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diff --git a/3719-0.txt b/3719-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1651194 --- /dev/null +++ b/3719-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1401 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mistletoe Bough, 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 Mistletoe Bough + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: January 16, 2015 [eBook #3719] +[This file was first posted on August 7, 2001] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISTLETOE BOUGH*** + + +Transcribed from the 1864 Chapman and Hall “Tales of All Countries” +edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + THE MISTLETOE BOUGH. + + +“Let the boys have it if they like it,” said Mrs. Garrow, pleading to her +only daughter on behalf of her two sons. + +“Pray don’t, mamma,” said Elizabeth Garrow. “It only means romping. To +me all that is detestable, and I am sure it is not the sort of thing that +Miss Holmes would like.” + +“We always had it at Christmas when we were young.” + +“But, mamma, the world is so changed.” + +The point in dispute was one very delicate in its nature, hardly to be +discussed in all its bearings, even in fiction, and the very mention of +which between mother and daughter showed a great amount of close +confidence between them. It was no less than this. Should that branch +of mistletoe which Frank Garrow had brought home with him out of the +Lowther woods be hung up on Christmas Eve in the dining-room at Thwaite +Hall, according to his wishes; or should permission for such hanging be +positively refused? It was clearly a thing not to be done after such a +discussion, and therefore the decision given by Mrs. Garrow was against +it. + +I am inclined to think that Miss Garrow was right in saying that the +world is changed as touching mistletoe boughs. Kissing, I fear, is less +innocent now than it used to be when our grand-mothers were alive, and we +have become more fastidious in our amusements. Nevertheless, I think +that she made herself fairly open to the raillery with which her brothers +attacked her. + +“Honi soit qui mal y pense,” said Frank, who was eighteen. + +“Nobody will want to kiss you, my lady Fineairs,” said Harry, who was +just a year younger. + +“Because you choose to be a Puritan, there are to be no more cakes and +ale in the house,” said Frank. + +“Still waters run deep; we all know that,” said Harry. + +The boys had not been present when the matter was decided between Mrs. +Garrow and her daughter, nor had the mother been present when these +little amenities had passed between the brothers and sister. + +“Only that mamma has said it, and I wouldn’t seem to go against her,” +said Frank, “I’d ask my father. He wouldn’t give way to such nonsense, I +know.” + +Elizabeth turned away without answering, and left the room. Her eyes +were full of tears, but she would not let them see that they had vexed +her. They were only two days home from school, and for the last week +before their coming, all her thoughts had been to prepare for their +Christmas pleasures. She had arranged their rooms, making everything +warm and pretty. Out of her own pocket she had bought a shot-belt for +one, and skates for the other. She had told the old groom that her pony +was to belong exclusively to Master Harry for the holidays, and now Harry +told her that still waters ran deep. She had been driven to the use of +all her eloquence in inducing her father to purchase that gun for Frank, +and now Frank called her a Puritan. And why? She did not choose that a +mistletoe bough should be hung in her father’s hall, when Godfrey Holmes +was coming to visit him. She could not explain this to Frank, but Frank +might have had the wit to understand it. But Frank was thinking only of +Patty Coverdale, a blue-eyed little romp of sixteen, who, with her sister +Kate, was coming from Penrith to spend the Christmas at Thwaite Hall. +Elizabeth left the room with her slow, graceful step, hiding her +tears,—hiding all emotion, as latterly she had taught herself that it was +feminine to do. “There goes my lady Fineairs,” said Harry, sending his +shrill voice after her. + +Thwaite Hall was not a place of much pretension. It was a moderate-sized +house, surrounded by pretty gardens and shrubberies, close down upon the +river Eamont, on the Westmoreland side of the river, looking over to a +lovely wooded bank in Cumberland. All the world knows that the Eamont +runs out of Ulleswater, dividing the two counties, passing under Penrith +Bridge and by the old ruins of Brougham Castle, below which it joins the +Eden. Thwaite Hall nestled down close upon the clear rocky stream about +half way between Ulleswater and Penrith, and had been built just at a +bend of the river. The windows of the dining-parlour and of the +drawing-room stood at right angles to each other, and yet each commanded +a reach of the stream. Immediately from a side of the house steps were +cut down through the red rock to the water’s edge, and here a small boat +was always moored to a chain. The chain was stretched across the river, +fixed to the staples driven into the rock on either side, and the boat +was pulled backwards and forwards over the stream without aid from oars +or paddles. From the opposite side a path led through the woods and +across the fields to Penrith, and this was the route commonly used +between Thwaite Hall and the town. + +Major Garrow was a retired officer of Engineers, who had seen service in +all parts of the world, and who was now spending the evening of his days +on a small property which had come to him from his father. He held in +his own hands about twenty acres of land, and he was the owner of one +small farm close by, which was let to a tenant. That, together with his +half-pay, and the interest of his wife’s thousand pounds, sufficed to +educate his children and keep the wolf at a comfortable distance from his +door. He himself was a spare thin man, with quiet, lazy, literary +habits. He had done the work of life, but had so done it as to permit of +his enjoying that which was left to him. His sole remaining care was the +establishment of his children; and, as far as he could see, he had no +ground for anticipating disappointment. They were clever, good-looking, +well-disposed young people, and upon the whole it