yourself to explain, please. Because in exactly two seconds and +a half we're off. <i>Would</i> you be so kind?" This to a guard who stood +looking on beside the station-master. In a moment they had taken Mrs. +Tupp between them, and, assisted from behind by a youthful porter, +managed to hoist her into the carriage by main force. Mr. Bragg took his +place opposite to May. The whistle sounded, and they glided from beneath +the roof of the station, and at an increasing speed across the dark +country through the streaming rain.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + + +<p>"And you got jealous! You actually were jealous of Owen and that poor, +dear, pretty Mrs. Bransby?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Granny."</p> + +<p>"And you were such a <i>goose</i>—I won't use a stronger word, though I +could—as to pay any attention to what that idiot of an aunt of +yours—Lord forgive me!—chose to say in her anger and disappointment?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Granny."</p> + +<p>"And you let the jabber of poor Amelia Simpson—as kind a soul as ever +breathed, but as profitable to listen to as the chirping of sparrows on +the house-top—prey upon your mind, and bias your common sense?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Granny."</p> + +<p>"Why, then, I'm ashamed of you, May! Downright ashamed—there now!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you, Granny!"</p> + +<p>And May seized her grandmother's hands one after the other as the old +woman drew them away impatiently, and kissed them in a kind of rapture.</p> + +<p>This little scene, with but slight variations, had been enacted several +times since May's arrival on the previous evening at Jessamine Cottage. +May had ceased to make any excuses for herself, or to endeavour to +describe and account for her state of mind. She was only too thankful to +have her doubts treated with supreme disdain. To be scolded and chidden, +and told that she did not deserve such a true lover as Owen, was such +happiness as she could not be grateful enough for!</p> + +<p>"Jealous of Owen because a parcel of mischievous magpies had nothing +better to do than to dig their foolish bills into a poor widow's +reputation? Why, I think you must have had softening of the brain!" Mrs. +Dobbs would say. Whereupon May would kneel down, and bury her face in +her grandmother's lap, and laugh and cry, and murmur in a smothered +voice—</p> + +<p>"Bless you, Granny darling!"</p> + +<p>"Not but what," Mrs. Dobbs admitted afterwards in a private +confabulation with Jo Weatherhead, "not but what I do think it's pretty +well enough to soften any one's brain to undergo a long course of Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. I thought I knew pretty well what she was, and I told you +so long ago, Jo Weatherhead, as you must well remember. But, mercy! I +hadn't an idea! Her goings on, from what the child tells me, and that +<i>fool</i> of a letter she's written to me, display a wrongheadedness and an +aggravating kind of imbecility that beats everything."</p> + +<p>Mr. Weatherhead, for his part, was inclined to be seriously wrathful +with everybody who had contributed to make May unhappy—not excluding +Mr. Owen Rivers, who, said Jo, might have had more gumption than to rush +to Mrs. Bransby's the moment he returned to England, and make such a +fuss about her, just as though <i>she</i>, and not May, were the object of +his solicitude and affection.</p> + +<p>"And I think, Sarah," said honest Jo, "that you're too hard on Miranda. +It's all very fine, but it seems to me that she <i>had</i> enough, and more +than enough, to make her uneasy. What with disagreeable things being +dinned into her ears from morning to night, and facts that couldn't be +denied, interpreted all wrong, and no friend near to interpret 'em +right, and her own modesty and humble-mindedness making her suspect that +the young man had offered to her before he was sure of his own mind, and +had begun to repent—take it altogether, I consider it's unkind and +unfair to bully her as you do, Sarah, and so I tell you."</p> + +<p>"You do, do you?" answered Mrs. Dobbs, who had listened with much +composure to this attack. "Well, I'm not likely to quarrel with you for +<i>that</i>. But you needn't worry yourself about May. I think I understand +the case pretty well. If you doubt it, just try sympathizing with her, +and telling her you think Mr. Rivers behaved bad and thoughtless. You'll +see how pleased she'll be with you, and what a lot of gratitude you'll +get for taking her part. Try it, Jo."</p> + +<p>Mr. Weatherhead, on reflection, did not try it.</p> + +<p>The unexpected legacy from Lucius Cheffington to his cousin was hailed +by Mrs. Dobbs with heartfelt thankfulness. May's account of it at first +was a very vague one. She had only imperfectly heard Mr. Bragg's +communication in the railway carriage. And, indeed, at that moment, it +had seemed to her an affair of very secondary importance. But now, when +it occurred to her that this money would render them so independent as +to put it out of the question for Owen to have to seek his fortune in +South America, or any other distant part of the world, she was as elated +by it as the best regulated mind could desire.</p> + +<p>"And it isn't so <i>very</i> much money, after all, is it, Granny?" she said, +with an air of satisfaction, which Mrs. Dobbs did not quite understand.</p> + +<p>"Well," she answered, "it seems a pretty good deal of money to me. +Between four and five hundred a year, as I understand."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but it isn't a <i>fortune</i>. Mr. Bragg said it wasn't a fortune. I +mean—it is very little more than Owen has with what he earns, Granny."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Mrs. Dobbs, a light beginning to dawn upon her. "I see. +Well, you can't have the proud satisfaction of marrying him without a +penny belonging to you. But perhaps he might take a situation for five +years on the Guinea Coast, so as to bring his income up above yours."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Granny!"</p> + +<p>"Why not? It would be quite as natural and sensible as his wanting to +marry poor Mrs. Bransby and her five children. Things are getting too +comfortable to be let alone. The least he can do is to undergo a course +of yellow fever, and——"</p> + +<p>"Granny, how can you?" And the young arms were round Granny, and the +blushing face hidden in Granny's breast.</p> + +<p>"Was I ever so foolish about Dobbs, I wonder?" murmured Mrs. Dobbs, as +she stroked the girl's hair. "He was a good-looking young fellow, was +Isaac, in our courting days, and a temper like a sunshiny morning, and +we were over head and ears in love, I know that; and—yes, I believe I +was every bit as soft-hearted and silly, the Lord be praised!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Bragg called at Jessamine Cottage about noon the day after May's +return. He asked to see Mrs. Dobbs, and remained talking with her alone +for some time. He had made up his mind, he told her, to give Mr. Rivers +a permanent post in his employment, if he chose to accept it. He thought +of offering him the management of the Oldchester office, if, after a +three months' trial, he found it suited him, and he suited it. There was +no technical knowledge of the manufacture needed for this post: merely a +clear head, honesty, the power of keeping accounts, and of conducting a +large business correspondence.</p> + +<p>"I think he can do it," said Mr. Bragg; "and, if he can, he may." Then +he informed Mrs. Dobbs that he had telegraphed to Mr. Rivers to come +down to Oldchester. He would there find, at the office in Friar's Row, a +letter with all details. "As for me," said Mr. Bragg, "I shall cross him +on the road. I am going to town by the three-thirty express. You needn't +mention what I've told you to Miss C. I thought, perhaps, she'd like +better to hear it—as an agreeable bit of news, I hope—from him."</p> + +<p>What more may have passed between them Granny never reported. He went +away without seeing May, merely leaving a message, "His kind regards, +and he hoped she was feeling well and rested."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wish I had seen him!" exclaimed May, when this message was +faithfully delivered by Granny. "I wanted so much to thank him again. +It's too bad! I wonder why he went away without seeing me."</p> + +<p>"Do you?" said Granny shortly. "Well, perhaps he thought he'd had bother +enough with you for one while. He's got other things to do besides +dancing attendance on young ladies who wander about the world, fainting +from want of food, and requiring special trains, and all manner of +dainties." Privately she observed to Mr. Weatherhead that innocence was +mighty cruel sometimes, as could be exemplified any day by trusting a +young child with a kitten.</p> + +<p>"H'm! Mr. Bragg isn't exactly a kitten, Sarah," returned Jo.</p> + +<p>"True, a kitten will scratch! He's a man, and a good 'un; and I'll tell +you what, Jo, if Joshua Bragg wanted his shoes blacked, I'd go down on +my old knees to do it for him."</p> + +<p>May's legacy was a great piece of news for Mr. Weatherhead. He was not +only delighted at it for her sake, but he enjoyed the importance of +disseminating it. Jo went about the city from the house of one +acquaintance to another. He also looked in at the Black Bull, where he +ordered a glass of brandy-and-water in honour of May's good fortune. The +item of news he brought was a welcome contribution to the general fund +of gossip. The subjects of Mr. Lucius Cheffington's funeral, and how the +old lord had taken the death, and whether Captain Cheffington would come +back to England now that he was the heir, and make it up with his uncle, +were by this time beginning to be worn a little threadbare; or, at all +events, had lost their first gloss.</p> + +<p>In this way it speedily became known to those interested in the matter +that May Cheffington had arrived at her grandmother's house. Among +others, the intelligence reached Theodore Bransby. Theodore had been +frequently in Oldchester of late, on business of various kinds, chiefly +connected with the approaching election. He had never relinquished the +hope of winning May; and he believed that the death of Lucius was a +circumstance favourable to his hopes. He did not doubt that the new turn +of affairs would bring Captain Cheffington to England forthwith; and he +as little doubted that many doors—including Mr. Dormer-Smith's—would +be opened widely to Captain Cheffington now, which had been closed to +him for years. Moreover, Theodore was convinced that one immediate +result of her father's presence would be to separate May altogether from +Mrs. Dobbs, and the unfitting associates who haunted her house, and +claimed acquaintanceship with Miss Cheffington. May, he knew, had a weak +affection for the vulgar old woman. But her father's authority would be +strong enough to sever her from Mrs. Dobbs; and, for the rest, Captain +Cheffington was his friend; whereas he was instinctively aware that Mrs. +Dobbs was not. Latterly, too, ever since his father's death, May's +manner to him had been very gentle.</p> + +<p>He was meditating these things as he walked up the garden path to +Jessamine Cottage. May caught sight of him from the window, and sprang +up in consternation, crying to Granny to tell Martha he was not to be +admitted. Mrs. Dobbs, however, told May to run upstairs out of the way, +and determined to receive the visitor herself.</p> + +<p>"I'm so afraid he will persist in asking for me! He is wonderfully +obstinate, Granny!" said May, ready to fly upstairs at the first sound +of the expected knock at the door.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" rejoined Mrs. Dobbs, setting her mouth rather grimly, "so am I. +Show the gentleman into the parlour, Martha."</p> + +<p>Theodore was ushered into the little room, and found Mrs. Dobbs seated +in state in her big chair. The place was far smaller and poorer than the +house in Friar's Row, but in Theodore's eyes it was preferable. There +was the possibility of some pretentions to gentility on the part of a +dweller in Jessamine Cottage, whereas Friar's Row, though it might, +perhaps, be comfortable, was hopelessly ungenteel.</p> + +<p>Theodore, when he entered the room, made a low bow, which, unlike his +salutation on a former occasion, was distinctly a bow, and not a +nondescript gesture halfway between a bow and a nod. He had learned by +experience that it did not answer to treat Mrs. Dobbs <i>de haut en bas</i>. +He also made a movement as if to shake hands; but this Mrs. Dobbs +ignored, and asked him to sit down, in a coldly civil voice.</p> + +<p>She had been knitting when he came in, but laid the needles and worsted +aside on his entrance, and sat looking at him with her hands folded in +her lap.</p> + +<p>Theodore could scarcely tell why, but this action seemed to prelude +nothing pleasant. There was an air of being armed at all points about +the old woman, as she sat there looking at him with a steady attention +unshared by her knitting. But possibly the work had been laid aside out +of politeness. In any case, Theodore told himself that <i>he</i> was not +likely to be disconcerted by such a trifle.</p> + +<p>"How do you do, Mrs. Dobbs?" he asked, when he was seated.</p> + +<p>"Very well, I'm much obliged to you."</p> + +<p>Here ensued a pause.</p> + +<p>"It is some time since we met, Mrs. Dobbs."</p> + +<p>"It's over a twelvemonth since you called at my house in Friar's Row, +Mr. Theodore Bransby."</p> + +<p>Another pause.</p> + +<p>"There has been trouble in the Cheffington family since then," said +Theodore, at length. "Ah, how strange and unexpected was the death of +the eldest son! Lucius, of course, was always delicate. Still, he might +have lived. His death has been a sad blow to Lord Castlecombe."</p> + +<p>Theodore considered himself to be condescending and conciliatory, in +thus assuming that Mrs. Dobbs took some part in the affliction of the +noble family. In his heart he resented her having the most distant +connection with them. But he intended to be polite.</p> + +<p>"There has been trouble in other families besides the Cheffingtons," +returned Mrs. Dobbs gravely, with her eyes on the young man's mourning +garments.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Yes. Of course. But no trouble with which you can be expected to +concern yourself," he answered. He was annoyed, and preserved his smooth +manner only by an effort.</p> + +<p>"And, anyway," continued Mrs. Dobbs, "Lord Castlecombe's sons have left +no fatherless children, nor widows, nor any one to be desolate and +oppressed—like your poor father did."</p> + +<p>Theodore raised his eyebrows in his favourite supercilious fashion. +"Your figurative language is a little stronger than the case requires," +he said.</p> + +<p>"Widowhood is a desolate thing, and poverty oppressive. There's no +figure in that, I'm sorry to say."</p> + +<p>"Oh, really? I was not aware," said Theodore, nettled, in spite of +himself, into showing some <i>hauteur</i>, "that Mrs. Bransby and her family +had excited so much interest in you!"</p> + +<p>"No; I dare say not. I believe you were not. I think it very likely +you'd be surprised if you knew how many folks in Oldchester and out of +it are interested in them."</p> + +<p>The young man sat silent, casting about for something to say which +should put down this old woman, without absolutely quarrelling with her. +He was glad to remember that he had always disliked her. But he had come +there with a purpose, and he did not intend to be turned aside from it. +Seeing that he did not speak, Mrs. Dobbs said, "Might I ask if you did +me the favour to call merely to condole upon the death of my late +daughter's husband's cousin?"</p> + +<p>This was an opening for what he wanted to say, and he availed himself of +it. He replied, stiffly, that the principal object of his visit had been +to see Miss Cheffington, who, he was told, had returned to Oldchester; +and that, in one sense, his visit might be held to be congratulatory, +inasmuch as Miss Cheffington inherited something worth having under her +cousin's will. He did not fear being suspected of any interested motive +here. Besides that he was rich enough to make the money a matter of +secondary importance; his conscience was absolutely clear on this score. +He had desired, and offered, to marry May when she was penniless; he +still desired it, but truly none the more for her inheritance.</p> + +<p>"Oh! So you've heard of the legacy, have you?" said Mrs. Dobbs.</p> + +<p>"Heard of it! My good lady, I was present at the reading of the will. +There were very few persons at the funeral; it was poor Lucius's wish +that it should be private, but I thought it my duty to attend. There are +peculiar relations between the family and myself, which made me desirous +of paying that compliment to his memory. I think there was no other +stranger present except Mr. Bragg. You have heard of him? Of course! All +Oldchester persons are acquainted with the name of Bragg. After the +ceremony Lord Castlecombe invited us into the library, and the will was +read. I understood that the deceased had wished its contents to be made +known as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>This narration of his distinguished treatment at Combe Park was soothing +to the young man's self-esteem. He ended his speech with patronizing +suavity. But Mrs. Dobbs remained silent and irresponsive.</p> + +<p>"I wish," said Theodore, after vainly awaiting a word from her, "to see +Miss Cheffington, if you please."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs slowly shook her head. He repeated the request, in a louder +and more peremptory tone.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I heard you quite well before," she said composedly; "but I'm sorry +to say your wish can't be complied with."</p> + +<p>"Miss Cheffington is in this house, is she not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she is at home; but you can't see her."</p> + +<p>Theodore grew a shade paler than usual, and answered sharply, "But I +insist upon seeing her." He threw aside the mask of civility. It +evidently was wasted here.</p> + +<p>"'Insist' is an unmannerly word to use; and a ridiculous one under the +circumstances—which, perhaps, you'll mind more. You can't see my +granddaughter."</p> + +<p>He glared at her in a white rage. Theodore's anger was never of the +blazing, explosive sort. If fire typifies that passion in most persons, +in him it resembled frost. His metal turned cold in wrath; but it would +skin the fingers which incautiously touched it. A fit of serious anger +was apt, also, to make him feel ill and tremulous.</p> + +<p>"May I ask why I cannot see her?" he said, almost setting his teeth as +he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Because she wishes to avoid you. She fled away when she saw you +coming," answered Mrs. Dobbs, with pitiless frankness.</p> + +<p>He drew two or three long breaths, like a person who has been running +hard, before saying, "That is very strange! It is only a few days ago +that Miss Cheffington was sitting beside me at dinner; talking to me in +the sweetest and most gracious manner."</p> + +<p>"As to sitting beside you, I suppose she had to sit where she was put! +And as to sweetness—no doubt she was civil. But, at any rate, she +declines to see you now. She has said so as plain as plain English can +express it."</p> + +<p>"Your statement is incredible. Suppose I say I don't believe it! What +guarantee have I that you are telling me the truth?"</p> + +<p>"None at all," she answered quietly.</p> + +<p>He stared blankly for a moment. Then he said, "Mrs. Dobbs, for some +reason, or no reason, you hate me. That is a matter of perfect +indifference to me." (His white lips, twitching nostrils, and icily +gleaming eyes, told a different tale.) "But I am not accustomed to be +treated with impertinence by persons of your class."</p> + +<p>"Only by your betters?" interpolated Mrs. Dobbs.</p> + +<p>"And, moreover, I shall take immediate steps to inform Captain +Cheffington of your behaviour. He will scarcely approve his daughter's +remaining with a person who—who——"</p> + +<p>"Says, she'd rather not see Mr. Theodore Bransby."</p> + +<p>"Who insults his friends. With regard to Miss Cheffington, I have no +doubt you will endeavour to poison her mind against me. But you may +possibly find yourself baffled. I have made proposals to Miss +Cheffington—no doubt you are acquainted with the fact—which, although +not immediately accepted, were not definitively rejected: at least, not +by the young lady herself. And I shall take an answer from no one else. +Miss Cheffington's demeanour to me, of late, has been distinctly +encouraging. If it be now changed, I shall know quite well to whose low +cunning and insolent interference to attribute it. But you may find +yourself mistaken in your reckoning, Mrs. Dobbs. Captain Cheffington is +my friend: and Captain Cheffington will hardly be disposed to leave his +daughter in such hands when I tell him all."</p> + +<p>He was speaking in a laboured way, and his lips and hands were +tremulous.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs looked at him gravely, but with no trace of anger. "Look +here," she said when he paused, apparently from want of breath—"you may +as well know it first as last—May is engaged to be married; has been +engaged more than three months."</p> + +<p>Theodore gave a kind of gasp, and turned of so ghastly a pallor that +Mrs. Dobbs, without another word, went to a closet in the room, unlocked +it, took out a decanter with some sherry in it, poured out a brimming +glassful of the wine, and, placing one hand behind the young man's head, +put the glass to his lips with the other. He made a feeble movement to +reject it.</p> + +<p>"Off with it!" she said in the voice of a nurse talking to a refractory +child.</p> + +<p>He swallowed the sherry without further resistance, and a tinge of +colour began to return to his face.</p> + +<p>"You haven't got too much strength," observed Mrs. Dobbs, as she stood +and watched him. "Your mother was delicate, and I suppose you take after +her."</p> + +<p>She had no intention, no consciousness, of doing so, but, in speaking +thus, she touched a sensitive chord. Any allusion to his mother's feeble +constitution made him nervous. He closed his eyes, and murmured that he +feared he had caught a chill at the funeral; that the sensation of +shivering pointed to that.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs stood looking down on him as he sat with his head thrown back +in the chair.</p> + +<p>"And so, my lad, you think I hate you?" she said. "Why, I should be +sorry to be obliged to hate your father's son; or, for that matter, your +mother's son either. She was a good, quiet, peaceable sort of young +woman. I remember her well, and your grandfather, old Rabbitt, that kept +the Castlecombe Arms when I was young. No; I don't hate you. Not a bit! +But I'll tell you what I do hate; I hate to see young creatures, that +ought by rights to be generous, and trusting, and affectionate, and +maybe a little bit foolish—there's a kind of foolishness that's better +than over-wisdom in the young—I hate to see 'em setting themselves up, +valuing themselves on their 'cuteness; ashamed of them that have gone +before 'em. I hate to see 'em hard-hearted to the helpless. Young things +may be cruel from thoughtlessness; but, to be cruel out of +meanness—well, I'll own I do hate that. But as for you, it comes into +my head that perhaps I've been a bit too hard on you."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs here laid her broad hand on his shoulder. He would fain have +shaken it off. But, although the wine had greatly restored him, he +thought it prudent to remain quiet, and recover himself completely +before going away.</p> + +<p>"You are but a lad to me," continued Mrs. Dobbs. "And perhaps I've been +hard on you. There's a deal of excuse to be made. You love my +granddaughter, after your fashion—and nobody can love better than his +best—and it's bitter not to be loved again. You'll get over it. Folks +with redder blood in their veins than you, have got over it before +to-day. But I know you can't think so now; and it's bitter. But if +you'll take an old woman's advice—an old woman that knew your mother +and grandmother, and is old enough to be your grandmother +herself—you'll just make up your mind to bear a certain amount of pain +without flinching:—like as if you'd got a bullet in battle, or broke +your collar-bone out hunting—and turn your thoughts to helping other +folks in their trouble. There's no cure for the heart-ache like that, +take my word for it. Come now, you just face it like a man, and try my +recipe! You've got good means and good abilities. Do some good with 'em! +Some young fellows when they're out of spirits, take to climbing up +mountains, slaughtering wild beasts, or getting into scrimmages with +savages—by the way, I did hear that you were going into Parliament—but +there's your stepmother now, with her five children, your young brothers +and sisters, on her hands. Just you go in for making her life easier. +There's a good work ready and waiting for you."</p> + +<p>Theodore moved his shoulder brusquely, and Mrs. Dobbs immediately +withdrew her hand. He stood up and said stiffly, "I must offer you my +acknowledgments for the wine you administered."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dobbs merely waved her hand, as though putting that aside, and +continued to look at him, with a grave expression, which was not without +a certain broad, motherly compassion.</p> + +<p>"I presume the name of the man to whom Miss Cheffington has engaged +herself is not a secret?"</p> + +<p>"It is Mrs. Hadlow's nephew; Mr. Owen Rivers," answered Mrs. Dobbs +simply.</p> + +<p>He had felt as sure of what she was going to say as though he had seen +the words printed before him; nevertheless, the sound of the name seemed +to pierce him like a sword-blade. He drew himself up with a strong +effort to be cutting and contemptuous. But as he went on speaking, he +lost his self-command and prudence.</p> + +<p>"Miss Cheffington is to be congratulated, indeed! Captain Cheffington +will, no doubt, be delighted at the alliance you have contrived for his +daughter! Mr. Owen Rivers! A clerk in Mr. Bragg's counting-house—which, +however, is probably the most respectable occupation he has ever +followed! Mr. Owen Rivers, whose name is scandalously connected +throughout Oldchester with that of the person you were so kind as to +recommend to my good offices just now! A person whose conduct disgraces +my family, and dishonours my father's memory! Mr. Owen Rivers, who——"</p> + +<p>"Hush! Hold your tongue!" cried Mrs. Dobbs, fairly clapping one hand +over his mouth, and pointing with the other to the window.</p> + +<p>There at the bottom of the garden was Owen, hurriedly alighting from a +cab; and May, who had witnessed his arrival from an upper window, +presently came flying down the pathway into his arms.</p> + +<p>Theodore had but a lightning-swift glimpse of this little scene, for +Mrs. Dobbs saying, "Come along here!" resolutely pulled him by the arm +into a back room, and so to a door opening on to a lane behind the +house. He was astonished at this summary proceeding, but he affected +somewhat more bewilderment than he really felt, so as to cover his +retreat. And he muttered something about having to deal with a mad +woman.</p> + +<p>"Now go!" said Mrs. Dobbs, opening the door. "I can forgive a deal to +love and jealousy and disappointment, but that cowardly lie is not to be +forgiven. To think that you—<i>you</i>—should be Martin Bransby's son! Why, +it's enough to make your father turn in his grave!"</p> + +<p>And with that she thrust him out, and shut the door upon him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith's affectionate letter to her brother produced a result +which she had not at all anticipated when she wrote it. He arrived in +England by the next steamboat from Ostend, and took up his quarters in +her house. He had come ostensibly for the purpose of visiting Combe +Park, and patching up a reconciliation with his uncle. This, indeed, was +a pet scheme with Pauline. She had hinted at it in writing to her +brother. Now that George and "poor dear Lucius" were gone, Lord +Castlecombe might not dislike to be on good terms with his heir. He was +old and lonely, and, as Pauline's correspondents had assured her, +greatly broken down by the death of his sons.</p> + +<p>Frederick scarcely knew which to regret the most—his niece's departure +or his brother-in-law's arrival. He missed May very much, but very +shortly he began to be reconciled to her engagement. Rivers was a +gentleman and an honest fellow, and might be trusted to take care of +May's money, which Mr. Dormer-Smith thought would be otherwise in +imminent jeopardy from the arrival on the scene of May's papa.</p> + +<p>That gentleman, indeed, who had at first taken the news of his +daughter's engagement with supreme indifference, showed some lively +symptoms of disapprobation on learning the fact of Lucius's bequest. A +daughter dependent on the bounty of Mrs. Dobbs for food, shelter, and +raiment, was an uninteresting person enough; but a daughter who +possessed between four and five hundred a-year of her own, ought not to +be allowed to marry without her father's consent. Frederick dryly +remarked that May's capital was stringently tied up in the hands of +trustees, whether she were married or single. Whereupon Augustus +indulged in very strong language respecting his dead cousin; and +declared that the terms of the will were a pointed and intentional +insult to <i>him</i>, who was his child's natural guardian.</p> + +<p>Still, although the capital was secure, Frederick knew that the income +was not. And the more he observed his brother-in-law, the more he felt +how desirable it was that May should have a husband to take care of her.</p> + +<p>Captain Cheffington had not improved during his years of exile. He +smoked all day long; and even at night in his bed, incensing May's +chamber, which he occupied, with clouds of tobacco-smoke. He had +contracted other unpleasant habits, and his temper was diabolical. He +had not brought his wife to England with him. He would sit for hours +with his slippered feet on the fender in his sister's dressing-room, +railing at the absent Mrs. Augustus Cheffington in a way which was most +grievous to Pauline; for he showed not the least reticence in the +presence of Smithson. Talk of "floating"—how would it be possible to +"float" a woman of whom her own husband spoke in that way?</p> + +<p>He had no very grave charges to bring against La Bianca after all. She +had been faithful to him, and stuck to him, and worked for him. But he +bewailed his fate in having tied himself to "a third-rate Italian +opera-singer, without an idea in her head beyond painting her face and +squalling!" It was just his cursed luck. Why couldn't Lucius die, since +he meant to die, six months earlier?</p> + +<p>At another time, he would openly rejoice in the death of his cousins, +and express a fervent hope that the old boy wasn't going to last much +longer. Pauline would remonstrate, and put her handkerchief to her eyes, +and beg her brother not to speak so heartlessly of his own family: +especially of "poor dear Lucius." But Augustus pooh-pooh'd this as +confounded humbug. He was uncommonly glad to be the heir of Combe Park, +and thought it about time that his family, and his country, and the +human race generally, made him some amends for the years he had passed +under a cloud! <i>He</i> would show them how to enjoy life when he came into +possession of "his property," as he had taken to call Lord Castlecombe's +estate. He planned out several changes in the disposal of the land, and +decided what rent he would take for the house and home-park. For he did +not intend to live in this d——d foggy little island, where one had +bronchitis if one hadn't got rheumatism, and rheumatism if one hadn't +got bronchitis. In one respect his visions coincided with his sister's, +since he talked of having a villa on the Mediterranean coast, not far +from Monte Carlo; but they differed from hers in several important +points: notably in providing no place for her in the villa.</p> + +<p>Frederick would sometimes throw a shade over these rosy dreams by +observing doggedly that, for his part, he doubted the likelihood of Lord +Castlecombe's speedy decease, and that, looking at them both, he was +inclined to consider Uncle George's life the better of the two; so that, +on the whole, domestic life in Mr. Dormer-Smith's smart house at +Kensington was by no means harmonious. Meanwhile Pauline, with +considerable pains and earnest meditation, composed a letter to her +uncle on behalf of Augustus; she did not venture to entrust the task to +Augustus himself. It would be impossible to persuade him to be as smooth +and conciliatory as the case demanded. But she wrote a letter which, she +thought, combined diplomacy with pathos, and from which she hoped for +some satisfactory result. But the reply she received by return of post +was of such a nature that she hastily thrust it into the fire lest +Augustus should see it, and told him and her husband that "poor dear +Uncle George was not yet equal to the effort of seeing Augustus, after +the great shock he had suffered." Uncle George had, in fact, stated in +the plainest terms that if Captain Cheffington ventured to show himself +in Combe Park, the servants had orders to turn him out forcibly!</p> + +<p>The object for which Captain Cheffington had come to England at that +time being thus baulked, it would have appeared natural that he should +return to his wife in Brussels. But day followed day, until nearly three +weeks had elapsed since Lucius Cheffington's death, and still Augustus +remained at Kensington. Every morning, with a dreadful regularity, Mr. +Dormer-Smith inquired of his wife if she knew whether her brother were +going away in the course of that day; and every morning the shower of +tears with which Mrs. Dormer-Smith received the inquiry, and which +generally formed her only answer to it, became more copious. Augustus, +on the whole, was the least uncomfortable of the trio. He had contrived +to raise a little ready money on his expectations; he was well lodged +and well fed; the change to London (now that he had a few pounds in his +pocket) was not unwelcome after Brussels; and as to his brother-in-law's +undisguised dislike to his presence, he had grown far too callous to +heed it, so long as it suited him to ignore it. Not but that he took +note of it in his mind keenly enough, and promised himself the pleasure +of paying off Frederick with interest, as soon as he should come into +"his property."</p> + +<p>All this time a humble household in Oldchester was a great deal happier +than the wintry days were long. The news of Captain Cheffington's +arrival in England had at first disturbed May. Perhaps he might insist +on seeing her; and she shrank from seeing him. But she thought it her +duty to write to him and inform him herself of her engagement; and +neither Owen nor her grandmother opposed her doing so.</p> + +<p>If May had any lingering illusion about her father, or any hope that he +would manifest some gleam of parental tenderness towards her, the +illusion and the hope were short-lived. The reply to her communications +was a hurried scrawl, haughtily regretting that Mr. Owen Rivers had not +thought proper to wait upon him and ask his consent to the marriage, +which he totally disapproved of! And adding that although Rivers of +Riversmead was undoubtedly good blood, it appeared that the traditions +of gentlemanlike behaviour had been lost by the present bearer of the +name, since he entered the service of a tradesman. The letter ended with +a peremptory demand for fifty pounds.</p> + +<p>May and Owen had planned that granny was to return to Friar's Row on +their marriage. Mr. Bragg was willing to break the lease which he held, +and to remove his office to another house hard by. And Mrs. Dobbs, with +all her goods and chattels, was to be reinstated in her old home. As +this scheme was to be kept secret from Granny for the present, it +involved a vast deal of delightful mystery and plotting. Jo Weatherhead +was admitted to the conspiracy, and enjoyed it with the keenest relish.</p> + +<p>A word or two had been said as to Mrs. Dobbs taking up her abode with +the young couple when they should be married. But this Granny instantly +and inflexibly refused.</p> + +<p>"No, no, children; I'm not quite so foolish as that! It's very well for +Owen to take May for better for worse. But it would be a little too much +to take May and her grandmother for better for worse!"</p> + +<p>Of course it was not long before Owen took his betrothed to see Canon +and Mrs. Hadlow. They walked together to the old house in College Quad, +where, however, their news had preceded them. The Hadlows were very +cordial. Both of them were very fond of May; and Aunt Jane loudly hoped +that Owen appreciated his good fortune, and declared it was far above +his deserts, though in her heart she thought no girl in England too good +for her favourite nephew. The lovers were affectionately bidden to come +again as often as they could, and brighten up the old place with the +sight of their happy young faces.</p> + +<p>They agreed, as they walked home together, that the home in College Quad +seemed a little gloomy and lonely without Conny. Conny was still away. +She had only been at home on a flying visit of a few days during several +months past. She was now staying with a Lady Belcraft, who had a +handsome house at Combe St. Mildred's. Mrs. Hadlow had told them so; and +a word or two, uttered in the same breath, about Theodore Bransby being +often in that neighbourhood, suggested a suspicion that Theodore might +be thinking of returning to his old love. This idea annoyed Owen +extremely. The hint which suggested it had been dropped almost in the +moment of saying "good-bye" to Mrs. Hadlow, or he would have attempted +at once to sound her on the subject.</p> + +<p>He had interrogated his aunt privately—while May was being petted and +made much of by the kind old canon—as to a rumour which was rife in +Oldchester—namely, that Constance had been betrothed to Lucius +Cheffington. But Aunt Jane positively denied this. She admitted that the +gossip bad reached her own ears, and that she had spoken to her daughter +about it.</p> + +<p>"But Conny entirely disabused me of any such notion. She said that, in +the first place, nothing was farther from Lucius's thoughts than +love-making; and that, in the second place, it would have been a most +imprudent marriage for her, since she could only expect to be speedily +left a widow with a very slender jointure. Conny was never romantic, you +know," said Aunt Jane, with a quick, half-humorous glance at her nephew.</p> + +<p>Owen began to consider with himself whether it might not be his duty to +acquaint Canon Hadlow with many parts of Theodore's conduct which were +certainly unknown to him. All inquiries conducted either by himself or +by Jo Weatherhead—who ferreted out information with untiring zeal and +delight in the task—showed more and more plainly that the calumnies +concerning Mrs. Bransby could be traced, for the most part, to her +step-son, and in no single instance beyond him. May had long ago +acquitted Constance Hadlow of speaking or writing evil things of the +widow. Constance had not, in fact, expended any attention whatever on +the Bransby family since their departure from Oldchester.</p> + +<p>She was spending her time very agreeably. Her hostess, Lady Belcraft, +was a widow. She was a great crony of Mrs. Griffin's, and delighted with +Mrs. Griffin's <i>protégée</i>. Having, so to speak, retired from business on +her own account (her two daughters being married and settled long ago), +Lady Belcraft was still most willing to renew the toils of the chase on +behalf of a friend. She and Mrs. Griffin had carefully examined the +county list of possible matches for Constance Hadlow; and had agreed +that there was good hope of a speedy find, a capital run, and a +successful finish.</p> + +<p>It so happened that on the same afternoon when May and Owen were paying +their visit to College Quad, Theodore Bransby was making a call at the +residence of Lady Belcraft in Combe St. Mildred's.</p> + +<p>Ever since his interview with Mrs. Dobbs—now several days ago—Theodore +had been considering his own case with minute and concentrated +attention. We are all of us, it must be owned, supremely interesting to +ourselves; but Theodore's interest in himself was of a jealously +exclusive kind. His health was undoubtedly delicate. He had felt the +loss of a home to which he could repair when he was ailing or out of +sorts ever since his father's death. He found, too, that he was apt to +become hipped and nervous when alone. He came to the conclusion that he +needed a wife to take care of him, and, after grave consideration, he +resolved to marry Constance Hadlow.</p> + +<p>If he could by a word have destroyed Rivers and obtained possession of +May Cheffington, he would have said that word without hesitation or +remorse; but since that could not be, he did not intend to wear the +willow. He would marry Constance. That she would have accepted him long +ago he was well assured; and his circumstances were far more prosperous +now than in those days. Canon and Mrs. Hadlow could not but be impressed +by his disinterestedness in coming forward now that he was in the +enjoyment of a handsome independence. And, on his side, he believed he +was choosing prudently. If he were ill, the attentions of a wife—a +refined and cultured woman, dependent, moreover, on him for the comfort +of her daily life—would be far preferable to those of a hireling nurse, +who would have the power of going away whenever she found her position +disagreeable. But this was only one side of the question. When he grew +stronger (he always looked forward to growing stronger) Constance would +be an admirable helpmate from a social point of view. She had acquired +influential friends, was received in the best houses, and would do his +taste infinite credit, and whether as a politician or a barrister she +might have it in her power to forward his ambitions.</p> + +<p>It was as the result of these meditations that he called at Lady +Belcraft's.</p> + +<p>He had met her occasionally in society, and she knew perfectly who he +was. But there was a distinct film of ice over the politeness with which +she received him when he was ushered into her drawing-room. She thought +this little attorney's son was taking something like a liberty in +appearing there uninvited. She forgave him, however, immediately when, +in his most correct manner, he asked for Miss Hadlow.</p> + +<p>Really it might do, thought Lady Belcraft. The young man was very well +off, and presentable, and all that, and dear Conny, though simply +charming, had not a penny in the world (neither was dear Conny her +ladyship's own daughter). Yes; she positively thought it might do! She +was so sorry that Miss Hadlow was not within, but she expected her every +moment. She was walking, she believed, in the park. "The Park" at Combe +St. Mildred's meant Combe Park. Oh, yes; she was aware that Mr. Bransby +was an old acquaintance. Playfellows from childhood? Really! That sort +of thing always had such a hold on one—was so extremely——Oh, there +was dear Conny coming up the drive.</p> + +<p>Lady Belcraft sent a message by a servant, begging Miss Hadlow to come +into the drawing-room, where she presently appeared.</p> + +<p>She was dressed in a winter toilet of carefully-studied simplicity, and +looked radiantly handsome. Theodore gazed at her as if he had never seen +her before. Self-possessed she had always been, but she had now acquired +something more than that—an air of conscious distinction—of "being +somebody," as Theodore phrased it in his own mind, which he admired and +wondered at.</p> + +<p>"Here's an old friend of yours, Conny," said Lady Belcraft.</p> + +<p>Constance had been pulling off her gloves as she entered the room, and +she now extended a white, well cared-for hand to Theodore, with a cool +little, "Oh, how d'ye do?" and the faintest of smiles.</p> + +<p>Her hostess thought within herself that if there really was anything +between her and young Bransby, Conny's behaviour was marvellous, and +that all the training bestowed on her own daughters had left them far +below the point of finish attained by this provincial clergyman's +daughter.</p> + +<p>"Did you walk far? Are you tired?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"No, thanks, dear Lady Belcraft; I am not at all tired. I went to my +favourite group of beeches. It's a capital day for walking. And what is +the news in Oldchester, Theodore?"</p> + +<p>Her calling him "Theodore" in the old familiar way seemed to have the +mysterious effect of putting him under her feet; it implied such +superiority and security. Theodore was conscious of this, but it did not +displease him; she had doubtless resented his not making the expected +offer earlier. He had thought when he met her in London that hurt +<i>amoure propre</i> had much to do with her cavalier treatment of him. But +he had a charm to smoothe her ruffled plumes.</p> + +<p>After a little commonplace conversation, Lady Belcraft recollected some +orders which she wanted to give personally to her gardener, and, with a +brief excuse, left the room. Constance perfectly understood why she had +done so, Theodore did not; but he seized the occasion which, he +imagined, hazard had thrown in his way.</p> + +<p>"I am very glad of this opportunity of speaking with you alone, +Constance," he began very solemnly.</p> + +<p>There was no trepidation such as he had felt in speaking to May. He +neither trembled, nor stammered, nor grew hot and cold by turns. That +chapter was closed. He was turning over a new and quite different leaf.</p> + +<p>"Yes?" said Constance. "Really!" She removed her hat, smoothed the thick +dark braids of her hair before a mirror, and sat down with graceful +composure.</p> + +<p>"I don't think we have met, Constance, since——" He glanced at his +black clothes.</p> + +<p>"No; I think not. I was very sorry. I begged mamma to give you a message +from me when she wrote to condole with Mrs. Bransby."</p> + +<p>"I merely allude to that sad subject in order to assure you that I am +not unmindful of what is proper and becoming under the circumstances; +and lest you should think me guilty of heartless precipitation."</p> + +<p>He was beginning to enjoy the rounding off of his sentences—a pleasure +he had never tasted in May's company; strong emotion being unfavourable +to polished periods.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't think you were ever guilty of precipitation," answered +Constance quietly. But the mirror opposite reflected a flash of her +handsome eyes.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," continued Theodore, "could be in worse taste than to neglect +the accustomed forms of respect. A period of twelve months would not be +too long to mourn for a parent so excellent as my father; but six months +could not be considered to outrage decorum. And I should not urge——"</p> + +<p>He paused. He had been on the point of saying that he would not press +for the marriage taking place before the summer, when he happily +remembered that he had not yet gone through the form of asking Constance +whether she would marry him or not. To him it seemed so like merely +taking up the thread of a story temporarily interrupted, that he had +lost sight of the probability that Constance's mind had not been keeping +pace with his own on the subject. But it recurred to him in time.</p> + +<p>Constance was sitting on a low couch near the fireside, at some distance +from him. He now took his place beside her. There was a certain +awkwardness in making a proposal of marriage across a spacious room.</p> + +<p>"There can be no need of many words between us, Constance," he began, +with as much tenderness of manner as he could call up. Then he stopped. +Constance had drawn away the skirt of her gown on the side next to him, +and was examining it attentively. "What is the matter?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I thought you had accidentally set your boot on the hem of my frock," +she said. "And the roads are so muddy, although it is fine overhead! But +it's all right. I beg your pardon: you were saying——?"</p> + +<p>This interruption was disconcerting. He had had in his head an elaborate +sentence which was now dispersed and irrecoverable. He must begin all +over again. However, when fairly started once more, his eloquence did +not fail him. He offered his hand and fortune to Miss Hadlow, "in good +set terms."</p> + +<p>She was silent when he had finished, and he ventured to take her hand.</p> + +<p>"Am I not to have an answer, dearest Constance?" he asked.</p> + +<p>She drew her hand away very gently and with perfect composure before +saying, as she looked full at him with her fine dark eyes—</p> + +<p>"You are not joking, then?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Joking!</i>"</p> + +<p>"Well, I know you are not given to joking, and this would certainly be +an inconceivably bad joke; but it is almost more inconceivable that you +should be in earnest."</p> + +<p>He was fairly bewildered, and doubtful of her meaning.</p> + +<p>"However," she continued, "if you really expect a serious answer, you +must have it. No, thank you."</p> + +<p>He stood up erect and stiff, as if moved by a spring. She remained +leaning back in an easy attitude on the couch, and looking at him.</p> + +<p>"I——Constance!—--I don't understand you!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"I refuse you," she replied in a gentle voice, and with her best society +drawl. "Distinctly, decidedly, and unhesitatingly. I think you <i>must</i> +understand that. Won't you stay and see Lady Belcraft?" (Theodore had +taken up his hat, and was moving towards the door.) "Oh, very well. I +will make your excuses."</p> + +<p>She rang the bell, which was within reach of her hand, and Theodore +walked out of the room without proffering another word.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + + +<p>Canon Hadlow had resolved that his daughter, when she returned to +Oldchester for May's wedding, to which she was, of course, invited, +should remain in her own home at least for some months. He had grown +very discontented with her prolonged and frequent absences. Mrs. Hadlow, +at the earnest request of Constance, backed by a polite invitation from +Lady Belcraft, went to Combe St. Mildred's to remain there one day, and +bring her daughter back with her.