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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/3717-0.txt b/3717-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0843726 --- /dev/null +++ b/3717-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1548 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne, by +Anthony Trollope + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: January 16, 2015 [eBook #3717] +[This file was first posted on August 7, 2001] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER OF OXNEY +COLNE*** + + +Transcribed from the 1864 Chapman and Hall “Tales of All Countries” +edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + THE PARSON’S DAUGHTER OF OXNEY COLNE. + + +THE prettiest scenery in all England—and if I am contradicted in that +assertion, I will say in all Europe—is in Devonshire, on the southern and +south-eastern skirts of Dartmoor, where the rivers Dart, and Avon, and +Teign form themselves, and where the broken moor is half cultivated, and +the wild-looking upland fields are half moor. In making this assertion I +am often met with much doubt, but it is by persons who do not really know +the locality. Men and women talk to me on the matter, who have travelled +down the line of railway from Exeter to Plymouth, who have spent a +fortnight at Torquay, and perhaps made an excursion from Tavistock to the +convict prison on Dartmoor. But who knows the glories of Chagford? Who +has walked through the parish of Manaton? Who is conversant with +Lustleigh Cleeves and Withycombe in the moor? Who has explored Holne +Chase? Gentle reader, believe me that you will be rash in contradicting +me, unless you have done these things. + +There or thereabouts—I will not say by the waters of which little river +it is washed—is the parish of Oxney Colne. And for those who wish to see +all the beauties of this lovely country, a sojourn in Oxney Colne would +be most desirable, seeing that the sojourner would then be brought nearer +to all that he would wish to visit, than at any other spot in the +country. But there in an objection to any such arrangement. There are +only two decent houses in the whole parish, and these are—or were when I +knew the locality—small and fully occupied by their possessors. The +larger and better is the parsonage, in which lived the parson and his +daughter; and the smaller is a freehold residence of a certain Miss Le +Smyrger, who owned a farm of a hundred acres, which was rented by one +Farmer Cloysey, and who also possessed some thirty acres round her own +house, which she managed herself; regarding herself to be quite as great +in cream as Mr. Cloysey, and altogether superior to him in the article of +cyder. “But yeu has to pay no rent, Miss,” Farmer Cloysey would say, +when Miss Le Smyrger expressed this opinion of her art in a manner too +defiant. “Yeu pays no rent, or yeu couldn’t do it.” Miss Le Smyrger was +an old maid, with a pedigree and blood of her own, a hundred and thirty +acres of fee-simple land on the borders of Dartmoor, fifty years of age, +a constitution of iron, and an opinion of her own on every subject under +the sun. + +And now for the parson and his daughter. The parson’s name was +Woolsworthy—or Woolathy, as it was pronounced by all those who lived +around him—the Rev. Saul Woolsworthy; and his daughter was Patience +Woolsworthy, or Miss Patty, as she was known to the Devonshire world of +those parts. That name of Patience had not been well chosen for her, for +she was a hot-tempered damsel, warm in her convictions, and inclined to +express them freely. She had but two closely intimate friends in the +world, and by both of them this freedom of expression had now been fully +permitted to her since she was a child. Miss Le Smyrger and her father +were well accustomed to her ways, and on the whole well satisfied with +them. The former was equally free and equally warm-tempered as herself, +and as Mr. Woolsworthy was allowed by his daughter to be quite paramount +on his own subject—for he had a subject—he did not object to his daughter +being paramount on all others. A pretty girl was Patience Woolsworthy at +the time of which I am writing, and one who possessed much that was +worthy of remark and admiration, had she lived where beauty meets with +admiration, or where force of character is remarked. But at Oxney Colne, +on the borders of Dartmoor, there were few to appreciate her, and it +seemed as though she herself had but little idea of carrying her talent +further afield, so that it might not remain for ever wrapped in a +blanket. + +She was a pretty girl, tall end slender, with dark eyes and black hair. +Her eyes were perhaps too round for regular beauty, and her hair was +perhaps too crisp; her mouth was large and expressive; her nose was +finely formed, though a critic in female form might have declared it to +be somewhat broad. But her countenance altogether was wonderfully +attractive—if only it might be seen without that resolution for dominion +which occasionally marred it, though sometimes it even added to her +attractions. + +It must be confessed on behalf of Patience Woolsworthy, that the +circumstances of her life had peremptorily called upon her to exercise +dominion. She had lost her mother when she was sixteen, and had had +neither brother nor sister. She had no neighbours near her fit either +from education or rank to interfere in the conduct of her life, excepting +always Miss La Smyrger. Miss Le Smyrger would have done anything for +her, including the whole management of her morals and of the parsonage +household, had Patience been content with such an arrangement. But much +as Patience had ever loved Miss Le Smyrger, she was not content with +this, and therefore she had been called on to put forth a strong hand of +her own. She had put forth this strong hand early, and hence had come +the character which I am attempting to describe. But I must say on +behalf of this girl, that it was not only over others that she thus +exercised dominion. In acquiring that power she had also acquired the +much greater power of exercising rule over herself. + +But why should her father have been ignored in these family arrangements? +Perhaps it may almost suffice to say, that of all living men her father +was the man best conversant with the antiquities of the county in which +he lived. He was the Jonathan Oldbuck of Devonshire, and especially of +Dartmoor, without that decision of character which enabled Oldbuck to +keep his womenkind in some kind of subjection, and probably enabled him +also to see that his weekly bills did not pass their proper limits. Our +Mr. Oldbuck, of Oxney Colne, was sadly deficient in these. As a parish +pastor with but a small cure, he did his duty with sufficient energy, to +keep him, at any rate, from reproach. He was kind and charitable to the +poor, punctual in his services, forbearing with the farmers around him, +mild with his brother clergymen, and indifferent to aught that bishop or +archdeacon might think or say of him. I do not name this latter +attribute as a virtue, but as a fact. But all these points were as +nothing in the known character of Mr. Woolsworthy, of Oxney Colne. He +was the antiquarian of Dartmoor. That was his line of life. It was in +that capacity that he was known to the Devonshire world; it was as such +that he journeyed about with his humble carpet-bag, staying away from his +parsonage a night or two at a time; it was in that character that he +received now and again stray visitors in the single spare bedroom—not +friends asked to see him and his girl because of their friendship—but men +who knew something as to this buried stone, or that old land-mark. In +all these things his daughter let him have his own way, assisting and +encouraging him. That was his line of life, and therefore she respected +it. But in all other matters she chose to be paramount at the parsonage. + +Mr. Woolsworthy was a little man, who always wore, except on Sundays, +grey clothes—clothes of so light a grey that they would hardly have been +regarded as clerical in a district less remote. He had now reached a +goodly age, being full seventy years old; but still he was wiry and +active, and showed but few symptoms of decay. His head was bald, and the +few remaining locks that surrounded it were nearly white. But there was +a look of energy about his mouth, and a humour in his light grey eye, +which forbade those who knew him to regard him altogether as an old man. +As it was, he could walk from Oxney Colne to Priestown, fifteen long +Devonshire miles across the moor; and he who could do that could hardly +be regarded as too old for work. + +But our present story will have more to do with his daughter than with +him. A pretty girl, I have said, was Patience Woolsworthy; and one, too, +in many ways remarkable. She had taken her outlook into life, weighing +the things which she had and those which she had not, in a manner very +unusual, and, as a rule, not always desirable for a young lady. The +things which she had not were very many. She had not society; she had +not a fortune; she had not any assurance of future means of livelihood; +she had not high hope of procuring for herself a position in life by +marriage; she had not that excitement and pleasure in life which she read +of in such books as found their way down to Oxney Colne Parsonage. It +would be easy to add to the list of the things which she had not; and +this list against herself she made out with the utmost vigour. The +things which she had, or those rather which she assured herself of +having, were much more easily counted. She had the birth and education +of a lady, the strength of a healthy woman, and a will of her own. Such +was the list as she made it out for herself, and I protest that I assert +no more than the truth in saying that she never added to it either +beauty, wit, or talent. + +I began these descriptions by saying that Oxney Colne would, of all +places, be the best spot from which a tourist could visit those parts of +Devonshire, but for the fact that he could obtain there none of the +accommodation which tourists require. A brother antiquarian might, +perhaps, in those days have done so, seeing that there was, as I have +said, a spare bedroom at the parsonage. Any intimate friend of Miss Le +Smyrger’s might be as fortunate, for she was equally well provided at +Oxney Combe, by which name her house was known. But Miss Le Smyrger was +not given to extensive hospitality, and it was only to those who were +bound to her, either by ties of blood or of very old friendship, that she +delighted to open her doors. As her old friends were very few in number, +as those few lived at a distance, and as her nearest relations were +higher in the world than she was, and were said by herself to look down +upon her, the visits made to Oxney Combe were few and far between. + +But now, at the period of which I am writing, such a visit was about to +be made. Miss Le Smyrger had a younger sister, who had inherited a +property in the parish of Oxney Colne equal to that of the lady who now +lived there; but this the younger sister had inherited beauty also, and +she therefore, in early life, had found sundry lovers, one of whom became +her husband. She had married a man even then well to do in the world, +but now rich and almost mighty; a Member of Parliament, a lord of this +and that board, a man who had a house in Eaton Square, and a park in the +north of England; and in this way her course of life had been very much +divided from that of our Miss Le Smyrger. But the Lord of the Government +Board had been blessed with various children; and perhaps it was now +thought expedient to look after Aunt Penelope’s Devonshire acres. Aunt +Penelope was empowered to leave them to whom she pleased; and though it +was thought in Eaton Square that she must, as a matter of course, leave +them to one of the family, nevertheless a little cousinly intercourse +might make the thing more certain. I will not say that this was the sole +cause of such a visit, but in these days a visit was to be made by +Captain Broughton to his aunt. Now Captain John Broughton was the second +son of Alfonso Broughton, of Clapham Park and Eaton Square, Member of +Parliament, and Lord of the aforesaid Government Board. + +“And what do you mean to do with him?” Patience Woolsworthy asked of Miss +Le Smyrger when that lady walked over from the Combe to say that her +nephew John was to arrive on the following morning. + +“Do with him? Why I shall bring him over here to talk to your father.” + +“He’ll be too fashionable for that; and papa won’t trouble his head about +him if he finds that he doesn’t care for Dartmoor.” + +“Then he may fall in love with you, my dear.” + +“Well, yes; there’s that resource at any rate, and for your sake I dare +say I should be more civil to him than papa. But he’ll soon get tired of +making love, and what you’ll do then I cannot imagine.” + +That Miss Woolsworthy felt no interest in the coming of the Captain I +will not pretend to say. The advent of any stranger with whom she would +be called on to associate must be matter of interest to her in that +secluded place; and she was not so absolutely unlike other young ladies +that the arrival of an unmarried young man would be the same to her as +the advent of some patriarchal paterfamilias. In taking that outlook +into life of which I have spoken, she had never said to herself that she +despised those things from which other girls received the excitement, the +joys, and the disappointment of their lives. She had simply given +herself to understand that very little of such things would come her way, +and that it behoved her to live—to live happily if such might be +possible—without experiencing the need of them. She had heard, when +there was no thought of any such visit to Oxney Colne, that John +Broughton was a handsome, clever man—one who thought much of himself, and +was thought much of by others—that there had been some talk of his +marrying a great heiress, which marriage, however, had not taken place +through unwillingness on his part, and that he was on the whole a man of +more mark in the world than the ordinary captain of ordinary regiments. + +Captain Broughton came to Oxney Combe, stayed there a fortnight,—the +intended period for his projected visit having been fixed at three or +four days,—and then went his way. He went his way back to his London +haunts, the time of the year then being the close of the Easter holidays; +but as he did so he told his aunt that he should assuredly return to her +in the autumn. + +“And assuredly I shall be happy to see you, John—if you come with a +certain purpose. If you have no such purpose, you had better remain +away.” + +“I shall assuredly come,” the Captain had replied, and then he had gone +on his journey. + +The summer passed rapidly by, and very little was said between Miss Le +Smyrger and Miss Woolsworthy about Captain Broughton. In many +respects—nay, I may say, as to all ordinary matters, no two women could +well be more intimate with each other than they were,—and more than that, +they had the courage each to talk to the other with absolute truth as to +things concerning themselves—a courage in which dear friends often fail. +But nevertheless, very little was said between them about Captain John +Broughton. All that was said may be here repeated. + +“John says that he shall return here in August,” Miss Le Smyrger said, as +Patience was sitting with her in the parlour at Oxney Combe, on the +morning after that gentleman’s departure. + +“He told me so himself,” said Patience; and as she spoke her round dark +eyes assumed a look of more than ordinary self-will. If Miss Le Smyrger +had intended to carry the conversation any further, she changed her mind +as she looked at her companion. Then, as I said, the summer ran by, and +towards the close of the warm days of July, Miss Le Smyrger, sitting in +the same chair in the same room, again took up the conversation. + +“I got a letter from John this morning. He says that he shall be here on +the third.” + +“Does he?” + +“He is very punctual to the time he named.” + +“Yes; I fancy that he is a punctual man,” said Patience. + +“I hope that you will be glad to see him,” said Miss Le Smyrger. + +“Very glad to see him,” said Patience, with a bold clear voice; and then +the conversation was again dropped, and nothing further was said till +after Captain Broughton’s second arrival in the parish. + +Four months had then passed since his departure, and during that time +Miss Woolsworthy had performed all her usual daily duties in their +accustomed course. No one could discover that she had been less careful +in her household matters than had been her wont, less willing to go among +her poor neighbours, or less assiduous in her attentions to her father. +But not the less was there a feeling in the minds of those around her +that some great change had come upon her. She would sit during the long +summer evenings on a certain spot outside the parsonage orchard, at the +top of a small sloping field in which their solitary cow was always +pastured, with a book on her knees before her, but rarely reading. There +she would sit, with the beautiful view down to the winding river below +her, watching the setting sun, and thinking, thinking, thinking—thinking +of something of which she had never spoken. Often would Miss Le Smyrger +come upon her there, and sometimes would pass by her even without a word; +but never—never once did she dare to ask her of the matter of her +thoughts. But she knew the matter well enough. No confession was +necessary to inform her that Patience Woolsworthy was in love with John +Broughton—ay, in love, to the full and entire loss of her whole heart. + +On one evening she was so sitting till the July sun had fallen and hidden +himself for the night, when her father came upon her as he returned from +one of his rambles on the moor. “Patty,” he said, “you are always +sitting there now. Is it not late? Will you not be cold?” + +“No, papa,” said she, “I shall not be cold.” + +“But won’t you come to the house? I miss you when you come in so late +that there’s no time to say a word before we go to bed.” + +She got up and followed him into the parsonage, and when they were in the +sitting-room together, and the door was closed, she came up to him and +kissed him. “Papa,” she said, “would it make you very unhappy if I were +to leave you?” + +“Leave me!” he said, startled by the serious and almost solemn tone of +her voice. “Do you mean for always?” + +“If I were to marry, papa?” + +“Oh, marry! No; that would not make me unhappy. It would make me very +happy, Patty, to see you married to a man you would love—very, very +happy; though my days would be desolate without you.” + +“That is it, papa. What would you do if I went from you?” + +“What would it matter, Patty? I should be free, at any rate, from a load +which often presses heavy on me now. What will you do when I shall leave +you? A few more years and all will be over with me. But who is it, +love? Has anybody said anything to you?” + +“It was only an idea, papa. I don’t often think of such a thing; but I +did think of it then.” And so the subject was allowed to pass by. This +had happened before the day of the second arrival had been absolutely +fixed and made known to Miss Woolsworthy. + +And then that second arrival took place. The reader may have understood +from the words with which Miss Le Smyrger authorised her nephew to make +his second visit to Oxney Combe that Miss Woolsworthy’s passion was not +altogether unauthorised. Captain Broughton had been told that he was not +to come unless he came with a certain purpose; and having been so told, +he still persisted in coming. There can be no doubt but that he well +understood the purport to which his aunt alluded. “I shall assuredly +come,” he had said. And true to his word, he was now there. + +Patience knew exactly the hour at which he must arrive at the station at +Newton Abbot, and the time also which it would take to travel over those +twelve uphill miles from the station to Oxney. It need hardly be said +that she paid no visit to Miss Le Smyrger’s house on that afternoon; but +she might have known something of Captain Broughton’s approach without +going thither. His road to the Combe passed by the parsonage-gate, and +had Patience sat even at her bedroom window she must have seen him. But +on such a morning she would not sit at her bedroom window—she would do +nothing which would force her to accuse herself of a restless longing for +her lover’s coming. It was for him to seek her. If he chose to do so, +he knew the way to the parsonage. + +Miss Le Smyrger—good, dear, honest, hearty Miss Le Smyrger, was in a +fever of anxiety on behalf of her friend. It was not that she wished her +nephew to marry Patience—or rather that she had entertained any such wish +when he first came,—among them. She was not given to match-making, and +moreover thought, or had thought within herself, that they of Oxney Colne +could do very well without any admixture from Eaton Square. Her plan of +life had been that, when old Mr. Woolsworthy was taken away from +Dartmoor, Patience should live with her; and that when she also shuffled +off her coil, then Patience Woolsworthy should be the maiden mistress of +Oxney Combe—of Oxney Combe and Mr. Cloysey’s farm—to the utter detriment +of all the Broughtons. Such had been her plan before nephew John had +come among them—a plan not to be spoken of till the coming of that dark +day which should make Patience an orphan. But now her nephew had been +there, and all was to be altered. Miss Le Smyrger’s plan would have +provided a companion for her old age; but that had not been her chief +object. She had thought more of Patience than of herself, and now it +seemed that a prospect of a higher happiness was opening for her friend. + +“John,” she said, as soon as the first greetings were over, “do you +remember the last words that I said to you before you went away?” Now, +for myself, I much admire Miss Le Smyrger’s heartiness, but I do not +think much of her discretion. It would have been better, perhaps, had +she allowed things to take their course. + +“I can’t say that I do,” said the Captain. At the same time the Captain +did remember very well what those last words had been. + +“I am so glad to see you, so delighted to see you, if—if—if—,” and then +she paused, for with all her courage she hardly dared to ask her nephew +whether he had come there with the express purpose of asking Miss +Woolsworthy to marry him. + +To tell the truth, for there is no room for mystery within the limits of +this short story,—to tell, I say, at a word the plain and simple truth, +Captain Broughton had already asked that question. On the day before he +left Oxney Come, he had in set terms proposed to the parson’s daughter, +and indeed the words, the hot and frequent words, which previously to +that had fallen like sweetest honey into the ears of Patience +Woolsworthy, had made it imperative on him to do so. When a man in such +a place as that has talked to a girl of love day after day, must not he +talk of it to some definite purpose on the day on which he leaves her? +Or if he do not, must he not submit to be regarded as false, selfish, and +almost fraudulent? Captain Broughton, however, had asked the question +honestly and truly. He had done so honestly and truly, but in words, or, +perhaps, simply with a tone, that had hardly sufficed to satisfy the +proud spirit of the girl he loved. She by that time had confessed to +herself that she loved him with all her heart; but she had made no such +confession to him. To him she had spoken no word, granted no favour, +that any lover might rightfully regard as a token of love returned. She +had listened to him as he spoke, and bade him keep such sayings for the +drawing-rooms of his fashionable friends. Then he had spoken out and had +asked for that hand,—not, perhaps, as a suitor tremulous with hope,—but +as a rich man who knows that he can command that which he desires to +purchase. + +“You should think more of this,” she had said to him at last. “If you +would really have me for your wife, it will not be much to you to return +here again when time for thinking of it shall have passed by.” With +these words she had dismissed him, and now he had again come back to +Oxney Colne. But still she would not place herself at the window to look +for him, nor dress herself in other than her simple morning country +dress, nor omit one item of her daily work. If he wished to take her at +all, he should wish to take her as she really was, in her plain country +life, but he should take her also with full observance of all those +privileges which maidens are allowed to claim from their lovers. He +should contract no ceremonious observance because she was the daughter of +a poor country parson who would come to him without a shilling, whereas +he stood high in the world’s books. He had asked her to give him all +that she had, and that all she was ready to give, without stint. But the +gift must be valued before it could be given or received, he also was to +give her as much, and she would accept it as beyond all price. But she +would not allow that that which was offered to her was in any degree the +more precious because of his outward worldly standing. + +She would not pretend to herself that she thought he would come to her +that day, and therefore she busied herself in the kitchen and about the +house, giving directions to her two maids as though the afternoon would +pass as all other days did pass in that household. They usually dined at +four, and she rarely in these summer months went far from the house +before that hour. At four precisely she sat down with her father, and +then said that she was going up as far as Helpholme after dinner. +Helpholme was a solitary farmhouse in another parish, on the border of +the moor, and Mr. Woolsworthy asked her whether he should accompany her. + +“Do, papa,” she said, “if you are not too tired.” And yet she had +thought how probable it might be that she should meet John Broughton on +her walk. And so it was arranged; but just as dinner was over, Mr. +Woolsworthy remembered himself. + +“Gracious me,” he said, “how my memory is going. Gribbles, from +Ivybridge, and old John Poulter, from Bovey, are coming to meet here by +appointment. You can’t put Helpholme off till to-morrow?” + +Patience, however, never put off anything, and therefore at six o’clock, +when her father had finished his slender modicum of toddy, she tied on +her hat and went on her walk. She started with a quick step, and left no +word to say by which route she would go. As she passed up along the +little lane which led towards Oxney Combe, she would not even look to see +if he was coming towards her; and when she left the road, passing over a +stone stile into a little path which ran first through the upland fields, +and then across the moor ground towards Helpholme, she did not look back +once, or listen for his coming step. + +She paid her visit, remaining upwards of an hour with the old bedridden +mother of the tenant of Helpholme. “God bless you, my darling!” said the +old woman as she left her; “and send you some one to make your own path +bright and happy through the world.” These words were still ringing in +her ears with all their significance as she saw John Broughton waiting +for her at the first stile which she had to pass after leaving the +farmer’s haggard. + +“Patty,” he said, as he took her hand, and held it close within both his +own, “what a chase I have had after you!” + +“And who asked you, Captain Broughton?” she answered, smiling. “If the +journey was too much for your poor London strength, could you not have +waited till to-morrow morning, when you would have found me at the +parsonage?” But she did not draw her hand away from him, or in any way +pretend that he had not a right to accost her as a lover. + +“No, I could not wait. I am more eager to see those I love than you seem +to be.” + +“How do you know whom I love, or how eager I might be to see them? There +is an old woman there whom I love, and I have thought nothing of this +walk with the object of seeing her.” And now, slowly drawing her hand +away from him, she pointed to the farmhouse which she had left. + +“Patty,” he said, after a minute’s pause, during which she had looked +full into his face with all the force of her bright eyes; “I have come +from London to-day, straight down here to Oxney, and from my aunt’s house +close upon your footsteps after you, to ask you that one question—Do you +love me?” + +“What a Hercules!” she said, again laughing. “Do you really mean that +you left London only this morning? Why, you must have been five hours in +a railway carriage and two in a postchaise, not to talk of the walk +afterwards. You ought to take more care of yourself, Captain Broughton!” + +He would have been angry with her—for he did not like to be quizzed—had +she not put her hand on his arm as she spoke, and the softness of her +touch had redeemed the offence of her words. + +“All that I have done,” said he, “that I may hear one word from you.” + +“That any word of mine should have such potency! But let us walk on, or +my father will take us for some of the standing stones of the moor. How +have you found your aunt? If you only knew the cares that have sat on +her dear shoulders for the last week past, in order that your high +mightiness might have a sufficiency to eat and drink in these desolate +half-starved regions!” + +“She might have saved herself such anxiety. No one can care less for +such things than I do.” + +“And yet I think I have heard you boast of the cook of your club.” And +then again there was silence for a minute or two. + +“Patty,” said he, stopping again in the path; “answer my question. I +have a right to demand an answer. Do you love me?” + +“And what if I do? What if I have been so silly as to allow your +perfections to be too many for my weak heart? What then, Captain +Broughton?” + +“It cannot be that you love me, or you would not joke now.” + +“Perhaps not, indeed,” she said. It seemed as though she were resolved +not to yield an inch in her own humour. And then again they walked on. + +“Patty,” he said once more, “I shall get an answer from you +to-night,—this evening; now, during this walk, or I shall return +to-morrow, and never revisit this spot again.” + +“Oh, Captain Broughton, how should we ever manage to live without you?” + +“Very well,” he said; “up to the end of this walk I can hear it all;—and +one word spoken then will mend it all.” + +During the whole of this time she felt that she was ill-using him. She +knew that she loved him with all her heart; that it would nearly kill her +to part with him; that she had heard his renewed offer with an ecstacy of +joy. She acknowledged to herself that he was giving proof of his +devotion as strong as any which a girl could receive from her lover. And +yet she could hardly bring herself to say the word he longed to hear. +That word once said, and then she knew that she must succumb to her love +for ever! That word once said, and there would be nothing for her but to +spoil him with her idolatry! That word once said, and she must continue +to repeat it into his ears, till perhaps he might be tired of hearing it! +And now he had threatened her, and how could she speak after that? She +certainly would not speak it unless he asked her again without such +threat. And so they walked on in silence. + +“Patty,” he said at last. “By the heavens above us you shall answer me. +Do you love me?” + +She now stood still, and almost trembled as she looked up into his face. +She stood opposite to him for a moment, and then placing her two hands on +his shoulders, she answered him. “I do, I do, I do,” she said, “with all +my heart; with all my heart—with all my heart and strength.” And then +her head fell upon his breast. + +* * * + +Captain Broughton was almost as much surprised as delighted by the warmth +of the acknowledgment made by the eager-hearted passionate girl whom he +now held within his arms. She had said it now; the words had been +spoken; and there was nothing for her but to swear to him over and over +again with her sweetest oaths, that those words were true—true as her +soul. And very sweet was the walk down from thence to the parsonage +gate. He spoke no more of the distance of the ground, or the length of +his day’s journey. But he stopped her at every turn that he might press +her arm the closer to his own, that he might look into the brightness of +her eyes, and prolong his hour of delight. There were no more gibes now +on her tongue, no raillery at his London finery, no laughing comments on +his coming and going. With downright honesty she told him everything: +how she had loved him before her heart was warranted in such a passion; +how, with much thinking, she had resolved that it would be unwise to take +him at his first word, and had thought it better that he should return to +London, and then think over it; how she had almost repented of her +courage when she had feared, during those long summer days, that he would +forget her; and how her heart had leapt for joy when her old friend had +told her that he was coming. + +“And yet,” said he, “you were not glad to see me!” + +“Oh, was I not glad? You cannot understand the feelings of a girl who +has lived secluded as I have done. Glad is no word for the joy I felt. +But it was not seeing you that I cared for so much. It was the knowledge +that you were near me once again. I almost wish now that I had not seen +you till to-morrow.” But as she spoke she pressed his arm, and this +caress gave the lie to her last words. + +“No, do not come in to-night,” she said, when she reached the little +wicket that led up to the parsonage. “Indeed, you shall not. I could +not behave myself properly if you did.” + +“But I don’t want you to behave properly.” + +“Oh! I am to keep that for London, am I? But, nevertheless, Captain +Broughton, I will not invite you either to tea or to supper to-night.” + +“Surely I may shake hands with your father.” + +“Not to-night—not till—John, I may tell him, may I not? I must tell him +at once.” + +“Certainly,” said he. + +“And then you shall see him to-morrow. Let me see—at what hour shall I +bid you come?” + +“To breakfast.” + +“No, indeed. What on earth would your aunt do with her broiled turkey +and the cold pie? I have got no cold pie for you.” + +“I hate cold pie.” + +“What a pity! But, John, I should be forced to leave you directly after +breakfast. Come down—come down at two, or three; and then I will go back +with you to Aunt Penelope. I must see her to-morrow;” and so at last the +matter was settled, and the happy Captain, as he left her, was hardly +resisted in his attempt to press her lips to his own. + +When she entered the parlour in which her father was sitting, there still +were Gribbles and Poulter discussing some knotty point of Devon lore. So +Patience took off her hat, and sat herself down, waiting till they should +go. For full an hour she had to wait, and then Gribbles and Poulter did +go. But it was not in such matters as this that Patience Woolsworthy was +impatient. She could wait, and wait, and wait, curbing herself for weeks +and months, while the thing waited for was in her eyes good; but she +could not curb her hot thoughts or her hot words when things came to be +discussed which she did not think to be good. + +“Papa,” she said, when Gribbles’ long-drawn last word had been spoken at +the door. “Do you remember how I asked you the other day what you would +say if I were to leave you?” + +“Yes, surely,” he replied, looking up at her in astonishment. + +“I am going to leave you now,” she said. “Dear, dearest father, how am I +to go from you?” + +“Going to leave me,” said he, thinking of her visit to Helpholme, and +thinking of nothing else. + +Now, there had been a story about Helpholme. That bedridden old lady +there had a stalwart son, who was now the owner of the Helpholme +pastures. But though owner in fee of all those wild acres, and of the +cattle which they supported, he was not much above the farmers around +him, either in manners or education. He had his merits, however; for he +was honest, well-to-do in the world, and modest withal. How strong love +had grown up, springing from neighbourly kindness, between our Patience +and his mother, it needs not here to tell; but rising from it had come +another love—or an ambition which might have grown to love. The young +man, after much thought, had not dared to speak to Miss Woolsworthy, but +he had sent a message by Miss Le Smyrger. If there could be any hope for +him, he would present himself as a suitor—on trial. He did not owe a +shilling in the world, and had money by him—saved. He wouldn’t ask the +parson for a shilling of fortune. Such had been the tenor of his +message, and Miss Le Smyrger had delivered it faithfully. “He does not +mean it,” Patience had said with her stern voice. “Indeed he does, my +dear. You may be sure he is in earnest,” Miss Le Smyrger had replied; +“and there is not an honester man in these parts.” + +“Tell him,” said Patience, not attending to the latter portion of her +friend’s last speech, “that it cannot be—make him understand, you +know—and tell him also that the matter shall be thought of no more.” The +matter had, at any rate, been spoken of no more, but the young farmer +still remained a bachelor, and Helpholme still wanted a mistress. But +all this came back upon the parson’s mind when his daughter told him that +she was about to leave him. + +“Yes, dearest,” she said; and as she spoke she now knelt at his knees. +“I have been asked in marriage, and I have given myself away.” + +“Well, my love, if you will be happy—” + +“I hope I shall; I think I shall. But you, papa?” + +“You will not be far from us.” + +“Oh, yes; in London.” + +“In London?” + +“Captain Broughton lives in London generally.” + +“And has Captain Broughton asked you to marry him?” + +“Yes, papa—who else? Is he not good? Will you not love him? Oh, papa, +do not say that I am wrong to love him?” + +He never told her his mistake, or explained to her that he had not +thought it possible that the high-placed son of the London great man +should have fallen in love with his undowered daughter; but he embraced +her, and told her, with all his enthusiasm, that he rejoiced in her joy, +and would be happy in her happiness. “My own Patty,” he said, “I have +ever known that you were too good for this life of ours here.” And then +the evening wore away into the night, with many tears, but still with +much happiness. + +Captain Broughton, as he walked back to Oxney Combe, made up his mind +that he would say nothing on the matter to his aunt till the next +morning. He wanted to think over it all, and to think it over, if +possible, by himself. He had taken a step in life, the most important +that a man is ever called on to take, and he had to reflect whether or no +he had taken it with wisdom. + +“Have you seen her?” said Miss Le Smyrger, very anxiously, when he came +into the drawing-room. + +“Miss Woolsworthy you mean,” said he. “Yes, I’ve seen her. As I found +her out, I took a long walk, and happened to meet her. Do you know, +aunt, I think I’ll go to bed; I was up at five this morning, and have +been on the move ever since.” + +Miss Le Smyrger perceived that she was to hear nothing that evening, so +she handed him his candlestick and allowed him to go to his room. + +But Captain Broughton did not immediately retire to bed, nor when he did +so was he able to sleep at once. Had this step that he had taken been a +wise one? He was not a man who, in worldly matters, had allowed things +to arrange themselves for him, as is the case with so many men. He had +formed views for himself, and had a theory of life. Money for money’s +sake he had declared to himself to be bad. Money, as a concomitant to +things which were in themselves good, he had declared to himself to be +good also. That concomitant in this affair of his marriage, he had now +missed. Well; he had made up his mind to that, and would put up with the +loss. He had means of living of his own, the means not so extensive as +might have been desirable. That it would be well for him to become a +married man, looking merely to the state of life as opposed to his +present state, he had fully resolved. On that point, therefore, there +was nothing to repent. That Patty Woolsworthy was good, affectionate, +clever, and beautiful, he was sufficiently satisfied. It would be odd +indeed if he were not so satisfied now, seeing that for the last four +months he had so declared to himself daily with many inward +asseverations. And yet though he repeated, now again, that he was +satisfied, I do not think that he was so fully satisfied of it as he had +been throughout the whole of those four months. It is sad to say so, but +I fear—I fear that such was the case. When you have your plaything, how +much of the anticipated pleasure vanishes, especially if it be won +easily. + +He had told none of his family what were his intentions in this second +visit to Devonshire, and now he had to bethink himself whether they would +be satisfied. What would his sister say, she who had married the +Honourable Augustus Gumbleton, gold-stick-in-waiting to Her Majesty’s +Privy Council? Would she receive Patience with open arms, and make much +of her about London? And then how far would London suit Patience, or +would Patience suit London? There would be much for him to do in +teaching her, and it would be well for him to set about the lesson +without loss of time. So far he got that night, but when the morning +came he went a step further, and began mentally to criticise her manner +to himself. It had been very sweet, that warm, that full, that ready +declaration of love. Yes; it had been very sweet; but—but—; when, after +her little jokes, she did confess her love, had she not been a little too +free for feminine excellence? A man likes to be told that he is loved, +but he hardly wishes that the girl he is to marry should fling herself at +his head! + +Ah me! yes; it was thus he argued to himself as on that morning he went +through the arrangements of his toilet. “Then he was a brute,” you say, +my pretty reader. I have never said that he was not a brute. But this I +remark, that many such brutes are to be met with in the beaten paths of +the world’s highway. When Patience Woolsworthy had answered him coldly, +bidding him go back to London and think over his love; while it seemed +from her manner that at any rate as yet she did not care for him; while +he was absent from her, and, therefore, longing for her, the possession +of her charms, her talent and bright honesty of purpose had seemed to him +a thing most desirable. Now they were his own. They had, in fact, been +his own from the first. The heart of this country-bred girl had fallen +at the first word from his mouth. Had she not so confessed to him? She +was very nice—very nice indeed. He loved her dearly. But had he not +sold himself too cheaply? + +I by no means say that he was not a brute. But whether brute or no, he +was an honest man, and had no remotest dream, either then, on that +morning, or during the following days on which such thoughts pressed more +quickly on his mind—of breaking away from his pledged word. At breakfast +on that morning he told all to Miss Le Smyrger, and that lady, with warm +and gracious intentions, confided to him her purpose regarding her +property. “I have always regarded Patience as my heir,” she said, “and +shall do so still.” + +“Oh, indeed,” said Captain Broughton. + +“But it is a great, great pleasure to me to think that she will give back +the little property to my sister’s child. You will have your mother’s, +and thus it will all come together again.” + +“Ah!” said Captain Broughton. He had his own ideas about property, and +did not, even under existing circumstances, like to hear that his aunt +considered herself at liberty to leave the acres away to one who was by +blood quite a stranger to the family. + +“Does Patience know of this?” he asked. + +“Not a word,” said Miss Le Smyrger. And then nothing more was said upon +the subject. + +On that afternoon he went down and received the parson’s benediction and +congratulations with a good grace. Patience said very little on the +occasion, and indeed was absent during the greater part of the interview. +The two lovers then walked up to Oxney Combe, and there were more +benedictions and more congratulations. “All went merry as a marriage +bell,” at any rate as far as Patience was concerned. Not a word had yet +fallen from that dear mouth, not a look had yet come over that handsome +face, which tended in any way to mar her bliss. Her first day of +acknowledged love was a day altogether happy, and when she prayed for him +as she knelt beside her bed there was no feeling in her mind that any +fear need disturb her joy. + +I will pass over the next three or four days very quickly, merely saying +that Patience did not find them so pleasant as that first day after her +engagement. There was something in her lover’s manner—something which at +first she could not define—which by degrees seemed to grate against her +feelings. + +He was sufficiently affectionate, that being a matter on which she did +not require much demonstration; but joined to his affection there seemed +to be—; she hardly liked to suggest to herself a harsh word, but could it +be possible that he was beginning to think that she was not good enough +for him? And then she asked herself the question—was she good enough for +him? If there were doubt about that, the match should be broken off, +though she tore her own heart out in the struggle. The truth, however, +was this—that he had begun that teaching which he had already found to be +so necessary. Now, had any one essayed to teach Patience German or +mathematics, with that young lady’s free consent, I believe that she +would have been found a meek scholar. But it was not probable that she +would be meek when she found a self-appointed tutor teaching her manners +and conduct without her consent. + +So matters went on for four or five days, and on the evening of the fifth +day Captain Broughton and his aunt drank tea at the parsonage. Nothing +very especial occurred; but as the parson and Miss La Smyrger insisted on +playing backgammon with devoted perseverance during the whole evening, +Broughton had a good opportunity of saying a word or two about those +changes in his lady-love which a life in London would require—and some +word he said also—some single slight word as to the higher station in +life to which he would exalt his bride. Patience bore it—for her father +and Miss La Smyrger were in the room—she bore it well, speaking no +syllable of anger, and enduring, for the moment, the implied scorn of the +old parsonage. Then the evening broke up, and Captain Broughton walked +back to Oxney Combe with his aunt. “Patty,” her father said to her +before they went to bed, “he seems to me to be a most excellent young +man.” “Dear papa,” she