may be said that the +sun shone brightly on Thwaite Hall. Of Mrs. Garrow it may suffice to say +that she always deserved such sunshine. + +For years past it had been the practice of the family to have some sort +of gathering at Thwaite Hall during Christmas. Godfrey Holmes had been +left under the guardianship of Major Garrow, and, as he had always spent +his Christmas holidays with his guardian, this, perhaps, had given rise +to the practice. Then the Coverdales were cousins of the Garrows, and +they had usually been there as children. At the Christmas last past the +custom had been broken, for young Holmes had been abroad. Previous to +that, they had all been children, excepting him. But now that they were +to meet again, they were no longer children. Elizabeth, at any rate, was +not so, for she had already counted nineteen winters. And Isabella +Holmes was coming. Now Isabella was two years older than Elizabeth, and +had been educated in Brussels; moreover she was comparatively a stranger +at Thwaite Hall, never having been at those early Christmas meetings. + +And now I must take permission to begin my story by telling a lady’s +secret. Elizabeth Garrow had already been in love with Godfrey Holmes, +or perhaps it might be more becoming to say that Godfrey Holmes had +already been in love with her. They had already been engaged; and, alas! +they had already agreed that that engagement should be broken off! + +Young Holmes was now twenty-seven years of age, and was employed in a +bank at Liverpool, not as a clerk, but as assistant-manager, with a large +salary. He was a man well to do in the world, who had money also of his +own, and who might well afford to marry. Some two years since, on the +eve of leaving Thwaite Hall, he had with low doubting whisper told +Elizabeth that he loved her, and she had flown trembling to her mother. +“Godfrey, my boy,” the father said to him, as he parted with him the next +morning, “Bessy is only a child, and too young to think of this yet.” At +the next Christmas Godfrey was in Italy, and the thing was gone by,—so at +least the father and mother said to each other. But the young people had +met in the summer, and one joyful letter had come from the girl home to +her mother. “I have accepted him. Dearest, dearest mamma, I do love +him. But don’t tell papa yet, for I have not quite accepted him. I +think I am sure, but I am not quite sure. I am not quite sure about +him.” + +And then, two days after that, there had come a letter that was not at +all joyful. “Dearest Mamma,—It is not to be. It is not written in the +book. We have both agreed that it will not do. I am so glad that you +have not told dear papa, for I could never make him understand. You will +understand, for I shall tell you everything, down to his very words. But +we have agreed that there shall be no quarrel. It shall be exactly as it +was, and he will come at Christmas all the same. It would never do that +he and papa should be separated, nor could we now put off Isabella. It +is better so in every way, for there is and need be no quarrel. We still +like each other. I am sure I like him, but I know that I should not make +him happy as his wife. He says it is my fault. I, at any rate, have +never told him that I thought it his.” From all which it will be seen +that the confidence between the mother and daughter was very close. + +Elizabeth Garrow was a very good girl, but it might almost be a question +whether she was not too good. She had learned, or thought that she had +learned, that most girls are vapid, silly, and useless,—given chiefly to +pleasure-seeking and a hankering after lovers; and she had resolved that +she would not be such a one. + +Industry, self-denial, and a religious purpose in life, were the tasks +which she set herself; and she went about the performance of them with +much courage. But such tasks, though they are excellently well adapted +to fit a young lady for the work of living, may also be carried too far, +and thus have the effect of unfitting her for that work. When Elizabeth +Garrow made up her mind that the finding of a husband was not the only +purpose of life, she did very well. It is very well that a young lady +should feel herself capable of going through the world happily without +one. But in teaching herself this she also taught herself to think that +there was a certain merit in refusing herself the natural delight of a +lover, even though the possession of the lover were compatible with all +her duties to herself, her father and mother, and the world at large. It +was not that she had determined to have no lover. She made no such +resolve, and when the proper lover came he was admitted to her heart. +But she declared to herself unconsciously that she must put a guard upon +herself, lest she should be betrayed into weakness by her own happiness. +She had resolved that in loving her lord she would not worship him, and +that in giving her heart she would only so give it as it should be given +to a human creature like herself. She had acted on these high resolves, +and hence it had come to pass,—not unnaturally,—that Mr. Godfrey Holmes +had told her that it was “her fault.” + +She was a pretty, fair girl, with soft dark-brown hair, and soft long +dark eyelashes. Her grey eyes, though quiet in their tone, were tender +and lustrous. Her face was oval, and the lines of her cheek and chin +perfect in their symmetry. She was generally quiet in her demeanour, but +when moved she could rouse herself to great energy, and speak with +feeling and almost with fire. Her fault was a reverence for martyrdom in +general, and a feeling, of which she was unconscious, that it became a +young woman to be unhappy in secret;—that it became a young woman, I +might rather say, to have a source of unhappiness hidden from the world +in general, and endured without any detriment to her outward +cheerfulness. We know the story of the Spartan boy who held the fox +under his tunic. The fox was biting into him,—into the very entrails; +but the young hero spake never a word. Now Bessy Garrow was inclined to +think that it was a good thing to have a fox always biting, so that the +torment caused no ruffling to her outward smiles. Now at this moment the +fox within her bosom was biting her sore enough, but she bore it without +flinching. + +“If you would rather that he should not come