</p> + +<p>But, instead of doing so, she sent a telegram home, desiring that a box +of clothes might be packed and sent to her; and, most surprising of all, +the box was to be addressed to Dover. This item of news was disseminated +by the Hadlows' servant, whose duty it was to see the trunk conveyed to +the railway station. And the woman declared she believed, from what she +could make out, that her mistress was going to France.</p> + +<p>Of course, the canon knew the truth. But the canon was not visible to +callers. He had a cold, and kept his room. All the circle of the +Hadlows' acquaintance—and the circle seemed to be immediately widened +by the dropping into its midst of this puzzling bit of news, as a stone +dropped into water is surrounded by a ring of ever-increasing +circumference—were, however, spared further conjecture by the +publication, in due course, of the supplement to the <i>Times</i> newspaper +of Tuesday, the twenty-seventh of February. It contained the +announcement of the marriage at the British Embassy in Paris, on the +preceding Saturday, of Viscount Castlecombe to Constance Jane, only +daughter of the Reverend Edward Hadlow, Canon of Oldchester.</p> + +<p>The general public, or as much of it as had ever heard of the parties +concerned—for that vast entity the general public is really as +divisible as a jelly-fish; each portion being perfect for all purposes +of its existence, when cut off from the rest—was ranged, as is usual in +such cases, in two main camps; those who couldn't have believed it +beforehand, though an angel from Heaven had announced it, and those who +had all along had their suspicions, and were not so <i>very</i> much +surprised as you expected. But only the nearest friends and relatives of +the family enjoyed the not inconsiderable advantage for judging the +matter, of really knowing anything about it.</p> + +<p>Owen was the first person whom his uncle admitted to see him. The old +man was greatly overcome. His daughter's marriage was a blow to him. It +gave a rude shock to the ideal Constance, whom he had loved and admired +with a sort of delicate paternal chivalry. There could be no question of +love in such a marriage as this—no question, even, of gratitude, or +reverence, or any of the finer feelings. To the pure-hearted, +simple-minded old man, it seemed to be a sad degradation for his +daughter. Not a soul except his wife ever fully understood his state of +mind on the subject; for he spoke of it to no one. Mrs. Dobbs, perhaps, +came nearest to doing so. She had a great reverence and admiration for +the canon, and considerable sympathetic insight into his feelings. And +when, afterwards, people said in her presence how proud and elated Canon +Hadlow must be at his daughter's making so great a match, she would +tighten her lips, and observe <i>sotto voce</i> that you might as well expect +a Christian saint to be gratified by being decorated with the peacock's +feather of a Chinese mandarin.</p> + +<p>When Mrs. Hadlow came home, of course more particulars were divulged. +Many came out by degrees in confidential talks with her nephew. Mrs. +Hadlow spoke to him quite openly.</p> + +<p>Constance had earnestly begged her mother to go to her at Combe St. +Mildred's, and almost immediately on her arrival there had announced +that she was about to marry Lord Castlecombe, and that everything was +arranged for the ceremony to take place in Paris; since, under the +circumstances, they both felt that it could not be managed too quietly. +She much wished her mother and father to accompany her to Paris, in +order that everything might be <i>en rčgle</i>.</p> + +<p>When the first astonishment was over, Mrs. Hadlow impulsively tried to +dissuade her daughter from taking this step. It was dreadful, it was +really monstrous to think of her Conny marrying that old man, who was +several years the senior of her own father! A man, too, of a hard, +unamiable character—one who was much feared, little respected, and +loved not at all! She was revolted by the idea. And as to the canon, she +could not bear to think of what he would feel. He would never allow it! +It was hopeless to think of gaining his consent.</p> + +<p>When her mother's tearful excitement had somewhat subsided, Constance +pointed out that she had a very sincere regard for Lord Castlecombe, who +had behaved in every way excellently towards her; that as to "falling in +love," as depicted by poets and novelists, she had her private opinion, +which was, briefly, that all that was about as historically true as the +adventures of Oberon and Titania; and that, at all events, she was +sufficiently acquainted with her own character to be persuaded that +<i>she</i> was incapable of that species of temporary insanity. Further, with +regard to her father's consent, she deeply regretted to hear that he was +likely to withhold it; since she would, in that case, be compelled to +marry without it, which would be very painful to her. (And when she said +that it would be painful to her, her mother knew that she spoke quite +sincerely.) She was of full age to judge for herself in the matter, and +could not think of breaking her word to Lord Castlecombe. She further +pointed out that although, of course, Oldchester people would chatter +about her—she spoke already, as though she were looking down on those +common mortals from the serene and luminous elevation of some fixed +star—yet there could be nothing scandalous said if she were known to be +accompanied to Paris by her mother. As to papa, his health, and his +duties, and many other excuses might be alleged for his not undertaking +a journey at that inclement season.</p> + +<p>Constance spoke with perfect calmness, and without the slightest +disrespect of manner. But Mrs. Hadlow was made aware within five minutes +that nothing on earth which she had power to say or do would, for an +instant, shake her daughter's resolve to be a viscountess. There was +nothing to be done but to put the best face possible on the matter, and +go to Paris. She could not allow her child to travel thither alone. The +bridegroom had already preceded them, to make all needful preparations.</p> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Hadlow was in such a whirl of confusion and emotion as +scarcely to know what she was doing or saying. "Had Lady Belcraft known +of this?" she asked. Constance smiled rather scornfully, as she replied +that nobody would be more surprised than poor dear Lady Belcraft when +she should learn the news. No; Conny was not going to share the glory of +her capture with any one. And, in truth, such glory as belonged to it +was all her own.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Griffin, on hearing the news, was at first half inclined to be +sharp and spiteful at being kept in the dark. (Although, of course, she +did not allow herself to continue in that vulgar frame of mind.) But +Lady Belcraft was subdued, and almost prostrate in spirit before this +gifted young creature. "She's a wonderful young woman, my dear—a +wonderful young woman!" declared Lady Belcraft.</p> + +<p>Just before they landed from the steamboat at Calais, Constance said to +her mother, "Mamma, I do think you and papa are the most unworldly +people I ever heard of! You have never thought of saying a single word +about settlements."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hadlow started, and looked blankly at her daughter. She stood +rebuked. "I have felt, ever since you told me, as if I had received a +stunning blow on the head which deprived me of half my faculties," she +answered. "But I ought to have thought of that. It is not too late now, +perhaps, to secure some provision for you; is it, Conny?"</p> + +<p>"I should not have thought of marrying Lord Castlecombe without a proper +settlement, mamma. We might have been married a fortnight ago if it had +not been for the delays of the lawyers; although matters were simplified +for them by my having nothing at all! I am quite satisfied with the +arrangements, and I hope you and papa will be so too. I think you will +admit that Lord Castlecombe has been very generous."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hadlow was a woman of bright intelligence, and she had been apt to +consider Conny a little below the Rivers' standard of brains; but now, +as she looked and listened, she felt tempted to exclaim, like Lady +Belcraft, that this was a wonderful young woman.</p> + +<p>But what words can paint the effect of that fateful announcement in the +<i>Times</i> on the family party assembled in Mr. Dormer-Smith's house at +Kensington!</p> + +<p>Augustus behaved so outrageously, used such vituperative language, and +comported himself altogether with such violence, that his brother-in-law +privately fortified himself by securing the presence of a policeman well +in view of the windows, on the opposite side of the way, before +requesting Captain Cheffington to withdraw at once from his house. Much +to his surprise, and immensely to his relief, the request was complied +with promptly. Captain Cheffington disappeared in a hansom cab, with a +smart travelling-bag, and followed by a second vehicle containing two +well-filled portmanteaus. Whereas, as James cynically remarked to the +cook, a cigar-case and a tooth-pick was about the amount of his luggage +when he arrived! James had not been fee'd. Augustus asserted his claim +to be considered one of the family by swearing at the servants, and +never giving any of them a sixpence. The explanation of this speedy +departure was shortly forthcoming in the shape of a variety of bills, +which poured in with astonishing rapidity. Augustus also, as has been +stated, had been clever enough to raise a little money on the strength +of his heirship. And Mr. Dormer-Smith had to endure some contumely from +creditors who had looked to getting something like twenty-five per cent. +above market-prices out of the captain, and were roused to a frenzy of +moral indignation when they discovered that he was safe out of England, +and beyond their reach.</p> + +<p>To Pauline the blow was the more severe because she persuaded herself +that she had been the victim of black ingratitude on the part of +Constance.</p> + +<p>"<i>That</i> girl!" she would murmur, weeping. "That girl, whom I held up as +a model—and who really did behave perfectly when she was here—quite +<i>perfectly</i>—to think of that girl being the one to turn round on the +family in this treacherous way! I do not know how I shall endure to see +her face again."</p> + +<p>"Then don't see it," suggested Frederick. "If you think she has behaved +so badly, cut her, and have done with it."</p> + +<p>"Cut her!" exclaimed Pauline, sitting up from among the pillows in her +<i>chaise longue</i>, with a vinagrette in one hand and a pocket-handkerchief +in the other. "How can I cut my uncle's wife? She is now Lady +Castlecombe, Frederick! You seem to have no idea that private feelings +must give way to the duty one owes to society. I wonder who will present +her. I dare say Mrs. Griffin will persuade the duchess to do it. It +would not surprise me at all. Probably they will open the town house +now, and come up every season. Cut her! Frederick, you talk like that +Nihilist who is going to marry poor darling May!"</p> + +<p>Frederick more than ever thought that "poor darling May" was to be +congratulated on having secured the love and protection of the honest +young Englishman to whom his wife persisted in attributing anarchical +principles. He wrote a kind letter, in which he proposed to come down to +Oldchester and give his niece away at the marriage, if that would be +agreeable to her and Mr. Rivers. May's affectionate heart was overjoyed +by this proposal. A joint letter, signed by May and Owen, was sent by +return of post, in which both Aunt Pauline and Uncle Frederick were +warmly invited to the wedding. And May put in a special petition that +Harold and Wilfred should be allowed to be present. Granny would find a +nook for them in Jessamine Cottage.</p> + +<p>May also sent an invitation to Mrs. Bransby to be present, but she +replied that she would not bring her black gown to be a blot on their +brightness, but that no more loving prayers would be breathed for their +happiness than those of their affectionate friend Louisa Bransby.</p> + +<p>Neither did Aunt Pauline accept the invitation. She did not write +unkindly. Her reply seemed to be, indeed, a sort of homily on the text—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"How all unconscious of their doom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The little victims play."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It was a sad business, but she was mildly compassionate and forbearing. +But the best of all was that Harold and Wilfred were to be permitted to +come. In fact, their father insisted on bringing them, to their +inexpressible rapture. They took to Granny at once, and she had to keep +a watch upon her tongue lest she should let slip before Mr. Dormer-Smith +the words she had said on first seeing the children—</p> + +<p>"Poor dear motherless little fellows!"</p> + +<p>On the wedding morning a letter arrived for Mrs. Dobbs from Mr. Bragg. +Mr. Bragg was about to sail for Buenos Ayres on a twelve-months' visit +to his son. Before going away, he thought it would be agreeable to May +and her husband, he wrote, to be the means of communicating something to +Mrs. Bransby, which he hoped would be to her advantage. The new premises +which he had taken for his office, now removed from Friars' Row, were to +be furnished throughout, and a couple of rooms reserved for Mr. Bragg's +use whenever he wished to come into Oldchester from his country house. +Under these circumstances, a resident housekeeper would be required to +look after the place and govern the servants. Mr. Bragg hoped that Mrs. +Bransby would do him the favour to accept this post, and that she would +find herself more comfortable among her old friends in Oldchester, than +in the wilderness of London. Moreover, he enclosed a cheque for a +handsome sum of money, as to the disposal of which he thus wrote:—</p> + +<p>"The cheque I would ask Mr. Rivers to apply to paying young Martin +Bransby's school fees for the ensuing year. And any little matter that +may be over can be used for the boy's books, and so on. He is a fine +boy, I think, and worth helping. Learning is a great thing. I never had +it myself, but I don't undervalue it for that. I have thought that this +would perhaps be the best way I could find of what you might call +testifying my appreciation of Mr. Rivers's services to me. I hope he +will accept it as a wedding present."</p> + +<p>To May he sent no gift.</p> + +<p>"I could offer her nothing but dross," he wrote, "and I don't want her +thoughts of me to be mixed up with gold and diamonds, and such poor +things as are oftentimes the best a rich man has to give. Some young +ladies would be disappointed at this. I don't believe she will. When +she's dressed and ready to go to church, just you please kiss her +forehead with a blessing in your mind, and—you needn't say anything to +her, but just say to yourself, 'this is from Joshua Bragg.'"</p> + +<p>Of the wedding, it may be said that, although it was no doubt in many +respects like other weddings, yet in several it was peculiar. And its +peculiarities were in such flagrant violation of the regulations of +society, that it was almost providential Mrs. Dormer-Smith escaped +witnessing it.</p> + +<p>In the first place, although Uncle Frederick was present, a welcome and +an honoured guest, May insisted that Mr. Weatherhead should give her +away. And, perhaps, nothing she had ever done in her life had caused +Granny more heartfelt satisfaction. As to "Uncle Jo," the honour nearly +overpowered him. His appearance in wedding garments, with an enormous +white waistcoat, and a bright rose-coloured tie, was an abiding joy to +all the little boys of the neighbourhood who were lucky enough to behold +him.</p> + +<p>Then the Miss Pipers fluttered into the church in such extremely bridal +attire, with long white veils attached to their bonnets, as utterly to +eclipse May, in her quiet travelling dress. May, however, wore two +ornaments of considerable value: a pearl bracelet and brooch, which had +arrived the previous evening. Inside each morocco case had been found a +slip of paper bearing respectively the inscriptions:—"To Miranda +Cheffington, with the good wishes of her great-uncle;" and "To dear May, +with the love of her affectionate friend, Constance Castlecombe."</p> + +<p>Lastly, Amelia Simpson was so florid in her raiment, and so exuberant in +her delight, as to be the observed of all observers. In her excitement, +she backed heavily upon people behind her, and trod upon the gowns of +people before her; knelt down at the wrong moment, and then, discovering +her mistake, jumped up again at the very instant when the rest of the +congregation were sinking on to their knees; dropped her metal-clasped +prayer-book with a crash in a solemn pause of silence; lost her +pocket-handkerchief, and, in her near-sightedness and confusion, seized +on Miss Polly Piper's long white veil to wipe her tear-dimmed +spectacles; and was, altogether, a severe trial to the nerves of the +officiating clergyman.</p> + +<p>Many other friends were there. Major Mitton, with his amiable face, and +erect, soldierly figure; Dr. Hatch, who said he doubted whether he could +snatch a moment to witness the ceremony, but who remained to the very +last, to wish the young couple God speed! when they drove away from the +door of the church on their honeymoon trip. Even Sebastian Bach Simpson +was in a softened mood. The entire absence of pretension about the whole +affair conciliated his good will; and he played Mendelssohns' "Wedding +March" as a voluntary, when the bride and bridegroom walked down the +church arm-in-arm, with unusual spirit and heartiness. And so May and +Owen began their voyage of life together, followed by many good wishes, +and by less of envy, hatred, malice, and uncharitableness, than perhaps +fall to the lot of most mortals.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Marriage, which is the end of most story-books, is but the beginning of +many stories; but this chronicle cannot follow the personages who have +figured in it much beyond that fateful chapter of the wedding-day.</p> + +<p>One or two facts may, however, be told, and a few outlines sketched in, +to indicate the course of future events on a more or less distant +horizon.</p> + +<p>For a long time Pauline clung, with the soft pertinacity which was part +of her character, to the hope that "poor dear Augustus" might yet +inherit the Castlecombe acres, and resume his place in society. Uncle +George could not live for ever! But one fine day the bells of Combe St. +Mildred's rang a merry peal, and the news spread like wildfire through +the village that an heir was born in a foreign city called Naples; and +that my lord and my lady—who was doing extremely well—and the +all-important baby were coming home to Combe Park as soon as ever my +lady was strong enough to travel.</p> + +<p>Then, indeed, Pauline felt that Providence had decided against her +brother, and that her own duty to society lay plain and clear before +her.</p> + +<p>During the following year or two she suffered considerable persecution +in the shape of appeals for money from Augustus. The first were in a +haughty strain, but before long they sank into the whine of the regular +begging-letter writer. She gave him what she could, for to the last she +had a soft place in her heart for her brother. But her husband, finding +the case hopeless, forbade her to give any more, and, as far as he +could, prevented Augustus's letters from reaching her.</p> + +<p>Captain Cheffington then brought his wife to London. He had little fear +of his creditors, having by this time sunk so low as not to be worth +powder and shot. He got his wife engaged, under her real name, at a +music-hall of the third class, and caused paragraphs to be inserted in +sundry sporting and theatrical prints to the effect that "the Mrs. +Augustus Cheffington, whose Italian bravura-singing was so successful a +feature in the nightly entertainment," etc., etc., was the niece by +marriage of a peer of the realm—Viscount Castlecombe of Combe Park; and +he furnished his relations liberally with copies of these papers. +Probably he had some hope that they would buy him off to save the honour +of the family, but in this he was totally at fault. The old lord who, in +the joy of his little son's birth seemed to have taken a new lease of +life, merely chuckled at "Gus's making such a confounded ass of +himself," and cared not a snap of the fingers for anything he could say +or do.</p> + +<p>Owen Rivers privately supplied his father-in-law with all the +necessaries, and some of the comforts, of life, on condition that he was +never to annoy May by making any kind of appeal to her; on the first +infringement of this condition the supplies would be withdrawn. And in +order to secure its not being all lost at the gaming-table, Owen paid +the money into the hands of La Bianca, who, according to her lights, was +by no means a bad wife, and was certainly a much better one than her +selfish and graceless husband deserved.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bransby gratefully accepted the position offered to her, and +fulfilled its duties entirely to Mr. Bragg's satisfaction. Indeed, when +the latter returned from Buenos Ayres, he took the habit of spending a +good deal of time in the apartment reserved for him over the office. The +house—one of the roomy, old-fashioned mansions in Friar's +Row—contained ample accommodation for Mrs. Bransby's family. Miss Enid +completed, and maintained, her conquest of Mr. Bragg; and some persons +thought that it was this young lady's personal attractions which caused +him to spend so much of his time in Friar's Row; but other observers +thought differently. And, indeed, quite latterly, Mrs. Dormer-Smith has +had her ill-opinion of Mrs. Bransby strengthened by certain rumours +touching the likelihood of that lady's promotion to a higher position in +Mr. Bragg's household than that of paid housekeeper.</p> + +<p>"If <i>that</i> should ever come off," says Mrs. Dormer-Smith, "I suppose +poor dear foolish May's eyes will be opened at last; and she may repent +when it is too late having thrown away her magnificent opportunity, to +be picked up by that <i>designing</i> woman."</p> + +<p>When these mysterious forecasts are imparted to Lady Castlecombe, she +only smiles faintly, and says in her quiet, well-bred way, "Well, but +why not?" My lady has her own views on the subject—views in which the +discomfiture and mortification of Theodore Bransby form a conspicuous +and pleasing feature. But hitherto nothing has happened to justify the +previsions of either lady on this score.</p> + +<p>Theodore is not often seen in Oldchester now. The place is full of +disagreeable associations for him. His political candidature was a +failure: the Castlecombe influence on his behalf having been suddenly +withdrawn after his lordship's marriage—greatly to the perplexity of +his lordship's agent!</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Mr. Theodore Bransby by no means despairs of being able to +write M.P. after his name at some future time. But if he ever does enter +Parliament, it will probably be on what our Continental neighbours term +"the extreme Left of the Chamber." For Theodore's political opinions +have undergone a great revulsion, and he is now loftily contemptuous of +the territorial aristocracy. In fact, he has been heard to support +advanced theories of an almost Communistic complexion—stopping short, +however, at the confiscation of other people's property, and maintaining +the inviolability of Government Stock, of which he is a large holder. +This sort of theory he finds to be quite compatible with the pursuit of +fashionable society.</p> + +<p>Although surrounded by every luxury which can minister to his personal +comfort, he is not at all extravagant, and, indeed, saves more than half +his annual income. This he does, not from positive avarice, but because +he feels ever more and more strongly that money is power. Moreover, it +will be well to have a handsome sum in hand whenever he marries: for he +is still firmly minded to find a wife who will devote herself to taking +care of him. Quite recently a paragraph has appeared in the Oldchester +newspaper announcing the probability of a marriage between "our +distinguished townsman, Mr. Theodore Bransby, whose career at the Bar is +being watched with pride and pleasure in his native city, and the Lady +Euphemia Haggistown, daughter of the Earl of Cauldkail, etc., etc., +etc."</p> + +<p>Lady Euphemia is a faded, timid, gentlewoman of some five or +six-and-thirty years of age, with neither money nor beauty. She is +sometimes haunted by the ghost of a romantic attachment to a penniless +young navy officer lost at sea hard upon twenty years ago. But she has a +soft, submissive desire to win the kindly regard of the remarkably stiff +and cold young gentleman whom her father has decided she is to marry +whenever he shall see fit to ask her. But poor Lady Effie does not +succeed in softening the implacable correctness of her suitor's +demeanour into anything very humanly sympathetic. Theodore is quite +certain to make the most of his wife's title and social standing in +dealing with the world in general, but it is to be feared that he may +think fit to balance matters by tyrannizing over her in private with +some rigour.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dormer-Smith often moralizes her family history, entangling herself +in many metaphysical knots in the course of her cogitations as to what +would have happened if something else had happened which never did +happen!</p> + +<p>Of course, if poor dear Augustus had not thrown himself away on Susan +Dobbs things would have been very different. But even in spite of that, +much might have been retrieved had he not made a second and still more +shocking <i>mésalliance</i> with a strolling Italian singer; because, +probably, if Augustus had come home after the death of his cousin Lucius +in a proper spirit, and under not discreditable circumstances, and had +conducted himself so as to conciliate his uncle, the old man would never +have thought of marrying again. Constance Hadlow would never have become +Viscountess Castlecombe, and no heir would have appeared to thrust +Augustus from his inheritance.</p> + +<p>There was an ever-recurring difficulty in fixing the exact point at +which "poor dear Augustus's misfortunes" had become irretrievable. So +that, although Pauline was on perfectly civil terms with the +Castlecombes, and although Frederick was asked down to Combe Park for +the shooting every season, and although my lady was happy to receive the +Dormer-Smiths (with the least little indefinable touch of condescension) +whenever she was at her house in town; yet, in her confidential moments, +Pauline's intimate friends were never quite sure to which of the three +momentous alliances she was alluding, when she talked plaintively of +"That Unfortunate Marriage."</p> + + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 3(of 3), by +Frances Eleanor Trollope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 35945-h.htm or 35945-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/4/35945/ + +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. 3(of 3) + +Author: Frances Eleanor Trollope + +Release Date: April 24, 2011 [EBook #35945] + +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. III. + + LONDON: + RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON + + Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. + + 1888. + + (_All rights reserved._) + + + + +THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +The following morning Mrs. Dormer-Smith was in a flutter of excitement. +She left her bedroom fully an hour earlier than was her wont. But before +she did so she sent a message begging May not to absent herself from the +house. For even in this wintry season May was in the habit of walking +out every morning with the children whenever there came a gleam of good +weather. Smithson, Mrs. Dormer-Smith's maid, who was charged with the +message, volunteered to add, with a glance at May's plain morning +frock-- + +"Mr. Bragg is expected, I believe, Miss." + +"Very well, Smithson. Tell my aunt I will not go out without her +permission." + +Smithson still lingered. "Shall I--would you like me to lay out your +grey merino, Miss?" she asked. + +"Oh no, thank you!" answered May, opening her eyes in surprise. "If I do +go out, it will only be to take a turn in the square with the children. +This frock will do quite well." + +Smithson retired. And then Harold, who was engaged in a somewhat languid +struggle with a French verb, looked up savagely, and said-- + +"I hate Mr. Bragg." + +Wilfred, seated at the table with a big book before him, which was +supposed to convey useful knowledge by means of coloured illustrations, +immediately echoed-- + +"I hate Mr. Bragg." + +"Hush, hush! That will never do!" said May. "Little boys musn't hate +anybody. Besides, Mr. Bragg is a very good, kind man. Why should you +dislike him?" + +"Because he's going to take you away," answered Harold slowly. + +"Nonsense! I dare say Mr. Bragg will not ask to see me at all. And if he +does, I shall not be away above a few minutes." + +"Shan't you?" asked Harold doubtfully. + +"Of course not! What have you got into your head?" + +"Yesterday, when they didn't think I was listening, I heard Smithson say +to Cecile----" + +May stopped the child decisively. "Hush, Harold! You know I never allow +you to repeat the tittle-tattle of the nursery. And I am shocked to hear +that you listened to what was not intended for your ears. That is not +like a gentleman. You know we agreed that you are to be a real gentleman +when you grow up--that is, a man of honour." + +"_I_ didn't listen!" cried Wilfred eagerly. + +"I am glad you did not." + +"No, _I_ didn't listen, Cousin May. I was in Cyril's room. Cyril gave me +a long, long piece of string;--ever so long!" + +May laughed. "Your virtue is not of a difficult kind, Master Willy! You +never do any mischief that is quite out of your reach." Then, seeing +that Harold looked still crest-fallen, she kissed his forehead, and said +kindly, "And Harold will not listen again. He did not remember that it +is dishonourable." + +The child was silent, with his eyes cast down on his lesson-book, for a +while. Then he raised them, and looking searchingly at May, said, "I +say, Cousin May, I mean to marry you when I grow up." + +"And so do I!" said Wilfred, determined not to be outdone. + +"Very well. But I couldn't think of marrying any one who did not know +his French verbs. So you had better learn that one at once." + +Harold's naturally rather dull and heavy face grew suddenly bright; and +he settled himself to his lesson with a little shrug, and a shake like a +puppy. "No; you wouldn't marry any one who didn't know French, would +you?" said he emphatically. + +"And _I_ know F'ench!" pleaded Wilfred. + +"There now, be quiet, both of you, and let me finish my letter," said +May. And there was nearly unbroken silence among them. + +Meantime Mr. Bragg was having an interview with Mrs. Dormer-Smith. He +had gradually made up his mind to put the same question to her that he +had put to Mrs. Dobbs: namely, whether May were free to receive his +proposals. He could not help being uneasy about young Bransby's +relations with May. Mrs. Dobbs, it was true, had denied that her +granddaughter thought of him at all; and Mr. Bragg did not doubt Mrs. +Dobbs's veracity. But he underrated her sagacity; or, rather, her +opportunities for knowing the truth. She lived very much outside of +May's world. She might divine the state of May's feelings, and yet be +mistaken as to their object. The story he had heard of young Bransby's +having been rejected by Miss Cheffington could not be true; for was not +young Bransby a constant visitor at her aunt's house--frequenting it on +a footing of familiarity--talking to May herself with a certain air of +confidential understanding? He had observed this particularly during +last night's dinner. + +But if, on the other hand, the possibility of Mrs. Dobbs being mistaken +on this question were once admitted, all sorts of other possibilities +poured in after it as by a sluice-gate, and lifted Mr. Bragg's hopes to +a higher level. At any rate, he resolved to take some decisive step. +Time had been lost already. He had told Mrs. Dobbs that he was too old +to trust to the day after to-morrow; and that was now three months ago! +Hence his visit to Mrs. Dormer-Smith by appointment--an appointment made +verbally the preceding evening, with the request that she would mention +it to no one; least of all to Miss Cheffington. + +Aunt Pauline was, of course, quite sure beforehand what was to be the +subject of their conversation; and was not in the least surprised +(although inwardly much elated) when Mr. Bragg broached it. + +"Understand me, ma'am," said Mr. Bragg. "I only wish you to tell me +truly whether, according to the best of your belief, Miss C.'s +affections are engaged. I ask no questions beyond that. I don't want to +pry." + +"Engaged! Oh dear, no; I assure you----" + +"Excuse me, ma'am. But I mean a little more than that," said Mr. Bragg, +slightly hastening the steady stride of his speech, lest she should +interrupt him again. "Of course, I don't expect you to be inside of your +niece's heart. A deal of uncertainty must prevail in what you may call +assaying any human being's feelings. You may use the wrong test for one +thing. But ladies are keen observers; specially where they like--or, for +the matter of that, dislike--any one very much. And what I want to know +is this: Have you any reason to think Miss C. is in love with any one?" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith, who was listening with a bland smile, almost started +at this crude inquiry. She felt the need of all her self-command to +preserve that repose of manner which she considered essential to +good-breeding. But she answered gently, though firmly-- + +"My dear Mr. Bragg, that is out of the question. My niece is entirely +disengaged. A girl of her birth and breeding is not likely to entertain +any vulgar kind of romance in secret!" + +"Thank you, ma'am," said Mr. Bragg. Then he added ponderingly, "It might +not be vulgar, though!" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith privately thought Mr. Bragg no competent judge of what +might, or might not, be vulgar in a Cheffington. She merely replied, +with a certain suave dignity, referring to a former speech of his-- + +"Do I understand rightly that you desire to speak with Miss Cheffington +yourself?" + +"If you please, ma'am. Yes; I think I should like to go through with +it." + +"I will send for her to come here, Mr. Bragg." + +She rang the bell and gave her orders; and during the pause which +ensued, neither she nor Mr. Bragg spoke a word. He was absorbed in his +own thoughts, and by no means as fully master of himself as usual. She +was plaintively regretting that May had refused to change her morning +frock for something more becoming. "Not that it can be of vital +importance _now_," thought Mrs. Dormer-Smith, faintly smiling to +herself, with half-closed eyes. + +Presently the door opened, and May stood on the threshold. + +"Come in, darling," said her aunt. "Mr. Bragg wishes to speak with you. +And I will only assure you that he does so with my and your uncle's full +knowledge and approbation." With that, Aunt Pauline glided into the back +drawing-room, and withdrew by a door opening on to the staircase, which +she shut behind her, immensely to May's surprise. + +All at once a nameless dread came over the girl, chilling her like a +cold wind. They had some bad news to give her of Owen! She turned +suddenly so deadly pale as to startle Mr. Bragg; and looking up at him +with piteous, frightened eyes, stammered faintly, "What is the matter?" + +"Nothing at all! Nothing is the matter that need frighten you, my dear +young lady. Lord bless me, you look quite scared!" + +His genuine tone reassured her. And the colour began to return to lips +and cheeks. But the wilful blood now rushed too hotly into her face. Her +second thought was, "They have found out my engagement to Owen!" And +although this contingency could be confronted with a very different +feeling, and with sufficient courage, yet she could not control the +tell-tale blush. + +"Just you sit down there, and don't worrit yourself, Miss Cheffington," +said Mr. Bragg. In his earnestness he reverted to the phraseology of his +early days. "There's no hurry in the world. If you was startled, just +you take your own time to come round." + +"Thank you," answered May, dropping into the armchair he pushed forward. + +"I am very sorry to have alarmed you," she said. "I'm afraid I must be +growing nervous! I never thought I should be able to lay claim to that +interesting malady." + +Although she smiled, and tried to speak playfully, she had really been +shaken, and she profited by the advice, which Mr. Bragg repeated, to +"sit still, and take her own time about coming round." + +By-and-by she said, almost in her usual voice, "Will you not sit down, +Mr. Bragg? I am quite ready to listen to you." + +Mr. Bragg hesitated a moment. He would have preferred to stand. He would +have felt more at his ease, so. But, looking down on the slight young +figure before him, it occurred to him that it would be--in some +vaguely-felt way--taking an unfair advantage of the girl to dominate her +by his tall stature. So he brought himself nearer to her level by +sitting down on an ottoman opposite, and not very near to her. + +"I suppose," said he, after a little silence, during which he looked +down with an intent and anxious frown at the floor, "I suppose you can't +give a guess at what I'm going to say?" + +May believed she had guessed it already. But she answered, "I would +rather not guess, please. I would rather that you told me." + +"Well, perhaps it may simplify matters if I mention that I have had some +conversation on the subject with Mrs. Dobbs." + +"With Granny?" exclaimed May, looking full at him in profound +astonishment. + +"Yes; it's some little while ago, now. Mrs. Dobbs spoke very +straightforward, and very kind, too; but I'm bound to say she did _not_ +give me any encouragement." + +May stared at him in a kind of fascination. She could not remove her +eyes from his face. And she began to perceive a dreadful +clear-sightedness dawning above the confusion of her thoughts. + +Mr. Bragg was not looking at her. He was leaning a little forward, with +his arms resting on his knees, and his hands loosely clasped together. +He went on speaking in a ruminating way; sometimes emphasizing his +phrase by a slight movement from the wrist of his clasped hands, and as +if he were, with some difficulty, reading off the words he was uttering +from the Oriental rug at his feet. + +"You see, Miss Cheffington, of course I'm aware there's a great +difference in years. But that's not the biggest difference in reality. I +don't believe myself that I'm so very much older in some ways than I was +at five-and-twenty. I was always a steady kind of a chap, and I never +had much to say for myself--never was what you might call lively, you +know." + +May sat spell-bound; looking at him fixedly, and with that dawn of +clear-sightedness rapidly illumining many things, to her unspeakable +consternation. + +"No; it isn't the years that make the biggest difference. I'm below you +in education, of course, Miss Cheffington, and in a deal besides, no +doubt. But I can be trusted to mean all I say--though I'm not able to +say all I mean, by a long chalk." + +As he said this he raised his eyes for the first time, and looked at +her. She was still regarding him with the same fascinated, almost +helpless, gaze. But when she met his clear, honest, grey eyes, with a +wistful expression in them which was pathetically contrasted with the +massive strength of his head and face, she was suddenly inspired to +say-- + +"Please, Mr. Bragg, will you hear me? I want to tell you something +before you--before you say any more. I think you are my friend, and if +you don't mind, I should like to tell you a secret. May I?" + +He nodded, keeping his eyes on her now steadily. + +"Well, I--I hope you will forgive me for troubling you with my +confidence. I _know_ you will respect it. If I had not such a high +esteem and regard for you I--I _could_ not say it." She stopped an +instant, there was a choking feeling in her throat. She paused, mastered +it, and went on. "I have promised to marry some one whom I love very +much, and no one knows about it but Granny." + +When she had spoken, she hid her hot face in her hands, and cried +silently. + +There was absolute stillness in the room for some minutes. At length she +looked up and saw Mr. Bragg still sitting as before, with loosely +clasped hands and downcast eyes. May rose to her feet, and said timidly, +"I hope you are not angry with me for--for telling you?" + +Mr. Bragg stood up also, and placing one broad, powerful hand on her +head, as a father might have done, looked down gravely at her upturned +face. + +"Angry! Lord bless you, my child, what must I be made of to be angry +with _you_?" + +"Oh, thank you, Mr. Bragg! And will you promise--but I know you +will--not to betray me?" + +He did not notice this question. His mind was working uneasily. He +thrust his hands into his pockets, and walked to the other side of the +room and back, before saying-- + +"This person that you've promised to marry, is he one that your people +here"--he jerked his head over his shoulder in the direction in which +Mrs. Dormer-Smith had disappeared--"would approve of?" + +"Oh, yes!" answered May. Then she added, not quite so confidently, "I +think so. At any rate, I am very proud to be loved by him." + +"And Mrs. Dobbs--" + +"Oh, of course, dear Granny thinks no one could be too good for me," +said May apologetically. "But she knows his worth." + +"Will you please tell me how long Mrs. Dobbs has known of this?" asked +Mr. Bragg, with a touch of sternness. + +"Known? She knew, of course, as soon as I knew myself--on the +twenty-seventh of last September," answered poor May, with damask-rose +cheeks. + +Mr. Bragg made a mental calculation of dates. His face relaxed; and he +now replied to May's previous question. + +"Yes, of course, I'll promise not to say a word till you give me leave. +Especially since Mrs. Dobbs knows all about it. Otherwise, you're young +to guide yourself entirely in a matter so serious as this is." + +She thanked him again, and dried some stray tear-drops that hung on her +pretty eyelashes. + +He stood for a moment looking at her intently. But there was nothing in +his gaze to startle her maiden innocence, or make her shrink from him; +it was an honest, earnest, kindly, though melancholy look. + +"Well," said he at last, "you're not so curious as some young ladies. +You haven't asked me what it was I was going to say to you." + +"I dare say it was nothing serious," she answered quickly. "In any case +I am quite sure you will say, and leave unsaid, all that is right." + +"That's a--what you might call a pretty large order, Miss Cheffington. +I'm an awkward brute sometimes, I dare say, but I'll tell you this much: +If I don't say what I was going to say, it isn't from pride. I _have_ +had that feeling, but I haven't it now, in talking to you. No, it isn't +from pride, but because I want you and me to be friends--downright good +friends, you know. And, perhaps, it would be more agreeable for you not +to have anything concerning me in your memory that you'd wish to be what +you might call sponged out of the record. I appreciate your behaviour, +Miss Cheffington. You acted generous, and like the noble-hearted young +lady I've always thought you, when you told me that secret of yours. Why +now----Come, come, don't you fret yourself!" he exclaimed softly, for +the tears were again trickling down her cheeks. + +"You are so--so very kind and good to me!" she said brokenly. + +"Lord bless me, what else could I be? There, there, don't you vex +yourself by fancying me cast down or disappointed about--anything in +particular. A man doesn't come to my age without getting used to +disappointments, big and little." + +He took up his hat and stopped her by a gesture as she moved towards the +bell. + +"No; don't ring, please! I've got an appointment in the City, and not +much time to spare if I walk it. So I'll just let myself out quietly, +without disturbing anybody. You can mention to your aunt that I shall +have the honour of calling on her again very soon. Good-bye, Miss +Cheffington." + +May held out her hand. He touched it very lightly with his fingers, and +then relinquished it silently. + +"You are sure," she said pleadingly, "you are quite sure you are not +angry with me?" + +"There ain't a many things I'm so sure of as I am of that," answered Mr. +Bragg, in his ordinary quiet tones. And then he opened the door and was +gone. + +He went down the stairs, and through the hall, and into the street +without being challenged. He shut the street door softly behind him, +with a kind of instinct of escape; and marched away rather quickly, but +square and steady as ever. + +After a while he looked at his watch, hesitated, and finally hailed a +hansom cab. + +"Poultry! You can take it easy. I'm not in a hurry," he said to the +driver, as he got into the vehicle. + +Then Mr. Bragg leaned back, and began to think. He had a habit of +frequently closing his eyes when meditating, and this habit it was which +had impelled him to get into a cab, since a pedestrian in the streets of +London could only indulge in it at the risk of his life; and Mr. Bragg +had no--not even the most passing--temptation to suicide. He shut his +eyes tight now, tilted his hat backward from his forehead, and reviewed +the situation. + +He had behaved very well to May, and was conscious of having behaved +well to her; she deserved the best and most considerate treatment; but +Mr. Bragg was no angel, and he was extremely angry with Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. He felt some irritation--very unreasonably, as he would +by-and-by acknowledge--against Mrs. Dobbs--she had been rather +exasperatingly in the right. But Mrs. Dormer-Smith had been most +exasperatingly in the wrong, and he was very angry with her. Why had she +not confessed that she knew nothing at all about her niece's feelings? +It was clear she was quite ignorant of them. She had only to say that +she could not undertake to answer for May; that would at least have been +honest! + +"I dare say I might have spoken, all the same," Mr. Bragg admitted to +himself. "I think p'r'aps I should. I'd got to that point where a man +_must_ know for himself what the answer is to that question, and when +'likely' or 'unlikely' won't serve his turn. But I could ha' managed +different. I needn't have looked like a Tomnoddy. Trotted out +there--making a reg'lar show of a man; not a doubt but what that flunkey +knew all about it. Woman's a fool!" + +Mr. Bragg's indignation rolled off like thunder in these broken +growlings. And beneath it all--deeper than all--there lay an aching +sorrow. It would not break his heart, as he knew; it might not even +spoil his dinner; but it was a real sorrow, nevertheless. In the moment +of assuring him that he must not hope to win her, May had seemed to him +better worth winning than ever; her soft touch had opened a long +sealed-up spring of tenderness. There was some rough poetry within him, +none the less pathetic because he knew thoroughly, sensitively, how +unable he was to give it expression, and how ridiculous the mere +suggestion of his trying to do so would seem to most people. He +resolutely refrained as much as possible from letting his mind busy +itself with these hidden feelings; his very thoughts seemed to hurt them +at that moment. + +He preferred to nurse his wrath against Mrs. Dormer-Smith, and to resent +her having betrayed him into an undignified position. Mr. Bragg had been +prosperous and powerful for many years, and the sense of being balked +was very irksome to him; more irksome than in the days of his poverty, +when youth and hope were elastic, and battle seemed a not unwelcome +condition of existence. + +But before he reached the end of his eastward journey Mr. Bragg began to +speculate about the man whom May loved. In spite of Mrs. Dobbs's +emphatic denial, he could not dismiss the idea that Theodore Bransby was +the man. He had gathered the impression that Mrs. Dobbs did not like +Theodore, and he remembered May's deprecating words, "Granny would not +think any one too good for me!" which seemed to indicate that Mrs. Dobbs +had not hailed the engagement with rapture. Thinking over the dates, he +concluded--quite correctly--that May's lover, whoever he might be, had +declared himself not long after his (Bragg's) interview with Mrs. Dobbs. +Now, Theodore Bransby had been in Oldchester at that time, as he well +remembered. + +Why Theodore, if it were he, should keep his engagement secret from the +Dormer-Smiths, was not easily explicable. But Mr. Bragg knew the young +man's political projects; and it might be that Theodore would wish to +approach May's family armed with all the importance which a successful +electoral campaign would give him. One thing Mr. Bragg felt tolerably +sure of--that Aunt Pauline would regret acutely the declension from a +nephew-in-law with fifty thousand a year, to one whose income did not +count as many hundreds! It was, perhaps, rather agreeable to Mr. Bragg +to think of this. It was certainly a comfort to him to be able to +dislike May's lover on independent grounds. He had always entertained an +antipathy towards the young man; and, however sincere and tender his +interest in May Cheffington might be, it did not modify, by a hair's +breadth, his opinion of young Bransby. + +"And, after all, it may not be him!" said Mr. Bragg, reflectively and +ungrammatically. "But if it isn't him, it can't be anybody I know." + +The person he had appointed to meet in the City was an Oldchester man; +and when the business part of their interview was concluded, he said to +Mr. Bragg-- + +"There's bad news from Combe Park. Haven't you heard? Oh! why they say +Mr. Lucius Cheffington can't live many days. So that scamp, +What's-his-name, the nephew, will come in for it all. The old lord's +awfully savage, I'm told. Shouldn't wonder if it balks young Bransby's +hopes of getting his seat. Old Castlecombe won't like paying election +expenses for him _now_. Great pity! He's a very rising young man, and a +credit to Oldchester." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +When Mr. Bragg was gone, May felt a cowardly temptation to run away to +her own room, and there recover her composure in solitude. But she +reflected that that would be scarcely fair to her aunt, who, no doubt, +was waiting with some impatience to hear the result of the interview. So +she dried her eyes, and resolutely ascended the stairs to her aunt's +room. + +The gentle, refined voice which had once so charmed her (but which, as +she had long since learned, could utter sentiments singularly at +variance with its own sweetness) answered her tap at the door by saying, +"Is that dear May? Come in." May entered, and saw her aunt reclining in +a lounging chair by the fireside. A book lay open beside her; but she +evidently had not been reading recently. She looked up at May's flushed +face and tear-swollen eyes, and these traces of emotion seemed to her +satisfactory indications of what had passed. "He has spoken! It's all +right!" she said to herself. Then aloud, with a tender smile, holding +out both her hands, "Well, darling?" + +The softness of her tone had a perversely hardening effect on May. If +her aunt had expected her to accept Mr. Bragg--and May was not dull +enough to doubt this, now that her eyes were illumined by that dawn of +clear-sightedness which had been so amazing to her--the least she could +do was to be quiet and common-sensible about it. Any assumption of +sentiment seemed to May to be sickening under the circumstances. So she +answered dryly-- + +"Mr. Bragg desired me to tell you that he will have the honour of +calling on you again before long." + +"Is he gone?" asked Mrs. Dormer-Smith, with a momentary twinge of +anxiety. + +"Yes; he is gone. He had an appointment in the City, and was rather +pressed for time; so he could not stay to take leave of you." + +"Oh!" exclaimed her aunt, sinking back among her cushions with a smile, +"I forgive him." Then seeing May turn away as if to leave the room, she +suddenly sat up again, and said with an air of gentle reproach, "And +have you nothing to say to me, dear May?" + +"Nothing particular, Aunt Pauline." + +"Nothing particular! I do not think that is very kindly said, May." + +May's conscience told her the same thing. She had yielded to a movement +of temper. The most sensitive chords in her own nature had been jarred, +and were still quivering. But that was no reason why she should be +unkind or uncivil to her aunt; she repented, and, with her usual +impulsive candour, said-- + +"I beg your pardon, Aunt Pauline. I ought not to have answered you so." + +"You have been agitated, dear child. Come here, and sit down by me. Now +tell me, May--you surely will tell _me_--Mr. Bragg has proposed to you, +has he not?" + +"No, Aunt Pauline." + +"_What?_" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith would have been shocked if she could have seen her own +face in the glass at that moment. The vulgarest market-woman's +countenance could not have expressed surprise and consternation more +unrestrainedly. + +"I think he, perhaps, would have asked me to marry him: but I stopped +him." + +"You stopped him?" echoed her aunt, with clasped hands. But a little +gleam of hope revived her. The matter had been mismanaged in some way. +May was so deplorably devoid of tact! All might yet be well. "And why, +for pity's sake, May, did you stop him?" + +"Because, as I could not accept him, Aunt Pauline, I wished to spare him +as much as possible." + +"Could not accept him! Good heavens, May, this is frightful! Have you +lost your senses? Do you know who and what Mr. Bragg is?" + +"He is a good, honest man; and I esteem him and like him." + +"And is not that enough? Do you know that there are girls of--I won't +say better family, but--higher rank than yours, who would give their +ears to be----But it can't be! You are a foolish, inexperienced child, +who don't understand your own good fortune. You cannot be allowed to +throw away this splendid opportunity. I will write to Mr. Bragg myself, +and----" + +"Stay, Aunt Pauline. Please to understand that I will never, under any +circumstances, dream of marrying Mr. Bragg. He is quite persuaded of +this. He and I understand each other very well, and we mean to continue +good friends; but pray do not lower your own dignity by writing to him +on this subject!" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith burst into tears. "Go away, you ungrateful child," she +said, from behind her pocket-handkerchief. "I could not have believed +you would have behaved in this manner after all I have done for you!" + +May would have been more distressed than she was had the spectacle of +her aunt's tears been rarer. But she had seen Mrs. Dormer-Smith weep +from, what seemed to her, very inadequate motives:--even once at the +misfit of a new gown. Nevertheless, she tried to soothe her aunt. + +"Please don't cry, Aunt Pauline. I can't bear you to think me +ungrateful. But, after all, what have I done? I dare say--I am sure, +indeed, that you are only anxious for my welfare. And what sort of a +life could I expect if I married a man I could not love?" + +"I beg you will not talk such nursery-maid's nonsense to me, +May," returned her aunt, sprinkling some rose-water on her +pocket-handkerchief, and dabbing her wet cheeks with it. "Could not +love, indeed! Why could you not love him? Do you expect to rant through +a _grande passion_ like a heroine on the stage? I am shocked at you, +May! Girls in your position owe a duty to society." + +May knew that her aunt was unanswerable when she broached these +mysterious dogmas about "society"--unanswerable, at all events, by her. +She could as soon have attempted a theological argument with a devotee +of Mumbo Jumbo. So she held her peace, and stood still, anxious to +escape, and yet fearful of seeming to be unfeeling by going away at that +moment. One idea at length suggested itself to her as a possible +consolation for her aunt, and she proceeded to offer it with +unreflecting rashness. + +"But, Aunt Pauline," she said, "after all, you know, Mr. Bragg is a very +low-born man. He was once a common artisan in Oldchester. And you +remember you even thought Theodore Bransby presumptuous----" + +The immediate reply to this well-meant suggestion was a fresh burst of +tears. "You are too insupportable, May. One might suppose you to be an +idiot! What has been the use of all my care, and my endeavours to make +you look at things as a girl of your condition ought to look at them? +Mr. Bragg could have placed you in a brilliant position. Now, I dare +say, he will marry Felicia Hautenville. I have no doubt he will, and it +will serve you right if he does. You think of no one but yourself. What +do you suppose that worthy woman, Mrs. Dobbs, will say when she hears of +your behaviour? After all the money she has spent on sending you to +London!" + +May turned round suddenly. "What do you say, Aunt Pauline?" she asked, +almost breathlessly. "Granny has spent money to send me to London?" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith caught at a forlorn hope. Might it not be possible, +even now, to influence May through her affection for her grandmother? + +"Of course, May," she replied, with an injured air. "Where do you +suppose the money came from? Your uncle and I, as you must be well +aware, find it difficult enough to keep up our position in society, with +Cyril to place in the world, and those two little boys to provide for!" + +"But papa!" gasped May. "I thought my father was paying----" + +"You chose to assume it. I never told you so. Mrs. Dobbs particularly +wished us to keep the arrangement secret, and we did so. I appreciate +her wisdom _now_ in keeping it secret from you, May; for your conduct +to-day shows you to be destitute of the most ordinary tact and +prudence." + +"And Granny--dear old Granny--has been depriving herself of money to +keep me in town!" exclaimed the girl, still entirely possessed with this +new revelation. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith gallantly tried to improve her opportunity. She raised +herself into an upright posture in her chair, and said solemnly, "Yes, +May; and a nice return you make for it! The good old creature, no doubt, +has been pinching herself for years on your account. She has paid for +your schooling, your dress, and everything; she even contrives, I dare +say, by enduring some privations" (Mrs. Dormer-Smith did not in the +least suppose this to be the case, but she felt it was a rhetorical +"point," and likely to affect her niece), "she even contrives to give +you a season in town, with charming toilettes from Amelie, and a +presentation dress that a duke's daughter might have worn, and +everything which a right-minded girl ought to appreciate--and this is +her reward! You refuse one of the finest matches in England! I cannot +believe you will persist in such _wicked_ perversity, May," continued +Pauline, rising to new heights of moral elevation. "No, I cannot believe +you will be so ungrateful to that good old soul, and, indeed, I may say, +to Providence! Really, there is something almost impious in it. Mrs. +Dobbs does all she can to counteract the results of your father's +unfortunate marriage--we _all_ do all we can; circumstances are so +ordered by a Superior Power as to give you the chance of catching--of +attracting the regard of a man of princely fortune--_you_, rather than a +dozen other girls whose people have been looking after him for the last +three seasons, and all this you reject! Toss it away, like a baby with a +toy! No, May; you _are_ a Cheffington--you _are_ my poor unfortunate +brother's own flesh and blood, and I will not believe it of you." Then, +sinking back in her chair, she added in a faint voice, "Go away now, if +you please, and send Smithson to me. I shall have to speak to your uncle +when he comes in, and I really dread it. He will be so shocked--so +astonished! As for me, I am utterly _hors de combat_ for the day, of +course." + +May willingly escaped to her own room, and locked herself in. Her +thoughts were in a strange tumult, busied chiefly with this news about +Mrs. Dobbs. Why had she not guessed it before? Was there any one in the +world like that staunch, generous, unselfish woman? This explained her +giving up her old, comfortable home in Friar's Row. This explained a +hundred other circumstances. May thought, between laughing and crying, +of Jo Weatherhead's eccentric eulogy on her grandmother as compared with +classical heroines, and she longed to tell him that he was right. The +full tide of love and sympathy and gratitude towards "Granny" rose in +her breast above all other emotions, and, for the moment, even Mr. +Bragg's wonderful proposals, and her aunt's still more wonderful +reception of them, were forgotten. It even overflowed and temporarily +obliterated impressions and feelings far keener than any which poor Mr. +Bragg had power to awake in her heart. + +What a fool's paradise had she been living in! And what a mistaken image +of her father she had been cherishing all this time! He had contributed +nothing to her support; he had coolly left the whole care of her to +others; he had been thoroughly selfish and indifferent. Every one seemed +selfish but Granny! One thing she hastily resolved on: not to remain +another week in London at her grandmother's expense. + +When Mr. Dormer-Smith came home, and was duly informed by his wife of +May's incredible conduct, his dismay was nearly as great as Pauline's. +Perhaps his surprise was even greater; for he had accepted his wife's +assurances that May was quite prepared to give Mr. Bragg a favourable +answer. He could not bring himself to regard May's behaviour with such +lofty moral reprobation as his wife did, but he certainly thought the +girl had acted foolishly, and even blameably. + +Mr. Dormer-Smith was extremely anxious not to offend or disgust Mr. +Bragg. To have a man of that wealth in the family might be the making of +all their fortunes. Already Mr. Bragg's advice and assistance had +profited him. He and his wife had even privately reckoned on Mr. Bragg's +doing something handsome (in a testamentary way) for their younger +children. May was very fond of her cousins, and what would a few +thousands be to Mr. Bragg? Now the unexpected news which met him broke +up all these glittering hopes, as a thaw melts the frost-diamonds. + +"You must speak with her, Frederick. I have said all I can, and I really +am not equal to another scene," said Pauline. + +She had subsided into an attitude of calm despondency, and seemed to be +supported chiefly by the sense of her own unappreciated merits. She did +not mention that she had already written a private and confidential +letter to Mr. Bragg, and despatched it by special messenger to the hotel +where he usually stayed when in London. + +Mr. Bragg had no town house, and the choosing and furnishing of a +suitable mansion for him and his bride had been one of the rewards of +virtue which Mrs. Dormer-Smith had, for some time past, been +anticipating for herself. May was so young and inexperienced, and Mr. +Bragg--dear, good, rich man!--had so little knowledge of the fashionable +world, that Pauline confidently expected to be for some years to come +the presiding genius of the elegant entertainments to which they would +invite only the very best society. For--giving the rein to her +fancy--Pauline had resolved that Mr. and Mrs. Bragg were to be extremely +exclusive. A well-born girl who, without fortune or title, had succeeded +in marrying a millionnaire, might surely--if there were any poetical +justice at all in the world--indulge herself in the refined pleasure of +social selection, and quietly decline to receive those doubtful +"Borderers" who made society, as Mrs. Griffin often complained, so sadly +mixed! + +All this was not to be relinquished without a struggle. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith would do her duty to the last. Duty had commanded her to +make an immediate appeal to Mr. Bragg not to take May's answer as final; +but duty did not, she considered, require her to tell her husband +anything about it until she saw how it turned out. + +"You _must_ see her, Frederick," repeated Mrs. Dormer-Smith. And +Frederick accordingly sent for May to come and speak with him. + +He awaited her in the drawing-room; and when May entered the room her +eye fell on the easy-chair which Mr. Bragg had placed for her, standing +out just where she had left it. The whole scene came back to her mind as +vividly as if she saw it in a picture before her bodily eyes; and the +colour rose to her forehead. + +Her uncle went to her, and took her hand kindly. "Well, May," said he, +"what is all this I hear?" He was leading her towards the armchair; but +May avoided it, and took another seat, and Mr. Dormer-Smith dropped into +the armchair opposite to her, himself. + +In considering what could have been the motives which had induced her to +reject Mr. Bragg, he had prepared himself to listen to some--perhaps +foolishly--romantic talk on May's part. Mr. Bragg certainly could not, +by any stretch of friendship, be considered romantic. But Uncle +Frederick would try to show his niece how much sounder and solider a +foundation for domestic happiness Mr. Bragg was able to offer her than +any amount of the qualities which go to make up a young lady's hero of +romance. + +What he was not at all prepared for was May's saying earnestly, as she +leant forward with clasped hands, "Oh, Uncle Frederick what is all this +_I_ hear? My dear, good grandmother has been impoverishing herself to +pay for keeping me in London! Why did you not tell me the truth? Nothing +should have induced me to accept such a sacrifice!" + +Mr. Dormer-Smith was not a ready or flexible man by nature; and it took +him a minute or so to alter the sight, so to speak, of the big gun he +had been getting into position to mow down May's resistance against +making a splendid marriage. + +"Why--eh? Oh, Mrs. Dobbs's allowance! Oh yes. Well, my dear, you have +pretty well answered your own question. If you had known, you would not +have consented to come to town, and take your proper place in society. +Your aunt considered it most important that you should do so. And I'm +sure, May, you must allow that she has done her very best for you in +every way." + +"_Her_ very best!" thought May; "yes, perhaps!" Then she said aloud, +"Aunt Pauline has been very kind to me. But how could there be any +'proper place' for me in society, unless I could honestly afford to take +it? To get it by imposing privations on my grandmother, who is not +bound, except by her own abundant goodness, to do anything for me at +all--this surely could not be right or just, could it?" + +Mr. Dormer-Smith was not prepared with a cogent answer on the spur of +the moment. So he fell back on murmuring some faint echoes of his wife's +maxims about "duty to society." But he had not Pauline's sincere +convictions on the subject, and did it but feebly. + +"And, oh, Uncle Frederick," proceeded May; "what a mean impostor I have +been all this time!" + +"Impostor, my dear? No, no; that's nonsense, you know." + +He was rather relieved to find May talking nonsense. That seemed much +more normal and natural in a girl of her age than being so deuced +logical and high-strung, and that sort of thing. + +"That," he repeated firmly, "is really nonsense." + +"But, Uncle Frederick, I was appearing before everybody under false +pretences. People thought--I thought myself--that my father supplied all +my expenses." + +Mr. Dormer-Smith pursed up his mouth and puffed out his breath with a +little contemptuous sound. Then he answered-- + +"Your father! My dear May, your father hasn't paid a penny piece for you +since you were seven years old." + +May was silent for a minute or so. She could not help some bitter +thoughts of her father, but it was not for her to utter them. At length +she said-- + +"I cannot go on accepting my grandmother's sacrifice, Uncle Frederick. I +will not." + +It occurred to Mr. Dormer-Smith, as it had occurred to his wife, that +May's affection for Mrs. Dobbs might supply the fulcrum they wanted for +their lever. He answered-- + +"Well, my dear, I don't blame your feeling, though it is a little +overstrained, perhaps. But you have it in your own power to more than +pay back all Mrs. Dobbs has done for you." + +"How?" asked May innocently. + +"Why, I am sure Mr. Bragg would be only too delighted----" + +"Oh, Mr. Bragg! I was not thinking of Mr. Bragg, and I would rather not +talk of him just now." + +This was a little too much. Mr. Dormer-Smith's face assumed a very +serious, not to say severe, expression as he looked at his niece and +said-- + +"Excuse me, May, but you must think of him, and talk of him also. That +was the subject I sent for you to speak about. I don't know how we have +drifted away from it. Your aunt tells me that you have not actually +refused Mr. Bragg, but merely stopped him from proposing to you. Now, if +that is the case, the matter is not past mending. No doubt Mr. Bragg may +feel a little offended." + +"He is not in the least offended," interposed May. + +"Ah! Well, so much the better. But you can hardly expect me to believe +that he particularly enjoyed the interview! Mr. Bragg is a person of a +great deal of importance in the world, and not accustomed to be treated +as if he were of no consequence. However," proceeded Mr. Dormer-Smith, +relaxing into a milder tone, "I dare say he can make allowances for a +young lady taken by surprise--it seems you did not expect his proposal?" + +"Expect it! How on earth could I have expected it?" + +"Some girls would. However, let us stick to the point. I don't think it +is too late for you to make everything well again." + +"Uncle Frederick, I am bound to assure you most positively that I can +never marry Mr. Bragg." + +"Now, don't be obstinate, May. What is your objection to him?" + +The girl hesitated. Then she replied, looking up with pleading eyes, +"How can I say, Uncle Frederick? One does not marry a man simply because +one has no particular objection to him. Mr. Bragg is old enough to be my +grandfather!" + +"No; scarcely that. Look here, May, I have a great affection for you. +You have been very good and kind to my little boys, and they doat on +you. I am not ungrateful for all you have done for the children, +although I may not have said much about it." + +May was melted in an instant by these words of kindness, and said +warmly, "And _I_ am not ungrateful, Uncle Frederick. I know you mean +well by me, and Aunt Pauline, too." + +"Certainly we do. Naturally so! Well now, just listen to me, my dear. If +you were my own daughter I should give you just the same advice. I +should be very glad and thankful for a daughter of mine to marry Mr. +Bragg. I know a great deal more of the world than you do--or ever will, +please God!--for it isn't a very pleasant kind of knowledge--and I tell +you honestly, there are very few men, young or old, in the society we +frequent, whom I'd choose for your husband rather than Mr. Bragg. He is +a little uneducated, and unpolished, of course. We needn't pretend not +to know that. But he is a man of sound heart and sound principles--a man +whose private life will bear looking into. I'm talking to you as if I +really were your father, May; and I do assure you that I would not urge +you to marry a man twice as rich as he is, if I knew him to be--to be +what some men are, and what you in your innocence have no idea of. I +want you to believe that, May." + +"I do believe it, Uncle Frederick," sobbed May, taking his hand, and +kissing it. + +"There, there, my dear, don't cry! I couldn't talk in this way to many +girls of your age; but you have so much sense and right feeling! I +wanted you to understand that I'm not an altogether hard, worldly kind +of man, ready to offer you up to Mammon--eh? Look here, May; I would +stand by you against--against every one, if I thought you were going to +be sacrificed. But you must trust a little to the experience of those +older than yourself, my dear. Come, come, there now, don't distress +yourself! You are not to be pressed and hurried, you know. You will +think it all over quietly. Go to your own room and lie down a while. I +will take care that you are not disturbed or worried in any way." + +He led her gently to the door. She was now sobbing uncontrollably. She +longed to tell her uncle the truth about her engagement, but she thought +that loyalty to Owen and to her grandmother forbade her to speak out +fully without their leave. As she was quitting the room, she turned +round, and, making a strong effort to speak firmly, said-- + +"Uncle Frederick, I shall never, as long as I live, forget the kind +words you have said to me. And, whatever happens, don't believe I am +ungrateful." + +"Well, Frederick?" said Mrs. Dormer-Smith, when her husband re-appeared +in her room. + +Frederick walked to the window, took out his pocket-handkerchief, and +answered from behind it, rather huskily-- + +"Well, I don't know. I almost hope it may come right." + +"Do you? Do you really? Well, that is a feeble ray of comfort. But it is +rather too bad to have to undergo all this wear and tear of feeling, in +order to secure that perverse child's fortune in spite of herself!" + +There was a long pause, during which Mr. Dormer-Smith continued to look +out of the window, and to blow his nose in a furtive kind of way. "I +wonder----" he began slowly, and then stopped himself. + +"You wonder--Frederick? Pray speak out! I assure you I am not able to +stand much more suspense and anxiety." + +"I was merely going to say, I wonder if there can be any one else." + +"Any one else?" + +"Any man she cares for." + +"Good Heavens, Frederick, who should there be? Really, you are not very +considerate to startle me with such extraordinary suppositions without +the least preparation. There is no one, of course." + +"You are sure?" + +"I am sure there is no one _possible_. I know, of course, every man she +has danced with, or who has paid her the smallest attention, and there +is not one who could be thought of for a moment, even if Mr. Bragg did +not exist. I should not hesitate to speak very strongly if I suspected +her of any culpable folly of that kind. A girl without a farthing in the +world! And her father, my poor unfortunate brother Augustus, in Heaven +knows what dreadful position! That May, under all the circumstances, can +behave in this way, is too intolerable. The more one thinks of it the +more flagrant it seems. No sense of duty! No consideration for her +family! I shall be compelled to say to her----" + +Suddenly, in the midst of these fluent, softly uttered sentences, Mr. +Dormer-Smith turned round, wiped his eyes, blew his nose defiantly, and +said, with an explosion of feeling-- + +"The girl's a fine creature, and, by God, I won't have her baited!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Each mortal's private feelings are the measure of the importance of +events to him. And it often happens that while our neighbours are +pitying or envying us, on account of some circumstance which, all the +world agrees, must have a weighty bearing on our fate, we are mainly +indifferent to it, and are occupied with some inner grief or joy, which +would seem to them very trivial. + +To have received and rejected an offer of marriage from a man worth +fifty thousand a year would have been deemed by most of May +Cheffington's acquaintance about as important an event as could have +happened to her--short of death! But to her it was absolutely as +nothing, compared with the facts that Owen was on the point of returning +to England, and that he was to live in Mrs. Bransby's house. + +Why did this second fact seem to embitter the sweetness of the first? + +No, it was not the fact, she told herself, that was bitter; the +bitterness lay in the manner of its coming to her knowledge. Why had not +Owen written to her? There could be no reason to conceal it! Of course, +none! Owen was doing all that was right, no doubt. But to allow her to +hear of this step for the first time from Theodore Bransby at a +dinner-table conversation--this it was which irked her. So, at least, +she had declared to herself last night. Then the tone in which her uncle +and all of them had spoken of Mrs. Bransby and Owen had jarred upon her +painfully. Theodore had not joined in the tasteless banter; but then +Theodore's way of receiving it--with a partly stiff, partly deprecatory +air, as though there could possibly be anything serious in it--was +almost worse! + +The pathway of life which had stretched so clear and fair before her but +a short while ago, seemed now to have contracted into a tangled maze, in +which she lost herself. The events of the morning had made May resolve +that all secrecy as to her engagement must come to an end. She must see +Owen immediately on his arrival in London. But how to do so? She did not +know whether he was or was not in England at that very moment! Well, at +all events she knew Mrs. Bransby's address, and could write to him +there. + +This thought gave her a pang. And the pang was intensified by the sudden +and vivid perception--as one sees a whole landscape by a lightning-flash +out of a black sky--that it was caused by jealousy! + +Jealousy! She, May Cheffington, jealous--and of Owen? Yes; it might be +painful, humiliating, incredible, but it was true. The flash had been +inexorably sharp and clear. + +To young creatures, every revelation that they--even _they_--are subject +to the common woes, pains, and passions of humanity about which they may +have talked glibly enough, is an amazement and a shock. Still earlier in +our earthly course we doubt that Death himself can touch us. What child +ever realizes that it must die? It is only after many lessons that we +begin to accept our share of mortal frailties and afflictions as a +matter of course. + +Poor May felt sick at heart. Oh, if she could but see Granny! She longed +for the motherly affection which had never failed her since the day her +father left her--a rather forlorn little waif, whom no one seemed ready +to love or welcome--in the old house in Friar's Row. She thought that to +sit quite still and silent by Granny's knee, while Granny's kind old +hand softly stroked her hair, would charm away all her troubles, or at +least lull them to sleep. + +But for the present she could not rest. When she left her uncle, and +felt secure from interruption in her own room, she sat down and wrote +two letters. The first was to Owen, begging him to come and see her +without delay, and at the same time telling him that circumstances had +arisen which made it desirable to declare their engagement. The second +letter was to Granny. + +To Granny she poured out her gratitude. She thanked her and scolded her +in a breath. Who had ever been so generous, and so careful to conceal +their generosity? And yet Granny had done very wrong to make such a +sacrifice as was involved in giving up the old home in Friar's Row. + +"Had I known this a week ago," wrote May, "I do believe I should have +tried to coax Mr. Bragg into breaking the lease, and _making_ you go +back to the old house which you loved. But I cannot ask any favour of +Mr. Bragg now!" Then she told her grandmother all about her interview +with Mr. Bragg, and her aunt's bitter disappointment, and her uncle's +kind behaviour, although she could see that he was disappointed too. "I +wonder," she added, "if you will be as astonished as I was? Perhaps not. +I remember some things you said when I told you my grand scheme for +marrying Miss Patty! Oh, dear me, I feel like some one who has been +walking in his sleep--calmly and unconsciously tripping over the most +insecure places. But now I have been suddenly awakened, and I feel +chilly, and frightened, and all astray." + +When she had written them, she resolved to post the letters herself. +Since she had volunteered to take her little cousins out for a walk +occasionally, the stringent rule which forbade her to leave the house +unattended by a servant had been relaxed--it was so very convenient to +get rid of the little boys for an hour or two at a time! It left Cecile +free to do a great deal of needlework, a large proportion of it expended +on the alteration and re-trimming, and so forth, of May's own toilettes. +Mrs. Dormer-Smith was strictly conscientious as to that; and since May +never went beyond the limits of the neighbouring square, there could be +no objection to the arrangement. One point, however, Aunt Pauline had +insisted on--that these walks should always take place in the morning, +or, at all events, during that portion of the day which did duty for the +morning in her vocabulary. The proprieties greatly depend, as we know, +on chronology; and many things which are permissible before luncheon +become _taboo_ immediately after it. + +By the time May had finished her letters, however, it was well on in the +afternoon. Carriages were rolling through the fashionable quarters of +the town, and the footman's rat-tat-tat sounded monotonously like a +gigantic _tam-tam_, sacred to the worship of society. + +May went downstairs, and, opening the hall-door, found herself in the +street alone, for the first time since she had lived under her aunt's +roof. There was a pillar letter-box, she knew, not far distant. To this +she proceeded, and dropped her letters into it. It had been a fine day +for a London winter; but the last faint glimmer of daylight had almost +disappeared as she turned to go back home. + +There was an assemblage of vehicles waiting before a house which she had +passed on her way to the post-box. Now, as she returned, there was a +stir among them. Servants were calling up the coachmen, and opening and +shutting carriage doors. A number of fashionably dressed persons, mostly +women, came down the steps of the house and drove away. May paused a +moment to let a couple of ladies sweep past her on their way to their +carriage. As she did so, she heard her name called; and, looking round, +she saw Clara Bertram's face at the window of a cab drawn up near the +kerbstone. + +"Is it really you?" exclaimed Clara, as they shook hands. "I could +scarcely believe my eyes! What are you doing here alone?" + +"I have been posting some letters." Then, reading an expression of +surprise in the other girl's eyes, she added quickly, "You wonder why I +should have done so myself. For a simple reason: I did not wish the +address of one of them to be seen. But Granny knows all about it." + +"I am quite sure, dear, you have some good reason for what you have +done," answered Clara, in her quiet, sincere tones. + +"And you?" asked May. "What are _you_ doing here?" + +"I have been singing at a _matinee_ in that house. I was just about to +drive off, when I caught a glimpse of you. I was not sure that it was +not your ghost in the dusk!" + +"I suppose you are constantly engaged now?" + +"Yes; I have a great deal to do." + +"Oh, I hear of you. Your praises are in every one's mouth. Lady Moppett +declares you are rapidly becoming the first concert singer of the day. +She is as proud of you as if she had invented you! Indeed, she does say +you are her 'discovery': as if you were a Polynesian island! I could +find it in my heart to envy you, Clara. It must be so glorious to be +independent, and earn one's own living!" + +Clara smiled a faint little smile. "I am thankful to be able to earn +something," she said. "But I don't think I should care so much about it +if it were only for myself." + +"No, of course, dear! I know," rejoined May quickly. She had been told +that the young singer entirely supported an invalid father and sister. +Then she added, "Your voice is a great gift. There are so few things a +woman can do to earn money." + +"Why, one would suppose that _you_ wanted to earn money!" said Clara, +smiling. + +"Perhaps." + +Clara looked more closely at her friend. The street lamps were now +lighted, and she could see May's face distinctly. "You are not looking +well, dear," she exclaimed. "You seem fagged." + +"I am sick of London. I want to go home to Granny and be at peace," +answered May wearily. Then she went on quickly, to stave off any +possible questionings as to her state of mind. "But I must return for +the present to my aunt's house. Good-bye." + +"Stay!" cried Clara. "Will you not get into the cab, and let me drive +you home?" + +"Drive! It is an affair of some two or three minutes at most." + +"Well, then, if you have half an hour to spare, let me drive you round +the square, and then drop you at home. I have been wanting for three or +four days past to speak to you quietly. I can't bear to lose this rare +opportunity. We do not meet very often." Then seeing that her friend +hesitated, she asked, "Are you thinking about the cost of the cab for +me?" + +"Yes," answered May frankly. + +"I thought so! That is just like you. But, indeed, you need have no +scruples. The cab is engaged for the afternoon. When I sing at people's +houses, unless they send a carriage for me, the cab-fare is 'considered +in my wages.' Do come in!" + +May complied, and the cab moved away slowly. + +When they had proceeded a few yards, Clara said, "I wanted to tell +you--I think it right to tell you--something I have learned on good +authority. Your father--I hope it won't distress you--is really +married." + +May's first thought was that here again her Aunt Pauline had deceived +her! + +"Are you sure?" she asked. + +"Yes, I think I may say so." + +"And how did you learn it?" + +"From Valli." + +"Oh, from Signor Valli! But you told me he was not to be trusted." + +"In some ways not. But I do not doubt what he says on this subject. He +has no motive to invent the information. He cares nothing about the +matter--except that I think he rather likes La--Mrs. Cheffington than +not." + +"Is she a foreigner?" asked May, with a little more interest than she +had hitherto shown. Her listless way of receiving the news had surprised +her friend. + +"Yes, an Italian. At least, she is Italian by language, if not by law; +for she comes from Trieste. But she is almost Cosmopolitan; for she has +travelled about the world a great deal. She is--or was--an opera-singer. +Her name in the theatre is Bianca Moretti. She was rather celebrated at +one time." Clara paused a moment, and then added, "I hope this news does +not grieve you, dear?" + +"No," answered May dreamily, "it does not grieve me. If my father is +content, why should I grieve? He and I have been parted--in spirit as +well as body--for so many years, that his marriage can make but little +difference to me." + +"I was afraid you might feel----Of course, Captain Cheffington's family +will look on it as a dreadful _mesalliance_." + +May was silent for a few minutes. Then she said a very unexpected +thing-- + +"Poor woman! I hope he is good to her!" + +"I suppose," said Clara, rather hesitatingly, "that the reason why +Captain Cheffington has not announced his marriage to his relations is +that he thinks they would object to receive an opera-singer." + +"Possibly," answered May. (In her heart she thought, "The reason is that +he cares nothing for any of us.") + +"It must be that," proceeded Clara. "For as far as I can make out there +seems to be no concealment about it in Brussels." + +Then they arrived at Mrs. Dormer-Smith's house, and May alighted and +bade her friend farewell. + +"Thank you, Clara," she said, "for telling me the truth. I loathe +mysteries and concealments. When one thinks of it, they are despicable." + +"Unless when one conceals something to shield others," suggested Clara +gently. + +She had told her friend what she believed to be the truth so far as the +fact of her father's marriage was concerned. But she had not given her +all the details and comments which Signor Valli had imparted to her on +the subject. His view of the matter was not flattering to Captain +Cheffington. Valli declared, with cynical plainness of speech, that +Captain Cheffington had married La Bianca merely to have the right to +confiscate her professional earnings. Latterly these had become very +scanty. La Bianca did not grow younger, and her voice was rapidly +failing her. A good deal of gambling had gone on in her house at one +time. But it had been put a stop to--or, at least, shorn of its former +proportions by the ugly incident of which Miss Polly Piper had brought +back a version to Oldchester. Since that, things had not gone well with +the Cheffington _menage_. Captain Cheffington had become insupportable, +irritable, impossible! He was, moreover, a _malade imaginaire_; a +querulous, selfish, tyrannous fellow; always bewailing his hard fate, +and the sacrifice he had made in so far derogating from his rank as to +marry an opera-singer. La Bianca was a slave to his caprices. To be sure +she was not precisely a lamb. There were occasions when she flamed up, +and made quarrels and scenes. + +"But," said Signor Valli, "he is an enormous egoist, and, with a woman, +the bigger egoist you are, the surer to subjugate her. La Bianca would +have stabbed a man who loved her devotedly, for half the ill-treatment +she endures from that cold, stiff ramrod of an Englishman." + +Such was Vincenzo Valli's version of the case; and Clara Bertram, in +listening to him, believed that, in the main, it was a true one. Valli +had recently been in Brussels, where he had seen the Cheffingtons; and +one or two other foreign musicians whom she knew had come upon them from +time to time, and had given substantially the same account of them. As +to persons in the rank of life to which Captain Cheffington still +claimed to belong, they were no more likely to come across him now than +if he were living on the top of the Andes. + +May went into the house wearily. In the hall she met her uncle +Frederick, who had just come in, and had seen the cab drive away. + +"Who was that with you, May?" he asked, in some surprise. + +"It was Miss Bertram," she answered. Then she asked her uncle to step +for a moment into the dining-room. When he had done so, and closed the +door, she said quietly, "My father is married to a foreign opera-singer; +they are living in Brussels. Did you and Aunt Pauline know this?" + +"Know it? Certainly not!" + +May was relieved to hear this, and drew a long breath. The sensation of +living in an atmosphere of deception had oppressed her almost with a +feeling of physical suffocation. She then told her uncle all that Clara +Bertram had said. + +Mr. Dormer-Smith puckered his brows, and looked more disturbed than she +had expected. "This will be another blow for your aunt," he said +gloomily. + +"I don't see why Aunt Pauline should distress herself," she answered +coldly; "my father is not likely to trouble her. Married or unmarried, +my father seems determined to keep aloof from us all." Then she went to +her own room. + +Mr. Dormer-Smith shrank from communicating this news to his wife, and as +he went upstairs he anticipated a disagreeable scene. He did not very +greatly care about the matter himself, for he agreed with May that it +was unlikely Augustus would trouble any of the family with his presence; +and to keep away was all that he required of his brother-in-law. On +entering his wife's room, he found her still in a morning wrapper, +reclining on her long chair; but her hair had been dressed, and she +announced her intention of coming down to dinner. Her countenance, too, +wore an unexpected expression of placidity, almost cheerfulness. The +country post had arrived, and there were several letters scattered on a +little table by Mrs. Dormer-Smith's elbow. + +Her husband went and placed himself with his back to the fire, which was +burning with a pleasant glow in the grate. "Well," he said, in a +sympathizing tone, to his wife, "how are you feeling now, Pauline?" + +They had not met since his outburst about May, and he had been rather +nervously uncertain of his reception. Pauline never sulked, never +stormed, and rarely scolded. But when she felt herself to be injured, +she would be overpoweringly plaintive. Her plaintiveness seemed to wrap +you round, and damp you, and chill you to the bone, like a Scotch mist, +and when used retributively was felt--by her husband, at all events--to +be very terrible. But on this occasion, as has been said, there was a +certain mild serenity in her face which was reassuring. + +"Thanks, Frederick," she answered. "There seems to be a _little_ less +pressure on the brain. Smithson bathed my forehead for three-quarters of +an hour after you were gone." + +Mr. Dormer-Smith hastened to change the subject. "Post in, I see," he +said. "Any news?" + +"I have a very nice letter from Constance Hadlow," answered Pauline, +with her eyes absently fixed on the fire. "How thoughtful that girl is! +What tact! What proper feeling! Ah! the contrast between her and May is +painful at times." + +Mr. Dormer-Smith made a little inarticulate sound, which might mean +anything. Despite her beauty, which he admired, Miss Hadlow was no great +favourite of his. But he would not imperil the present calm in his +domestic atmosphere by saying so. + +"Misfortunes," pursued Pauline, still gazing at the fire, "never come +singly, they say; and really I believe it." + +"Does Miss Hadlow announce any misfortune?" + +"Oh no!--at least, we are bound not to look on it as a misfortune. Who +could wish him to linger, poor fellow? She is staying near Combe Park, +and she says Lucius has been quite given up by the doctors. It is a +question of days--perhaps of hours." + +"No? By George! Poor old Lucius!" returned Mr. Dormer-Smith, with a +touch of real feeling in his tone. + +"Of course, this will make an immense difference in May's prospects. I +don't mean to say that she will easily find another millionnaire, with +such extraordinarily liberal ideas about settlements as Mr. Bragg hinted +to me this morning; _that_ is, humanly speaking, not possible," said +Mrs. Dormer-Smith solemnly. "Still, the affair may not be such an +irretrievable disaster as we feared." + +"How do you mean?" asked Frederick, whose mind, as we know, moved rather +slowly. + +"It _must_ make a difference to her," repeated his wife in a musing +tone. "The only child and heiress of the future Viscount Castlecombe, of +course----" + +"By George! I didn't think of that at the moment. Yes, Gus is the next. +I suppose that's quite certain?" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith did not even condescend to answer this query, but +merely raised her eyebrows with a superior and melancholy smile. + +Frederick pondered a minute or so; then he said, "You say 'heiress,' but +I don't think your uncle would leave Gus a pound more than he couldn't +help leaving him." + +"I fear that is likely. Still, there is much of the land that must come +to Augustus, and Uncle George has enormously improved the estate. Do you +know I begin to hope that I may see my poor unfortunate brother come +back and take his proper place in the world? When I remember what he was +five-and-twenty years ago, it does seem cruel that he should have been +absolutely eclipsed during all this time. I recollect so well the day he +first appeared in his uniform. He was brilliant. Poor Augustus!" + +Mr. Dormer-Smith felt that the difficulty of telling his wife what he +had just heard assumed a new shape. He had feared to add to the load of +what Pauline considered family misfortunes; now it seemed as if his news +would dash her rising spirits, and darken roseate hopes. He passed his +large hand over his mouth and chin, and said, with his eyes fixed +uneasily on his wife, who was still contemplating the fire with an air +of abstraction-- + +"Ah! Yes. But--there may be a Lady Castlecombe to find a place in the +world for." + +"Not improbable. I hope there may be. Augustus is little past the prime +of life. It would compensate for much if----" + +"I'm sorry to say, Pauline, that there's no chance of that--I mean of +such a marriage as you are thinking of. I came upstairs on purpose to +tell you. In one way it won't make any difference to _us_. And I'm sure +your brother has never deserved much affection or consideration from +you. But still, I know it will worry you." + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith sat upright, with her hands grasping the two arms of +her chair, and said, with a sort of despairing calm, "Be good enough to +go on, Frederick. I entreat you to be explicit. I dare say you mean +well, but I do not think I _can_ endure much more suspense." + +"Well, you know the rumours we've heard from time to time about that +disreputable Italian woman in Brussels--opera-singer, or something of +the kind? Well--I'm afraid there's no use deluding ourselves; I think it +comes on good authority--your brother has married her." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Although the little house in Collingwood Terrace had not, perhaps, fully +justified Martin's cheery prophecy that it would turn out an "awfully +jolly little place when once they got used to it," yet there, as +elsewhere, peace, goodwill, order, and cleanliness mitigated what was +mean and unpleasant. Mrs. Bransby's love of personal adornment rested on +a better basis than vanity, although she was, doubtless, no more free +from vanity than many a plainer woman. She had an artistic pleasure in +beauty and elegance, and an objection to sluttishness in all its Protean +forms, which might almost be described as the moral sense applied to +material things. Her delicate taste suffered, of course, from much that +surrounded her in the squeezed little suburban house. But, far from +sinking into a helpless slattern, according to the picture of her +painted by Mrs. Dormer-Smith's commonplace fancy, she exerted herself to +the utmost to make a pleasant and cheerful home for her children. Her +life was one of real toil, although many well-meaning ladies of the +Dormer-Smith type would have looked with suspicion on the care Mrs. +Bransby took of her hands, and would have been able to sympathize more +thoroughly with her troubles if her collars and cuffs had occasionally +shown a crease or a stain. + +Mr. Rivers's room had been prepared with the most solicitous care. It +was a labour of love with all the family. Martin and his sister Ethel +did good work, and even the younger children insisted on "helping," to +the irreparable damage of their pinafores, and temporary eclipse of +their rosy faces by dust and blacklead. The young ones were elated by +the prospect of seeing their playfellow Owen once again; Martin relied +on his assistance to persuade Mrs. Bransby that he (Martin) should and +could earn something; and even Mrs. Bransby could not help building on +Owen's arrival to bring some amelioration into her life beyond the +substantial assistance of his weekly payments. + +He arrived in the evening, and was received by the children with +enthusiasm, and by Mrs. Bransby with an effort to be calm and cheerful, +and to suppress her tears, which touched him greatly, seeing her, as he +did for the first time, in her widow's garb. He was touched, too, by her +almost humble anxiety that he should be content with the accommodation +provided for him, and earnestly assured her that he considered himself +luxuriously lodged. + +And, indeed, for himself he was more than satisfied; but he could not +help contrasting this mean little house with Mrs. Bransby's beautiful +home in Oldchester, and he found it singularly painful to see her in +these altered circumstances. In this respect, as in so many others, his +feeling differed as widely as possible from Theodore's. For Theodore, +although fastidious and exacting as to all that regarded his own +comfort, sincerely considered his step-mother's home to be in all +respects quite good enough for her, and had privately taxed her with +insensibility and ingratitude for showing so little satisfaction in it. + +All the family, including Phoebe, who grinned a recognition from the +top of the kitchen stairs, agreed in declaring Owen to be looking +remarkably well. He was somewhat browned by the Spanish sunshine, and he +had an indefinable air of bright hopefulness. In Oldchester he used to +look more dreamy. + +"It is business which is grinding my faculties to a fine edge," he +answered laughingly, when Mrs. Bransby made some remark to the above +effect. "I shall become quite dangerously sharp if I go on at this +rate." + +"I don't think you look at all sharp," replied Mrs. Bransby gently. + +Whereupon Martin told his mother that she was not polite; and Bobby and +Billy giggled; and they all sat down to their evening meal very +cheerfully. + +When the table was cleared, and the younger children had gone away to +bed under Ethel's superintendence, Mrs. Bransby said, "You smoke, do you +not, Mr. Rivers?" + +"Not here, in your sitting-room." + +"Oh, pray do! It does not annoy me in the least." + +Owen hesitated, and Martin thereupon put in his word. "Mother does not +mind it, really. Not decent, human kind of tobacco such as gentlemen +use. That beast, old Bucher, used to smoke a great pipe that smelt like +double-distilled essence of public-house tap-rooms." + +"Well, a cigarette, if I may," said Owen, pulling out his case. Then, +drawing the only comfortable easy-chair in the room towards the +fireside, he asked, "Is that where you like to have it?" + +"That is your chair," said Mrs. Bransby timidly. + +"Good Heavens!" exclaimed Owen, genuinely shocked, "what have I done to +make you suppose I could possibly be capable of taking your seat?" + +He gently took her hand and led her to the chair. Then, looking round +the little parlour, he spied a footstool, which he placed beneath her +feet. As he looked up from doing so, he saw her sweet pale face, with +the delicate curves of the mouth twitching nervously in an endeavour to +smile, and the soft dark eyes full of tears. "You must not spoil me in +this fashion," she began. But the attempt to speak was too much for her. +She broke down, and covered her face with her trembling hands. + +Martin instantly crossed the room, and stood close beside her, placing +one arm round her shoulders, and turning away from Owen, so as to fence +his mother in. The boy's protecting attitude was pathetically eloquent. +And so was the way in which his mother presently laid her head down upon +his shoulder. They remained thus for a little while. Owen stood by the +fire with his elbow on the mantelpiece, and his forehead resting on his +hand. And all three were silent. + +At length, when Martin felt that his mother was no longer trembling, and +that her sobs were subsiding, he looked round and said, "Mother's upset +by being treated properly. No wonder! It's like meeting with a white man +after living among cannibals. If you had ever seen that beast Bucher, +you'd understand it." + +"Shall I go away?" asked Owen. + +Mrs. Bransby quickly held out one hand entreatingly, while she dried her +eyes with the other. "Please stay!" she said. "And please light your +cigarette! And please draw your chair near the fire, and make yourself +as comfortable--or as little uncomfortable--as you can! Forgive me. I do +not often break down in this way; do I, Martin?" + +"No," answered Martin, moving the lamp so as to throw his mother's +tear-stained face into shadow, and then squeezing his own chair into the +corner beside hers, "no; you were cheerful enough with Bucher. Well, of +course one _had_ either to take Bucher from the ludicrous side, or else +shoot him through the head, and have done with him!" + +"I see," said Owen, nodding, and not sorry to hide his own emotion under +cover of a joke. "And Mrs. Bransby was unable to make up her mind to +justifiably homicide him?" + +"Yes. He _was_ a beast, though, and no mistake! Phoebe was in such a +rage with him once, that she threatened to throw a hot batter-pudding at +his head. I'm sorry now she didn't," added Martin, with pensive regret. + +Then they talked quietly. Mrs. Bransby, with womanly tact, led Owen to +speak about himself and his prospects. There was little to tell in the +way of incident. He had been working steadily, and did not dislike his +work. And he had been well contented with his treatment by Mr. Bragg. +Mr. Bragg had made him an offer to send him, in the spring, to Buenos +Ayres. It might be an opening to fortune. + +"I suppose you will go? Of course, you will go!" said Mrs. Bransby. + +She could not help her voice and her face betraying some disappointment. +They did not, however, betray all she felt; for the prospect of Owen's +going away again so soon sent a desolate chill to her heart. Owen looked +at her quickly, and then as quickly looked away and tossed the end of +his cigarette into the fire, before lighting another. + +"I don't know," he answered, bending down over the flame; "it will +require some consideration. I believe the alternative is open to me of +remaining in Mr. Bragg's employment in England. Anyway, there is time +enough before I need decide--several months, I hope." + +Mrs. Bransby breathed a low sigh of relief; then she said, in a +perceptibly more cheerful tone, "It seems so odd to think of you writing +business letters, and making up accounts, and being altogether turned +into a--a----" + +"A clerk." + +"No; not precisely that. You are Mr. Bragg's secretary, are you not?" + +"What I am aiming at--what I hope to be--_is_ a clerk, you know. If I +called myself a field marshal or an archbishop it would not alter the +fact; but it does seem odd to me, too, when I think of it. Better luck +than I deserve, as my shrewd old friend Mrs. Dobbs said to me." + +"Talking of Mrs. Dobbs, May Cheffington came to see me here." + +Owen had heard regularly from May every week; he carried her last letter +in his breast-pocket at that moment (not the note which she had posted +herself--that had not yet reached Collingwood Terrace), so that he was +not starving for news of her. Nevertheless, he felt a wild temptation to +cry out, "Tell me about her! Talk of nothing else!" But he answered +composedly, "That was quite right; she ought, of course, to have come to +see you." + +"She only came once," observed Martin. + +"That was not her fault," said his mother. "She could not, as I told you +all, make frequent journeys here--she could not command her time or her +aunt's servants; she goes out a great deal." + +"Her aunt lives for the world, you see," said Owen apologetically. + +"Oh, there is no reason why May should not enjoy her youth and all her +advantages," answered Mrs. Bransby softly; "she is a very sweet, lovable +creature--much too good for----" Mrs. Bransby here checked herself, and +stopped abruptly. + +"Oh, mother! that's all bosh!" cried Martin, flushing hotly. "I mean +that notion of yours. Now, I ask you, Mr. Rivers, is it likely that May +Cheffington would _think_ of marrying Theodore? Ah! you may well look +flabbergasted! Anybody would who knew them both. You see, mother, Mr. +Rivers takes it just as I did. You don't think it likely, do you, Mr. +Rivers?" + +Owen had recovered from the first startling effect of hearing those two +names coupled together; but he was inwardly raging and lavishing a +variety of the most unparliamentary epithets on Theodore. + +"If you ask my candid opinion, I _don't_ think it likely," he answered +curtly. + +"Of course not!" exclaimed the boy. "It's only Theodore's bounce; I told +mother so." + +"Why, you don't mean that Bransby has the confounded impudence to +say----" + +"No, no," interposed Mrs. Bransby. "Don't let us exaggerate. Theodore +has never made any explicit statement on the subject. But he meets May +very frequently in society. He is constantly invited by Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. They are thrown a great deal together. May has evidently +become much more kind and gracious to him of late--for I remember when +she used positively to run away from him!--and as for him, he is as much +attached to her as he can be to any human being. I do believe that." + +"Attached your granny!" cried Martin, apparently unable to find a polite +phrase strong enough to convey his deep disdain. "Theodore is much +attached to number one, and that's about the beginning and the end of +_his_ attachments!" + +"Hush, Martin," said his mother severely. "You are talking of what you +don't understand. And you know how much I dislike to hear you use that +tone about--your brother." + +She brought out the word "brother" with an obvious effort. In truth, she +had a repugnance to speaking, or even thinking, of Theodore as her +children's brother. But it was a repugnance for which she blamed +herself. + +"I think," she added, "that you had better go to bed, Martin." + +The boy rose with an instant obedience, which had not always +characterized him in the happy Oldchester days, and bent over his mother +to kiss her. + +"I'm very sorry. I did not mean to vex you, mother," he whispered. +"You're not angry with me, are you?" + +"I _can't_ be angry with you, my darling boy. But I must do my duty. You +know _he_ would say, I was right to correct you." + +Martin lifted up his face cheerfully, with the happy elasticity of +boyish spirits. "All right, mother. Good night. Good night, Mr. Rivers." + +"Good night, old fellow," responded Owen, grasping the boy's hand +heartily. He felt very strongly in sympathy with Martin, just then. + +Martin lingered. "May I ask just one thing, mother?" he said wistfully. + +"You know we agreed not to tease Mr. Rivers with our affairs immediately +on his arrival, Martin," replied his mother. Then, unable to resist his +pleading face, she said, "If it really is only one question, perhaps Mr. +Rivers would not mind----?" + +"What is it you want to know, Martin? Speak out," said Owen. + +"It's about the question I asked in my letter," replied Martin, blushing +and eager. "Don't you think I ought to try and help mother? And don't +you think I might have a chance of earning something?" + +"That's two questions," said Owen, with a smile. "But I'll answer them +both. To number one, yes, undoubtedly. To number two, perhaps; but we +must have patience." + +"There, mother!" cried Martin, triumphantly turning his glowing face and +sparkling eyes towards her. Then he shut the door, and rushed upstairs: +his round young cheeks dimpled with smiles, and his heart so full of +joyous hopes, that he was impelled to find some vent for his overflowing +spirits by hurling his bolster at Bobby and Billy, who were sitting up +in bed, broad awake. Thereupon there ensued smothered sounds of +scuffling and laughter, mingled with the occasional thud of a bolster +against the wall; until Phoebe, sharply rapping at the door, announced +that unless Mr. Martin was in bed in two minutes, she would take away +the light, and leave him to undress in the dark. + +When the widow was alone with Owen she began to pour forth the praises +of her eldest boy. She hoped Mr. Rivers did not think her selfish in +letting the boy share so much of her cares and anxieties. But although +only a child in years he was so helpful, so loving, so sensible--had +such a manly desire to shield her and spare her! And then, after asking +Owen's advice about the boy, she added, naively-- + +"Only, please, don't advise me to make a drudge of him. He is so clever, +he ought to be educated. His dear father looked forward to his doing so +well at school and college." + +"If I am to advise, really," said Owen, "I ought first to understand the +state of the case with as much accuracy as possible." + +Mrs. Bransby at once told him the details of her circumstances as +succinctly as she could. There was a small sum secured to her, but so +small as barely to suffice for finding them all in food. Theodore had +made himself responsible for the rent during one twelvemonth. He had +also (or so she had understood him) promised to send Martin to his old +school for a couple of years. But it now appeared that his offer was +limited to paying for Martin's being taught at a neighbouring day school +of a very inferior kind. And even this seemed precarious. + +"I thought at one time," said Mrs. Bransby, "that I might, perhaps, +earn, a little money by teaching. But I must do what I can to educate +Ethel and Enid and the younger boys until they get beyond me. I fear I +could not find time to go out and give lessons, even if I succeeded in +getting an engagement. So I am trying to get some sewing to do. I can +use my needle, you know, while I hear Ethel say her French lesson, and +make Bobby and Billy spell words of two syllables." + +Poor Mrs. Bransby spoke with much diffidence of her plans and projects. +She had a very humble opinion of her own powers, and was touchingly +willing to be ruled and directed. Owen suggested that it might have been +better for her to have remained in Oldchester, where she was among +friends. But she answered that she had had scarcely any choice in the +matter. It was Theodore who had decided that she was to remove to +London. It was Theodore who had chosen that house for her. In the first +days of her loss she had blindly accepted all Theodore's directions. + +"Perhaps I was to blame," she said. "But I was so overwhelmed, and I +felt so helpless; and it seemed right to listen to Theodore. +But--although I never say a harsh word about him to strangers, nor to +the children if I can help it--I cannot pretend to you, who know us all +so well, that he is kind to us. Martin resents his behaviour very much. +I do my best, but it is impossible to make my boy feel cordially towards +his half-brother." + +"Of course it is!" said Owen. Then he closed his lips. He would not +trust himself to talk of Theodore at that moment. + +It was a comfort to Mrs. Bransby to speak openly to a sympathizing +listener, and one whom she could thoroughly trust. She talked on for a +long time; and at length, looking at her watch, accused herself of +selfishness in keeping Owen so long from the rest which he must need +after his journey. As she returned the watch to her pocket, she said +deprecatingly-- + +"Perhaps you think I ought not to possess so handsome a watch under the +present circumstances? Theodore was quite displeased when he saw it, and +said it ought to be sold. But, you see, I need some kind of watch; and +this is an excellent time-keeper; and--and my dear husband gave it to me +on the last birthday we spent together." + +She turned away to hide the tears that brimmed up into her eyes; and, +going to a little side table, lit her chamber candle. + +Owen rose from his chair. "Look here, Mrs. Bransby," he said. "Of course +we must have more talk together, and more time to consider matters; but +it seems to me that Martin is right in wishing to earn something. Young +as he is, it might be possible to find some employment for him which +should bring in a weekly sum worth having. And as to his education--it +has occurred to me that I could, at least, keep him from forgetting what +he has learnt already; and, perhaps, coach him on a little further. An +hour or two every evening, steadily occupied, would do a good deal. It +would be a great pleasure to me to be able to do this small service for +you. That is to say," he went on quickly, in order to check the outburst +of thanks which trembled on her lips, "if you are good enough to allow +me the advantage of continuing to occupy a room here. I hope you will be +able to put up with me. I don't _think_ that Phoebe will want to throw +a hot batter-pudding at my head. But that may be my vanity! Good night. +Don't say any more now, please. We will think it over on both sides. I +will smoke one more cigarette, if I may, before I turn in." + +He opened the door, and held it open for her. As she passed him, she +paused an instant, and said in a low, trembling voice, "God bless you!" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +The next morning's post brought Owen May's note. She had written it +hurriedly--not so much from stress of time as under the influence of +that kind of hurry which comes from thronging thoughts and eager +emotions. The sight of her handwriting was a joyful surprise to Owen; +and he wondered, as he tore open the cover, how she could have learned +his arrival so quickly. But he found that she had written simply in the +hope that he might get her letter as soon as possible, and without any +knowledge of the fact that he was already in London. + +The contents of it did not much disquiet him. She had something to say +to him: he must come and speak with her as soon as possible after his +arrival. She was safe and well, he knew; and, with that knowledge, he +thought that he could defy fortune. As to urging him to go to her +quickly--that was, he told himself with a smile, a superfluous +injunction. What need of persuasion to do that which he ardently longed +to do? + +He rapidly planned out the hours of his day. At ten o'clock he must be +with Mr. Bragg in the City. He had received a telegram in Paris making +that appointment. He would probably find duties to detain him there +until the afternoon. Between two and three o'clock, however, he thought +he could reach Mrs. Dormer-Smith's house at Kensington. From what he +knew of the habits of the household, he judged that May would be at home +at that hour. + +He had much to think of regarding the future. A momentous decision lay +with him. Had Mr. Bragg's offer of sending him to Buenos Ayres come a +couple of months earlier, he might have accepted it. It was not, of +course, a certain road to success; and it had many draw-backs--chief +among them being banishment from England. But, as he had told Mrs. +Dobbs, he was ready to face that if it were required of him, +understanding that he who starts late in a race must needs run hard. But +latterly he had come to think that it might not be best for May that he +should go; and to do what was best for her was the supreme aim of his +life. He discovered from her letters that she was not happy and +contented in her aunt's house. The necessity of concealing her +engagement was already painful and oppressive. How could she endure it +for two years? Truly, she might announce it, and go back to Oldchester +to her grandmother's house (for Owen had more than a suspicion that the +Dormer-Smiths would be very unwilling to keep her with them as the +betrothed bride of Mr. Bragg's clerk!) + +But there were other objections. Theodore Bransby, Owen was inwardly +convinced, was his rival. He might try to injure him in his absence. The +absent are always in the wrong. Or Theodore might annoy May with +persecutions. If he and May were to wait for each other, had they not +better wait, at all events, in the same hemisphere? Owen knew very well +that _some_ money--a decent competency--was indispensable to his +marriage. But that he might now reasonably hope to obtain in England. +The balance of his judgment, the more he reflected on the situation, +inclined the more decisively towards remaining. + +Other considerations than what was due to May could not have inclined +the scale one hair's breadth in these deliberations. But when he thought +over his last evening's interview with Mrs. Bransby, it pleased him to +believe that his stay, if he stayed, would be very welcome to her and +hers. + +He felt a profound and tender compassion for the widow. He admired her +patience, and the simple way in which she tried to do hard duties; +accepting them as matters of course. And he was filled with indignation +against Theodore Bransby. To these sentiments may be added the sense +that Mrs. Bransby relied on him; and the recollection of that day in the +Oldchester garden, when he had solemnly promised to be a friend to her +and her children at their need. All these were powerful incentives to +help her and stand by her. + +There was in Owen a somewhat unusual combination of heat and +steadfastness. He seldom belied his first impulse--the mark of a rarely +sincere character, swayed only by honest motives. The offer he had made +last night to teach Martin he was not inclined to repent of in the "dry +light" of next morning. It was plain, too, that his contribution to the +weekly income was a matter of serious importance to the family;--far +more so than he had any idea of when he first proposed to board with +them, although the offer had been made in the hope of assisting them. He +turned over in his mind various projects on their behalf as he walked +down to the City. It occurred to him that he might do well to speak to +Mr. Bragg on the subject. It was even possible that Mr. Bragg might find +some place for young Martin. Owen had a high opinion of his employer's +rectitude and good sense; and he thought him, moreover, a kindly +disposed man. But he had no glimpse of the tenderness which was hidden +under Mr. Bragg's plain, unattractive exterior, nor of the yearning for +some affection in his daily life, which sometimes made the millionnaire +look back regretfully on the days when he and his comely young wife +toiled together; and when he, Joshua Bragg, in his fustian working suit, +had been the dearest being on earth to a loving woman. + +Mr. Bragg appeared that day at his place of business looking as usual. +He was clean shaven, and soberly and appropriately attired. He was +attentive to the matter in hand, mindful of details, accurate, +deliberate--all as usual. And yet, so subtle is the quality of the +spiritual atmosphere which we all carry about with us, there was not a +junior clerk in the place who did not feel that there was a cloud on Mr. +Bragg's mind, and did not wonder "what was up with the governor." + +One wag opined that "Old Grimalkin had caught him at last." By which +irreverent phrase the profane fellow meant that the Most Noble the +Dowager Marchioness of Hautenville had succeeded in arranging an +alliance between Mr. Bragg and her daughter, the Lady Felicia. For it +was an open secret in the office, and the theme of infinite jest there, +that Lady Hautenville pursued this aim with an indomitable, and even +ferocious, perseverance worthy of the Berseker race from which she +professed to trace her descent. Her ladyship's hired barouche might +often be seen during the season, floating like a high-beaked ship of the +Vikings on the busy tide of commercial life, and coasting down towards +that plebeian shore of Tom Tiddler, where Mr. Joshua Bragg picked up so +much gold and silver. She would willingly have made as clean a sweep of +all his treasure as any piratical Scandinavian who ever carried off the +peaceful wealth of Kentish villages. Neither craft nor valour were +wanting to her. She made ingenious excuses to see him:--sometimes she +wanted to consult him as to the investment of non-existent sums of +money; sometimes to engage his presence at some fashionable gathering, +where he was, of course, peculiarly fitted to shine. She sent in to his +office little perfumed notes, directed by the fair hand of Felicia in +Brobdingnagian characters. Felicia herself, bright-eyed and crowned with +gorgeous bonnets--spoil gallantly wrested from some lily-livered West +End milliner, who had not the courage to refuse her credit,--sat by her +mother's side, and smiled with haughty fascination on Mr. Bragg, +whenever he could be coaxed forth to speak with their ladyships at the +carriage door. And every creature in Mr. Bragg's wholesale office, down +to the sharp Cockney urchin who sprinkled and swept the floors, +perfectly understood why Lady Hautenville did all these things, and +watched her proceedings as a spectacle of very high sporting interest. + +Thus it was that when the wag before-mentioned opined that "Grimalkin +had caught the governor," by way of accounting for Mr. Bragg's low +spirits, it was received with the benevolence due to a deserving old +jest which has seen service. But when a younger man ventured to +suggest--more than half seriously--that, "perhaps the governor was in +love," the suggestion was received with genuine hilarity, and the +originator of it immediately took credit for having fully intended a +capital joke. + +Owen Rivers, arriving punctually, was shown into Mr. Bragg's private +room. There he was greeted with the invariable grave, "How do you do, +Mr. Rivers?" And then, after a moment, Mr. Bragg added, "So you've got +over punctual. I thought you _might_ manage without an extra day in +Paris. But you must have put your shoulder to the wheel to do it." A +speech expressive, in Mr. Bragg's mouth, of very marked approbation. + +Then Owen proceeded to report what he had done in Paris, and to lay +letters and papers before Mr. Bragg; and for some time they attended to +various matters of business. When these were over, Owen said-- + +"When could I speak to you about some affairs of my own?" + +"Well, now, p'raps; if you don't want to be long." + +"Half an hour?" + +Mr. Bragg looked at his watch, nodded, and, leaning his head on his +hand, prepared to listen with quiet attention. + +Owen began by saying that he was inclined towards remaining in England +rather than accepting the opportunity of going abroad; whereat Mr. Bragg +looked thoughtful, but waited to hear him out without interruption. Then +Owen went on to speak of Mrs. Bransby and her altered circumstances, and +of his wish and intention to assist and stand by her. + +When he ceased Mr. Bragg, having heard him with careful attention, +said-- + +"The first point to be considered is your own position. Concerning the +situation we spoke of, I think I can promise to keep you on as my--what +you might call _business_ secretary. As to a private secretary, I don't +have much private correspondence, and what I have, I can pretty well +manage myself. I should expect you to take a journey now and then into +foreign parts if necessary. Terms as before. But I tell you frankly, I +see no immediate prospect of a rise for you. If you went to Buenos Ayres +you might have a chance--only a chance, of course--of getting into +something on your own account. One 'ud be steady as far as it went; the +other 'ud be like what you might call a throw of the dice at +backgammon--chance _and_ play. It's for you to choose. With regard to +Mrs. Bransby, I--of course----Look here, Mr. Rivers, I'm a deal older +than you--old enough to be your father--and I should like to give you a +little word of advice, if I could do it without offence." + +"I shall take it gratefully, Mr. Bragg, whether I act upon it or not." + +"Oh! as to acting upon it," said Mr. Bragg slowly; "it's a great thing +to be sure that your advice won't be picked up and pitched back at your +head like a stone. Well, you must understand that I don't mean any +disrespect to Mrs. Bransby, who is an excellent lady, I've no doubt. I +haven't much acquaintance with her, though I have dined at her table. +Her husband, Martin Bransby, I knew for years. I was his client, and had +reason to be well satisfied with him in all respects. So, you +understand, my feeling is quite friendly. But I would just drop a word +of warning. You're a young man, and Mrs. Bransby, though she's older +than you are, is still a young woman. And what's more, she's a very +handsome woman. And----Ah, I see you're making ready to shy back that +stone, by-and-by. But just listen one moment. For you, at your age, to +get entangled in that sort of engagement, and to undertake the charge of +a ready-made family of hungry boys and girls, would be simply ruin. +You'd repent it; and then she'd repent it because you did, and you'd all +be miserable together; that's all." + +Owen's mouth was set, and his eyes sparkling with a rather dangerous +look. But he answered quietly, "Thank you, Mr. Bragg. I am sure you mean +well, or why should you trouble yourself to speak at all on the matter?" + +"Just so; I'm glad you see that." + +"But may I ask what put the idea of any--any 'entanglement,' as you call +it, between me and Mrs. Bransby into your head?" + +"Understand me, Mr. Rivers; I meant all in honour, you know." + +Owen winced. The very assurance was almost offensive, but he returned, +"I spoke very stupidly and awkwardly; I'll amend my phrase. I should +have said, what put it into your head that I was likely to marry Mrs. +Bransby?" + +"Put it into my head? Well, when a young man feels a soft sort of +compassion for a beautiful woman who--who throws herself a good deal on +his sympathy, and looks to him for help and advice and all the rest of +it, and when the young man and the beautiful woman have opportunities of +seeing each other pretty constantly, why then I believe such a thing has +been heard of in history as their falling in love with each other. It +don't need much 'putting into your head' to see that when you've come to +my years." + +"Are you quite sure," persisted Owen, "that no suggestion of this kind +was made to you by any third person? I have a particular reason for +wishing to know." + +Mr. Bragg pondered. He had, in fact, heard Theodore's hints and +innuendos at the Dormer-Smiths, and although he was not consciously +moved by them in what he had now said, there could be no doubt that the +idea had been originally suggested to him by young Bransby and Pauline; +Owen's words to-day had merely revived those impressions. After a long +pause, he answered-- + +"Well, I think I _have_ heard it spoken of; but, if so, all the more +reason for you to be cautious." + +"I thought so!" said Owen. "Spoken of by----" + +"Why, by Mrs. B.'s step-son for one; so you may suppose there was +nothing said against the lady. _He_'d think it an uncommon good thing, I +dare say; it would relieve him of a burthen. He might wash his hands of +the family if she was to marry again." + +"Relieve him of a burthen!" cried Owen, starting up from his chair. +"Have you any idea what he does for his father's widow and children, Mr. +Bragg? Theodore Bransby is a liar. I know him. There's nothing too base +for him to insinuate against his stepmother, who is, I declare to God, +one of the best and most innocent women breathing! Theodore has a grudge +against her and her children--a jealous, petty, despicable kind of +grudge; and he's a mean-minded scoundrel!" He checked himself in walking +furiously about the room, and turned to Mr. Bragg with an apology. "I +beg your pardon, but I _cannot_ talk coolly of that fellow." + +"I'm inclined to agree with you, and yet I wish I could think better of +him; or rather, I wish he was somebody else altogether," said Mr. Bragg +enigmatically, thinking of May. + +"Mr. Bragg," said Owen, with a sudden inspiration, "will you come to +Collingwood Terrace and see Mrs. Bransby? You will learn more about them +all with your own eyes and ears in ten minutes than I could convey to +you in an hour. You shall take them unprepared. If you would look in +this evening about their tea-time you would find them all at home; it +would be a kind and natural act on your part, and would need no +explanation. Do come." + +"Well, yes; I will," answered Mr. Bragg. "Perhaps I ought to have done +so before. Any way, I'll come; just put down the address." + +"Thank you. Shall I write those Spanish letters now?" + +"Ah! you'd better. Mr. Barker, there, will give you a seat for the +present in his room." + +And so they parted. + +Mr. Bragg was by no means reassured as to his secretary being in +considerable danger from the widow's fascinations. He remarked to +himself that Rivers had not said one word explicitly denying any +attachment between them, but he felt a new bond of sympathy with Rivers. +It was agreeable to meet with such thorough fellow-feeling about +Theodore Bransby. Perhaps a mutual dislike is a stronger tie than a +mutual friendship, because our hatreds need more justifying than our +affections. + +By the time Owen's business was transacted, and he had eaten some food +at a neighbouring chop-house, it was past two o'clock, and then he set +out for Mrs. Dormer-Smith's house on foot. It was a long way off, but it +seemed to him more tolerable to walk than to jog along on the top of an +omnibus, or to burrow underground in the crowded railway. In his +impatient and excited frame of mind the rapid exercise was a relief. + +It was barely three o'clock when he reached the house in Kensington. The +servant who opened the door murmured something in a low voice, about the +ladies not receiving visitors in consequence of a family affliction. +Being further interrogated, he believed that Mrs. Dormer-Smith's cousin, +Lord Castlecombe's son, was dead. + +"Tell Miss Cheffington that I am here," said Owen. "Give her this card, +and say I am waiting to see her." + +His manner was so peremptory that, after a brief hesitation, the man +took the card, and ushered Owen into the dining-room to wait. The room +was dimmer than the dim wintry day without need have made it, by reason +of the red blinds being partly drawn down, and filling it with a lurid +gloom. + +The servant had not been gone many seconds before the door opened, and a +rather pale face, not raised very high above the level of the floor, +peeped into the room. The eyes belonging to the face soon made out +Owen's figure in the dimness, and a childish voice said, in a subdued +and stealthy tone, "Hulloa!" + +"Hulloa!" returned Owen, in a tone not quite so subdued, but still low; +for there was a general hush in the house which would have made ordinary +speech seem startling. + +"Do you want May?" asked the child. + +"Yes; I do." + +"I heard you tell James to give her your card. Who are you?" + +"I'm Owen. Who are you?" replied Owen, listening all the while for the +expected footfall. + +"I'm Harold." + +Upon this, a second rather pale face, still nearer to the ground, peeped +in at the door; and a second childish voice piped out faintly, "And I'm +Wilfred." Then the two children marched solemnly into the room, shutting +the door behind them, and stared at Owen with judicial gravity. + +"May's my cousin," said Harold, after contemplating the stranger for a +while in silence. + +"And May's my cousin, too," observed Wilfred. + +"I'm fond of her," pursued Harold. + +"So am I," exclaimed Owen, walking across the room impatiently. "But why +doesn't she come? Where is she? Do you know?" + +"Yes," replied Harold, with deliberation; "I know." + +"What can that man be about? He can't have given her the message!" said +Owen, speaking half to himself, his nervous impatience rising with every +minute of delay. + +Harold looked profoundly astute, as he answered, with a series of +emphatic nods, "No; he didn't. He took the card to Smithson; and I know +what Smithson will do; she'll read it first herself, and then she'll +take it to mamma, and then perhaps mamma will tell May--if you're +a--what is it?--a proper person. _Are_ you a proper person?" + +"I say," said Owen suddenly, "will you go and fetch May? Tell her Owen +is here waiting. Do go, there's a good boy!" + +"Is May fond of you?" inquired Harold hesitating. + +"May will be pleased with you if you go and fetch her. Run! Be off at +once now--quick!" + +After one searching look at Owen's face, the child disappeared swiftly +and silently. In less than two minutes a light footstep was heard +descending the stairs at headlong speed. The door opened, and May, +almost breathless with haste and surprise, half stumbled into the dark +room, and he caught her in his arms. + +"Is it really you?" she exclaimed, looking up at him with one hand on +his shoulder, and the other pushing back the hair from her forehead. + +Owen took the hand which rested on his shoulder, and pressed it to his +lips. "It is very really I," he said, with his eyes fixed on her face in +a tender rapture. + +"It seems like a dream! So unexpected!" + +"Unexpected! Why, you summoned me, and of course I am here!" + +"Yes, it really does seem as if my note had been a spell to bring you +across the seas." + + "'Over seas, over mountains, + Love will find out the way!' + +It doesn't alter that truth, that I happened to arrive in England only +last night." + +"Only last night! How strange it seems! And you never let me know----" + +"Darling, by the time it was quite certain what day I should be in +England, a letter would not have outstripped me. I got my orders by +telegram. Oh, my love, what a long, long time it seems since I looked on +your dear face!" + +"Tell me all about yourself, Owen. I want to hear everything." + +"So you shall. But you must explain first the meaning of your note. Tell +me now--sit down here--what has happened?" + +"I have so many things to say, I scarcely know where to begin!" + +"Begin with what was in your mind when you wrote that note." + +May sat down close to him, and began in a low voice, little above a +whisper, and with some confusion, to narrate the story of Mr. Bragg's +wooing, and its effect on her aunt and uncle. As he listened, Owen's +face expressed the most unbounded amazement. + +"Oh, it can't be!" he exclaimed. "It's impossible! There must be some +mistake!" + +May laughed, though the tears were in her eyes. "You are not very +civil," she said. "Nobody else seemed to think it impossible." + +"But _old Bragg_!" repeated Owen incredulously. + +"Perhaps he was temporarily insane, but I really think he meant it," +answered May, blushing so bewitchingly, that Owen could not resist the +temptation to kiss the glowing cheek so close to his lips. + +At this point, Harold called out in a resolute tone, "You mustn't kiss +May." + +The lovers started. They had forgotten the children--had forgotten +everything in the world except each other. But the two little boys had +followed May into the room, and had been witnessing the interview in +dumb astonishment. It was characteristic that they now held each other +by the hand, as though seeking support from union, in the presence of +this stranger, who might, they instinctively felt, turn out to be a +common enemy. + +"Halloa!" said Owen. "Here's another rival. Their name seems to be +Legion." + +"It was Harold who told me you were here," said May. + +"Yes; I sent him to fetch you," answered Owen. Then he added +ungratefully, "They might as well be sent off now, mightn't they?" + +"Oh, let them stay. There are no secrets now. At least, I hope you will +agree with me that we ought to say out the truth. Come here, Harold and +Wilfred. You must love Owen, for my sake." + +Harold advanced and stood in front of them. + +"I say," he said, with a curious look at Owen, "I'm going to marry May +when I grow up." + +"_Are_ you? That's a little awkward." + +"Why is it a little awkward?" demanded Harold gravely. + +"Well, because, to tell the truth, I was rather hoping to marry her +myself." + +The child had evidently intended to draw forth this explicit statement, +for he looked full at Owen, and said doggedly, "I just thought you +were!" Then he suddenly turned away and hid his face on May's lap. Upon +which Wilfred, conscious of a cloud in the air, began to cry softly. + +"Don't be angry with them, poor little fellows!" said May, checking some +manifestation of impatience on Owen's part. Then she coaxed the +children, and soothed them, and the childish emotion, brief though +poignant, soon passed. And at length Harold lifted up his face, and, +after a short struggle, said-- + +"I will shake hands with him, if you like, but I won't love him--not if +he kisses you." + +"All right, old fellow," said Owen, taking the child's hand. "I +sympathize with your feelings." + +Wilfred, of course, put out his small paw to be shaken like his +brother's, and peace once more reigned. + +May then hurriedly--for she knew not how long they might remain +uninterrupted--repeated what Clara Bertram had told her of her father's +marriage; and, lastly, she spoke in terms of deep affection and +gratitude of "Granny's" generosity. But on this point, as we know, Owen +was already informed. + +All that he now heard strengthened and justified the strong inclination +he already felt to abandon the idea of Buenos Ayres and to remain in +England at all costs. With her father more completely cut off from his +family than ever by this new marriage, her aunt hostile, her uncle, to +say the least, dissatisfied, and sure to oppose her engagement when it +should be announced, and no one friend in the world to rely upon except +her grandmother, May's position would be very desolate if he, too, were +far away on the other side of the world. Mrs. Dobbs was the trustiest +and most devoted of parents, but she was old; and, moreover, she would +have no power to insist on keeping May with her should her father take +it into his head to decide otherwise. No; he must and would remain at +hand to protect and watch over her. These were the sole considerations +which decided him to come to this resolution then and there. But as soon +as he had taken his resolution the thought arose pleasantly in his mind +that it would bring some cheerfulness into the household at Collingwood +Terrace, and he expressed it impulsively by saying all at once-- + +"I have made up my mind, darling, to stay in London. Poor Mrs. Bransby +will be overjoyed. She is in such need of some one to stand by her." + +May felt a little chill, like the breath of a cold wind. In the first +warm delight of seeing her lover again, all the lurking jealousy, which +she hated herself for feeling, but which was alive in spite of her hate, +had been forgotten. But his words revived it. "Is she?" she answered. + +"Oh yes; I have not had time to tell you--haven't even _begun_ to say +the thousand things I want to say to you." + +"You could not have written them, I suppose?" said May, withdrawing her +chair slightly from its close proximity to his, and thereby allowing +Harold, who had been watching for this opportunity, to wedge himself in +between them. + +"No; I could not have written all about _her_, because I have only just +heard many of the details." + +"All about '_her_'? You mean about Mrs. Bransby?" + +"Of course. Poor soul, she has been so harshly, so cruelly treated! +Theodore's conduct is----" + +"You know I have no partiality for him," interrupted May. "But I think +you are a little unjust, or at least mistaken, in this instance. +Theodore Bransby has done a great deal for his stepmother." + +"Done a great deal for her! Good Heavens, my dear child, you can't +conceive with what meanness he treats her! It's dastardly. A woman who +was so idolized, so tended, so petted----And what a sweet creature she +is! And as lovely as ever! Her sorrows seem only to have spiritualized +her beauty." + +"Yes," said May. And the dry monosyllable cost her a painful effort to +utter it. Perhaps the constraint of her tone, the deadness of her +manner--naturally so warm and cordial--would have aroused Owen's +surprise, and led to an explanation. But they were interrupted here by +the door being thrown open, not violently, but very wide open, and the +appearance of Mrs. Dormer-Smith on the threshold. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Even in the moment of her first dismay, that admirable woman Pauline +Dormer-Smith was true to the great social duty of keeping up +appearances. She turned her head over her shoulder to James, who was +hovering uneasily in the background, and said softly, "Oh yes; it _is_ +Mr. Owen Rivers. That is quite right"--as if Mr. Owen Rivers's presence +were the most natural and welcome thing in the world. Then, shutting the +door on James and on society, she advanced towards the two young people, +who had risen on her entrance, and said, with a kind of reproachful +feebleness, conveying the impression that she was reduced to the last +stage of debility, and that it was entirely their fault, "I had scarcely +credited the footman's statement that you were here having a private +interview with my niece, Mr. Rivers. He tells me that he informed you of +the family affliction which has befallen us. Under the circumstances, +you must allow me to say that I think you have shown some want of +delicacy in insisting on being admitted." + +May glanced at Owen, but as he did not speak on the instant, she did. +She took her aunt's passive fingers in her own, and said, "Aunt Pauline, +he had a right to insist on seeing me, because----" + +"Excuse me, May," interrupted Mrs. Dormer-Smith, waving the girl off, "I +beg you will go to your own room; _I_ will speak with this gentleman." + +Her tone would have suited the announcement that she was prepared to +undergo martyrdom; and she sank into a chair in an attitude of graceful +exhaustion. + +"No, Aunt Pauline, I _cannot_ go away until I have spoken," cried May +pleadingly. "Please to hear me. I wished to tell you the truth long ago, +but I was bound by a promise; now we are both agreed that it is right to +speak out, are we not?" she said, looking across at Owen. It seemed to +her that he was less eager to claim her, less proud of her affection, +less ardently loving, than her imagination had pictured him. There was +something in the quietude of his attitude which depressed and mortified +her; it was like--almost like indifference. An insidious jealousy was +discolouring everything which she looked on with her "mind's eye." It is +not always a sufficient defence against a poison of that sort to have a +noble, candid nature, any more than it is a sufficient defence against +foul air to have sound, healthy lungs; it will fasten sometimes on the +worthiest qualities: a humble opinion of ourselves, a high admiration +for others. The hinted slanders which May had heard had aroused no baser +suspicion in her than that Owen perhaps did not love her so entirely as +he at first had fancied--that his sympathy and compassion and admiration +for Louisa Bransby were strong enough to compete with his attachment for +_her_. And she knew by her own heart that if this were so his love was +not such a love as she had dreamed of--not such a love as she had given +to him. And yet all the while she was struggling against the influence +of this subtly-penetrating distrust, and trying to shake it off, like an +ugly dream. + +"I am engaged to marry Owen Rivers," she said abruptly, after a pause +which lasted but an instant, but which had seemed long to her. + +"No, no; I must beg you to retire. I cannot hear this sort of thing," +returned her aunt, waving her hand again, and turning away her head. +"_You_, at least, must understand, Mr. Rivers, that it is entirely out +of the question. How you can have entertained so preposterous an idea I +cannot imagine. You must have seen something of the world, I presume? +You ought to be able to perceive that--but, in short, the thing is +preposterous, and cannot be seriously discussed for a moment." + +May Cheffington's blood was rising. "I do not intend to discuss it," she +said haughtily. + +"Dearest, since your aunt addresses me, let me reply to her," said Owen. +He spoke in a quiet tone, although inwardly he was excited and indignant +enough. "I must tell you, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, that we are neither of us +acting on a rash impulse. We have been parted for more than three +months, during which time May has been free to give me up without +breaking any pledge, or incurring--from me, at least--any reproaches. If +she had wavered--if she had found that she had mistaken her own +feelings--she was free as air. I should have made no claim, and laid no +blame, on her." + +"Made no claim on her!" repeated Mrs. Dormer-Smith. Then she laughed the +low laugh which, with her, indicated the very extremity of provocation. +"Oh, really! Ha, ha, ha! This is too monstrous. The whole thing appears +to me like insanity." + +"To marry without loving--_that_ appears to me like insanity," said May +scornfully. + +"May! I beseech you! Really, in the mouth of a young girl of your +breeding that sort of thing is inconceivable--I am tempted to use a +harsher word. _This_ then, is the reason why you have rejected one of +the most brilliant prospects! Are you aware, Mr. Rivers, that this +school-girl nonsense has prevented----" She caught herself up hastily, +and changed her phrase--"might have prevented Miss Cheffington from +obtaining one of the most splendid establishments in England?" + +"Aunt Pauline!" cried May with hot indignation. "How can you say so? I +would never have thought of marrying Mr. Bragg, even if Owen had not +existed!" + +"But apart from that," pursued Mrs. Dormer-Smith, ignoring the +interruption, "your pretensions would have been quite inadmissible. You +have heard of the death of my poor cousin Lucius. You had probably +calculated on it. I do not mean to bring any special accusation against +you there. Of course, in the case of a person of poor dear Lucius's +social importance all sorts of calculations were made by all sorts of +people. My brother Augustus is now the next heir to the family title and +estates. Under these circumstances I leave it to your own good sense to +determine whether he is likely to consent to his daughter's +marrying--really I am ashamed to speak of it seriously!--a person who, +in however praiseworthy a manner, is filling the position of a hired +clerk!" + +This shaft fell harmless, since both May and her lover were honestly +free from any sense of humiliation in the fact of Owen's being a hired +clerk, and sincerely willing to accept that position for him. + +Owen answered calmly, "You can probably judge far better than I, as to +what your brother is likely to think on that subject." Then turning +towards May, he said, "I think, my dearest, that you had better leave +your aunt and me to speak quietly together. You have been sufficiently +pained and agitated already. You look quite pale! Go, darling, and leave +me to speak with Mrs. Dormer-Smith." + +"Agitated!" echoed that lady. "We have all been sufficiently agitated. +What I have endured from pressure on the brain is unspeakable. Certainly +you had better go away, May, I have said so several times already." + +May walked slowly to the door. "I will do as you wish," she said to +Owen. + +"You see I am right, dear, do you not?" + +"Yes; I suppose so." + +The listlessness of her tone, he interpreted as a sign of her being +weary and over-wrought. And, in truth, it was partly due to that cause. + +As she moved across the room, two little figures crept out from a dark +corner, behind an armchair, and followed her. + +"Good gracious!" cried Mrs. Dormer-Smith faintly. "What is that? Have +those children been here all the time?" She always spoke of Harold and +Wilfred as "those children," in a distant tone as though they were +somebody else's intrusive little boys. On this occasion, however, she +did not altogether disapprove of their presence. It was certainly less +_inconvenable_ that they should have been known by the servants to be +present at the interview, than if May had been without even that small +amount of _chaperonage_. She had no idea that it was Harold who had +brought about the interview, or he might not have got off so easily! + +"Go away, little boys," she said, in her sweet, soft voice. "Go away +upstairs. Cannot Cecile find some lessons for you to do? You really must +not prowl about this part of the house in the afternoon." + +The children trotted after their cousin willingly enough. They never +wished to stay with their mother. + +"We shall meet again soon, my dear one," whispered Owen, as he opened +the door. And then, with Mrs. Dormer-Smith's eyes fixedly regarding him, +he took May's cold little hand in his own, and kissed it, before she +passed out. + +Pauline observed his demeanour with an unbiassed judgment. She would, in +the cause of duty, willingly have had him kidnapped and sent off to New +Caledonia at that moment. But she said to herself, "He has the manner of +a gentleman. It is most disastrous!" For she felt that this circumstance +increased her own difficulties. + +"Now, Mrs. Dormer-Smith," said Owen, when the door was shut, "I can +answer you with more perfect frankness than I should have liked to +employ in May's presence. You were so kind as to say that you would +leave it to my good sense to determine whether Captain Cheffington was +likely to consent to my marriage with his daughter. My answer is quite +simple. I do not intend to ask his consent." + +"You do not intend--to ask--his consent?" ejaculated Pauline, leaning +back in her chair, and, in the extremity of her astonishment at this +young man's audacity, letting fall a hand-screen which she had been +using to shield her face from the fire. + +Owen picked it up and restored it to her before repeating, "No; I do not +intend to ask his consent." + +"And do you hope to persuade my niece to disregard her father's +authority?