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diff --git a/3719-h/3719-h.htm b/3719-h/3719-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..258efe3 --- /dev/null +++ b/3719-h/3719-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1477 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The Mistletoe Bough, by Anthony Trollope</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +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: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISTLETOE BOUGH*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1864 Chapman and Hall “Tales of All +Countries” edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>THE MISTLETOE BOUGH.</h1> +<p>“Let the boys have it if they like it,” said Mrs. +Garrow, pleading to her only daughter on behalf of her two +sons.</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“We always had it at Christmas when we were +young.”</p> +<p>“But, mamma, the world is so changed.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“Honi soit qui mal y pense,” said Frank, who was +eighteen.</p> +<p>“Nobody will want to kiss you, my lady Fineairs,” +said Harry, who was just a year younger.</p> +<p>“Because you choose to be a Puritan, there are to be no +more cakes and ale in the house,” said Frank.</p> +<p>“Still waters run deep; we all know that,” said +Harry.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“If you would rather that he should not come I will have +it arranged,” her mother had said to her.</p> +<p>“Not for worlds,” she had answered. “I +should never think well of myself again.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“Godfrey is very much improved,” the Major said to +his wife that night.</p> +<p>“Do you think so?”</p> +<p>“Indeed I do. He has filled out and become a fine +man.”</p> +<p>“In personal appearance, you mean. Yes, he is +well-looking enough.”</p> +<p>“And in his manner, too. He is doing uncommonly +well in Liverpool, I can tell you; and if he should think of +Bessy—”</p> +<p>“There is nothing of that sort,” said Mrs. +Garrow.</p> +<p>“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—”</p> +<p>“I don’t think she does.”</p> +<p>“Then there’s an end of it.” And so +they went to bed.</p> +<p>“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?”</p> +<p>“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—”</p> +<p>“Don’t overdo it, Frank.”</p> +<p>“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?”</p> +<p>“But, Frank, you have come home for your +holidays,—to enjoy yourself?”</p> +<p>“But a fellow must work now-a-days.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“Did I, Bessy?”</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>“Of course I don’t.”</p> +<p>“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!”</p> +<p>“I did not mean to vex you, and I won’t say such +things again.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“Bessy,” said the elder girl, “I am dying to +be alone with you for a moment.”</p> +<p>“Well, you shall not die; that is, if being alone with +me will save you.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“And now tell me everything about Godfrey,” said +Isabella.</p> +<p>“Dear Bella, I have nothing to tell;—literally +nothing.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“Indeed, Bella, there is no story to tell.”</p> +<p>“Then I must ask him.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“Will you answer me one question?”</p> +<p>“I cannot tell. I think I will.”</p> +<p>“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?”</p> +<p>“I fancied that I did, as young ladies do sometimes +fancy.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“You do not care much for dancing, if I remember?” +said he.</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>“Two years make a great difference. The boys have +grown so much.”</p> +<p>“Yes, and there are other things,” said he.</p> +<p>“Bella was never here before; at least not with +you.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“It is not my greatness that stands in my way, +but—”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>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?”</p> +<p>“What now?”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“What will papa say?”</p> +<p>“You must tell him all.”</p> +<p>“And Aunt Mary must be told also. You would not +like that. Has he said anything?”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“Of course not. Why should you?”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“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?”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“And if you are not, we are to wait in the +snow?”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“And how do you know the other girls will go?”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“Your discretion has found that out, has it?”</p> +<p>“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?</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“Why not?” said Patty, who was hardly yet without +fear lest something should mar the expedition.</p> +<p>“What will three gentlemen do with four +ladies?”</p> +<p>“Oh, I forgot,” said Patty innocently.</p> +<p>“I’m sure I don’t care,” said Kate; +“you may have Harry if you like.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“I’m sure he isn’t anything to me,” +said Kate. “Why, he’s not quite seventeen years +old yet!”</p> +<p>“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—”</p> +<p>“I’m sure I have appropriated nobody,” said +Patty, “and didn’t intend.”</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>“How can you fill those young girls’ heads with +such nonsense?”</p> +<p>“Nature has done that, my dear.”</p> +<p>“But nature should be trained; should it not? You +will make them think that those foolish boys are in love with +them.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“Better that than give themselves to the keeping of +those they don’t know and cannot esteem.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“But I have no such chance.”</p> +<p>“That’s the way the wind blows; is it?”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>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—”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“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?”</p> +<p>“I shot the big black cock,” said Harry.</p> +<p>“Did you indeed?” said Kate Coverdale.</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“Patty won’t at all approve if she hears you call +her a child.”</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>“I hope you will get on well with Bella,” said +Godfrey, when they had remained silent for a minute or two.</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“A man who has work to do can never be dull; can +he?”</p> +<p>“Indeed he can; as dull as death. I am so often +enough. I have never been very bright there, Bessy, since +you left us.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“Life ought to be as bright as we can make +it.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“I am sure you are,” said Godfrey. “I +very often think of you here.”</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>“Bessy, I must speak to you once of what passed between +us at Liverpool.”</p> +<p>“Must you?” said she.</p> +<p>“Unless you positively forbid it.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“But with me it is not nearly healed. The wound is +open always.”</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>“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?”</p> +<p>“Yes; I think I remember them.”</p> +<p>“And you still think that we were right to +part?”</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>“And yet I think you loved me.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“I do remember.”</p> +<p>“You found yourself unhappy in your engagement, and you +said it was my fault.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“You are too proud, Bessy.”</p> +<p>“That is very likely. Frank says that I am a +Puritan, and pride was the worst of their sins.”</p> +<p>“Too proud and unbending. In marriage should not +the man and woman adapt themselves to each other?”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“And you will give me no other answer?”</p> +<p>“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?”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>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?”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“It was better that he should go, papa.”</p> +<p>“But he has left a message for you.”</p> +<p>“A message, papa?”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“Oh, papa, I cannot.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“Mamma knows that it would be impossible,” said +Bessy.</p> +<p>“Not impossible, dearest.”</p> +<p>“In such a matter you should do what you believe to be +right,” said her father.</p> +<p>“If I were to ask him here again, it would be telling +him that I would—”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“But, papa, when we were at Liverpool—”</p> +<p>“I have told him everything, dearest,” said Mrs. +Garrow.</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>“But I am not great, and it would not be +mercy.”</p> +<p>“As to that,” said Bella, “he has surely a +right to his own opinion.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“Well, Bessy,” said her mother, sitting down close +beside her; “is the deed done?”</p> +<p>“What deed, mamma? Who says that I am to do +it?”</p> +<p>“The deed is not the writing, but the resolution to +write. Five words will be sufficient,—if only those +five words may be written.”</p> +<p>“It is for one’s whole life, mamma. For his +life, as well as my own.”</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“Mamma, mamma; tell me what I should do.”</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>It was morning before the note was written, but when the +morning came Bessy had written it and brought it to her +mother.</p> +<p>“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.”</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>“I am very glad you have come back, Godfrey,” said +the Major, meeting him in the hall.</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISTLETOE BOUGH***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 3719-h.htm or 3719-h.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. 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