answered, kissing him. “And terribly deep in +love,” said Mr. Woolsworthy. “Oh, I don’t know about that,” she +answered, as she left him with her sweetest smile. But though she could +thus smile at her father’s joke, she had already made up her mind that +there was still something to be learned as to her promised husband before +she could place herself altogether in his hands. She would ask him +whether he thought himself liable to injury from this proposed marriage; +and though he should deny any such thought, she would know from the +manner of his denial what his true feelings were. + +And he, too, on that night, during his silent walk with Miss Le Smyrger, +had entertained some similar thoughts. “I fear she is obstinate,” he +said to himself; and then he had half accused her of being sullen also. +“If that be her temper, what a life of misery I have before me!” + +“Have you fixed a day yet?” his aunt asked him as they came near to her +house. + +“No, not yet; I don’t know whether it will suit me to fix it before I +leave.” + +“Why, it was but the other day you were in such a hurry.” + +“Ah—yes—I have thought more about it since then.” + +“I should have imagined that this would depend on what Patty thinks,” +said Miss Le Smyrger, standing up for the privileges of her sex. “It is +presumed that the gentleman is always ready as soon as the lady will +consent.” + +“Yes, in ordinary cases it is so; but when a girl is taken out of her own +sphere—” + +“Her own sphere! Let me caution you, Master John, not to talk to Patty +about her own sphere.” + +“Aunt Penelope, as Patience is to be my wife and not yours, I must claim +permission to speak to her on such subjects as may seem suitable to me.” +And then they parted—not in the best humour with each other. + +On the following day Captain Broughton and Miss Woolsworthy did not meet +till the evening. She had said, before those few ill-omened words had +passed her lover’s lips, that she would probably be at Miss Le Smyrger’s +house on the following morning. Those ill-omened words did pass her +lover’s lips, and then she remained at home. This did not come from +sullenness, nor even from anger, but from a conviction that it would be +well that she should think much before she met him again. Nor was he +anxious to hurry a meeting. His thought—his base thought—was this; that +she would be sure to come up to the Combe after him; but she did not +come, and therefore in the evening he went down to her, and asked her to +walk with him. + +They went away by the path that led to Helpholme, and little was said +between them till they had walked some mile together. + +Patience, as she went along the path, remembered almost to the letter the +sweet words which had greeted her ears as she came down that way with him +on the night of his arrival; but he remembered nothing of that sweetness +then. Had he not made an ass of himself during these last six months? +That was the thought which very much had possession of his mind. + +“Patience,” he said at last, having hitherto spoken only an indifferent +word now and again since they had left the parsonage, “Patience, I hope +you realise the importance of the step which you and I are about to +take?” + +“Of course I do,” she answered. “What an odd question that is for you to +ask!” + +“Because,” said he, “sometimes I almost doubt it. It seems to me as +though you thought you could remove yourself from here to your new home +with no more trouble than when you go from home up to the Combe.” + +“Is that meant for a reproach, John?” + +“No, not for a reproach, but for advice. Certainly not for a reproach.” + +“I am glad of that.” + +“But I should wish to make you think how great is the leap in the world +which you are about to take.” Then again they walked on for many steps +before she answered him. + +“Tell me, then, John,” she said, when she had sufficiently considered +what words she should speak; and as she spoke a bright colour suffused +her face, and her eyes flashed almost with anger. “What leap do you +mean? Do you mean a leap upwards?” + +“Well, yes; I hope it will be so.” + +“In one sense, certainly, it would be a leap upwards. To be the wife of +the man I loved; to have the privilege of holding his happiness in my +hand; to know that I was his own—the companion whom he had chosen out of +all the world—that would, indeed, be a leap upwards; a leap almost to +heaven, if all that were so. But if you mean upwards in any other +sense—” + +“I was thinking of the social scale.” + +“Then, Captain Broughton, your thoughts were doing me dishonour.” + +“Doing you dishonour!” + +“Yes, doing me dishonour. That your father is, in the world’s esteem, a +greater man than mine is doubtless true enough. That you, as a man, are +richer than I am as a woman, is doubtless also true. But you dishonour +me, and yourself also, if these things can weigh with you now.” + +“Patience,—I think you can hardly know what words you are saying to me.” + +“Pardon me, but I think I do. Nothing that you can give me—no gifts of +that description—can weigh aught against that which I am giving you. If +you had all the wealth and rank of the greatest lord in the land, it +would count as nothing in such a scale. If—as I have not doubted—if in +return for my heart you have given me yours, then—then—then you have paid +me fully. But when gifts such as those are going, nothing else can count +even as a make-weight.” + +“I do not quite understand you,” he answered, after a pause. “I fear you +are a little high-flown.” And then, while the evening was still early, +they walked back to the parsonage almost without another word. + +Captain Broughton at this time had only one full day more to remain at +Oxney Colne. On the afternoon following that he was to go as far as +Exeter, and thence return to London. Of course, it was to be expected +that the wedding day would be fixed before he went, and much had been +said about it during the first day or two of his engagement. Then he had +pressed for an early time, and Patience, with a girl’s usual diffidence, +had asked for some little delay. But now nothing was said on the +subject; and how was it probable that such a matter could be settled +after such a conversation as that which I have related? That evening, +Miss Le Smyrger asked whether the day had been fixed. “No,” said Captain +Broughton, harshly; “nothing has been fixed.” “But it will be arranged +before you go?” “Probably not,” he said; and then the subject was +dropped for the time. + +“John,” she said, just before she went to bed, “if there be anything +wrong between you and Patience, I conjure you to tell me.” + +“You had better ask her,” he replied. “I can tell you nothing.” + +On the following morning he was much surprised by seeing Patience on the +gravel path before Miss Le Smyrger’s gate immediately after breakfast. +He went to the door to open it for her, and she, as she gave him her +hand, told him that she came up to speak to him. There was no hesitation +in her manner, nor any look of anger in her face. But there was in her +gait and form, in her voice and countenance, a fixedness of purpose which +he had never seen before, or at any rate had never acknowledged. + +“Certainly,” said he. “Shall I come out with you, or will you come up +stairs?” + +“We can sit down in the summer-house,” she said; and thither they both +went. + +“Captain Broughton,” she said—and she began her task the moment that they +were both seated—“you and I have engaged ourselves as man and wife, but +perhaps we have been over rash.” + +“How so?” said he. + +“It may be—and indeed I will say more—it is the case that we have made +this engagement without knowing enough of each other’s character.” + +“I have not thought so.” + +“The time will perhaps come when you will so think, but for the sake of +all that we most value, let it come before it is too late. What would be +our fate—how terrible would be our misery—if such a thought should come +to either of us after we have linked our lots together.” + +There was a solemnity about her as she thus spoke which almost repressed +him,—which for a time did prevent him from taking that tone of authority +which on such a subject he would choose to adopt. But he recovered +himself. “I hardly think that this comes well from you,” he said. + +“From whom else should it come? Who else can fight my battle for me; +and, John, who else can fight that same battle on your behalf? I tell +you this, that with your mind standing towards me as it does stand at +present, you could not give me your hand at the altar with true words and +a happy conscience. Am I not true? You have half repented of your +bargain already. Is it not so?” + +He did not answer her; but getting up from his seat walked to the front +of the summer-house, and stood there with his back turned upon her. It +was not that he meant to be ungracious, but in truth he did not know how +to answer her. He had half repented of his bargain. + +“John,” she said, getting up and following him, so that she could put her +hand upon his arm, “I have been very angry with you.” + +“Angry with me!” he said, turning sharp upon her. + +“Yes, angry with you. You would have treated me like a child. But that +feeling has gone now. I am not angry now. There is my hand;—the hand of +a friend. Let the words that have been spoken between us be as though +they had not been spoken. Let us both be free.” + +“Do you mean it?” + +“Certainly I mean it.” As she spoke these words her eyes filled with +tears, in spite of all the efforts she could make; but he was not looking +at her, and her efforts had sufficed to prevent any sob from being +audible. + +“With all my heart,” he said; and it was manifest from his tone that he +had no thought of her happiness as he spoke. It was true that she had +been angry with him—angry, as she had herself declared; but nevertheless, +in what she had said and what she had done, she had thought more of his +happiness than of her own. Now she was angry once again. + +“With all your heart, Captain Broughton! Well, so be it. If with all +your heart, then is the necessity so much the greater. You go to-morrow. +Shall we say farewell now?” + +“Patience, I am not going to be lectured.” + +“Certainly not by me. Shall we say farewell now?” + +“Yes, if you are determined.” + +“I am determined. Farewell, Captain Broughton. You have all my wishes +for your happiness.” And she held out her hand to him. + +“Patience!” he said. And he looked at her with a dark frown, as though +he would strive to frighten her into submission. If so, he might have +saved himself any such attempt. + +“Farewell, Captain Broughton. Give me your hand, for I cannot stay.” He +gave her his hand, hardly knowing why he did so. She lifted it to her +lips and kissed it, and then, leaving him, passed from the summer-house +down through the wicket-gate, and straight home to the parsonage. + +During the whole of that day she said no word to any one of what had +occurred. When she was once more at home she went about her household +affairs as she had done on that day of his arrival. When she sat down to +dinner with her father he observed nothing to make him think that she was +unhappy; nor during the evening was there any expression in her face, or +any tone in her voice, which excited his attention. On the following +morning Captain Broughton called at the parsonage, and the servant-girl +brought word to her mistress that he was in the parlour. But she would +not see him. “Laws, miss, you ain’t a quarrelled with your beau?” the +poor girl said. “No, not quarrelled,” she said; “but give him that.” It +was a scrap of paper, containing a word or two in pencil. “It is better +that we should not meet again. God bless you.” And from that day to +this, now more than ten years, they never have met. + +“Papa,” she said to her father that afternoon, “dear papa, do not be +angry with me. It is all over between me and John Broughton. Dearest, +you and I will not be separated.” + +It would be useless here to tell how great was the old man’s surprise and +how true his sorrow. As the tale was told to him no cause was given for +anger with any one. Not a word was spoken against the suitor who had on +that day returned to London with a full conviction that now at least he +was relieved from his engagement. “Patty, my darling child,” he said, +“may God grant that it be for the best!” + +“It is for the best,” she answered stoutly. “For this place I am fit; +and I much doubt whether I am fit for any other.” + +On that day she did not see Miss Le Smyrger, but on the following +morning, knowing that Captain Broughton had gone off, having heard the +wheels of the carriage as they passed by the parsonage gate on his way to +the station,—she walked up to the Combe. + +“He has told you, I suppose?” said she. + +“Yes,” said Miss Le Smyrger. “And I will never see him again unless he +asks your pardon on his knees. I have told him so. I would not even +give him my hand as he went.” + +“But why so, thou kindest one? The fault was mine more than his.” + +“I understand. I have eyes in my head,” said the old maid. “I have +watched him for the last four or five days. If you could have kept the +truth to yourself and bade him keep off from you, he would have been at +your feet now, licking the dust from your shoes.” + +“But, dear friend, I do not want a man to lick dust from my shoes.” + +“Ah, you are a fool. You do not know the value of your own wealth.” + +“True; I have been a fool. I was a fool to think that one coming from +such a life as he has led could be happy with such as I am. I know the +truth now. I have bought the lesson dearly,—but perhaps not too dearly, +seeing that it will never be forgotten.” + +There was but little more said about the matter between our three friends +at Oxney Colne. What, indeed, could be said? Miss Le Smyrger for a year +or two still expected that her nephew would return and claim his bride; +but he has never done so, nor has there been any correspondence between +them. Patience Woolsworthy had learned her lesson dearly. She had given +her whole heart to the man; and, though she so bore herself that no one +was aware of the violence of the struggle, nevertheless the struggle +within her bosom was very violent. She never told herself that she had +done wrong; she never regretted her loss; but yet—yet—the loss was very +hard to bear. He also had loved her, but he was not capable of a love +which could much injure his daily peace. Her daily peace was gone for +many a day to come. + +Her father is still living; but there is a curate now in the parish. In +conjunction with him and with Miss Le Smyrger she spends her time in the +concerns of the parish. In her own eyes she is a confirmed old maid; and +such is my opinion also. The romance of her life was played out in that +summer. She never sits now lonely on the hill-side thinking how much she +might do for one whom she really loved. But with a large heart she loves +many, and, with no romance, she works hard to lighten the burdens of +those she loves. + +As for Captain Broughton, all the world know that he did marry that great +heiress with whom his name was once before connected, and that he is now +a useful member of Parliament, working on committees three or four days a +week with a zeal that is indefatigable. Sometimes, not often, as he +thinks of Patience Woolsworthy, a gratified smile comes across his face. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER OF OXNEY +COLNE*** + + +******* This file should be named 3717-0.txt or 3717-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/7/1/3717 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law 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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: January 16, 2015 [eBook #3717] +[This file was first posted on August 7, 2001] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER OF OXNEY +COLNE*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1864 Chapman and Hall “Tales of All +Countries” edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>THE PARSON’S DAUGHTER OF OXNEY COLNE.</h1> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> prettiest scenery in all +England—and if I am contradicted in that assertion, I will +say in all Europe—is in Devonshire, on the southern and +south-eastern skirts of Dartmoor, where the rivers Dart, and +Avon, and Teign form themselves, and where the broken moor is +half cultivated, and the wild-looking upland fields are half +moor. In making this assertion I am often met with much +doubt, but it is by persons who do not really know the +locality. Men and women talk to me on the matter, who have +travelled down the line of railway from Exeter to Plymouth, who +have spent a fortnight at Torquay, and perhaps made an excursion +from Tavistock to the convict prison on Dartmoor. But who +knows the glories of Chagford? Who has walked through the +parish of Manaton? Who is conversant with Lustleigh Cleeves +and Withycombe in the moor? Who has explored Holne +Chase? Gentle reader, believe me that you will be rash in +contradicting me, unless you have done these things.</p> +<p>There or thereabouts—I will not say by the waters of +which little river it is washed—is the parish of Oxney +Colne. And for those who wish to see all the beauties of +this lovely country, a sojourn in Oxney Colne would be most +desirable, seeing that the sojourner would then be brought nearer +to all that he would wish to visit, than at any other spot in the +country. But there in an objection to any such +arrangement. There are only two decent houses in the whole +parish, and these are—or were when I knew the +locality—small and fully occupied by their +possessors. The larger and better is the parsonage, in +which lived the parson and his daughter; and the smaller is a +freehold residence of a certain Miss Le Smyrger, who owned a farm +of a hundred acres, which was rented by one Farmer Cloysey, and +who also possessed some thirty acres round her own house, which +she managed herself; regarding herself to be quite as great in +cream as Mr. Cloysey, and altogether superior to him in the +article of cyder. “But yeu has to pay no rent, +Miss,” Farmer Cloysey would say, when Miss Le Smyrger +expressed this opinion of her art in a manner too defiant. +“Yeu pays no rent, or yeu couldn’t do +it.” Miss Le Smyrger was an old maid, with a pedigree +and blood of her own, a hundred and thirty acres of fee-simple +land on the borders of Dartmoor, fifty years of age, a +constitution of iron, and an opinion of her own on every subject +under the sun.</p> +<p>And now for the parson and his daughter. The +parson’s name was Woolsworthy—or Woolathy, as it was +pronounced by all those who lived around him—the Rev. Saul +Woolsworthy; and his daughter was Patience Woolsworthy, or Miss +Patty, as she was known to the Devonshire world of those +parts. That name of Patience had not been well chosen for +her, for she was a hot-tempered damsel, warm in her convictions, +and inclined to express them freely. She had but two +closely intimate friends in the world, and by both of them this +freedom of expression had now been fully permitted to her since +she was a child. Miss Le Smyrger and her father were well +accustomed to her ways, and on the whole well satisfied with +them. The former was equally free and equally warm-tempered +as herself, and as Mr. Woolsworthy was allowed by his daughter to +be quite paramount on his own subject—for he had a +subject—he did not object to his daughter being paramount +on all others. A pretty girl was Patience Woolsworthy at +the time of which I am writing, and one who possessed much that +was worthy of remark and admiration, had she lived where beauty +meets with admiration, or where force of character is +remarked. But at Oxney Colne, on the borders of Dartmoor, +there were few to appreciate her, and it seemed as though she +herself had but little idea of carrying her talent further +afield, so that it might not remain for ever wrapped in a +blanket.</p> +<p>She was a pretty girl, tall end slender, with dark eyes and +black hair. Her eyes were perhaps too round for regular +beauty, and her hair was perhaps too crisp; her mouth was large +and expressive; her nose was finely formed, though a critic in +female form might have declared it to be somewhat broad. +But her countenance altogether was wonderfully +attractive—if only it might be seen without that resolution +for dominion which occasionally marred it, though sometimes it +even added to her attractions.</p> +<p>It must be confessed on behalf of Patience Woolsworthy, that +the circumstances of her life had peremptorily called upon her to +exercise dominion. She had lost her mother when she was +sixteen, and had had neither brother nor sister. She had no +neighbours near her fit either from education or rank to +interfere in the conduct of her life, excepting always Miss La +Smyrger. Miss Le Smyrger would have done anything for her, +including the whole management of her morals and of the parsonage +household, had Patience been content with such an +arrangement. But much as Patience had ever loved Miss Le +Smyrger, she was not content with this, and therefore she had +been called on to put forth a strong hand of her own. She +had put forth this strong hand early, and hence had come the +character which I am attempting to describe. But I must say +on behalf of this girl, that it was not only over others that she +thus exercised dominion. In acquiring that power she had +also acquired the much greater power of exercising rule over +herself.</p> +<p>But why should her father have been ignored in these family +arrangements? Perhaps it may almost suffice to say, that of +all living men her father was the man best conversant with the +antiquities of the county in which he lived. He was the +Jonathan Oldbuck of Devonshire, and especially of Dartmoor, +without that decision of character which enabled Oldbuck to keep +his womenkind in some kind of subjection, and probably enabled +him also to see that his weekly bills did not pass their proper +limits. Our Mr. Oldbuck, of Oxney Colne, was sadly +deficient in these. As a parish pastor with but a small +cure, he did his duty with sufficient energy, to keep him, at any +rate, from reproach. He was kind and charitable to the +poor, punctual in his services, forbearing with the farmers +around him, mild with his brother clergymen, and indifferent to +aught that bishop or archdeacon might think or say of him. +I do not name this latter attribute as a virtue, but as a +fact. But all these points were as nothing in the known +character of Mr. Woolsworthy, of Oxney Colne. He was the +antiquarian of Dartmoor. That was his line of life. +It was in that capacity that he was known to the Devonshire +world; it was as such that he journeyed about with his humble +carpet-bag, staying away from his parsonage a night or two at a +time; it was in that character that he received now and again +stray visitors in the single spare bedroom—not friends +asked to see him and his girl because of their +friendship—but men who knew something as to this buried +stone, or that old land-mark. In all these things his +daughter let him have his own way, assisting and encouraging +him. That was his line of life, and therefore she respected +it. But in all other matters she chose to be paramount at +the parsonage.