--Not to mention other members of the family who have a right +to be heard!" + +"There is only one member of the family who has a right to be +heard--Mrs. Dobbs. And her consent I hope I have obtained." + +Pauline was for the moment stricken speechless by hearing Mrs. Dobbs +mentioned as a member of the family. "The family!" Good heavens, what +was the world coming to? She pressed her hand to her forehead with a +bewildered look. + +Owen went on resolutely. "As to parental authority--Mrs. Dormer-Smith, +your brother has abdicated all parental authority over May. He abandoned +her--pardon me, I _must_ use that word; for it is the only one which +expresses what I mean--when she was a young, motherless child. He went +away to his own occupations, or pleasures--any way, he went to live his +own life in his own way, utterly careless of May's welfare and +happiness. You may tell me that he was sure of her finding the tenderest +treatment under her grandmother's roof. He was not sure of it; for he +never troubled himself to consider the question. But if he had been +sure, he had no right to leave his child as he did. At any rate, having +done so, it is too late to pretend that she is morally bound to consider +his wishes." + +Pauline put her handkerchief to her eyes. "My poor brother Augustus is +much to be pitied," she murmured. "Allowances must be made for a man in +his position. That unfortunate marriage----" + +"I have never been told," said Owen, "that Miss Susan Dobbs seized upon +Captain Cheffington and compelled him by main force to marry her. +And--judging from what I know of her mother and daughter--I should think +it unlikely." + +"Oh, one understands that sort of thing," returned Pauline, with languid +disdain. "A young woman in her class of life is not to be judged by our +standards. No doubt she thought herself justified in doing the best she +could for herself." + +"It strikes me that she did very badly for herself--lamentably badly. I +do not wish to say anything needlessly offensive, but we are in the way +of plain speaking, and I must point out to you that so far from any +consideration being due to your brother, he is--from the point of view +of an honest man wishing to marry May--a person to be decidedly ashamed +of. There are in the city of Oldchester, his late wife's native place, +many tradesmen, and even mechanics, who would strongly object to connect +themselves by marriage with Captain Cheffington." + +To say that Mrs. Dormer-Smith was astonished by this speech would be but +faintly to express her sensations. She was bewildered. She had often +heard Augustus severely blamed. She had been compelled to blame him +herself. Of course he ought not to have thrown away his career as he had +done. They had agreed as to that. But all this blame had assumed that +Augustus had chiefly injured--firstly, himself; and in the second place, +and more indirectly, the whole Cheffington family. + +Persons who live exclusively in any one narrow sphere are apt to have a +strange simplicity, or ignorance, as one may choose to call it, as to +large sections of their fellow-creatures outside that sphere. And in no +class is that kind of _naivete_ more commonly found than in the class to +which Mrs. Dormer-Smith belonged, where it is often intensified by the +conviction that they possess what is called "knowledge of the world" in +a supreme degree. + +It was far too late in the day to bring much enlightenment to Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. Owen's words merely struck her mind with a shock of wonder +and dismay, and then glanced off again. The impression of having +received a shock, however, did remain with her, and made her as +resentful as was possible to her placid nature. In speaking of Mr. +Rivers afterwards to her husband, she said-- + +"I believe him, Frederick, to be a Nihilist." + +But for the present her mind was concentrated on the aim of breaking off +what Owen chose to call his engagement to her niece, and she was not to +be turned aside from it. She addressed herself to argue the case with +Owen. In argument she possessed the immense advantage--if it be an +advantage to reduce one's adversary to silence--of supposing that the +statement of any one truth on her part was a sufficient answer to any +other truth which might be advanced against her. As, for instance, when +Owen insisted on Captain Cheffington's having forfeited all moral claim +to May's duty and affection, she replied that it was a dreadful thing to +set a child against a parent; and when Owen denied the right of May's +relatives to prevent her from making a marriage of affection, she +retorted that Mr. Rivers came of undeniably gentle blood himself, and +ought to understand her (Mrs. Dormer-Smith's) strong family feeling. + +But when even this powerful kind of logic failed to make any impression +on Owen's obduracy, she changed her attack, and inquired what he was +prepared to offer to her niece, in exchange for the magnificent prospect +of being Mrs. Joshua Bragg, with settlements and pin-money such as every +duke's daughter would desire, and very few dukes' daughters achieved. + +"But, my dear madam," said Owen, "why speak of that alternative when May +has assured you, in my presence, that nothing would induce her to marry +Mr. Bragg?" + +"Oh, Mr. Rivers, I am surprised you know so little of the world! May is +a mere child: peculiarly childish for her age. Besides, even supposing +she definitively rejected Mr. Bragg, there will be other good matches +open to her _now_. The death of my poor cousin Lucius has made a vast +difference in all that, as you must be well aware." + +"To me, Mrs. Dormer-Smith, it has made no difference. May is herself. +That is why I love her. She is not in the least transfigured, in my +imagination, by being the daughter of a man who may, or may not, be Lord +Castlecombe at some future day!" + +"Oh," said Mrs. Dormer-Smith, shaking her head with the old plaintive +air, "you need not entertain any doubts as to my brother's succession. +He is the next heir. And the estates--at least the bulk of them--are +entailed." + +"Good heavens!" cried Owen, in despair, "can you not understand that I +care not one straw whether they are entailed or not? That I would +proudly and joyfully make May my wife--she being what she is--if her +father trundled a barrow through the streets?" + +Whether Mrs. Dormer-Smith could, or could not, understand this, at any +rate she certainly did not believe it. She merely shook her head once +more, and said softly-- + +"I think you ought to consider her prospects a little, Mr. Rivers. It +appears to me that your views are entirely selfish." + +This seemed very hopeless. With a last effort to come to an +understanding, Owen took refuge in a plain and categorical statement of +facts. He had loved May when she was penniless. So far as he knew, she +was so still. He hoped to be able to offer her a modest home. She had +not been accustomed to luxury or show--the season in London having been +a mere episode, and not the main part of her life. Absolute destitution +they were quite secure from. + +He possessed one hundred and fifty pounds a year of his own. (Pauline +gave a little shudder at this. It positively seemed to her worse than +nothing at all. With nothing certain in the way of income, a boundless +field was left open for possibilities. But a hundred and fifty pounds a +year was a hard, hideous, circumscribing fact, like the bars of a cage!) +He was receiving about as much again for his services as secretary. +Moreover, he had tried his hand at literature, not unsuccessfully. He +had earned a few pounds by his pen already, and hoped to earn more. That +was the state of the case. If May, God bless her! were content with it, +he submitted that no one else could fairly object. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith rose from her chair, to signify that the interview was +at an end. Indeed, what use could there be in prolonging it? + +"I confess," she said, "you have astonished me, Mr. Rivers. If May--an +inexperienced young girl not yet nineteen--is content, you think no one +else has a right to interfere! At that rate, if she chose to marry the +footman, we must all stand by without raising a finger to prevent it. +That is, certainly, very extraordinary doctrine." + +Owen drew himself up, and looked full at her with those blue eyes, which +could shine so fiercely upon occasion as he answered-- + +"I have already admitted the right of one person to be consulted about +May's future:--the benevolent, unselfish, high-minded woman, who +befriended her, and cherished her, and was a mother to her, when she was +deserted by every one else. As to her marrying the footman--it is clear, +madam, that she might have married the hangman, for all the effort _you_ +would have made to prevent it, until Mrs. Dobbs bribed you to take some +notice of your niece! But in marrying a Rivers of Riversmead I need not, +I suppose, inform you that she will confer on you the honour of a +connection with a race of gentlemen compared with whom--if we are to +stand on genealogies--half the names in the Peerage are a mere +fungus-growth of yesterday." + +It was the first word he had said to her which was less than courteously +forbearing. And it was the first word which gave her a momentary twinge +of regret that his suit was altogether inadmissible. She contrasted his +bearing with that of May's two other wooers:--Bransby the smooth, and +Bragg the unpolished; and she said to herself with a sigh, that there +was no doubt about this young man's pedigree, and that "_bon sang ne +peut mentir_." But not therefore did she flinch from her position. She +answered him in the same words she had used years ago to her brother, in +that very room. + +"It will not do, Mr. Rivers. I assure you, it will not do!" + +Then she bent her head with quiet grace, and moved to go away. + +"One instant, Mrs. Dormer-Smith!" Owen said, following her to the door +of the dining-room. "I wish, if you please, to speak with May again +before I go away." + +"Impossible. I cannot, compatibly with my duty, consent to your seeing +her now, or at any future time." + +"Am I to understand that you forbid me your house?" + +"If you please. Unless, indeed, you consent to come in any other +character than as my niece's suitor. In that case it would give me great +pleasure to receive you as I have done before." + +He stood looking at her rather blankly. The position was undeniably +awkward. It was impossible--for May's sake, if from no other +consideration--to make a scene of violence, and insist upon seeing her. +And, even if he did so, Mrs. Dormer-Smith might still resist. She was +mistress of the situation so far. Even in his vexation and perplexity, +the ludicrous side of the affair struck him. + +"Well," said he, after a moment, taking up his hat, "I cannot intrude +into your house against your will. Our only resource must be to meet +elsewhere. I warn you we shall do so. Of course, it is idle to suppose +that you have the power to keep us apart." + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith shook her head, and repeated with gentle obstinacy, +"It will not do, Mr. Rivers. I really am very sorry, but it will _not_ +do." + +"War, then, is declared between us?" + +"Oh, I hope not! I trust you will think better of it," she said in a +mildly persuasive tone, as though she were suggesting that he should +leave off tea, or take to woollen clothing. "_I_, at least, have no +warlike intentions, Mr. Rivers; for I am going to ask you to do me a +favour. Be so very kind as to wait until I ring, and let my servant show +you out in a civilized manner. It is quite unnecessary to publish our +differences of opinion to the servants' hall." + +Accordingly she rang the bell, and, when James appeared, said sweetly, +in an audible voice, "Good-bye, Mr. Rivers." Whereupon Owen made her a +profound bow, and departed. + +As he passed through the hall, he looked about him wistfully in the hope +that May might be lingering near--might possibly be looking down from +the upper part of the staircase. But she did not appear. The house was +profoundly silent. James stood waiting with the door in his hand. There +was no help for it. He strode away with various conflicting feelings, +thoughts, projects, and hopes struggling in his mind--of which the +uppermost at that special moment was a strong inclination to burst out +laughing. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +It was not until Owen had nearly reached Collingwood Terrace that the +thought struck him, "What if Mr. Bragg should withdraw his countenance +from him, and dismiss him from his employment, when he learned that he +was betrothed to May?" + +The idea of Mr. Bragg in the light of a rival disconcerted and confused +all his previous conceptions of his employer. At the first blush it had +appeared ludicrous--incredible; but, on reflection, there was, he found, +nothing so extravagant in it. Mr. Bragg had a right to seek a wife to +please himself; he was but little past middle life, after all; and as to +the disparity in years between him and May, that was certainly not +unprecedented. He had taken his rejection well, and manfully--even with +a touch of chivalry; but he might not, any the more, be disposed to +continue his favour towards Owen when he should discover the state of +the case. He might even suspect that there had been some kind of plot to +deceive him! That was a very uncomfortable thought, and sent the blood +tingling through Owen's veins. + +There was clearly but one thing to be done--to tell Mr. Bragg the truth +at all hazards. As he walked along the pavement within a few hundred +yards of Mrs. Bransby's door, he reflected that the revelation would +come better and more gracefully from May than from himself, he was not +supposed to be aware of what had passed between May and Mr. Bragg--it +was best that he should still seem to ignore it. He had a sympathetic +sense that Mr. Bragg's wounded feelings might endure May's delicate +handling, while they would shrink resentfully from any masculine touch. + +Owen regretted now more than ever that he had not seen May again before +leaving her aunt's house; they had had no time to consult together, or +to form any plan of action for the future. Their interview seemed, in +Owen's recollection, to have passed like a swift gleam of light in a sky +over which the clouds are flying. (It had, in sober fact, lasted above +half an hour before Mrs. Dormer-Smith's appearance on the scene.) And +now he was forbidden the house! Forbidden to see her! And yet he told +himself over and over again that he could not have acted otherwise than +he had acted at the time. Well, it was too absurd to suppose that she +could be treated as a prisoner. They must meet soon, and meanwhile there +was a penny post in the land, and her letters, at least, would not be +tampered with. He would write to her the moment he got home; she would +receive his letter the next morning, and by that same afternoon she +could put Mr. Bragg in possession of the fact of her engagement. + +And after she had done so---- + +The "afterwards" seemed hazy, certainly. But at least there was no doubt +as to the plain duty of both of them not to keep their engagement any +longer secret from Mr. Bragg. It was a comfort to see clearly the right +course as regarded the steps immediately before them. For the rest--they +had youth and hope, and they loved each other! + +Owen let himself into the house with his latch-key, and went straight to +his own room to write to May. When the note was finished, he took it out +and posted it, and then proceeded to the sitting-room. + +The table was spread for tea; all the tea equipage bright and glistening +as cleanliness could make it. A cheerful fire burned in the grate. Bobby +and Billy, seated side by side on a couple of low stools in one corner, +were occupied with a big book full of coloured pictures. Ethel was +sewing. Martin stood leaning against the mantelpiece close to his +mother's armchair. And in a chair at the opposite corner of the hearth +sat Mr. Bragg, with Enid on his knee! + +When Owen entered, Mr. Bragg said, "Well, Mr. Rivers, you see I've found +my way to Mrs. Bransby's. I ought to have come and paid her my respects +before now. But _you_ know I've had my hands pretty full since I came +back to England." + +Something in his tone and his look seemed to convey a hint to be silent +as to their conversation of that morning; and accordingly Owen made no +allusion to it. + +"It is so pleasant to see an Oldchester face, is it not?" said Mrs. +Bransby. + +"_Some_ Oldchester faces," returned Owen, laughing. Then he said, "Well, +Enid, have you not a word to say to me? Won't you come and give me a +kiss?" + +Miss Enid, who was a born coquette, and who was, moreover, greatly +interested in Mr. Bragg's massive watch-chain and seal, replied with +imperious brevity, "No; don't want to." + +Mr. Bragg looked down gravely on the small creature, and then up at +Owen, as he said--half shyly, and yet with a certain tinge of +complacency, "Why, she _would_ come and set on my knee, almost the first +minute she saw me." + +"Perhaps you had better get down, baby," said Mrs. Bransby. "I am afraid +she may be troublesome." + +"Troublesome? Lord, no! Why, I don't feel she's there, no more than a +fly. Let her bide," said Mr. Bragg. + +"Ah, _I_ know what she is:--she's fickle," observed Owen, drawing up his +chair. + +"_Not_ pickle!" declared Miss Enid, with great majesty. + +"Yes, you are! False, fleeting, perjured Enid!" said Owen. + +He was delighted to perceive that the little home and its inmates had +evidently made a favourable impression on Mr. Bragg. Observing that +gentleman in the new light of May's revelation, he saw something in his +face which he had not seen there before:--a regretful, far-away look, +whenever he was not speaking, or being spoken to. It was wonderfully +strange, certainly, to think of him as May's wooer! And yet not absurd, +as it had appeared at first. In Mr. Bragg's presence, the absurdity, +somehow, vanished. The simplicity and reality of the man gave him +dignity. Owen even began to feel something like a vague and respectful +compassion for Mr. Bragg; and every now and then the peculiarity of +their mutual position would come over him with a fresh sense of +surprise. + +"We have been having a little conversation, Mrs. Bransby and me, about +her boy here," said Mr. Bragg, glancing across at Martin, who coloured, +and smiled with repressed eagerness. Mr. Bragg continued to observe him +thoughtfully. "He tells me he wants to help his mother; and he's not +afraid or ashamed of work, it seems." + +"Ashamed!" broke out Martin. "No, I hope I ain't such a cad as that!" + +"Martin!" cried his mother anxiously. She was nervous lest he should +give offence. + +But Mr. Bragg answered with a little nod, which certainly did not +express disapprobation, "Well, the boy's about right. To be ashamed of +the wrong things, does belong to--what you might call a cad. I expect," +pursued Mr. Bragg musingly, "that if we could always apply our shame in +the right place, we should all of us do better than we do." + +"I suppose I dare not offer you any tea at this hour?" said Mrs. Bransby +gently. "You have not dined, of course." + +"Well, no; not under the _name_ of dinner, I haven't! But I ate a hearty +luncheon; and I believe that's about as much dinner as I want; to do me +any good, you know. I'll have a cup of tea, please." + +Mrs. Bransby certainly felt no misapplied shame as to the humbleness and +poverty of her surroundings; and was far too truly a gentlewoman to +think of apologizing for them. Ethel, who was growing to be quite a +notable little housewife, quietly fetched another cup and saucer from +the kitchen; and that was all the difference which Mr. Bragg's presence +made in the ordinary arrangements. + +Enid insisted on having her high chair placed close to Mr. Bragg at +table; and, but for her sister's watchful interposition, she would have +demonstrated her sudden affection for him by transferring sundry morsels +of bread-and-butter which she had been tightly squeezing in her small +fingers from her plate to his, with the patronizing remark, "Oo have +dat. I can't eat any more." + +While the meal was still in progress there came a knock at the street +door. It was a very peculiar knock; consisting of two or three sharp +raps, followed by one solemn rap, and then--after an appreciable +interval--by several more hurried little raps, as if the hand at the +knocker had forgotten all about its previous performances, and were +beginning afresh. + +"Who can this be?" said Mrs. Bransby, looking up in surprise. Visitors +at any time were rare with her now; and at that hour, unprecedented. + +"Old Bucher come back to say he can't live without us," suggested +Martin. + +Whereupon Bobby and Billy, with consternation in their faces, exclaimed +simultaneously, "Oh, I _say_!" And Enid, perceiving the general +attention to be diverted from her, took that opportunity to polish the +bowl of her spoon, by rubbing it softly against Mr. Bragg's coat sleeve. + +The family were not kept long in suspense. As soon as the door was +opened, a well-known voice was heard saying volubly, "Ah! at tea, are +they? Well, never mind! Take in my card, if you please, and----Dear me! +I haven't got one! But if you will kindly say, an old friend from +Oldchester begs leave to wait on Mrs. Bransby." + +"Why, it's Simmy!" cried the children, starting up, and rushing to the +door. "Here's a lark!" exclaimed Bobby. While Billy, tugging at the +visitor's skirt, roared out hospitably, "Come along! Mother's in there. +Come in! Mother, here's Simmy!" + +Mrs. Sebastian Bach Simpson it was. She appeared on the +threshold--rubicund visage, glittering spectacles, filmy curls, and +girlish giggle, all as usual; and began to apologize for what she called +her "unauthorized yet perhaps not wholly inexcusable intrusion," with +her old amiability and incoherency. She had come prepared to keep up a +cheerful mien, having decided, in her own mind, not to distress the +feelings of the family by any lachrymose allusions. But when Mrs. +Bransby rose up to welcome her, and not only took her by the hand, but +kissed her on the cheek, and led her towards the place of honour in +the armchair, this proceeding so overcame the kind-hearted creature +that she abruptly turned her back on them all, pulled out her +pocket-handkerchief, and burst into tears. + +"I really must apol--apologize," she sobbed, still presenting the broad +back of a very smart shawl to the company--an attitude which made her +elaborate politeness extremely comical; for she addressed her speech +point-blank to the wall-paper, with abundance of bows and gestures. "I +am ashamed, indeed. Pray excuse me! The suddenness of the emo--emotion, +and the sight of the dear children, coupled with--I believe--a slight +touch of the prevalent influenza, but nothing in the least infectious, +dear Mrs. Bransby! But pray do not allow me to disturb the harmony of +this fest--festive meeting with 'most admired disorder,' as our immortal +bard puts it! Although what there is to admire in disorder, and who +admired it, must probably remain for ever ambiguous." + +By the end of this speech--the utterance of which had been interrupted +by several interludes of pocket-handkerchief--Mrs. Simpson was +sufficiently composed to turn round, and take the chair offered to her. +The children were grinning undisguisedly. "Simmy" was associated in +their minds with many pleasant and many comical recollections. Mrs. +Bransby was smiling too. But perhaps it was only the warning spectacle +of Mrs. Simpson's emotion which enabled her to choke down her own +inclination to cry. + +"This is a most pleasant surprise," she said. "When did you arrive in +London?" + +"Why, the fact is----" began Amelia. But suddenly interrupting herself, +she jumped up from her seat, and made Mr. Bragg a sweeping curtsey. +"Pardon me," she exclaimed, "if, in the first moment, I was oblivious of +your presence! Although not personally acquainted, Oldchester people +claim the privilege of recognizing Mr. Bragg as one of our native +products. An unforeseen honour, indeed! And--do my eyes deceive me, or +have I the pleasure of greeting Mr. Owen Rivers? What an extraordinary +coincidence! I had _heard_ you were residing here in the character of a +boarder," she added, as emphatically as though that were an obvious +reason for being surprised to see him there. "Really, I seem to be +transported back into our ancient city; and should scarcely start to +hear the cathedral chimes, or the steam-whistle from the brewery, or any +of the dear familiar sounds--although the steam whistle, I must admit, +is trying, and, in certain forms of nervous disorder, I believe, +excruciating." + +It was not easy, at any time, to obtain a clear and collected answer to +a question from Mrs. Simpson. But in her present state of excitement the +difficulty was immensely increased. Her language--partly in honour of +Mr. Bragg--was so flowery, and she kept darting up every discursive +cross-alley which opened out of the main line of talk in so bewildering +a fashion, as to become at moments unintelligible. And it was a long +time before any of the party elicited from her how it was that she came +to be in London. At length, however, it appeared that "Bassy" was +entrusted with a commission to buy a pianoforte; and having found a +substitute to take his organ and attend to his pupils for a week, he and +his wife had suddenly resolved to take a holiday in London together. + +"I had, of course, intended to seek you out, dear Mrs. Bransby," she +said; "ever mindful, as I must be, of the many kind favours I have +received from you and"--here she gulped dangerously; but recovered +herself and went on--"from all the family. But we came away in such a +hurry at the last, a cheap excursion train being, in fact, our immediate +motive." + +"Locomotive," put in Martin jocosely. + +"Quite so," said Amelia, with the utmost suavity. "A very proper +correction." Then, seeing his mischievous face dimpling with laughter, +she exclaimed, "Oh, of course!--_locomotive_. Very good, Martin! Ah, I +am as absent as ever, you see!" Here she playfully shook her head until +sundry metallic bobs upon her bonnet fell off, and had to be hunted for +and picked up. "Well, so it was. I was hurried away by Bassy's +impetuosity--although, in justice to him, I must state that the time +bills were peremptory, and there was no margin for delay or +deliberation--almost without a carpet bag! I had no opportunity, +therefore, of inquiring of any mutual friend in Oldchester for your +address." + +"There are scarcely any who know it, or care to know it," said Mrs. +Bransby, in a low voice. + +"Oh, pardon me, dear Mrs. Bransby! No, no; that must not be said, for +the honour of Oldchester! Your memory is affectionately cherished by all +the more refined and sympathetic souls among us. Only last week Mr. +Crump, the butcher, was respectfully inquiring for news of you. You +remember Crump! A worthy man, whose spirit--notwithstanding the dictum +of the Swan of Avon--is by no means 'subdued to what it works in,' +beyond a transient greasiness, which lies merely on the surface." + +"Yes; I remember him very well. But who, then, was it who directed you +to this house?" asked Mrs. Bransby, hoping that her guest was not aware +why Martin had suddenly retired behind the window curtains in a paroxysm +of laughter. + +"Ah! That, again, is one of the most extraordinary circumstances! Who do +you think it was?" + +"I cannot tell at all." + +"Guess!" + +"Miss Piper, perhaps," suggested Ethel. + +"Not _exactly_ Miss Piper," said Mrs. Simpson, with strong emphasis on +the qualifying adverb, as though her informant's identity were only +barely distinguishable from that of Miss Piper. "But you burn, Ethel! +You are very near. However, I will not keep you longer in suspense. It +was Miss Clara Bertram." + +"Oh! I might have thought of her, for she is a neighbour of ours," said +Mrs. Bransby. + +"Is she?" asked Owen. + +"Yes; she lives in a house with a rather good garden, not far from here. +The situation is a little inconvenient for her profession, I fancy. But +she has invalid relatives, to whom the garden is a great boon. We met +accidentally in the street one day, and she recognized me at once. I was +surprised that she did so." + +"Nay, _I_ should rather have been surprised had she forgotten you," said +Mrs. Simpson, "'For the heart,'" dear Mrs. Bransby, "'that once truly +loves, _never_ forgets, but as fondly loves on to the----' Not, of +course, that there was anything beyond the very slightest acquaintance +between you and Miss Bertram in Oldchester. Bassy is, in fact, at her +house now, with a few musical professors, whom she kindly invited us to +meet--the artistic element which is so akin to Bassy's soul--combined +with the seductions of the Indian weed, of which Miss Bertram's papa is +quite a devotee--so that, you see, finding you were so near, I slipped +away to see you; and I have promised to return before it is time to go +back to the boarding-house where we are staying." + +At this point Mr. Bragg got up to take his leave. + +"I shall look in again before long, Mrs. Bransby, if you'll allow me," +he said; "and we'll have a little more talk about my young friend there. +Good night to you, ma'am," turning to shake hands with Mrs. Simpson. + +This brought that lady "to her legs" in more senses than one. She +favoured Mr. Bragg with a long and enthusiastic address, embracing an +extraordinary variety of topics, from the proud pre-eminence of British +commerce, to the force of friendship as portrayed in the classical +example of Damon and Pythias. + +"I will not ask, in the beautiful words of the Caledonian ditty, 'Should +auld acquaintance be forgot, and days o' lang syne?' for I am certain +that you are entirely incapable of doing anything of the sort, as is +proved by your presence beneath this refined roof-tree," said Mrs. +Simpson. "But I _must_ bear my humble testimony to the eminent virtues +of our exquisite friend--if I may be allowed the privilege of calling +her so. I have seen her basking in prosperity, and unspoiled by the +smiles of fortune, and now in the cold shade of comparatively untoward +circumstances, she beams with the same congenial lustre. In short," +cried Amelia, suddenly abandoning what Bobby and Billy called her +"dictionary" style for a homelier language which came straight from her +heart, "a better wife and mother, a gentler mistress, a kinder friend +there never was, or could be, in this world." + +Owen offered to accompany Mr. Bragg in order to show him the way to the +nearest cabstand, and they left the house together. + +"She's a sing'lar character," observed Mr. Bragg, after they had walked +a few steps. + +"You mean Mrs. Simpson?" + +"Ah, yes; Mrs. Simpson. There's too much clack about her; and her talk's +puzzling from being--what you might call of a zigzag sort of a nature; +and she's cast in a queer kind of a mould altogether. But I think she +rings true, and that's the main thing, in mortals or metals." + +"I'm quite sure her praise of Mrs. Bransby is true, at any rate," said +Owen warmly. + +"H'm!" grunted Mr. Bragg, and walked on in silence. When they came +within view of a cabstand, he turned round, and said he would not +trouble Owen to come any further with him. And just as the latter was +about to say "Good-night," Mr. Bragg observed meditatively, "She has +that little place beautifully neat, and as clean as a new pin. Seems to +be bringing up those children in the right way, too. Poor soul! it's a +heavy charge for a delicate lady like her. I think I shall be able to do +something for that eldest boy. But p'r'aps you'd better not say anything +at present--eh? It's cruel to raise up false hopes; and some folks build +such a wonderful high scaffolding of expectations on a word or two; and +if there's not bricks enough to do anything adequate to the +scaffolding--why, then that's awkward. Good night, Mr. Rivers." + +Owen well knew that hopes had already been aroused by the mere presence +of the rich man in that poor little home. But he knew, also, that there +was no danger of Mrs. Bransby's hopes turning into claims; and that she +would be humbly grateful for very small help. He felt almost elated on +her behalf as he returned to Collingwood Terrace. "I only hope," he said +to himself, "that Mr. Bragg won't visit any of my sins on Mrs. Bransby's +head, when he finds them out! But no; to do the old boy justice, I +believe he is above that." + +Meanwhile, Amelia Simpson had been imparting a budget of Oldchester +news. After many discursive sallies she came to the topic of Lucius +Cheffington's recent death. He had died since the Simpsons' departure +from Oldchester, but his case had been known to be hopeless for several +days previous. The old lord was said to be dreadfully cut up; more so, +even, than on the death of his eldest son. But Lucius had always been +understood to be his father's favourite. + +"And they do say," continued Mrs. Simpson, "that to a certain fair young +friend of ours the blow will be very severe." + +"A young friend of ours! Do you mean May Cheffington?" + +"Ah, no! Our dear Miranda knew scarcely anything of her noble relatives +at Combe Park. And even the _most_ affectionate disposition--and I'm +sure our dear Miranda is imbued with every proper feeling--can scarcely +cling with personal devotion to an almost total stranger, although +united by the ties of kindred! No; I was speaking of Miss Hadlow." + +"Constance!" + +"Yes, although I have never been on terms to address her by her +baptismal appellation, that, I confess, is the young lady I _do_ mean." + +Then Mrs. Simpson went on to tell her astonished listener how that +Constance Hadlow had been visiting some county magnates in the near +neighbourhood of Combe Park during the latter part of Lucius's illness; +how she had been admitted to see and talk with the invalid, when other +persons had been excluded with scant courtesy; how she had rapidly come +to be on a footing of intimacy at the great house, which astonished the +neighbourhood; and how at length that fact was explained by the current +report that if Lucius had recovered--which at one time appeared not +unlikely--he would have married her, with his father's full approbation. + +"I did not venture to allude to the subject before Mr. Rivers--how brown +he has become! Quite the southern hue of romance!--because, you know, he +was said at one time to be desperately in love with his cousin; and I +feared to hurt his feelings." + +"Oh, I don't think it would hurt his feelings," said Mrs. Bransby; "I +really do not believe he cares at all for his cousin, in that way." + +"I'm sure he doesn't!" cried Ethel, who took a thoroughly feminine +interest in the subject. + +"Ethel! I scarcely think you know anything at all about the matter. And +I am sure it is not for a little girl like you to give an opinion." + +"No, mother. Only--Martin and I know who we should _like_ him to marry. +Don't we, Martin?" + +Martin was rather shamefaced at being thus brought publicly into the +discussion, and rebuffed his sister with a lofty air. + +"Oh, don't talk bosh and silliness," he rejoined. "Girls are always +bothering about a fellow's getting married. Leave him alone. He's very +well as he is." + +"He is certainly most affable, and thoroughly the gentleman," observed +Mrs. Simpson, with her universal, beaming benevolence. + +"Oh, he is good!" cried the widow, clasping her hands. "So delicately +considerate! Such a true, loyal friend!" + +In her own mind she was convinced that Mr. Bragg's visit was entirely +due to Owen's influence. And her heart was overflowing with gratitude. + +A new idea darted into Mrs. Simpson's imagination, always ready to +accept a romantic view of things. How charming it would be if young Mr. +Rivers were to marry the beautiful widow! They would make a delightful +couple. Considerations of ways and means entered no more into Mrs. +Simpson's calculations than they would have entered into little Enid's. +The building of her castles in the air was entirely independent of +money. + +But there was, at bottom, a more common sensible reason which made the +idea that Owen might marry Mrs. Bransby, agreeable to Amelia Simpson. In +spite of the sympathy of Mr. Crump, the butcher, and other congenial +spirits, it could not be denied that some rumours of a very unpleasant +sort had recently been circulated in Oldchester to the discredit of Mrs. +Bransby. When it became known that young Rivers, on his return from +Spain, was to live in her house, the rumours began to take a more +definite shape. No one could trace them to their source--perhaps no one +tried very seriously to do so. + +People asked each other if they had not always thought there was +something a little odd--not quite becoming and _nice_--in the way that +young Rivers used to be running in and out of Martin Bransby's house, at +all times and seasons. Even during poor Mr. Bransby's lifetime, strange +things had been said--at least, it now appeared so; for very few of the +gossips professed to have heard any whispers of scandal _themselves_, +while Martin lived. There was a strange story of young Rivers being +caught kissing Mrs. Bransby's hand in the garden. There might be no harm +in kissing a lady's hand. But, under the circumstances, there was +something, almost revolting, was there not? And, then, why was Mrs. +Bransby in such a hurry to run away from Oldchester?--away from all her +friends and all her husband's friends? Surely she would have done better +to remain there! At all events Mr. Theodore Bransby had been much +annoyed by her doing so; and had replied to old friends, who spoke to +him on the subject, that he could not control his step-mother's actions; +could only advise her for the best; and should endeavour to assist her +and her children, _if she would allow him to do so_. Of course people +understood when he said that, that Mrs. Bransby was acting contrary to +his judgment. And now, Mr. Rivers was actually going to reside in her +house! It positively was not decent! No wonder Theodore looked +distressed, and avoided the subject. It must be altogether a very +painful affair for him. + +This kind of scandal, with its inevitable _crescendo_, had been very +differently received by Sebastian Simpson and his wife. He could not be +said to encourage it; but neither did he repudiate it indignantly. But +Amelia was true and devoted to Mrs. Bransby, and incurred some +unpopularity by her enthusiastic praises of that absent lady. But there +were also people who said what a good creature Mrs. Simpson was, and +that--although she was a goose, and had probably been quite taken +in--they liked to see her stand up for those who had been kind to her. + +Under these circumstances, it was a great triumph for Amelia to find Mr. +Bragg--the respectable, the influential, the _rich_ Mr. Bragg--visiting +Mrs. Bransby on a friendly footing, and treating her with marked +kindness and respect. Simple though she might be, Amelia was not at all +too simple to understand that the millionaire's approbation would carry +weight with it. But now the idea of a marriage between Owen and the +widow seemed still more delightful than the mere clearing of Mrs. +Bransby's character from all aspersions. People had said that, as for +_him_, the young man was probably suffering under a temporary +infatuation. And that, even supposing the best, and taking the most +charitable view of this--_flirtation_, it was out of the question that +he should think of marrying a woman of Mrs. Bransby's age, and with five +children to support! + +Why should it be out of the question? Amelia said to herself. The few +years' difference in their ages was of no consequence at all. And as to +the family--Mr. Bragg would probably take Owen into partnership. He was +evidently devotedly fond of them both! She had privately arranged the +details of the wedding in her own mind before Owen returned from +conducting Mr. Bragg to his cab. + +When he did so, Mrs. Simpson declared it was time for her to go, and got +up from her chair. But between that and her actual departure a great +many words had still to intervene. She reverted to the death in the +Castlecombe family; made a brief excursion to the report of Captain +Cheffington's second marriage, "truly deplorable! But still, or dear +Miranda is happily launched among the _elite_ of the _beau_ _monde_, so, +perhaps, it is not so bad after all!" And then suddenly added-- + +"By the way, dear Mrs. Bransby, it _was_ reported that your step-son, +Mr. Theodore, intended to withdraw his candidature at the next election. +But I am told on the _best_ authority--Mr. Lowe, the political +agent--that that is a mistake. So I hope we may see him among the +legislators. Quite the figure for it, I'm sure. However, of course, you +must know all that news far better than I. I hope to _see_ our dear +Miranda before leaving town." + +Owen observed, with indignation, that the mention of Theodore appeared +to have suggested May to her mind. Nor did the circumstance escape Mrs. +Bransby. + +"Do you say you shall see May Cheffington?" she asked. + +"Yes; I purpose calling. Although well aware of Mrs. Dormer-Smith's high +social position, still I think our dear Miranda's warm heart will +welcome one who has so recently seen her beloved grandmamma. Ah, we do +not easily relinquish the fond memories of childhood. Thank you, my dear +Ethel. _Is_ that my pocket-handkerchief? Really! I wonder how it came +there!" (Ethel had picked it up from under the tea-table.) "I believe +that even in the princely halls--I _think_ I left my umbrella in the +passage. Eh? Oh, Bobby has found it--in the princely halls of +Castlecombe her memory will revert to Friar's Row. In the words of the +poet, 'though strangers may roam, those hills and those valleys I once +called my home'--although, of course, Oldchester is _not_ mountainous. +And as to roaming, I presume that hills and valleys are always more or +less liable to be roamed over by strangers, whether one calls them one's +home or not." + +By this time Mrs. Simpson had got herself out of the room into the +narrow outer passage; and, seeing Owen put on his great coat again, in +order to escort her, she stopped to protest against his taking that +trouble. + +"Oh, pray! _Too_ kind! It is but a stone's throw from here, and I am not +at all afraid. Sure of the way? Well, no; not _quite_ sure. I took two +wrong turnings in coming. But I can easily inquire for Marlborough +House. Eh? Oh, Blenheim Lodge is it? To be sure! Marlborough House is +the august residence----However, _historically_ speaking I was not so +far wrong, was I? Well, if you insist, Mr. Rivers, I will accept your +polite attention with gratitude. Good-bye, once more, dear children. If +I possibly can come again before leaving London, dear Mrs. Bransby----" + +At this point Owen perceived that decisive measures were necessary, if +the good lady's farewells were not to last until midnight. He took Mrs. +Simpson's arm, signed to Phoebe to open the door, and led his fair +charge outside it, almost before she knew what was happening. + +"Excuse me for hurrying you," he said; "but the night is cold; Mrs. +Bransby is not very strong; and I thought it imprudent--for both of +you--to stand talking in that draughty passage." + +"Oh, _quite_ right. Thank you a thousand times. She is deserving, +indeed, of every delicate care and attention." + +A slighter circumstance would have sufficed to confirm Mrs. Simpson's +romantic fancies. She said to herself that Mr. Rivers's devotion was +chivalrous indeed. And she forthwith proceeded to sound Mrs. Bransby's +praises, in an unbroken stream of eloquence, all the way to Blenheim +Lodge. Owen had intended to ask her one or two questions--about Mrs. +Dobbs, and as to when she thought of calling at Mrs. Dormer-Smith's +house. He had even held a half-formed intention of entrusting her with a +message for May. But it was hopeless to arrest her flow of +speech--unless by making his request in a more serious fashion than he +thought it prudent to do. Amelia's goodwill might be relied on. But she +was absolutely devoid of discretion. And, at all events, if he said +nothing, there would be no ground for her to build a blunder on. + +He little knew! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +When Mrs. Dormer-Smith practised any deception--a necessity which +unfortunately arose rather frequently in the prosecution of her duty to +society--she was wont to call it diplomacy. She called it so to herself, +in her most private cogitations. She was not a woman whose conscience +could be satisfied by any but the best chosen phraseology. + +In speaking to May of her conversation with Owen, she gave a +"diplomatic" version of it. It was May herself who innocently suggested +the line her aunt took. When she found that Owen had left the house +without any further farewell to her, she said not a word, she demanded +no explanation; but the disappointed look in her eyes, the drooping +curves of her young mouth, were sufficiently eloquent. Had she fired up +into indignation against her aunt, assuming as a matter of course that +Owen had been refused permission to see her again, that would have +seemed quite in accordance with her character. This was, in fact, what +Pauline had prepared herself to meet. But this quietude was strange. It +seemed as though May were _ready_ to be wounded. Her aunt thought that +it would not have occurred to the girl--who was high-spirited enough in +certain directions--to suspect that her lover might be less eager to see +her again than she was to see him, unless some previous fact or fancy +had put the suspicion into her head. Fact or fancy, Mrs. Dormer-Smith +thought it mattered little which, so long as the suspicion were there. + +Of course it would not do to pretend that Owen had not asked to see her. +That would be a clumsy falsehood, sure of speedy detection; and, +besides, Mrs. Dormer-Smith wished to avoid explicit falsehood. She was +only diplomatic. + +"I was obliged, I need scarcely tell you, May," she said, "to refuse Mr. +Rivers's request for some more words with you. It would have been a +gross dereliction of duty on my part to permit it." + +"He did ask to see me, then?" said May, with a bright eager look in her +eyes. It was a look her aunt was well acquainted with, and usually +presaged some speech which had to be deplored as being "odd," or "bad +form." + +"Oh yes," replied Mrs. Dormer-Smith wearily. "Of course, he asked; I had +to go through all that. Under the circumstances he could scarcely do +less." + +The shadow of the eyelashes suddenly drooped down over the bright eyes; +and Aunt Pauline saw that her shot had told. + +"Has it ever occurred to you, May," Mrs. Dormer-Smith went on, "that you +are prejudicing the future of this gentleman?" + +May looked up quickly, but made no answer. + +"Of course, it cannot be allowed to go on--this _engagement_, as he +absurdly terms it." + +"It is an engagement," interrupted May in a low voice. + +Her aunt passed over the interruption, and continued. "But I think that +in justice to him you ought to reflect that meanwhile you are injuring +his prospects. I do not mean," she added with gentle sarcasm, "that you +will injure him by preventing him from marrying the Widow Bransby; +because I cannot honestly say that I think _that_ a good prospect for +any young man." + +"All those stories are malicious falsehoods," said May resolutely; but +her throat was painfully constricted, and her heart felt like lead in +her breast. + +"My dear child, one scarcely sees why people should trouble themselves +to _invent_ stories about this lady and gentleman, who, after all, are +persons of very small importance. But at any rate the stories are +circulated, and believed. Under these circumstances it seems to me +a--well, to say the least, an indiscreet proceeding, that Mr. Rivers, +the moment he returns to England, should rush to Mrs. Bransby's house, +and take up his abode there! However, it may be quite a usual sort of +thing among persons in their position. Very likely. I only know that in +_our_ world it would not do. We are less Arcadian. When I spoke of +injuring Mr. Rivers's prospects, I meant as between him and his +employer." + +"Oh!" cried May, turning round with a pale indignant face. A confused +crowd of words seemed to be struggling in her mind; but she was unable, +for the moment, to utter one of them. + +"_Dear_ May," said her aunt, "do not, I beg and implore you, do not be +tragic! I don't think I _could_ stand that sort of thing. It would be +the last straw." + +"Do you think--do you mean that Mr. Bragg would turn Owen away, out of +spite?" asked May in a quiet tone, after a short silence. + +"We need not employ such a word as that. But Mr. Bragg made you an offer +of marriage, and we can hardly expect him to find it pleasant when he is +told 'the young lady refused you in order to marry your clerk.'" + +"Not 'in order to----' You know I have assured you that under no +circumstances would I have married Mr. Bragg." + +"Yes, May; you have assured me so. But you are not yet nineteen; and +I--alas!