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diff --git a/41286-0.txt b/41286-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..730ef5a --- /dev/null +++ b/41286-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18398 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41286 *** + + Chronicles of Carlingford + + MISS MARJORIBANKS + + _By_ MRS OLIPHANT + + + The Zodiac Press + LONDON + + + + +Contents + + + Chapter I 25 + + Chapter II 34 + + Chapter III 41 + + Chapter IV 45 + + Chapter V 55 + + Chapter VI 63 + + Chapter VII 72 + + Chapter VIII 80 + + Chapter IX 90 + + Chapter X 98 + + Chapter XI 110 + + Chapter XII 118 + + Chapter XIII 125 + + Chapter XIV 133 + + Chapter XV 141 + + Chapter XVI 149 + + Chapter XVII 157 + + Chapter XVIII 167 + + Chapter XIX 179 + + Chapter XX 188 + + Chapter XXI 199 + + Chapter XXII 204 + + Chapter XXIII 213 + + Chapter XXIV 229 + + Chapter XXV 240 + + Chapter XXVI 248 + + Chapter XXVII 258 + + Chapter XXVIII 267 + + Chapter XXIX 279 + + Chapter XXX 289 + + Chapter XXXI 296 + + Chapter XXXII 304 + + Chapter XXXIII 312 + + Chapter XXXIV 321 + + Chapter XXXV 333 + + Chapter XXXVI 338 + + Chapter XXXVII 341 + + Chapter XXXVIII 352 + + Chapter XXXIX 363 + + Chapter XL 377 + + Chapter XLI 387 + + Chapter XLII 394 + + Chapter XLIII 402 + + Chapter XLIV 409 + + Chapter XLV 420 + + Chapter XLVI 430 + + Chapter XLVII 439 + + Chapter XLVIII 449 + + Chapter XLIX 461 + + Chapter L 471 + + Chapter LI 481 + + Chapter the last 494 + + + + +_Chapter I_ + + +Miss Marjoribanks lost her mother when she was only fifteen, and when, +to add to the misfortune, she was absent at school, and could not have +it in her power to soothe her dear mamma's last moments, as she herself +said. Words are sometimes very poor exponents of such an event: but it +happens now and then, on the other hand, that a plain intimation +expresses too much, and suggests emotion and suffering which, in +reality, have but little, if any, existence. Mrs Marjoribanks, poor +lady, had been an invalid for many years; she had grown a little peevish +in her loneliness, not feeling herself of much account in this world. +There are some rare natures that are content to acquiesce in the general +neglect, and forget themselves when they find themselves forgotten; but +it is unfortunately much more usual to take the plan adopted by Mrs +Marjoribanks, who devoted all her powers, during the last ten years of +her life, to the solacement and care of that poor self which other +people neglected. The consequence was, that when she disappeared from +her sofa--except for the mere physical fact that she was no longer +there--no one, except her maid, whose occupation was gone, could have +found out much difference. Her husband, it is true, who had, somewhere, +hidden deep in some secret corner of his physical organisation, the +remains of a heart, experienced a certain sentiment of sadness when he +re-entered the house from which she had gone away for ever. But Dr +Marjoribanks was too busy a man to waste his feelings on a mere +sentiment. His daughter, however, was only fifteen, and had floods of +tears at her command, as was natural at that age. All the way home she +revolved the situation in her mind, which was considerably enlightened +by novels and popular philosophy--for the lady at the head of Miss +Marjoribanks school was a devoted admirer of _Friends in Council_, and +was fond of bestowing that work as a prize, with pencil-marks on the +margin--so that Lucilla's mind had been cultivated, and was brimful of +the best of sentiments. She made up her mind on her journey to a great +many virtuous resolutions; for, in such a case as hers, it was +evidently the duty of an only child to devote herself to her father's +comfort, and become the sunshine of his life, as so many young persons +of her age have been known to become in literature. Miss Marjoribanks +had a lively mind, and was capable of grasping all the circumstances of +the situation at a glance. Thus, between the outbreaks of her tears for +her mother, it became apparent to her that she must sacrifice her own +feelings, and make a cheerful home for papa, and that a great many +changes would be necessary in the household--changes which went so far +as even to extend to the furniture. Miss Marjoribanks sketched to +herself, as she lay back in the corner of the railway carriage, with her +veil down, how she would wind herself up to the duty of presiding at her +papa's dinner-parties, and charming everybody by her good humour, and +brightness, and devotion to his comfort; and how, when it was all over, +she would withdraw and cry her eyes out in her own room, and be found in +the morning languid and worn-out, but always heroical, ready to go +downstairs and assist at dear papa's breakfast, and keep up her smiles +for him till he had gone out to his patients. Altogether the picture was +a very pretty one; and, considering that a great many young ladies in +deep mourning put force upon their feelings in novels, and maintain a +smile for the benefit of the unobservant male creatures of whom they +have the charge, the idea was not at all extravagant, considering that +Miss Marjoribanks was but fifteen. She was not, however, exactly the +kind of figure for this _mise en scène_. When her schoolfellows talked +of her to their friends--for Lucilla was already an important personage +at Mount Pleasant--the most common description they gave her was, that +she was "a large girl"; and there was great truth in the adjective. She +was not to be described as a tall girl--which conveys an altogether +different idea--but she was large in all particulars, full and +well-developed, with somewhat large features, not at all pretty as yet, +though it was known in Mount Pleasant that somebody had said that such a +face might ripen into beauty, and become "grandiose," for anything +anybody could tell. Miss Marjoribanks was not vain; but the word had +taken possession of her imagination, as was natural, and solaced her +much when she made the painful discovery that her gloves were half a +number larger, and her shoes a hair-breadth broader, than those of any +of her companions; but the hands and feet were both perfectly well +shaped; and being at the same time well clothed and plump, were much +more presentable and pleasant to look upon than the lean rudimentary +schoolgirl hands with which they were surrounded. To add to these +excellences, Lucilla had a mass of hair which, if it could but have been +cleared a little in its tint, would have been golden, though at present +it was nothing more than tawny, and curly to exasperation. She wore it +in large thick curls, which did not, however, float or wave, or do any +of the graceful things which curls ought to do; for it had this +aggravating quality, that it would not grow long, but would grow +ridiculously, unmanageably thick, to the admiration of her companions, +but to her own despair, for there was no knowing what to do with those +short but ponderous locks. These were the external characteristics of +the girl who was going home to be a comfort to her widowed father, and +meant to sacrifice herself to his happiness. In the course of her rapid +journey she had already settled upon everything that had to be done; or +rather, to speak truly, had rehearsed everything, according to the habit +already acquired by a quick mind, a good deal occupied with itself. +First, she meant to fall into her father's arms--forgetting, with that +singular facility for overlooking the peculiarities of others which +belongs to such a character, that Dr Marjoribanks was very little given +to embracing, and that a hasty kiss on her forehead was the warmest +caress he had ever given his daughter--and then to rush up to the +chamber of death and weep over dear mamma. "And to think I was not there +to soothe her last moments!" Lucilla said to herself, with a sob, and +with feelings sufficiently real in their way. After this, the devoted +daughter made up her mind to come downstairs again, pale as death, but +self-controlled, and devote herself to papa. Perhaps, if great emotion +should make him tearless, as such cases had been known, Miss +Marjoribanks would steal into his arms unawares, and so surprise him +into weeping. All this went briskly through her mind, undeterred by the +reflection that tears were as much out of the Doctor's way as embraces; +and in this mood she sped swiftly along in the inspiration of her first +sorrow, as she imagined, but in reality to suffer her first +disappointment, which was of a less soothing character than that mild +and manageable grief. + +When Miss Marjoribanks reached home her mother had been dead for +twenty-four hours; and her father was not at the door to receive her as +she had expected, but by the bedside of a patient in extremity, who +could not consent to go out of the world without the Doctor. This was a +sad reversal of her intentions, but Lucilla was not the woman to be +disconcerted. She carried out the second part of her programme without +either interference or sympathy, except from Mrs Marjoribanks's maid, +who had some hopes from the moment of her arrival. "I can't abear to +think as I'm to be parted from you all, miss," sobbed the faithful +attendant. "I've lost the best missus as ever was, and I shouldn't mind +going after her. Whenever any one gets a good friend in this world, +they're the first to be took away," said the weeping handmaiden, who +naturally saw her own loss in the most vivid light. "Ah, Ellis," cried +Miss Marjoribanks, reposing her sorrow in the arms of this anxious +attendant, "we must try to be a comfort to poor papa!" + +With this end Lucilla made herself very troublesome to the sober-minded +Doctor during those few dim days before the faint and daily lessening +shadow of poor Mrs Marjoribanks was removed altogether from the house. +When that sad ceremony had taken place, and the Doctor returned, serious +enough, Heaven knows, to the great house, where the faded helpless +woman, who had notwithstanding been his love and his bride in other +days, lay no longer on the familiar sofa, the crisis arrived which Miss +Marjoribanks had rehearsed so often, but after quite a different +fashion. The widower was tearless, indeed, but not from excess of +emotion. On the contrary, a painful heaviness possessed him when he +became aware how little real sorrow was in his mind, and how small an +actual loss was this loss of his wife, which bulked before the world as +an event of just as much magnitude as the loss, for example, which poor +Mr Lake, the drawing-master, was at the same moment suffering. It was +even sad, in another point of view, to think of a human creature passing +out of the world, and leaving so little trace that she had ever been +there. As for the pretty creature whom Dr Marjoribanks had married, she +had vanished into thin air years and years ago. These thoughts were +heavy enough--perhaps even more overwhelming than that grief which +develops love to its highest point of intensity. But such were not +precisely the kind of reflections which could be solaced by paternal +_attendrissement_ over a weeping and devoted daughter. It was May, and +the weather was warm for the season; but Lucilla had caused the fire to +be lighted in the large gloomy library where Dr Marjoribanks always sat +in the evenings, with the idea that it would be "a comfort" to him; +and, for the same reason, she had ordered tea to be served there, +instead of the dinner, for which her father, as she imagined, could have +little appetite. When the Doctor went in to his favourite seclusion, +tired and heated and sad--for even on the day of his wife's funeral the +favourite doctor of Carlingford had patients to think of--the very +heaviness of his thoughts gave warmth to his indignation. He had longed +for the quiet and the coolness and the solitude of his library, apart +from everybody; and when he found it radiant with firelight, tea set on +the table, and Lucilla crying by the fire, in her new crape, the effect +upon a temper by no means perfect may be imagined. The unfortunate man +threw both the windows wide open and rang the bell violently, and gave +instant orders for the removal of the unnecessary fire and the +tea-service. "Let me know when dinner is ready," he said, in a voice +like thunder; "and if Miss Marjoribanks wants a fire, let it be lighted +in the drawing-room." Lucilla was so much taken by surprise by this +sudden overthrow of her programme, that she submitted, as a girl of much +less spirit might have done, and suffered herself and her fire and her +tea-things to be dismissed upstairs, where she wept still more at sight +of dear mamma's sofa, and where Ellis came to mingle her tears with +those of her young mistress, and to beg dear Miss Lucilla, for the sake +of her precious 'elth and her dear papa, to be persuaded to take some +tea. On the whole, master stood lessened in the eyes of all the +household by his ability to eat his dinner, and his resentment at having +his habitudes disturbed. "Them men would eat and drink if we was all in +our graves," said the indignant cook, who indeed had a real grievance; +and the outraged sentiment of the kitchen was avenged by a bad and hasty +dinner, which the Doctor, though generally "very particular," swallowed +without remark. About an hour afterwards he went upstairs to the +drawing-room, where Miss Marjoribanks was waiting for him, much less at +ease than she had expected to be. Though he gave a little sigh at the +sight of his wife's sofa, he did not hesitate to sit down upon it, and +even to draw it a little out of its position, which, as Lucilla +described afterwards, was like a knife going into her heart. Though, +indeed, she had herself decided already, in the intervals of her tears, +that the drawing-room furniture had got very faded and shabby, and that +it would be very expedient to have it renewed for the new reign of +youth and energy which was about to commence. As for the Doctor, though +Miss Marjoribanks thought him insensible, his heart was heavy enough. +His wife had gone out of the world without leaving the least mark of her +existence, except in that large girl, whose spirits and forces were +unbounded, but whose discretion at the present moment did not seem much +greater than her mother's. Instead of thinking of her as a comfort, the +Doctor felt himself called upon to face a new and unexpected +embarrassment. It would have been a satisfaction to him just then to +have been left to himself, and permitted to work on quietly at his +profession, and to write his papers for the _Lancet_, and to see his +friends now and then when he chose; for Dr Marjoribanks was not a man +who had any great need of sympathy by nature, or who was at all addicted +to demonstrations of feeling; consequently, he drew his wife's sofa a +little farther from the fire, and took his seat on it soberly, quite +unaware that, by so doing, he was putting a knife into his daughter's +heart. + +"I hope you have had something to eat, Lucilla," he said; "don't get +into that foolish habit of flying to tea as a man flies to a dram. It's +a more innocent stimulant, but it's the same kind of intention. I am not +so much against a fire; it has always a kind of cheerful look." + +"Oh, papa," cried his daughter, with a flood of indignant tears, "you +can't suppose I want anything to look cheerful this dreadful day." + +"I am far from blaming you, my dear," said the Doctor; "it is natural +you should cry. I am sorry I did not write for my sister to come, who +would have taken care of you; but I dislike strangers in the house at +such a time. However, I hope, Lucilla, you will soon feel yourself able +to return to school; occupation is always the best remedy, and you will +have your friends and companions----" + +"Papa!" cried Miss Marjoribanks; and then she summoned courage, and +rushed up to him, and threw herself and her clouds of crape on the +carpet at his side (and it may here be mentioned that Lucilla had seized +the opportunity to have her mourning made _long_, which had been the +desire of her heart, baffled by mamma and governess for at least a +year). "Papa!" she exclaimed with fervour, raising to him her +tear-stained face, and clasping her fair plump hands, "oh, don't send me +away! I was only a silly girl the other day, but _this_ has made me a +woman. Though I can never, never hope to take dear mamma's place, and +be--all--that she was to you, still I feel I can be a comfort to you if +you will let me. You shall not see me cry any more," cried Lucilla with +energy, rubbing away her tears. "I will never give way to my feelings. I +will ask for no companions--nor--nor anything. As for pleasure, that is +all over. Oh, papa, you shall never see me regret anything, or wish for +anything. I will give up everything in the world to be a comfort to +you!" + +This address, which was utterly unexpected, drove Dr Marjoribanks to +despair. He said, "Get up, Lucilla;" but the devoted daughter knew +better than to get up. She hid her face in her hands, and rested her +hands upon her mother's sofa, where the Doctor was sitting; and the sobs +of that emotion which she meant to control henceforward, echoed through +the room. "It is only for this once--I can--cannot help it," she cried. +When her father found that he could neither soothe her, nor succeed in +raising her, he got up himself, which was the only thing left to him, +and began to walk about the room with hasty steps. Her mother, too, had +possessed this dangerous faculty of tears; and it was not wonderful if +the sober-minded Doctor, roused for the first time to consider his +little girl as a creature possessed of individual character, should +recognise, with a thrill of dismay, the appearance of the same qualities +which had wearied his life out, and brought his youthful affections to +an untimely end. Lucilla was, it is true, as different from her mother +as summer from winter; but Dr Marjoribanks had no means of knowing that +his daughter was only doing her duty by him in his widowhood, according +to a programme of filial devotion resolved upon, in accordance with the +best models, some days before. + +Accordingly, when her sobs had ceased, her father returned and raised +her up not unkindly, and placed her in her chair. In doing so, the +Doctor put his finger by instinct upon Lucilla's pulse, which was +sufficiently calm and regulated to reassure the most anxious parent. And +then a furtive momentary smile gleamed for a single instant round the +corners of his mouth. + +"It is very good of you to propose sacrificing yourself for me," he +said; "and if you would sacrifice your excitement in the meantime, and +listen to me quietly, it would really be something--but you are only +fifteen, Lucilla, and I have no wish to take you from school just now; +wait till I have done. Your poor mother is gone, and it is very natural +you should cry; but you were a good child to her on the whole, which +will be a comfort to you. We did everything that could be thought of to +prolong her days, and, when that was impossible, to lessen what she had +to suffer; and we have every reason to hope," said the Doctor, as indeed +he was accustomed to say in the exercise of his profession to mourning +relatives, "that she's far better off now than if she had been with us. +When that is said, I don't know that there is anything more to add. I am +not fond of sacrifices, either one way or another; and I've a great +objection to any one making a sacrifice for me----" + +"But, oh, papa, it would be no sacrifice," said Lucilla, "if you would +only let me be a comfort to you!" + +"That is just where it is, my dear," said the steady Doctor; "I have +been used to be left a great deal to myself; and I am not prepared to +say that the responsibility of having you here without a mother to take +care of you, and all your lessons interrupted, would not neutralise any +comfort you might be. You see," said Dr Marjoribanks, trying to soften +matters a little, "a man is what his habits make him; and I have been +used to be left a great deal to myself. It answers in some cases, but I +doubt if it would answer with me." + +And then there was a pause, in which Lucilla wept and stifled her tears +in her handkerchief, with a warmer flood of vexation and disappointment +than even her natural grief had produced. "Of course, papa, if I can't +be any comfort--I will--go back to school," she sobbed, with a touch of +sullenness which did not escape the Doctor's ear. + +"Yes, my dear, you will certainly go back to school," said the +peremptory father; "I never had any doubt on that subject. You can stay +over Sunday and rest yourself. Monday or Tuesday will be time enough to +go back to Mount Pleasant; and now you had better ring the bell, and get +somebody to bring you something--or I'll see to that when I go +downstairs. It's getting late, and this has been a fatiguing day. I'll +send you up some negus, and I think you had better go to bed." + +And with these commonplace words, Dr Marjoribanks withdrew in calm +possession of the field. As for Lucilla, she obeyed him, and betook +herself to her own room, and swallowed her negus with a sense, not only +of defeat, but of disappointment and mortification which was very +unpleasant. To go back again and be an ordinary schoolgirl, after the +pomp and woe in which she had come away, was naturally a painful +thought; she who had ordered her mourning to be made long, and +contemplated new furniture in the drawing-room, and expected to be +mistress of her father's house, not to speak of the still dearer +privilege of being a comfort to him; and now, after all, her active mind +was to be condemned over again to verbs and chromatic scales, though she +felt within herself capacities so much more extended. Miss Marjoribanks +did not by any means learn by this defeat to take the characters of the +other personæ in her little drama into consideration, when she rehearsed +her pet scenes hereafter--for that is a knowledge slowly acquired--but +she was wise enough to know when resistance was futile; and like most +people of lively imagination, she had a power of submitting to +circumstances when it became impossible to change them. Thus she +consented to postpone her reign, if not with a good grace, yet still +without foolish resistance, and retired with the full honours of war. +She had already rearranged all the details, and settled upon all the +means possible of preparing herself for what she called the charge of +the establishment when her final emancipation took place, before she +returned to school. "Papa thought me too young," she said, when she +reached Mount Pleasant, "though it was dreadful to come away and leave +him alone with only the servants; but, dear Miss Martha, you will let me +learn all about political economy and things, to help me manage +everything; for now that dear mamma is gone, there is nobody but me to +be a comfort to papa." + +And by this means Miss Marjoribanks managed to influence the excellent +woman who believed in _Friends in Council_, and to direct the future +tenor of her own education; while, at least, in that one moment of +opportunity, she had achieved long dresses, which was a visible mark of +womanhood, and a step which could not be retraced. + + + + +_Chapter II_ + + +Dr Marjoribanks was so far from feeling the lack of his daughter's +powers of consolation, that he kept her at Mount Pleasant for three +years longer, during which time it is to be supposed he managed to be +comfortable after a benighted fashion--good enough for a man of fifty, +who had come to an end of his illusions. To be sure, there were in the +world, and even in Carlingford, kind women, who would not have objected +to take charge of the Doctor and his "establishment," and be a comfort +to him; but, on the whole, it was undeniable that he managed tolerably +well in external matters, and gave very good men's dinners, and kept +everything in perfect order, so far as it went. Naturally the fairer +part of existence was left out altogether in that grim, though +well-ordered house; but then he was only a man and a doctor, and knew no +better; and while the feminine part of Grange Lane regarded him with +natural pity, not only for what he lacked, but for a still more sad +defect, his total want of perception on the subject, their husbands and +fathers rather liked to dine with the Doctor, and brought home accounts +of sauces which were enough to drive any woman to despair. Some of the +ladies of Grange Lane--Mrs Chiley, for example, who was fond of good +living herself, and liked, as she said, "a little variety"--laid siege +to the Doctor, and did their best to coax his receipts out of him; but +Dr Marjoribanks knew better than that. He gave all the credit to his +cook, like a man of sense; and as that functionary was known in +Carlingford to be utterly regardless and unprincipled in respect to +gravy-beef, and the materials for "stock," or "consommé," as some people +called it, society was disinclined to exert its ordinary arts to seduce +so great an artiste from the kitchen of her indulgent master. And then +there were other ladies who took a different tone. "Dr Marjoribanks, +poor man, has nothing but his table to take up his mind," said Mrs +Centum, who had six children; "I never heard that the heart could be +nourished upon sauces, for my part; and for a man who has his children's +future to think of, I must say I am surprised at you, Mr Centum." As +for young Mrs Woodburn, her reply was still more decisive, though milder +in its tone. "Poor cook! I am so sorry for her," said the gentle young +matron. "You know you always like something for breakfast, Charles; and +then there is the children's dinner, and our lunch, and the servants' +dinner, so that the poor thing is worn out before she comes to what +_you_ call the great event of the day; and you know how angry you were +when I asked for a kitchen-maid for her, poor soul." The consequence of +all this was, that Dr Marjoribanks remained unrivalled in Grange Lane in +this respect at least. When rumours arose in Carlingford of a possible +second marriage for the Doctor--and such rumours naturally arose three +or four times in the course of the three years--the men of Grange Lane +said, "Heaven forbid!" "No wife in the world could replace Nancy," said +Colonel Chiley, after that fervent aspiration, "and none could put up +with her;" while, on the other side, there were curious speculations +afloat as to the effect upon the house, and especially the table, of the +daughter's return. When a young woman comes to be eighteen it is +difficult to keep her at school; and though the Doctor had staved off +the danger for the moment, by sending Lucilla off along with one of her +schoolfellows, whose family was going abroad, to make orthodox +acquaintance with all the Swiss mountains, and all the Italian capitals, +still that was plainly an expedient for the moment; and a new mistress +to the house, which had got along so well without any mistress, was +inevitable. So that it cannot be denied Miss Marjoribanks's advent was +regarded in Carlingford with as much interest and curiosity as she could +have wished. For it was already known that the Doctor's daughter was not +a mild young lady, easy to be controlled; but, on the contrary, had all +the energy and determination to have her own way, which naturally +belonged to a girl who possessed a considerable chin, and a mouth which +could shut, and tightly curling tawny tresses, which were still more +determined than she was to be arranged only according to their +inclination. It was even vaguely reported that some passages-of-arms had +occurred between Miss Marjoribanks and the redoubtable Nancy during the +short and uncertain opportunities which were afforded by holidays; and +the community, accordingly, regarded as an affair of almost municipal +importance Lucilla's final return home. + +As for the young lady herself, though she was at school, she was +conscious of having had a career not without importance, even during +these three years of pupilage. Since the day when she began to read +political economy with Miss Martha Blount, who, though the second +sister, was the directing spirit of the establishment, Lucilla had +exercised a certain influence upon the school itself which was very +satisfactory. Perhaps her course might be a little deficient in grace, +but grace, after all, is but a secondary quality; and, at all events, +Miss Marjoribanks went straight forward, leaving an unquestionable wake +behind her, and running down with indifference the little skiffs in her +way. She was possessed by nature of that kind of egotism, or rather +egoism, which is predestined to impress itself, by its perfect reality +and good faith, upon the surrounding world. There are people who talk of +themselves, and think of themselves, as it were, under protest, and with +depreciation, not actually able to convince themselves that anybody +cares; but Lucilla, for her part, had the calmest and most profound +conviction that, when she discussed her own doings and plans and +clevernesses, she was bringing forward the subject most interesting to +her audience as well as to herself. Such a conviction is never without +its fruits. To be sure, there were always one or two independent spirits +who revolted; but for the crowd, it soon became impressed with a +profound belief in the creed which Miss Marjoribanks supported so +firmly. This conviction of the importance and value of her own +proceedings made Lucilla, as she grew older, a copious and amusing +conversationalist--a rank which few people who are indifferent to, or do +not believe in, themselves can attain to. One thing she had made up her +mind to as soon as she should return home, and that was to revolutionise +society in Carlingford. On the whole, she was pleased with the success +of the Doctor's dinners, though a little piqued to think that they owed +nothing to herself; but Lucilla, whose instinct of government was of the +true despotic order, and who had no objection to stoop, if by that means +she could conquer, had no such designs against Nancy as were attributed +to her by the expectant audience in Carlingford. On the contrary, she +was quite as much disposed as her father was to take Nancy for +prime-minister; for Miss Marjoribanks, though too much occupied with +herself to divine the characteristic points of other people, had a +sensible and thorough belief in those superficial general truths which +most minds acquiesce in, without taking the trouble to believe. She +knew, for example, that there was a great difference between the +brilliant society of London, or of Paris, which appears in books, where +women have generally the best of it, and can rule in their own right; +and even the very best society of a country town, where husbands are +very commonly unmanageable, and have a great deal more of their own way +in respect to the houses they will or will not go to, than is good for +that inferior branch of the human family. Miss Marjoribanks had the good +sense to see and appreciate these details; and she knew that a good +dinner was a great attraction to a man, and that, in Carlingford at +least, when these refractory mortals were secured, the wives and +daughters would necessarily follow. Besides, as is not uncommon with +women who are clever women, and aware of the fact, Miss Marjoribanks +preferred the society of men, and rather liked to say so. With all these +intentions in her mind, it may be imagined that she received coolly +enough the invitation of her friend to join in the grand tour, and the +ready consent given by her father when he heard of it. But even the +grand tour was a tool which Lucilla saw how to make use of. Nowadays, +when people go everywhere, an untravelled woman would find it so much +the harder to keep up the _rôle_ of a leader of society to which she had +devoted herself; and she felt to the depth of her heart the endless +advantage to her future conversation of the experiences to be acquired +in Switzerland and Italy. But she rejected with scorn the insinuation of +other accidents that might occur on the way. + +"You will never come back again, Lucilla," said one of her companions; +"you will marry some enchanting Italian with a beautiful black beard, +and a voice like an angel; and he'll sing serenades to you, and do all +sorts of things: oh, how I wish I was you!" + +"That may be," said Miss Marjoribanks, "but I shall never marry an +Italian, my dear. I don't think I shall marry anybody for a long time. I +want to amuse myself. I wonder, by the way, if it would improve my voice +to take lessons in Italy. Did I ever tell you of the Italian nobleman +that was so very attentive to me that Christmas I spent at Sissy +Vernon's? He was very handsome. I suppose they really are all very +handsome--except, of course, the Italian masters; but I did not pay any +attention to him. My object, dear, and you know it, is to return home as +well educated as possible, to be a comfort to dear papa." + +"Yes, dear Lucilla," said the sympathetic girl, "and it is so good of +you; but do tell me about the Italian nobleman--what did he look +like--and what did he say?" + +"Oh, as for what he said, that is quite a different matter," said +Lucilla; "but it is not what they say, but the way they say it, that is +the fun. I did not give him the least encouragement. As for that, I +think a girl can always stop a man when she does not care for him. It +depends on whether you intend him to commit himself or not," Miss +Marjoribanks continued, and fixed her eyes meditatively, but intently, +upon her friend's face. + +"Whether I intend?--oh, goodness, Lucilla! how can you speak so? as if I +ever intended anything," said her companion, confused, yet flattered, by +the possibility; to which the elder sage answered calmly, with all the +composure in the world. + +"No, I never supposed you did; I was thinking of myself," said Lucilla, +as if, indeed that was the only reasonable subject of thought. "You know +I have seen a good deal of the world, one way and another, with going to +spend the holidays, and I could tell you quantities of things. It is +quite astonishing how much experience one gets. When I was at Midhurst, +at Easter, there was my cousin Tom, who was quite ridiculous; I declare +he nearly brought things to an explanation, Fanny--which, of course, of +all things in the world I most wanted to avoid." + +"Oh, but why, Lucilla?" cried Fanny, full of delight and wonder; "I do +so want to know what they say when they make--explanations, as you call +them. Oh, do tell me, Lucilla, why?" + +"My dear," said Miss Marjoribanks, "a cousin of my own! and only +twenty-one, and reading for the bar! In the first place, my aunt would +never have forgiven me, and I am very fond of my aunt. It's so nice to +like all one's relations. I know some girls who can't bear theirs. And +then a boy not much older than myself, with nothing but what his mother +pleases! Fortunately he did not just say the words, so I escaped that +time; but, of course, I could understand perfectly what he meant." + +"But, oh, Lucilla, tell me the words," cried the persistent questioner; +"do, there's a darling! I am quite sure you have heard them--and I +should so like to know exactly what they say;--do they go down on their +knees?--or do they try to take your hand as they always do in +novels?--or what do they do?--Oh, Lucilla, tell me, there's a dear!" + +"Nonsense," said Lucilla; "I only want you to understand that I am not +likely to fall into any danger of that sort. My only ambition, Fanny, as +I have told you often, is to go home to Carlingford and be a comfort to +dear papa." + +"Yes," said Fanny, kissing her devoted companion, "and it is so good of +you, dear; but then you cannot go on all your life being a comfort to +dear papa," said the intelligent girl, bethinking herself, and looking +again with some curiosity in Lucilla's face. + +"We must leave that to Providence," said Miss Marjoribanks, with a sense +of paying a compliment to Providence in entrusting it with such a +responsibility. "I have always been guided for the best hitherto," she +continued, with an innocent and unintentional profanity, which sounded +solemn to her equally innocent companion, "and I don't doubt I shall be +so till the end." + +From which it will be perceived that Miss Marjoribanks was of the +numerous class of religionists who keep up civilities with heaven, and +pay all the proper attentions, and show their respect for the divine +government in a manner befitting persons who know the value of their own +approbation. The conversation dropped at this point; for Lucilla was too +important a person to be left to the undivided possession of an +inquisitive innocent like Fanny Middleton, who was only sixteen, and had +never had even a flirtation in her own person. There were no Carlingford +girls at Mount Pleasant, except poor little Rose Lake, the +drawing-master's second daughter, who had been received on Dr +Marjoribanks's recommendation, and who heard the little children their +geography and reading, and gave them little lessons in drawing, by way +of paying for her own education; but then Rose was entirely out of Miss +Marjoribanks's way, and could never count for anything in her designs +for the future. The girls at Mount Pleasant were good girls on the +whole, and were rather improved by the influence of Lucilla, who was +extremely good-natured, and, so long as her superiority was duly +acknowledged, was ready to do anything for anybody--so that Rose Lake +was not at all badly off in her inferior position. She could be made +useful too, which was a great point in her favour; and Miss +Marjoribanks, who possessed by nature some of the finest qualities of a +ruler, instinctively understood and appreciated the instruments that +came to her hand. As for Rose, she had been brought up at the School of +Design in Carlingford, of which, under the supervision of the +authorities who, in those days, inhabited Marlborough House, Mr Lake was +the master. Rose was the pride of the school in the peaceable days +before her mother died; she did not know much else, poor child, except +novels, but her copies "from the round" filled her father with +admiration, and her design for a Honiton-lace flounce, a spirited +composition of dragons' tails and the striking plant called teazle, +which flourishes in the neighbourhood of Carlingford (for Mr Lake had +leanings towards Preraphaelitism), was thought by the best judges to +show a wonderful amount of feeling for art, and just missed being +selected for the prize. A girl with such a talent was naturally much +appreciated in Mount Pleasant. She made the most charming design for +Miss Marjoribanks's handkerchief--"Lucilla," in Gothic characters, +enclosed in a wreath of forget-me-nots, skilfully combined with +thistle-leaves, which Rose took great pains to explain were so much +better adapted to ornamentation than foliage of a less distinct +character; and the young draftswoman was so charmed by Lucilla's +enthusiastic admiration, that she volunteered to work the design in the +cambric, which was a much more serious matter. This was on the eve of +Miss Marjoribanks's final departure from school. She was to spend a year +abroad, to the envy of all whom she left behind; but for herself Lucilla +was not elated. She thought it very probable that she would ascend Mont +Blanc as far as the Grands Mulets at least, and, of course, in spring, +go up Vesuvius, having got through the Carnival and Miserere and all the +balls in Rome; but none of these things moved her out of her usual +composure. She took it all in the way of business, as she had taken her +French and her German and her singing and her political economy. As she +stepped into the steamboat at Dover which was to convey her to scenes so +new, Lucilla felt more and more that she who held the reorganisation of +society in Carlingford in her hands was a woman with a mission. She was +going abroad as the heir-apparent went to America and the Holy Land, to +complete her education, and fit herself, by an examination of the +peculiarities of other nations, for an illustrious and glorious reign at +home. + + + + +_Chapter III_ + + +It may be well to seize the opportunity of Miss Marjoribanks's travels, +through which it is unnecessary to follow her, as they have nothing +particular to do with the legitimate history of her great undertaking, +to explain a little the state of affairs in Carlingford before this +distinguished revolutionary began her labours. It is something like +going back into the prehistoric period--those ages of the flint, which +only ingenious quarrymen and learned geologists can elucidate--to recall +the social condition of the town before Miss Marjoribanks began her +Thursday evenings, before St Roque's Chapel was built or thought of, +while Mr Bury, the Evangelical Rector, was still in full activity, and +before old Mr Tufton, at Salem Chapel (who sometimes drank tea at the +Rectory, and thus had a kind of clandestine entrance into the dim +outskirts of that chaos which was then called society), had his first +"stroke." From this latter circumstance alone the entirely disorganised +condition of affairs will be visible at a glance. It is true, Mr +Vincent, who succeeded Mr Tufton, was received by Lady Western, in days +when public opinion had made great advances; but then Lady Western was +the most good-natured creature in the world, and gave an invitation, +when it happened to come into her head, without the least regard for the +consequences; and, after all, Mr Vincent was very nice-looking and +clever, and quite presentable. Fortunately, however, the period to which +we allude was prior to the entrance of Lady Western into Grange Lane. +She was a very pretty woman, and knew how to look like a lady of +fashion, which is always of importance; but she was terribly +inconsequent, as Miss Marjoribanks said, and her introductions were not +in the least to be depended upon. She was indeed quite capable of +inviting a family of retired drapers to meet the best people in Grange +Lane, for no better reason than to gratify her protégés, which, of +course, was a proceeding calculated to strike at the roots of all +society. Fortunately for Carlingford, its reorganisation was in abler +hands. Affairs were in an utterly chaotic state at the period when this +record commences. There was nothing which could be properly called a +centre in the entire town. To be sure, Grange Lane was inhabited, as at +present, by the best families in Carlingford; but then, without +organisation, what good does it do to have a number of people together? +For example, Mr Bury was utterly unqualified to take any lead. Mrs Bury +had been dead a long time, and the daughters were married, and the +Rector's maiden sister, who lived with him, was entirely of his own way +of thinking, and asked people to tea-parties, which were like +Methodists' class-meetings, and where Mr Tufton was to be met with, and +sometimes other Dissenters, to whom the Rector gave what he called the +right hand of fellowship. But he never gave anything else to society, +except weak tea and thin bread-and-butter, which was fare, the ladies +said, which the gentlemen did not relish. "I never can induce Charles to +go out to tea," said young Mrs Woodburn piteously; "he won't, and there +is an end of it. After dinner he thinks of nothing but an easy-chair and +the papers; and, my dear Miss Bury, what can I do?" "It is a great pity, +my dear, that your husband's carelessness should deprive you of the +benefit of Christian conversation; but, to be sure, it is your duty to +stay with him, and I hope it will be made up to you at home," Miss Bury +would say. As for the Rector, his favourites were devoted to him; and as +he always saw enough of familiar faces at his sister's tea-parties, he +took no account of the defaulters. Then there was Dr Marjoribanks, who +gave only dinners, to which naturally, as there was no lady in the +house, ladies could not be invited, and who, besides, was rather a +drawback than a benefit to society, since he made the men quite +intolerable, and filled them with such expectations, in the way of +cookery, that they never were properly content with a good family dinner +after. Then the ladies, from whom something might justly have been +expected in the way of making society pleasant--such as Mrs Centum and +Mrs Woodburn, for example, who had everything they could desire, and the +most liberal housekeeping allowances--were either incapacitated by +circumstances (which was a polite term in use at Carlingford, and meant +babies) or by character. Mrs Woodburn liked nothing so well as to sit by +the fire and read novels, and "take off" her neighbours, when any one +called on her; and, of course, the lady who was her audience on one +occasion, left with the comfortable conviction that next time she would +be the victim; a circumstance which, indeed, did not make the offender +unpopular--for there were very few people in Carlingford who could be +amusing, even at the expense of their neighbours--but made it quite +impossible that she should ever do anything in the way of knitting +people together, and making a harmonious whole out of the scraps and +fragments of society. As for Mrs Chiley, she was old, and had not energy +enough for such an undertaking; and, besides, she had no children, and +disliked bustle and trouble, and was of opinion that the Colonel never +enjoyed his dinner if he had more than four people to help him to eat +it; and, in short, you might have gone over Grange Lane, house by house, +finding a great deal of capital material, but without encountering a +single individual capable of making anything out of it. Such was the +lamentable condition, at the moment this history commences, of society +in Carlingford. + +And yet nobody could say that there were not very good elements to make +society with. When you add to a man capable of giving excellent dinners, +like Dr Marjoribanks, another man like young Mr Cavendish, Mrs +Woodburn's brother, who was a wit and a man of fashion, and belonged to +one of the best clubs in town, and brought down gossip with the bloom on +it to Grange Lane; and when you join to Mrs Centum, who was always so +good and so much out of temper that it was safe to calculate on +something amusing from her, the languid but trenchant humour of Mrs +Woodburn--not to speak of their husbands, who were perfectly available +for the background, and all the nephews and cousins and grand-children, +who constantly paid visits to old Mr Western and Colonel Chiley; and the +Browns, when they were at home, with their floating suite of admirers; +and the young ladies who sang, and the young ladies who sketched, and +the men who went out with the hounds, when business permitted them; and +the people who came about the town when there was an election; and the +barristers who made the circuit; and the gay people who came to the +races; not to speak of the varying chances of curates, who could talk or +play the piano, with which Mr Bury favoured his parishioners--for he +changed his curates very often; and the occasional visits of the lesser +county people, and the country clergymen;--it will be plainly apparent +that all that was wanting to Carlingford was a master-hand to blend +these different elements. There had even been a few feeble preliminary +attempts at this great work, which had failed, as such attempts always +fail when they are premature, and when the real agent of the change is +already on the way; but preparations and presentiments had taken vague +possession of the mind of the town, as has always been observed to be +the case before a great revolution, or when a man destined to put his +mark on his generation, as the newspapers say, is about to appear. To be +sure, it was not a man this time, but Miss Marjoribanks; but the +atmosphere thrilled and trembled to the advent of the new luminary all +the same. + +Yet, at the same time, the world of Carlingford had not the least idea +of the real quarter from which the sovereign intelligence which was to +develop it from chaos into order and harmony was, _effectivement_, to +come. Some people had hoped in Mrs Woodburn before she fell into her +present languor of appearance and expression; and a great many people +hoped in Mr Cavendish's wife, if he married, as he was said to intend to +do; for this gentleman, who was in the habit of describing himself, no +doubt, very truthfully, as one of the Cavendishes, was a person of great +consideration in Grange Lane; and some hoped in a new Rector, for it was +apparent that Mr Bury could not last very long. Thus, with the ordinary +short-sightedness of the human species, Carlingford blinded itself, and +turned its eyes in every direction in the world rather than in that of +the Swiss mountains, which were being climbed at that moment by a large +and blooming young woman, with tawny short curls and alert decided +movements; so little do we know what momentous issues may hang upon the +most possible accident! Had that energetic traveller slipped but an inch +farther upon the _mer de glace_--had she taken that other step which she +was with difficulty persuaded not to take on the Wengern Alp--there +would have been an end of all the hopes of social importance for +Carlingford. But the good fairies took care of Lucilla and her mission, +and saved her from the precipice and the crevasses; and instinctively +the air at home got note of what was coming, and whispered the news +mysteriously through the keyholes. "Miss Marjoribanks is coming home," +the unsuspecting male public said to itself as it returned from Dr +Marjoribanks's dinners, with a certain distressing, but mistaken +presentiment, that these delights were to come to an end; and the ladies +repeated the same piece of news, conjoining with it benevolent +intimations of their intention to call upon her, and make the poor thing +feel herself at home. "Perhaps she may be amusing," Mrs Woodburn was +good enough to add; but these words meant only that perhaps Lucilla, who +was coming to set them all right, was worthy of being placed in the +satirist's collection along with Mrs Centum and Mrs Chiley. Thus, while +the town ripened more and more for her great mission, and the ignorant +human creatures, who were to be her subjects, showed their usual +blindness and ignorance, the time drew nearer and nearer for Miss +Marjoribanks's return. + + + + +_Chapter IV_ + + +"My daughter is coming home, Nancy," said Dr Marjoribanks. "You will +have to make preparations for her immediately. So far as I can make out +from this letter, she will arrive to-morrow by the half-past five +train." + +"Well, sir," said Nancy, with the tone of a woman who makes the best of +a misfortune, "it ain't every young lady as would have the sense to fix +an hour like that. Ladies is terrible tiresome in that way; they'll come +in the middle o' the day, when a body don't know in the world what to +have for them; or they'll come at night, when a body's tired, and ain't +got the heart to go into a supper. There was always a deal of sense in +Miss Lucilla, when she hadn't got nothing in her head." + +"Just so," said Dr Marjoribanks, who was rather relieved to have got +through the announcement so easily. "You will see that her room is +ready, and everything comfortable; and, of course, to-morrow she and I +will dine alone." + +"Yes, sir," said Nancy; but this assent was not given in the decisive +tone of a woman whose audience was over; and then she was seized with a +desire to arrange in a more satisfactory manner the cold beef on the +sideboard. When she had secured this little interval for thought, she +returned again to the table, where her master ate his breakfast, with a +presentiment. "If you please, sir," said Nancy, "not to give you no +vexation nor trouble, which every one knows as it has been the aim o' my +life to spare you, as has so much on your mind. But it's best to settle +afore commencing, and then we needn't have no heartburning. If you +please, am I to take my orders of Miss Lucilla, or of you, as I've +always been used to? In the missus's time," said Nancy, with modest +confidence, "as was a good missus, and never gave no trouble as long as +she had her soup and her jelly comfortable, it was always you as said +what there was to be for dinner. I don't make no objection to doing up a +nice little luncheon for Miss Lucilla, and giving a little more thought +now and again to the sweets; but it ain't my part to tell you, sir, as a +lady's taste, and more special a young lady's, ain't to be expected to +be the same as yours and mine as has been cultivated like. I'm not one +as likes contention," continued the domestic oracle, "but I couldn't +abear to see a good master put upon; and if it should be as Miss Lucilla +sets her mind upon messes as ain't got no taste in them, and +milk-puddings and stuff, like the most of the ladies, I'd just like to +know out of your own mouth, afore the commencement, what I'm to do?" + +Dr Marjoribanks was so moved by this appeal that he laid down his knife +and contemplated the alarming future with some dismay. "It is to be +hoped Miss Lucilla will know better," he said. "She has a great deal of +good sense, and it is to be hoped that she will be wise enough to +consult the tastes of the house." + +But the Doctor was not to be let off so easily. "As you say, sir, +everything's to be hoped," said Nancy steadily; "but there's a-many +ladies as don't seem to me to have got no taste to their mouths; and it +ain't as if it was a thing that could be left to hopes. Supposin' as it +comes to that, sir, what am I to do?" + +"Well," said the Doctor, who was himself a little puzzled, "you know +Miss Lucilla is nineteen, Nancy, and my only child, and the natural +mistress of the house." + +"Sir," said Nancy austerely, "them is things as it ain't needful to +name; that ain't the question as I was asking. Supposin' as things come +to such a point, what am I to do?" + +"Bless me! it's half-past nine," said the Doctor, "and I have an +appointment. You can come just as usual when we are at breakfast, that +will be the best way," he said as he went out at the door, and chuckled +a little to himself when he felt he had escaped. "Lucilla is her +mother's daughter, it is true," he said to himself when he had got into +the safe seclusion of his brougham, with a degree of doubt in his tone +which was startling, to say the least of it, from the lips of a medical +man; "but she is my child all the same," he added briskly, with +returning confidence; and in this conviction there was something which +reassured the Doctor. He rubbed his hands as he bowled along to his +appointment, and thought within himself that if she turned out a girl of +spirit, as he expected, it would be good fun to see Lucilla's struggle +with Nancy for the veritable reins of government. If Dr Marjoribanks had +entertained any positive apprehensions that his dinners would be spoiled +in consequence, his amusement would have come to an abrupt conclusion; +but he trusted entirely in Nancy and a little in Lucilla, and suffered +his long upper-lip to relax at the thought without much fear. + +Her father had not returned from the labours of his long day when +Lucilla arrived, but he made his last visits on foot in order to be able +to send the brougham for her, which was a great thing for the Doctor to +do. There was, indeed, a mutual respect between the two, who were not +necessary to each other's comfort, it is true, as such near relations +sometimes are; but who, at the same time, except on the sole occasion of +Mrs Marjoribanks's death, had never misunderstood each other, as +sometimes happens. This time Miss Marjoribanks was rather pleased, on +the whole, that the Doctor did not come to meet her. At other times she +had been a visitor; now she had come into her kingdom, and had no desire +to be received like a guest. A sense of coming home, warmer than she +remembered to have felt before, came into Lucilla's active mind as she +stepped into the brougham. Not that the words bore any special tender +meaning, notwithstanding that it was the desire of her heart, well known +to all her friends, to live henceforward as a comfort to dear papa, but +that now at last she was coming into her kingdom, and entering the +domain in which she intended her will to be law. After living for a year +with friends whose arrangements (much inferior to those which she could +have made had she had the power) she had to acquiesce in, and whose +domestic economy could only be criticised up to a certain point, it was +naturally a pleasure to Miss Marjoribanks to feel that now at length she +was emancipated, and at liberty to exercise her faculty. There were +times during the past year when Lucilla had with difficulty restrained +herself from snatching the reins out of the hands of her hosts, and +showing them how to manage. But, impatient as she was, she had to +restrain herself, and make the best of it. Now all that bondage was +over. She felt like a young king entering in secret a capital which +awaits him with acclamations. Before she presented herself to the +rejoicing public, there were arrangements to be made and things to be +done; and Miss Marjoribanks gave a rapid glance at the shops in George +Street as she drove past, and decided which of them she meant to honour +with her patronage. When she entered the garden it was with the same +rapid glance of reorganising genius that she cast her eyes around it; +and still more decided was the look with which she regarded her own +room, where she was guided by the new housemaid, who did not know Miss +Lucilla. Nancy, who knew no better (being, like most gifted persons, a +woman of one idea), had established her young mistress in the little +chamber which had been Lucilla's when she was a child; but Miss +Marjoribanks, who had no sentimental notions about white dimity, shook +her head at the frigid little apartment, where, however, she was not at +all sorry to be placed at present; for if Dr Marjoribanks had been a man +of the _prevenant_ class, disposed to make all the preparations possible +for his daughter, and arrange elegant surprises for her, he would have +thoroughly disgusted Lucilla, who was bent on making all the necessary +improvements in her own person. When she went down to the drawing-room +to await her father, Miss Marjoribanks's look of disapprobation was +mingled with so much satisfaction and content in herself that it was +pleasant to behold. She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders as she +paused in the centre of the large faded room, where there was no light +but that of the fire, which burned brightly, and kept up a lively play +of glimmer and shadow in the tall glass over the fireplace, and even +twinkled dimly in the three long windows, where the curtains hung stiff +and solemn in their daylight form. It was not an uncomfortable sort of +big, dull, faded, respectable drawing-room; and if there had been a +family in it, with recollections attached to every old ottoman and +easy-chair, no doubt it would have been charming; but it was only a +waste and howling wilderness to Lucilla. When she had walked from one +end to the other, and verified all the plans she had already long ago +conceived for the embellishment of this inner court and centre of her +kingdom, Lucilla walked with her unhesitating step to the fire, and took +a match and lighted all the candles in the large old-fashioned +candlesticks, which had been flickering in grotesque shadows all over +the roof. This proceeding threw a flood of light on the subject of her +considerations, and gave Miss Marjoribanks an idea, in passing, about +the best mode of lighting, which she afterwards acted upon with great +success. She was standing in this flood of light, regarding everything +around her with the eye of an enlightened critic and reformer, when Dr +Marjoribanks came in. Perhaps there arose in the soul of the Doctor a +momentary thought that the startling amount of _éclairage_ which he +witnessed was scarcely necessary, for it is certain that he gave a +momentary glance at the candles as he went up to greet his daughter; but +he was far too well-bred a man to suggest such an idea at the moment. On +the contrary, he kissed her with a sentiment of real pleasure, and owned +to himself that, if she was not a fool, and could keep to her own +department, it might be rather agreeable on the whole to have a woman in +the house. The sentiment was not enthusiastic, and neither were the +words of his salutation: "Well, Lucilla; so this is you!" said the +moderate and unexcited father. "Yes, papa, it is me," said Miss +Marjoribanks, "and very glad to get home;" and so the two sat down and +discussed the journey--whether she had been cold, and what state the +railway was in--till the Doctor bethought himself that he had to prepare +for dinner. "Nancy is always very punctual, and I am sure you are +hungry," he said; "so I'll go upstairs, with your permission, Lucilla, +and change my coat;" and with this the actual arrival terminated, and +the new reign began. + +But it was only next morning that the young sovereign gave any +intimation of her future policy. She had naturally a great deal to tell +that first night; and though it was exclusively herself, and her own +adventures and achievements, which Miss Marjoribanks related, the +occasion of her return made that sufficiently natural; and the Doctor +was not altogether superior to the natural prejudice which makes a man +interested, even when they are not in themselves particularly +interesting, in the doings of his children. She succeeded in doing what +is certainly one of the first duties of a woman--she amused her father. +He followed her to the drawing-room for a marvel, and took a cup of tea, +though it was against his principles; and, on the whole, Lucilla had the +satisfaction of feeling that she had made a conquest of the Doctor, +which, of course, was the grand and most essential preliminary. In the +little interval which he spent over his claret, Miss Marjoribanks had +succeeded in effecting another fundamental duty of woman--she had, as +she herself expressed it, harmonised the rooms, by the simple method of +rearranging half the chairs and covering the tables with trifles of her +own--a proceeding which converted the apartment from an abstract English +drawing-room of the old school into Miss Marjoribanks's drawing-room, an +individual spot of ground revealing something of the character of its +mistress. The Doctor himself was so moved by this, that he looked +vaguely round when he came in, as if a little doubtful where he was--but +that might only be the effect of the sparkling mass of candles on the +mantelpiece, which he was too well-bred to remark upon the first night. +But it was only in the morning that Lucilla unfolded her standard. She +was down to breakfast, ready to pour out the coffee, before the Doctor +had left his room. He found her, to his intense amazement, seated at the +foot of the table, in the place which he usually occupied himself, +before the urn and the coffee-pot. Dr Marjoribanks hesitated for one +momentous instant, stricken dumb by this unparalleled audacity; but so +great was the effect of his daughter's courage and steadiness, that +after that moment of fate he accepted the seat by the side where +everything was arranged for him, and to which Lucilla invited him +sweetly, though not without a touch of mental perturbation. The moment +he had seated himself, the Doctor's eyes were opened to the importance +of the step he had taken. "I am afraid I have taken your seat, papa," +said Miss Marjoribanks, with ingenuous sweetness. "But then I should +have had to move the urn, and all the things, and I thought you would +not mind." The Doctor said nothing but "Humph!" and even that in an +undertone; but he became aware all the same that he had abdicated, +without knowing it, and that the reins of state had been smilingly +withdrawn from his unconscious hands. + +When Nancy made her appearance the fact became still more apparent, +though still in the sweetest way. "It is so dreadful to think papa +should have been bothered with all these things so long," said Miss +Marjoribanks. "After this I am sure you and I, Nancy, can arrange it all +without giving him the trouble. Perhaps this morning, papa, as I am a +stranger, you will say if there is anything you would like, and then I +shall have time to talk it all over with Nancy, and find out what is +best,"--and Lucilla smiled so sweetly upon her two amazed subjects that +the humour of the situation caught the fancy of the Doctor, who had a +keen perception of the ridiculous. + +He laughed out, much to Nancy's consternation, who was standing by in +open-eyed dismay. "Very well, Lucilla," he said; "you shall try what you +can do. I daresay Nancy will be glad to have me back again before long; +but in the meantime I am quite content that you should try," and he went +off laughing to his brougham, but came back again before Lucilla could +take Nancy in hand, who was an antagonist more formidable. "I forgot to +tell you," said the Doctor, "that Tom Marjoribanks is coming on Circuit, +and that I have asked him to stay here, as a matter of course. I suppose +he'll arrive to-morrow. Good-bye till the evening." + +This, though Dr Marjoribanks did not in the least intend it, struck +Lucilla like a Parthian arrow, and brought her down for the moment. "Tom +Marjoribanks!" she ejaculated in a kind of horror. "Of all people in the +world, and at this moment!" but when she saw the open eyes and rising +colour of Nancy the young dictator recovered herself--for a conqueror in +the first moment of his victory has need to be wary. She called Nancy to +her in her most affectionate tones as she finished her breakfast. "I +sent papa away," said Miss Marjoribanks, "because I wanted to have a +good talk with you, Nancy. I want to tell you my object in life. It is +to be a comfort to papa. Ever since poor mamma died that is what I have +been thinking of; and now I have come home, and I have made up my mind +that he is not to be troubled about anything. I know what a good, +faithful, valuable woman you are, I assure you. You need not think me a +foolish girl who is not able to appreciate you. The dinner was charming +last night, Nancy," said Lucilla, with much feeling; "and I never saw +anything more beautifully cooked than papa's cutlets to-day." + +"Miss Lucilla, I may say as I am very glad I have pleased you," said +Nancy, who was not quite conquered as yet. She stood very stiffly +upright by the table, and maintained her integrity. "Master _is_ +particular, I don't deny," continued the prime minister, who felt +herself dethroned. "I've always done my best to go in with his little +fancies, and I don't mean to say as it isn't right and natural as you +should be the missis. But I ain't used to have ado with ladies, and +that's the truth. Ladies is stingy in a-many things as is the soul of a +good dinner to them as knows. I may be valleyable or not, it ain't for +me to say; but I'm not one as can always be kept to a set figger in my +gravy-beef, and my bacon, and them sorts of things. As for the butter, I +don't know as I could give nobody an idea. I ain't one as likes changes, +but I can't abide to be kept to a set figger; and that's the chief +thing, Miss Lucilla, as I've got to say." + +"And quite reasonable too," said Miss Marjoribanks; "you and I will work +perfectly well together, Nancy. I am sure we have both the same meaning; +and I hope you don't think I am less concerned about dear papa than +about the gravy-beef. He must have been very desolate, with no one to +talk to, though he has been so good and kind and self-sacrificing in +leaving me to get every advantage; but I mean to make it up to him, now +I've come home." + +"Yes, miss," said Nancy, somewhat mystified; "not but what master has +had his little parties now and again, to cheer him up a bit; and I make +bold to say, miss, as I have heard compliments, which it was Thomas that +brought 'em downstairs, as might go nigh to turn a body's head, if it +was vanity as I was thinking of; but I ain't one as thinks of anything +but the comfort of the family," said Nancy, yielding in spite of herself +to follow the leadings of the higher will in presence of which she found +herself, "and I'm always one as does my best, Miss Lucilla, if I ain't +worried nor kept to a set figger with my gravy-beef." + +"I have heard of papa's dinners," said Lucilla graciously, "and I don't +mean to let down your reputation, Nancy. Now we are two women to manage +everything, we ought to do still better. I have two or three things in +my head that I will tell you after; but in the meantime I want you to +know that the object of my life is to be a comfort to poor papa; and now +let us think what we had better have for dinner," said the new +sovereign. Nancy was so totally unprepared for this manner of +dethronement, that she gave in like her master. She followed Miss +Marjoribanks humbly into those details in which Lucilla speedily proved +herself a woman of original mind, and powers quite equal to her +undertaking. The Doctor's formidable housekeeper conducted her young +mistress downstairs afterwards, and showed her everything with the +meekness of a saint. Lucilla had won a second victory still more +exhilarating and satisfactory than the first; for, to be sure, it is no +great credit to a woman of nineteen to make a man of any age throw down +his arms; but to conquer a woman is a different matter, and Lucilla was +thoroughly sensible of the difference. Now, indeed, she could feel with +a sense of reality that her foundations were laid. + +Miss Marjoribanks had enough of occupation for that day, and for many +days. But her mind was a little distracted by her father's parting +intelligence, and she had, besides, a natural desire to view the country +she had come to conquer. When she had made a careful supervision of the +house, and shifted her own quarters into the pleasantest of the two best +bedrooms, and concluded that the little bare dimity chamber she had +occupied the previous night was quite good enough for Tom Marjoribanks, +Lucilla put on her hat and went out to make a little reconnaissance. She +walked down to the spot where St Roque's now stands, on her own side of +Grange Lane, and up on the other side into George Street, surveying all +the capabilities of the place with a rapid but penetrating glance. Dr +Marjoribanks's house could not have been better placed as a strategic +position, commanding as it did all Grange Lane, of which it was, so to +speak, the key, and yet affording a base of communication with the +profaner public, which Miss Marjoribanks was wise enough to know a +leader of society should never ignore completely; for, indeed, one of +the great advantages of that brilliant position is, that it gives a +woman a right to be arbitrary, and to select her materials according to +her judgment. It was more from a disinclination to repeat herself than +any other motive that Lucilla, when she had concluded this preliminary +survey, went up into Grove Street, meaning to return home that way. At +that hour in the morning the sun was shining on the little gardens on +the north side of the street, which was the plebeian side; and as it was +the end of October, and by no means warm, Lucilla was glad to cross over +and continue her walk by the side of those little enclosures where the +straggling chrysanthemums propped each other up, and the cheerful +Michaelmas daisies made the best of it in the sunshine that remained to +them. Miss Marjoribanks had nearly reached Salem Chapel, which pushed +itself forward amid the cosy little line of houses, pondering in her +mind the unexpected hindrance which was about to be placed in her +triumphant path, in the shape of Tom Marjoribanks, when that singular +piece of good fortune occurred to her which had so much effect upon her +career in Carlingford. Such happy accidents rarely happen, except to +great generals or heroes of romance; and it would have been, perhaps, a +presumption on the part of Lucilla to place herself conspicuously in +either of these categories. The fact is, however, that at this eventful +moment she was walking along under the shade of her pretty parasol, not +expecting anything, but absorbed in many thoughts, and a little cast +down in her expectations of success by a consciousness that this unlucky +cousin would insist upon making love to her, and perhaps even, as she +herself expressed it, _saying the words_ which it had taken all her +skill to prevent him from saying before. Not that we would have any one +believe that love-making in the abstract was disagreeable to Miss +Marjoribanks; but she was only nineteen, well off and good-looking, and +with plenty of time for all that; and at the present moment she had +other matters of more importance in hand. It was while occupied with +these reflections, and within three doors of Salem Chapel, in front of a +little garden where a great deal of mignonette had run to seed, and +where the Michaelmas daisies had taken full possession, that Lucilla was +roused suddenly out of her musings. The surprise was so great that she +stopped short and stood still before the house in the extremity of her +astonishment and delight. Who could it be that possessed that voice +which Miss Marjoribanks felt by instinct was the very one thing +wanting--a round, full, delicious contralto, precisely adapted to +supplement without supplanting her own high-pitched and much-cultivated +organ? She stopped short before the door and made a rapid observation +even in the first moment of her surprise. The house was not exactly like +the other humble houses in Grove Street. Two little blank squares hung +in the centre of each of the lower windows, revealed to Lucilla's +educated eye the existence of so much "feeling" for art as can be +satisfied with a transparent porcelain version of a famous Madonna; and +she could even catch a glimpse, through the curtains of the best +room--which, contrary to the wont of humble gentility in Carlingford, +were well drawn back, and allowed the light to enter fully--of the +glimmer of gilt picture-frames. And in the little garden in front, half +buried among the mignonette, were some remains of plaster-casts, +originally placed there for ornament, but long since cast down by rain +and neglect. Lucilla made her observations with the promptitude of an +accomplished warrior, and before the second bar of the melody indoors +was finished, had knocked very energetically. "Is Miss Lake at home?" +she asked, with confidence, of the little maid-servant who opened the +door to her. And it was thus that Lucilla made her first bold step out +of the limits of Grange Lane for the good of society, and secured at +once several important personal advantages, and the great charm of those +Thursday evenings which made so entire a revolution in the taste and +ideas of Carlingford. + + + + +_Chapter V_ + + +Miss Marjoribanks did not leave the contralto any time to recover from +her surprise; she went up to her direct where she stood, with her song +arrested on her lips, as she had risen hastily from the piano. "Is it +Rose?" said Lucilla, going forward with the most eager cordiality, and +holding out both her hands; though, to be sure, she knew very well it +was not Rose, who was about half the height of the singer, and was known +to everybody in Mount Pleasant to be utterly innocent of a voice. + +"No," said Miss Lake, who was much astonished and startled and offended, +as was unfortunately rather her custom. She was a young woman without +any of those instincts of politeness, which make some people pleasant in +spite of themselves; and she added nothing to soften this abrupt +negative, but drew her hands away from the stranger and stood bolt +upright, looking at her, with a burning blush, caused by temper much +more than by embarrassment, on her face. + +"Then," said Lucilla, dropping lightly into the most comfortable chair +she could get sight of in the bare little parlour, "it is Barbara--and +that is a great deal better; Rose is a good little thing, but--she is +different, you know. It is so odd you should not remember me; I thought +everybody knew me in Carlingford. You know I have been a long time away, +and now I have come home for good. Your voice is just the very thing to +go with mine: was it not a lucky thing that I should have passed just at +the right moment? I don't know how it is, but somehow these lucky +chances _always_ happen to me. I am Lucilla Marjoribanks, you know." + +"Indeed!" said Barbara, who had not the least intention of being civil, +"I did not recognise you in the least." + +"Yes, I remember you were always shortsighted a little," said Miss +Marjoribanks calmly. "I should so like if we could try a duet. I have +been having lessons in Italy, you know, and I am sure I could give you a +few hints. I always like, when I can, to be of use. Tell me what songs +you have that we could sing together. You know, my dear, it is not as if +I was asking you for mere amusement to myself; my grand object in life +is to be a comfort to papa----" + +"Do you mean Dr Marjoribanks?" said the uncivil Barbara. "I am sure he +does not care in the least for music. I think you must be making a +mistake----" + +"Oh, no," said Lucilla, "I never make mistakes. I don't mean to sing +_to_ him, you know; but you are just the very person I wanted. As for +the ridiculous idea some people have that nobody can be called on who +does not live in Grange Lane, I assure you I mean to make an end of +that. Of course I cannot commence just all in a moment. But it would +always be an advantage to practise a little together. I like to know +exactly how far one can calculate upon everybody; then one can tell, +without fear of breaking down, just what one may venture to do." + +"I don't understand in the least," said Barbara, whose pride was up in +arms. "Perhaps you think I am a professional singer?" + +"My dear, a professional singer spoils everything," said Miss +Marjoribanks; "it changes the character of an evening altogether. There +are so few people who understand that. When you have professional +singers, you have to give yourself up to music; and that is not my view +in the least. My great aim, as all my friends are aware, is to be a +comfort to dear papa." + +"I wish you would not talk in riddles," said Lucilla's amazed and +indignant companion, in her round rich contralto. "I suppose you really +are Miss Marjoribanks. I have always heard that Miss Marjoribanks was a +little----" + +"There!" said Lucilla triumphantly; "really it is almost like a +recitativo to hear you speak. I am so glad. What have you got there? Oh, +to be sure, it's _that_ duet out of the Trovatore. Do let us try it; +there is nobody here, and everything is so convenient--and you know it +would never do to risk a breakdown. Will you play the accompaniment, or +shall I?" said Miss Marjoribanks, taking off her gloves. As for the +drawing-master's daughter, she stood aghast, lost in such sudden +bewilderment and perplexity that she could find no words to reply. She +was not in the least amiable or yielding by nature; but Lucilla took it +so much as a matter of course that Barbara could not find a word to +say; and before she could be sure that it was real, Miss Marjoribanks +had seated herself at the piano. Barbara was so obstinate that she would +not sing the first part, which ought to have been hers; but she was not +clever enough for her antagonist. Lucilla sang her part by herself +gallantly; and when it came to Barbara's turn the second time, Miss +Marjoribanks essayed the second in a false voice, which drove the +contralto off her guard; and then the magnificent volume of sound flowed +forth, grand enough to have filled Lucilla with envy if she had not been +sustained by that sublime confidence in herself which is the first +necessity to a woman with a mission. She paused a moment in the +accompaniment to clap her hands after that strophe was accomplished, and +then resumed with energy. For, to be sure, she knew by instinct what +sort of clay the people were made of by whom she had to work, and gave +them their reward with that liberality and discrimination which is the +glory of enlightened despotism. Miss Marjoribanks was naturally elated +when she had performed this important and successful _tour_. She got up +from the piano, and closed it in her open, imperial way. "I do not want +to tire you, you know," she said; "that will do for to-day. I told you +your voice was the very thing to go with mine. Give my love to Rose when +she comes in, but don't bring her with you when you come to me. She is a +good little thing--but then she is different, you know," said the bland +Lucilla; and she held out her hand to her captive graciously, and +gathered up her parasol, which she had left on her chair. Barbara Lake +let her visitor go after this, with a sense that she had fallen asleep, +and had dreamt it all; but, after all, there was something in the visit +which was not disagreeable when she came to think it over. The +drawing-master was poor, and he had a quantity of children, as was +natural, and Barbara had never forgiven her mother for dying just at the +moment when she had a chance of seeing a little of what she called the +world. At that time Mr Lake and his portfolio of drawings were asked out +frequently to tea; and when he had pupils in the family, some kind +people asked him to bring one of his daughters with him--so that +Barbara, who was ambitious, had beheld herself for a month or two almost +on the threshold of Grange Lane. And it was at this moment of all +others, just at the same time as Mrs Marjoribanks finished her pale +career, that poor Mrs Lake thought fit to die, to the injury of her +daughter's prospects and the destruction of her hopes. Naturally +Barbara had never quite forgiven that injury. It was this sense of +having been ill-used which made her so resolute about sending Rose to +Mount Pleasant, though the poor little girl did not in the least want to +go, and was very happy helping her papa at the School of Design. But +Barbara saw no reason why Rose should be happy, while she herself had to +resign her inclinations and look after a set of odious children. To be +sure, it was a little hard upon a young woman of a proper ambition, who +knew she was handsome, to fall back into housekeeping, and consent to +remain unseen and unheard; for Barbara was also aware that she had a +remarkable voice. In these circumstances, it may be imagined that, after +the first movement of a passionate temper was over, when she had taken +breath, and had time to consider this sudden and extraordinary visit, a +glimmer of hope and interest penetrated into the bosom of the gloomy +girl. She was two years older than Miss Marjoribanks, and as different +in "style" as she was in voice. She was not stout as yet, though it is +the nature of a contralto to be stout; but she was tall, with all due +opportunity for that development which might come later. And then +Barbara possessed a kind of beauty, the beauty of a passionate and +somewhat sullen brunette, dark and glowing, with straight black +eyebrows, very dark and very straight, which gave, oddly enough, a +suggestion of oblique vision to her eyes; but her eyes were not in the +least oblique, and looked at you straight from under that black line of +shadow with no doubtful expression. She was shy in a kind of way, as was +natural to a young woman who had never seen any society, and felt +herself, on the whole, injured and unappreciated. But no two things +could be more different than this shyness which made Barbara look you +straight in the face with a kind of scared defiance, and the sweet +shyness that pleaded for kind treatment in the soft eyes of little Rose, +who was plain, and had the oddest longing to make people comfortable, +and please them in her way, which, to be sure, was not always +successful. Barbara sat down on the stool before the piano, which Miss +Marjoribanks had been so obliging as to close, and thought it all over +with growing excitement. No doubt it was a little puzzling to make out +how the discovery of a fine contralto, and the possibility of getting up +unlimited duets, could further Lucilla in the great aim of her life, +which was to be a comfort to her dear papa. But Barbara was like a young +soldier of fortune, ready to take a great deal for granted, and swallow +much that was mysterious in the programme of the adventurous general who +might lead her on to glory. In half an hour her dreams had gone so far +that she saw herself receiving in Miss Marjoribanks's drawing-room the +homage, not only of Grange Lane, but even of the county families, who +would be attracted by rumours of her wonderful performance; and Barbara +was, to her own consciousness, walking up the middle aisle of +Carlingford Church in a veil of real Brussels, before little Mr Lake +came in, hungry and good-tempered, from his round. To be sure, she had +not concluded who was to be the bridegroom; but that was one of those +matters of detail which could not be precisely concluded on till the +time. + +Such was the immediate result, so far as this secondary personage was +concerned, of Lucilla's masterly impromptu; and it is needless to say +that the accomplished warrior, who had her wits always about her, and +had made, while engaged in a simple reconnaissance, so brilliant and +successful a capture, withdrew from the scene still more entirely +satisfied with herself. Nothing, indeed, could have come more +opportunely for Lucilla, who possessed in perfection that faculty of +throwing herself into the future, and anticipating the difficulties of a +position, which is so valuable to all who aspire to be leaders of +mankind. With a prudence which Dr Marjoribanks himself would have +acknowledged to be remarkable "in a person of her age and sex," Lucilla +had already foreseen that to amuse her guests entirely in her own +person, would be at once impracticable and "bad style." The first +objection might have been got over, for Miss Marjoribanks had a soul +above the ordinary limits of possibility, but the second unanswerable. +This discovery, however, satisfied all the necessities of the position. +Lucilla, who was liberal, as genius ought always to be, was perfectly +willing that all the young ladies in Carlingford should sing their +little songs while she was entertaining her guests; and then at the +right moment, when her ruling mind saw it was necessary, would occur the +duet--the one duet which would be the great feature of the evening. Thus +it will be seen that another quality of the highest order developed +itself during Miss Marjoribanks's deliberations; for, to tell the truth, +she set a good deal of store by her voice, and had been used to +applause, and had tasted the sweetness of individual success. This, +however, she was willing to sacrifice for the enhanced and magnificent +effect which she felt could be produced by the combination of the two +voices; and the sacrifice was one which a weaker woman would have been +incapable of making. She went home past Salem Chapel by the little lane +which makes a line of communication between the end of Grove Street and +the beginning of Grange Lane, with a sentiment of satisfaction worthy +the greatness of her mission. Dr Marjoribanks never came home to lunch, +and indeed had a contempt for that feminine indulgence; which, to be +sure, might be accounted for by the fact that about that time in the day +the Doctor very often found himself to be passing close by one or other +of the houses in the neighbourhood which had a reputation for good +sherry or madeira, such as exists no more. Lucilla, accordingly, had her +lunch alone, served to her with respectful care by Nancy, who was still +under the impression of the interview of the morning; and it occurred to +Miss Marjoribanks, as she sat at table alone, that this was an +opportunity too valuable to be left unimproved; for, to be sure, there +are few things more pleasant than a little impromptu luncheon-party, +where everybody comes without being expected, fresh from the outside +world, and ready to tell all that is going on; though, on the other +hand, it was a little doubtful how it might work in Carlingford, where +the men had generally something to do, and where the married ladies took +their luncheon when the children had their dinner, and presided at the +nursery meal. And as for a party of young ladies, even supposing they +had the courage to come, with no more solid admixture of the more +important members of society, Lucilla, to tell the truth, had no +particular taste for that. Miss Marjoribanks reflected as she ate--and +indeed, thanks to her perfect health and her agreeable morning walk, +Lucilla had a very pretty appetite, and enjoyed her meal in a way that +would have been most satisfactory to her many friends--that it must be +by way of making his visit, which was aggravating under all +circumstances, more aggravating still, that Tom Marjoribanks had decided +to come now, of all times in the world. "If he had waited till things +were organised, he might have been of a little use," Lucilla said to +herself; "for at least he could have brought some of the men that come +on circuit, and that would have made a little novelty; but, of course, +just now it would never do to make a rush at people, and invite them all +at once." After a moment's consideration, however. Miss Marjoribanks, +with her usual candour, reflected that it was not in Tom Marjoribanks's +power to change the time of the Carlingford assizes, and that, +accordingly, he was not to be blamed in this particular at least. "Of +course _it_ is not his fault," she added, to herself, "but it is +astonishing how things happen with some men always at the wrong moment; +and it is _so_ like Tom." These reflections were interrupted by the +arrival of visitors, whom Miss Marjoribanks received with her usual +grace. The first was old Mrs Chiley, who kissed Lucilla, and wanted to +know how she had enjoyed herself on the Continent, and if she had +brought many pretty things home. "My dear, you have grown ever so much +since the last time I saw you," the old lady said in her grandmotherly +way, "and stout with it, which is such a comfort with a tall girl; and +then your poor dear mamma was so delicate. I have always been a little +anxious about you on that account, Lucilla; and I am so glad, my dear, +to see you looking so strong." + +"Dear Mrs Chiley," said Miss Marjoribanks, who perhaps in her heart was +not quite so gratified by this compliment as the old lady intended, "the +great aim of my life is to be a comfort to dear papa." + +Mrs Chiley was very much moved by this filial piety, and she told +Lucilla that story about the Colonel's niece, Susan, who was such a good +daughter, and had refused three excellent offers, to devote herself to +her father and mother, with which the public in Grange Lane were +tolerably acquainted. "And one of them was a baronet, my dear," said Mrs +Chiley. Miss Marjoribanks did not make any decided response, for she +felt that it would be dangerous to commit herself to such a height of +self-abnegation as that; but the old lady was quite pleased to hear of +her travels and adventures instead; and stayed so long that Mrs Centum +and Mrs Woodburn, who happened to arrive at the same moment, found her +still there. Mrs Chiley was a little afraid of Mrs Woodburn, and she +took her leave hastily, with another kiss; and Lucilla found herself +face to face with the only two women who could attempt a rival +enterprise to her own in Carlingford. As for Mrs Woodburn, she had +settled herself in an easy-chair by the fire, and was fully prepared to +take notes. To be sure, Lucilla was the very person to fall victim to +her arts; for that confidence in herself which, in one point of view, +gave grandeur to the character of Miss Marjoribanks, gave her also a +certain naïveté and openness which the most simple rustic could not have +surpassed. + +"I am sure by her face she has been telling you about my niece Susan," +said the mimic, assuming Mrs Chiley's tone, and almost her appearance, +for the moment, "and that one of them was a baronet, my dear. I always +know from her looks what she has been saying; and 'the Colonel was much +as usual, but suffering a little from the cold, as he always does in +this climate.' She must be a good soul, for she always has her favourite +little speeches written in her face." + +"I am sure I don't know," said Miss Marjoribanks, who felt it was her +duty to make an example; "there has always been one thing remarked of me +all my life, that I never have had a great sense of humour. I know it is +singular, but when one has a defect, it is always so much better to +confess it. I always get on very well with anything else, but I never +had any sense of humour, you know; and I am very fond of Mrs Chiley. She +has always had a fancy for me from the time I was born; and she has such +nice manners. But then, it is so odd I should have no sense of humour," +said Lucilla, addressing herself to Mrs Centum, who was sitting on the +sofa by her. "Don't you think it is very odd?" + +"I am sure it is very nice," said Mrs Centum. "I hate people that laugh +at everything. I don't see much to laugh at myself, I am sure, in this +distracting world; any one who has a lot of children and servants like +me to look after, finds very little to laugh at." And she seized the +opportunity to enter upon domestic circumstances. Mrs Woodburn did not +answer a word. She made a most dashing murderous sketch of Lucilla, but +that did the future ruler of Carlingford very little harm; and then, by +the evening, it was known through all Grange Lane that Miss Marjoribanks +had snubbed the caricaturist who kept all the good people in terror of +their lives. Snubbed her absolutely, and took the words out of her very +mouth, was the report that flew through Grange Lane; and it may be +imagined how Lucilla's prestige rose in consequence, and how much people +began to expect of Miss Marjoribanks, who had performed such a feat +almost on the first day of her return home. + + + + +_Chapter VI_ + + +Tom Marjoribanks arrived that night, according to the Doctor's +expectation. He arrived, with that curious want of adaptation to the +circumstances which characterised the young man, at an hour which put +Nancy entirely out, and upset the equanimity of the kitchen for +twenty-four hours at least. He came, if any one can conceive of such an +instance of carelessness, by the nine o'clock train, just as they had +finished putting to rights downstairs. After this, Miss Marjoribanks's +conclusion that the fact of the Carlingford assizes occurring a day or +two after her arrival, when as yet she was not fully prepared to take +advantage of them, was _so_ like Tom, may be partially understood. And +of course he was furiously hungry, and could have managed perfectly to +be in time for dinner if he had not missed the train at Didcot Junction, +by some wonderful blunder of the railway people, which never could have +occurred but for his unlucky presence among the passengers. Lucilla took +Thomas apart, and sent him downstairs with the most conciliatory +message. "Tell Nancy not to put herself about, but to send up something +cold--the cold pie, or anything she can find handy. Tell her I am _so_ +vexed, but it is just like Mr Tom; and he never knows what he is +eating," said Miss Marjoribanks. As for Nancy, this sweetness did not +subdue her in the least. She said, "I'll thank Miss Lucilla to mind her +own business. The cold pie is for master's breakfast. I ain't such a +goose as not to know what to send upstairs, and that Tummas can tell her +if he likes." In the meantime the Doctor was in the drawing-room, much +against his will, with the two young people, spinning about the room, +and looking at Lucilla's books and knick-knacks on the tables by way of +covering his impatience. He wanted to carry off Tom, who was rather a +favourite, to his own den downstairs, where the young man's supper was +to be served; but, at the same time, Dr Marjoribanks could not deny that +Lucilla had a right to the greetings and homage of her cousin. He could +not help thinking, on the whole, as he looked at the two, what a much +more sensible arrangement it would have been if he had had the boy, +instead of his sister, who had been a widow for ever so long, and no +doubt had spoiled her son, as women always do; and then Lucilla might +have passed under the sway of Mrs Marjoribanks, who no doubt would have +known how to manage her. Thus the Doctor mused, with that sense of mild +amazement at the blunders of Providence, which so many people +experience, and without any idea that Mrs Marjoribanks would have found +a task a great deal beyond her powers in the management of Lucilla. As +for Tom, he was horribly hungry, having found, as was to be expected, no +possible means of lunching at Didcot; but, at the same time, he was +exhilarated by Lucilla's smile, and delighted to think of having a week +at least to spend in her society. "I don't think I ever saw you looking +so well," he was saying; "and you know my opinion generally on that +subject." To which Lucilla responded in a way to wither all the germs of +sentiment in the bud. + +"What subject?" she said; "my looks? I am sure they can't be interesting +to you. You are as hungry as ever you can be, and I can see it in your +eyes. Papa, he is famishing, and I don't think he can contain himself +any longer. Do take him downstairs, and let him have something to eat. +For myself," Lucilla continued, in a lower tone, "it is my duty that +keeps me up. You know it has always been the object of my life to be a +comfort to papa." + +"Come along, Tom," said the Doctor. "Don't waste your time philandering +when your supper is ready." And Dr Marjoribanks led the way downstairs, +leaving Tom, who followed him, in a state of great curiosity to know +what secret oppression it might be under which his cousin was supported +by her duty. Naturally his thoughts reverted to a possible rival--some +one whom the sensible Doctor would have nothing to say to; and his very +ears grew red with excitement at this idea. But, notwithstanding, he ate +a very satisfactory meal in the library, where he had to answer all +sorts of questions. Tom had his tray at the end of the table, and the +Doctor, who had, according to his hospitable old-fashioned habit, taken +a glass of claret to "keep him company," sat in his easy-chair between +the fire and the table, and sipped his wine, and admired its colour and +purity in the light, and watched with satisfaction the excellent meal +his nephew was making. He asked him all about his prospects, and what he +was doing, which Tom replied to with the frankest confidence. He was not +very fond of work, nor were his abilities anything out of the common; +but at the present moment Tom saw no reason why he should not gain the +Woolsack in time; and Dr Marjoribanks gave something like a sigh as he +listened, and wondered much what Providence could be thinking of not to +give _him_ the boy. + +Lucilla meantime was very much occupied upstairs. She had the new +housemaid up nominally to give her instructions about Mr Tom's room, but +really to take the covers off the chairs, and see how they looked when +the room was lighted up; but the progress of decay had gone too far to +stand that trial. After all, the chintz, though none of the freshest, +was the best. When the gentlemen came upstairs, which Tom, to the +Doctor's disgust, insisted on doing, Lucilla was found in the act of +pacing the room--pacing, not in the sentimental sense of making a little +promenade up and down, but in the homely practical signification, with a +view of measuring, that she might form an idea how much carpet was +required. Lucilla was tall enough to go through this process without any +great drawback in point of grace--the long step giving rather a +tragedy-queen effect to her handsome but substantial person and long, +sweeping dress. She stopped short, however, when she saw them, and +withdrew to the sofa, on which she had established her throne; and there +was a little air of conscious pathos on her face as she sat down, which +impressed her companions. As for Tom, he instinctively felt that it must +have something to do with that mystery under which Lucilla was supported +by her duty; and the irrelevant young man conceived immediately a +violent desire to knock the fellow down; whereas there was no fellow at +all in the case, unless it might be Mr Holden, the upholsterer, whose +visits Miss Marjoribanks would have received with greater enthusiasm at +this moment than those of the most eligible eldest son in England. And +then she gave a little pathetic sigh. + +"What were you doing, Lucilla?" said her father,--"rehearsing Lady +Macbeth, I suppose. At least you looked exactly like it when we came +into the room." + +"No, papa," said Lucilla sweetly; "I was only measuring to see how much +carpet we should want; and that, you know, and Tom's coming, made me +think of old times. You are so much downstairs in the library that you +don't feel it; but a lady has to spend her life in the drawing-room--and +then I always was so domestic. It does not matter what is outside, I +always find my pleasure at home. I cannot help if it has a little effect +on my spirits now and then," said Miss Marjoribanks, looking down upon +her handkerchief, "to be always surrounded with things that have such +associations----" + +"What associations?" said the amazed Doctor. To be sure, he had +forgotten his wife; but it was four years ago, and he had got used to +her absence from her favourite sofa; and, on the whole, in that +particular, had acquiesced in the arrangements of Providence. "Really, +Lucilla, I don't know what you mean." + +"No, papa," said Miss Marjoribanks, with resignation. "I know you don't, +and that is what makes it so sad. But talking of new carpets, you know, +I had such an adventure to-day that I must tell you--quite one of _my_ +adventures--the very luckiest thing. It happened when I was out walking; +I heard a voice out of a house in Grove Street, just the _very_ thing to +go with my voice. That is not a thing that happens every day," said +Lucilla, "for all the masters have always told me that my voice was +something quite by itself. When I heard it, though it was in Grove +Street, and all the people about, I could have danced for joy." + +"It was a man's voice, I suppose," suggested Tom Marjoribanks, in gloomy +tones; and the Doctor added, in his cynical way: + +"It's a wonderful advantage to be so pleased about trifles. What number +was it? For my part, I have not many patients in Grove Street," said Dr +Marjoribanks. "I would find a voice to suit you in another quarter, if I +were you." + +"Dear papa, it's such a pity that you don't understand," said Lucilla +compassionately. "It turned out to be Barbara Lake; for, of course, I +went in directly, and found out. I never heard a voice that went so well +with mine." If Miss Marjoribanks did not go into raptures over the +contralto on its own merits, it was not from any jealousy, of which, +indeed, she was incapable, but simply because its adaptation to her own +seemed to her by far its most interesting quality, and indeed almost the +sole claim it had to consideration from the world. + +"Barbara Lake?" said the Doctor. "There's something in that. If you can +do her any good or get her teaching or anything--I have a regard for +poor Lake, poor little fellow! He's kept up wonderfully since his wife +died; and nobody expected it of him," Dr Marjoribanks continued, with a +momentary dreary recollection of the time when the poor woman took +farewell of her children, which indeed was the next day after that on +which his own wife, who had nobody in particular to take farewell of, +faded out of her useless life. + +"Yes," said Lucilla, "I mean her to come here and sing with me; but, +then, one needs to organise a little first. I am nineteen--how long is +it since you were married, papa?" + +"Two-and-twenty years," said the Doctor abruptly. He did not observe the +strangeness of the question, because he had been thinking for the moment +of his wife, and perhaps his face was a trifle graver than usual, though +neither of his young companions thought of remarking it. To be sure he +was not a young man even when he married; but, on the whole, perhaps +something more than this perfect comfort and respectability, and those +nice little dinners, had seemed to shine on his horizon when he brought +home his incapable bride. + +"Two-and-twenty years!" exclaimed Lucilla. "I don't mind talking before +Tom, for he is one of the family. The things are all the same as they +were when mamma came home, though, I am sure, nobody would believe it. I +think it is going against Providence, for my part. Nothing was ever +intended to last so long, except the things the Jews, poor souls! wore +in the desert, perhaps. Papa, if you have no objection, I should like to +choose the colours myself. There is a great deal in choosing colours +that go well with one's complexion. People think of that for their +dresses, but not for their rooms, which are of so much more importance. +I should have liked blue, but blue gets so soon tawdry. I think," said +Miss Marjoribanks, rising and looking at herself seriously in the glass, +"that I have enough complexion at present to venture upon a pale spring +green." + +This little calculation, which a timid young woman would have taken care +to do by herself, Lucilla did publicly, with her usual discrimination. +The Doctor, who had looked a little grim at first, could not but laugh +when he saw the sober look of care and thought with which Miss +Marjoribanks examined her capabilities in the glass. It was not so much +the action itself that amused her father, as the consummate ability of +the young revolutionary. Dr Marjoribanks was Scotch, and had a respect +for "talent" in every development, as is natural to his nation. He did +not even give his daughter that credit for sincerity which she deserved, +but set it all to the score of her genius, which was complimentary, +certainly, in one point of view; but the fact was that Lucilla was +perfectly sincere, and that she did what was natural to her under +guidance of her genius, so as always to be in good fortune, just as Tom +Marjoribanks, under the guidance of his, brought discredit even upon +those eternal ordinances of English government which fixed the time of +the Carlingford assizes. Lucilla was quite in earnest in thinking that +the colour of the drawing-room was an important matter, and that a woman +of sense had very good reason for suiting it to her complexion--an idea +which accordingly she proceeded to develop and explain. + +"For one can change one's dress," said Miss Marjoribanks, "as often as +one likes--at least as often, you know, as one has dresses to change; +but the furniture remains the same. I am always a perfect guy, whatever +I wear, when I sit against a red curtain. You men say that a woman +always knows when she's good-looking, but I am happy to say _I_ know +when I look a guy. What I mean is a delicate pale green, papa. For my +part, I think it wears just as well as any other colour; and all the +painters say it is the very thing for pictures. The carpet, of course, +would be a darker shade; and as for the chairs, it is not at all +necessary to keep to one colour. Both red and violet go beautifully with +green, you know. I am sure Mr Holden and I could settle all about it +without giving you any trouble." + +"Who told you, Lucilla," said the Doctor, "that I meant to refurnish the +house?" He was even a little angry at her boldness, but at the same time +he was so much amused and pleased in his heart to have so clever a +daughter, that all the tones that could produce terror were softened out +of his voice. "I never heard that was a sort of thing a man had to do +for his daughter," said Dr Marjoribanks; "and I would like to know what +I should do with all that finery when you get married--as I suppose you +will by and by--and leave me alone in the house?" + +"Ah, that is the important question," said Tom. As usual, it was Tom's +luck; but then, when there did happen to be a moment when he ought to be +silent, the unfortunate fellow could not help but speak. + +"Perhaps I may marry some time," said Miss Marjoribanks, with composure; +"it would be foolish, you know, to make any engagements; but that will +depend greatly upon how you behave, and how Carlingford behaves, papa. +I give myself ten years here, if you should be very good. By twenty-nine +I shall be going off a little, and perhaps it may be tiring, for +anything I can tell. Ten years is a long time, and naturally, in the +meantime, I want to look as well as possible. Stop a minute; I forgot to +put down the number of paces for the length. Tom, please to do it over +again for me; of course, your steps are a great deal longer than mine." + +"Tom is tired," said the Doctor; "and there are no new carpets coming +out of my pockets. Besides, he's going to bed, and I'm going downstairs +to the library. We may as well bid you good-night." + +These words, however, were addressed to deaf ears. Tom, as was natural, +had started immediately to obey Lucilla, as he was in duty bound; and +the old Doctor looked on with a little amazement and a little amusement, +recognising, with something of the surprise which that discovery always +gives to fathers and mothers, that his visitor cared twenty times more +for what Lucilla said than for anything that his superior wisdom could +suggest. He would have gone off and left them as a couple of young +fools, if it had not occurred to him all at once that since this sort of +thing had begun, the last person in the world that he would choose to +see dancing attendance on his daughter was Tom Marjoribanks. Oddly +enough, though he had just been finding fault with Providence for not +giving him a son instead of a daughter, he was not at all delighted nor +grateful when Providence put before him this simple method of providing +himself with the son he wanted. He took a great deal too much interest +in Tom Marjoribanks to let him do anything so foolish; and as for +Lucilla, the idea that, after all her accomplishments, and her expensive +education, and her year on the Continent, she should marry a man who had +nothing, disgusted the Doctor. He kept his seat accordingly, though he +was horribly bored by the drawing-room and its claims, and wanted very +much to return to the library, and get into his slippers and his +dressing-gown. It was rather a pretty picture, on the whole, which he +was regarding. Lucilla, perhaps, with a view to this discussion, had put +on green ribbons on the white dress which she always wore in the +evening, and her tawny curls and fresh complexion carried off +triumphantly that difficult colour. Perhaps a critical observer might +have said that her figure was a little too developed and substantial +for these vestal robes; but then Miss Marjoribanks was young, and could +bear it. She was standing by, not far from the fire, on the other side +from the Doctor, looking on anxiously, while Tom measured the room with +his long steps. "I never said you were to stride," said Lucilla; "take +moderate steps, and don't be so silly. I was doing it myself famously if +you had not come in and interrupted me. It is frightful to belong to a +family where the men are so stupid," said Miss Marjoribanks, with a sigh +of real distress; for, to be sure, the unlucky Tom immediately bethought +himself to take small steps like those of a lady, which all but threw +him on his well-formed though meaningless nose. Lucilla shook her head +with an exasperated look, and contracted her lips with disdain, as he +passed her on his ill-omened career. Of course he came right up against +the little table on which she had with her own hand arranged a bouquet +of geraniums and mignonette. "It is what he always does," she said to +the Doctor calmly, as Tom arrived at that climax of his fate; and the +look with which she accompanied these words, as she rang the bell +smartly and promptly, mollified the Doctor's heart. + +"I can tell you the size of the room, if that is all you want," said Dr +Marjoribanks. "I suppose you mean to give parties, and drive me out of +my senses with dancing and singing.--No, Lucilla, you must wait till you +get married--that will never do for me." + +"Dear papa," said Lucilla sweetly, "it is so dreadful to hear you say +_parties_. Everybody knows that the only thing I care for in life is to +be a comfort to you; and as for dancing, I saw at once that was out of +the question. Dancing is all very well," said Miss Marjoribanks +thoughtfully; "but it implies quantities of young people--and young +people can never make what _I_ call society. It is _Evenings_ I mean to +have, papa. I am sure you want to go downstairs, and I suppose Tom would +think it civil to sit with me, though he is tired; so I will show you a +good example, and Thomas can pick up the table and the flowers at his +leisure. Good-night, papa," said Lucilla, giving him her round fresh +cheek to kiss. She went out of the room with a certain triumph, feeling +that she had fully signified her intentions, which is always an +important matter; and shook hands in a condescending way with Tom, who +had broken his shins in a headlong rush to open the door. She looked at +him with an expression of mild despair, and shook her head again as she +accorded him that sign of amity. "If you only would look a little where +you are going," said Miss Marjoribanks;--perhaps she meant the words to +convey an allegorical as well as a positive meaning, as so many people +have been found out to do--and then she pursued her peaceful way +upstairs. As for the Doctor, he went off to his library rubbing his +hands, glad to be released, and laughing softly at his nephew's abashed +looks. "She knows how to put _him_ down at least," the Doctor said to +himself, well pleased; and he was so much amused by his daughter's +superiority to the vulgar festivity of parties, that he almost gave in +to the idea of refurnishing the drawing-room to suit Lucilla's +complexion. He rubbed his hands once more over the fire, and indulged in +a little laugh all by himself over that original idea. "So it is +Evenings she means to have?" said the Doctor; and, to be sure, nothing +could be more faded than the curtains, and there were bits of the carpet +in which the pattern was scarcely discernible. So that, on the whole, up +to this point there seemed to be a reasonable prospect that Lucilla +would have everything her own way. + + + + +_Chapter VII_ + + +Miss Marjoribanks had so many things to think of next morning that she +found her cousin, who was rather difficult to get rid of, much in her +way: naturally the young man was briefless, and came on circuit for the +name of the thing, and was quite disposed to dawdle the first morning, +and attach himself to the active footsteps of Lucilla; and for her part, +she had things to occupy her so very much more important. For one thing, +one of Dr Marjoribanks's little dinner-parties was to take place that +evening, which would be the first under the new régime, and was +naturally a matter of some anxiety to all parties. "I shall go down and +ask Mrs Chiley to come with the Colonel," said Lucilla. "I have always +meant to do that. We can't have a full dinner-party, you know, as long +as the house is so shabby; but I am sure Mrs Chiley will come to take +care of me." + +"To take care of you!