I will have it arranged,” +her mother had said to her. + +“Not for worlds,” she had answered. “I should never think well of myself +again.” + +Her mother had changed her own mind more than once as to the conduct in +this matter which might be best for her to follow, thinking solely of her +daughter’s welfare. “If he comes they will be reconciled, and she will +be happy,” had been her first idea. But then there was a stern fixedness +of purpose in Bessy’s words when she spoke of Mr. Holmes, which had +expelled this hope, and Mrs. Garrow had for a while thought it better +that the young man should not come. But Bessy would not permit this. It +would vex her father, put out of course the arrangements of other people, +and display weakness on her own part. He should come, and she would +endure without flinching while the fox gnawed at her. + +That battle of the mistletoe had been fought on the morning before +Christmas-day, and the Holmeses came on Christmas-eve. Isabella was +comparatively a stranger, and therefore received at first the greater +share of attention. She and Elizabeth had once seen each other, and for +the last year or two had corresponded, but personally they had never been +intimate. Unfortunately for the latter, that story of Godfrey’s offer +and acceptance had been communicated to Isabella, as had of course the +immediately subsequent story of their separation. But now it would be +almost impossible to avoid the subject in conversation. “Dearest +Isabella, let it be as though it had never been,” she had said in one of +her letters. But sometimes it is very difficult to let things be as +though they had never been. + +The first evening passed over very well. The two Coverdale girls were +there, and there had been much talking and merry laughter, rather +juvenile in its nature, but on the whole none the worse for that. +Isabella Holmes was a fine, tall, handsome girl; good-humoured, and well +disposed to be pleased; rather Frenchified in her manners, and quite able +to take care of herself. But she was not above round games, and did not +turn up her nose at the boys. Godfrey behaved himself excellently, +talking much to the Major, but by no means avoiding Miss Garrow. Mrs. +Garrow, though she had known him since he was a boy, had taken an +aversion to him since he had quarrelled with her daughter; but there was +no room on this first night for showing such aversion, and everything +went off well. + +“Godfrey is very much improved,” the Major said to his wife that night. + +“Do you think so?” + +“Indeed I do. He has filled out and become a fine man.” + +“In personal appearance, you mean. Yes, he is well-looking enough.” + +“And in his manner, too. He is doing uncommonly well in Liverpool, I can +tell you; and if he should think of Bessy—” + +“There is nothing of that sort,” said Mrs. Garrow. + +“He did speak to me, you know,—two years ago. Bessy was too young then, +and so indeed was he. But if she likes him—” + +“I don’t think she does.” + +“Then there’s an end of it.” And so they went to bed. + +“Frank,” said the sister to her elder brother, knocking at his door when +they had all gone up stairs, “may I come in,—if you are not in bed?” + +“In bed,” said he, looking up with some little pride from his Greek book; +“I’ve one hundred and fifty lines to do before I can get to bed. It’ll +be two, I suppose. I’ve got to mug uncommon hard these holidays. I have +only one more half, you know, and then—” + +“Don’t overdo it, Frank.” + +“No; I won’t overdo it. I mean to take one day a week, and work eight +hours a day on the other five. That will be forty hours a week, and will +give me just two hundred hours for the holidays. I have got it all down +here on a table. That will be a hundred and five for Greek play, forty +for Algebra—” and so he explained to her the exact destiny of all his +long hours of proposed labour. He had as yet been home a day and a half, +and had succeeded in drawing out with red lines and blue figures the +table which he showed her. “If I can do that, it will be pretty well; +won’t it?” + +“But, Frank, you have come home for your holidays,—to enjoy yourself?” + +“But a fellow must work now-a-days.” + +“Don’t overdo it, dear; that’s all. But, Frank, I could not rest if I +went to bed without speaking to you. You made me unhappy to-day.” + +“Did I, Bessy?” + +“You called me a Puritan, and then you quoted that ill-natured French +proverb at me. Do you really believe your sister thinks evil, Frank?” +and as she spoke she put her arm caressingly round his neck. + +“Of course I don’t.” + +“Then why say so? Harry is so much younger and so thoughtless that I can +bear what he says without so much suffering. But if you and I are not +friends I shall be very wretched. If you knew how I have looked forward +to your coming home!” + +“I did not mean to vex you, and I won’t say such things again.” + +“That’s my own Frank. What I said to mamma, I said because I thought it +right; but you must not say that I am a Puritan. I would do anything in +my power to make your holidays bright and pleasant. I know that boys +require so much more to amuse them than girls do. Good night, dearest; +pray don’t overdo yourself with work, and do take care of your eyes.” + +So saying she kissed him and went her way. In twenty minutes after that, +he had gone to sleep over his book; and when he woke up to find the +candle guttering down, he resolved that he would not begin his measured +hours till Christmas-day was fairly over. + +The morning of Christmas-day passed very quietly. They all went to +church, and then sat round the fire chatting until the four o’clock +dinner was ready. The Coverdale girls thought it was rather more dull +than former Thwaite Hall festivities, and Frank was seen to yawn. But +then everybody knows that the real fun of Christmas never begins till the +day itself be passed. The beef and pudding are ponderous, and unless +there be absolute children in the party, there is a difficulty in +grafting any special afternoon amusements on the Sunday pursuits of the +morning. In the evening they were to have a dance; that had been +distinctly promised to Patty Coverdale; but the dance would not commence +till eight. The beef and pudding were ponderous, but with due efforts +they were overcome and disappeared. The glass of port was sipped, the +almonds and raisins were