</p> +<p>Mr. Woolsworthy was a little man, who always wore, except on +Sundays, grey clothes—clothes of so light a grey that they +would hardly have been regarded as clerical in a district less +remote. He had now reached a goodly age, being full seventy +years old; but still he was wiry and active, and showed but few +symptoms of decay. His head was bald, and the few remaining +locks that surrounded it were nearly white. But there was a +look of energy about his mouth, and a humour in his light grey +eye, which forbade those who knew him to regard him altogether as +an old man. As it was, he could walk from Oxney Colne to +Priestown, fifteen long Devonshire miles across the moor; and he +who could do that could hardly be regarded as too old for +work.</p> +<p>But our present story will have more to do with his daughter +than with him. A pretty girl, I have said, was Patience +Woolsworthy; and one, too, in many ways remarkable. She had +taken her outlook into life, weighing the things which she had +and those which she had not, in a manner very unusual, and, as a +rule, not always desirable for a young lady. The things +which she had not were very many. She had not society; she +had not a fortune; she had not any assurance of future means of +livelihood; she had not high hope of procuring for herself a +position in life by marriage; she had not that excitement and +pleasure in life which she read of in such books as found their +way down to Oxney Colne Parsonage. It would be easy to add +to the list of the things which she had not; and this list +against herself she made out with the utmost vigour. The +things which she had, or those rather which she assured herself +of having, were much more easily counted. She had the birth +and education of a lady, the strength of a healthy woman, and a +will of her own. Such was the list as she made it out for +herself, and I protest that I assert no more than the truth in +saying that she never added to it either beauty, wit, or +talent.</p> +<p>I began these descriptions by saying that Oxney Colne would, +of all places, be the best spot from which a tourist could visit +those parts of Devonshire, but for the fact that he could obtain +there none of the accommodation which tourists require. A +brother antiquarian might, perhaps, in those days have done so, +seeing that there was, as I have said, a spare bedroom at the +parsonage. Any intimate friend of Miss Le Smyrger’s +might be as fortunate, for she was equally well provided at Oxney +Combe, by which name her house was known. But Miss Le +Smyrger was not given to extensive hospitality, and it was only +to those who were bound to her, either by ties of blood or of +very old friendship, that she delighted to open her doors. +As her old friends were very few in number, as those few lived at +a distance, and as her nearest relations were higher in the world +than she was, and were said by herself to look down upon her, the +visits made to Oxney Combe were few and far between.</p> +<p>But now, at the period of which I am writing, such a visit was +about to be made. Miss Le Smyrger had a younger sister, who +had inherited a property in the parish of Oxney Colne equal to +that of the lady who now lived there; but this the younger sister +had inherited beauty also, and she therefore, in early life, had +found sundry lovers, one of whom became her husband. She +had married a man even then well to do in the world, but now rich +and almost mighty; a Member of Parliament, a lord of this and +that board, a man who had a house in Eaton Square, and a park in +the north of England; and in this way her course of life had been +very much divided from that of our Miss Le Smyrger. But the +Lord of the Government Board had been blessed with various +children; and perhaps it was now thought expedient to look after +Aunt Penelope’s Devonshire acres. Aunt Penelope was +empowered to leave them to whom she pleased; and though it was +thought in Eaton Square that she must, as a matter of course, +leave them to one of the family, nevertheless a little cousinly +intercourse might make the thing more certain. I will not +say that this was the sole cause of such a visit, but in these +days a visit was to be made by Captain Broughton to his +aunt. Now Captain John Broughton was the second son of +Alfonso Broughton, of Clapham Park and Eaton Square, Member of +Parliament, and Lord of the aforesaid Government Board.</p> +<p>“And what do you mean to do with him?” Patience +Woolsworthy asked of Miss Le Smyrger when that lady walked over +from the Combe to say that her nephew John was to arrive on the +following morning.</p> +<p>“Do with him? Why I shall bring him over here to +talk to your father.”</p> +<p>“He’ll be too fashionable for that; and papa +won’t trouble his head about him if he finds that he +doesn’t care for Dartmoor.”</p> +<p>“Then he may fall in love with you, my dear.”</p> +<p>“Well, yes; there’s that resource at any rate, and +for your sake I dare say I should be more civil to him than +papa. But he’ll soon get tired of making love, and +what you’ll do then I cannot imagine.”</p> +<p>That Miss Woolsworthy felt no interest in the coming of the +Captain I will not pretend to say. The advent of any +stranger with whom she would be called on to associate must be +matter of interest to her in that secluded place; and she was not +so absolutely unlike other young ladies that the arrival of an +unmarried young man would be the same to her as the advent of +some patriarchal paterfamilias. In taking that outlook into +life of which I have spoken, she had never said to herself that +she despised those things from which other girls received the +excitement, the joys, and the disappointment of their +lives. She had simply given herself to understand that very +little of such things would come her way, and that it behoved her +to live—to live happily if such might be +possible—without experiencing the need of them. She +had heard, when there was no thought of any such visit to Oxney +Colne, that John Broughton was a handsome, clever man—one +who thought much of himself, and was thought much of by +others—that there had been some talk of his marrying a +great heiress, which marriage, however, had not taken place +through unwillingness on his part, and that he was on the whole a +man of more mark in the world than the ordinary captain of +ordinary regiments.</p> +<p>Captain Broughton came to Oxney Combe, stayed there a +fortnight,—the intended period for his projected visit +having been fixed at three or four days,—and then went his +way. He went his way back to his London haunts, the time of +the year then being the close of the Easter holidays; but as he +did so he told his aunt that he should assuredly return to her in +the autumn.</p> +<p>“And assuredly I shall be happy to see you, +John—if you come with a certain purpose. If you have +no such purpose, you had better remain away.”</p> +<p>“I shall assuredly come,” the Captain had replied, +and then he had gone on his journey.</p> +<p>The summer passed rapidly by, and very little was said between +Miss Le Smyrger and Miss Woolsworthy about Captain +Broughton. In many respects—nay, I may say, as to all +ordinary matters, no two women could well be more intimate with +each other than they were,—and more than that, they had the +courage each to talk to the other with absolute truth as to +things concerning themselves—a courage in which dear +friends often fail. But nevertheless, very little was said +between them about Captain John Broughton. All that was +said may be here repeated.</p> +<p>“John says that he shall return here in August,” +Miss Le Smyrger said, as Patience was sitting with her in the +parlour at Oxney Combe, on the morning after that +gentleman’s departure.</p> +<p>“He told me so himself,” said Patience; and as she +spoke her round dark eyes assumed a look of more than ordinary +self-will. If Miss Le Smyrger had intended to carry the +conversation any further, she changed her mind as she looked at +her companion. Then, as I said, the summer ran by, and +towards the close of the warm days of July, Miss Le Smyrger, +sitting in the same chair in the same room, again took up the +conversation.</p> +<p>“I got a letter from John this morning. He says +that he shall be here on the third.”</p> +<p>“Does he?”</p> +<p>“He is very punctual to the time he named.”</p> +<p>“Yes; I fancy that he is a punctual man,” said +Patience.</p> +<p>“I hope that you will be glad to see him,” said +Miss Le Smyrger.</p> +<p>“Very glad to see him,” said Patience, with a bold +clear voice; and then the conversation was again dropped, and +nothing further was said till after Captain Broughton’s +second arrival in the parish.</p> +<p>Four months had then passed since his departure, and during +that time Miss Woolsworthy had performed all her usual daily +duties in their accustomed course. No one could discover +that she had been less careful in her household matters than had +been her wont, less willing to go among her poor neighbours, or +less assiduous in her attentions to her father. But not the +less was there a feeling in the minds of those around her that +some great change had come upon her. She would sit during +the long summer evenings on a certain spot outside the parsonage +orchard, at the top of a small sloping field in which their +solitary cow was always pastured, with a book on her knees before +her, but rarely reading. There she would sit, with the +beautiful view down to the winding river below her, watching the +setting sun, and thinking, thinking, thinking—thinking of +something of which she had never spoken. Often would Miss +Le Smyrger come upon her there, and sometimes would pass by her +even without a word; but never—never once did she dare to +ask her of the matter of her thoughts. But she knew the +matter well enough. No confession was necessary to inform +her that Patience Woolsworthy was in love with John +Broughton—ay, in love, to the full and entire loss of her +whole heart.</p> +<p>On one evening she was so sitting till the July sun had fallen +and hidden himself for the night, when her father came upon her +as he returned from one of his rambles on the moor. +“Patty,” he said, “you are always sitting there +now. Is it not late? Will you not be cold?”</p> +<p>“No, papa,” said she, “I shall not be +cold.”</p> +<p>“But won’t you come to the house? I miss you +when you come in so late that there’s no time to say a word +before we go to bed.”</p> +<p>She got up and followed him into the parsonage, and when they +were in the sitting-room together, and the door was closed, she +came up to him and kissed him. “Papa,” she +said, “would it make you very unhappy if I were to leave +you?”</p> +<p>“Leave me!” he said, startled by the serious and +almost solemn tone of her voice. “Do you mean for +always?”</p> +<p>“If I were to marry, papa?”</p> +<p>“Oh, marry! No; that would not make me +unhappy. It would make me very happy, Patty, to see you +married to a man you would love—very, very happy; though my +days would be desolate without you.”</p> +<p>“That is it, papa. What would you do if I went +from you?”</p> +<p>“What would it matter, Patty? I should be free, at +any rate, from a load which often presses heavy on me now. +What will you do when I shall leave you? A few more years +and all will be over with me. But who is it, love? +Has anybody said anything to you?”</p> +<p>“It was only an idea, papa. I don’t often +think of such a thing; but I did think of it then.” +And so the subject was allowed to pass by. This had +happened before the day of the second arrival had been absolutely +fixed and made known to Miss Woolsworthy.</p> +<p>And then that second arrival took place. The reader may +have understood from the words with which Miss Le Smyrger +authorised her nephew to make his second visit to Oxney Combe +that Miss Woolsworthy’s passion was not altogether +unauthorised. Captain Broughton had been told that he was +not to come unless he came with a certain purpose; and having +been so told, he still persisted in coming. There can be no +doubt but that he well understood the purport to which his aunt +alluded. “I shall assuredly come,” he had +said. And true to his word, he was now there.</p> +<p>Patience knew exactly the hour at which he must arrive at the +station at Newton Abbot, and the time also which it would take to +travel over those twelve uphill miles from the station to +Oxney. It need hardly be said that she paid no visit to +Miss Le Smyrger’s house on that afternoon; but she might +have known something of Captain Broughton’s approach +without going thither. His road to the Combe passed by the +parsonage-gate, and had Patience sat even at her bedroom window +she must have seen him. But on such a morning she would not +sit at her bedroom window—she would do nothing which would +force her to accuse herself of a restless longing for her +lover’s coming. It was for him to seek her. If +he chose to do so, he knew the way to the parsonage.</p> +<p>Miss Le Smyrger—good, dear, honest, hearty Miss Le +Smyrger, was in a fever of anxiety on behalf of her friend. +It was not that she wished her nephew to marry Patience—or +rather that she had entertained any such wish when he first +came,—among them. She was not given to match-making, +and moreover thought, or had thought within herself, that they of +Oxney Colne could do very well without any admixture from Eaton +Square. Her plan of life had been that, when old Mr. +Woolsworthy was taken away from Dartmoor, Patience should live +with her; and that when she also shuffled off her coil, then +Patience Woolsworthy should be the maiden mistress of Oxney +Combe—of Oxney Combe and Mr. Cloysey’s farm—to +the utter detriment of all the Broughtons. Such had been +her plan before nephew John had come among them—a plan not +to be spoken of till the coming of that dark day which should +make Patience an orphan. But now her nephew had been there, +and all was to be altered. Miss Le Smyrger’s plan +would have provided a companion for her old age; but that had not +been her chief object. She had thought more of Patience +than of herself, and now it seemed that a prospect of a higher +happiness was opening for her friend.</p> +<p>“John,” she said, as soon as the first greetings +were over, “do you remember the last words that I said to +you before you went away?” Now, for myself, I much +admire Miss Le Smyrger’s heartiness, but I do not think +much of her discretion. It would have been better, perhaps, +had she allowed things to take their course.</p> +<p>“I can’t say that I do,” said the +Captain. At the same time the Captain did remember very +well what those last words had been.</p> +<p>“I am so glad to see you, so delighted to see you, +if—if—if—,” and then she paused, for with +all her courage she hardly dared to ask her nephew whether he had +come there with the express purpose of asking Miss Woolsworthy to +marry him.</p> +<p>To tell the truth, for there is no room for mystery within the +limits of this short story,—to tell, I say, at a word the +plain and simple truth, Captain Broughton had already asked that +question. On the day before he left Oxney Come, he had in +set terms proposed to the parson’s daughter, and indeed the +words, the hot and frequent words, which previously to that had +fallen like sweetest honey into the ears of Patience Woolsworthy, +had made it imperative on him to do so. When a man in such +a place as that has talked to a girl of love day after day, must +not he talk of it to some definite purpose on the day on which he +leaves her? Or if he do not, must he not submit to be +regarded as false, selfish, and almost fraudulent? Captain +Broughton, however, had asked the question honestly and +truly. He had done so honestly and truly, but in words, or, +perhaps, simply with a tone, that had hardly sufficed to satisfy +the proud spirit of the girl he loved. She by that time had +confessed to herself that she loved him with all her heart; but +she had made no such confession to him. To him she had +spoken no word, granted no favour, that any lover might +rightfully regard as a token of love returned. She had +listened to him as he spoke, and bade him keep such sayings for +the drawing-rooms of his fashionable friends. Then he had +spoken out and had asked for that hand,—not, perhaps, as a +suitor tremulous with hope,—but as a rich man who knows +that he can command that which he desires to purchase.</p> +<p>“You should think more of this,” she had said to +him at last. “If you would really have me for your +wife, it will not be much to you to return here again when time +for thinking of it shall have passed by.” With these +words she had dismissed him, and now he had again come back to +Oxney Colne. But still she would not place herself at the +window to look for him, nor dress herself in other than her +simple morning country dress, nor omit one item of her daily +work. If he wished to take her at all, he should wish to +take her as she really was, in her plain country life, but he +should take her also with full observance of all those privileges +which maidens are allowed to claim from their lovers. He +should contract no ceremonious observance because she was the +daughter of a poor country parson who would come to him without a +shilling, whereas he stood high in the world’s books. +He had asked her to give him all that she had, and that all she +was ready to give, without stint. But the gift must be +valued before it could be given or received, he also was to give +her as much, and she would accept it as beyond all price. +But she would not allow that that which was offered to her was in +any degree the more precious because of his outward worldly +standing.</p> +<p>She would not pretend to herself that she thought he would +come to her that day, and therefore she busied herself in the +kitchen and about the house, giving directions to her two maids +as though the afternoon would pass as all other days did pass in +that household. They usually dined at four, and she rarely +in these summer months went far from the house before that +hour. At four precisely she sat down with her father, and +then said that she was going up as far as Helpholme after +dinner. Helpholme was a solitary farmhouse in another +parish, on the border of the moor, and Mr. Woolsworthy asked her +whether he should accompany her.</p> +<p>“Do, papa,” she said, “if you are not too +tired.” And yet she had thought how probable it might +be that she should meet John Broughton on her walk. And so +it was arranged; but just as dinner was over, Mr. Woolsworthy +remembered himself.</p> +<p>“Gracious me,” he said, “how my memory is +going. Gribbles, from Ivybridge, and old John Poulter, from +Bovey, are coming to meet here by appointment. You +can’t put Helpholme off till to-morrow?”</p> +<p>Patience, however, never put off anything, and therefore at +six o’clock, when her father had finished his slender +modicum of toddy, she tied on her hat and went on her walk. +She started with a quick step, and left no word to say by which +route she would go. As she passed up along the little lane +which led towards Oxney Combe, she would not even look to see if +he was coming towards her; and when she left the road, passing +over a stone stile into a little path which ran first through the +upland fields, and then across the moor ground towards Helpholme, +she did not look back once, or listen for his coming step.</p> +<p>She paid her visit, remaining upwards of an hour with the old +bedridden mother of the tenant of Helpholme. “God +bless you, my darling!” said the old woman as she left her; +“and send you some one to make your own path bright and +happy through the world.” These words were still +ringing in her ears with all their significance as she saw John +Broughton waiting for her at the first stile which she had to +pass after leaving the farmer’s haggard.</p> +<p>“Patty,” he said, as he took her hand, and held it +close within both his own, “what a chase I have had after +you!”</p> +<p>“And who asked you, Captain Broughton?” she +answered, smiling. “If the journey was too much for +your poor London strength, could you not have waited till +to-morrow morning, when you would have found me at the +parsonage?” But she did not draw her hand away from +him, or in any way pretend that he had not a right to accost her +as a lover.</p> +<p>“No, I could not wait. I am more eager to see +those I love than you seem to be.”</p> +<p>“How do you know whom I love, or how eager I might be to +see them? There is an old woman there whom I love, and I +have thought nothing of this walk with the object of seeing +her.” And now, slowly drawing her hand away from him, +she pointed to the farmhouse which she had left.</p> +<p>“Patty,” he said, after a minute’s pause, +during which she had looked full into his face with all the force +of her bright eyes; “I have come from London to-day, +straight down here to Oxney, and from my aunt’s house close +upon your footsteps after you, to ask you that one +question—Do you love me?”</p> +<p>“What a Hercules!” she said, again laughing. +“Do you really mean that you left London only this +morning? Why, you must have been five hours in a railway +carriage and two in a postchaise, not to talk of the walk +afterwards. You ought to take more care of yourself, +Captain Broughton!”</p> +<p>He would have been angry with her—for he did not like to +be quizzed—had she not put her hand on his arm as she +spoke, and the softness of her touch had redeemed the offence of +her words.</p> +<p>“All that I have done,” said he, “that I may +hear one word from you.”</p> +<p>“That any word of mine should have such potency! +But let us walk on, or my father will take us for some of the +standing stones of the moor. How have you found your +aunt? If you only knew the cares that have sat on her dear +shoulders for the last week past, in order that your high +mightiness might have a sufficiency to eat and drink in these +desolate half-starved regions!”</p> +<p>“She might have saved herself such anxiety. No one +can care less for such things than I do.”</p> +<p>“And yet I think I have heard you boast of the cook of +your club.” And then again there was silence for a +minute or two.</p> +<p>“Patty,” said he, stopping again in the path; +“answer my question. I have a right to demand an +answer. Do you love me?”</p> +<p>“And what if I do? What if I have been so silly as +to allow your perfections to be too many for my weak heart? +What then, Captain Broughton?”</p> +<p>“It cannot be that you love me, or you would not joke +now.”</p> +<p>“Perhaps not, indeed,” she said. It seemed +as though she were resolved not to yield an inch in her own +humour. And then again they walked on.</p> +<p>“Patty,” he said once more, “I shall get an +answer from you to-night,—this evening; now, during this +walk, or I shall return to-morrow, and never revisit this spot +again.”</p> +<p>“Oh, Captain Broughton, how should we ever manage to +live without you?”</p> +<p>“Very well,” he said; “up to the end of this +walk I can hear it all;—and one word spoken then will mend +it all.”</p> +<p>During the whole of this time she felt that she was ill-using +him. She knew that she loved him with all her heart; that +it would nearly kill her to part with him; that she had heard his +renewed offer with an ecstacy of joy. She acknowledged to +herself that he was giving proof of his devotion as strong as any +which a girl could receive from her lover. And yet she +could hardly bring herself to say the word he longed to +hear. That word once said, and then she knew that she must +succumb to her love for ever! That word once said, and +there would be nothing for her but to spoil him with her +idolatry! That word once said, and she must continue to +repeat it into his ears, till perhaps he might be tired of +hearing it! And now he had threatened her, and how could +she speak after that? She certainly would not speak it +unless he asked her again without such threat. And so they +walked on in silence.