--in your father's house! Do you think they'll +bite?" said the Doctor grimly; but as for Lucilla, she was quite +prepared for that. + +"I must have a chaperone, you know," she said. "I don't say it is not +quite absurd; but then, at first, I always make it a point to give in to +the prejudices of society. That is how I have always been so +successful," said the experienced Lucilla. "I never went in the face of +anybody's prejudices. Afterwards, you know, when one is known----" + +The Doctor laughed, but at the same time he sighed. There was nothing to +be said against Mrs Chiley, who had, on the whole, as women go, a very +superior training, and knew what a good dinner was; but it was the +beginning of the revolution of which Dr Marjoribanks, vaguely oppressed +with the idea of new paper, new curtains, and all that was involved in +the entrance of Mr Holden the upholsterer into the house, did not see +the end. He acquiesced, of course, since there was nothing else for it: +but it must be confessed that the spectre of Mrs Chiley sitting at his +right hand clouded over for the Doctor the pleasant anticipation of the +evening. If it had been possible to put her at the head of the table +beside Lucilla, whom she was to come to take care of, he could have +borne it better--and to be sure it would have been a great deal more +reasonable; but then that was absolutely out of the question, and the +Doctor gave in with a sigh. Thus it was that he began to realise the +more serious result of that semi-abdication into which he had been +beguiled. The female element, so long peacefully ignored and kept at a +distance, had come in again in triumph and taken possession, and the +Doctor knew too well by the experience of a long life what a restless +and troublesome element it was. He had begun to feel that it had ceased +to be precisely amusing as he took his place in his brougham. It was +good sport to see Lucilla make an end of Tom, and put her bridle upon +the stiff neck of Nancy; but when it came to changing the character of +the Doctor's dinners, his intellect naturally got more obtuse, and he +did not see the joke. + +As for Tom, he had to be disposed of summarily. "Do go away," Miss +Marjoribanks said, in her straightforward way. "You can come back to +luncheon if you like;--that is to say, if you can pick up anybody that +is very amusing, you may bring him here about half-past one, and if any +of my friends have come to call by that time, I will give you lunch; but +it must be somebody very amusing, or I will have nothing to say to you," +said Lucilla. And with this dismissal Tom Marjoribanks departed, not +more content than the Doctor; for, to be sure, the last thing in the +world which the poor fellow thought of was to bring somebody who was +amusing, to injure his chances with Lucilla. Tom, like most other +people, was utterly incapable of fathoming the grand conception which +inspired Miss Marjoribanks. When she told him that it was the object of +her life to be a comfort to papa, he believed it to a certain extent, +but it never occurred to him that filial devotion, though beautiful to +contemplate, would preserve Lucilla's heart from the ordinary dangers of +youth, or that she was at all in earnest in postponing all matrimonial +intentions until she was nine-and-twenty, and had begun to "go off" a +little. So he went away disconsolate enough, wavering between his +instinct of obedience and his desire of being in Lucilla's company, and +a desperate determination never to be the means of injuring himself by +presenting to her anybody who was very amusing. All Miss Marjoribanks's +_monde_, as it happened, was a little out of humour that day. She had +gone on so far triumphantly that it had now come to be necessary that +she should receive a little check in her victorious career. + +When Tom was disposed of, Miss Marjoribanks put on her hat and went down +Grange Lane to carry her invitation to Mrs Chiley, who naturally was +very much pleased to come. "But, my dear, you must tell me what to put +on," the old lady said. "I don't think I have had anything new since you +were home last. I have heard so much about Dr Marjoribanks's dinners +that I feel a little excited, as if I was going to be made a freemason +or something. There is my brown, you know, that I wear at home when we +have anybody--and my black velvet; and then there is my French gray that +I got for Mary Chiley's marriage." + +"Dear Mrs Chiley," said Lucilla, "it doesn't matter in the least what +you wear; there are only to be gentlemen, you know, and one never +dresses for gentlemen. You must keep that beautiful black velvet for +another time." + +"Well, my dear," said Mrs Chiley, "_I_ am long past that sort of +thing--but the men think, you know, that it is always for them we +dress." + +"Yes," said Miss Marjoribanks, "their vanity is something dreadful--but +it is one of my principles _never_ to dress unless there are ladies. A +white frock, high in the neck," said Lucilla, with sweet simplicity--"as +for anything else, it would be bad style." + +Mrs Chiley gave her young visitor a very cordial kiss when she went +away. "The sense she has!" said the old lady; but at the same time the +Colonel's wife was so old-fashioned that this contemptuous way of +treating "The Gentlemen" puzzled her unprogressive intelligence. She +thought it was superhuman virtue on Lucilla's part, nearly incredible, +and yet established by proofs so incontestable that it would be a shame +to doubt it; and she felt ashamed of herself--she who might have been a +grandmother, had such been the will of Providence--for lingering five +minutes undecided between her two best caps. "I dare say Lucilla does +not spend so much time on such vanity, and she only nineteen," said the +penitent old lady. As for Miss Marjoribanks, she returned up Grange Lane +with a mind at ease, and that consciousness of superior endowments +which gives amiability and expansion even to the countenance. She did +not give any money to the beggar who at that period infested Grange Lane +with her six children, for that was contrary to those principles of +political economy which she had studied with such success at Mount +Pleasant; but she stopped and asked her name, and where she lived, and +promised to inquire into her case. "If you are honest and want to work, +I will try to find you something to do," said Miss Marjoribanks; which, +to be sure, was a threat appalling enough to keep her free from any +further molestation on the part of that interesting family. But Lucilla, +to do her justice, felt it equally natural that beneficence should issue +from her in this manner as in that other mode of feeding the hungry +which she was willing to adopt at half-past one, and had solemnly +engaged herself to fulfil at seven o'clock. She went up after that to Mr +Holden's, and had a most interesting conversation, and found among his +stores a delicious damask, softly, spiritually green, of which, to his +great astonishment, she tried the effect in one of the great mirrors +which ornamented the shop. "It is just the tint I want," Lucilla said, +when she had applied that unusual test; and she left the fashionable +upholsterer of Carlingford in a state of some uncertainty whether it was +curtains or dresses that Miss Marjoribanks meant to have made. + +Perhaps this confusion arose from the fact that Lucilla's mind was +occupied in discussing the question whether she should not go round by +Grove Street, and try that duet again with Barbara, and invite her to +Grange Lane in the evening to electrify the little company; or whether, +in case this latter idea might not be practicable, she should bring +Barbara with her to lunch by way of occupying Tom Marjoribanks. Lucilla +stood at Mr Holden's door for five seconds at least balancing the +matter; but finally she gave her curls a little shake, and took a quick +step forward, and without any more deliberation returned towards Grange +Lane; for, on the whole, it was better not to burst in full triumph all +at once upon her constituency, and exhaust her forces at the beginning. +If she condescended to sing something herself, it would indeed be a +greater honour than her father's dinner-party, in strict justice, was +entitled to; and as for the second question, though Miss Marjoribanks +was too happy in the confidence of her own powers to fear any rivals, +and though her cousin's devotion bored her, still she felt doubtful how +far it was good policy to produce Barbara at luncheon for the purpose of +occupying Tom. Other people might see her besides Tom, and her own grand +_coup_ might be forestalled for anything she could tell; and then Tom +had some title to consideration on his own merits, though he was the +unlucky member of the family. He might even, if he were so far left to +himself (though Miss Marjoribanks smiled at the idea), fall in love with +Barbara; or, what was more likely, driven to despair by Lucilla's +indifference, he might _pretend_ to fall in love; and Lucilla reflected, +that if anything happened she could never forgive herself. This was the +point she had arrived at when she shook her tawny curls and set out +suddenly on her return home. + +It was now nearly one o'clock, and it was quite possible that Tom, as +well as herself, might be on the way to Grange Lane; but Lucilla, who, +as she said, made a point of never going against the prejudices of +society, made up her mind to remain sweetly unconscious of the hour of +luncheon, unless some lady came to keep her company. But then Miss +Marjoribanks was always lucky, as she said. A quarter of an hour before +Tom applied for admission, Miss Bury came to pay Lucilla a visit. She +had been visiting in her district all the morning, and was very easily +persuaded to repose herself a little; and then, naturally, she was +anxious about her young friend's spiritual condition, and the effect +upon her mind of a year's residence abroad. She was asking whether +Lucilla had not seen something soul-degrading and dishonouring to +religion in all the mummeries of Popery; and Miss Marjoribanks, who was +perfectly orthodox, had replied to the question in the most satisfactory +manner; when Tom made his appearance, looking rather sheepish and +reluctant, and followed by the "somebody amusing" whom Lucilla had +commissioned him to bring. He had struggled against his fate, poor +fellow! but when it happens to be a man's instinct to do what he is +told, he can no more resist it than if it was a criminal impulse. Tom +entered with his amusing companion, who had been chosen with care, and +was very uninviting to look at; and by and by Miss Bury, with the most +puzzled looks, found herself listening to gossip about the theatres and +all kinds of profane subjects. "I think they are going to hang that +fellow that killed the tailor," said the amusing man; "that will stir +you up a little in Carlingford, I should suppose. It is as good as a +play for a country town. Of course, there will be a party that will get +up a memorial, and prove that a man so kind-hearted never existed out of +paradise; and there will be another party who will prove him to be +insane; and then at the end all the blackguards within a hundred miles +will crowd into Carlingford, and the fellow will be hanged, as he +deserves to be; but I assure you it's a famous amusement for a country +town." + +"Sir," said Miss Bury, with a tremulous voice, for her feelings had +overcome her, "when you speak of amusement, does it ever occur to you +what will become of his miserable soul?" + +"I assure you, wretches of that description have no souls," said the +young barrister, "or else, of course, I would not permit myself to speak +so freely. It is a conclusion I have come to not rashly, but after many +opportunities of observing," the young man went on with solemnity; "on +the whole, my opinion is, that this is the great difference between one +portion of mankind and the other: that description of being, you may +take my word for it, has no soul." + +"I never take anybody's word for what is so plainly stated in the Holy +Scriptures," said Miss Bury; "I never heard any one utter such a +terrible idea. I am sure I don't want to defend a--a murderer," cried +the Rector's sister, with agitation; "but I have heard of persons in +that unfortunate position coming to a heavenly frame of mind, and giving +every evidence of being truly converted. The law may take their lives, +but it is an awful thing--a truly dreadful thing," said Miss Bury, +trembling all over, "to try to take away their soul." + +"Oh, nonsense, Lucilla. By Jove! he does not mean that, you know," said +Tom, interposing to relieve his friend. + +"Do you believe in Jove, Mr Thomas Marjoribanks," said Miss Bury, +looking him in an alarming manner full in the face. + +The unfortunate Tom grew red and then he grew green under this question +and that awful look. "No, Miss Bury, I can't say I do," he answered +humbly; and the amusing man was so much less brotherly than Tom that he +burst into unsympathetic laughter. As for Lucilla, it was the first real +check she had sustained in the beginning of her career. There could not +have been a more unfortunate _contretemps_, and there is no telling how +disastrous the effect might have been, had not her courage and +coolness, not to say her orthodoxy, been equal to the occasion. She gave +her cousin a look which was still more terrible than Miss Bury's, and +then she took affairs into her own hands. + +"It is dreadful sometimes to see what straits people are put to, to keep +up the conversation," said Lucilla; "Tom in particular, for I think he +has a pleasure in talking nonsense. But you must not suppose I am of +that opinion. I remember quite well there was a dreadful man once here +in jail for something, and Mr Bury made him the most beautiful +character! Every creature has a soul. I am sure we say so in the Creed +every day of our lives, and especially in that long creed where so many +people perish everlastingly. So far from laughing, it is quite dreadful +to think of it," said Lucilla. "It is one of my principles never to +laugh about anything that has to do with religion. I always think it my +duty to speak with respect. It has such a bad effect upon some minds. +Miss Bury, if you will not take anything more, I think we had better go +upstairs." + +To think that Tom, whose luck, as usual, had betrayed him to such an +unlooked-for extent, should have been on the point of following to the +drawing-room, was more than Miss Marjoribanks could comprehend; but +fortunately his companion had more sense, and took his leave, taking his +conductor with him. Miss Bury went upstairs in silence, sighing heavily +from time to time. The good woman was troubled in her spirit at the +evident depravity of the young men with whom circumstances had +constrained her to sit down at table, and she was sadly afraid that such +companionship must have a debasing effect upon the mind of that lamb of +the flock now standing before her. Miss Bury bethought herself of Dr +Marjoribanks's profane jokes, and the indifference he had shown to many +things in which it was his duty to have interested himself, and she +could not but look with tender pity in her young friend's face. + +"Poor dear," said Miss Bury, "it is dreadful indeed if this is the sort +of society you are subjected to. I could recommend to Dr Marjoribanks a +most admirable woman, a true Christian, who would take charge of things +and be your companion, Lucilla. It is not at all nice for you, at your +age, to be obliged to receive young men like these alone." + +"I had you!" said Lucilla, taking both Miss Bury's hands. "I felt it was +such a blessing. I would not have let Tom stay for luncheon if you had +not been there; and now I am so glad, because it has shown me the danger +of letting him bring people. I am quite sure it was a special providence +that made you think of coming here to-day." + +"Well, my dear," said Miss Bury, who was naturally mollified by this +statement of the question, "I am very glad to have been of use to you. +If there is anything I desire in this life, it is to be useful to my +fellow-creatures, and to do my work while it is called day. I should not +think the time lost, my dear Lucilla, if I could only hope that I had +impressed upon your mind that an account must be given of every careless +word----" + +"Oh, yes," said Lucilla, "that is _so_ true; and besides, it is quite +against my principles. I make it a point never to speak of anything +about religion except with the greatest respect; and I am quite sure it +was a special providence that I had _you_." + +Miss Bury took her farewell very affectionately, not to say effusively, +after this, with her heart melting over the ingenuous young creature who +was so thankful for her protection; but at the same time she left Miss +Marjoribanks a prey to the horrible sensation of having made a failure. +To be sure, there was time to recover herself in the evening, which was, +so to speak, her first formal appearance before the public of +Carlingford. Tom was so ill-advised as to come in when she was having +her cup of tea before dinner to fortify her for her exertions; and the +reception he met with may be left to the imagination. But, after all, +there was little satisfaction in demolishing Tom; and then Lucilla had +known from the beginning that the success of her undertaking depended +entirely on herself. + + + + +_Chapter VIII_ + + +The evening passed off in a way which, if Miss Marjoribanks had been an +ordinary woman, would have altogether obliterated from her mind all +recollection of the failure at lunch. To speak first of the most +important particular, the dinner was perfect. As for the benighted men +who had doubted Lucilla, they were covered with shame, and, at the same +time, with delight. If there had been a fault in Dr Marjoribanks's table +under the ancient régime, it lay in a certain want of variety, and +occasional over-abundance, which wounded the feelings of young Mr +Cavendish, who was a person of refinement. To-night, as that +accomplished critic remarked, there was a certain air of feminine grace +diffused over everything--and an amount of doubt and expectation, +unknown to the composed feastings of old, gave interest to the meal. As +for the Doctor, he found Mrs Chiley, at his right hand, not so great a +bore as he expected. She was a woman capable of appreciating the +triumphs of art that were set before her; and had indeed been trained to +as high a pitch of culture in this respect as perhaps is possible to the +female intelligence; and then her pride and delight in being admitted to +a participation in those sacred mysteries was beyond expression. "My +dear Lucilla, I feel exactly as if I was going to be made a freemason; +and as if your dear good papa had to blindfold me, and make me swear all +sorts of things before he took me downstairs," she said, as they sat +together waiting for the commencement of the ceremony; and when the two +ladies returned to the drawing-room, Mrs Chiley took Lucilla in her arms +and gave her a kiss, as the only way of expressing adequately her +enthusiasm. "My love," said the Colonel's wife, "I never realised before +what it was to have a genius. You should be very thankful to Providence +for giving you such a gift. I have given dinners all my life--that is, +all my married life, my dear, which comes to almost the same thing, for +I was only a baby--but I never could come up to anything like that," +said Mrs Chiley, with tears in her eyes. As for Miss Marjoribanks, she +was so satisfied with her success that she felt at liberty to +tranquillise her old friend. + +"I am sure you always give very nice dinners," she said; "and then, you +know, the Colonel has his favourite dishes--whereas, I must say for +papa, he is very reasonable for a man. I am so glad you are pleased. It +is very kind of you to say it is genius, but I don't pretend to anything +but paying great attention and studying the combinations. There is +nothing one cannot manage if one only takes the trouble. Come here to +this nice easy-chair--it is so comfortable. It is so nice to have a +little moment to ourselves before they come upstairs." + +"That is what I always say," said Mrs Chiley; "but there are not many +girls so sensible as you, Lucilla. I hear them all saying it is so much +better French fashion. Of course, I am an old woman, and like things in +the old style." + +"I don't think it is because I am more sensible," said Miss +Marjoribanks, with modesty. "I don't pretend to be better than other +people. It is because I have thought it all over, you know--and then I +went through a course of political economy when I was at Mount +Pleasant," Lucilla said tranquilly, with an air of having explained the +whole matter, which much impressed her hearer. "But for all that, +something dreadful happened to-day. Tom brought in one of his friends +with him, you know, and Miss Bury was here, and they talked--I want to +tell you, in case she should say something, and then you will know what +to believe. I never felt so dreadfully ashamed in my life--they +talked----" + +"My dear! not anything improper, I hope," cried the old lady, in dismay. + +"Oh, no," said Lucilla; "but they began laughing about some people +having no souls, you know--as if there could be anybody without a +soul--and poor Miss Bury nearly fainted. You may think what a dreadful +thing it was for me." + +"My dear child, if that was all," said Mrs Chiley, reassured--"as for +everybody having a soul, I am sure I cannot say. You never were in +India, to be sure; but Miss Bury should have known better than to faint +at a young man's talk, and frighten you, my poor dear. She ought to be +ashamed of herself, at her age. Do you think Tom has turned out clever?" +the old lady continued, not without a little finesse, and watching +Lucilla with a curious eye. + +"Not in the very least," said Miss Marjoribanks calmly; "he is just as +awkward as he used to be. It is dreadful to have him here just now, when +I have so many things to do--and then he would follow me about +everywhere if I would let him. A cousin of that sort is always in the +way." + +"I am always afraid of a cousin, for my part," said Mrs Chiley; "and +talking of that, what do you think of Mr Cavendish, Lucilla? He is very +nice in himself, and he has a nice property; and some people say he has +a very good chance to be member for Carlingford when there is an +election. I think that is just what would suit you." + +"I could not see him for the lamp," said Lucilla; "it was right between +us, you know--but it is no use talking of that sort of thing just now. +Of course, if I had liked, I never need have come home at all," Miss +Marjoribanks added, with composure; "and, now I have come home, I have +got other things to think of. If papa is good, I will not think of +leaving him for ten years." + +"Oh, yes; I have heard girls say that before," said Mrs Chiley; "but +they always changed their minds. You would not like to be an old maid, +Lucilla; and in ten years----" + +"I should have begun to go off a little, no doubt," said Miss +Marjoribanks. "No, I can't say I wish to be an old maid. Can they be +coming upstairs already, do you think? Oh, it is Tom, I suppose," said +Lucilla, with a little indignation. But when _They_ did make their +appearance, which was at a tolerably early period--for a return to the +drawing-room was quite a novelty for Dr Marjoribanks's friends, and +tempted them accordingly--Miss Marjoribanks was quite ready to receive +them. And just before ten o'clock, when Mrs Chiley began to think of +going home, Lucilla, without being asked, and without indeed a word of +preface, suddenly went to the piano, and before anybody knew, had +commenced to sing. She was a great deal too sensible to go into high art +on this occasion, or to electrify her father's friends with her +newly-acquired Italian, or even with German, as some young ladies do. +She sang them a ballad out of one of those treasures of resuscitated +ballads which the new generation had then begun to dig out of the bowels +of the earth. There was not, to tell the truth, a great deal of music +in it, which proved Lucilla's disinterestedness. "I only sang it to +amuse you," she said, when all the world crowded to the piano; and for +that night she was not to be persuaded to further exertions. Thus Miss +Marjoribanks proved to her little public that power of subordinating her +personal tastes and even her vanity to her great object, which more than +anything else demonstrates a mind made to rule. "I hope next time you +will be more charitable, and not tantalise us in this way," Mr Cavendish +said, as he took his leave; and Lucilla retired from the scene of her +triumph, conscious of having achieved entire success in her first +appearance in Carlingford. She laid her head upon her pillow with that +sweet sense of an approving conscience which accompanies the footsteps +of the benefactors of their kind. But even Miss Marjoribanks's +satisfaction was not without its drawbacks. She could not get out of her +mind that unhappy abortive luncheon and all its horrors; not to speak of +the possibility of her religious principles being impugned, which was +dreadful in itself ("for people can stand a man being sceptical, you +know," Miss Marjoribanks justly observed, "but everybody knows how +unbecoming it is in a woman--and me who have such a respect for +religion!"); there remained the still more alarming chance that Miss +Bury, who was so narrow-minded, might see something improper in the +presence of the two young men at Lucilla's maidenly table; for, to be +sure, the Rector's sister was altogether incapable of grasping the idea +that young men, like old men and the other less interesting members of +the human family, were simple material for Miss Marjoribanks's genius, +out of which she had a great result to produce. This was the dread that +overshadowed the mind of Lucilla as she composed herself to rest after +her fatigues. When she slept the sleep of the innocent, it still pursued +her into her dreams. She dreamed that she stood at the altar by the side +of the member for Carlingford, and that Mr Bury, with inflexible +cruelty, insisted upon marrying her to Tom Marjoribanks instead; and +then the scene changed, and instead of receiving the salutations of Mr +Cavendish as M.P. for the borough, it was the amusing man, in the +character of the defeated candidate, who grinned and nodded at her, and +said from the hustings that he would never forget the luncheon that had +been his first introduction to Carlingford. Such was the nightmare that +pursued Lucilla even into the sphere of dreams. + +When such a presentiment takes possession of a well-balanced mind like +that of Miss Marjoribanks, it may be accepted as certain that something +is likely to follow. Lucilla did her best to disarm fate, not only by +the sweetest submission and dutifulness to the Doctor and his wishes, +but by a severe disregard of Tom, which drove that unhappy young man +nearly desperate. Far from saying anything about luncheon, she even +ignored his presence at breakfast, and remained calmly unconscious of +his empty cup, until he had to ask for some coffee in an injured and +pathetic voice, which amused Dr Marjoribanks beyond description. But +even this did not prove sufficient to propitiate the Fates. When They +were gone--and it may be well to say that Lucilla used this pronoun to +signify _the gentlemen_, in greater or smaller number as it might +happen--and she had finished all her arrangements, Miss Marjoribanks +decided upon going to Grove Street to pay Barbara Lake a visit, and +practise some duets, which was certainly as innocent an occupation for +her leisure as could be desired. She was putting on her hat with this +object when the bell in the garden rang solemnly, and Lucilla, whose +curiosity conquered her good manners for the moment, hastening to the +window, saw Mr Bury himself enter the garden, accompanied by a black +figure in deep and shabby mourning. All the tremors of the night rushed +back upon her mind at the sight. She felt that the moment had arrived +for a trial of her courage very different from the exertions which had +hitherto sufficed her. Nothing but the most solemn intentions could have +supported the Rector in that severe pose of his figure and features, +every line in which revealed an intention of being "faithful"; and the +accompanying mute in black, whose office the culprit could not divine, +had a veil over her face, and wore a widow's dress. Miss Marjoribanks, +it is true, was not a woman to be discouraged by appearances, but she +felt her heart beat as she collected all her powers to meet this +mysterious assault. She took off her hat with an instinctive certainty +that, for this morning at least, the duet was impracticable, when she +heard Mr Bury's steady step ascending the stairs; but, notwithstanding, +it was with a perfectly cheerful politeness that she bade him welcome +when he came into the room. "It is so good of you to come," Lucilla +said; "you that have so much to do. I scarcely could believe it when I +saw you come in: I thought it must be for papa." + +"I did hope to find Dr Marjoribanks," said the Rector, "but as he is not +at home, I thought it best to come to you. This is Mrs Mortimer," said +Mr Bury, taking the chair Lucilla had indicated with a certain want of +observance of his companion which betrayed to the keen perceptions of +Miss Marjoribanks that she was a dependant of some kind or other. The +Rector was a very good man, but was Evangelical, and had a large female +circle who admired and swore by him; and, consequently, he felt it in a +manner natural that he should take his seat first, and the place that +belonged to him as the principal person present; and then, to be sure, +his mission here was for Mrs Mortimer's as well as Miss Marjoribanks's +"good." After this introduction, the figure in black put up its veil, +and revealed a deprecating woman, with a faint sort of pleading smile on +her face. Probably she was making believe to smile at the position in +which she found herself; but anyhow she took her seat humbly on another +chair at a little distance, and waited, as Lucilla did, for the next +golden words that it might please the Rector to say. + +"My sister told me what happened yesterday," said Mr Bury. "She is very +sorry for you, Miss Marjoribanks. It is sad for you to be left alone so +young, and without a mother, and exposed to--to temptations which it is +difficult to withstand at your age. Indeed, at all ages, we have great +occasion to pray not to be led into temptation; for the heart of man is +terribly deceitful. After hearing what she had to say, I thought it best +to come up at once this morning and talk to Dr Marjoribanks. I am sure +his natural good sense will teach him that you ought not to be left +alone in the house." + +"I do not see how papa can help it," said Lucilla. "I am sure it is very +sad for him as well; but since dear mamma died there has been nobody but +me to be a comfort to him. I think he begins to look a little cheerful +now," Miss Marjoribanks continued, with beautiful simplicity, looking +her adversary in the face. "Everybody knows that to be a comfort to him +is the object of my life." + +"That is a very good feeling," said the Rector, "but it does not do to +depend too much upon our feelings. You are too young to be placed in a +position of so much responsibility, and open to so much temptation. I +was deeply grieved for Dr Marjoribanks when his partner in life was +taken from him; but my dear Miss Lucilla, now you have come home, who +stand so much in need of a mother's care, we must try to find some one +to fill her place." + +Lucilla uttered a scream of genuine alarm and dismay; and then she came +to herself, and saw the force of her position. She had it in her power +to turn the tables on the Rector, and she did not hesitate, as a weaker +woman might have done, out of consideration for anybody's feelings. "Do +you mean you have found some one for him to marry?" she asked, with a +look of artless surprise, bending her earnest gaze on Mr Bury's face. + +As for the Rector, he looked at Lucilla aghast, like a man caught in a +trap. "Of course not, of course not," he stammered, after his first +pause of consternation; and then he had to stop again to take breath. +Lucilla kept up the air of amazement and consternation which had come +naturally at the first, and had her eyes fixed on him, leaning forward +with all the eager anxiety natural to the circumstances, and the +unfortunate clergyman reddened from the edge of his white cravat to the +roots of his gray hair. He was almost as sensitive to the idea of having +proposed something improper as his sister could have been, though +indeed, at the worst, there would have been nothing improper in it had +Dr Marjoribanks made up his mind to another wife. + +"It is very dreadful for me that am so young to go against _you_" said +Lucilla; "but if it is _that_, I cannot be expected to take any part in +it--it would not be natural. It is the great object of my life to be a +comfort to papa; but if that is what you mean, I could not give in to +it. I am sure Miss Bury would understand me," said Miss Marjoribanks; +and she looked so nearly on the point of tears, that the Rector's +anxious disclaimer found words for itself. + +"Nothing of the kind, my dear Miss Lucilla--nothing of the kind," cried +Mr Bury; "such an idea never came into my mind. I cannot imagine how I +could have said anything--I can't fancy what put such an idea----Mrs +Mortimer, you are not going away?" + +Lucilla had already seen with the corner of her eye that the victim had +started violently, and that her heavy veil had fallen over her face--but +she had not taken any notice, for there are cases in which it is +absolutely necessary to have a victim. By this time, however, the poor +woman had risen in her nervous, undecided way. + +"I had better go--I am sure I had better go," she said hurriedly, +clasping together a pair of helpless hands, as if they could find a +little strength in union. "Miss Marjoribanks will understand you better, +and you will perhaps understand Miss Marjoribanks----" + +"Oh, sit down, sit down," said Mr Bury, who was not tolerant of +feelings. "Perhaps I expressed myself badly. What I meant to say was, +that Mrs Mortimer, who has been a little unfortunate in +circumstances--sit down, pray--had by a singular providence just applied +to me when my sister returned home yesterday. These things do not happen +by chance, Lucilla. We are taken care of when we are not thinking of it. +Mrs Mortimer is a Christian lady for whom I have the greatest respect. A +situation to take the superintendence of the domestic affairs, and to +have charge of you, would be just what would suit her. It must be a +great anxiety to the Doctor to leave you alone, and without any control, +at your age. You may think the liberty is pleasant at first, but if you +had a Christian friend to watch over and take care of you----What is the +matter?" said the Rector, in great alarm. It was only that the poor +widow who was to have charge of Lucilla, according to his benevolent +intention, looked so like fainting, that Miss Marjoribanks jumped up +from her chair and rang the bell hastily. It was not Lucilla's way to +lose time about anything; she took the poor woman by the shoulders and +all but lifted her to the sofa, where she was lying down with her bonnet +off when the Rector came to his senses. To describe the feelings with +which Mr Bury contemplated this little _entr'acte_, which was not in his +programme, would be beyond our powers. He went off humbly and opened the +window when he was told to do so, and tried to find the eau-de-Cologne +on the table; while Thomas rushed downstairs for water at a pace very +unlike his usual steady rate of progress. As for Lucilla, she stood by +the side of her patient quite self-possessed, while the Rector looked so +foolish. "She will be all right directly," Miss Marjoribanks was saying; +"luckily she never went right off. When you don't go right off, lying +down is everything. If there had been any one to run and get some water +she would have got over it; but luckily I saw it in time." What possible +answer Mr Bury could make to this, or how he could go on with his +address in sight of the strange turn things had taken, it would have +been hard to say. Fortunately for the moment he did not attempt it, but +walked about in dismay, and put himself in the draught (with his +rheumatism), and felt dreadfully vexed and angry with Mrs Mortimer, who, +for her part, now she had done with fainting, manifested an inclination +to cry, for which Mr Bury in his heart could have whipped her, had that +mode of discipline been permitted in the Church of England. Lucilla was +merciful, but she could not help taking a little advantage of her +victory. She gave the sufferer a glass of water, and the eau-de-Cologne +to keep her from a relapse, and whispered to her to lie quiet; and then +she came back and took her seat, and begged the Rector not to stand in +the draught. + +"I don't think she is strong," said Miss Marjoribanks confidentially, +when she had wiled the disconcerted clergyman back to her side, "her +colour changes so; she never would be able for what there is to do here, +even if papa would consent to think of it. For my part I am sure I +should be glad of a little assistance," said Lucilla, "but I never like +to give false hopes, and I don't think papa would consent;--she looks +nice if she was not so weak, poor thing!--and there are such quantities +of things to be done here: but if you wish it, Mr Bury, I will speak to +papa," said Miss Marjoribanks, lifting her eyes, which were so open and +straightforward, to the Rector's face. + +To tell the truth, he did not in the least know what to say, and the +chances are he would not have been half so vexed and angry, nor felt in +so unchristian a disposition with the poor woman on the sofa, had he +meant to do her harm instead of good. "Yes, I should be glad if you +would mention it to Dr Marjoribanks," he said, without very well knowing +what he said; and got up to shake hands with Lucilla, and then +recollected that he could not leave his protégée behind him, and +hesitated, and did not know what to do. He was really grateful, without +being aware of it, to Miss Marjoribanks, when once again she came to his +aid. + +"Please, leave her a little," said Lucilla, "and I can make acquaintance +with her, you know, in case papa should be disposed to think of it;--she +must lie still till it quite wears off. I would ask you to stay to lunch +if I was not afraid of wasting your precious time----" + +Mr Bury gave a little gasp of indignation, but he did not say anything. +On the whole, even though smarting under the indignity of being asked to +lunch, as his sister had been, when probably there might be a repetition +of the scene of yesterday, he was glad to get safely out of the house, +even at the risk of abandoning his enterprise. As for a woman in want of +a situation, who had so little common sense as to faint at such a +critical moment, the Rector was disposed to wash his hands of her; for +Mr Bury, "like them all," as Lucilla said, was horribly frightened by a +faint when he saw one, and afterwards pretended to disbelieve it, and +called it one of the things which a little self-command could always +prevent. When he was gone Miss Marjoribanks felt the full importance of +her victory; and then, though she had not hesitated to sacrifice this +poor woman when it was necessary to have a victim, that moment was over, +and she had no pleasure in being cruel; on the contrary, she went and +sat by her patient, and talked, and was very kind to her; and after a +while heard all her story, and was more comforting than the Rector could +have been for his life. + +"I knew it would hurt your feelings," Miss Marjoribanks said candidly, +"but I could not do anything else--and you know it was Mr Bury's fault; +but I am sure if I can be of any use to you----" It was thus that +Lucilla added, without knowing it, another complication to her fortunes; +but then, to be sure, clear-sighted as she was, she could not see into +the future, nor know what was to follow. She told the Doctor in the +evening with the greatest faithfulness, and described how Mr Bury +looked, and that she had said she did not think papa would be disposed +to think of it; and Dr Marjoribanks was so much entertained that he came +upstairs to hear the end, and took a cup of tea. It was the third night +in succession that the Doctor had taken this step, though it was against +his principles; and thus it will be seen that good came out of evil in a +beautifully distinct and appropriate way. + + + + +_Chapter IX_ + + +It was not till Miss Marjoribanks had surmounted to a certain extent the +vexation caused her by her unlucky confidence in Tom, that that unhappy +young man took the step which Lucilla had so long dreaded, but which she +trusted to her own genius to hinder him from carrying into execution. +Miss Marjoribanks had extricated herself so triumphantly from the +consequences of that unhappy commencement of her very charming +luncheon-parties, that she had begun to forget the culpability of her +cousin. She had defeated the Rector in his benevolent intentions, and +she had taken up his protégée just at the moment when Mr Bury was most +disgusted with the unfortunate woman's weakness. Poor Mrs Mortimer, to +be sure, had fainted, or had been near fainting, at the most inopportune +moment, and it was only natural that the Rector should be annoyed; but +as for Lucilla, who was always prompt in her actions, and whose good +nature and liberality were undoubted, she found her opportunity in the +failure of Mr Bury's scheme. After the Rector had gone away, Miss +Marjoribanks herself conducted the widow home; and by this time Mrs +Mortimer's prospects were beginning to brighten under the active and +efficient patronage of her new friend. This being the case, Lucilla's +good humour was perfectly restored, and she had forgiven Tom his +maladroitness. "He cannot help it, you know," she said privately to old +Mrs Chiley: "I suppose some people are born to do ridiculous things." +And it was indeed as if he had intended to give a practical illustration +of the truth of this conclusion that Tom chose the particular moment he +did for driving Miss Marjoribanks to the extremity of her patience. The +upholsterers were in the house, and indeed had just finished putting up +the pictures on the new paper in the drawing-room (which was green, as +Lucilla had determined it should be, of the most delicate tint, and +looked, as she flattered herself, exactly like silk hangings); and Mr +Holden himself waited with a certain complaisance for Miss +Marjoribanks's opinion of the effect. He had no doubt on the subject +himself; but he was naturally impressed, as most people were, with that +confidence in Lucilla's judgment which so much facilitates the +operations of those persons who are born to greatness. It was precisely +at this moment that his evil genius persuaded Tom Marjoribanks to +interrupt Thomas, who was carrying Mr Holden's message to his young +mistress, and to shut the library door upon the external world. Lucilla +had taken refuge in the library during the renovation of the +drawing-room; and she was aware that this was Tom's last day at +Carlingford, and had no intention of being unkind to him. To tell the +truth, she had at the bottom of her heart a certain regard and impulse +of protection and patronage towards Tom, of which something might have +come had the unlucky fellow known how to manage. But, at the same time, +Miss Marjoribanks was aware that things must be approaching a crisis +upstairs, and was listening intently to the movements overhead, and +wondering why she was not sent for. This was the moment of all others at +which Tom thought fit to claim a hearing; and the state of Lucilla's +feelings may be easily imagined when she saw him plant himself by her +side, with his face alternately red and white, and all the signs of a +desperate resolution in his countenance. For the first time in her life +a certain despair took possession of Miss Marjoribanks's mind. The +sounds had suddenly ceased upstairs, as if the artists were making a +pause to contemplate the effect of their completed work--which indeed +was precisely the case--and at the same time nobody came to call her, +important though the occasion was. She made a last effort to emancipate +herself before it was too late. + +"Ring, please, Tom," she said; "I want to know if they have finished +upstairs. I am so sorry you are going away; but you know it is one of my +principles never to neglect my duty. I am sure they must be waiting for +me--if you would only be kind enough to ring." + +"Lucilla," said Tom, "you know I would do anything in the world you +liked to tell me; but don't ask me to ring just now: I am going to leave +you, and there is something I must say to you, Lucilla," said the young +man, with agitation. Miss Marjoribanks was seated near the window, and +she had a moral certainty that if any of the Browns happened to be in +that ridiculous glass-house where they did their photography, they must +have a perfectly good view of her, with Tom in the background, who had +placed himself so as to shut her into the recess of the window. This, +coupled with the evidence of her senses that the workmen up stairs had +ceased their work, and that a slow footstep traversing the floor now and +then was all that was audible, drove Lucilla to despair. + +"Yes," she said, temporising a little, which was the only thing she +could do, "I am sure I am very sorry; but then, you know, with the house +in such a condition! Next time you come I shall be able to enjoy your +society," said the designing young woman; "but at present I am _so_ +busy. It is one of my principles, you know, that things are never +rightly done if the lady of the house does not pay proper attention. +They are sure to make some dreadful mistake upstairs if I don't look +after them. I shall see you again before you go." + +"Lucilla, don't be so cruel!" cried the unlucky Tom, and he caught her +hand though they were at the window; "do stop a moment and listen to me. +Lucilla! what does it matter about furniture and things when a man's +heart is bursting?" cried the unfortunate lover; and just at that moment +Miss Marjoribanks could see that the curtain was drawn aside a +little--ever so little--in the glass-house. She sat down again with a +sigh, and drew her hand away, and prepared herself to meet her fate with +heroism at least. + +"What in the world can you have been doing?" said Lucilla innocently; +"you used always to tell me, you know, when you got into any difficulty, +and I am sure if I can be of any use to you, Tom----But as for furniture +and things, they matter a great deal, I assure you, to people's +happiness; and then, you know, it is the object of my life to be a +comfort to dear papa." + +When she said this, Miss Marjoribanks settled herself again in the +recess of the window, so that the Miss Browns could command a full view +if they chose; for Lucilla's courage was of the highest order, and +nothing, except, perhaps, a strategical necessity of profound +importance, would have moved her to retreat before an enemy. As for Tom, +he was bewildered, to start with, by this solemn repetition of her great +purpose. + +"I know how good you are, Lucilla," he said, with humility; "but then my +uncle, you know--I don't think he is a man to appreciate----Oh, +Lucilla! why should you go and sacrifice to him the happiness of your +life?" + +"Tom," said Miss Marjoribanks, with some solemnity, "I wish you would +not talk to me of happiness. I have always been brought up to believe +that duty was happiness; and everybody has known for a long time what +was the object of my life. As for poor papa, it is the worse for him if +he does not understand; but that does not make any difference to my +duty," said the devoted daughter. She gave a little sigh as she spoke, +the sigh of a great soul, whose motives must always remain to some +extent unappreciated; and the sight of her resignation and beautiful +perseverance overwhelmed her unlucky suitor; for indeed, up to this +moment, Lucilla still entertained the hope of preventing Tom from, as +she herself described it, "saying the very words," which, to be sure, +are awkward words to hear and to say. + +"Lucilla, when you are so good to my uncle, you ought to have a little +pity on me," said Tom, driven to the deepest despondency. "How do you +think I can bear it, to see you getting everything done here, as if you +meant to stay all your life--when you know I love you?" said the +unfortunate young man; "when you know I have always been so fond of you, +Lucilla, and always looked forward to the time----; and now it is very +hard to see you care so little for me." + +"Tom," said Miss Marjoribanks, with indignant surprise, "how _can_ you +say I care little for you? you know I was always very fond of you, on +the contrary. I am sure I always stood your friend at home, whatever +happened, and never said a word when you broke that pretty little pearl +ring I was so fond of, and tore the scarf that my aunt gave me. I +wonder, for my part, how you can be so unkind as so say so. We have +always been the very best friends in the world," said Lucilla, with an +air of injury. "I always said at school I liked you the best of all my +cousins; and I am very fond of all my cousins." Miss Marjoribanks +concluded, after a little pause, "It is so unkind to tell me that I +don't care for _you_." + +Poor Tom groaned within himself as he listened. He did not know what to +answer to Lucilla's aggrieved yet frank confession. Naturally it would +have been much less displeasing to Tom to understand that she hated him, +and never desired to see him any more. But Miss Marjoribanks was far +from entertaining any such unchristian sentiments. She even began to +forget her anxiety about what was going on upstairs in that delightful +sense of power and abundant resources with which she was mastering the +present difficulty. She reflected in herself that though it was +excessively annoying to be thus occupied at such a moment, still it was +nearly as important to make an end of Tom as to see that the pictures +were hung rightly; for, to be sure, it was always easy to return to the +latter subject. Accordingly, she drew her chair a little nearer to the +window, and regarded Tom with a calm gaze of benevolent interest which +was in perfect accordance with the sentiments she had just expressed; a +look in which a gentle reproach was mingled. "I have always been like a +sister to you," said Lucilla; "how can you be so unkind as to say I +don't care?" + +As for the unhappy Tom, he got up, as was natural, and took a little +walk in front of the table, as a young man in trouble is apt to do. "You +know very well that is not what I mean, Lucilla," he said +disconsolately. "It is you who are unkind. I don't know why it is that +ladies are so cruel; I am not such a snob as to persecute anybody. But +what is the good of pretending not to know what I mean?" + +"Tom, listen!" cried Miss Marjoribanks, rising in her turn; "I feel sure +they must have finished. There is Mr Holden going through the garden. +And everybody knows that hanging pictures is just the thing of all +others that requires a person of taste. If they have spoiled the room, +it will be all your fault." + +"Oh, for Heaven's sake never mind the room!" said Tom. "I never thought +you would have trifled with a man, Lucilla. You know quite well what I +mean; you know it isn't a--a new thing," said the lover, beginning to +stammer and get confused. "You know that is what I have been thinking of +all along, as soon as ever I had anything to live on. I love you, +Lucilla; you know I love you! how can you trifle with me so?" + +"It is you who are trifling," said Miss Marjoribanks, "especially when +you know I have really something of importance to do. You can come +upstairs with me if you like. Of course we all love each other. What is +the good of being relations otherwise?" said Lucilla calmly; "it is such +a natural thing, you know. I suppose it is because you are going away +that you are so affectionate to-day. It is very nice of you, I am sure; +but, Tom, I feel quite certain you have not packed your things," Miss +Marjoribanks added, in an admonitory tone. "Come along with me +upstairs." + +And by this time Lucilla's curiosity was beginning again to get the +upper hand. If she only could have escaped, it would have been +impossible for her cousin to have renewed the conversation; and luckily +he was to leave Carlingford the same evening; but then a man is always +an inconsequent creature, and not to be calculated on. This time, +instead of obeying as usual, Tom--having, as Miss Marjoribanks +afterwards described (but only in the strictest confidence), "worked +himself up to it"--set himself directly in her way, and seized upon both +her hands. + +"Lucilla," cried the unlucky fellow, "is it possible that you really +have misunderstood me all this time? Do you mean to say that you don't +know? Oh, Lucilla, listen just five minutes. It isn't because I am your +cousin. I wish to Heaven I was not your cousin, but some one you had +never seen before. I mean I want you to consent to--to--to--marry me, +Lucilla. That is what I mean. I am called to the bar, and I can work for +you, and make a reputation. Lucilla, listen to what I have to say." + +Miss Marjoribanks left her hands in his with a calmness which froze poor +Tom's heart in his breast. She did not even take the trouble to draw +them away. "Have you gone out of your senses, Tom?" she asked, in her +sensible way; and she lifted her eyes to the face of the poor young +fellow who was in love, with an inquiring look, as if she felt a little +anxious about him. "If you have any feeling as if fever was coming on," +said Lucilla, "I think you should go upstairs and lie down a little till +papa comes in. I heard there had been some cases down about the canal. I +hope it is not the assizes that have been too much for you." When Miss +Marjoribanks said this, she herself took fast hold of Tom's hands with a +motherly grasp to feel if they were hot, and looked into his eyes with a +certain serious inspection, which, under the circumstances, poor fellow! +was enough to drive him out of the little rationality he had left. + +Tom was so far carried away by his frenzy, that he gave her a little +shake in his impatience. "You are trying to drive me mad, Lucilla!" +cried the young man. "I have got no fever. It is only you who are +driving me out of my senses. This time you must hear me. I will not let +you go till you have given me an answer. I am called to the bar, and I +have begun my Career," said Tom, making a pause for breath. "I knew you +would have laughed at me when I was depending on my mother; but now all +that is over, Lucilla. I have loved you as long as I can remember; and I +always thought--that you--cared for me a little. If you will have me, +there is nothing I could not do," said Tom, who thoroughly believed what +he was saying; "and if you will not have me, I will not answer for the +consequences. If I go off to India, or if I go to the bad----" + +"Tom," said Lucilla solemnly, and this time she drew away her hands, "if +you ever want to get married, I think the very best thing you can do is +to go to India. As for marrying just now at your age, you know you might +as well jump into the sea. You need not be vexed," said Miss +Marjoribanks, in her motherly way. "I would not speak so if I was not +your best friend. As for marrying me, you know it is ridiculous. I have +not the least intention of marrying anybody. If I had thought of that, I +need never have come home at all. As for your going to the bad, I am not +afraid of that. If I were to let you carry on with such a ridiculous +idea, I should never forgive myself. It would be just as sensible to go +into a lunatic asylum at once. It is very lucky for you that you said +this to _me_," Lucilla went on, "and not to one of the girls that think +it great fun to be married. And if I were you, Tom, I would go and pack +my things. You know you are always too late; and don't jump on your +portmanteau and make such a dreadful noise if it won't shut, but ring +the bell for Thomas. You know we are to dine at half-past five to-day, +to give you time for the train." + +These were the last words Tom Marjoribanks heard as Lucilla left the +room. She ran up to the drawing-room without losing a minute, and burst +in upon the vacant place where Mr Holden had stood so long waiting for +her. To be sure, Miss Marjoribanks's forebodings were so far fulfilled +that the St Cecilia, which she meant to have over the piano, was hung +quite in the other corner of the room, by reason of being just the same +size as another picture at the opposite angle, which the workmen, +sternly symmetrical, thought it necessary to "match." But, after all, +that was a trifling defect. She stood in the middle of the room, and +surveyed the walls, well pleased, with a heart which kept beating very +steadily in her bosom. On the whole, perhaps, she was not sorry to have +had it out with Tom. So far as he was personally concerned, Miss +Marjoribanks, being a physician's daughter, had great faith in the _vis +medicatrix_, and was not afraid for her cousin's health or his morals, +as a less experienced woman might have been. If she was angry with +anybody, it was with herself, who had not taken sufficient precautions +to avoid the explanation. "But, after all, everything is for the best," +Lucilla said to herself, with that beautiful confidence which is common +to people who have things their own way; and she devoted her mind to the +St Cecilia, and paid no more attention to Tom. It was not till more than +an hour after that a succession of dreadful thumps was not only heard +but felt throughout the house. It was Tom, but he was not doing any harm +to himself. He was not blowing out his brains or knocking his head +against the wall. He was only jumping on his portmanteau, +notwithstanding that Lucilla had warned him against such a +proceeding--and in his state of mind the jumps were naturally more +frantic than usual. When Lucilla heard it, she rang the bell, and told +Thomas to go and help Mr Tom with his packing; from which it will be +seen that Miss Marjoribanks bore no grudge against her cousin but was +disposed to send him forth in friendship and peace. + + + + +_Chapter X_ + + +It was nearly six weeks after this before all Miss Marjoribanks's +arrangements were completed, and she was able with satisfaction to +herself to begin her campaign. It was just before Christmas, at the time +above all others when society has need of a ruling spirit. For example, +Mrs Chiley expected the Colonel's niece, Mary Chiley, who had been +married about six months before, and who was not fond of her husband's +friends, and at the same time had no home of her own to go to, being an +orphan. The Colonel had invited the young couple by way of doing a kind +thing, but he grumbled a little at the necessity, and had never liked +the fellow, he said--and then what were two old people to do to amuse +them? Then Mrs Centum had her two eldest boys home from school, and was +driven out of her senses by the noise and the racket, as she confided to +her visitors. "It is all very well to make pretty pictures about +Christmas," said the exasperated mother, "but I should like to know how +one can enjoy anything with such a commotion going on. I get up every +morning with a headache, I assure you; and then Mr Centum expects me to +be cheerful when he comes in to dinner; men are so unreasonable. I +should like to know what _they_ would do if they had what we have to go +through: to look after all the servants--and they are always out of +their senses at Christmas--and to see that the children don't have too +much pudding, and to support all the noise. The holidays are the hardest +work a poor woman can have," she concluded, with a sigh; and when it is +taken into consideration that this particular Christmas was a wet +Christmas, without any frost or possibility of amusement out of doors, +English matrons in general will not refuse their sympathy to Mrs Centum. +Mrs Woodburn perhaps was equally to be pitied in a different way. She +had to receive several members of her husband's family, who were, like +Miss Marjoribanks, without any sense of humour, and who stared, and did +not in the least understand her when she "took off" any of her +neighbours; not to say that some of them were Low-Church, and thought +the practice sinful. Under these circumstances it will be readily +believed that the commencement of Lucilla's operations was looked upon +with great interest in Carlingford. It was so opportune that society +forgot its usual instincts of criticism, and forgave Miss Marjoribanks +for being more enlightened and enterprising than her neighbours; and +then most people were very anxious to see the drawing-room, now it had +been restored. + +This was a privilege, however, not accorded to the crowd. Mrs Chiley had +seen it under a vow of secrecy, and Mr Cavendish owned to having made a +run upstairs one evening after one of Dr Marjoribanks's little dinners, +when the other _convives_ were in the library, where Lucilla had erected +her temporary throne. But this clandestine inspection met with the +failure it deserved, for there was no light in the room except the +moonlight, which made three white blotches on the carpet where the +windows were, burying everything else in the profoundest darkness; and +the spy knocked his foot against something which reduced him to sudden +and well-merited agony. As for Mrs Chiley, she was discretion itself, +and would say nothing even to her niece. "I mean to work her a footstool +in water-lilies, my dear, like the one I did for you when you were +married," the old lady said; and that was the only light she would throw +on the subject. "My opinion is that it must be in crimson," Mrs Woodburn +said, when she heard this, "for I know your aunt's water-lilies. When I +see them growing, I always think of you. It would be quite like Lucilla +Marjoribanks to have it in crimson--for it is a cheerful colour, you +know, and quite different from the old furniture; and that would always +be a comfort to her dear papa." From this it will be seen that the +curiosity of Carlingford was excited to a lively extent. Many people +even went so far as to give the Browns a sitting in their glass-house, +with the hope of having a peep at the colour of the hangings at least. +But Miss Marjoribanks was too sensible a woman to leave her virgin +drawing-room exposed to the sun when there was any, and to the +photographers, who were perhaps more dangerous. "I think it is blue, for +my part," said Miss Brown, who had got into the habit of rising early in +hopes of finding the Doctor's household off its guard. "Lucilla was +always a great one for blue; she thinks it is becoming to her +complexion;" which, indeed, as the readers of this history are aware, +was a matter of fact. As for Miss Marjoribanks, she did her best to +keep up this agreeable mystery. "For my part, I am fond of neutral +tints," she herself said, when she was questioned on the subject; +"anybody who knows me can easily guess my taste. I should have been born +a Quaker, you know, I do so like the drabs and grays, and all those soft +colours. You can have as much red and green as you like abroad, where +the sun is strong, but here it would be bad style," said Lucilla; from +which the most simple-minded of her auditors drew the natural +conclusion. Thus all the world contemplated with excitement the first +Thursday which was to open this enchanted chamber to their admiring +eyes. "Don't expect any regular invitation," Miss Marjoribanks said. "I +hope you will all come, or as many of you as can. Papa has always some +men to dinner with him that day, you know, and it is so dreadfully slow +for me with a heap of men. That is why I fixed on Thursday. I want you +to come every week, so it would be absurd to send an invitation; and +remember it is not a party, only an Evening," said Lucilla. "I shall +wear a white frock high, as I always do. Now be sure you come." + +"But we can't all go in high white frocks," said Mrs Chiley's niece, +Mary, who, if her trousseau had been subtracted from the joys of +marriage, would not, poor soul! have found very much left. This +intimation dismayed the bride a little; for, to be sure, she had decided +which dress she was to wear before Lucilla spoke. + +"But, my dear, you are married," said Miss Marjoribanks; "that makes it +quite different: come in that pretty pink that is so becoming. I don't +want to have any dowdies, for my part; and don't forget that I shall +expect you all at nine o'clock." + +When she had said this, Miss Marjoribanks proceeded on her way, sowing +invitations and gratification round her. She asked the youngest Miss +Brown to bring her music, in recognition of her ancient claims as the +songstress of society in Carlingford; for Lucilla had all that regard +for constituted rights which is so necessary to a revolutionary of the +highest class. She had no desire to shock anybody's prejudices or wound +anybody's feelings. "And she has a nice little voice," Lucilla said to +herself, with the most friendly and tolerant feelings. Thus Miss +Marjoribanks prepared to establish her kingdom with a benevolence which +was almost Utopian, not upon the ruins of other thrones, but with the +goodwill and co-operation of the lesser powers, who were, to be sure, +too feeble to resist her advance, but whose rights she was quite ready +to recognise, and even to promote, in her own way. + +At the same time it is necessary here to indicate a certain vague and +not disagreeable danger, which appeared to some experienced persons to +shadow Lucilla's conquering way. Mr Cavendish, who was a young man of +refinement, not to say that he had a very nice property, had begun to +pay attention to Miss Marjoribanks in what Mrs Chiley thought quite a +marked manner. To be sure, he could not pretend to the honour of taking +her in to dinner, which was not his place, being a young man; but he did +what was next best, and manoeuvred to get the place on her left hand, +which, in a party composed chiefly of men, was not difficult to manage. +For, to tell the truth, most of the gentlemen present were at that +special moment more interested in the dinner than in Lucilla. And after +dinner it was Mr Cavendish who was the first to leave the room; and to +hear the two talking about all the places they had been to, and all the +people they had met, was as good as a play, Mrs Chiley said. Mr +Cavendish confided to Lucilla his opinions upon things in general, and +accepted the reproofs which she administered (for Miss Marjoribanks was +quite unquestionable in her orthodoxy, and thought it a duty, as she +said, always to speak with respect of religion) when his sentiments were +too speculative, and said, "How charming is divine philosophy!" so as, +for the moment, to dazzle Lucilla herself, who thought it a very pretty +compliment. He came to her assistance when she made tea, and generally +fulfilled all the duties which are expected of a man who is paying +attention to a young lady. Old Mrs Chiley watched the nascent regard +with her kind old grandmotherly eyes. She calculated over in her own +mind the details of his possessions, so far as the public was aware of +them, and found them on the whole satisfactory. He had a nice property, +and then he was a very nice, indeed an unexceptionable young man; and to +add to this, it had been agreed to between Colonel Chiley and Mr Centum, +and several other of the leading people in Carlingford, that he was the +most likely man to represent the borough when old Mr Chiltern, who was +always threatening to retire, fulfilled his promise. Mr Cavendish had a +very handsome house a little out of town, where a lady would be next +thing to a county lady--indeed, quite a county lady, if her husband was +the Member for Carlingford. + +All these thoughts passed through Mrs Chiley's mind, and, as was +natural, in the precious moments after dinner, were suggested in +occasional words of meaning to the understanding ear of Miss +Marjoribanks. "My dear Lucilla, it is just the position that would suit +you--with your talents!" the old lady said; and Lucilla did not say No. +To be sure, she had not at the present moment the least inclination to +get married, as she truly said; it would, indeed, to tell the truth, +disturb her plans considerably; but still, if such was the intention of +Providence, and if it was to the Member for Carlingford, Lucilla felt +that it was still credible that everything might be for the best. + +"But it is a great deal too soon to think of anything of that sort," +Miss Marjoribanks would reply. "If I had thought of that, I need never +have come home at all; and especially when papa has been so good about +everything." Yet for all that she was not ungracious to Mr Cavendish +when he came in first as usual. To marry a man in his position would +not, after all, be deranging her plans to any serious extent. Indeed, it +would, if his hopes were realised, constitute Lucilla a kind of queen in +Carlingford, and she could not but feel that, under these circumstances, +it might be a kind of duty to reconsider her resolution. And thus the +time passed while the drawing-room was undergoing renovation. Mr +Cavendish had been much tantalised, she said, by the absence of the +piano, which prevented them from having any music, and Lucilla had even +been tempted into a few snatches of song, which, to tell the truth, some +of the gentlemen present, especially the Doctor himself and Colonel +Chiley, being old-fashioned, preferred without the accompaniment. And +thus it was, under the most brilliant auspices, and with the full +confidence of all her future constituency, that Miss Marjoribanks +superintended the arrangement of the drawing-room on that momentous +Thursday, which was to be the real beginning of her great work in +Carlingford. + +"My dear, you must leave yourself entirely in my hands," Lucilla said to +Barbara Lake on the morning of that eventful day. "Don't get impatient. +I dare say you don't know many people, and it may be a little slow for +you at first; but everybody has to put up with that, you know, for a +beginning. And, by the bye, what are you going to wear?" + +"I have not thought about it," said Barbara, who had the painful pride +of poverty, aggravated much by a sense that the comforts of other people +were an injury to her. Poor soul! she had been thinking of little else +for at least a week past; and then she had not very much choice in her +wardrobe; but her disposition was one which rejected sympathy, and she +thought it would look best to pretend to be indifferent. At the same +time, she said this with a dull colour on her cheeks, the colour of +irritation; and she could not help asking herself why Lucilla, who was +not so handsome as she was, had the power to array herself in gorgeous +apparel, while she, Barbara, had nothing but a white frock. There are +differences even in white frocks, though the masculine mind may be +unaware of them. Barbara's muslin had been washed six times, and had a +very different air from the vestal robes of her patroness. To be sure, +Lucilla was not taken in, in the least, by her companion's look of +indifference, and would even have been delighted to bestow a pretty +dress upon Barbara, if that had been a possible thing to do. + +"There will be no dress," said Miss Marjoribanks, with solemnity. "I +have insisted upon that. You know it is not a party, it is only an +Evening. A white frock, _high_--that is all I mean to wear; and mind you +don't lose patience. I shall keep my eye on you; and after the first, I +feel sure you will enjoy yourself. Good-bye for the present." When she +had uttered these encouraging words. Miss Marjoribanks went away to +pursue her preparations, and Barbara proceeded to get out her dress and +examine it. It was as important to her as all the complicated +paraphernalia of the evening's arrangements were to Lucilla. It is true +that there were greater interests involved in the case of the leader; +but then Barbara was the soldier of fortune who had to open the oyster +with her sword, and she was feeling the point of it metaphorically while +she pulled out the breadths of her white dress, and tried to think that +they would not look limp at night; and what her sentiments lost in +breadth, as compared with Lucilla's, they gained in intensity, for--for +anything she could tell--her life might change colour by means of this +Thursday Evening; and such, indeed, was her hope. Barbara prepared for +her first appearance in Grange Lane, with a mind wound up to any degree +of daring. It did not occur to her that she required to keep faith with +Miss Marjoribanks in anything except the duet. As regarded other +matters, Barbara was quite unscrupulous, for at the bottom she could not +but feel that any one who was kind to her was taking an unwarrantable +liberty. What right had Lucilla Marjoribanks to be kind to her? as if +she was not as good as Lucilla any day! and though it might be worth her +while to take advantage of it for the moment, it was still an insult, in +its way, to be avenged if an opportunity ever should arise. + +The evening came, as evenings do come, quite indifferently whether +people are glad or sorry; and it was with a calmness which the other +ladies regarded as next to miraculous, that Miss Marjoribanks took +Colonel Chiley's arm to go to the dining-room. We say the other ladies, +for on this great occasion Mrs Centum and Mrs Woodburn were both among +the dinner-guests. "To see her eat her dinner as if she had nothing on +her mind!" Mrs Centum said in amazement: "as for me, though nobody can +blame me if anything goes wrong, I could enjoy nothing for thinking of +it. And I must say I was disappointed with the dinner," she added, with +a certain air of satisfaction, in Mrs Woodburn's ear. It was when they +were going upstairs, and Lucilla was behind with Mrs Chiley. "The fuss +the men have always made about these dinners! and except for a few made +dishes that were really nothing, you know, I can't say _I_ saw anything +particular in it. And as for Lucilla, I can't think she has any +feeling," said the banker's wife. + +"Oh, my dear, it is because you don't understand," said Mrs Woodburn. +"She is kept up, you know, by a sense of duty. It is all because she has +set her heart on being a comfort to her dear papa!" + +Such, it is true, were the comments that were made upon the +public-spirited young woman who was doing so much for Carlingford; but +then Lucilla only shared the fate of all the great benefactors of the +world. An hour later the glories of the furniture were veiled and hidden +by the robes of a radiant flood of society, embracing all that was most +fair and all that was most distinguished in Carlingford. No doubt there +was a world of heterogeneous elements; but then if there had not been +difficulties where would have been the use of Miss Marjoribanks's +genius? Mr Bury and his sister, who had been unconsciously mollified by +the admirable dinner provided for them downstairs, found some stray +lambs in the assembly who were in need of them, and thus had the double +satisfaction of combining pleasure with duty; and though there were +several people in the room whose lives were a burden to them in +consequence of Mrs Woodburn's remarkable gift, even they found it +impossible not to be amused by an occasional representation of an +absent individual, or by the dashing sketch of Lucilla, which she gave +at intervals in her corner, amid the smothered laughter of the audience, +who were half ashamed of themselves. "She is never ill-tempered, you +know," the persons who felt themselves threatened in their turn said to +each other with a certain piteous resignation; and oddly enough it was +in general the most insignificant people about who were afraid of Mrs +Woodburn. It is needless to say that such a dread never entered the +serene intelligence of Miss Marjoribanks, who believed in herself with a +reasonable and steady faith. As for old Mrs Chiley, who had so many +funny little ways, and whom the mimic executed to perfection, she also +was quite calm on the subject. "You know there is nothing to take off in +me," the old lady would say; "I always was a simple body: and then I am +old enough to be all your grandmothers, my dear;" which was a saying +calculated, as Miss Marjoribanks justly observed, to melt a heart of +stone. + +Then the Miss Browns had brought their photographs, in which most people +in Grange Lane were caricatured hideously, but with such a charming +equality that the most _exigeant_ forgave the wrong to himself in +laughing at his neighbours. Miss Brown had brought her music too, and +sang her feeble little strain to the applause of her immediate +neighbours, and to the delight of those who were at a distance, and who +could talk louder and flirt more openly under cover of the music; and +there were other young ladies who had also come prepared with a little +roll of songs or "pieces." Lucilla, with her finger as it were upon the +pulse of the company, let them all exhibit their powers with that +enlightened impartiality which we have already remarked in her. When Mr +Cavendish came to her in his ingratiating way, and asked her how she +could possibly let all the sparrows chirp like that when the nightingale +was present, Miss Marjoribanks proved herself proof to the flattery. She +said, "Do go away, like a good man, and make yourself agreeable. There +are so few men, you know, who can flirt in Carlingford. I have always +reckoned upon you as such a valuable assistant. It is always an +advantage to have a man who flirts," said Miss Marjoribanks. This was a +sentiment perhaps too large and enlightened, in the truest sense of the +word, to meet, as it ought to have done, with the applause of her +audience. Most of the persons immediately surrounding her thought, +indeed, that it was a mere _bon-mot_ to which Lucilla had given +utterance, and laughed accordingly; but it is needless to explain that +these were persons quite unable to understand her genius. + +All this time she was keeping her eyes upon a figure in the corner of a +sofa, which looked as if it was glued there, and kept staring defiance +at the world in general from under black and level brows. Lucilla, it is +true, had introduced Barbara Lake in the most flattering way to Mrs +Chiley, and to some of the young ladies present; but then she was a +stranger, and an intruder into those regions of the blest, and she could +not help feeling so. If her present companions had not whispered among +themselves, "Miss Lake! what Miss Lake? Good gracious! Lake the +drawing-master's daughter!" she herself would still have reminded +herself of her humble paternity. Barbara sat as if she could not move +from that corner, looking out upon everybody with scared eyes, which +expressed nothing but defiance, and in her own mind making the +reflections of bitter poverty upon the airy pretty figures round her, in +all the variations of that costume which Miss Marjoribanks had announced +as the standard of dress for the evening. Barbara's muslin, six times +washed, was not more different from the spotless lightness of all the +draperies round her, than was her air of fright, and at the same time of +defiance, from the gay babble and pleasant looks of the group which, by +a chance combination, she seemed to form part of. She began to say to +herself that she had much better go away, and that there never could be +anything in common between those frivolous creatures and herself, a poor +man's daughter; and she began to get dreadfully exasperated with +Lucilla, who had beguiled her into this scene, to make game of her, as +poor Barbara said; though, so far from making game of her, nobody took +much notice, after the first unsuccessful attempt at conversation, of +the unfortunate young woman. It was when she was in this unhappy humour +that her eye fell upon Mr Cavendish, who was in the act of making the +appeal to Lucilla which we have already recorded. Barbara had never as +yet had a lover, but she had read an unlimited number of novels, which +came to nearly the same thing, and she saw at a glance that this was +somebody who resembled the indispensable hero. She looked at him with a +certain fierce interest, and remembered at that instant how often in +books it is the humble heroine, behind backs, whom all the young ladies +snub, who wins the hero at the last. And then Miss Marjoribanks, though +she sent him away, smiled benignantly upon him. The colour flushed to +Barbara's cheeks, and her eyes, which had grown dull and fixed between +fright and spite, took sudden expression under her straight brows. An +intention, which was not so much an intention as an instinct, suddenly +sprang into life within her, and, without knowing, she drew a long +breath of eagerness and impotence. He was standing quite near by this +time, doing his duty according to Miss Marjoribanks's orders, and +flirting with all his might; and Barbara looked at him as a hungry +schoolboy might be supposed to look at a tempting apple just out of his +reach. How was she to get at this suitor of Lucilla's? It would have +given her so pure a delight to tear down the golden apple, and tread on +it, and trample it to nothing; and then it came into her head that it +might be good to eat as well. + +It was at this moment that Miss Marjoribanks, who was in six places at +once, suddenly touched Barbara's shoulder. "Come with me a minute; I +want to show you something," she said loud out. Barbara, on her side, +looked round with a crimson countenance, feeling that her secret +thoughts must be written in her guilty eyes. But then these were eyes +which could be utterly destitute of expression when they pleased, though +their owner, at present just at the beginning of her experience, was not +quite aware of the fact. She stumbled to her feet with the awkward +motion natural to that form of shyness which her temper and her +temperament united to produce in her. She did all but put her foot +through Miss Brown's delicate skirt, and she had neither the natural +disposition nor the acquired grace which can carry off one of those +trifling offences against society. Nevertheless, as she stood beside +Lucilla at the piano, the company in general owned a little thrill of +curiosity. Who was she? A girl with splendid black hair, with brows as +level as if they had been made with a line, with intense eyes which +looked a little oblique under that straight bar of shadow. Her dress was +limp, but she was not such a figure as could be passed over even at an +evening party; and then her face was a little flushed, and her eyes lit +up with excitement. She seemed to survey everybody with that defiant +look which was chiefly awkwardness and temper, but which looked like +pride when she was standing up at her full height, and in a conspicuous +position, where everybody could see her. Most people concluded she was +an Italian whom Lucilla had picked up somewhere in her travels. As for +Mr Cavendish, he stopped short altogether in the occupation which Miss +Marjoribanks had allotted to him, and drew close to the piano. He +thought he had seen the face somewhere under a shabby bonnet in some +by-street of Carlingford, and he was even sufficiently learned in female +apparel to observe the limpness of her dress. + +This preface of curiosity had all been foreseen by Miss Marjoribanks, +and she paused a moment, under pretence of selecting her music, to take +the full advantage of it: for Lucilla, like most persons of elevated +aims, was content to sacrifice herself to the success of her work; and +then all at once, before the Carlingford people knew what they were +doing, the two voices rose, bursting upon the astonished community like +a sudden revelation. For it must be remembered that nobody in +Carlingford, except the members of Dr Marjoribanks's dinner-party, had +ever heard Lucilla sing, much less her companion; and the account which +these gentlemen had carried home to their wives had been generally +pooh-poohed and put down. "Mr Centum never listens to a note if he can +help it," said the banker's wife, "and how could he know whether she had +a nice voice or not?" which, indeed, was a powerful argument. But this +evening there could be no mistake about it. The words were arrested on +the very lips of the talkers; Mrs Woodburn paused in the midst of doing +Lucilla, and, as we have before said, Mr Cavendish broke a flirtation +clean off at its most interesting moment. It is impossible to record +what they sang, for those events, as everybody is aware, happened a good +many years ago, and the chances are that the present generation has +altogether forgotten the duet which made so extraordinary an impression +on the inhabitants of Grange Lane. The applause with which the +performance was received reached the length of a perfect ovation. +Barbara, for her part, who was not conscious of having ever been +applauded before, flushed into splendid crimson, and shone out from +under her straight eyebrows, intoxicated into absolute beauty. As for +Miss Marjoribanks, she took it more calmly. Lucilla had the advantage of +knowing what she could do, and accordingly she was not surprised when +people found it remarkable. She consented, on urgent persuasion, to +repeat the last verse of the duet, but when that was over, was smilingly +obdurate. "Almost everybody can sing," said Miss Marjoribanks, with a +magnificent depreciation of her own gift. "Perhaps Miss Brown will sing +us something; but as for me, you know, I am the mistress of the house." + +Lucilla went away as she spoke to attend to her guests, but she left +Barbara still crimson and splendid, triumphing over her limp dress and +all her disadvantages, by the piano. Fortunately, for that evening +Barbara's pride and her shyness prevented her from yielding to the +repeated demands addressed to her by the admiring audience. She said to +Mr Cavendish, with a disloyalty which that gentleman thought piquant, +that "Miss Marjoribanks would not be pleased"; and the future Member for +Carlingford thought he could not do better than obey the injunctions of +the mistress of the feast by a little flirtation with the gifted +unknown. To be sure, Barbara was not gifted in talk, and she was still +defiant and contradictory; but then her eyes were blazing with +excitement under her level eyebrows, and she was as willing to be +flirted with as if she had known a great deal better. And then Mr +Cavendish had a weakness for a contralto. While this little by-play was +going on, Lucilla was moving about, the centre of a perfect tumult of +applause. No more complete success could be imagined than that of this +first Thursday Evening, which was remarkable in the records of +Carlingford; and yet perhaps Miss Marjoribanks, like other conquerors, +was destined to build her victory upon sacrifice. She did not feel any +alarm at the present moment; but even if she had, that would have made +no difference to Lucilla's proceedings. She was not the woman to shrink +from a sacrifice when it was for the promotion of the great object of +her life; and that, as everybody knew who knew Miss Marjoribanks, was to +be a comfort to her dear papa. + + + + +_Chapter XI_ + + +"You have never told us who your unknown was," said Mr Cavendish. "I +suppose she is professional. Carlingford could not possibly possess two +such voices in private life." + +"Oh, I don't know about two such voices," said Miss Marjoribanks; "her +voice suits mine, you know. It is always a great thing to find two +voices that suit. I never would choose to have professional singers, for +my part. You have to give yourself up to music when you do such a thing; +and that is not my idea of society. I am very fond of music," said +Lucilla--"excessively fond of it; but then everybody is not of my +opinion--and one has to take so many things into consideration. For +people who give one party in the year it does very well--but then I hate +parties: the only pleasure in society is when one's friends come to see +one without any ado." + +"In white frocks, _high_," said Mrs Woodburn, who could not help +assuming Lucilla's manner for the moment, even while addressing herself; +but as the possibility of such a _lèse-majesté_ did not even occur to +Miss Marjoribanks, she accepted the observation in good faith. + +"Yes; I hate a grand toilette when it is only a meeting of friends," she +said--"for the girls, you know; of course you married ladies can always +do what you like. You have your husbands to please," said Lucilla. And +this was a little hard upon her satirist, for, to tell the truth, that +was a particular of domestic duty to which Mrs Woodburn did not much +devote herself, according to the opinion of Grange Lane. + +"But about the contralto," said Mr Cavendish, who had come to call on +Miss Marjoribanks under his sister's wing, and desired above all things +to keep the peace between the two ladies, as indeed is a man's duty +under such circumstances. "You are always statesmanlike in your views; +but I cannot understand why you let poor little Molly Brown carry on her +chirping when you had such an astonishing force in reserve. She must +have been covered with confusion, the poor little soul." + +"Nothing of the sort," said Mrs Woodburn, pursuing her favourite +occupation as usual. "She only said, 'Goodness me! how high Lucilla +goes! Do you like that dreadfully high music?' and made little +eyebrows." To be sure, the mimic made Miss Brown's eyebrows, and spoke +in her voice, so that even Lucilla found it a little difficult to keep +her gravity. But then Miss Marjoribanks was defended by her mission, and +she felt in her heart that, representing public interest as she did, it +was her duty to avoid all complicity in any attack upon an individual; +and consequently, to a certain extent, it was her duty also to put Mrs +Woodburn down. + +"Molly Brown has a very nice little voice," said Lucilla, with most +disheartening gravity. "I like to hear her sing, for my part--the only +thing is that she wants cultivation a little. It doesn't matter much you +know, whether or not you have a voice to begin with. It is cultivation +that is the thing," said Miss Marjoribanks deliberately. "I hope you +_really_ thought it was a pleasant evening. Of course everybody said so +to me; but then one can never put any faith in that. I have said it +myself ever so many times when I am sure I did not mean it. For myself, +I don't give any importance to the first evening. Anybody can do a thing +once, you know; the second and the third, and so on--that is the real +test. But I hope you thought it pleasant so far as it went." + +"It was a great deal more than pleasant," said Mr Cavendish; "and as for +your conception of social politics, it is masterly," the future M.P. +added, in a tone which struck Lucilla as very significant; not that she +cared particularly about Mr Cavendish's meaning, but still, when a young +man who intends to go into Parliament congratulates a young lady upon +her statesmanlike views, and her conception of politics, it must be +confessed that it looks a little particular; and then, if that was what +he meant, it was no doubt Lucilla's duty to make up her mind. + +"Oh, you know, I went through a course of political economy at Mount +Pleasant," she said, with a laugh. "One of the Miss Blounts was +dreadfully strong-minded. I wonder, for my part, that she did not make +me literary; but fortunately I escaped that." + +"Heaven be praised!" said Mr Cavendish. "I think you ought to be Prime +Minister. That contralto of yours is charming raw material; but if I +were you I would put her through an elementary course. She knows how to +sing, but she does not know how to move; and as for talking, she seems +to expect to be insulted. If you make a pretty-behaved young lady out of +that, you will beat Adam Smith." + +"Oh, I don't know much about Adam Smith," said Miss Marjoribanks. "I +think Miss Martha thought him rather old-fashioned. As for poor Barbara, +she is only a little shy, but that will soon wear off. I don't see what +need she has to talk--or to move either, for that matter. I thought she +did very well indeed for a girl who never goes into society. Was it not +clever of me to find her out the very first day I was in Carlingford? It +has always been so difficult to find a voice that went perfectly with +mine." + +"For my part, I think it was a great deal more than clever," said Mr +Cavendish; for Mrs Woodburn, finding herself unappreciated, was silent +and making notes. "It was a stroke of genius. So her name is Barbara? I +wonder if it would be indiscreet to ask where Mademoiselle Barbara comes +from, or if she belongs to anybody, or lives anywhere. My own impression +is that you mean to keep her shut up in a box all the week through, and +produce her only on the Thursday evenings. I have a weakness for a fine +contralto. If she had been existing in an ordinary habitation like other +people in Carlingford, I should have heard her, or heard of her. It is +clear to me that you keep her shut up in a box." + +"Exactly," said Lucilla. "I don't mean to tell you anything about her. +You may be sure, now I have found her out, I mean to keep her for +myself. Her box is quite a pretty one, like what Gulliver had somewhere. +It is just time for lunch, and you are both going to stay, I hope; and +there is poor Mary Chiley and her husband coming through the garden. +What a pity it is he is such a goose!" + +"Yes; but you know she never would take her uncle's advice, my dear," +said the incorrigible mimic, putting on Mrs Chiley's face; "and being an +orphan, what could anybody do? And then she does not get on with _his_ +family. By the way," Mrs Woodburn said, falling into her natural +tone--"I wonder if anybody ever does get on with her husband's family?" +The question was one which was a little grave to herself at the moment; +and this was the reason why she returned to her identity--for there was +no telling how long the Woodburns, who had come for Christmas, meant to +stay. "I shall be quite interested to watch _you_, Lucilla, when it +comes to be your turn, and see how you manage," she went on, with a keen +look at Miss Marjoribanks; and Mr Cavendish laughed. He too looked at +her, and Lucilla felt herself in rather a delicate position: not that +she was agitated, as might have been the case had the future M.P. for +Carlingford "engaged her affections," as she herself would have said. +Fortunately these young affections were quite free as yet; but +nevertheless Miss Marjoribanks felt that the question was a serious one, +as coming from the sister of a gentleman who was undeniably paying her +attention. She did not in the least wish to alarm a leading member of a +family into which it was possible she might enter; and then at the same +time she intended to reserve fully all her individual rights. + +"I always make it a point never to shock anybody's prejudices," said +Miss Marjoribanks. "I should do just the same with _them_ as with other +people; all you have to do is to show from the first that you mean to be +good friends with everybody. But then I am so lucky: I can _always_ get +on with people," said Lucilla, rising to greet the two unfortunates who +had come to Colonel Chiley's to spend a merry Christmas, and who did not +know what to do with themselves. And then they all went downstairs and +lunched together very pleasantly. As for Mr Cavendish, he was "quite +devoted," as poor Mary Chiley said, with a touch of envy. To be sure, +her trousseau was still in its full glory; but yet life under the +conditions of marriage was not nearly such fun as it had been when she +was a young lady, and had some one paying attention to her: and she +rather grudged Lucilla that climax of existence, notwithstanding her own +superior standing and dignity as a married lady. And Mrs Woodburn too +awoke from her study of the stupid young husband to remark upon her +brother's behaviour: she had not seen the two together so often as Mrs +Chiley had done, and consequently this was the first time that the +thought had occurred to her. She too had been born "one of the +Cavendishes," as it was common to say in Carlingford, with a certain +imposing yet vague grandeur--and she was a little shocked, like any good +sister, at the first idea. She watched Lucilla's movements and looks +with a quite different kind of attention after this idea struck her, and +made a rapid private calculation as to who Dr Marjoribanks's connections +were, and what he would be likely to give his daughter; so that it is +evident that Lucilla did not deceive herself, but that Mr Cavendish's +attentions must have been marked indeed. + +This was the little cloud which arose, as we have said, no bigger than a +man's hand, over Miss Marjoribanks's prosperous way. When the luncheon +was over and they had all gone, Lucilla took a few minutes to think it +over before she went out. It was not that she was unduly flattered by Mr +Cavendish's attentions, as might have happened to an inexperienced young +woman; for Lucilla, with her attractions and genius, had not reached the +mature age of nineteen without receiving the natural homage of mankind +on several clearly-defined occasions. But then the present case had +various features peculiar to itself, which prevented Lucilla from +crushing it in the bud, as she had meant to do with her cousin's +ill-fated passion. She had to consider, in the first place, her mission +in Carlingford, which was more important than anything else; but though +Miss Marjoribanks had vowed herself to the reorganisation of society in +her native town, she had not by any means vowed that it was absolutely +as Miss Marjoribanks that she was to accomplish that renovation. And +then there was something in the very idea of being M.P. for Carlingford +which moved the mind of Lucilla. It was a perfectly ideal position for a +woman of her views, and seemed to offer the very field that was +necessary for her ambition. This was the reason, of all others, which +made her less careful to prevent Mr Cavendish from "saying the words" +than she had been with Tom. To be sure, it would be a trial to leave the +drawing-room after it had just been furnished so entirely to her +liking--not to say to her complexion; but still it was a sacrifice which +might be made. It was in this way that Miss Marjoribanks prepared +herself for the possible modifications which circumstances might impose. +She did not make any rash resolution to resist a change which, on the +whole, might possibly be "for the best," but prepared herself to take +everything into consideration, and possibly to draw from it a superior +good: in short, she looked upon the matter as a superior mind, trained +in sound principles of political economy, might be expected to look upon +the possible vicissitudes of fortune, with an enlightened regard to the +uses of all things, and to the comparative values on either side. + +Barbara Lake, as it happened, was out walking at the very moment when +Miss Marjoribanks sat down to consider this question. She had gone to +the School of Design to meet Rose, with an amiability very unusual in +her. Rose had made such progress, after leaving Mount Pleasant, under +her father's care, and by the help of that fine feeling for art which +has been mentioned in the earlier part of this history, that the charge +of the female pupils in the School of Design had been confided to her, +with a tiny little salary, which served Mr Lake as an excuse for keeping +his favourite little daughter with him. Nothing could be supposed more +unlike Barbara than her younger sister, who just came up to her +shoulder, and was twice as serviceable and active and "nice," according +to the testimony of all the children. Barbara had led her father a hard +life, poor man! the time that Rose was at Mount Pleasant; but now that +his assistant had come back again, the poor drawing-master had recovered +all his old spirits. She was just coming out of the School of Design, +with her portfolio under her arm, when Barbara met her. There were not +many pupils, it is true, but still there were enough to worry poor Rose, +who was not an imposing personage, and who was daily wounded by the +discovery that after all there are but a limited number of persons in +this world, especially in the poorer classes of the community, and under +the age of sixteen, who have a feeling for art. It was utterly +inconceivable to the young teacher how her girls could be so clever as +to find out each a different way of putting the sublime features of the +Belveder Apollo out of drawing, and she was still revolving this +difficult problem when her sister joined her. Barbara, for her part, was +occupied with thoughts of a hero much more interesting than he of +Olympus. She was flushed and eager, and looking very handsome under her +shabby bonnet; and her anxiety to have a _confidante_ was so great that +she made a dart at Rose, and grasped her by the arm under which she was +carrying her portfolio, to the great discomposure of the young artist. +She asked, with a little anxiety, "What is the matter? is there anything +wrong at home?" and made a rapid movement to get to the other side. + +"Oh, Rose," said Barbara, panting with haste and agitation, "only fancy; +I have just seen him. I met him right in front of Masters's, and he took +off his hat to me. I feel in such a way--I can scarcely speak." + +"Met--who?" said Rose--for she was imperfect in her grammar, like most +people in a moment of emergency; and, besides, she shared to some extent +Miss Marjoribanks's reluctance to shock the prejudices of society, and +was disturbed by the idea that somebody might pass and see Barbara in +her present state of excitement, and perhaps attribute it to its true +cause. + +"Oh, you stupid little thing!" said Barbara, giving her "a shake" by her +disengaged arm. "I tell you, _him_!--the gentleman I met at Lucilla +Marjoribanks's. He looked as if he was quite delighted to see me again; +and I am sure he turned round to see where I was going. He couldn't +speak to me, you know, the first time; though indeed I shouldn't be the +least surprised if he had followed--at a distance, you know, only to see +where I live," said Barbara, turning round and searching into the +distance with her eager eyes. But there was nobody to be seen in the +street, except some of Rose's pupils lingering along in the sunshine, +and very probably exchanging similar confidences. Barbara turned back +again with a touch of disappointment. "I am quite sure he will find out +before long; and don't forget I said so," she added, with a little nod +of her head. + +"I don't see what it matters if he found out directly," said Rose. "Papa +would not let anybody come to our house that he did not approve of; and +then, you know, he will never have anything to say to people who are +patronising. I don't want to hear any more about your fine gentleman. If +you were worried as I am, you would think much more of getting home than +of anybody bowing to you in the street. One of the gentlemen from +Marlborough House once took off his hat to me," said Rose, with a +certain solemnity. "Of course I was pleased; but then I knew it was my +design he was thinking of--my Honiton flounce, you know. I suppose this +other one must have thought you had a pretty voice." + +This time, however, it was an angry shake that Barbara gave to her +sister. "I wish you would not be such a goose," she said; "who cares +about your Honiton flounce? He took off his hat because--because he +admired me, I suppose--and then it was a great deal more than just +taking off his hat. He gave me such a look! Papa has no sense, though I +suppose you will blaze up when I say so. He ought to think of us a +little. As for patronising, I should soon change that, I can tell you. +But then papa thinks of nothing but paying his bills and keeping out of +debt, as he says--as if everybody was not in debt; and how do you +suppose we are ever to get settled in life? It would be far more +sensible to spend a little more, and go into society a little, and do us +justice. Only think all that that old Doctor is doing for Lucilla; and +there are four of us when the little ones grow up," said Barbara, in a +tone of injury. "I should like to know what papa is thinking of? If +mamma had not died when she did----" + +"It was not poor mamma's fault," said Rose. "I dare say she would have +lived if she could for all our sakes. But then you have always taken a +false view of our position, Barbara. We are a family of _artists_," said +the little mistress of the School of Design. She had pretty eyes, very +dewy and clear, and they woke up under the excitement of this proud +claim. "When papa is appreciated as he deserves, and when Willie has +_made a name_" said Rose, with modest confidence, "things will be +different. But the true strength of our position is that we are a family +of artists. We are everybody's equal, and we are nobody's equal. We have +a rank of our own. If you would only remember this, you would not grudge +anything to Lucilla Marjoribanks; and then I am sure she has been very +kind to you." + +"Oh, bother!" said the unfeeling Barbara. "You do nothing but encourage +papa with your nonsense. And I should like to know what right Lucilla +Marjoribanks has to be kind to me? If I am not as good as she, it is a +very strange thing. I should never take the trouble to think about _him_ +if it was not that Lucilla believes he is paying her attention--that is +the great fun. It would be delicious to take him from her, and make game +of her and her kindness. Goodness! there he is again. I felt sure that +he would try to find out the house." + +And Barbara crimsoned higher than ever, and held Rose fast by the arm, +and called her attention by the most visible and indeed tangible signs +to the elegant apparition, like any other underbred young woman. As for +Rose, she was a little gentlewoman born, and had a horror unspeakable of +her sister's bad manners. When Mr Cavendish made a movement as if to +address Barbara, it was the pretty gray eyes of Rose lifted to his face +with a look of straightforward surprise and inquiry which made him +retire so hastily. He took off his hat again more respectfully than +before, and pursued his walk along Grove Street, as if he had no +ulterior intention in visiting that humble part of the town. As for +Barbara, she held Rose faster than ever, and almost pinched her arm to +make her listen. "I knew he was trying to find out the house," she said, +in an exultant whisper. "And Lucilla thinks he is paying her +attention!" For the fact was, that when Miss Marjoribanks took to being +kind to Barbara, she conferred upon the contralto at the same moment a +palpable injury and grievance, which was what the drawing-master's +daughter had been looking for, for several years of her life. And +naturally Lucilla, who was at this moment thinking it all over under the +soft green shadows from her new hangings, was deprived of the light +which might have been thrown on her reflections, had she seen what was +going on in Grove Street. The conditions of humanity are such that even +a woman of genius cannot altogether overstep them. And Lucilla still +continued to think that Mr Cavendish was paying her attention, which, +indeed, was also the general opinion in Grange Lane. + + + + +_Chapter XII_ + + +The second of her Thursday evenings found Miss Marjoribanks, though +secure, perhaps more anxious than on the former occasion. The charm of +the first novelty was gone, and Lucilla did not feel quite sure that her +subjects had the good sense to recognise all the benefits which she was +going to confer upon them. "It is the second time that counts," she said +in confidence to Mrs Chiley. "Last Thursday they wanted to see the +drawing-room, and they wanted to know what sort of thing it was to be. +Dear Mrs Chiley, it is to-night that is the test," said Lucilla, giving +a nervous pressure to her old friend's hand; at least a pressure that +would have betokened the existence of nerves in any one else but Miss +Marjoribanks, whose magnificent organisation was beyond any suspicion of +such weakness. But, nevertheless, Mrs Chiley, who watched her with +grandmotherly interest, was comforted to perceive that Lucilla, as on +the former occasion, had strength of mind to eat her dinner. "She wants +a little support, poor dear," the old lady said in her heart; for she +was a kinder critic than the younger matrons, who felt instinctively +that Miss Marjoribanks was doing what they ought to have done. She took +her favourite's arm in hers as they went upstairs, and gave Mr Cavendish +a kindly nod as he opened the door for them. "He will come and give you +his assistance as soon as ever he can get away from the gentlemen," +said Mrs Chiley, in her consolatory tone; "but, good gracious, Lucilla, +what is the matter?" The cause of this exclamation was a universal hum +and rustle as of many dresses and many voices; and, to tell the truth, +when Miss Marjoribanks and her companion reached the top of the stairs, +they found themselves lost in a laughing crowd, which had taken refuge +on the landing. "There is no room, Lucilla. Lucilla, everybody in +Carlingford is here. Do make a little room for us in the drawing-room," +cried this overplus of society. If there was an enviable woman in +Carlingford at that moment, it certainly was Miss Marjoribanks, standing +on the top of her own stairs, scarcely able to penetrate through the +throng of her guests. Her self-possession did not forsake her at this +supreme moment. She grasped Mrs Chiley once again with a little +significant gesture which pleased the old lady, for she could not but +feel that she was Lucilla's only _confidante_ in her brilliant but +perilous undertaking. "_They_ will not be able to get in when they come +upstairs," said Miss Marjoribanks; and whether the faint inflection in +her voice meant exultation or disappointment, her old friend could not +tell. + +But the scene changed when the rightful sovereign entered the gay but +disorganised dominion where her subjects attended her. Before any one +knew how it was done, Miss Marjoribanks had re-established order, and, +what was still more important, made room. She said, "You girls have no +business to get into corners. The corners are for the people that can +talk. It is one of my principles always to flirt in the middle of the +company," said Lucilla; and again, as happened so often, ignorant people +laughed and thought it a _bon mot_. But it is needless to inform the +more intelligent persons who understand Miss Marjoribanks, that it was +by no means a _bon mot_, but expressed Lucilla's convictions with the +utmost sincerity. + +Thus it happened that the second Thursday was more brilliant and +infinitely more gratifying than the first had been. For one thing, she +felt sure that it was not to see the new furniture, nor to criticise +this new sort of entertainment, but with the sincerest intention of +enjoying themselves, that all the people had come; and there are moments +when the egotism of the public conveys the highest compliment that can +be paid to the great minds which take in hand to rule and to amuse it. +The only drawback was, that Barbara Lake did not show the same modesty +and reticence as on the former occasion. Far from being sensibly +silent, which she had been so prudent as to be on Miss Marjoribanks's +first Thursday, she forgot herself so far as to occupy a great deal of +Mr Cavendish's valuable time, which he might have employed much more +usefully. She not only sang by herself when he asked her, having brought +some music with her unseen by Lucilla, but she kept her seat upon the +stool before the piano ever so long afterwards, detaining him, and, as +Miss Marjoribanks had very little doubt, making an exhibition of +herself: for Barbara, having received one good gift from nature, had +been refused the other, and could not talk. When Lucilla, arrested in +the midst of her many occupations, heard her protégée's voice rising +alone, she stopped quite short with an anxiety which it was touching to +behold. It was not the jealousy of a rival cantatrice which inspired +Miss Marjoribanks's countenance, but the far broader and grander anxiety +of an accomplished statesman, who sees a rash and untrained hand +meddling with his most delicate machinery. Lucilla ignored everything +for the moment--her own voice, and Mr Cavendish's attentions, and every +merely secondary and personal emotion. All these details were swallowed +up in the fear that Barbara would not acquit herself as it was necessary +for the credit of the house that she should acquit herself; that she +should not sing well enough, or that she should sing too much. Once more +Miss Marjoribanks put her finger upon the pulse of the community as she +and they listened together. Fortunately, things went so far well that +Barbara sang her very best, and kept up her prestige: but it was +different in the second particular; for, unluckily, the contralto knew a +great many songs, and showed no inclination to stop. Nothing remained +for it but a bold _coup_, which Lucilla executed with all her natural +coolness and success. + +"My dear Barbara," she said, putting her hands on the singer's shoulders +as she finished her strain, "that is enough for to-night. Mr Cavendish +will take you downstairs and get you a cup of tea; for you know there is +no room to-night to serve it upstairs." Thus Miss Marjoribanks proved +herself capable of preferring her great work to her personal sentiments, +which is generally considered next to impossible for a woman. She did +what perhaps nobody else in the room was capable of doing: she sent away +the gentleman who was paying attention to her, in company with the girl +who was paying attention to him; and at that moment, as was usual when +she was excited, Barbara was splendid, with her crimson cheeks, and the +eyes blazing out from under her level eyebrows. This Miss Marjoribanks +did, not in ignorance, but with a perfect sense of what she was about. +It was the only way of preventing her Evening from losing its +distinctive character. It was the Lamp of sacrifice which Lucilla had +now to employ, and she proved herself capable of the exertion. But it +would be hopeless to attempt to describe the indignation of old Mrs +Chiley, or the unmitigated amazement of the company in general, which +was conscious at the same time that Mr Cavendish was paying attention to +Miss Marjoribanks, and that he had been flirting in an inexcusable +manner with Miss Lake. "My dear, I would have nothing to do with that +bold girl," Mrs Chiley said in Lucilla's ear. "I will go down and look +after them if you like. A girl like that always leads the gentlemen +astray, you know. I never liked the looks of her. Let me go downstairs +and look after them, my dear. I am sure I want a cup of tea." + +"You shall have a cup of tea, dear Mrs Chiley," said Miss +Marjoribanks--"some of them will bring you one; but I can't let you take +any trouble about Barbara. She had to be stopped, you know, or she would +have turned us into a musical party; and as for Mr Cavendish, he is the +best assistant I have. There are so few men in Carlingford who can +flirt," said Lucilla regretfully. Her eyes fell as she spoke upon young +Osmond Brown, who was actually at that moment talking to Mr Bury's +curate, with a disregard of his social duties painful to contemplate. +Poor Osmond started when he met Miss Marjoribanks's reproachful eye. + +"But then I don't know how," said the disconcerted youth,--and he +flushed, poor boy, being only eighteen, and not much more than a +schoolboy. As for Lucilla, who had no intention of putting up with that +sort of thing, she sent off the curate summarily for Mrs Chiley's cup of +tea. + +"I did not mean you, my dear Osy," she said, in her motherly tone. "When +you are a little older we shall see what you can do; but you are not at +all disagreeable for a boy," she added encouragingly, and took Osmond's +arm as she made her progress down the room with an indulgence worthy of +her maturer years; and even Mrs Centum and Mrs Woodburn and the Miss +Browns, who were, in a manner, Lucilla's natural rivals, could not but +be impressed with this evidence of her powers. They were like the Tuscan +chivalry in the ballad, who could scarce forbear a cheer at the sight +of their opponent's prowess. Perhaps nothing that she could have done +would have so clearly demonstrated the superiority of her genius to her +female audience as that bold step of stopping the music, which began to +be too much, by sending off the singer downstairs under charge of Mr +Cavendish. To be sure the men did not even find out what it was that +awoke the ladies' attention; but then, in delicate matters of social +politics, one never expects to be understood by _them_. + +Barbara Lake, as was to be expected, took a very long time over her cup +of tea; and even when she returned upstairs she made another pause on +the landing, which was still kept possession of by a lively stream of +young people coming and going. Barbara had very little experience, and +she was weak enough to believe that Mr Cavendish lingered there to have +a little more of her society all to himself; but to tell the truth, his +sentiments were of a very different description. For by this time it +must be owned that Barbara's admirer began to feel a little ashamed of +himself. He could not but be conscious of Lucilla's magnanimity; and, at +the same time, he was very well aware that his return with his present +companion would be watched and noted and made the subject of comment a +great deal more amusing than agreeable. When he did take Barbara in at +last, it was with a discomfited air which tickled the spectators beyond +measure. And as his evil luck would have it, notwithstanding the long +pause he had made on the landing, to watch his opportunity of entering +unobserved, Miss Marjoribanks was the first to encounter the returning +couple. They met full in the face, a few paces from the door--exactly, +as Mrs Chiley said, as if it had been Mr and Mrs Cavendish on their +wedding visit, and the lady of the house had gone to meet them. As for +the unfortunate gentleman, he could not have looked more utterly +disconcerted and guilty if he had been convicted of putting the spoons +in his pocket, or of having designs upon the silver tea-service. He +found a seat for his companion with all the haste possible; and instead +of lingering by her side, as she had anticipated, made off on the +instant, and hid himself like a criminal in the dark depths of a group +of men who were talking together near the door. These were men who were +hopeless, and good for nothing but to talk to each other, and whom Miss +Marjoribanks tolerated in her drawing-room partly because their wives, +with an excusable weakness, insisted on bringing them, and partly +because they made a foil to the brighter part of the company, and served +as a butt when anybody wanted to be witty. As for Lucilla, she made no +effort to recall the truant from the ranks of the Incurables. It was the +only vengeance she took upon his desertion. When he came to take leave +of her, she was standing with her hand in that of Mrs Chiley, who was +also going away. "I confess I was a little nervous this evening," Miss +Marjoribanks was saying. "You know it is always the second that is the +test. But I think, on the whole, it has gone off very well. Mr +Cavendish, you promised to tell me the truth; for you know I have great +confidence in your judgment. Tell me sincerely, do you think it has been +a pleasant evening?" Lucilla said, with a beautiful earnestness, looking +him in the face. + +The guilty individual to whom this question was addressed felt disposed +to sink into the earth, if the earth, in the shape of Mr Holden's +beautiful new carpet, would but have opened to receive him; but, after +all, that was perhaps not a thing to be desired under the circumstances. +Mr Cavendish, however, was a man of resources, and not disposed to give +up the contest without striking a blow in his own defence. + +"Not so pleasant as last Thursday," he said. "I am not fit to be a +lady's adviser, for I am too sincere; but I incline to think it is the +third that is the test," said the future M.P.; and Lucilla made him, as +Mrs Chiley remarked, the most beautiful curtsey; but then nothing could +be more delightful than the manner in which that dear girl behaved +through the whole affair. + +"If everybody would only help me as you do!" said Miss Marjoribanks. +"Good-night; I am so sorry you have not enjoyed yourself. But then it is +such a consolation to meet with people that are sincere. And I think, on +the whole, it has gone off very well for the second," said Lucilla, +"though I say it that should not say it." The fact was, it had gone off +so well that the house could hardly be cleared of the amiable and +satisfied guests. A series of the most enthusiastic compliments were +paid to Lucilla as she stood in state in the middle of the room, and +bade everybody good-bye. "Next Thursday," she said, with the benevolent +grace of an acknowledged sovereign. And when they were all gone, Miss +Marjoribanks's reflections, as she stood alone in the centre of her +domains, were of a nature very different from the usual reflections +which the giver of a feast is supposed to make when all is over. But +then, as everybody is aware, it was not a selfish desire for personal +pleasure, nor any scheme of worldly ambition, which moved the mind of +Lucilla. With such motives it is only natural that the conclusion, "All +is vanity," should occur to the weary entertainer in the midst of his +withered flowers and extinguished lights. Such ideas had nothing in +common with the enlightened conceptions of Miss Marjoribanks. Perhaps it +would be false to say that she had suffered in the course of this second +Thursday, or that a superior intelligence like Lucilla's could permit +itself to feel any jealousy of Barbara Lake; but it would be vain to +deny that she had been _surprised_. And any one who knows Miss +Marjoribanks will acknowledge that a great deal was implied in that +confession. But then she had triumphed over the weakness, and +triumphantly proved that her estimate of the importance of her work went +far beyond the influence of mere personal feeling. In these +circumstances Lucilla could contemplate her withered flowers with +perfect calmness, without any thought that all was vanity. But then the +fact was, Miss Marjoribanks was accomplishing a great public duty, and +at the same time had the unspeakable consolation of knowing that she had +proved herself a comfort to her dear papa. The Doctor, it is true, after +looking on for a little with a half-amused consciousness that his own +assistance was totally unnecessary, had gradually veered into a corner, +and from thence had finally managed to escape downstairs to his beloved +library. But then the sense of security and tranquillity with which he +established himself at the fire, undisturbed by the gay storm that raged +outside, gave a certain charm to his retirement. He rubbed his hands and +listened, as a man listens to the wind howling out of doors, when he is +in shelter and comfort. So that, after all, Lucilla's sensation of +having accomplished her filial duties in the most effective manner was +to a certain extent justified, while at the same time it is quite +certain that nobody missed Dr Marjoribanks from the pleasant assembly +upstairs. + + + + +_Chapter XIII_ + + +It was thus that the reign of Miss Marjoribanks became gradually +established and confirmed in Carlingford. It would be unnecessary to +enter into detail, or to redouble instances of that singular genius +which made itself so fully felt to the furthest limits of society, and +which even indeed extended those limits miraculously beyond the magic +circle of Grange Lane. Lucilla's powers beguiled not only the Powells +and Sir John Richmond's family, who were, as everybody knows, fully +entitled to be called county people, and came only on the Thursdays when +there was moonlight to light them home, which was not so much to be +wondered at, since county society in those parts was unusually heavy at +that period; but even, what was more extraordinary, Miss Marjoribanks +made a lodgment in the enemy's country on the other side, and made a +capture, of all people in the world, of John Brown, who lived in his +father's big old house at the _town_ end of George Street, and had +always laughed in his cynical way at the pretensions of Grange Lane. But +then Lucilla had, as all the ladies admitted, an influence over "the +gentlemen," of which, as was natural, they were slightly contemptuous, +even if perhaps envious, to some extent, of the gift. For everybody +knows that it requires very little to satisfy the gentlemen, if a woman +will only give her mind to it. As for Miss Marjoribanks herself, she +confessed frankly that she did her best to please Them. "For you know, +after all, in Carlingford, one is obliged to take them into +consideration," she said, with a natural apology. "So many of you poor +dear people have to go where they like, and see the people they want you +to see," Miss Marjoribanks added, fluttering her maiden plumes with a +certain disdainful pity in the very eyes of Mrs Centum and Mrs Woodburn, +who were well aware, both of them, at the bottom of their hearts, that +but for Dr Marjoribanks's dinners, their selfish mates would find +infinite objections to the Thursday evening, which was now an +institution in Carlingford. And Lucilla knew it just as well as they +did, which gave a certain sense of condescension and superiority to her +frankness. "I never pretend I don't try to please them," Miss +Marjoribanks said; and the matrons found themselves worsted as usual; +for, to be sure, it was not for _Them_, but for the good of the +community in general, that Lucilla exerted herself so successfully. + +Nothing, indeed, could have proved more completely the disinterested +character of Miss Marjoribanks's proceedings than her behaviour in +respect to Mr Cavendish. After the bold and decisive action taken by +Lucilla on the first occasion when the flirtation between him and +Barbara Lake became apparent, the misguided young man returned to a +better frame of mind; perhaps out of admiration for her magnanimity, +perhaps attracted by her indifference, as is the known and ascertained +weakness of the gentlemen. And perhaps also Mr Cavendish was ashamed of +himself, as, in Mrs Chiley's opinion at least, he had so much reason to +be. Anyhow, whatever the cause, he behaved himself with the profoundest +decorum for several weeks in succession, and treated the contralto with +such overwhelming politeness as reduced poor Barbara out of her +momentary exultation into the depths of humiliation and despair. Mr +Cavendish was Lucilla's right hand for that short but virtuous period, +and fully justified Miss Marjoribanks's opinion, which was founded at +once upon reflection and experience, that to have a man who can flirt is +next thing to indispensable to a leader of society; that is to say, if +he is under efficient discipline, and capable of carrying out a grand +conception. Everything went on delightfully so long as this interval +lasted, and Lucilla herself did not disdain to recompense her faithful +assistant by bestowing upon him various little privileges, such as +naturally appertain to a subject whose place is on the steps of the +throne. She took him into her confidence, and made him to a certain +extent a party to her large and philanthropic projects, and even now and +then accepted a suggestion from him with that true candour and modesty +which so often accompany administrative genius. While this continued, +kind old Mrs Chiley kept caressing them both in her old-womanly way. She +even went so far as to call Mr Cavendish "my dear," as if he had been a +grandson of her own, and took her afternoon drive in her little brougham +past his house with a genial sense of prospective property through +Lucilla, which was wonderfully pleasant. To be sure there was not very +much known in Carlingford about his connections; but then everybody was +aware that he was one of the Cavendishes, and the people who are not +content with that must be hard indeed to please. As for Mrs Woodburn, +she, it was true, continued to "take off" Miss Marjoribanks; but then, +as Mrs Chiley justly remarked, she was a woman who would take off the +Archbishop of Canterbury or the Virgin Mary, if she had the opportunity; +and there was no fear but Lucilla, if once married, would soon bring her +to her senses; and then Mr Chiltern grew more and more feeble, and was +scarcely once in a fortnight in his place in Parliament, which was a +sacrifice of the interests of the borough dreadful to contemplate. And +thus it was in the interests of Lucilla, notwithstanding that ladies are +not eligible for election under such circumstances, that Mrs Chiley +carried on a quiet little canvass for the future M.P. + +All this lasted, alas! only too short a time. After a while the level +eyebrows and flashing eyes and magnificent voice of Barbara Lake began +to reassert their ancient power. Whatever may be the predisposition of +the Cavendishes in general, this particular member of the race was +unable to resist these influences. Barbara had managed to persuade Rose +to persuade her father that it was necessary for her to have a new +dress; and Mr Lake was more persuadable than usual, being naturally +pleased to be complimented, when he went to give his lessons, on his +daughter's beautiful voice. "Her talent has taken another development +from _ours_," he said, with his little air of dignity, "but still she +has the artist temperament. All my children have been brought up to love +the beautiful;" and this argument had, of course, all the more effect +upon him when repeated by his favourite daughter. "And then Barbara has +such a noble head," said Rose; "when nobody is looking at her she always +makes a fine composition. To be sure, when she is observed she gets +awkward, and puts herself out of drawing; but that is not to be wondered +at. I don't want her to be fine, or to imitate the Grange Lane people; +but then, you know, papa, you always say that we have a rank of our own, +being a family of artists," said Rose, holding up her little head with a +pretty arrogance which delighted the father both in a paternal and a +professional point of view. "If one could only have made a study of her +at that moment," he said to himself regretfully; and he consented to +Barbara's dress. + +As for the contralto, whose sentiments were very different from those of +her father and sister, she watched over the making of the robe thus +procured with a certain jealous care which nobody unacquainted with the +habits of a family of artists could understand. Barbara's talent was not +sufficiently developed to permit of her making it herself; but she knew +already by sad experience that Rose's views of what was picturesque in +costume were peculiar, and not always successful. And then it was only a +new dress to Rose, whereas to Barbara it was a supreme effort of passion +and ambition and jealousy and wounded _amour propre_. Mr Cavendish had +paid a great deal of attention to her, and she had naturally entertained +dreams of the wildest and most magnificent character--of riding in her +carriage, as she would herself have said, and dressing as nobody else +dressed in Carlingford, and becoming the great lady of the town, and +eclipsing utterly Lucilla Marjoribanks, who had been so impertinent as +to patronise her. Such had been Barbara's delicious dreams for a whole +fortnight; and then Mr Cavendish, who had taken her up, put her down +again, and went away from her side, and delivered himself over, heart +and soul, to the service of Lucilla. Barbara had no intellect to speak +of, but she had what she called a heart--that is to say, a vital centre +of inclinations and passions, all of which were set in motion by