nibbled, and then the ladies left the room. Ten +minutes after that Elizabeth found herself seated with Isabella Holmes +over the fire in her father’s little book-room. It was not by her that +this meeting was arranged, for she dreaded such a constrained confidence; +but of course it could not be avoided, and perhaps it might be as well +now as hereafter. + +“Bessy,” said the elder girl, “I am dying to be alone with you for a +moment.” + +“Well, you shall not die; that is, if being alone with me will save you.” + +“I have so much to say to you. And if you have any true friendship in +you, you also will have so much to say to me.” + +Miss Garrow perhaps had no true friendship in her at that moment, for she +would gladly have avoided saying anything, had that been possible. But +in order to prove that she was not deficient in friendship, she gave her +friend her hand. + +“And now tell me everything about Godfrey,” said Isabella. + +“Dear Bella, I have nothing to tell;—literally nothing.” + +“That is nonsense. Stop a moment, dear, and understand that I do not +mean to offend you. It cannot be that you have nothing to tell, if you +choose to tell it. You are not the girl to have accepted Godfrey without +loving him, nor is he the man to have asked you without loving you. When +you write me word that you have changed your mind, as you might about a +dress, of course I know you have not told me all. Now I insist upon +knowing it,—that is, if we are to be friends. I would not speak a word +to Godfrey till I had seen you, in order that I might hear your story +first.” + +“Indeed, Bella, there is no story to tell.” + +“Then I must ask him.” + +“If you wish to play the part of a true friend to me, you will let the +matter pass by and say nothing. You must understand that, circumstanced +as we are, your brother’s visit here,—what I mean is, that it is very +difficult for me to act and speak exactly as I should do, and a few +unfortunate words spoken may make my position unendurable.” + +“Will you answer me one question?” + +“I cannot tell. I think I will.” + +“Do you love him?” For a moment or two Bessy remained silent, striving +to arrange her words so that they should contain no falsehood, and yet +betray no truth. “Ah, I see you do,” continued Miss Holmes. “But of +course you do. Why else did you accept him?” + +“I fancied that I did, as young ladies do sometimes fancy.” + +“And will you say that you do not, now?” Again Bessy was silent, and +then her friend rose from her seat. “I see it all,” she said. “What a +pity it was that you both had not some friend like me by you at the time! +But perhaps it may not be too late.” + +I need not repeat at length all the protestations which upon this were +poured forth with hot energy by poor Bessy. She endeavoured to explain +how great had been the difficulty of her position. This Christmas visit +had been arranged before that unhappy affair at Liverpool had occurred. +Isabella’s visit had been partly one of business, it being necessary that +certain money affairs should be arranged between her, her brother, and +the Major. “I determined,” said Bessy, “not to let my feelings stand in +the way; and hoped that things might settle down to their former friendly +footing. I already fear that I have been wrong, but it will be +ungenerous in you to punish me.” Then she went on to say that if anybody +attempted to interfere with her, she should at once go away to her +mother’s sister, who lived at Hexham, in Northumberland. + +Then came the dance, and the hearts of Kate and Patty Coverdale were at +last happy. But here again poor Bessy was made to understand how +terribly difficult was this experiment of entertaining on a footing of +friendship a lover with whom she had quarrelled only a month or two +before. That she must as a necessity become the partner of Godfrey +Holmes she had already calculated, and so much she was prepared to +endure. Her brothers would of course dance with the Coverdale girls, and +her father would of course stand up with Isabella. There was no other +possible arrangement, at any rate as a beginning. + +She had schooled herself, too, as to the way in which she would speak to +him on the occasion, and how she would remain mistress of herself and of +her thoughts. But when the time came the difficulty was almost too much +for her. + +“You do not care much for dancing, if I remember?” said he. + +“Oh yes, I do. Not as Patty Coverdale does. It’s a passion with her. +But then I am older than Patty Coverdale.” After that he was silent for +a minute or two. + +“It seems so odd to me to be here again,” he said. It was odd;—she felt +that it was odd. But he ought not to have said so. + +“Two years make a great difference. The boys have grown so much.” + +“Yes, and there are other things,” said he. + +“Bella was never here before; at least not with you.” + +“No. But I did not exactly mean that. All that would not make the place +so strange. But your mother seems altered to me. She used to be almost +like my own mother.” + +“I suppose she finds that you are a more formidable person as you grow +older. It was all very well scolding you when you were a clerk in the +bank, but it does not do to scold the manager. These are the penalties +men pay for becoming great.” + +“It is not my greatness that stands in my way, but—” + +“Then I’m sure I cannot say what it is. But Patty will scold you if you +do not mind the figure, though you were the whole Board of Directors +packed into one. She won’t respect you if you neglect your present +work.” + +When Bessy went to bed that night she began to feel that she had +attempted too much. “Mamma,” she said, “could I not make some excuse and +go away to Aunt Mary?” + +“What now?” + +“Yes, mamma; now; to-morrow. I need not say that it will make me very +unhappy to be away at such a time, but I begin to think that it will be +better.” + +“What will papa say?” + +“You must tell him all.” + +“And Aunt Mary must be told also. You would not like that. Has he said +anything?” + +“No, nothing;—very little, that is. But Bella has spoken to me. Oh, +mamma, I think we have been very wrong in this. That is, I have been +wrong. I feel as though I should disgrace myself, and turn the whole +party here into a misfortune.” + +It would be dreadful, that telling of the story to her father and to her +aunt, and such a necessity must, if