--was nineteen more than nineteen years ago. It struck me that +Mr. Rivers was desirous that you should take your full share of +responsibility in the matter. And he seemed a little anxious about his +place. At all events he brought forward the salary he is earning with +Mr. Bragg as an important element in the financial budget with which he +favoured me. (How the man could think for a moment that your family +would consent!) I gathered that he was decidedly unwilling to lose it." + +"He only took it for my sake." + +"Ah! That was particularly kind of him. Well, it strikes me that he +would now like to keep it for his own. Of course I must write to your +father. I presume you will admit that it is proper to inform him of the +state of the case?" + +"You can write if you choose, Aunt Pauline. It will make no difference, +_now_." + +"I think you will find it will make a considerable difference! +Circumstances have entirely altered your father's position in the world. +You will be daughter and heiress to a peer of the realm." + +There was a long pause. May stood with one foot on the fender before a +bright fire in her aunt's dressing-room, her elbow on the mantel-shelf, +and her cheek resting in her hand. + +Then Mrs. Dormer-Smith resumed softly, "Perhaps I deceive myself--the +wish may be father to the thought--but I confess I got the impression +that it might not be hopeless to induce Mr. Rivers to withdraw, +voluntarily, from his false position. Of course he could do no less than +stand to it so long as you appeared resolved to stand to it; but----I +hope and trust, May, that if it should be as I think, you would not +insist on being obstinate?" + +"You know, as well as I know it myself, Aunt Pauline, that I would die +sooner than hold him bound for one instant, unless----But I won't answer +you as if I took your words seriously." + +Upon that she managed to walk out of the room with dignity and dry eyes. +But the poor child, for all her brave words, did take her aunt's hint so +seriously as to throw herself on the bed in her own room, and lie +sobbing there for an hour. + +To her husband, Mrs. Dormer-Smith had reported the interview with Owen +as accurately as she could. She did, indeed, declare her belief that the +young man was a Nihilist. But that was said genuinely enough. A man of +gentle birth, who deliberately stated--apparently with sympathetic +approval--that there were mechanics who would be ashamed to own Captain +Cheffington as a father-in-law, was, in her opinion, evidently prepared +to demolish the existing bases of human society. + +Mr. Dormer-Smith was very sorry for his niece: more sorry than he +thought it necessary to express at that moment to Pauline. But still he +agreed with his wife that every effort ought to be made to prevent her +marrying so disastrously. It might have been supposed, perhaps, that Mr. +Dormer-Smith, not having found his own mode of life productive of +unalloyed felicity, in spite of a fair income, aristocratic connections, +and a wife devoted to keeping up their position in society, would have +been not unwilling to let May try her fate in a different fashion. But +it is a common experience that, although the possession of certain +things gives them not the smallest gleam of happiness, yet, to a large +class of minds, the thought of doing without these things suggests +misery. The unusual is a terrible scarecrow, and keeps many weak-minded +birds from the cherries. + +Mr. Dormer-Smith was to go down to Combe Park to attend the funeral of +his deceased cousin-in-law. He had some liking for Lucius, and thought, +as he sat in the railway carriage speeding down to the little wayside +station beyond Oldchester, where he was to alight, that it was a truly +inscrutable dispensation which took away Lucius--a man at least +harmless, and of honourable principles--and left Augustus alive; and he +could not help regretting the death of Lucius on May's account. Lucius +had been, in his dry, peculiar manner, very kind towards his young +cousin. He had resented her father's neglect of her; and he treated her, +when they met, with a certain air of protection, and almost tenderness, +such as one might assume towards a child or an animal that one knew to +have been hardly used. Frederick thought it not impossible that, had +Lucius lived, his influence might have been brought to bear on May for +her good. But Lucius was gone; and Augustus remained to disgrace the +family and annoy his relations more than ever. + +This, however, was not Pauline's idea. Although her brother's second +marriage had, apparently, receded into the background, in consequence of +these new troubles about May, yet it had really been occupying many of +Mrs. Dormer-Smith's thoughts. She certainly considered it to be not +_quite_ so terrible a business now that Lucius--poor dear Lucius!--was +out of the way, as it would have been had he lived. A Viscountess +Castlecombe might be floated, Pauline said to herself, where a Mrs. +Augustus Cheffington would stick in the mud. They could live chiefly +abroad--not, of course, in a shabby street in Brussels; but on the +Riviera, for instance. A warm climate had always suited Augustus. And as +for herself, she, Pauline, would never willingly pass an hour in England +between the first of November and the last of April. It really would not +be at all disagreeable to spend one or two of the winter months with +one's brother and sister-in-law--thank Heaven that, at least, she was +not English! So many deviations from "good form" might be got over on +the plea of foreign manners--at some charming, sunny place, say St. +Raphael! That was not so far from Nice as to preclude the enjoyment of +some little gaiety and society. They would have a villa of their own, of +course. Perhaps, Augustus might build himself one. That sort of life +would enable them to catch a good many travellers on the wing. And, with +sufficient tact and _savoir faire_ (which Pauline flattered herself she +could supply), it might be possible to fill their house with a +succession of "nice" people. The "nicest" people were sometimes rather +less exigent on the other side of the Channel! At any rate, there would +be less difficulty in "floating" Lady Castlecombe on the stream of +society abroad than at home. Augustus would be rich; Uncle George could +not prevent that, let him do what he would with his savings and his +investments. For the estates were strictly entailed; and Uncle George +had nursed them into something like treble their value when he succeeded +to the property. Mrs. Griffin heard from Lady Mary, the Dean of +Oldchester's wife, who had it from the Rector of Combe, that Lord +Castlecombe was crushed by the loss of Lucius. Augustus might not have +to wait very long for his inheritance. How strangely things turn out! +Well, she would write very kindly and gently to her brother. There was +the excuse of addressing him about May; and she would take the +opportunity of sending a civil word to his wife. It must be done +delicately, of course. But Augustus should see that there was no +disposition to be hostile, on the part of his sister, at any rate. + +It was in the forenoon of the day after Owen's visit that Mrs. +Dormer-Smith was thus meditating. Her husband had started for Combe +Park. The house was very quiet; the fire in her dressing-room was very +warm; several budgets of gossip had arrived by the post from various +country houses, and lay unopened within reach of her hand. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith felt that there was a certain "luxury of woe" in a family +affliction which justified one in saying "not at home," and sitting in a +wadded dressing-gown, without causing one either heart-ache or anxiety. +And she had been softly rocking herself in the day-dreams recorded +above, when they were interrupted as suddenly, if not as fatally, as +those of La Fontaine's milkmaid. James stood before her with a visiting +card on a salver, and a cloud of depression--which was the utmost +revelation of ill-humour his well-trained visage ever allowed itself, +above-stairs--on his shaven countenance. + +"What is this, James? What do you mean by bringing me cards here--and +now?" + +"I _said_ 'not at home,' ma'am, but the--the party didn't seem to +understand; and, unfortunately, Miss Cheffington happening to pass +through the hall at that moment----" + +"Who is it? Where is the person?" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith took the card and examined it through her eyeglass +with a sinking heart. Could that subversive young man have returned? Or +was there, perchance, some other suitor in the field? An anarchical +shoemaker, possibly! Pauline's confidence in Mrs. Dobbs had been +completely blown into the air by learning that she had approved and +encouraged May's engagement to a young man who calmly avowed that he +possessed one hundred and fifty pounds a year of his own; and she +felt that any dreadful revelation might be made at any moment. But +the name on the card was not a masculine one, at any rate. Mrs. +Something-or-other Simpson, she read on it. + +"Is the--lady with Miss Cheffington now, James?" + +"Yes, ma'am. Miss Cheffington took her into the dining-room. I thought +that, as last time--I mean as Smithson wasn't in the way--I'd better let +you know, ma'am." + +"Did the lady ask for me?" + +"N-no; I--well, I really hardly know, ma'am." + +"You hardly know?" + +"Well, ma'am, she talked a great deal, and so--so----It was uncommonly +difficult to follow what she said. At first I thought she announced her +name as being Oldchester. I _did_ say 'not at home' twice, but it was no +use; and then Miss Cheffington happening to pass through the hall----" + +"That will do." + +James retired with an injured air, and Mrs. Dormer-Smith was left to +consider within herself whether duty required her to be present at the +interview between May and this unknown Mrs. Simpson, or whether she +might indulge herself by sitting still and reading Mrs. Griffin's last +letter in comfort and quietude. After a brief deliberation, she resolved +to go downstairs. There was no knowing who or what the woman might be. +James had said something about Oldchester. No doubt she came from that +place. Perhaps she was an emissary of Mr. Rivers! Pauline, as she rose +and drew a shawl round her shoulders, before facing the chillier +atmosphere of the staircase, breathed a pious hope that her brother +Augustus might sooner or later compensate her for all the sacrifices she +was making on behalf of May. + +Before she reached the dining-room, she heard the sound of a fluent +monologue. May was not speaking at all, so far as Mrs. Dormer-Smith +could make out. When she entered the room, she found the girl sitting +beside a stout, florid woman, dressed in _trente-six couleurs_--as +Pauline phrased it to herself--who was holding forth with a profusion of +"nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles." + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith made this stranger a bow of such freezing politeness +as ought to have petrified her on the spot; and, turning to May, +inquired with raised eyebrows, "Who is your friend, May?" + +But Amelia Simpson had not the least suspicion that she was being +snubbed in the most superior style known to modern science. She rose, +with her usual impulsive vehemence, from her chair, and said smilingly-- + +"Mrs. Dormer-Smith? I thought so! Permit me to apologize for a seeming +breach of etiquette. I am well aware that my call ought properly to have +been paid to _you_, the mistress of this elegant mansion; but, being +_personally_ unknown--although we are not so 'remote, unfriended, +melancholy, or slow'--not that I use the epithet in a slang sense, I +assure you!--in Oldchester, as to be unaware that Mrs. Dormer-Smith, the +accomplished relative of our dear Miranda, is in all respects 'a glass +of fashion and a mould of form.' Only I wish our divine bard had chosen +any other word than 'mould,' which somehow is inextricably connected in +my mind with short sixes." + +"Oh!" ejaculated Pauline, in a faint voice, as she sank into a chair; +and she remained gazing at the visitor with a helpless air. + +At another time, May would have had a keen and enjoying sense of the +comic elements in this little scene; but although she saw them now as +distinctly as she ever could have done, she was too unhappy to enjoy +them. She said quietly-- + +"This is Mrs. Simpson, Aunt Pauline. Her husband is professor of music +at Oldchester; and they are both very old friends of dear Granny." + +Now, Pauline was not prepared to break altogether with Mrs. Dobbs. Mrs. +Dobbs had behaved very badly in that matter of young Rivers; but +something must be excused to ignorance; and her allowance for May +continued to be paid up every quarter with exemplary punctuality. Let +matters turn out as well as possible, there must still be a "meantime" +during which Mrs. Dobbs's money would be valuable--and, indeed, +indispensable--if May were to remain under her aunt's roof. It occurred +to Pauline to invite this incredibly attired person to share Cecile's +early dinner in the housekeeper's room, and then to withdraw herself and +May on the plea of some imaginary engagement. She was just about to +carry out this idea when the reiteration of a name in Mrs. Simpson's +rapid talk struck her ear, and excited her curiosity: "Mrs. Bransby." +Amelia was talking volubly to May about Mrs. Bransby. She had resumed +what she was pleased to call her "conversation" with May, having made +some sort of incoherent apology to Mrs. Dormer-Smith, to the effect that +she had a very short time to remain, and "so many interesting topics of +mutual interest to discuss." + +She rambled on about her last evening's visit to Collingwood Terrace. +Mr. Rivers and dear Mrs. Bransby would make a charming couple; and as to +the difference in years--what did years signify? And the difference was +not so great, after all. Mr. Rivers was very steady and staid for his +age; and Mrs. Bransby looked so wonderfully youthful!--not a line in her +forehead, in spite of all her troubles. And then Mr. Bragg's friendship +and countenance would be so valuable! He evidently approved it all. And +if he gave Mr. Rivers a share in his business--"even a comparatively +small share," said Amelia, feeling that she was keeping well within the +limits of probability, and even displaying a certain business-like +sobriety of conjecture--considering how colossal an affair _that_ was, +everything would be made smooth for them. Mrs. Bransby's children +evidently adored Mr. Rivers--which was _so_ delightful! And as for Mr. +Rivers's devotion to Mrs. Bransby, no one could doubt that who saw them +together. (This was said rather to a shadowy audience of Oldchester +persons, who had declared that, however ridiculous Mrs. Bransby might +make herself, young Rivers was not likely to tie himself for life to a +middle-aged woman with a family, than to Amelia's present hearers.) And +after all the unkind things which had been reported in Oldchester, it +would be a heartfelt joy to Mrs. Bransby's friends to see her widowhood +so happily brought to a close. + +"What unkind things have been reported in Oldchester? What do you mean?" +asked May. She spoke eagerly, but quite firmly. There was no tremor in +her voice, no rising of unbidden tears to her eyes. Her whole heart and +soul were concentrated on getting at the truth. + +Amelia pulled herself up a little. She had been running on rather too +heedlessly. Some things had latterly been said of Mrs. Bransby which +could scarcely be repeated with propriety to a young lady--at least, +according to Amelia's code of what was proper. + +"Oh, my dear Miranda," she stammered, "the world is ever censorious; but +as the lyric bard so beautifully puts it-- + + 'I'd weep when friends deceive me, + If _thou_ wert like them, untrue.' + +Although why it is taken for granted that friends--in any true sense of +the word--should be expected to deceive, I must leave to meta-physics to +determine!" + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith here put in her word. "Oh, we had already heard of +these scandals," she said. "My niece was inclined to doubt their +existence, I believe. I hope you are convinced now, May!" + +"Really!" exclaimed Mrs. Simpson, glancing with growing uneasiness from +May to her aunt. Something, she perceived, was wrong--but what? + +"Dear Mrs. Simpson," said May, "I am very sure that whoever else was +unkind and scandalous, you were not." + +"Ever the same sweet nature!" murmured Amelia; "but, perhaps, it was not +so much that people were unkind, not exactly unkind, but mistaken. You +see, when a person tells you a thing, positively, there is a certain +unkindness in not believing it! And yet, on the other hand, one would +not willingly accept evil reports of a fellow-creature. There is a +difficulty in harmoniously blending the two horns of this dilemma--if I +may be allowed to say so--which, to some extent, excuses error." + +The good lady's habitual confusion of ideas was increased by the nervous +fear that she had said something unfortunate. She brought her visit to +an end earlier than she otherwise might have done; and in taking +effusive leave of May she whispered-- + +"I trust I did not commit any solecism against the code of manners which +belongs to the _elite_ of the _haut ton_, in alluding to our fair +friend, Mrs. B----?" + +"No, no," answered May gently; "don't vex yourself by thinking so." + +Mrs. Simpson brightened up a little, and asked aloud, "And what message +shall I give to grandmamma?" + +May scarcely recognized "Granny" under this appellation, adopted in +honour of Mrs. Dormer-Smith's social distinction. But after an instant +she said-- + +"Oh, give her my dear love; I shall write to her to-morrow. And, please, +my love to Uncle Jo." + +"Ah, I recognize our dear Miranda's affectionate constancy there!" cried +Amelia. "Mr. Weatherhead will be much gratified." + +"Gratified! I think he would have a right to be disgusted if I forgot +him! Dear, good, honest, kind-hearted Uncle Jo!" + +"_Who_ is this person?" demanded Pauline, genuinely aghast at the idea +that some hitherto unknown brother of Susan Dobbs was in existence. The +one extenuating circumstance in that unfortunate marriage had always +appeared to her to be the fact that Susan was an only child. + +"He is a certain Mr. Joseph Weatherhead," answered May, with great +distinctness. "He was originally a bookbinder's apprentice, and then a +printer and bookseller in a small way of business at Birmingham. He is +my grandmother's brother-in-law, and one of the best men in the world. +He used to give me shillings when I went back to school; and once I +remember--that was just before my father left me on granny's hands--he +noticed that my boots were disgracefully shabby, and took me out and +bought me a new pair." + +Then Mrs. Simpson went away in a nervous flutter, and with the positive, +though puzzled, conviction that there was something very wrong indeed +between the aunt and niece. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Of course Mrs. Dormer-Smith availed herself to the utmost of Mrs. +Simpson's revelations. They were most valuable. And they had the effect +of confirming her own vague suspicions in an unexpected manner. That +which had been merely "diplomatic" colouring in her presentment of the +situation to May, turned out to be real, solid, vulgar fact! + +The state of things was certainly very singular. But she did not doubt +that she had discovered the true explanation of it. Mr. Rivers had +probably been infatuated with Mrs. Bransby before her husband's death. +Such infatuations were by no means rare at their respective ages. The +lady had been willing to coquette after a sentimental fashion: which, +also, was not unprecedented! There had probably been no serious +intention of evil-doing on either side. "At all events we can give them +the benefit of the doubt!" reflected Pauline charitably. Meanwhile, Mr. +Rivers had met with May. He had been thrown a great deal into her +society, had been encouraged by her stupid old grandmother, had thought +her connections and prospects desirable, and had probably admired +herself a good deal. Pauline did not see why not. It was very possible +for a man to admire more than one woman at a time! Mr. Rivers makes love +to May, persuades her to enter into a clandestine engagement, and goes +abroad. But then something unforeseen happens: _the husband dies_; and +all the old feeling is revived. Mr. Rivers hastens back to England. The +widow is pathetic--helpless--throws herself on his advice and support. +He goes to live under her roof, and the mischief is done! A handsome, +scheming woman, under these circumstances, might well be irresistible. +As to him, of course he had behaved badly in a way. But, after all, one +must accept men as they are. And, as Pauline said to herself, the folly +of young men in such matters, and their invincible tendency to sacrifice +themselves to the wrong woman, are simply unfathomable! At any rate +whether her cousin's death had made Rivers more willing to fulfil his +engagement to May; or whether he would be glad of a pretext to break +with her in order to marry Mrs. Bransby and her five children; May must +clearly perceive that _she_ could have nothing more to say to him. + +All these considerations, and the conclusion to which they led, Mrs. +Dormer-Smith administered to her niece, in larger or smaller doses, +during the remainder of the day. Sometimes it was by way of a few drops +at a time:--a hint, a word, perhaps merely a sigh, accompanied by an +expressive shrug of the shoulders. Sometimes it was a copious pouring +forth of the evidence. Sometimes it was an appeal to May's pride: +sometimes to her principles. + +The girl was worn out with fighting against shadows. And, though they +might be shadows, they were gathering darkly. + +The worst was that she was, in one sense, as solitary as though she had +been alone on a desert island. There was absolutely no communion of +spirit between her and her aunt on this subject. Had her uncle been +there, she thought that even he would have understood her better. She +could write, of course, to granny; and of course granny would answer +her. But another whole long day must elapse before she could have the +comfort of granny's letter: even supposing it were sent without a post's +delay. She could not see Owen. She was not sure, at moments, whether she +wished to see him. And then again, with a sudden revulsion of feeling, +she would long for his presence. + +She had in her pocket the note he had written on the previous evening, +begging her to inform Mr. Bragg of their engagement. It had reached her +hands only an hour or two before Amelia Simpson's visit; and was, as +yet, unanswered. The note had been dashed off quickly, as we know. And +to May, disheartened and confused as she was already by her aunt's +version of the interview with Owen, it seemed needlessly brief and dry. + +He begged May to tell Mr. Bragg of their engagement at once. Under the +circumstances he thought Mr. Bragg ought to know it, and the +announcement would come best from her. He had not had a moment in which +to speak of it during their hurried interview. But he did not doubt that +May would feel as he felt on this point. She had better, if possible, +send her communication so that Mr. Bragg should receive it that same +afternoon; since he certainly ought to know the truth soon, at any cost. + +These last words had reference to the possibility that the revelation +might affect the fortunes of the Bransby family. But May knew nothing of +that; and they jarred on her. Why should Owen speak to her of the +"cost"? It was almost like a boast that he was ready to sacrifice +himself. In talking to Aunt Pauline he had shown that he was anxious not +to lose his situation. For her sake? Oh yes; no doubt for her sake. But +the words jarred on her. The lightest touch will jar upon a bruise. + +And then the loneliness of spirit was so trying! Solitude may sometimes +be a good counsellor for the brain. But it is rarely so for the heart. +Nothing so strengthens our best impulses, faiths, and affections as to +see them reflected in the soul of a fellow-creature. To the young +especially, want of sympathy with their emotions is like want of +daylight to a flower. Those who have travelled half way along life's +journey are apt to forget how much diffidence is often mingled with a +young girl's acceptance of love. The gift seems so unspeakably great! A +trembling sense of unreality sometimes comes with the recognition of its +preciousness and beauty. + +"Can it be? Am _I_ really loved so much? Dare I believe it?" These +questions are often asked by sensitive young hearts. Happiness begets +humility in the finer sort of nature. + +Elder spectators, looking on at the old, ever-new story, find it clear +and simple enough. But to the actors it may seem complex and difficult. +Lookers on, in any case, see but a small portion of the drama of our +lives. The intensest part of it--the most poignant tragedy, the sunniest +comedy--is played within ourselves by invisible forces. Truly, and in +dread earnest, "we are such stuff as dreams are made of." + +All the day May kept Owen's note in her pocket, and when evening came, +she had neither answered it, nor written to Mr. Bragg. Owen was right, +no doubt, in saying that Mr. Bragg ought to know the truth. But what +_was_ the truth? In the whirlpool of her agitated thoughts sometimes one +answer would float uppermost, and sometimes another. Could her aunt be +right in saying that she would prejudice Owen's future by holding him to +his word? Holding him! But it was rather for Owen to hold her. He could +not suspect that his claim would be disallowed. He, at least, had no +reason to doubt the completeness of her love for him. And then a scarlet +blush would burn her cheeks, and hot tears would be forced from her +eyes, by a thought which touched her maiden pride to the quick:--was he +not leaving it to her to claim him? If she wrote that letter to Mr. +Bragg, she would, in fact, be claiming him. + +She had told Mr. Bragg, she remembered, when he asked her if her family +approved of the man she had promised to marry, that she, at any rate, +was proud to be loved by him. Yes; but too proud to accept a love that +was not eagerly given. Oh, it was all weariness, and bitterness, and +perturbation of spirit! + +Sometimes, for a moment, the recollection of Owen's look and Owen's +words would pierce the clouds like a ray of sunshine, and her heart +would cry out, "Why am I troubled and tormented by lies and foolishness? +Owen is loyal, tender, and true--the soul of truth and honour! I need +only trust to him, and all will be well." But then Aunt Pauline would +repeat some of poor Amelia Simpson's glowing words about "the charming +couple" in Collingwood Terrace--made all the more impressive by the fact +that Aunt Pauline really believed them; and the fog would gather again, +and she would ask herself, "How if he should be loyal against his +inclination?" + +In the evening she said to her aunt, "Aunt Pauline, I will go away from +London; I will go to Granny. I could not, in any case, continue to take +her money for keeping me here. I will go down to Oldchester; that will +be best. And Owen and I can arrange afterwards what we will do." For not +by a word would she betray a doubt of Owen. To her aunt she upheld his +faithfulness unwaveringly; she upheld it, indeed, in her own heart, +chiding down her doubts as one chides down a snarling dog. But though +she could chide, she could not remove them; they were there, crouching. +She was conscious of their existence, as pain is felt in a dream. + +But it did not at all suit Mrs. Dormer-Smith's views that her niece +should go away in that fashion. "I cannot let you leave my house, May," +she said; "I am responsible for you to your father." + +Then May rebelled. She declared that Granny had been father and mother +and friend to her, and that she did not feel she owed any filial duty +except to Granny. + +Pauline privately thought that she recognized the influence of Mr. +Rivers in this speech. She put her handkerchief to her eyes, and +observed plaintively that she was sorry May had no touch of affection +for _her_ or for her uncle, who had striven to treat her as their own +child. She was genuinely hurt, and thought she had reason to complain of +the girl's ingratitude. May recognized that her aunt was sincere in +this. She, too, felt that Aunt Pauline had meant to do well for her, +although it had all turned out amiss. She thought of the day of her +first arrival in town, of her aunt's affectionate reception of her, and +gentle sweetness ever since, until these last unhappy days. Her thoughts +went back farther--to the time when the dowager was alive, and her aunt +used to see her in the dreary old house at Richmond, and mourn over her +clothes, and kiss her kindly when she went away. + +With a sudden impulse she knelt down beside Mrs. Dormer-Smith's chair, +and put her arms round her. + +"Aunt Pauline," she said, "I know you have meant to be kind. You _have_ +been kind. No doubt I have given you trouble and anxiety; partly, +perhaps, by my fault, but more by my misfortune. I am not insensible of +all that. But, dear Aunt Pauline, I want you to believe--do, pray, +believe--that it would be cruel to separate me from Owen. Nothing +_shall_ part us, except his own will," she added in a low voice. Then, +after an instant, she went on, pressing her soft young face against her +aunt's shoulder, "Perhaps you think I don't care so very deeply for him? +Of course you cannot know; you have never seen us together; it has all +come upon you quite suddenly. But, indeed, indeed, if I had to give him +up, I think it would break my heart. Oh, dear Aunt Pauline, do be kind +to us, and help us! I have no mother. And I--I love him so!" + +Pauline folded the sobbing girl in her arms. Perhaps she had never felt +the great duty she owed to society so hard of fulfilment as at that +moment. It was really frightful to think of the havoc wrought by the +selfish recklessness of that Nihilist with his hundred and fifty pounds +a year! The recollection of the cold-blooded effrontery with which he +had mentioned the sum made her shudder. + +For a little time she held her niece silently in a motherly embrace. +Then she said softly, "This is very sad and distressing, dear May." And +her own eyes were full of tears. "However much I may disapprove"--(the +clinging arms around her shoulders relaxed their hold a little here; but +she gently pressed the girl close to her again)--"and--and deplore the +state of the case, it is most painful to me to see you suffer. But we +must not allow feeling to override all considerations of what is right +and proper. We must not forget that we have duties--duties towards +society." + +May quietly removed one arm from her aunt's neck, and began to dry her +eyes. + +"I don't say that those duties are easy. Those who have no position in +the world to keep up may be enviable in some respects. I'm sure I am +often tempted to envy the people one sees riding in omnibuses," said +Pauline, with what she felt to be a bold but forcible hyperbole. "But +_noblesse oblige_. You and I are both born Cheffingtons. It may be all +very well for the _bourgeoisie_ to indulge in sentiment, and +sweet-hearts, and that sort of thing; but from us society expects +something different. There are certain opportunities which, it appears +to me, it is absolutely flying in the face of Providence to neglect. I +know perfectly well that if the Hautenvilles had the slightest inkling +of an idea that you had refused Mr. Bragg, Felicia would come flying +back from Rome like a whirlwind. However, I will not dwell on that now. +You are dreadfully worn out, my poor child, and your eyes will not be +fit to be seen for a week. Rose-water the last thing before going to +bed. There is nothing so soothing. Poor child! I _must_ steel myself to +do my duty, May; but it really is excessively trying. Go to rest now, +dear, and sleep off your agitation. To-morrow we will talk more calmly." + +May had gently withdrawn herself from her aunt's embrace, and had risen +from her knees. "To-morrow I will go to Granny," she said quietly. + +"Ah, no, dearest! that cannot be. It is out of the question. But you may +write to Mrs. Dobbs and hear what she says." + +Pauline had resolved to write herself to Mrs. Dobbs, detailing all she +knew (and a great deal more which she thought she knew) about Mr. +Rivers's conduct, and setting forth the change in May's position as the +daughter of the future Lord Castlecombe. Things were very different from +what they had been three or four months ago. Even Mrs. Dobbs--although +she had turned out so disappointingly foolish as to this preposterous +love affair--must see that. + +"Good night, dear child; you will get over this distress; and you will +acknowledge hereafter, I am quite confident, that you have had a good +escape. As to that odious woman, _she_ is sure to be miserable, whether +he marries her or not, that's one comfort!" said Aunt Pauline. + +The sight of May's tearful white face exacerbated her virtuous +indignation against Mrs. Bransby; nor was this feeling in the slightest +degree mitigated by her strong desire that Mrs. Bransby should marry +young Rivers, and take him out of their way for ever. + +"Good night, Aunt Pauline," answered May, bending down, and slightly +touching her aunt's forehead with her lips. + +Pauline embraced the girl tenderly. "Poor darling!" she murmured. "Don't +forget the rose-water." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +When May went up to her room, she neglected her aunt's advice as to the +rose-water. She sat down beside the fire, and tried to think of what she +had best do. + +Help from her aunt was clearly not to be hoped for. She did not feel +anger against Aunt Pauline at that moment. She had felt it some time +before, but not now. Would it not be like feeling angry with a Chinese +for not comprehending English? They simply did not understand one +another. There was a barrier between their minds--at least, on the one +subject which May had at heart--which, as it seemed, neither of them +could pass or penetrate. + +She would go to Granny! There she would find love and sympathy, and the +sheltering mother-wings she yearned for. And, at the bottom of her +heart, there was the half-unconscious feeling that Granny would be a +staunch partisan of Owen's, and would be able to justify her trust in +him. + +But then Aunt Pauline had refused to let her go, and had said she might +write. Write! and lose time, and probably fail to convince Granny of the +sick longing, the positive _need_ she felt to get away from London. +There would be correspondence and discussion, and then her uncle would +come back, and there would be more discussion, and she could not see +Owen. If she wrote to him and he came, he would not be admitted to the +house; and she could not go to him. + +Well, then, she would run away. There was nothing for it but to run away +to Granny, and she made up her mind to do so. Nothing should prevent +her. Nothing! She started up and took her purse out of a drawer. She was +but slenderly provided with pocket-money, the bulk of her allowance from +Mrs. Dobbs being administered by Aunt Pauline. She counted out the +contents of the little smart _porte-monnaie_ with deep anxiety. There +was half a sovereign and some silver. Only fifteen shillings! That would +not suffice to carry her to Oldchester--and then she must have a cab. +She could not find her way to the station on foot: and, besides, it +would take such a long time! How much time she did not know exactly; but +she remembered that it had seemed a rather long drive from the terminus +to Kensington. And even if she could walk the distance, she would not +know at what hour to set out in order to catch the express train, which +would bring her into Oldchester a little after five o'clock the same +evening. + +A little thrill ran through her veins as she pictured herself arriving +at Jessamine Cottage in one of the station flys, looking from the +vehicle at the cheerful firelight which would surely be shining from the +parlour window at that hour. And then Martha would come to the door, and +not recognize her at first in the darkness; and Granny would cry out in +surprise at the sound of her voice; and then there would be the dear +motherly arms round her, the dear motherly breast to lay her troubled +head upon, the blessed sense of rest, and trust, and comfort! + +Feverishly May counted and re-counted her money. The fifteen shillings +remained inexorably fifteen, and no more. All sorts of schemes passed +through her mind. Cecile might perhaps lend her some money--or Smithson! +But to ask for a loan from either of them would excite too much wonder +and suspicion; it would at once be reported to her aunt. + +Suddenly there darted into her mind the recollection that Harold had +some money. Uncle Frederick had given the child half a sovereign on his +birthday, a day or two ago. That was an inspiration! She would ask +Harold to lend her the money, and to keep the secret until she should be +gone. She knew that she could trust him; the child was staunch, and +would be proud of being confided in. Poor little Harold! She remembered +that it was he who had told her of Owen's presence in the house on that +day--when was it? _Yesterday?_ Impossible! It was weeks--months ago, +surely! A large part of her life seemed to have passed since then. + +May lay down to rest, tired out with the various emotions of the day, +but with her brain so beleaguered by shifting thoughts and images that +she was certain she should not be able to sleep. But she might at least +rest her body, which felt bruised and weary, as though she had been +walking with a heavy burthen all day long. She dropped off to sleep, +nevertheless, almost immediately, but soon awoke again with a start and +a sensation of falling swiftly, and a vague terror. But at length, +towards morning, she did sleep continuously and heavily; and when she +next awoke her watch, and a dull yellowish glimmer through the +window-blind, told her it was day. + +It was a dismal London morning, wet and cold. The wind was howling among +the chimney-pots, and sending down showers of soot and smoke, mingled +with sleet. It was the day appointed for the funeral of Lucius +Cheffington. Mr. Dormer-Smith was not expected home that night; the +trains did not fit conveniently. It had therefore been arranged that he +should stay at Combe Park until the following morning. Her uncle's +absence made her opportunity, May thought. The train she wished to +travel by started from London, she believed, at about two o'clock; but +she resolved to be at the terminus much earlier. The departure might be +at some minutes before two; it would be too dreadful to miss the train! +She felt an irrational hurry and eagerness to be gone, as if each +minute's delay might be fatal. She knew the feeling was groundless, but +it mastered her. + +Preparations she had none to make, except clothing herself in a warm +gown, and putting a few toilet necessaries into a little handbag. Mrs. +Dormer-Smith always breakfasted late, and, during the cold weather, in +her own room; and May shared the morning meal with her uncle. To-day, at +her request, Harold and Wilfred were allowed to come downstairs and +breakfast with her. This arrangement suited Cecile, who much preferred +breakfasting with Smithson in the housekeeper's room to cutting +bread-and-butter and pouring out milk-and-water in the nursery. + +As soon as the meal was over, May asked Harold for the loan of his +golden half-sovereign. His first reply was a severe blow. "You mean that +yellow sixpence papa gave me? I haven't got it, Cousin May." + +May felt as though the child had struck her. But the next moment he +added-- + +"Papa put it into that little box with a slit in it. You can't get it +out. Nobody can get it out. It belongs to me, you know; only I can't buy +anything with it. Papa says it's proper--property." + +May coaxed him to bring the box to her room, and found that it was +closed by a little cheap lock, which it would be perfectly easy to force +open. When she proposed this strong measure to Harold, he demurred at +first; but finally yielded, on his cousin's saying that she wanted the +money very much, and would be unhappy if she could not get it. A +glove-box lined with quilted satin was offered him by way of immediate +compensation; and he was promised that his yellow sixpence should be +repaid with ample interest in the shape of coin which would not share +the inconvenient dignity of being "property," but might be freely spent. + +May felt as if she were a criminal as she wrenched open the little +money-box, and took out the half-sovereign, which lay glistening amid a +small heap of pennies and sixpences. Harold stood watching her intently. + +"You do look funny, Cousin May!" he said. "Your cheeks are quite white, +and your eyes are queer, and your hand burns. Mine is ever so cold. +Feel!" He put his little red, cold hand on May's forehead, and the touch +seemed deliciously refreshing to her. + +"My head aches a little, Harold. I shall soon be well, though. I am +going to see my dear granny. I have often told you about her. She is so +good and kind! She makes people well when they are sick or sorry." + +Harold's experience of being made well when he was sick was not of such +a nature as to make this praise particularly attractive to him. + +"I s'pose she gives you powders?" he said, in a disparaging tone, and +then added gloomily, "I wouldn't go to her, if I was you." + +May kissed him, and assured him that Granny's methods were all pleasant +ones. + +Wilfred--who had been kept outside the room during the financial +transaction, as being too young to be trusted with a secret of such +importance--was now admitted in compliance with his reiterated petition; +and the two little fellows stood quietly watching their cousin, as in a +hurried, feverish way, she put a few articles into her little bag, and +took a fur-lined cloak out of the wardrobe, and laid her hat and gloves +ready on the bed. + +"I say, Cousin May," said Harold, all at once, "you'll come back again, +sha'n't you?" + +She looked down at the child's upturned face, with a start. It had not +occurred to her before, but the thought now struck her that it was very +likely she should never return to that house. + +"I will see _you_ again, darlings, if I live," she said, bending down to +kiss and embrace the children. + +Wilfred, always inclined to be tearful, showed symptoms of setting up a +sympathetic wail. But Harold said, with a dogged little setting of the +lips-- + +"Well, if you don't come back, I know what I shall do. I've got all +those pennies left in the box, and I shall buy a stick and a bundle, and +run away, and go along the high road ever so far, till I find you." + +"I shall come too," cried Wilfred. "Papa gave _me_ sixpence!" + +All three looked, indeed, almost equally childish and innocent: Harold +and Wilfred, with their project of running away, derived from a nursery +story-book, and May clutching the "yellow sixpence" as a talisman that +was to carry her afar from all trouble and persecution! + +She did not, of course, mean to leave Aunt Pauline in any anxiety as to +what had become of her; but she wanted to get a good start. After some +deliberation, she wrote a short note to her aunt, and entrusted it to +Harold. His instructions were to keep it until luncheon-time, and then +give it to his mother. But, in case he heard them asking for May in the +house, and wondering where she was, he might deliver it sooner. In any +case, he must not give it to Cecile or Smithson, but place it in his +mother's own hand. This latter was a service which Harold felt to be a +severe one; but he undertook it, with a feeling akin to that of a knight +doing battle with giants and dragons, on behalf of his liege lady. Not +that his mother would be harsh or cruel; that was quite out of the +question. She would not even scold him much, probably; but she would +look at him with that complaining air of disapproval, as if he were an +unmerited affliction, and call him and his brother "those dreadful +little boys," and send him away to the nursery, all which things the +child felt keenly in his heart, although he was entirely unable to +analyze them in his brain. + +May also wrote to Owen, telling him of her departure, and confessing +that she had not written to Mr. Bragg. + +"What is the use of my remaining in London, when we cannot meet?" she +wrote. "We are as far apart, really, as when you were in Spain. I am +worn out, dear Owen, and feel that I need Granny's help. Do not be angry +with me for taking this step without consulting you. You will know I am +safe and well-cared for with Granny, who is your friend, instead of +having to fight against the arguments of those who are hostile to you." +Then, in a postscript, she added, "Mrs. Simpson came here yesterday. She +said she had seen you. You did not send me any message by her. Perhaps +you did not know she meant to see me?" This note she put in her pocket +to be posted at the station. + +It was now past twelve o'clock; for early hours were not kept in the +Dormer-Smith household. May's nervous impatience to be gone was no +longer to be resisted. She took the children into the little back room +where she had been accustomed to give them their lessons, and on her own +responsibility gave them a book full of coloured pictures which Cecile +never entrusted to their mischievous little fingers without her personal +supervision. And this unusual indulgence delighted them and absorbed +their attention. Then she stole back to her own chamber, and looked out +of the window. The rain was still falling at intervals in driving +showers. All the better! There was the less chance of any one whom she +knew in that neighbourhood being abroad to recognize her. + +She had told Smithson immediately after breakfast that she was going to +her own room, and did not wish to be disturbed until luncheon-time. She +now put on her hat and gloves, wrapped herself in the warm cloak, and +carrying a tiny umbrella, which looked very unequal to offering much +resistance to the wind and rain that were now sweeping along the street, +she crept downstairs and let herself out at the hall door. + +She had to walk some distance before reaching a cabstand, and by the +time she did so her feet were wet. She had no boots fitted to keep out +mud and damp. Aunt Pauline considered thick boots superfluous in London. +In the country, of course, it was quite "the right thing" to tramp about +in all weathers, and proper _chaussures_ must be provided for the +purpose. Although, had it been a dogma laid down by "the best people" +that one ought to march barefoot through the mire, Aunt Pauline would +have desired May to conform to that as well as to all other sacred +ordinances of the social creed. + +May was driven to the railway station in due course by a cabman who, on +being asked what she had to pay, contented himself with only twice his +fare. She found she was much too early for the express train. But there +was a slow train going within half an hour. It would not reach +Oldchester until after the express, although starting before it; but May +decided to travel by it. She was frightened at the idea of remaining in +the big terminus, where she might be seen and recognized by some passing +acquaintance at any moment. And the idea of being actually on the road +to granny, safely shut up in a railway carriage out of reach, was +tempting. She took her ticket, the purchase of which reduced her +funds to the last shilling, and was put into a carriage by +herself--first-class passengers by that train not being numerous. + +The girl's head was throbbing, and the damp chill to her feet made her +shiver. She leaned back in a corner of the carriage, and closed her +eyes. The train trundled along, its progress arrested by frequent +stoppages. The dim daylight faded. At wayside stations the reflections +from the lamps shone with a melancholy gleam in inky pools of +rain-water. May began to suffer from want of food. She was not hungry; +but she felt the need, although not the desire, for some sustenance. At +one place where they stopped a quarter of an hour, she thought of +getting some tea; but there was a crowd of men in front of a counter +where beer and spirits were being sold, but where she saw no tea; and +the steam from damp great coats, mingled with tobacco-smoke and close +air, made her feel sick. She tottered back to the carriage, carrying +with her a huge fossilized bun, which she tried, not very successfully, +to nibble at intervals; and at length she fell into an uneasy doze. + +She was awakened by the opening of the carriage-door, and a voice +saying, "You'll be all right here, sir." A dark lantern flashed in her +eyes. A hat-box and dressing-bag were put into the carriage by an +obsequious porter. A gentleman entered and took his seat in the corner +farthest away from her. The door was slammed to, and they moved on +again. + +May put up her hand to her forehead in a dazed manner. She felt +confused, and could not, for the moment, understand where she was. Her +head ached and throbbed painfully. Then she recollected it all, and +wondered what o'clock it was, and whether they were drawing near +Oldchester. + +"Can you tell me what station that was?" she asked in a faint voice, of +her fellow-traveller. + +The gentleman turned his head sharply, and peered at her where she sat +in the darkness of her corner-seat. He could not distinguish her face; +for, before his entrance, she had drawn the movable shade half across +the lamp in the roof of the carriage. Thinking he had not heard, or had +not understood her, she repeated the question-- + +"What is the name of that last station, if you please?" + +Upon which the gentleman, instead of making any such reply as might have +been expected, exclaimed, "Lord bless my soul!" and leaving his place at +the other extremity of the carriage, he came and seated himself opposite +to her. "It _is_ Miss Cheffington!" he said, in a tone of the utmost +wonder. And then May recognized Mr. Bragg. + +"My dear young lady, how come you to be travelling alone--by this train? +Is anything the matter?" + +His tone was so sincere and earnest, his face and manner so gentle and +fatherly, that May at once felt she could trust him fully and +fearlessly. + +"I am so glad it's you, Mr. Bragg, and not a stranger!" she said, +putting her hand out to take his. + +"Thank you," said Mr. Bragg simply. "I'm glad it _is_ me, if I can be of +any use to you." Then he asked again, "Is anything the matter?" + +"N--no; nothing very serious. I have run away from Aunt Pauline----" + +"Run away!" + +"And I'm going to Granny. You won't feel it your duty to give me up as a +fugitive from justice, will you?" she said, trying to smile, with very +tremulous lips. + +"Mrs. Dormer-Smith has never been treating you bad or cruel?" said Mr. +Bragg wonderingly. "No, no; she _couldn't_." + +"No, truly, she could not be consciously cruel to me, or to any one; but +she has ideas which--she tried to persuade me----We don't understand one +another, that's the truth." + +Mr. Bragg all at once remembered a certain private note despatched to +his hotel in town by Mrs. Dormer-Smith, wherein she had assured him that +May was an inexperienced child, who didn't know her own mind, and begged +him not to take her too absolutely at her word. He had never replied to +that note, having, indeed, nothing to say which it would be agreeable to +his correspondent to hear. But he recalled other instances in which +ladies of the highest gentility had hunted him (or, rather, not +_him_--he had no illusions of vanity on that point--but his large +fortune) with a ruthless unscrupulosity which had amazed him, and a +gallant perseverance in the teeth of discouragement which almost +extorted admiration. And the question stole into his mind, "Could Mrs. +Dormer-Smith have been persecuting May on _his_ account?" The idea was +inexpressibly painful to him. But, anyway, he was relieved and thankful +to find that the girl did not shrink from him, but was sweet and +gracious as ever. + +"Well, to be sure," he said in his slow, pondering way, "'tis a strange +chance that we should meet just now, isn't it? For I've just come from +your family place, you know." + +"From where?" + +"From the home of your ancestors, as Mr. Theodore Bransby calls it. You +asked me the name of that station I got in at. Well, it's Combe St. +Mildred's, the station for Combe Park you know." + +"Is it? Then we cannot be far from Oldchester." + +"Not very far in miles; but this is an uncommon slow train--stops +everywhere. Stops just now at Wendhurst Junction; the express runs +through. I'm afraid you're very tired, Miss Cheffington." He could not +see her at all distinctly, but her voice betrayed great weariness, he +thought. + +"Not very--yes, rather. It does not matter now; we shall soon be there." + +"Yes," went on Mr. Bragg, "I've been attending the funeral." + +"Oh yes. Poor Lucius! I had forgotten that it was for to-day," said May, +with a self-reproachful feeling. "He was very kind to me, although, at +first, he seemed so dry and eccentric. I think he liked me. I know I +liked him." + +"Yes; no doubt but what he liked you. _That_ can't be disputed. And it +does him honour, in my opinion. I suppose I ought to congratulate you, +Miss Cheffington--although congratulating may seem out of place with a +crape band round your hat. And yet I don't know!" + +"Congratulate me! Do you mean because my father is the heir? I think +there is more sorrow in Lord Castlecombe's heart than there can be +satisfaction in any one else's?" answered May. She was surprised at this +manifestation of coarseness of feeling in Mr. Bragg. It was the first +she had ever observed in him. + +"Your father? Lord bless me, no! Nothing to do with your father. I was +alluding to your cousin's last will and testament. I was present when it +was read, by Lord Castlecombe's desire, although having no particular +claim that I know of. Still, when we came back from the old churchyard, +his lordship invited me into the library, and the will was read out then +by Wagget, the lawyer, poor Martin Bransby's successor." + +"But what has all that to do with me?" asked May, sitting upright, and +holding on by the elbows of the seat. As she did so, everything seemed +to waver and swim before her eyes. The cushions on which she sat seemed +to be sinking down through the earth. The long fast, her broken sleep on +the previous night, the tears she had shed, and all the emotions of this +journey, which to her was an adventure fraught with all kinds of +anxieties, were telling upon her. But she made a desperate effort to +listen--not to be ill, not to give trouble. The train was to stop +shortly. She would hold up her courage until then. Had not the gloom +caused by the lamp-shade baffled Mr. Bragg's observation, he would have +been startled by her countenance. + +As it was, he merely answered, "Well, because your cousin has left +you all the little property he inherited from his mother. It isn't a +great fortune--a matter of four hundred and fifty, or five hundred +pound a year, as well as I can make out. But it's all in sound +investments--mostly Government securities--and it's settled on you every +penny of it." + +But May, struggling against a sick sensation of faintness, was scarcely +able to grasp the meaning of what was said to her. Her eyes grew dim; +she half-rose up from her seat, made a vague movement with her hands, +such as one makes in falling and clutching at whatever is nearest, and +then sank down in a heap on the floor of the carriage, like a wounded +bird. She was in a dead swoon, and her young face looked piteously white +and wan under the crude glare of the gas, as the train moved slowly, +with much resounding clangour, into the big station at Wendhurst +Junction. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +With that indescribably dreadful rushing, whirling sensation in the +brain, which can never be forgotten by whoever has once experienced it, +May Cheffington recovered out of her swoon, and her senses returned to +her. + +She was lying on a cushioned seat in the ladies' waiting-room at +Wendhurst Junction. Her dress had been loosened, her own warm cloak had +been spread over her as a coverlet, a woollen shawl was thrown across +her feet, and an elderly woman was sprinkling water on her forehead. She +opened her eyes, and then shut them again lazily. The glare of the gas +made her blink, and the sense of rest was, for the moment, all she +wanted. + +"She'll do now," said the elderly woman, wiping May's wet forehead with +a handkerchief. Then she went to the door of the room, and half opening +it, said to some one outside, "Coming round beautiful, sir; she'll be +all right now." + +"Who's there?" asked May, in a little feeble, drowsy voice. + +"Your pa, dear. He _has_ been in a taking about you. But I'm telling him +you're as right as right can be. So you are, ain't you? There's a +pretty!" + +Every second that passed was bringing more clearness to May's mind, more +animation to her frame. By the time the elderly woman had finished +speaking, May said-- + +"Oh, ask him to come in. Ask him, pray, to come here and speak to me!" + +This message being transmitted, the door was opened, and in walked Mr. +Bragg, with a most disturbed and anxious countenance. + +May was lying with her head supported on a pillow formed of a great coat +hastily rolled up, which the attendant had covered with her own white +apron. The pretty soft brown hair, dabbled here and there with water, +was hanging in disorder. Her eyes looked very large and bright in her +pale face. Mr. Bragg came and stood beside her, and looked at her with a +sort of tender, pitying trepidation: as an amiable giant might +contemplate Ariel with a broken wing: longing to help, but fearing to +hurt, the delicate creature. + +May put out her hand and took hold of Mr. Bragg's as innocently as +little Enid might have done. "Oh, I am so sorry!" she said. + +"Yes," returned Mr. Bragg, in a subdued voice. "And I'm so sorry, too. +But you are feeling better now, ain't you?" + +"Oh, but I mean I am sorry for _you_. Sorry to frighten you and to give +you so much trouble." + +"Trouble! Well, I don't know about that. This good lady here has been +taking what trouble there was to take. Not such a vast deal, was it, +ma'am?" + +The "good lady" who had begun to doubt the correctness of her assumption +that these two were father and daughter, smoothed the shawl over May's +feet, and murmured that they were not to mention it. + +Mr. Bragg pulled out his watch impatiently. + +"What! haven't they found anybody yet?" he said. "I sent off a man in a +fly ten minutes ago." + +The attendant observed apologetically that the first doctor they'd gone +to might not have been at home, and then they'd have to go on a goodish +bit further. + +May started up on her elbow. + +"Doctor!" she cried, in dismay. "You haven't sent for a doctor?" + +"Yes, I have," answered Mr. Bragg, dismayed in his turn by her evident +distress. "I couldn't do less. You might have been dying for anything I +knew. You don't know how bad you looked!" + +"But I don't want a doctor. I'm quite well. I only want to go on. I want +to go on to Granny." + +And May's head fell back on the pillow, while a tear forced its way +beneath the closed eyelids. + +"You came by the slow down, didn't you? Ah, well, there's no passenger +train going on that way before eleven-five to-night," observed the +elderly female. + +At this intelligence the tears poured down May's cheeks, and she turned +away her head on the cushion. + +"Don't cry! Don't fret!" exclaimed Mr. Bragg. "You shall be in +Oldchester within an hour if the medical man says you're able to travel. +I'll speak to the station-master at once. Only we _must_ hear what the +doctor says, mustn't we? I dursn't run a risk, now durst I? You see that +yourself. You're what you might call laid on my conscience to take care +of. Good Lord, will this fool of a fellow never come back? I told him to +drive as fast as he could pelt." + +May was crying now less from vexation than from exhaustion. + +"I'm _not_ ill, indeed," she murmured, trying to check her tears. + +"But, my dear young lady, people don't faint dead away like that, and +look so white and ghastly, without there's _something_ the matter. It +wasn't the news I told you upset you like that, surely?" + +"No; of course not. I think it was because I--I had had no dinner." + +"Lord bless me!" cried Mr. Bragg. "Why, you're starving! _That's_ what +it is, then!" + +In his anxious solicitude for her Mr. Bragg would have ordered +everything eatable to be brought which the refreshment-room afforded. +But he yielded to May's entreaty that she might have a cup of tea and a +piece of bread. The attendant suggested a teaspoonful of brandy in the +tea, but at this May shook her head. Mr. Bragg, however, thought the +suggestion a good one, and producing a small flask from his travelling +bag, insisted on pouring a few drops of its contents into the cup of +tea. + +"That's fine old Cognac," he said; "like a cordial. I wouldn't ask you +to swallow the stuff they sell here; but this'll do you nothing but +good. Dear me, if I'd only thought of giving you some of this before!" + +He was quite self-reproachful, and May had some difficulty in persuading +him that no blame could possibly attach to him for not having +administered a dose of brandy to her as soon as they met in the railway +carriage. + +By this time the doctor sent for from Wendhurst had arrived. A brief +interview with his patient convinced him that she was perfectly well +able to travel on as far as Oldchester. + +"Rather delicate nervous organization, you see," said the doctor to Mr. +Bragg, when he left May. "And there has been some mental distress; +family troubles, she tells me; and then the long fast, and the journey, +quite sufficient to account--oh, thanks, thanks. She'll be all right +after a good night's rest, I haven't the least doubt." And the doctor +withdrew with a bow; for Mr. Bragg, apologizing for having disturbed him +and brought him so far through the rain, had put a handsome fee into his +hand. + +Mr. Bragg had also mentioned in the hearing of the waiting-room +attendant, who was hovering inquisitively in the background, that the +young lady had been put under his charge, and that he had just left the +house of her great-uncle, Lord Castlecombe. He was aware that he himself +was far too well-known a man in those parts for the adventure not to be +talked about. And his experience of life had taught him that, while it +is as difficult to check gossip as to bring a runaway horse to a +standstill, yet that both may generally be turned to the right or left, +by a cool hand. + +His sagacity was amply justified. For the waiting-room attendant, for +weeks afterwards, would narrate to passing lady travellers how that +sweet young lady, Lord Castlecombe's grandniece, was so cut up by the +death of her cousin that she fainted right away coming back from the +funeral at Combe Park, not having been able to touch food for more than +twelve hours in consequence of her grief; and how Mr. Bragg, the great +Oldchester manufacturer, who was taking charge of the young lady on her +journey home, was so kind and anxious, and quite like a father to her; +and how they both repeatedly said, "Mrs. Tupp, if it hadn't been for +your care and attention, we don't know whatever we _should_ have done." + +Soon after the doctor had departed, Mr. Bragg came back to May, and +informed her that arrangements had been made for their starting for +Oldchester in three-quarters of an hour, if that would be agreeable to +her. And in reply to her wondering inquiry as to how that could have +been managed, he said quietly, "Oh, I've got a special train. I'm a +director of this line, and they know me here pretty well." + +May had always understood that a special train was an immensely costly +matter. But in her ignorance she was by no means sure that it might not +be part of the privileges of a railway director to have special trains +run for his service gratis, whensoever he should require them. Which, +probably, was precisely what Mr. Bragg desired her to suppose. + +He then called aside the attendant, and held a short colloquy with her +in the adjoining room, the result of which was to put the worthy Mrs. +Tupp into a great fuss and flutter. She dashed at a cupboard in the wall +and plunged her hand into it, drawing it out again with a battered old +black bonnet dangling by one string, as though she had been fishing at a +venture and brought up _that_ rather unexpectedly. Further, Mrs. Tupp, +with many apologies, took the checked shawl which had been laid over +May's feet and put it on her own shoulders; and then, assuring Mr. +Bragg, in a speech which it took some time to deliver, that she wouldn't +be gone not ten minutes, for her house was close by--better than half a +mile before you really come into Wendhurst High Street, going the +shortest way from the station--she finally disappeared. + +"Now, Miss Cheffington," said Mr. Bragg, "I want you to do something to +oblige me. Will you?" + +"Most gladly, if I can; but I'm afraid it will turn out to be something +to oblige _me_," answered May, looking up at him timidly. "Don't you +want some food? I dare say you do." + +"Why, no, Miss Cheffington, I can't say I do; I ate a most uncommon +hearty luncheon. I wonder why people always eat so much when there's a +funeral going on! Besides, it isn't dinner-time yet, you know." + +"Isn't it? I have no idea what o'clock it is. If you told me it was the +middle of next week, I don't think I should feel surprised," and she +smiled with one of her old, bright looks. + +"That's right," said Mr. Bragg. "You're picking up. Well, now, I was +going to say that I noticed in the refreshment-room a cold roast fowl, +which didn't look at all nasty; no, really, not at all nasty," insisted +Mr. Bragg, with the air of one who is aware that his statement may not +unreasonably be received with incredulity. "And if you'll let them bring +it in here on a tray, and try to eat a bit of it, and drink another cup +of tea--no! I promise not to put any brandy in it,--I shall esteem it a +favour." + +Of course there was no refusing this. But May said wistfully, "I was +going to ask you--would you mind--I have something to say to you; and if +I don't say it soon that woman will be here. She is coming back +immediately." + +"Why, as to that, Miss Cheffington, I don't think she is. From what I +can make out, she's the kind of person that never can realize to +themselves that fifteen minutes, one after the other, end to end, make +up a quarter of an hour. She lost a lot of time here talking, and I saw +her stop to tell the young woman at the bar over yonder what a hurry she +was in. No; I make no doubt but what she'll be back before we start, but +not just yet awhile." + +The roast chicken and some freshly made tea were brought in due course, +and Mr. Bragg had the satisfaction of seeing May partake of both. Then +he professed his readiness to hear what she wished to say. + +"Are you comfortable? Light not too much for you? There! Now--provided +you don't overtire yourself, nor yet what you might call overtry +yourself--I'm listening." + +He sat down in a chair nearly opposite to the fire, so that his profile +was turned to May, and looked thoughtfully into the hot coals, folding +his arms in an attitude of massive quietude which was characteristic of +him. + +"First of all, you must let me thank you for all your kindness," said +May. + +"No, don't do that," he answered, without removing his gaze from the +fire. Then he repeated musingly, "No, no; don't do that! Don't ye do +that!" + +Then ensued a pause. It lasted so long that Mr. Bragg, glancing round at +the girl, said-- + +"That wasn't all you had in your mind to say, was it?" + +"No, Mr. Bragg." + +"Perhaps you've changed your mind about speaking? Well, don't you worrit +yourself. You do just what you feel most agreeable to yourself, you +know." + +"But I want to speak! I was so anxious to tell you----This chance, which +I could never have expected or dreamt of, gives me the opportunity, and +now--now I don't know how to begin!" + +He was silent for a moment, pondering. Then he said, "Could I help you? +I wonder if it is about a certain conversation you and me had together a +few days back?" + +"Yes--partly." + +"Well, now, you remember that on that occasion I said to you that I +hoped we might be friends, you and me--real, true friends. You remember, +don't you?" + +"Gratefully." + +"Well, I meant what I said. If you have been----" He was about to say +"persecuted," but changed the word. "If you have been any way bothered +in consequence of that conversation, I'm truly sorry for it. But don't +let it make any difference as between you and me. Your aunt, Mrs. +Dormer-Smith, she's a most well-meaning lady, and has beautiful manners. +But she's liable to make mistakes like the rest of us. And don't you +fret, you know. You're going to your grandmother, Mrs. Dobbs, you tell +me. And she's a woman of wonderful good sense. She'll understand some +things better than what your aunt can. It'll be all right. Don't you +worrit yourself." + +He spoke in a gentle, soothing tone, such as one might use to a child, +and kept nodding his head slowly as he spoke, still with his eyes fixed +on the fire. + +"It isn't that! I mean--I wanted to tell you something!" + +He turned his head now quickly, and looked at her. Her eyes were cast +down, and she was plucking nervously at the fur lining of the cloak +which lay on the seat beside her. + +"Is it something about that confidence that you made me, and that I look +upon as an honour, and always shall? Well, now, if you're going to speak +about that, I shall take it as a sign that you really mean to be friends +with me, and trust me. And there's nothing in the world would make me so +proud as that you should trust me, full and free." + +Then she told him all the story of her engagement to Owen. How it had +been kept secret for three months by her grandmother's express +stipulation. How, when Owen returned to England, they had revealed it to +Mrs. Dormer-Smith; how that lady had disapproved and forbidden Owen the +house, and had written to Captain Cheffington requesting him to +interpose his parental authority; how, finally, May had felt so +miserable and lonely, that she had made up her mind to leave her aunt's +house and take refuge with her grandmother. + +Mr. Bragg sat like a rock while she told her story, hesitatingly and +shyly at first, but gathering courage as she went on. When she first +mentioned Owen's name, his brows contracted for a moment, in a way which +might mean anger, or perplexity, or simply surprise. But he remained +otherwise quite unmoved to all appearance, and perfectly silent. + +When May had finished her little story, she said timidly, as she had +said to him on that memorable day in her aunt's house, "You are not +angry, Mr. Bragg?" + +He answered nearly as he had answered then, but without looking at her, +and keeping his gaze on the fire, "Angry, my child! No; how could I be +angry with you? You have never deceived me. You have been true and +honest from first to last." + +"But I mean, you are not--you are not angry with Owen?" + +The answer did not come quite so promptly this time; but after a few +seconds, he said, "I don't know that I've the least right to be angry +with Mr. Rivers. Only I should have liked it better if he had told me +how things were, plain and straightforward, when we were talking +about--something else." He brought his speech to an abrupt conclusion. + +Upon this May assured him that Owen had never desired secrecy. The +engagement had been kept secret in deference to "Granny." And as soon as +her aunt knew it, Owen had urged her (May) to tell Mr. Bragg also, +feeling himself in a false position until the truth was revealed. + +"I ought to have written to you yesterday," she said guiltily. "It's my +fault, indeed it is!" + +Mr. Bragg got up from his chair, and muttering something about "getting +a little air," walked out on to the long platform. + +There was certainly no lack of air outside there. A damp raw wind was +driving through the station, making the lamps blink. Mr. Bragg had no +great coat, that garment having been rolled up to serve as May's pillow. +But he marched up and down the long platform with his hands behind his +back, at a steady and by no means rapid pace, apparently insensible to +the cold. + +Owen Rivers! So the man May was engaged to was his secretary, Mr. +Rivers! That was very surprising. Mr. Rivers was not at all the sort of +man he should have expected that exquisite young creature to care about. +But Mr. Bragg would have been puzzled to describe the sort of man he +would have expected her to care about. He had never seen any man he +thought worthy of her, and it might safely be predicted that he never +would; seeing that Mr. Bragg was in love with May, and would certainly +never be in love with May's husband, let him be the finest fellow in the +world. + +One suspicion he at once dismissed from his mind--that Owen had ever +been in the least danger from Mrs. Bransby's fascinations. No; when a +man was betrothed to a girl like May Cheffington he was safe enough from +anything of that kind, argued Mr. Bragg. Indeed, his visit to the +widow's house had given him a favourable impression of all its inmates. +It was impossible, he thought, to be in Mrs. Bransby's presence without +perceiving her to be worthy of respect. Searching his memory, he +discovered that the first hint of her having any designs on young Rivers +had come from Theodore Bransby, and now the motive of the hint began to +dawn upon him. Theodore, as he had long ago perceived, hated Rivers. Mr. +Bragg now understood why. He paced up and down the draughty platform, +solitary and meditative, for full ten minutes. It was a dead time, and +the whole station seemed nearly deserted. + +Then he returned to the waiting-room, of which May was still the sole +occupant. He stirred the fire into a blaze, and then sat down opposite +to it as before. May looked at him nervously and anxiously. She did not +venture to speak first. + +"I'll tell you one thing, Miss Cheffington," said Mr. Bragg, all at +once. "What you told me has been a relief to my mind in one way." + +She looked up inquiringly. + +"Yes, it has been a relief to my mind, and I'm bound to acknowledge it. +I was afraid at one time--indeed, I'd almost made up my mind, though +terribly against the grain--that you was engaged to some one else." + +"Some one else!" exclaimed May, opening great eyes of wonder, and +speaking in a tone which conveyed her _naif_ persuasion that, in that +sense, there did not exist any one else. "Why, whom can you mean?" + +Mr. Bragg reflected an instant. Then he said, "I'll tell you. Yes, I'll +tell you, for he's tried to thrust it in people's faces as far as he +dared. Mr. Theodore Bransby." + +May fell back on her seat with a gesture of mute astonishment. + +"Ah, yes; you're wondering how I could be such a blockhead as to think +that possible. But if it had been true, you'd ha' wondered how I could +be such a blockhead as to think anything else possible," said Mr. Bragg. +It was the sole touch of bitterness which escaped him throughout the +interview. After a brief pause he went on, "Not, you understand, that I +mean to deny Mr. Rivers is far superior to young Bransby--out of all +comparison, superior to him. I may, perhaps, consider Mr. Rivers +fort'nate beyond his merits. That's a question we won't enter into, +because you and me can't help but look at it from different points of +view. But I must bear testimony that he's always behaved like a real +gentleman in his duties with me; and, so far as I know, he's thoroughly +upright and honourable." + +May considered this to be but faint praise. But she graciously made +allowances. Granny, however, knew better. When Mr. Bragg's words were +repeated to Granny, she exclaimed, "Well done, Joshua Bragg! That was +spoken like a generous-minded man." + +By this time the engine which was to draw them to Oldchester was in +readiness. Mr. Bragg inquired impatiently for the "good lady" of the +waiting-room. And then May learned that that person was to accompany +them on the journey, lest Miss Cheffington should need any attendance on +the way. + +"And, indeed," said Mrs. Tupp, afterwards, "if the young lady had been a +princess royal, there couldn't have been more fuss made over her. S'loon +carriage, and everything! Of course, it was an effort for me to go along +with 'em at such short notice, and so entirely unexpected. But as they +said to me, 'Mrs. Tupp,' they said, 'had it not have been for your +kindness and attention, we don't know what we should have done.' And the +gentleman certainly made it worth my while." As he certainly did! + +At the present moment, however, Mrs. Tupp was by no means in a +complacent frame of mind. She was seen hurriedly approaching from the +extremity of the station, very breathless and exhausted, attired in her +Sunday bonnet, and shawl to match, confronting Mr. Bragg, who stood, +sternly, watch in hand, at the door of the carriage. + +"I told you so, Miss Cheffington," said he to May, who was already made +luxuriously comfortable within the carriage. "Now, ma'am! No, don't +trouble yourself to explain, please. Because in exactly two seconds and +a half we're off. _Would_ you be so kind?" This to a guard who stood +looking on beside the station-master. In a moment they had taken Mrs. +Tupp between them, and, assisted from behind by a youthful porter, +managed to hoist her into the carriage by main force. Mr. Bragg took his +place opposite to May. The whistle sounded, and they glided from beneath +the roof of the station, and at an increasing speed across the dark +country through the streaming rain. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +"And you got jealous! You actually were jealous of Owen and that poor, +dear, pretty Mrs. Bransby?" + +"Yes, Granny." + +"And you were such a _goose_--I won't use a stronger word, though I +could--as to pay any attention to what that idiot of an aunt of +yours--Lord forgive me!--chose to say in her anger and disappointment?" + +"Yes, Granny." + +"And you let the jabber of poor Amelia Simpson--as kind a soul as ever +breathed, but as profitable to listen to as the chirping of sparrows on +the house-top--prey upon your mind, and bias your common sense?" + +"Yes, Granny." + +"Why, then, I'm ashamed of you, May! Downright ashamed--there now!" + +"Oh, thank you, Granny!" + +And May seized her grandmother's hands one after the other as the old +woman drew them away impatiently, and kissed them in a kind of rapture. + +This little scene, with but slight variations, had been enacted several +times since May's arrival on the previous evening at Jessamine Cottage. +May had ceased to make any excuses for herself, or to endeavour to +describe and account for her state of mind. She was only too thankful to +have her doubts treated with supreme disdain. To be scolded and chidden, +and told that she did not deserve such a true lover as Owen, was such +happiness as she could not be grateful enough for! + +"Jealous of Owen because a parcel of mischievous magpies had nothing +better to do than to dig their foolish bills into a poor widow's +reputation? Why, I think you must have had softening of the brain!" Mrs. +Dobbs would say. Whereupon May would kneel down, and bury her face in +her grandmother's lap, and laugh and cry, and murmur in a smothered +voice-- + +"Bless you, Granny darling!" + +"Not but what," Mrs. Dobbs admitted afterwards in a private +confabulation with Jo Weatherhead, "not but what I do think it's pretty +well enough to soften any one's brain to undergo a long course of Mrs. +Dormer-Smith. I thought I knew pretty well what she was, and I told you +so long ago, Jo Weatherhead, as you must well remember. But, mercy! I +hadn't an idea! Her goings on, from what the child tells me, and that +_fool_ of a letter she's written to me, display a wrongheadedness and an +aggravating kind of imbecility that beats everything." + +Mr. Weatherhead, for his part, was inclined to be seriously wrathful +with everybody who had contributed to make May unhappy--not excluding +Mr. Owen Rivers, who, said Jo, might have had more gumption than to rush +to Mrs. Bransby's the moment he returned to England, and make such a +fuss about her, just as though _she_, and not May, were the object of +his solicitude and affection. + +"And I think, Sarah," said honest Jo, "that you're too hard on Miranda. +It's all very fine, but it seems to me that she _had_ enough, and more +than enough, to make her uneasy. What with disagreeable things being +dinned into her ears from morning to night, and facts that couldn't be +denied, interpreted all wrong, and no friend near to interpret 'em +right, and her own modesty and humble-mindedness making her suspect that +the young man had offered to her before he was sure of his own mind, and +had begun to repent--take it altogether, I consider it's unkind and +unfair to bully her as you do, Sarah, and so I tell you." + +"You do, do you?" answered Mrs. Dobbs, who had listened with much +composure to this attack. "Well, I'm not likely to quarrel with you for +_that_. But you needn't worry yourself about May. I think I understand +the case pretty well. If you doubt it, just try sympathizing with her, +and telling her you think Mr. Rivers behaved bad and thoughtless. You'll +see how pleased she'll be with you, and what a lot of gratitude you'll +get for taking her part. Try it, Jo." + +Mr. Weatherhead, on reflection, did not try it. + +The unexpected legacy from Lucius Cheffington to his cousin was hailed +by Mrs. Dobbs with heartfelt thankfulness. May's account of it at first +was a very vague one. She had only imperfectly heard Mr. Bragg's +communication in the railway carriage. And, indeed, at that moment, it +had seemed to her an affair of very secondary importance. But now, when +it occurred to her that this money would render them so independent as +to put it out of the question for Owen to have to seek his fortune in +South America, or any other distant part of the world, she was as elated +by it as the best regulated mind could desire. + +"And it isn't so _very_ much money, after all, is it, Granny?" she said, +with an air of satisfaction, which Mrs. Dobbs did not quite understand. + +"Well," she answered, "it seems a pretty good deal of money to me. +Between four and five hundred a year, as I understand." + +"Yes; but it isn't a _fortune_. Mr. Bragg said it wasn't a fortune. I +mean--it is very little more than Owen has with what he earns, Granny." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Mrs. Dobbs, a light beginning to dawn upon her. "I see. +Well, you can't have the proud satisfaction of marrying him without a +penny belonging to you. But perhaps he might take a situation for five +years on the Guinea Coast, so as to bring his income up above yours." + +"Oh, Granny!" + +"Why not? It would be quite as natural and sensible as his wanting to +marry poor Mrs. Bransby and her five children. Things are getting too +comfortable to be let alone. The least he can do is to undergo a course +of yellow fever, and----" + +"Granny, how can you?" And the young arms were round Granny, and the +blushing face hidden in Granny's breast. + +"Was I ever so foolish about Dobbs, I wonder?" murmured Mrs. Dobbs, as +she stroked the girl's hair. "He was a good-looking young fellow, was +Isaac, in our courting days, and a temper like a sunshiny morning, and +we were over head and ears in love, I know that; and--yes, I believe I +was every bit as soft-hearted and silly, the Lord be praised!" + +Mr. Bragg called at Jessamine Cottage about noon the day after May's +return. He asked to see Mrs. Dobbs, and remained talking with her alone +for some time. He had made up his mind, he told her, to give Mr. Rivers +a permanent post in his employment, if he chose to accept it. He thought +of offering him the management of the Oldchester office, if, after a +three months' trial, he found it suited him, and he suited it. There was +no technical knowledge of the manufacture needed for this post: merely a +clear head, honesty, the power of keeping accounts, and of conducting a +large business correspondence. + +"I think he can do it," said Mr. Bragg; "and, if he can, he may." Then +he informed Mrs. Dobbs that he had telegraphed to Mr. Rivers to come +down to Oldchester. He would there find, at the office in Friar's Row, a +letter with all details. "As for me," said Mr. Bragg, "I shall cross him +on the road. I am going to town by the three-thirty express. You needn't +mention what I've told you to Miss C. I thought, perhaps, she'd like +better to hear it--as an agreeable bit of news, I hope--from him." + +What more may have passed between them Granny never reported. He went +away without seeing May, merely leaving a message, "His kind regards, +and he hoped she was feeling well and rested." + +"Oh, I wish I had seen him!" exclaimed May, when this message was +faithfully delivered by Granny. "I wanted so much to thank him again. +It's too bad! I wonder why he went away without seeing me." + +"Do you?" said Granny shortly. "Well, perhaps he thought he'd had bother +enough with you for one while. He's got other things to do besides +dancing attendance on young ladies who wander about the world, fainting +from want of food, and requiring special trains, and all manner of +dainties." Privately she observed to Mr. Weatherhead that innocence was +mighty cruel sometimes, as could be exemplified any day by trusting a +young child with a kitten. + +"H'm! Mr. Bragg isn't exactly a kitten, Sarah," returned Jo. + +"True, a kitten will scratch! He's a man, and a good 'un; and I'll tell +you what, Jo, if Joshua Bragg wanted his shoes blacked, I'd go down on +my old knees to do it for him." + +May's legacy was a great piece of news for Mr. Weatherhead. He was not +only delighted at it for her sake, but he enjoyed the importance of +disseminating it. Jo went about the city from the house of one +acquaintance to another. He also looked in at the Black Bull, where he +ordered a glass of brandy-and-water in honour of May's good fortune. The +item of news he brought was a welcome contribution to the general fund +of gossip. The subjects of Mr. Lucius Cheffington's funeral, and how the +old lord had taken the death, and whether Captain Cheffington would come +back to England now that he was the heir, and make it up with his uncle, +were by this time beginning to be worn a little threadbare; or, at all +events, had lost their first gloss. + +In this way it speedily became known to those interested in the matter +that May Cheffington had arrived at her grandmother's house. Among +others, the intelligence reached Theodore Bransby. Theodore had been +frequently in Oldchester of late, on business of various kinds, chiefly +connected with the approaching election. He had never relinquished the +hope of winning May; and he believed that the death of Lucius was a +circumstance favourable to his hopes. He did not doubt that the new turn +of affairs would bring Captain Cheffington to England forthwith; and he +as little doubted that many doors--including Mr. Dormer-Smith's--would +be opened widely to Captain Cheffington now, which had been closed to +him for years. Moreover, Theodore was convinced that one immediate +result of her father's presence would be to separate May altogether from +Mrs. Dobbs, and the unfitting associates who haunted her house, and +claimed acquaintanceship with Miss Cheffington. May, he knew, had a weak +affection for the vulgar old woman. But her father's authority would be +strong enough to sever her from Mrs. Dobbs; and, for the rest, Captain +Cheffington was his friend; whereas he was instinctively aware that Mrs. +Dobbs was not. Latterly, too, ever since his father's death, May's +manner to him had been very gentle. + +He was meditating these things as he walked up the garden path to +Jessamine Cottage. May caught sight of him from the window, and sprang +up in consternation, crying to Granny to tell Martha he was not to be +admitted. Mrs. Dobbs, however, told May to run upstairs out of the way, +and determined to receive the visitor herself. + +"I'm so afraid he will persist in asking for me! He is wonderfully +obstinate, Granny!" said May, ready to fly upstairs at the first sound +of the expected knock at the door. + +"Ah!" rejoined Mrs. Dobbs, setting her mouth rather grimly, "so am I. +Show the gentleman into the parlour, Martha." + +Theodore was ushered into the little room, and found Mrs. Dobbs seated +in state in her big chair. The place was far smaller and poorer than the +house in Friar's Row, but in Theodore's eyes it was preferable. There +was the possibility of some pretentions to gentility on the part of a +dweller in Jessamine Cottage, whereas Friar's Row, though it might, +perhaps, be comfortable, was hopelessly ungenteel. + +Theodore, when he entered the room, made a low bow, which, unlike his +salutation on a former occasion, was distinctly a bow, and not a +nondescript gesture halfway between a bow and a nod. He had learned by +experience that it did not answer to treat Mrs. Dobbs _de haut en bas_. +He also made a movement as if to shake hands; but this Mrs. Dobbs +ignored, and asked him to sit down, in a coldly civil voice. + +She had been knitting when he came in, but laid the needles and worsted +aside on his entrance, and sat looking at him with her hands folded in +her lap. + +Theodore could scarcely tell why, but this action seemed to prelude +nothing pleasant. There was an air of being armed at all points about +the old woman, as she sat there looking at him with a steady attention +unshared by her knitting. But possibly the work had been laid aside out +of politeness. In any case, Theodore told himself that _he_ was not +likely to be disconcerted by such a trifle. + +"How do you do, Mrs. Dobbs?" he asked, when he was seated. + +"Very well, I'm much obliged to you." + +Here ensued a pause. + +"It is some time since we met, Mrs. Dobbs." + +"It's over a twelvemonth since you called at my house in Friar's Row, +Mr. Theodore Bransby." + +Another pause. + +"There has been trouble in the Cheffington family since then," said +Theodore, at length. "Ah, how strange and unexpected was the death of +the eldest son! Lucius, of course, was always delicate. Still, he might +have lived. His death has been a sad blow to Lord Castlecombe." + +Theodore considered himself to be condescending and conciliatory, in +thus assuming that Mrs. Dobbs took some part in the affliction of the +noble family. In his heart he resented her having the most distant +connection with them. But he intended to be polite. + +"There has been trouble in other families besides the Cheffingtons," +returned Mrs. Dobbs gravely, with her eyes on the young man's mourning +garments. + +"Oh! Yes. Of course. But no trouble with which you can be expected to +concern yourself," he answered. He was annoyed, and preserved his smooth +manner only by an effort. + +"And, anyway," continued Mrs. Dobbs, "Lord Castlecombe's sons have left +no fatherless children, nor widows, nor any one to be desolate and +oppressed--like your poor father did." + +Theodore raised his eyebrows in his favourite supercilious fashion. +"Your figurative language is a little stronger than the case requires," +he said. + +"Widowhood is a desolate thing, and poverty oppressive. There's no +figure in that, I'm sorry to say." + +"Oh, really? I was not aware," said Theodore, nettled, in spite of +himself, into showing some _hauteur_, "that Mrs. Bransby and her family +had excited so much interest in you!" + +"No; I dare say not. I believe you were not. I think it very likely +you'd be surprised if you knew how many folks in Oldchester and out of +it are interested in them." + +The young man sat silent, casting about for something to say which +should put down this old woman, without absolutely quarrelling with her. +He was glad to remember that he had always disliked her. But he had come +there with a purpose, and he did not intend to be turned aside from it. +Seeing that he did not speak, Mrs. Dobbs said, "Might I ask if you did +me the favour to call merely to condole upon the death of my late +daughter's husband's cousin?" + +This was an opening for what he wanted to say, and he availed himself of +it. He replied, stiffly, that the principal object of his visit had been +to see Miss Cheffington, who, he was told, had returned to Oldchester; +and that, in one sense, his visit might be held to be congratulatory, +inasmuch as Miss Cheffington inherited something worth having under her +cousin's will. He did not fear being suspected of any interested motive +here. Besides that he was rich enough to make the money a matter of +secondary importance; his conscience was absolutely clear on this score. +He had desired, and offered, to marry May when she was penniless; he +still desired it, but truly none the more for her inheritance. + +"Oh! So you've heard of the legacy, have you?" said Mrs. Dobbs. + +"Heard of it! My good lady, I was present at the reading of the will. +There were very few persons at the funeral; it was poor Lucius's wish +that it should be private, but I thought it my duty to attend. There are +peculiar relations between the family and myself, which made me desirous +of paying that compliment to his memory. I think there was no other +stranger present except Mr. Bragg. You have heard of him? Of course! All +Oldchester persons are acquainted with the name of Bragg. After the +ceremony Lord Castlecombe invited us into the library, and the will was +read. I understood that the deceased had wished its contents to be made +known as soon as possible." + +This narration of his distinguished treatment at Combe Park was soothing +to the young man's self-esteem. He ended his speech with patronizing +suavity. But Mrs. Dobbs remained silent and irresponsive. + +"I wish," said Theodore, after vainly awaiting a word from her, "to see +Miss Cheffington, if you please." + +Mrs. Dobbs slowly shook her head. He repeated the request, in a louder +and more peremptory tone. + +"Oh, I heard you quite well before," she said composedly; "but I'm sorry +to say your wish can't be complied with." + +"Miss Cheffington is in this house, is she not?" + +"Yes, she is at home; but you can't see her." + +Theodore grew a shade paler than usual, and answered sharply, "But I +insist upon seeing her." He threw aside the mask of civility. It +evidently was wasted here. + +"'Insist' is an unmannerly word to use; and a ridiculous one under the +circumstances--which, perhaps, you'll mind more. You can't see my +granddaughter." + +He glared at her in a white rage. Theodore's anger was never of the +blazing, explosive sort. If fire typifies that passion in most persons, +in him it resembled frost. His metal turned cold in wrath; but it would +skin the fingers which incautiously touched it. A fit of serious anger +was apt, also, to make him feel ill and tremulous. + +"May I ask why I cannot see her?" he said, almost setting his teeth as +he spoke. + +"Because she wishes to avoid you. She fled away when she saw you +coming," answered Mrs. Dobbs, with pitiless frankness. + +He drew two or three long breaths, like a person who has been running +hard, before saying, "That is very strange! It is only a few days ago +that Miss Cheffington was sitting beside me at dinner; talking to me in +the sweetest and most gracious manner." + +"As to sitting beside you, I suppose she had to sit where she was put! +And as to sweetness--no doubt she was civil. But, at any rate, she +declines to see you now. She has said so as plain as plain English can +express it." + +"Your statement is incredible. Suppose I say I don't believe it! What +guarantee have I that you are telling me the truth?" + +"None at all," she answered quietly. + +He stared blankly for a moment. Then he said, "Mrs. Dobbs, for some +reason, or no reason, you hate me. That is a matter of perfect +indifference to me." (His white lips, twitching nostrils, and icily +gleaming eyes, told a different tale.) "But I am not accustomed to be +treated with impertinence by persons of your class." + +"Only by your betters?" interpolated Mrs. Dobbs. + +"And, moreover, I shall take immediate steps to inform Captain +Cheffington of your behaviour. He will scarcely approve his daughter's +remaining with a person who--who----" + +"Says, she'd rather not see Mr. Theodore Bransby." + +"Who insults his friends. With regard to Miss Cheffington, I have no +doubt you will endeavour to poison her mind against me. But you may +possibly find yourself baffled. I have made proposals to Miss +Cheffington--no doubt you are acquainted with the fact--which, although +not immediately accepted, were not definitively rejected: at least, not +by the young lady herself. And I shall take an answer from no one else. +Miss Cheffington's demeanour to me, of late, has been distinctly +encouraging. If it be now changed, I shall know quite well to whose low +cunning and insolent interference to attribute it. But you may find +yourself mistaken in your reckoning, Mrs. Dobbs. Captain Cheffington is +my friend: and Captain Cheffington will hardly be disposed to leave his +daughter in such hands when I tell him all." + +He was speaking in a laboured way, and his lips and hands were +tremulous. + +Mrs. Dobbs looked at him gravely, but with no trace of anger. "Look +here," she said when he paused, apparently from want of breath--"you may +as well know it first as last--May is engaged to be married; has been +engaged more than three months." + +Theodore gave a kind of gasp, and turned of so ghastly a pallor that +Mrs. Dobbs, without another word, went to a closet in the room, unlocked +it, took out a decanter with some sherry in it, poured out a brimming +glassful of the wine, and, placing one hand behind the young man's head, +put the glass to his lips with the other. He made a feeble movement to +reject it. + +"Off with it!" she said in the voice of a nurse talking to a refractory +child. + +He swallowed the sherry without further resistance, and a tinge of +colour began to return to his face. + +"You haven't got too much strength," observed Mrs. Dobbs, as she stood +and watched him. "Your mother was delicate, and I suppose you take after +her." + +She had no intention, no consciousness, of doing so, but, in speaking +thus, she touched a sensitive chord. Any allusion to his mother's feeble +constitution made him nervous. He closed his eyes, and murmured that he +feared he had caught a chill at the funeral; that the sensation of +shivering pointed to that. + +Mrs. Dobbs stood looking down on him as he sat with his head thrown back +in the chair. + +"And so, my lad, you think I hate you?" she said. "Why, I should be +sorry to be obliged to hate your father's son; or, for that matter, your +mother's son either. She was a good, quiet, peaceable sort of young +woman. I remember her well, and your grandfather, old Rabbitt, that kept +the Castlecombe Arms when I was young. No; I don't hate you. Not a bit! +But I'll tell you what I do hate; I hate to see young creatures, that +ought by rights to be generous, and trusting, and affectionate, and +maybe a little bit foolish--there's a kind of foolishness that's better +than over-wisdom in the young--I hate to see 'em setting themselves up, +valuing themselves on their 'cuteness; ashamed of them that have gone +before 'em. I hate to see 'em hard-hearted to the helpless. Young things +may be cruel from thoughtlessness; but, to be cruel out of +meanness--well, I'll own I do hate that. But as for you, it comes into +my head that perhaps I've been a bit too hard on you." + +Mrs. Dobbs here laid her broad hand on his shoulder. He would fain have +shaken it off. But, although the wine had greatly restored him, he +thought it prudent to remain quiet, and recover himself completely +before going away. + +"You are but a lad to me," continued Mrs. Dobbs. "And perhaps I've been +hard on you. There's a deal of excuse to be made. You love my +granddaughter, after your fashion--and nobody can love better than his +best--and it's bitter not to be loved again. You'll get over it. Folks +with redder blood in their veins than you, have got over it before +to-day. But I know you can't think so now; and it's bitter. But if +you'll take an old woman's advice--an old woman that knew your mother +and grandmother, and is old enough to be your grandmother +herself--you'll just make up your mind to bear a certain amount of pain +without flinching:--like as if you'd got a bullet in battle, or broke +your collar-bone out hunting--and turn your thoughts to helping other +folks in their trouble. There's no cure for the heart-ache like that, +take my word for it. Come now, you just face it like a man, and try my +recipe! You've got good means and good abilities. Do some good with 'em! +Some young fellows when they're out of spirits, take to climbing up +mountains, slaughtering wild beasts, or getting into scrimmages with +savages--by the way, I did hear that you were going into Parliament--but +there's your stepmother now, with her five children, your young brothers +and sisters, on her hands. Just you go in for making her life easier. +There's a good work ready and waiting for you." + +Theodore moved his shoulder brusquely, and Mrs. Dobbs immediately +withdrew her hand. He stood up and said stiffly, "I must offer you my +acknowledgments for the wine you administered." + +Mrs. Dobbs merely waved her hand, as though putting that aside, and +continued to look at him, with a grave expression, which was not without +a certain broad, motherly compassion. + +"I presume the name of the man to whom Miss Cheffington has engaged +herself is not a secret?" + +"It is Mrs. Hadlow's nephew; Mr. Owen Rivers," answered Mrs. Dobbs +simply. + +He had felt as sure of what she was going to say as though he had seen +the words printed before him; nevertheless, the sound of the name seemed +to pierce him like a sword-blade. He drew himself up with a strong +effort to be cutting and contemptuous. But as he went on speaking, he +lost his self-command and