that +intense force of self-regard which belongs to some of the lower +organisations. Thus she arrayed herself, not in simple muslin, but in +all the power of fascination which a strong will and fixed purpose can +add to beauty. And in her excitement, and with the sense she had that +this was her opportunity, and that advancement and grandeur depended +upon the result of her night's work, her level eyebrows, and flushing +cheeks, and black intense eyes, rose almost into positive beauty. There +was nobody in the room to compare with her when she stood up to sing on +that memorable evening. The Miss Browns, for example, were very pretty, +especially Lydia, who was afterwards married to young Richmond, Sir +John's eldest son; and they were much _nicer_ girls, and far more +engaging than Barbara Lake, who was not even a lady, Mrs Chiley said. +But then her determination, though it was a poor enough thing in itself, +gave a certain glow and passion to her coarser beauty. + +When she stood up to sing, the whole room was struck with her +appearance. She had her new dress on, and though it was only white +muslin like other people's, it gave her the air of a priestess inspired +by some approaching crisis, and sweeping forward upon the victim who +was ready to be sacrificed. And yet the victim that night was far from +being ready for the sacrifice. On the contrary, he had been thinking it +all over, and had concluded that prudence and every other reasonable +sentiment were on the other side, and that in many ways it would be a +very good thing for him if he could persuade Miss Marjoribanks to +preside over and share his fortunes. He had made up his mind to this +with all the more certainty that he was a man habitually prone to run +off after everything that attracted him, in direct opposition to +prudence--an inclination which he shared with his sister, who, as +everybody knew, had ruined poor Mr Woodburn's fortunes by "taking off," +before his very face, the only rich uncle in the Woodburn family. Mr +Cavendish, with this wise resolution in his mind, stood up in the very +path of the contralto as she followed Miss Marjoribanks to the piano, +and, confident in his determination, even allowed himself to meet her +eye--which was rash, to say the least of it. Barbara flashed upon him as +she passed a blaze of intense oblique lightning from under her level +brows--or perhaps it was only that straight black line which made it +look oblique--and then went on to her place. The result was such as +might have been anticipated from the character of the man. Barbara was +in richer voice than ever before, and all but obliterated even Lucilla, +though she too was singing her best; and thus poor Mr Cavendish again +fell into the snare. That very night the flirtation, which had already +created so much talk, was resumed with more energy than ever; and +Barbara took Miss Marjoribanks's place at the piano, and sang song after +song in a kind of intoxication of triumph. This, to be sure, was visible +only to a small portion of the guests who crowded Lucilla's +drawing-room. But the result was soon so visible that all Carlingford +became aware of it. The hero wavered so much that the excitement was +kept up for many weeks; but still from the first nobody could have any +reasonable doubt as to how it was to end. + +And it was while this process of seduction was going on that the +character of Miss Marjoribanks revealed itself in all its native +grandeur. Lucilla had various kind friends round her to advise her, and +especially old Mrs Chiley, whose indignation went beyond all bounds. "My +dear, I would never let her enter my door again--never!" cried the old +lady; "I told you long ago I never could bear her looks--you know I +warned you, Lucilla. As for her singing, what does it matter? You have a +much prettier voice than she has: everybody knows that a soprano is +perfect by itself, but a contralto is only a _second_," Mrs Chiley said, +with mingled wrath and satisfaction; "and, my dear, I should never let +her enter my house again, if it was me." + +"Dear Mrs Chiley," said Lucilla, who was now, as usual, equal to the +occasion, "it is so nice of you to be vexed. You know I would do +anything to please you;--but, after all, there are thousands and +thousands of gentlemen, and it is not so easy to find a voice that goes +with mine. All my masters always said it was a quite peculiar second I +wanted; and suppose Barbara is foolish, that is not to say I should +forget _my_ duties," Miss Marjoribanks added, with a certain solemnity; +"and then, you know, she has no mother to keep her right." + +"And neither have you, my poor dear," said Mrs Chiley, kissing her +protégée. As for Lucilla, she accepted the kiss, but repressed the +enthusiasm of partisanship with which her cause was being maintained. + +"I have _you_," she said, with artless gratitude; "and then I am +different," added Lucilla. Nothing but modesty of the most delicate +description could have expressed the fact with such a fine reticence. No +doubt Miss Marjoribanks was different; and she proved her superiority, +if anybody could have doubted it, by the most beautiful behaviour. She +took no more notice of the unprincipled flirtation thus set agoing under +her very eyes, than if Mr Cavendish and Barbara Lake had been two +figures in gingerbread. So far as anybody knew, not even a flying female +shaft from Lucilla's bow, one of those dainty projectiles which the best +of women cast forth by times, had ever been directed against the +ungrateful young person who had made so unprincipled a use of her +admittance into Grange Lane; and the faithless gallant had not even the +gratification of feeling that Lucilla was "cool" to him. Whether this +singular self-denial cost Miss Marjoribanks any acute sufferings, nobody +could tell, but Mrs Chiley still marked with satisfaction that Lucilla, +poor dear, was able to eat her dinner, of which she had so much need to +support her strength; and after she had eaten her dinner Miss +Marjoribanks would go upstairs and show herself just as usual. She was +in perfect voice, and neither lost her colour, nor grew thin, nor showed +any of those external signs of a disappointment in love with which most +people are familiar. "It might have been different, you know, if my +affections had been engaged," she said to her sole and sympathising +counsellor; and Mrs Chiley, who had had a great deal of experience in +girls, became more and more of opinion that such sense was all but +superhuman. + +Meantime the tide of public opinion ran very high in Carlingford against +Mr Cavendish, who had been so popular a little while before. If it had +been one of the Miss Browns, or a niece of the Colonel's, or indeed +anybody in Grange Lane, people might have passed over it--but one of Mr +Lake the drawing-master's daughters! The only person indifferent was Mrs +Woodburn, who ought to have known better; but then she was thoughtless, +like her brother, and liked it all the better, on the whole, that he +should transfer those attentions which he had been paying to Miss +Marjoribanks, and which in that quarter must have come to something, to +a little harmless amusement with Barbara, who, after all, was very +handsome, and had by times a little air of obdurate stupidity which +captivated the mimic. As for anything coming of _that_, Mrs Woodburn +rejected the idea with a simplicity which was perfectly consistent with +her insight into other people's weaknesses. She could put on Barbara's +stolid defiant look, and even make her eyebrows square, and give +something of an oblique gleam to her eyes, with the most perfect skill +and mastery of the character, and at the same time be just as stolid as +Barbara in respect to what was going on at her very hand, and to the +consequences which must follow. She did not want her brother to marry +Miss Marjoribanks, and yet she could not have said a word against so +unexceptionable a match; and accordingly it was quite a satisfaction to +her to see him turned aside in so perfectly legitimate a manner. She +added to her repertory a sketch of Barbara at the moment when, yielding +to Mr Cavendish's entreaties, she seated herself at the piano "for just +one song"; and being perfectly successful in the representation, Mrs +Woodburn took no further care about the matter. To be sure, the hero was +sufficiently experienced in such matters to know how to get out of it +when it should be the proper time. + +Thus the affair progressed which was to have far more serious +consequences than these thoughtless persons dreamed of. Barbara ascended +again to the heights of exultation and enchantment. Perhaps she was even +a little in love; for, after all, she was young, and grateful to the man +who thus distinguished her from the world. Yet, on the whole, it is to +be feared that his house and his position in society, and the prospect +of unlimited millinery, were more to her than Mr Cavendish. All these +details were not perhaps contemplated by himself as he devoted himself +to the handsome contralto. He had not begun to dream, as Barbara had +done for a long time, of the wedding breakfast and the orange blossoms, +or even of furnishing a new drawing-room handsomer than Miss +Marjoribanks's, and giving parties which should be real parties and not +mere Thursdays. None of these imaginations occupied Mr Cavendish as he +followed Barbara's glowing cheeks and flashing eyes to his undoing. But +then if he did not mean it she meant it; and, after all, there are +occasions in which the woman's determination is the more important of +the two. So that, taking everything into consideration, there can be no +doubt that it was very fortunate that Lucilla's affections were not +engaged. She behaved as nobody else in Carlingford was capable of +behaving, and very few people anywhere, according to Mrs Chiley's +admiring belief. It was not for a vulgar antagonist like Barbara Lake to +touch Lucilla. The way in which she asked her to lunch and went on +practising duets with her was angelical--it brought the tears to Mrs +Chiley's eyes; and as for the domestic traitor whom Miss Marjoribanks +thus contrived to warm in her magnanimous bosom, she was sometimes so +full of spite and disappointment that she could neither eat her lunch +nor go on with her singing. For, to be sure, the dearest climax of her +triumph was wanting so long as Lucilla took no notice; and so far from +taking any notice, Miss Marjoribanks was sweeter and more friendly than +usual in her serene unconsciousness. "I am so afraid you have caught +cold," Lucilla would say; "if you don't feel clear in your lower notes, +we can pass over this passage, you know, for to-day. You must see papa +before you go away, and he will order you something; but, my dear +Barbara, you must take care." And then Barbara could have eaten her +fingers instead of the gloves which she kept biting in her vexation. +For, to tell the truth, if Miss Marjoribanks was not jealous, the +victory was but half a victory after all. + + + + +_Chapter XIV_ + + +It was thus that Miss Marjoribanks went through all the preliminary +stages, and succeeded finally in making a triumph out of what would +certainly have been a defeat, and a humbling defeat, for anybody else. +She was much too sensible to deceive herself on the subject, or not to +be aware that to have a gentleman who was paying attention to her +withdrawn from her side in this open manner in the sight of all the +world, was as trying an accident as can happen to a woman. Fortunately, +as Lucilla said, her affections were not engaged; but then, apart from +the affections, there are other sentiments which demand consideration. +Everybody in Carlingford knew that Mr Cavendish had been paying her a +great deal of attention, and the situation was one which required the +most delicate skill to get through it successfully. Besides, Miss +Marjoribanks's circumstances were all the more difficult, since up to +this moment she had been perfectly sincere and natural in all her +proceedings. Policy had been constantly inspired and backed by nature in +the measures Lucilla had taken for the organisation and welfare of her +kingdom, and even what people took for the cleverest calculation was in +reality a succession of happy instincts, by means of which, with the +sovereignty of true genius, Miss Marjoribanks managed to please +everybody by having her own way. A little victory is almost necessary to +begin with, and it is a poor nature that does not expand under the +stimulus of victory; but now the young reformer had come to the second +stage. For, to be sure, that sort of thing cannot last for ever; and +this Lucilla, with the natural prevision of a ruling mind, had foreseen +from the beginning. The shape in which she had feared defeat, if a +nature so full of resources could ever be said to fear, was that of a +breakdown, when all the world was looking to her for amusement, or the +sudden appearance of a rival entertainer in Carlingford with superior +powers: though the last was but a dim and improbable danger, the first +was quite possible, and might have arrived at any moment. Miss +Marjoribanks was much too sensible not to have foreseen this danger in +all its shapes, and even in a kind of way to have provided against it. +But Providence, which had always taken care of her, as Lucilla piously +concluded, had spared her the trial in that form. Up to this moment it +had always providentially happened that all the principal people in +Carlingford were quite well and disengaged on the "evening." To be sure, +the ladies had headaches, and the married gentlemen now and then were +out of temper in Grange Lane as in other less favoured places; but these +social accidents had been mercifully averted on Thursdays, perhaps by +means of some special celestial agency, perhaps only through that +good-luck which had been born with Lucilla. Not in this vulgar and +likely manner was the trial of her strength to come. + +But when she was at the height of her success, and full in the eye of +the world, and knew that everybody was remarking her, and that from the +sauces for which the Doctor's table was once so famed, but which even +Colonel Chiley no longer thought of identifying as Dr Marjoribanks's, to +the fashion of the _high_ white frock in which Lucilla had taught the +young ladies of Carlingford to appear of an evening, she was being +imitated on every hand,--at that moment, when an ordinary person would +have had her head turned, and gone wild with too much success, Miss +Marjoribanks suddenly saw her dragon approaching her. Just then, when +she could not put on a new ribbon, or do her hair in a different style, +without all Carlingford knowing of it--at that epoch of intoxication and +triumph the danger came, sudden, appalling, and unlooked for. If Lucilla +was staggered by the encounter, she never showed it, but met the +difficulty like a woman of mettle, and scorned to flinch. It had come to +be summer weather when the final day arrived upon which Mr Cavendish +forgot himself altogether, and went over to the insidious enemy whom +Miss Marjoribanks had been nourishing in her bosom. Fifty eyes were upon +Lucilla watching her conduct at that critical moment--fifty ears were on +the strain to divine her sentiments in her voice, and to catch some +intonation at least which should betray her consciousness of what was +going on. + +But if Miss Marjoribanks's biographer has fitly discharged his duty, the +readers of this history will have no difficulty in divining that the +curiosity of the spectators got no satisfaction from Lucilla. Many +people even supposed she had not remarked anything, her composure was so +perfect. No growing red or growing pale, no harsh notes in her voice, +nor evidence of distracted attention, betrayed that her mind was +elsewhere while she was attending to her guests; and yet, to be sure, +she saw, just as other people did, that Barbara, all flushed and +crimson, with her eyes blazing under their sullen brows, stood in a glow +of triumph at the open window, with Mr Cavendish in devoted +attendance--a captive at her chariot-wheels. Matters had been +progressing to this point for some time; but yet the two culprits had +never before showed themselves so lost to all sense of propriety. +Instead of fainting or getting pale, or showing any other symptoms of +violent despite, Lucilla went upon her airy way, indirectly approaching +this point of interest. She went up and chatted with them, and ordered +Mr Cavendish to find a chair for Barbara. "What can you be thinking of +to let her stand so near the window? If she were to catch cold and lose +her voice, what should we all do?" said Lucilla; and she established the +two in the most commodious corner before she left them. "Take care she +does not go back again into the draught," were her parting words, and +even the culprits themselves could do nothing but stare at each other +with consternation and shame. + +This was all the notice Lucilla took of what was going on. If she was +affronted, or if she was wounded, nobody found it out; and when Mrs +Chiley offered the tribute of her indignation and sympathy, it has +already been recorded how her young friend responded to her. +"Fortunately my affections never were engaged," Lucilla said, and no +doubt that was a great advantage; but then, as we have said, there are +other things besides affections to be taken into account when the woman +whom you have been kind to snaps up the man who has been paying +attention to you, not only before your eyes, but before the eyes of all +the world. The result of her masterly conduct on this occasion was that +her defeat became, as we have said, a triumph for Miss Marjoribanks. To +be sure, it is to be hoped that, in the sweets of their mutual regard, +the two criminals found compensation for the disapproval of the +spectators; but nothing could be more marked than the way in which +Carlingford turned its cold shoulder on its early favourite. "I never +imagined Cavendish was such a fool," Mr Centum said, who was a man of +few words; "if he likes that style of philandering, it is nothing to me, +but he need not make an idiot of himself." As for Mr Woodburn, he, as +was natural, inflicted vicarious punishment upon his wife. "It must be +all your fault," he growled, when he was taking her home, and had her +at his mercy, with that logic peculiar to a married man; "you ought to +tell him he's making an ass of himself. Why the deuce do you let him go +on with that tomfoolery? He'll lose all his chances in life, and then, I +hope, you'll be satisfied. You women can never see an inch before your +own noses!" cried the uncivil husband; which, it must be confessed, was +rather hard upon poor Mrs Woodburn, who had nothing to do with it, and +had indeed calculated upon perfecting her sketch of Barbara in the +quietness of the walk home; for as everybody lived in Grange Lane, +carriages were not necessary for Miss Marjoribanks's guests. They +flitted out and in, in the moonlight, with pretty scarfs thrown over +their heads and laced handkerchiefs tied under their chins, and made +Grange Lane between the two straight lines of garden-wall like a scene +in a masquerade. + +While Mr Cavendish was thus suffering by deputy the contempt of his +former admirers, Lucilla, by herself in the abandoned drawing-room, was +thinking over the evening with a severe but on the whole satisfactory +self-examination. After the first shock, which she had encountered with +so much courage, Miss Marjoribanks was rather grateful than otherwise to +Providence, which had brought the necessary trial upon her in this form. +If it had been a breakdown and humiliating failure instead, how +different would her sensations have been! and Lucilla was quite +conscious that such a thing might have occurred. It might have occurred +to her, as it had done to so many people, to see Thursday come round +with a failure of all that made Thursday agreeable. Lady Richmond might +have had her influenza that day, and little Henry Centum his sudden +attack, which had kept his mother in conversation ever since, and Mrs +Woodburn one of her bad headaches; and as for the Miss Browns, there was +nothing in the world but Lucilla's habitual good fortune which prevented +them from having blacked their fingers with their photography to such an +extent as to make them perfectly unpresentable. Or, to turn to another +chapter of accidents, the last duet, which Barbara had insisted upon +singing without proper practice, might have broken down utterly. None of +these things had happened, and Lucilla drew a long breath of gratitude +as she thought how fortunate she had been in all these particulars. To +be sure, it was necessary to have a trial of one kind or other; and the +modest but intense gratification of having stood the test, diffused +itself like a balm through her bosom. No doubt she would have felt, like +most people, a certain pleasure in snubbing Barbara; but then there is, +on the other hand, a sweetness in sacrificing such impulses to the +sacred sense of duty and the high aims of genius which is still more +attractive to a well-regulated mind. Miss Marjoribanks herself put out +the candles, and went to her own room with that feeling of having +acquitted herself satisfactorily which many people think to be the +highest gratification of which the mind is capable. After all, it was by +no means certain that Mr Cavendish would be M.P. for Carlingford. Mr +Chiltern might live for twenty years, or he even might get better, which +was more unlikely; or supposing him to be comfortably disposed of, +nobody could say with any certainty that some man unknown at present in +Carlingford might not start up all of a sudden and gain the most sweet +voices of the shopkeepers, who were the majority of the community, and +quite outnumbered Grange Lane. It was thus that Lucilla consoled herself +as she went meditative but undaunted to her maiden rest. + +While all this was going on, Dr Marjoribanks remained an amused +spectator, and chuckled a little quietly, without saying anything to +anybody, over the turn affairs had taken. The Doctor knew all about +everybody in Carlingford, and he had never been an enthusiast in favour +of Mrs Woodburn's brother, notwithstanding that the young man had been +received so warmly into society as one of the Cavendishes. Perhaps Dr +Marjoribanks being Scotch, and having a turn for genealogy, found the +description a little vague; but at all events there can be no doubt that +he laughed to himself as he retired from the scene of his daughter's +trial. The Doctor possibly thought, in a professional point of view, +that a little discipline of this description would be useful to Lucilla. +Perhaps he thought it would be good for her to find out that--though she +had managed to slip the reins out of his hands, and get the control of +affairs with a skill which amused the Doctor, and made him a little +proud of her abilities, even though he was himself the victim--she could +not go on always unchecked in her triumphant career, but must endure +like other people an occasional defeat. No doubt, had Lucilla been +really worsted, paternal feeling would have interposed, and Dr +Marjoribanks would to some extent have suffered in her suffering; but +then the case was different, and nobody required, as it turned out, to +suffer for Lucilla. The Doctor was pleased she had shown so much +spirit, and pleased to see how entirely she had discomfited her +antagonists, and turned the tables upon the "young puppy," in whom he +had no confidence; and withal Dr Marjoribanks chuckled a little in his +secret heart over the event itself, and concluded that it would do +Lucilla good. She had vanquished Nancy, and by a skilful jerk taken the +reins out of his own experienced hands. He was aware that he had been on +the whole very wisely governed since his abdication, but yet he was not +sorry that the young conqueror should feel herself human; so that nobody +except Mrs Chiley felt that mingled rage and disappointment with which +Barbara Lake had hoped to inspire Lucilla's bosom; and Mrs Chiley, so to +speak, had nothing to do with it. As for Barbara herself, she returned +home in a state of mingled spite and exultation and disgust, which +filled her sister with amazement. + +"She is such an actor, you know," Barbara said; "she never will give in +to let you know how she is feeling--not if she can help it; but for all +that she must have felt it. Nobody could help feeling it, though she +carried it off so well. I knew how it would be, as soon as I had on a +dress that was fit to be seen." + +"What is it that she could not help feeling?" said Rose. "I suppose it +is Lucilla you mean?" + +"I should like to know what right she had to be kind to me," cried +Barbara, all glowing in her sullen but excited beauty; "and invite me +there, and introduce me in her grand way, as if she was any better than +I am! And then to look at all her India muslins; but I knew it would be +different as soon as I had a decent dress," said the contralto, rising +up to contemplate herself in the little mirror over the mantelpiece. + +This conversation took place in Mr Lake's little parlour, where Rose had +been waiting for her sister, and where Barbara's white dress made an +unusual radiance in the dim and partially-lighted room. Rose herself was +all shrouded up in her morning dress, with her pretty round arms and +shoulders lost to the common view. She had been amusing herself as she +waited by working at a corner of that great design which was to win the +prize on a later occasion. Readers of this history who have studied the +earlier chapters will remember that Rose's tastes in ornamentation were +very clearly defined for so young a person. Instead of losing herself in +vague garlands of impossible flowers, the young artist clung with the +tenacity of first love to the thistle leaf, which had been the +foundation of her early triumphs. Her mind was full of it even while she +received and listened to Barbara; whether to treat it in a national +point of view, bringing in the rose and shamrock, which was a perfectly +allowable proceeding, though perhaps not original--or whether she should +yield to the "sweet feeling" which had been so conspicuous in her +flounce, in the opinion of the Marlborough House gentlemen--or whether, +on the contrary, she should handle the subject in a boldly naturalistic +way, and use her spikes with freedom,--was a question which occupied at +that moment all Rose's faculties. Even while she asked Barbara what the +subject was on which Lucilla might be supposed to be excited, she was +within herself thinking out this difficult idea--all the more difficult, +perhaps, considering the nature of the subject, since the design in this +case was not for a flounce, in which broad handling is practicable, but +for a veil. + +"I wish you would not talk in that foolish way," said Rose; "nobody need +be any better than you, as you say. To be sure, we don't live in Grange +Lane, nor keep a carriage; but I wish you would recollect that these are +only accidental circumstances. As for dress, I don't see that you +require it; our position is so clearly defined; we are a family of----" + +"Oh, for goodness gracious sake, do be quiet with your family of +artists!" cried Barbara. "Speak for yourself, if you please. I am not an +artist, and never will be, I can tell you. There are better places to +live in than Grange Lane; and as for keeping a carriage, I would never +call a little bit of a brougham a carriage, if it was me. Lucilla made +believe to take no notice, but she did not deceive me with that. She was +as disappointed as ever she could be--I dare say now she's sitting +crying over it. I never would have cared one straw if I had not wanted +to serve Lucilla out!" cried the contralto, with energy. She was still +standing before the glass pulling her black hair about into new +combinations, and studying the effect; and as for Rose, she too looked +up, and, seeing her sister's face reflected in the glass, made the +discovery that there was something like grimace in the countenance, and +paused in the midst of her meditations with her pencil in her hand. + +"Don't put yourself out of drawing," said Rose; "I wish you would not do +that so often. When the facial angle is disturbed to that extent----But +about Lucilla, I think you are excessively ungrateful. Gratitude is not +a servile sentiment," said the little Preraphaelite, with a rising +colour. "It is a slavish sort of idea to think any one has done you an +injury by being kind to you. If that is the sort of thing you are going +to talk of, I think you had better go to bed." + +"Then I will, and I shan't tell you anything," said Barbara +angrily--"you are so poor-spirited. For my part, do you think I'd ever +have gone to help Lucilla and sing for her, and all that sort of thing, +if it had not been to better myself? Nor I wouldn't have thought of +_him_ just at first, if it hadn't been to spite _her_. And I've done it +too. I'd just like to look in at her room window and see what she's +about. I dare say she is crying her eyes out, for all her looking as if +she took no notice. I know better than to think she doesn't care. And, +Rose, he's such a dear," said Barbara, with a laugh of excitement. To be +sure, what she wanted was to be Mrs Cavendish, and to have a handsome +house and a great many nice dresses; but at the same time she was young, +and Mr Cavendish was good-looking, and she was a little in love, in her +way, as well. + +"I don't want to hear any more about it," said Rose, who was so much +moved as to forget even her design. "I can't think how it is you have no +sense of honour, and you one of the Lakes. I would not be a traitor for +a dozen Mr Cavendishes!" cried Rose, in the force of her indignation. +"He must be a cheat, since you are a traitor. If he was a true man he +would have found you out." + +"You had better be quiet, Rose," said Barbara; "you may be sure I shall +never do anything for you after we are married, if you talk like that; +and then you'll be sorry enough." + +"After you are married! has he asked you to marry him?" cried Rose. She +pushed away her design with both her hands in the vehemence of her +feelings, and regarded her sister with eyes which blazed, but which were +totally different in their blazing from those which burned under +Barbara's level eyebrows. It was too plain a question to have a plain +answer. Barbara only lighted her candle in reply, and smiled and shook +her head. + +"You don't suppose I am going to answer after your insulting ways," she +said, taking up her candle; and she swept out of the room in her white +dress with a sense of pleasure in leaving this grand point unsettled. To +be sure, Mr Cavendish had not yet asked that important question; but +then the future was all before them, and the way clear. As for Rose, she +clenched her little fists with a gesture that would have been too +forcible for any one who was not an artist, and a member of a family of +artists. "To think she should be one of us, and not to know what honour +means," said Rose; "and as for this man, he must be a cheat himself, or +he would find her out." + +This was how Mr Cavendish's defection from Lucilla took place; and at +the same time it is a satisfaction to know that the event was received +by everybody very much as little Rose Lake received it. And as for Miss +Marjoribanks, if Barbara could have had the malicious satisfaction of +looking in at the window, she would have been mortified to find that +right-minded young woman sleeping the sleep of the just and innocent, +and enjoying repose as profound and agreeable as if there had been no Mr +Cavendish in the world, not to speak of Carlingford;--which, to be sure, +was a result to be greatly attributed to Lucilla's perfect health, and +entire satisfaction with herself. + + + + +_Chapter XV_ + + +This event was of far too much importance in the limited world of Grange +Lane to pass over without some of the many commentaries which were going +on upon the subject coming to the ears of Miss Marjoribanks, who was the +person principally concerned. As for the Doctor, as we have already +said, he was so far lost to a sense of his paternal duties as to chuckle +a little within himself over the accident that had happened to Lucilla. +It had done her no harm, and Dr Marjoribanks permitted himself to regard +the occurrence in a professional point of view, as supplying a little +alterative which he could scarcely administer himself; for it is well +known that physicians are seldom successful in the treatment of their +own families. He was more jocose than usual at breakfast for some days +following, and, on the morning of the next Thursday, asked if everybody +was to come as usual, with a significance which did not escape the young +mistress of the house. + +"You know best, papa," she said cheerfully, as she poured him out his +coffee: "if there is anybody who is ill and can't come, it must be your +fault--but I did not hear that any one was ill." + +"Nor I," said the Doctor, with a quiet laugh; and he could not help +thinking it would be good sport to see Cavendish come into the +drawing-room all by himself without any support, and make his appearance +before Miss Marjoribanks, and do his best to be agreeable, with an awful +consciousness of his bad behaviour, and nobody sufficiently benevolent +to help him out. The Doctor thought it would serve him right, but yet he +was not sufficiently irritated nor sufficiently sympathetic to lose any +of the humour of the situation; and it was with a little zest, as for +something especially piquant, that he looked forward to the evening. As +for Miss Marjoribanks, she too recognised the importance of the +occasion. She resolved to produce that evening a new _plat_, which had +occupied a corner of her busy mind for some time past. It was a crisis +which called for a new step in advance. She sat down by the window after +breakfast with various novel combinations floating in her creative +brain; and while she was revolving these ideas in her mind, Nancy came +in with more than her usual briskness. It is true that Lucilla had her +household well in hand, and possessed the faculty of government to a +remarkable extent; but still, under the best of circumstances, it was a +serious business to propose a new dish to Nancy. Dr Marjoribanks's +factotum was a woman of genius in her way, and by no means unenlightened +or an enemy of progress; but then she had a weakness common to many +persons of superior intelligence and decided character. When there was +anything new to be introduced, Nancy liked to be herself the godmother +of the interesting novelty; for, to be sure, it was her place, and Miss +Lucilla, though she was very clever, was not to be expected to +understand what came in best with the other dishes for a dinner. "I +ain't one as goes just upon fish and flesh and fowl, like some as call +themselves cooks," Nancy said. "If I have a failing, it's for things as +suits. When it's brown, make it brown, and don't be mean about the +gravy-beef--that's my principle; and when it ain't brown, mind what +you're a-doing of--and don't go and throw a heap of entrys and things at +a gentleman's head without no 'armony. I always says to Miss Lucilla as +'armony's the thing; and when I've set it all straight in my mind, I +ain't one as likes to be put out," Nancy would add, with a gleam in her +eye which betokened mischief. Miss Marjoribanks was much too sensible +not to be aware of this peculiarity; and accordingly she cleared her +throat with something as near nervousness as was possible to Lucilla +before she opened her lips to propose the innovation. Miss Marjoribanks, +as a general rule, did not show much nervousness in her dealings with +her prime minister, any more than in her demeanour towards the less +important members of society; and consequently Nancy remarked the +momentary timidity, and a flash of sympathy and indignation took the +place of her usual impulse of defiance. + +"I heard as master said, there was some gentleman as wasn't a-coming," +said Nancy. "Not as one makes no difference in a dinner; but I allays +likes to know. I don't like no waste, for my part. I ain't one as +calk'lates too close, but if there's one thing as I hates like poison, +it's waste. I said as I would ask, for Thomas ain't as correct as could +be wished. Is it one less than usual, Miss Lucilla?" said Nancy; and it +was Lucilla's fault if she did not understand the profound and indignant +sympathy in Nancy's voice. + +"Oh, no; it is just the usual number," said Miss Marjoribanks. "It was +only a joke of papa's--they are all just as usual----" And here Lucilla +paused. She was thinking of the dish she wanted, but Nancy thought she +was thinking of Mr Cavendish, who had treated her so badly. She studied +the countenance of her young mistress with the interest of a woman who +has had her experiences, and knows how little _They_ are to be depended +upon. Nancy murmured "Poor dear!" under her breath, almost without +knowing it, and then a brilliant inspiration came to her mind. Few +people have the gift of interfering successfully in such cases, but then +to offer consolation is a Christian duty, especially when one has the +confidence that to give consolation is in one's power. + +"Miss Lucilla, I would say as you've been doing too much, if anybody was +to ask me," said Nancy, moved by this generous impulse--"all them +practisings and things. They're well enough for young ladies as ain't +got nothing else to do; but you as has such a deal in your hands----If +there was any little thing as you could fancy for dinner," said Nancy, +in her most bland accents; "I've set it all down as I thought would be +nicest, allays if you approves, Miss Lucilla; but if there was any +little thing as you could fancy----" "Poor dear, it's all as we can do," +she murmured to herself. The faithless could not be brought back again; +but Ariadne might at least have any little thing she could fancy for +dinner, which, indeed, is a very general treatment of such a case on the +part of perplexed sympathisers who do not know what to say. + +Lucilla was so excited for the moment by this unusual evidence of her +own good fortune, that she had almost spoiled all by sitting straight up +and entering with her usual energy into the discussion--but instinct +saved Miss Marjoribanks from this mistake. She lost no time in taking +advantage of the opportunity, and instead of having a fight with Nancy, +and getting a reluctant consent, and still more reluctant execution of +the novelty, Lucilla felt that she was doing that excellent woman a +favour by naming her new dish. Nancy approved so thoroughly as to be +enthusiastic. "I always said as she had a deal of sense," she said +afterwards triumphantly. "There ain't one young lady in a hundred as +knows what's good for her, like Miss Lucilla." But notwithstanding this +fervent declaration of approval, Nancy, softened as she was, could not +but linger, when all was concluded, to give a little advice. + +"I wouldn't worrit myself with all them practisings, Miss Lucilla, if I +was you," said her faithful retainer. "They're a deal too much for you. +I've took the liberty, when all was cleaned up, to go on the stair and +listen a bit, and there ain't nothing to equal it when you're a-singing +by yourself. I don't think nothing of them duets--and as for that +bold-faced brazen thing----" + +"Oh, Nancy, hush!" said Lucilla; "Miss Lake has a beautiful voice. If +she does not look quite like a lady, it is not her fault, poor thing. +She has no mamma to set her right, you know. She is the best assistant I +have--she and Mr Cavendish," said Lucilla sweetly; and she gave Nancy a +look which moved the faithful servant almost to tears, though she was +not addicted to that weakness. Nancy retired with the most enthusiastic +determination to exert herself to the utmost for the preparation of the +little dish which Lucilla fancied. "But I wouldn't worrit about them +duets," she said again, as she left the room. "I wouldn't, not if I was +you, Miss Lucilla, asking pardon for the liberty: as for having no +mamma, you have no mamma yourself, and you the young lady as is most +thought upon in Carlingford, and as different from that brazen-faced +thing, with her red cheeks----" + +"Hush, oh hush, Nancy," Lucilla said, as she sank back in her chair; but +Miss Marjoribanks, after all, was only human, and she was not so +distressed by these unpolished epithets as she might or perhaps ought to +have been. "Poor Barbara! I wish she could only look a little bit like a +lady," she said to herself; and so proceeded with her preparations for +the evening. She had all her plans matured, and she felt quite +comfortable about that evening which all her friends were thinking would +be rather trying for Lucilla. To tell the truth, when a thing became +rather trying, Lucilla's spirits rose. Mr Cavendish's desertion was, +perhaps, on the whole, more than compensated for by the exhilaration of +a difficulty to be encountered. She too began to forecast, like her +father, the possibilities of the evening, and to think of Mr Cavendish +coming in to dinner when there was nobody to support him, and not even a +crowd of people to retire among. Would he run the risk of coming, under +the circumstances? or, if he came, would he prostrate himself as he had +done on a previous occasion, and return to his allegiance? This question +roused Lucilla to a degree of energy unusual even to her who was always +energetic. It was then that the brilliant idea struck her of adjourning +to the garden in the evening--a practice which was received with such +enthusiasm in Carlingford, where the gardens were so pretty. She put on +her hat directly and went downstairs, and called the gardener to consult +him about it; and it was thus that she was employed when Mrs Chiley rang +the bell at the garden gate. If it had been anybody else in Carlingford, +Lucilla would have led her back again to the house, and said nothing +about the subject of her conference with the gardener; for it is always +best, as all judicious persons are aware, not to forestall these little +arrangements which make so agreeable a surprise at the moment; but then +Mrs Chiley was Miss Marjoribanks's special confidant. The old lady had +her face full of business that bright morning. She listened to what her +young friend proposed, but without hearing it, and said. "Oh, yes, my +dear, I am sure it will be charming," without the very least notion what +it was she applauded. "Let us go in and sit down a moment, for I have +something to say to you, Lucilla," Mrs Chiley said; and when they had +reached the drawing-room and shut the door, the Colonel's wife gave her +favourite a kiss, and looked anxiously in her face. "You have not been +to see me since Monday," said Mrs Chiley. "I am sure you are not well, +or you could not have stayed away so long; but if you did not feel equal +to going out, why did you not send for me, Lucilla, my poor dear?" +Though Miss Marjoribanks's thoughts at that moment were full of the +garden, and not in the least occupied with those more troublesome +matters which procured for her Mrs Chiley's sympathy, she placed the +kind old lady in the most easy chair, and sat down by her, as Mrs Chiley +liked to see a young creature do. Lucilla's affairs were too important +to be trusted to a young _confidante_ of her own age; but even a person +of acknowledged genius like Miss Marjoribanks is the better of some one +to whom she can open up her breast. + +"Dear Mrs Chiley!" said Lucilla, "I am quite well, and I meant to have +come to see you to-day." + +"My poor dear!" said Mrs Chiley again. "You say you are quite well for +you have such a spirit; but I can see what you have been going through. +I don't understand how you can keep on, and do so much. But it was not +_that_ that brought me here. There is some one coming to Carlingford +that I want you to meet, Lucilla. He is a relation of Mary Chiley's +husband, and as she does not get on very well with them, you know, I +think it is our duty to be civil. And they say he is a very nice man; +and young--enough," said Mrs Chiley, with a look of some anxiety, +pausing to see the effect produced upon Lucilla by her words. + +Miss Marjoribanks had not, as she once confessed, a very vivid sense of +humour, but she laughed a little, in spite of herself, at the old lady's +anxious look. "Don't be sorry for me," she said; "I told you that +fortunately my affections were not engaged. I don't want any new +gentleman introduced to me. If _that_ was what I was thinking of, I +never need have come home," Lucilla said, with a little dignity; and +yet, to be sure, she was naturally curious to know who the new man, who +was very nice and young--enough, could be; for such apparitions were not +too plentiful in Carlingford; and it did not seem in reason that an +individual of this interesting description could come out of Colonel +Chiley's house. + +"My dear, he is a clergyman," said Mrs Chiley, putting her hand on Miss +Marjoribanks's arm, and speaking in a half whisper; "and you know a nice +clergyman is always nice, and you need not think of him as a young man +unless you like. He has a nice property, and he is Rector of Basing, +which is a very good living, and Archdeacon of Stanmore. He has come +here to hold a visitation, you know; and they say that if Carlingford +was made into a bishopric, he is almost sure to be the first bishop; and +you know a bishop, or even an archdeacon, has a very nice position. I +want to be civil to him for Mary Chiley's sake, who is not on such terms +as we could wish with her husband's friends; and then I suppose he will +have to be a great deal in Carlingford, and I should like him to form a +good impression. I want you and your dear good papa to come and meet +him; and then after that--but one thing is enough at a time," the old +lady said, breaking off with a nod and a smile. She too had brought her +bit of consolation to Lucilla; and it was a kind of consolation which, +when administered at the right moment, is sometimes of sovereign +efficacy, as Mrs Chiley was aware. + +"I am sure papa will be very happy," said Lucilla; "and, indeed, if you +like, I shall be very glad to ask him here. If he is a friend of yours, +that is quite enough for me. It is very nice to know a nice clergyman; +but as for being a young man, I can't see how that matters. If I had +been thinking of _that_, I need never--but I should think papa would +like to meet him; and you know it is the object of my life to please +papa." + +"Yes, my poor dear," said the Colonel's wife, "and he would be +hard-hearted indeed if he was not pleased; but still we must consider +you a little, Lucilla. You do everything for other people, and you never +think of yourself. But I like to see you with nice people round you, for +my part," Mrs Chiley added--"really nice people, and not these +poor-spirited, ungrateful----" + +"Hush, hush!" said Lucilla; "I don't know such nice people anywhere as +there are in Carlingford. Some people are never pleased with their +neighbours, but I always get on so well with everybody. It is my good +luck, you know; and so long as I have you, dear Mrs Chiley----" + +"Ah, Lucilla!" said the old lady, "that is very kind of you--and you +could not have anybody that is fonder of you than I am; but still I am +an old woman, old enough to be your grandmother, my dear--and we have +your future interests to think of. As for all the vexations you have +had, I think I could find it in my heart to turn that ungrateful +creature to the door. Don't let her come here any more. I like your +voice a great deal better when you are singing by yourself--and I am +sure the Archdeacon would be of my opinion," said Mrs Chiley, with a +confidence which was beautiful to behold. It was true she had not seen +her new hero as yet, but that only left her so much more free to take +the good of him and his probable sentiments; for to persons of frank and +simple imagination a very little foundation of fact is enough to build +upon. + +"Dear Mrs Chiley, it is so nice of you to be vexed," said Lucilla, who +thought it as well not to enter into any further argument. "Papa will be +delighted, I am sure, and I can come in the evening. The Colonel likes +to have only six people, and you will be three to start with, so there +can't be any room for me at dinner; and you know I don't mind about +dinner. I shall come in the evening and make tea for you--and if you +think he would like to come next Thursday----" said Lucilla graciously. +This was how it was eventually settled. Mrs Chiley went home again +through Grange Lane in the sunshine, with that little old-womanish +hobble which Mrs Woodburn executed with such precision, perfectly +satisfied with her success, and indulging herself in some pleasant +visions. To be sure, a nice clergyman is always nice to know, even +though nothing more was to come of it; and a new man in the field of +such distinguished pretensions, would be Lucilla's best defence against +any sort of mortification. As for Miss Marjoribanks herself, she was +thinking a great deal more of the new details for the approaching +evening than of anything else more distant, and consequently less +important; but, on the whole, she was by no means displeased to hear of +the Archdeacon. In such a work as hers, a skilful leader is always on +the outlook for auxiliaries; and there are circumstances in which a nice +clergyman is almost as useful to the lady of the house as a man who can +flirt. To be sure, now and then there occurs a rare example in which +both these qualities are united in one person; but even in the most +modest point of view, if he was not stupid or obstinately Low-Church, +there was nothing to despise in the apparition of the Archdeacon thus +suddenly blown to her very door. While she had the seats placed in the +garden (not too visibly, but shrouded among the shrubs and round the +trunks of the trees), and chose the spot for a little illumination, +which was not to be universal, like a tea-garden, but concentrated in +one spot under the big lime-tree, Lucilla permitted herself to speculate +a little about this unknown hero. She did not so much ask herself if he +would be dark or fair, according to the usage of young ladies, as +whether he would be High or Broad. But, however, that question, like +various others, was still hidden in the surrounding darkness. + +This was how Mrs Chiley did her best to cheer up Lucilla in the +discouragement from which she supposed her young friend to be suffering. +It was perhaps a loftier expedient in one way than Nancy's desire that +she should have something she would fancy for dinner; but then there +could not be any doubt as to the kindness which prompted both +suggestions; and, after all, it is not what people do for you, but the +spirit in which they do it, which should be taken into consideration, as +Lucilla most justly observed. + + + + +_Chapter XVI_ + + +That evening was one which all the people in Grange Lane had unanimously +concluded would be rather hard upon Miss Marjoribanks. To be sure, when +a crisis arrives there is always a certain excitement which keeps one +up; but afterwards, when the excitement is over, then is the time when +it becomes really trying. There was naturally, under these +circumstances, a larger assemblage than usual to watch the progress of +the little drama, and how Lucilla would behave; for, after all, society +would be excessively tame if it were not for these personal +complications, which are always arising, and which are so much better +than a play. As for the Doctor himself, the portion of the evening's +entertainment which particularly amused him was that which preceded all +the rest--the reception given by Lucilla to her guests at dinner, and +especially to the culprit, who came in quite alone, and found nobody to +stand up for him. Mr Cavendish, who felt to the full the difficulty of +his position, and, to tell the truth, was a little ashamed of himself, +came late, in order to abridge his trial as much as possible; but +Lucilla's habitual good-fortune was not confined only to her own +necessities, but seemed to involve everybody opposed to her in a +ceaseless ill-luck, which was very edifying to the spectators. Mr +Cavendish was so late that the other guests had formed into groups round +the room, leaving a great open space and avenue of approach to the lady +of the house in the middle; and the audience, thus arranged, was very +impatient and unfavourable to the lingerer who kept them waiting for +their dinner. When he came in at last, instead of doing anything to help +him, everybody ceased talking and looked on in stern silence as the +wretched culprit walked all the length of the room up to Lucilla through +the unoccupied space which exposed him so unmercifully on every side. +They all stopped in the middle of what they were saying, and fixed stony +eyes on him, as the dead sailors did on the Ancient Mariner. He had a +very good spirit, but still there are circumstances which take the +courage out of a man. To be sure, Miss Marjoribanks, when he reached her +at last, received Mr Cavendish with the utmost grace and cordiality, but +it is easy to imagine what must have been the feelings of the +unfortunate hero. The Balaclava charge itself, in the face of all the +guns, could have been nothing to the sensation of walking through that +horrible naked space, through a crowd of reproachful men who were +waiting for dinner; and it was only after it was all over, and Mr +Cavendish had safely arrived at Miss Marjoribanks's side, and was being +set at his ease, poor wretch, by her incomparable sweetness, that the +Doctor, with a certain grim smile on his countenance, came and shook +hands with his unfortunate guest. + +"You are late," Dr Marjoribanks said, taking out the great watch by +which all the pulses of Grange Lane considered it their duty to keep +time, and which marked five minutes after seven, as everybody could see. +It was ten minutes after seven by the pretty French clock on the +mantelpiece, and at least twenty by the lowering countenances of Dr +Marjoribanks's guests. Mr Cavendish made the best of his unhappy +position, and threw himself upon Lucilla's charity, who was the only one +who had any compassion upon him; for to see Mrs Chiley's forbidding +countenance no one could have believed that she had ever called him "my +dear." "Dinner is on the table, papa," Miss Marjoribanks said, with a +little reassuring nod to the culprit who had made her his refuge; and +she got up and shook out her white draperies with a charitable commotion +for which her faithless admirer blessed her in his heart. + +But the place at her left hand was not left vacant for Mr Cavendish; he +had not the spirit to claim it, even had he had the time; and the +consequence was that he found himself next to his brother-in-law at +table, which was indeed a hard fate. As for Lucilla, she was quite +radiant when the famous dish made its appearance which Nancy had +elaborated to please her, and told the story of its introduction to her +two next neighbours, in a half whisper, to their immense amusement. +"When the servants are gone I will tell you what we are laughing at," +she breathed across the table to Mrs Chiley, who was "more than +delighted," as she said, to see her dear Lucilla keeping up so well; and +when the dessert was put upon the table, and Thomas had finally +disappeared, Miss Marjoribanks kept her promise. "I could not think how +I was going to get her to consent," Lucilla said, "but you know she +thought I was in low spirits, the dear old soul, and that it would be a +comfort to me." Though there was often a great deal of fun at Dr +Marjoribanks's table, nothing was ever heard there to compare with the +laughter that greeted Lucilla's narrative. Everybody was so entirely +aware of the supposed cause of the low spirits, and indeed was so +conscious of having speculated, like Nancy, upon Miss Marjoribanks's +probable demeanour at this trying moment, that the laughter was not mere +laughter, but conveyed, at the same time a confession of guilt and a +storm of applause and admiration. As for Mr Cavendish, it was alarming +to look at him in the terrible paroxysm of confusion and shame which he +tried to shield under the universal amusement. Miss Marjoribanks left +the dining-room that evening with the soothing conviction that she had +administered punishment of the most annihilating kind, without for a +moment diverging from the perfect sweetness and amiability with which it +was her duty to treat all her father's guests. It was so complete and +perfect that there was not another word to be said either on one side or +the other; and yet Lucilla had not in the least committed herself, or +condescended from her maiden dignity. As for Dr Marjoribanks, if he had +chuckled over it before, in anticipation, it may be supposed how he +enjoyed now this perfect vindication of his daughter's capacity for +taking care of herself. The sound of the victory was even heard +upstairs, where the young ladies at the open windows were asking each +other, with a little envy, what the men could be laughing at. There was, +as we have said, a larger assembly than usual that night. For one thing, +it was moonlight, and all the people from the country were there; and +then public curiosity was profoundly concerned as to how Lucilla was to +conduct herself on so trying an occasion. The laughter even jarred on +the sensitive feelings of some people who thought, where a young girl's +happiness was concerned, that it was too serious a matter to be laughed +at; but then Miss Marjoribanks was not a person who could be classed +with ordinary young girls, in the general acceptation of the word. + +It was when things were at this crisis, and all eyes were directed to +Lucilla, and a certain expectation was diffused through the company, +that Miss Marjoribanks made that proposal of adjourning to the garden, +which was received with so much applause. Lucilla's instinct, or rather +her genius, had warned her that something out of the ordinary course of +proceedings would be expected from her on that special occasion. She +could not get up and make a speech to her excited and curious audience, +neither could she, apropos of nothing, tell over again the story which +had been received with such applause downstairs; and yet something was +wanting. The ordinary routine did not satisfy Lucilla's constituency, +who had come with the laudable intention of observing her on a trying +occasion, and watching how she got through it. "The air is so delicious +to-night that I had some seats placed in the garden," Miss Marjoribanks +said, "and if you all like we will sing to you up here, and give you as +much music as ever you please. You know I never would consent to be too +musical when everybody was in one room. It does not matter so much, when +there are a suite; but then papa, you know, is only a professional man, +and I have but one drawing-room," said Lucilla, with sweet humility. It +was Lady Richmond to whom she was addressing herself at the moment, who +was a lady who liked to be the great lady of the party. "It is only in +summer that we can be a little like you fine people, who have as many +rooms as you please. When you are at a little distance we will sing to +you all the evening, if you like." + +"But, my dear, are you sure you feel able for so much exertion?" said +Lady Richmond, who was one of those people who did not think a young +girl's happiness a thing to be trifled with; and she looked with what +she described afterwards as a very searching expression in Miss +Marjoribanks's face. + +"Dear Lady Richmond, I hope I am always able for my duty," said that +gentle martyr. "Papa would be wretched if he did not think we were all +enjoying ourselves; and you know it is the object of my life to be a +comfort to papa." + +This was what the searching expression in Lady Richmond's eyes elicited +from Lucilla. The sentiment was perhaps a little different from that +which she had conveyed to her delighted auditors in the dining-room, but +at the same time it was equally true; for everybody in Carlingford was +aware of the grand object of Miss Marjoribanks's existence. Lady +Richmond went down to the garden at the head of a bevy of ladies, and +seated herself under the drawing-room windows, and placed a chair beside +her own for Mrs Chiley. "I am afraid that dear girl is keeping up too +well," Lady Richmond said; "I never saw such fortitude. All the young +people say she does not feel it; but as soon as I fixed my eyes on her I +saw the difference. You can always find out what a girl's feelings are +when you look into her eyes." + +"Yes," said Mrs Chiley, with a little doubt, for she had been shaken in +her convictions by the universal laughter, though she was a little +mystified herself by Lucilla's anecdote; and then she had never been +gifted with eyes like Lady Richmond's, which looked people through and +through. "She goes through a great deal, and it never seems to do her +any harm," the old lady said, with a little hesitation. "It is such a +comfort that she has a good constitution, especially as her mother was +so delicate; and then Lucilla has such a spirit----" + +"But one may try a good constitution too far," said Lady Richmond; "and +I am certain she is full of feeling. It is sure to come out when she +sings, and that is why I came to this seat. I should not like to lose a +note. And do tell me who is that horrid flirting, disagreeable girl," +added the county lady, drawing her chair a little closer. By this time +the garden was full of pretty figures and pleasant voices, and under the +lime-tree there was a glimmer of yellow light from the lamps, and on the +other side the moon was coming up steady like a ball of silver over the +dark outlines of Carlingford; and even the two voices which swelled +forth upstairs in the fullest accord, betraying nothing of the personal +sentiments of their owners, were not more agreeable to hear than the +rustle and murmur of sound which rose all over Dr Marjoribanks's smooth +lawn and pretty shrubbery. Here and there a group of the older people +sat, like Lady Richmond and Mrs Chiley, listening with all their might; +and all about them were clusters of girls and their natural attendants, +arrested in their progress, and standing still breathless, "just for +this bar," as young people pause in their walks and talks to listen to a +chance nightingale. And, to be sure, whenever anybody was tired of the +music, there were quantities of corners to retire into, not to speak of +that bright spot full of yellow light under the lime-tree. + +"Nobody but Lucilla ever could have thought of anything so delicious," +was what everybody said. And then the two singers upstairs gave so much +scope to curiosity. "Do you think they are all by themselves?" Lydia +Brown was heard to ask, with a little natural anxiety; and the livelier +imaginations among the party set to work at once to invent impossible +tortures which the soprano might inflict on the contralto. But, to tell +the truth, the two singers were by no means alone. Half the gentlemen of +the dinner-party, who were past the sentimental age, and did not care +about moonlight, had gone upstairs according to their use and wont, and +remained there, finding, to their great satisfaction, room to move +about, and comfortable chairs to sit down in. They sat and chatted in +the corners in great content and good-humour, while Lucilla and Barbara +executed the most charming duets. Now and then old Colonel Chiley paused +to put his two hands softly together and cry "Brava!" but on the whole +the gentlemen were not much disturbed by the music. And then there were +a few ladies, who were subject to neuralgia, or apt to take bad colds in +the head, who preferred being upstairs. So that if Lucilla had meant to +pinch or maltreat her rival, circumstances would have made it +impossible. Miss Marjoribanks did nothing to Barbara, except incite her +to sing her very best; but no doubt she was the means of inflicting +considerable pain on Mr Cavendish, who stood at a little distance, and +looked and listened to both, and perhaps had inward doubts as to the +wisdom of his choice. Such was the arrangement of the personages of the +social drama, and it was in this way that everybody was occupied, when +an event occurred which at a later period awoke much excitement in +Carlingford, and had no small influence upon the future fate of some of +the individuals whose history is here recorded. + +Everything was as calm and cheerful and agreeable as if Carlingford had +been a social paradise, and Miss Marjoribanks's drawing-room the seventh +heaven of terrestrial harmony. The sky itself was not more peaceful, nor +gave less indication of any tempest than did the tranquil atmosphere +below, where all the people knew each other, and everybody was friendly. +Lucilla had just risen from the piano, and there was a little pause, in +which cheers were audible from the garden, and Colonel Chiley, in the +midst of his conversation, patted his two hands together; and it was +just at that moment that the drawing-room door opened, and Thomas came +in, followed by a gentleman. The gentleman was a stranger, whom Miss +Marjoribanks had never seen before, and she made a step forward, as was +her duty as mistress of the house. But when she had made that one step, +Lucilla suddenly stood still, arrested by something more urgent than the +arrival of a stranger. Mr Cavendish, too, had been standing with his +face to the door, and had seen the new arrival. He was directly in front +of Lucilla, so near her that he could not move without attracting her +attention. When Miss Marjoribanks took that step in advance, Mr +Cavendish, as if by the same impulse, suddenly, and without saying a +word, turned right round like a man who had seen something terrible, at +which he dared not take a second look. He was too much absorbed at that +moment in his own feelings to know that he was betraying himself to +Lucilla, or even to be conscious that she was near him. His face was +more than pale; it had a green ghastly look, as of a face from which all +the blood had suddenly been withdrawn to reinforce the vital centre in +some failing of nature. His under-lip hung down, and two hollows which +had never been seen there before appeared in his cheeks. Miss +Marjoribanks was so taken by surprise that she stood still, thinking no +more of her duties, but regarding in utter dismay and amazement the look +of dead stupefied terror which thus appeared so unexpectedly before her. +Mr Cavendish had turned right round, turning his back upon a lady to +whom he had been talking the minute before. But he was as unconscious of +doing so as of the fact that he had presented the spectacle of his +miserable surprise and alarm in the most striking way to the one woman +present who had a right to entertain a certain grudge against him. + +During this moment of unusual inaction on Lucilla's part, the stranger +had been led up to Colonel Chiley, and had shaken hands with him, and +was entering into some explanations which Miss Marjoribanks divined with +her usual quick intelligence; and then the old Colonel roused himself up +from his easy-chair, and leaned over to speak to Dr Marjoribanks, and +showed symptoms of approaching the lady of the house. All these +movements Lucilla followed breathlessly, with a strange consciousness +that only her presence of mind stood between her faithless suitor and a +real danger. And as if to prove the difference, Barbara Lake chose that +moment of all others to show her power, and made an appeal to Mr +Cavendish and his taste in music, to which the unhappy man made no +response. Miss Marjoribanks saw there was no time to lose. With a +fearless hand she threw down a great portfolio of music which happened +to be close to her, just at his feet, making a merciful disturbance. And +then she turned and made her curtsey, and received the homage of Mr +Archdeacon Beverley, who had arrived a day before he was expected, and +had come to look after his host, since his host had not been at home to +receive him. + +"But you have broken your music-stand or something, Lucilla," said the +Colonel. + +"Oh, no; it is only a portfolio. I can't think what could make me so +awkward," said Miss Marjoribanks; "I suppose it was seeing some one come +in whom I didn't know." And then the old gentleman, as was his duty, +paid the Archdeacon a compliment on having made such a commotion. "We +used to have the best of it in our day," said the old soldier; "but now +you churchmen are the men." Miss Marjoribanks heard the door open again +before this little speech was finished. It was Mr Cavendish, who was +going out with a long step, as if he with difficulty kept himself from +running; and he never came back again to say good-night, or made any +further appearance either out of doors or indoors. It is true that the +Archdeacon made himself very agreeable, but then one man never quite +makes up for another. Miss Marjoribanks said nothing about it, not even +when Mrs Woodburn came up to her with a scared face, and in full +possession of her own identity, which of itself was an extraordinary +fact, and proved that something had happened; but it would be vain to +say that Lucilla was not much excited by this sudden gleam of mystery. +It gave the Archdeacon an extraordinary and altogether unexpected +attraction; and as for Mr Cavendish, it was utterly inconceivable that a +man in society, whom everybody knew about, should give way to such a +panic. The question was, What did it mean? + + + + +_Chapter XVII_ + + +The arrival of Mr Archdeacon Beverley in Carlingford was, for many +reasons, an event of importance to the town, and especially to society, +which was concerned in anything that drew new and pleasant people to +Grange Lane. For one thing, it occurred at the time when that first +proposal of elevating Carlingford into a bishopric, in order to relieve +the present bishop of the district of a part of his immense diocese, had +just been mooted; and supposing this conception to be ever carried out, +nobody could have been more eligible as first bishop than the +Archdeacon, who was in the prime of life, and a very successful +clergyman. And then, not to speak of anything so important, his presence +was a great attraction to the country clergy, especially as he had come +to hold a visitation. Notwithstanding all this, it is impossible to deny +that Mrs Chiley, his hostess, and even Miss Marjoribanks herself, +regarded the manner of his first appearance with a certain displeasure. +If he had only had the good sense to stay at home, and not come to seek +his entertainers! To be sure it is awkward to arrive at a house and find +that everybody is out; but still, as Mrs Chiley justly observed, the +Archdeacon was not a baby, and he might have known better. "Coming to +you the very first night, and almost in his travelling things, to take +the cream off everything," the old lady said, with tears of vexation in +her eyes; "and after that, what have we to show him in Carlingford, +Lucilla?" As for Miss Marjoribanks, she was annoyed, but she knew the +wealth of her own resources, and she was not in despair, like her old +friend. "They never know any better," she said sympathetically. "Dear +Mrs Chiley, there was nothing else to be expected; but, at the same +time, I don't think things are so very bad," said Lucilla; for she had +naturally a confidence in herself of which even Mrs Chiley's admiring +faith fell short. + +The Archdeacon himself took it quite cheerfully, as if it was the most +natural thing in the world. "I have no doubt it was a very pleasant +party, if one could have got the key-note," he said, in his +Broad-Church way, as if there was nothing more to be said on the +subject, and Lucilla's Thursday was the merest ordinary assembly. For +there could be no doubt that he was Broad-Church, even though his +antecedents had not proclaimed the fact. He had a way of talking on many +subjects which alarmed his hostess. It was not that there was anything +objectionable in what he said--for, to be sure, a clergyman and an +archdeacon may say a great many things that ordinary people would not +like to venture on,--but still it was impossible to tell what it might +lead to; for it is not everybody who knows when to stop, as Mr Beverley +in his position might be expected to do. It was the custom of good +society in Carlingford to give a respectful assent, for example, to Mr +Bury's extreme Low-Churchism--as if it were profane, as it certainly was +not respectable, to differ from the Rector--and to give him as wide a +field as possible for his missionary operations by keeping out of the +way. But Mr Beverley had not the least regard for respectability, nor +that respect for religion which consists in keeping as clear of it as +possible; and the way in which he spoke of Mr Bury's views wounded some +people's feelings. Altogether, he was, as Mrs Chiley said, an anxious +person to have in the house; for he just as often agreed with the +gentlemen in their loose ways of thinking, as with the more correct +opinions by which the wives and mothers who had charge of Their morality +strove hard to keep them in the right way; and that was the reverse of +what one naturally expected from a clergyman. He was very nice, and had +a nice position; and, under all the circumstances, it was not only a +duty to pay attention to him, but a duty from which results of a most +agreeable character might spring; but still, though she could not be +otherwise than kind, it would be impossible to say that it was out of +personal predilection that Mrs Chiley devoted herself to her guest. She +admitted frankly that he was not like what clergymen were in her time. +For one thing, he seemed to think that every silly boy and girl ought to +have an opinion and be consulted, as if they had anything to do with +it--which was just the way to turn their heads, and make them utterly +insupportable. On the whole, perhaps, the old lady was more charitable +to Mary Chiley, and understood better how it was that she, brought up in +sound Church principles, did not get on so well as might be desired with +her husband's family, after a week of the Archdeacon. And yet he was a +delightful person, and full of information, as everybody admitted; and +if Carlingford should be erected into a bishopric, as would be only +right--and if Mr Beverley should happen to be appointed bishop, as was +highly probable--then it would be a pleasure to think that one had been +kind to him. At the same time, it must be owned that he showed a great +want of tact in coming to Miss Marjoribanks's Thursday on the night of +his arrival, and thus brushing, as it were, the very cream off his +introduction to Grange Lane. And Mrs Chiley still sighed a little over +Mr Cavendish, and thought within herself that it was not his fault, but +that designing, artful creature, who was enough to lead any man wrong. +For it was very clear to the meanest capacity that nobody could ever +call the Archdeacon "my dear," as, with all his faults, it had been +possible to call Mr Cavendish. And by this line of thought Mrs Chiley +was led to regret Mr Cavendish, and to wonder what had become of him, +and what family affairs it could be that had taken him so suddenly away. + +A great many people in Carlingford were at that moment occupied by the +same wonders and regrets. Some people thought he was frightened to find +how far he had gone with _that_ Miss Lake, and had left town for a +little to be out of the way; and some thought he must have been +speculating, and have lost money. To tell the truth, it was very strange +that he should have disappeared so suddenly,--just at the moment, too, +when old Mr Chiltern had one of his bad attacks of bronchitis, which Dr +Marjoribanks himself had admitted might carry him off any day. Nothing +could be more important to the future interests of young Cavendish than +to be on the spot at this critical moment, and yet he had disappeared +without telling anybody he was going, or where he was going, which was +on the whole a perfectly unexplainable proceeding. His very servants, as +had been ascertained by some inquiring mind in the community, were +unaware of his intention up to the very last moment; and certainly he +had not said good-bye to anybody before leaving Dr Marjoribanks's garden +on that Thursday evening. Mr Woodburn, who was not a person of very +refined perceptions, was the only man who found his disappearance quite +natural. "After making such a deuced ass of himself, by George! what +could the fellow do?" said his brother-in-law, who naturally enjoyed the +discomfiture of so near a connection; and this was no doubt a +providential circumstance for Mrs Woodburn, who was thus saved from the +necessity of explaining or accounting for her brother's unexpected +disappearance; but it failed to satisfy the general community, who did +not think Mr Cavendish likely to give in at the first blow even of so +distinguished an antagonist as Miss Marjoribanks. Some of the more +charitable inhabitants of Grange Lane concluded that it must be the +sudden illness of some relative which had called him away; but then, +though he was well known to be one of the Cavendishes, neither he nor +his sister ever spoke much of their connections; and, on the whole, +public opinion fluctuated between the two first suggestions--which +seemed truest to nature at least, whether or not they might be fully +corroborated by fact--which were, either that Mr Cavendish had taken +fright, as he might very naturally have done, at the advanced state of +his relations with Barbara Lake; or that he had speculated, and lost +money. In either case his departure would have been natural enough, and +need not, perhaps, have been accomplished with quite so much +precipitation; but still such a community as that in Grange Lane was in +circumstances to comprehend how a young man might take fright and leave +home, either because of losing a lot of money, or getting entangled with +a drawing-master's daughter. + +The immediate result, so far as society was concerned, was one for which +people did not know whether to be most glad or sorry. Mrs Woodburn, who +kept half the people in Grange Lane in terror of their lives, seemed to +have lost all her inspiration now her brother was away. She did not seem +to have the heart to take off anybody, which was quite a serious matter +for the amusement of the community. To be sure, some people were +thankful, as supposing themselves exempted from caricature; but then +unfortunately, as has been said, the people who were most afraid for Mrs +Woodburn were precisely those who were unworthy of her trouble, and had +nothing about them to give occupation to her graphic powers. As for Miss +Marjoribanks, who had supplied one of the mimic's most effective +studies, she was much disturbed by the failure of this element of +entertainment. "I have always thought it very strange that I never had +any sense of humour," Lucilla said; "but it would not do, you know, if +all the world was like me; and society would be nothing if everybody did +not exert themselves to the best of their abilities." There was a +mournful intonation in Lucilla's voice as she said this; for, to tell +the truth, since Mr Cavendish's departure she had been dreadfully +sensible of the utter absence of any man who could flirt. As for Osmond +Brown and the other boys of his age, it might be possible to train them, +but at the best they were only a provision for the future, and in the +meantime Miss Marjoribanks could not but be sensible of her loss. She +lamented it with such sincerity that all the world thought her the most +perfect actress in existence. "I have nothing to say against any of +you," Lucilla would say, contemplating with the eye of an artist the +young men of Grange Lane who were her raw material. "I dare say you will +all fall in love with somebody sooner or later, and be very happy and +good for nothing; but you are no assistance in any way to society. It is +Mr Cavendish I am sighing for," said the woman of genius, with the +candour of a great mind; and even Mrs Woodburn was beguiled out of her +despondency by a study so unparalleled. All this time, however, Lucilla +had not forgotten the last look of her faithless admirer as he faced +round upon her when Mr Archdeacon Beverley came into the room. She too, +like everybody else, wondered innocently why Mr Cavendish had gone away, +and when he was coming back again; but she never hinted to any one that +the Archdeacon _had_ anything to do with it; for indeed, as she said to +herself, she had no positive evidence except that of a look that the +Archdeacon had anything to do with it. By which it will be seen that +Miss Marjoribanks's prudence equalled her other great qualities. It +would be wrong to say, however, that her curiosity was not excited, and +that in a very lively way; for the vague wonder of the public mind over +a strange fact, could never be compared in intensity to the surprise and +curiosity excited by something one has actually seen, and which gives +one, as it were, a share in the secret,--if indeed there was a secret, +which was a matter upon which Lucilla within herself had quite made up +her mind. + +As for the Archdeacon, the place which he took in society was one quite +different from that which had been filled by Mr Cavendish, as, indeed, +was natural. He was one of those men who are very strong for the +masculine side of Christianity; and when he was with the ladies, he had +a sense that he ought to be paid attention to, instead of taking that +trouble in his own person. Miss Marjoribanks was not a woman to be +blind to the advantages of this situation, but still, as was to be +expected, it took her a little time to get used to it, and to make all +the use of it which was practicable under the circumstances--which was +all the more difficult since she was not in the least "viewy" in her own +person, but had been brought up in the old-fashioned orthodox way of +having a great respect for religion, and as little to do with it as +possible, which was a state of mind largely prevalent in Carlingford. +But that was not in the least Mr Beverley's way. + +It was when Lucilla's mind was much occupied by this problem that she +received a visit quite unexpectedly one morning from little Rose Lake, +who had just at that time a great deal on her mind. For it may easily be +supposed that Mr Cavendish's sudden departure, which bewildered the +general public who had no special interest in the matter, must have had +a still more overwhelming effect upon Barbara Lake, who had just been +raised to the very highest pinnacle of hope, closely touching upon +reality, when all her expectations collapsed and came to nothing in a +moment. She would not believe at first that it could be true; and then, +when it was no longer possible to resist the absolute certainty of Mr +Cavendish's departure, her disappointment found vent in every kind of +violence--hysterics, and other manifestations of unreason and self-will. +Rose had been obliged to leave the Female School of Design upon her +papa's overburdened shoulders, and stay at home to nurse her sister. +Perhaps the little artist was not the best person to take care of a +sufferer under such circumstances; for she was neither unreasonable nor +self-willed to speak of, though perhaps a little opinionative in her +way--and could not be brought to think that a whole household should be +disturbed and disordered, and a young woman in good health retire to her +room, and lose all control of herself, because a young man, with whom +she had no acquaintance three months before, had gone out of town +unexpectedly. Perhaps it was a want of feeling on the part of the +unsympathetic sister. She gave out that Barbara was ill, and kept up a +most subdued and anxious countenance downstairs, for the benefit of the +children and the maid-of-all-work, who represented public opinion in +Grove Street; but when Rose went into her sister's room, where Barbara +kept the blinds down, and had her face swollen with crying, it was with +a very stern countenance that her little mentor regarded the invalid. +"I do not ask you to have a sense of duty," Rose said, with a certain +fine disdain, "but at least you might have a proper pride." This was all +she took the trouble to say; but it must be admitted that a great deal +more to the same effect might be read in her eyes, which were generally +so dewy and soft, but which could flash on occasion. And then as the +week drew on towards Thursday, and all her representations proved +unavailing to induce Barbara to get up and prepare herself for her usual +duties, the scorn and vexation and impatience with which the dutiful +little soul met her sister's sullen determination that "she was not +able" to fulfil her ordinary engagements, roused Rose up to a great +resolution. For her own part she was one of the people who do not +understand giving in. "What do you mean by lying there?" she said, +pounding Barbara down small and cutting her to pieces with infallible +good sense and logic; "will that do any good? You would try to look +better than usual, and sing better than usual, if you had any proper +pride. I did not fall ill when my flounce was passed over at the +exhibition. I made up my mind that very evening about the combination +for my veil. I would die rather than give in if I were you." + +"Your flounce!" sobbed Barbara--"oh, you unfeeling insensible thing!--as +if your h-heart had anything to do with--that. I only went to s-spite +Lucilla--and I won't go--no more--oh, no more--now he's been and +deserted me. You can't understand my feelings--g-go away and leave me +alone." + +"Barbara," said Rose, with solemnity, "I would forgive you if you would +not be mean. I don't understand it in one of _us_. If Mr Cavendish has +gone away, it shows that he does not care for you; and you would scorn +him, and scorn to show you were thinking of him, if you had any proper +pride." + +But all the answer Barbara gave was to turn away with a jerk of +annoyance the old easy-chair in which she was lying buried, with her +hands thrust up into her black hair, and her eyes all red; upon which +Rose left her to carry out her own resolution. She was prompt in all her +movements, and she wasted no time on reconsideration. She went down into +Grange Lane, her little head erect, and her bright eyes regarding the +world with that air of frank recognition and acknowledgment which Rose +felt she owed as an artist to her fellow-creatures. They were all good +subjects more or less, and the consciousness that she could draw them +and immortalise them gave her the same sense of confidence in their +friendliness, and her own perfect command of the situation, as a young +princess might have felt whose rank protected her like an invisible +buckler. Rose, too, walked erect and open-eyed, in the confidence of +_her_ rank, which made her everybody's equal. It was in this frame of +mind that she arrived at Dr Marjoribanks's house, and found Lucilla, who +was very glad to see her. Miss Marjoribanks was pondering deeply on the +Archdeacon at that moment, and her little visitor seemed as one sent by +heaven to help her out. For to tell the truth, though Lucilla understood +all about Mr Cavendish, and men of his description, and how to manage +them, and take full use of their powers, even her commanding +intelligence felt the lack of experience in respect to such a case as +that of the Archdeacon, who required a different treatment to draw him +out. She was thinking it over intently at the moment of Rose's arrival, +for Lucilla was not a person to give up the advantages of a novel +position because she did not quite understand it. She felt within +herself that there was no doubt a great effect might be produced if she +could but see how to do it. And it was Thursday morning, and there was +no time to lose. + +"I came to speak to you about Barbara," said Rose. "She is not fit to +come out this morning. I told her it was very ungrateful not to make an +effort after you had been so kind; but I am sorry to say she has not a +strong sense of duty; and I don't think she would be able to sing or do +anything but look stupid. I hope you will not think very badly of her. +There are some people who can't help giving in, I suppose," said Rose, +with an impatient little sigh. + +"And so this is you, you dear little Rose!" said Lucilla, "and I have +never seen you before since I came home--and you always were such a pet +of mine at Mount Pleasant! I can't think why you never came to see me +before; as for me, you know, I never have any time. Poor papa has nobody +else to take care of him, and it always was the object of my life to be +a comfort to papa." + +"Yes," said Rose, who was a straightforward little woman, and not given +to compliments. "I have a great deal to do too," she said; "and then all +my spare moments I am working at my design. Papa always says that +society accepts artists for what they can give, and does not expect them +to sacrifice their time," Rose continued, with her little air of +dignity. Miss Marjoribanks knew very well that society was utterly +unconscious of the existence of the Lake family; but then there is +always something imposing in such a perfectly innocent and superb +assumption as that to which the young Preraphaelite had just given +utterance; and it began to dawn upon Lucilla that here was another +imperfectly understood but effective instrument lying ready to her hand. + +"I should like to see your design," said Miss Marjoribanks graciously. +"You made such a pretty little wreath for the corner of my +handkerchief--don't you remember?--all frogs' legs and things. It looked +so sweet in the old satin stitch. What is the matter with poor Barbara? +I felt sure she would catch cold and lose her voice. I shall tell papa +to go and see her. As for to-night, it will be a dreadful loss to be +sure, for I never could find a voice that went so well with mine. But if +you are sure she can't come----" + +"When people have not a sense of duty," said Rose, with an indignant +sigh, "nor any proper pride,----Some are so different. Barbara ought to +have been some rich person's daughter, with nothing to do. She would not +mind being of no use in the world. It is a kind of temperament I don't +understand," continued the little artist. All this, it is true, was +novel to Miss Marjoribanks, who had a kind of prejudice in favour of the +daughters of rich persons who had nothing to do; but Lucilla's genius +was broad and catholic, and did not insist upon comprehending +everything. She gave Rose a sudden scrutinising look, and measured her +mentally against the gap she had to fill. No doubt it was an experiment, +and might fail signally; but then Miss Marjoribanks was always at hand +to cover deficiencies, and she had that confidence in herself and her +good fortune which is necessary to everybody who greatly dares. + +"You must come yourself this evening, you dear old Rose," said Lucilla. +"You know I always was fond of you. Oh, yes, I know you can't sing like +Barbara. But the Archdeacon is coming, who understands about art; and if +you would like to bring your design----My principle has always been, +that there should be a little of everything in society," said Miss +Marjoribanks. "I dare say you will feel a little strange at first with +not knowing the people, but that will soon pass off--and you _must_ +come." + +When she had said this, Lucilla bestowed upon little Rose a friendly +schoolfellow kiss, putting her hands upon the little artist's shoulders, +and looking her full in the face as she did so. "I am sure you can +talk," said Miss Marjoribanks. She did not say "Go away now, and leave +me to my arrangements;" but Rose, who was quick-witted, understood that +the salute was a dismissal, and she went away accordingly, tingling with +pride and excitement and pleasure and a kind of pain. The idea of +practically exemplifying, in her own person, the kind of demeanour which +society ought to expect from an artist had not occurred to Rose; but +destiny having arranged it so, she was not the woman to withdraw from +her responsibilities. She said to herself that it would be shabby for +her who was known to have opinions on this subject, to shrink from +carrying them out; and stimulated her courage by recourse to her +principles, as people do who feel themselves bound to lay sacrifices on +the altar of duty. Notwithstanding this elevated view of the emergency, +it must be admitted that a sudden thought of what she would wear had +flushed to Rose's very finger-tips, with a heat and tingle of which the +little heroine was ashamed. For it was Thursday morning, and there was +not a moment to be lost. However, after the first thrill which this idea +had given her, Rose bethought herself once more of her principles, and +stilled her beating heart. It was not for her to think of what she was +to put on, she who had so often proclaimed the exemption of "a family of +artists" from the rules which weigh so hard upon the common world. "We +have a rank of our own," she said to herself, but with that tremor which +always accompanies the transference of a purely theoretical and even +fantastic rule of conduct into practical ground--"We are everybody's +equal, and we are nobody's equal--and when papa begins to be appreciated +as he ought to be, and Willie has made a Name----" This was always the +point at which Rose broke off, falling into reverie that could not be +expressed in words; but she had no leisure to remark upon the chance +"compositions" in the street, or the effects of light and shade, as she +went home. A sudden and heavy responsibility had fallen upon her +shoulders, and she would have scorned herself had she deserted her +post. + + + + +_Chapter XVIII_ + + +But the anticipations of Rose Lake were trifling matters in comparison +with the universal interest and even excitement which attended the +Archdeacon's first appearance in Carlingford. What might be called his +first public appearance took place at Dr Marjoribanks's table, although +he had previously dined at the Rectory, and also at Sir John Richmond's, +besides that there had been somebody to dinner at Colonel Chiley's +almost every day; but then there were only county people at Sir John's, +and Mr Bury's guests naturally counted for very little in Grange +Lane;--indeed, it was confidently reported that the Rector had invited +Mr Tufton of Salem Chapel to meet the Archdeacon, and that, but for the +Dissenting minister having more sense and knowing his place, that +unseemly conjunction would have taken place, to the horror of all +right-thinking people. So that Dr Marjoribanks's was in reality the +first house where he had any chance of seeing society. It would perhaps +be using too strong a word to say that Miss Marjoribanks was anxious +about the success of her arrangements for this particular evening; but, +at the same time, it must be admitted that the circumstances were such +as to justify a little anxiety. Mr Cavendish was gone, who, to do him +justice, was always agreeable, and his departure disturbed the habitual +party; and Mrs Woodburn had lost all her powers, as it seemed, and sat +at Dr Marjoribanks's left hand, looking just like other people, and +evidently not to be in the least depended on; and Lucilla was aware that +Barbara was not coming, which made, if nothing else, a change in the +programme. No music, nobody to do the flirting, nor to supply the +dramatic by-play to which Grange Lane had become accustomed; and a new +man to be made use of, and to be done honour to, and introduced in +society. A young woman of powers inferior to those of Miss Marjoribanks +would have sunk under such a weight of responsibility, and there was no +doubt that Lucilla was a little excited. She felt that everything +depended upon her courage and self-possession. If she but lost her head +for a moment and lost command of affairs, everything might have been +lost; but then fortunately she knew herself and what she could do, and +had a modest confidence that she would not lose her head; and thus she +could still eat her dinner with the composure of genius, though it would +be wrong to deny that Lucilla was a little pale. + +And then, as if all these things had not been enough to discourage the +lady of the house, another discordant element was added by the presence +of Mr Bury and his sister, whom it had been necessary to ask to meet the +Archdeacon. The Rector, though he was very Low-Church, has no particular +objections to a good dinner--but he made a principle of talking of that +important daily necessity in a disparaging, or at best in a patronising +way, which roused Dr Marjoribanks's temper; and sometimes the Doctor +would launch a shaft of medical wit at his spiritual guide, which Mr +Bury had no means of parrying. Nor was this the only danger to which the +peace of the party was exposed. For the Rector, at the same time, +regarded Mr Beverley with a certain critical suspiciousness, such as is +seldom to be encountered except among clergymen. He did not know much +about his clerical superior, who had only recently been appointed to his +archdeaconry; but there was something in his air, his looks, and +demeanour, which indicated what Mr Bury considered a loose way of +thinking. When the Archdeacon made any remark the Rector would pause and +look up from his plate to listen to it, with his fork suspended in the +air the while--and then he would exchange glances with his sister, who +was on the other side of the table. All this, it may be supposed, was a +little discomposing for Lucilla, who had the responsibility of +everything, and who could now look for no assistance among the ordinary +members of her father's party, who were, as a general rule, much more +occupied with the dinner than with anything else that was going on. In +such a state of affairs, it was a great relief to Miss Marjoribanks when +the Archdeacon, who occupied the post of honour by her side, made a +lively new beginning in the conversation. It had not to call _flagged_ +before--not precisely flagged--but still there were indications of +approaching exhaustion, such as can always be perceived half a mile off +by anybody who has any experience in society, and when the Archdeacon +took up the ball with all the liveliness of a man who is interested in a +special question, it will not be difficult to any lady who has ever been +in such circumstances to realise to herself Miss Marjoribanks's sense of +gratitude and relief. + +"By the bye," said Mr Beverley, "I meant to ask if any one knew a man +whom I am sure I caught a glimpse of the first day I was in Carlingford. +Perhaps it was in the morning after I arrived, to be precise. I can't +recollect exactly. If he lives about here, he ought to be known, for he +is a clever amusing sort of fellow. I don't know if Carlingford is more +blessed than other country towns with people of that complexion," said +the Archdeacon, turning to Lucilla with a smile. His smile, as he paused +and turned to Miss Marjoribanks, was such as conveys a kind of challenge +when it is addressed to a young lady, and meant to lead to a lively +little combat by the way; and yet there was something of keen personal +anxiety and animosity in it. As for Lucilla, she was conscious of an +immediate thrill of curiosity, but still it was curiosity unmingled with +any excitement, and she had no particular objection to respond. + +"Everybody is nice in Carlingford," said Miss Marjoribanks; "some people +are always finding fault with their neighbours, but I always get on so +well with everybody--I suppose it is my luck." This was not precisely an +answer to the Archdeacon's question; and there was somebody at the table +who could have fallen upon Lucilla and beaten her for putting off the +revelation which trembled on the lips of Mr Beverley, and yet would have +given anything in the world to silence the Archdeacon, and felt capable +of rushing at him like a fury and tearing his tongue out, or suffocating +him, to stop the next words that he was going to say. But nobody knew +anything about this, or could see into the one heart that had begun to +flutter and throb with alarm; for outwardly, all the well-dressed, +cheerful people at Dr Marjoribanks's table sat eating their dinner, one +precisely like another, as if there had been no such thing as mystery or +terror in the world. + +"You must not expect me to believe in the perfection of human society," +said the Archdeacon, going on in the same strain; "I would much rather +pin my faith to the amiable dispositions of one young lady who always +finds her neighbours agreeable--and I hope she makes no exception to the +rule," said the Broad-Churchman in a parenthesis, with a smile and a +bow--and then he raised his voice a little: "The man I speak of is +really a very amusing fellow, and very well got up, and calculated to +impose upon ordinary observers. It is quite a curious story; he was a +son of a trainer or something of that sort about Newmarket. Old Lord +Monmouth took an extraordinary fancy to him, and had him constantly +about his place--at one time, indeed, he half brought him up along with +his grandson, you know. He always was a handsome fellow, and picked up a +little polish; and really, for people not quite used to the real thing, +was as nearly like a gentleman----" + +"Come, now, I don't put any faith in that," said Mr Woodburn. "I don't +pretend to be much of a one for fine company myself, but I know a +gentleman when I see him; a snob always overdoes it, you know----" + +"I never said this man was a snob," said the Archdeacon, with a refined +expression of disgust at the interruption flitting over his features; +"on the contrary, if he had only been honest, he would have been really +a very nice fellow----" + +"My dear sir," said Mr Bury, "excuse me for breaking in--perhaps I am +old-fashioned, but don't you think it's a pity to treat the question of +honesty so lightly? A dishonest person has a precious soul to be saved, +and may be a most deeply interesting character; but to speak of him as a +very nice fellow, is--pardon me--I think it's a pity; especially in +mixed society, where it is so important for a clergyman to be guarded in +his expressions," said the Rector. When Mr Bury began to speak, +everybody else at table ceased talking, and gave serious attention to +what was going on, for the prospect of a passage of arms between the two +clergymen was an opportunity too captivating to be lost. + +"I hope Mr Bury's dishonest friends will pardon me," said the +Archdeacon; "I mean no harm to their superior claims. Does anybody know +the man here, I wonder? He had changed his name when I knew him, and +there is no telling what he may call himself now. I assure you he was a +very good-looking fellow--dark, good features, nearly six feet high----" + +"Oh, please don't say any more," said Miss Marjoribanks, and she could +not quite have explained why she interrupted these personal details; "if +you tell me what he is like, I shall fancy everybody I meet is him; Mr +Centum is dark, and has good features, and is nearly six feet high. +Never mind what he is like; you gentlemen can never describe +anybody--you always keep to _generals_; tell us what he has done." + +Somebody drew a long breath at the table when the Archdeacon obeyed Miss +Marjoribanks's injunction. More than one person caught the sound, but +even Lucilla's keen eyes could not make out beyond controversy from whom +it proceeded. To be sure, Lucilla's mind was in a most curious state of +tumult and confusion. She was not one of the people who take a long time +to form their conclusions; but the natural conclusion to which she felt +inclined to jump in this case was one so monstrous and incredible that +Miss Marjoribanks felt her only safeguard in the whirl of possibilities +was to reject it altogether, and make up her mind that it was +impossible; and then all the correspondences and apparent corroborations +began to dance and whirl about her in a bewildering ring till her own +brain seemed to spin with them. She was as much afraid lest the +Archdeacon by some chance should fall upon a really individual feature +which the world in general could identify, as if she had had any real +concern in the matter. But then, fortunately, there was not much chance +of that; for it was one of Lucilla's principles that men never can +describe each other. She listened, however, with such a curious +commotion in her mind, that she did not quite make out what he was +saying, and only pieced it up in little bits from memory afterwards. Not +that it was a very dreadful story. It was not a narrative of robbery or +murder, or anything very alarming; but if it could by any possibility +turn out that the man of whom Mr Beverley was speaking had ever been +received in society in Carlingford, then it would be a dreadful blow to +the community, and destroy public confidence for ever in the social +leaders. This was what Lucilla was thinking in her sudden turmoil of +amazement and apprehension. And all this time there was another person +at table who knew all about it twenty times better than Lucilla, and +knew what was coming, and had a still more intense terror lest some +personal detail might drop from the Archdeacon's lips which the public +in general would recognise. Mr Beverley went on with his story with a +curious sort of personal keenness in his way of telling it, but never +dreaming for a moment that anybody that heard him was disturbed or +excited by it. "He has a mark on his face," the Archdeacon said--but +here Miss Marjoribanks gave a little cry, and held up both her hands in +dismay. + +"Don't tell us what marks he has on his face," said Lucilla. "I know +that I shall think every man who is dark, and has good features, and is +six feet, must be him. I wonder if it could be my cousin Tom; _he_ has a +little mark on his face--and it would be just like his dreadful luck, +poor fellow. Would it be right to give up one's own cousin if it should +turn out to be Tom?" said Miss Marjoribanks. The people who were sitting +at her end of the table laughed, but there was no laughing in Lucilla's +mind. And this fright and panic were poor preparatives for the evening, +which had to be got through creditably with so few resources, and with +such a total reversal of the ordinary programme. Miss Marjoribanks was +still tingling with curiosity and alarm when she rose from the table. If +it should really come to pass that an adventurer had been received into +the best society of Carlingford, and that the best judges had not been +able to discriminate between the false and true, how could any one +expect that Grange Lane would continue to confide its most important +arrangements to such incompetent hands? + +Such was the dreadful question that occupied all Lucilla's thoughts. So +far as the adventurer himself was concerned, no doubt he deserved +anything that might come upon him; but the judgment which might overtake +the careless shepherds who had admitted the wolf into the fold was much +more in Miss Marjoribanks's mind than any question of abstract justice. +So that it was not entirely with a philanthropical intention that she +stopped Mr Beverley and put an end to his dangerous details. Now she +came to think of it, she began to remember that _nobody of her +acquaintance_ had any mark on his face; but still it was best not to +inquire too closely. It was thus with a preoccupied mind that she went +up to the drawing-room, feeling less in spirits for her work than on any +previous occasion. It was the first of the unlucky nights, which every +woman of Lucilla's large and public-spirited views must calculate upon +as inevitable now and then. There was no moon, and the Richmonds +naturally were absent, and so were the Miss Browns, who were staying +there on a visit--for it was after the engagement between Lydia[1] and +John; and Mr Cavendish was away (though perhaps under the circumstances +that was no disadvantage); and Mrs Woodburn was silenced; and even +Barbara Lake had failed her patroness. + +[Footnote 1: It may be mentioned here that this was an engagement that +none of the friends approved of, and that it was the greatest possible +comfort to Miss Marjoribanks's mind that she had nothing to do with +it--either one way or another, as she said.] + +"You are not in spirits to-night, Lucilla, my poor dear," said Mrs +Chiley, as they went upstairs; and the kind old lady cast a fierce +glance at Mrs Woodburn, who was going before them with Miss Bury, as if +it could be her fault. + +"Dear Mrs Chiley," said Miss Marjoribanks, "I am in perfect spirits; it +is only the responsibility, you know. Poor Barbara is ill, and we can't +have any music, and what if people should be bored? When one has real +friends to stand by one it is different," said Lucilla, with an +intonation that was not intended for Mrs Chiley, "and I _always_ stand +by my friends." + +This was the spirit with which Miss Marjoribanks went upstairs. It was a +sentiment which pervaded her whole life. Even when she had occasion to +be sufficiently displeased with the people who surrounded her, and to +feel that her own loyal friendship met with no adequate response, this +was the unfailing inspiration of her heart. She did not rush into +opposition because any misguided man or woman failed for the moment to +appreciate her efforts, and return, as they ought to have been glad to +do, her sentiments of kindness. On the contrary, nothing could have been +more long-suffering and tolerant and benign than the feelings with which +Lucilla regarded the unfortunate persons who mistook or did not +appreciate her. She knew herself, which, however superior they might be, +was something they could not know; and she could afford to be sorry (for +their own sakes) for their want of discrimination. If there should +happen to be somebody in Grange Lane who had gained admittance into +society under false pretences, not even such an offence, grievous as it +was, could induce Miss Marjoribanks to condemn the culprit unheard. It +was at once her settled resolution, and a peculiarity of her character, +to stand by her friends; and whatever might be the thoughts in her own +mind, her immediate decision was to shut her ears to every indication of +the culprit's personality, and to be blind to every suggestion that +could identify him. People who like to discover the alloy which blends +with all human motives, may suppose that Lucilla felt her own credit as +the leader of society at stake, and would not admit that she had been +duped. But this had in reality but a very small share in the matter. Her +instinct, even when reason suggested that she should be doubtful of +them, was always to side with her own friends; and though there might be +persons included in that sacred number who were scarcely worthy of the +character, yet Lucilla, like every lofty character, could act but +according to her own nature, and could not forsake any one whom she +supposed to be thus mysteriously and darkly assailed. + +And she had her reward. There are virtues in this world which go without +any recompense, but there are other virtues upon which a prompt guerdon +is bestowed; and Lucilla possessed this happier development. Whether it +was that little speech of hers which touched the mimic's heart, or +whether the effect was produced by some other secret influence, it is +certain that this was the night on which Mrs Woodburn's talent came to +what may be called a sort of apotheosis. She shook off her languor as by +a sudden inspiration, and gave such a sketch of the Archdeacon as up to +this day is remembered more clearly in Carlingford than the man himself. +She took him off to his very face, and he never found it out, though +everybody else did, and the house shook with restrained laughter. And as +if this was not enough, Rose Lake had come with her portfolio, with some +sketches of her brother's (who afterwards became so celebrated) in it, +which electrified all the people who were fond of art; and by the side +of the young Preraphaelite was Barbara, who had come "to spite Lucilla," +and who remained unwittingly to grace her triumph. She stood by herself, +all wan and crumpled, all the night, showing her disappointment and rage +and jilted state so clearly in her face, as to afford to all the mammas +in her neighbourhood a most startling example of the danger of showing +your feelings, with which to point a moral to the other young people +about. She had come because Rose was coming, and she would not be +eclipsed by her younger sister. But nobody took any notice of Barbara on +this miserable evening; nobody asked her to sing, or offered her a seat, +or even spoke to her, except Lucilla, who in her magnanimity found time +to say a word as she passed. She was carelessly dressed, and her hair +was hastily arranged, and her eyes were red. She had no desire to look +as if she had not been jilted, and had no proper pride, as Rose said; +and Mrs Chiley, who was Lucilla's partisan and champion, and who thought +poor Barbara deserved it all, seized the opportunity, and delivered a +little lecture on the subject to the first group of girls who came in +her way. + +"A disappointment may happen to any one," said Mrs Chiley; "and so long +as they had done nothing unbecoming, nobody could blame them; but, my +dears, whatever you do, don't show it like that! It makes me ashamed of +my sex. And only look at Lucilla!" said the old lady. Lucilla had the +best of it now. Instead of a failure, such as for a moment seemed +likely, she had a triumphant success. She, and she only, said a word of +kindness to her formerly triumphant rival. She drove her chariot over +Barbara, and drew an advantage even from her sullen looks and red eyes. +And the only thing that dissatisfied Mrs Chiley in the entire course of +the evening was the trustful confidence with which Miss Marjoribanks +left the Archdeacon, the (possible) new candidate for her favour, beside +the Lakes and their portfolio of drawings. In this, as in all other +things, Lucilla could not but follow the dictates of her magnanimous +nature. And even her own prospects, as her old friend lamented, were as +nothing to her in comparison with the good of society. Experience ought +to have taught her better; but then experience rarely does that amount +of practical good which is generally attributed to it in the world. +Lucilla gave little Rose the fullest opportunity of showing her drawings +to the Archdeacon and awakening his curiosity, and even securing his +affections, as the jealous observer thought; and everybody knows how +little is necessary, if a young woman likes to exert herself, to lead a +poor man to his undoing; and Mr Beverley, though an archdeacon, was most +probably, in this respect at least, no wiser than other men. This was +the painful aspect of the case which Mrs Chiley discussed with her +husband when they got home. + +"He is not like what clergymen were in our day," said the old lady, "but +still he is very nice, and has a nice position, and it would just suit +Lucilla; but to think of her going and leaving him with these Lake +girls, notwithstanding the lesson she has had! and I have no doubt the +little one is just as designing and nasty as the other. If it should +come to anything, she has only herself to blame," said Mrs Chiley. As +for the Colonel, he took it more calmly, as a gentleman might be +expected to do. + +"You may trust a parson for that," said the old soldier. "He knows what +he is about. You will never find him make such an ass of himself as +young Cavendish did." But this only made Mrs Chiley sigh the more. + +"Poor Mr Cavendish!" said the old lady. "I will never blame him, poor +fellow. It was all that deceitful thing laying her snares for him. For +my part I never like to have anything to do with those artist kind of +people--they are all adventurers," said the Colonel's wife; and she went +to bed with this unchristian persuasion in her mind. + +While every one else regarded the matter with, to some extent, a +personal bias, the only person who looked at it abstractly, and +contemplated not the accidents of an evening, but the work itself, which +was progressing in the face of all kinds of social difficulties, was the +master-mind which first conceived the grand design of turning the +chaotic elements of society in Carlingford into one grand unity. Lucilla +was not blind to the dangers that surrounded her, nor indifferent to the +partial disappointment she had undergone; but she saw that, in spite of +all, her great work was making progress. And when we announce that Miss +Marjoribanks herself was satisfied, there remains little more to say. + +As for the Archdeacon, he, as was natural, knew nothing about the +matter. He said again, with the natural obtuseness which is so general +among the gentlemen, that it had been a very pleasant party. "She has a +fine clear candid nature," said Mr Beverley, which certainly was better +than pronouncing solemnly that she was a good woman, which was what he +said of Mrs Chiley and Lady Richmond, in the lump, as it were, without +considering how unlike they were to each other. That was all he, being +only a man, knew about it. But though Lucilla was satisfied with the +events of the evening, it would be vain to deny that there were +perturbations in her mind as she laid her head upon her maiden pillow. +She said to herself again with profounder fervour, that fortunately her +affections had not been engaged; but there were more things than +affections to be taken into consideration. Could it be possible that +mystery, and perhaps imposture, of one kind or another, had crossed the +sacred threshold of Grange Lane; and that people might find out and cast +in Lucilla's face the dreadful discovery that a man had been received in +_her_ house who was not what he appeared to be? When such an idea +crossed her mind, Miss Marjoribanks shivered under her satin quilt. Of +course she could not change the nature of the fact one way or another; +but, at least, it was her duty to act with great circumspection, so that +if possible it might not be found out--for Lucilla appreciated fully the +difference that exists between wrong and discovery. If any man was +imposing upon his neighbours and telling lies about himself, it was his +own fault; but if a leader of society were to betray the fact of having +received and petted such a person, then the responsibility was on _her_ +shoulders. And softer thoughts mingled with these prudential +considerations--that sweet yet stern resolution to stand by her friends +which Miss Marjoribanks had this evening expressed, and that sense of +pity for everybody who is unfortunate which asserts itself even in the +strongest of female intelligences. On the whole, it was clear that +prudence was the great thing required, and a determination not to give +too hasty heed to anything, nor to put herself in the wrong by any +alarmist policy. Fortunately the respectability of Dr Marjoribanks's +house was enough to cover its guests with a shining buckler. Thus +Lucilla calmed down her own apprehensions, and succeeded in convincing +herself that if the impostor whom the Archdeacon had seen had been +really received in Grange Lane, it was so much the worse for the +impostor; but that, in the meantime, in the lack of evidence it was much +the best thing to take no notice. If there was any one else in +Carlingford who regarded that past danger with a livelier horror and a +more distinct fear, certainly Miss Marjoribanks had no way of knowing of +it; and nobody had been remarked as being in a despondent condition, or, +indeed, in anything but the highest spirits, in the course of this +Thursday, except the ungrateful creature who had begun all the mischief; +and tolerant as Lucilla was, it would have been going beyond the limits +of nature to have expected that she could have been profoundly sorry for +Barbara Lake. + +At the same time, poor Barbara, though she was not an elevated +character, had gone home in a very sad state of mind. She had taken +courage to ask Mrs Woodburn about her brother, and Mrs Woodburn had made +the very briefest and rudest response to her question, and had "taken +off" her woe-begone looks almost to her very face. And no one had shown +the least sympathy for the forsaken one. She had not even been called +from her solitude to sing, which might have been something, and it was +Rose, as she said to herself, who had attracted all the attention; for, +like most selfish people, Barbara, though keenly aware of her own +wrongs, had no eyes to perceive that Rose, who had a proud little +spirit, was anything but satisfied with the evening's entertainment, to +which she had herself so largely contributed. "I feel as if I should +never see him more," Barbara said, quite subdued and broken down, with a +burst of tears, as the two went home; and poor little Rose, who was +soft-hearted, forgot all her disapprobation in sympathy. "Never mind +them, dear; they have no feeling. We must cling together all the closer, +and try to be everything to each other," Rose said, with eyes which were +full, but which would not shed any tears. What was passing through her +own mind was, that it was not for herself, but for her portfolio and the +talk that arose over it, that Lucilla had asked her; but, at the same +time, she said to herself, that all that was nothing in comparison to +the wound of the heart under which Barbara was suffering. "Dear, never +mind, we will be everything to each other," said poor little romantic +Rose; and the elder sister, even in the depths of her dejection, could +have given her a good shake for uttering such an absurd sentiment; for a +great deal of good it would do to be everything to each other--as if +that could ever replace the orange blossoms and the wedding tour, and +the carriage and handsome house, which were included in the name of +Cavendish! "And he was such a dear!" she said to herself in her own +mind, and wept, and made her eyes redder and redder. If Mr Cavendish had +known all that was going on in Carlingford that night, the chances are +that he would have been most flattered by those tears which Barbara shed +for him under the lamps in Grove Street; but then it is to be hoped he +would not have been insensible either to the just reticence and +self-restraint which, mingling with Miss Marjoribanks's suspicions, +prevented her, as she herself said, even in the deepest seclusion of her +own thoughts, from naming any name. + + + + +_Chapter XIX_ + + +But Lucilla's good luck and powers of persuasion were such that after a +while she even succeeded in convincing little Rose Lake of the perfect +reasonableness, and indeed necessity, of sacrificing herself to the +public interests of the community. "As for enjoying it," Miss +Marjoribanks said, "that is quite a different matter. Now and then +perhaps for a minute one enjoys it; but that is not what I am thinking +of. One owes something to one's fellow-creatures, you know; and if it +made the evening go off well, I should not mind in the least to be +hustled up in a corner and contradicted. To be sure, I don't remember +that it ever happened to me; but then I have such luck; and I am sure I +give you full leave to box the Archdeacon's ears next Thursday; or to +tell him he does not know anything in the world about art," said Miss +Marjoribanks thoughtfully, with a new combination rising in her mind. + +"Thank you, Lucilla," said Rose, "but I shall not come back again. I am +much obliged to you. It does not do for people who have work to do. My +time is all I have, and I cannot afford to waste it, especially----" + +"Rose," said Miss Marjoribanks, "how are you ever to be an artist if you +do not know life? That is just the very reason why you ought to go out +into the world; and I don't see, for my part, that it matters whether it +is pleasant or not. To practise scales all day long is anything but +pleasant, but then one has to do it, you know. I don't blame you," said +Lucilla, with tender condescension. "You are a dear little thing, and +you don't know any better; but _I_ went through Political Economy, and +learnt all about that;--you don't think _I_ choose it for the pleasure? +But you all know what is the object of my life, and I hope I am not one +to shrink from my duty," Miss Marjoribanks added. And it was difficult +to reply to such a sublime declaration. Little Rose left her friend with +the conviction that it was her duty, too, to sacrifice herself for the +benefit of society and the advancement of art. Such were the lofty +sentiments elicited naturally, as enthusiasm responds to enthusiasm, by +Lucilla's self-devotion. Already, although she was not much more than +twenty, she had the consoling consciousness that she had wrought a great +work in Carlingford; and if Miss Marjoribanks required a little +sacrifice from her assistants, she did not shrink from making the same +in her own person, as has been shadowed forth in the case of Mr +Cavendish, and as will yet, in the course of this history, be still more +seriously and even sadly evolved. + +Three weeks had passed in this way, making it still more and more +visible to Lucilla how much she had lost in losing Mr Cavendish, of whom +nothing as yet had been heard, when suddenly, one day, about +luncheon-time, at the hour when Miss Marjoribanks was known to be at +home, the drawing-room door opened without any warning, and the missing +man walked in. It was thus that Lucilla herself described the unexpected +apparition, which appeared to her to have dropped from the clouds. She +avowed afterwards to Mrs Chiley that his entrance was so utterly +unexpected, so noiseless, and without warning, that she felt quite +silly, and could not tell in the least how she behaved; though the +friends of Miss Marjoribanks, it is to be hoped, are too well acquainted +with her promptitude of mind and action to imagine that she in any way +compromised herself even under the surprise of the moment. As for Mr +Cavendish, he exhibited a certain mixture of timidity and excitement +which it was remarkable, and indeed rather flattering for any lady to +see, in such an accomplished man of the world. Lucilla was not a person +to deceive herself, nor did she want experience in such matters, as has +been already shown; but it would be vain to deny that the conviction +forced upon her mind by the demeanour of her visitor was that it was a +man _about to propose_ who thus made his unlooked-for appearance before +her. She confessed afterwards to her confidential friend that he had all +the signs of it in his looks and manners. "He gave that little nervous +cough," Lucilla said, "and pulled his cravat _just so_, and stared into +his hat as if he had it all written down there; and looked as They +always look," Miss Marjoribanks added, with a touch of natural contempt. +Nor was this all the change in Mr Cavendish's appearance. He had managed +miraculously in his month's absence to grow the most charming little +moustache and beard, which were, to be sure, slightly red, like most +people's. It gleamed into Miss Marjoribanks's mind in a moment that +people did such things sometimes by way of disguising themselves; but +if such had been Mr Cavendish's intention, it had utterly failed, since +he seemed rather more like himself than before, in Lucilla's opinion, +and certainly was more likely to attract attention, since beards were +not so usual in these days. They met on the very spot where Lucilla had +seen him last, with that look of insane terror on his handsome face. And +the Archdeacon was still in Carlingford, if it was he who had occasioned +such a panic. Mr Cavendish came in as if he had never been absent, as if +he had seen Miss Marjoribanks on the previous night, and had no fear of +anything in the world but of failing to please her; and Lucilla +fortunately saw the nature of the position, and was not to be put out +even by such an emergency. Of course, under the circumstances, to accept +him was utterly out of the question; but, at the same time, Lucilla did +not feel it expedient, without much more distinct information, to put a +definitive and cruel negative on Mr Cavendish's hopes. As for Barbara +Lake, that was a trifle not worth thinking of; and, notwithstanding that +there was something rather unaccountable in his conduct, he was still +the probable member for Carlingford, just, as Mrs Chiley so often said, +the position which, of all others, she would have chosen for Lucilla; so +that Miss Marjoribanks was not prepared, without due consideration, to +bring the matter to a final end. + +While Lucilla made this rapid summary of affairs and took her stand in +her own mind, Mr Cavendish had taken a chair and had opened the +conversation. He hoped he had not been entirely forgotten, though a +fortnight's absence was a severe tax on anybody's memory---- + +"A fortnight!" said Miss Marjoribanks; "how happy you must have been +while you have been away!