possible, be avoided. Should such a +necessity actually come, the former task would, no doubt, be done by her +mother, but that would not lighten the load materially. After a +fortnight she would again meet her father, and would be forced to discuss +it. “I will remain if it be possible,” she said; “but, mamma, if I wish +to go, you will not stop me?” Her mother promised that she would not +stop her, but strongly advised her to stand her ground. + +On the following morning, when she came down stairs before breakfast, she +found Frank standing in the hall with his gun, of which he was trying the +lock. “It is not loaded, is it, Frank?” said she. + +“Oh dear, no; no one thinks of loading now-a-days till he has got out of +the house. Directly after breakfast I am going across with Godfrey to +the back of Greystock, to see after some moor-fowl. He asked me to go, +and I couldn’t well refuse.” + +“Of course not. Why should you?” + +“It will be deuced hard work to make up the time. I was to have been up +at four this morning, but that alarum went off and never woke me. +However, I shall be able to do something to-night.” + +“Don’t make a slavery of your holidays, Frank. What’s the good of having +a new gun if you’re not to use it?” + +“It’s not the new gun. I’m not such a child as that comes to. But, you +see, Godfrey is here, and one ought to be civil to him. I’ll tell you +what I want you girls to do, Bessy. You must come and meet us on our way +home. Come over in the boat and along the path to the Patterdale road. +We’ll be there under the hill about five.” + +“And if you are not, we are to wait in the snow?” + +“Don’t make difficulties, Bessy. I tell you we will be there. We are to +go in the cart, and so shall have plenty of time.” + +“And how do you know the other girls will go?” + +“Why, to tell you the truth, Patty Coverdale has promised. As for Miss +Holmes, if she won’t, why you must leave her at home with mamma. But +Kate and Patty can’t come without you.” + +“Your discretion has found that out, has it?” + +“They say so. But you will come; won’t you, Bessy? As for waiting, it’s +all nonsense. Of course you can walk on. But we’ll be at the stile by +five. I’ve got my watch, you know.” And then Bessy promised him. What +would she not have done for him that was in her power to do? + +“Go! Of course I’ll go,” said Miss Holmes. “I’m up to anything. I’d +have gone with them this morning, and have taken a gun if they’d asked +me. But, by-the-bye, I’d better not.” + +“Why not?” said Patty, who was hardly yet without fear lest something +should mar the expedition. + +“What will three gentlemen do with four ladies?” + +“Oh, I forgot,” said Patty innocently. + +“I’m sure I don’t care,” said Kate; “you may have Harry if you like.” + +“Thank you for nothing,” said Miss Holmes. “I want one for myself. It’s +all very well for you to make the offer, but what should I do if Harry +wouldn’t have me? There are two sides, you know, to every bargain.” + +“I’m sure he isn’t anything to me,” said Kate. “Why, he’s not quite +seventeen years old yet!” + +“Poor boy! What a shame to dispose of him so soon. We’ll let him off +for a year or two; won’t we, Miss Coverdale? But as there seems by +acknowledgment to be one beau with unappropriated services—” + +“I’m sure I have appropriated nobody,” said Patty, “and didn’t intend.” + +“Godfrey, then, is the only knight whose services are claimed,” said Miss +Holmes, looking at Bessy. Bessy made no immediate answer with either her +eyes or tongue; but when the Coverdales were gone, she took her new +friend to task. + +“How can you fill those young girls’ heads with such nonsense?” + +“Nature has done that, my dear.” + +“But nature should be trained; should it not? You will make them think +that those foolish boys are in love with them.” + +“The foolish boys, as you call them, will look after that themselves. It +seems to me that the foolish boys know what they are about better than +some of their elders.” And then, after a moment’s pause, she added, “As +for my brother, I have no patience with him.” + +“Pray do not discuss your brother,” said Bessy. “And, Bella, unless you +wish to drive me away, pray do not speak of him and me together as you +did just now.” + +“Are you so bad as that,—that the slightest commonplace joke upsets you? +Would not his services be due to you as a matter of course? If you are +so sore about it, you will betray your own secret.” + +“I have no secret,—none at least from you, or from mamma; and, indeed, +none from him. We were both very foolish, thinking that we knew each +other and our own hearts, when we knew neither.” + +“I hate to hear people talk of knowing their hearts. My idea is, that if +you like a young man, and he asks you to marry him, you ought to have +him. That is, if there is enough to live on. I don’t know what more is +wanted. But girls are getting to talk and think as though they were to +send their hearts through some fiery furnace of trial before they may +give them up to a husband’s keeping. I am not at all sure that the +French fashion is not the best, and that these things shouldn’t be +managed by the fathers and mothers, or perhaps by the family lawyers. +Girls who are so intent upon knowing their own hearts generally end by +knowing nobody’s heart but their own; and then they die old maids.” + +“Better that than give themselves to the keeping of those they don’t know +and cannot esteem.” + +“That’s a matter of taste. I mean to take the first that comes, so long +as he looks like a gentleman, and has not less than eight hundred a year. +Now Godfrey does look like a gentleman, and has double that. If I had +such a chance I shouldn’t think twice about it.” + +“But I have no such chance.” + +“That’s the way the wind blows; is it?” + +“No, no. Oh, Bella, pray, pray leave me alone. Pray do not interfere. +There is no wind blowing in any way. All that I want is your silence and +your sympathy.” + +“Very well. I will be silent and sympathetic as the grave. Only don’t +imagine that I am cold as the grave also. I don’t exactly appreciate +your ideas; but if I can do no good, I will at any rate endeavour to do +no harm.” + +After lunch, at about three, they started on their walk, and managed to +ferry themselves over the river. “Oh, do let me, Bessy,” said Kate +Coverdale. “I understand all about it. Look here, Miss