</p> +<p>“Patty,” he said at last. “By the +heavens above us you shall answer me. Do you love +me?”</p> +<p>She now stood still, and almost trembled as she looked up into +his face. She stood opposite to him for a moment, and then +placing her two hands on his shoulders, she answered him. +“I do, I do, I do,” she said, “with all my +heart; with all my heart—with all my heart and +strength.” And then her head fell upon his +breast.</p> +<p>* * *</p> +<p>Captain Broughton was almost as much surprised as delighted by +the warmth of the acknowledgment made by the eager-hearted +passionate girl whom he now held within his arms. She had +said it now; the words had been spoken; and there was nothing for +her but to swear to him over and over again with her sweetest +oaths, that those words were true—true as her soul. +And very sweet was the walk down from thence to the parsonage +gate. He spoke no more of the distance of the ground, or +the length of his day’s journey. But he stopped her +at every turn that he might press her arm the closer to his own, +that he might look into the brightness of her eyes, and prolong +his hour of delight. There were no more gibes now on her +tongue, no raillery at his London finery, no laughing comments on +his coming and going. With downright honesty she told him +everything: how she had loved him before her heart was warranted +in such a passion; how, with much thinking, she had resolved that +it would be unwise to take him at his first word, and had thought +it better that he should return to London, and then think over +it; how she had almost repented of her courage when she had +feared, during those long summer days, that he would forget her; +and how her heart had leapt for joy when her old friend had told +her that he was coming.</p> +<p>“And yet,” said he, “you were not glad to +see me!”</p> +<p>“Oh, was I not glad? You cannot understand the +feelings of a girl who has lived secluded as I have done. +Glad is no word for the joy I felt. But it was not seeing +you that I cared for so much. It was the knowledge that you +were near me once again. I almost wish now that I had not +seen you till to-morrow.” But as she spoke she +pressed his arm, and this caress gave the lie to her last +words.</p> +<p>“No, do not come in to-night,” she said, when she +reached the little wicket that led up to the parsonage. +“Indeed, you shall not. I could not behave myself +properly if you did.”</p> +<p>“But I don’t want you to behave +properly.”</p> +<p>“Oh! I am to keep that for London, am I? +But, nevertheless, Captain Broughton, I will not invite you +either to tea or to supper to-night.”</p> +<p>“Surely I may shake hands with your father.”</p> +<p>“Not to-night—not till—John, I may tell him, +may I not? I must tell him at once.”</p> +<p>“Certainly,” said he.</p> +<p>“And then you shall see him to-morrow. Let me +see—at what hour shall I bid you come?”</p> +<p>“To breakfast.”</p> +<p>“No, indeed. What on earth would your aunt do with +her broiled turkey and the cold pie? I have got no cold pie +for you.”</p> +<p>“I hate cold pie.”</p> +<p>“What a pity! But, John, I should be forced to +leave you directly after breakfast. Come down—come +down at two, or three; and then I will go back with you to Aunt +Penelope. I must see her to-morrow;” and so at last +the matter was settled, and the happy Captain, as he left her, +was hardly resisted in his attempt to press her lips to his +own.</p> +<p>When she entered the parlour in which her father was sitting, +there still were Gribbles and Poulter discussing some knotty +point of Devon lore. So Patience took off her hat, and sat +herself down, waiting till they should go. For full an hour +she had to wait, and then Gribbles and Poulter did go. But +it was not in such matters as this that Patience Woolsworthy was +impatient. She could wait, and wait, and wait, curbing +herself for weeks and months, while the thing waited for was in +her eyes good; but she could not curb her hot thoughts or her hot +words when things came to be discussed which she did not think to +be good.</p> +<p>“Papa,” she said, when Gribbles’ long-drawn +last word had been spoken at the door. “Do you +remember how I asked you the other day what you would say if I +were to leave you?”</p> +<p>“Yes, surely,” he replied, looking up at her in +astonishment.</p> +<p>“I am going to leave you now,” she said. +“Dear, dearest father, how am I to go from you?”</p> +<p>“Going to leave me,” said he, thinking of her +visit to Helpholme, and thinking of nothing else.</p> +<p>Now, there had been a story about Helpholme. That +bedridden old lady there had a stalwart son, who was now the +owner of the Helpholme pastures. But though owner in fee of +all those wild acres, and of the cattle which they supported, he +was not much above the farmers around him, either in manners or +education. He had his merits, however; for he was honest, +well-to-do in the world, and modest withal. How strong love +had grown up, springing from neighbourly kindness, between our +Patience and his mother, it needs not here to tell; but rising +from it had come another love—or an ambition which might +have grown to love. The young man, after much thought, had +not dared to speak to Miss Woolsworthy, but he had sent a message +by Miss Le Smyrger. If there could be any hope for him, he +would present himself as a suitor—on trial. He did +not owe a shilling in the world, and had money by +him—saved. He wouldn’t ask the parson for a +shilling of fortune. Such had been the tenor of his +message, and Miss Le Smyrger had delivered it faithfully. +“He does not mean it,” Patience had said with her +stern voice. “Indeed he does, my dear. You may +be sure he is in earnest,” Miss Le Smyrger had replied; +“and there is not an honester man in these +parts.”</p> +<p>“Tell him,” said Patience, not attending to the +latter portion of her friend’s last speech, “that it +cannot be—make him understand, you know—and tell him +also that the matter shall be thought of no more.” +The matter had, at any rate, been spoken of no more, but the +young farmer still remained a bachelor, and Helpholme still +wanted a mistress. But all this came back upon the +parson’s mind when his daughter told him that she was about +to leave him.</p> +<p>“Yes, dearest,” she said; and as she spoke she now +knelt at his knees. “I have been asked in marriage, +and I have given myself away.”</p> +<p>“Well, my love, if you will be happy—”</p> +<p>“I hope I shall; I think I shall. But you, +papa?”</p> +<p>“You will not be far from us.”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes; in London.”</p> +<p>“In London?”</p> +<p>“Captain Broughton lives in London generally.”</p> +<p>“And has Captain Broughton asked you to marry +him?”</p> +<p>“Yes, papa—who else? Is he not good? +Will you not love him? Oh, papa, do not say that I am wrong +to love him?”</p> +<p>He never told her his mistake, or explained to her that he had +not thought it possible that the high-placed son of the London +great man should have fallen in love with his undowered daughter; +but he embraced her, and told her, with all his enthusiasm, that +he rejoiced in her joy, and would be happy in her +happiness. “My own Patty,” he said, “I +have ever known that you were too good for this life of ours +here.” And then the evening wore away into the night, +with many tears, but still with much happiness.</p> +<p>Captain Broughton, as he walked back to Oxney Combe, made up +his mind that he would say nothing on the matter to his aunt till +the next morning. He wanted to think over it all, and to +think it over, if possible, by himself. He had taken a step +in life, the most important that a man is ever called on to take, +and he had to reflect whether or no he had taken it with +wisdom.</p> +<p>“Have you seen her?” said Miss Le Smyrger, very +anxiously, when he came into the drawing-room.</p> +<p>“Miss Woolsworthy you mean,” said he. +“Yes, I’ve seen her. As I found her out, I took +a long walk, and happened to meet her. Do you know, aunt, I +think I’ll go to bed; I was up at five this morning, and +have been on the move ever since.”</p> +<p>Miss Le Smyrger perceived that she was to hear nothing that +evening, so she handed him his candlestick and allowed him to go +to his room.</p> +<p>But Captain Broughton did not immediately retire to bed, nor +when he did so was he able to sleep at once. Had this step +that he had taken been a wise one? He was not a man who, in +worldly matters, had allowed things to arrange themselves for +him, as is the case with so many men. He had formed views +for himself, and had a theory of life. Money for +money’s sake he had declared to himself to be bad. +Money, as a concomitant to things which were in themselves good, +he had declared to himself to be good also. That +concomitant in this affair of his marriage, he had now +missed. Well; he had made up his mind to that, and would +put up with the loss. He had means of living of his own, +the means not so extensive as might have been desirable. +That it would be well for him to become a married man, looking +merely to the state of life as opposed to his present state, he +had fully resolved. On that point, therefore, there was +nothing to repent. That Patty Woolsworthy was good, +affectionate, clever, and beautiful, he was sufficiently +satisfied. It would be odd indeed if he were not so +satisfied now, seeing that for the last four months he had so +declared to himself daily with many inward asseverations. +And yet though he repeated, now again, that he was satisfied, I +do not think that he was so fully satisfied of it as he had been +throughout the whole of those four months. It is sad to say +so, but I fear—I fear that such was the case. When +you have your plaything, how much of the anticipated pleasure +vanishes, especially if it be won easily.</p> +<p>He had told none of his family what were his intentions in +this second visit to Devonshire, and now he had to bethink +himself whether they would be satisfied. What would his +sister say, she who had married the Honourable Augustus +Gumbleton, gold-stick-in-waiting to Her Majesty’s Privy +Council? Would she receive Patience with open arms, and +make much of her about London? And then how far would +London suit Patience, or would Patience suit London? There +would be much for him to do in teaching her, and it would be well +for him to set about the lesson without loss of time. So +far he got that night, but when the morning came he went a step +further, and began mentally to criticise her manner to +himself. It had been very sweet, that warm, that full, that +ready declaration of love. Yes; it had been very sweet; +but—but—; when, after her little jokes, she did +confess her love, had she not been a little too free for feminine +excellence? A man likes to be told that he is loved, but he +hardly wishes that the girl he is to marry should fling herself +at his head!</p> +<p>Ah me! yes; it was thus he argued to himself as on that +morning he went through the arrangements of his toilet. +“Then he was a brute,” you say, my pretty +reader. I have never said that he was not a brute. +But this I remark, that many such brutes are to be met with in +the beaten paths of the world’s highway. When +Patience Woolsworthy had answered him coldly, bidding him go back +to London and think over his love; while it seemed from her +manner that at any rate as yet she did not care for him; while he +was absent from her, and, therefore, longing for her, the +possession of her charms, her talent and bright honesty of +purpose had seemed to him a thing most desirable. Now they +were his own. They had, in fact, been his own from the +first. The heart of this country-bred girl had fallen at +the first word from his mouth. Had she not so confessed to +him? She was very nice—very nice indeed. He +loved her dearly. But had he not sold himself too +cheaply?</p> +<p>I by no means say that he was not a brute. But whether +brute or no, he was an honest man, and had no remotest dream, +either then, on that morning, or during the following days on +which such thoughts pressed more quickly on his mind—of +breaking away from his pledged word. At breakfast on that +morning he told all to Miss Le Smyrger, and that lady, with warm +and gracious intentions, confided to him her purpose regarding +her property. “I have always regarded Patience as my +heir,” she said, “and shall do so still.”</p> +<p>“Oh, indeed,” said Captain Broughton.</p> +<p>“But it is a great, great pleasure to me to think that +she will give back the little property to my sister’s +child. You will have your mother’s, and thus it will +all come together again.”</p> +<p>“Ah!” said Captain Broughton. He had his own +ideas about property, and did not, even under existing +circumstances, like to hear that his aunt considered herself at +liberty to leave the acres away to one who was by blood quite a +stranger to the family.</p> +<p>“Does Patience know of this?” he asked.</p> +<p>“Not a word,” said Miss Le Smyrger. And then +nothing more was said upon the subject.</p> +<p>On that afternoon he went down and received the parson’s +benediction and congratulations with a good grace. Patience +said very little on the occasion, and indeed was absent during +the greater part of the interview. The two lovers then +walked up to Oxney Combe, and there were more benedictions and +more congratulations. “All went merry as a marriage +bell,” at any rate as far as Patience was concerned. +Not a word had yet fallen from that dear mouth, not a look had +yet come over that handsome face, which tended in any way to mar +her bliss. Her first day of acknowledged love was a day +altogether happy, and when she prayed for him as she knelt beside +her bed there was no feeling in her mind that any fear need +disturb her joy.</p> +<p>I will pass over the next three or four days very quickly, +merely saying that Patience did not find them so pleasant as that +first day after her engagement. There was something in her +lover’s manner—something which at first she could not +define—which by degrees seemed to grate against her +feelings.</p> +<p>He was sufficiently affectionate, that being a matter on which +she did not require much demonstration; but joined to his +affection there seemed to be—; she hardly liked to suggest +to herself a harsh word, but could it be possible that he was +beginning to think that she was not good enough for him? +And then she asked herself the question—was she good enough +for him? If there were doubt about that, the match should +be broken off, though she tore her own heart out in the +struggle. The truth, however, was this—that he had +begun that teaching which he had already found to be so +necessary. Now, had any one essayed to teach Patience +German or mathematics, with that young lady’s free consent, +I believe that she would have been found a meek scholar. +But it was not probable that she would be meek when she found a +self-appointed tutor teaching her manners and conduct without her +consent.</p> +<p>So matters went on for four or five days, and on the evening +of the fifth day Captain Broughton and his aunt drank tea at the +parsonage. Nothing very especial occurred; but as the +parson and Miss La Smyrger insisted on playing backgammon with +devoted perseverance during the whole evening, Broughton had a +good opportunity of saying a word or two about those changes in +his lady-love which a life in London would require—and some +word he said also—some single slight word as to the higher +station in life to which he would exalt his bride. Patience +bore it—for her father and Miss La Smyrger were in the +room—she bore it well, speaking no syllable of anger, and +enduring, for the moment, the implied scorn of the old +parsonage. Then the evening broke up, and Captain Broughton +walked back to Oxney Combe with his aunt. +“Patty,” her father said to her before they went to +bed, “he seems to me to be a most excellent young +man.” “Dear papa,” she answered, kissing +him. “And terribly deep in love,” said Mr. +Woolsworthy. “Oh, I don’t know about +that,” she answered, as she left him with her sweetest +smile. But though she could thus smile at her +father’s joke, she had already made up her mind that there +was still something to be learned as to her promised husband +before she could place herself altogether in his hands. She +would ask him whether he thought himself liable to injury from +this proposed marriage; and though he should deny any such +thought, she would know from the manner of his denial what his +true feelings were.</p> +<p>And he, too, on that night, during his silent walk with Miss +Le Smyrger, had entertained some similar thoughts. “I +fear she is obstinate,” he said to himself; and then he had +half accused her of being sullen also. “If that be +her temper, what a life of misery I have before me!”</p> +<p>“Have you fixed a day yet?” his aunt asked him as +they came near to her house.</p> +<p>“No, not yet; I don’t know whether it will suit me +to fix it before I leave.”</p> +<p>“Why, it was but the other day you were in such a +hurry.”</p> +<p>“Ah—yes—I have thought more about it since +then.”</p> +<p>“I should have imagined that this would depend on what +Patty thinks,” said Miss Le Smyrger, standing up for the +privileges of her sex. “It is presumed that the +gentleman is always ready as soon as the lady will +consent.”</p> +<p>“Yes, in ordinary cases it is so; but when a girl is +taken out of her own sphere—”</p> +<p>“Her own sphere! Let me caution you, Master John, +not to talk to Patty about her own sphere.”</p> +<p>“Aunt Penelope, as Patience is to be my wife and not +yours, I must claim permission to speak to her on such subjects +as may seem suitable to me.” And then they +parted—not in the best humour with each other.</p> +<p>On the following day Captain Broughton and Miss Woolsworthy +did not meet till the evening. She had said, before those +few ill-omened words had passed her lover’s lips, that she +would probably be at Miss Le Smyrger’s house on the +following morning. Those ill-omened words did pass her +lover’s lips, and then she remained at home. This did +not come from sullenness, nor even from anger, but from a +conviction that it would be well that she should think much +before she met him again. Nor was he anxious to hurry a +meeting. His thought—his base thought—was this; +that she would be sure to come up to the Combe after him; but she +did not come, and therefore in the evening he went down to her, +and asked her to walk with him.</p> +<p>They went away by the path that led to Helpholme, and little +was said between them till they had walked some mile +together.</p> +<p>Patience, as she went along the path, remembered almost to the +letter the sweet words which had greeted her ears as she came +down that way with him on the night of his arrival; but he +remembered nothing of that sweetness then. Had he not made +an ass of himself during these last six months? That was +the thought which very much had possession of his mind.</p> +<p>“Patience,” he said at last, having hitherto +spoken only an indifferent word now and again since they had left +the parsonage, “Patience, I hope you realise the importance +of the step which you and I are about to take?”</p> +<p>“Of course I do,” she answered. “What +an odd question that is for you to ask!”</p> +<p>“Because,” said he, “sometimes I almost +doubt it. It seems to me as though you thought you could +remove yourself from here to your new home with no more trouble +than when you go from home up to the Combe.”</p> +<p>“Is that meant for a reproach, John?”</p> +<p>“No, not for a reproach, but for advice. Certainly +not for a reproach.”</p> +<p>“I am glad of that.”</p> +<p>“But I should wish to make you think how great is the +leap in the world which you are about to take.” Then +again they walked on for many steps before she answered him.</p> +<p>“Tell me, then, John,” she said, when she had +sufficiently considered what words she should speak; and as she +spoke a bright colour suffused her face, and her eyes flashed +almost with anger. “What leap do you mean? Do +you mean a leap upwards?”</p> +<p>“Well, yes; I hope it will be so.”</p> +<p>“In one sense, certainly, it would be a leap +upwards. To be the wife of the man I loved; to have the +privilege of holding his happiness in my hand; to know that I was +his own—the companion whom he had chosen out of all the +world—that would, indeed, be a leap upwards; a leap almost +to heaven, if all that were so. But if you mean upwards in +any other sense—”</p> +<p>“I was thinking of the social scale.”</p> +<p>“Then, Captain Broughton, your thoughts were doing me +dishonour.”</p> +<p>“Doing you dishonour!”</p> +<p>“Yes, doing me dishonour. That your father is, in +the world’s esteem, a greater man than mine is doubtless +true enough. That you, as a man, are richer than I am as a +woman, is doubtless also true. But you dishonour me, and +yourself also, if these things can weigh with you now.”</p> +<p>“Patience,—I think you can hardly know what words +you are saying to me.”</p> +<p>“Pardon me, but I think I do. Nothing that you can +give me—no gifts of that description—can weigh aught +against that which I am giving you. If you had all the +wealth and rank of the greatest lord in the land, it would count +as nothing in such a scale. If—as I have not +doubted—if in return for my heart you have given me yours, +then—then—then you have paid me fully. But when +gifts such as those are going, nothing else can count even as a +make-weight.”</p> +<p>“I do not quite understand you,” he answered, +after a pause. “I fear you are a little +high-flown.” And then, while the evening was still +early, they walked back to the parsonage almost without another +word.</p> +<p>Captain Broughton at this time had only one full day more to +remain at Oxney Colne. On the afternoon following that he +was to go as far as Exeter, and thence return to London. Of +course, it was to be expected that the wedding day would be fixed +before he went, and much had been said about it during the first +day or two of his engagement. Then he had pressed for an +early time, and Patience, with a girl’s usual diffidence, +had asked for some little delay. But now nothing was said +on the subject; and how was it probable that such a matter could +be settled after such a conversation as that which I have +related? That evening, Miss Le Smyrger asked whether the +day had been fixed. “No,” said Captain +Broughton, harshly; “nothing has been fixed.” +“But it will be arranged before you go?” +“Probably not,” he said; and then the subject was +dropped for the time.</p> +<p>“John,” she said, just before she went to bed, +“if there be anything wrong between you and Patience, I +conjure you to tell me.”</p> +<p>“You had better ask her,” he replied. +“I can tell you nothing.”</p> +<p>On the following morning he was much surprised by seeing +Patience on the gravel path before Miss Le Smyrger’s gate +immediately after breakfast. He went to the door to open it +for her, and she, as she gave him her hand, told him that she +came up to speak to him. There was no hesitation in her +manner, nor any look of anger in her face. But there was in +her gait and form, in her voice and countenance, a fixedness of +purpose which he had never seen before, or at any rate had never +acknowledged.