--for I assure you a month is a month at +Carlingford; and one does not get such ornaments in two weeks," said +Lucilla, putting her hand to her chin, which made Mr Cavendish laugh, +and look more nervous than ever. + +"It is a souvenir of where I have been," he said. "I could imagine I had +been gone two years, judging by my own feelings. I am so pleased to see +that you remember how long it is. I dare say it looked a little droll +running away so, but I dared not trust myself with leave-takings," Mr +Cavendish said, with an air of sentiment. "I have been watching over a +poor friend of mine on his sick-bed. He was once very good to me, and +when he sent for me I could not delay or refuse him. I found he had +telegraphed for me when I got home the last Thursday evening I was +here," he continued, looking Lucilla full in the face with the candour +of conscious truth--though, to be sure, when people are stating a simple +fact, it is seldom that they take the pains to be so particular. "I +started by the night-train, and crossed the Channel while you were all +fast asleep. I wonder if any one gave me a thought," continued Mr +Cavendish; and it was still more and more impressed upon Lucilla that he +had all the signs of a man who had come to propose. + +"I cannot say about that night in particular, but I am sure a great many +people have given you a thought," said Miss Marjoribanks. "We have all +been wondering what had become of you, where you were, and when you were +coming back. So far as I am concerned, I have missed you dreadfully," +said Lucilla, with her usual openness; and she really thought for a +moment that Mr Cavendish in a sudden transport was going down on his +knees. + +"I scarcely hoped for so much happiness," he said; and though he kept up +the tone proper to good society, which might mean sport or earnest +according as the occasion required, there was a certain air of gratitude +and tenderness in his face which sent Lucilla's active mind a-wondering. +"He is thinking of the music-stand," she said to herself, and then went +on with what she was saying; for though Miss Marjoribanks had a very +good opinion of herself, it had not occurred to her that Mr Cavendish +was very deeply in love--with _her_, at all events. + +"Ah, yes--not only for the flirting, you know, which of itself is a +dreadful loss; but then you were so good in keeping the gentlemen to +their duty. I missed you dreadfully--there has been nobody at all to +help me," said Lucilla. Her tone was so genuinely plaintive that Mr +Cavendish grew more and more moved. He put down his hat, he cleared his +throat, he got up and walked to the window--evidently he was getting up +his courage for the last step. + +"But I heard you had some distinguished strangers here," he said, coming +back to his seat without having, as it appeared, made up his mind. "My +sister wrote--that is to say I heard--I really don't remember how I got +the news; a dean, or bishop, or something----?" + +"Oh, yes, Mr Archdeacon Beverley; he came precisely the night you went +away," said Lucilla. "Didn't you see him? I thought you stayed till +after he came into the room. A nice clergyman is very nice, you know; +but, after all, a man who has some experience in society--and we have +had no music to speak of since you went away. Poor dear Barbara has had +such a bad cold. In short, we have all been at sixes and sevens; and the +Archdeacon----" + +"Oh, never mind the Archdeacon," said Mr Cavendish, and Miss +Marjoribanks felt that he had not winced at the name, though he did +glance up at her in spite of himself with a little gleam in his eyes +when she mentioned Barbara Lake. Perhaps this was because he knew +nothing about the Archdeacon, perhaps because he was prepared to hear +the Archdeacon named. Lucilla did not give him all the benefit of the +uncertainty, for she began to get a little impatient, and to wonder, if +the man had come to propose, as appearances suggested, why he did not do +it and get done with it?--which was a very reasonable question. This +time, however, it certainly was coming. "I don't like nice clergymen," +said Mr Cavendish, "especially not when it is _you_ who find them so. If +I could really flatter myself that you missed me----" + +"We all did," said Lucilla; "there is no compliment about it; and poor +dear Barbara has had such a cold----" + +"Ah!" said the unfortunate aspirant; and once more he gave a doubtful +glance at Lucilla--decidedly the name of Barbara had more effect upon +him than that of the Archdeacon. It seemed to damp his fire and smother +the words on his lips, and he had to take another promenade to the +window to recover himself. After that, however, he came back evidently +wound up and determined; and his eyes, as he returned to Miss +Marjoribanks's side, fell upon the music-stand by means of which she had +covered his fright and flight (if it was not a mere hallucination on +Lucilla's part that he had been frightened and had fled) on the night he +left Carlingford. He came back with the air of a man who means to delay +and deliberate no more. + +"If I could flatter myself that _you_ had missed me," he said; +"_you_--not any one else--I might have the courage to ask----" + +It was at that precise moment of all moments that Mrs Chiley, whom they +had not heard coming upstairs, though she was sufficiently audible, +suddenly opened the door. Mr Cavendish, as was natural, broke off in a +moment with a face which had turned crimson, and even Lucilla herself +felt a little annoyed and put out, when, as in duty bound, she got up to +meet and welcome her old friend. One thing was fortunate, as Miss +Marjoribanks afterwards reflected, that since it was to be interrupted, +it had been interrupted so early, before he could have put himself in +any ridiculous attitude, for example; for at such moments it is well +known that some men go down upon their knees--or at least such is the +ineradicable belief of womankind. If Mr Cavendish had been on his +knees--though, to tell the truth, he was not a very likely subject--the +position would have been much more embarrassing. But as it was, there +was an end. _He_ turned back again to the window, biting his glove in +the most frantic way, and taking up his hat, while _she_, always +mistress of the position, advanced to the new-comer with outstretched +hands. + +"I know you have come to have lunch with me," said Lucilla. "You are +always so nice--just when I wanted you; for, of course, I dared not have +asked Mr Cavendish to go downstairs if I had been all alone." + +"Mr Cavendish!" cried the old lady, with a little scream. "So he has +really come back! I am so glad to see you. I can't tell you how glad I +am to see you; and, I declare, with a beard! Oh, you need not blush for +what I say. I am old enough to be both your grandmothers, and I am so +glad to see you together again!" said Mrs Chiley, with an imprudent +effusion of sentiment. And it may be imagined what the effect of this +utterance was upon the suitor whose love-making (if he was really going +to make love) was thus cut short in the bud. He coughed more than ever +when he shook hands with the new-comer, and kept fast hold of his hat +with that despairing grasp which is common to men in trouble. And then +he kept looking at the door, as if he expected some one else to come in, +or wanted to escape; and so far from following up his interrupted +address by any explanatory or regretful glances, he never even looked at +Lucilla, which, to be sure, struck her as odd enough. + +"Miss Marjoribanks is very good," he said, "and I am very glad to see +you so soon after my return, Mrs Chiley--though, of course, I should +have called; but I may have to go away in a day or two; and I am afraid +I cannot have the pleasure of staying to lunch." + +"Oh, yes, you must stay," said Mrs Chiley; "I want to hear all about it. +Go away again in a day or two? If I were Lucilla I would not let you go +away. She is queen now in Carlingford, you know;--and then poor old Mr +Chiltern is so ill. I hope you won't think of going away. They all say +it would be such a pity if anything happened to him while you were away. +Tell me where you have been, and what you have been doing all this time. +We have missed you so dreadfully. And now you look quite like a military +man with that beard." + +"I have been nursing a sick friend--on the Continent," said Mr +Cavendish; "not very cheerful work. I am sorry about Mr Chiltern, but I +cannot help it. I have doubts now whether, even if he were to die, I +should offer myself. I couldn't give pledges to all the shopkeepers +about my opinions," said the embarrassed man; and as he spoke, he put +his hat against his breast like a buckler. "I must not detain you from +your lunch. Good-bye, Miss Marjoribanks; I am very sorry I can't stay." + +"But, dear me, stop a minute--don't run away from us," said Mrs Chiley. +"Come and talk it all over with the Colonel, there is a dear--and don't +do anything rash. Good-bye, if you _will_ go," said the old lady. She +sat with a look of consternation in her face, looking at Miss +Marjoribanks, as he made his way downstairs. "Did I come in at a wrong +time, Lucilla?" said Mrs Chiley, in distress. "Have you refused him, my +dear? What is the matter? I am so dreadfully afraid I came in at the +wrong time." + +"Dear Mrs Chiley," said Lucilla sweetly, "you can never come in at a +wrong time; and it is just as well, on the whole, that he didn't--for I +was not prepared to give him any answer. I am sure, on the contrary, it +was quite providential," Miss Marjoribanks said; but it may be doubted +whether Lucilla's mind perfectly corresponded to her words on this +occasion, though she was so amiable about it, as Mrs Chiley afterwards +said. For even when a woman has not her answer ready, she has always a +certain curiosity about a proposal; and then when such a delicate matter +is crushed in the bud like this, who can tell if it will ever blossom +again, and find full expression? Miss Marjoribanks could not be said to +be disappointed, but unquestionably she regretted a little that he had +not been permitted to say out his say. As for Mrs Chiley, when she +understood all the rights of it, she was afflicted beyond measure, and +could not forgive herself for the unlucky part she had played. + +"If you had only said you were engaged," the old lady exclaimed, "or not +at home--or anything, Lucilla! You know, you need never stand on +ceremony with me. No wonder he looked as if he could eat me! Poor +fellow! and I dare say he has gone away with his heart full," said Mrs +Chiley, with the tenderest sympathy. She could not get over it, nor eat +any lunch, nor think of anything else. "Poor dear boy! He need not have +been so put out with an old woman like me. He might have known if he had +given me the least hint, or even a look, I would have gone away," said +the kind old woman. "But you must be all the kinder to him when he comes +back, Lucilla. And, my dear, if I were you, I would stay in this +afternoon. He is sure to come back, and I would not keep him in pain." + +"I don't think he will come back," Lucilla could not help saying; for +she had a conviction that nothing more would come of it; but +nevertheless she did stay in that afternoon, and received several +visits, but saw nothing more of Mr Cavendish. It was rather vexatious, +to tell the truth; for to see a man so near the point and not even to +have the satisfaction of refusing him, is naturally aggravating to a +woman. But Miss Marjoribanks had far too much philosophy as well as good +sense to be vexed on that account with Mrs Chiley, who could not forgive +herself, and to make up for the consequences of her unlucky visit, would +have done anything in the world. The old lady herself returned in the +afternoon to know the result, and was doubly vexed and distressed to +hear he had not come back. + +"I ought to be on the Archdeacon's side, Lucilla," she said, with tears +in her eyes. "I know I ought, when it was I that brought him here: but I +can't help feeling for the other, my dear. He always was so nice--a +great deal nicer, to my way of thinking, than Mr Beverley; not to say +but that the Archdeacon is very agreeable," Mrs Chiley added, +recollecting herself; for in matters of that description a woman of +experience is aware that she cannot be too particular about what she +says; and supposing that Mr Cavendish did not come back, it would never +do to prejudice Lucilla against the other candidate. "I never blamed Mr +Cavendish about that Lake girl," the old lady continued. "It was not his +fault, poor young man. I know he was always devoted to you in his heart; +and to think he should come here the very first place as soon as he +returned! I only wish I had had one of my headaches this morning, my +dear, to keep me indoors for an old Malaprop. I do indeed, Lucilla. It +would have served me right, and I should not have minded the pain." + +"But indeed I don't wish anything of the sort," said Miss Marjoribanks. +"I would not have the best man in the world at the cost of one of those +dreadful headaches of yours. It is so good of you to say so; but you +know very well it is not that sort of thing I am thinking of. If I were +to go off and marry just now, after all that has been done to the +drawing-room and everything, I should feel as if I were swindling papa; +and it is the object of my life to be a comfort to _him_." + +"Yes, my dear," said Mrs Chiley, "but we must not neglect your own +interest for all that. I think it is most likely he will come this +evening. He has just come from the Continent, you know, where people do +make calls in the evening. I meant to have asked you to come down to us, +as we shall be all alone----" + +"All alone? Then where is the Archdeacon?" asked Lucilla. + +"He has gone out to Sir John's for a day or two, my dear," said Mrs +Chiley, and she could not understand the little gleam of intelligence +that shot into Lucilla's eye. "He left word with me for you that he +would be sure to be back before Thursday, but seeing Mr Cavendish when I +came in made me forget all about it. He would be quite distressed, poor +man! if he thought I had forgotten to give you his message. I won't ask +you now to come down and cheer me up a little, Lucilla. I think poor Mr +Cavendish is sure to come this evening, and I will not stand in his way +again. But, my dear, you must send me a little note after he has been. +Now promise. I shall be quite in suspense all night." + +"Dear Mrs Chiley, I don't think he will come," said Miss Marjoribanks. +"For my part, I think it was providential your coming to-day--for I am +sure I don't know what I should have said to him. And it is so odd the +Archdeacon should be away just at this moment. I feel quite sure he will +not come to-night." + +"There is nothing odd about the Archdeacon," said Mrs Chiley. "It was +for to-day he was asked, you know; _that_ is simple enough. If you are +sure that you prefer the Archdeacon, my dear----" the old lady added, +with an anxious look. But Lucilla cut short the inquiry, which was +becoming too serious, by bringing her kind visitor a cup of tea. + +"I hope you don't think I prefer any of them," said the injured maiden. +"If I had been thinking of that sort of thing, you know, I need never +have come home. If they would only let one do one's duty in peace and +quiet," said Lucilla, with a sigh; and to tell the truth, both the +ladies had occasion on that trying afternoon for the consolation of +their cup of tea. But while they were thus refreshing themselves, a +conversation of a very different kind, yet affecting the same interests, +was being carried on not very far off, under the shelter of a little +flowery arbour in another of the embowered gardens of Grange Lane, where +the subject was just then being discussed from the other side. + + + + +_Chapter XX_ + + +Mr Woodburn's house, everybody admitted, was one of the nicest in +Carlingford; but that was not so visible out of doors as in. He was a +great amateur of flowers and fruit, and had his garden lined on each +side with greenhouses, which were no doubt very fine in their way, but +somewhat spoiled the garden, which had not in the least the homely, +luxuriant, old-fashioned look of the other gardens, where, for the most +part, the flowers and shrubs grew as if they liked it and were at +home--whereas Mr Woodburn's flower-beds were occupied only by +tenants-at-will; but at one corner near the house there was a little +arbour, so covered up and heaped over with clematis that even the Scotch +gardener had not the heart to touch it. The mass was so perfect and yet +so light that it was the most perfect hiding-place imaginable; and +nobody who had not been in it could have suspected that there was a +possibility of getting inside. Here Mrs Woodburn and Mr Cavendish were +seated on this particular afternoon; she very eager, animated, and in +earnest, he silent and leaning his head on his two hands in a sort of +downcast, fallen way. Mrs Woodburn had one of her lively eyes on the +garden that nobody might enter unseen, and for this once was "taking +off" no one, but was most emphatically and unquestionably herself. + +"So you did not do it," she said. "Why didn't you do it? when you knew +so much depended upon it! You know I did not wish for it myself, at +first. But now since this man has come, and you have got into such a +panic, and never will have the courage to face it out----" + +"How can I have the courage to face it out?" said Mr Cavendish, with a +groan. "It is all very easy for a woman to speak who has only to +criticise other people. If you had to do it yourself----" + +"Ah, if I only had!" cried the sister. "You may be sure I would not make +so much fuss. After all, what is there to do? Take your place in +society, which you have worked for and won as honestly as anybody ever +won it, and look another man in the face who is not half so clever nor +so sensible as you are. Why, what can he say? If I only could do it, +you may be sure I should not lose any time." + +"Yes," said Mr Cavendish, lifting his head. "To be sure, you're a +mimic--you can assume any part you like; but I am not so clever. I tell +you again, the only thing I can do is to go away----" + +"Run away, you mean," said Mrs Woodburn. "I should be foolish, indeed, +if I were trusting to your cleverness to assume a part. My dear good +brother, you would find it impossible to put yourself sufficiently in +sympathy with another," cried the mimic, in the Archdeacon's very tone, +with a laugh, and at the same time a little snarl of bitter contempt. + +"Oh, for Heaven's sake, Nelly, no foolery just now," said Mr Cavendish. +"I don't understand how you can be so heartless. To mimic a man who has +my position, my reputation, my very existence in his hands!" + +"Have you murdered anybody?" said Mrs Woodburn, with intense scorn. +"Have you robbed anybody? If you have, I can understand all this stuff. +He is the very man to mimic, on the contrary. I'd like to let you see +him as he was on that famous occasion when he delivered his opinions on +art in Lucilla's drawing-room. Look here," said the mimic, putting one +hand behind an imaginary coat tail, and with the other holding up a +visionary drawing to the light; but this was more than her audience +could bear. + +"I think you must have vowed to drive me crazy," cried the exasperated +brother. "Put aside for once that confounded vanity of yours--as if a +man had always leisure to look at your playing the fool." While he spoke +in this unusual way, he got up, as was natural, and took one or two +steps across the narrow space which was shut in by those luxuriant heaps +of clematis; and Mrs Woodburn, for her part, withdrew her chair out of +his way in equal heat and indignation. + +"You have always the leisure to play the fool yourselves, you men," she +said. "Vanity, indeed! as if it were not simply to show you that one can +laugh at him without being stricken with thunder. But leave that if you +like. You know quite well if you married Lucilla Marjoribanks that there +would be no more about it. There _could_ be no more about it. Why, all +Grange Lane would be in a sort of way pledged to you. I don't mean to +say _I_ am attached to Lucilla, but you used to be, or to give yourself +out for being. You flirted with her dreadfully in the winter, I +remember, when those terrible Woodburns were here," she continued, with +a shiver. "If you married Lucilla and got into Parliament, you might +laugh at all the archdeacons in the world." + +"It is very easy for a woman to talk," said the reluctant wooer again. + +"I can tell you something it is not easy to do," cried his sister. "It +is frightfully hard for a woman to stand by and see a set of men making +a mess of things, and not to dare to say a word till all is spoiled. +What is this Archdeacon, I would like to know, or what could he say? If +you only would have the least courage, and look him in the face, he +would be disabled. As if no one had ever heard of mistaken identity +before? And in the meantime go and see Lucilla, and get her consent. I +can't do that for you; but I could do a great deal of the rest, if you +would only have a little pluck and not give in like this." + +"A _little_ pluck, by George!" cried the unfortunate man, and he threw +himself down again upon his chair. "I am not in love with Lucilla +Marjoribanks, and I don't want to marry her," he added doggedly, and sat +beating a tune with his fingers on the table, with but a poorly-assumed +air of indifference. As for Mrs Woodburn, she regarded him with a look +of contempt. + +"Perhaps you will tell me who you are in love with," she said +disdainfully; "but I did not ask to be taken into your confidence in +such an interesting way. What I wish to know is, whether you want a wife +who will keep your position for you. I am not in the least fond of her, +but she is very clever. Whether you want the support of all the best +people in Carlingford, and connections that would put _all that_ to +silence, and a real position of your own which nobody could interfere +with--that is what I want to know, Harry; as for the sentimental part, I +am not so much interested about that," said Mrs Woodburn, with a +contemptuous smile. She was young still, and she was handsome in her way +(for people who liked that style), and it jarred a little on the natural +feelings to hear a young wife express herself so disdainfully; but, to +be sure, her brother was not unaccustomed to that. + +"You said once that Woodburn was necessary to your happiness," he said, +with a mixture of scorn and appeal, "though I can't say I saw it, for my +part." + +"Did I?" she said, with a slight shrug of her shoulders; "I saw what +was necessary on another score, as you don't seem to do. When a man has +nobody belonging to him, it is connections he ought to try for: and +Lucilla has very good connections; and it would be as good as securing +the support of Grange Lane. Do it for my sake, Harry, if you won't do it +for your own," said Mrs Woodburn, with a change of tone. "If you were to +let things be said, and give people an advantage, think what would +become of me. Woodburn would not mind so much if somebody else were +involved; but oh, Harry! if he should find out _he_ had been cheated, +and he only----" + +"He was not cheated! You were always a great deal too good for him, +Nelly," said Mr Cavendish, touched at last at an effectual point; "and +as for _his_ friends and family, and all that----" + +"Oh, please, don't speak of them," said Mrs Woodburn, with a shudder; +"but there are only two of us in the world; and, Harry, for my sake----" + +At this appeal Mr Cavendish got up again, and began to pace the little +arbour, two steps to the wall, and two steps back again. "I told you I +had almost done it, when that confounded old woman came in," he said: +"that could not be called my fault?" + +"And she said she was both your grandmothers," said the mimic, with a +slightly hysterical laugh, in Mrs Chiley's voice. "I know how she did +it. She can't be there still, you know--go now and try." + +"Let alone a little; don't hurry a fellow," said her brother, somewhat +sullenly; "a man can't move himself up to the point of proposing twice +in one day." + +"Then promise that you will do it to-morrow," said Mrs Woodburn. "I +shall have to go in, for there is somebody coming. Harry, before I go, +promise that you will do it to-morrow, for my sake." + +"Oh, bother!" said Mr Cavendish; and it was all the answer he deigned to +give before Mrs Woodburn was called away, notwithstanding the adjuration +she addressed to him. It was then getting late, too late, even had he +been disposed for such an exertion, to try his fortunes again that day, +and Lucilla's allusion had given him a great longing to see Barbara once +more before his sacrifice was accomplished. Not that it was such a great +sacrifice, after all. For Mr Cavendish was quite aware that Miss +Marjoribanks was a far more suitable match for him than Barbara Lake, +and he was not even disposed to offer himself and his name and fortune, +such as they were, to the drawing-master's daughter. But, to tell the +truth, he was not a person of fixed and settled sentiments, as he ought +to have been in order to triumph, as his sister desired, over the +difficulties of his position. Perhaps Mrs Woodburn herself would have +done just the same, had it been she from whom action was demanded. But +she was capable of much more spirited and determined conduct in theory, +as was natural, and thought she could have done a great deal better, as +so many women do. + +Mr Cavendish lounged about the garden a little, with his hands in his +pockets, and then strayed out quite accidentally, and in the same +unpremeditating mood made his way to Grove Street. He meant nothing by +it, and did not even inquire of himself where he was going, but only +strolled out to take the air a little. And it was better to go up to the +higher parts of the town than to linger here about Grange Lane, where +all the people he knew might pass, and stop to talk and ask him where he +had been, and worry his life out. And surely he had had enough of bother +for one day. By this time it was getting dark, and it was very pleasant +in Grove Street, where most of the good people had just watered their +little gardens, and brought out the sweetness of the mignonette. Mr +Cavendish was not sentimental, but still the hour was not without its +influence; and when he looked at the lights that began to appear in the +parlour windows, and breathed in the odours from the little gardens, it +is not to be denied that he asked himself for a moment what was the good +of going through all this bother and vexation, and whether love in a +cottage, with a little garden full of mignonette and a tolerable amount +of comfort within, was not, after all, a great deal more reasonable than +it looked at first sight? This, however, it must be allowed, was no +conclusion arrived at on sufficient premises, and with the calmness that +befitted such an important argument, but the mere suggestion, by the +way, of an impatient, undecided mind, that did always what at the moment +it found most agreeable to do, and reflected afterwards, when the moment +of repentance, not of reflection, had arrived. + +He had paused by instinct under a lamp not yet lighted, which was almost +opposite Mr Lake's house; and it was not his fault if he saw at the +upper window a figure looking out, like Mariana, and sighing, "He cometh +not." Naturally the figure was concerned to find out who he was, and +_he_ was anxious to find out who was the figure. And, on the whole, it +was in a very innocent manner that this entirely natural curiosity was +satisfied. First the window was opened a little--a very little, just +enough to change the air--and Mr Cavendish down below heard the voice of +Barbara singing softly up above, which settled the matter as to her +identity. As to _his_, Barbara had never, from the first moment she +perceived him, any doubt of that. Her heart leaped back, as she thought, +to its right place when she first caught sight of that blessed +apparition; and with her heart came the orange-flowers, and the wedding +breakfast, and the veil of real Brussels for which Barbara had so much +wept. She tried to sing something that would convey hope and assurance +to her timid lover, according to romantic precedent; but her mind was +far from being a prompt one, as has been said. Thus it was all in the +most natural way that it came about. When Mr Cavendish felt quite sure +who it was, he took off his hat, which was only civil, and made a step +or two forward; and then Barbara took the extreme step of going down to +the door. No doubt it was an extreme step. Nothing but a great public +aim, like that of Miss Marjoribanks, could have justified such a +measure; but then Barbara, if she had not a great public, had at least a +decided personal, purpose, and obeyed the impulse of that mingled +inclination towards another and determination to have her own way, which +in such a mind calls itself passion, and which sometimes, by sheer force +of will, succeeds better than either genius or calculation. She went +down to the door, all palpitating with renewed hope, and, at the same +time, with the dread that he might escape her in the moment which was +necessary for her passage downstairs. But when she opened the door and +appeared with her cheeks glowing, and her eyes blazing, and her heart +thumping in her breast, in the midst of that quiet twilight, the object +of her hopes was still there. He had even advanced a little, with an +instinctive sense of her approach; and thus they met, the street being +comparatively quiet just then, and the mignonette perfuming the air. To +be sure, the poetry of the situation was of a homely order, for it was +under a lamp-post instead of a tree that the lover had placed himself; +and it was not the dew, but the watering, that had brought out the odour +of the mignonette; but then neither of the two were very poetical +personages, and the accessories did perfectly well for them. + +"Is it you, Mr Cavendish? Goodness! I could not think who it was," cried +Barbara, out of breath. + +"Yes, it is I. I thought, if I had an opportunity, I would ask how you +were--before I go away again," said the imprudent man. He did not want +to commit himself, but at the same time he was disposed to take the +benefit of his position as a hero on the eve of departure. "I heard you +had been ill." + +"Oh, no--not ill," said Barbara; and then she added, taking breath, "I +am quite well now. Won't you come in?" + +This was the perfectly simple and natural manner in which it occurred. +There was nobody in, and Barbara did not see, any more than her lover +did, why she should sacrifice any of her advantages. They were, on the +whole, quite well matched, and stood in need of no special protection on +either side. Though naturally Barbara, who felt by this time as if she +could almost see the pattern of the real Brussels, had a much more +serious object in view than Mr Cavendish, who went in only because it +was a pleasant thing to do at the moment, and offered him a little +refuge from himself and his deliberations, and the decision which it was +so necessary to come to. Thus it happened that when Mr Lake and Rose +came in from the evening walk they had been taking together, they found, +to their great amazement, Barbara in the little parlour, singing to Mr +Cavendish, who had forgotten all about Grange Lane, and his dangers, and +his hopes of better fortune, and was quite as much contented with the +mellow contralto that delighted his ears, and the blazing scarlet bloom, +and black level brows that pleased his eyes, as anybody could have +desired. To be sure, he had not even yet given a thought to the wedding +breakfast, which was all arranged already in the mind of the enchantress +who thus held him in thrall; but perhaps that may be best accounted for +by referring it to one of those indefinable peculiarities of difference +that exist between the mind of woman and that of man. + +When Mr Lake and his daughter came in from their walk, and their talk +about Willie, and about art, and about the "effects" and "bits" which +Rose and her father mutually pointed out to each other, to find this +unexpected conjunction in the parlour, their surprise, and indeed +consternation, may be imagined. But it was only in the mind of Rose that +the latter sentiment existed. As for Mr Lake, he had long made up his +mind how, as he said, "a man of superior position" ought to be received +when he made his appearance in an artist's house. Perhaps, to tell the +truth, he forgot for the moment that his visitor was young, and his +daughter very handsome, and that it was to visit Barbara and not himself +that Mr Cavendish had come. The little drawing-master would not suffer +himself to be seduced by thoughts which were apart from the subject from +carrying out his principles. When Mr Cavendish rose up confused, with a +look of being caught and found out, Mr Lake held out his hand to him +with perfect suavity--"I have the pleasure of knowing you only by +sight," said the innocent father, "but I am very glad to make your +acquaintance in my own house;" and as this was said with the conscious +dignity of a man who knows that his house is not just an ordinary house, +but one that naturally the patrician portion of the community, if they +only knew it, would be glad to seek admittance to, the consequence was +that Mr Cavendish felt only the more and more confused. + +"I happened to be passing," he explained faintly, "and having heard that +Miss Lake, whom I have had the pleasure of meeting----" + +"I assure you," said the drawing-master, "that I hail with satisfaction +the appearance of a gentleman whose intelligence I have heard so much +of. We artists are a little limited, to be sure; for life, you know, is +short, and art is long, as the poet says; and our own occupation +requires so much of our thoughts. But still we are sympathetic, Mr +Cavendish. We can understand other subjects of study, though we cannot +share them. Yes, Barbara has been a little poorly--but she does not look +as if there was much the matter with her to-night. Ask for the lamp, +Rose," said Mr Lake, with a little grandeur. There was no light in the +room except the candles at the piano, which lighted that corner and left +the rest of the apartment, small as it was, in comparative shade. There +was something magnificent in the idea of adding the lamp to that +illumination; but then it is true that, as Mr Lake himself said, "every +artist is a prodigal in his heart." + +Rose had been standing all this time with her hat on, looking at Mr +Cavendish like a little Gorgon. What did he want here? How had he been +admitted? She scorned to go and interrogate the maid, which involved a +kind of infidelity to her sister, but all the same she looked hard at Mr +Cavendish with a severity which had, on the whole, a reassuring effect +upon him. For, to tell the truth, the benign reception which he was +receiving from Mr Lake, instead of setting the visitor at his ease, +made him nervous; for he was not in the least aware of the heroic soul +which existed in the drawing-master's limited person. Mr Cavendish +thought nothing but that he was being "caught," according to his own +vulgar theory. He thought Barbara's father was cringing to him, and +playing the usual mean part of an interested parent who means to secure +a good match for his daughter. But as for Rose, she evidently, either +from jealousy or some other reason, was not in the plot. She stood apart +and scowled, as well as she knew how, upon the intruder. "I suppose, +papa," said Rose, "Mr Cavendish wished to hear Barbara sing, and she has +been singing. She is always very good-natured in that way; but as we +have none of us anything particular to do, I don't see what need we have +for a lamp." + +At this trenchant speech Mr Cavendish rose. He was quite grateful to the +little Preraphaelite for her incivility. It made him feel less as if he +had committed himself, and more as if he were an intruder, which was the +more agreeable suggestion of the two under the present circumstances. +"You remind me that I should thank Miss Lake for letting me come in and +hear once more her lovely voice," he said. "I am at present only a +visitor in Carlingford, and indeed in England--I may have to leave again +in a day or two--good-bye. If I am still here, I shall hope to meet you +on Thursday." And then he pressed Barbara's hand, who, to tell the +truth, was very reluctant to let him go away. + +"If you must go----" she said, so low that her father could not hear +her, though the vigilant, suspicious little Rose caught the sound, and +came a step nearer, like a little dragon, as Barbara was disposed to +think she was. + +"I _must_ go," murmured Mr Cavendish; "but I shall see you--we shall +meet." He dared not say another word, so alarming were the looks of the +small Medusa, whose countenance he could see behind Barbara regarding +the parting. As for Mr Lake, he too regarded it with a momentary +curiosity. He did not quite understand how it was that his daughter and +his visitor could know each other well enough to communicate in this +undertone. + +"I am sorry to see so little of you," said Mr Lake. "I am afraid it is +my little girl's _brusque_ way of speaking that hastens your going. I +assure you we were quite unoccupied, and would have been very +happy--perhaps we may be more fortunate another time;" and with that +the drawing-master gave a dignified dismissal to his surprising visitor. +It was Rose herself who saw Mr Cavendish to the door, which she opened +for him with an utter disregard of his excuses and attempts to do that +office for himself. She would not even shake hands, but made him the +most majestic curtsey that was ever executed by a personage five feet +high, under the influence of which Mr Cavendish went away humbled, and, +he could scarcely tell why, ashamed of himself. When Rose came back to +the parlour, still with her hat on, she found that Barbara had gone to +the window, and was looking out at the edge of the blind--which was all +that was wanted to put a climax to her sister's exasperation. + +"Papa," said Rose, "I should like to know in your presence, or I should +like you to ask Barbara herself, what is the meaning of all that has +been going on to-night." + +Mr Lake turned right round at this appeal with an expression of utter +amaze and bewilderment, which at another moment would have struck Rose +with the profoundest delight as a study; and as for Barbara, without any +more ado she burst into a flood of passionate tears. + +"Oh, you nasty, envious thing! oh, you jealous, disagreeable thing!" +sobbed the elder sister; "to send him away and spoil everything with +your airs! when he was as near--just as near"--but here Barbara's voice +lost itself in her tears. + +"My dear, what does this mean?" said Mr Lake. + +"It means, papa, that she has encouraged him to come, and invited him +in, and been singing to him," cried Rose. "To think she should be one of +us, and have no proper pride! If he was fond of her, he would tell her +so, and ask your permission; but she is laying herself out to please +_him_, and is content that they should all jeer at her in Lucilla's +parties, and say she is trying to catch him. I thought I could have died +of shame when I saw him here to-night; and compromising you, as if that +was why you were so civil. If it were for her good, do you think _I_ +would ever interfere?" cried Barbara's guardian angel. At this point +Rose herself would have liked excessively to cry, if the truth must be +told; but Barbara had already appropriated that facile mode of +expression, and the little artist scorned to copy. As for Mr Lake, he +turned from one to the other of his daughters with unmitigated +consternation and dismay. + +"It was all your coming in," sobbed Barbara, "if you had only had the +sense to see it. _That_ was what he meant. If I was singing, it was just +to pass the time; I know that was what he came for. And you to send him +away with your airs!" cried the injured young woman. All this made up a +scene entirely novel to the amazed father, who felt it his duty to put a +stop to it, and yet could not tell what to say. + +"Girls," he began, with a trembling voice, "this is all perfectly new to +me. I don't understand. If Mr Cavendish, or--or any one, wishes to pay +his addresses to my daughter, it is, of course, his business to apply to +me in the first place. Barbara, don't cry. You know how I dislike to +hear you cry," said the poor man, gradually losing his head. "Don't make +a fuss, Rose; for Heaven's sake, girls, can't you say at once what you +mean, and don't worry me to death? Ah, if your poor mother had but been +spared!" cried the unfortunate widower; and he had five daughters +altogether, poor soul!--and it was so easy to drive him out of his +senses. At this point Rose intervened, and did what she could to calm +matters down. Barbara, still sobbing, retired to her chamber; the boys +came in from their cricket, and the little children had to be put to +bed; and there was no one to attend to all these matters, in the absence +of the eldest sister, except the little mistress of the School of +Design, so that naturally all further explanation was postponed for this +night. + + + + +_Chapter XXI_ + + +It was thus that Mr Cavendish, without particularly meaning it, +impressed upon two interesting and amiable young women on the same day +the conviction that he was about to propose, without in either case +realising that expectation. After this last exploit he went home with +his head more confused, and his will more undecided, than ever. For he +had one of those perverse minds which cling to everything that is +forbidden; and the idea that he ought not to have gone near Barbara +Lake, and that he ought not to see her again, made him more anxious to +seek her out and follow her than he had ever been before. If such a +thing had been permissible in England as that a man might marry one wife +for his liking and another for his interests, the matter might have been +compromised by proposing to them both; and there cannot be a doubt that +Lucilla, in such a case, would very soon have triumphed over her +handsome, sullen, passionate rival. But then such a way of conciliating +a man with himself does not exist in the British Islands, and +consequently was not to be thought of. And to be sure, every time he +came to think of it, Mr Cavendish saw more and more clearly what a fool +he would be to marry Barbara, who was evidently so ready to marry him. +The same thing could not with any confidence be predicated of Miss +Marjoribanks, though, if she were to accept him, and her father were to +consent, nothing could be better for his interests. All this he felt, +and yet an unconquerable reluctance kept him back. His history was not +quite spotless, and there were chapters in it which he thought it would +kill him to have brought before the public of Carlingford; but still he +was far from being a bad fellow in his way. And down at the bottom of +his heart, out of everybody's sight, and unacknowledged even by himself, +there was one little private nook full of gratitude to Lucilla. Though +he scarcely knew what was passing at the moment, he knew, when he came +to think of it, that she had saved him from the effects of his first +panic at the unexpected appearance of Mr Beverley. Perhaps it was partly +this consciousness that made him so embarrassed in her presence; and he +could not find it in his heart, with this sense of gratitude, to deceive +her, and say he loved her, and ask her to marry him. To be sure, if Mr +Cavendish had been a very acute observer, he might have felt that +Lucilla was quite able to take care of herself in such an emergency, and +was at the least a match for him, however seductive he might appear to +others; but then, few people are acute observers in a matter so entirely +personal to themselves. + +He felt furious with himself as he went home, and thought how foolish he +had been ever to go near Barbara Lake in the present position of +affairs; and yet he could not help feeling that it was more delightful +to him to see the colour blaze into her cheeks, and the song rise like a +bird from her full crimson lips, and that flush of excitement and +triumph come from her eyes, than it could have been in any case to have +been admitted to the same degree of intimacy with Lucilla, who was not +in the least intoxicated by his presence. Thus the unfortunate man was +torn asunder, not so much by love and duty, as by inclination and +interest, though the inclination was not strong enough to have allowed +of any great sacrifice, nor the interest sufficiently certain to have +repaid the exertion. This only made it the more difficult to decide; and +in his circumstances, and with the panic that pursued him, he did not +feel it possible to adopt the only wise policy that remained to him, and +wait. + +As Mr Cavendish was thus making his way home, horribly vexed and annoyed +with himself, and avoiding Grange Lane as if the plague was in it, Miss +Marjoribanks sat in her drawing-room alone, and thought the matter over. +Certainly she had not expected him that evening, but still, when she +heard ten o'clock strike, and felt that his coming now absolutely +impossible, she was a little--not exactly disappointed, but annoyed at +herself for having felt a sort of expectation. Lucilla was not a person +to hide her sentiments, or even to conceal a fact which was disagreeable +to her _amour propre_. She had too thorough and well-founded a +confidence in the natural interest of the world in all belonging to her +to do that; so when ten o'clock had done striking, she opened her +blotting-book and took one of her pretty sheets of paper, with +Lucilla on it in delicate rose-tinted letters, the L very large, and +the concluding letters very small, and dashed off her note to Mrs +Chiley. The Miss Blounts' at Mount Pleasant had been one of the very +first establishments to forsake the handwriting which was all corners, +in favour of the bold running hand of the present female generation; and +it was accordingly in a very free and strongly-characterised manuscript, +black with much ink, that Miss Marjoribanks wrote: + + "DEAREST MRS CHILEY,--I never expected him to come, and he has not. + I dare say he never meant it. I am so glad. It was Providence that + sent you at that particular moment to-day.--Always in haste, with + fond love, your most truly affectionate + + "LUCILLA." + +And when she had sent Thomas with this note, Miss Marjoribanks felt her +mind relieved. Not that it had been much distressed before, but when she +had put it in black and white, and concluded upon it, her satisfaction +was more complete; and no such troublous thoughts as those which +disturbed the hero of this day's transactions--no such wild tears as +poured from the eyes of Barbara Lake--interfered with the maidenly +composure of Lucilla's meditations. Notwithstanding all that people say +to the contrary, there is a power in virtue which makes itself felt in +such an emergency. Miss Marjoribanks could turn from Mr Cavendish, who +had thus failed to fulfil the demands of his position, to the serene +idea of the Archdeacon, with that delightful consciousness of having +nothing to reproach herself with, which is balm to a well-regulated +mind. She had done her duty, whatever happened. She had not +injudiciously discouraged nor encouraged the possible Member for +Carlingford; and at the same time she was perfectly free to turn her +attention to the possible Bishop; and neither in one case nor the other +could anybody say that she had gone a step too far, or committed herself +in any way whatsoever. While these consoling reflections were passing +through Lucilla's mind, Dr Marjoribanks came upstairs, as had grown to +be his custom lately. Sometimes he took a cup of tea, though it was +against his principles, and sometimes he only sat by while his daughter +had hers, and amused himself with her chat before he went to bed. He was +later than usual to-night, and naturally the tea-tray had disappeared +some time before. As for Lucilla, she did not for a moment permit her +own preoccupation to interfere with the discharge of her immediate duty, +which was unquestionably to be amusing and agreeable, and a comfort to +her dear papa. + +"So you had Cavendish here to-day?" said the Doctor. "What brought him +here? What has he been doing? Since you and he are on such good terms, I +hope he gave you an account of where he has been." + +"He has been nursing a sick friend on--the Continent," said Lucilla, +with that largeness of geographical expression which is natural to the +insular mind. "Who are Mr Cavendish's friends, papa?" added Miss +Marjoribanks, with confiding simplicity; and it was beautiful to see how +the daughter looked up into her father's face, with that angelic +confidence in his knowledge on all subjects which is so rarely to be met +with in the present generation. But it was not a question to which the +Doctor found it easy to respond. + +"Who are his friends?" said Dr Marjoribanks. "He's one of the +Cavendishes, they say. We have all heard that. I never knew he had any +friends; which is, after all, next best to having very good ones," said +the philosophical old Scotchman; and there, as it appeared, he was quite +content to let the matter drop. + +"I like to know who people belong to, for my part," said Lucilla. "The +Archdeacon, for example, one knows all about his friends. It's a great +deal nicer, you know, papa. Not that it matters in the least about the +Cavendishes----" + +"Well, I should have thought not, after the way you made an end of him," +said the Doctor. "I hope he doesn't mean to begin that nonsense over +again, Lucilla. He is a good fellow enough, and I don't mind asking him +to my house; but it is quite a different thing to give him my daughter. +He spends too much money, and I can't see what real bottom he has. It +may all flare up and come to nothing any day. Nobody can have any +certainty with an expensive fellow like that," said Dr Marjoribanks. +"There is no telling where he draws his income from; it isn't from the +land, and it isn't from business; and if it's money in the Funds----" + +"Dear papa," said Lucilla, "if he had the Bank of England, it would not +make any difference to me. I am not going to swindle you, after you have +had the drawing-room done up, and everything. I said ten years, and I +mean to keep to it,--if nothing very particular happens," Miss +Marjoribanks added prudently. "Most likely I shall begin to go off a +little in ten years. And all I think of just now is to do my duty, and +be a little comfort to you." + +Dr Marjoribanks indulged in a faint "humph!" under his breath, as he +lighted his candle; for, as has been already said, he was not a man to +feel so keenly as some men might have felt the enthusiasm of filial +devotion which beautified Lucilla's life. But at the same time he had +that respect for his daughter's genius, which only experience could have +impressed upon him; and he did not venture, or rather he did not think +it necessary, to enter into any further explanations. Dr Marjoribanks +did not in the least degree share the nervousness of Mr Cavendish, who +was afraid of deceiving Lucilla. As for her father, he felt a consoling +conviction that she was quite able to conduct her own affairs, and would +do him no discredit in any engagements she might form. And at the same +time he was amused by the idea that he might be swindled in respect to +the drawing-room, if she married at this early moment. He took it for +wit, when it was the most solid and sensible reality; but then, +fortunately, the points in which he misapprehended her redounded as much +to Lucilla's credit, as those in which he seized her meaning clearest, +so that on every side there was something to be gained. + +And when Miss Marjoribanks too retired to her maidenly chamber, a +sentiment of general content and satisfaction filled her mind. It is +true that for the moment she had experienced a natural womanly vexation +to see a proposal nipped in the bud. It annoyed her not so much on +personal as on general principles; for Lucilla was aware that nothing +could be more pernicious to a man than when thus brought to the very +point to be thrown back again, and never permitted to produce that +delicate bloom of his affections. It was like preventing a rose from +putting forth its flowers, a cruelty equally prejudicial to the plant +and to the world. But when this pang of wounded philanthropy was over, +Miss Marjoribanks felt in her heart that it was Providence that had sent +Mrs Chiley at that special moment. There was no telling what +embarrassments, what complications she might not have got into, had Mr +Cavendish succeeded in unbosoming himself. No doubt Lucilla had a +confidence that, whatever difficulties there might have been, she would +have extricated herself from them with satisfaction and even _éclat_, +but still it was better to avoid the necessity. Thus it was with a +serene conviction that "whatever is, is best," that Miss Marjoribanks +betook herself to her peaceful slumbers. There are so many people in +the world who hold, or are tempted to hold, an entirely different +opinion, that it is pleasant to linger over the spectacle of a mind so +perfectly well regulated. Very different were the sentiments of Mr +Cavendish, who could not sleep for the ghosts that kept tugging at him +on every side; and those of Barbara Lake, who felt that for her too the +flower of her hero's love had been nipped in the bud. But, to be sure, +it is only natural that goodness and self-control should have the best +of it sometimes even in this uncertain world. + + + + +_Chapter XXII_ + + +The Archdeacon returned to Carlingford before Thursday, as he had +anticipated; but in the interval Mr Cavendish had not recovered his +courage so far as to renew his visit to Miss Marjoribanks, or to face +the man who had alarmed him so much. Everybody in Grange Lane remarked +at the time how worried poor Mrs Woodburn looked. Her eyes lost their +brightness, which some people thought was the only beauty she had, and +her nerves and her temper both failed her, no one could tell why. The +personal sketches she made at this moment were truculent and bitter to +an unheard-of degree. She took off Mr Beverley with a savage force which +electrified her audience, and put words into his mouth which everybody +admitted were exactly like him, if he could ever be imagined to have +fallen into the extraordinary circumstances in which the mimic placed +him. In short, Mrs Woodburn made a little drama out of the Archdeacon. +Mr Beverley, of course, knew nothing about this, and showed some +surprise now and then at the restrained laughter which he heard in the +corners; but when anybody spoke of Mrs Woodburn, he showed an +instinctive want of confidence. "I have not studied her sufficiently to +give an opinion of her," he said, which was certainly the very reverse +of her deliverance upon him. To tell the truth, she had rather studied +him too much, and gave too keen an edge to his characteristic qualities, +as is natural to all literary portraiture, and even went so far that, +in the end, people began to ask whether she had any personal spite +against him. + +"She don't know him," Mr Woodburn said, when he heard some faint echo of +this suggestion. "She's clever, and it carries her away, you know. She +enters into it so, she don't know how far she is going; but I can answer +for it she never saw the Archdeacon before; and Hal isn't here to give +her the key-note, as she says. _He_ has met everybody, I believe, one +place or another," the simple man said, with a little natural pride; for +in his heart he was vain of his fashionable brother-in-law. As for Mr +Cavendish himself, it began to be understood that he was with a friend +who was sick, on the Continent; and soon--for news had a wonderful +tendency to increase and grow bigger as it spread in Grange Lane--that +his friend was dying, and that a probable large increase of fortune to +the popular favourite would be the result, which was an idea that did +credit to the imagination of Carlingford. He had disappeared completely +once more after the eventful day which we have described, carrying out +in the fullest way Lucilla's prediction, but striking Barbara Lake with +bitter disappointment. Miss Marjoribanks had a great many things to +occupy her, but Barbara had nothing except the humble duty of looking +after her little brothers and sisters, and attending to her father's +comfort, which had never been occupations particularly to her mind. And +then Barbara was aware that, if she neglected her duties, Rose, on her +return from the School of Design, would do them, though with a fierce +little outbreak of indignation, which the elder sister felt she could +bear; and accordingly, she did little else but brood over his sudden +disappearance, and spend her time at the window looking for his return. + +Lucilla conducted herself, as might have been expected, in a much more +rational and dignified manner. She made herself very agreeable to the +Archdeacon, who unbended very much, and grew very nice, as Mrs Chiley +herself allowed. "But, my dear, I am uneasy about his opinions," the old +lady said. He certainly had a very free way of talking, and was ready to +discuss _anything_, and was not approved of by Mr Bury. But still he had +very good connections and a nice position, and had always a chance of +being Bishop of Carlingford; and in marriage it is well known that one +never can have everything one wants. So that, on the whole, even Mrs +Chiley did not see what difference his opinions made, so far as Lucilla +was concerned. When Miss Marjoribanks went down to Colonel Chiley's in +the evening and made tea for the old people, like a daughter of the +house, Mr Beverley was always disposed to go over to the enemy, as the +old Colonel said. No doubt he had enough of Colonel Chiley, who had not +received a new idea into his mind since the battle of Waterloo, and did +not see what people had to do with such nonsense. And then the +Archdeacon would very often walk home with the young visitor. During +this time, as was natural, Mr Beverley heard Mr Cavendish's name a +hundred times, and regretted, like all the world, that so eminent a +member of the Carlingford commonwealth should be absent during his +visit; but, at the same time, Lucilla took great care to avoid all +personalities, and kept a discreet silence even about the gifts and +accomplishments of her almost-lover. Mrs Chiley sighed, poor soul, when +she saw how her young friend avoided this subject, and thought sometimes +that he was forgotten, sometimes that the poor dear was breaking her +heart for him; but it is needless to say that neither of these +suppositions was in the least true. + +And then it began to be considered rather odd in Carlingford that the +Archdeacon should pay such a long visit. Mrs Chiley no doubt was very +kind and hospitable, and exceedingly glad to receive such a +distinguished clergyman; but when a man has been six weeks in any one's +house, and shows no inclination of going, it is natural that people +should feel a little surprised. His visitation was over, and he had +dined with everybody, and studied the place and its characteristics, and +entered into everything that was going on. The only thing, indeed, that +he did not seem to think of, was going away. If it had been Mr +Cavendish, the chances are that he would have made himself so much one +of the family, that his departure would have been felt as a domestic +calamity; but the Archdeacon was very different from Mr Cavendish. So +long as he was in the house it was impossible to forget either his +position or his ways of thinking, or the absence of any real connection +between himself and his hosts. He did not combat or contradict anybody, +but he would give a faint smile when the Colonel uttered his +old-fashioned sentiments, which drove the old soldier frantic. "As if I +was not able to form an opinion, by Jove!" Colonel Chiley said; while, +on the other hand, the Archdeacon was quite ready to enter into the +young people's absurd theories, and discuss the very Bible itself, as if +that were a book to be discussed. As for the Rector, he turned his head +away when he passed Colonel Chiley's door, and Miss Bury made visits of +condolence and sympathy. "You must feel it a great responsibility having +Mr Beverley with you," the Rector's sister would say, though naturally +without any distinct explanation of her meaning; and then she would look +at Mrs Chiley and sigh. + +"Oh, I am sure it is a great pleasure," Mrs Chiley answered, not willing +to let down the prestige of her guest. "He is very nice, and takes a +great deal of interest in everything; and then, you know, he is a +connection of ours. The Colonel's niece, Mary Chiley----" + +"Yes, I know," said Miss Bury. "Poor thing! she looked suffering the +last time I saw her. I hope she has found the true consolation to +support her, now she has entered into the troubles of life." + +"Well, yes, I hope so," said Mrs Chiley, a little doubtfully; "but you +know one does not feel the troubles of life very severely at her age; +and I don't think I should have called a baby a trouble when I was like +her. I never had any, you know, and I used to fret over it a great deal; +but the Colonel never liked the noise of children, and I suppose it is +all for the best." + +"One may always be sure of that," said Miss Bury, in her instructive +way. "I suppose the Archdeacon is going soon," she added; "he has been +here a long time now. I almost wonder he likes to be so long absent from +his parish. Two months, is it not?" + +"Oh, no--not quite six weeks," said Mrs Chiley briskly. "I hope he may +be persuaded to stay some time longer. I look upon it as quite a +compliment to Carlingford; for, to be sure, he would not stay if he had +not some attraction," said the imprudent old woman. And this was +precisely what Miss Bury wanted, as any one of acute perceptions might +have seen from the first. + +"It must be a great responsibility for you," said the Rector's sister, +with a sigh, pressing Mrs Chiley's hand. "If it should turn out badly, +you know----Of course, my brother and I don't agree with Mr Beverley on +all points--though I am sure I hope he is quite conscientious; but I do +feel for you with such a responsibility," said Miss Bury, with a look +that made the old lady nervous in spite of herself. Thus, +notwithstanding all her sense of the duties of hospitality, and her +anxiety about Lucilla's interests, she could not but feel that it would +be rather a relief to get so formidable a guest fairly out of the house. +It is uncomfortable, it must be allowed, to entertain in your house +anybody, particularly a clergyman of whom your Rector does not approve; +and there could be no doubt that the Archdeacon was not like the +clergymen that Mrs Chiley had been accustomed to. "And he could come +back another time," she said to herself, by way of conciliating her own +weariness with her visitor's advantage and the interests of Lucilla. But +notwithstanding these reflections on Mrs Chiley's part and +notwithstanding the Colonel's less amiable growl, uttered every +morning--"Does that parson of yours never mean to go away?"--the +Archdeacon showed no intention of budging. It was poor Mrs Chiley who +had all the brunt to bear, to exhaust herself in civilities and to be +upbraided with "that parson of yours"--whereas he was not in the least +her parson, nor even the kind of man she approved of as a clergyman. All +this, however, the brave old woman bore with fortitude for Lucilla's +sake: certainly it must be Lucilla who kept him in Carlingford--if it +were not something else. + +Things were in this condition, Mr Cavendish having again disappeared +into utter darkness, and Carlingford beginning to enter warmly into the +question whether or not Mr Beverley was paying attention to Lucilla, +when it happened to Miss Marjoribanks one morning to meet the Archdeacon +in a little lane running between Grove Street and Grange Lane. Opening +from this lane was a little door in the wall, which admitted to a little +garden very bright with flowers of the simplest old-fashioned kinds, +with a little house planted at its extremity, which had pretensions to +be an old-fashioned and quasi-rural cottage, on the score of being very +rickety, uncomfortable, and badly arranged. But it must be a very +impracticable erection indeed which does not look tolerable under the +bright sunshine on a summer noon, at the end of a pretty garden where +children are playing and birds singing, and a woman or two about. +Lucilla was standing at the door of this little closed-up hermitage, +almost filling up the opening with her crisp summer draperies, and +affording only a very partial and tempting glimpse of its flowers and +shrubs and whitewashed walls inside; and when Mr Beverley came up to +Miss Marjoribanks he felt his curiosity excited. "Is it Armida's +garden, or the Elysian fields--" said the Archdeacon; and he made a dead +stop before the door, not knowing any more than any other blind mortal +what he was going to find inside. + +"I don't know anything about Armida," said Miss Marjoribanks; +"unfortunately they were all Cambridge in their ways of thinking at +Mount Pleasant, and our classics got dreadfully neglected. But you may +come in if you like--at least I think you may come in, if you will +promise not to frighten the children. I am sure they never saw an +Archdeacon in their lives." + +"Are there children?" said Mr Beverley, with a doubtful air; for, to +tell the truth, he had come to the age at which men think it best to +avoid children, unless, indeed, they happen to have a personal interest +in them; and he stretched his neck a little to see in over Miss +Marjoribanks's head. + +"There are a whole lot of children, and a pretty governess," said +Lucilla. "It is a school, and I am so much interested in it. I may call +it my school, for that matter. I came to know her in the funniest way; +but I will tell you that another time. And it was just my luck, as +usual. She is so nice, and quite a lady. If you will not say you are an +Archdeacon, to frighten the children, I will let you come in." + +"You shall call me whatever you like," said Mr Beverley; "when I am with +the lady-patroness, what does it matter what I call myself? Let me see +how you manage your educational department. I have already bowed before +your genius in the other branches of government; but this ought to be +more in my own way." + +"I don't think you care for visiting schools," said Lucilla. "I know you +think it is a bore; but she is so nice, and so nice-looking; I am sure +you will be pleased with her. I am quite sure she is a lady, and has +seen better days." + +"Oh, those dreadful women that have seen better days!" said the +Archdeacon; "I think Mrs Chiley has a regiment of them. It is hard to +know how to get one's self into sympathy with those faded existences. +They fill me with an infinite pity; but then what can one do? If one +tries to recall them to the past, it sounds like mockery--and if one +speaks of the present, it wounds their feelings. It is a great social +difficulty," said Mr Beverley; and he fixed his eyes on the ground and +entered meditatively, without looking where he was going, in his +Broad-Church way. + +"Dear Mrs Chiley is so kind," said Lucilla, who was a little puzzled for +the moment, and did not know what to say. + +"Mrs Chiley is a good, pure, gentle woman," said the Archdeacon. He +spoke in a tone which settled the question, and from which there was no +appeal; and no doubt what he said was perfectly true, though it was not +a very distinct characterisation. Thus they went in together into the +bright little garden, thinking of nothing in particular, and loitering +as people do who do not know what is coming. There was something that +morning in Mr Beverley's tone and manner which struck Lucilla as +something more than usual. She was not a young woman to attach undue +importance to looks and tones; but the Archdeacon's manner was so +softened and mellowed, and his eyes had so much expression in them, and +he looked at Lucilla with such marked regard, that it was impossible for +her not to recognise that a crisis might be approaching. To be sure, it +was not by any means so near as that crisis _manqué_ which had so lately +passed over her head in respect to Mr Cavendish. But still Miss +Marjoribanks could not but remark the signs of a slowly approaching and +most likely more important climax; and as she remarked it, Lucilla +naturally by anticipation prepared herself for the coming event that +thus threw a shadow upon her. She did not make up her mind to accept Mr +Beverley any more than she had made up her mind to accept Mr Cavendish; +but she thought it only her duty to him and to herself, and to society +in general, to take his claims into full consideration. And no doubt, if +these claims had seemed to her sufficiently strong to merit such a +reward, Miss Marjoribanks had it in her to marry the Archdeacon, and +make him an admirable wife, though she was not at the present moment, so +far as she was aware, absolutely what foolish people call in love with +him. At the same time, she made herself all the more agreeable to Mr +Beverley from her sense of the dawn of tenderness with which he regarded +her. And in this way they went up the broad central path which traversed +the little garden, neither looking to the left nor the right, but +presenting all that appearance of being occupied with each other, which, +especially to a female observer, is so easy of interpretation. For, to +be sure, the Archdeacon had not the remotest idea into whose house he +was going, nor who it was whom he was about to see. + +But as it happened, Lucilla's protégée, who had seen better days, had +just finished one of her lessons, and sent her little pupils out into +the garden. She was preparing for the next little class, when, raising +her eyes accidentally, she saw Miss Marjoribanks coming through the +garden with the Archdeacon by her side. She was the same person whom Mr +Bury had brought to Lucilla with the idea of recommending her to Dr +Marjoribanks as a companion and chaperone for his daughter; but since +then Mrs Mortimer's appearance had considerably changed. She had grown +younger by ten years during the period of comparative comfort and +tranquillity which Lucilla's active help and championship had procured +for her. Her house, and her garden, and her little scholars, and the +bloom on her cheeks, and the filling-up of her worn frame, were all Miss +Marjoribanks's doing. In the intervals of her legislative cares Lucilla +had run about all over Carlingford searching for pupils, and at the same +moment had cut and stitched and arranged, and papered walls, and planted +flower-beds, for the feeble creature thus thrown upon her. This was a +side of Lucilla's character which certainly she did nothing to hide from +the public, but which, at the same time, she never made any fuss about; +and it was an endless pleasure to her to find a protégée so perfectly +content to be "done for," and do as she was told to do. It was thus that +the poor faded widow, who was sensitive and had feelings, and forgot +herself so far as to faint, or nearly to faint, just at the most unlucky +moment possible, when the Rector's character and dignity demanded +superior self-control on her part, had found her youth again and her +good looks under Lucilla's shadow. When she looked up and saw the two +approaching, Mrs Mortimer's first impulse was to smile at the +conjunction; but the next moment she had dropped the books out of her +hands, and was standing gazing out like a woman in a dream, with the +colour all gone out of her cheeks, and even out of her lips, in the +surprise of the moment. It was only surprise and a kind of dismay; it +was not terror, like that which Mr Cavendish had exhibited at the same +apparition. She dropped into her chair without knowing it, and probably +would have fainted this time also, if something more urgent than mere +"feelings" had not roused her up. As it was, it happened very happily +for her that she had thus a little preparation. When she saw that her +patroness was leading Mr Beverley up to the door, and that in a minute +more he would inevitably be brought to her very side, Mrs Mortimer +roused up all her strength. She gathered up her books in her hand +without knowing very well what she was doing, and, taking virtue from +necessity, went desperately out to meet them. It was Miss Marjoribanks +who first saw her, white and tottering, leaning against the trellis of +the little porch, and Lucilla could not but give a little cry of alarm +and wonder. What kind of man could this be, who thus struck down another +victim without even so much as a glance? It was just then that the +Archdeacon raised his eyes, and saw standing before him, among the faded +roses, the woman whom he had been approaching so indifferently--the +faded existence that had seen better days. He saw her, and he stood +stock-still, as if it was she who was the basilisk, and the look of +pleased interest went out of his face in a moment. In that moment he had +become as unconscious of the presence of Lucilla as if he had never in +his life softened his voice to her ear, or talked nonsense to please +her. His eyes did not seem big enough to take in the figure which stood +shrinking and looking at him in the porch. Then he made one long step +forward, and took hold of her sleeve--not her hand--as if to convince +himself that it was something real he saw. He showed no joy, nor +satisfaction, nor anything but sheer amaze and wonder, at this +unexpected appearance, for he had not had time to prepare himself as she +had. "Am I dreaming, or is it you?" he said, in a voice that sounded as +different from the voice with which he had been speaking to Lucilla, as +if years had elapsed between the two. And it would be vain to describe +the amazement and singular sense that the earth had suddenly given way +under her feet, with which Miss Marjoribanks stood by and looked on. + + + + +_Chapter XXIII_ + + +Miss Marjoribanks was naturally the first to recover her senses in this +emergency. Even she, self-possessed as she was, felt the natural +giddiness inseparable from such a strange reversal of the position. But +she did not lose her head like the others. She looked at the widow +standing white and tremulous in the shadow of the little porch, and on +the Archdeacon, whose manly countenance had paled to a corresponding +colour. A man does not seize a woman by the sleeve and ask, "Is it +_you_?" without some reason for an address so destitute of ordinary +courtesy; and Lucilla was sufficiently versed in such matters to know +that so rude and startling an accost could be only addressed to some one +whose presence set the speaker's heart beating, and quickened the blood +in his veins. It was odd, to say the least, after the way in which he +had just been speaking to herself; but Miss Marjoribanks, as has been +already said, was not the woman to lose her head. She recovered herself +with the second breath she drew, and took her natural place. "I can see +that you have something to say to each other," said Lucilla. "Mrs +Mortimer, ask Mr Beverley to walk in. Never mind me. I want to speak to +the little Lakes. I shall come back presently," Miss Marjoribanks added, +nodding pleasantly to the Archdeacon--and she went away to the other end +of the garden, calling to the children with that self-possession which +is the gift only of great minds. But when Lucilla found herself at a +safe distance, and saw the Archdeacon stoop to go in under the porch, it +cannot be denied that her mind was moved by the sight. It was she who +had seen after the putting-up of that trellis round that porch, and the +arrangement of the wistaria, which had been sprawling all over the front +of the house uncared for. If there was any place in the world where she +should have been free from such a shock, it certainly should have been +here, in this spot, which she had, so to speak, created. Naturally the +unfitness of these surroundings to witness a revolution so unlooked-for +and disagreeable struck Lucilla. If she had to be again humiliated, and +to submit once more to see another preferred to herself, it certainly +should have been under other circumstances. When we admit that such a +thought did pass through the mind of Miss Marjoribanks, it will prove to +all who know her that Lucilla found her position sufficiently +aggravating. She had exerted herself for Mrs Mortimer as nobody else in +Carlingford would have exerted themselves. She had not only found pupils +and a means of living for the widow, which, perhaps, a committee of +ladies might have done at the end of a year, had it been put into their +hands; but Miss Marjoribanks had done it at once, and had taken charge +of that timid and maladroit individual herself, and set her up, and done +everything for her. It was Dr Marjoribanks's gardener, under Lucilla's +orders, who had arranged and planted the garden, and trained the +embowering foliage which had just brushed the Archdeacon's clerical hat +as he went in; and in the act of refurnishing her drawing-room, Miss +Marjoribanks had managed to procure, without costing anybody anything +except a little trouble, as she herself said, many accessories, which +gave an air of comfort to the little parlour, in which, no doubt, at +that moment, Mr Beverley and Mrs Mortimer were explaining themselves. +Lucilla had a great deal too much good sense to upbraid anybody with +ingratitude, or even to make any claim upon that slippery quality; but +she knew at the same time that the widow was the very last person from +whom a new discomfiture should come, and that to enter in under that +trellis when he left her was, on the Archdeacon's part, an aggravation +of the change in his sentiments which it was difficult to bear. + +She walked along the garden path very briskly under the influence of +these thoughts, and it was not in nature to do otherwise than snub the +children when she joined them. Lucilla was a woman of genius, but she +was not faultless; and when she found Ethelinda and Ethelfreda Lake, the +two twins, the one with her clean frock all muddy and stained, the other +with the front breadth torn right up the middle, it is scarcely to be +wondered at if she lost her patience. "You little nasty untidy things!" +she said, "I should like to know who you expect is to go mending up and +washing every day for you? It will not be Barbara, I am sure," Miss +Marjoribanks added, with a fine intonation of scorn, of which the +culprits were insensible; and she gave Ethelinda a shake, who was +sitting on the wet ground, all muddy with recent watering, and who, +besides, was the one who most resembled Barbara. When this temporary +ebullition had taken place, Lucilla began gradually to right herself. +It was a grand sight, if anybody had been there to witness it, or if +anybody could have seen into Miss Marjoribanks's maiden bosom; but the +spectacle of a great mind thus recovering its balance is one which can +rarely be visible except in its results. While she set the children to +rights, and represented to Mrs Mortimer's little servant, who was in the +garden furtively on a pretence of cabbages, the extreme folly, and +indeed idiocy, of letting them get to the water and make a mess of +themselves, Lucilla was in reality coming to herself. Perhaps she spoke +with a little more energy than usual; but the offenders were so well +aware of their guilt, and so thoroughly satisfied of the justice of the +reproof addressed to them, that no other explanation was necessary; and, +little by little, Miss Marjoribanks felt herself restored to her natural +calm. + +"You know I don't like to scold you," she said; "but what would anybody +say?--nice clean frocks, that I am sure were put on fresh this +morning--and you, Mary Jane----" + +"Please, Miss, it was only for a young cabbage. Missis is fond of a bit +of vegetable," said the little maid. "I knew _she'd_ not say +nothing;--and just as I had told 'em all to have done and be good--and +nobody knew as _you_ was here," said Mary Jane. There was something even +in that small and humble testimony to Lucilla's sovereignty which helped +on the process which was operating in her mind. She regained bit by bit +that serene self-consciousness which places the spirit above the passing +vexations of the world. What did it matter what other people might be +doing or saying? Was not she still Lucilla Marjoribanks? and when one +had said that, one had said all. + +"It is time you were all going home to your dinners," said Lucilla; "and +I have asked Mrs Mortimer to give you a half-holiday. As for you, you +little Linda, you are not fit to be seen; and I am sure if I were your +sister I should send you off to bed. Now get all your hats and things +and run away; and if you are not awfully good to-morrow, I shall never +ask for another half-holiday again." + +Saying which, Miss Marjoribanks herself saw the hats brought out, and +the little scholars sent away. She took matters into her own hand with +the confidence of a superior nature. "After all the long talk they are +having she will not be able for her scholars to-day," Lucilla said +magnanimously to herself; and she again made the tour of the garden, +inspecting everything, to see that all was in order. With every step +that she took, Miss Marjoribanks became more and more herself. As we +have already said, it was a grand and inspiring sight; but then, to be +sure, as in the former case, her affections, fortunately, were not +engaged. She was not in love with the Archdeacon, any more than she had +been in love with Mr Cavendish;--though it is true, love is not +everything. And to think how he had been looking and talking not much +more than half an hour ago, and to reflect that now he had most likely +forgotten her very existence, and was explaining himself, and placing +that position which would have just suited Lucilla at the feet of the +object of her bounty, was enough to have driven a young woman of +ordinary mind half out of her senses with disgust and indignation. But, +fortunately, Lucilla's mind was not an ordinary one; and every step she +took round the garden restored her more and more entirely to herself. +Instead of conceiving any jealous dislike to Mrs Mortimer, she had +already, as has been stated, exerted herself with her usual benevolence +to leave the widow free for the rest of the day. "After all, it is not +her fault if she knew him before, or if he was in love with her," +Lucilla said to herself. And when she had arrived at this perfectly true +and profoundly philosophical conclusion, it may be said that the crisis +was at an end. + +But then where personal offence and indignation (if the natural shock to +Miss Marjoribanks's feelings could be called by such hard names) ended, +bewilderment and curiosity began. Who could this Archdeacon be who had +frightened the most popular man in Carlingford out of the place, and +whose unlooked-for appearance had driven Mrs Mortimer back out of her +recovered good looks and cheerfulness into pallor and trembling? It is +true that Lucilla knew quite well who he was--the second son of Mr +Beverley of Trent Valley, a family as well known as any family in +England. Everybody knew all about the Archdeacon: his career from his +youth up was as clearly traceable as if he had been killed in a railway +accident and had had his memoir published in the _Times_. There was +nothing in the smallest degree secret or mysterious about him; and yet +how could it come about that the sight of him should frighten Mr +Cavendish out of his senses, and make Mrs Mortimer, who was utterly +unconnected with Mr Cavendish, all but faint, as she had done on a +former occasion? Was it his mission to go about the world driving +people into fits of terror or agitation? To be sure, he was a +Broad-Churchman, and not the type of clergyman to which Lucilla in her +heart inclined; but still a man may be Broad Church, and speak a little +freely on religious matters, without being a basilisk. As these thoughts +went through her mind, Miss Marjoribanks could not help observing that +the branches of the pear-tree, which was all that the garden contained +in the shape of fruit, had come loose from the wall, and were swaying +about greatly to the damage of the half-grown pears,--not to say that it +gave a very untidy look to that corner. "I must send Crawford down this +evening to fasten it up," Lucilla said to herself, and then went on with +what she was thinking; and she made one or two other remarks of the same +description in a parenthesis as she made her tour. After all, it is +astonishing how many little things go wrong when the man or woman with a +hundred eyes is absent for a few days from the helm of affairs. It was +nearly a week since Miss Marjoribanks had been round Mrs Mortimer's +garden, and in that time the espalier had got detached, some of the +verbenas were dead in the borders, and the half of the sticks that +propped up the dahlias had fallen, leaving the plants in miserable +confusion. Lucilla shook her head over this, as she asked herself what +mysterious influence there could be in the Archdeacon. For her own part, +she was not in the slightest degree afraid of him, nor could she confess +to having felt agitated even when he walked with her into this fated +garden; but there could be no doubt of the seriousness of the effect +produced by his appearance on the two others. "They have broken half of +the props, the little nuisances," Lucilla said to herself, as she +pursued her musings. For her large mind was incapable, now that its +perfect serenity was happily regained, of confining itself, unless with +a very good reason, to one sole subject. + +When she had finished her inspection, and saw that nobody had yet +appeared at the door, Miss Marjoribanks collected the books which the +children had left lying in the summer-house, and put them under +cover--for, to tell the truth, it looked a little like rain; and having +done this, and looked all round her to see if anything else required her +immediate care, Lucilla carried philosophy to its highest practical +point by going away, which is, perhaps, a height of good sense which may +be thought too much for humanity. It was not too much for Miss +Marjoribanks's legislative soul and knowledge of human nature;--and in +thus denying herself she was perfectly aware of her advantages, and of +the inevitable result. She knew, just as well as if she had already +received it, that Mrs Mortimer would write her a little three-cornered +note, marked _Private_, as soon as the Archdeacon was gone; and she +thought it was highly probable that Mr Beverley himself would come to +give some explanation. With this tranquil assurance in her mind, Lucilla +turned her face towards Grange Lane. She began to have a kind of +conviction too, since this had happened, either that Carlingford would +not be raised into a bishopric, or that the Archdeacon at least would +not be the first bishop. It was difficult to give any ground for the +idea, but it came into her mind with a kind of quiet certainty; and with +this conviction, in which she recognised that beautiful self-adjusting +balance of compensations which keeps everything right in the world, +Lucilla, quite recovered from her shock, had on the whole a pleasant +walk home. + +As for the two who were shut up together in Mrs Mortimer's parlour, +their state of mind was far from partaking of the virtuous peace and +serenity which filled Miss Marjoribanks's bosom. It was more than an +hour before the Archdeacon went away; and when Mrs Mortimer had a little +collected her faculties, the result arrived which had been foreseen by +Lucilla. In the first place, terror seized the widow as to what had +become of her pupils, whom all this time she had forgotten, and deep was +her gratitude when she had ascertained that her protecting genius had +sent them away. But with that gratitude came a sudden recollection of +the manner in which Mr Beverley and Miss Marjoribanks had been coming +together up the garden path, before the mistress of the house showed +herself. Mrs Mortimer wrung her hands when she recollected the looks and +attitude of the two, and the rumour which had reached her ears that the +Archdeacon was paying attention to Miss Marjoribanks. What was she to +do?--was her miserable presence here to dispel perhaps the youthful +hopes of her benefactress, and make a revolution in Lucilla's prospects? +The poor woman felt herself ready to sink into the earth at the thought. +She went to the window and looked out disconsolately into the rain--for +it had come on to rain, as Lucilla supposed it would--and felt like a +creature in a cage, helpless, imprisoned, miserable, not knowing what to +do with herself, and the cause of trouble to her best friends. A little +house in a garden may look like a little paradise in the sunshine, and +yet feel like a dungeon when a poor woman all alone looks out across her +flowers in the rain, and sees nothing but the wall that shuts her in, +and thinks to herself that she has no refuge nor escape from it--nobody +to tell her what to do, nothing but her own feeble powers to support +her, and the dreadful idea that she has done harm and can do no good to +her only protector. Any reasonable creature would have said, that to be +there in her own house, poor enough certainly, but secure, and no longer +driven lonely and distressed about the world, was a great matter. But +yet, after all, the walls that shut her in, the blast of white, +sweeping, downright rain, which seemed to cut her off from any succour +outside, and the burden of something on her mind which by herself she +was quite unable to bear, was a hard combination; and wringing one's +hands, and feeling one's mind ready to give way under a new and +unexpected burden, could not advance matters in the slightest degree. +She was not strong-minded, as has been already proved; nor, indeed, had +she the ordinary amount of indifference to other people, or confidence +in herself, which stands in the place of self-control with many people. +After she had wrung her hands, and looked out again and again with a +vague instinct of perhaps finding some suggestion of comfort outside, +Mrs Mortimer relapsed by necessity into the one idea that had been a +support to her for so many months past. All that she could do was to +consult Lucilla--it might be to wound Lucilla, for anything she could +tell; but when a poor creature is helpless and weak, and has but one +friend in the world who is strong, what can she do but apply to her +sustainer and guardian? When, after beating about wildly from one point +to another, she arrived ultimately, as might have been predicted, and as +Miss Marjoribanks had expected from the first, at that conclusion, there +remained a further difficulty in respect to the means of communication. +Lucilla had settled quite calmly in her own mind that it would be by the +medium of a three-cornered note, a matter in which there was no +difficulty whatever, for the widow was sufficiently fluent with her pen; +but then Lucilla had not thought of Mary Jane, who was the only possible +messenger. It was to this point now that Mrs Mortimer's ideas addressed +themselves. At that moment the rain poured down fiercer than ever, the +bricks of the uncovered wall grew black with the wet, and the wistaria +crouched and shivered about the porch as if it wanted to be taken +indoors. And then to get wet, and perhaps catch cold, was a thing Mary +Jane conscientiously avoided, like the rest of the world; and it was +with a sense of alarm even stronger than that excited by the possibility +of injuring Lucilla, that Mrs Mortimer very gently and modestly rang her +bell. + +"I don't think it rains quite so heavily," said the timid +experimentalist, feeling her heart beat as she made this doubtful +statement. "Have you a pair of goloshes, Mary Jane?" + +"No," said the little handmaiden, with precaution; "and, please, if it's +for the post, it rains worse nor ever; and I don't think as mother would +like----" + +"Oh, it is not for the post," said Mrs Mortimer; "it is for Miss +Marjoribanks. You can take mine, and then you will not get your feet +wet. I go out so very little; you may have them--to keep--Mary Jane. And +you can take the big shawl that hangs in the passage, and an umbrella. I +don't think it is so heavy as it was." + +Mary Jane regarded the rain gloomily from the window; but her reluctance +was at an end from the moment she heard that it was to Miss Marjoribanks +she was going. To be sure, the distance between the Serenissime Nancy +and Thomas, and the other inmates of the Doctor's kitchen, and Mrs +Mortimer's little handmaiden, was as great as that which exists between +an English Duke and the poorest little cadet of a large family among his +attendant gentry; but, correspondingly, the merest entrance into that +higher world was as great a privilege for Mary Jane, as the Duke's +notice would be to the Squire's youngest son. She kept up a momentary +show of resistance, but she accepted the goloshes, and even after a +moment agreed in her mistress's trembling assertion about the rain. And +this was how the three-cornered note got conveyed to its destination in +the heaviest of the storm, between three and four o'clock in the +afternoon. Mrs Mortimer still sat at her window, wringing her hands from +time to time, with her head aching and her heart beating, and a dreadful +question in her mind as to what Lucilla would say, or whether perhaps +she might reject altogether in her natural indignation the appeal made +to her; which was an idea which filled the widow with inexpressible +horror. While at the same moment Miss Marjoribanks sat looking for that +appeal which she knew was sure to come. The rain had set in by this time +with an evident intention of lasting, and even from the windows of +Lucilla's drawing-room the prospect of the garden walls and glistening +trees was sufficiently doleful. Nobody was likely to call, nothing was +doing; and Lucilla, who never caught cold, had not the least fear of +wetting her feet. And besides, her curiosity had been rising every +moment since her return; and the widow's pathetic appeal, "Come to me, +my dearest Lucilla. I have nobody whom I can talk to in the world but +you!" had its natural effect upon a mind so feeling. Miss Marjoribanks +got up as soon as she had read the note, and changed her dress, and put +on a great waterproof cloak. Instead of thinking it a trouble, she was +rather exhilarated by the necessity. "Be sure you make your mistress a +nice cup of tea as soon as we get there," she said to Mary Jane. "She +must want it, I am sure, if she has not had any dinner;" for the little +maid had betrayed the fact that Mrs Mortimer could not eat anything, and +had sent away her dinner, which was naturally an alarming and wonderful +occurrence to Mary Jane. The widow was still sitting at the window when +Lucilla appeared tripping across the wet garden in her waterproof cloak, +if not a ministering angel, at least a substantial prop and support to +the lonely woman who trusted in her, and yet in the present instance +feared her. But anything more unlike a disappointed maiden, whose wooer +had been taken away from her under her very eyes, could not have been +seen. On the contrary, Miss Marjoribanks was radiant, with raindrops +glistening on her hair, and what Mrs Chiley called "a lovely colour." If +there was one thing in the world more than another which contented +Lucilla, it was to be appealed to and called upon for active service. It +did her heart good to take the management of incapable people, and +arrange all their affairs for them, and solve all their difficulties. +Such an office was more in her way than all the Archdeacons in the +world. + +"I saw you knew him the moment I looked at you," said Lucilla. "I have +seen other people look _like that_ when he appeared. Who is he, for +goodness' sake? I know quite well, of course, who he is, in the ordinary +way; but do tell me what has he done to make people look like that +whenever he appears?" + +Mrs Mortimer did not directly answer this question--she fixed her mind +upon one part of it, like an unreasonable woman, and repeated "Other +people?" with a kind of interrogative gasp. + +"Oh, it was only a gentleman," said Lucilla, with rapid intelligence; +and then there was a little pause. "He has been here for six weeks," +Miss Marjoribanks continued; "you must have heard of him; indeed, you +would have heard him preach if you had not gone off after these +Dissenters. Did you really never know that he was here till to-day?" + +"I did not think of him being Archdeacon--he was only a curate when I +used to know him," said poor Mrs Mortimer, with a sigh. + +"Tell me all about it," said Lucilla, with ingenuous sympathy; and she +drew her chair close to that of her friend, and took her hand in a +protecting, encouraging way. "You know, whatever you like to say, that +it is quite safe with me." + +"If you are sure you do not mind," said the poor widow. "Oh, yes, I have +heard what people have been saying about him and--and you, Lucilla; and +if I had known, I would have shut myself up--I would have gone away for +ever and ever--I would----" + +"My dear," said Miss Marjoribanks, with a little severity, "I thought +you knew me better. If I had been thinking of that sort of thing, I +never need have come home at all; and when you know how kind papa has +been about the drawing-room and everything. Say what you were going to +say, and never think of me." + +"Ah, Lucilla, I have had my life," said the trembling woman, whose +agitation was coming to a climax--"I have had it, and done with it; and +you have been so good to me; and if, after all, I was to stand between +you and--and--and--anybody----" But here Mrs Mortimer broke down, and +could say no more. To be sure, she did not faint this time any more than +she did on the first occasion when she made Miss Marjoribanks's +acquaintance; but Lucilla thought it best, as then, to make her lie down +on the sofa, and keep her quite quiet, and hasten Mary Jane with the cup +of tea. + +"You have been agitated, and you have not eaten anything," said Lucilla. +"I am going to stay with you till half-past six, when I must run home +for dinner, so we have plenty of time; and as for your life, I don't +consider you gone off at all yet, and you are a great deal +younger-looking than you were six months ago. I am very glad the +Archdeacon did not come until you had got back your looks. It makes such +a difference to a man," Miss Marjoribanks added, with that almost +imperceptible tone of contempt which she was sometimes known to use when +speaking of Their absurd peculiarities. As for Mrs Mortimer, the +inference conveyed by these words brought the colour to her pale +cheeks. + +"It will never come to that," she said, "no more than it did in old +days; it never can, Lucilla; and I don't know that it is to be wished. I +couldn't help being put out a little when I saw him, you know; but there +is one thing, that he never, never will persuade me," said the widow. +Lucilla could not but look on in surprise and even consternation, while +Mrs Mortimer thus expressed herself. A warm flush animated the pale and +somewhat worn face--and a gleam of something that looked absolutely like +resolution shone in the yielding woman's mild eyes. Was it possible that +even she had one point upon which she could be firm? Miss Marjoribanks +stood still, petrified, in the very act of pouring out the tea. + +"If it is only one thing, if I were you, I would give in to him," said +Lucilla, with a vague sense that this sort of self-assertion must be put +a stop to, mingling with her surprise. + +"Never," said Mrs Mortimer again, with a still more distinct gleam of +resolution. "In the first place, I have no right whatever to anything +more than my uncle gave me. He told me himself I was to have no more; +and _he_ was very, very kind to poor Edward. You don't know all the +circumstances, or you would not say so," she cried, with a sob. As for +Miss Marjoribanks, if it is possible to imagine her clear spirit +altogether lost in bewilderment, it would have been at that moment; but +she recovered as soon as she had administered her cup of tea. + +"Now tell me all about it," said Lucilla, again sitting down by the +sofa; and this time Mrs Mortimer, to whom her excitement had given a +little spur and stimulus, did not waste any more time. + +"He is my cousin," she said; "not my real cousin, but distant; and I +will not deny that long, long ago--when we were both quite young, you +know, Lucilla----" + +"Yes, yes, I understand," said Miss Marjoribanks, pressing her hand. + +"He was very nice in those days," said Mrs Mortimer, faltering; "that +is, I don't mean to say he was not always nice, you know, but only----I +never had either father or mother. I was living with my Uncle +Garrett--my uncle on the other side; and he thought he should have made +me his heiress; but instead of that, he left his money, you know, to +_him_; and then he was dreadfully put out, and wanted me to go to law +with him and change the will; but I never blamed him, for my part, +Lucilla--he knows I never blamed him--and nothing he said would make me +give in to go to the law with him----" + +"Stop a minute," said Lucilla, "I am not quite sure that I understand. +Who was it he wanted you to go to law with? and was it to the Archdeacon +the money was left?" + +"Oh, Lucilla," said the widow, with momentary exasperation, "you who are +so quick and pick up everything, to think you should not understand me +when I speak of a thing so important! Of course it was not to Charles +Beverley the money was left: if it had been left to him, how could he +have wanted me to go to law? It has always been the question between +us," said Mrs Mortimer, once more lighting up with exceptional and +unwonted energy. "He said I was to indict him for conspiracy; and I +declare to you, Lucilla, that he was not to blame. Uncle Garrett might +be foolish, but I don't say even that he was foolish: he was so good to +him, like a son; and he had no son of his own, and I was only a girl. He +never was anything to me," said Mrs Mortimer, wiping her eyes--"never, +whatever Charles may choose to say; but if ever I was sure of anything +in the world, I am sure that he was not to blame." + +Lucilla's head began to whirl; but after her first unsuccessful essay, +she was wise enough not to ask any more direct questions. She made all +the efforts possible, with ears and eyes intent, to disentangle this web +of pronouns, and failing, waited on in the hope that time and patience +would throw a little light upon them. "I suppose Mr Beverley thought he +was to blame?" she said, when the narrator paused to take breath. + +"Is not that what I am saying?" said Mrs Mortimer. "It was through that +it was all broke off. I am sure I don't know whether he has regretted it +or not, Lucilla. It is not always very easy to understand a gentleman, +you know. After I was married to poor Edward, naturally I never had any +more correspondence with him; and to see him to-day without any warning, +and to find him just as bent as he was upon making me prosecute, and +just as full of bad feeling, and speaking as if there was some reason +more than truth and justice why I should be so determined. No, Lucilla," +said Mrs Mortimer, raising herself up on the sofa, "it is just the same +thing as ever, and the same obstacle as ever, and it never will come to +_that_." + +"You are agitating yourself," said Miss Marjoribanks; "lie down--there's +a dear--and keep quite still, and see whether we cannot make anything +better of it. Tell me, what would you go to law with him for?" Lucilla +continued, with the natural humility of imperfect comprehension. It was +perhaps the first time in her life that such a singular chance had +happened to Miss Marjoribanks, as to have a matter explained to her, and +yet be unable to understand. + +"He says he could be indicted for conspiracy, or for having too much +influence over him, and making him do what he liked. But he was very +good to him, Lucilla, and to my poor Edward; and when I was married to +him----" + +"Goodness gracious! were you married to him as well?" cried Lucilla, +fairly losing the thread and her balance in this confusing circle. Mrs +Mortimer grew pale, and rose quite up from the sofa, and went with the +air of an insulted woman to seat herself in her usual chair. + +"I don't know why you should address me so," she said. "He is nothing to +me, and never was. It is an insult to me to think that I must have a +personal reason for refusing to do a wicked and unjust thing. I could +give up anything," said the widow, losing a little of her dignity, and +growing again pathetic--"I would give in in a moment if it was any fancy +of mine--you know I would; but I am sure it would be wicked and +unjust----" + +"I am sure I am not the person to bid you do anything unjust or wicked," +said Lucilla, who, in the utter confusion of her faculties, began to +feel offended in her turn. + +"Then I beg you will never speak to me of it again!" cried Mrs Mortimer. +"How is it possible that either he or you can know the rights of it as I +do, who was in the house at the time and saw everything? He may say what +he likes, but I know there was no conspiracy; he was just as much +surprised as you could be, or Charles, or anybody. Of course it was for +his advantage--nobody denies that--but you don't mean to say that a man +is to reject everything that is for his advantage?" said the widow, +turning eyes of indignant inquiry upon her visitor; and Miss +Marjoribanks for once was so utterly perplexed that she did not know how +to respond. + +"But you said when you were married to him?" said Lucilla, who felt that +the tables were turned upon her for the moment. "I am sure I beg your +pardon for being so stupid; but whom were you married to?" This was said +in the most deprecating tone in the world, but still it irritated Mrs +Mortimer, whose mind was all unhinged, and who somehow felt that she +was not finding in Miss Marjoribanks the help and support to which her +clear and detailed explanation entitled her. Though her head was aching +dreadfully, she sat up more upright than ever in her chair. + +"I don't think you can mean to insult me, Miss Marjoribanks," said the +widow, "after being so kind. Perhaps I have been trying you too much by +what I have said; though I am sure I would have given up everything, and +gone away anywhere, rather than be the cause of anything unpleasant. You +know that it was my poor dear Edward I was married to; you know I have +a--a horror," said Mrs Mortimer, faltering, "in general--of second +marriages." + +"Oh, yes," said Lucilla, "but there are always exceptions, you know; and +when people have no children, nor anything--and you that were so young. +I always make exceptions, for my part; and if you could only get over +this one point," Miss Marjoribanks added, making a dexterous strategical +movement. But Mrs Mortimer only shook her head. + +"I don't think I am hard to get on with," she said; "but my poor Edward +always said one must make a stand somewhere. He used to say I was so +easy to be persuaded. He was glad to see I had a point to make a stand +on, instead of being disagreeable about it, or thinking he was anything +to me. And oh, Lucilla, he was so kind to him," said the widow, with +tears in her eyes. "We met him quite by chance, and he was so kind. I +will never forget it, if I should live a hundred years. And why should +Charles be in such a way? He never did him any harm! If any one was +injured, it was me, and I never felt myself injured--neither did Edward. +On the contrary, he _always_ did him justice, Lucilla," Mrs Mortimer +continued, fixing a pathetic look upon her friend. What could Lucilla +do? She was burning to take it all in her own hands, and arrange it +somehow, and unite the two lovers who had been so long separated; but +unless she could understand what the point was on which Mrs Mortimer +made her stand, what could she do? + +"I never could understand," said the widow, who began to feel her heart +sick with the disappointment of that hope which she had fixed in Miss +Marjoribanks, "why he should take it so much to heart. Poor Edward never +thought of such a thing! and why he should be so set against poor Mr +Kavan, and so----Lucilla! oh, tell me, do you see anything? what do you +mean?" + +"I want to know who Mr Kavan is?" said Miss Marjoribanks, much startled. +She had for the moment forgotten the Archdeacon's discovery and her own +suspicions; and the idea of connecting the man who had (apparently) fled +from Mr Beverley's presence, with the innocent and helpless woman upon +whom the appearance of the Broad Churchman had so overwhelming an +effect, had never hitherto entered her imagination. But this name, which +was not the name of anybody she knew, and yet seemed to bear an odd sort +of rudimentary relationship to another name, struck her like a sudden +blow and brought everything back to her mind. It was a bewildering sort +of explanation, if it was an explanation; but still a confused light +began to break upon Lucilla's understanding. If this was what it all +meant then there was the widest opening for charitable exertions, and +much to be done which only a mind like Miss Marjoribanks's could do. + +"That is not his name now," said Mrs Mortimer, "I don't see, if he liked +it, why he should not change his name. I am sure a great many people do; +but his name was Kavan when he lived with my uncle. I don't remember +what it was after, for of course he was always Mr Kavan to me; and +Charles Beverley never could bear him. He used to think----But oh, +Lucilla, forgive me--oh, forgive me, if it is too much for you!" she +added, a moment after, as another idea struck her. "It was not with the +idea of--of anything coming of it, you know; it will never come to +that--not now;--I don't know if it is to be wished. I am sure he is +quite free so far as I am concerned. It was not with that idea I asked +for your advice, Lucilla," said the poor woman, in piteous tones. If +Miss Marjoribanks had pressed her, and insisted upon knowing what _was_ +the idea which had moved her friend to ask her advice, Mrs Mortimer +would no doubt have found it very hard to reply; but Lucilla had no such +cruel intentions; and the widow, notwithstanding her piteous denial of +any motive, now that her mind was cleared, and she had caught the +comprehension of her auditor, began to regard her with a certain +instinct of hope. + +As for Miss Marjoribanks, this revelation at once troubled and cleared +her mind. If this was the culprit, he _was_ a culprit and yet he was +innocent; and to heap coals of fire upon his head was in some respects a +Christian duty. Her ideas went forward at a bound to a grand finale of +reconciliation and universal brotherhood. She saw the tools under her +hands, and her very fingers itched to begin. Large and varied as her +experience was, she had never yet had any piece of social business on so +important a scale to manage, and her eyes sparkled and her heart beat at +the idea. Instead of shrinking from interference, her spirits rose at +the thought. To vanquish the Archdeacon, to pluck out from the darkness, +and rehabilitate and set at his ease the mysterious adventurer, whom, to +be sure, _she could not say she knew_--for Lucilla was very careful, +even in her own thoughts, not to commit herself on this subject--and to +finish off by a glorious and triumphant marriage--not her own, it is +true, but of her making, which was more to the purpose--such was the +programme she made out for herself with the speed of lightning, the +moment she had laid hold of the clue which guided or seemed to guide her +through the labyrinth. It would be too lengthy a matter to go into all +her tender cares for the widow's comfort during the rest of her stay, +and the pains and delicacy with which she managed to elicit further +particulars, and to make out her brief, so to speak, while she cheered +up and encouraged the witness. Miss Marjoribanks jumped to the +conclusion that "poor Edward" had been, after all, but a temporary +tenant of the heart, which was now again free for the reception of the +Archdeacon, if he could be got to accept the conditions. When half-past +six arrived, and Thomas came for her with the great umbrella, she went +off quite resplendent in her waterproof cloak, and utterly indifferent +to the rain, leaving Mrs Mortimer worn out, but with a glimmer of hope +in her mind. Such was the great work which, without a moment's +hesitation, Lucilla took upon her shoulders. She had no more fear of the +result than she had of wetting her feet, which was a thing Mrs Mortimer +and Thomas were both concerned about. But then Lucilla knew her own +resources, and what she was capable of, and proceeded upon her way with +that unconscious calm of genius which is always so inexplicable to the +ordinary world. + + + + +_Chapter XXIV_ + + +It was the most unlucky moment for the weather to change, being the +middle of July, and as near as possible to St Swithin's Day; but the +season had been so delightful up to that time that nobody in Carlingford +at least had any reason to complain. So far as Miss Marjoribanks was +concerned, she was rather glad, on the whole, that the next day was wet, +and that she could not go out all the morning, nor was likely to be +interrupted by visitors. She had all her plans to settle and mature for +the great enterprise which she had taken in hand. By this time, so far +from feeling any personal interest in the Archdeacon, or considering +herself injured by his sudden desertion, that little episode had gone +out of Lucilla's mind as completely as if it had never been. In one +point, however, Miss Marjoribanks's conviction remained firm; it was +impressed upon her mind that Carlingford would not be made into a +bishopric, or, if made into a bishopric, that it was not Mr Beverley who +would be chosen to occupy the new see. It was one of those instinctive +certainties which are not capable of explanation, which was thus borne +in upon her spirit, and she could not have felt more sure of it had she +seen it under the Queen's own hand and seal. While she went about her +usual morning occupations, her mind was full of her great and novel +undertaking. Mr Beverley was not a man to be revolutionised in a moment; +and many people would have shrunk from the attempt to work in a few days +or weeks, with no better arms than those of acquaintance, a change which +the influence of love had not been able to do in so many years. But it +was not in Lucilla's nature to be daunted by a difficulty so +unimportant. There was, thank Heaven, some difference between herself +and the widow, who, in a strait, could think of nothing better to do, +poor soul! than to faint; and Miss Marjoribanks had the advantage of +never as yet having been beaten, whereas Mrs Mortimer had undergone +numberless defeats. + +The hardest matter in the whole business, however, was the +identification of the Mr Kavan whom the Archdeacon thought he had seen +in Carlingford, and was not afraid to speak of as a clever rascal and +adventurer. Mr Beverley had never seen the fellow again, as he had told +Lucilla not many days back, and Miss Marjoribanks had been unfeignedly +glad to hear it; but now matters had changed. In the course of her +reflections, she decided that it would now be best that these two men, +if possible, should meet and recognise each other, and that the business +should once for all be definitively settled. If all the offence he had +committed against society was to have had a large sum of money left him +by a childless old man, Lucilla saw no reason why this mysterious +culprit should conceal himself; and even if he had taken a little +liberty with his name, that was not a crime--his name was his own +surely, if anything was his own. At the same time, Miss Marjoribanks +took pains to impress upon herself, as it is to be hoped a friendly +audience will also have the goodness to do, that she had no _real +foundation_ for her suspicions as to the identity of this personage, and +might turn out to be completely mistaken. He might have made no change +whatever on his name; he might be flourishing in some other quarter of +England or the world, with all his antecedents perfectly well known, and +unconscious of anything to be ashamed about; which, to tell the truth, +was, as Lucilla confessed to herself, a much more likely hypothesis than +the supposition which had taken such possession of her mind. But then +Miss Marjoribanks had a just faith in her instincts, and in those brief +but telling pieces of evidence which supported her conclusion. She was +thinking over this important branch of the subject with the greatest +care and devotion, when, looking out by chance into the rain, she saw +the Archdeacon crossing the garden. Perhaps it was just as well that she +thus had warning and a moment to prepare for his visit; not that Lucilla +was a person to be taken at disadvantage; but still, in a matter so +practical and pressing, it was always better to be prepared. + +Mr Beverley came in with an air and expression so different from that +which he had borne in their intercourse no further gone than yesterday, +that, notwithstanding the corresponding revolution in her own mind, Miss +Marjoribanks could not but regard him with mingled admiration and +surprise. She judged him as the general world so often judged herself, +and gave him credit for skill and courage in assuming such an attitude, +when the fact was he was only preoccupied and natural, and did not think +of his attitude at all. It did not occur to the Archdeacon that he had +sinned towards Lucilla. He thought it right to explain to her his +extreme surprise at the sight of Mrs Mortimer, and possibly to make her +aware, at the same time, of his grievances, in so far as Mrs Mortimer +was concerned; but perhaps Mr Beverley was, on the whole, innocent of +those intentions which Mrs Chiley had attributed to him, and which even +Lucilla, more clear-sighted, had seen dawning in their last interview; +for, to be sure, this is one of the questions which the female intellect +is apt to judge in a different light from that in which it is regarded +by a man. The Archdeacon, accordingly, came in preoccupied, with a cloud +on his brow, but without the smallest appearance of penitence or +deprecation; by which demeanour he gained, without deserving it, the +respect, and to a certain extent the admiration, of Lucilla. His +expression was not that of a man repentant, but of a man aggrieved. He +had a cloud upon his countenance, and a certain air of offence and +temper; and when he sat down, he breathed a short impatient sigh. + +"Thank you for receiving me so early," he said. "I called yesterday +afternoon, but found you out. You must have had very particular business +to take you out in that rain," Mr Beverley continued, with subdued +exasperation; for naturally, being a clergyman, he was a little +impatient to find, when it was _he_ who wanted her, any of his female +friends out of the way. + +"Yes," said Lucilla, who thought it was best to open her battery boldly +and at once. "I was spending the afternoon with poor Mrs Mortimer; poor +dear, she is so solitary!" and to meet Mr Beverley's ill-temper, Miss +Marjoribanks put on her most heavenly air of sympathy, and rounded her +words with a soft sigh, as different from his as a flute is from a +trumpet. It was with an exclamation of impatience that the Archdeacon +replied. + +"_Poor_ Mrs Mortimer!" he cried; "I don't know whether you are aware how +much her obstinacy has cost me; and herself, I suppose," he added, in a +parenthesis. "Not to depreciate your kindness, or the truly human and +Christian way in which you have conducted yourself--fancy what my +feelings naturally must have been to find her an object of +charity--actually of charity! I don't mean to say," said Mr Beverley, +controlling himself, "that it is degrading to accept succour when given +as from man to man--quite the contrary; but you will excuse me from +entering into the general question. She knew perfectly well that if I +had known where she was--if she had consented to yield to me on one +point--solely on _one_ point----" + +"And she such an obstinate woman!" said Miss Marjoribanks, with fine +scorn. "How could you ever think of such a thing? A woman that never +gives in to anybody. If you knew her as well as I do----" + +The Archdeacon glanced up with a momentary intense surprise, as if it +was within the possibilities that such a change might have taken place +in the widow's nature; and then he caught Lucilla's eye, and grew red +and more aggrieved than ever. + +"Mrs Mortimer happens to be a relative of mine," he said, in his +authoritative voice. "I have known her from her youth. I am better +instructed in all her affairs than she can possibly be. When I urge her +to any step, however much it may be against her inclinations, she ought +to know that it can only be for her good. I beg your pardon, Miss +Marjoribanks. It will give me great grief to find that you, upon whose +superior good sense I have so much calculated, should support her in her +folly. I know how much she owes to you----" + +"Oh, no, she does not owe me anything," said Lucilla. "It was just my +luck, you know. I knew she would turn out to be a lady. I don't want to +stand up for her if she is wrong; but I have only heard _her_ side. When +you tell me about it, I shall be able to form an opinion," Miss +Marjoribanks added prudently; "for of course everything has two sides." + +"Most things," said Mr Beverley, "but this is precisely one of the +things which have not two sides. Nothing except some sort of infatuation +or other--but never mind, you shall hear the facts," said the +Archdeacon, once more making an effort upon himself. "Her uncle, Mr +Garrett, was above eighty. Why Providence should have let him live to +such an age to do so much mischief, Heaven alone knows. Some different +rule seems to exist up _there_ about those matters, from what we find to +answer on earth," the Broad-Churchman said, with a certain air of +disapproval. "He had this young fellow to see him and then to live with +him, and took some sort of idiotic fancy to him; and when the will was +made, it was found that, with the exception of a small sum to Helen, +everything was left to this impostor. No, I can't say I have any +patience with her folly. How could any man have two opinions on the +subject? He was neither related to him, nor connected with him," cried +Mr Beverley, with a momentary inclination, as Lucilla thought, to get +aground among the pronouns, as Mrs Mortimer had done. "I do not suspect +my cousin," the Archdeacon continued, with an air so severe and +indignant that it was evident he was contradicting his own sentiments, +"of having any partiality for such a person; but certainly her obstinacy +and determination are such----" + +"Hush, please," said Lucilla; "you are only laughing when you use such +words. Now, tell me one thing, and don't be angry if it is a stupid +question--If there was any one that knew her and you, and perhaps him, +and was to try--don't you think it might be arranged?" + +"By money?" said the Archdeacon; and he smiled one of those disagreeable +smiles which youthful writers describe by saying that his lip curled +with scorn. "You seem to take me for Mortimer, who could go into that +sort of compromise. I suppose he did give them money before--before she +was left a widow," said Mr Beverley, grinding his teeth slightly with a +savage expression. "No, Miss Marjoribanks. Where everlasting truth and +justice are concerned, I do not understand how things can be arranged." + +After such a truculent statement, what was the peacemaker to do? She +left the fire to blaze out by itself for a minute or two, and then she +came down upon the enemy on another wind. + +"I am sure I am very sorry," said Lucilla softly, "to think you should +be so fond of her and she so fond of you, and nothing but this standing +in the way; and then she is too good for this world, and never thinks of +herself. I often think, if anything was to happen to me--and my life is +no safer than other people's lives," said Miss Marjoribanks, with a +sigh--"what would become of her, poor dear! I am sure, if I knew of any +way----As for obstinate, you know it is not in her to be obstinate. She +thinks she is right, and you think you are right; and I suppose neither +of you will give in," cried Lucilla. "What is anybody to do?" + +"If any one gives in, it should be she," said the Archdeacon. "For my +part, I will never stand by and consent to such a robbery,--never. In +these matters, at least, a man must be a better judge than a woman. If +you are her friend you will persuade her of her duty," Mr Beverley +added; and he did not show so much as a symptom of yielding. To say that +Miss Marjoribanks was not discouraged would be more than the truth; but +she was still at the beginning of her forces, and no thought of giving +in was in her courageous soul. + +"I will tell you what occurs to me," said Lucilla frankly. "Let us find +out something about him. Do you know anything about him? If she were to +hear that he was, as you say, an impostor, you know, and a +villain?