Holmes. You +pull the chain through your hands—” + +“And inevitably tear your gloves to pieces,” said Miss Holmes. Kate +certainly had done so, and did not seem to be particularly well pleased +with the accident. “There’s a nasty nail in the chain,” she said. “I +wonder those stupid boys did not tell us.” + +Of course they reached the trysting-place much too soon, and were very +tired of walking up and down to keep their feet warm, before the +sportsmen came up. But this was their own fault, seeing that they had +reached the stile half an hour before the time fixed. + +“I never will go anywhere to meet gentlemen again,” said Miss Holmes. +“It is most preposterous that ladies should be left in the snow for an +hour. Well, young men, what sport have you had?” + +“I shot the big black cock,” said Harry. + +“Did you indeed?” said Kate Coverdale. + +“And here are the feathers out of his tail for you. He dropped them in +the water, and I had to go in after them up to my middle. But I told you +that I would, so I was determined to get them.” + +“Oh, you silly, silly boy,” said Kate. “But I’ll keep them for ever. I +will indeed.” This was said a little apart, for Harry had managed to +draw the young lady aside before he presented the feathers. + +Frank had also his trophies for Patty, and the tale to tell of his own +prowess. In that he was a year older than his brother, he was by a +year’s growth less ready to tender his present to his lady-love, openly +in the presence of them all. But he found his opportunity, and then he +and Patty went on a little in advance. Kate also was deep in her +consolations to Harry for his ducking; and therefore the four disposed of +themselves in the manner previously suggested by Miss Holmes. Miss +Holmes, therefore, and her brother, and Bessy Garrow, were left together +in the path, and discussed the performances of the day in a manner that +elicited no very ecstatic interest. So they walked for a mile, and by +degrees the conversation between them dwindled down almost to nothing. + +“There is nothing I dislike so much as coming out with people younger +than myself,” said Miss Holmes. “One always feels so old and dull. +Listen to those children there; they make me feel as though I were an old +maiden aunt, brought out with them to do propriety.” + +“Patty won’t at all approve if she hears you call her a child.” + +“Nor shall I approve, if she treats me like an old woman,” and then she +stepped on and joined the children. “I wouldn’t spoil even their sport +if I could help it,” she said to herself. “But with them I shall only be +a temporary nuisance; if I remain behind I shall become a permanent +evil.” And thus Bessy and her old lover were left by themselves. + +“I hope you will get on well with Bella,” said Godfrey, when they had +remained silent for a minute or two. + +“Oh, yes. She is so good-natured and light-spirited that everybody must +like her. She has been used to so much amusement and active life, that I +know she must find it very dull here.” + +“She is never dull anywhere,—even at Liverpool, which, for a young lady, +I sometimes think the dullest place on earth. I know it is for a man.” + +“A man who has work to do can never be dull; can he?” + +“Indeed he can; as dull as death. I am so often enough. I have never +been very bright there, Bessy, since you left us.” + +There was nothing in his calling her Bessy, for it had become a habit +with him since they were children; and they had formerly agreed that +everything between them should be as it had been before that foolish +whisper of love had been spoken and received. Indeed, provision had been +made by them specially on this point, so that there need be no +awkwardness in this mode of addressing each other. Such provision had +seemed to be very prudent, but it hardly had the desired effect on the +present occasion. + +“I hardly know what you mean by brightness,” she said, after a pause. +“Perhaps it is not intended that people’s lives should be what you call +bright.” + +“Life ought to be as bright as we can make it.” + +“It all depends on the meaning of the word. I suppose we are not very +bright here at Thwaite Hall, but yet we think ourselves very happy.” + +“I am sure you are,” said Godfrey. “I very often think of you here.” + +“We always think of places where we have been when we were young,” said +Bessy; and then again they walked on for some way in silence, and Bessy +began to increase her pace with the view of catching the children. The +present walk to her was anything but bright, and she bethought herself +with dismay that there were still two miles before she reached the Ferry. + +“Bessy,” Godfrey said at last. And then he stopped as though he were +doubtful how to proceed. She, however, did not say a word, but walked on +quickly, as though her only hope was in catching the party before her. +But they also were walking quickly, for Bella was determined that she +would not be caught. + +“Bessy, I must speak to you once of what passed between us at Liverpool.” + +“Must you?” said she. + +“Unless you positively forbid it.” + +“Stop, Godfrey,” she said. And they did stop in the path, for now she no +longer thought of putting an end to her embarrassment by overtaking her +companions. “If any such words are necessary for your comfort, it would +hardly become me to forbid them. Were I to speak so harshly you would +accuse me afterwards in your own heart. It must be for you to judge +whether it is well to reopen a wound that is nearly healed.” + +“But with me it is not nearly healed. The wound is open always.” + +“There are some hurts,” she said, “which do not admit of an absolute and +perfect cure, unless after long years.” As she said so, she could not +but think how much better was his chance of such perfect cure than her +own. With her,—so she said to herself,—such curing was all but +impossible; whereas with him, it was as impossible that the injury should +last. + +“Bessy,” he said, and he again stopped her on the narrow path, standing +immediately before her on the way, “you remember all the circumstances +that made us part?” + +“Yes; I think I remember them.” + +“And you still think that we were right to part?” + +She paused for a moment before she answered him; but it was only for a +moment, and then she spoke quite firmly. “Yes, Godfrey, I do; I have +thought about it much since then. I