</p> +<p>“Certainly,” said he. “Shall I come +out with you, or will you come up stairs?”</p> +<p>“We can sit down in the summer-house,” she said; +and thither they both went.</p> +<p>“Captain Broughton,” she said—and she began +her task the moment that they were both seated—“you +and I have engaged ourselves as man and wife, but perhaps we have +been over rash.”</p> +<p>“How so?” said he.</p> +<p>“It may be—and indeed I will say more—it is +the case that we have made this engagement without knowing enough +of each other’s character.”</p> +<p>“I have not thought so.”</p> +<p>“The time will perhaps come when you will so think, but +for the sake of all that we most value, let it come before it is +too late. What would be our fate—how terrible would +be our misery—if such a thought should come to either of us +after we have linked our lots together.”</p> +<p>There was a solemnity about her as she thus spoke which almost +repressed him,—which for a time did prevent him from taking +that tone of authority which on such a subject he would choose to +adopt. But he recovered himself. “I hardly +think that this comes well from you,” he said.</p> +<p>“From whom else should it come? Who else can fight +my battle for me; and, John, who else can fight that same battle +on your behalf? I tell you this, that with your mind +standing towards me as it does stand at present, you could not +give me your hand at the altar with true words and a happy +conscience. Am I not true? You have half repented of +your bargain already. Is it not so?”</p> +<p>He did not answer her; but getting up from his seat walked to +the front of the summer-house, and stood there with his back +turned upon her. It was not that he meant to be ungracious, +but in truth he did not know how to answer her. He had half +repented of his bargain.</p> +<p>“John,” she said, getting up and following him, so +that she could put her hand upon his arm, “I have been very +angry with you.”</p> +<p>“Angry with me!” he said, turning sharp upon +her.</p> +<p>“Yes, angry with you. You would have treated me +like a child. But that feeling has gone now. I am not +angry now. There is my hand;—the hand of a +friend. Let the words that have been spoken between us be +as though they had not been spoken. Let us both be +free.”</p> +<p>“Do you mean it?”</p> +<p>“Certainly I mean it.” As she spoke these +words her eyes filled with tears, in spite of all the efforts she +could make; but he was not looking at her, and her efforts had +sufficed to prevent any sob from being audible.</p> +<p>“With all my heart,” he said; and it was manifest +from his tone that he had no thought of her happiness as he +spoke. It was true that she had been angry with +him—angry, as she had herself declared; but nevertheless, +in what she had said and what she had done, she had thought more +of his happiness than of her own. Now she was angry once +again.</p> +<p>“With all your heart, Captain Broughton! Well, so +be it. If with all your heart, then is the necessity so +much the greater. You go to-morrow. Shall we say +farewell now?”</p> +<p>“Patience, I am not going to be lectured.”</p> +<p>“Certainly not by me. Shall we say farewell +now?”</p> +<p>“Yes, if you are determined.”</p> +<p>“I am determined. Farewell, Captain +Broughton. You have all my wishes for your +happiness.” And she held out her hand to him.</p> +<p>“Patience!” he said. And he looked at her +with a dark frown, as though he would strive to frighten her into +submission. If so, he might have saved himself any such +attempt.</p> +<p>“Farewell, Captain Broughton. Give me your hand, +for I cannot stay.” He gave her his hand, hardly +knowing why he did so. She lifted it to her lips and kissed +it, and then, leaving him, passed from the summer-house down +through the wicket-gate, and straight home to the parsonage.</p> +<p>During the whole of that day she said no word to any one of +what had occurred. When she was once more at home she went +about her household affairs as she had done on that day of his +arrival. When she sat down to dinner with her father he +observed nothing to make him think that she was unhappy; nor +during the evening was there any expression in her face, or any +tone in her voice, which excited his attention. On the +following morning Captain Broughton called at the parsonage, and +the servant-girl brought word to her mistress that he was in the +parlour. But she would not see him. “Laws, +miss, you ain’t a quarrelled with your beau?” the +poor girl said. “No, not quarrelled,” she said; +“but give him that.” It was a scrap of paper, +containing a word or two in pencil. “It is better +that we should not meet again. God bless you.” +And from that day to this, now more than ten years, they never +have met.</p> +<p>“Papa,” she said to her father that afternoon, +“dear papa, do not be angry with me. It is all over +between me and John Broughton. Dearest, you and I will not +be separated.”</p> +<p>It would be useless here to tell how great was the old +man’s surprise and how true his sorrow. As the tale +was told to him no cause was given for anger with any one. +Not a word was spoken against the suitor who had on that day +returned to London with a full conviction that now at least he +was relieved from his engagement. “Patty, my darling +child,” he said, “may God grant that it be for the +best!”</p> +<p>“It is for the best,” she answered stoutly. +“For this place I am fit; and I much doubt whether I am fit +for any other.”</p> +<p>On that day she did not see Miss Le Smyrger, but on the +following morning, knowing that Captain Broughton had gone off, +having heard the wheels of the carriage as they passed by the +parsonage gate on his way to the station,—she walked up to +the Combe.</p> +<p>“He has told you, I suppose?” said she.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Miss Le Smyrger. “And I +will never see him again unless he asks your pardon on his +knees. I have told him so. I would not even give him +my hand as he went.”</p> +<p>“But why so, thou kindest one? The fault was mine +more than his.”</p> +<p>“I understand. I have eyes in my head,” said +the old maid. “I have watched him for the last four +or five days. If you could have kept the truth to yourself +and bade him keep off from you, he would have been at your feet +now, licking the dust from your shoes.”</p> +<p>“But, dear friend, I do not want a man to lick dust from +my shoes.”</p> +<p>“Ah, you are a fool. You do not know the value of +your own wealth.”</p> +<p>“True; I have been a fool. I was a fool to think +that one coming from such a life as he has led could be happy +with such as I am. I know the truth now. I have +bought the lesson dearly,—but perhaps not too dearly, +seeing that it will never be forgotten.”</p> +<p>There was but little more said about the matter between our +three friends at Oxney Colne. What, indeed, could be +said? Miss Le Smyrger for a year or two still expected that +her nephew would return and claim his bride; but he has never +done so, nor has there been any correspondence between +them. Patience Woolsworthy had learned her lesson +dearly. She had given her whole heart to the man; and, +though she so bore herself that no one was aware of the violence +of the struggle, nevertheless the struggle within her bosom was +very violent. She never told herself that she had done +wrong; she never regretted her loss; but yet—yet—the +loss was very hard to bear. He also had loved her, but he +was not capable of a love which could much injure his daily +peace. Her daily peace was gone for many a day to come.</p> +<p>Her father is still living; but there is a curate now in the +parish. In conjunction with him and with Miss Le Smyrger +she spends her time in the concerns of the parish. In her +own eyes she is a confirmed old maid; and such is my opinion +also. The romance of her life was played out in that +summer. She never sits now lonely on the hill-side thinking +how much she might do for one whom she really loved. But +with a large heart she loves many, and, with no romance, she +works hard to lighten the burdens of those she loves.</p> +<p>As for Captain Broughton, all the world know that he did marry +that great heiress with whom his name was once before connected, +and that he is now a useful member of Parliament, working on +committees three or four days a week with a zeal that is +indefatigable. Sometimes, not often, as he thinks of +Patience Woolsworthy, a gratified smile comes across his +face.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER OF OXNEY +COLNE***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 3717-h.htm or 3717-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/7/1/3717 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law 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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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In +making this assertion I am often met with much doubt, but it is by +persons who do not really know the locality. Men and women talk to me +on the matter, who have travelled down the line of railway from Exeter +to Plymouth, who have spent a fortnight at Torquay, and perhaps made an +excursion from Tavistock to the convict prison on Dartmoor. But who +knows the glories of Chagford? Who has walked through the parish of +Manaton? Who is conversant with Lustleigh Cleeves and Withycombe in +the moor? Who has explored Holne Chase? Gentle reader, believe me +that you will be rash in contradicting me, unless you have done these +things. + +There or thereabouts--I will not say by the waters of which little +river it is washed--is the parish of Oxney Colne. And for those who +wish to see all the beauties of this lovely country, a sojourn in Oxney +Colne would be most desirable, seeing that the sojourner would then be +brought nearer to all that he would wish to visit, than at any other +spot in the country. But there in an objection to any such +arrangement. There are only two decent houses in the whole parish, and +these are--or were when I knew the locality--small and fully occupied +by their possessors. The larger and better is the parsonage, in which +lived the parson and his daughter; and the smaller is a freehold +residence of a certain Miss Le Smyrger, who owned a farm of a hundred +acres, which was rented by one Farmer Cloysey, and who also possessed +some thirty acres round her own house, which she managed herself; +regarding herself to be quite as great in cream as Mr. Cloysey, and +altogether superior to him in the article of cyder. "But yeu has to +pay no rent, Miss," Farmer Cloysey would say, when Miss Le Smyrger +expressed this opinion of her art in a manner too defiant. "Yeu pays +no rent, or yeu couldn't do it." Miss Le Smyrger was an old maid, with +a pedigree and blood of her own, a hundred and thirty acres of fee- +simple land on the borders of Dartmoor, fifty years of age, a +constitution of iron, and an opinion of her own on every subject under +the sun. + +And now for the parson and his daughter. The parson's name was +Woolsworthy--or Woolathy, as it was pronounced by all those who lived +around him--the Rev. Saul Woolsworthy; and his daughter was Patience +Woolsworthy, or Miss Patty, as she was known to the Devonshire world of +those parts. That name of Patience had not been well chosen for her, +for she was a hot-tempered damsel, warm in her convictions, and +inclined to express them freely. She had but two closely intimate +friends in the world, and by both of them this freedom of expression +had now been fully permitted to her since she was a child. Miss Le +Smyrger and her father were well accustomed to her ways, and on the +whole well satisfied with them. The former was equally free and +equally warm-tempered as herself, and as Mr. Woolsworthy was allowed by +his daughter to be quite paramount on his own subject--for he had a +subject--he did not object to his daughter being paramount on all +others. A pretty girl was Patience Woolsworthy at the time of which I +am writing, and one who possessed much that was worthy of remark and +admiration, had she lived where beauty meets with admiration, or where +force of character is remarked. But at Oxney Colne, on the borders of +Dartmoor, there were few to appreciate her, and it seemed as though she +herself had but little idea of carrying her talent further afield, so +that it might not remain for ever wrapped in a blanket. + +She was a pretty girl, tall end slender, with dark eyes and black hair. +Her eyes were perhaps too round for regular beauty, and her hair was +perhaps too crisp; her mouth was large and expressive; her nose was +finely formed, though a critic in female form might have declared it to +be somewhat broad. But her countenance altogether was wonderfully +attractive--if only it might be seen without that resolution for +dominion which occasionally marred it, though sometimes it even added +to her attractions. + +It must be confessed on behalf of Patience Woolsworthy, that the +circumstances of her life had peremptorily called upon her to exercise +dominion. She had lost her mother when she was sixteen, and had had +neither brother nor sister. She had no neighbours near her fit either +from education or rank to interfere in the conduct of her life, +excepting always Miss La Smyrger. Miss Le Smyrger would have done +anything for her, including the whole management of her morals and of +the parsonage household, had Patience been content with such an +arrangement. But much as Patience had ever loved Miss Le Smyrger, she +was not content with this, and therefore she had been called on to put +forth a strong hand of her own. She had put forth this strong hand +early, and hence had come the character which I am attempting to +describe. But I must say on behalf of this girl, that it was not only +over others that she thus exercised dominion. In acquiring that power +she had also acquired the much greater power of exercising rule over +herself. + +But why should her father have been ignored in these family +arrangements? Perhaps it may almost suffice to say, that of all living +men her father was the man best conversant with the antiquities of the +county in which he lived. He was the Jonathan Oldbuck of Devonshire, +and especially of Dartmoor, without that decision of character which +enabled Oldbuck to keep his womenkind in some kind of subjection, and +probably enabled him also to see that his weekly bills did not pass +their proper limits. Our Mr. Oldbuck, of Oxney Colne, was sadly +deficient in these. As a parish pastor with but a small cure, he did +his duty with sufficient energy, to keep him, at any rate, from +reproach. He was kind and charitable to the poor, punctual in his +services, forbearing with the farmers around him, mild with his brother +clergymen, and indifferent to aught that bishop or archdeacon might +think or say of him. I do not name this latter attribute as a virtue, +but as a fact. But all these points were as nothing in the known +character of Mr. Woolsworthy, of Oxney Colne. He was the antiquarian +of Dartmoor. That was his line of life. It was in that capacity that +he was known to the Devonshire world; it was as such that he journeyed +about with his humble carpet-bag, staying away from his parsonage a +night or two at a time; it was in that character that he received now +and again stray visitors in the single spare bedroom--not friends asked +to see him and his girl because of their friendship--but men who knew +something as to this buried stone, or that old land-mark. In all these +things his daughter let him have his own way, assisting and encouraging +him. That was his line of life, and therefore she respected it. But +in all other matters she chose to be paramount at the parsonage. + +Mr. Woolsworthy was a little man, who always wore, except on Sundays, +grey clothes--clothes of so light a grey that they would hardly have +been regarded as clerical in a district less remote. He had now +reached a goodly age, being full seventy years old; but still he was +wiry and active, and showed but few symptoms of decay. His head was +bald, and the few remaining locks that surrounded it were nearly white. +But there was a look of energy about his mouth, and a humour in his +light grey eye, which forbade those who knew him to regard him +altogether as an old man. As it was, he could walk from Oxney Colne to +Priestown, fifteen long Devonshire miles across the moor; and he who +could do that could hardly be regarded as too old for work. + +But our present story will have more to do with his daughter than with +him. A pretty girl, I have said, was Patience Woolsworthy; and one, +too, in many ways remarkable. She had taken her outlook into life, +weighing the things which she had and those which she had not, in a +manner very unusual, and, as a rule, not always desirable for a young +lady. The things which she had not were very many. She had not +society; she had not a fortune; she had not any assurance of future +means of livelihood; she had not high hope of procuring for herself a +position in life by marriage; she had not that excitement and pleasure +in life which she read of in such books as found their way down to +Oxney Colne Parsonage. It would be easy to add to the list of the +things which she had not; and this list against herself she made out +with the utmost vigour. The things which she had, or those rather +which she assured herself of having, were much more easily counted. +She had the birth and education of a lady, the strength of a healthy +woman, and a will of her own. Such was the list as she made it out for +herself, and I protest that I assert no more than the truth in saying +that she never added to it either beauty, wit, or talent. + +I began these descriptions by saying that Oxney Colne would, of all +places, be the best spot from which a tourist could visit those parts +of Devonshire, but for the fact that he could obtain there none of the +accommodation which tourists require. A brother antiquarian might, +perhaps, in those days have done so, seeing that there was, as I have +said, a spare bedroom at the parsonage. Any intimate friend of Miss Le +Smyrger's might be as fortunate, for she was equally well provided at +Oxney Combe, by which name her house was known. But Miss Le Smyrger +was not given to extensive hospitality, and it was only to those who +were bound to her, either by ties of blood or of very old friendship, +that she delighted to open her doors. As her old friends were very few +in number, as those few lived at a distance, and as her nearest +relations were higher in the world than she was, and were said by +herself to look down upon her, the visits made to Oxney Combe were few +and far between. + +But now, at the period of which I am writing, such a visit was about to +be made. Miss Le Smyrger had a younger sister, who had inherited a +property in the parish of Oxney Colne equal to that of the lady who now +lived there; but this the younger sister had inherited beauty also, and +she therefore, in early life, had found sundry lovers, one of whom +became her husband. She had married a man even then well to do in the +world, but now rich and almost mighty; a Member of Parliament, a lord +of this and that board, a man who had a house in Eaton Square, and a +park in the north of England; and in this way her course of life had +been very much divided from that of our Miss Le Smyrger. But the Lord +of the Government Board had been blessed with various children; and +perhaps it was now thought expedient to look after Aunt Penelope's +Devonshire acres. Aunt Penelope was empowered to leave them to whom +she pleased; and though it was thought in Eaton Square that she must, +as a matter of course, leave them to one of the family, nevertheless a +little cousinly intercourse might make the thing more certain. I will +not say that this was the sole cause of such a visit, but in these days +a visit was to be made by Captain Broughton to his aunt. Now Captain +John Broughton was the second son of Alfonso Broughton, of Clapham Park +and Eaton Square, Member of Parliament, and Lord of the aforesaid +Government Board. + +"And what do you mean to do with him?" Patience Woolsworthy asked of +Miss Le Smyrger when that lady walked over from the Combe to say that +her nephew John was to arrive on the following morning. + +"Do with him? Why I shall bring him over here to talk to your father." + +"He'll be too fashionable for that; and papa won't trouble his head +about him if he finds that he doesn't care for Dartmoor." + +"Then he may fall in love with you, my dear." + +"Well, yes; there's that resource at any rate, and for your sake I dare +say I should be more civil to him than papa. But he'll soon get tired +of making love, and what you'll do then I cannot imagine." + +That Miss Woolsworthy felt no interest in the coming of the Captain I +will not pretend to say. The advent of any stranger with whom she +would be called on to associate must be matter of interest to her in +that secluded place; and she was not so absolutely unlike other young +ladies that the arrival of an unmarried young man would be the same to +her as the advent of some patriarchal paterfamilias. In taking that +outlook into life of which I have spoken, she had never said to herself +that she despised those things from which other girls received the +excitement, the joys, and the disappointment of their lives. She had +simply given herself to understand that very little of such things +would come her way, and that it behoved her to live--to live happily if +such might be possible--without experiencing the need of them. She had +heard, when there was no thought of any such visit to Oxney Colne, that +John Broughton was a handsome, clever man--one who thought much of +himself, and was thought much of by others--that there had been some +talk of his marrying a great heiress, which marriage, however, had not +taken place through unwillingness on his part, and that he was on the +whole a man of more mark in the world than the ordinary captain of +ordinary regiments. + +Captain Broughton came to Oxney Combe, stayed there a fortnight,--the +intended period for his projected visit having been fixed at three or +four days,--and then went his way. He went his way back to his London +haunts, the time of the year then being the close of the Easter +holidays; but as he did so he told his aunt that he should assuredly +return to her in the autumn. + +"And assuredly I shall be happy to see you, John--if you come with a +certain purpose. If you have no such purpose, you had better remain +away." + +"I shall assuredly come," the Captain had replied, and then he had gone +on his journey. + +The summer passed rapidly by, and very little was said between Miss Le +Smyrger and Miss Woolsworthy about Captain Broughton. In many +respects--nay, I may say, as to all ordinary matters, no two women +could well be more intimate with each other than they were,--and more +than that, they had the courage each to talk to the other with absolute +truth as to things concerning themselves--a courage in which dear +friends often fail. But nevertheless, very little was said between +them about Captain John Broughton. All that was said may be here +repeated. + +"John says that he shall return here in August," Miss Le Smyrger said, +as Patience was sitting with her in the parlour at Oxney Combe, on the +morning after that gentleman's departure. + +"He told me so himself," said Patience; and as she spoke her round dark +eyes assumed a look of more than ordinary self-will. If Miss Le +Smyrger had intended to