--What is his name?--Where does he live?--Is he a very, very +wicked man?" said Miss Marjoribanks, and she looked up with that +ingenuous look of appeal, which was always so touching in her, to the +Archdeacon's face. + +As for Mr Beverley, in his haste and excitement, he gave vent to two +very contradictory statements. "She knows all about him. I don't know +anything about him," he said, with some heat. "I mean, she knows as much +as I do, though she draws such a different conclusion. I am sure I saw +him in Carlingford the first day I was here. For anything I can tell, +she knows _more_ of him than I do," said the Broad Churchman, with a +sudden flash of jealousy and anger. It occurred to Lucilla then for the +first time that she had found the grand clue to the whole. + +"That would be dreadful," said Miss Marjoribanks, "if she knew him, and +was keeping him out of the way till you were gone. I did not think of +that. If such a thing should be the case, fond as I am of Mrs Mortimer, +I never could go near her any more," said Lucilla sadly. "Oh, don't say +you think so, please. I should have to give her up, and that would be +dreadful; for I owe it to papa, when he gives me so much liberty, to be +very careful. Oh, Mr Beverley, don't say you think so," cried Lucilla, +deeply moved. She put her handkerchief to her eyes, and yet she kept +watch upon the Archdeacon through one of the corners. He had got up by +this time, and was walking about the room like any other man in trouble. +To throw suspicion on the widow, or separate her from so effectual a +protector, was the very last thing he had any inclination to do: for, to +tell the truth, he made that jealous suggestion only in order to receive +an indignant denial, and to be assured that such a thing was impossible. +But then Mr Beverley did not know whom he had to deal with, nor that he +was not the first man whom Miss Marjoribanks had reduced to his proper +place. + +"If that was the case," said Lucilla, drying her eyes, "dreadful as it +is to think of it--oh, Mr Beverley, if such a thing were the case--it +would be far better for her to marry him, and then she would have all +the fortune without going to law. If things have gone so far, though it +is miserable to think of it, and to believe that she could be so +unkind," said Miss Marjoribanks, with a sob, "and so double-minded, and +so deceitful to _me_----" + +"In Heaven's name what are you thinking of?" said the Archdeacon. He had +grown as pale as he was before red, and came to a dead stop in front of +Lucilla, and stood lowering and menacing over her. His shadow was so big +and strong, and stood so directly between her and the window, that Miss +Marjoribanks's heart gave one bound of something like alarm. + +"Dear Mr Beverley," said Lucilla, "try and compose yourself. It would be +a dreadful trial to me, but I should endeavour to bear it. If we love +her, we should, on the contrary, urge her to do it," said the young +moralist, with solemnity, "however hard it may be to us. It would be +better than--than dreadful concealment and misery--it would be better +than knowing and not telling, as you say. Oh, Mr Beverley, if you are +sure that is the case, let us both go to her, and beg her to marry him. +I could never, never, never see her again," sobbed Lucilla, "but she +would be happy, and that would be the end of all." + +The Archdeacon, though he was not a weakling, was altogether stunned by +this address. He sank into the nearest chair, and drew it closer to +Lucilla, and looked perfectly flabby and ghastly in his white tie, with +his alarmed countenance. "For the sake of all that is sacred," said Mr +Beverley, bending forward towards her, "tell me what foundation you +have--tell me all you know." + +Now was the critical moment, and Lucilla felt it. If Mrs Chiley, for +example, had only advised herself to come in then instead of +interrupting people's proposals, and driving a likely suitor to +desperation! But such happy chances do not occur at the real crises of +life. What she wanted was, naturally, not to explain herself, but to let +that arrow rankle in her opponent's heart until it should have served +her purpose. All that she said in answer to Mr Beverley's appeal was to +hide her face in her handkerchief, which was the only means that +occurred to her for the moment of gaining a little time for reflection. + +"It is so hard to have such thoughts put into one's head," said Lucilla, +"of a person who has been one's friend. And she always looked so nice +and so true! I never thought she would deceive any one. I thought she +was so transparent, you know. Oh, Mr Beverley, it is so dreadful to be +disappointed in one's friends! I wish I had never heard of it--I wish +you had never told me. I almost wish, though it is dreadful to say such +a thing, that you had never come to Carlingford and found it all out." + +"My dear Miss Marjoribanks," said the Archdeacon solemnly, "I implore +you, as the greatest kindness you can do me, to tell me all you know." + +"Indeed, I don't know what I know," said Lucilla, partially raising her +face out of her handkerchief; "I don't think I know anything, for my +part. I always thought if one could rely upon any one, one could rely +upon her--for truthfulness, and for yieldingness, and doing what any one +asked her. I did think so; and it is perfectly bewildering to think, +after all, that she should be obstinate and deceiving, and yet look so +different!" said Lucilla. "But if it has come to that, we must be firm, +Mr Beverley. If you ask my opinion, I say she should be allowed to marry +him. That would solve everything, you know," Miss Marjoribanks added, +with sad decision. "She would get all the fortune without going to law, +and she would be settled, and off one's mind. That would be my final +advice, if everything has happened as you say." + +Mr Beverley was driven as nearly out of his senses by this counsel as it +was possible for a man of ordinary self-control and warm temper to be. +He got up again and made a stride to and fro, and wiped the moisture +from his forehead, which, as Lucilla remarked at the moment, had a +Low-Church look, which she would not have expected from him. But, on the +other hand, he gave vent to some stifled and unintelligible exclamations +which, whatever they might be, were not blessings. Then he came to +himself a little, which was what Miss Marjoribanks was most afraid of, +and stood over her, large and imposing as before. + +"Tell me, for Heaven's sake, what you mean!" cried the Archdeacon. "You +do not think, surely, that I for a moment meant to imply that Helen +would waste a thought upon such a miscreant. Good Heavens, marry him! +You must be raving. She would as soon think of--going for a soldier," +said Mr Beverley, with a hoarse and perfectly unmirthful laugh, "or +doing anything else that was mad and unnatural. That is how you women +stand up for your friends--always ready to suggest something +inconceivably horrible and debasing! Happily you always go too far," he +added, once more wiping his forehead. It was a very Low-Church, not to +say Dissenterish, sort of thing to do, and it unconsciously reduced her +adversary's dignity in Miss Marjoribanks's opinion, besides affording a +proof that he was not nearly so much convinced of what he said, as he +professed to be, in his secret heart. + +"Mr Beverley, I think you forget a little," said Lucilla, with dignity. +"I know nobody but yourself who has any suspicions of Mrs Mortimer. If +it had been anybody but you, I should have laughed at them. But to +return to the question," Miss Marjoribanks added, with calm grace: "I +always used to be taught at Mount Pleasant that feelings had nothing to +do with an abstract subject. I don't see, for my part, now you have +mentioned it, why she should not marry him. It would arrange the money +matter without any trouble; and I have always heard he was very nice," +said the bold experimentalist, fixing her eyes calmly upon the +Archdeacon's face. "I am sure I should never have thought of it, if it +had been left to me; but speaking calmly, I don't see the objections, +now it has been proposed. Oh, it is only the bell for luncheon that +Thomas is ringing. Is it actually half-past one? and I expect some +people," said Lucilla. She got up as she spoke and went to the mirror, +and looked at herself with that beautiful simplicity which was one of +Miss Marjoribanks's distinguishing features. "When one has been crying +it always shows," she said, with a little anxiety. As for Mr Beverley, +his state of mind, as the newspapers say, could better be imagined than +described. + +"I must go away," he said, taking up his hat. "I don't feel capable of +meeting strangers after this exciting conversation. Miss Marjoribanks," +continued the Archdeacon, taking her hand, and holding it fast over his +hat to give emphasis to his address, "at least I can trust to you not to +breathe a word to Mrs Mortimer--not a syllable--of the horrible +suggestion which has got utterance, I don't know how. I may surely trust +to your honour," Mr Beverley said, with emphasis; but by this time Miss +Marjoribanks considered it time to bring the crisis to an end. + +"I wish you would stay to luncheon," she said; "there are only one or +two of my friends. As for _honour_, you know you gentlemen say that we +have no sense of honour," said Lucilla airily; "and to think that two +women could be together and not talk of what might perhaps be a +marriage----" + +At this moment some one rang the door-bell. Lucilla knew perfectly well +that it was only the baker, but it could not be expected that the +Archdeacon should be similarly initiated into the secrets of the house. +He thought, as was natural, that it was the people she expected, and +almost wrung her hand as he let it go. "You will let me see you again +first," he said, in a tone of entreaty. "Before you see her, you will +let me see you again. For Heaven's sake don't refuse me," cried Mr +Beverley. If anybody had but heard him! as Lucilla said to herself the +minute he was gone. And the truth was that Thomas did hear him, who had +just opened the door to tell his young mistress that her luncheon was +waiting, and whom the Archdeacon did all but knock downstairs in his +sudden and unlooked-for exit. The impression naturally conveyed to +Thomas by these words was of the clearest and most distinct description. +He was even known to say afterwards, "That he never knew a gentleman as +spoke more plain." But Mr Beverley rushed downstairs, without thinking +of Thomas, in a most unenviable frame of mind, into the rain. He was +more afraid of meeting Miss Marjoribanks's friends than a man of his +size and principles should have been afraid of meeting anybody; but then +there is a vast distinction, as everybody is aware, and no one more than +the Archdeacon, between physical and moral strength. + +As for Lucilla, her tears and anxieties passed off in a miraculous +manner as soon as her visitor was gone. She went downstairs and ate her +luncheon with the serenest brow and a most agreeable ladylike appetite. +And it was not a fib, as may perhaps be supposed, that she was expecting +people--for at that hour Miss Marjoribanks always did expect people, +who, to be sure, might be kept back by the rain, but whom she was always +justified in looking for. Perhaps, on the whole, notwithstanding her +warm sense of the duties of hospitality, Lucilla was glad that it rained +so heavily, and that nobody came. She had a great deal to think of as +she took her maidenly and delicate repast. The first step had been +taken, and taken triumphantly. Henceforward, whatever the Archdeacon's +illusions might be, he could no longer stand calm upon his eminence, and +conclude that it was he, and he alone, who could raise the widow from +her lowly estate. Lucilla, it is true, knew that no such idea as that of +marrying her uncle's heir would ever present itself to Mrs Mortimer; and +that--at least so far as Miss Marjoribanks's information went--such a +thought was equally removed from the mind of the personage unknown, whom +Mr Beverley denounced as an impostor. But this did not in the least +affect the value of the suggestion as an instrument to be used against +the Archdeacon, who was big enough to defend himself, and on whose +account the young philanthropist had no compunctions. The first step was +thus taken, and taken successfully, but it was only after this that the +real difficulties began; and Lucilla knew no more as yet how she was to +find and identify, not to say assail and vanquish, the other side, the +mysterious Mr Kavan, the man whom the Archdeacon abused and the widow +defended, than even the greatest military genius knows at the +commencement of the first campaign how to conduct the second. This was +what she considered so closely as she sat alone in the dull afternoon. +She did not go to Mrs Mortimer, because it was impossible that every day +could be a half-holiday, and because, on the whole, she judged it best +not to subject herself, in the present undeveloped state of the +position, to much questioning; but she sent her a little note to satisfy +her mind, telling her to keep herself easy, and not to let the +Archdeacon bully her, and to confide in the devotion of her affectionate +Lucilla. When she had thus satisfied the immediate demands of +friendship, Miss Marjoribanks took her work and sat down to reflect. +Nothing could be more exciting than the position in which she found +herself; but the difficulties were only such as stimulated her genius; +and then it was not any selfish advantage, but the good of her neighbour +in its most sublime manifestation--the good of her neighbour who had +injured her, and been insensible to her attractions, which, according to +the world in general, is the one thing unpardonable to a woman--which +Lucilla sought. And it was not even the scriptural coals of fire she was +thinking of as she pondered her great undertaking in her mind. The +enterprise might not be free from a touch of human vanity, but it was +vanity of a loftier description: the pleasure of exercising a great +faculty, and the natural confidence of genius in its own powers. + + + + +_Chapter XXV_ + + +The fruit of Lucilla's long and mature reflection was that next morning +being fine and all the clouds dispersed, she went out with her usual +firm step and self-possession, and, what was rather unusual with her, +except on necessary occasions of ceremony, knocked at Mrs Woodburn's +door. + +Mrs Woodburn and Miss Marjoribanks had never, as people say, taken to +each other. They were as different in their ways as it is possible to +imagine. The mimic was a little indolent, and would not take the trouble +to make any exertions for the good of the community, except in the +exercise of her peculiar talent, though she had been known, when +excited, to go through real fatigue for that; but she had none of the +steady force, the persevering energy--or, to sum up all in one word, the +genius--of Miss Marjoribanks, who, for her part, recognised the _use_ of +such an instrument of entertainment as Mrs Woodburn possessed without +appreciating it in her own person; for Lucilla had no sense of humour, +as she candidly admitted, with that consciousness of her own faults, and +slight disposition to consider them virtues, which is common to persons +of great endowments. It was accordingly with a slight sense of effort on +both sides that they met thus in the familiarity of an early visit, at a +moment when people doing their duty to each other in a ceremonial way +would not have thought of calling. She was aware that Mrs Woodburn +regarded her, even when she kissed her in the most neighbourly and +affectionate manner, with a look which seemed to say, "What can she +want, coming here so early?" As for Lucilla, she was too wise to pretend +that it was a mere visit of regard. She was too wise, and her +interlocutor was too clever, and prone to catch every touch of +expression, though Miss Marjoribanks flattered herself she had +sufficient experience to enable her to dismiss, when there was occasion +for it, all expression from her face. But such was not her policy at +this moment. When the two faces had touched each other in that loving +and sisterly salutation, their owners immediately separated, and +regarded each other from two opposite chairs, without decided +hostility, it is true, but with the watchful air of two people whom the +fates may range on different sides, and whom it behoves to be mutually +watchful. And Lucilla thought it the most expedient course, under the +circumstances, to begin her investigations at once. + +"I have come to make an inquisition," she said; "I may as well confess +it at once, for you would find me out if I didn't. Mrs Woodburn, where +is Mr Cavendish? I am not going to put up with it any longer. He must be +written to, and had back again. The only man that was to be depended +upon in Carlingford!" said Lucilla; "and to think he should disappear +like this and never say a word!" + +Mrs Woodburn fairly gasped in her companion's face. She could no more +tell what this meant, than if she had been a person utterly unacquainted +with human motives and ways of working; and, indeed, it was only the +tricks of the surface for which she had any real insight. "My brother!" +she exclaimed, with something between an impulse of defence and denial, +and a quite opposite instinct of confidence. Had he proposed, after all, +without telling his sister? Had Lucilla a right to ask the question she +uttered so frankly? Had he been prudent for once in his life, and +secured this sensible alliance and prop to his position? All these +questions rushed at lightning-speed through Mrs Woodburn's mind; but she +was not so prompt as Miss Marjoribanks would have been under the +circumstances, and all she did was to open her eyes wide, and give a +start on her chair, and say, "My brother?" with a voice which trembled, +and was half extinguished by surprise. + +"Yes; Mr Cavendish," said Lucilla. "Do tell me his address. There is not +a man in Carlingford who is good for anything, now that he is gone. You +must see that as well as I do. As for flirting, I have always said he +was the only man that knew anything about it. Do tell me where he is, +and I will write to him; or, please, send him word for me, that +absolutely he must come back. We are all dying for him, you may say." + +Mrs Woodburn had recovered a little, and found a moment to think, but +her faculties were not so handy, except in her own particular way, as +might have been expected from such a clever woman. She could even at +that moment have taken off Miss Marjoribanks to the life, but she was in +the most profound bewilderment as to what Lucilla could mean; whether +she was really laying herself out to "catch" Mr Cavendish, or whether +she was merely talking nonsense without any particular meaning; or +whether she was feigning indifference by way of getting information; and +the stupidest person in Carlingford would have acquitted herself as well +as Mrs Woodburn felt able to do in the emergency. "I should think he +would rather hear that some of you were willing to live for him," she +said, in a tremulous way; finding nothing better come to her lips than +the echo of an old compliment, which went against her nature, but yet +with an instinct of serving her brother so far as it might be in her +power. + +"Not me," said Lucilla frankly. "Some people once thought so, you know; +but I can't say I ever thought so. There never will be anything about +living or dying between him and me. I hope we know better," said Miss +Marjoribanks; "besides, if I were so much as to think of that sort of +thing I should feel I was swindling papa. Oh, no; I assure you I am +quite disinterested. I want him for my Thursdays. Do write, and say he +must come home." + +"I don't like people to be too disinterested," said Mrs Woodburn; "and I +don't think Harry would be at all glad to hear it. I wish he would come +back, I am sure. I am always bullying him about it. I thought perhaps +some of you young ladies had been unkind to him," said the anxious +sister, who had recovered her head, and thought it might be possible to +get at the secret, if there was a secret, by means like this. + +"No," said Miss Marjoribanks; "_I_ have not been unkind to him; and +there is nobody else I know of," said the candid Lucilla, "unless poor +Barbara; and _she_ will never be unkind, you know. I will write him a +letter if you will give me his address. Is it true that somebody has +left him a great deal of money, and he is going to change his name?" + +"His name!" said Mrs Woodburn, with a little cry, like an imprudent +woman; and then she recovered herself. "I have not heard of anything of +the kind," she said, "and he would be sure to tell me of it; but in +Carlingford people know things before they happen. I should be very glad +to know that somebody was going to leave him a great deal of money; but +I don't know about the name----" + +"Oh, I heard it only in a confused sort of way," said Lucilla, "or that +he _had_ changed his name. I am sure I don't know if it was past or +present. Did he ever make any change to be somebody's heir? Oh, I beg +your pardon; but you know people do it every day." + +Mrs Woodburn had grown quite pale--perhaps because she began to see that +there was some method in these questions, perhaps with simple and +unreasonable fright at the suggestion. She could not say a word for a +moment, so startling was the question; and then there was something in +Lucilla's early visit, and in her instant onslaught upon Mr Cavendish, +which was alarming. She was so frightened and driven into a corner that +she could not tell how to answer. It occurred to her all at once that +perhaps Mr Cavendish had opened his heart to Miss Marjoribanks and given +her an inkling of his secret; and what would Lucilla think if she +contradicted her brother? Never was a poor woman in a greater +difficulty. All her fun and her mimicry collapsed. She no more noticed +the peculiarities of Lucilla's look and manner than if she had been an +ordinary inhabitant of Grange Lane. "Changed his name?" she faltered, in +a blank sort of interrogative way; and in spite of herself faltered and +shook, and conveyed to Lucilla the most perfect assurance that what she +supposed was true. + +"When it is for a great deal of money there is some sense in it; when it +is only for a prettier name it is dreadfully stupid. Don't you think so? +As if we all could have pretty names!" said Lucilla. "I should like so +much to have a talk with Mr Cavendish. I picked up some very, very old +friends of his the other day--people who used to know him long ago. I am +sure he would be interested if he were to know." + +"I don't think it could be him," said Mrs Woodburn, with something like +the instinct of despair; "I don't remember any very old friends he has; +it is so long a time ago----" and then the poor lady stopped short, as +if she had something choking her in her throat. "I don't think it could +be he." + +"Not such a very long time," said Lucilla, in her easy way. "It is +dreadful to give him a character for being old. Do write him, please, +and tell him about those people. He is sure to be interested if you say +it is a lady, and a pretty woman, and a widow," continued Miss +Marjoribanks. "She says he was once very kind to her when her poor +husband was alive." + +Mrs Woodburn recovered herself a little as Lucilla spoke. "It must have +been some other Mr Cavendish," she said. "Harry was--so much abroad--so +long away from home----" At that moment there was a sound in the house +of a heavy step, and Mr Woodburn's whistle became audible in the +distance. Then the poor woman, who had a secret, fixed haggard eyes upon +Miss Marjoribanks. She dared not say, "Don't speak of this before my +husband." She dared not utter a word to awaken suspicion on one side or +the other. She knew very well that if Mr Woodburn heard of the existence +of any old friends of his brother-in-law, he would insist upon having +them produced, and "paying them some attention"; and at the same time +Mrs Woodburn could not so far confide in Lucilla as to beg her to keep +silent. This was what her brother's poltroonery brought upon the +unfortunate woman. And when the emergency came she was not as equal to +it as she expected to be. Her talents were not of a nature to do her any +good in such a strait. She collapsed entirely, and looked round her in a +flutter of fright and despair, as if to find some means of escape. + +But this terror all arose from the fact that she did not know Miss +Marjoribanks, who was generous as she was strong, and had no intention +of going to extremities. Lucilla got up from her chair when she heard Mr +Woodburn's whistle coming nearer. "I hear somebody coming," she said, +"and I must not stay, for I have quantities of things to do. Only mind +you tell Mr Cavendish I have something quite serious to say to him from +his old friend; and from me, please to tell him, that it is _impossible_ +to get on without him," continued Lucilla, as Mr Woodburn entered the +room. "There is not a soul that can flirt or do anything. I should write +to him myself if I knew his address." + +And then, as was natural, Woodburn, with his usual absurdity, as his +wife explained afterwards, struck in with some boisterous _badinage_. As +for Mrs Woodburn, in her mingled terror and relief, she was too much +excited to know what he said. But when Lucilla, serenely smiling, was +gone, the mimic, with her nerves strung to desperation, burst into the +wildest comic travesty of Miss Marjoribanks's looks and manners, and her +inquiries about Harry, and sent her unsuspicious husband into +convulsions of laughter. He laughed until the tears ran down his +cheeks--the unconscious simpleton; and all the time his wife could have +liked to throw him down and trample on him, or put pins into him, or +scratch his beaming, jovial countenance. Perhaps she would have gone +into hysterics instead if she had not possessed that other safety-valve, +for Mrs Woodburn had not that supreme composure and self-command which +belonged to Lucilla's higher organisation. She wrote a long letter that +afternoon, and had a dreadful headache all the evening after it, which, +considering all things, was to be expected under the circumstances, and +was a weak-minded woman's last resource. + +No headache, however, disturbed Miss Marjoribanks's beneficent progress. +She went home conscious that, if she had not acquired any distinct +information, she had at least gained a moral certainty. And besides, she +had measured the forces of Mr Cavendish's bodyguard, and had found them +utterly unequal to any prolonged resistance. All that was wanted was +prudence and care, and that good luck which was as much an endowment in +its way as the other qualities by which Lucilla might be said to have +secured it. She went home meditating her next step, and with a certain +enjoyment in the sense of difficulty and the consciousness of how much +skill and power would be required to carry on three different threads of +innocent intrigue with the three different persons in the drama, without +ever letting the general web get confused, or confounding one strand +with another. She had to frighten the Archdeacon with the idea that Mrs +Mortimer might marry the impostor, and she had to keep the widow in the +profoundest ignorance of this suggestion, and she had to manage and +guide the impostor himself, to save his position, and deliver him from +his enemies, and make his would-be persecutor for ever harmless. If by +chance she should forget herself for a moment, and say to Mr Beverley +what she meant for Mr Cavendish, or betray her mode of dealing with +either to the third person interested, then farewell to all her hopes. +But when all that was required was skill and self-possession and +courage, Miss Marjoribanks knew herself too well to be afraid. + +She came in with that sense of having done her duty which is so sweet to +a well-regulated mind. But it was not to that internal satisfaction +alone that Providence limited Lucilla's reward. There are exceptional +cases to be found here and there even in this world, in which virtue +finds its just acknowledgment, and disinterested well-doing is +recompensed as it deserves. While Miss Marjoribanks was still occupied +with the arrangement of her plans she was interrupted by a visitor, who +entered with a brow clouded by care, and yet exalted by the sense of a +charge and dignity which is not afforded to every woman. It was Mrs +Centum who thus came to unfold to Lucilla the new event which was about +to happen in Carlingford. She had a great deal to say first, as was +natural, of the dreadful vexation of such a thing happening in +holiday-time when the boys were all at home, and when she did not know +what to do. + +"But you know, Lucilla, it will be delightful for all you young ladies +to have the officers," said Mrs Centum; "it keeps a place lively; +though, for my part, I always say in six months there will not be a +servant in the house that one can depend upon. It is dreadful for +servants--especially young ones, and if they are nice-looking, you know; +but it is very nice for the young ladies, and for all the picnics and +dances and everything----" + +"What officers?" said Lucilla, pricking up her ears--for to tell the +truth, the very name of officers in a place like Carlingford, where +nobody could flirt but Mr Cavendish, was as water in the desert to Miss +Marjoribanks's soul. + +"Has not the Doctor told you?" said Mrs Centum--"but, to be sure, very +few people know as yet. Mr Centum says it must be all on your account, +because you give such nice parties--but of course that is only his fun, +you know. However, I suppose somebody has told Lord Palmerston of all +those great buildings that were meant for the factories, and of +Carlingford being such a healthy place. And so the General is coming to +us to-morrow, Lucilla--General Travers, you know, that was in all the +papers for something he did in India; Charles used to know him at +school. He is quite handsome, and has ever so many medals and things. It +is a dreadful addition to one's troubles in holiday-time, you know; but, +my dear, I hope you will ask him to your Thursdays, and help us to make +Carlingford pleasant to him. It all depends upon him," said Mrs Centum +solemnly;--"if he likes the place, and thinks it will do, and finds nice +society--whether it is here or at Hampton that they establish the +depot." + +"At Hampton!" cried Miss Marjoribanks naturally excited--"the stupidest, +wretchedest little place----" + +"That is just what Mr Centum says," said the visitor, with a sigh; "what +I am nervous about is the servants, Lucilla; and you know that +under-nurse of mine, what a nice steady girl she has always been, and +such a comfort--but as soon as the soldiers come it turns their heads. I +want you to tell me, if you'll be so very good, Lucilla, how Nancy makes +that _paté_ that Mr Centum is so fond of. I know it is a good deal to +ask; but I am sure you are one to stand by your friends; and if the +General should take a dislike to Carlingford through any fault of mine, +I never could forgive myself; and I want you to ask him to your +Thursdays, Lucilla--there's a dear." + +"Dear Mrs Centum," cried Miss Marjoribanks, "papa must call on the +General and ask him to dinner: as for my Thursdays, I always say they +are not parties; they are only _evenings_," said Lucilla sweetly, "and +not worth a gentleman's while." + +"And about the _paté_, Lucilla," said Mrs Centum anxiously, "I hope you +won't think it too much of me to ask;--you are so clever, you know, and +so is Nancy: and what with the noise, and the nursery dinners, and all +those big boys home from school----" + +Mrs Centum fixed her eyes with true solicitude on Lucilla's face. Miss +Marjoribanks was magnanimous, but the _paté_ in question was one of the +greatest triumphs of the Doctor's table. She thought, and with truth, +that it _was_ a great deal for any one to ask; but then it is true that +genius has duties as well as privileges; and to impress upon mediocrity +the benefit of loyally following and copying superior intelligence, is +of itself a moral effect of the greatest importance. And besides, the +woman who at such a moment produced a live General in Carlingford, and +held out hopes of officers, was not a woman to be denied. + +"I will write it down for you," said Lucilla graciously, "if you think +your cook will understand; or perhaps Nancy might step in and show her +how--if I can persuade Nancy. Dear Mrs Centum, I hope you will always +feel sure that I am ready to do anything for my friends." + +"Oh, thank you, dear," cried the grateful woman; "I knew you were not +one to mind; and if Nancy would be so very kind----I am sure you will +like the General," added Mrs Centum, with effusion; "he will live here, +you know, if the depot comes, and be such an addition! I said to +Charles, the moment he told me, That would just be the very thing for +Lucilla! And he is quite young looking, and so nice and pleasant," she +added, in the fulness of her enthusiasm and gratitude. As for Miss +Marjoribanks, she shook her head, but nevertheless received the +assurance with a smile. + +"It is not that sort of thing I am thinking of," said Lucilla: "if it +had been, I need never have come home; and now, after papa has been so +kind about the drawing-room----; but I am always glad to hear of nice +new people," said Miss Marjoribanks; "and to meet a man that has been in +the world is such a pleasure to papa." + +With this benign acknowledgment of the General's merits, Lucilla +received Mrs Centum's affectionate leave-takings. To be sure, she knew +nothing, and did not occupy herself much at that moment about General +Travers. But at the same time Miss Marjoribanks, with her usual piety, +recognised the approval of Providence in this new occurrence, and was +naturally both encouraged and exhilarated. It is but in rare cases, as +has been said, that the reward of virtue is given so promptly, and with +such beautiful discrimination: and there are even people in the world +who profess to have no faith in any prompt or visible recompense. But +Lucilla was not of that new and heretical school. For her own part, she +felt it very natural that her exertions for the good of her kind should +thus be recognised and acknowledged, and returned to her plans with that +sweet and exhilarating sense of moral harmony, which an approving +Heaven, and a sense of blessings earned and goodness recompensed, are so +well calculated to give. + + + + +_Chapter XXVI_ + + +Miss Marjoribanks's mind had scarcely subsided out of the first +exhilarating sense of a great many things to do, and a truly important +mission in hand, when little Rose Lake sought her with that confession +of family troubles, and prayer for counsel and aid in the extremity, +which opened a new way and mode of working to Lucilla. Rose was proud, +poor little soul, not only of her exceptional position, and that of her +family, as a family of artists, but also with a constitutional and +individual pride as one of the natural conservators of domestic honour, +who would rather have died than have heard the Lakes lightly spoken of, +or upbraided with debt or indecorum, or any other crime. She had been +silent as long as she could about Barbara's shortcomings, jealously +concealing them from all the world, and attacking them with a violence +which made her big elder sister, who was twice as big and six times as +strong as she, tremble before her when they were alone. But little Rose +had at length found things come to a point beyond which her experience +did not go. Barbara began to have secret meetings with a man whose +presence nobody was aware of, and who did not come openly to the house +to seek her, and persevered, in spite of all remonstrances, in this +clandestine career; and all the prejudices and all the instincts of the +young artist rose up against her. A vague presentiment of greater evil +behind impelled her to some action, and shame and pride combined at the +same time to keep her silent. She could not speak to her father, because +the poor man lost his head straightway, and made piteous appeals to her +not to make a fuss, and threw the burden back again upon her with a +double weight; and besides, he was only a man, though he was her father, +and Rose had the pride of a woman in addition to her other pride. In +these painful circumstances, it occurred to her to consult Lucilla, who +had been, as has been recounted in an early part of this history, a +great authority at Mount Pleasant, where her heroic belief in herself +led, as was natural, others to believe in her. And then Miss +Marjoribanks was one of the people who can keep counsel; and Rose felt, +besides, that Lucilla had been injured, and had not revenged herself, +and that to put confidence in her would be, to a certain extent, to make +up for the offence. All these motives, combined with an intolerable +sense of having upon her shoulders a burden greater than she could bear, +drove the young artist at last to Grange Lane, where Lucilla, as we have +said, was still in the state of mental exhilaration and excitement +naturally consequent upon having a very important piece of work in hand. + +"I don't know what to do," said Rose; "I made up my mind I never would +say a word to any one. It is so strange she should have no proper pride! +but then it is dreadful to think, what if anything should come of it! +though I am sure I don't know what could come of it; but they might run +away, or something; and then people are so fond of talking. I thought +for a long time, if I only knew some nice old lady; but then I don't +suppose there are any nice old ladies in Carlingford," added the +Preraphaelist, with a sigh. + +"Oh, you little monster!" cried Lucilla, "there is Mrs Chiley, the +dearest old----; but never mind, make haste and tell me all the same." + +"Lucilla," said Rose solemnly, "we are not great people like you; we +are not rich, nor able to have all we like, and everybody to visit us; +but, all the same, we have our Pride. The honour of a family is just as +precious whether people live," said the young artist, with a certain +severity, "in Grove Street or in Grange Lane." + +This exordium had its natural effect upon Miss Marjoribanks; her +imagination leaped forward a long way beyond the reality which her +companion talked of so solemnly, and she changed her colour a little, as +even a woman of her experience might be excused for doing in the +presence of something terrible and disastrous so near at hand. + +"I wish you would not frighten me," said Lucilla; "I am very sorry for +you, you dear little Rose. You are only a baby yourself, and ought not +to have any bother. Tell me all about it, there's a dear." + +But these soothing tones were too much for Rose's composure. She cried, +and her cheeks flushed, and her dewy eyes enlarged and lightened when +they had thrown off a little part of their oppression in the form of +those hot salt tears. Miss Marjoribanks had never seen her look so +pretty, and said so to herself, with a momentary and perfectly +disinterested regret that there was "nobody" to see her--a regret which +probably changed its character before Rose left the house. But in the +meantime Lucilla soothed her and kissed her, and took off her hat and +shed her pretty curls off her forehead. These curls were not by any +means so strong and vehement in their twist as Miss Marjoribanks's own, +but hung loosely and softly with the "sweet neglect" of the poet. "You +would look very nice if you would take a little pains," Lucilla said, in +her maternal way. "You must wear your hair just so on Thursday; and now +tell me all about it--there's a dear." + +"Lucilla, _you know_" said Rose, drying her tears, "she has taken to +going out in the evening, and I am sure she meets him every night. I +can't be a spy on her, whatever she does, and I can't lock her up, you +know, or lock the door, or anything like that. I am not her mother," +said the poor little sister pathetically, with a regretful sob. "And +then she has taken to making herself _nice_ before she goes out. I don't +think she ever cared much for being nice--not at home, you know; but now +she has pretty collars and gloves and things, and I can't tell where she +gets them," cried Rose, her eyes lighting up passionately. "She has no +money to spend on such things. Lucilla, I should die if I thought she +would accept them from _him_." + +"You dear old Rose, you don't know what you are saying," said the +experienced Lucilla; "most likely, if she meets a gentleman, she is +engaged to him; and They always give people presents, you know. If you +would only tell me who it is." + +"Lucilla, do not trifle with me," said Rose; "it is much too serious for +that--engaged without papa knowing of it, nor me! You know very well +that would be no engagement. I sometimes think she is--is--fond of him," +said the reverent little maiden, whose voice changed and softened under +the influence of that supposition; "and then again I think it is only +because he is rich," she went on, with new vehemence. "Oh, Lucilla, if +you only knew how dreadful it was to have such thoughts--and there is +nobody to take care of her but me! Papa cannot be worried, for that +would react upon everything. An artist is not just like other people. It +is everybody's duty to leave him undisturbed; and then, you know, he is +only a man, and does not understand; and if she won't pay any attention +to me when I speak to her, oh, Lucilla, tell me, what can I do?" + +"Let me think," said Lucilla gravely. "You know I can't tell all in a +moment. It is Mr Cavendish, I suppose, though you won't say so. Now just +wait a moment, and let me think." + +"I once thought of going to him," said Rose; "perhaps he might be +generous, and go away. An artist can do many things that other people +can't do. We have an exceptional position," the Preraphaelist went on, +faltering a little, and not feeling quite so sure of the fact on that +special occasion. "I thought of going and begging of him, if it was on +my knees----" + +"My dear," said Lucilla, with great seriousness, "if you did, I think it +is most likely he would fall in love with _you_, and that would not mend +the matter; and I am sure Barbara would give you poison. I will tell you +what we must do. I would not do it for everybody; but you know I was +always very fond of you, you dear little Rose. You shall ask me for +to-morrow evening to come to tea." + +"To come to tea!" echoed poor Rose, in dismay. She had been waiting for +Lucilla's advice with a great deal of anxiety; but at the present moment +it would be vain to conceal that the proposed expedient seemed to her +altogether inadequate for the emergency. The light went out of her face +as she opened her eyes wide and fixed them on Lucilla; and for one +moment, one desperate moment, Rose was disloyal, and lost faith in the +only person who could help her; which, perhaps, under the circumstances, +was not a thing to cause much surprise. + +"My dear, you may be sure I would not propose it, if I did not feel it +was the best thing to do," said Lucilla, with great gravity. "It happens +precisely that I want to see Mr Cavendish, and if he is at home he never +shows himself, and I have been wondering how I could find him. I shall +make him walk home with me," said Miss Marjoribanks, "so you need not be +uneasy, Rose, about the trouble I am taking. I am doing it to serve +myself as well as you. We shall say eight o'clock, if that is not too +late." + +"But, Lucilla----" said Rose, with consternation; and then she stopped +short, and could not tell what more to say. + +"You don't understand it?" said Miss Marjoribanks; "I don't think it was +to be expected that you should understand it. A little thing like you +has no way of knowing the world. When Barbara knows I am there, she will +be sure to bring him to the very door; she will want me to see that he +is with her; and you may leave the rest to me," said Lucilla. "For my +part, I have something very particular to say to Mr Cavendish. It is my +luck," Miss Marjoribanks added, "for I could not think how to get to see +him. At eight o'clock to-morrow evening----" + +"Yes," said Rose; but perhaps it was still doubtful how far she +understood the mode of operations proposed. Lucilla's prompt and facile +genius was too much for the young artist, and there was, as she herself +would have said, an entire want of "keeping" between her own sense of +the position, tragical and desperate as that was, and any state of +matters which could be ameliorated by the fact of Miss Marjoribanks +coming to tea. It had been Rose's only hope, and now it seemed all at +once to fail her; and yet, at the same time, that instinctive faith in +Lucilla which came naturally to every one under her influence struggled +against reason in Rose's heart. Her red soft lips fell apart with the +hurried breath of wonder and doubt; her eyes still expanded, and clearer +than usual after their tears, were fixed upon Lucilla with an appealing, +questioning look; and it was just at this moment, when Rose was a great +deal too much absorbed in her disappointment and surprise, and lingering +hope, to take any notice of strange sounds or sights, or of anybody +coming, that Thomas all at once opened the door and showed Mrs Centum +into the room. + +Now it would have mattered very little for Mrs Centum--who, to be sure, +knew Lucilla perfectly well, and would never have dreamed for a moment +of identifying such a trifling little person as Rose Lake in any way +with Miss Marjoribanks; but then Mrs Centum happened at that precise +moment to be bringing the new arrival, the important stranger, who had +so much in his power--General Travers himself--to be introduced to +Lucilla; and it was not the fault either of Rose or the General if it +was on the young mistress of the Female School of Design that the +warrior's first glance fell. Naturally the conversation had run upon +Miss Marjoribanks on the past evening, for Mrs Centum was full of the +enthusiasm and excitement incident to that _paté_ which Lucilla had so +magnanimously enabled her to produce. "Is she pretty?" General Travers +had demanded, as was to be expected. "We--ll," Mrs Centum had replied, +and made a long pause--"would you call Lucilla pretty, Charles?" and +Charles had been equally dubious in his response; for, to be sure, it +was a dereliction from Miss Marjoribanks's dignity to call her pretty, +which is a trifling sort of qualification. But when the General entered +the drawing-room, which might be called the centre of Carlingford, and +saw before him that little dewy face, full of clouds and sunshine, +uncertain, unquiet, open-eyed, with the red lips apart, and the eyes +clear and expanded with recent tears--a face which gave a certain +sentiment of freshness and fragrance to the atmosphere like the quiet +after a storm--he did not understand what his hosts could mean. "I call +her very pretty," he said, under his breath, to his interested and +delighted chaperone; and we are surely justified in appealing to the +readers of this history, as Lucilla, who was always reasonable, +afterwards did to herself, whether it could be justly said under all the +circumstances, that either Rose or the General were to blame? + +The little artist got up hurriedly when she awoke to the fact that other +visitors had come into the room, but she was not at all interested in +General Travers, whom Rose, with the unconscious insolence of youth, +classified in her own mind as an elderly gentleman. Not that he was at +all an elderly gentleman; but then a man of forty, especially when he is +a fine man and adequately developed for his years, has at the first +glance no great attraction for an impertinent of seventeen. Rose did +not go away without receiving another kiss from Lucilla, and a parting +reminder. "To-morrow at eight o'clock; and mind you leave it all to me, +and don't worry," said Miss Marjoribanks; and Rose, half ashamed, put on +her hat and went away, without so much as remarking the admiration in +the stranger's eyes, nor the look of disappointment with which he saw +her leave the room. Rose thought no more of him than if he had been a +piece of furniture; but as for the General, when he found himself +obliged to turn to Lucilla and make himself agreeable, the drawback of +having thus had his admiration forestalled and drawn away from its +legitimate object was such, that he did not find her at all pretty; +which, after all, on a first interview at least, is all They think +about, as Miss Marjoribanks herself said. + +"We must do all we can to make Carlingford agreeable to the General," +said Mrs Centum. "You know how much depends upon it, Lucilla. If we can +but make him like the place, only think what an advantage to +society--and we have such nice society in Carlingford," said the +injudicious woman, who did not know what to say. + +"Nothing very particular," said Miss Marjoribanks. "I hope General +Travers will like us; but as for the officers, I am not so sure. They +are all so light and airy, you know: and to have nothing but flirting +men is almost as bad as having nobody that can flirt; which is my +position," Lucilla added, with a sigh, "as long as Mr Cavendish is +away." + +"Lucilla," cried Mrs Centum, a little shocked, "one would think to hear +you that you were the greatest coquette possible; and on the contrary +she is quite an example to all our young ladies, I assure you, General; +and as for flirting----" + +"Dear Mrs Centum," said Lucilla sweetly, "one has always to do one's +duty to society. As far as I am concerned, it is quite different. And I +don't mean to say that the officers would not be a great acquisition," +Miss Marjoribanks continued, with her usual politeness; "but then too +many young people are the ruin of society. If we were to run all to +dancing and that sort of thing, after all the trouble one has taken----" +said Lucilla. Perhaps it was not quite civil; but then it must be +admitted, that to see a man look blankly in your face as if he were +saying in his mind, "Then it is only _you_, and not that pretty little +thing, that is Miss Marjoribanks!" was about as exasperating a sensation +as one is likely to meet with. Lucilla understood perfectly well +General Travers's look, and for the moment, instead of making herself +agreeable, it was the contrary impulse that moved her. She looked at +him, not blankly as he looked at her, but in a calmly considerate way, +as she might have looked at Mr Holden the upholsterer, had he proposed a +new kind of _tapisserie_ to her judgment. "One would be always +delighted, of course, to have General Travers," said Miss Marjoribanks, +"but I am afraid the officers would not do." + +As for Mrs Centum, she was quite incapable of managing such a terrible +crisis. She felt it, indeed, a little hard that it should be her man who +was defied in this alarming way, while Mr Cavendish and the Archdeacon, +the two previous candidates, had both been received so sweetly. To be +sure, it was his own fault; but that did not mend matters. She looked +from one to the other with a scared look, and grew very red, and untied +her bonnet; and then, as none of these evidences of agitation had any +effect upon the other parties involved, plunged into the heat of the +conflict without considering what she was about to say. + +"Lucilla, I am surprised at you," said Mrs Centum, "when you know how +you have gone on about Mr Cavendish--when you know what a fuss you have +made, and how you have told everybody----" + +"By the bye, who is Mr Cavendish?" said General Travers, interposing, +with that holy horror of a quarrel between women which is common to the +inferior half of creation. "I wonder if he is a fellow one used to meet +everywhere. One never could get any satisfaction who he belonged to. He +never pretended to be one of the Devonshire Cavendishes, you know. I +don't know if he had any family at all, or relations, or that sort of +thing. In most cases a man gets on just as well without them, in my +opinion. I wonder if this fellow you are talking of is he?" + +"Oh, no," said Mrs Centum. "I hope you will meet him before you leave +Carlingford. He has a sister married here; but we have always understood +he was one of the Cavendishes. I am sure Mrs Woodburn always gives +herself out for somebody," she continued, beginning to let the +interesting suspicion enter her mind; for, to be sure, they were about +of a standing, and the banker's wife had sometimes felt a little sore at +the idea that her neighbour possessed distinctions of family which were +denied to herself. "It is true, none of her relations ever come to see +her," said Mrs Centum, and she began to forget the General, and +Lucilla's reception of him, in this still more interesting subject. It +was the first time that the authenticity of the Cavendishes had been +attacked in Carlingford; and, to be sure, what is the good of having +fine connections if they cannot be produced? While Mrs Centum pondered a +suggestion so interesting, Lucilla, on her part, also took advantage of +the occasion, and descended from the calm heights of dignity on which +she had placed herself. And the General, who was a well-bred man, had +got over for the moment the unlucky impression made upon him by the +fresh face of little Rose Lake. + +"Mr Cavendish is very nice," said Miss Marjoribanks. "I am very fond of +all my own relations, but I don't care about other people's. Of course +he is one of the Cavendishes. I don't see how he can help it, when that +is his name. I should think it was sure to be the same. We should be so +obliged to you if you would bring him back to Carlingford. I don't know, +I am sure, why he is so obstinate in staying away." + +"Perhaps somebody has been unkind to him," said the General, feeling it +was expected of him. + +"I am sure _I_ have not been unkind to him," said Lucilla. "He is such a +loss to me. If you are going to do us the pleasure of coming on +Thursday--Oh, I am sure we shall feel quite honoured, both papa and I--I +will show you how badly off I am. It is not a party in the least, and we +don't dance," said Miss Marjoribanks, "that is why I am a little +uncertain about the officers. It is one of my principles that too many +young people are the ruin of society; but it is hard work, sometimes, +when one is not properly supported," Lucilla added, with a gentle sigh. + +"If I can be of any use," said the amused soldier. "I don't pretend to +be able to replace Cavendish, if it is Cavendish; but----" + +"No," said Miss Marjoribanks, with resignation, "it is not easy to +replace him. He has quite a talent, you know; but I am sure it is very +kind of you, and we shall be delighted to have such an acquisition," +Lucilla continued, after a pause, with a gracious smile; and then she +led her guests downstairs to luncheon, which was every way satisfactory. +As for the General, it cannot be doubted that he had the worst of it in +this little encounter, and felt himself by no means such a great +personage in Carlingford as his hospitable entertainers had persuaded +him he should be. Mrs Centum declared afterwards that she could not +form the least idea what Lucilla meant by it, she who was generally so +civil to everybody. But it is not necessary to say that Miss +Marjoribanks knew perfectly well what she was doing, and felt it +imperatively necessary to bring down General Travers to his proper +level. Carlingford could exist perfectly well without him and his +officers; but Lucilla did not mean that the society she had taken so +much pains to form should be condescended to by a mere soldier. And +then, after all, she was only human, and it was not to be expected she +could pass over the blank look with which her visitor turned to herself, +after having by evil fortune cast his eyes upon Rose Lake. At the same +time, Miss Marjoribanks, always magnanimous, did not blame Rose, who had +no hand whatever in the matter; and if she avenged herself in a ladylike +and satisfactory manner, it is not to be supposed that it was simply a +sense of offence which actuated Lucilla. She did it, on the contrary, on +strictly philosophical principles, having perceived that Mrs Centum was +spoiling her General, and that it was absolutely necessary that he +should be disabused. + +When they left, Mrs Centum was almost afraid to put the question that +trembled on her lips. She uttered it at last, faltering, and with a very +doubtful expression, for she could not conceal from herself the fact +that the General had been snubbed. "How do you like Lucilla?" she said, +in the most humble way; and then she turned away her face. She could +bear it, whatever it might be. She said to herself that so long as the +children were well, and the holidays about over, she could bear +anything; and what did it matter to her about the officers?--but at the +same time she preferred to avert her face when she received the blow. + +"I am sure Miss Marjoribanks is a person for whom I shall always +entertain the highest respect," said the General, and he gave a little +laugh. "Was that pretty little creature a sister of hers?--or a +friend?--or what? I don't know when I have seen anything so pretty," +said the unsuspecting man; and then Mrs Centum turned round upon him +with a kind of horror. + +"_That_ Lucilla's sister!--why, she has no sister; I told you so; she is +an only child, and will have everything. She will be quite an heiress," +cried Mrs Centum, "if the old Doctor were to die; though, I am sure, +poor dear man, I hope he will not die. There is no other medical man in +the town that one can have the least confidence in, except Dr Rider; +and then _he_ is so young, and can't have much experience with children. +Her sister, indeed! It was little Rose Lake, the drawing-master's +daughter," said Mrs Centum, with cruel distinctness. The General only +said, "Oh!" but it was in a crestfallen tone; for to be snubbed by one +lady, and struck with sudden enthusiasm for another, who, after all, was +not a lady to speak of, but only a drawing-master's daughter, was rather +hard upon the poor man. Thus it was the soldier, who in ordinary +circumstances ought to have been the most successful, who began in the +most cruel and uncomfortable way his campaign in Carlingford. + + + + +_Chapter XXVII_ + + +Miss Marjoribanks, except for her habitual walk, did not go out much +that day. She was too much occupied with what she had in hand. She could +not conceive--for Lucilla naturally took a reasonable view of affairs in +general, and did not account for the action of any such unknown quantity +as love, for example--why Mr Cavendish should conceal himself so +carefully from society in Carlingford, and yet run all the risk of +meeting Barbara Lake in the evenings. It seemed to Lucilla +inconceivable, and yet it was impossible not to believe it. Mr +Cavendish, though she had seen him on the very verge of a proposal, did +not present himself to her mind in the aspect of a man who would +consider the world well lost for any such transitory passion; neither, +as was natural, did Barbara Lake appear to Lucilla the least like a +person calculated to call forth that sentiment; but nevertheless it must +be true, and the only way to account for it was by thinking, after all, +what fools _They_ were, and what poor judges, and how little to be +depended on, when women were concerned. Miss Marjoribanks was determined +to lose no more time, but to speak to Mr Cavendish, if it was Mr +Cavendish, and she could get the chance, quite plainly of the situation +of affairs--to let him know how much she knew, and to spur him up to +come forward like a man and brave anything the Archdeacon could do. Had +it been any small personal aim that moved Lucilla, no doubt she would +have shrunk from such a decided step; but it was, on the contrary, the +broadest philanthropical combination of Christian principles, help to +the weak and succour to the oppressed, and a little, just a very little, +of the equally Evangelical idea of humbling the proud and bringing down +the mighty. She was so much occupied with her plans that it was with a +little difficulty she roused herself to keep up the conversation with +her father at dinner, and be as amusing and agreeable as ordinary; which +indeed was more than ordinarily her duty, since Dr Marjoribanks came in, +in a fractious and disturbed state of mind, discontented with things in +general. The truth was, he had got a letter from Tom Marjoribanks from +India, where that unlucky man had gone. It was all very well and natural +to go to India, and Lucilla had felt, indeed, rather satisfied with +herself for having helped forward that desirable conclusion, especially +after the Doctor had taken pains to explain to her, not knowing that she +had any share in it, that it was the very best thing for Tom to do. For +it has been already said that Dr Marjoribanks, though he liked Tom, and +thought it very odd that Providence should have given the girl to him, +and the boy to his incapable sister-in-law, who did not in the least +know how to manage him, had no desire to have his nephew for a +son-in-law. Going to India was very right and proper, and the best thing +to do; for a man might get on _there_, even at the bar, who would have +no chance _here_; but after he had made one step in the right direction, +it was only to be expected that all sorts of misfortunes should happen +to Tom. He was wrecked, which might have been looked for, and he lost +his boxes, with the greater part of his outfit, either at that unhappy +moment, or in the Desert, or at an after part of his unlucky career; and +the object of the letter which Dr Marjoribanks had just received was to +get money to make up for his losses. Tom, who was a very good son, did +not want to vex his mother, and accordingly it was his uncle whom he +applied to, to sell out a portion of the money he had in the Funds. "She +would think I was ruined, or that it was my fault, or at least that I +meant to spend all my money," wrote Tom, "and you understand, uncle, +that it is not my fault." "Confound him! it is never his fault," said Dr +Marjoribanks, as if that could possibly be brought against the +unfortunate young man as a crime. + +"No, papa, it is his luck," said Lucilla; "poor Tom!--but I should not +like to take a passage in the same boat with him if I was the other +people. Though I am sure he is not a bit to blame." + +"I hope he does not mean to go on like this," said the Doctor. "He will +soon make ducks and drakes of his five thousand pounds. A young fellow +like that ought to mind what he's doing. It is a great deal easier to +throw money away than to lay it by." + +"Papa, it is his luck," said Miss Marjoribanks; "it is all put into a +system in political economy, you know. For my part, I am always the +other way. It is very funny before you get used to it; but you know +there has to be a balance in everything, and that is how it must be." + +"I don't think it at all funny," said Dr Marjoribanks, "unless your good +luck and his bad were to be joined together; which is not an expedient I +fancy." When he said this the Doctor gave a sharp glance at his +daughter, to see if by chance that might perhaps be what she was +thinking of; but naturally the maiden candour and unsuspecting innocence +of Lucilla was proof to such glances. She took no notice at all of the +implied suspicion. But though it was very absurd for anybody to think +that she would have married him, it was not in Miss Marjoribanks's +nature to be disloyal to Tom. + +"I think he is quite right about his mother, papa," said Lucilla; "she +would never understand it, you know; she would think the world was +coming to an end. I would not for anything take a passage in the same +boat with him, but he is nice in his way, poor fellow! I wonder what he +has ever done to have such dreadful luck--but I hope you are going to do +what he asks you:" and with this calm expression of her interest Miss +Marjoribanks went upstairs. When the Doctor became thus aware of his +daughter's sentiments, it seemed to him that he was more at liberty to +be kind to his nephew. He had never been able to divest himself of a +little lurking dread, an inherent idea which was so obstinate that it +felt like a prophecy, that somehow or other, after costing her father so +much, and making such a difference in the house, Lucilla, who on the +whole was a dear production, would fall to Tom's share, with all Dr +Marjoribanks's other possessions; and the Doctor saw no reason why he +should work and lay up money for a boy whom Providence, with a wonderful +want of discrimination, had bestowed, not upon him, but upon Mrs John +Marjoribanks. However, when that question was settled and done with, his +heart began to relent to Tom the unlucky, who, after all, when the +son-in-law hypothesis was fully dismissed, was his natural born nephew, +and, as Lucilla said, very nice in his way, poor fellow! The Doctor +began to write him a letter, and softened more and more with every line +he wrote; but as for Lucilla, she had something more immediately +important to occupy her upstairs. + +The fact was that Miss Marjoribanks had found a shadowy figure in black +in the corner of one of the sofas when she came into the +drawing-room--a-figure with a veil down, and a large shawl, and a +tremulous air. It was very seldom that Mrs Mortimer took courage to +visit her young patroness; and to go out at night, except sometimes to +Salem Chapel when there was a meeting, and when the timid woman +represented to herself that it was her duty, was a thing unknown to her. +But yet, nevertheless, it was Mrs Mortimer who sat waiting for Lucilla. +They had not met since that momentous interview in which the widow +revealed her history to Miss Marjoribanks's sympathetic ears, and the +poor woman had been able to bear no longer the solitude of her cottage, +and her garden-walls, and her little pupils, and Mary Jane. To know that +something was going on outside that concerned her--to hear the waves, as +it were, beating round the walls of her prison, and never to have even +so much as a peep at them, what they were about, if the tide was +beginning to turn, or the wind to change, or the lifeboat to appear--was +more than Mrs Mortimer, even with all her training to patience, could +put up with; and accordingly she had made a frantic rush out, under +cover of night, to see if there was anything to see, and hear if there +was anything to hear. + +"You don't know how dreadful it is to keep staring at the walls all day +and never see any change," said the widow. "It is very stupid and silly, +but you know I cannot help it. I get to fancy always that something +wonderful must be going on on the other side." + +"That is because you don't go out enough," said Lucilla. "You know how +often I have said you should go out once every day; and then you would +see that everything outside was very much the same as everything +within." + +"Oh, Lucilla! don't say so," said Mrs Mortimer; "and besides, _he_ has +been again, and I could see you had been saying something to him. He +spoke as if I understood it all when I did not understand a word of it; +and he spoke of him, you know, and was quite solemn, and warned me to +think well of it, and not do anything rash--as if I had anything to +think about, or was going to do anything! Tell me what you said to him, +Lucilla; for I am sure, by the way he spoke, he must have taken him for +himself, and perhaps you for me." + +"Who did he take for himself, I wonder?" said Lucilla. "As for you and +me, dear Mrs Mortimer, we are so different that he could never take us +for each other, whatever the circumstances might be." + +"Ah, yes, Lucilla! we are different," said the poor widow. "You have all +your own people to take care of you, and you are not afraid of anybody; +but as for me, I have not a creature in the world who cares what becomes +of me." As she made this forlorn statement it was only natural that the +poor woman should cry a little. This was no doubt the result of the four +garden-walls that closed in so tightly, and the aggravating little +pupils; but Miss Marjoribanks felt it was not a state of feeling that +could be allowed to go on. + +"You ought not to speak like that; I am sure there are a great many +people who are interested in you; and you have always Me," said Lucilla, +with a certain reproachful tenderness. As for Mrs Mortimer, she raised +her head and dried her eyes when Miss Marjoribanks began to speak, and +looked at her in a somewhat eager, inquiring way; but when Lucilla +uttered those last reassuring words, it is undeniable that the widow's +countenance fell a little. She faltered and grew pale again, and only +cried the more--perhaps with gratitude, perhaps with disappointment. And +when she said, "I am sure you are very kind, Lucilla," which was all the +poor soul could utter, it was in a very tremulous undecided voice. The +fact that she had always the sympathy and co-operation of such a friend +as Miss Marjoribanks, did not seem to have the exhilarating effect upon +her that it ought to have had. It did not apparently do any more for her +than the similar reassurance that Lucilla was coming to tea did for Rose +Lake. But then, like every other benefactor of the human race, Miss +Marjoribanks was aware that the human mind has its moments of unbelief. +It was a discouraging experience to meet with; but she never permitted +it seriously to interrupt her exertions for the good of her kind. + +"You should not have so poor an opinion of your friends," said Lucilla, +who after all was giving only a stone when her suppliant asked for +bread. "You know how much interested we all are in you; and for me, +anything I can do----" + +"Oh, Lucilla, you are very kind; nobody could be kinder," cried Mrs +Mortimer, with compunction. "It is very nice to have friends. I do not +know what I should do without you, I am sure; but then one cannot live +upon one's friends; and then one knows, when they go away," said the +widow, with more feeling than distinctness of expression, "that they all +go away to something of their own, and pity you or forget you; but you +always stay there, and have nothing of your own to go away to. I am not +grumbling, but it is hard, Lucilla; and then you are young, and happy, +and at home, and I don't think it is possible you can understand." + +"My dear," said Miss Marjoribanks, "it is quite easy to understand, and +I know exactly what you mean. You want me to tell you all about Mr +Beverley, and what I said to him, and what he has in his mind. If he is +the something of your own you would like to go away to, I think it is a +pity. I am sure he has a temper, and _I_ would not marry him for my +part. But if you mean _me_, I have nothing to go away to," said Lucilla, +with a little scorn. "I should be ashamed not to be enough for myself. +When I leave you it is not to enjoy myself, but to think about you and +to plan for you; and all that you want to know is about _him_!" said +Miss Marjoribanks, piercing through and through the thin armour of her +incapable assailant. Naturally all the widow's defences fell before this +ruthless response. She cried with a mingled sensation of shame at being +found out, and penitence for being so ungrateful, and a certain desolate +distress with her own incapacity and want of power to defend herself. It +was an acute variety of feminine anguish on the whole. The idea that +she, a mature woman, a married woman and widow, who ought to have been +done with all these vanities, should have been found out by a young girl +to be thinking about _a gentleman_, struck poor Mrs Mortimer with a +sharp sense of shame as if her wistful preoccupation had been a crime. +Indeed the chances are, if it had been a crime, she would not have been +nearly so much ashamed of it. She hid her face in her hands and blushed +down to the very edge of her black dress and up into the glooms of her +widow's veil; and all the self-defence she was capable of was a faint +"Oh, Lucilla!" a mere appeal of weakness without reason--a virtual +throwing of herself in acknowledged guilt at her judge's feet. + +"Thomas is coming with the tea," said Miss Marjoribanks. "Come into my +room and take off your bonnet. What is the good of worrying yourself +when you know I have taken it into my own hands? Spoiling your eyes with +crying, and making everybody uncomfortable never does the least good; +and, besides, one never knows what harm one might do one's self," said +Lucilla seriously. "I don't think you gone off at all, for my part; but +if you don't take proper care----I shall give you some rose-water, and +you will be all right after you have had a cup of tea." + +"Oh, no; it will be best to go home. I am such a poor creature now. I am +not good for anything. Let me go home, Lucilla," said poor Mrs Mortimer. +But Lucilla would not let her go home; and by the time tea was ready, +and Dr Marjoribanks had come upstairs, she had so managed to soothe her +visitor's nerves, and console her spirits, that the Doctor himself grew +complimentary. He was so civil, in fact, that Lucilla felt slightly +startled, and on the whole thought it was as well that the Archdeacon +was at hand, and affairs in a promising way; for it was doubtful whether +even Miss Marjoribanks's magnanimity could have got over any ridiculous +exhibition of interest on the part of her father, who certainly was old +enough to know better. Even to see him taking Mrs Mortimer's tea to her, +and congratulating her upon her improved looks, and felicitating himself +and the world in general on the fact that Carlingford agreed with her, +was aggravating to his daughter--more aggravating, though it is strange +to say so, than even the blank looks of General Travers in the morning, +or his transference of the homage intended for herself to little Rose +Lake; _that_ was no more than a blunder, and Lucilla felt a consolatory +conviction that, so far as incivility went, the General had received a +very satisfactory set-off. But to see Dr Marjoribanks exerting himself +in such an unheard-of way made her open her eyes. If he were still +accessible to such influences, nobody could answer for anything that +might happen; and the widow was so grateful for his kindness, that at +one moment it was all that Lucilla could do to keep her lips shut fast, +and restrain herself from a tempting allusion which would have made an +end of Mrs Mortimer. It was the first time that Lucilla's protégée had +ventured to come thus familiarly and uninvited to her friend's house; +and the Doctor, who knew no special reason for the visit, expressed his +satisfaction with a warmth which was quite uncalled-for, and hoped that +Lucilla might often "have the advantage of her company;" and actually +betrayed symptoms of a disposition to "see her home," if Miss +Marjoribanks had not already made provision for that emergency. When the +visitor had finally departed, under the charge of Thomas and Mary Jane, +the father and daughter regarded each other, for the first time, with +dubious glances--for, as far as Lucilla was concerned, it was a +revelation to her of a new and altogether unsuspected danger; and the +Doctor, for his part, was very conciliatory, and showed a certain +consciousness of having committed himself, which made matters twenty +times worse. + +"Really, Lucilla, your friend is a credit to you," said Dr Marjoribanks. +"It was a stroke of talent to pick her up, as you did, and make a woman +of her--and a pretty woman too," he added incautiously; as if he, at his +age, had anything to do with that. + +"I am so glad you think so, papa," said Lucilla, in her dutiful way. "I +don't think myself that she has gone off at all to speak of. In some +lights she might pass for being no older than I am--if she was very well +dressed, you know; and it really does not matter what age a woman is if +she keeps her looks. I should be very glad to see her nicely married, +for my part; she is one of the people who ought to be married," Miss +Marjoribanks continued, with an inflection of compassionate tolerance in +her voice. As for the Doctor, he mistook her as usual, and took her tone +of pity and kindly patronising disdain for another instance of his +daughter's policy and high art; whereas the truth was she was quite in +earnest, and meant every word she said. And then Dr Marjoribanks's sense +of humour was keener than that of Lucilla. After this the conversation +flagged slightly, for Miss Marjoribanks had undeniably received a shock. +In the midst of her benevolent preoccupation and care for other people, +it had suddenly dawned upon her that her own stronghold might be +attacked, and the tables turned upon her in the twinkling of an eye. +There are days of discouragement in the most triumphant career and this +was one of those uncomfortable moments. Her faith in herself did not +fail her for an instant; but the faith of her natural born subjects--the +creatures of her bounty--had visibly failed her. Neither Rose Lake nor +Mrs Mortimer had shown that confidence in Lucilla's genius which +experience and loyalty both called upon them to show. When Dr +Marjoribanks had gone downstairs to resume the case which he was writing +out for the _Lancet_, Lucilla passed through one of those moments of +sublime despondency which now and then try the spirits of the +benefactors of their race. A few tears came to her eyes as she reflected +upon this great problem. Without such trials genius would not fully know +itself nor be justly aware of its own strength. For no temptation to +give up her disinterested exertions had any effect upon the mind of Miss +Marjoribanks; and even her sense of pain at the unbelief of her +followers was mingled with that pity for their weakness which involves +pardon. Even when they wounded her she was sorry for them. It was nature +that was in fault, and not the fallible human creatures who had it not +in them to believe in the simple force of genius. When Lucilla had shed +these few tears over her subjects' weakness and want of faith, she rose +up again in new strength from the momentary downfall. It was, as we have +said, a sublime moment. The idea of giving them up, and leaving their +affairs to their own guidance, never for an instant penetrated into her +heroic mind; but she was human, and naturally she felt the prick of +ingratitude. When the crisis was over she rose up calmly and lighted her +candle, and went to her room with a smile upon her magnanimous lips. As +she performed that simple action, Lucilla had lifted up the feeble +widow, and taken the family of Lakes, and Mr Cavendish, and even the +burly Archdeacon himself, upon her shoulders. They might be ungrateful, +or even unaware of all she was doing for them; but they had the supreme +claim of Need upon Strength; and Miss Marjoribanks, notwithstanding the +wound they had given her, was loyal to that appeal, and to her own +consciousness of superior Power. + +At the same time, it would not be just to omit all mention of a +consolatory recollection which occurred to Lucilla in this moment of her +weakness. At such a crisis the mind of genius may be supported by a +matter very trifling in itself. Even at the instant when the moisture +sprang to her eyes, Miss Marjoribanks said to herself, "Poor Tom!" and +felt that the bitterness, to a certain extent, had evaporated out of her +tears. He was a long way off, and Lucilla would have thought it madness +indeed to connect herself in any way with the fortunes of her unlucky +cousin; yet it gave her a certain support to think that, amid all the +want of faith she was encountering, Tom believed in her, heart and soul. +It was an insignificant matter, so far as any practical result was +concerned, if, indeed, anything can be called insignificant which gives +strength to a great mind in a moment of discouragement. She said "Poor +Tom!" and felt as if for the moment she had something to lean on, and +was comforted. We mention this fact rather as a contribution to the +history of those phenomena of the human mind, which have as yet escaped +the metaphysician, than as an actual circumstance in the life of Miss +Marjoribanks. She was a woman of genius, and he only a very simple, +unlucky fellow; and yet a sensation of comfort came to Lucilla's heart +when she said "Poor Tom!" + + + + +_Chapter XXVIII_ + + +Lucilla prepared her toilette the next evening, to take tea with the +Lakes, with greater care than she would have spent upon a party of much +greater pretensions. She was, to be sure, dressed as usual in the white +dress, _high_, which she had brought into fashion in Carlingford; but +then that simple evening toilette required many adjuncts which were not +necessary on other occasions, seeing that this time she was going to +walk to her destination, and had in her mind the four distinct aims of +pleasing Rose, of dazzling Barbara, of imposing upon Mr Cavendish, and, +finally, of being, as always, in harmony with _herself_. She was as +punctual to the hour and minute of her engagement as if she had been a +queen; and, indeed, it was with a demeanour as gracious that she entered +the little house in Grove Street, where, naturally, there had been also +sundry preparations made for her visit. Mr Lake himself, who had +postponed his usual walk, and was taking his tea an hour later than +usual, received his young visitor with all the suavity natural to him; +and as for Barbara, she did the honours with a certain suppressed +exultation and air of triumph, which proved to Lucilla that her plan was +indeed an inspiration of genius. As for Rose, it would be impossible to +describe what were her sensations. Her faith still failed her at that +momentous hour. She was sceptical of Lucilla, and naturally of all the +world, and regarded everybody with jealous scrutiny and expectation and +distrust, as was natural to a young conspirator. She was profoundly +excited and curious to know what Miss Marjoribanks meant to do; and at +the same time she did not believe in Miss Marjoribanks, and was almost +disposed to betray and interfere with her, if such treachery had been +possible. It was Rose Lucilla specially came to visit, and yet Rose was +the only one who was cool to her, and did not seem fully to appreciate +her condescension; but then, happily, Miss Marjoribanks was magnanimous, +and at the same time had a purpose to support her, which was much more +comprehensive and of larger application than anything that had entered +into the mind of Rose Lake. + +"I am proud to see you in my house, Miss Marjoribanks," said Mr Lake. "I +have always considered your excellent father one of my best friends. I +am not able to give my children the same advantages, but I have always +brought them up not to have any false pride. We have no wealth; but we +have some things which cannot be purchased by wealth," said the +drawing-master, with mild grandeur; and he looked round upon the walls +of his parlour, which were hung with his own drawings, and where one of +Willie's held the place of honour. In all Carlingford there was no other +house that enjoyed a similar distinction; and, consequently, it was with +a delicious sense of chivalrous deference yet equality that the +exceptional man of Grove Street received the young sovereign of Grange +Lane. + +"I am so glad to come, Mr Lake," said Lucilla. "It is so nice to be +among such old friends; and, besides that, you know there never was any +voice that suited mine like Barbara's; and that dear old Rose was always +my pet at Mount Pleasant. I should have come long ago if anybody had +ever asked me," said Miss Marjoribanks. And as for Mr Lake, he was so +overpowered by this implied reproach upon his hospitality that he +scarcely knew how to reply. + +"My dear Miss Marjoribanks, if you have not been asked it has been from +no want of--of goodwill," said Mr Lake anxiously. "I do not know what +the girls can have been thinking of. You see Rose's genius takes another +line; and Barbara, naturally, has a great many things to think of; but +in the future, I hope----" + +"Oh, yes; I shall come without being asked," said Lucilla. And when the +tea came it was all she could do to keep herself quiet, and remember +that she was a visitor, and not take it out of the incapable hands of +Barbara, who never gave her father the right amount of sugar in his tea. +To tell the truth, Barbara's thoughts were occupied by a very different +subject; and even Rose had but little attention to spare for her papa's +comforts at that special moment. But Lucilla's larger mind embraced +everything. She sat with her very fingers itching to cut the +bread-and-butter for him, and give him a cup of tea as he liked it; and +asked herself, with indignation, what was the use of that great +creature, with her level eyebrows and her crimson bloom, who could not +take the trouble to remember that three lumps was what Mr Lake liked. +Miss Marjoribanks had never taken tea with him before; but his second +cup, had she dispensed it, would have been exactly to his taste--which +was a thing Barbara had not learned to make it in all these years. No +wonder that a certain sense of contemptuous indignation arose for one +moment, even in the calm and impartial bosom of genius. Perhaps Rose +would not have done much better; but then Rose was good for something +else, which was always a set-off on the other side. Thus it will be seen +that Lucilla had a respect for use, even of a kind which in her own +person she did not much appreciate, as became a person of a truly +enlightened mind; but a creature who was of no earthly good irritated +her well-regulated spirit; for, to be sure, the possession of a fine +contralto (which is, at the same time, not fine enough to be made use of +professionally) is not a matter of sufficient moment in this world to +excuse a young woman for not knowing how to give her father a +comfortable cup of tea. + +It was nearly nine o'clock before Mr Lake went out for his walk, and by +that time it was almost dark, and the lamp outside was lighted, which +was not far from the door. Lucilla had taken a seat near the window, +with the view of witnessing everything; and it cannot be denied that she +felt a little excited when Barbara went out of the room after her +father, leaving Rose alone with her guest. Miss Marjoribanks's heart +gave a beat or two the more in the first minute, though before the next +had passed it had fallen into its usual measure. There were no candles +as yet in the parlour, and Grove Street--or at least the bit of it +which lay before the window, lighted by the lamp outside, and relieved +against a little square of bluish-green sky which intervened between +Miss Hemmings's house and that of old Mr Wrangle on the opposite +side--was very clear to the interested spectator. There was nobody +visible but an organ-man, who was grinding a popular melody very +dolorously out of his box, in what Rose would have called the middle +distance; and beyond, Miss Jane Hemmings looking out of the long +staircase window, and three little boys in different attitudes +below,--that is, if one did not count a tall figure which, perhaps with +the view of listening to the music of the organ, was coming and going in +a limited circuit round the light of the lamp. + +"How convenient it is to have the lamp so near," said Lucilla. "Oh, +don't light any candles, please; it is so nice to sit in the dark. Where +is Barbara, I wonder? Let us have some music, and put down that dreadful +organ. I hope she has not gone out. And where are you, you sulky little +Rose?" + +"She has gone upstairs," said Rose, who began to feel all the enormity +of her conduct in thus betraying her sister. "I hate sitting in the +dark. I hate being a spy; come in from the window, Lucilla, now you are +here----" + +"My dear Rose," said Miss Marjoribanks, "I think you forget a little. +For my part I do not understand what being a spy means. Barbara knows +very well I am here. I should scorn to take an advantage of anybody, for +my part. If she does not bring him past the very window, and under my +eyes--Ah, yes, that is just what I thought," said Lucilla, with gentle +satisfaction. But by this time poor little Rose had roused herself into +an innocent fury. + +"What is just as you thought?" said Rose, laying an impatient grasp on +Miss Marjoribanks's arm. "Come in from the window, Lucilla, this +moment--this moment! Oh, me, to think it should be my doing! Oh, +Lucilla, don't be so mean and shabby and wretched. I tell you to come +in--come in directly! If you do not shut the window, and come and sit +here in the corner, I will never, never speak to you again!" + +Miss Marjoribanks, as was natural, took no notice of this childish fury. +She was sitting just where she had been sitting all the evening, within +sight of the street lamp and the organ-grinder, and Miss Jane Hemmings +at the staircase window;--just where Barbara had placed her, and where +that young woman calculated on finding her, when she made a promenade of +triumph up the partially lighted street by the side of her clandestine +suitor. Perhaps Barbara had seen Miss Jane as well, and knew that public +opinion was thus watching over her; but at all events she was not at all +ashamed of herself, or indignant at being spied upon. On the contrary, +it was a kind of apotheosis for Barbara, only second to the grand and +crowning triumph which would be accomplished in Carlingford Church under +the shadow of that veil of real Brussels, which grew more and more real +every day. Thus neither the actors in the drama, nor the principal +spectator, were in the smallest degree disturbed by horror or shame or +sense of guilt, excepting always the fanciful little Rose, who suffered +for everybody; who could have wished that the earth would open and +swallow up Barbara and her lover; who could have slaughtered Lucilla on +the spot, and given herself over to any kind of torture for her +treachery. Naturally nobody paid any sort of attention to Rose. Barbara, +for her part, took her admirer's arm in the twilight with a swelling of +exultation, which the gaining of the very highest prize in the +department of ornamental art could scarcely have conveyed to the bosom +of the little artist; and Lucilla put back her small assailant softly +with her hand, and smoothed down her ruffled plumes. + +"My dear, it is Miss Hemmings that is spying," said Lucilla; "and poor +Barbara would be so disappointed if I were to go away from the window. +Have patience just a little longer--there's a dear. It is all exactly as +I thought." + +And then there followed a pause, which was a terrible pause for Rose. +The organ-grinder stopped his doleful ditty, and there was scarcely any +sound to be heard in the street except the footsteps approaching and +retiring, the measured tread of two people occupied with each other, +going now more slowly, now more quickly, as the humour seized them, or +as their conversation grew in interest; even the sound of their voices +came by times to the auditors--Barbara's with an occasional laugh or +tone of triumph, and the other deeper, with which Rose had but little +acquaintance, but which was perfectly known to Lucilla. All this time, +while her companion sat panting in the dark corner, Miss Marjoribanks +was looking to the joints of her harness, and feeling the edge of her +weapons. For, after all, it was no small enterprise upon which she was +going forth. She was going to denounce the faithless knight to his face, +and take him out of the hands of the enchantress; but then she herself +meant to take him in hand, and show him his true dangers, and vindicate +his honour. A more disinterested enterprise was never undertaken by any +knight-errant. Yet, at the same time, Lucilla could not help +entertaining a certain involuntary contempt for the man who had deserted +her own standard to put himself under that of Barbara Lake, and who was +being paraded up and down here without knowing it, to gratify the vanity +of his new sovereign, and make an exhibition of his weakness. Lucilla +would have been more than mortal if she had not felt the difference +between her own rule, which would have been all to his good, and the +purely egotistical sway of Barbara; and even in her magnanimous mind, it +was impossible that pity itself should not be mingled with a certain +disdain. + +She sat quite still for so long that Barbara grew intoxicated with her +triumph. "It is perhaps the last time," Lucilla said to herself, with a +movement of compassion; and the breadth of her human sympathy was such +that she waited till the very latest moment, and let the deluded young +woman have the full enjoyment of her imaginary victory. Then Miss +Marjoribanks rose with a certain solemnity, and put on her hat, and gave +an unappreciated kiss to Rose, who kept in her corner. "Good-night; I am +going," said Lucilla. The words were simple enough, but yet they rang in +Rose's ears like the signal of a conspiracy. When the calm leader of the +expedition went forth, sensible of the importance of her mission, but +tranquil as great minds always are in a moment of danger, Rose got up +too and followed, trembling in every limb. She was capable of having +thrown herself upon the spears in her own person in a sudden _élan_ of +indignation and passion; but she was not capable of waiting till the +right moment, and meeting her antagonists in reasonable combat. Miss +Marjoribanks went out deliberately, without any unnecessary haste, +sweeping into the dusky twilight with her virginal white draperies. It +was a very ordinary scene, and yet, even in the midst of her excitement, +Rose could not help observing involuntarily its pictorial qualities--if +only any painter could have transferred to his canvas the subdued +musical hum of surrounding life, the fragrance of the mignonette, and +the peaceful stillness of the summer night. The sky shone out +green-blue, lambent and wistful, from the vacant space between Miss +Hemmings's and Mr Wrangle's, and there were the dusky twilight shadows +below, and the yellow gleam of the lamp, and Barbara's exulting, +triumphant figure, and the white robes of the avenging angel. Rose could +not have observed all this if she had not been stilled into a kind of +breathless awe by the solemn character of the situation, which struck +her as being somehow like one of Millais's pictures. As for the lovers, +they had just turned at the moment that Miss Marjoribanks came out, and +consequently met her straight in the face, as she stood suave and +smiling at the little garden door. + +"It _is_ Mr Cavendish," said Lucilla; "I am so glad; I have been hoping +and trying to see you for ever so long; and as soon as ever I heard you +talking I felt sure it was your voice." + +This was the greeting she addressed to Barbara Lake's lover. For his +part he stood before her, growing red and growing pale, struck dumb by +the unlooked-for meeting, and with such a sense of being ashamed of +himself as never before had entered his mind, though, no doubt, he had +done worse actions in his day. Even Barbara had not calculated upon this +open encounter; and instead of giving him any assistance, as was a +woman's duty in such a case, she only tossed her head, and giggled with +an embarrassment which was more pride than shame. As for Mr Cavendish, +he would have liked to disappear under the pavement, if it had been +possible. For once he and Rose were agreed. If a gulf had opened before +him, he would have jumped into it without ever pausing to ask himself +why. And yet all the time Miss Marjoribanks was looking as placid as if +she had been in her own drawing-room, and expecting his reply to her +friendly observations. When he realised that he ought to say something, +Mr Cavendish felt that he had as much need to wipe his forehead as ever +the Archdeacon had. He turned hot and cold, and felt his mind and his +tongue frozen, and could not find a word to say. With a sudden horror he +woke up, like one of Comus's revellers, and found himself changed into +the likeness of the creature he consorted with. If he had found an ass's +head on his shoulders, he could not have felt more startled and +horrified than when he heard himself, in the imbecility of the moment, +giggle like Barbara, and answer to Lucilla's remark, "Oh! yes, it was my +voice." + +"I am very sorry to separate you from Barbara," said Miss Marjoribanks; +"but she is at home, you know, and I want so much to talk to you. +Barbara, good-night; I want Mr Cavendish to walk home with me. Rose, +don't stand in the garden and catch cold; thank you, dear, for such a +pleasant evening," said Lucilla, pressing another kiss upon her little +friend's unwilling cheek. When she had done this, she put out her hand +to Barbara, and passed her, sweeping her white garments through the +narrow gateway. She took Mr Cavendish's arm as if he had been a young +brother come to fetch her. "Let us go round by the chapel," said Miss +Marjoribanks, "I have so much to say to you. Be sure to practise for +Thursday, Barbara, and bid your papa good-night for me." This was how +she carried off Mr Cavendish finally out of Barbara's very fingers, and +under her very eyes. + +When the two sisters were left standing together at the door, they could +do nothing but stare at each other in the extremity of their amazement. +Rose, for her part, remained but a moment, and then, feeling by far the +guiltiest and most miserable of the whole party, ran upstairs to her own +room and cried as if her heart would break. Barbara, on the contrary, +who was past crying, stood still at the door, and watched Lucilla's +white dress disappearing on the way to Grange Lane with indescribable +emotions. A young woman cannot call the police, or appeal to the crier, +when it is her lover whom she has lost: but to see him carried off by +the strong hand--to watch him gradually going away and disappearing from +her eyes--to hear his steps withdrawing into the distance--was such a +trial as few are called upon to bear. She stood and looked after him, +and could not believe her eyes. And then it was all so sudden--an affair +of a moment. Barbara could not realise how the world had turned round, +and this revolution had been effected;--one minute she had been leaning +on his arm triumphant, making a show and exhibition of him in the pride +of her heart, though he did not know it; and the next was not she +standing here watching him with a blank countenance and a despairing +heart, while Lucilla had pounced upon him and carried him off in her +cruel grasp? The blow was so sudden, that Barbara stood speechless and +motionless till the two departing figures had vanished in the darkness. +Would he come back again to-morrow, or was he gone for ever and ever? +Such were the thoughts of the forsaken maiden, as she stood paralysed +under this sudden change of fortune, at her father's door. If some cruel +spectator had thrown into the fire that Brussels veil with which her +imagination had so long played, and Barbara had stood heart-struck, +watching the filmy tissue dissolve into ashes before her eyes, her sense +of sudden anguish could not have been more acute. Yet, after all, +Barbara's pangs were nothing to those of Mr Cavendish, as he felt Miss +Marjoribanks's light touch on his arm, and felt his doomed feet turn in +spite of himself in the most dangerous direction, and became conscious +that he was being led beyond all possibility of resistance, back to +Grange Lane and to his fate. + +To be sure it was dark, which was one consolation; but it was not dark +enough to conceal Lucilla's white dress, nor the well-known form and +lineaments of the young monarch of Grange Lane, in whose company nobody +could pass unobserved. Mr Cavendish could have faced danger by sea and +land with the average amount of courage; but the danger of the walk down +the little street, which afterwards led to St Roque's, and up the +embowered stillness of Grange Lane, was more than he was equal to. He +could not be sure of making a single step by these garden-walls without +meeting somebody who knew him--somebody whose curiosity might ruin him +in Carlingford; or even without the risk of encountering in the face of +that arch-enemy, who would not go away, and whose presence had banished +him from the place. It may be supposed that, under these terrible +circumstances, Mr Cavendish's thoughts of Barbara, who had got him into +this scrape, were far from lover-like. He was a man universally popular +among ladies, and who owed a great deal of the social consideration +which he prized so highly to this fact; and yet the most gentle +sentiment in his mind at that moment, was a "Confound these women!" +which he breathed to himself, all low and deep, as he went slowly along +by Lucilla's side. As for Miss Marjoribanks, her thoughts were of a very +much more serious description than anything her unlucky escort was +thinking of, and a minute or two passed in silence before she could make +up her mind to speak. + +"I have been thinking a great deal about you lately, and wishing very +much to see you," said Lucilla. "Did not Mrs Woodburn tell you?--I think +I should have written to you had I known your address." + +"And I am sure you would have made me the happiest of men," said the +victim, with rueful politeness. "What had I done to deserve such a +privilege? But my sister did not tell me; she left me to hear it from +your own----" + +"Yes," said Miss Marjoribanks, with a certain solemnity, interrupting +him; "I have been thinking a great deal--and _hearing_ a great deal +about you, Mr Cavendish." When she had said this Lucilla sighed, and her +sigh found a terrible echo in her hearer's bosom. She knew that he +turned green in the darkness as he gave an anxious look at her. But he +was too much alarmed to give her an opportunity of studying his face. + +"_Hearing_ of me," he said, and tried to laugh; "what have my kind +friends been saying?" and for one moment the sufferer tried to delude +himself that it was some innocent gossip about Barbara which might be +circulating in Grange Lane. + +"Hush," said Lucilla, "don't laugh, please; for I want to have a very +serious talk. I have been hearing about you from some very, very old +friends, Mr Cavendish--not anything about _this_, you know," Miss +Marjoribanks added, waving her hand in the direction of Grove Street. +And then Barbara Lake and everything connected with her vanished like a +shadow from the unfortunate man's mind. It was horribly ungrateful on +his part, but it was, as Miss Marjoribanks would have said, just what +might have been expected, and how They always behave. He had no longer +any time or patience for the object which had been giving occupation and +interest to his solitude. He woke up in a moment, and gave a passing +curse to his folly, and faced the real danger as he best could. + +"You must be making a mistake, Miss Marjoribanks," he said, with some +bitterness; "it should have been, very, very old enemy. I know who it +is. It is that Archdeacon you ladies make such a fuss about. It is he +who has been telling lies about me," said Mr Cavendish. He breathed a +deep hard breath as he spoke, and the blood came back to his face. +Perhaps for the first moment he felt satisfied, and breathed freer after +it was over; but at the same time it was very dreadful to him to feel +that he was found out, and that henceforth Grange Lane would shut its +doors and avert its countenance. "If you take his word for it, I may +give in at once," he continued, bitterly. "A parson will say anything; +they are as bad as--as women." This the poor man said in his despair, +because he did not know what he was saying; for in reality he knew that +women had been his best friends, and that he had still a chance, if the +judgment was to rest with them. + +"You are very ungrateful to say so," said Miss Marjoribanks, "but it is +only because you are excited, I suppose. No, Mr Cavendish, it was not +the Archdeacon; on the contrary, it was a lady, and she said nothing but +good of you," said Lucilla; and then there was a pause. As for Mr +Cavendish, it would be altogether impossible to describe the state of +his mind. He was like a man suddenly reprieved, but giddy with the +shock, and feeling the halter still round his neck, and knowing that he +had himself undermined the ground on which he was standing. It was +Lucilla who supported him in the shock of the moment, for all his +self-command could not keep him from a momentary shiver and stagger when +he found that things were not so bad as he thought. + +"A lady, and she said nothing but good!" he muttered, under his breath; +and then he made an effort to recover himself. "Pardon me, I cannot +guess who my unknown friend may be. It is very soothing to one's +feelings to be spoken well of by a lady," said Mr Cavendish, and he +laughed again in a discordant unsteady way. Lucilla regarded him through +all these fluctuations with natural pity, and at the same time with the +calmness of a knowledge which was aware of all and had nothing more to +discover; and at the end Mr Cavendish perceived her calm, and the +absence of wonder and curiosity in her face, and began to perceive that +he had something very serious to deal with--more serious even than he +had at first supposed. + +"I am going to tell you all about it," said Miss Marjoribanks, "but in +the meantime wait a minute and let me speak to you. I have something +very serious to say." + +It was for this they stopped short at the foot of Grange Lane just where +the land was already parcelled out for St Roque's. What Lucilla was +going to say was too important to be spoken while walking, and she +withdrew her hand from Mr Cavendish's arm. They were both so much +absorbed that they did not see anybody coming, nor indeed had any +attention to spare for external affairs. The blood had deserted Mr +Cavendish's face, and he was once more green with anxiety and +inquietude. He stood facing her, feeling that the crisis of his fate +had come, and not knowing whether it was absolute despair or a faint +dawning of hope that possessed him. If he had been the most passionate +of lovers, and if she had held in her hands the dreadful alternative +between rapture and misery, there could not have been a more rapt and +absorbing attention in Mr Cavendish's face. + +"I want to tell you, first of all, that you must have confidence in me," +said Lucilla; "you--must--have confidence in me. We can do nothing +without that. I know everything, Mr Cavendish," Miss Marjoribanks added +compassionately--"_everything_; but nobody else knows it. I hope I can +arrange everything if it is left in my hands. This is what I wanted to +tell you first of all. Before everything, you must have confidence in +me." + +What Mr Cavendish might have answered to this solemn appeal it would be +vain to imagine; for the truth was, he was stopped before he could utter +a word. He was stopped and seized by the hand, and greeted with a +frankness which was, perhaps, all the more loud and cordial from what +appeared to the new-comer the comic character of the situation. "It _is_ +Cavendish, by Jove!" the intruder exclaimed, waving his hand to some +people who were coming on behind him. "I beg a thousand pardons for +disturbing you, my dear fellow; but they all talk about you so, that I +was determined to make sure it was you. Good heavens, Miss +Marjoribanks!" General Travers added, taking off his hat. It was Mr and +Mrs Centum who were coming down behind him--she with a light shawl +thrown over her head, tempted out by the beauty of the evening; and +Lucilla saw in a moment the consequences of this encounter, and how it +would be over all Carlingford before to-morrow morning that she and Mr +Cavendish were betrothed at the very least. Miss Marjoribanks had all +her wits about her, as ever, fortunately for both. + +"Yes, it is me," she said calmly; "I have been taking tea with the +Lakes, and I made Mr Cavendish give me his arm home. He did not like +being found out, to be sure, but he could not help himself; and we all +know about that," Lucilla added, with a smile, taking once more the +unfortunate man's arm. "Oh, yes, we all know," said Mrs Centum, with a +laugh; but yet, notwithstanding, everybody felt sure that it was all +Lucilla's cleverness, and that Barbara Lake was a myth and fiction. And +it was thus, with Miss Marjoribanks leaning on his arm, and General +Travers, in all the warmth of renewed friendship, guarding him on the +other side, that Mr Cavendish, whose head was in a whirl of excitement, +and who did not know what he was doing, was led back in triumph past +Colonel Chiley's very door, where the Archdeacon was lying in wait to +crunch his bones, back from all his aberrations into the very heart of +Grange Lane. + + + + +_Chapter XXIX_ + + +Mr Cavendish was led back to his own house that evening by General +Travers, whose claim of acquaintance was too decided to be rejected. He +never knew very well what passed between the moment when Miss +Marjoribanks began to expound to him the urgent necessity that he should +confide in her, and the moment in which he found himself in his own +house, admitted eagerly by the surprised and anxious servants, and +conducted by the energetic soldier. That he had taken leave of Lucilla +at her own door, that he had watched her white dress sweep away into the +dark garden with a faint sense that it was his only remaining protector +who thus left him, and that after that he had smoked a horrible cigar +with Mr Centum, and been accompanied home by the old acquaintance, who +had turned up at so unlucky a moment,--was all that the poor man was +aware of. And yet it is to be supposed that on the whole he behaved +himself very much like other people, since General Travers had no +distinct idea that his company was undesirable, or that his cordial +recognition was anything but welcome. The General, indeed, took it as +quite natural, under the circumstances, that Cavendish should be a +little confused. A man who is no longer a very young man, and has a +character to support, does not care to be found mooning with the object +of his affections on a summer evening, like a boy of twenty; and General +Travers was perfectly aware that he had thus a very good joke against +Cavendish. "It is worth a man's while to set up a bachelor establishment +in the country," the General said. "By Jove! I wish I could do it. It +makes a fellow feel Arcadian, and ready for anything;" and for his own +part he was very ready to seize upon his former acquaintance, a man who +belonged to his club, and had a chance to know what he was talking +about. "As for Charlie Centum," the soldier said, "what between business +and matrimony, he has grown the greatest guy imaginable; and I can't go +off directly, you know; and then there's always this business about the +depot. It's immense luck to find you here, Cavendish," General Travers +added, with flattering cordiality; and if poor Mr Cavendish was not +grateful, it certainly was not his friend's fault. He led the way into +his house with a glum countenance and a sinking heart, though +fortunately the latter was not visible. It was a very nice house, fitted +up with all that luxury of comfort which a man who has, as Mrs Centum +said, "only himself to look to," can afford to collect around him. Mr +Cavendish had only himself, and he had made his habitation perfect, +though, on the whole, he did not pass a very great deal of his time at +home. He had some nice pictures and a good library, though he was not +particularly given to the arts; and he had an admirable cellar, as all +the gentlemen owned in Carlingford, though, for his own part, he was +very moderate in that point, and did not give himself any airs on the +subject. Mr Centum, on the contrary, was one of the men who talk about +vintages, and raise expectations never to be carried out. And General +Travers could not but feel the force of the contrast as he sat deep into +the night, and "talked over everything," with the man who by that time +he felt convinced was one of his best friends. + +As for Mr Cavendish, it would be very difficult to describe his +feelings. He had been knocking about in all sorts of poor places, making +clandestine visits to his sister, and hovering round the more than +suburban simplicity of Grove Street, and the sense of being once more +enveloped and surrounded by all that was pleasant to the eye and +comfortable to the outer man was wonderfully consolatory and agreeable. +But his mind was in a dreadfully harassed condition all the same. He was +preoccupied to the last degree, wondering what Miss Marjoribanks really +knew, and how far he had betrayed himself, and to what extent it would +be safe, as she herself said, to confide in Lucilla; and at the same +time he was obliged to listen to and show a certain interest in the +General's stories, and to make now and then a painful effort of mind to +recall some of the mutual friends referred to, whose names and persons +had in the meantime slipped out of his memory. All the babble of the +club, which General Travers felt must be so refreshing to the ears of a +rusticated member, fell as flat upon Mr Cavendish, whose mind was full +of other matters, as if it had been the merest old woman's gossip, +which, to be sure, it slightly resembled in some points. The gallant +General made himself so agreeable that he nearly drove the unfortunate +man out of his senses, and, when he had exhausted all other means of +aggravation, returned with fresh zest to the sentimental circumstances +in which, as he supposed, he had found his companion out. + +"Very sensible I call it," said General Travers. "To be candid, I don't +call her strictly handsome, you know; she's too big for that--and I +don't suppose she's of any family to speak of; though perhaps you don't +mind that trifling circumstance; but a woman that will dress well and +light up well, and knows how to give a man a capital dinner, by Jove! +and no doubt has a pretty little bit of money into the bargain--I +respect your taste, Cavendish," said the friendly critic, with effusion; +and somehow this applause irritated its recipient more than all that had +gone before. + +"I am sure I am much obliged to you," said Mr Cavendish, "though, +unfortunately, I don't merit your approbation. Miss Marjoribanks is a +great friend of mine, but she wouldn't have me, and I don't mean to ask +her. At the same time, she has very good connections; and that is not +the way to talk of a girl of twenty. She is worth a dozen of your fast +young ladies," said the sufferer, with some heat. He was not in the +least in love with Lucilla, and indeed had a certain dread of her at +this present moment; but he could not forget that she had once stood by +him in his need--and, besides, he was glad of any subject on which he +could contradict his visitor. "I dare say her family is better than +either yours or mine. Scotch, you know," said Mr Cavendish, trying to +laugh. As for the General, he leaned back on his chair with an indulgent +air, and stroked his mustache. + +"Beg your pardon--meant no offence," he said. "For my part, I don't see +that it matters, if a woman is good-looking and has something, you know. +For instance, there was a pretty little thing--a charming little +thing--Lake, or something like that----" + +"Ah!" said Mr Cavendish. It was a frightful want of self-control; but he +had been a long time at full strain, and he could not help it. It did +not occur to him, for the moment, that nobody in his senses would have +applied the term "little thing" to Barbara; and, after all the slow +aggravation that he had been submitting to, the idea of this insolent +soldier interfering in Grove Street was beyond his power of endurance. +As for the General, the tone of this exclamation was such that he too +turned round on his chair, and said, "Yes?" with equally unmistakable +meaning, startled, but ready for the emergency, whatever it might be. + +Thus the two looked at each other for a second, friends in the ordinary +acceptation of the word, and yet, perhaps, on the eve of becoming +enemies. Mr Cavendish had, up to that moment, pretty nearly forgotten +Barbara Lake. It was a piquant sort of occupation when he had nothing +else to do, and when the world, according to his morbid fancy, was on +the eve of turning its back upon him--but from the moment when he had +said between his teeth "Confound these women!" and had felt the +excitement of the approaching crisis, Barbara, and her crimson cheeks, +and her level eyebrows, and her contralto, had gone altogether out of +his mind. At the same time, it is quite true that a man may feel himself +at liberty to forget a woman when other matters of more immediate +interest are absorbing his attention, and yet be driven furious by the +idea suddenly presented to him that somebody else, who has nothing +earthly to do with it, is about to interfere. Mr Cavendish, however, +recovered himself while the General sat staring at him, and began to see +how ridiculous his defiance was. + +"Well?