have thought, I fear, to no good +purpose about aught else. But I have never thought that we had been +unwise in that.” + +“And yet I think you loved me.” + +“I am bound to confess I did so, as otherwise I must confess myself a +liar. I told you at the time that I loved you, and I told you so truly. +But it is better, ten times better, that those who love should part, even +though they still should love, than that two should be joined together +who are incapable of making each other happy. Remember what you told +me.” + +“I do remember.” + +“You found yourself unhappy in your engagement, and you said it was my +fault.” + +“Bessy, there is my hand. If you have ceased to love me, there is an end +of it. But if you love me still, let all that be forgotten.” + +“Forgotten, Godfrey! How can it be forgotten? You were unhappy, and it +was my fault. My fault, as it would be if I tried to solace a sick child +with arithmetic, or feed a dog with grass. I had no right to love you, +knowing you as I did; and knowing also that my ways would not be your +ways. My punishment I understand, and it is not more than I can bear; +but I had hoped that your punishment would have been soon over.” + +“You are too proud, Bessy.” + +“That is very likely. Frank says that I am a Puritan, and pride was the +worst of their sins.” + +“Too proud and unbending. In marriage should not the man and woman adapt +themselves to each other?” + +“When they are married, yes. And every girl who thinks of marrying +should know that in very much she must adapt herself to her husband. But +I do not think that a woman should be the ivy, to take the direction of +every branch of the tree to which she clings. If she does so, what can +be her own character? But we must go on, or we shall be too late.” + +“And you will give me no other answer?” + +“None other, Godfrey. Have you not just now, at this very moment, told +me that I was too proud? Can it be possible that you should wish to tie +yourself for life to female pride? And if you tell me that now, at such +a moment as this, what would you tell me in the close intimacy of married +life, when the trifles of every day would have worn away the courtesies +of guest and lover?” + +There was a sharpness of rebuke in this which Godfrey Holmes could not at +the moment overcome. Nevertheless he knew the girl, and understood the +workings of her heart and mind. Now, in her present state, she could be +unbending, proud, and almost rough. In that she had much to lose in +declining the renewed offer which he made her, she would, as it were, +continually prompt herself to be harsh and inflexible. Had he been poor, +had she not loved him, had not all good things seemed to have attended +the promise of such a marriage, she would have been less suspicious of +herself in receiving the offer, and more gracious in replying to it. Had +he lost all his money before he came back to her, she would have taken +him at once; or had he been deprived of an eye, or become crippled in his +legs, she would have done so. But, circumstanced as he was, she had no +motive to tenderness. There was an organic defect in her character, +which no doubt was plainly marked by its own bump in her cranium,—the +bump of philomartyrdom, it might properly be called. She had shipwrecked +her own happiness in rejecting Godfrey Holmes; but it seemed to her to be +the proper thing that a well-behaved young lady should shipwreck her own +happiness. For the last month or two she had been tossed about by the +waters and was nearly drowned. Now there was beautiful land again close +to her, and a strong pleasant hand stretched out to save her. But though +she had suffered terribly among the waves, she still thought it wrong to +be saved. It would be so pleasant to take that hand, so sweet, so +joyous, that it surely must be wrong. That was her doctrine; and Godfrey +Holmes, though he hardly analysed the matter, partly understood that it +was so. And yet, if once she were landed on that green island, she would +be so happy. She spoke with scorn of a woman clinging to a tree like +ivy; and yet, were she once married, no woman would cling to her husband +with sweeter feminine tenacity than Bessy Garrow. He spoke no further +word to her as he walked home, but in handing her down to the ferry-boat +he pressed her hand. For a second it seemed as though she had returned +this pressure. If so, the action was involuntary, and her hand instantly +resumed its stiffness to his touch. + +It was late that night when Major Garrow went to his bedroom, but his +wife was still up, waiting for him. “Well,” said she, “what has he said +to you? He has been with you above an hour.” + +“Such stories are not very quickly told; and in this case it was +necessary to understand him very accurately. At length I think I do +understand him.” + +It is not necessary to repeat at length all that was said on that night +between Major and Mrs. Garrow, as to the offer which had now for a third +time been made to their daughter. On that evening, after the ladies had +gone, and when the two boys had taken themselves off, Godfrey Holmes told +his tale to his host, and had honestly explained to him what he believed +to be the state of his daughter’s feelings. “Now you know all,” said he. +“I do believe that she loves me, and if she does, perhaps she may still +listen to you.” Major Garrow did not feel sure that he “knew it all.” +But when he had fully discussed the matter that night with his wife, then +he thought that perhaps he had arrived at that knowledge. + +On the following morning Bessy learned from the maid, at an early hour, +that Godfrey Holmes had left Thwaite Hall and gone back to Liverpool. To +the girl she said nothing on the subject, but she felt obliged to say a +word or two to Bella. “It is his coming that I regret,” she said;—“that +he should have had the trouble and annoyance for nothing. I acknowledge +that it was my fault, and I am very sorry.” + +“It cannot be helped,” said Miss Holmes, somewhat gravely. “As to his +misfortunes, I presume that his journeys between here and Liverpool are +not the worst of them.” + +After breakfast on that day Bessy was summoned into her father’s +book-room, and found him there, and her mother also. “Bessy,” said he, +“sit down, my dear. You know why Godfrey has left us this morning?” + +Bessy walked round the room, so that