carry the conversation any further, she changed +her mind as she looked at her companion. Then, as I said, the summer +ran by, and towards the close of the warm days of July, Miss Le +Smyrger, sitting in the same chair in the same room, again took up the +conversation. + +"I got a letter from John this morning. He says that he shall be here +on the third." + +"Does he?" + +"He is very punctual to the time he named." + +"Yes; I fancy that he is a punctual man," said Patience. + +"I hope that you will be glad to see him," said Miss Le Smyrger. + +"Very glad to see him," said Patience, with a bold clear voice; and +then the conversation was again dropped, and nothing further was said +till after Captain Broughton's second arrival in the parish. + +Four months had then passed since his departure, and during that time +Miss Woolsworthy had performed all her usual daily duties in their +accustomed course. No one could discover that she had been less +careful in her household matters than had been her wont, less willing +to go among her poor neighbours, or less assiduous in her attentions to +her father. But not the less was there a feeling in the minds of those +around her that some great change had come upon her. She would sit +during the long summer evenings on a certain spot outside the parsonage +orchard, at the top of a small sloping field in which their solitary +cow was always pastured, with a book on her knees before her, but +rarely reading. There she would sit, with the beautiful view down to +the winding river below her, watching the setting sun, and thinking, +thinking, thinking--thinking of something of which she had never +spoken. Often would Miss Le Smyrger come upon her there, and sometimes +would pass by her even without a word; but never--never once did she +dare to ask her of the matter of her thoughts. But she knew the matter +well enough. No confession was necessary to inform her that Patience +Woolsworthy was in love with John Broughton--ay, in love, to the full +and entire loss of her whole heart. + +On one evening she was so sitting till the July sun had fallen and +hidden himself for the night, when her father came upon her as he +returned from one of his rambles on the moor. "Patty," he said, "you +are always sitting there now. Is it not late? Will you not be cold?" + +"No, papa," said she, "I shall not be cold." + +"But won't you come to the house? I miss you when you come in so late +that there's no time to say a word before we go to bed." + +She got up and followed him into the parsonage, and when they were in +the sitting-room together, and the door was closed, she came up to him +and kissed him. "Papa," she said, "would it make you very unhappy if I +were to leave you?" + +"Leave me!" he said, startled by the serious and almost solemn tone of +her voice. "Do you mean for always?" + +"If I were to marry, papa?" + +"Oh, marry! No; that would not make me unhappy. It would make me very +happy, Patty, to see you married to a man you would love--very, very +happy; though my days would be desolate without you." + +"That is it, papa. What would you do if I went from you?" + +"What would it matter, Patty? I should be free, at any rate, from a +load which often presses heavy on me now. What will you do when I +shall leave you? A few more years and all will be over with me. But +who is it, love? Has anybody said anything to you?" + +"It was only an idea, papa. I don't often think of such a thing; but I +did think of it then." And so the subject was allowed to pass by. +This had happened before the day of the second arrival had been +absolutely fixed and made known to Miss Woolsworthy. + +And then that second arrival took place. The reader may have +understood from the words with which Miss Le Smyrger authorised her +nephew to make his second visit to Oxney Combe that Miss Woolsworthy's +passion was not altogether unauthorised. Captain Broughton had been +told that he was not to come unless he came with a certain purpose; and +having been so told, he still persisted in coming. There can be no +doubt but that he well understood the purport to which his aunt +alluded. "I shall assuredly come," he had said. And true to his word, +he was now there. + +Patience knew exactly the hour at which he must arrive at the station +at Newton Abbot, and the time also which it would take to travel over +those twelve uphill miles from the station to Oxney. It need hardly he +said that she paid no visit to Miss Le Smyrger's house on that +afternoon; but she might have known something of Captain Broughton's +approach without going thither. His road to the Combe passed by the +parsonage-gate, and had Patience sat even at her bedroom window she +must have seen him. But on such a morning she would not sit at her +bedroom window--she would do nothing which would force her to accuse +herself of a restless longing for her lover's coming. It was for him +to seek her. If he chose to do so, he knew the way to the parsonage. + +Miss Le Smyrger--good, dear, honest, hearty Miss Le Smyrger, was in a +fever of anxiety on behalf of her friend. It was not that she wished +her nephew to marry Patience--or rather that she had entertained any +such wish when he first came,--among them. She was not given to match- +making, and moreover thought, or had thought within herself, that they +of Oxney Colne could do very well without any admixture from Eaton +Square. Her plan of life had been that, when old Mr. Woolsworthy was +taken away from Dartmoor, Patience should live with her; and that when +she also shuffled off her coil, then Patience Woolsworthy should be the +maiden mistress of Oxney Combe--of Oxney Combe and Mr. Cloysey's farm-- +to the utter detriment of all the Broughtons. Such had been her plan +before nephew John had come among them--a plan not to be spoken of till +the coming of that dark day which should make Patience an orphan. But +now her nephew had been there, and all was to be altered. Miss Le +Smyrger's plan would have provided a companion for her old age; but +that had not been her chief object. She had thought more of Patience +than of herself, and now it seemed that a prospect of a higher +happiness was opening for her friend. + +"John," she said, as soon as the first greetings were over, "do you +remember the last words that I said to you before you went away?" Now, +for myself, I much admire Miss Le Smyrger's heartiness, but I do not +think much of her discretion. It would have been better, perhaps, had +she allowed things to take their course. + +"I can't say that I do," said the Captain. At the same time the +Captain did remember very well what those last words had been. + +"I am so glad to see you, so delighted to see you, if--if--if -," and +then she paused, for with all her courage she hardly dared to ask her +nephew whether he had come there with the express purpose of asking +Miss Woolsworthy to marry him. + +To tell the truth, for there is no room for mystery within the limits +of this short story,--to tell, I say, at a word the plain and simple +truth, Captain Broughton had already asked that question. On the day +before he left Oxney Come, he had in set terms proposed to the parson's +daughter, and indeed the words, the hot and frequent words, which +previously to that had fallen like sweetest honey into the ears of +Patience Woolsworthy, had made it imperative on him to do so. When a +man in such a place as that has talked to a girl of love day after day, +must not he talk of it to some definite purpose on the day on which he +leaves her? Or if he do not, must he not submit to be regarded as +false, selfish, and almost fraudulent? Captain Broughton, however, had +asked the question honestly and truly. He had done so honestly and +truly, but in words, or, perhaps, simply with a tone, that had hardly +sufficed to satisfy the proud spirit of the girl he loved. She by that +time had confessed to herself that she loved him with all her heart; +but she had made no such confession to him. To him she had spoken no +word, granted no favour, that any lover might rightfully regard as a +token of love returned. She had listened to him as he spoke, and bade +him keep such sayings for the drawing-rooms of his fashionable friends. +Then he had spoken out and had asked for that hand,--not, perhaps, as a +suitor tremulous with hope,--but as a rich man who knows that he can +command that which he desires to purchase. + +"You should think more of this," she had said to him at last. "If you +would really have me for your wife, it will not be much to you to +return here again when time for thinking of it shall have passed by." +With these words she had dismissed him, and now he had again come back +to Oxney Colne. But still she would not place herself at the window to +look for him, nor dress herself in other than her simple morning +country dress, nor omit one item of her daily work. If he wished to +take her at all, he should wish to take her as she really was, in her +plain country life, but he should take her also with full observance of +all those privileges which maidens are allowed to claim from their +lovers. He should contract no ceremonious observance because she was +the daughter of a poor country parson who would come to him without a +shilling, whereas he stood high in the world's books. He had asked her +to give him all that she had, and that all she was ready to give, +without stint. But the gift must be valued before it could be given or +received, he also was to give her as much, and she would accept it as +beyond all price. But she would not allow that that which was offered +to her was in any degree the more precious because of his outward +worldly standing. + +She would not pretend to herself that she thought he would come to her +that day, and therefore she busied herself in the kitchen and about the +house, giving directions to her two maids as though the afternoon would +pass as all other days did pass in that household. They usually dined +at four, and she rarely in these summer months went far from the house +before that hour. At four precisely she sat down with her father, and +then said that she was going up as far as Helpholme after dinner. +Helpholme was a solitary farmhouse in another parish, on the border of +the moor, and Mr. Woolsworthy asked her whether he should accompany +her. + +"Do, papa," she said, "if you are not too tired." And yet she had +thought how probable it might be that she should meet John Broughton on +her walk. And so it was arranged; but just as dinner was over, Mr. +Woolsworthy remembered himself. + +"Gracious me," he said, "how my memory is going. Gribbles, from +Ivybridge, and old John Poulter, from Bovey, are coming to meet here by +appointment. You can't put Helpholme off till to-morrow?" + +Patience, however, never put off anything, and therefore at six +o'clock, when her father had finished his slender modicum of toddy, she +tied on her hat and went on her walk. She started with a quick step, +and left no word to say by which route she would go. As she passed up +along the little lane which led towards Oxney Combe, she would not even +look to see if he was coming towards her; and when she left the road, +passing over a stone stile into a little path which ran first through +the upland fields, and then across the moor ground towards Helpholme, +she did not look back once, or listen for his coming step. + +She paid her visit, remaining upwards of an hour with the old bedridden +mother of the tenant of Helpholme. "God bless you, my darling!" said +the old woman as she left her; "and send you some one to make your own +path bright and happy through the world." These words were still +ringing in her ears with all their significance as she saw John +Broughton waiting for her at the first stile which she had to pass +after leaving the farmer's haggard. + + "Patty," he said, as he took her hand, and held it close within both +his own, "what a chase I have had after you!" + + "And who asked you, Captain Broughton?" she answered, smiling. "If +the journey was too much for your poor London strength, could you not +have waited till to-morrow morning, when you would have found me at the +parsonage?" But she did not draw her hand away from him, or in any way +pretend that he had not a right to accost her as a lover. + +"No, I could not wait. I am more eager to see those I love than you +seem to be." + +"How do you know whom I love, or how eager I might be to see them? +There is an old woman there whom I love, and I have thought nothing of +this walk with the object of seeing her." And now, slowly drawing her +hand away from him, she pointed to the farmhouse which she had left. + +"Patty," he said, after a minute's pause, during which she had looked +full into his face with all the force of her bright eyes; "I have come +from London to-day, straight down here to Oxney, and from my aunt's +house close upon your footsteps after you, to ask you that one +question--Do you love me?" + +"What a Hercules!" she said, again laughing. "Do you really mean that +you left London only this morning? Why, you must have been five hours +in a railway carriage and two in a postchaise, not to talk of the walk +afterwards. You ought to take more care of yourself, Captain +Broughton!" + +He would have been angry with her--for he did not like to be quizzed-- +had she not put her hand on his arm as she spoke, and the softness of +her touch had redeemed the offence of her words. + +"All that I have done," said he, "that I may hear one word from you." + +"That any word of mine should have such potency! But let us walk on, +or my father will take us for some of the standing stones of the moor. +How have you found your aunt? If you only knew the cares that have sat +on her dear shoulders for the last week past, in order that your high +mightiness might have a sufficiency to eat and drink in these desolate +half-starved regions!" + +"She might have saved herself such anxiety. No one can care less for +such things than I do." + +"And yet I think I have heard you boast of the cook of your club." And +then again there was silence for a minute or two. + +"Patty," said he, stopping again in the path; "answer my question. I +have a right to demand an answer. Do you love me?" + +"And what if I do? What if I have been so silly as to allow your +perfections to be too many for my weak heart? What then, Captain +Broughton?" + +"It cannot be that you love me, or you would not joke now." + +"Perhaps not, indeed," she said. It seemed as though she were resolved +not to yield an inch in her own humour. And then again they walked on. + +"Patty," he said once more, "I shall get an answer from you to-night,-- +this evening; now, during this walk, or I shall return to-morrow, and +never revisit this spot again." + +"Oh, Captain Broughton, how should we ever manage to live without you?" + +"Very well," he said; "up to the end of this walk I can hear it all;-- +and one word spoken then will mend it all." + +During the whole of this time she felt that she was ill-using him. She +knew that she loved him with all her heart; that it would nearly kill +her to part with him; that she had heard his renewed offer with an +ecstacy of joy. She acknowledged to herself that he was giving proof +of his devotion as strong as any which a girl could receive from her +lover. And yet she could hardly bring herself to say the word he +longed to hear. That word once said, and then she knew that she must +succumb to her love for ever! That word once said, and there would be +nothing for her but to spoil him with her idolatry! That word once +said, and she must continue to repeat it into his ears, till perhaps he +might be tired of hearing it! And now he had threatened her, and how +could she speak after that? She certainly would not speak it unless he +asked her again without such threat. And so they walked on in silence. + +"Patty," he said at last. "By the heavens above us you shall answer +me. Do you love me?" + +She now stood still, and almost trembled as she looked up into his +face. She stood opposite to him for a moment, and then placing her two +hands on his shoulders, she answered him. "I do, I do, I do," she +said, "with all my heart; with all my heart--with all my heart and +strength." And then her head fell upon his breast. + +* * * + +Captain Broughton was almost as much surprised as delighted by the +warmth of the acknowledgment made by the eager-hearted passionate girl +whom he now held within his arms. She had said it now; the words had +been spoken; and there was nothing for her but to swear to him over and +over again with her sweetest oaths, that those words were true--true as +her soul. And very sweet was the walk down from thence to the +parsonage gate. He spoke no more of the distance of the ground, or the +length of his day's journey. But he stopped her at every turn that he +might press her arm the closer to his own, that he might look into the +brightness of her eyes, and prolong his hour of delight. There were no +more gibes now on her tongue, no raillery at his London finery, no +laughing comments on his coming and going. With downright honesty she +told him everything: how she had loved him before her heart was +warranted in such a passion; how, with much thinking, she had resolved +that it would be unwise to take him at his first word, and had thought +it better that he should return to London, and then think over it; how +she had almost repented of her courage when she had feared, during +those long summer days, that he would forget her; and how her heart had +leapt for joy when her old friend had told her that he was coming. + +"And yet," said he, "you were not glad to see me!" + +"Oh, was I not glad? You cannot understand the feelings of a girl who +has lived secluded as I have done. Glad is no word for the joy I felt. +But it was not seeing you that I cared for so much. It was the +knowledge that you were near me once again. I almost wish now that I +had not seen you till to-morrow." But as she spoke she pressed his +arm, and this caress gave the lie to her last words. + +"No, do not come in to-night," she said, when she reached the little +wicket that led up to the parsonage. "Indeed, you shall not. I could +not behave myself properly if you did." + +"But I don't want you to behave properly." + +"Oh! I am to keep that for London, am I? But, nevertheless, Captain +Broughton, I will not invite you either to tea or to supper to-night." + +"Surely I may shake hands with your father." + +"Not to-night--not till--John, I may tell him, may I not? I must tell +him at once." + +"Certainly," said he. + +"And then you shall see him to-morrow. Let me see--at what hour shall +I bid you come?" + +"To breakfast." + +"No, indeed. What on earth would your aunt do with her broiled turkey +and the cold pie? I have got no cold pie for you." + +"I hate cold pie." + +"What a pity! But, John, I should be forced to leave you directly +after breakfast. Come down--come down at two, or three; and then I +will go back with you to Aunt Penelope. I must see her to-morrow;" and +so at last the matter was settled, and the happy Captain, as he left +her, was hardly resisted in his attempt to press her lips to his own. + +When she entered the parlour in which her father was sitting, there +still were Gribbles and Poulter discussing some knotty point of Devon +lore. So Patience took off her hat, and sat herself down, waiting till +they should go. For full an hour she had to wait, and then Gribbles +and Poulter did go. But it was not in such matters as this that +Patience Woolsworthy was impatient. She could wait, and wait, and +wait, curbing herself for weeks and months, while the thing waited for +was in her eyes good; but she could not curb her hot thoughts or her +hot words when things came to be discussed which she did not think to +be good. + +"Papa," she said, when Gribbles' long-drawn last word had been spoken +at the door. "Do you remember how I asked you the other day what you +would say if I were to leave you?" + +"Yes, surely," he replied, looking up at her in astonishment. + +"I am going to leave you now," she said. "Dear, dearest father, how am +I to go from you?" + +"Going to leave me," said he, thinking of her visit to Helpholme, and +thinking of nothing else. + +Now, there had been a story about Helpholme. That bedridden old lady +there had a stalwart son, who was now the owner of the Helpholme +pastures. But though owner in fee of all those wild acres, and of the +cattle which they supported, he was not much above the farmers around +him, either in manners or education. He had his merits, however; for +he was honest, well-to-do in the world, and modest withal. How strong +love had grown up, springing from neighbourly kindness, between our +Patience and his mother, it needs not here to tell; but rising from it +had come another love--or an ambition which might have grown to love. +The young man, after much thought, had not dared to speak to Miss +Woolsworthy, but he had sent a message by Miss Le Smyrger. If there +could be any hope for him, he would present himself as a suitor--on +trial. He did not owe a shilling in the world, and had money by him-- +saved. He wouldn't ask the parson for a shilling of fortune. Such had +been the tenor of his message, and Miss Le Smyrger had delivered it +faithfully. "He does not mean it," Patience had said with her stern +voice. "Indeed he does, my dear. You may be sure he is in earnest," +Miss Le Smyrger had replied; "and there is not an honester man in these +parts." + +"Tell him," said Patience, not attending to the latter portion of her +friend's last speech, "that it cannot be--make him understand, you +know--and tell him also that the matter shall be thought of no more." +The matter had, at any rate, been spoken of no more, but the young +farmer still remained a bachelor, and Helpholme still wanted a +mistress. But all this came back upon the parson's mind when his +daughter told him that she was about to leave him. + +"Yes, dearest," she said; and as she spoke she now knelt at his knees. +"I have been asked in marriage, and I have given myself away." + +"Well, my love, if you will be happy--" + +"I hope I shall; I think I shall. But you, papa?" + +"You will not be far from us." + +"Oh, yes; in London." + +"In London?" + +"Captain Broughton lives in London generally." + +"And has Captain Broughton asked you to marry him?" + +"Yes, papa--who else? Is he not good? Will you not love him? Oh, +papa, do not say that I am wrong to love him?" + +He never told her his mistake, or explained to her that he had not +thought it possible that the high-placed son of the London great man +should have fallen in love with his undowered daughter; but he embraced +her, and told her, with all his enthusiasm, that he rejoiced in her +joy, and would be happy in her happiness. "My own Patty," he said, "I +have ever known that you were too good for this life of ours here." +And then the evening wore away into the night, with many tears, but +still with much happiness. + +Captain Broughton, as he walked back to Oxney Combe, made up his mind +that he would say nothing on the matter to his aunt till the next +morning. He wanted to think over it all, and to think it over, if +possible, by himself. He had taken a step in life, the most important +that a man is ever called on to take, and he had to reflect whether or +no he had taken it with wisdom. + +"Have you seen her?" said Miss Le Smyrger, very anxiously, when he came +into the drawing-room. + +"Miss Woolsworthy you mean," said he. "Yes, I've seen her. As I found +her out, I took a long walk, and