--go on. I did not say anything," he said, and lighted another +cigar. Yet he did not face his companion as a friendly listener should, +but began to beat measure to an irritating imaginary air on the table, +with a certain savage energy by moments, as if he were beating time on +the General's head. + +"Then why do you stop a fellow short like that?" said General Travers; +"I was going to tell you of some one I saw the other day in the house of +your--your friend, you know. She was under Miss Marjoribanks's wing, +that was how I saw her--and I hope you are not playing the gay deceiver, +my friend;--a little thing, round-faced, hazel-eyed--a little soft +rosebud sort of creature," said the General, growing eloquent. "By Jove! +Cavendish, I hope you don't mean to make yourself disagreeable. These +sort of looks, you know----" + +"It was Rose, I suppose," said Mr Cavendish, relieved in a moment; and, +to tell the truth, he could not help laughing. The more eloquent and +angry the General grew, the more amused and contemptuous grew his +entertainer. He was so tickled by the position of affairs, that he +actually forgot his anxieties for the moment. "No doubt it was Rose," he +repeated, and laughed; Rose! what anybody could see in that little +dragon! And then the contrast between the soldier, who prided himself on +his knowledge of the world, and liked to talk of his family and +position, to the annoyance of those who had none, and the amusement of +those who happen to possess these valuable qualifications--and the +mistress of the Female School of Design, filled Mr Cavendish with +amusement: perhaps all the more because he himself was in a similar +scrape. As for General Travers, he was as much disposed to be angry as, +a moment before, Mr Cavendish had been. + +"It might be Rose," he said, "or Lily either, for anything I can tell; +but there is nothing laughable in it that I can see. You seem to be +perfectly _au courant_, at all events--which I hope is quite +satisfactory to Miss Marjoribanks," said the soldier; and then he +resumed, after a disagreeable little pause, "they tell me that everybody +meets at the Doctor's on Thursdays. I suppose I shall see you there. +Thursday, ain't it? to-morrow?" He looked as he spoke, with what seemed +to his victim an insulting consciousness, in poor Cavendish's face. But, +in reality, the General did not mean to be insulting, and knew nothing +whatever of the horrible internal pang which rent his companion when it +was thus recalled to him that it _was_ to-morrow--a fact which, up to +this moment, had not occurred to the unfortunate. To-morrow; and not +even to-morrow--to-day--for by this time it was two o'clock in the +morning, and the unwelcome intruder was wasting the little time he had +for deciding what he should do. Once more his own personal anxieties, +which he had put aside for a moment at the sudden dictate of jealousy, +surged over everything, and swallowed up all lesser sensations. +To-morrow!--and by this time everybody knew that he was in Carlingford, +and he could not stay away from the weekly assembly without attracting +general attention to himself, and throwing open the flood-gates of +suspicion. What was he to do? should he turn his back on the enemy once +for all, and run away and break off his connection with Carlingford? or +should he dare everything and face the Archdeacon, and put his trust in +Lucilla, as that high-minded young woman had invited him to do? With +these thoughts in his mind, it may be supposed that Mr Cavendish gave +but a very mingled attention to the babble of his visitor, who found the +wine and the cigars so good, and perhaps had begun to be a little moved +out of his ordinary lucidity by their effect. + +"You've got a nice little house, Cavendish," said the General, "but it's +too small for a married man, my boy. These women are the very deuce for +turning a man out of his comfortable quarters. You'll have to go in for +boudoirs and those sort of things; and, by George! you'll be an ass if +you do, with a snug little box like this to retire into," said the +philosophical warrior; and poor Cavendish smiled a ghastly smile, with +the strongest inclination all the time to take him by the collar and +turn him out of doors. But then he _was_ a warrior and a general +officer, and a member of the same club, and six feet high--all which +particulars, not to speak of the sacred rights of hospitality, made it +somewhat difficult to carry this idea out. + +"Don't you think Centum will be sitting up for you?" he said mildly; +"it's past two o'clock; and it's Thursday morning," the victim added, +with a sigh. The last words were an involuntary utterance of his own +despair, but fortunately they struck General Travers's vein of humour, +which happened to be lively at the moment, and worked the desired but +unexpected result. The General laughed loud and long, and declared that +he respected a man who was above-board, and meant to look respectable +for Miss Marjoribanks's sake; and then he poured a mighty libation to +Lucilla, and took an affectionate leave of her supposed lover. The +General made a great commotion in the decorous quiet of Grange Lane when +he knocked at Mr Centum's door. Though it was nearly three o'clock in +the morning, nothing but his inherent dread of a woman would have +prevented him from knocking up the banker to share his hilarity; but Mrs +Centum, in her nightcap, peaceably asleep as she was at the moment, +daunted the soul of the gallant soldier; and naturally his recollection +was not very perfect next day. "I had something very funny to tell you; +but, by Jove! I forget what it was!" General Travers said next morning +when he met his host at breakfast; and thus one bad joke at least was +spared. But Mr Cavendish shut his door upon his departing guest, without +any sense, poor fellow, of having done or said anything in the least +funny. He said, "Thank Heaven!" with a kind of groan of relief when his +troublesome visitor was gone. And then he went back again into his +library, where they had been sitting. Perhaps he had never fully +appreciated before the comfort of everything, the handsome house which +he had enjoyed so long without thinking anything of it, and all the +pleasant luxurious accessories of life. He had been doing without them +for a week or two, and he had not liked it; and yet at that moment it +seemed to Mr Cavendish that he could rather be content to lose them all +at a stroke, to make it known in Carlingford that he was ruined and had +lost his fortune, than that Carlingford should find out that he was not, +after all, one of the Cavendishes, nor the person it took him for. But, +alas! all his fortune could not bring reality to these pretensions, nor +hinder the exposure to which he looked forward with such horror. It is +true that he was an adventurer, but he was not a base one; nor had he +done anything dishonourable either to gain his fortune or to captivate +the good opinion of society, which had become so important to him. But +there are actual crimes that would be sooner forgiven to a man than the +folly of having permitted himself to be considered one of the +Cavendishes, and having set his heart on making a figure in that mild +provincial world. Mr Cavendish knew enough of human nature to know that +a duchess or a lord-chamberlain would forgive more readily than Mr and +Mrs Centum any such imposition upon them, and intrusion into their +exclusive circle. And then his sister, who could not run away! For her +sake it seemed to him that he had better rush off at once, and sell his +house and furniture and horses, and give up Carlingford. As he thought +of that, all the advantages of Carlingford came upon him stronger than +ever. Perhaps a man who has always been used to be recognised as one of +the members of a local aristocracy, would not have seen anything half so +precious as Mr Cavendish saw in the fact of being everywhere known and +acknowledged as a constituent part of Grange Lane;--recognised by the +county people, and by the poor people, and pointed out as he passed by +one and another to any stranger who might happen to be so ignorant as +not to know Mr Cavendish. To people who are not used to it, there is a +charm in this universal acknowledgment. And then he had more need of it +than most men have; and, when Carlingford signed his patent of +gentility, and acknowledged and prized him, it did an infinite deal more +than it had any intention of doing. To keep its regard and recognition +he would have done anything, given up the half or three parts, or even, +on emergency, all he had. Perhaps he had an undue confidence in the +magnanimity of society, and was too sure that in such a case it would +behave with a grandeur worthy of the occasion; but still he was quite +right in thinking that it could forgive the loss of his fortune sooner +than his real offence. And now it was Thursday morning, the day upon +which he must either fight or flee. He too had laughed at Miss +Marjoribanks's evenings in his time, and thought of Thursday lightly as +Lucilla's day; but there was nothing in the least amusing in the +prospect of that assembly now. + +When a man has thoughts like these to entertain him, nothing can be more +useless than to go to bed, although in ordinary circumstances, at three +o'clock in the morning, that is about the only thing one can do. Poor Mr +Cavendish, however, was not quite free to act as he thought proper. He +had been a long time away from home, and he did not feel himself in a +position to shock his servants' feelings with impunity. He went to his +room, accordingly, like a martyr, carrying all his difficulties with +him, and these unpleasant companions naturally made a night of it when +they had him all to themselves. When sheer fatigue and exhaustion +procured him a moment's sleep, it was only getting deeper and deeper +into trouble: for then it was the Archdeacon who had planted a heavy +foot on his neck, or General Travers, who, with still more fatal force, +had found out the way to Grove Street. When Mr Cavendish awoke, he said +to himself, "Confound these women!" with more fervour than ever; but, at +the same time, he swore a mighty oath to himself that he would horsewhip +the fellow who ventured to come in his way. Barbara Lake might be no +great things, but at least it was to him, and no one else, that she +belonged. Such was the complication that afforded him a little outlet +for his temper in the midst of the dreadful difficulties of his +position, and the question which was constantly renewing itself in his +thoughts, as to whether he should go or stay. The idea of presenting +himself in the centre of society in Miss Marjoribanks's drawing-room, +and being met by the Archdeacon, and held up to public contempt there +and then, with all the world looking on, and even Travers, who would +carry the narrative out of Carlingford, was something too horrible to be +contemplated; and yet how was he to escape? He was still in this state +of mind, driven backwards and forwards by every new wind, when the +morning came, and when Miss Marjoribanks's note was put into his hand. + +For the truth was, that, after long consideration, Lucilla had +determined that the matter was one which could not be permitted to stand +over. She was of too energetic a temperament to let things linger on in +an uncertain way when they could be made an end of, and brought to a +conclusion; and then, as nobody can predict what sudden and unexpected +turn human affairs may take, it was always possible that, if Miss +Marjoribanks did not make an end of the business dramatically, and to +the satisfaction of everybody concerned, it might be found some fine day +to have resolved itself by means of some one of those illegitimate and +incomplete expedients which abound in ordinary life. It was with this +view that Miss Marjoribanks took the step of writing to Mr Cavendish. +She had written in the sacred retirement of her own maiden chamber, when +all the world was still; perhaps at the moment when General Travers was, +as he would himself have vulgarly called it, "chaffing" Cavendish about +the beautiful and disinterested friendship which united him to the young +sovereign of Grange Lane. But naturally such poor raillery was far from +the virginal thoughts of Lucilla at that retired and sacred hour; and we +may venture to add that the elevating influence of the maiden's bower in +which she composed it, and of that tranquil moment of meditation and +solitude, breathed in every line, and gave force to every sentiment of +the letter which Mr Cavendish tore open with an excited hand. Perhaps he +was too anxious and curious to give it the solemn perusal which it ought +to have received. + + "MY DEAR MR CAVENDISH,--It was very unlucky that we should have + been interrupted this evening at such an important moment, when I + had so much to say to you. But I think the best thing I can do is + to write, feeling quite sure that when you know all, _you cannot + possibly mistake_ my motives. Everybody has retired, and I am quite + alone, and the silence[2] seems to me full of meaning when I think + that the fate of a person for whom I have so great a regard may be + hanging upon it. I might be afraid of writing to you so frankly, if + I did not feel quite sure that you would appreciate my intention. + + "Dear Mr Cavendish, it is not the Archdeacon who has said anything. + _He does not know it is you_; therefore, of course, he could not + say anything directly bearing upon you. But then, you know, if he + were to meet you by hazard, as he is sure to do some day--and for + my part I rather think he is fond of Grove Street--you would be + exposed at once, and everything would be lost, for we all know the + prejudices that exist in Carlingford. I have another plan of + operations to propose to you, which I feel quite sure is for your + good, and also naturally for the good of anybody to whom you may + intend to unite your fortunes. I feel quite sure that it is far + safer to adopt a bold resolution, and to have it over at once. Come + to dinner to-morrow. If you may happen to find an enemy, you will + find also an unlooked-for friend; and, so far as I am concerned, + you _know_ that you may calculate on my support. I do not wonder at + your being anxious about it; but if you will only have full + confidence in me and a little in yourself, believe me it will be + all over in a night. If there had ever been anything between you + and me, as these stupid people suppose, I might have felt + hesitation in writing to you like this; but when I know a thing to + be right, I hope I will never be afraid to do it. I have been + called upon to do many things that are not common for girls of my + age, and perhaps that is why I made up my mind at once to set this + all straight for you. Once more I repeat, dear Mr Cavendish, have + confidence in me. Come to-morrow evening as if nothing had + happened; and take my word for it that all will go well.--Your + friend, + + "LUCILLA MARJORIBANKS. + + "_P.S._--If you would like to come and talk it over with me + to-morrow, I shall be at home till twelve o'clock; but unless it + will be a satisfaction to your own mind, it is not necessary for + me, for I have all my plans laid." + +[Footnote 2: It is only justice to Miss Marjoribanks to say that she was +not addicted to fine writing; but then she was a person who liked to +have everything in keeping, and naturally an emergency such as the +present does not come every day, and requires to be treated +accordingly.] + + * * * * * + +It would be quite out of the question to attempt any explanation of Mr +Cavendish's feelings when he read this letter. His utter bewilderment, +his terror, his rage, his final helpless sense that it would be utterly +hopeless for him, or half a dozen men, to enter the field against this +curious complication of unknown friends and open enemies and generous +protectors, took away from him the last remnant of courage. He did not +know what to do or to think. He swallowed his coffee with a sense of +despair, and sent the rest of his breakfast away untasted; thus +betraying, without intending it, his emotions to his kitchen. "It stands +to reason as there's a cause for it," Mr Cavendish's domestics concluded +in committee of the whole house; and surely, if ever man had good reason +for not eating his breakfast, it was he. When he had gone over it all +again till his head had grown utterly confused and his thoughts were all +topsy-turvy, Mr Cavendish took a sudden resolution. He went upstairs and +changed his dress with a certain solemnity. He made a toilette more +careful than if he were going, as he once had gone, to propose. It was +like Nelson going into gala uniform for a battle. And then he went out +to discover, if possible, what was coming to him. The difference was, +that in this battle no honour, but only a possible salvage of reputation +and fortunate escape, was to be gained. + + + + +_Chapter XXX_ + + +It is possible that some people may think Mr Cavendish's emotions too +acute for all the danger to which he was exposed; but no doubt every +alarm gets intensified when a man broods on it, and thinks of nothing +else for weeks at a time. All that he had to do at the present moment +was to walk into Carlingford by the most frequented way, and to go up +Grange Lane, where every house was open to him, and where nobody was so +great a favourite as he. There were as many chances in his favour that +he would not in that friendly neighbourhood encounter his one enemy, as +there is for every man who goes into action that the bullet which is +predestined to strike somebody will not be directed to him; but then Mr +Cavendish had not the excitement of personal conflict, nor the kind of +security which is given by sharing a risk with a great many other +people. And to see everything smiling and serene around, and yet to know +that the most deadly danger may arrive to you at any innocent opening, +or round the first street-corner, is a kind of risk which naturally +tells upon the nerves more than a more open peril. Mr Cavendish met Dr +Marjoribanks, and the Doctor was good enough to stop his brougham and +keep him in conversation for five minutes with his back to the foe, if +foe there was approaching; and then he met Mrs Chiley, who all but +kissed him, and was so glad to see him again, and so pleased that he was +in time to make acquaintance with the Archdeacon, and so sure that +Lucilla would be quite happy now he had come back. "Perhaps I ought not +to say so, but I _know_ she has missed you," said the injudicious old +lady; and she took both his hands and held the miserable man in a kind +of pillory, from whence he gazed with despairing eyes over her shoulder, +feeling sure that now was the fatal moment, and that his enemy _must_ be +coming. But fortune still favoured him, as it happened. He had the +presence of mind to say, "I am going to call on Miss Marjoribanks;" and +Mrs Chiley dropped his hands on the instant as if they burned her, and +patted him on the arm and sent him away. "She is sure to be in just now, +and I am so glad; and, my dear, you need not mind me, for I am both your +friends," Mrs Chiley said. But when he was delivered from that danger, +something still more formidable awaited the unfortunate man. He could +not believe his eyes at first, nor conceive it possible that Fate would +have such a spite against him; but there was no mistaking the crumpled +dress, any more than the straight eyebrows and flashing oblique glances +that had already found him out. Of all the horrible chances in the +world, it was Barbara--Barbara, who had a right to think he had deserted +her on the previous night, and with whom his next interview could not be +otherwise than stormy--who thus appeared like a lion in his way. When he +saw what awaited him, Mr Cavendish lost courage. His heart sank down +into unfathomable depths. He did not know what he could say to her to +shorten the inevitable interview, nor how he could escape, nor how +hinder her from discovering that it was Lucilla he was going to see; and +he had no longer any doubt in his mind that while he was thus engaged +the Archdeacon must inevitably appear. If he had had time to think of +ordinary subjects, he would have been sufficiently annoyed at the idea +of an interview with Barbara in broad daylight on the sacred soil of +Grange Lane, where all the world could or might be spectators; but such +a merely prudential sentiment was entirely swallowed up to-day in much +more urgent considerations. He would have been content just now, in the +horror of the moment, to plight his troth to Barbara by way of getting +rid of her, and leaving his path clear; but he could not stop her or +himself from advancing, and dared not give any vent to the panic which +was consuming his soul. + +"Oh, I am sure I never thought of seeing you here, Mr Cavendish," said +Barbara, with a toss of her head. She would have done a great deal to +secure her wavering lover, but she could not be amiable at a moment when +she had him at a disadvantage. "Perhaps you are going to see Miss +Marjoribanks," said the foolish young woman. To tell the truth, she did +not suspect him of any such treachery; but her heart was beating louder +than usual, and she had the best position of the two, or thought she +had, and chose what she supposed the most aggravating thing to say. + +But it is always hard to tell what a man may do when he is in a state of +despair. Mr Cavendish looked her in the face with the composure of +desperation, though she did not know that. All that he was able to think +of was how to get rid of her soonest, and to be able to continue his +way. "Yes, I am going to see Miss Marjoribanks," he said, with a face +which extremity rendered stolid and impassible. As for poor Barbara, her +colour changed in a moment. The very least that she had a right to +expect was that he should have asked her pardon, put himself at her +feet; and her mingled spite and humiliation and mortification at this +response were beyond telling. Her cheeks blazed with sudden rage, her +passion was so furious that she actually did what he wanted and stood +out of his way, and made him an imperious sign to pass on and leave her. +But even then she did not expect to be taken at her word. When Mr +Cavendish took off his hat in that heartless way and passed on, Barbara +stood aghast, not able to believe her senses. Had he really passed and +left her, she who had done so much for him? Had he actually gone over to +her adversary before her very eyes? She stood stock-still when he left +her, gazing after him, blazing with rage and despite, and scarcely able +to keep herself from shrieking out the torrent of reproaches and +vituperations that were in her mind. She made no attempt whatever to +hide her wrath or jealous curiosity from any eyes that might be there to +see; but to be sure she had, as her sister said, no proper pride. If Mr +Cavendish had carried out his intentions, the chances are that Barbara, +driven desperate, would have rushed after him, and found some means of +breaking in upon his interview with Lucilla; but after all this +badgering, he had not the courage to carry out his intentions. He looked +down the long sunshiny line of Grange Lane with a sickening sense that +any of these doors might open at any moment, and his fate rush out upon +him. There was not a soul to be seen, but that only made it all the more +likely to poor Mr Cavendish's distempered fancy that somebody was +coming. He had not even a single thought at leisure to give to Barbara, +and never asked himself whether or not she was standing watching him. +All his senses and faculties were engaged forecasting what might happen +to him before he could reach Dr Marjoribanks's house. He was approaching +it from the lower end of Grange Lane, and consequently had everything to +risk; and when Mr Centum's door opened, and all the nurses and all the +children poured out, the unfortunate man felt his heart jump, and drop +again, if possible, lower than ever. It was this that drove him, instead +of going on to Lucilla, to take refuge in his sister's house, where the +door happened to be open. He rushed in there, and took breath, and was +safe for the instant. But Barbara, for her part, watching him, divined +none of Mr Cavendish's reasons. Her heart too gave a jump, and her wrath +cooled down miraculously. No doubt it was a little impatience at being +questioned which had made him answer as he did. He had not gone to +Lucilla--he had not deserted her standard, who had always met him +half-way, and done so much for him. Barbara calmed down as she saw him +enter at Mrs Woodburn's door. After having thus witnessed his safe exit, +she felt at liberty to go back and return to her own affairs, and +prepare her toilette for the evening; for it moved her very little less +than Mr Cavendish to know that it was Thursday, and that there was no +telling what might happen that night. + +As for the hero of all this commotion, he went and buried himself in Mrs +Woodburn's back drawing-room, and threw himself on the sofa in the dark +corner, and wiped his forehead like the Archdeacon. It was not his fault +if events had overwhelmed him. If he had not met in succession Dr +Marjoribanks and Mrs Chiley and Barbara, he would have gone right to +Lucilla without stopping to question himself further--but he could not +bear all this accumulation. Panic had seized upon him, and this panic +wrought more effectually than all argument. It was so terrible to live +under such a shadow, that he felt it must be put an end to. If only he +were left at rest for this moment, he felt that he could make up his +mind to take the perilous leap at night, and dare everything. "It can't +be worse than ruin," he said to himself, and tried not to think that +for his sister it might be something even worse than ruin. But the first +thing of all was to get a little rest in the meantime, and hide himself, +and forget the nightmare that was seated on his shoulders. When Mrs +Woodburn came to him in haste, and saw his careful dress and pale looks, +she was frightened for the moment. She thought it possible for one +second that despair had driven him out of his wits, and that there might +be, for anything she could tell, a little bottle of prussic acid in his +waistcoat pocket. That was her first idea, and her second was that he +was going to carry out at last his most wise and laudable resolution of +proposing to Miss Marjoribanks, and that it was this--naturally a +serious and hazardous enterprise--which made him look so pale. + +"Harry, if you are going to Lucilla----!" said Mrs Woodburn; "wait and +rest yourself a little, and I will get you a glass of wine. Keep still; +there's some Tokay," said the anxious sister. "Don't you go and worry +yourself. You shall see nobody. I'll bring it you with my own hand." + +"Oh, confound the Tokay!" said Mr Cavendish. "I know what Woodburn's +Tokay is--if that mattered. Look here, I want to speak to you. I _was_ +going to Lucilla, but I'm not up to it. Oh, not in the way you think! +Don't be a fool like everybody. I tell you she wouldn't have me, and I +won't ask her. Read this, which is much more to the purpose," Mr +Cavendish added, taking out Miss Marjoribanks's letter. He watched her, +while she read it, with that sense of contempt and superiority which a +man naturally feels who has advanced much beyond the point in any +special matter at which his interlocutor is still stationary. He even +smiled at her cry of horror and amazement, and found the agitation she +showed ridiculous. "Don't make a row about it," he said, regaining his +colour as his sister lost hers. "It's all right. I can't ask Lucilla +Marjoribanks to have me after that, but I mean to put my trust in her, +as she says. I was going to ask her to explain; but after all, on +thinking of it, I don't see the good of explanations," said Mr +Cavendish, with lofty tranquillity. "The fact is, she is right, Nelly, +and, stand or fall, we'll have it out to-night." + +But Mrs Woodburn was scarcely in a condition to reply, much less to give +any advice. "Oh, good heavens! what does she know?" cried the trembling +woman. "What do you suppose she can know? She gave me a dreadful +fright, coming and asking about you and your name. And then she never +was a great friend of mine--and if she should say anything to Woodburn! +Oh, Harry, go away, go away, and don't face her. You know you slighted +her, and she is laying a snare for us. Oh, Harry, go away! She can't do +you much harm, but she could ruin me, and any little peace I have! +Woodburn would never--never forgive--he would be frantic, you know. It +has always been he that made a fuss about the Cavendishes--and, good +heavens! to be in a girl's power, and she one that you have slighted, +Harry! Oh, for Heaven's sake, for pity's sake, if you care anything for +me----" + +"Hold your tongue, Nelly," said Mr Cavendish. "Don't make a row. What on +earth is the use of Heaven's-saking? I tell you I am going to make an +end of it. If I were to run away now, it would turn up again at some +other corner, and some other moment. Give me a pen and a bit of paper. I +will write a note, and say I am coming. I don't want any explanations. +If it's all a mistake, so much the better; but I'm going to face it out +to-night." + +It was some time before Mrs Woodburn recovered her senses; but in the +meantime her brother wrote Lucilla his note, and in sight of his +sister's agitation felt himself perfectly composed and serene and +manful. It even made him complaisant to feel the difference that there +was, when the emergency really arrived at last, between his own manly +calm and her womanish panic. But then it was for herself that she was +afraid, lest her husband should find out that she was not one of the +Cavendishes. "You must have been giving yourself airs on the subject," +Mr Cavendish said, as he fastened up his note. "I never was so foolish +as that, for my part;" and naturally the more he admired his own +steadiness and courage, the steadier and more courageous he grew--or at +least so he felt for the moment, with her terror before his eyes. + +"If you do go," said Mrs Woodburn at last, "oh, Harry, for goodness' +sake, mind that you deny _everything_. If you confess to anything, it +will all be proved against you; don't allow a single thing that's said +to you. It is a mistaken identity, you know--that is what it is; there +was a case in the papers just the other day. Oh, Harry, for Heaven's +sake don't be weak!--deny everything; you don't know anything about +it--you don't know what they mean--you can't understand----" + +"It is I that have to do it, Nelly," said Mr Cavendish, more and more +tranquil and superior. "You must let me do it my way;" and he was very +kind and reassuring to her in his composure. This was how things ought +to be; and it was astonishing how much he gained in his own mind and +estimation by Mrs Woodburn's panic. Being the stronger vessel, he was of +course superior to all that. But somehow when he had got back to his own +house again, and had no longer the spectacle of his sister's terror +before him, the courage began to ooze out of Mr Cavendish's +finger-points; he tried hard to stimulate himself up to the same point, +and to regain that lofty and assured position; but as the evening +approached, matters grew rather worse than better. He did not turn and +flee, because flight, in the present alarmed and touchy state of public +opinion, would have equally been destruction; and nobody could answer +for it how far, if he failed to obey her, Miss Marjoribanks's discretion +might go. And thus the eventful evening fell, and the sun went down, +which was to Mr Cavendish as if it might be the last sun he should ever +(metaphorically) see--while, in the meantime, all the other people +dressed for dinner as if nothing was going to happen, and as if it was +merely a Thursday like other Thursdays, which was coming to Grange +Lane. + + + + +_Chapter XXXI_ + + +Lucilla waited till twelve o'clock, as she had said, for Mr Cavendish's +visit; and so mingled are human sentiments, even in the mind of a person +of genius, that there is no doubt she was at once a little disappointed, +and that Mr Cavendish gained largely in her estimation by not coming. +Her pity began to be mingled by a certain respect, of which, to tell the +truth, he was not worthy; but then Miss Marjoribanks did not know that +it was circumstances, and not self-regard, or any sense of dignity, that +had kept him back. With the truest consideration, it was in the +dining-room that Lucilla had placed herself to await his visit; for she +had made up her mind that he should not be disturbed _this time_ by any +untimely morning caller. But as she sat at the window and looked out +upon the garden, and was tantalised by fifty successive ringings of the +bell, none of which heralded her expected visitor, a gentler sentiment +gradually grew in Lucilla's mind. Perhaps it would not be just to call +it positively regret; but yet she could not help a kind of impression +that if the Archdeacon had never come to Carlingford, and if Mr +Cavendish had never been so weak as to be drawn aside by Barbara Lake, +and if everything had gone as might have been expected from first +appearances--that, on the whole, it might have been well. After all, he +had a great many good qualities. He had yielded to panic for the moment, +but (so far as Lucilla knew) he was now girding up his loins to meet the +emergency in a creditable way; and if, as has been just said, nothing +had come in the way--if there had been no Archdeacon, no Mrs Mortimer, +no Barbara--if Mr Chiltern had died, as was to have been expected, and +Mr Cavendish been elected for Carlingford--then Lucilla could not help a +momentary sense that the arrangement altogether might have been a not +undesirable one. Now, of course, all that was at an end. By dexterous +management the crisis might be tided over, and the worst avoided; but +Lucilla became regretfully conscious that now no fate higher than +Barbara was possible for the unfortunate man who might once, and with +hope, have aspired to herself. It was very sad, but there was no help +for it. A certain tenderness of compassion entered Miss Marjoribanks's +bosom as she realised this change. It would be hard if a woman did not +pity a man thus shut out by hard fate from any possibility of ever +becoming the companion of her existence--a man who, on the whole, had +many capabilities, yet whose highest fortune in life could not mount +above Barbara Lake! + +This thought filled Lucilla's heart with gentle regret. It was sad, but +it was inevitable; and when Mr Cavendish's note was brought to her, in +which he said simply, and very briefly, that though not sure whether he +understood the meaning of her letter, he should certainly do himself the +pleasure of accepting as usual her kind invitation, Miss Marjoribanks's +regret grew more and more profound. Such a man, who had been capable of +appreciating herself, to think that, having known her, he should decline +upon Barbara! The pity was entirely disinterested, for nobody knew +better than Lucilla that, under the circumstances, no other arrangement +was possible. He might marry the drawing-master's daughter, but Miss +Marjoribanks was too well aware of her duty to her friends, and to her +position in society, to have given her consent to his marriage with +anybody's daughter in Grange Lane. But still it was a pity--nobody could +say that it was not a pity--a man so visibly capable of better things. + +Lucilla, however, could not afford to waste her morning in unprofitable +regrets. An evening so critical and conclusive had to be provided for in +many different ways. Among other things, she had to invite, or rather +command, the presence of a guest whom, to tell the truth, she had no +particular desire to see. The Archdeacon was only a man when all was +said, and might change his mind like other men; and to bring Mrs +Mortimer to Grange Lane in the evening, looking interesting, as, to be +sure, she could look by times, after that unpleasant exhibition of Dr +Marjoribanks's feelings, was naturally a trial to Lucilla. Mr Beverley +had drawn back once before, and that when Mrs Mortimer was young, and no +doubt a great deal more attractive than at present; and now that she was +a widow, forlorn and faded, it would be no wonder if he were to draw +back, especially, as Lucilla acknowledged to herself, when he saw the +ancient object of his affections in her own society, and among all the +fresh young faces of Grange Lane: and if the Archdeacon should draw +back, and leave the field open, and perhaps the Doctor, who ought to +know better, should step in--when she had got so far, Lucilla rose up +and shook out her draperies, as if by way of shaking off the +disagreeable idea. "At all events I have to do my duty," she said to +herself. And thus it was with that last and most exquisite refinement of +well-doing, the thought that she might possibly be going to harm herself +in benefiting others, that Miss Marjoribanks heroically put on her hat, +and issued forth in the dinner-hour of the little pupils, to invite her +last and most important guest. + +This period of suspense had not been by any means a happy or comfortable +period for Mrs Mortimer. The poor widow was living in a constant +expectation of something happening, whereas her only true policy was to +have made up her mind that nothing would ever happen, and shaped herself +accordingly to her life. Instead of eating her dinner as she ought to +have done at that hour of leisure, and fortifying herself for the weary +afternoon's work, she was sitting as usual at the window when Miss +Marjoribanks came to the door. And if it was a tedious business looking +out of the window when the rain was drenching the four walls of the +garden and breaking down the flowers, and reducing all the poor little +shrubs to abject misery, it could not be said to be much more cheerful +in the sunshine, when pleasant sounds came in over that +enclosure--voices and footsteps of people who might be called alive, +while this solitary woman was buried, and had nothing to do with life. +Such a fate may be accepted when people make up their minds to it; but +when, so far from making up one's mind, one fixes one's thoughts upon +the life outside, and fancies that every moment the call may come, and +one may find one's place again in the active world, the tedium grows +more and more insupportable. As for Lucilla, naturally she could not see +any reason why Mrs Mortimer should sit at the window--why she could not +content herself, and eat her dinner instead. + +"There are a great many people in Carlingford who have not nearly such a +pleasant lookout," Lucilla said; "for my part, I think it is a very +pretty garden. The wistaria has grown quite nice, and there is a little +of everything," said Miss Marjoribanks; and, so far as that went, she +was no doubt the best judge, having done it all herself. + +"Oh, yes, it is very pretty; and I am sure I am very grateful to +Providence for giving me such a home," said the widow; but she sighed, +poor soul, as she said it: for, to tell the truth, though she was not +so young as she once was, it takes some people a long time to find out +that they themselves are growing old, and have done with life. And then +outside, in that existence which she could hear but could not see, there +was one figure which was wonderfully interesting to poor Mrs Mortimer; +which is a complication which has a remarkable effect on the question of +content or discontent. + +"You ought to take a walk every day," said Miss Marjoribanks, "that is +what is the matter with you; but, in the meantime, there is something +else I want you to do. This is Thursday, you know, and I have always +some people on Thursday. It is not a party--it is only an Evening--and +no dress to speak of. Your black silk will look quite nice, and be all +that is necessary. Black is very becoming to some people," said Lucilla +reflectively. She looked at Mrs Mortimer with her head a little on one +side, and saw in a moment, with the rapid glance of genius, just what +she wanted. "And some lace for your head," Miss Marjoribanks added. "I +don't think you have gone off at all, and I am sure you will look very +nice. It is at nine o'clock." + +"This evening, Lucilla!" said Mrs Mortimer, faintly: "but you know I +never go out--I am not fit for society. Oh, don't ask me, please! Since +poor Edward died----' + +"Yes," said Lucilla, "it must have been a great loss, I am sure; though +I can't say I mind going into a room alone, as some people do; but you +know you can avoid that, if you like, by coming early. Come at eight, +and there will be nobody in the drawing-room, and you can choose your +own corner. Put it quite back--at the back of your head," said Miss +Marjoribanks, with a little anxiety. "I could show you how if I had the +lace. I do so want you to look nice. Oh, never mind the fashion. When +one has a style of one's own, it is always twenty times better. Put it +as you used to wear it before you were married; and then, with that nice +black silk----" + +"Oh, Lucilla, don't ask me," said the widow. "I shall not know how to +talk, nor look, nor anything; and then I know nobody; and then----" + +"My dear, you have always _me_," said Lucilla, with tender reproach. "I +am so sorry I can't stop any longer. I leave it quite to your own taste +about the lace. And you will find people you know, you may be quite sure +of that. Remember, not later than nine o'clock; and come at eight if you +don't like to come into the room by yourself. Good-bye now. I want you +to look very nice to-night," Miss Marjoribanks added, giving her friend +an affectionate kiss; "you must, for my sake." + +"But, Lucilla----" cried Mrs Mortimer. + +It was vain to make any further protest, however, for Lucilla was gone, +having, in the first place, communicated her requirements to Mary Jane, +who was not likely to forget, nor to let her mistress be late. "And mind +she is _nice_," said Miss Marjoribanks emphatically, as she went out at +the door. It was necessary she should be nice; without that the intended +_situation_ which Lucilla was preparing--the grand finale of her +exertions--would fall flat, and probably fail of its effect. For this it +was necessary that the widow should look not only pretty, but +interesting, and a little pathetic, and all that a widow should look +when first dragged back into society. Miss Marjoribanks gave a momentary +sigh as she emerged from the garden door, and could not but feel +conscious that in all this she might be preparing the most dread +discomfiture and downfall for herself. Even if it passed over as it +ought to do, and nobody was charmed but the Archdeacon, who was the +right person to be charmed, Lucilla felt that after this she never could +have that entire confidence in her father which she had had up to this +moment. The incipient sentiment Dr Marjoribanks had exhibited was one +that struck at the roots of all faith in him as a father; and every +person of sensibility will at once perceive how painful such a +suggestion must have been to the mind of a young woman so entirely +devoted as was Miss Marjoribanks to the consolation and comfort of her +dear papa. + +Lucilla was not allowed to spend the rest of this momentous afternoon in +maturing her plans, as might have been necessary to a lesser +intelligence; and when the refreshing moment came at which she could +have her cup of tea before preparing for the fatigues of the evening, it +was Mrs Chiley who came to assist at that ceremony. The old lady came in +with an important air, and gave Lucilla a long, lingering kiss, as old +ladies sometimes do when they particularly mean it. "My dear, I am not +going to stay a moment, but I thought you might have something to tell +me," the kind old woman said, arranging herself in her chair with the +satisfaction of a listener who expects to be confided in. As for +Lucilla, who had no clue to Mrs Chiley's special curiosity, and who had +a good many things on her mind just at that moment which she rather +preferred not to talk about, she was for once struck with veritable +astonishment, and did not know what to say. + +"Dear Mrs Chiley, what should I have to tell you?" said Miss +Marjoribanks. "You know very well where I should go the very first +moment if anything happened;" and by way of staving off more particular +questions, she took her old friend a cup of tea. + +"Yes, my dear, I hope so," said Mrs Chiley, but at the same time her +disappointment was evident. "It is very nice, thank you--your tea is +always nice, Lucilla--but it was not that I was thinking of. I can't +understand how it is, I am sure. I saw him to-day with my own eyes, and +could not help seeing how anxious he was looking! I hope, I do hope, you +have not been so cruel as to refuse him, Lucilla--and all for something +that is not his fault, poor fellow, or that could be explained, you may +be sure." + +Miss Marjoribanks grew more and more surprised as she listened. She put +away the kettle without filling the teapot, and left her own cup +standing untasted, and went and sat down on the stool by Mrs Chiley's +feet. "Tell me whom I have refused this time, for I don't know anything +about it," said Lucilla; and then her visitor burst forth. + +"It must be all that creature's fault! He told me he was coming here; +and to tell the truth, I stood and watched him, for you know how +interested I am, my dear; and then a little while after he met _that_ +Barbara. Oh, Lucilla, why were you ever so foolish as to have her here? +I told you how it would end when you brought those artist people about +your house. They are all a set of adventurers!" cried Mrs Chiley. "I saw +them meet, and I was so disgusted that I did not know what I was doing; +but he passed her as nicely as possible. Just a civil word, you know, +and then he was past. Just as I would have done myself; for it is always +best not to be uncivil to anybody. I could see her standing as if she +had been struck with lightning; and naturally, Lucilla, I never thought +anything else than that he had come here, and that all was right between +you. Oh, my dear, I hope you are sure you have not refused him," Mrs +Chiley said, piteously; "anyhow, Lucilla, you need not mind telling +_me_. I may be sorry, but I will not blame you, my dear." + +"I have not refused anybody," said Lucilla, with a modest innocence that +it was a pleasure to see; "but, dear Mrs Chiley," she continued, +raising her drooping eyelids, "I think you make a mistake about Mr +Cavendish. My own opinion is that Barbara would make him a very nice +wife. Oh, please, don't be angry! I don't mean to say, you know, that I +think her quite what one would call _nice_--for oneself. But then the +gentlemen have such strange ways of thinking. Many a girl whom we could +not put up with is quite popular with Them," said Miss Marjoribanks, +with a certain mild wonder at the inexplicable creatures whom she thus +condescended to discuss. "I suppose they have a different standard, you +know; and for my part, I would advise Mr Cavendish to marry Barbara. I +think it is the best thing he could do." + +"Lucilla!" cried Mrs Chiley, almost with a shriek of horror. She +thought, as was perhaps natural, that there was some pique in what her +young companion said; not doing Miss Marjoribanks justice--as indeed few +people did--for that perfect truthfulness which it was Lucilla's luck +always to be able to maintain. Mrs Chiley thought it was her young +friend's maidenly pride and determination not to take up the part of a +woman slighted or jilted. "You may refuse him, my dear, if your heart is +not with him," said the old lady; "but I would not be so hard upon him +as that, poor fellow. You may say what you please, but I always will +think him nice, Lucilla. I know I ought to be on the Archdeacon's side," +said Mrs Chiley, putting her handkerchief to her eyes; "but I am an old +woman, and I like my old friends best. Oh, Lucilla, it is not kind of +you to keep up appearances with me. I wish you would give way a little. +It would do you good, my darling; and you know I might be both your +grandmothers, Lucilla," she cried, putting her arm round her favourite. +As for Miss Marjoribanks, she gave her old friend a close embrace, which +was the only thing that even her genius could suggest to do. + +"I have always _you_," said Lucilla, with touching eloquence; and then +she freed herself a little from Mrs Chiley's arms. "I don't say, +perhaps, that everybody will receive her; but I mean to make an effort, +for my part; and I shall certainly tell Mr Cavendish so if he ever +speaks of it to me. As for Mr Beverley, he is going to be married too. +Did not you hear? He told me all about it himself one day," said Miss +Marjoribanks; "and I will ask him to-night if I may not tell you who the +lady is. It is quite a little romance, and I hope we shall have two +marriages, and it will make it quite gay for the winter. When you know +all about it," Lucilla added tenderly, by way of breaking the shock, "I +am sure you will be pleased." + +But instead of being pleased, Mrs Chiley was speechless for the moment. +Her fresh old cheeks grew ashy with dismay and horror. "The Archdeacon +too!" she cried, gasping for breath. "Oh, Lucilla, my dear?--and you?" +Then the kind old lady held Miss Marjoribanks fast, and sobbed over her +in the despair of the moment. To think, after all the pains that had +been taken, and all the hopes and all the speculations, that neither the +one nor the other was coming to anything! "If it should be that General, +after all--and I cannot abide him," sobbed Lucilla's anxious friend. But +Miss Marjoribanks's genius carried her through this trial, as well as +through all the others which she had yet encountered on her way. + +"Dear Mrs Chiley!" said Lucilla, "it is so good of you to care; but if +it had been _that_ I was thinking of, I need never have come home at +all, you know; and my object in life is just what it has always been, to +be a comfort to papa." + +Upon which Mrs Chiley kissed her young friend once more with lingering +meaning. "My dear, I don't know what They mean," she said, with +indignation; "everybody knows men are great fools where women are +concerned--but I never knew what idiots they were till now; and you are +too good for them, my darling!" said Mrs Chiley, with indignant +tenderness. Perhaps Miss Marjoribanks was in some respects of the same +way of thinking. She conducted her sympathetic friend to the garden +door, when it came to be time for everybody to go and dress, with a +certain pathetic elevation in her own person, which was not out of +accord with Mrs Chiley's virtuous wrath. To have Mrs Mortimer and +Barbara Lake preferred to her did not wound Lucilla's pride--one can be +wounded in that way only by one's equals. She thought of it with a +certain mild pity and charitable contempt. Both these two men had had +the chance of having _her_, and this was how they had chosen! And there +can be little wonder if Miss Marjoribanks's compassion for them was +mingled with a little friendly and condescending disdain. + +It was, however, an ease to Lucilla's mind that she had let Mrs Chiley +know, and was so far free to work out her plans without any fear of +misconception. And on the whole, her old friend's tender indignation was +not disagreeable to her. Thus it was, without any interval of repose to +speak of, that her lofty energies went on unwearied to overrule and +guide the crisis which was to decide so many people's fate. + + + + +_Chapter XXXII_ + + +Dr Marjoribanks was not a man to take very much notice of trivial +external changes; and he knew Lucilla and her constitution, and, being a +medical man, was not perhaps so liable to parental anxieties as an +unprofessional father might have been; but even he was a little struck +by Miss Marjoribanks's appearance when he came into the drawing-room. He +said, "You are flushed, Lucilla? is anything going to happen?" with the +calmness of a man who knew there was not much the matter--but yet he did +observe that her colour was not exactly what it always was. "I am quite +well, papa, thank you," said Lucilla, which, to be sure, was a fact the +Doctor had never doubted; and then the people began to come in, and +there was no more to be said. + +But there could be no doubt that Lucilla had more colour than usual. Her +pulse was quite steady, and her heart going on at its ordinary rate; but +her admirable circulation was nevertheless so far affected, that the +ordinary rose-tints of her complexion were all deepened. It was not so +distinctly an improvement as it would have been had she been habitually +pale; but still the flush was moderate, and did Miss Marjoribanks no +harm. And then it was a larger party than usual. The Centums were there, +who were General Travers's chaperons, and so were the Woodburns, and of +course Mrs Chiley, which made up the number of ladies beyond what was +general at Dr Marjoribanks's table. Lucilla received all her guests with +the sweetest smiles and all her ordinary ease and self-possession, but +at the same time her mind was not free from some excitement. She was on +the eve of a crisis which would be the greatest failure or the greatest +success of her public life, and naturally she anticipated it with a +certain emotion. + +Mr Cavendish, for his part, had sufficient sense to come very early, and +to get into a dark corner and keep himself out of the way; for though he +was screwed up to the emergency, his self-possession was nothing to +that of Lucilla. But on the whole, it was perhaps Mrs Woodburn who +suffered the most. Her heightened colour was more conspicuous than that +of Miss Marjoribanks, because as a general rule she was pale. She was +pale, almost white, and had dark eyes and dark hair, and possessed +precisely all the accessories which make a sudden change of complexion +remarkable; and the effect this evening was so evident that even her +husband admired her for a moment, and then stopped short to inquire, "By +George! had she begun to paint?" to which question Mrs Woodburn +naturally replied only by an indignant shrug of her white shoulders and +aversion of her head. She would not have been sorry, perhaps, for this +night only, if he had believed that it was rouge, and not emotion. Of +all the people at Dr Marjoribanks's table, she perhaps was the only one +really to be pitied. Even Mr Cavendish, if vanquished, would at the most +receive only the recompense of his deeds, and could go away and begin +over again somewhere else, or bury himself in the great depths of +general society, where nobody would be the wiser; but as for his sister, +she could not go away. The first result for her would be to give the +master to whom she belonged, and for whom she had, with some affection, +a great deal of not unnatural contempt, a cruel and overwhelming power +over her; and she knew, poor soul, that he was not at all too generous +or delicate to make use of such a power. In such a case she would be +bound to the rock, like a kind of hapless Andromeda, to be pecked at by +all the birds and blown at by all the winds, not to speak of the +devouring monster from whom no hero could ever deliver her; and with all +these horrible consequences before her eyes, she had to sit still and +look on and do nothing, to see all the hidden meaning of every look and +movement without appearing to see it, to maintain ordinary conversation +when her ear was strained to the uttermost to hear words of fate on +which her whole future depended. No wonder her colour was high; and she +could not go into a corner, as Mr Cavendish did, nor keep silent, nor +withdraw herself from observation. Neither her pulse nor her heart would +have borne the scrutiny to which Miss Marjoribanks's calm organs might +have been subjected with perfect security; and the chances are, if the +Doctor had by any hazard put his finger on her wrist when he shook hands +with her, that instead of handing her over to General Travers to be +taken down to dinner, he would have, on the contrary, sent her off to +bed. + +Fortunately by this time the year was declining, and that happy season +had returned in which people once more begin to dine by artificial +light; and at the same time it was not absolutely dark in the +drawing-room, so that Lucilla had not, as she said, thought it necessary +to have the candles lighted. "If there should happen to be a mistake as +to who is to take down who, it will only be all the more amusing," said +Miss Marjoribanks, "so long as you do not go off and leave _me_." This +was addressed to the Archdeacon, to whom Lucilla was very particular in +her attentions at that moment. Mrs Chiley, who was looking on with a +great sense of depression, could not help wondering why--"When she knows +he is engaged and everything settled," the old lady said to herself, +with natural indignation. For her part, she did not see what right a man +had to introduce himself thus under false pretences into the confiding +bosom of society--when he was as bad as married, or even indeed worse. +She was ruffled, and she did not think it worth while to conceal that +she was so; for there are limits to human patience, and a visitor who +stays six weeks ought at least to have confidence in his entertainers. +Mrs Chiley for once in her life could have boxed Lucilla's ears for her +uncalled-for civility. "I think it very strange that it is not the +General who takes her downstairs," she said to Mrs Centum. "It is all +very well to have a respect for clergymen; but after being here so +often, and the General quite a stranger--I am surprised at Lucilla," +said the indiscreet old lady. As for Mrs Centum, she felt the neglect, +but she had too much proper pride to own that her man was not receiving +due attention. "It is not the first time General Travers has been here," +she said, reserving the question; and so in the uncertain light, when +nobody was sure who was his neighbour, the procession filed downstairs. + +To enter the dining-room, all brilliant and shining as it was, radiant +with light and flowers and crystal and silver, and everything that makes +a dinner-table pretty to look upon, was, as Mrs Centum said, "quite a +contrast." A close observer might have remarked, as Mrs Woodburn and +Lucilla took their places, that both of them, instead of that flush +which had been so noticeable a short time before, had become quite pale. +It was the moment of trial. Poor Mr Cavendish, in his excitement, had +taken just the place he ought not to have taken, immediately under the +lamp at the centre of the table. During the moment when the unsuspecting +Archdeacon said grace with his eyes decorously cast down, Miss +Marjoribanks owned the ordinary weakness of humanity so much as to drop +her fan and her handkerchief, and even the napkin which was arranged in +a symmetrical pyramid on her plate. Such a sign of human feebleness +could but endear her to everybody who was aware of the momentous +character of the crisis. When these were all happily recovered and +everybody seated, Lucilla kept her eyes fixed upon the Archdeacon's +face. It was, as we have said, a terrible moment. When he raised his +head and looked round him, naturally Mr Beverley's eyes went direct to +the mark like an arrow; he looked, and he saw at the centre of the +table, surrounded by every kind of regard and consideration, full in the +light of the lamp, his favourite adventurer, the impostor whom he had +denounced the first time he took his place by Miss Marjoribanks's side. +The Archdeacon rose to his feet in the excitement of the discovery; he +put his hand over his eyes as if to clear them. He said, "Good God!" +loud out, with an accent of horror which paralysed the two people lower +down than himself. As for Miss Marjoribanks, she was not paralysed--she +who had not lost a single glance of his eyes or movement of his large +person. Lucilla rose to the height of the position. She put her hand +upon his arm sharply, and with a certain energy. "Mr Beverley, Thomas is +behind you with the soup," said Miss Marjoribanks. The Archdeacon turned +round to see what it was, conscious that somebody had spoken to him, but +as indifferent to his companion and to civility as he was to Thomas and +the soup. "What?" he said hoarsely, interrupting his scrutiny for the +moment. But when he had met Miss Marjoribanks's eye the Archdeacon sat +down. Lucilla did not liberate him for a moment from that gaze. She +fixed her eyes upon his eyes, and looked at him as people only look when +they mean something. "If you tell me what surprised you so much, perhaps +I can explain," said Miss Marjoribanks. She spoke so that nobody could +hear but himself; and in the meantime General Travers at her left hand +was making himself excessively agreeable to Mrs Woodburn, and no doubt +occupying all her attention; and Lucilla never turned her eyes for a +moment from the Archdeacon's face. + +"I beg your pardon," said Mr Beverley. "I was confounded by what I saw. +Good heavens! it is not possible I can deceive myself. I understand your +alarm. I am not going to make a disturbance and break up your party. I +can wait," the Archdeacon said, drawing a rapid forcible breath. "Miss +Marjoribanks, do you know who that man is?" + +"Oh, yes," said Lucilla, softening into a smile. "Perfectly, I assure +you. He is one of papa's guests, and very much respected in Carlingford; +and he is one of my--very particular friends," Miss Marjoribanks added. +She laughed as she spoke, a kind of laugh which is only appropriate to +one subject, and which is as good, any day, as a confession; and the +flush was so obliging as to return at that moment to her ingenuous +countenance. "We have known each other a long time," Lucilla went on +after that pretty pause; and then she raised her confiding eyes, which +had been cast down, once more to the Archdeacon's face. "You can't think +how nice he is, Mr Beverley," said Miss Marjoribanks. She clasped her +hands together, just for a moment, as she did so, with an eloquent +meaning which it was impossible to mistake. The Archdeacon, for his +part, gazed at her like a man in a dream. Whether it was true--or +whether he was being made a fool of more completely than ever man before +was--or whether he was the victim of an optical or some other kind of +delusion,--the poor man could not tell. He was utterly stricken dumb, +and did not know what to say. He accepted the soup humbly, which Thomas +set before him, though it was a white soup, an effeminate dish, which +went utterly in the face of his principles. And then he looked at the +innocent young creature at his side in that flutter of happy confusion. +It was a terrible position for the Broad-Churchman. After such a tacit +confession he could not spring from his seat and hurl the impostor out +of the room, as in the first place he had a mind to do. On the contrary, +it was with a voice trembling with emotion that he spoke. + +"My dear Miss Marjoribanks," said the Archdeacon, "I am struck dumb by +what you tell me. Good heavens! that it should have come to this; and +yet I should be neglecting my duty if I kept silent. You do not--you +cannot know who he is." + +"Oh, yes," said Lucilla, with another little laugh--"_everything_--and +how he used to know Mrs Mortimer, and all about it. He has no secrets +from me," said Miss Marjoribanks. She caught Mr Cavendish's eye at the +moment, who was casting a stealthy glance in her direction, and who +looked cowed and silenced and unquiet to the most miserable degree; and +she gave him a little reassuring nod, which the Archdeacon watched with +an inward groan. What was he to do? He could not publicly expose the man +who had just received this mark of confidence from his young hostess, +who knew everything. Perhaps it was one of the greatest trials of +Christian patience and fortitude which the Archdeacon, who was not +great, as he himself would have said, in the passive virtues, had +undergone in all the course of his life. He was so utterly subdued and +confounded that he ate his soup, and never found out what kind of soup +it was. That is, he consumed it in large spoonfuls without being aware, +by way of occupying his energies and filling up the time. + +"You cannot mean it," he said, after a pause. "You must be imperfectly +informed. At least let me talk to your father. You must hear all the +rights of the story. If you will let me speak half a dozen words to--to +that person, Miss Marjoribanks, I am sure he will leave the place; he +will give up any claim----" + +"Oh, yes, please talk to him," said Miss Marjoribanks, "it will be so +nice to see you friends. Nothing would make me so happy. You know I have +heard all about it from you and from Mrs Mortimer already, so I am sure +there cannot be much more to tell; and as for papa, he is very fond of +Mr Cavendish," said Lucilla, with an imperceptible elevation of her +voice. + +"Is it _he_ whom you call Mr Cavendish?" said the Archdeacon. He too had +raised his voice without knowing it, and several people looked up, who +were not at the moment engaged in active conversation of their own. The +owner of that name, for his part, also turned his face towards the upper +end of the table. He was sick of the suspense and continued endurance, +and by this time was ready to rush upon his fate. + +"Did any one call me?" he said; and there was a little pause, and the +company in general fixed its regard upon those three people with a sense +that something remarkable was going on among them, though it could not +tell what or why. + +"The Archdeacon wants to make your acquaintance," said Miss +Marjoribanks. "Mr Cavendish--Mr Beverley. There, you know each other; +and when we are gone you can talk to each other if you like," Lucilla +added; "but in the meantime _you_ are too far off, and _I_ want the +Archdeacon. He is _so_ much liked in Carlingford," she continued, +lowering her voice. "You can't think how glad we are to have him back +again. I am sure if you only knew him better----" said Miss +Marjoribanks. As for the Archdeacon, words could not give any idea of +the state of his mind. He ate his dinner sternly after that, and did not +look at anything but his plate. He consumed the most exquisite _plats_, +the tenderest wings of chicken and morsels of _paté_, as if they had +been his personal enemies. For, to tell the truth, he felt the tables +altogether turned upon him, and was confounded, and did not know what it +could mean. + +It was the General who took up Mr Beverley's abandoned place in the +conversation. The gallant soldier talked for two with the best will in +the world. He talked of Cavendish, and all the pleasant hours they had +spent together, and what a good fellow he was, and how much the men in +the club would be amused to hear of his domesticity. It was a kind of +talk very natural to a man who found himself placed at table between his +friend's sister, and, as he supposed, his friend's future bride. And +naturally the Archdeacon got all the benefit. As for Lucilla, she +received it with the most perfect grace in the world and saw all the +delicate points of the General's wit, and appreciated him so thoroughly, +that he felt half inclined to envy Cavendish. "By Jove! he is the +luckiest fellow I know," General Travers said; and probably it was the +charms of his intelligent and animated conversation that kept the ladies +so long at table. Mrs Chiley, for her part, did not know what to make of +it. She said afterwards that she kept looking at Lucilla until she was +really quite ashamed; and though she was at the other end of the table, +she could see that the poor dear did not enjoy her dinner. It happened, +too, that when they did move at last, the drawing-room was fuller than +usual. Everybody had come that evening--Sir John, and some others of the +county people, who only came now and then, and without any exception +_everybody_ in Carlingford. And Lucilla certainly was not herself for +the first half-hour. She kept close to the door, and regarded the +staircase with an anxious countenance. When she was herself at the helm +of affairs, there was a certain security that everything would go on +tolerably--but nobody could tell what a set of men left to themselves +might or might not do. This was the most dreadful moment of the evening. +Mrs Mortimer was in the drawing-room, hidden away under the curtains of +a window, knowing nobody, speaking to nobody, and in a state of mind to +commit suicide with pleasure; but Miss Marjoribanks, though she had +cajoled her into that martyrdom, took no notice of Mrs Mortimer. She was +civil, it is true, to her other guests, but there could not be a doubt +that Lucilla was horribly preoccupied, and in a state of mind quite +unusual to her. "I am sure she is not well," Mrs Chiley said, who was +watching her from afar. "I saw that she did not eat any dinner"--and the +kind old lady got up slowly and extricated herself from the crowd, and +put herself in motion as best she could, to go to her young friend's +aid. + +It was at this moment that Lucilla turned round radiant upon the +observant assembly. The change occurred in less than a moment, so +suddenly that nobody saw the actual point of revolution. Miss +Marjoribanks turned round upon the company and took Mr Cavendish's arm, +who had just come upstairs. "There is a very, very old friend of yours +in the corner who wants to see you," said Lucilla; and she led him +across the room as a conqueror might have led a captive. She took him +through the crowd, to whom she dispensed on every side her most gracious +glances. "I am coming directly," Miss Marjoribanks said--for naturally +she was called on all sides. What most people remarked at this moment +was, that the Archdeacon, who had also come in with the other gentlemen, +was standing very sullen and lowering at the door, watching that +triumphal progress. And it certainly was not Lucilla's fault if Mrs +Chiley and Lady Richmond, and a few other ladies, were thus led to form +a false idea of the state of affairs. "I suppose it is all right between +them at last," Lady Richmond said, not thinking that Barbara Lake was +standing by and heard her. According to appearances, it was all +perfectly right between them. Miss Marjoribanks, triumphant, led Mr +Cavendish all the length of the room to the corner where the widow sat +among the curtains, and the Archdeacon looked on with a visible passion, +and jealous rage, which were highly improper in a clergyman, but yet +which were exciting to see. And this was how the little drama was to +conclude, according to Lady Richmond and Mrs Chiley, who, on the whole, +were satisfied with the conclusion. But, naturally, there were other +people to be consulted. There was Mr Beverley, whom Miss Marjoribanks +held in leash, but who was not yet subdued; and there was Dr +Marjoribanks, who began to feel a little curiosity about his daughter's +movements, and did not make them out; and there was Barbara Lake, who +had begun to blaze like a tempest with her crimson cheeks and black +bold eyes. But by this time Lucilla was herself again, and felt the +reins in her hands. When she had deposited Mr Cavendish in safety, she +faced round upon the malcontents and upon the observers, and on the +world in general. Now that her mind was at rest, and everything under +her own inspection, she felt herself ready and able for all. + + + + +_Chapter XXXIII_ + + +The Archdeacon stood before the fireplace with Dr Marjoribanks and a +host of other gentlemen. Mr Beverley's countenance was covered with +clouds and darkness. He stood, not with the careless ease of a man +amusing himself, but drawn up to his full height and breadth, a +formidably muscular Christian, in a state of repression and restraint, +which it was painful, and at the same time pleasing to see. The +Berserker madness was upon him; and yet such are the restraints of +society, that a young woman's eye was enough to keep him down--Lucilla's +eye, and the presence of a certain number of other frivolous creatures +in white muslin, and of some old women, as he irreverently called them, +who were less pleasant, but not more imposing. He was an Archdeacon, and +a leading man of his party, whose name alone would have conferred +importance upon any "movement," and whom his bishop himself--not to +speak of the clergy whom he charged in his visitation addresses like a +regiment of cavalry--stood a little in awe of. Yet such are the +beneficial restraints of society, that he dared not follow his natural +impulses, nor even do what he felt to be his duty, for fear of Miss +Marjoribanks, which was about the highest testimony to the value of +social influence that could be given. At the same time, it was but +natural that under such circumstances the Archdeacon should feel a +certain savage wrath at the bond that confined him, and be more +indignant than usual at the false and tyrannical conventionalism called +society. And it was at this moment, of all times in the world, that +General Travers, like a half-educated brute as (according to Mr +Beverley's ideas) he was, took the liberty of calling his attention to +what the soldier called "a lot of pretty girls." "And everything +admirably got up, by Jove!" he added; not having the remotest idea what +effect so simple an observation might produce. + +"Yes, it is admirably got up," said the Archdeacon, with a snarl of +concealed ferocity. "You never said anything more profoundly true. It is +all got up, the women, and the decorations, and the gaiety, and all this +specious seeming. And these are creatures made in the image of God!" +said the Broad-Churchman--"the future wives and mothers of England. It +is enough to make the devils laugh and the angels weep!" + +It may be supposed that everybody was stricken with utter amazement by +this unlooked-for remark. Dr Marjoribanks, for his part, took a pinch of +snuff, which, as a general rule, he only did at consultations, or in the +face of a difficulty; and as for the unlucky soldier who had called it +forth, there can be no doubt that a certain terror filled his manly +bosom; for he naturally felt as if he must have said something +extraordinary to call forth such a response. + +"I never was accused before of saying anything profoundly true," the +General said, and he grew pale. "I didn't mean it, I'm sure, if that is +any justification. Where has Cavendish vanished to, I wonder?" the +soldier added, looking round him, scared and nervous--for it was evident +that his only policy was to escape from society in which he was thus +liable to commit himself without knowing how. + +"Female education is a monstrous mistake," said Mr Beverley--"always has +been, and, so far as I can see, always will be. Why should we do our +best to make our women idiots? They are bad enough by nature. Instead of +counterbalancing their native frivolity by some real instruction----good +heavens!" The critic paused. It was not that his emotions were too much +for him; it was because the crowd opened a moment, and afforded him a +glimpse of a figure in black silk, with the lace for which Miss +Marjoribanks had stipulated falling softly over a head which had not +quite lost its youthful grace. He gave a glance round him to see if the +coast was clear. Lucilla was out of the way at the other end of the +room, and he was free. He made but one stride through the unconscious +assembly which he had been criticising so severely, and all but knocked +down little Rose Lake, who was not looking at the Archdeacon, though she +stood straight in his way. He might have stepped over her head without +knowing it, so much was he moved. All the gay crowd gave way before him +with a cry and flutter; and Lucilla, for her part, was out of the way! + +But there are moments when to be out of the way is the highest proof of +genius. Miss Marjoribanks had just had a cup of tea brought her, of +which she had great need, and her face was turned in the other +direction, but yet she was aware that the Archdeacon had passed like a +Berserker through those ranks which were not the ranks of his enemies. +She felt without seeing it that the "wind of his going" agitated his own +large coat tails and heavy locks, and made a perfect hurricane among the +white muslin. Lucilla's heart beat quicker, and she put down her tea, +though she had so much need of it. She could not swallow the cordial at +such a moment of excitement. But she never once turned her head, nor +left off her conversation, nor betrayed the anxiety she felt. Up to this +time she had managed everything herself, which was comparatively easy; +but she felt by instinct that now was the moment to make a high effort +and leave things alone. And it may be added that nothing but an inherent +sense of doing the right thing under the circumstances could have +inspired Miss Marjoribanks to the crowning achievement of keeping out of +the way. + +When Mr Beverley arrived in front of the two people who were seated +together in the recess of the window, he made no assault upon them, as +his manner might have suggested. On the contrary, he placed himself in +front of them, with his back to the company, creating thus a most +effectual moral and physical barrier between the little nook where his +own private vengeance and fate were about to be enacted, and the +conventional world which he had just been denouncing. The Archdeacon +shut the two culprits off from all succour, and looked down upon them, +casting them into profound shade. "I don't know what combination of +circumstances has produced this meeting," he said, "but the time was +ripe for it, and I am glad it has happened," and it was with dry lips +and the calmness of passion that he spoke. + +Mrs Mortimer gave a little cry of terror, but her companion, for his +part, sat quite dumb and immovable. The moment had arrived at last, and +perhaps he too was glad it had come. He sat still, expecting to see the +earth crumble under his feet, expecting to hear the humble name he had +once borne proclaimed aloud, and to hear ridicule and shame poured upon +the impostor who had called himself one of the Cavendishes. But it was +no use struggling any longer. He did not even raise his eyes, but sat +still, waiting for the thunderbolt to fall. + +But to tell the truth, the Archdeacon, though a torrent of words came +rushing to his lips, felt at a difficulty how to begin. "I don't +understand how it is that I find you here with the man who has ruined +your prospects," he said, with a slight incoherence; and then he changed +the direction of his attack. "But it is you with whom I have to do," he +said; "you, sir, who venture to introduce yourself into society +with--with your victim by your side. Do you not understand that +compassion is impossible in such a case, and that it is my duty to +expose you? You have told some plausible story here, I suppose, but +nothing can stand against the facts. It is my duty to inform Dr +Marjoribanks that it is a criminal who has stolen into his house and his +confidence--that it is a conspirator who has ventured to approach his +daughter--that it is----" + +"A criminal? a conspirator?" said Mr Cavendish, and he looked in his +accuser's face with an amazement which, notwithstanding his rage, struck +the Archdeacon. If he had called him an impostor, the culprit would have +quailed and made no reply. But the exaggeration saved him. After that +first look of surprise, he rose to his feet and confronted the avenger, +who saw he had made a blunder without knowing what it was. "You must be +under some strange mistake," he said. "What do you accuse me of? I know +nothing about crime or conspiracy. Either you are strangely mistaken, or +you have forgotten what the words mean." + +"They are words which I mean to prove," said the Archdeacon; but there +can be no doubt that his certainty was diminished by the surprise with +which his accusation was received. It checked his first heat, and it was +with a slightly artificial excitement that he went on, trying to work +himself up again to the same point. "You who worked yourself into a +wretched old man's confidence, and robbed an unoffending woman," said Mr +Beverley; and then in spite of himself he stopped short; for it was +easier to say such things to a woman, who contradicted without giving +much reason, than to a man who, with an air of the utmost astonishment, +stood regarding his accuser in the face. + +"These are very extraordinary accusations," said Mr Cavendish. "Have you +ever considered whether you had any proof to support them?" He was not +angry to speak of, because he had been entirely taken by surprise, and +because at the same time he was unspeakably relieved, and felt that the +real danger, the danger which he had so much dreaded, was past and over. +He recovered all his coolness from the moment he found out that it was +not a venial imposition practised upon society, but a social crime of +the ugliest character, of which he was accused. He was innocent, and he +could be tranquil on that score. "As for robbing Mrs Mortimer," he added +with a little impatience, "she knows, on the contrary, that I have +always been most anxious and ready to befriend her----" + +"To befriend----Her!" cried the Archdeacon, restored to all his first +impetuosity. He could not swear, because it was against his cloth and +his principles; but he said, "Good heavens!" in a tone which would have +perfectly become a much less mild expletive. "It is better we should +understand each other thoroughly," he said. "I am not in a humour for +trifling. I consider it is _her_ fortune which enables you to make an +appearance here. It is _her_ money you are living upon, and which gives +you position, and makes you presume as--as you are doing--upon my +forbearance. Do you think it possible that I can pass over all this and +let you keep what is not yours? If you choose to give up everything, and +retire from Carlingford, and withdraw all your pretensions----It is not +for my part," said Mr Beverley, with solemnity, taking breath, "to deal +harshly with a penitent sinner. It is my duty, as a clergyman, to offer +you at least a place of repentance. After _that_----" + +But he was interrupted once more. Mrs Mortimer made her faint voice +heard in a remonstrance. "Oh, Charles, I always told you--I had no right +to anything!" cried the terrified widow; but that was not what stopped +the Archdeacon. It was because his adversary laughed that he stopped +short. No doubt it was the metallic laugh of a man in great agitation, +but still Mr Beverley's ear was not fine enough at that moment to +discriminate. He paused as a man naturally pauses at the sound of +ridicule, still furious, yet abashed, and half conscious of a ludicrous +aspect to his passion--and turned his full face to his antagonist, and +stood at bay. + +"It is a modest request, certainly," Mr Cavendish said. "Give up all I +have and all I am, and perhaps you will forgive me! You must think me a +fool to make such a proposal; but look here," said the accused +energetically; "I will tell you the true state of affairs, if for once +you will listen. I do it, not for my sake, nor for your sake, but for +the sake of--of the women involved," he added hastily; and it was well +for him that, instead of looking at the shrinking widow beside him as he +said so, his eye had been caught by the eager eye of his sister, who was +watching from her corner. With that stimulus he went on, calming himself +down, and somehow subduing and imposing upon the angry man by the mere +act of encountering him fairly and openly. "I will tell you what are the +actual circumstances, and you can see the will itself if you will take +the trouble," said the defendant, with a nervous moderation and +self-restraint, in which there was also a certain thrill of indignation. +"The old man you speak of might have left his money to a more worthy +person than myself, but he never meant to leave it to his grand-niece; +and she knew that. She was neither his companion nor his nurse. There +was nothing between them but a few drops of blood. For my part, I gave +him----but, to be sure, it would not interest you to know how I spent my +youth. You came upon the scene like--a man in a passion," Mr Cavendish +said, with an abrupt laugh, which this time was more feeble, and proved +that his composure was giving way, "and misjudged everything, as was +natural. You are doing the same again, or trying to do it. But you are a +clergyman, and when you insult a man----" + +"I am ready to give him satisfaction," said the Broad-Churchman hotly; +and then he made a pause, and that sense of ridicule which is latent in +every Englishman's mind, came to the Archdeacon's aid. He began to feel +ashamed of himself, and at the same time his eye caught his own +reflection in a mirror, and the clerical coat which contrasted so +grotesquely with his offer of "satisfaction." Mr Beverley started a +little, and changed his tone. "This has lasted long enough," he said, in +his abrupt imperious way. "_This_ is not the place nor the time for such +a discussion. We shall meet elsewhere," the Archdeacon added austerely, +with a significance which it is impossible to describe. His air and his +words were full of severe and hostile meaning, and yet he did not know +what he meant any more than Mr Cavendish did, who took him at his word, +and retired, and made an end of the interview. Whatever the Archdeacon +meant, it was his adversary who was the victor. _He_ went off, threading +his way through the curious spectators with a sense of relief that +almost went the length of ecstasy. He might have been walking on his +head for anything he knew. His senses were all lost and swallowed up in +the overwhelming and incredible consciousness of safety. Where were they +to meet elsewhere? With pistols in a corner of Carlingford Common, or +perhaps with their fists alone, as Mr Beverley was Broad-Church? When a +man has been near ruin and has escaped by a hair-breadth, he may be +permitted to be out of his wits for a few minutes afterwards. And the +idea of fighting a duel with a dignitary of the Church so tickled Mr +Cavendish, that he had not the prudence to keep it to himself. "You will +stand by me if he calls me out?" he said to General Travers as he +passed; and the air of utter consternation with which the warrior +regarded him, drove Mr Cavendish into such agonies of laughter, that he +had to retire to the landing-place and suffocate himself to subdue it. +If any man had said to him that he was hysterical, the chances are that +it was he who would have called that man out, or at least knocked him +down. But he had to steal downstairs afterwards and apply to Thomas for +a cordial more potent than tea; for naturally, when a man has been +hanging over an abyss for ever so long, it is no great wonder if he +loses his head and balance when he suddenly finds himself standing on +firm ground, and feels that he has escaped. + +As for the Archdeacon, when the other was gone, he sat down silently on +his abandoned chair. He was one of the men who take pride in seeing both +sides of a question; and to tell the truth, he was always very candid +about disputed points in theology, and ready to entertain everybody's +objection; but it was a different thing when the matter was a matter of +fact. He put down his face into his hands, and tried to think whether it +was possible that what he had just heard might be the true state of the +case. To be sure, the widow who was seated half fainting by his side had +given him the same account often enough, but somehow it was more +effective from the lips of a man who confronted him than from the mild +and weeping woman whom he loved better than anything else in the world, +but whose opinion on any earthly (or heavenly) subject had not the +weight of a straw upon him. He tried to take that view of it; and then +it occurred to him that nothing was more ludicrous and miserable than +the position of a man who goes to law without adequate reason, or +without proof to maintain his cause. Such a horrible divergence from +everything that was just and right might be, as that the well-known and +highly-esteemed Archdeacon Beverley might be held up for the amusement +and edification of the country in a _Times_ leader, which was a +martyrdom the Archdeacon would have rather liked than otherwise in a +worthy cause, but not for a wretched private business connected with +money. He sighed as he pondered, feeling, as so many have felt, the +difficulties which attend a good man's progress in this life--how that +which is just is not always that which is expedient, and how the +righteous have to submit to many inconveniences in order that the +adversary may have no occasion to blaspheme. In this state of mind a man +naturally softens towards a tender and wistful sympathiser close at +hand. He sighed once more heavily, and lifted his head, and took into +his own a soft pale hand which was visible near him among the folds of +black silk. + +"So you too have been brought into it, Helen," the Archdeacon said +pathetically; "I did not expect to see you here." + +"It was Lucilla," said Mrs Mortimer timidly; "it was not any wish of +mine. Oh, Charles! if you would let me speak. If you will but forget all +this, and think no more about it; and I will do my best to make you +a----" Here the poor woman stopped short all at once. What she meant to +have said was, that she would make him a good wife, which nature and +truth and the circumstances all prompted her to say--as the only +possible solution to the puzzle. But when she had got so far, the poor +widow stopped, blushing and tingling all over, with a sense of shame, +more overwhelming than if she had done a wicked action. It was nothing +but pure honesty and affection that prompted her to speak; and yet, if +it had been the vilest sentiment in human nature, she would not have +been so utterly ashamed. "That was not what I meant to say!" she cried, +with sharp and sudden wretchedness; and was not the least ashamed of +telling a downright lie instead. + +But, to tell the truth, the Archdeacon was paying no particular +attention. He had never loved any other woman; but he was a little +indifferent as to what innocent nonsense she might please to say. So +that her confusion and misery, and even the half offer of herself which +occasioned these feelings, were lost upon him. He kept her hand and +caressed it in the midst of his own thoughts, as if it was a child's +head he was patting. "My poor Helen," he said, coming back to her when +he found she had stopped speaking, "I don't see why you should not +come, if this sort of thing is any pleasure to you; but afterwards----" +he said reflectively. He went to that sort of thing often himself, and +rather liked it, and did not think of any afterwards; but perhaps the +case of a weak woman was different, or perhaps it was only that he +happened to be after his downfall in a pathetic and reflective state of +mind. + +"Afterwards?" said Mrs Mortimer. She did not take the word in any +religious or philosophical, but in its merest matter-of-fact meaning, +and she was sadly hurt and wounded to see that he had not even noticed +what she said, much as she had been ashamed of saying it. She drew away +her hand with a quick movement of despite and mortification, which +filled Mr Beverley with surprise. "Afterwards I shall go back to my +little house and my school, and shut myself in, and never, never come +back again, you may be sure," said the widow, with a rush of tears to +her eyes. Why they did not fall, or how she kept herself from +fainting--she who fainted so easily--she never, on reviewing the +circumstances, could tell; and Miss Marjoribanks always attributed it to +the fact that _she_ was absent, and there was no eau-de-Cologne on the +table. But whatever the cause might be, Mrs Mortimer did not faint; and +perhaps there never was anything so like despair and bitterness as at +that moment in her mild little feminine soul. + +"Never come back again?" said the Archdeacon, rousing up a little; and +then he put out his large hand and took back the other, as if it had +been a pencil or a book that he had lost. All this, let it be known, was +well in the shadow, and could not be seen by the world in general to +teach the young people a bad lesson. "Why should not you come back? I am +going away too," said Mr Beverley; and he stopped short, and resisted +the effort his prisoner made to withdraw. Oddly enough at that moment +his Rectory rose suddenly before him as in a vision--his Rectory, all +handsome and sombre, without a soul in it, room after room uninhabited, +and not a sound to be heard, except that of his own foot or his +servant's. It was curious what connection there could be between that +and the garden, with its four walls, and the tiny cottage covered with +wistaria. Such as it was, it moved the Archdeacon to a singular, and, +considering the place and moment, rather indecorous proceeding. Instead +of contenting himself with the resisting hand, he drew the widow's arm +within his as they sat together. "I'll tell you what we must do, +Helen," he said confidentially--"we must go back to Basing together, you +and I. I don't see the good of leaving you by yourself here. You can +make what alterations you like when you get to the Rectory; and I shall +let that--that person alone, if you wish it, with his ill-gotten gear. +He will never come to any good," said the Archdeacon, with some +satisfaction; and then he added in a parenthesis, as if she had +expressed some ridiculous doubt on the subject, "Of course I mean that +we should be married before we go away." It was in this rapid and +summary manner that the whole business was settled. Naturally his +companion had nothing to say against such a reasonable arrangement. She +had never contradicted him in her life about anything but one thing; and +that being set aside, there was no possible reason why she should begin +now. + + + + +_Chapter XXXIV_ + + +This was how the crisis came to an end, which had been of so much +interest to the parties immediately affected. Mrs Woodburn had one of +her nervous attacks next morning, and was very ill, and alarmed Dr +Marjoribanks; but at her very worst moment the incorrigible mimic +convulsed her anxious medical adviser and all her attendants by a sudden +adoption of the character of Mrs Mortimer, whom she must have made a +careful study of the previous night. "Tell him to tell him to go +downstairs," cried the half-dead patient; "I want to speak to him, and +he is not to hear;--if he were not so thoughtless, he would offer him +some lunch at least," Mrs Woodburn said pathetically, with closed eyes +and a face as pale as death. "She never did anything better in her +life," Dr Marjoribanks said afterwards; and Mr Woodburn, who was fond of +his wife in his way, and had been crying over her, burst into such an +explosion of laughter that all the servants were scandalised. And the +patient improved from that moment. She was perfectly well and in the +fullest force a week afterwards, when she came to see Lucilla, who had +also been slightly indisposed for a day or two. When Thomas had shut the +door, and the two were quite alone, Mrs Woodburn hugged Miss +Marjoribanks with a fervour which up to that moment she had never +exhibited. "It was only necessary that we should get into full sympathy +with each other as human creatures," she said, lifting her finger like +the Archdeacon; and for all the rest of that autumn and winter Mrs +Woodburn kept society in Carlingford in a state of inextinguishable +laughter. The odd thing was that Miss Marjoribanks, who had been one of +her favourite characters, disappeared almost entirely from her +repertory. Not quite altogether, because there were moments of supreme +temptation which the mimic could not resist; but as a general rule +Lucilla was the only woman in Carlingford who escaped the universal +critic. No sort of acknowledgment passed between them of the obligations +one had to the other, and, what was still more remarkable, no discussion +of the terrible evening when Lucilla had held the Archdeacon with her +eye, and prevented the volcano from exploding. Perhaps Mrs Woodburn, for +her part, would have been pleased to have had such an explanation, but +Miss Marjoribanks knew better. She knew it was best not to enter upon +confidences which neither could ever forget, and which might prevent +them meeting with ease in the midst of the little world which knew +nothing about it. What Lucilla knew, she knew, and could keep to +herself; but she felt at the same time that it was best to have no +expansions on the subject. She kept it all to herself, and made the +arrangements for Mrs Mortimer's marriage, and took charge of everything. +Everybody said that nothing could be more perfect than the bride's +toilette, which was as nice as could be, and yet not like a _real_ bride +after all; a difference which was only proper under the circumstances; +for she was married in lavender, poor soul, as was to be expected. "You +have not gone off the least bit in the world, and it is quite a pleasure +to see you," Lucilla said, as she kissed her _that_ morning--and +naturally all Carlingford knew that it was owing to her goodness that +the widow had been taken care of and provided for, and saved up for the +Archdeacon. Miss Marjoribanks, in short, presided over the ceremony as +if she had been Mrs Mortimer's mother, and superintended the wedding +breakfast, and made herself agreeable to everybody. And in the meantime, +before the marriage took place, most people in Carlingford availed +themselves of the opportunity of calling on Mrs Mortimer. "If she should +happen to be the future bishop's lady, and none of us ever to have +taken any notice of her," somebody said, with natural dismay. Lucilla +did not discourage the practical result of this suggestion, but she felt +an instinctive certainty in her mind that _now_ Mr Beverley would never +be bishop of Carlingford, and indeed that the chances were Carlingford +would never be elevated into a bishopric at all. + +It was not until after the marriage that Mr Cavendish went away. To be +sure, he was not absolutely present at the ceremony, but there can be no +doubt that the magnificent _parure_ which Mrs Mortimer received the +evening before her marriage, "from an old friend," which made +everybody's mouth water, and which she herself contemplated with mingled +admiration and dismay, was sent by Mr Cavendish. "Do you think it could +be from _him_; or only from him?" the bride said, bewildered and +bewildering. "I am sure he might have known I never should require +anything so splendid." But Lucilla, for her part, had no doubt whatever +on the subject; and the perfect good taste of the offering made Miss +Marjoribanks sigh, thinking once more how much that was admirable was +wasted by the fatal obstacle which prevented Mr Cavendish from aspiring +to anybody higher than Barbara Lake. As for the Archdeacon, he too found +it very easy to satisfy his mind as to the donor of the emeralds. He put +them away from him severely, and did not condescend to throw a second +glance at their deceitful splendour. "Women are curiously constituted," +said Mr Beverley, who was still at the height of superiority, though he +was a bridegroom. "I suppose those sort of things give them +pleasure--things which neither satisfy the body nor delight the soul." + +"If it had been something to eat, would it have pleased you better?" +said Lucilla, moved for once in her life to be impertinent, like an +ordinary girl. For really when a man showed himself so idiotic as to +despise a beautiful set of emeralds, it went beyond even the well-known +tolerance and compassionate good-humour with which Miss Marjoribanks +regarded the vagaries of "the gentlemen." There is a limit in all +things, and this was going too far. + +"I said, to satisfy the body, Miss Marjoribanks," said the Archdeacon, +"which is an office very temporarily and inadequately performed by +something to eat. I prefer the welfare of my fellow-creatures to a few +glittering stones--even when they are round Her neck," Mr Beverley +added, with a little concession to the circumstances. "Jewellery is +robbery in a great town where there is always so much to be done, and so +little means of doing it; to secure health to the people, and +education----" + +"Yes," said Miss Marjoribanks, who knew in her heart that the Archdeacon +was afraid of her. "It is so nice of you not to say any of those +dreadful sanitary words--and I am sure you could make something very +nasty and disagreeable with that diamond of yours. It is a beautiful +diamond; if I were Helen I should make you give it me," said Lucilla +sweetly; and the Archdeacon was so much frightened by the threat that he +turned his ring instinctively, and quenched the glitter of the diamond +in his closed hand. + +"It was a present," he said hastily, and went away to seek some better +occupation than tilting with the womankind, who naturally had possession +of the bride's little house and everything in it at that interesting +moment. It was the last evening of Lucilla's reign, and she was disposed +to take the full good of it. And though Mrs Mortimer's trousseau was +modest, and not, as Lydia Brown repeated, like that of a _real_ bride, +it was still voluminous enough to fill the room to overflowing, where it +was all being sorted and packed under Miss Marjoribanks's eye. + +"It is a very nice diamond indeed," said Lucilla; "if I were you I would +certainly make him give it to me--rings are no good to a gentleman. They +never have nice hands, you know--though indeed when they have nice +hands," said Miss Marjoribanks reflectively, "it is a great deal worse, +for they keep always thrusting them under your very eyes. It is curious +why They should be so vain. They talk of women!" Lucilla added, with +natural derision; "but, my dear, if I were you I would make him give it +me; a nice diamond is always a nice thing to have." + +"Lucilla," said the widow, "I am sure I don't know how to thank you for +all you have done for me; but, dear, if you please, I would not talk +like that! The gentlemen laugh, but I am sure they don't like it all the +same;" for indeed the bride thought it her duty, having won the prize in +her own person, to point out to her young friend how, to attain the same +end, she ought to behave. + +Miss Marjoribanks did not laugh, for her sense of humour, as has been +said, was not strong, but she kissed her friend with protecting +tenderness. "My dear, if that had been what I was thinking of I need +never have come home," said Lucilla; and her superiority was so calm +and serene, that Mrs Mortimer felt entirely ashamed of herself for +making the suggestion. The widow was simple-minded, and, like most other +women, it gratified her to believe that here and there, as in Miss +Marjoribanks's case, there existed one who was utterly indifferent to +the gentlemen, and did not care whether they were pleased or not; which +restored a little the balance of the world to the widow-bride, who felt +with shame that she cared a great deal, and was quite incapable of such +virtue. As for Lucilla herself, she was not at that moment in conscious +enjoyment of the strength of mind for which her friend gave her credit. +On the contrary, she could not help a certain sense of surprised +depression as she superintended the packing of the boxes. The man had +had it in his power to propose to her, and he was going to be married to +Mrs Mortimer! It was not that Lucilla was wounded or disappointed, but +that she felt it as a wonderful proof of the imperfection and weakness +of human nature. Even in the nineteenth century, which has learnt so +much, such a thing was possible! It filled her with a gentle sadness as +she had the things put in, and saw the emeralds safely deposited in +their resting-place. Not that she cared for the Archdeacon, who had thus +disposed of himself; but still it was a curious fact that such a thing +could be. + +Altogether it must be admitted that at this special moment Miss +Marjoribanks occupied a difficult position. She had given the Archdeacon +to understand that Mr Cavendish was a "_very_ particular friend"; and +even when the danger was past, Lucilla scorned to acknowledge her pious +prevarications. During all this interval she continued so gracious to +him that everybody was puzzled, and Mrs Woodburn even insisted on her +brother, after all, making his proposal, which would be better late than +never. + +"I am sure she is fond of you," said the softened mimic, "and that sort +of thing doesn't matter to a woman as it does to a man;" for it has been +already said that Mrs Woodburn, notwithstanding her knack of external +discrimination, had very little real knowledge of character. And even at +moments, Mr Cavendish himself, who ought to have known better, was half +tempted to believe that Lucilla meant it. The effect upon Dr +Marjoribanks was still more decided. He thought he saw in his daughter +the indications of that weakness which is sometimes so surprising in +women, and it disturbed the Doctor's serenity; and he actually tried to +snub Lucilla on sundry occasions, with that wonderful fatuity which is +common to men. + +"I hope when this marriage is over people will recover their senses. I +hear of nothing else," Dr Marjoribanks said one day at dessert, when +they were alone. He took some chestnuts as he spoke, and burned his +fingers, which did not improve his temper. "That sort of rubbish, I +suppose, is much more interesting than attending to your natural +duties," the Doctor added morosely, which was not a kind of address +which Miss Marjoribanks was used to hear. + +"Dear papa," said Lucilla, "if I attended to my duties ever so much I +could not keep you from burning your fingers. There are some things that +people _must_ do for themselves," the dutiful daughter added, with a +sigh. Nobody could doubt who knew Lucilla that she would have gladly +taken the world on her shoulders, and saved everybody from those little +misadventures; but how could she help it if people absolutely would not +take care of themselves? + +The Doctor smiled grimly, but he was not satisfied. He was, on the +contrary, furious in a quiet way. "I don't need at this time of day to +be told how clever you are, Lucilla," said her father; "and I thought +you had been superior to the ordinary folly of women----" + +"Papa, for Heaven's sake!" cried Miss Marjoribanks. She was really +alarmed this time, and she did not hesitate to let it be apparent. "I do +not mean to say that I always do precisely what I ought to do," said +Lucilla; "nobody does that I know of; but I am sure I never did anything +to deserve _that_. I never was superior, and I hope I never shall be; +and I know I never pretended to it," she said, with natural horror; for +the accusation, as everybody will perceive, was hard to bear. + +The Doctor laughed again, but with increased severity. "We understand +all that," he said. "I am not in the secret of your actions, Lucilla. I +don't know what you intend, or how far you mean to go. The only thing I +know is that I see that young fellow Cavendish a great deal oftener in +the house and about it than I care to see him; and I have had occasion +to say the same thing before. I know nothing about his means," said Dr +Marjoribanks; "his property may be in the Funds, but I think it a great +deal more likely that he speculates. I have worked hard for my money, +and I don't mean it to go in that way, Lucilla. I repeat, I am not in +the secret of your proceedings----" + +"Dear papa! as if there was any secret," said Lucilla, fixing her candid +eyes upon her father's face. "I might pretend I did not understand you +if there was anything in what you say, but I never go upon false +pretences when I can help it. I am very fond of Mr Cavendish," she +continued regretfully, after a pause. "There is nobody in Carlingford +that is so nice; but I don't see whom he can marry except Barbara Lake." +Miss Marjoribanks would have scorned to conceal the unfeigned regret +which filled her mind when she uttered these words. "I am dreadfully +sorry, but I don't see anything that can be done for him," she said, and +sighed once more. As for the Doctor, he forgot all about his chestnuts, +and sat and stared at her, thinking in his ignorance that it was a piece +of acting, and not knowing whether to be angry or to yield to the +amusement which began to rise in his breast. + +"He may marry half a dozen Barbara Lakes," said Dr Marjoribanks, "and I +don't see what reason we should have to interfere: so long as he doesn't +want to marry you----" + +"That would be impossible, papa," said Lucilla, with pensive gravity. "I +am sure I am very, very sorry. She has a very nice voice, but a man +can't marry a voice, you know; and if there was anything that I could +do----I am not sure that he ever wished for _that_ either," Miss +Marjoribanks added, with her usual candour. "It is odd, but for all that +it is true." For it was a moment of emotion, and she could not help +giving utterance to the surprise with which this consideration naturally +filled her mind. + +"What is odd, and what is true?" said Dr Marjoribanks, growing more and +more bewildered. But Lucilla only put aside her plate and got up from +her chair. + +"Not any more wine, thank you," she said. "I know you don't want me any +more, and I have so much to do. I hope you will let me invite Barbara +here when they are married, and pay her a little attention; for nobody +likes her in Grange Lane, and it would be so hard upon _him_. The more I +think of it, the more sorry I am," said Lucilla; "he deserved better, +papa; but as for me, everybody knows what is my object in life." + +Thus Miss Marjoribanks left the table, leaving her father in a singular +state of satisfaction and surprise. He did not believe a word of what +she had been saying, with that curious perversity common to the people +who surrounded Lucilla, and which arose not so much from doubt of her +veracity as from sheer excess of confidence in her powers. He thought +she had foiled him in a masterly manner, and that she was only, as +people say, amusing herself, and had no serious intentions; and he +laughed quietly to himself when she left him, in the satisfaction of +finding there was nothing in it. Miss Marjoribanks, for her part, went +on tranquilly with the arrangements for the marriage; one by one she was +disembarrassing herself from the complications which had grown round her +during the first year of her reign in Carlingford; and now only the last +links of the difficulty remained to be unrolled. + +The explanation she had with Mr Cavendish himself was in every way more +interesting. It happened pretty late one evening, when Lucilla was +returning with her maid from the widow's little cottage, which was so +soon to be deserted. She was just at that moment thinking of the +wistaria which had grown so nicely, and of all the trouble she had taken +with the garden. Nobody could tell who might come into it now, after she +had done so much for it; and Miss Marjoribanks could not but have a +momentary sense that, on the whole, it was a little ungrateful on the +part of Mrs Mortimer, when everybody had taken such pains to make her +comfortable. At this moment, indeed, Lucilla was slightly given to +moralising, though with her usual wisdom she kept her meditations to +herself. She was thinking with a momentary vexation of all the plants +that had been put into the beds, and of so much time and trouble +lost--when Mr Cavendish came up to her. It was a cold evening, and there +was nothing in common between this walk and the walk they had taken +together from Grove Street to Grange Lane on an earlier occasion. But +this time, so far from being reluctant to accompany her, Mr Cavendish +came to her side eagerly. The maid retired a little behind, and then the +two found themselves in that most perfect of all positions for mutual +confidence--a street not too crowded and noisy, all shrouded in the +darkness, and yet twinkling with the friendly lights of an autumn +evening. Nothing could have been more perfect than their isolation from +the surrounding world, if they thought proper to isolate themselves; and +yet it was always there to be taken refuge in if the confidence should +receive a check, or the mind of the chance companions change. + +"I have been trying to catch a glimpse of you for a long time," said Mr +Cavendish, after they had talked a little in the ordinary way, as +everybody was doing in Grange Lane, about the two people henceforward to +be known in Carlingford as "the Beverleys." "But you are always so busy +serving everybody. And I have a great deal to say to you that I don't +know how to say." + +"Then don't say it, please," said Lucilla. "It is a great deal better +not. It might be funny, you know; but I am not disposed to be funny +to-night. I am very glad about Mrs Mortimer, to be sure, that she is to +be settled so nicely, and that they are going to be married at last. +But, after all, when one thinks of it, it is a little vexatious. Just +when her house was all put to rights, and the garden looking so pretty, +and the school promising so well," said Lucilla; and there was a certain +aggrieved tone in her voice. + +"And it is you who have done everything for her, as for all the rest of +us," said Mr Cavendish, though he could not help laughing a little; and +then he paused, and his voice softened in the darkness by Lucilla's +side. "Do not let us talk of Mrs Mortimer," he said. "I sometimes have +something just on my lips to say, and I do not know whether I dare say +it. Miss Marjoribanks----" + +And here he came to a pause. He was fluttered and frightened, which was +what she, and not he, ought to have been. And at the bottom of his heart +he did not wish to say it, which gave far more force to his hesitation +than simply a doubt whether he might dare. Perhaps Lucilla's heart +fluttered too, with a sense that the moment which once would not have +been an unwelcome moment, had at last arrived. Her heart, it is true, +was not _very_ particularly engaged; but still she was sensible of all +Mr Cavendish's capacities, and was "very fond" of him, as she said; and +her exertions on his behalf had produced their natural effect, and moved +her affections a little. She made an involuntary pause for the hundredth +part of a minute, and reckoned it all up again, and asked herself +whether it were possible. There was something, in the first place, +becoming and suitable in the idea that she, who was the only person who +knew his secret, should take him and it together and make the best of +them. And Lucilla had the consciousness that she could indeed make a +great deal of Mr Cavendish. Nobody had ever crossed her path of whom so +much could be made; and as for any further danger of his real origin and +position being found out and exposed to the world, Miss Marjoribanks was +capable of smiling at that when the defence would be in her own hands. +She might yet accept him, and have him elected member for Carlingford, +and carry him triumphantly through all his difficulties. For a small +part--nay, even for the half of a minute--Lucilla paused, and made a +rapid review of the circumstances, and reconsidered her decision. +Perhaps if Mr Cavendish had been really in earnest, that which was only +a vague possibility might have become, in another minute, a fact and +real. It was about the first time that her heart had found anything to +say in the matter; and the fact was that it actually fluttered in her +reasonable bosom, and experienced a certain _malaise_ which was quite +new to her. Was it possible that she could be in love with Mr Cavendish? +or was it merely the excitement of a final decision which made that +unusual commotion far away down at the bottom of Lucilla's heart? + +However that might be, Miss Marjoribanks triumphed over her momentary +weakness. She saw the possibility, and at the same moment she saw that +it could not be; and while Mr Cavendish hesitated, she, who was always +prompt and ready, made up her mind. + +"I don't know what I have done in particular, either for her or the rest +of you," she said, ignoring the other part of her companion's faltering +address, "except to help to amuse you; but I am going to do something +very serious, and I hope you will show you are grateful, as you +say--though I don't know what you have to be grateful about--by paying +great attention to me. Mr Cavendish, I am going to give you good +advice," said Lucilla; and, notwithstanding her courage, she too +faltered a little, and felt that it was rather a serious piece of +business that she had taken in hand. + +"Advice?" Mr Cavendish said, like an echo of her voice; but that was all +he found time to say. + +"We are such old friends, that I know you won't be vexed," said Lucilla; +"and then we understand each other. It is so nice when two people +understand each other; they can say quantities of things that strangers +cannot say. Mr Cavendish, you and Barbara are in love," said Lucilla, +making a slight pause, and looking in his face. + +"Miss Marjoribanks!" cried the assaulted man, in the extremity of his +amazement and horror. As for Lucilla, she came a little closer to him, +and shook her head in a maternal, semi-reproving way. + +"Don't say you are not," said Miss Marjoribanks; "you never could +deceive _me_--not in anything like that. I saw it almost as soon as you +met. They are not rich, you know, but they are very nice. Mr Lake and +Rose," said Lucilla, with admirable prudence, keeping off the difficult +subject of Barbara herself, "are the two very nicest people I know; and +everybody says that Willie is dreadfully clever. I hope you will soon be +married, and that you will be very happy," she continued, with an +effort. It was a bold thing to say, and Lucilla's throat even contracted +a little, as if to prevent the words from getting utterance; but then +she was not a person, when she knew a thing was right, to hesitate about +doing it; and in Miss Marjoribanks's mind duty went before all, as has +already been on several occasions said. + +After this a horrible silence fell upon the two--a silence which, like +darkness, could be felt. The thunderbolt fell upon the victim's +unprotected head without any warning. The idea that Lucilla would talk +to him about Barbara Lake was the very last that could have entered Mr +Cavendish's mind. He was speechless with rage and mortification. He took +it for an insult inflicted upon him in cold blood, doing Lucilla much +injustice as the other people who took the candid expression of her +sentiments for a piece of acting. He was a gentleman, notwithstanding +his doubtful origin, and civilised down to his very finger-tips; but he +would have liked to have knocked Miss Marjoribanks down, though she was +a woman. And yet, as she was a woman, he dared not for his life make any +demonstration of his fury. He walked along by her side down into the +respectable solitude of Grange Lane, passing through a bright bit of +George Street, and seeing askance, by the light from the shop windows, +his adviser walking beside him, with the satisfaction of a good +conscience in her face. This awful silence lasted until they reached Dr +Marjoribanks's door. + +"Thank you for coming with me so far," said Lucilla, holding out her +hand. "I suppose I must not ask you to come in, though papa would be +delighted to see you. I am afraid you are very angry with me," Miss +Marjoribanks added, with a touch of pathos; "but you may be sure I would +always stand by _you_; and I said it because I thought it was for the +best." + +"On the contrary, I am much obliged to you," said Mr Cavendish, with +quiet fury, "and deeply touched by the interest you take in my +happiness. You may be sure I shall always be grateful for it; and for +the offer of your support," said the ungrateful man, with the most +truculent meaning. As for Miss Marjoribanks, she pressed quite kindly +the hurried hand with which he touched hers, and went in, still saying, +"Good-night." She had done her duty, whatever might come of it. He +rushed home furious; but she went to a little worsted-work with a mind +at peace with itself and all men. She was gentler than usual even to the +maids, who always found Miss Marjoribanks a good mistress--but she felt +a little sad in the solitude of her genius. For it is true that to be +wiser and more enlightened than one's neighbours is in most cases a +weariness to the flesh. She had made a sacrifice, and nobody appreciated +it. Instead of choosing a position which pleased her imagination, and +suited her energies, and did not go against her heart, Lucilla, moved by +the wisest discretion, had decided, not without regret, to give it up. +She had sacrificed her own inclination, and a sphere in which her +abilities would have had the fullest scope, to what she believed to be +the general good; and instead of having the heroism acknowledged, she +was misunderstood and rewarded with ingratitude. When Miss Marjoribanks +found herself alone in the solitude of her drawing-room, and in the +still greater solitude, as we have said, of her genius, she felt a +little sad, as was natural. But at the same moment there came into +Lucilla's mind a name, a humble name, which has been often pronounced in +the pages of this history, and it gave her once more a certain +consolation. A sympathetic presence seemed to diffuse itself about her +in her loneliness. There are moments when the faith of a very humble +individual may save a great soul from discouragement; and the +consciousness of being believed in once more came with the sweetest and +most salutary effect upon Lucilla's heart. + + + + +_Chapter XXXV_ + + +It was the very day after the marriage, and two or three days after this +conversation, that Mr Cavendish left Carlingford. He went to spend the +winter in Italy, which had long been "a dream" of his, as he explained +to some of the young ladies--most of whom had the same "dream," without +the enviable power of carrying it out. He made very brief and formal +adieux to Lucilla, to the extreme amazement of all the surrounding +world, and then disappeared, leaving--just at that moment after the +excitement of the marriage was over, when Grange Lane stood most in need +of somebody to rouse its drooping spirits--a wonderful blank behind him. +Lucilla said much less about her feelings on this occasion than she was +in the habit of doing, but there could be no doubt that she felt it, and +felt it acutely. And the worst of it was, that it was she who was +universally blamed for the sudden and unexplained departure of the most +popular man in Carlingford. Some people thought he had gone away to +escape from the necessity of proposing to her; and some of more friendly +and charitable disposition believed with Mrs Chiley that Lucilla had +refused him; and some, who were mostly outsiders and of a humble class, +were of opinion that Miss Marjoribanks had exercised all her influence +to send Mr Cavendish out of the way of Barbara Lake. It was with this +impression that Rose made her way one of those foggy autumn mornings +through the fallen leaves with which the garden was carpeted, to see if +any explanation was to be got from Lucilla. The art-inspectors from +Marlborough House had just paid their annual visit to Carlingford, and +had found the Female School of Design in a condition which, as they said +in their report, "warranted the warmest encomiums," and Rose had also +won a prize for her veil in the exhibition at Kensington of ornamental +art. These were triumphs which would have made the little artist +overwhelmingly happy, if they had not been neutralised by other +circumstances; but as it was, they only aggravated the difficulties of +the position in which she found herself. She came to Lucilla in a +bonnet--a circumstance which of itself was solemn and ominous; for +generally that portentous article of dress, which was home-made, and did +not consist with cheerful dispositions, was reserved by Rose for going +to church; and her soft cheeks were pale, and the hazel eyes more dewy +than usual, though it was rain, and not dew, that had been falling from +them during those last painful days. + +"I am ashamed to ask you such a question," said Rose; "but I want you to +tell me, Lucilla, if you know