in sitting she might be close to her +mother and take her mother’s hand in her own. “I suppose I do, papa,” +she said. + +“He was with me late last night, Bessy; and when he told me what had +passed between you I agreed with him that he had better go.” + +“It was better that he should go, papa.” + +“But he has left a message for you.” + +“A message, papa?” + +“Yes, Bessy. And your mother agrees with me that it had better be given +to you. It is this,—that if you will send him word to come again, he +will be here by Twelfth-night. He came before on my invitation, but if +he returns it must be on yours.” + +“Oh, papa, I cannot.” + +“I do not say that you can, but think of it calmly before you altogether +refuse. You shall give me your answer on New Year’s morning.” + +“Mamma knows that it would be impossible,” said Bessy. + +“Not impossible, dearest.” + +“In such a matter you should do what you believe to be right,” said her +father. + +“If I were to ask him here again, it would be telling him that I would—” + +“Exactly, Bessy. It would be telling him that you would be his wife. He +would understand it so, and so would your mother and I. It must be so +understood altogether.” + +“But, papa, when we were at Liverpool—” + +“I have told him everything, dearest,” said Mrs. Garrow. + +“I think I understand the whole,” said the Major; “and in such a matter +as this I will not give you counsel on either side. But you must +remember that in making up your mind, you must think of him as well as of +yourself. If you do not love him;—if you feel that as his wife you +should not love him, there is not another word to be said. I need not +explain to my daughter that under such circumstances she would be wrong +to encourage the visits of a suitor. But your mother says you do love +him.” + +“I will not ask you. But if you do;—if you have so told him, and allowed +him to build up an idea of his life-happiness on such telling, you will, +I think, sin greatly against him by allowing a false feminine pride to +mar his happiness. When once a girl has confessed to a man that she +loves him, the confession and the love together put upon her the burden +of a duty towards him, which she cannot with impunity throw aside.” Then +he kissed her, and bidding her give him a reply on the morning of the new +year, left her with her mother. + +She had four days for consideration, and they went past her by no means +easily. Could she have been alone with her mother, the struggle would +not have been so painful; but there was the necessity that she should +talk to Isabella Holmes, and the necessity also that she should not +neglect the Coverdales. Nothing could have been kinder than Bella. She +did not speak on the subject till the morning of the last day, and then +only in a very few words. “Bessy,” she said, “as you are great, be +merciful.” + +“But I am not great, and it would not be mercy.” + +“As to that,” said Bella, “he has surely a right to his own opinion.” + +On that evening she was sitting alone in her room when her mother came to +her, and her eyes were red with weeping. Pen and paper were before her, +as though she were resolved to write, but hitherto no word had been +written. + +“Well, Bessy,” said her mother, sitting down close beside her; “is the +deed done?” + +“What deed, mamma? Who says that I am to do it?” + +“The deed is not the writing, but the resolution to write. Five words +will be sufficient,—if only those five words may be written.” + +“It is for one’s whole life, mamma. For his life, as well as my own.” + +“True, Bessy;—that is quite true. But equally true whether you bid him +come or allow him to remain away. That task of making up one’s mind for +life, must at last be done in some special moment of that life.” + +“Mamma, mamma; tell me what I should do.” + +But this Mrs. Garrow would not do. “I will write the words for you if +you like,” she said, “but it is you who must resolve that they shall be +written. I cannot bid my darling go away and leave me for another +home;—I can only say that in my heart I do believe that home would be a +happy one.” + +It was morning before the note was written, but when the morning came +Bessy had written it and brought it to her mother. + +“You must take it to papa,” she said. Then she went and hid herself from +all eyes till the noon had passed. “Dear Godfrey,” the letter ran, “Papa +says that you will return on Wednesday if I write to ask you. Do come +back to us,—if you wish it. Yours always, Bessy.” + +“It is as good as though she had filled the sheet,” said the Major. But +in sending it to Godfrey Holmes, he did not omit a few accompanying +remarks of his own. + +An answer came from Godfrey by return of post; and on the afternoon of +the sixth of January, Frank Garrow drove over to the station at Penrith +to meet him. On their way back to Thwaite Hall there grew up a very +close confidence between the two future brothers-in-law, and Frank +explained with great perspicuity a little plan which he had arranged +himself. “As soon as it is dark, so that she won’t see it, Harry will +hang it up in the dining-room,” he said, “and mind you go in there before +you go anywhere else.” + +“I am very glad you have come back, Godfrey,” said the Major, meeting him +in the hall. + +“God bless you, dear Godfrey,” said Mrs. Garrow, “you will find Bessy in +the dining-room,” she whispered; but in so whispering she was quite +unconscious of the mistletoe bough. + +And so also was Bessy, nor do I think that she was much more conscious +when that introduction was over. Godfrey had made all manner of promises +to Frank, but when the moment arrived, he had found the moment too +important for any special reference to the little bough above his head. +Not so, however, Patty Coverdale. “It’s a shame,” said she, bursting out +of the room, “and if I’d known what you had done, nothing on earth should +have induced me to go in. I won’t enter the room till I know that you +have taken it out.” Nevertheless her sister Kate was bold enough to +solve the mystery before the evening was over. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISTLETOE BOUGH*** + + +******* This file should be named 3719-0.txt or 3719-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/7/1/3719 + + +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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