prudence. + +"Miss Cheffington is to be congratulated, indeed! Captain Cheffington +will, no doubt, be delighted at the alliance you have contrived for his +daughter! Mr. Owen Rivers! A clerk in Mr. Bragg's counting-house--which, +however, is probably the most respectable occupation he has ever +followed! Mr. Owen Rivers, whose name is scandalously connected +throughout Oldchester with that of the person you were so kind as to +recommend to my good offices just now! A person whose conduct disgraces +my family, and dishonours my father's memory! Mr. Owen Rivers, who----" + +"Hush! Hold your tongue!" cried Mrs. Dobbs, fairly clapping one hand +over his mouth, and pointing with the other to the window. + +There at the bottom of the garden was Owen, hurriedly alighting from a +cab; and May, who had witnessed his arrival from an upper window, +presently came flying down the pathway into his arms. + +Theodore had but a lightning-swift glimpse of this little scene, for +Mrs. Dobbs saying, "Come along here!" resolutely pulled him by the arm +into a back room, and so to a door opening on to a lane behind the +house. He was astonished at this summary proceeding, but he affected +somewhat more bewilderment than he really felt, so as to cover his +retreat. And he muttered something about having to deal with a mad +woman. + +"Now go!" said Mrs. Dobbs, opening the door. "I can forgive a deal to +love and jealousy and disappointment, but that cowardly lie is not to be +forgiven. To think that you--_you_--should be Martin Bransby's son! Why, +it's enough to make your father turn in his grave!" + +And with that she thrust him out, and shut the door upon him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith's affectionate letter to her brother produced a result +which she had not at all anticipated when she wrote it. He arrived in +England by the next steamboat from Ostend, and took up his quarters in +her house. He had come ostensibly for the purpose of visiting Combe +Park, and patching up a reconciliation with his uncle. This, indeed, was +a pet scheme with Pauline. She had hinted at it in writing to her +brother. Now that George and "poor dear Lucius" were gone, Lord +Castlecombe might not dislike to be on good terms with his heir. He was +old and lonely, and, as Pauline's correspondents had assured her, +greatly broken down by the death of his sons. + +Frederick scarcely knew which to regret the most--his niece's departure +or his brother-in-law's arrival. He missed May very much, but very +shortly he began to be reconciled to her engagement. Rivers was a +gentleman and an honest fellow, and might be trusted to take care of +May's money, which Mr. Dormer-Smith thought would be otherwise in +imminent jeopardy from the arrival on the scene of May's papa. + +That gentleman, indeed, who had at first taken the news of his +daughter's engagement with supreme indifference, showed some lively +symptoms of disapprobation on learning the fact of Lucius's bequest. A +daughter dependent on the bounty of Mrs. Dobbs for food, shelter, and +raiment, was an uninteresting person enough; but a daughter who +possessed between four and five hundred a-year of her own, ought not to +be allowed to marry without her father's consent. Frederick dryly +remarked that May's capital was stringently tied up in the hands of +trustees, whether she were married or single. Whereupon Augustus +indulged in very strong language respecting his dead cousin; and +declared that the terms of the will were a pointed and intentional +insult to _him_, who was his child's natural guardian. + +Still, although the capital was secure, Frederick knew that the income +was not. And the more he observed his brother-in-law, the more he felt +how desirable it was that May should have a husband to take care of her. + +Captain Cheffington had not improved during his years of exile. He +smoked all day long; and even at night in his bed, incensing May's +chamber, which he occupied, with clouds of tobacco-smoke. He had +contracted other unpleasant habits, and his temper was diabolical. He +had not brought his wife to England with him. He would sit for hours +with his slippered feet on the fender in his sister's dressing-room, +railing at the absent Mrs. Augustus Cheffington in a way which was most +grievous to Pauline; for he showed not the least reticence in the +presence of Smithson. Talk of "floating"--how would it be possible to +"float" a woman of whom her own husband spoke in that way? + +He had no very grave charges to bring against La Bianca after all. She +had been faithful to him, and stuck to him, and worked for him. But he +bewailed his fate in having tied himself to "a third-rate Italian +opera-singer, without an idea in her head beyond painting her face and +squalling!" It was just his cursed luck. Why couldn't Lucius die, since +he meant to die, six months earlier? + +At another time, he would openly rejoice in the death of his cousins, +and express a fervent hope that the old boy wasn't going to last much +longer. Pauline would remonstrate, and put her handkerchief to her eyes, +and beg her brother not to speak so heartlessly of his own family: +especially of "poor dear Lucius." But Augustus pooh-pooh'd this as +confounded humbug. He was uncommonly glad to be the heir of Combe Park, +and thought it about time that his family, and his country, and the +human race generally, made him some amends for the years he had passed +under a cloud! _He_ would show them how to enjoy life when he came into +possession of "his property," as he had taken to call Lord Castlecombe's +estate. He planned out several changes in the disposal of the land, and +decided what rent he would take for the house and home-park. For he did +not intend to live in this d----d foggy little island, where one had +bronchitis if one hadn't got rheumatism, and rheumatism if one hadn't +got bronchitis. In one respect his visions coincided with his sister's, +since he talked of having a villa on the Mediterranean coast, not far +from Monte Carlo; but they differed from hers in several important +points: notably in providing no place for her in the villa. + +Frederick would sometimes throw a shade over these rosy dreams by +observing doggedly that, for his part, he doubted the likelihood of Lord +Castlecombe's speedy decease, and that, looking at them both, he was +inclined to consider Uncle George's life the better of the two; so that, +on the whole, domestic life in Mr. Dormer-Smith's smart house at +Kensington was by no means harmonious. Meanwhile Pauline, with +considerable pains and earnest meditation, composed a letter to her +uncle on behalf of Augustus; she did not venture to entrust the task to +Augustus himself. It would be impossible to persuade him to be as smooth +and conciliatory as the case demanded. But she wrote a letter which, she +thought, combined diplomacy with pathos, and from which she hoped for +some satisfactory result. But the reply she received by return of post +was of such a nature that she hastily thrust it into the fire lest +Augustus should see it, and told him and her husband that "poor dear +Uncle George was not yet equal to the effort of seeing Augustus, after +the great shock he had suffered." Uncle George had, in fact, stated in +the plainest terms that if Captain Cheffington ventured to show himself +in Combe Park, the servants had orders to turn him out forcibly! + +The object for which Captain Cheffington had come to England at that +time being thus baulked, it would have appeared natural that he should +return to his wife in Brussels. But day followed day, until nearly three +weeks had elapsed since Lucius Cheffington's death, and still Augustus +remained at Kensington. Every morning, with a dreadful regularity, Mr. +Dormer-Smith inquired of his wife if she knew whether her brother were +going away in the course of that day; and every morning the shower of +tears with which Mrs. Dormer-Smith received the inquiry, and which +generally formed her only answer to it, became more copious. Augustus, +on the whole, was the least uncomfortable of the trio. He had contrived +to raise a little ready money on his expectations; he was well lodged +and well fed; the change to London (now that he had a few pounds in his +pocket) was not unwelcome after Brussels; and as to his brother-in-law's +undisguised dislike to his presence, he had grown far too callous to +heed it, so long as it suited him to ignore it. Not but that he took +note of it in his mind keenly enough, and promised himself the pleasure +of paying off Frederick with interest, as soon as he should come into +"his property." + +All this time a humble household in Oldchester was a great deal happier +than the wintry days were long. The news of Captain Cheffington's +arrival in England had at first disturbed May. Perhaps he might insist +on seeing her; and she shrank from seeing him. But she thought it her +duty to write to him and inform him herself of her engagement; and +neither Owen nor her grandmother opposed her doing so. + +If May had any lingering illusion about her father, or any hope that he +would manifest some gleam of parental tenderness towards her, the +illusion and the hope were short-lived. The reply to her communications +was a hurried scrawl, haughtily regretting that Mr. Owen Rivers had not +thought proper to wait upon him and ask his consent to the marriage, +which he totally disapproved of! And adding that although Rivers of +Riversmead was undoubtedly good blood, it appeared that the traditions +of gentlemanlike behaviour had been lost by the present bearer of the +name, since he entered the service of a tradesman. The letter ended with +a peremptory demand for fifty pounds. + +May and Owen had planned that granny was to return to Friar's Row on +their marriage. Mr. Bragg was willing to break the lease which he held, +and to remove his office to another house hard by. And Mrs. Dobbs, with +all her goods and chattels, was to be reinstated in her old home. As +this scheme was to be kept secret from Granny for the present, it +involved a vast deal of delightful mystery and plotting. Jo Weatherhead +was admitted to the conspiracy, and enjoyed it with the keenest relish. + +A word or two had been said as to Mrs. Dobbs taking up her abode with +the young couple when they should be married. But this Granny instantly +and inflexibly refused. + +"No, no, children; I'm not quite so foolish as that! It's very well for +Owen to take May for better for worse. But it would be a little too much +to take May and her grandmother for better for worse!" + +Of course it was not long before Owen took his betrothed to see Canon +and Mrs. Hadlow. They walked together to the old house in College Quad, +where, however, their news had preceded them. The Hadlows were very +cordial. Both of them were very fond of May; and Aunt Jane loudly hoped +that Owen appreciated his good fortune, and declared it was far above +his deserts, though in her heart she thought no girl in England too good +for her favourite nephew. The lovers were affectionately bidden to come +again as often as they could, and brighten up the old place with the +sight of their happy young faces. + +They agreed, as they walked home together, that the home in College Quad +seemed a little gloomy and lonely without Conny. Conny was still away. +She had only been at home on a flying visit of a few days during several +months past. She was now staying with a Lady Belcraft, who had a +handsome house at Combe St. Mildred's. Mrs. Hadlow had told them so; and +a word or two, uttered in the same breath, about Theodore Bransby being +often in that neighbourhood, suggested a suspicion that Theodore might +be thinking of returning to his old love. This idea annoyed Owen +extremely. The hint which suggested it had been dropped almost in the +moment of saying "good-bye" to Mrs. Hadlow, or he would have attempted +at once to sound her on the subject. + +He had interrogated his aunt privately--while May was being petted and +made much of by the kind old canon--as to a rumour which was rife in +Oldchester--namely, that Constance had been betrothed to Lucius +Cheffington. But Aunt Jane positively denied this. She admitted that the +gossip bad reached her own ears, and that she had spoken to her daughter +about it. + +"But Conny entirely disabused me of any such notion. She said that, in +the first place, nothing was farther from Lucius's thoughts than +love-making; and that, in the second place, it would have been a most +imprudent marriage for her, since she could only expect to be speedily +left a widow with a very slender jointure. Conny was never romantic, you +know," said Aunt Jane, with a quick, half-humorous glance at her nephew. + +Owen began to consider with himself whether it might not be his duty to +acquaint Canon Hadlow with many parts of Theodore's conduct which were +certainly unknown to him. All inquiries conducted either by himself or +by Jo Weatherhead--who ferreted out information with untiring zeal and +delight in the task--showed more and more plainly that the calumnies +concerning Mrs. Bransby could be traced, for the most part, to her +step-son, and in no single instance beyond him. May had long ago +acquitted Constance Hadlow of speaking or writing evil things of the +widow. Constance had not, in fact, expended any attention whatever on +the Bransby family since their departure from Oldchester. + +She was spending her time very agreeably. Her hostess, Lady Belcraft, +was a widow. She was a great crony of Mrs. Griffin's, and delighted with +Mrs. Griffin's _protegee_. Having, so to speak, retired from business on +her own account (her two daughters being married and settled long ago), +Lady Belcraft was still most willing to renew the toils of the chase on +behalf of a friend. She and Mrs. Griffin had carefully examined the +county list of possible matches for Constance Hadlow; and had agreed +that there was good hope of a speedy find, a capital run, and a +successful finish. + +It so happened that on the same afternoon when May and Owen were paying +their visit to College Quad, Theodore Bransby was making a call at the +residence of Lady Belcraft in Combe St. Mildred's. + +Ever since his interview with Mrs. Dobbs--now several days ago--Theodore +had been considering his own case with minute and concentrated +attention. We are all of us, it must be owned, supremely interesting to +ourselves; but Theodore's interest in himself was of a jealously +exclusive kind. His health was undoubtedly delicate. He had felt the +loss of a home to which he could repair when he was ailing or out of +sorts ever since his father's death. He found, too, that he was apt to +become hipped and nervous when alone. He came to the conclusion that he +needed a wife to take care of him, and, after grave consideration, he +resolved to marry Constance Hadlow. + +If he could by a word have destroyed Rivers and obtained possession of +May Cheffington, he would have said that word without hesitation or +remorse; but since that could not be, he did not intend to wear the +willow. He would marry Constance. That she would have accepted him long +ago he was well assured; and his circumstances were far more prosperous +now than in those days. Canon and Mrs. Hadlow could not but be impressed +by his disinterestedness in coming forward now that he was in the +enjoyment of a handsome independence. And, on his side, he believed he +was choosing prudently. If he were ill, the attentions of a wife--a +refined and cultured woman, dependent, moreover, on him for the comfort +of her daily life--would be far preferable to those of a hireling nurse, +who would have the power of going away whenever she found her position +disagreeable. But this was only one side of the question. When he grew +stronger (he always looked forward to growing stronger) Constance would +be an admirable helpmate from a social point of view. She had acquired +influential friends, was received in the best houses, and would do his +taste infinite credit, and whether as a politician or a barrister she +might have it in her power to forward his ambitions. + +It was as the result of these meditations that he called at Lady +Belcraft's. + +He had met her occasionally in society, and she knew perfectly who he +was. But there was a distinct film of ice over the politeness with which +she received him when he was ushered into her drawing-room. She thought +this little attorney's son was taking something like a liberty in +appearing there uninvited. She forgave him, however, immediately when, +in his most correct manner, he asked for Miss Hadlow. + +Really it might do, thought Lady Belcraft. The young man was very well +off, and presentable, and all that, and dear Conny, though simply +charming, had not a penny in the world (neither was dear Conny her +ladyship's own daughter). Yes; she positively thought it might do! She +was so sorry that Miss Hadlow was not within, but she expected her every +moment. She was walking, she believed, in the park. "The Park" at Combe +St. Mildred's meant Combe Park. Oh, yes; she was aware that Mr. Bransby +was an old acquaintance. Playfellows from childhood? Really! That sort +of thing always had such a hold on one--was so extremely----Oh, there +was dear Conny coming up the drive. + +Lady Belcraft sent a message by a servant, begging Miss Hadlow to come +into the drawing-room, where she presently appeared. + +She was dressed in a winter toilet of carefully-studied simplicity, and +looked radiantly handsome. Theodore gazed at her as if he had never seen +her before. Self-possessed she had always been, but she had now acquired +something more than that--an air of conscious distinction--of "being +somebody," as Theodore phrased it in his own mind, which he admired and +wondered at. + +"Here's an old friend of yours, Conny," said Lady Belcraft. + +Constance had been pulling off her gloves as she entered the room, and +she now extended a white, well cared-for hand to Theodore, with a cool +little, "Oh, how d'ye do?" and the faintest of smiles. + +Her hostess thought within herself that if there really was anything +between her and young Bransby, Conny's behaviour was marvellous, and +that all the training bestowed on her own daughters had left them far +below the point of finish attained by this provincial clergyman's +daughter. + +"Did you walk far? Are you tired?" she asked. + +"No, thanks, dear Lady Belcraft; I am not at all tired. I went to my +favourite group of beeches. It's a capital day for walking. And what is +the news in Oldchester, Theodore?" + +Her calling him "Theodore" in the old familiar way seemed to have the +mysterious effect of putting him under her feet; it implied such +superiority and security. Theodore was conscious of this, but it did not +displease him; she had doubtless resented his not making the expected +offer earlier. He had thought when he met her in London that hurt +_amoure propre_ had much to do with her cavalier treatment of him. But +he had a charm to smoothe her ruffled plumes. + +After a little commonplace conversation, Lady Belcraft recollected some +orders which she wanted to give personally to her gardener, and, with a +brief excuse, left the room. Constance perfectly understood why she had +done so, Theodore did not; but he seized the occasion which, he +imagined, hazard had thrown in his way. + +"I am very glad of this opportunity of speaking with you alone, +Constance," he began very solemnly. + +There was no trepidation such as he had felt in speaking to May. He +neither trembled, nor stammered, nor grew hot and cold by turns. That +chapter was closed. He was turning over a new and quite different leaf. + +"Yes?" said Constance. "Really!" She removed her hat, smoothed the thick +dark braids of her hair before a mirror, and sat down with graceful +composure. + +"I don't think we have met, Constance, since----" He glanced at his +black clothes. + +"No; I think not. I was very sorry. I begged mamma to give you a message +from me when she wrote to condole with Mrs. Bransby." + +"I merely allude to that sad subject in order to assure you that I am +not unmindful of what is proper and becoming under the circumstances; +and lest you should think me guilty of heartless precipitation." + +He was beginning to enjoy the rounding off of his sentences--a pleasure +he had never tasted in May's company; strong emotion being unfavourable +to polished periods. + +"Oh, I don't think you were ever guilty of precipitation," answered +Constance quietly. But the mirror opposite reflected a flash of her +handsome eyes. + +"Nothing," continued Theodore, "could be in worse taste than to neglect +the accustomed forms of respect. A period of twelve months would not be +too long to mourn for a parent so excellent as my father; but six months +could not be considered to outrage decorum. And I should not urge----" + +He paused. He had been on the point of saying that he would not press +for the marriage taking place before the summer, when he happily +remembered that he had not yet gone through the form of asking Constance +whether she would marry him or not. To him it seemed so like merely +taking up the thread of a story temporarily interrupted, that he had +lost sight of the probability that Constance's mind had not been keeping +pace with his own on the subject. But it recurred to him in time. + +Constance was sitting on a low couch near the fireside, at some distance +from him. He now took his place beside her. There was a certain +awkwardness in making a proposal of marriage across a spacious room. + +"There can be no need of many words between us, Constance," he began, +with as much tenderness of manner as he could call up. Then he stopped. +Constance had drawn away the skirt of her gown on the side next to him, +and was examining it attentively. "What is the matter?" he asked. + +"I thought you had accidentally set your boot on the hem of my frock," +she said. "And the roads are so muddy, although it is fine overhead! But +it's all right. I beg your pardon: you were saying----?" + +This interruption was disconcerting. He had had in his head an elaborate +sentence which was now dispersed and irrecoverable. He must begin all +over again. However, when fairly started once more, his eloquence did +not fail him. He offered his hand and fortune to Miss Hadlow, "in good +set terms." + +She was silent when he had finished, and he ventured to take her hand. + +"Am I not to have an answer, dearest Constance?" he asked. + +She drew her hand away very gently and with perfect composure before +saying, as she looked full at him with her fine dark eyes-- + +"You are not joking, then?" + +"_Joking!_" + +"Well, I know you are not given to joking, and this would certainly be +an inconceivably bad joke; but it is almost more inconceivable that you +should be in earnest." + +He was fairly bewildered, and doubtful of her meaning. + +"However," she continued, "if you really expect a serious answer, you +must have it. No, thank you." + +He stood up erect and stiff, as if moved by a spring. She remained +leaning back in an easy attitude on the couch, and looking at him. + +"I----Constance!----I don't understand you!" he exclaimed. + +"I refuse you," she replied in a gentle voice, and with her best society +drawl. "Distinctly, decidedly, and unhesitatingly. I think you _must_ +understand that. Won't you stay and see Lady Belcraft?" (Theodore had +taken up his hat, and was moving towards the door.) "Oh, very well. I +will make your excuses." + +She rang the bell, which was within reach of her hand, and Theodore +walked out of the room without proffering another word. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Canon Hadlow had resolved that his daughter, when she returned to +Oldchester for May's wedding, to which she was, of course, invited, +should remain in her own home at least for some months. He had grown +very discontented with her prolonged and frequent absences. Mrs. Hadlow, +at the earnest request of Constance, backed by a polite invitation from +Lady Belcraft, went to Combe St. Mildred's to remain there one day, and +bring her daughter back with her. + +But, instead of doing so, she sent a telegram home, desiring that a box +of clothes might be packed and sent to her; and, most surprising of all, +the box was to be addressed to Dover. This item of news was disseminated +by the Hadlows' servant, whose duty it was to see the trunk conveyed to +the railway station. And the woman declared she believed, from what she +could make out, that her mistress was going to France. + +Of course, the canon knew the truth. But the canon was not visible to +callers. He had a cold, and kept his room. All the circle of the +Hadlows' acquaintance--and the circle seemed to be immediately widened +by the dropping into its midst of this puzzling bit of news, as a stone +dropped into water is surrounded by a ring of ever-increasing +circumference--were, however, spared further conjecture by the +publication, in due course, of the supplement to the _Times_ newspaper +of Tuesday, the twenty-seventh of February. It contained the +announcement of the marriage at the British Embassy in Paris, on the +preceding Saturday, of Viscount Castlecombe to Constance Jane, only +daughter of the Reverend Edward Hadlow, Canon of Oldchester. + +The general public, or as much of it as had ever heard of the parties +concerned--for that vast entity the general public is really as +divisible as a jelly-fish; each portion being perfect for all purposes +of its existence, when cut off from the rest--was ranged, as is usual in +such cases, in two main camps; those who couldn't have believed it +beforehand, though an angel from Heaven had announced it, and those who +had all along had their suspicions, and were not so _very_ much +surprised as you expected. But only the nearest friends and relatives of +the family enjoyed the not inconsiderable advantage for judging the +matter, of really knowing anything about it. + +Owen was the first person whom his uncle admitted to see him. The old +man was greatly overcome. His daughter's marriage was a blow to him. It +gave a rude shock to the ideal Constance, whom he had loved and admired +with a sort of delicate paternal chivalry. There could be no question of +love in such a marriage as this--no question, even, of gratitude, or +reverence, or any of the finer feelings. To the pure-hearted, +simple-minded old man, it seemed to be a sad degradation for his +daughter. Not a soul except his wife ever fully understood his state of +mind on the subject; for he spoke of it to no one. Mrs. Dobbs, perhaps, +came nearest to doing so. She had a great reverence and admiration for +the canon, and considerable sympathetic insight into his feelings. And +when, afterwards, people said in her presence how proud and elated Canon +Hadlow must be at his daughter's making so great a match, she would +tighten her lips, and observe _sotto voce_ that you might as well expect +a Christian saint to be gratified by being decorated with the peacock's +feather of a Chinese mandarin. + +When Mrs. Hadlow came home, of course more particulars were divulged. +Many came out by degrees in confidential talks with her nephew. Mrs. +Hadlow spoke to him quite openly. + +Constance had earnestly begged her mother to go to her at Combe St. +Mildred's, and almost immediately on her arrival there had announced +that she was about to marry Lord Castlecombe, and that everything was +arranged for the ceremony to take place in Paris; since, under the +circumstances, they both felt that it could not be managed too quietly. +She much wished her mother and father to accompany her to Paris, in +order that everything might be _en regle_. + +When the first astonishment was over, Mrs. Hadlow impulsively tried to +dissuade her daughter from taking this step. It was dreadful, it was +really monstrous to think of her Conny marrying that old man, who was +several years the senior of her own father! A man, too, of a hard, +unamiable character--one who was much feared, little respected, and +loved not at all! She was revolted by the idea. And as to the canon, she +could not bear to think of what he would feel. He would never allow it! +It was hopeless to think of gaining his consent. + +When her mother's tearful excitement had somewhat subsided, Constance +pointed out that she had a very sincere regard for Lord Castlecombe, who +had behaved in every way excellently towards her; that as to "falling in +love," as depicted by poets and novelists, she had her private opinion, +which was, briefly, that all that was about as historically true as the +adventures of Oberon and Titania; and that, at all events, she was +sufficiently acquainted with her own character to be persuaded that +_she_ was incapable of that species of temporary insanity. Further, with +regard to her father's consent, she deeply regretted to hear that he was +likely to withhold it; since she would, in that case, be compelled to +marry without it, which would be very painful to her. (And when she said +that it would be painful to her, her mother knew that she spoke quite +sincerely.) She was of full age to judge for herself in the matter, and +could not think of breaking her word to Lord Castlecombe. She further +pointed out that although, of course, Oldchester people would chatter +about her--she spoke already, as though she were looking down on those +common mortals from the serene and luminous elevation of some fixed +star--yet there could be nothing scandalous said if she were known to be +accompanied to Paris by her mother. As to papa, his health, and his +duties, and many other excuses might be alleged for his not undertaking +a journey at that inclement season. + +Constance spoke with perfect calmness, and without the slightest +disrespect of manner. But Mrs. Hadlow was made aware within five minutes +that nothing on earth which she had power to say or do would, for an +instant, shake her daughter's resolve to be a viscountess. There was +nothing to be done but to put the best face possible on the matter, and +go to Paris. She could not allow her child to travel thither alone. The +bridegroom had already preceded them, to make all needful preparations. + +Poor Mrs. Hadlow was in such a whirl of confusion and emotion as +scarcely to know what she was doing or saying. "Had Lady Belcraft known +of this?" she asked. Constance smiled rather scornfully, as she replied +that nobody would be more surprised than poor dear Lady Belcraft when +she should learn the news. No; Conny was not going to share the glory of +her capture with any one. And, in truth, such glory as belonged to it +was all her own. + +Mrs. Griffin, on hearing the news, was at first half inclined to be +sharp and spiteful at being kept in the dark. (Although, of course, she +did not allow herself to continue in that vulgar frame of mind.) But +Lady Belcraft was subdued, and almost prostrate in spirit before this +gifted young creature. "She's a wonderful young woman, my dear--a +wonderful young woman!" declared Lady Belcraft. + +Just before they landed from the steamboat at Calais, Constance said to +her mother, "Mamma, I do think you and papa are the most unworldly +people I ever heard of! You have never thought of saying a single word +about settlements." + +Mrs. Hadlow started, and looked blankly at her daughter. She stood +rebuked. "I have felt, ever since you told me, as if I had received a +stunning blow on the head which deprived me of half my faculties," she +answered. "But I ought to have thought of that. It is not too late now, +perhaps, to secure some provision for you; is it, Conny?" + +"I should not have thought of marrying Lord Castlecombe without a proper +settlement, mamma. We might have been married a fortnight ago if it had +not been for the delays of the lawyers; although matters were simplified +for them by my having nothing at all! I am quite satisfied with the +arrangements, and I hope you and papa will be so too. I think you will +admit that Lord Castlecombe has been very generous." + +Mrs. Hadlow was a woman of bright intelligence, and she had been apt to +consider Conny a little below the Rivers' standard of brains; but now, +as she looked and listened, she felt tempted to exclaim, like Lady +Belcraft, that this was a wonderful young woman. + +But what words can paint the effect of that fateful announcement in the +_Times_ on the family party assembled in Mr. Dormer-Smith's house at +Kensington! + +Augustus behaved so outrageously, used such vituperative language, and +comported himself altogether with such violence, that his brother-in-law +privately fortified himself by securing the presence of a policeman well +in view of the windows, on the opposite side of the way, before +requesting Captain Cheffington to withdraw at once from his house. Much +to his surprise, and immensely to his relief, the request was complied +with promptly. Captain Cheffington disappeared in a hansom cab, with a +smart travelling-bag, and followed by a second vehicle containing two +well-filled portmanteaus. Whereas, as James cynically remarked to the +cook, a cigar-case and a tooth-pick was about the amount of his luggage +when he arrived! James had not been fee'd. Augustus asserted his claim +to be considered one of the family by swearing at the servants, and +never giving any of them a sixpence. The explanation of this speedy +departure was shortly forthcoming in the shape of a variety of bills, +which poured in with astonishing rapidity. Augustus also, as has been +stated, had been clever enough to raise a little money on the strength +of his heirship. And Mr. Dormer-Smith had to endure some contumely from +creditors who had looked to getting something like twenty-five per cent. +above market-prices out of the captain, and were roused to a frenzy of +moral indignation when they discovered that he was safe out of England, +and beyond their reach. + +To Pauline the blow was the more severe because she persuaded herself +that she had been the victim of black ingratitude on the part of +Constance. + +"_That_ girl!" she would murmur, weeping. "That girl, whom I held up as +a model--and who really did behave perfectly when she was here--quite +_perfectly_--to think of that girl being the one to turn round on the +family in this treacherous way! I do not know how I shall endure to see +her face again." + +"Then don't see it," suggested Frederick. "If you think she has behaved +so badly, cut her, and have done with it." + +"Cut her!" exclaimed Pauline, sitting up from among the pillows in her +_chaise longue_, with a vinagrette in one hand and a pocket-handkerchief +in the other. "How can I cut my uncle's wife? She is now Lady +Castlecombe, Frederick! You seem to have no idea that private feelings +must give way to the duty one owes to society. I wonder who will present +her. I dare say Mrs. Griffin will persuade the duchess to do it. It +would not surprise me at all. Probably they will open the town house +now, and come up every season. Cut her! Frederick, you talk like that +Nihilist who is going to marry poor darling May!" + +Frederick more than ever thought that "poor darling May" was to be +congratulated on having secured the love and protection of the honest +young Englishman to whom his wife persisted in attributing anarchical +principles. He wrote a kind letter, in which he proposed to come down to +Oldchester and give his niece away at the marriage, if that would be +agreeable to her and Mr. Rivers. May's affectionate heart was overjoyed +by this proposal. A joint letter, signed by May and Owen, was sent by +return of post, in which both Aunt Pauline and Uncle Frederick were +warmly invited to the wedding. And May put in a special petition that +Harold and Wilfred should be allowed to be present. Granny would find a +nook for them in Jessamine Cottage. + +May also sent an invitation to Mrs. Bransby to be present, but she +replied that she would not bring her black gown to be a blot on their +brightness, but that no more loving prayers would be breathed for their +happiness than those of their affectionate friend Louisa Bransby. + +Neither did Aunt Pauline accept the invitation. She did not write +unkindly. Her reply seemed to be, indeed, a sort of homily on the text-- + + "How all unconscious of their doom + The little victims play." + +It was a sad business, but she was mildly compassionate and forbearing. +But the best of all was that Harold and Wilfred were to be permitted to +come. In fact, their father insisted on bringing them, to their +inexpressible rapture. They took to Granny at once, and she had to keep +a watch upon her tongue lest she should let slip before Mr. Dormer-Smith +the words she had said on first seeing the children-- + +"Poor dear motherless little fellows!" + +On the wedding morning a letter arrived for Mrs. Dobbs from Mr. Bragg. +Mr. Bragg was about to sail for Buenos Ayres on a twelve-months' visit +to his son. Before going away, he thought it would be agreeable to May +and her husband, he wrote, to be the means of communicating something to +Mrs. Bransby, which he hoped would be to her advantage. The new premises +which he had taken for his office, now removed from Friars' Row, were to +be furnished throughout, and a couple of rooms reserved for Mr. Bragg's +use whenever he wished to come into Oldchester from his country house. +Under these circumstances, a resident housekeeper would be required to +look after the place and govern the servants. Mr. Bragg hoped that Mrs. +Bransby would do him the favour to accept this post, and that she would +find herself more comfortable among her old friends in Oldchester, than +in the wilderness of London. Moreover, he enclosed a cheque for a +handsome sum of money, as to the disposal of which he thus wrote:-- + +"The cheque I would ask Mr. Rivers to apply to paying young Martin +Bransby's school fees for the ensuing year. And any little matter that +may be over can be used for the boy's books, and so on. He is a fine +boy, I think, and worth helping. Learning is a great thing. I never had +it myself, but I don't undervalue it for that. I have thought that this +would perhaps be the best way I could find of what you might call +testifying my appreciation of Mr. Rivers's services to me. I hope he +will accept it as a wedding present." + +To May he sent no gift. + +"I could offer her nothing but dross," he wrote, "and I don't want her +thoughts of me to be mixed up with gold and diamonds, and such poor +things as are oftentimes the best a rich man has to give. Some young +ladies would be disappointed at this. I don't believe she will. When +she's dressed and ready to go to church, just you please kiss her +forehead with a blessing in your mind, and--you needn't say anything to +her, but just say to yourself, 'this is from Joshua Bragg.'" + +Of the wedding, it may be said that, although it was no doubt in many +respects like other weddings, yet in several it was peculiar. And its +peculiarities were in such flagrant violation of the regulations of +society, that it was almost providential Mrs. Dormer-Smith escaped +witnessing it. + +In the first place, although Uncle Frederick was present, a welcome and +an honoured guest, May insisted that Mr. Weatherhead should give her +away. And, perhaps, nothing she had ever done in her life had caused +Granny more heartfelt satisfaction. As to "Uncle Jo," the honour nearly +overpowered him. His appearance in wedding garments, with an enormous +white waistcoat, and a bright rose-coloured tie, was an abiding joy to +all the little boys of the neighbourhood who were lucky enough to behold +him. + +Then the Miss Pipers fluttered into the church in such extremely bridal +attire, with long white veils attached to their bonnets, as utterly to +eclipse May, in her quiet travelling dress. May, however, wore two +ornaments of considerable value: a pearl bracelet and brooch, which had +arrived the previous evening. Inside each morocco case had been found a +slip of paper bearing respectively the inscriptions:--"To Miranda +Cheffington, with the good wishes of her great-uncle;" and "To dear May, +with the love of her affectionate friend, Constance Castlecombe." + +Lastly, Amelia Simpson was so florid in her raiment, and so exuberant in +her delight, as to be the observed of all observers. In her excitement, +she backed heavily upon people behind her, and trod upon the gowns of +people before her; knelt down at the wrong moment, and then, discovering +her mistake, jumped up again at the very instant when the rest of the +congregation were sinking on to their knees; dropped her metal-clasped +prayer-book with a crash in a solemn pause of silence; lost her +pocket-handkerchief, and, in her near-sightedness and confusion, seized +on Miss Polly Piper's long white veil to wipe her tear-dimmed +spectacles; and was, altogether, a severe trial to the nerves of the +officiating clergyman. + +Many other friends were there. Major Mitton, with his amiable face, and +erect, soldierly figure; Dr. Hatch, who said he doubted whether he could +snatch a moment to witness the ceremony, but who remained to the very +last, to wish the young couple God speed! when they drove away from the +door of the church on their honeymoon trip. Even Sebastian Bach Simpson +was in a softened mood. The entire absence of pretension about the whole +affair conciliated his good will; and he played Mendelssohns' "Wedding +March" as a voluntary, when the bride and bridegroom walked down the +church arm-in-arm, with unusual spirit and heartiness. And so May and +Owen began their voyage of life together, followed by many good wishes, +and by less of envy, hatred, malice, and uncharitableness, than perhaps +fall to the lot of most mortals. + + * * * * * + +Marriage, which is the end of most story-books, is but the beginning of +many stories; but this chronicle cannot follow the personages who have +figured in it much beyond that fateful chapter of the wedding-day. + +One or two facts may, however, be told, and a few outlines sketched in, +to indicate the course of future events on a more or less distant +horizon. + +For a long time Pauline clung, with the soft pertinacity which was part +of her character, to the hope that "poor dear Augustus" might yet +inherit the Castlecombe acres, and resume his place in society. Uncle +George could not live for ever! But one fine day the bells of Combe St. +Mildred's rang a merry peal, and the news spread like wildfire through +the village that an heir was born in a foreign city called Naples; and +that my lord and my lady--who was doing extremely well--and the +all-important baby were coming home to Combe Park as soon as ever my +lady was strong enough to travel. + +Then, indeed, Pauline felt that Providence had decided against her +brother, and that her own duty to society lay plain and clear before +her. + +During the following year or two she suffered considerable persecution +in the shape of appeals for money from Augustus. The first were in a +haughty strain, but before long they sank into the whine of the regular +begging-letter writer. She gave him what she could, for to the last she +had a soft place in her heart for her brother. But her husband, finding +the case hopeless, forbade her to give any more, and, as far as he +could, prevented Augustus's letters from reaching her. + +Captain Cheffington then brought his wife to London. He had little fear +of his creditors, having by this time sunk so low as not to be worth +powder and shot. He got his wife engaged, under her real name, at a +music-hall of the third class, and caused paragraphs to be inserted in +sundry sporting and theatrical prints to the effect that "the Mrs. +Augustus Cheffington, whose Italian bravura-singing was so successful a +feature in the nightly entertainment," etc., etc., was the niece by +marriage of a peer of the realm--Viscount Castlecombe of Combe Park; and +he furnished his relations liberally with copies of these papers. +Probably he had some hope that they would buy him off to save the honour +of the family, but in this he was totally at fault. The old lord who, in +the joy of his little son's birth seemed to have taken a new lease of +life, merely chuckled at "Gus's making such a confounded ass of +himself," and cared not a snap of the fingers for anything he could say +or do. + +Owen Rivers privately supplied his father-in-law with all the +necessaries, and some of the comforts, of life, on condition that he was +never to annoy May by making any kind of appeal to her; on the first +infringement of this condition the supplies would be withdrawn. And in +order to secure its not being all lost at the gaming-table, Owen paid +the money into the hands of La Bianca, who, according to her lights, was +by no means a bad wife, and was certainly a much better one than her +selfish and graceless husband deserved. + +Mrs. Bransby gratefully accepted the position offered to her, and +fulfilled its duties entirely to Mr. Bragg's satisfaction. Indeed, when +the latter returned from Buenos Ayres, he took the habit of spending a +good deal of time in the apartment reserved for him over the office. The +house--one of the roomy, old-fashioned mansions in Friar's +Row--contained ample accommodation for Mrs. Bransby's family. Miss Enid +completed, and maintained, her conquest of Mr. Bragg; and some persons +thought that it was this young lady's personal attractions which caused +him to spend so much of his time in Friar's Row; but other observers +thought differently. And, indeed, quite latterly, Mrs. Dormer-Smith has +had her ill-opinion of Mrs. Bransby strengthened by certain rumours +touching the likelihood of that lady's promotion to a higher position in +Mr. Bragg's household than that of paid housekeeper. + +"If _that_ should ever come off," says Mrs. Dormer-Smith, "I suppose +poor dear foolish May's eyes will be opened at last; and she may repent +when it is too late having thrown away her magnificent opportunity, to +be picked up by that _designing_ woman." + +When these mysterious forecasts are imparted to Lady Castlecombe, she +only smiles faintly, and says in her quiet, well-bred way, "Well, but +why not?" My lady has her own views on the subject--views in which the +discomfiture and mortification of Theodore Bransby form a conspicuous +and pleasing feature. But hitherto nothing has happened to justify the +previsions of either lady on this score. + +Theodore is not often seen in Oldchester now. The place is full of +disagreeable associations for him. His political candidature was a +failure: the Castlecombe influence on his behalf having been suddenly +withdrawn after his lordship's marriage--greatly to the perplexity of +his lordship's agent! + +Nevertheless, Mr. Theodore Bransby by no means despairs of being able to +write M.P. after his name at some future time. But if he ever does enter +Parliament, it will probably be on what our Continental neighbours term +"the extreme Left of the Chamber." For Theodore's political opinions +have undergone a great revulsion, and he is now loftily contemptuous of +the territorial aristocracy. In fact, he has been heard to support +advanced theories of an almost Communistic complexion--stopping short, +however, at the confiscation of other people's property, and maintaining +the inviolability of Government Stock, of which he is a large holder. +This sort of theory he finds to be quite compatible with the pursuit of +fashionable society. + +Although surrounded by every luxury which can minister to his personal +comfort, he is not at all extravagant, and, indeed, saves more than half +his annual income. This he does, not from positive avarice, but because +he feels ever more and more strongly that money is power. Moreover, it +will be well to have a handsome sum in hand whenever he marries: for he +is still firmly minded to find a wife who will devote herself to taking +care of him. Quite recently a paragraph has appeared in the Oldchester +newspaper announcing the probability of a marriage between "our +distinguished townsman, Mr. Theodore Bransby, whose career at the Bar is +being watched with pride and pleasure in his native city, and the Lady +Euphemia Haggistown, daughter of the Earl of Cauldkail, etc., etc., +etc." + +Lady Euphemia is a faded, timid, gentlewoman of some five or +six-and-thirty years of age, with neither money nor beauty. She is +sometimes haunted by the ghost of a romantic attachment to a penniless +young navy officer lost at sea hard upon twenty years ago. But she has a +soft, submissive desire to win the kindly regard of the remarkably stiff +and cold young gentleman whom her father has decided she is to marry +whenever he shall see fit to ask her. But poor Lady Effie does not +succeed in softening the implacable correctness of her suitor's +demeanour into anything very humanly sympathetic. Theodore is quite +certain to make the most of his wife's title and social standing in +dealing with the world in general, but it is to be feared that he may +think fit to balance matters by tyrannizing over her in private with +some rigour. + +Mrs. Dormer-Smith often moralizes her family history, entangling herself +in many metaphysical knots in the course of her cogitations as to what +would have happened if something else had happened which never did +happen! + +Of course, if poor dear Augustus had not thrown himself away on Susan +Dobbs things would have been very different. But even in spite of that, +much might have been retrieved had he not made a second and still more +shocking _mesalliance_ with a strolling Italian singer; because, +probably, if Augustus had come home after the death of his cousin Lucius +in a proper spirit, and under not discreditable circumstances, and had +conducted himself so as to conciliate his uncle, the old man would never +have thought of marrying again. Constance Hadlow would never have become +Viscountess Castlecombe, and no heir would have appeared to thrust +Augustus from his inheritance. + +There was an ever-recurring difficulty in fixing the exact point at +which "poor dear Augustus's misfortunes" had become irretrievable. So +that, although Pauline was on perfectly civil terms with the +Castlecombes, and although Frederick was asked down to Combe Park for +the shooting every season, and although my lady was happy to receive the +Dormer-Smiths (with the least little indefinable touch of condescension) +whenever she was at her house in town; yet, in her confidential moments, +Pauline's intimate friends were never quite sure to which of the three +momentous alliances she was alluding, when she talked plaintively of +"That Unfortunate Marriage." + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 3(of 3), by +Frances Eleanor Trollope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 35945.txt or 35945.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/4/35945/ + +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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