why Mr Cavendish has gone away. She will +not come and ask you herself, or rather I would not let her come; for +she is so passionate, one does not know what she might do. You have +behaved a little strange, Lucilla," said the straightforward Rose. "If +he cared for her, and she cared for him, you had no right to come and +take him away." + +"My dear, I did not take him away," said Miss Marjoribanks. "I had to +talk to him about some--business; that was all. It is disgraceful of +Barbara to bother you about it, who are only a baby and oughtn't to know +anything----" + +"Lucilla!" cried Rose, with flashing eyes, "I am seventeen, and I will +not put up with it any longer. It is all your fault. What right had you +to come and drag us to your great parties? We are not as rich as you, +nor as fine, but we have a rank of our own," cried the little artist. +"You have a great deal more money, but we have some things that money +cannot buy. You made Barbara come and sing, and put things into her +head; and you made me come, though I did not want to. Why did you ask +_us_ to your parties, Lucilla? It is all your fault!" + +Lucilla was in a subdued state of mind, as may have been perceived, and +answered quite meekly. "I don't know why you should all turn against me +like this," she said, more sadly than surprised. "It is unkind of you to +say it was my fault. I did not expect it from you; and when I have so +many vexations----" Miss Marjoribanks added. She sat down as she spoke, +after being repulsed by Rose, with an air of depression which was quite +unusual to her; for to be blamed and misunderstood on all sides was hard +for one who was always working in the service of her fellow-creatures, +and doing everything for the best. + +As for Rose, her heart smote her on the instant. "Have _you_ vexations, +Lucilla?" she said, in her innocence. It was the first time such an idea +had entered into her mind. + +"I don't think I have anything else," said Lucilla; though even as she +said it she began to recover her spirits. "I do all I can for my +friends, and they are never pleased; and when anything goes wrong it is +always my fault." + +"Perhaps if you were not to do so much----" Rose began to say, for she +was in her way a wise little woman; but her heart smote her again, and +she restrained the truism, and then after a little pause she resumed her +actual business. "I am ashamed to ask you, but do you know where Mr +Cavendish is, Lucilla?" said Rose. "She is breaking her heart because he +has gone away." + +"Did he never go to say good-bye nor anything?" asked Miss Marjoribanks. +She was sorry, for it was quite the contrary of the advice she had +given, but still it would be wrong to deny that Mr Cavendish rose higher +in Lucilla's opinion when she heard it. "I don't know any more than +everybody knows. He has gone to Italy, but he will come back, and I +suppose she can wait," Miss Marjoribanks added, with perhaps a touch of +contempt. "For my part, I don't think she will break her heart." + +"It is because you do not know her," said Rose, with some +indignation--for at seventeen a broken heart comes natural. "Oh, +Lucilla, it is dreadful, and I don't know what to do!" cried the little +artist, changing her tone. "I am a selfish wretch, but I cannot help it. +It is as good as putting an end to my Career; and just after my design +has been so successful--and when papa was so proud--and when I thought I +might have been a help. It is dreadful to think of oneself when her +heart is breaking; but I shall have to give up everything; and I--I +can't help feeling it, Lucilla," cried Rose, with a sudden outburst of +tears. + +All this was sufficiently unintelligible to Miss Marjoribanks, who was +not the least in anxiety about Barbara's breaking heart. "Tell me what +is the matter, and perhaps we can do something," said Lucilla, +forgetting how little her past exertions had been appreciated; and Rose, +with equal inconsistency, dried her tears at the sound of Miss +Marjoribanks's reassuring voice. + +"I know I am a wretch to be thinking of myself," she said. "She cannot +be expected to stay and sacrifice herself for us, after all she has +suffered. She has made up her mind and advertised in the _Times_, and +nothing can change it now. She is going out for a governess, Lucilla." + +"Going for a--what?" said Miss Marjoribanks, who could not believe her +ears. + +"For a governess," said Rose calmly; for though she had been partly +brought up at Mount Pleasant, she had not the elevated idea of an +instructress of youth which might have been expected from a pupil of +that establishment. "She has advertised in the _Times_," Rose added, +with quiet despair, "with no objections to travel. I would do anything +in the world for Barbara, but one can't help thinking of oneself +sometimes, and there is an end of my Career." When she had said this she +brushed the last tear off her eyelashes, and sat straight up, a little +martyr and heroic victim to duty. "Her eye, though fixed on empty space, +beamed keen with honour"; but still there was a certain desperation in +the composure with which Rose regarded, after the first outburst, the +abandonment of all her hopes. + +"She is a selfish thing," said Lucilla indignantly; "she always was a +selfish thing. I should like to know what she can teach anybody? If I +were you and your papa, I certainly would not let her go away. I don't +see any reason in the world why you should give in to her and let her +stop your--your Career, you know; why should you? I would not give in to +her for one moment, if I were your papa and you." + +"Why should I?" said Rose; "because there is nobody else to do anything, +Lucilla. Fleda and Dreda are such two little things; and there are all +the boys to think of, and poor papa. It is of no use asking why. If I +don't do it, there will be nobody to do it," said Rose, with big tears +coming to her eyes. Her Career was dear to her heart, and those two +tears welled up from the depths; but then there would be nobody else to +do it--a consideration which continually filters out the people who are +good for anything out of the muddy current of the ordinary world. + +"And your pretty drawings, and the veil, and the School of Design!" +cried Lucilla. "You dear little Rose, don't cry. It never can be +permitted, you know. She cannot teach anything, and nobody will have +her. She is a selfish thing, though she is your sister; and if I were +your papa and you----" + +"It would be no good," said Rose. "She will go, whatever anybody may +say. _She_ does not care," said the little martyr, and the two big tears +fell, making two big round blotches upon the strings of that bonnet +which Lucilla had difficulty in keeping her hands off. But when she had +thus expressed her feelings, Rose relented over her sister. "She has +suffered so much here; how can any one ask her to sacrifice herself to +us?" said the young artist mournfully. "And I am quite happy," said +Rose--"quite happy; it makes all the difference. It is her _heart_, you +know, Lucilla; and it is only my Career." + +And this time the tears were dashed away by an indignant little hand. +Barbara's heart, if she had such an organ, had never in its existence +cost such bitter drops. But as for Lucilla, what could she do? She could +only repeat, "If I was your papa and you," with a melancholy sense that +she was here balked and could do no more. For even the aid of Miss +Marjoribanks was as nothing against dead selfishness and folly, the two +most invincible forces in the world. Instead of taking the business into +her own hands, and carrying it through triumphantly as she had hitherto +been in the habit of doing, Lucilla could only minister to the sufferer, +and keep up her courage, and mourn over the Career thus put in danger. +Barbara's advertisement was in the newspapers, and her foolish mind was +made up; and the hope that nobody would have her was a forlorn hope, for +somebody always does have the incapable people, as Miss Marjoribanks was +well aware. And the contralto had been of some use in Grange Lane and a +little in Grove Street, and it would be difficult, either in the one +sphere or the other, to find any one to fill her place. It was thus amid +universal demolition that Christmas approached, and Miss Marjoribanks +ended the first portion of her eventful career. + + + + +_Chapter XXXVI_ + + +One fytte of Lucilla's history is here ended, and another is to be told. +We have recorded her beginning in all the fulness of youthful confidence +and undaunted trust in her own resources; and have done our best to show +that in the course of organising society Miss Marjoribanks, like all +other benefactors of their kind, had many sacrifices to make, and had to +undergo the mortification of finding out that many of her most able +efforts turned to other people's profit and went directly against +herself. She began the second period of her career with, to some certain +extent, that sense of failure which is inevitable to every high +intelligence after a little intercourse with the world. She had +succeeded in a great many things, but yet she had not succeeded in all; +and she had found out that the most powerful exertions in behalf of +friends not only fail to procure their gratitude, but sometimes convert +them into enemies, and do actual harm; which is a discovery which can +only be made by those who devote themselves, as Miss Marjoribanks had +done, to the good of the human species. She had done everything for the +best, and yet it had not always turned out for the best; and even the +people who had been most ready to appeal to her for assistance in their +need, had proved the readiest to accuse her when something disagreeable +happened, and to say "It was your fault." In the second stage of her +progress Miss Marjoribanks found herself, with a great responsibility +upon her shoulders, with nearly the entire social organisation of +Carlingford depending upon her; and, at the same time, with her means of +providing for the wants of her subjects sensibly diminished, and her +confidence in the resources of the future impaired to an equal degree. +One thing was sure, that she had taken the work upon her shoulders, and +that she was not the woman to draw back, whatever the difficulties might +be. She did not bate a jot of her courage, though the early buoyancy of +hope had departed, never to return. It is true that she was not so +joyful and triumphant a figure as when she conquered Nancy, and won over +Dr Marjoribanks, and electrified Mr Holden by choosing curtains which +suited her complexion; but with her diminished hopes and increased +experience and unabated courage, no doubt Miss Marjoribanks presented a +still nobler and more imposing aspect to everybody who had an eye for +moral grandeur, though it would be difficult to tell how many of such +worthy spectators existed in Grange Lane. + +There was, as our readers are aware, another subject also on which +Lucilla had found her position altered. It was quite true that, had she +been thinking of _that_, she never need have come home at all; and that, +in accepting new furniture for the drawing-room, she had to a certain +extent pledged herself not to marry immediately, but to stay at home and +be a comfort to her dear papa. This is so delicate a question that it is +difficult to treat it with the freedom necessary for a full development +of a not unusual state of mind. Most people are capable of falling in +love only once or twice, or at the most a very few times, in their life; +and disappointed and heartbroken suitors are not so commonly to be met +with as perhaps could be wished. But at the same time, there can be +little doubt that the chief way in which society is supposed to signify +its approval and admiration and enthusiasm for a lady, is by making +dozens of proposals to her, as may be ascertained from all the +best-informed sources. When a woman is a great beauty, or is very +brilliant and graceful, or even is only agreeable and amusing, the +ordinary idea is that the floating men of society, in number less or +more according to the lady's merits, propose to her, though she may not +perhaps accept any of them. In proportion as her qualities rise towards +the sublime, these victims are supposed to increase; and perhaps, to +tell the truth, no woman feels herself set at her true value until some +poor man, or set of men, have put, as people say, their happiness into +her hands. It is, as we have said, a delicate subject to discuss; for +the truth is, that this well-known and thoroughly established reward of +female excellence had not fallen to Miss Marjoribanks's lot. There was +Tom, to be sure, but Tom did not count. And as for the other men who had +been presented to Lucilla as eligible candidates for her regard, none of +them had given her this proof of their admiration. The year had passed +away, and society had laid no tribute of this description upon Lucilla's +shrine. The Archdeacon had married Mrs Mortimer instead, and Mr +Cavendish had been led away by Barbara Lake! After such an experience +nothing but the inherent sweetness and wholesome tone of Miss +Marjoribanks's character could have kept her from that cynicism and +disbelief in humanity which is so often the result of knowledge of the +world. As for Lucilla, she smiled as she thought of it, not cynically, +but with a sweetly melancholy smile. What she said to herself was, Poor +men! they had had the two ways set before them, and they had not chosen +the best. It made her sad to have this proof of the imperfection of +human nature thrust upon her, but it did not turn her sweet into bitter, +as might have been the case with a more ordinary mind. Notwithstanding +that this universal reward, which in other cases is, as everybody knows, +given so indiscriminately, and with such liberality, had altogether +failed in her case, Lucilla still resumed her way with a beautiful +constancy, and went forward in the face of fate undaunted and with a +smile. + +It was thus that she began the second period of her career. Up to this +moment there had never been a time in which it was not said in +Carlingford that some one was paying attention to Miss Marjoribanks; but +at present no one was paying attention to her. There were other +marriages going on around her, and other preliminaries of marriage, but +nobody had proposed to Lucilla. Affairs were in this state when she took +up her burden again boldly, and set out anew upon her way. It was a +proof of magnanimity and philanthropy which nobody could have asked from +her, if Lucilla had not been actuated by higher motives than those that +sway the common crowd. Without any assistance but that of her own +genius--without the stimulating applause of admirers, such as a woman in +such circumstances has a right to calculate upon--with no sympathising +soul to fall back upon, and nothing but a dull level of ordinary people +before her,--Miss Marjoribanks, undaunted, put on her harness and +resumed her course. The difficulties she had met only made her more +friendly, more tender, to those who were weaker than herself, and whom +evil fortune had disabled in the way. When Barbara Lake got her +situation, and went out for a governess, and Rose's fears were realised, +and she had with bitter tears to relinquish her Career, Lucilla went and +sat whole afternoons with the little artist, and gave her the handiest +assistance, and taught her a great many things which she never could +have learned at the School of Design. And the effect of this +self-abnegation was, that Lucilla bore General Travers's decision, and +gave up all hope of the officers, with a stout-heartedness which nobody +could have looked for, and did not hesitate to face her position +boldly, and to erect her standard, and to begin her new campaign, +unaided and unappreciated as she was. People who know no better may go +away upon marriage tours, or they may fly off to foreign travel, or go +out as governesses, when all things do not go just as they wish. But as +for Miss Marjoribanks, she stood bravely at her post, and scorned to +flinch or run away. Thus commenced, amid mists of discouragement, and in +an entire absence of all that was calculated to stimulate and +exhilarate, the second grand period of Lucilla's life. + + + + +_Chapter XXXVII_ + + +It would be vain to follow Lucilla in detail through her consistent and +admirable career; nor is it necessary to say that she went on steadily +in face of all her discouragements, with that mixture of success and +failure which comes natural to all human affairs. The singular thing +about it was, that the years passed on, and that she was permitted by +the world in general to fulfil her own promise and prophecy about +remaining ten years at home to be a comfort to her dear papa. She had +been nineteen when she began her career, and she was nine-and twenty +when that little episode occurred with young Dr Rider, before he was +married to his present wife. There would have been nothing in the least +unsuitable in a marriage between Dr Rider and Miss Marjoribanks, though +people who were the best informed never thought either of them had any +serious meaning; but, of course, the general public, having had Lucilla +for a long time before their eyes, naturally added on seven or eight +years to her age, and concluded her to be a great deal older than the +young doctor, though everybody allowed that it would have been a most +advantageous match for him in every possible point of view. But, +however, it did not come to anything, no more than a great many other +nibbles of the same kind did. The period arrived at which Lucilla had +thought she might perhaps have begun to go off in her looks, but still +there was no immediate appearance of any change of name or condition on +her part. Many people quite congratulated themselves on the fact, as it +was impossible to imagine what might be the social condition of Grange +Lane without Miss Marjoribanks; but it is doubtful whether Lucilla +congratulated herself. She was very comfortable, no doubt, in every way, +and met with little opposition to speak of, and had things a great deal +more in her own hands than she might have had, had there been a husband +in the case to satisfy; but notwithstanding, she had come to an age when +most people have husbands, and when an independent position in the world +becomes necessary to self-respect. To be sure, Lucilla _was_ +independent; but then--there is a difference, as everybody knows. + +And Miss Marjoribanks could not but feel that the world had not shown +that appreciation of her, to which, in her earlier days, she looked +forward with so little fear. The ten years, as they had really gone by, +were very different from the ten years she had looked forward to, when, +in the triumph of her youth, she named that period as the time when she +might probably begin to go off, and would be disposed to marry. By this +time the drawing-room carpets and curtains had faded a little, and +Lucilla had found out that the delicate pale green which suited her +complexion was not to call a profitable colour; and nobody could have +thought or said that to marry at this period would be in the least +degree to swindle the Doctor. Thus the moment had arrived to which she +looked forward, but the man had not arrived with it. Ten years had +passed, during which she had been at the head of society in Grange Lane, +and a great comfort to her dear papa; and now, if there remained another +development for Lucilla's character, it was about time that it should +begin to show itself. But at the same time, the main element necessary +for that new development did not seem at present likely to be found in +Grange Lane. + +Unless, indeed, it might happen to be found in the person of Mr +Ashburton, who was so often in Carlingford that he might be said to form +a part of society there. It was he who was related to the Richmonds, who +were a family much respected in the county. He had been at the bar, and +even begun to distinguish himself, before old Miss Penrhyn died and left +him the Firs. He had begun to distinguish himself, but he had not, it +appeared, gone so far as to prevent him from coming down to his new +property and settling upon it, and taking his place as a local +notability. He was not a man who could be expected to care for evening +parties in a provincial town; but he never refused to dine with Dr +Marjoribanks, and was generally popular upstairs, where he always paid a +little attention to Lucilla, though nothing very marked and noticeable. +Mr Ashburton was not like Mr Cavendish, for instance (if anybody +remembered Mr Cavendish), a man whose money might be in the Funds, but +who more probably speculated. Everybody knew everything about him, which +was an ease to the public mind. The Firs was as well known as +Carlingford steeple, and how much it was worth a year, and everything +about it; and so was the proprietor's pedigree, which could be traced to +a semi-mythical personage known as old Penrhyn, whose daughter was Sir +John Richmond's grandmother. The Firs, it is true, had descended in the +female line, but still it is something to know where a man comes from, +even on one side. + +Mr Ashburton made himself very agreeable in the neighbourhood, and was +never above enlightening anybody on a point of law. He used to say that +it was kind to give him something to do, which was an opinion endorsed +practically by a great many people. It is true that some of his +neighbours wondered much to see his patience, and could not make out why +he chose to rusticate at the Firs at his age, and with his abilities. +But either he never heard these wonderings, or at least he never took +any notice of them. He lived as if he liked it, and settled down, and +presented to all men an aspect of serene contentment with his sphere. +And it would be difficult to say what suggestion or association it was +which brought him all of a sudden into Miss Marjoribanks's head, one +day, when, seeing a little commotion in Masters's shop, she went in to +hear what it was about. The cause of the commotion was an event which +had been long expected, and which, indeed, ten years before, had been +looked on as a possible thing to happen any day. The wonder was, not +that old Mr Chiltern should die, but that he should have lived so long. +The ladies in Masters's cried, "Poor dear old man!" and said to each +other that however long it might have been expected, a death always +seemed sudden at the last. But, to tell the truth, the stir made by this +death was rather pleasant than sad. People thought, not of the career +which was ended, but of the one which must now begin, and of the +excitement of an election, which was agreeable to look forward to. As +for Lucilla, when she too had heard the news, and had gone upon her way, +it would be vain to assert that a regretful recollection of the time +when Mr Cavendish was thought a likely man to succeed Mr Chiltern did +not occur to her. But when Miss Marjoribanks had dismissed that +transitory thought, Mr Ashburton suddenly came into her head by one of +those intuitions which have such an effect upon the mind that receives +them. Lucilla was not of very marked political opinions, and perhaps was +not quite aware what Mr Ashburton's views were on the Irish Church +question, or upon parliamentary reform; but she said after, that it came +into her mind in a moment, like a flash of lightning, that he was the +man. The idea was so new and so striking, that she turned back and went, +in the excitement of the moment, to suggest it to Mrs Chiley, and see +what her old friend and the Colonel would say. Of course, if such a +thing was practicable, there was no time to lose. She turned round +quickly, according to her prompt nature; and such was her absorbed +interest in the idea of Mr Ashburton, that she did not know until she +had almost done it, that she was walking straight into her hero's arms. + +"Oh, Mr Ashburton!" said Lucilla, with a little scream, "is it you? My +mind was quite full of you. I could not see you for thinking. Do come +back with me, for I have something very particular to say----" + +"To me?" said Mr Ashburton, looking at her with a smile and a sudden +look of interest; for it is always slightly exciting to the most +philosophical mortal to know that somebody else's mind is full of him. +"What you have said already is so flattering----" + +"I did not mean anything absurd," said Miss Marjoribanks. "Don't talk +any nonsense, please. Mr Ashburton, do you know that old Mr Chiltern is +dead?" + +Lucilla put the question solemnly, and her companion grew a little red +as he looked at her. "It is not my fault," he said, though he still +smiled; and then he grew redder and redder, though he ought to have been +above showing such signs of emotion; and looked at her curiously, as if +he would seize what she was going to say out of her eyes or her lips +before it was said. + +"It is not anything to laugh about," said Lucilla. "He was a very nice +old man; but he is dead, and somebody else must be Member for +Carlingford: that was why I told you that my mind was full of you. I am +not in the least superstitious," said Miss Marjoribanks, solemnly; "but +when I stood there--there, just in front of Mr Holden's--you came into +my mind like a flash of lightning. I was not thinking of you in the +least, and you came into my mind like--like Minerva, you know. If it was +not an intimation, I don't know what it was. And that was why I ran +against you, and did not see you were there. Mr Ashburton, it is you who +must be the man," said Lucilla. It was not a thing to speak lightly +about, and for her part she spoke very solemnly; and as for Mr +Ashburton, his face flushed deeper and deeper. He stood quite still in +the excitement of the moment, as if she had given him a blow. + +"Miss Marjoribanks, I don't know how to answer you," he cried; and then +he put out his hand in an agitated way and grasped her hand. "You are +the only creature in Carlingford, man or woman, that has divined me," he +said, in a trembling voice. It was a little public at the top of Grange +Lane, where people were liable to pass at every moment; but still Miss +Marjoribanks accepted the pressure of the hand, which, to be sure, had +nothing whatever to do with love-making. She was more shy of such +demonstrations than she had been in her confident youth, knowing that in +most cases they never came to anything, and at the same time that the +spectators kept a vivid recollection of them; but still, in the +excitement of the moment, Miss Marjoribanks accepted and returned in a +womanly way the pressure of Mr Ashburton's hand. + +"Come in and let us talk it over," Lucilla said, feeling that no time +was to be lost. It was a conference very different from that which, had +Mr Chiltern been so well advised as to die ten years before, might have +been held in Dr Marjoribanks's drawing-room over his successor's +prospects; but at the same time there was something satisfactory to the +personal sentiments of both in the way in which this conversation had +come about. When Lucilla took off her hat and sat down to give him all +her attention, Mr Ashburton could not but feel the flattering character +of the interest she was taking in him. She was a woman, and young +(comparatively speaking), and was by no means without admirers, and +unquestionably took the lead in society; and to be divined by such a +person was perhaps, on the whole, sweeter to the heart of the aspirant +than if Colonel Chiley had found out his secret, or Dr Marjoribanks, or +even the Rector: and Lucilla for her part had all that natural pleasure +in being the first to embrace a new interest which was natural under the +circumstances. "Let us talk it all over," she said, giving Mr Ashburton +a chair near her own. "If I believed in spirit-rapping, you know, I +should be sure that was what it meant. I was not thinking of you in the +least, and all at once, like a flash of lightning--Mr Ashburton sit down +and tell me--what is the first thing that must be done?" + +"If I could ask you to be on my committee, that would be the first thing +to be done," said Mr Ashburton, "but unfortunately I can't do that. Let +me tell you in the first place how very much I am obliged----" + +"Don't say that, please," said Miss Marjoribanks, with her usual good +sense, "for I have done nothing. But papa can be on the committee, and +old Colonel Chiley, who is such a one for politics; and of course Sir +John--that will be a very good beginning; and after that----" + +"My dear Miss Marjoribanks," Mr Ashburton said, with a smile, and a +little hesitation, "Sir John takes exactly the other side in politics; +and I am afraid the Doctor and the Colonel are not of the same way of +thinking; and then my opinions----" + +"If they are not of the same way of thinking we must make them," said +Lucilla: "after having such an intimation, I am not going to be put off +for a trifle; and besides, what does it matter about opinions? I am sure +I have heard you all saying over and over that the thing was to have a +good _man_. Don't go and make speeches about opinions. If you begin with +that, there is no end to it," said Miss Marjoribanks. "I know what you +gentlemen are. But if you just say distinctly that you are the best +man----" + +"It would be an odd thing to say for oneself," said Mr Ashburton, +and he laughed; but, to tell the truth, he was not a man of very +quick understanding, and at the first outset of the thing he +did not understand Lucilla; and he was a little--just a very +little--disappointed. She had divined him, which was a wonderful proof +of her genius; but yet at the bottom she was only an ignorant woman +after all. + +"I see it all quite clear what to do," said Miss Marjoribanks. "You must +have the Colonel and Sir John, and everybody. I would not pay the least +attention to Tories or Whigs, or anything of the sort. For my part I +don't see any difference. All that has to be said about it is simply +that you are the right man. Papa might object to one thing and the +Colonel might object to another, and then if Sir John, as you say, is of +quite another way of thinking----But you are the man for Carlingford +all the same; and none of them can say a word against that," said +Lucilla, with energy. She stopped short, with her colour rising and her +eyes brightening. She felt herself inspired, which was a new sensation, +and very pleasant; and then the idea of such a coming struggle was sweet +to Miss Marjoribanks, and the conviction burst upon her that she was +striking out a perfectly new and original line. + +As for her candidate, he smiled, and hesitated, and paid her pretty +little compliments for a few minutes longer, and said it was very good +of her to interest herself in his fortunes. All which Lucilla listened +to with great impatience, feeling that it had nothing to do with the +matter in hand. But then after these few minutes had elapsed the meaning +of his fair adviser, as he called her, began to dawn upon Mr Ashburton's +mind. He began to prick up his mental ears, so to speak, and see that it +was not womanish ignorance, but an actual suggestion. For, after all, so +long as he was the Man for Carlingford, all the rest was of little +importance. He took something out of his pocket, which was his address +to the constituency of Carlingford (for being anxious on the subject, he +had heard of Mr Chiltern's death an hour or two before anybody else), +and choke-full of political sentiments. In it he described to the +electors what he would do if they sent him to Parliament, as carefully +as if their election could make him Prime Minister at least; and +naturally a man does not like to sacrifice such a confession of faith. +"I should like to read it to you," he said, spreading it out with +affectionate care: but Lucilla had already arranged her plans, and knew +better than that. + +"If you were to read it to me," said Miss Marjoribanks, "I should be +sure to be convinced that you were quite right, and to go in with you +for everything; and then I should be no good, you know. If it were to +drive papa and Sir John and the Colonel all to their own ways of +thinking, we never should make any progress. I would never mind about +anybody's ways of thinking, if I were you. After all," said Lucilla, +with fine satire, of which she was unconscious, "what does it matter +what people think? I suppose when it comes to doing anything, the Whigs +and the Tories are just the same. Mr Ashburton, it is the Man that is +wanted," said Miss Marjoribanks, with all the warmth of sudden +conviction. She felt a little like Joan of Arc as she spoke. When an +army has the aid of a sacred maiden to bring inspiration to its +counsels, the idea of going on in the old formal way is no longer to be +tolerated. And such was the force of Lucilla's conviction, that Mr +Ashburton, though he felt a little affronted, and could not but look +with fond and compunctious regret upon his address, yet began more and +more to feel that there was justice in what she said. + +"I will think over what you say," he said, rather stiffly, and put up +his address--for it was natural, when he had done her such an honour as +to offer to read it to her, that he should be affronted by her refusal. +It was a bold experiment on Lucilla's part, but then she was carried out +of herself at the moment by this singular flash of inspiration. "I will +think over what you say," Mr Ashburton continued; "and if my judgment +approves----At all events I shall not issue _this_ till I have thought +it all over. I am sure I am extremely obliged to you for your interest." +And here he stopped short, and looked as if he were going to get up and +go away, which would have spoiled all. + +"You are going to stop to lunch," said Lucilla; "somebody is sure to +come in. And you know you must not lose any opportunity of seeing +people. I am so glad to-night is Thursday. Tell me just one thing, Mr +Ashburton, before any one comes. There is one thing that is really +important, and must be fixed upon. If we were to make any mistake, you +know----" + +"What?" said the candidate eagerly--"about Reform? I have expressed +myself very clearly----" + +Lucilla smiled compassionately, and with the gentlest tolerance, at this +wild suggestion. "I was not thinking of Reform," she said, with that +meekness which people assume when it is of no use being impatient. "I +was thinking what your colours were to be. I would not have anything to +do with the old colours, for my part--they would be as bad as opinions, +you know. You may laugh, but I am quite in earnest," said Miss +Marjoribanks. As for Mr Ashburton, he did not begin to laugh until he +had fixed upon her that gaze of utter amazement and doubt with which on +many similar occasions ordinary people had regarded Lucilla--thinking +she was joking, or acting, or doing something quite different from the +severe sincerity which was her leading principle. She was so used to it, +that she waited with perfect patience till her companion's explosion of +amusement was over. He was thinking to himself what a fool she was, or +what a fool he was to think of taking a woman into his counsels, or what +curious unintelligible creatures women were, made up of sense and folly; +and all the time he laughed, which was a relief to his feelings. Miss +Marjoribanks laughed a little too, to keep him in countenance, for she +was always the soul of good nature; and then she repeated, "Now you must +tell me what our colours are to be----" + +"I am sure I don't know anything about colours," said the candidate, +"any more than you do about opinions. I think they are equally +unimportant, to say the least. I shall adopt the colours of my fair +counsellor," Mr Ashburton added, laughing, and making a mock bow to her, +and getting his hat as he did so--for he had naturally calmed down a +little from the first enthusiasm with which he had hailed the woman who +divined him, and he did not mean to stay. + +"Blue and yellow are the old colours," said Lucilla thoughtfully, "and +you are the new man, you know, and we must not meddle with these +antiquated things. Do you think this would do?" As she spoke she took up +a handful of ribbons which were lying by, and put them up to her face +with an air of serious deliberation which once more disturbed Mr +Ashburton's gravity. And yet, when a young woman who is not at all +bad-looking puts up a rustling, gleaming knot of ribbons to her hair and +asks a man's opinion of the same, the man must be a philosopher or a +wretch indeed who does not give a glance to see the effect. The +candidate for Carlingford looked and approached, and even, in the +temptation of the moment, took some of the long streamers in his hand. +And he began to think Miss Marjoribanks was very clever, and the most +amusing companion he had met with for a long time. And her interest in +him touched his heart; and, after all, it is no drawback to a woman to +be absurd by moments. His voice grew quite soft and caressing as he took +the end of ribbon into his hand. + +"If they are your colours they shall be mine," he said, with a sense of +patronage and protection which was very delightful; and the two were +still talking and laughing over the silken link thus formed between +them, when the people came in whom Lucilla was expecting to lunch, and +who were naturally full of Mr Chiltern's death, which, poor old man! was +so sudden at the last. Mr Ashburton stayed, though he had not intended +it, and made himself very pleasant. And Lucilla took no pains to +conceal her opinion that the thing was neither to consider Whigs nor +Tories, but a good _Man_. And Major Brown, who had come with his +daughters, echoed this sentiment so warmly that Mr Ashburton was +entirely convinced of the justice of Miss Marjoribanks's ideas. "We +can't have a tip-topper, you know," Major Brown said, who was not very +refined in his expressions; "and what I should like to see is a man that +knows the place and would look after Carlingford. That's what we're all +looking for." Mr Ashburton did not declare himself to Major Brown, but +he dashed off his new address ten minutes after he had taken leave of +Miss Marjoribanks, and put the other one in the fire like a Christian, +and telegraphed for his agent to town. Lucilla, for her part, made an +effort equally great and uncompromising. She took the ribbon Mr +Ashburton had played with, and cut it up into cockades of all +descriptions. It was an early moment, but still there was no time to be +lost in a matter of such importance. And she wore one on her breast and +one in her hair when Mr Ashburton's address was published, and all the +world was discussing the new candidate. + +"Of course they are his colours--that is why I wear them," said Lucilla. +"I shall always think there was something very strange in it. Just after +I had heard of poor old Mr Chiltern's death, as I was passing +Holden's--when I was not in the least thinking of him--he came into my +mind like a flash of lightning, you know. If I had been very intimate +with poor old Mr Chiltern, or if I believed in spirit-rapping, I should +think _that_ was it. He came into my head without my even thinking of +him, all in a moment, with his very hat on and his umbrella, like +Minerva--wasn't it Minerva?" said Miss Marjoribanks. And she took up Mr +Ashburton's cause openly, and unfurled his standard, and did not even +ask her father's opinion. "Papa knows about politics, but he has not had +an intimation, as I have," said Lucilla. And, naturally, she threw all +the younger portion of Grange Lane, which was acquainted with Mr +Ashburton, and looked forward eagerly to a little excitement, and liked +the idea of wearing a violet-and-green cockade, into a flutter of +excitement. Among these rash young people there were even a few +individuals who took Lucilla's word for it, and knew that Mr Ashburton +was very _nice_, and did not see that anything more was necessary. To be +sure, these enthusiasts were chiefly women, and in no cases had votes; +but Miss Marjoribanks, with instinctive correctness of judgment, +decided that there were more things to be thought of than the electors. +And she had the satisfaction of seeing with her own eyes and hearing +with her own ears the success of that suggestion of her genius. +Carlingford had rarely been more excited by any public event than it was +by the address of the new candidate, who was in the field before anybody +else, and who had the boldness to come before them without uttering any +political creed. "The enlightened electors of Carlingford do not demand, +like other less educated constituencies, a system of political doctrines +cut and dry, or a representative bound to give up his own judgment, and +act according to arbitrary promises," said the daring candidate: "what +they want is an honest man, resolved to do his duty by his country, his +borough, and his constituency; and it is this idea alone which has +induced me to solicit your suffrages." This was what Mr Ashburton said +in his address, though at that moment he had still his other address in +his pocket, in which he had entered at some length into his distinctive +personal views. It was thus that an independent candidate, unconnected +with party, took the field in Carlingford, with Miss Marjoribanks, like +another Joan of Arc, wearing a knot of ribbons, violet and green, in her +hair, to inspire and lead him on. + + + + +_Chapter XXXVIII_ + + +Life with most people is little more than a succession of high and low +tides. There are times when the stream runs low, and when there is +nothing to be seen but the dull sandbanks, or even mud-banks, for +months, or even years together; and then all at once the waters swell, +and come rushing twice a day like the sea, carrying life and movement +with them. Miss Marjoribanks had been subject to the _eaux mortes_ for a +long time: but now the spring-tides had rushed back. A day or two after +Mr Ashburton had been revealed to her as the predestined member, +something occurred, not in itself exciting, but which was not without +its ultimate weight upon the course of affairs. It was the day when Aunt +Jemima was expected in Grange Lane. She was Aunt Jemima to Lucilla; but +the Doctor called her Mrs John, and was never known to address her by +any more familiar title. She was, as she herself described it, a widow +lady, and wore the dress of her order, and was the mother of Tom +Marjoribanks. She was not a frequent visitor at Carlingford, for she and +her brother-in-law had various points on which they were not of accord. +The Doctor, for his part, could not but feel perennially injured that +the boy had fallen to the lot of Mrs John, while he had only a +girl--even though that girl was Lucilla; and Aunt Jemima could not +forgive him for the rude way in which he treated her health, which was +so delicate, and his want of sympathy for many other people who were +delicate too. Even when she arrived, and was being entertained with the +usual cup of tea, fears of her brother-in-law's robustness and +unsympathetic ways had begun to overpower her. "I hope your papa does +not ask too much from you, Lucilla," she said, as she sat in her +easy-chair, and took her tea by the fire in the cosy room which had been +prepared for her. "I hope he does not make you do too much, for I am +sure you are not strong, my dear. Your poor mamma, you know----" and Mrs +John looked with a certain pathos at her niece, as though she saw signs +of evil in Lucilla's fresh complexion and substantial frame. + +"I am pretty well, thank you, Aunt Jemima," said Miss Marjoribanks, +"and papa lets me do pretty much what I like: I am too old now, you +know, to be told what to do." + +"Don't call yourself old, my dear," said Aunt Jemima, with a passing +gleam of worldly wisdom--"one gets old quite soon enough. Are you +subject to headaches, Lucilla, or pains in the limbs? Your poor +mamma----" + +"Dear Aunt Jemima, I am as well as ever I can be," said Miss +Marjoribanks. "Tell me when you heard from Tom, and what he is doing. +Let me see, it is ten years since he went away. I used to write to him, +but he did not answer my letters--not as he ought, you know. I suppose +he has found friends among the Calcutta ladies," said Lucilla, with a +slight but not unapparent sigh. + +"He never says anything to me about Calcutta ladies," said Tom's mother; +"to tell the truth, I always thought before he went away that he was +fond of _you_--I must have been mistaken, as he never said anything; and +_that_ was very fortunate at all events." + +"I am sure I am very thankful he was not fond of me," said Lucilla, with +a little natural irritation, "for I never could have returned it. But I +should like to know why that was so fortunate. I can't see that it would +have been such a very bad thing for him, for my part." + +"Yes, my dear," said Aunt Jemima, placidly, "it would have been a very +bad thing; for you know, Lucilla, though you get on very nicely here, +you never could have done for a poor man's wife." + +Miss Marjoribanks's bosom swelled when she heard these words--it swelled +with that profound sense of being unappreciated and misunderstood, which +is one of the hardest trials in the way of genius; but naturally she was +not going to let her aunt see her mortification. "I don't mean to be any +man's wife just now," she said, making a gulp of it--"I am too busy +electioneering; we are going to have a new member in dear old Mr +Chiltern's place. Perhaps he will come in this evening to talk things +over, and you shall see him," Lucilla added, graciously. She was a +little excited about the candidate, as was not unnatural--more excited, +perhaps, than she would have been ten years ago, when life was young; +and then it was not to be expected that she could be pleased with Aunt +Jemima for thinking it was so fortunate; though even that touch of +wounded pride did not lead Miss Marjoribanks to glorify herself by +betraying Tom. + +"My brother-in-law used to be a dreadful Radical," said Aunt Jemima; "I +hope it is not one of those revolutionary men; I have seen your poor +uncle sit up arguing with him till I thought they never would be done. +If that is the kind of thing, I hope you will not associate yourself +with it, Lucilla. Your papa should have more sense than to let you. I +should never have permitted it if you had been _my_ daughter," added Mrs +John, with a little heat--for, to tell the truth, she too felt a slight +vexation on her part that the Doctor had the girl--even though not for +twenty girls would she have given up Tom. + +Miss Marjoribanks looked upon the weak woman who thus ventured to +address her with indescribable feelings; but after all she was not so +much angry as amused and compassionate. She could not help thinking to +herself, if she had been Mrs John's daughter, how perfectly docile Aunt +Jemima would have been by this time, and how little she would have +really ventured to interfere. "It would have been very nice," she said, +with a meditative realisation of the possibility--"though it is very odd +to think how one could have been one's own cousin--I should have taken +very good care of you, I am sure." + +"You would have done no such thing," said Mrs John; "you would have gone +off and married; I know how girls do. You have not married now, because +you have been too comfortable, Lucilla. You have had everything your own +way, and all that you wanted, without any of the bother. It is very +strange how differently people's lots are ordered. I was married at +seventeen--and I am sure I have not known what it was to have a day's +health----" + +"Dear Aunt Jemima!" said her affectionate niece, kissing her, "but papa +shall see if he cannot give you something, and we will take such care of +you while you are here." + +Mrs John was softened in spite of herself; but still she shook her head. +"It is very nice of you to say so, my dear," she said, "and it's +pleasant to feel that one has somebody belonging to one; but I have not +much confidence in your papa. He never understood my complaints. I used +to be very sorry for your poor mamma. He never showed that sympathy--but +I did not mean to blame him to you, Lucilla. I am sure he is a very good +father to you." + +"He has been a perfect old angel," said Miss Marjoribanks; and then the +conversation came to a pause, as it was time to dress for dinner. Mrs +John Marjoribanks had a very nice room, and everything that was adapted +to make her comfortable; but she too had something to think of when the +door closed upon Lucilla, and she was left with her maid and her hot +water and her black velvet gown. Perhaps it was a little inconsistent to +wear a black velvet gown with her widow's cap; it was a question which +she had long debated in her mind before she resigned herself to the +temptation--but then it always looked so well, and was so very +profitable! and Mrs John felt that it was incumbent upon her to keep up +a respectable appearance for Tom's sake. Tom was very much in her mind +at that moment, as indeed he always was; for though it was a long time +ago, she could not get the idea out of her head that he must have said +something to Lucilla before he went off to India; and he had a way of +asking about his cousin in his letters; and though she would have done +anything to secure her boy's happiness, and was on the whole rather fond +of her niece, yet the idea of the objections her brother-in-law would +have to such a match, excited to the uttermost the smouldering pride +which existed in Aunt Jemima's heart. He was better off, and had always +been better off, than her poor John--and he had robust health and an +awful scorn of the coddling, to which, as he said, she had subjected his +brother; and he had money enough to keep _his_ child luxuriously, and +make her the leader of Carlingford society, while _her_ poor boy had to +go to India and put himself in the way of all kinds of unknown diseases +and troubles. Mrs John was profoundly anxious to promote her son's +happiness, and would gladly have given every penny she had to get him +married to Lucilla, "if that was what he wanted," as she justly said; +but to have her brother-in-law object to him, and suggest that he was +not good enough, was the one thing she could not bear. She was thinking +about this, and whether Tom really had not said anything, and whether +Lucilla cared for him, and what amid all these perplexities she should +do, while she dressed for dinner; and, at the same time, she felt her +palpitation worse than usual, and knew Dr Marjoribanks would smile his +grim smile if she complained, so that her visit to Grange Lane, though +Lucilla meant to take good care of her, was not altogether unmingled +delight to Mrs John. + +But, nevertheless, Dr Marjoribanks's dinner-table was always a cheerful +sight, even when it was only a dinner-party of three; for then naturally +they used the round table, and were as snug as possible. Lucilla wore +her knot of green and violet ribbons on her white dress, to her aunt's +great amazement, and the Doctor had all the air of a man who had been +out in the world all day and returned in the evening with something to +tell--which is a thing which gives great animation to a family party. +Mrs John Marjoribanks had been out of all that sort of thing for a long +time. She had been living quite alone in a widowed, forlorn way, and had +half forgotten how pleasant it was to have somebody coming in with a +breath of fresh air about him and the day's budget of news--and it had +an animating effect upon her, even though she was not fond of her +brother-in-law. Dr Marjoribanks inquired about Tom in the most fatherly +way, and what he was about, and how things were looking for him, and +whether he intended to come home. "Much better not," the Doctor +said,--"I should certainly advise him not, if he asked me. He has got +over all the worst of it, and now is his time to do something worth +while." + +"Tom is not one to think merely of worldly advantages," said his mother, +with a fine instinct of opposition. "I don't think he would care to +waste all the best part of his life making money. I'd rather see him +come home and be happy, for my part, even if he were not so rich----" + +"If all men were happy that came home," said the Doctor, and then he +gave a rather grim chuckle. "Somebody has come home that you did not +reckon on, Lucilla. I am sorry to spoil sport; but I don't see how you +are to get out of it. There is another address on the walls to-day +besides that one of yours----" + +"Oh, I hope there will be six addresses!" cried Miss Marjoribanks; "if +we had it all our own way it would be no fun;--a Tory, and a Whig, and +a--did you say Radical, Aunt Jemima? And then, what is a Conservative?" +asked Lucilla, though certainly she had a very much better notion of +political matters than Aunt Jemima had, to say the least. + +"I wonder how you can encourage any poor man to go into Parliament," +said Mrs John; "so trying for the health as it must be, and an end to +everything like domestic life. If it was my Tom I would almost rather he +stayed in India. He looks strong, but there is never any confidence to +be put in young men looking strong. Oh, I know you do not agree with me, +Doctor; but I have had sad reason for my way of thinking," said the poor +lady. As for the Doctor, he did not accept the challenge thus thrown to +him. Tom Marjoribanks was not the foremost figure in the world in his +eyes, as the absent wanderer was in that of his mother; and he had not +yet unburdened himself of what he had to say. + +"I am not saying anything in favour of going into Parliament," said the +Doctor. "I'd sooner be a barge-man on the canal, if it was me. I am only +telling Lucilla what she has before her. I don't know when I have been +more surprised. Of course you were not looking for _that_," said Dr +Marjoribanks. He had kept back until the things were taken off the +table, for he had a benevolent disinclination to spoil anybody's dinner. +Now, when all the serious part of the meal was over, he tossed the +_Carlingford Gazette_ across the table, folded so that she could not +miss what he wanted her to see. Lucilla took it up lightly between her +finger and thumb; for the Carlingford papers were inky and badly +printed, and soiled a lady's hand. She took it up delicately without +either alarm or surprise, knowing very well that the Blues and the +Yellows were not likely without a struggle to give up to the new +standard, which was violet and green. But what she saw on that inky +broadsheet overwhelmed in an instant Miss Marjoribanks's +self-possession. She turned pale, though her complexion was, if +possible, fresher than ever, and even shivered in her chair, though her +nerves were so steady. Could it be a trick to thwart and startle her? or +could it be true? She lifted her eyes to her father with a look of +horror-stricken inquiry, but all that she met in return was a certain +air of amusement and triumph, which struck her at the tenderest point. +He was not sorry nor sympathetic, nor did he care at all for the sudden +shock she had sustained. On the contrary, he was laughing within himself +at the utterly unexpected complication. It was cruel, but it was +salutary, and restored her self-command in a moment. She might have +given way under kindness, but this look of satisfaction over her +discomfiture brought Lucilla to herself. + +"Yes, I thought you would be surprised," said Dr Marjoribanks dryly; and +he took his first glass of claret with a slow relish and enjoyment, +which roused every sentiment of self-respect and spark of temper +existing in his daughter's mind. "If you had kept your own place it +would not have mattered; but I don't see how you are to get out of it. +You see young ladies should let these sort of things alone, Lucilla." +This was all the feeling he showed for her in her unexpected dilemma. +Miss Marjoribanks's heart gave one throb, which made the green and +violet ribbons jump and thrill; and then she came to herself, and +recognised, as she had so often done before, that she had to fight her +way by herself, and had nobody to look to. Such a thought is dreary +enough sometimes, and there are minds that sink under it; but at other +times it is like the touch of the mother earth which gave the giant back +its strength; and Lucilla was of the latter class of intelligence. When +she saw the triumph with which her embarrassment was received and that +she had no sympathy nor aid to look for, she recovered herself as if by +magic. Let what would come in the way, nothing could alter her certainty +that Mr Ashburton was the man for Carlingford; and that determination +not to be beaten, which is the soul of British valour, sprang up in an +instant in Miss Marjoribanks's mind. There was not even the alternative +of victory or Westminster Abbey for Lucilla. If she was ever to hold up +her head again, or have any real respect for herself, she must win. All +this passed through her head in the one bewildering moment, while her +father's words were still making her ears tingle, and _that name_, +printed in big inky letters, seemed to flutter in all the air round her. +It was hard to believe the intelligence thus conveyed, and harder still +to go on in the face of old friendships and the traditions of her youth; +but still duty was dearer than tradition, and it was now a necessity to +fight the battle to the last, and at all risks to win. + +"Thank you all the same, papa, for bringing me the paper," said Lucilla. +"It would have been a great deal worse if I had not known of it before I +saw him. I am sure I am very glad for one thing. He can't be married or +dead, as people used to say. I am quite ashamed to keep you so long +downstairs, Aunt Jemima, when I know you must be longing for a cup of +tea--but it is somebody come back whom nobody expected. Tell him I shall +be _so_ glad to see him, papa; though I have no reason to be glad, for +he was one of my _young_ friends, you know, and he is sure to think I +have gone off." As she spoke, Lucilla turned Aunt Jemima, to whom she +had given her arm, quite round, that she might look into the great glass +over the mantelpiece: "I don't think I _am_ quite so much gone off as I +expected to be," said Miss Marjoribanks, with candid impartiality; +"though of course he will think me stouter--but it does not make any +difference about Mr Ashburton being the right man for Carlingford." She +said the words with a certain solemnity, and turned Mrs John, who was so +much surprised as to be speechless, round again, and led her upstairs. +It was as if they were walking in a procession of those martyrs and +renouncers of self, who build up the foundations of society; and it +would not be too much to say that under her present circumstances, and +in the excitement of this singular and unexpected event, such was the +painful but sublime consciousness which animated Lucilla's breast. + +As for Dr Marjoribanks, his triumph was taken out of him by that +spectacle. He closed the door after the ladies had gone, and came back +to his easy-chair by the side of the fire, and could not but feel that +he had had the worst of it. It was actually Mr Cavendish who had come +home, and whose address to the electors of Carlingford, dated from Dover +on his return to England, the Doctor had just put into his daughter's +hand. But wonderful and unlooked-for as was the event, Lucilla, though +taken unawares, had not given in, nor shown any signs of weakness. And +the effect upon her father of her last utterance and confession was such +that he took up the paper again and read both addresses, which were +printed side by side. In other days Mr Cavendish had been the chosen +candidate of Grange Lane; and the views which he expressed (and he +expressed his views very freely) were precisely those of Dr +Marjoribanks. Yet when the Doctor turned to Mr Ashburton's expression of +his conviction that he was the right man for Carlingford, it cannot be +denied that the force of that simple statement had a wonderful effect +upon his mind--an effect all the greater, perhaps, in comparison with +the political exposition made by the other unexpected candidate. The +Doctor's meditations possibly took a slumbrous tone from the place and +the moment at which he pursued them; for the fact was that the words he +had just been hearing ran in his head all through the reading of the two +addresses. Mr Cavendish would think Lucilla had gone off; but yet she +had not gone off so much as might have been expected, and Mr Ashburton +was the man for Carlingford. Dr Marjoribanks laughed quietly by himself +in his easy-chair, and then went back to Mr Cavendish's opinions; and +ended again, without knowing it, in a kind of odd incipient agreement +with Lucilla. The new candidate was right in politics; but, after all, +Mr Ashburton was a more satisfactory sort of person. He was a man whom +people knew everything about, and a descendant of old Penrhyn, and had +the Firs, and lived in it, and spent about so much money every year +honestly in the face of the world. When a man conducts himself in this +way, his neighbours can afford to be less exacting as to his political +opinions. This comparison went on in the Doctor's thoughts until the +distinction between the two grew confused and faint in that ruddy and +genial glow of firelight and lamplight and personal well-being which is +apt to engross a man's mind after he has come in out of the air, as +people say, and has eaten a good dinner, and feels himself comfortable; +and at last all that remained in Dr Marjoribanks's mind was that Mr +Cavendish would think Lucilla had gone off, though she had not gone off +nearly so much as might have been expected; at which he laughed with an +odd sound, which roused him, and might have induced some people to think +he had been sleeping--if, indeed, anybody had been near to hear. + +But this news was naturally much more serious to Miss Marjoribanks when +she got upstairs, and had time to think of it. She would not have been +human if she had heard without emotion of the return of the man whom she +had once dreamed of as member for Carlingford, with the addition of +other dreams which had not been altogether without their sweetness. He +had returned now and then for a few days, but Lucilla knew that he had +never held up his head in Grange Lane since the day when she advised him +to marry Barbara Lake. And now when he had bethought himself of his old +ambition, had he possibly bethought himself of other hopes as well? And +the horrible thing was, that she had pledged herself to another, and put +her seal upon it that Mr Ashburton was the man for Carlingford! It may +be supposed that, with such a complication in her mind, Miss +Marjoribanks was very little capable of supporting Aunt Jemima's +questions as to what it was about, and who was Mr Cavendish, and why was +his return of consequence to Lucilla? Mrs John was considerably alarmed +and startled, and began to think in earnest that Tom was fond of his +cousin, and would never forgive his mother for letting Lucilla perhaps +marry some one else, and settle down before her very eyes. + +"If it is a very particular friend, I can understand it," Mrs John said, +with a little asperity; but that was after she had made a great many +attempts, which were only partially successful, to find it all out. + +"Dear Aunt Jemima," said Lucilla, "we are all particular friends in +Carlingford--society is so limited, you know;--and Mr Cavendish has been +a very long time away. He used to be of such use to me, and I am so fond +of him," Miss Marjoribanks said, with a sigh; and it may be supposed +that Mrs John's curiosity was not lessened by such a response. + +"If you are engaged to any one, Lucilla, I must say I think I ought to +have been told," said Tom's mother, with natural indignation. "Though I +ought not to blame _you_ for it, perhaps. It is a sad thing when a girl +is deprived of a mother's care; but still I am your nearest +relation----" + +"My dear aunt, it is something about the election," said Miss +Marjoribanks. "How could I be engaged to a man who has been away ten +years?" + +"Tom has been away ten years," said Mrs John impetuously; and then she +blushed, though she was past the age of blushing, and made haste to +cover her imprudence. "I don't see what you can have to do with the +election," she said, with suspicion, but some justice; "and I don't +feel, Lucilla, as if you were telling me all." + +"I have the favours to make, Aunt Jemima," said Lucilla--"green and +violet. You used to be so clever at making bows, and I hope you will +help me;--papa, you know, will have to be on Mr Ashburton's committee," +Miss Marjoribanks added; and then, in spite of herself, a sigh of doubt +and anxiety escaped her bosom. It was easy to say that "papa would be on +Mr Ashburton's committee, you know," but nobody had known that Mr +Cavendish was coming to drive everything topsy-turvy; and Lucilla, +though she professed to know only who was the man for Carlingford, had +at the same time sufficient political information to be aware that the +sentiments propounded in Mr Cavendish's address were also Dr +Marjoribanks's sentiments; and she did not know the tricks which some +green-and-violet spirit in the dining-room was playing with the Doctor's +fancy. Perhaps it might turn out to be Mr Cavendish's committee which +her father would be on; and after she had pledged herself that the other +man was the man for Carlingford! Lucilla felt that she could not be +disloyal and go back from her word, neither could she forget the +intimation which had so plainly indicated to her that Mr Ashburton was +the man; and yet, at the same time, she could not but sigh as she +thought of Mr Cavendish. Perhaps he had grown coarse, as men do at that +age, just as Lucilla herself was conscious that he would find her +stouter. Perhaps he had ceased to flirt, or be of any particular use of +an evening; possibly even he might have forgotten Miss Marjoribanks--but +naturally that was a thing that seemed unlikely to Lucilla. And oh! if +he had but come a little earlier, or for ever stayed away! + +But while all these thoughts were going through her mind, her fingers +were still busy with the violet-and-green cockades which Aunt Jemima, +after making sure that Mr Ashburton was not a Radical, had begun to help +her with. And they sat and talked about Mrs John's breathing, which was +so bad, and about her headaches, while Lucilla by snatches discussed the +situation in her mind. Perhaps, on the whole, embarrassment and +perplexity are a kind of natural accompaniment to life and movement; and +it is better to be driven out of your senses with thinking which of two +things you ought to do than to do nothing whatever, and be utterly +uninteresting to all the world. This at least was how Lucilla reasoned +to herself in her dilemma; and while she reasoned she used up yard upon +yard of her green ribbon (for naturally the violet bore but a small +proportion to the green). Whatever she might have to do or to +suffer--however her thoughts might be disturbed or her heart +distracted--it is unnecessary to add that it was impossible to Lucilla +either to betray or to yield. + + + + +_Chapter XXXIX_ + + +It was a very good thing for Lucilla that Mrs John was so much of an +invalid, notwithstanding that the Doctor made little of her complaints. +All that Dr Marjoribanks said was--with that remnant of Scotch which was +often perceptible in his speech--that her illnesses were a fine thing to +occupy her, and he did not know what she would do without them--a manner +of speaking which naturally lessened his daughter's anxiety, though her +sympathetic care and solicitude were undiminished. And no doubt, when +she had been once assured that there was nothing dangerous in her aunt's +case, it was a relief to Miss Marjoribanks at the present juncture that +Mrs John got up late and always breakfasted in her own room. Lucilla +went into that sanctuary after she had given her father his breakfast, +and heard all about the palpitation and the bad night Aunt Jemima had +passed; and then when she had consoled her suffering relative by the +reflection that one never sleeps well the first night or two, Miss +Marjoribanks was at liberty to go forth and attend a little to her own +affairs, which stood so much in need of being attended to. She had had +no further talk with the Doctor on the subject, but she had read over Mr +Cavendish's address, and could not help seeing that it went dead against +her candidate; neither could Lucilla remain altogether unaffected by the +expression of feeling in respect to "a place in which I have spent so +many pleasant years, and which has so many claims on my affections," and +the touching haste with which the exile had rushed back as soon as he +heard of the old member's death. If it touched Miss Marjoribanks, who +was already pledged to support another interest, what might it not do to +the gentlemen in Grange Lane who were not pledged, and who had a +friendship for Mr Cavendish? This was the alarming thought that had +disturbed her sleep all night, and returned to her mind with her first +awakening; and when she had really her time to herself, and the fresh +morning hours before her, Lucilla began, as everybody ought to do, by +going to the very root and foundation, and asking herself what, beyond +all secondary considerations, it was _right_ to do. To change from one +side to the other and go back from her word was a thing abhorrent to +her; but still Miss Marjoribanks was aware that there are certain +circumstances in which honesty and truth themselves demand what in most +cases is considered an untruthful and dishonest proceeding. + +Thus in order to come to a right decision, and with a sense of the duty +she owed to her country which would have shamed half the electors in +England, not to say Carlingford, Lucilla, who naturally had no vote, +read the two addresses of the two candidates, and addressed herself +candidly and impartially to the rights of the subject. Mr Cavendish was +disposed, as we have said, to be pathetic and sentimental, and to speak +of the claims the borough had upon his affections, and the eagerness +with which he had rushed home at the earliest possible moment to present +himself to them. If poor old Mr Chiltern had been King Bomba, or a +gloomy Oriental tyrant, keeping all possible reformers and successors +banished from his dominions, the new candidate could not have spoken +with more pathos. It was a sort of thing which tells among the +imaginative part of the community, or so, at least, most people think; +and Miss Marjoribanks was moved by it for the first moment; but then her +enlightened mind asserted its rights. She said to herself that Mr +Cavendish might have come home at any hour, by any steamboat; that +Calais and Boulogne, and even Dieppe, were as open to him as if he had +been an actual refugee, and that consequently there was nothing +particular to be pathetic about. And then, if the town had such claims +on his affections, why had he stayed so long away? These two +rationalistic questions dispersed the first _attendrissement_ which had +begun to steal over Lucilla's mind. When she came to this conclusion, +her difficulties cleared away. She had no reason to go back from her +engagements and reject that intimation which had so impressed it on her, +that Mr Ashburton was the man. It was a sacrifice which ancient truth +and friendship did not demand, for verity was not in the document she +had just been reading, and that appeal to sentiment was nothing more +than what is generally called humbug. "He might have been living here +all the time," Lucilla said to herself; "he might have had much stronger +claims upon our affections; if he had wanted, he might have come back +ages ago, and not let people struggle on alone." When this view of the +subject occurred to her, Lucilla felt more indignation than sympathy. +And then, as Dr Marjoribanks had done, she turned to the calm utterance +of her own candidate--the man who was the only man for Carlingford--and +that sweet sense of having given sound counsel, and of having at last +met with some one capable of carrying it out, which makes up for so many +failures, came like balm to Lucilla's bosom. There was nothing more +necessary; the commotion in her mind calmed down, and the tranquillity +of undisturbed conviction came in its place. And it was with this sense +of certainty that she put on her bonnet and issued forth, though it +snowed a little, and was a very wintry day, on Mr Ashburton's behalf, to +try her fortune in Grange Lane. + +She went to Mrs Chiley's, who was now very old, poor old lady! and +feeble, and did not like to leave her sofa. Not but what she could leave +the sofa, she said to her friends, but at that time of the year, and at +her time of life, it was comfortable. The sofa was wheeled to the side +of the fire, and Mrs Chiley reclined upon it, covered with knitted rugs +of the brightest colours, which her young friends all worked for her. +The last one arrived was what used to be called an Afghanistan blanket, +done in stripes of all sorts of pretty tints, which was a present from +Mrs Beverley. "Her work, she says, Lucilla," said the old lady; "but we +know what sort of soft dawdling woman she is, and it must have been the +Archdeacon's nieces, you know." But still it had the place of honour at +present, covering Mrs Chiley's feet, and affording something to talk +about when any one came in. And by her side was a little table, upon +which stood one China rose, in a glass of water--a pale rose, almost as +pale as her soft old cheeks, and chilled like them by the approaching +frost. And the fire burned with an officious cheerfulness at her elbow, +as if it thought nothing of such accidental circumstances as winter and +old age. To be sure this was a reflection which never came into Mrs +Chiley's head, who was, on the contrary, very thankful for the fire, and +said it was like a companion. "And I often think, my dear, how do the +poor people get on, especially if they are old and sick, they have no +fires to keep them cheerful in this dreadful weather," the kind old lady +would say. She did say so now when Lucilla came in, glowing with cold +and her rapid walk, and with a flake or two of snow slowly melting on +her sealskin cloak. Perhaps it was not a sentiment the Colonel agreed +with, for he gave a humph and a little hoist of his shoulders, as if in +protest, being himself a good deal limited in his movements, and not +liking to own it, by the wintry torpor within his big old frame, and the +wintry weather outside. + +"Come and tell us all the news, Lucilla, my darling," Mrs Chiley said, +as she drew down her young friend's glowing face to her own, and gave +her one of her lingering kisses; "I felt sure you would come and tell us +everything. I said it would not be like Lucilla if she didn't. We know +nothing but _the fact_, you know--not another word. Make haste and tell +us everything, my dear." + +"But I don't know anything," said Miss Marjoribanks. "Of course you mean +about Mr Cavendish. I saw it in the papers, like everybody else, but I +don't know anything more." + +And then Mrs Chiley's countenance fell. She was not very strong, poor +old lady, and she could have cried, as she said afterwards. "Ah, well, I +suppose there is not time," she said, after a little pause; "I suppose +he has not got here from Dover yet--one always forgets the distance. I +calculated it all over last night, and I thought he would get home by +the eleven train; but these trains are never to be calculated upon, you +know, my dear. I _am_ a little disappointed, Lucilla. Poor dear! to +think how he must have rushed home the first moment--I could have cried +when I read that address." + +"I don't see why any one should cry," said Lucilla. "I think he makes a +great deal too much of that; he might have come ever so many years ago +if he had liked. Poor Mr Chiltern did not banish him, poor old man!--he +might have been here for years." + +Upon which the Colonel himself drew a little nearer, and poked the fire. +"I am glad to see you are so sensible, Lucilla," he said. "It's the +first rational word I have heard on the subject. _She_ thinks he's a +kind of saint and martyr; a silly young fellow that runs off among a set +of Frenchmen because he can't get everything his own way--and then he +expects that we are all to go into transports of joy, and give him our +votes," Colonel Chiley added, smashing a great piece of coal with the +poker, with a blow full of energy, yet showing a slight unsteadiness in +it, which sent a host of blazing splinters into the hearth. He was a man +who wore very well, but he was not so steady as he once was, and +nowadays was apt, by some tremulous movement, to neutralise the strength +which he had left. + +Mrs Chiley, for her part, was apt to be made very nervous by her +husband's proceedings. She was possessed by a terror that the splinters +some day would jump out of the hearth on to the carpet and fly into the +corners, "and perhaps burn us all up in our beds," as she said. She gave +a little start among her cushions, and stooped down to look over the +floor. "He will never learn that he is old," she said in Lucilla's ear, +who instantly came to her side to see what she wanted; and thus the two +old people kept watch upon each other, and noted, with a curious mixture +of vexation and sympathy, each other's declining strength. + +"For my part, I would give him all my votes, if I had a hundred," said +Mrs Chiley, "and so will you, too, when you hear the rights of it. +Lucilla, my dear, tell him--I hope _you_ are not going to forsake old +friends." + +"No," said Miss Marjoribanks--but she spoke with a gravity and +hesitation which did not fail to reach Mrs Chiley's ear--"I hope I shall +never desert my old friends; but I think all the same that it is Mr +Ashburton who is the right man for Carlingford," she said slowly. She +said it with reluctance, for she knew it would shock her audience, but, +at the same time, she did not shrink from her duty; and the moment had +now arrived when Lucilla felt concealment was impossible, and that the +truth must be said. + +As for Mrs Chiley, she was so distressed that the tears came to her +eyes; and even the Colonel laughed, and did not understand it. Colonel +Chiley, though he was by no means as yet on Mr Cavendish's side, was not +any more capable than his neighbours of understanding Miss +Marjoribanks's single-minded devotion to what was just and right; and +why she should transfer her support to Ashburton, who was not a ladies' +man, nor, in the Colonel's opinion, a marrying man, nor anything at all +attractive, now that the other had come back romantic and repentant to +throw his honours at her feet, was beyond his power of explanation. He +contented himself with saying "humph"; but his wife was not so easily +satisfied. She took Lucilla by the hand and poured forth a flood of +remonstrances and prayers. + +"I do not understand you, Lucilla," said Mrs Chiley. "He whom we know so +little about--whom, I am sure, you have no reason to care for. And where +could you find anybody nicer than Mr Cavendish?--and he to have such +faith in us, and to come rushing back as soon as he was able. I am sure +you have not taken everything into consideration, Lucilla. He might not +perhaps do exactly as could have been wished before he went away; but he +was young and he was led astray; and I do think you were a little hard +upon him, my dear; but I have always said I never knew anybody nicer +than Mr Cavendish. And what possible reason you can have to care about +that other man----" + +"It was like a special Intimation," said Lucilla, with solemnity. "I +don't see how I could neglect it, for my part. The day the news came +about poor old Mr Chiltern's death I was out, you know, and heard it; +and just at one spot upon the pavement, opposite Mr Holden's, it came +into my mind like a flash of lightning that Mr Ashburton was the man. I +don't care in the least for him, and I had not been thinking of him, or +anything. It came into my head all in a moment. If I had been very +intimate with poor dear old Mr Chiltern, or if I believed in +spirit-rapping, I should think it was a message from _him_." + +Lucilla spoke with great gravity, but she did not impress her audience, +who were people of sceptical minds. Mrs Chiley, for her part, was almost +angry, and could scarcely forgive Lucilla for having made her give grave +attention to such a piece of nonsense. "If it _had_ been him," she said, +with some wrath, "I don't see how having been dead for a few hours +should make his advice worth having. It never was good for anything when +he was alive. And you don't believe in spirit-rapping, I _hope_. I +wonder how you can talk such nonsense," the old lady said severely. And +Colonel Chiley, who had been a little curious too, laughed and coughed +over the joke; for the two old people were of the old school, and of a +very unbelieving frame of mind. + +"I knew you would laugh," said Miss Marjoribanks, "but I cannot help it. +If it had been impressed upon _your_ mind like that, you would have been +different. And, of course, I like Mr Cavendish much the best. I am so +glad I have no vote," said Lucilla; "it does not matter to anybody what +I think; but if I had anything to do with it, you know I could not stand +up for Mr Cavendish, even though I am fond of him, when I felt sure that +Mr Ashburton is the man for Carlingford--nobody could ask me to do +that." + +There followed a pause upon this declaration; for Miss Marjoribanks, +though she had no vote, was a person of undoubted influence, and such a +conviction on her part was not to be laughed at. Even Colonel Chiley, +who was undecided in his own mind, was moved by it a little. "What does +the Doctor think?" he asked. "Ashburton doesn't say a word about his +principles that I can see; and the other, you know----" + +"Dear Colonel Chiley," cried Lucilla, "he is not going to be Prime +Minister; and I have always heard you say, as long as I can remember, +that it was not opinions, you know, but a good _man_ that people wanted. +I have heard people talking politics for hours, and I always remember +you saying that, and thinking it was the only sensible thing that was +said; but, of course, I don't understand politics," Lucilla added, with +humility. As for the Colonel, he took up the poker, perhaps to hide a +little pleasant confusion, and again drew near the fire. + +"By George! I believe Lucilla is in the right," he said, with a certain +agreeable consciousness. Perhaps he did not quite recollect at what +moment of his life he had originated that sentiment, but he thought he +could recollect having said it; and it was with the view of carrying off +the bashfulness of genius, and not because the coals had any need of it, +that he took up the poker--a proceeding which was always regarded with +alarm and suspicion by his wife. + +"The fire is very nice," said Mrs Chiley. "I hate to have the fire poked +when it does not want it. Lucilla, if you make him go over to _that_ Mr +Ashburton's side, you will have a great deal to answer for, and I will +never forgive you. My dear, you must be dreaming--a man that is as dry +as a stick, and not one-hundredth nor one-thousandth part so nice----" + +"I shan't say another word," said Lucilla; "I shan't stay any longer, +for I can't help it, and you would be angry with me. People can't help +what they believe, you know. There is poor little Oswald Brown, who has +doubts, and can't go into the Church, and will ruin all his prospects, +and nobody can help it----" + +"If I were his mother I should help it!" cried Mrs Chiley. "I promise +you he should not talk of his doubts to me! A bit of a lad; and what is +good enough for all the bishops, and everybody in their senses, is not +good enough for him! If that is the kind of example you are going to +follow, Lucilla----" + +"Dear Mrs Chiley," said Miss Marjoribanks, "everybody knows what my +Church principles are; and perhaps you will come round to think with me; +but I am not going to say any more about it now. I am so glad your +rheumatism is better this morning; but you must wrap up well, for it is +so cold, oh, so cold, out of doors!" + +When Lucilla had thus dismissed the subject, she came to her old +friend's side and bent over her in her sealskin cloak, to say good-bye. +Mrs Chiley took her by both hands as she thus stood with her back to the +old Colonel, and drew her down close, and looked searchingly into her +eyes. "If you have any _particular_ reason, Lucilla, you ought to tell +me--that would make such a difference," said the old lady. "I always +tell you everything," said Miss Marjoribanks, with evasive fondness, as +she kissed the soft old withered cheek; and naturally, with the Colonel +behind, who was standing up before the fire shadowing over them both, +and quite unaware of this little whispered episode, it would have been +impossible to say more had there been ever so much to say. But it had +been a close encounter in its way, and Lucilla was rather glad to get +off without any further damage. She did not feel quite successful as she +went out; but still she had left a very wholesome commotion behind her; +for Colonel Chiley could not but feel that the sentiment which she had +quoted from himself was a very just sentiment. "By George! Lucilla was +in the right of it," he said again, after she was gone; and in fact went +through a process very similar to that which had modified the sentiments +of Dr Marjoribanks on the previous night. Mr Cavendish was a young +fellow who had rushed off among a set of Frenchmen, because Lucilla +Marjoribanks would not have him, or because he could not marry Barbara +Lake in addition, or at least somehow because he failed of having his +own way. It was all very well for him to come back and make a commotion, +and be sentimental about it. But what if, after all, Ashburton, who had +the Firs, and lived there, and spent his money like a Christian, was the +man for Carlingford? The Colonel's mind still wavered and veered about; +yet it had received an impulse which was by no means unworthy of +consideration. + +As for Mrs Chiley, she laid back her head upon her pillows and painfully +questioned with herself whether Lucilla could have any _particular_ +reason for taking Mr Ashburton's part so warmly. She thought with +justice that Miss Marjoribanks was looking brighter and better, and had +more of her old animation than she had shown for a long time--which +arose from the simple fact that she had something in hand, though the +old lady thought it might have a more touching and delicate motive. If +_that_ was the case, it would make a great difference. Mrs Chiley was no +longer able to go out in the evening, and had to be dependent on other +people's observation for a knowledge of what happened--and she was +wounded by a sense that her young friend had not been appreciated as her +worth deserved. If Mr Ashburton had the sense to see what was for his +own advantage, it would be a frightful thing, as Mrs Chiley said to +herself, if Lucilla's friends should fly in his face. And though it was +a hard trial to give up Mr Cavendish, still if anything of the kind had +happened----Thus it will be evident that Lucilla's visit, though it was +not a long one, nor the least in the world an argumentative visit, was +not without its fruit. + +She went up Grange Lane again cheerful and warm in her sealskin coat. It +was a thing that suited her remarkably well, and corresponded with her +character, and everybody knows how comfortable they are. The snowflakes +fell softly, one at a time, and melted away to nothing upon her sleeves +and her shoulders without leaving any trace--and Lucilla, with the chill +air blowing in her face, and those feathery messengers in the air, could +not but feel that her walk and the general readiness which she felt to +face all kinds of objections and difficulties, and to make a sacrifice +of her own feelings, had in them a certain magnanimous and heroic +element. For after all she had no _particular_ reason, as Mrs Chiley +said. Mr Ashburton was a dry man, and of very little use in a social +point of view, and had never paid her any attention to speak of, nor at +all put himself forth as a candidate for her favour. If he had done so, +she would not have felt that thrill of utter disinterestedness which +kept her as warm within as her sealskin did without. + +There was not a soul to be seen in Grange Lane at that moment in the +snow, which came on faster and faster, but one of Mr Wentworth's (who at +that time was new in St Roque's) gray sisters, and another lady who was +coming down, as quickly as Lucilla was going up, by the long line of +garden walls. The gentlemen were either at business or at their club, or +keeping themselves snug indoors; and it was only these devoted women who +braved the elements outside. The figure in the gray cloak was occupied +simply with the poor people, and that is not our present business; but +the other two were otherwise inspired. Mr Cavendish, who had lately +arrived, had not been able to make up his mind to face the weather; but +his sister was of a different way of thinking. She was not of half the +capacity of Lucilla, but still she felt that something ought to be done, +and that there was not a moment to be lost. When she saw it was Miss +Marjoribanks that was advancing to meet her, a momentary chill came over +Mrs Woodburn. She was thinking so much of her own errand that she could +not but jump at the idea that nothing less important could have induced +Lucilla to be out of doors on such a day; and her heart beat loud as the +two drew near each other. Was it an unexpected and generous auxiliary, +or was it a foe accomplished and formidable? For one thing, she was not +coming out of Mr Centum's, where Mrs Woodburn herself was going, which +at least was a relief. As they came nearer the two ladies instinctively +looked to their weapons. They had met already in many a little passage +of arms, but nothing like this had ever occurred to them before. If they +were to work in union, Mrs Woodburn felt that they would carry all +before them; and if not, then it must be a struggle unto the death. + +"Is it really you, Lucilla?" she said; "I could not believe my eyes. +What can have brought you out of doors on such a day? You that have +everything your own way, and no call to exert yourself----" + +"I have been to see Mrs Chiley," said Lucilla sweetly; "when the weather +is bad she sees nobody, and she is always so pleased to have me. Her +rheumatism is not so bad, thank you--though I am sure if this weather +should last----" + +"You would see Mrs Beverley's blanket," said Mrs Woodburn, who was a +little nervous, though perhaps that might only be the cold; "but we know +what sort of woman she is, and it must have been the Archdeacon's +nieces, my dear. Do turn back with me a moment, Lucilla; or I shall go +with you. I want to speak to you. Of course you have heard of Harry's +coming home?" + +"I saw it in the papers," said Miss Marjoribanks, whose perfect serenity +offered a curious contrast to her companion's agitation. "I am sure I +shall be very glad to see him again. I hope he will come to dinner on +Thursday as he used to do. It will be quite nice to see him in his old +place." + +"Yes," said Mrs Woodburn; "but that was not what I was thinking of. You +know you used always to say he ought to be in Parliament; and he has +always kept thinking of it since he went away--and thinking, I am sure, +that it would please you," said the poor woman, faltering; for Lucilla +listened with a smile that was quite unresponsive, and did not change +countenance in the least, even at this tender suggestion. "He has come +home with that object now, you know, now that poor old Mr Chiltern is +dead; and I hope you are going to help us, Lucilla," said Mrs Woodburn. +Her voice quite vibrated with agitation as she made this hurried, +perhaps injudicious, appeal, thinking within herself at the same moment +what would Harry say if he knew that she was thus committing him. As for +Lucilla, she received it all with the same tranquillity, as if she +expected it, and was quite prepared for everything that her assailant +had to say. + +"I am sure I wish I had a vote," said Lucilla; "but I have no vote, and +what can a girl do? I am so sorry I don't understand politics. If we +were going in for that sort of thing, I don't know what there would be +left for the gentlemen to do." + +"You have influence, which is a great deal better than a vote," said Mrs +Woodburn; "and they all say there is nobody like a lady for +electioneering--and a young lady above all; and then you know Harry so +well, and can always draw him out to the best advantage. I never thought +he looked so nice, or showed his talents so much, as when he was with +you," said the eager advocate. She was only wrapped in a shawl herself, +and when she looked at Lucilla's sealskin coat, and saw how rosy and +comfortable she looked, and how serene and immovable, poor Mrs Woodburn +was struck with a pang of envy. If Miss Marjoribanks had married ten +years ago, it might have been she now who would have had to stand +trembling with anxiety and eagerness among the falling snow, knowing +sundry reasons why Mr Cavendish should be disposed to go into Parliament +more substantial than that of gratifying a young lady, and feeling how +much depended on her ability to secure support for him. This, as it +happened, had fallen to his sister's share instead, and Lucilla stood +opposite to her looking at her, attentive and polite, and unresponsive. +If Harry had only not been such a fool ten years ago! for Mrs Woodburn +began to think now with Aunt Jemima, that Lucilla did not marry because +she was too comfortable, and, without any of the bother, could have +everything her own way. + +"It is so cold," said Miss Marjoribanks, "and I do think it is coming on +to snow very fast. I don't think it is good to stand talking. Do come in +to lunch, and then we can have a long chat; for I am sure nobody else +will venture out to-day." + +"I wish I could come," said Mrs Woodburn, "but I have to go down to Mary +Centum's, and hear all about her last new housemaid, you know. I don't +know what servants are made of for my part. They will go out in their +caps and talk to the young men, you know, in a night that is enough to +give any one their death," the mimic added, with a feeble exercise of +her gift which it was sad to see. "But Harry will be sure to come to +call the first time he goes out, and you _will_ not forget what I have +said to you, Lucilla?" and with this Mrs Woodburn took her young +friend's hand and looked in her face with a pathetic emphasis which it +would be impossible to describe. + +"Oh, no, certainly not," said Miss Marjoribanks, with cheerful +certainty; and then they kissed each other in the midst of the falling +snow. Mrs Woodburn's face was cold, but Lucilla's cheek was warm and +blooming as only a clear conscience and a sealskin cloak could have made +it; and then they went their several ways through the wintry solitude. +Ah, if Harry had only not been such a fool ten years ago! Mrs Woodburn +was not an enthusiastic young wife, but knew very well that marriage had +its drawbacks, and had come to an age at which she could appreciate the +comfort of having her own way without any of the bother. She gave a +furtive glance after Lucilla, and could not but acknowledge to herself +that it would be very foolish of Miss Marjoribanks to marry, and forfeit +all her advantages, and take somebody else's anxieties upon her +shoulders, and never have any money except what she asked from her +husband. Mrs Chiley, to be sure, who was more experienced than Mrs +Woodburn, and might have been her grandmother, took a different view of +the subject; but this was what the middle-aged married woman felt, who +had, as may be said, two men to carry on her shoulders, as she went +anxiously down Grange Lane to conciliate Mrs Centum, wrapping her shawl +about her, and feeling the light snow melt beneath her feet, and the +cold and discomfort go to her heart. She had her husband to keep in good +humour, and her brother to keep up and keep to the mark, and to do what +she could to remedy in public the effects of his indolent Continental +habits, and carry, if it was possible, the election for him--all with +the horrid sense upon her mind that if at any time the dinner should be +a little less cared for than usual, or the children more noisy, Woodburn +would go on like a savage. Under such circumstances, the poor woman, +amid her cares, may be excused if she looked back a little wistfully at +Lucilla going home all comfortable and independent and light-hearted, +with no cares, nor anybody to go on at her, in her sealskin coat. + +This was how Lucilla commenced that effective but decorous advocacy +which did Mr Ashburton so much good in Carlingford. She did not pretend +to understand about politics, or to care particularly about Reform or +the Income-tax; but she expressed with quiet solemnity her conviction +that it was not opinions but a good man that was wanted; that it was not +a prime minister they were going to elect, and that Mr Ashburton was the +man for Carlingford. "By George! Lucilla is in the right of it!" Colonel +Chiley said; "that was always my opinion;" and the people in Grange Lane +soon began to echo the Colonel's sentiments, which were so sound and so +just. + +As for Miss Marjoribanks, nobody had any occasion to "go on" about any +neglect on her part of her household duties. Dr Marjoribanks's dinners +were always excellent, and it was now, as ever, a privilege to be +admitted to his table; and nothing could be more exemplary than the care +Lucilla took of Aunt Jemima, who had always such bad nights. Even on +this snowy afternoon she went in from her more important cares, with a +complexion freshened by the cold, and coaxed Mrs John into eating +something, and made her as comfortable as possible at the drawing-room +fireside. + +"Now, tell me all about Tom," Lucilla said, when she had got her work +and settled herself comfortably for a quiet afternoon--for the snow had +come on heavier than ever, and unless it might be a sister of charity, +or such another sister not of charity, as Lucilla had already +encountered, nobody was like to stir abroad or to disturb the two ladies +in their work and their talk. Lucilla had some very interesting +worsted-work in hand; and the drawing-room never looked more cosy, with +somebody to talk to inside, and the wintry world and driving snow +without. And such an invitation as Miss Marjoribanks had just given +lifted Aunt Jemima into a paradise of content. She took Lucilla at her +word, and told her, as may be supposed, _all_ about Tom, including many +things which she was quite acquainted with and knew by heart; and at the +same time there was something implied all through, but never +obtrusively set forth, which was not displeasing to the auditor. Miss +Marjoribanks listened with affectionate satisfaction, and asked a great +many questions, and supplied a great many reminiscences, and entered +quite into the spirit of the conversation, and the two spent a very +pleasant afternoon together,--so pleasant that Mrs John felt quite +annoyed at the reflection that it must come to an end like everything +else that is good, and that she must get herself once more into her +velvet gown and dine with her brother-in-law. If Providence had only +given her the girl instead of the Doctor, who would no doubt have got on +quite well without any children! but then, to be sure, if Lucilla had +been hers to start with, she never could have married Tom. + +For this was the extravagant hope which had already begun to blossom in +his mother's breast. To be sure a woman might marry Tom, who was too +comfortable at home to think of marrying just anybody who might make her +an offer. But it was not easy to tell how Lucilla herself felt on this +subject. Her complexion was so bright with her walk, her sensations so +agreeable after that warm, cheerful, pleasant afternoon, her position so +entirely everything that was to be desired, and her mind so nobly +conscious of being useful to her kind and country, that, even without +any additional argument, Miss Marjoribanks had her reward, and was +happy. Perhaps a touch more exquisite might still come in to round the +full proportions of content. But, to tell the truth, Lucilla was so well +off that it was not necessary to invent any romantic source of happiness +to account for the light of well-being and satisfaction that shone in +her eyes. + + + + +_Chapter XL_ + + +The result of Miss Marjoribanks's wise precaution and reticence was that +Sir John Richmond and the Doctor and Colonel Chiley were all on Mr +Ashburton's committee. They might not agree with his principles; but +then when a man does not state any very distinct principles, it is +difficult for any one, however well disposed, to disagree with him; and +the fact that he was the man for Carlingford was so indisputable, that +nobody attempted to go into the minor matters. "Mr Ashburton is a +gentleman known to us all," Sir John said, with great effect, in his +nomination speech; and it was a sentence which went to the hearts of his +audience. The other candidate had been a long time from home, and it was +longer still since anybody in Carlingford could be said to have +benefited by his residence there. He had had all his things down from +town, as Mr Holden, the upholsterer, pithily remarked--and that made a +great difference to start with. As for Mr Ashburton, though it is true +nobody knew what he thought about Reform or the Income-tax, everybody +knew that he lived at the Firs, and was supplied in a creditable way by +George Street tradesmen. There was no mystery whatever about him. People +knew how much he had a year, and how much he paid for everything, and +the way in which his accounts were kept, and all about him. Even when he +had his wine direct from the growers (for naturally his own county could +not supply the actual liquor), it was put in Carlingford bottles, and +people knew the kinds he had, and how much, and a hundred agreeable +details. And then, "he was a gentleman as was always ready to give his +advice," as some of the people said. All this furnished an immense body +of evidence in his favour, and made Sir John's remark eloquent. And then +Carlingford, as a general rule, did not care the least in the world +about Reform. There were a few people who had once done so, and it was +remarked in Grove Street that Mr Tozer had once been in a dreadful state +of mind about it. But he was quite tranquil on the subject now, and so +was the community in general. And what was really wanted, as Lucilla's +genius had seen at a glance, was not this or that opinion, but a good +man. + +But at the same time it would be vain to deny that Miss Marjoribanks +looked forward to a possible visit from Mr Cavendish with a certain +amount of anxiety. She was not frightened, for she knew her own powers; +but she was a little excited and stimulated by the idea that he might +come in at any minute, bringing back a crowd of recollections with him; +and it was a perpetual wonder to her how he would take the inevitable +difference, whether he would accept it as natural, or put on the airs of +an injured man. Lucilla did not go out the two afternoons after her +meeting with Mrs Woodburn, partly that she might not miss him if he +called--for it was better to have it over; but Mr Cavendish did not come +on either of these days. After that, of course, she did not wait for him +any longer. But on the third or fourth day, when she was in Miss Brown's +photographing room (the eldest Miss Brown was not married, and was a +mother to the younger girls, and always enthusiastic about sitters), Mr +Ashburton called about business, and Thomas came to fetch Miss +Marjoribanks. She was sitting with the greatest good-nature for half a +dozen pictures, knowing in her secret heart all the time that she would +look a perfect fright, and that all Carlingford would see her grinning +with imbecile amiability out of the hazy background of Miss Brown's +_cartes_. Lucilla knew this, and had hitherto avoided the process with +success; but now she gave in; and as the Major was there, of course they +talked of the coming election, which, indeed, at present was almost the +only topic of conversation in Grange Lane. + +"Of course, you are on Mr Ashburton's committee," said Lucilla; "you +must be, or going to be, after what you said the other day at lunch----" + +"What did I say?" asked Major Brown, with an air of dismay; for, to tell +the truth, his heart inclined a little towards poor Mr Cavendish, who +was an old neighbour, and to whom Major Brown could not but think the +Marjoribanks and others had behaved rather cruelly. But then in these +electioneering matters one never knows what one may have done to +compromise oneself without meaning it; and the Major was a little +anxious to find out what he had said. + +"Dear Major Brown," said Lucilla, seriously, "I am so sorry if you did +not mean it. I am sure it was that as much as anything that influenced +Mr Ashburton. He was turning it all over in his mind, you know, and was +afraid the people he most esteemed in Carlingford would not agree with +him, and did not know what to do; and then you said, What did it matter +about opinions, if it was a good man?--that was what decided him," said +Miss Marjoribanks, with sad yet gentle reproachfulness. "I am so sorry +if you did not mean what you said----" + +"Good heavens! I don't remember saying anything of the sort," said Major +Brown. "I--I am sure I never thought of influencing anybody. It is true +enough about a good man, you know; but if I had imagined for an instant +that any one was paying attention----By George! it was you that said it, +Lucilla--I remember now." + +"Please don't make fun of me," said Miss Marjoribanks; "as if anybody +cared what _I_ say about politics. But I know that was what decided poor +Mr Ashburton. Indeed, he told me so; and when he finds you did not mean +anything----" + +"But, good heavens!