happened to meet her. Do you know, +aunt, I think I'll go to bed; I was up at five this morning, and have +been on the move ever since." + +Miss Le Smyrger perceived that she was to hear nothing that evening, so +she handed him his candlestick and allowed him to go to his room. + +But Captain Broughton did not immediately retire to bed, nor when he +did so was he able to sleep at once. Had this step that he had taken +been a wise one? He was not a man who, in worldly matters, had allowed +things to arrange themselves for him, as is the case with so many men. +He had formed views for himself, and had a theory of life. Money for +money's sake he had declared to himself to be bad. Money, as a +concomitant to things which were in themselves good, he had declared to +himself to be good also. That concomitant in this affair of his +marriage, he had now missed. Well; he had made up his mind to that, +and would put up with the loss. He had means of living of his own, the +means not so extensive as might have been desirable. That it would be +well for him to become a married man, looking merely to the state of +life as opposed to his present state, he had fully resolved. On that +point, therefore, there was nothing to repent. That Patty Woolsworthy +was good, affectionate, clever, and beautiful, he was sufficiently +satisfied. It would be odd indeed if he were not so satisfied now, +seeing that for the last four months he had so declared to himself +daily with many inward asseverations. And yet though he repeated, now +again, that he was satisfied, I do not think that he was so fully +satisfied of it as he had been throughout the whole of those four +months. It is sad to say so, but I fear--I fear that such was the +case. When you have your plaything, how much of the anticipated +pleasure vanishes, especially if it be won easily. + +He had told none of his family what were his intentions in this second +visit to Devonshire, and now he had to bethink himself whether they +would be satisfied. What would his sister say, she who had married the +Honourable Augustus Gumbleton, gold-stick-in-waiting to Her Majesty's +Privy Council? Would she receive Patience with open arms, and make +much of her about London? And then how far would London suit Patience, +or would Patience suit London? There would be much for him to do in +teaching her, and it would be well for him to set about the lesson +without loss of time. So far he got that night, but when the morning +came he went a step further, and began mentally to criticise her manner +to himself. It had been very sweet, that warm, that full, that ready +declaration of love. Yes; it had been very sweet; but--but--; when, +after her little jokes, she did confess her love, had she not been a +little too free for feminine excellence? A man likes to be told that +he is loved, but he hardly wishes that the girl he is to marry should +fling herself at his head! + +Ah me! yes; it was thus he argued to himself as on that morning he went +through the arrangements of his toilet. "Then he was a brute," you +say, my pretty reader. I have never said that he was not a brute. But +this I remark, that many such brutes are to be met with in the beaten +paths of the world's highway. When Patience Woolsworthy had answered +him coldly, bidding him go back to London and think over his love; +while it seemed from her manner that at any rate as yet she did not +care for him; while he was absent from her, and, therefore, longing for +her, the possession of her charms, her talent and bright honesty of +purpose had seemed to him a thing most desirable. Now they were his +own. They had, in fact, been his own from the first. The heart of +this country-bred girl had fallen at the first word from his mouth. +Had she not so confessed to him? She was very nice--very nice indeed. +He loved her dearly. But had he not sold himself too cheaply? + +I by no means say that he was not a brute. But whether brute or no, he +was an honest man, and had no remotest dream, either then, on that +morning, or during the following days on which such thoughts pressed +more quickly on his mind--of breaking away from his pledged word. At +breakfast on that morning he told all to Miss Le Smyrger, and that +lady, with warm and gracious intentions, confided to him her purpose +regarding her property. "I have always regarded Patience as my heir," +she said, "and shall do so still." + +"Oh, indeed," said Captain Broughton. + +"But it is a great, great pleasure to me to think that she will give +back the little property to my sister's child. You will have your +mother's, and thus it will all come together again." + +"Ah!" said Captain Broughton. He had his own ideas about property, and +did not, even under existing circumstances, like to hear that his aunt +considered herself at liberty to leave the acres away to one who was by +blood quite a stranger to the family. + +"Does Patience know of this?" he asked. + +"Not a word," said Miss Le Smyrger. And then nothing more was said +upon the subject. + +On that afternoon he went down and received the parson's benediction +and congratulations with a good grace. Patience said very little on +the occasion, and indeed was absent during the greater part of the +interview. The two lovers then walked up to Oxney Combe, and there +were more benedictions and more congratulations. "All went merry as a +marriage bell," at any rate as far as Patience was concerned. Not a +word had yet fallen from that dear mouth, not a look had yet come over +that handsome face, which tended in any way to mar her bliss. Her +first day of acknowledged love was a day altogether happy, and when she +prayed for him as she knelt beside her bed there was no feeling in her +mind that any fear need disturb her joy. + +I will pass over the next three or four days very quickly, merely +saying that Patience did not find them so pleasant as that first day +after her engagement. There was something in her lover's manner-- +something which at first she could not define--which by degrees seemed +to grate against her feelings. + +He was sufficiently affectionate, that being a matter on which she did +not require much demonstration; but joined to his affection there +seemed to be--; she hardly liked to suggest to herself a harsh word, +but could it be possible that he was beginning to think that she was +not good enough for him? And then she asked herself the question--was +she good enough for him? If there were doubt about that, the match +should be broken off, though she tore her own heart out in the +struggle. The truth, however, was this--that he had begun that +teaching which he had already found to be so necessary. Now, had any +one essayed to teach Patience German or mathematics, with that young +lady's free consent, I believe that she would have been found a meek +scholar. But it was not probable that she would be meek when she found +a self-appointed tutor teaching her manners and conduct without her +consent. + +So matters went on for four or five days, and on the evening of the +fifth day Captain Broughton and his aunt drank tea at the parsonage. +Nothing very especial occurred; but as the parson and Miss La Smyrger +insisted on playing backgammon with devoted perseverance during the +whole evening, Broughton had a good opportunity of saying a word or two +about those changes in his lady-love which a life in London would +require--and some word he said also--some single slight word as to the +higher station in life to which he would exalt his bride. Patience +bore it--for her father and Miss La Smyrger were in the room--she bore +it well, speaking no syllable of anger, and enduring, for the moment, +the implied scorn of the old parsonage. Then the evening broke up, and +Captain Broughton walked back to Oxney Combe with his aunt. "Patty," +her father said to her before they went to bed, "he seems to me to be a +most excellent young man." "Dear papa," she answered, kissing him. +"And terribly deep in love," said Mr. Woolsworthy. "Oh, I don't know +about that," she answered, as she left him with her sweetest smile. +But though she could thus smile at her father's joke, she had already +made up her mind that there was still something to be learned as to her +promised husband before she could place herself altogether in his +hands. She would ask him whether he thought himself liable to injury +from this proposed marriage; and though he should deny any such +thought, she would know from the manner of his denial what his true +feelings were. + +And he, too, on that night, during his silent walk with Miss Le +Smyrger, had entertained some similar thoughts. "I fear she is +obstinate," he said to himself; and then he had half accused her of +being sullen also. "If that be her temper, what a life of misery I +have before me!" + +"Have you fixed a day yet?" his aunt asked him as they came near to her +house. + +"No, not yet; I don't know whether it will suit me to fix it before I +leave." + +"Why, it was but the other day you were in such a hurry." + +"Ah--yes--I have thought more about it since then." + +"I should have imagined that this would depend on what Patty thinks," +said Miss Le Smyrger, standing up for the privileges of her sex. "It +is presumed that the gentleman is always ready as soon as the lady will +consent." + +"Yes, in ordinary cases it is so; but when a girl is taken out of her +own sphere--" + +"Her own sphere! Let me caution you, Master John, not to talk to Patty +about her own sphere." + +"Aunt Penelope, as Patience is to be my wife and not yours, I must +claim permission to speak to her on such subjects as may seem suitable +to me." And then they parted--not in the best humour with each other. + +On the following day Captain Broughton and Miss Woolsworthy did not +meet till the evening. She had said, before those few ill-omened words +had passed her lover's lips, that she would probably be at Miss Le +Smyrger's house on the following morning. Those ill-omened words did +pass her lover's lips, and then she remained at home. This did not +come from sullenness, nor even from anger, but from a conviction that +it would be well that she should think much before she met him again. +Nor was he anxious to hurry a meeting. His thought--his base thought-- +was this; that she would be sure to come up to the Combe after him; but +she did not come, and therefore in the evening he went down to her, and +asked her to walk with him. + +They went away by the path that led to Helpholme, and little was said +between them till they had walked some mile together. + +Patience, as she went along the path, remembered almost to the letter +the sweet words which had greeted her ears as she came down that way +with him on the night of his arrival; but he remembered nothing of that +sweetness then. Had he not made an ass of himself during these last +six months? That was the thought which very much had possession of his +mind. + +"Patience," he said at last, having hitherto spoken only an indifferent +word now and again since they had left the parsonage, "Patience, 1 hope +you realise the importance of the step which you and I are about to +take?" + +"Of course I do," she answered. "What an odd question that is for you +to ask!" + +"Because," said he, "sometimes I almost doubt it. It seems to me as +though you thought you could remove yourself from here to your new home +with no more trouble than when you go from home up to the Combe." + +"Is that meant for a reproach, John?" + +"No, not for a reproach, but for advice. Certainly not for a +reproach." + +"I am glad of that." + +"But I should wish to make you think how great is the leap in the world +which you are about to take." Then again they walked on for many steps +before she answered him. + +"Tell me, then, John," she said, when she had sufficiently considered +what words she should speak; and as she spoke a bright colour suffused +her face, and her eyes flashed almost with anger. "What leap do you +mean? Do you mean a leap upwards?" + +"Well, yes; I hope it will be so." + +"In one sense, certainly, it would be a leap upwards. To be the wife +of the man I loved; to have the privilege of holding his happiness in +my hand; to know that I was his own--the companion whom he had chosen +out of all the world--that would, indeed, be a leap upwards; a leap +almost to heaven, if all that were so. But if you mean upwards in any +other sense--" + +"I was thinking of the social scale." + +"Then, Captain Broughton, your thoughts were doing me dishonour." + +"Doing you dishonour!" + +"Yes, doing me dishonour. That your father is, in the world's esteem, +a greater man than mine is doubtless true enough. That you, as a man, +are richer than I am as a woman, is doubtless also true. But you +dishonour me, and yourself also, if these things can weigh with you +now." + +"Patience,--I think you can hardly know what words you are saying to +me." + +"Pardon me, but I think I do. Nothing that you can give me--no gifts +of that description--can weigh aught against that which I am giving +you. If you had all the wealth and rank of the greatest lord in the +land, it would count as nothing in such a scale. If--as I have not +doubted--if in return for my heart you have given me yours, then--then- +-then you have paid me fully. But when gifts such as those are going, +nothing else can count even as a make-weight." + +"I do not quite understand you," he answered, after a pause. "I fear +you are a little high-flown." And then, while the evening was still +early, they walked back to the parsonage almost without another word. + +Captain Broughton at this time had only one full day more to remain at +Oxney Colne. On the afternoon following that he was to go as far as +Exeter, and thence return to London. Of course, it was to be expected +that the wedding day would be fixed before he went, and much had been +said about it during the first day or two of his engagement. Then he +had pressed for an early time, and Patience, with a girl's usual +diffidence, had asked for some little delay. But now nothing was said +on the subject; and how was it probable that such a matter could be +settled after such a conversation as that which I have related? That +evening, Miss Le Smyrger asked whether the day had been fixed. "No," +said Captain Broughton, harshly; "nothing has been fixed." "But it +will be arranged before you go?" "Probably not," he said; and then the +subject was dropped for the time. + +"John," she said, just before she went to bed, "if there be anything +wrong between you and Patience, I conjure you to tell me." + +"You had better ask her," he replied. "I can tell you nothing." + +On the following morning he was much surprised by seeing Patience on +the gravel path before Miss Le Smyrger's gate immediately after +breakfast. He went to the door to open it for her, and she, as she +gave him her hand, told him that she came up to speak to him. There +was no hesitation in her manner, nor any look of anger in her face. +But there was in her gait and form, in her voice and countenance, a +fixedness of purpose which he had never seen before, or at any rate had +never acknowledged. + +"Certainly," said he. "Shall I come out with you, or will you come up +stairs?" + +"We can sit down in the summer-house," she said; and thither they both +went. + +"Captain Broughton," she said--and she began her task the moment that +they were both seated--"you and I have engaged ourselves as man and +wife, but perhaps we have been over rash." + +"How so?" said he. + +"It may be--and indeed I will say more--it is the case that we have +made this engagement without knowing enough of each other's character." + +"I have not thought so." + +"The time will perhaps come when you will so think, but for the sake of +all that we most value, let it come before it is too late. What would +be our fate--how terrible would be our misery--if such a thought should +come to either of us after we have linked our lots together." + +There was a solemnity about her as she thus spoke which almost +repressed him,--which for a time did prevent him from taking that tone +of authority which on such a subject he would choose to adopt. But he +recovered himself. "I hardly think that this comes well from you," he +said. + +"From whom else should it come? Who else can fight my battle for me; +and, John, who else can fight that same battle on your behalf? I tell +you this, that with your mind standing towards me as it does stand at +present, you could not give me your hand at the altar with true words +and a happy conscience. Am I not true? You have half repented of your +bargain already. Is it not so?" + +He did not answer her; but getting up from his seat walked to the front +of the summer-house, and stood there with his back turned upon her. It +was not that he meant to be ungracious, but in truth he did not know +how to answer her. He had half repented of his bargain. + +"John," she said, getting up and following him, so that she could put +her hand upon his arm, "I have been very angry with you." + +"Angry with me!" he said, turning sharp upon her. + +"Yes, angry with you. You would have treated me like a child. But +that feeling has gone now. I am not angry now. There is my hand;--the +hand of a friend. Let the words that have been spoken between us be as +though they had not been spoken. Let us both be free." + +"Do you mean it?" + +"Certainly I mean it." As she spoke these words her eyes filled with +tears, in spite of all the efforts she could make; but he was not +looking at her, and her efforts had sufficed to prevent any sob from +being audible. + +"With all my heart," he said; and it was manifest from his tone that he +had no thought of her happiness as he spoke. It was true that she had +been angry with him--angry, as she had herself declared; but +nevertheless, in what she had said and what she had done, she had +thought more of his happiness than of her own. Now she was angry once +again. + +"With all your heart, Captain Broughton! Well, so be it. If with all +your heart, then is the necessity so much the greater. You go to- +morrow. Shall we say farewell now?" + +"Patience, I am not going to be lectured." + +"Certainly not by me. Shall we say farewell now?" + +"Yes, if you are determined." + +"I am determined. Farewell, Captain Broughton. You have all my wishes +for your happiness." And she held out her hand to him. + +"Patience!" he said. And he looked at her with a dark frown, as though +he would strive to frighten her into submission. If so, he might have +saved himself any such attempt. + +"Farewell, Captain Broughton. Give me your hand, for I cannot stay." +He gave her his hand, hardly knowing why he did so. She lifted it to +her lips and kissed it, and then, leaving him, passed from the summer- +house down through the wicket-gate, and straight home to the parsonage. + +During the whole of that day she said no word to any one of what had +occurred. When she was once more at home she went about her household +affairs as she had done on that day of his arrival. When she sat down +to dinner with her father he observed nothing to make him think that +she was unhappy; nor during the evening was there any expression in her +face, or any tone in her voice, which excited his attention. On the +following morning Captain Broughton called at the parsonage, and the +servant-girl brought word to her mistress that he was in the parlour. +But she would not see him. "Laws, miss, you ain't a quarrelled with +your beau?" the poor girl said. "No, not quarrelled," she said; "but +give him that." It was a scrap of paper, containing a word or two in +pencil. "It is better that we should not meet again. God bless you." +And from that day to this, now more than ten years, they never have +met. + +"Papa," she said to her father that afternoon, "dear papa, do not be +angry with me. It is all over between me and John Broughton. Dearest, +you and I will not be separated." It would be useless here to tell how +great was the old man's surprise and how true his sorrow. As the tale +was told to him no cause was given for anger with any one. Not a word +was spoken against the suitor who had on that day returned to London +with a full conviction that now at least he was relieved from his +engagement. "Patty, my darling child," he said, "may God grant that it +be for the best! + +"It is for the best," she answered stoutly. "For this place I am fit; +and I much doubt whether I am fit for any other." + + On that day she did not see Miss Le Smyrger, but on the following +morning, knowing that Captain Broughton had gone off, having heard the +wheels of the carriage as they passed by the parsonage gate on his way +to the station,--she walked up to the Combe. + +"He has told you, I suppose?" said she. + +"Yes," said Miss Le Smyrger. "And I will never see him again unless he +asks your pardon on his knees. I have told him so. I would not even +give him my hand as he went." + +"But why so, thou kindest one? The fault was mine more than his." + +"I understand. I have eyes in my head," said the old maid. "I have +watched him for the last four or five days. If you could have kept the +truth to yourself and bade him keep off from you, he would have been at +your feet now, licking the dust from your shoes." + +"But, dear friend, I do not want a man to lick dust from my shoes." + +"Ah, you are a fool. You do not know the value of your own wealth." + +"True; I have been a fool. I was a fool to think that one coming from +such a life as he has led could be happy with such as I am. I know the +truth now. I have bought the lesson dearly,--but perhaps not too +dearly, seeing that it will never be forgotten." + +There was but little more said about the matter between our three +friends at Oxney Colne. What, indeed, could be said? Miss Le Smyrger +for a year or two still expected that her nephew would return and claim +his bride; but he has never done so, nor has there been any +correspondence between them. Patience Woolsworthy had learned her +lesson dearly. She had given her whole heart to the man; and, though +she so bore herself that no one was aware of the violence of the +struggle, nevertheless the struggle within her bosom was very violent. +She never told herself that she had done wrong; she never regretted her +loss; but yet--yet--the loss was very hard to bear. He also had loved +her, but he was not capable of a love which could much injure his daily +peace. Her daily peace was gone for many a day to come. + +Her father is still living; but there is a curate now in the parish. +In conjunction with him and with Miss Le Smyrger she spends her time in +the concerns of the parish. In her own eyes she is a confirmed old +maid; and such is my opinion also. The romance of her life was played +out in that summer. She never sits now lonely on the hill-side +thinking how much she might do for one whom she really loved. But with +a large heart she loves many, and, with no romance, she works hard to +lighten the burdens of those she loves. + +As for Captain Broughton, all the world know that he did marry that +great heiress with whom his name was once before connected, and that he +is now a useful member of Parliament, working on committees three or +four days a week with a zeal that is indefatigable. Sometimes, not +often, as he thinks of Patience Woolsworthy, a gratified smile comes +across his face. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne, by Trollope + diff --git a/old/prsnd10.zip b/old/prsnd10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..12bd008 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/prsnd10.zip |