--I--I did mean something," cried the accused, with +dismay. And he grew quite inarticulate in his confusion, and red in the +face, and lost his head altogether, while Lucilla sat calmly looking on +with that air of virtue at once severe and indulgent, which pities, and +blames, and hopes that perhaps there is not so much harm done as might +have been expected. This was the position of affairs when Thomas came to +say that Miss Marjoribanks was wanted, as she had told him to do when +her candidate came; for, to be sure, it was only next door. It was +terrible to hear the soft sigh she gave when she shook hands with Major +Brown. "I hope he will not feel it so much as I think; but I should be +afraid to tell him," said Lucilla; and she went away, leaving the good +man in a state of bewilderment and embarrassment and doubt, which would +have been much more unpleasant if he had not felt so flattered at the +same time. "I never meant to influence anybody, I am sure!" he said, +with a comical mixture of complacence and dismay, when Lucilla was gone. +"I have always said, papa, that you don't think enough of the weight +people give to your opinion," Miss Brown replied, as she gave the final +bath to her negatives; and they both left off work with a certain glow +of comforted _amour propre_, and the most benevolent sentiments towards +Mr Ashburton, who, to tell the truth, until he got his lesson from Miss +Marjoribanks, had never once thought about the opinion of Major Brown. + +He was sitting with Aunt Jemima when Lucilla came in, and talking to her +in a steady sort of a way. Nothing could have made Mr Ashburton socially +attractive, but still there are many people to whom this steady sort of +talk is more agreeable than brilliancy. When a man is brilliant there is +always a doubt in some minds whether he is trustworthy, or sincere, or +to be relied upon; but an ordinary commonsense sort of talker is free +from such suspicion. Mr Ashburton was very sorry to hear that Mrs John +Marjoribanks had bad nights, and suggested that it might be nervousness, +and hoped that the air of Carlingford would do her good, and was very +glad to hear that her son was getting on so well in India; and Aunt +Jemima could not help approving of him, and feeling that he was a person +of substance and reflection, and not one of those fly-away young men who +turn girls' heads, and never mean anything. Lucilla herself gained +something in Mrs John's eyes from Mr Ashburton's high opinion; but at +the same time it was quite clear that he was not thinking of anything +sentimental, but was quite occupied about his election, as a man of +sense should be. Lucilla came in with a fine bloom on her cheeks, but +still with a shade of that sadness which had had so great an effect upon +Major Brown. She had taken off her hat before she came in, and dropped +into her chair with an air of languor and fatigue which was quite +unusual to her. "It makes such a difference in life when one has +something on one's mind," said Lucilla, and she sighed, as was but +natural; for though that did not affect the energy of her proceedings, +she knew and remembered at moments of discouragement how seldom one's +most disinterested exertions are appreciated at the end. + +"You want your lunch, my dear," said Mrs John. + +"Perhaps I do," said Miss Marjoribanks, with a mournful affectionate +smile. "I have been sitting to Maria Brown. She has taken six, and I am +sure they are every one more hideous than the other; and they will go +all over England, you know, for the Browns have hosts of people +belonging to them; and everybody will say, 'So _that_ is Miss +Marjoribanks.' I don't think I am vain to speak of," said Lucilla, "but +that sort of thing goes to one's heart." + +"These amateurs are terrible people," said Mr Ashburton, in his steady +way; "and photographs are a regular nuisance. For my part----" + +"Don't say that," said Miss Marjoribanks. "I know what you are going to +say; and you _must_ sit to her, please. I have said already she must do +one of you; and I will tell you presently about the Major. But wait and +talk to Aunt Jemima a little, for I am so tired," said Lucilla. She was +lying back negligently in her seat, with that air of languor which so +many young ladies excel in, but which was for her a novel indulgence. +Her hand hung over the arm of her chair as if there was no longer any +force in it. Her head fell back, her eyes were half closed; it was a +moment of abandonment to her sensations, such as a high-principled young +woman like Miss Marjoribanks seldom gives way to. But Lucilla went into +it conscientiously, as into everything she did, that she might regain +her strength for the necessary duties that were before her. + +And it was at this moment that Thomas appeared at the door with a +suspicion of a grin appearing at the corners of his sober mouth, and +announced Mr Cavendish, who came in before an ordinary woman would have +had time to open her eyes. This was the moment he had chosen for his +first visit; and yet it was not he who had chosen it, but fate, who +seemed to have in this respect a spite against Lucilla. It was not only +the embarrassing presence of his rival, but the fact that neither of the +two people in the room knew or had ever seen Mr Cavendish, that put a +climax to the horror of the situation. She alone knew him, and had to +take upon herself to present and introduce him, and bridge over for him +the long interval of absence, and all this with the sense of being in +the enemy's interest, and to a certain extent false to Mr Cavendish! +Lucilla rose at once, but she was not a woman to make pretences. She did +not throw off all in a moment her fatigue, and dash into spasmodic +action. She held out her hand silently to Mr Cavendish, with a look +which spoke only affectionate satisfaction in a friend's return. She did +not even speak at all for the first moment, but contented herself with a +look, which indeed, if he had been younger and less preoccupied, would +no doubt have touched his very heart. + +"So you have really come back," she said. "I am so glad! after all that +people said about your being married and dead and ever so many stupid +things. Oh! don't look at me, please. It doesn't matter with a +gentleman, but I know as well as if you had told me that you think me +dreadfully gone off----" + +"_I_ entertain such a profane idea!" said Mr Cavendish; but he was +considerably embarrassed, and he was a great deal stouter, and +altogether different from what he used to be, and he had not the light +hand of his youth for a compliment. And then he sat down on the chair +Thomas had given him; and he looked uncomfortable, to say the least of +it; and he was getting large in dimensions and a little red in the face, +and had by no means the air of thinking that it didn't matter for a +gentleman. As for Miss Marjoribanks, it would be impossible to say what +mists of illusion dropped away from her mind at the sight of him. Even +while she smiled upon the new-comer, she could not but ask herself, with +momentary dismay--Had _she_ really gone off as much in the same time? + +"I have been looking for you," Miss Marjoribanks resumed; "I waited in +for you Tuesday and Wednesday, and it is so odd you should have come +just at this minute. Aunt Jemima, this is Mr Cavendish, whom you have +heard so much about--and don't go, please, Mr Ashburton--you two must +know each other. You will be hearing of each other constantly; and I +suppose you will have to shake hands or something on the hustings--so it +will be much the best to begin it here." + +But the two candidates did not shake hands: they bowed to each other in +an alarming way, which did not promise much for their future +brotherliness, and then they both stood bolt upright and stared at Miss +Marjoribanks, who had relapsed, in the pleasantest way in the world, +into her easy-chair. + +"Now, please sit down and talk a little," said Lucilla; "I am so proud +of having you both together. There never has been anybody in the world +that I have missed so much as _you_--you knew that when you went away, +but you didn't mind. Mr Ashburton is very nice, but he is of no use to +speak of in an evening," said Miss Marjoribanks, turning a reflective +glance upon her own candidate with a certain sadness; and then they both +laughed as if it was a joke; but it was no joke, as one of them at least +must have known. + +"Lucilla," said Mrs John, with consternation, "I never heard anybody +talk as you do; I am sure Mr Ashburton is the very best of society, and +as for Mr Cavendish----" + +"Dear Aunt Jemima," said Lucilla, "would you mind ringing the bell? I +have been sitting to Maria Brown, and I am almost fainting. I wish you +gentlemen would sit to her; it would please her, and it would not do +_you_ much harm; and then for your constituents, you know----" + +"I hope you don't wish me to look like one of Maria Brown's photographs +to my constituents," said Mr Cavendish; "but then I am happy to say they +all know me pretty well." This was said with a slight touch of +gentlemanly spite, if there is such a thing; for, after all, he _was_ an +old power in Carlingford, though he had been so long away. + +"Yes," said Lucilla reflectively, "but you are a little changed since +then; a little perhaps--just a little--stouter, and----" + +"Gone off?" said Mr Cavendish, with a laugh; but he felt horribly +disconcerted all the same, and savage with Miss Marjoribanks, and could +not think why "that fellow" did not go away. What had _he_ to do in +Lucilla's drawing-room? what did he mean by sitting down again and +talking in that measured way to the old lady, as if all the ordinary +rules of good breeding did not point out to him that he should have gone +away and left the field clear? + +"Oh, you know it does not matter for a gentleman," said Lucilla; and +then she turned to Mr Ashburton--"I am sure the Major wants to see you, +and he thinks that it was he who put it into your head to stand. He was +here that day at lunch, you know, and it was something he said----" + +"Quite true," said Mr Ashburton in his business way. "I shall go to see +him at once. Thank you for telling me of it, Miss Marjoribanks; I shall +go as soon as I leave here." + +And then Mr Cavendish laughed. "This is what I call interesting," he +said. "I hope Mr Ashburton sees the fun; but it is trying to an old +friend to hear of _that_ day at lunch, you know. I remember when these +sort of allusions used to be pleasant enough; but when one has been +banished for a thousand years----" + +"Yes," said Lucilla, "one leaves all that behind, you know--one leaves +ever so many things behind. I wish we could always be twenty, for my +part. I always said, you know, that I should be gone off in ten years." + +"Was it the only fib you ever told that you repeat it so?" said Mr +Cavendish; and it was with this pretty speech that he took her +downstairs to the well-remembered luncheon. "But you _have_ gone off in +some things when you have to do with a prig like that," he said in her +ear, as they went down together, "and cast off old friends. It was a +thing a fellow did not expect of _you_." + +"I never cast off old friends," said Miss Marjoribanks. "We shall look +for you on Thursday, you know, all the same. Must you go, Mr Ashburton, +when lunch is on the table? But then, to be sure, you will be in time at +the Browns'," said Lucilla sweetly, and she gave the one rival her hand +while she held the arm of the other, at the door of the dining-room, in +which Mr Ashburton had gallantly deposited Aunt Jemima before saying +good-bye. They were both looking a little black, though the gloom was +moderate in Mr Ashburton's case; but as for Lucilla, she stood between +them a picture of angelic sweetness and goodness, giving a certain +measure of her sympathy to both--Woman the Reconciler, by the side of +those other characters of Inspirer and Consoler, of which the world has +heard. The two inferior creatures scowled with politeness at each other, +but Miss Marjoribanks smiled upon them both. Such was the way in which +she overcame the difficulties of the meeting. Mr Ashburton went away a +little annoyed, but still understanding his instructions, and ready to +act upon them in that businesslike way he had, and Mr Cavendish +remained, faintly reassured in the midst of his soreness and +mortification, by at least having the field to himself and seeing the +last (for the present) of his antagonist--which was a kind of victory in +its way. + +"I thought I knew you better than to think you ever would have anything +to do with _that_ sort of thing," said Mr Cavendish. "There are people, +you know, whom I could have imagined--but a prig like that." He became +indeed quite violent, as Aunt Jemima said afterwards, and met with that +lady's decided disapproval, as may be supposed. + +"Mr Ashburton is very well-bred and agreeable," Mrs John said, with +emphasis. "I wish all the young men I see nowadays were as nice." + +"Young men!" said Mr Cavendish. "Is that what people call young +nowadays? And he must be insane, you know, or he would never dream of +representing a town without saying a single word about his principles. +I dare say he thinks it is original," said the unhappy man. He thought +he was pointing out his rival's weakness to Lucilla, and he went on with +energy--"I know you better than to think you can like that +milk-and-water sort of thing." + +"Oh, I don't pretend to know anything about politics," said Lucilla. "I +hear you gentlemen talk, but I never pretend to understand. If we were +not to leave you _that_ all to yourselves, I don't know what you could +find to do," Miss Marjoribanks added compassionately; and as she spoke +she looked so like the Lucilla of old, who had schemed and plotted for +Mr Cavendish, that he could not believe in her desertion in his heart. + +"That is a delusion like the going off," he said. "I can't believe you +have gone over to the enemy. When I remember how I have been roving +about all those ten years, and how different it might have been, and +whose fault it all was----" + +This Mr Cavendish said in a low voice, but it did not the less horrify +Aunt Jemima, who felt prepared for any atrocity after it. She would have +withdrawn, in justice to her own sense of propriety; but then she +thought it was not impossible that he might propose to Lucilla on the +spot, or take her hand or something, and for propriety's sake she +stayed. + +"Yes," said Lucilla--and her heart did for one little moment give a +faint thump against her breast. She could not help thinking what a +difference it might have made to him, poor fellow, had he been under her +lawful and righteous sway these ten years. But as she looked at him it +became more and more apparent to Miss Marjoribanks that Mr Cavendish +_had_ gone off, whatever she herself might have done. The outlines of +his fine figure had changed considerably, and his face was a little red, +and he had the look of a man whose circumstances, spiritual and +temporal, would not quite bear a rigid examination. As she looked at him +her pity became tinged by a certain shade of resentment to think that +after all it was his own fault. She could not, notwithstanding her +natural frankness of expression, say to him, "You foolish soul, why +didn't you marry me somehow, and make a man of yourself?" Lucilla +carried honesty very far, but she could not go as far as that. "Yes," +she said, turning her eyes upon him with a sort of abstract sympathy, +and then she added softly, "Have you ever seen Her again?" with a +lowering of her voice. + +This interesting question, which utterly bewildered Aunt Jemima, drove +Mr Cavendish wild with rage. Mrs John said afterwards that she felt a +shiver go through her as he took up the carving-knife, though it was +only to cut some cold beef. He grew white all at once, and pressed his +lips tightly together, and fixed his eyes on the wall straight before +him. "I did not think, after what I once said to you, Miss Marjoribanks, +that you would continue to insult my judgment in that way," he said, +with a chill which fell upon the whole table, and took the life out of +everything, and dimmed the very fire in the chimney. And after that the +conversation was of a sufficiently ordinary description until they went +back again into the drawing-room, by which time Mr Cavendish seemed to +have concluded that it was best to pocket the affront. + +"I am going to begin my canvass to-morrow," he said. "I have not seen +anybody yet. I have nobody but my sister to take _me_ in hand, you know. +There was once a time when it might have been different"--and he gave +Lucilla a look which she thought on the whole it was best to meet. + +"Yes," said Miss Marjoribanks, with cruel distinctness, "there was a +time when you were the most popular man in Grange Lane--everybody was +fond of you. I remember it as if it had been yesterday," said Lucilla, +with a sigh. + +"You don't give a man much encouragement, by Jove!" said the unlucky +candidate. "You remember it like yesterday? It may be vanity, but I +flatter myself I shall still be found the most popular man in Grange +Lane." + +Miss Marjoribanks sighed again, but she did not say anything. On the +contrary she turned to Aunt Jemima, who kept in the background an +alarmed and alert spectator, to consult her about a shade of wool; and +just then Mr Cavendish, looking out of the window, saw Major Brown +conducting his rival through his garden, and shaking hands with him +cordially at the door. This was more than the patience of the other +candidate could bear. A sudden resolution, hot and angry, as are the +resolutions of men who feel themselves to have a failing cause, came +into his mind. He had been badgered and baited to such an extent (as he +thought) that he had not time to consider if it was wise or not. He, +too, had sat to Maria Brown, and commanded once the warmest admiration +of the household. He thought he would put it to the test, and see if +after all his popularity was only a thing to be remembered like +yesterday;--and it was with this intention that he bade a hurried +good-bye to Lucilla, and, rushing out, threw himself at once upon the +troubled waves of society, which had once been as smooth as glass to the +most popular man in Grange Lane. + + + + +_Chapter XLI_ + + +Mr Cavendish thought he had been an object of admiration to Maria Brown, +as we have said. He thought of it with a little middle-aged complacency, +and a confidence that this vague sentiment would stand the test he was +about to apply to it, which did honour to the freshness of his heart. +With this idea it was Miss Brown he asked for as he knocked at the +Major's door; and he found them both in the drawing-room, Maria with +gloves on to hide the honourable stains of her photography, which made +her comparatively useless when she was out of her "studio"--and her +father walking about in a state of excitement, which was, indeed, what +Mr Cavendish expected. The two exchanged a guilty look when they saw who +their visitor was. They looked as people might well look who had been +caught in the fact and did not know how to get over it. They came +forward, both of them, with a cowardly cordiality and eagerness to +welcome him--"How very good of you to come to see us so soon!" Miss +Brown said, and fluttered and looked at her father, and could not tell +what more to say. And then a dead pause fell upon them--such a pause as +not unfrequently falls upon people who have got through their mutual +greetings almost with an excess of cordiality. They stopped short all at +once, and looked at each other, and smiled, and made a fatal conscious +effort to talk of something. "It is so good of you to come so soon," +Miss Brown repeated; "perhaps you have been to see Lucilla," and then +she stopped again, slightly tremulous, and turned an appealing gaze to +her papa. + +"I have come to see _you_," said Mr Cavendish, plucking up all his +courage. "I have been a long time gone, you know, but I have not +forgotten Carlingford; and you must forgive me for saying that I was +very glad to hear I might still come to see--Miss Brown. As for Lydia?" +said the candidate, looking about him with a smile. + +"Ah, Lydia," said her sister, with a sigh--"her eldest is eight, Mr +Cavendish. We don't see her as often as we should like--marriage makes +such a difference. Of course it is quite natural she should be all for +her own family now." + +"Quite natural," said Mr Cavendish, and then he turned to the Major. "I +don't think there are quite so many public changes as I expected to see. +The old Rector always holds out, and the old Colonel; and you have not +done much that I can see about the new paving. You know what I have come +home about, Major; and I am sure I can count upon you to support me," +the candidate said, with a great deal more confidence than he felt in +his voice. + +Major Brown cleared his throat; his heart was moved by the familiar +voice, and he could not conceal his embarrassment. "I hope nothing will +ever occur," he said, "to make any difference in the friendly +feelings--I am sure I shall be very glad to welcome you back permanently +to Carlingford. You may always rest assured of that," and he held out +his hand. But he grew red as he thought of his treachery, and Maria, who +was quaking over it, did not even try to say a word to help him--and as +for Mr Cavendish, he took up his position on the arm of the sofa, as he +used to do. But he had a slim youthful figure when he used to do it, and +now the attitude was one which revealed a certain dawning rotundity, +very different, as Maria afterwards said, from one's idea of Mr +Cavendish. He was not aware of it himself, but as these two people +looked, their simultaneous thought was how much he had changed. + +"Thank you, you are very kind," said Mr Cavendish. "I have been a little +lazy, I am afraid, since I came here; but I expect my agent down +to-night, and then, I hope, you'll come over to my place and have a talk +with Woodburn and Centum and the rest about it. I am a poor tactician, +for my part. You shall contrive what is best to be done, and I'll carry +it out. I suppose I may expect almost to walk over," he said. It was the +confidence of despair that moved him. The more he saw that his cause was +lost, the more he would make it out that he was sure to win--which is +not an unusual state of mind. + +"I--I don't know, I am sure," said poor Major Brown. "To tell the truth, +I--though I can safely say my sympathies are always with you, +Cavendish--I--have been so unfortunate as to commit myself, you know. It +was quite involuntary, I am sure, for I never thought my casual +expression of opinion likely to have any weight----" + +"Papa never will perceive the weight that is attached to his opinion," +said Miss Brown. + +"I was not thinking of it in the least, Maria," said the modest Major; +"but the fact is, it seems to have been _that_ that decided Ashburton to +stand; and after drawing a man in to such a thing, the least one can do +is to back him out in it. Nobody had an idea then, you know, that you +were coming back, my dear fellow. I assure you, if I had known----" + +"But even if you had known, you know you never meant it, papa," said +Maria. And Mr Cavendish sat on the arm of the sofa, and put his hands +deep into his pockets, and dropped his upper lip, and knit his eyebrows +a little, and listened to the anxious people excusing themselves. He did +not make any answer one way or another. He was terribly mortified and +disappointed, and it went against his pride to make further +remonstrances. When they had done, he got down off his seat and took his +right hand out of his pocket and offered it to Miss Brown, who, putting +her own into it, poor soul! with the remembrance of her ancient +allegiance, was like to cry. + +"Well," he said, "if that is the case, I suppose I need not bother you +any longer. You'll give me your good wishes all the same. I used to hear +of Ashburton sometimes, but I never had the least idea he was so +popular. And to tell the truth, I don't think he's any great things to +brag of--though I suppose it's not to be expected _I_ should appreciate +his qualities," Mr Cavendish added, with a laugh. As for Miss Brown, it +was all she could do to keep from crying as he went away. She said she +could see, by the way he left the drawing-room, that he was a stricken +deer; and yet, notwithstanding this sympathetic feeling, she could not +but acknowledge, when Miss Marjoribanks mentioned it, that, to have been +such a handsome man, he was inconceivably gone off. + +Mr Cavendish went up Grange Lane with his hands in his pockets, and +tried to think that he did not care; but he did care all the same, and +was very bitter in his mind over the failure of friends and the vanity +of expectations. The last time he had walked past those garden walls he +had thought himself sure of the support of Carlingford, and the +personal esteem of all the people in all the houses he was passing. It +was after the Archdeacon had broken down in his case against the man +whom he called an adventurer, and when Mr Cavendish felt all the +sweetness of being a member of an oligarchy, and entitled to the +sympathy and support of his order. Now he went along the same path with +his hat over his ears and his hands in his pockets, and rage and pain in +his heart. Whose fault was it that his friends had deserted him and +Carlingford knew him no more? He might as well have asked whose fault it +was that he was getting stout and red in the face, and had not the same +grace of figure nor ease of mind as he used to have? He had come very +near to settling down and becoming a man of domestic respectability in +this quiet place, and he had just escaped in time, and had laughed over +it since, and imagined himself, with much glee, an old fogy looking +after a lot of children. But the fact is that men do become old fogies +even when they have no children to look after, and lose their figure and +their elasticity just as soon and perhaps a little sooner in the midst +of what is called life than in any milder scene of enjoyment. And it +would have been very handy just now to have been sure of his election +without paying much for it. He had been living fast, and spending a +great deal of money, and this, after all, was the only real ambition he +had ever had; and he had thought within himself that if he won he would +change his mode of life, and turn over a new leaf, and become all at +once a different man. When a man has made such a resolution, and feels +not only that a mere success but a moral reformation depends upon his +victory, he may be permitted to consider that he has a right to win; and +it may be divined what his state of mind was when he had made the +discovery that even his old friends did not see his election to be of +any such importance as he did, and could think of a miserable little bit +of self-importance or gratified vanity more than of his interests--even +the women who had once been so kind to him! He had just got so far in +his thoughts when he met Mr Centum, who stared for a moment, and then +burst into one of his great laughs as he greeted him. "Good Lord! +Cavendish, is this you? I never expected to see you like that!" the +banker said, in his coarse way. "You're stouter than I am, old fellow; +and such an Adonis as you used to be!" Mr Cavendish had to bear all this +without giving way to his feelings, or even showing them any more than +he could help it. Nobody would spare him that imbecile suggestion as to +how things used to be. To be growing stouter than Centum without +Centum's excuse of being a well-to-do householder and father of a +family, and respectable man from whom stoutness was expected, was very +bitter to him: but he had to gulp it down, and recollect that Centum was +as yet the only influential supporter, except his brother-in-law, whom +he had in Carlingford. + +"What have you been doing with yourself since you came that nobody has +seen you?" said Mr Centum. "If you are to do any good here, you know, we +shall have to look alive." + +"I have been ill," said the unfortunate candidate, with a little natural +loss of temper. "You would not have a man to trudge about at this time +of year in all weathers when he is ill." + +"I would not be ill again, if I were you, till it's all over," said Mr +Centum. "We shall have to fight every inch of our ground; and I tell you +that fellow Ashburton knows what he's about--he goes at everything in a +steady sort of way. He's not brilliant, you know, but he's sure----" + +"Brilliant!" said Mr Cavendish, "I should think not. It is Lucilla +Marjoribanks who is putting him up to it. You know she had an old grudge +at me." + +"Oh, nonsense about Lucilla," said Mr Centum. "I can tell you Ashburton +is not at all a contemptible adversary. He is going to work in the +cunningest way--not a woman's sort of thing, and he's not a ladies' man +like you," the banker added, with a laugh. + +"But I am afraid you can't go in for that sort of thing as you used to +do, Cavendish. You should marry, and settle, and become a steady member +of society, now you've grown so stout." This was the kind of way in +which he was addressed even by his own supporter, who uttered another +great laugh as he went off upon his busy way. It was a sort of thing Mr +Cavendish was not used to, and he felt it accordingly. To be sure he +knew that he was ten years older, and that there were several things +which he could not do with the same facility as in his youth. But he had +saved up Carlingford in his imagination as a spot in which he would +always be young, and where nobody should find out the difference; and +instead of that, it was precisely in Carlingford that he was fated to +hear how changed he was, with a frankness which only old friends would +have been justified in using. As for Lucilla Marjoribanks, she was +rather better looking than otherwise, and absolutely had not gone off. +It did not occur to Mr Cavendish that this might be because Lucilla at +present was not still so old as he had been ten years ago, in the period +which he now considered his youth. He was rather disposed, on the +contrary, to take a moral view, and to consider that it was her feminine +incapacity for going too far, which had kept years and amusements from +having their due effect upon Miss Marjoribanks. And, poor fellow, he +_had_ gone too far. He had not been as careful in his life as he might +have been had he stayed at Carlingford; and now he was paying the +penalty. Such was the edifying state of mind which he had come to when +he reached the top of Grove Street. And there a waft of soft +recollections came across his mind. In the absence of all sympathy he +could not help turning back to the thought of the enchantress of old who +used to sing to him, and listen to him, and storm at him. Probably he +would have ended by strolling along the familiar street, and canvassing +for Mr Lake's vote, which would have done him no good in Carlingford, +but just then Dr Marjoribanks stopped in his brougham. The Doctor was +looking very strange that morning, though nobody had particularly +remarked it--perhaps because he smoothed his countenance when he was out +of the brougham, which was his refuge when he had anything to think +about. But he stopped suddenly to speak to Mr Cavendish, and perhaps he +had not time to perform that ceremony. He looked dark and cloudy, and +constrained, and as if he forced himself to speak; which, to be sure, +under the circumstances, was not so very strange. + +"I am very glad to see you," the Doctor said, "though you were a day too +late, you know. Why didn't you give us warning before we all went and +committed ourselves? If we had known that you were coming----" + +"Ah, that's what old Brown said," said Mr Cavendish, with a slight shrug +of his shoulders; which was imprudent, for the Major was not so old as +the Doctor, and besides was a much less important man in Grange Lane. + +"So you have been to see old Brown," said Dr Marjoribanks, in his dry +way. "He always was a great admirer of yours. I can't wish you luck, you +know, for if you win we lose----" + +"Oh, I don't want you to wish me luck. I don't suppose there can be much +comparison between my chance and that of a new man whom nobody ever +heard of in my time," said the candidate for Carlingford. "I thought you +Scotchmen, Doctor, always liked to be on the winning side." + +"We've a way of making our side the winning side," said Dr Marjoribanks +grimly, for he was touchy where his nationality was concerned. "Health +all right, I hope?" he added, looking at Mr Cavendish with that critical +medical glance which shows that a verbal response is quite unnecessary. +This time there was in the look a certain insinuation of doubt on the +subject, which was not pleasant. "You are getting stout, I see," Dr +Marjoribanks added--not laughing, but as if that too was poor Mr +Cavendish's fault. + +"Yes, I'm very well," he answered curtly; but the truth was that he did +not feel sure that he was quite well after he had seen the critical look +in Dr Marjoribanks's eye. + +"You young men always go too fast," said the Doctor, with a strange +little smile; but the term at least was consolatory; and after that +Doctor Marjoribanks quite changed his tone. "Have you heard Woodburn +talking of that great crash in town?" he said--"that India house, you +know--I suppose it's quite true?" + +"Quite true," said Mr Cavendish, promptly, and somehow he felt a +pleasure in saying it. "I got all the particulars to-day in one of my +letters--and lots of private people involved, which is always the way +with these old houses," he added, with a mixture of curiosity and +malice--"widows, and all sorts of superannuated folks." + +"It's a great pity," said the Doctor: "I knew old Lichfield once, the +chief partner--I am very sorry to hear it's true;" and then the two +shook hands, and the brougham drove on. As for Mr Cavendish, he made up +his mind at once that the Doctor was involved, and was not sorry, and +felt that it was a sort of judicial recompense for his desertion of his +friends. And he went home to tell his sister of it, who shared in his +sentiments. And then it was not worth while going out any more that +day--for the electioneering agent, who knew all about it, was not coming +till the last train. "I suppose I shall have to work when he is here," +Mr Cavendish said. And in the meantime he threw himself into an easy +chair. Perhaps that was why he was getting so stout. + +And in the meantime the Doctor went on visiting his patients. When he +came back to his brougham between his visits, and went bowling along in +that comfortable way, along the familiar roads, there was a certain +glumness upon his face. He was not a demonstrative man, but when he was +alone you could tell by certain lines about the well-worn cordage of his +countenance whether all was right with the Doctor; and it was easy to +see just at this moment that all was not right with him. But he did not +say anything about it when he got home; on the contrary, he was just as +usual, and told his daughter all about his encounter with Mr Cavendish. +"A man at his time of life has no right to get fat--it's a sort of thing +I don't like to see. And he'll never be a ladies' man no more, Lucilla," +said the Doctor, with a gleam of humour in his eye. + +"He is exactly like George the Fourth, papa," said Miss Marjoribanks; +and the Doctor laughed as he sat down to dinner. If he had anything on +his mind he bore it like a hero, and gave no sign; but then, as Mrs John +very truly remarked, when a man does not disclose his annoyances they +always tell more upon him in the end. + + + + +_Chapter XLII_ + + +There were a great many reasons why this should be a critical period in +Miss Marjoribanks's life. For one thing, it was the limit she had always +proposed to herself for her term of young-ladyhood; and naturally, as +she outgrew the age for them, she felt disposed to put away childish +things. To have the control of society in her hands was a great thing; +but still the mere means, without any end, was not worth Lucilla's +while--and her Thursdays were almost a bore to her in her present stage +of development. They occurred every week, to be sure, as usual; but the +machinery was all perfect, and went on by itself, and it was not in the +nature of things that such a light adjunct of existence should satisfy +Lucilla, as she opened out into the ripeness of her thirtieth year. It +was this that made Mr Ashburton so interesting to her, and his election +a matter into which she entered so warmly, for she had come to an age at +which she might have gone into Parliament herself had there been no +disqualification of sex, and when it was almost a necessity for her to +make some use of her social influence. Miss Marjoribanks had her own +ideas in respect to charity, and never went upon ladies' committees, +nor took any further share than what was proper and necessary in parish +work; and when a woman has an active mind, and still does not care for +parish work, it is a little hard for her to find a "sphere." And +Lucilla, though she said nothing about a sphere, was still more or less +in that condition of mind which has been so often and so fully described +to the British public--when the ripe female intelligence, not having the +natural resource of a nursery and a husband to manage, turns inwards, +and begins to "make a protest" against the existing order of society, +and to call the world to account for giving it no due occupation--and to +consume itself. She was not the woman to make protests, nor claim for +herself the doubtful honours of a false position; but she felt all the +same that at her age she had outlived the occupations that were +sufficient for her youth. To be sure, there were still the dinners to +attend to, a branch of human affairs worthy of the weightiest +consideration, and she had a house of her own, as much as if she had +been half a dozen times married; but still there are instincts which go +even beyond dinners, and Lucilla had become conscious that her +capabilities were greater than her work. She was a Power in Carlingford, +and she knew it; but still there is little good in the existence of a +Power unless it can be made use of for some worthy end. + +She was coming up Grange Lane rather late one evening, pondering upon +these things--thinking within herself compassionately of poor Mr +Cavendish, a little in the same way as he had been thinking of her, but +from the opposite point of view. For Lucilla could not but see the +antithesis of their position, and how he was the foolish apprentice who +had chosen his own way and was coming to a bad end, while she was the +steady one about to ride by in her Lord Mayor's coach. And Miss +Marjoribanks was thinking at the same time of the other candidate, whose +canvass was going on so successfully; and that, after the election and +all the excitement was over, she would feel a blank--and Lucilla did not +see how the blank was to be filled up as she looked into the future; +for, as has been said, parish work was not much in her way, and for a +woman who feels that she is a Power, there are so few other outlets. She +was a little disheartened as she thought it all over. Gleams of +possibility, it is true, crossed her mind, such as that of marrying the +member for Carlingford, for instance, and thus beginning a new and more +important career; but she was too experienced a woman not to be aware +by this time, that possibilities which did not depend upon herself alone +had better not be calculated upon. And there did occur to her, among +other things, the idea of making a great Experiment which could be +carried out only by a woman of genius--of marrying a poor man, and +affording to Carlingford and England an example which might influence +unborn generations. Such were the thoughts that were passing through her +mind when, to her great surprise, she came up to her father, walking up +Grange Lane over the dirty remains of the snow--for there was a great +deal of snow that year. It was so strange a sight to see Dr Marjoribanks +walking that at the first glance Lucilla was startled, and thought +something was the matter; but, of course, it all arose from a perfectly +natural and explainable cause. + +"I have been down to see Mrs Chiley," said the Doctor; "she has her +rheumatism very bad again; and the horse has been so long out that I +thought I would walk home. I think the old lady is a little upset about +Cavendish, Lucilla. He was always a pet of hers." + +"Dear Mrs Chiley! she is not very bad, I hope?" said Miss Marjoribanks. + +"Oh, no, she is not very bad," said the Doctor, in a dreary tone. "The +poor old machine is just about breaking up, that is all. We can cobble +it this once, but next time perhaps----" + +"Don't talk in such a disheartening way, papa," said Lucilla. "I am sure +she is not so very old." + +"We're all pretty old, for that matter," said the Doctor; "we can't run +on for ever, you know. If you had been a boy like that stupid fellow +Tom, you might have carried on my practice, Lucilla--and even extended +it, I shouldn't wonder," Dr Marjoribanks added, with a little grunt, as +who should say _that_ is the way of the world. + +"But I am not a boy," said Lucilla mildly; "and even if I had been, you +know, I might have chosen another profession. Tom never had any turn for +medicine that I ever heard of----" + +"I hope you know pretty well about all the turns he ever had with that +old--woman," said the Doctor, pulling himself up sharply, "always at +your ear. I suppose she never talks of anything else. But I hope you +have too much sense for that sort of thing, Lucilla. Tom will never be +anything but a poor man if he were to live a hundred years." + +"Perhaps not, papa," said Lucilla, with a little sigh. The Doctor knew +nothing about the great social experiment which it had entered into Miss +Marjoribanks's mind to make for the regeneration of her contemporaries +and the good of society, or possibly he might not have distinguished Tom +by that particular title. Was it he, perhaps, who was destined to be the +hero of a domestic drama embodying the best principles of that Moral +Philosophy which Lucilla had studied with such success at Mount +Pleasant? She did not ask herself the question, for things had not as +yet come to that point, but it gleamed upon her mind as by a side-light. + +"I don't know how you would get on if you were poor," said the Doctor. +"I don't think that would suit you. You would make somebody a capital +wife, I can say that for you, Lucilla, that had plenty of money and a +liberal disposition like yourself. But poverty is another sort of thing, +I can tell you. Luckily you're old enough to have got over all the +love-in-a-cottage ideas--if you ever had them," Dr Marjoribanks added. +He was a worldly man himself, and he thought his daughter a worldly +woman; and yet, though he thoroughly approved of it, he still despised +Lucilla a little for her prudence, which is a paradoxical state of mind +not very unusual in the world. + +"I don't think I ever had them," said Lucilla; "not that kind of +poverty. I know what a cottage means; it means a wretched man, always +about the house with his feet in slippers, you know--what poor dear Mr +Cavendish would come to if he was poor----" + +The Doctor laughed, though he had not seemed up to this moment much +disposed for laughing. "So that is all your opinion of Cavendish," he +said; "and I don't think you are far wrong either; and yet that was a +young fellow that might have done better," Dr Marjoribanks said +reflectively, perhaps not without a slight prick of conscience that he +had forsaken an old friend. + +"Yes," said Lucilla, with a certain solemnity--"but you know, papa, if a +man will not when he may----" And she sighed, though the Doctor, who +had not been thinking of Mr Cavendish's prospects in that light, laughed +once more; but it was a sharp sort of sudden laugh without much heart in +it. He had most likely other things of more importance in his mind. + +"Well, there have been a great many off and on since that time," he +said, smiling rather grimly. "It is time you were thinking about it +seriously, Lucilla. I am not so sure about some things as I once was, +and I'd rather like to see you well settled before----It's a kind of +prejudice a man has," the Doctor said abruptly, which, whatever he might +mean by it, was a dismal sort of speech to make. + +"Before what, papa?" asked Lucilla, with a little alarm. + +"Tut--before long, to be sure," he said impatiently. "Ashburton would +not be at all amiss if he liked it and you liked it; but it's no use +making any suggestions about those things. So long as you don't marry a +fool----" Dr Marjoribanks said, with energy. "I know--that is, of +course, I've _seen_ what that is; you can't expect to get perfection, as +you might have looked for perhaps at twenty; but I advise you to marry, +Lucilla. I don't think you are cut out for a single woman, for my part." + +"I don't see the good of single women," said Lucilla, "unless they are +awfully rich; and I don't suppose I shall ever be awfully rich. But, +papa, so long as I can be a comfort to you----" + +"Yes," said the Doctor, with that tone which Lucilla could remember +fifteen years ago, when she made the same magnanimous suggestion, "but I +can't live for ever, you know. It would be a pity to sacrifice yourself +to me, and then perhaps next morning find that it was a useless +sacrifice. It very often happens like that when self-devotion is carried +too far. You've behaved very well, and shown a great deal of good sense, +Lucilla--more than I gave you credit for when you commenced--I may say +that; and if there was to be any change, for instance----" + +"What change?" said Lucilla, not without some anxiety; for it was an odd +way of talking, to say the least of it; but the Doctor had come to a +pause, and did not seem disposed to resume. + +"It is not so pleasant as I thought walking over this snow," he said; "I +can't give _that_ up, that I can see. And there's more snow in the air +if I'm any judge of the weather. There--go in--go in; don't wait for +me;--but mind you make haste and dress, for I want my dinner. I may have +to go down to Mrs Chiley again to-night." + +It was an odd way of talking, and it was odd to break off like this; but +then, to be sure, there was no occasion for any more conversation, since +they had just arrived at their own door. It made Lucilla uneasy for the +moment, but while she was dressing she managed to explain it to herself, +and to think, after all, it was only natural that her papa should have +seen a little into the movement and commotion of her thoughts; and then +poor dear old Mrs Chiley being so ill, who was one of his own set, so to +speak. He was quite cheerful later in the evening, and enjoyed his +dinner, and was even more civil than usual to Mrs John. And though he +did not come up to tea, he made his appearance afterwards with a flake +of new-fallen snow still upon his rusty gray whiskers. He had gone to +see his patient again, notwithstanding the silent storm outside. And his +countenance was a little overcast this time, no doubt by the late walk, +and the serious state Mrs Chiley was in, and his encounter with the +snow. + +"Oh, yes, she is better," he said. "I knew she would do this time. +People at our time of life don't go off in that accidental kind of way. +When a woman has been so long used to living, it takes her a time to get +into the way of dying. She might be a long time thinking about it yet, +if all goes well----" + +"Papa, don't speak like that!" said Lucilla. "Dying! I can't bear to +think of such a thing. She is not so very old." + +"Such things will happen whether you can bear to think of them or not," +said the Doctor. "I said you would go down and see her to-morrow. We've +all held out a long time--the lot of us. I don't like to think of the +first gap myself, but somebody must make a beginning, you know." + +"The Chileys were always older than you," said Mrs John. "I remember in +poor Mrs Marjoribanks's time:--they were quite elderly then, and you +were just beginning. When my Tom was a baby----" + +"We were always of the same set," said the Doctor, interrupting her +without hesitation. "Lucilla, they say Cavendish has got hold of the +Rector. He has made believe to be penitent, you know. That is cleverer +than anything you could have done. And if he can't be won back again it +will be serious, the Colonel says. You are to try if you can suggest +anything. It seems," said the Doctor, with mingled amusement and satire, +and a kind of gratification "that Ashburton has great confidence in +you." + +"It must have been the agent," said Lucilla. "I don't think any of the +rest of them are equal to that. I don't see, if that is the case, how we +are to win him back. If Mr Ashburton had ever done anything very wicked, +perhaps----" + +"You are safe to say _he_ is not penitent anyhow," said Dr +Marjoribanks, and he took his candle and went away with a smile. But +either Mr Ashburton's good opinion of Lucilla, or some other notion, had +touched the Doctor. He was not a man who said much at any time, but when +he bade her good-night, his hand drooped upon Lucilla's shoulder, and he +patted it softly, as he might have patted the head of a child. It was +not much, but still it was a good deal from him. To feel the lingering +touch of her father's hand caressing her, even in so mild a way, was +something quite surprising and strange to Miss Marjoribanks. She looked +up at him almost with alarm, but he was just then turning away with his +candle in his hand. And he seemed to have laid aside his gloom, and even +smiled to himself as he went upstairs. "If _she_ had been the boy +instead of that young ass," he said to himself. He could not have +explained why he was more than ordinarily hard just then upon the +innocent, far-distant Tom, who was unlucky, it is true, but not exactly +an ass, after all. But somehow it struck the Doctor more than ever how +great a loss it was to society and to herself that Lucilla was not "the +boy." She could have continued, and perhaps extended, the practice, +whereas just now it was quite possible that she might drop down into +worsted-work and tea-parties like any other single woman--while Tom, who +had carried off the family honours, and was "the boy" in this limited +and unfruitful generation, was never likely to do anything to speak of, +and would be a poor man if he were to live for a hundred years. Perhaps +there was something else behind that made the Doctor's brow contract a +little as he crossed the threshold of his chamber, into which, no more +than into the recesses of his heart, no one ever penetrated; but it was +the lighter idea of that comparison, which had no actual pain in it, but +only a kind of humorous discontent, which was the last articulate +thought in his mind as he went to his room and closed his door with a +little sharpness, as he always did, upon the outside world. + +Aunt Jemima, for her part, lingered a little with Lucilla downstairs. +"My dear, I don't think my brother-in-law looks well to-night. I don't +think Carlingford is so healthy as it is said to be. If I were you, +Lucilla, I would try and get your papa to take something," said Mrs +John, with anxiety, "before he goes to bed." + +"Dear Aunt Jemima, he never takes anything. You forget he is a doctor," +said Miss Marjoribanks. "It always puts him out when he has to go out in +the evening; and he is sad about Mrs Chiley, though he would not say +so." But nevertheless Lucilla knocked at his door when she went +upstairs. And the Doctor, though he did not open, growled within with a +voice which reassured his dutiful daughter. "What should I want, do you +think, but to be left quiet?" the Doctor said. And even Mrs John, who +had waited at his door, with her candle in her hand, to hear the result, +shrank within at the sound and was seen no more. And Miss Marjoribanks, +too, went to her rest, with more than one subject of thought which kept +her awake. In the first place, the Rector was popular in his way, and if +he chose to call all his forces to rally round a penitent, there was no +saying what might come of it; and then Lucilla could not help going back +in the most illogical manner to her father's caress, and wondering what +was the meaning of it. Meantime the snow fell heavily outside, and +wrapped everything in a soft and secret whiteness. And amid the +whiteness and darkness, the lamp burned steadily outside at the +garden-gate, which pointed out the Doctor's door amid all the closed +houses and dark garden-walls in Grange Lane--a kind of visible succour +and help always at hand for those who were suffering. And though Dr +Marjoribanks was not like a young man making a practice, but had perfect +command of Carlingford, and was one of the richest men in it, it was +well known in the town that the very poorest, if in extremity, in the +depths of the wildest night that ever blew, would not seek help there in +vain. The bell that had roused him when he was young, still hung near +him in the silence of his closed-up house when he was old, and still +could make him spring up, all self-possessed and ready, when the enemy +Death had to be fought with. But that night the snow cushioned the wire +outside, and even made white cornices and columns about the steady lamp, +and the Doctor slept within, and no one disturbed him; for except Mrs +Chiley and a few chronic patients, there was nothing particularly amiss +in Carlingford, and then it was Dr Rider whom all the new people went +to, the people who lived in the innumerable new houses at the other end +of Carlingford, and had no hallowing tradition of the superior authority +of Grange Lane. + + + + +_Chapter XLIII_ + + +The talk of this evening might not have been considered of any +importance to speak of, but for the extraordinary and most unlooked-for +event which startled all Carlingford next morning. Nobody could believe +that it was true. Dr Marjoribanks's patients waited for him, and +declared to their nurses that it was all a made-up story, and that he +would come and prove that he was not dead. How could he be dead? He had +been as well as he ever was that last evening. He had gone down Grange +Lane in the snow, to see the poor old lady who was now sobbing in her +bed, and saying it was all a mistake, and that it was she who ought to +have died. But all those protestations were of no avail against the cold +and stony fact which had frightened Thomas out of his senses, when he +went to call the Doctor. He had died in the night without calling or +disturbing anybody. He must have felt faint, it seemed, for he had got +up and taken a little brandy, the remains of which still stood on the +table by his bedside; but that was all that anybody could tell about it. +They brought Dr Rider, of course; but all that he could do was to +examine the strong, still frame--old, and yet not old enough to be +weakly, or to explain such sudden extinction--which had ceased its human +functions. And then the news swept over Carlingford like a breath of +wind, though there was no wind even on that silent snowy day to carry +the matter. Dr Marjoribanks was dead. It put the election out of +people's heads, and even their own affairs for the time being; for had +he not known all about the greater part of them--seen them come into the +world and kept them in it--and put himself always in the breach when the +pale Death approached that way? He had never made very much boast of his +friendliness or been large in sympathetic expressions, but yet he had +never flinched at any time, or deserted his patients for any +consideration. Carlingford was sorry, profoundly sorry, with that true +sorrow which is not so much for the person mourned as for the mourner's +self, who feels a sense of something lost. The people said to +themselves, Whom could they ever find who would know their +constitutions so well, and who was to take care of So-and-so if he had +another attack? To be sure Dr Rider was at hand, who felt a little +agitated about it, and was conscious of the wonderful opening, and was +very ready to answer, "I am here;" but a young doctor is different from +an old one, and a living man all in commonplace health and comfort is +not to be compared with a dead one, on the morning at least of his +sudden ending. Thank Heaven, when a life is ended there is always that +hour or two remaining to set straight the defective balances and do a +hasty late justice to the dead, before the wave sweeps on over him and +washes out the traces of his steps, and lets in the common crowd to make +their thoroughfare over the grave. + +"It cannot be the Doctor," Mrs Chiley said, sobbing in her bed, "or else +it has been in mistake for me. He was always a healthy man, and never +had anything the matter with him--and a great deal younger than we are, +you know. If anything has happened to him it must have been in mistake +for me," said the poor old lady, and she was so hysterical that they had +to send for Dr Rider, and she was thus the first to begin to build the +new world on the foundations of the old, little as she meant it. But for +the moment everything was paralysed in Grange Lane, and canvassing came +to a standstill, and nothing was discussed but Dr Marjoribanks--how he +was dead, though nobody could or would believe it; and how Lucilla would +be left, and who her trustees were, and how the place could ever get +used to the want of him, or would ever look like itself again without +his familiar presence. It was by way of relieving their minds from the +horror of the idea, that the good people rushed into consultations what +Lucilla would do. It took their minds a little off the ghastly +imagination of that dark room with the snow on the window, and the late +moonlight trying to get into the darkness, and the white rigid face +inside, as he was said to have been found. It could not but make a +terrible change to her--indeed, through her it could not but make a +great change to everybody. The Doctor's house would, of course, be shut +up, which had been the most hospitable house in Carlingford, and things +would drop into the unsatisfactory state they used to be in before Miss +Marjoribanks's time, and there would no longer be anybody to organise +society. Such were the ideas the ladies of Grange Lane relapsed into by +way of delivering themselves from the pain of their first realisation of +what had happened. It would make a great change. Even the election and +its anticipated joys could not but change character in some respects at +least, and there would be nobody to make the best of them; and then the +question was, What would Lucilla do? Would she have strength to "make an +effort," as some people suggested; or would she feel not only her grief, +but her downfall, and that she was now only a single woman, and sink +into a private life, as some others were inclined to believe? + +Inside the house, naturally, the state of affairs was sad enough. +Lucilla, notwithstanding the many other things she had had to occupy her +mind, was fond of her father, and the shock overwhelmed her for the +moment. Though she was not the kind of woman to torture herself with +thinking of things that she might have done, still at the first moment +the idea that she ought not to have left him alone--that she should have +sat up and watched or taken some extraordinary, unusual precaution--was +not to be driven away from her mind. The reign of reason was eclipsed in +her as it often is in such an emergency. She said it was her fault in +the first horror. "When I saw how he was looking, and how he was +talking, I should never have left him," said Lucilla, which indeed was a +very natural thing to say, but would have been an utterly impossible one +to carry out, as she saw when she came to think of it. But she could not +think of it just then. She did not think at all that first long snowy, +troubled day, but went about the house, on the bedroom floor, wringing +her hands like a creature distracted. "If I had only sat up," she said; +and then she would recall the touch of his hand on her shoulder, which +she seemed still to be feeling, and cry out, like all the rest of the +world, that it could not be true. But, to be sure, that was a state of +feeling that could not last long. There are events for which something +higher than accident must be held accountable, were one ever so ready to +take the burden of affairs on one's own shoulders; and Lucilla knew, +when she came to herself, that if she had watched ever so long or so +closely, that could have had no effect upon the matter. After a while, +the bewildering sense of her own changed position began to come upon +her, and roused her up into that feverish and unnatural activity of +thought which, in some minds, is the inevitable reaction after the +unaccustomed curb and shock of grief. When she had got used to that +dreadful certainty about her father, and had suddenly come with a leap +to the knowledge that she was not to blame, and could not help it, and +that though _he_ was gone, _she_ remained, it is no censure upon +Lucilla to say that her head became immediately full of a horror and +confusion of thoughts, an involuntary stir and bustle of plans and +projects which she did all she could to put down, but which would return +and overwhelm her whether she chose it or not. She could not help asking +herself what her new position was, thinking it over, so strangely free +and new and unlimited as it seemed. And it must be recollected that Miss +Marjoribanks was a woman of very active mind and great energies, too old +to take up a girl's fancy that all was over because she had encountered +a natural grief on her passage, and too young not to see a long future +still before her. She kept her room, as was to be expected, and saw +nobody, and only moved the household and superintended the arrangements +in a muffled way through Thomas, who was an old servant, and knew "the +ways" of the house; but notwithstanding her seclusion and her honest +sorrow, and her perfect observance of all the ordinary restraints of the +moment, it would be wrong to omit all mention of this feverish bustle of +thinking which came into Lucilla's mind in her solitude. Of all that she +had to bear, it was the thing that vexed and irritated and distressed +her the most--as if, she said to herself indignantly, she ought to have +been able to think of anything! And the chances are that Lucilla, for +sheer duty's sake, would have said, if anybody had asked, that of course +she had not thought of anything as yet; without being aware that the +mere shock, and horror, and profound commotion had a great deal more to +do than anything else in producing that fluttering crowd of busy, +vexatious speculations which had come, without any will of hers, into +her heart. + +It looked a dreadful change in one way as she looked at it, without +wishing to look at it, in the solitude of her own room, where the blinds +were all down, and the snow sometimes came with a little thump against +the window, and where it was so dark that it was a comfort when night +came, and the lamp could be lighted. So far as Carlingford was +concerned, it would be almost as bad for Miss Marjoribanks as if she +were her father's widow instead of his daughter. To keep up a position +of social importance in a single woman's house, unless, as she had +herself lightly said so short a time since, she were awfully rich, would +be next to impossible. All that gave importance to the centre of +society--the hospitable table, the open house--had come to an end with +the Doctor. Things could no more be as they had once been, in that +respect at least. She might stay in the house, and keep up to the +furthest extent possible to her its old traditions; but even to the +utmost limit to which Lucilla could think it right to go it could never +be the same. This consciousness kept gleaming upon her as she sat in the +dull daylight behind the closed blinds, with articles of mourning piled +about everywhere, and the gray dimness getting into her very eyes, and +her mind distressed by the consciousness that she ought to have been +unable to think; and the sadness of the prospect altogether was enough +to stir up a reaction, in spite of herself, in Miss Marjoribanks's mind. + +And on the other side she would no doubt be very well off, and could go +wherever she liked, and had no limit, except what was right and proper +and becoming, to what she might please to do. She might go abroad if she +liked, which perhaps is the first idea of the modern English mind when +anything happens to it, and settle wherever she pleased, and arrange her +mode of existence as seemed good in her own eyes. She would be an +heiress in a moderate way, and Aunt Jemima was by this time absolutely +at her disposal, and could be taken anywhere; and at Lucilla's age it +was quite impossible to predict what might not happen to a woman in such +a position. When these fairer possibilities gleamed into Lucilla's mind, +it would be difficult to describe the anger and self-disgust with which +she reproached herself--for perhaps it was the first time that she had +consciously failed in maintaining a state of mind becoming the occasion; +and though nobody but herself knew of it, the pain of the accusation was +acute and bitter. But how could Miss Marjoribanks help it?--the mind +travels so much quicker than anything else, and goes so far, and makes +its expeditions in such subtle, stealthy ways. She might begin by +thinking of her dear papa, and yet, before she could dry her eyes, might +be off in the midst of one of these bewildering speculations. For +everything was certain now so far as he was concerned; and everything +was so uncertain, and full of such unknown issues for herself. Thus the +dark days before the funeral passed by--and everybody was very kind. Dr +Marjoribanks was one of the props of the place, and all Carlingford +bestirred itself to do him the final honours; and all her friends +conspired how to save Lucilla from all possible trouble, and help her +over the trial; and to see how much he was respected was the greatest of +all possible comforts to her, as she said. + +Thus it was that among the changes that everybody looked for, there +occurred all at once this change which was entirely unexpected, and put +everything else out of mind for the moment. For to tell the truth, Dr +Marjoribanks was one of the men who, according to external appearance, +need never have died. There was nothing about him that wanted to be set +right, no sort of loss, or failure, or misunderstanding, so far as +anybody could see. An existence in which he could have his friends to +dinner every week, and a good house, and good wine, and a very good +table, and nothing particular to put him out of his way, seemed in fact +the very ideal of the best life for the Doctor. There was nothing in him +that seemed to demand anything better, and it was confusing to try to +follow him into that which, no doubt, must be in all its fundamentals a +very different kind of world. He was a just man and a good man in his +way, and had been kind to many people in his lifetime--but still he did +not seem to have that need of another rectifying, completer existence +which most men have. There seemed no reason why he should die--a man who +was so well contented with this lower region in which many of us fare +badly, and where so few of us are contented. This was a fact which +exercised a very confusing influence, even when they themselves were not +aware of it, on many people's minds. It was hard to think of him under +any other circumstances, or identify him with angels and spirits--which +feeling on the whole made the regret for him a more poignant sort of +regret. + +And they buried him with the greatest signs of respect. People from +twenty miles off sent their carriages, and all the George Street people +shut their shops, and there was very little business done all day. Mr +Cavendish and Mr Ashburton walked side by side at the funeral, which was +an affecting sight to see; and if anything more could have been done to +show their respect which was not done, the corporation of Carlingford +would have been sorry for it. And the snow still lay deep in all the +corners, though it had been trampled down all about the Doctor's house, +where the lamp was not lighted now of nights; for what was the use of +lighting the lamp, which was a kind of lighthouse in its way, and meant +to point out succour and safety for the neighbours, when the physician +himself was lying beyond all hope of succour or aid? And all the Grange +Lane people retired in a sympathetic, awe-stricken way, and decided, or +at least the ladies did, to see Lucilla next day, if she was able to see +them, and to find out whether she was going to make an effort, or what +she meant to do. And Mrs Chiley was so much better that she was able to +be up a little in the evening, though she scarcely could forgive +herself, and still could not help thinking that it was she who had +really been sent for, and that the Doctor had been taken in mistake. And +as for Lucilla, she sat in her room and cried, and thought of her +father's hand upon her shoulder--that last unusual caress which was more +touching to think of than a world of words. He had been fond of her and +proud of her, and at the last moment he had showed it. And by times she +seemed to feel again that lingering touch, and cried as if her heart +would break: and yet, for all that, she could not keep her thoughts +steady, nor prevent them from wandering to all kinds of profane +out-of-door matters, and to considerations of the future, and estimates +of her own position. It wounded her sadly to feel herself in such an +inappropriate state of mind, but she could not help it; and then the +want of natural light and air oppressed her sorely, and she longed for +the evening, which felt a little more natural, and thought that at last +she might have a long talk with Aunt Jemima, who was a kind of refuge in +her present loneliness, and gave her a means of escape at the same time +from all this bustle and commotion of unbecoming thoughts. + +This was enough surely for any one to have to encounter at one time; but +that very night another rumour began to murmur through Carlingford--a +rumour more bewildering, more incredible still, than that of the +Doctor's death, which the town had been obliged to confirm and +acknowledge, and put its seal to. When the thing was first mentioned, +everybody (who could find it in their heart to laugh) laughed loud in +the face of the first narrator with mingled scepticism and indignation. +They asked him what he meant by it, and ridiculed and scoffed at him to +his face. "Lucilla will be the richest woman in Grange Lane," people +said; "everybody in Carlingford knows that." But after this statement +had been made, the town began to listen. It was obliged to listen, for +other witnesses came in to confirm the story. It never might have been +found out while the Doctor lived, for he had a great practice, and made +a great deal of money; but now that he was dead, nothing could be hid. +He was dead, and he had made an elaborate will, which was all as just +and righteous as a will could be; but after the will was read, it was +found out that everything named in it had disappeared like a bubble. +Instead of being the richest, Dr Marjoribanks was one of the poorest +men in Carlingford when he shut his door behind him on that snowy night. +It was a revelation which took the town perfectly by storm, and startled +everybody out of their senses. Lucilla's plans, which she thought so +wicked, went out all of a sudden, in a certain dull amaze and dismay, to +which no words could give any expression. Such was the second +inconceivable reverse of fortune which happened to Miss Marjoribanks, +more unexpected, more incomprehensible still than the other, in the very +midst of her most important activities and hopes. + + + + +_Chapter XLIV_ + + +When the first whisper of the way in which she was--as people +say--"left" reached Lucilla, her first feeling was incredulity. It was +conveyed to her by Aunt Jemima, who came to her in her room after the +funeral with a face blanched with dismay. Miss Marjoribanks took it for +grief; and, though she did not look for so much feeling from Mrs John, +was pleased and comforted that her aunt should really lament her poor +papa. It was a compliment which, in the softened and sorrowful state of +Lucilla's mind, went to her heart. Aunt Jemima came up and kissed her in +a hasty excited way, which showed genuine and spontaneous emotion, and +was not like the solemn pomp with which sympathising friends generally +embrace a mourner; and then she made Lucilla sit down by the fire and +held her hands. "My poor child," said Aunt Jemima--"my poor, dear, +sacrificed child! you know, Lucilla, how fond I am of you, and you can +always come to me----" + +"Thank you, dear Aunt Jemima," said Miss Marjoribanks, though she was a +little puzzled. "You are the only relative I have, and I knew you would +not forsake me. What should I do without you at such a time? I am sure +it is what dear papa would have wished----" + +"Lucilla," cried Mrs John impulsively, "I know it is natural you should +cry for your father; but when you know all,--you that never knew what it +was to be without money--that never were straitened even, or obliged to +give up things, like most other young women. Oh, my dear, they said I +was to prepare you, but how can I prepare you? I feel as if I never +could forgive my brother-in-law; that he should bring you up like this, +and then----" + +"What is it?" said Miss Marjoribanks, drying her tears. "If it is +anything new, tell me, but don't speak so of--of----What is it? say it +right out." + +"Lucilla," said Aunt Jemima solemnly, "you think you have a great deal +of courage, and now is your time to show it. He has left you without a +farthing--he that was always thought to be so rich. It is quite true +what I am saying. He has gone and died and left nothing, Lucilla. Now I +have told you; and oh, my poor, dear, injured child," cried Mrs John, +with fervour, "as long as I have a home there will be room in it for +you." + +But Lucilla put her aunt away softly when she was about to fall upon her +neck. Miss Marjoribanks was struck dumb; her heart seemed to stop +beating for the moment. "It is quite impossible--it cannot be true," she +said, and gave a gasp to recover her breath. Then Mrs John came down +upon her with facts, proving it to be true--showing how Dr +Marjoribanks's money was invested, and how it had been lost. She made a +terrible muddle of it, no doubt, but Lucilla was not very clear about +business details any more than her aunt, and she did not move nor say a +word while the long, involved, endless narrative went on. She kept +saying it was impossible in her heart for half of the time, and then she +crept nearer the fire and shivered, and said nothing even to herself, +and did not even seem to listen, but knew that it must be true. It would +be vain to attempt to say that it was not a terrible blow to Lucilla; +her strength was weakened already by grief and solitude and want of +food, for she could not find it in her heart to go on eating her +ordinary meals as if nothing had happened; and all of a sudden she felt +the cold seize her, and drew closer and closer to the fire. The thoughts +which she had been thinking in spite of herself, and for which she had +so greatly condemned herself, went out with a sudden distinctness, as if +it had been a lamp going out and leaving the room in darkness, and a +sudden sense of utter gloom and cold and bewildering uncertainty came +over Lucilla. When she lifted her eyes from the fire, into which she had +been gazing, it almost surprised her to find herself still in this warm +room where there was every appliance for comfort, and where her entire +wardrobe of new mourning--everything, as Aunt Jemima said, that a woman +could desire--was piled up on the bed. It was impossible that she could +be a penniless creature, left on her own resources, without father or +supporter or revenue; and yet--good heavens! could it be true? + +"If it is true, Aunt Jemima," said Lucilla, "I must try to bear it; but +my poor head feels all queer. I'd rather not think any more about it +to-night." + +"How can you help thinking about it, Lucilla?" cried Mrs John. "I can +think of nothing else; and I am not so much concerned as you." + +Upon which Lucilla rose and kissed Aunt Jemima, though her head was all +confused and she had noises in her ears. "I don't think we are much like +each other, you know," she said. "Did you hear how Mrs Chiley was? I am +sure she will be very sorry;" and with that Miss Marjoribanks softened, +and felt a little comforted, and cried again--not for the money, but for +her father. "If you are going downstairs, I think I will come down to +tea, Aunt Jemima," she said. But after Mrs John had gone away full of +wonder at her philosophy, Lucilla drew close to the fire again and took +her head between her hands and tried to think what it meant. Could it be +true? Instead of the heiress, in a good position, who could go abroad or +anywhere, and do anything she liked, was it possible that she was only a +penniless single woman with nobody to look to, and nothing to live on? +Such an extraordinary incomprehensible revolution might well make any +one feel giddy. The solid house and the comfortable room, and her own +sober brain, which was not in the way of being put off its balance, +seemed to turn round and round as she looked into the fire. Lucilla was +not one to throw the blame upon her father, as Mrs John had done. On the +contrary she was sorry, profoundly sorry for him, and made such a +picture to herself of what his feelings must have been, when he went +into his room that night and knew that all his hard-earned fortune was +gone, that it made her weep the deepest tears for him that she had yet +shed. "Poor papa!" she said to herself; and as she was not much given to +employing her imagination in this way, and realising the feeling of +others, the effect was all the greater now. If he had but told her, and +put off a share of the burden from his own shoulders on to hers who +could have borne it! but the Doctor had never done justice to Lucilla's +qualities. This, amid her general sense of confusion and dizziness and +insecurity, was the only clear thought that struck Miss Marjoribanks; +and that it was very cold and must be freezing outside; and how did the +poor people manage who had not all her present advantages? She tried to +put away this revelation from her, as she had said to Aunt Jemima, and +keep it for a little at arm's length, and get a night's rest in the +meantime, and so be able to bring a clear head to the contemplation of +it to-morrow, which was the most judicious thing to do. But when the +mind has been stimulated by such a shock, Solomon himself, one would +suppose, could scarcely, however clearly he might perceive what was +best, take the judicious passive way. When Lucilla got up from where she +was crouching before the fire, she felt so giddy that she could scarcely +stand. Her head was all queer, as she had said, and she had a singing in +her ears. She herself seemed to have changed along with her position. An +hour or two before, she could have answered for her own steadiness and +self-possession in almost any circumstances, but now the blood seemed to +be running a race in her veins, and the strangest noises hummed in her +ears. She felt ashamed of her weakness, but she could not help it; and +then she was weak with grief and excitement and comparative fasting, +which told for something, probably, in her inability to bear so +unlooked-for a blow. + +But Miss Marjoribanks thought it was best to go down to the drawing-room +for tea, as she had said. To see everything just as it had been, utterly +indifferent and unconscious of what had happened, made her cry, and +relieved her giddiness by reviving her grief; and then the next minute a +bewildering wonder seized her as to what would become of this +drawing-room, the scene of her triumphs--who would live in it, and whom +the things would go to--which made her sick, and brought back the +singing in her ears. But on the whole she took tea very quietly with +Aunt Jemima, who kept breaking into continual snatches of lamentation, +but was always checked by Lucilla's composed looks. If she had not heard +this extraordinary news, which made the world turn round with her, Miss +Marjoribanks would have felt that soft hush of exhaustion and grief +subdued which, when the grief is not too urgent, comes after all is +over; and even now she felt a certain comfort in the warm firelight and +the change out of her own room--where she had been living shut up, with +the blinds down, and the black dresses everywhere about, for so many +dreary days. + +John Brown, who had charge of Dr Marjoribanks's affairs, came next day +and explained everything to Lucilla. The lawyer had had one short +interview with his client after the news came, and Dr Marjoribanks had +borne it like a man. His face had changed a little, and he had sat down, +which he was not in the habit of doing, and drawn a kind of shivering +long breath; and then he had said, "Poor Lucilla!" to himself. This was +all Mr Brown could say about the effect the shock had on the Doctor. And +there was something in this very scanty information which gave Lucilla a +new pang of sorrow and consolation. "And he patted me on the shoulder +that last night," she said, with tender tears; and felt she had never +loved her father so well in all her life--which is one of the sweeter +uses of death which many must have experienced, but which belonged to a +more exquisite and penetrating kind of emotion than was common to +Lucilla. + +"I thought he looked a little broken when he went out," said Mr Brown, +"but full of pluck and spirit, as he always was. 'I am making a good +deal of money, and I _may_ live long enough to lay by a little still,' +were the last words he said to me. I remember he put a kind of emphasis +on the _may_. Perhaps he knew he was not so strong as he looked. He was +a good man, Miss Marjoribanks, and there is nobody that has not some +kind thing to tell of him," said the lawyer, with a certain moisture in +his eyes; for there was nobody in Carlingford who did not miss the old +Doctor, and John Brown was very tender-hearted in his way. + +"But nobody can know what a good father he was," said Lucilla, with a +sob; and she meant it with all her heart, thinking chiefly of his hand +on her shoulder that last night, and of the "Poor Lucilla!" in John +Brown's office; though, after all, perhaps, it was not chiefly as a +tender father that Dr Marjoribanks shone, though he gave his daughter +all she wanted or asked for. Her grief was so true, and so little +tinctured by any of that indignation over the unexpected loss, which +Aunt Jemima had not been able to conceal, that John Brown was quite +touched, and felt his heart warm to Lucilla. He explained it all very +fully to her when she was composed enough to understand him; and as he +went through all the details the giddiness came back, and once more Miss +Marjoribanks felt the world running round, and heard his statement +through the noises in her ears. All this settled down, however, into a +certain distinctness as John Brown, who was very clear-headed and good +at making a concise statement, went on; and gradually the gyrations +became slower and slower, and the great universe became solid once more, +and held to its moorings under Lucilla's feet, and she ceased to hear +that supernatural hum and buzz. The vague shadows of chaos and ruin +dispersed, and through them she saw once more the real aspect of things. +She was not quite penniless. There was the house, which was a very good +house, and some little corners and scraps of money in the Funds, which +were Lucilla's very own, and could not be lost; and last of all there +was the business--the best practice in Carlingford, and entire command +of Grange Lane. + +"But what does that matter?" said Lucilla; "if poor papa had retired +indeed, as I used to beg him to do, and parted with it----But everybody +has begun to send for Dr Rider already," she said, in an aggrieved +voice; and then for the first time John Brown remembered, to his +confusion, that there was once said to be "something between" Miss +Marjoribanks and Dr Rider; which complicated the affair in the most +uncomfortable way. + +"Yes," he said, "and of course that would make it much more difficult to +bring in another man; but Rider is a very honourable young fellow, Miss +Marjoribanks----" + +"He is not so very young," said Lucilla. "He is quite as old as I am, +though no one ever would think so. I am sure he is honourable, but what +has that to do with it? And I do think Mrs Chiley might have done +without--anybody else: for a day or two, considering when it was----" + +And here she stopped to cry, unreasonably, but yet very naturally; for +it did feel hard that in the house to which Dr Marjoribanks's last visit +had been paid, another doctor should have been called in next day. + +"What I meant to say," said John Brown, "was, that Dr Rider, though he +is not rich, and could not pay a large sum of money down, would be very +glad to make some arrangement. He is very anxious about it, and he +seemed himself to think that if you knew his circumstances you would not +be disinclined to----But as I did not at all know----" + +Lucilla caught, as it were, and met, and forced to face her, her +informant's embarrassed, hesitating look. "You say this," said Miss +Marjoribanks, "because people used to say there was something between +us, and you think I may have some feeling about it. But there never was +anything between us. Anybody with a quarter of an eye could have seen +that he was going out of his senses about that little Australian girl. +And I am rather fond of men that are in love--it shows they have some +good in them. But it is dreadful to talk of such things now," said +Lucilla, with a sigh of self-reproach. "If Dr Rider has any arrangement +to propose, I should like to give him the preference, please. You see +they have begun to send for him already in Grange Lane." + +"I will do whatever you think proper," said John Brown, who was rather +scared, and very much impressed by Miss Marjoribanks's candour. Dr Rider +had been the first love of Mr Brown's own wife, and the lawyer had a +curious kind of satisfaction in thinking that this silly young fellow +had thus lost two admirable women, and that probably the little +Australian was equally inferior to Miss Marjoribanks and Mrs Brown. He +ought to have been grateful that Dr Rider had left the latter lady to +his own superior discrimination--and so he was; and yet it gave him a +certain odd satisfaction to think that the Doctor was not so happy as he +might have been. He went away fully warranted to receive Dr Rider's +proposition, and even, to a certain extent, to decide upon it--and +Lucilla threw herself back in her chair in the silent drawing-room, from +which Aunt Jemima had discreetly withdrawn, and began to think over the +reality of her position as she now saw it for the first time. + +The sense of bewildering revolution and change was over; for, strangely +enough, the greater a change is the more easily the mind, after the +first shock, accepts and gets accustomed to it. It was over, and the +world felt steady once more under Lucilla's feet, and she sat down, not +precisely amid the ruins of her happiness, but still in the presence of +many an imagination overthrown, to look at her real position. It was +not, after all, utter poverty, misery, and destitution, as at the first +glance she had believed. According to what John Brown had said, and a +rapid calculation which Lucilla had herself made in passing, something +approaching two hundred a year would be left to her--just a small single +woman's revenue, as she thought to herself. Two hundred a year! All at +once there came into Miss Marjoribanks's mind a sudden vision of the two +Miss Ravenswoods, who had lived in that pretty set of rooms over +Elsworthy's shop, facing into Grange Lane, and who had kept a lady's +maid, and asked the best people in the place to tea, upon a very +similar income, and how their achievements had been held up to everybody +as a model of what genteel economy could do. She thought of them, and +her heart sank within her; for it was not in Lucilla's nature to live +without a sphere, nor to disjoin herself from her fellow-creatures, nor +to give up entirely the sovereign position she had held for so many +years. Whatever she might ultimately do, it was clear that, in the +meantime, she could not make up her mind to any such giving up of the +battle as that. And then there was the house. She might let it to the +Riders, and add probably another hundred a year to her income; for +though it was an excellent house, and worth more than a hundred a year, +still there was no competition for houses in Grange Lane, and the new +Doctor was the only probable tenant. And, to tell the truth, though +Lucilla was very reasonable, it went to her heart at the present moment +to think of letting the house to the new Doctor, and having the patients +come as usual, and the lamp lighted as of old, and nothing changed +except the central figure of all. She ought to have been above such +sentimental ideas when a whole hundred pounds a year was in question; +but she was not, which of itself was a strange phenomenon. If she could +have made up her mind to that, there were a great many things that she +might have done. She might still have gone abroad, and to some extent +taken a limited share in what was going on in some section of English +society on the Continent. Or she might have gone to one of the mild +centres of a similar kind of life in England. But such a prospect did +not offer many attractions to Miss Marjoribanks. If she had been rich, +it would have been different. Thus there gradually dawned upon her the +germ of the plan she ultimately adopted, and which was the only one that +commended itself to her feelings. Going away was expensive and +troublesome at the best; and even at Elsworthy's, if she could have made +up her mind to such an expedient, she would have been charged a pound a +week for the rooms alone, not to speak of all kinds of extras, and never +having the satisfaction of feeling yourself in your own place. Under all +the circumstances, it was impressed upon Lucilla's mind that her natural +course was to stay still where she was, and make no change. Why should +she make any change? The house was her own, and did not cost anything, +and if Nancy would but stand by her and one good maid----It was a +venture; but still Lucilla felt as if she might be equal to it. Though +she was no mathematician, Miss Marjoribanks was very clever at mental +arithmetic in a practical sort of way. She put down lines upon lines of +figures in her head while she sat musing in her chair, and worked them +out with wonderful skill and speed and accuracy. And the more she +thought of it, the more it seemed to her that this was the thing to do. +Why should she retreat and leave her native soil and the neighbourhood +of all her friends because she was poor and in trouble? Lucilla was not +ashamed of being poor--nor even frightened by it, now that she +understood what it was--any more than she would have been frightened, +after the first shock, had her poverty even been much more absolute. She +was standing alone at this moment as upon a little island of as yet +undisturbed seclusion and calm, and she knew very well that outside a +perfect sea of good advice would surge round her as soon as she was +visible. In these circumstances Lucilla took by instinct the only wise +course: she made up her mind there and then with a perfect unanimity +which is seldom to be gained when counsellors are admitted. And what she +decided upon, as was to be expected from her character, was not to fly +from her misfortune and the scene of it, but to confront fate and take +up her lawful burden and stay still in her own house. It was the wisest +and the easiest, and at the same time the most heroic course to adopt, +and she knew beforehand that it was one which would be approved of by +nobody. All this Lucilla steadily faced and considered and made up her +mind to while she sat alone; although silence and solitude and +desolation seemed to have suddenly come in and taken possession all +around her of the once gay and brilliant room. + +She had just made her final decision when she was rejoined by her aunt, +who, everybody said, was at this trying moment like a mother to Lucilla. +Yet Aunt Jemima, too, had changed a little since her brother-in-law's +death. She was very fond of Miss Marjoribanks, and meant every word she +had said about giving her a home, and still meant it. But she did not +feel so certain now as she had done about Tom's love for his cousin, nor +at all anxious to have him come home just at this moment; and for +another thing, she had got a way of prowling about the house and looking +at the furniture in a speculative, auctioneering sort of way. "It must +be all sold, of course," Aunt Jemima had said to herself, "and I may as +well look what things would suit me; there is a little chiffonier that I +have always wanted for my drawing-room, and Lucilla would like to see a +few of the old things about her, poor dear." With this idea Mrs John +gave herself a great deal of unnecessary fatigue, and gave much offence +to the servants by making pilgrimages all over the house, turning up at +the most unlikely places and poking about in the least frequented rooms. +It was a perfectly virtuous and even amiable thing to do, for it was +better, as she reasoned, that they should go to her than to a stranger, +and it would be nice for Lucilla to feel that she had some of the old +things about her; but then such delicate motives are seldom appreciated +by the homely critics downstairs. + +It was with something of this same air that she came into the +drawing-room, where Lucilla was. She could not help laying her hand in a +suggestive sort of way on a small table which she had to pass, as if she +were saying to herself (as indeed she was saying), "The veneer has been +broken off at that side, and the foot is mended; it will bring very +little; and yet it looks well when you don't look too close." Such were +the ideas with which Aunt Jemima's mind was filled. But yet she came +forward with a great deal of sympathy and curiosity, and forgot about +the furniture in presence of her afflicted niece. + +"Did he tell you anything, Lucilla?" said Mrs John; "of course he must +have told you something--but anything satisfactory, I mean." + +"I don't know if you can call it satisfactory," said Lucilla, with a +sudden rush of softer thoughts; "but it was a comfort to hear it. He +told me something about dear papa, Aunt Jemima. After he had heard of +_that_, you know--all that he said was, Poor Lucilla! And don't you +remember how he put his hand on my shoulder that last night? I am +so--so--glad he did it," sobbed Miss Marjoribanks. It may be supposed it +was an abrupt transition from her calculations; but after all it was +only a different branch of the same subject; and Lucilla in all her life +had never before shed such poignant and tender tears. + +"He might well say, Poor Lucilla!" said Mrs John--"brought up as you +have been, my dear; and did not you hear anything more important?--I +mean, more important in a worldly point of view," Aunt Jemima added, +correcting herself, "of course, it must be the greatest comfort to hear +something about your poor papa." + +And then Lucilla unfolded John Brown's further particulars to her +surprised hearer. Mrs John lived upon a smallish income herself, and she +was not so contemptuous of the two hundred a year. "And the house," she +said--"the house would bring you in another hundred, Lucilla. The +Riders, I am sure, would take it directly, and perhaps a great part of +the furniture too. Three hundred would not be so bad for a single woman. +Did you say anything about the furniture, my dear?" Aunt Jemima added, +half regretfully, for she did feel that she would be sorry to lose that +chiffonier. + +"I think I shall stay in the house," said Lucilla; "you may think it +silly, Aunt Jemima, but I was born in it, and----" + +"Stay in the house!" Mrs John said, with a gasp. She did not think it +silly, but simple madness, and so she told her niece. If Lucilla could +not make up her mind to Elsworthy's, there was Brighton and Bath and +Cheltenham, and a hundred other places where a single woman might be +very comfortable on three hundred a year. And to lose a third part of +her income for a piece of sentiment was so utterly unlike any conception +Aunt Jemima had ever formed of her niece. It _was_ unlike Miss +Marjoribanks; but there are times of life when even the most reasonable +people are inconsistent. Lucilla, though she felt it was open to grave +criticism, felt only more confirmed in her resolution by her aunt's +remarks. She heard a voice Aunt Jemima could not hear, and that voice +said, Stay! + + + + +_Chapter XLV_ + + +It must be allowed that Lucilla's decision caused very general surprise +in Carlingford, where people had been disposed to think that she would +be rather glad, now that things were so changed, to get away. To be sure +it was not known for some time; but everybody's idea was that, being +thus left alone in the world, and in circumstances so reduced, Miss +Marjoribanks naturally would go to live with somebody. Perhaps with her +aunt, who had something, though she was not rich; perhaps, after a +little, to visit about among her friends, of whom she had so many. +Nobody doubted that Lucilla would abdicate at once, and a certain +uneasy, yet delicious, sense of freedom had already stolen into the +hearts of some of the ladies in Grange Lane. They lamented, it is true, +the state of chaos into which everything would fall, and the dreadful +loss Miss Marjoribanks would be to society; but still, freedom is a +noble thing, and Lucilla's subjects contemplated their emancipation with +a certain guilty delight. It was, at the same time, a most fertile +subject of discussion in Carlingford, and gave rise to all those lively +speculations and consultations, and oft-renewed comparing of notes, +which take the place of bets in the feminine community. The Carlingford +ladies as good as betted upon Lucilla, whether she would go with her +aunt, or pay Mrs Beverley a visit at the Deanery, or retire to Mount +Pleasant for a little, where those good old Miss Blounts were so fond of +her. Each of these opinions had its backers, if it is not profane to say +so; and the discussion which of them Miss Marjoribanks would choose +waxed very warm. It almost put the election out of people's heads; and +indeed the election had been sadly damaged in interest and social +importance by the sad and most unexpected event which had just happened +in Grange Lane. + +But when the fact was really known, it would be difficult to describe +the sense of guilt and horror which filled many innocent bosoms. The +bound of freedom had been premature--liberty and equality had not come +yet, notwithstanding that too early unwise _élan_ of republican +satisfaction. It was true that she was in deep mourning, and that for a +year, at least, society must be left to its own devices; and it was +true, also, that she was poor--which might naturally be supposed a +damper upon her energies--but, at the same time, Carlingford knew its +Lucilla. As long as she remained in Grange Lane, even though retired and +in crape, the constitutional monarch was still present among her +subjects; and nobody could usurp her place or show that utter +indifference to her regulations which some revolutionaries had dreamed +of. Such an idea would have gone direct in the face of the British +Constitution, and the sense of the community would have been dead +against it. But everybody who had speculated upon her proceedings +disapproved of Lucilla in her most unlooked-for resolution. Some could +not think how she could bear it, staying on there when everything was so +changed; and some said it was a weakness they could never have believed +to exist in her; and some--for there are spiteful people +everywhere--breathed the names of Cavendish and Ashburton, the rival +candidates, and hinted that Miss Marjoribanks had something in her mind +to justify her lingering. If Lucilla had not been supported by a +conscious sense of rectitude, she must have broken down before this +universal disapprobation. Not a soul in the world except one supported +her in her resolution, and that was perhaps, of all others, the one +least likely to be able to judge. + +And it was not for want of opportunity to go elsewhere. Aunt Jemima, as +has been seen, did not lose an instant in offering the shelter of her +house to her niece; and Mrs Beverley wrote the longest, kindest, most +incoherent letter begging her dear Lucilla to come to her immediately +for a long visit, and adding, that though she had to go out a good deal +into society, she needn't mind, for that everything she could think of +would be done to make her comfortable; to which Dr Beverley himself, who +was now a dean, added an equally kind postscript, begging Miss +Marjoribanks to make her home at the Deanery "until she saw how things +were to be." "He would have found me a place, perhaps," Lucilla said, +when she folded up the letter--and this was a terrible mode of +expression to the genteel ears of Mrs John. + +"I wish you would not use such words, my dear," said Aunt Jemima; "even +if you had been as poor as you thought, my house would always have been +a home for you. Thank Heaven I have enough for both; you never needed to +have thought, under any circumstances, of taking a--a situation. It is a +thing I could never have consented to,"--which was a very handsome thing +of Aunt Jemima to say. + +"Thank you, aunt," said Lucilla, but she sighed; for, though it was very +kind, what was Miss Marjoribanks to have done with herself in such a +dowager establishment? And then Colonel Chiley came in, who had also his +proposal to make. + +"_She_ sent me," the Colonel said; "it's been a sad business for us all, +Lucilla; I don't know when I have felt anything more; and as for her, +you know, she has never held up her head since----" + +"Dear Mrs Chiley!" Miss Marjoribanks said, unable to resist the old +affection; "and yet I heard she had sent for Dr Rider directly," Lucilla +added. She knew it was quite natural, and perhaps quite necessary, but +then it did seem hard that his own friends should be the first to +replace her dear papa. + +"It was I did that," said the Colonel. "What was a man to do? I was +horribly cut up, but I could not stand and see her making herself worse; +and I said you had too much sense to mind----" + +"So I ought," said Lucilla, with penitence, "but when I remembered where +he was last, the very last place----" + +It was hard upon the Colonel to stand by and see a woman cry. It was a +thing he could never stand, as he had always said to his wife. He took +the poker, which was his favourite resource, and made one of his +tremendous dashes at the fire, to give Lucilla time to recover herself, +and then he turned to Aunt Jemima, who sat pensively by: + +"_She_ sent me," said the Colonel, who did not think his wife needed any +other name--"not that I would not have come of my own accord; we want +Lucilla to go to us, you see. I don't know what plans she may have been +making, but we're both very fond of her--she knows that. I think, if you +have not settled upon anything, the best that Lucilla can do is to come +to us. She'll be the same as at home, and always somebody to look after +her----" + +The old Colonel was standing before the fire, wavering a little on his +long unsteady old legs, and looking wonderfully well preserved, and old +and feeble; and Lucilla, though she was in mourning, was so full of life +and force in her way. It was a curious sort of protection to offer her, +and yet it was real protection, and love and succour, though, Heaven +knows! it might not perhaps last out the year. + +"I am sure, Colonel Chiley, it is a very kind offer," said Aunt Jemima, +"and I would have been thankful if she could have made up her mind to go +with me. But I must say she has taken a very queer notion into her +head--a thing I should never have expected from Lucilla--she says she +will stay here." + +"Here?--ah--eh--what does she mean by here?" said the Colonel. + +"_Here_, Colonel Chiley, in this great big melancholy house. I have been +thinking about it, and talking about it till my head goes round and +round. Unless she were to take Inmates," said Aunt Jemima, in a resigned +and doleful voice. As for the Colonel, he was petrified, and for a long +time had not a word to say. + +"_Here!_--By Jove, I think she must have lost her senses," said the old +soldier. "Why, Lucilla, I--I thought--wasn't there something about the +money being lost? You couldn't keep up this house under a--fifteen +hundred a year at least; the Doctor spent a mint of money;--you must be +going out of your senses. And to have all the sick people coming, and +the bell ringing of nights. Bless my soul! it would kill anybody," said +Colonel Chiley. "Put on your bonnet, and come out with me; shutting her +up here, and letting her cry, and so forth--I don't say it ain't +natural--I'm terribly cut up myself whenever I think of it; but it's +been too much for her head," said the Colonel, with anxiety and +consternation mingling in his face. + +"Unless she were to take Inmates, you know," said Aunt Jemima, in a +sepulchral voice. There was something in the word that seemed to carry +out to a point of reality much beyond anything he had dreamt of, the +suggestion Colonel Chiley had just made. + +"Inmates! Lord bless my soul! what do you mean, ma'am?" said the old +soldier. "Lucilla, put on your bonnet directly, and come and have a +little fresh air. She'll soon be an inmate herself if we leave her +here," the Colonel said. They were all very sad and grave, and yet it +was a droll scene; and then the old hero offered Lucilla his arm, and +led her to the door. "You'll find me in the hall as soon as you are +ready," he said, in tones half gruff, half tender, and was glad to go +downstairs, though it was cold, and put on his greatcoat with the aid of +Thomas, and stand warming the tips of his boots at the hall fire. As +for Lucilla, she obeyed him without a word; and it was with his unsteady +but kind old arm to lean upon that she first saw how the familiar world +looked through the mist of this strange change that had come over it, +and through the blackness of her crape veil. + +But though she succeeded in satisfying her friends that she had made up +her mind, she did not secure their approval. There were so many +objections to her plan. "If you had been rich even, I don't think I +should have approved of it, Lucilla," Mrs Chiley said, with tears; "and +I think we could have made you happy here." So the good old lady spoke, +looking round her pretty room, which was so warm and cheery and bright, +and where the Colonel, neat and precise as if he had come out of a box, +was standing poking the fire. It looked all very solid and substantial, +and yet it was as unstable as any gossamer that the careless passenger +might brush away. The two good people were so old that they had +forgotten to remember they were old. But neither did Lucilla think of +that. This was really what she thought and partly said: + +"I am in my own house, that wants no expense nor changing, and Nancy is +getting old, and does not mind standing by me. And it is not so much +trouble after all keeping everything nice when there is no gentleman +coming in, and nothing else to do. And, besides, I don't mean to be +Lucilla Marjoribanks for ever and ever." This was the general scope, +without going into all the details, of what Lucilla said. + +But, at the same time, though she was so happy as not to be disturbed in +her decision, or made uncomfortable, either by lamentation or +remonstrance, and had no doubt in her mind that she was doing right, it +was disagreeable to Miss Marjoribanks to go thus in the face of all her +friends. She went home by herself, and the house did look dreary from +the outside. It was just as it had always been, for none of the servants +were dismissed as yet, nor any external change made; but still a look as +if it had fallen asleep--a look as if it too had died somehow, and only +pretended to be a house and home--was apparent, in the aspect of the +place; and when the servants were gone, and nobody remained except +Lucilla and her faithful Nancy, and a young maid--which must be the +furthest limit of Miss Marjoribanks's household, and difficult enough to +maintain upon two hundred a year--what would it look like? This thought +was more discouraging than any remonstrances; and it was with a heavy +heart that Lucilla re-entered her solitary house. She told Thomas to +follow her upstairs; and when she sank, tired, into a chair, and put up +her veil before commencing to speak to him, it was all she could do to +keep from crying. The depressing influences of this sad week had told so +much on her, that she was quite fatigued by her walk to see Mrs Chiley; +and Thomas, too, knew why he had been called, and stood in a formal +manner before her, with his hands crossed, against the closed door. When +she put back her thick black veil, the last climax of painful change +came upon Miss Marjoribanks. She did not feel as if she were Lucilla; so +discouraged and depressed and pale, and tired with her walk as she was, +with all sorts of projects and plans so quenched out of her; almost if +she had been charged with being somebody else, the imputation was one +which she could not have denied. + +"Thomas," she said faintly, "I think I ought to speak to you myself +about all that has happened--we are such old friends, and you have been +such a good kind servant. You know I shan't be able to keep up----" + +"And sorry we all was, Miss, to hear it," said Thomas, when Lucilla's +utterance failed. "I am sure there never was a better master, though +particular; and for a comfortabler house----" + +"If I had been as poor papa expected to leave me," said Miss +Marjoribanks, after a little pause, "everything would have gone on as +usual: but after your long service here, and so many people as know you, +Thomas, you will have no difficulty in getting as good a place: and you +know that anything I can say----" + +"Thank you, Miss," said Thomas; and then he made a pause. "It was not +exactly that as I was thinking of; I've set my heart, this many a day, +on a little business. If you would be so kind as to speak a word for me +to the gentlemen as has the licensing. There ain't nobody as knows +better how----" + +"What kind of a business, Thomas?" said Lucilla, who cheered up a little +in ready interest, and would have been very glad if she could have taken +a little business too. + +"Well, Miss, a kind of a quiet--public-house, if I don't make too bold +to name it," said Thomas, with a deprecating air--"not one of them +drinking-places, Miss, as, I know, ladies can't abide; but many a man, +as is a very decent man, wants his pint o' beer now and again, and their +little sort of clubs of a night as well as the gentlefolks; and it's my +opinion, Miss, as it's a man's dooty to see as that sort of thing don't +go too far, and yet as his fellow-creatures has their bit of pleasure," +said Thomas, who naturally took the defensive side. + +"I am sure you are quite right," said Lucilla, cheering up more and +more, and instinctively, with her old statesmanlike breadth of view, +throwing a rapid glance upon the subject to see what capabilities there +might be in it; "and I hope you will try always to exercise a good +influence--What is all that noise and shouting out of doors?" + +"It's one of the candidates, Miss," said Thomas, "as is addressing of +the bargemen at the top o' Prickett's Lane." + +"Ah!" said Lucilla; and a deep sigh escaped from her bosom. "But you +cannot do anything of that kind, you know, Thomas, without a wife." + +"Yes, Miss," said Thomas, with great confusion and embarrassment; "that +was just what I was going to say. Me and Betsy----" + +"Betsy!" said Lucilla, with dismay; for it had been Betsy she had +specially fixed upon as the handy, willing, cheerful maid who, when +there was no gentleman coming in, and little else to do, might keep even +this big house in order. She sighed; but it was not in her power, even +if she had desired it, to put any restriction upon Betsy's wishes. And +it was not without a momentary envy that she received the intelligence. +It was life the housemaid was about to enter on--active life of her own, +with an object and meaning--clogged by Thomas, no doubt, who did not +appear to Lucilla as the bright spot in the picture--but still +independent life; whereas her mistress knew of nothing particularly +interesting in her own uncertain future. She was roused from her +momentary meditation by the distant shouts which came from the top of +Prickett's Lane, and sighed again, without knowing it, as she spoke. + +"It's a pity you had not got your--little inn," said Lucilla, for the +sake of euphony, "six months or a year ago, for then you might have +voted for Mr Ashburton, Thomas. I had forgotten about the election until +now." + +"Not as that needn't stand in the way, Miss," said Thomas eagerly; +"there's Betsy's brother as has it now, and he ain't made up his mind +about his vote; and if he knowed as it would be any comfort to you----" + +"Of course it will be a comfort to me!" said Miss Marjoribanks; and she +got up from her chair with a sense that she was still not altogether +useless in the world. "Go and speak to him directly, Thomas; and here's +one of Mr Ashburton's colours that I made up myself; and tell him that +there can be no doubt _he_ is the man for Carlingford; and send up Nancy +to me. And I hope Betsy and you will be very happy," said Lucilla. She +had been dreadfully down, but the rebound was all the more grateful. "I +am not done with yet, and, thank Heaven! there must always be something +to do," she said to herself when she was alone. And she threw off her +shawl, and began to make the drawing-room look like itself; not that it +was not perfectly in order, and as neat as a room could be; but still +the neatness savoured of Betsy, and not of Lucilla. Miss Marjoribanks, +in five minutes, made it look like that cosy empire of hospitality and +kindness and talk and wit, and everything pleasant, that it used to be; +and then, when she had finished, she sat down and had a good cry, which +did not do her any harm. + +Then Nancy appeared, disturbed in her preparations for dinner, and with +her arms wrapped in her apron, looking glum and defiant. Hers was not +the resigned and resourceful preparation for her fate which had appeared +in Thomas. She came in, and put the door ajar, and leant her back +against the sharp edge. She might be sent off like the rest, if that was +Miss Lucilla's meaning--her that had been in the house off and on for +more than thirty years; but if it was so, at least she would not give up +without unfolding a bit of her mind. + +"Come in," said Lucilla, drying her eyes--"come in and shut the door; +you had better come and sit down here, Nancy, for I have a great deal to +say, and I want to speak to you as a friend." + +Nancy shut the door, but she thought to herself that she knew what all +this meant, and made but a very little movement into the room, looking +more forbidding than ever. "Thank you all the same, Miss Lucilla, but I +ain't too old to stand," she said; and stood firm to meet the shock, +with her arms folded under her apron, thinking in her heart that it was +about one of the almshouses, her horror and hope, that her young +mistress was going to speak. + +"Nancy," said Lucilla, "I want to tell you what I am going to do. I +have to make up my mind for myself now. They all go against me, and one +says I should do this and another says I should do that; but I don't +think anybody knows me so well as you do. Don't stand at the door. I +want to consult you as a friend. I want to ask you a question, and you +must answer as if you were before a judge--I have such confidence in +_you_." + +Nancy's distrust and defiance gave way a little before this appeal. She +came a step nearer, and let the apron drop from her folded arms. "What +is it, Miss Lucilla?--though I ain't pretending to be one to advise," +she said, building a kind of intrenchment round her with the nearest +chairs. + +"You know how things are changed," said Lucilla, "and that I can't stay +here as I used to do. People think I should go and live with somebody; +but _I_ think, you know--if I was one of those ladies that have a +faithful old servant to stand by them, and never to grumble nor make a +fuss, nor go back on the past, nor go in for expensive dishes--one that +wouldn't mind cooking a chop or making a cup of tea, if that was all we +could afford--why, I think, Nancy----" + +But Nancy could not hear any more. She made a little rush forward, with +a kind of convulsive chuckling that was half sobbing and half laughter. +"And me here!" cried Dr Marjoribanks's famous cook, who had spent a +fortune on her gravy-beef alone, and was one of the most expensive +people in Carlingford--"me as has done for you all your days! me as +would--if it was but a roast potato!" cried the devoted woman. She was +in such a state of hysterical flutter and excitement that Lucilla had to +take her almost into her arms and put the old woman into a chair and +bring her to, which was an occupation quite in Miss Marjoribanks's way. + +"But I shall only have two hundred a year," said Lucilla. "Now don't be +rash; there will have to be a maid to keep things tidy, and that is +every farthing I shall have. You used to spend as much in gravy-beef," +said Miss Marjoribanks, with a sigh. + +"Oh, Miss Lucilla, let bygones be bygones," said Nancy, with tears. "If +I did, it wasn't without many a little something for them as was too +poor to buy it for themselves--for I never was one as boiled the senses +out of a bit of meat; and when a gentleman is well-to-do, and hasn't got +no occasion to count every penny----The Doctor, I will say for him, was +never one as asked too many questions. Give him a good dinner on his +own table, and he wasn't the gentleman as grudged a bit of broken meat +for the poor folks. He did a deal of good as you nor no one never know'd +of, Miss Lucilla," said Nancy, with a sob. + +And then his daughter and his faithful old servant cried a little in +company over Dr Marjoribanks's vacant place. What could a man have more? +Nobody was made altogether desolate by his death, nor was any heart +broken, but they wept for him honestly, though the old woman felt happy +in her sorrow. And Lucilla, on her knees before the fire, told Nancy of +that exclamation the Doctor had made in John Brown's office, and how he +had put his hand on her shoulder that last night. "All he said was, Poor +Lucilla!" sobbed Miss Marjoribanks; "he never thought of himself nor all +his money that he had worked so hard for;" and once more that touch of +something more exquisite than was usual to her went sharply down into +Lucilla's heart and brought up tenderer and deeper tears. + +She felt all the better for it after, and was even a little cheerful in +the evening, and like herself; and thus it will be seen that one person +in Carlingford--not, it is true, a popular oracle, but of powerful +influence and first-rate importance in a practical point of view--gave +the heartiest approbation to Miss Marjoribanks's scheme for her new +life. + + + + +_Chapter XLVI_ + + +Lucilla's calculations were fully justified by the result. Twenty times +in a day she recognised the wisdom of her own early decision, which was +made while she was still by herself, and before anybody had come in to +advise her. If she had left it over until the time when, though much +shaken, she was understood to be able to see her friends, it is just +possible that the whirlwind of popular opinion which raged about her +might have exercised a distracting influence even upon Miss +Marjoribanks's clear head and steady judgment. For even now, though they +saw her in her own house, in her mourning, people would not believe that +it was true, and that Lucilla actually intended to make "no change"; and +all that tide of good advice which had been flowing through Carlingford +ever since the Doctor's death in the form of opinion, now rushed in upon +her, notwithstanding that all the world knew that she had made up her +mind. "Everybody says you are going to stay on, but we do hope it is not +true, Lucilla," her friends said, in many voices. "It is dreadful for us +to lose you, but you never _could_ bear it, dear." And this was repeated +so often that if Miss Marjoribanks had been weak-minded, she must have +ended by believing not only that it was more than she was equal to, but +more than she ought to be equal to--which was a more touching argument +still. + +"You are excited now," Miss Brown said, who had a great deal of +experience in family troubles; "one always is at such a time; but when +things have settled down in their ordinary way, then you will find it is +more than you can bear. I think it is always best to make a change. If +you were to travel a little, you know----" + +"But, my dear, I am poor," said Lucilla. + +"It doesn't require so much money when you know how to set about it," +said her adviser; "and there are so many people who would be glad to +have you, Lucilla! And then you might settle a little at Caen or Tours, +or some of those nice places, where there is such capital English +society, and everything so cheap; or, if you thought your health +required it, at Pau or Nice, you know. You are looking quite pale, and +I don't think you were ever very strong in the chest, Lucilla; and +everything is _so_ different on the Continent--one feels it the moment +one crosses the Channel; there is something different in the very air." + +"It smells different, I know," said Lucilla meekly; and then the +conversation was interrupted by that afternoon cup of tea, which Nancy +could not be got to think was an extravagance, and around which, to tell +the truth, the Grange Lane ladies began to resume their habit of +gathering--though Miss Marjoribanks, of course, was still quite unequal +to society--as in the old times. + +"And unless it is for a very short time, Lucilla," Mrs Centum said, who +had joined them, "you never can keep it up, you know. _I_ could not +pretend to afford Nancy, for my part; and when a cook is extravagant she +may promise as faithfully as you please, and make good resolutions, and +all that; but when it is in her, Lucilla--I am sure one or two receipts +she has given me have been quite ridiculous. You don't like to give in, +I know, but you'll be driven to give in; and if she does not get you +into debt as well, you will be very lucky. I know what it is. With my +family, you know, a week of Nancy would make an end of me." + +"And the worst of all is," said Lady Richmond, who had driven in +expressly to add her mite to the treasure of precious counsel, of which +Miss Marjoribanks was making so little use, "that I am sure Lucilla is +overestimating her strength. She will find after that she is not equal +to it, you know; all the associations--and the people coming at night to +ask for the Doctor--and--and all that. I know it would kill _me_." + +"Dear Lady Richmond," said Lucilla, making a desperate stand, and +setting, as it were, her back against a rock, "don't you think I can +bear it best here where you are all so kind to me; and where everybody +was so fond of--of _him_? You can't think what a comfort it is to me," +said Lucilla, with a sob, "to see all the hatbands upon the gentlemen's +hats." + +And then there was a pause, for this was an argument against which +nobody could find anything to say. + +"For my part, I think the only thing she can do is to take Inmates," +said Aunt Jemima. "If I were obliged to leave she would be so very +lonely. I have known ladies do it who were in a very good position, and +it made no difference; people visited them all the same. She could say, +'In consequence of changes in the family,' or 'A lady who has a larger +house than she requires'; which I am sure is quite true. It goes to +one's heart to think of all these bedrooms, and only one lady to sleep +in them all--when so many people are so hampered for want of room. Or +she might say, 'For the sake of society'; for, I am sure, if I should +have to go away----" + +"But I hope you are not going away. It would be so sad for Lucilla to be +left alone," said Lady Richmond, who took a serious view of everything, +"at such a time." + +"Oh, no!" Aunt Jemima said, faltering a little; and then a pink blush, +which seemed strangely uncalled for in such a mild little tea-party, +came over her mature countenance; "but then one can never tell what may +happen. I might have other duties--my son might make a call upon my +time. Not that I know of anything at present," she added hurriedly, "but +I never can bind myself on account of Tom----" + +And then she caught Lucilla's eye, and grew more confused than ever. +What could she have to be confused about? If Tom did make a call upon +her time, whatever that might mean, there was nothing in it to call a +blush upon his mother's face. And the fact was, that a letter had come +from Tom a day or two before, of which, contrary to all her usual +habits, Aunt Jemima had taken no notice to Lucilla. These were things +which would have roused Miss Marjoribanks's curiosity if she had been +able to think about anything, as she said. But her visitors were taking +their cup of tea all the time, in a melancholy, half-sympathetic, +half-disapproving way, and they could not be expected to see anything +particularly interesting in Aunt Jemima's blush. + +And then Rose Lake came in from Grove Street, who was rather an unusual +visitor, and whose appearance, though they were all very kind and +gracious to her, rather put the others to flight; for nobody had ever +quite forgotten or forgiven Barbara's brief entrance into society and +flirtation with Mr Cavendish, which might be said to have been the +beginning of all that happened to him in Grange Lane. As for Mrs Centum, +she took her leave directly, and pressed Lucilla's hand, and could not +help saying in her ear that she hoped _the other_ was not coming back to +Carlingford to throw herself in poor Mr Cavendish's way. "It would do +him so much harm," Mrs Centum said anxiously; "but oh! I forgot, +Lucilla, you are on the other side." + +"I am on no side _now_," said Miss Marjoribanks, with plaintive meaning; +"and Barbara was as old as I am, you know, and she must have gone off." + +"I have no doubt she has gone off," said Mrs Centum, with righteous +indignation. "As old as you, Lucilla! She must be ten years older at +least; and such a shocking style of looks--if men were not so +infatuated! And you have not gone off at all, my poor dear," she added, +with all the warmth of friendship! And then they were joined at the door +by the county lady, who was the next to go away. + +"My dear, I hope you will be guided for the best," Lady Richmond said as +she went away; but she gave a deep sigh as she kissed Lucilla, and +looked as if she had very little faith in the efficacy of her own wish. +Maria Brown had withdrawn to another part of the drawing-room with Aunt +Jemima, so that Lucilla was, so to speak, left alone with Rose. And +Rose, too, had come with the intention of giving advice. + +"I hear you are going to stay, Lucilla," she said, "and I did not think +I would be doing my duty if I did not tell you what was in my mind. _I_ +can't do any good to anybody, you know; but you who are so clever, and +have so much in your power----" + +"I am poor now," said Miss Marjoribanks; "and as for being clever, I +don't know about that. I never was clever about drawing or Art, like +you." + +"Oh, like me!" said poor little Rose, whose Career had been sacrificed +ten years ago, and who was a little misanthropical now, and did not +believe even in Schools of Design; "I am not so sure about the moral +influence of Art as I used to be--except High Art, to be sure; but we +never have any High Art down here. And oh, Lucilla! the poor people _do_ +want something done for them. If I was as clever as you, and with a +great house all to myself like this, and well off, and with plenty of +influence, and no ties----" said Rose, with energetic emphasis. She made +a pause there, and she was so much in earnest that the tears came into +her eyes. "I would make it a House of Mercy, Lucilla! I would show all +these poor creatures how to live and how to manage, if I was as clever +as you; and teach them and their children, and look after them, and be +a mother to them!" said Rose; and here she stopped short, altogether +overcome by her own magnificent conception of what her friend could or +might do. + +Aunt Jemima and Miss Brown, who had drawn near out of curiosity, stared +at Rose as if they thought she had gone mad; but Lucilla, who was of a +larger mind and more enlightened ideas, neither laughed nor looked +horrified. She did not make a very distinct answer, it is true, but she +was very kind to her new adviser, and made her a fresh cup of tea, and +even consented, though in an ambiguous way, to the principle she had +just enunciated, "If you won't be affronted, my dear," Lucilla said, "I +do not think that Art could do very much in Carlingford; and I am sure +any little thing that I may be of use for----" But she did not commit +herself any further, and Rose too found the result of her visit +unsatisfactory, and went home disappointed in Lucilla. This was how the +afternoon passed; and at the end of such a day, it may well be imagined +how Miss Marjoribanks congratulated herself on having made up her mind +before the public, so to speak, were admitted. For Rose was followed by +the Rector, who, though he did not propose in so many words a House of +Mercy, made no secret of his conviction that parish-work was the only +thing that could be of any service to Lucilla; and that, in short, such +was the inevitable and providential destination of a woman who had "no +ties." Indeed, to hear Mr Bury, a stranger would have been disposed to +believe that Dr Marjoribanks had been, as he said, "removed," and his +fortune swept away, all in order to indicate to Lucilla the proper +sphere for her energies. In the face of all this it will be seen how +entirely Miss Marjoribanks's wisdom in making her decision by herself +before her advisers broke in upon her, was justified. She could now set +her back against her rock, and face her assailants, as Fitz-James did. + + Come one, come all, this rock shall fly + From its firm base as soon as I, + +might have been her utterance; but she was not in a defiant mood. She +kissed all her counsellors that day (except, of course, the Rector), and +heard them out with the sweetest patience; and then she thought to +herself how much better it was that she had made up her mind to take her +own way. + +Notwithstanding, all this commotion of public opinion about her made a +certain impression upon Miss Marjoribanks's mind. It was not unpleasant +to feel that, for this moment at least, she was the centre of the +thoughts of the community, and that almost everybody in Carlingford had +taken the trouble to frame an ideal existence for her, according as he +or she regarded life. It is so seldom that any one has it in his power, +consciously and evidently, to regulate his life for himself, and make it +whatever he wants it to be. And then, at the same time, the best that +she could make of it would, after all, be something very limited and +unsatisfactory. In her musings on this subject, Lucilla could not but go +back a great many times to that last conversation she had with her +father, when she walked up Grange Lane with him that night over the +thawed and muddy snow. The Doctor had said she was not cut out for a +single woman; and Lucilla, with candour, yet a certain philosophical +speculativeness, had allowed that she was not--unless, indeed, she could +be very rich. If she had been very rich, the prospect would no doubt +have been, to a certain extent, different. And then, oddly enough, it +was Rose Lake's suggestion which came after this to Lucilla's mind. She +did not smile at it as some people might expect she would. One thing was +quite sure, that she had no intention of sinking into a nobody, and +giving up all power of acting upon her fellow-creatures; and she could +not help being conscious of the fact that she was able to be of much use +to her fellow-creatures. If it had been Maria Brown, for instance, who +had been concerned, the whole question would have been one of utter +unimportance, except to the heroine itself; but it was different in Miss +Marjoribanks's case. The House of Mercy was not a thing to be taken into +any serious consideration; but still there was something in the idea +which Lucilla could not dismiss carelessly as her friends could. She had +no vocation, such as the foundress of such an establishment ought to +have, nor did she see her way to the abandonment of all projects for +herself, and that utter devotion to the cause of humanity which would be +involved in it; but yet, when a woman happens to be full of energy and +spirit, and determined that whatever she may be she shall certainly not +be a nonentity, her position is one that demands thought. She was very +capable of serving her fellow-creatures, and very willing and well +disposed to serve them; and yet she was not inclined to give herself up +entirely to them, nor to relinquish her personal prospects--vague +though these might be. It was a tough problem, and one which might have +caused a most unusual disturbance in Lucilla's well-regulated mind, had +not she remembered all at once what deep mourning she was in, and that +at present no sort of action, either of one kind or another, could be +expected of her. There was no need for making a final decision, either +about the parish-work, or about taking Inmates, as Aunt Jemima proposed, +or about any other single suggestion which had been offered to her; no +more than there was any necessity for asking what her cousin Tom's last +letter had been about, or why his mother looked so guilty and +embarrassed when she spoke of him. Grief has its privileges and +exemptions, like other great principles of life; and the recollection +that she could not at present be expected to be able to think about +anything, filled Lucilla's mind with the most soothing sense of +consolation and refreshing calm. + +And then other events occurred to occupy her friends; the election for +one thing began to grow a little exciting, and took away some of the +superfluous energy of Grange Lane. Mr Ashburton had carried all before +him at first; but since the Rector had come into the field, the balance +had changed a little. Mr Bury was very Low-Church; and from the moment +at which he was persuaded that Mr Cavendish was a great penitent, the +question as to which was the Man for Carlingford had been solved in his +mind in the most satisfactory way. A man who intrenched himself in mere +respectability, and trusted in his own good character, and considered +himself to have a clear conscience, and to have done his duty, had no +chance against a repentant sinner. Mr Cavendish, perhaps, had not done +his duty quite so well; but then he was penitent, and everything was +expressed in that word. The Rector was by no means contemptible, either +as an adversary or a supporter--and the worst of it was that, in +embracing Mr Cavendish's claims, he could scarcely help speaking of Mr +Ashburton as if he was in a very bad way. And feeling began to rise +rather high in Carlingford. If anything could have deepened the +intensity of Miss Marjoribanks's grief, it would have been to know that +all this was going on, and that affairs might go badly with her +candidate, while she was shut up, and could give no aid. It was hard +upon her, and it was hard upon the candidates themselves--one of whom +had thus become generally disapproved of, without, so far as he knew, +doing anything to deserve it; while the other occupied the still more +painful character of being on his promotion--a repentant man, with a +character to keep up. It was no wonder that Mrs Centum grew pale at the +very idea of such a creature as Barbara Lake throwing herself in poor Mr +Cavendish's way. A wrong step one way or other--a relapse into the ways +of wickedness--might undo in a moment all that it had cost so much +trouble to do. And the advantage of the Rector's support was thus +grievously counterbalanced by what might be called the uncertainty of +it--especially as Mr Cavendish was not, as his committee lamented +secretly among themselves, a man of strong will or business habits, in +whom implicit confidence could be placed. He might get restive, and +throw the Rector over just at the critical moment; or he might relapse +into his lazy Continental habits, and give up church-going and other +good practices. But still, up to this moment, he had shown very +tolerable perseverance; and Mr Bury's influence thrown into his scale +had equalised matters very much, and made the contest very exciting. All +this Lucilla heard, not from Mr Cavendish, but from her own candidate, +who had taken to calling in a steady sort of way. He never went into any +effusions of sympathy, for he was not that kind of man; but he would +shake hands with her, and say that people must submit to the decrees of +Providence; and then he would speak of the election and of his chances. +Sometimes Mr Ashburton was despondent, and then Lucilla cheered him up; +and sometimes he had very good hopes. + +"I am very glad you are to be here," he said on one of these occasions. +"It would have been a great loss to me if you had gone away. I shall +never forget our talk about it here _that_ day, and how you were the +first person that found me out." + +"It was not any cleverness of mine," said Lucilla. "It came into my mind +in a moment, like spirit-rapping, you know. It seems so strange to talk +of that _now_; there have been such changes since then--it looks like +years." + +"Yes," said Mr Ashburton, in his steady way. "There is nothing that +really makes time look so long; but we must all bow to these +dispensations, my dear Miss Marjoribanks. I would not speak of the +election, but that I thought it might amuse you. The writs are out now, +you know, and it takes place on Monday week." + +Upon which Miss Marjoribanks smiled upon Mr Ashburton, and held out her +hands to him with a gesture and look which said more than words. "You +know you will have _all_ my best wishes," she said; and the candidate +was much moved--more moved than at such a moment he had thought it +possible to be. + +"If I succeed, I know whom I shall thank the most," he said fervently; +and then, as this was a climax, and it would have been a kind of bathos +to plunge into ordinary details after it, Mr Ashburton got up, still +holding Lucilla's hand, and clasped it almost tenderly as he said +good-bye. She looked very well in her mourning, though she had not +expected to do so; for black was not Lucilla's style. And the fact was, +that instead of having gone off, as she herself said, Miss Marjoribanks +looked better than ever she did, and was even embellished by the natural +tears which still shone by times in her eyes. Mr Ashburton went out in a +kind of bewilderment after this interview, and forgot his overcoat in +the hall, and had to come back for it, which was a confusing +circumstance; and then he went on his way with a gentle excitement which +was not unpleasant. "Would she, I wonder?" he said to himself, as he +went up Grange Lane. Perhaps he was only asking himself whether Lucilla +would or could be present along with Lady Richmond and her family at the +window of the Blue Boar on the great day; but if that was it, the idea +had a certain brightening and quickening influence upon his face and his +movements. The doubt he had on the subject, whatever it was, was not a +discouraging, but a piquant, stimulating, exciting doubt. He had all but +proposed the question to his committee when he went in among them, which +would have filled these gentlemen with wonder and dismay. But though he +did not do that, he carried it home with him, as he trotted back to the +Firs to dinner. Mr Ashburton took a walk through his own house that +evening, and examined all its capabilities--with no particular motive, +as he was at pains to explain to his housekeeper; and again he said to +himself, "Would she, I wonder?" before he retired for the night; which +was no doubt an unusual sort of iteration for so sensible a man, and one +so fully occupied with the most important affairs, to make. + +As for Lucilla, she was not in the way of asking herself any questions +at that moment. She was letting things take their course, and not +interfering; and consequently, nothing that happened could be said to be +her fault. She carried this principle so far, that even when Aunt Jemima +was herself led to open the subject, in a hesitating way, Miss +Marjoribanks never even asked a single question about Tom's last letter. +She was in mourning, and that was enough for her. As for appearing at +the window of the Blue Boar with Lady Richmond, if that was what Mr +Ashburton was curious about, he might have saved himself the trouble of +any speculations on the subject. For though Miss Marjoribanks would be +very anxious about the election, she would indeed have been ashamed of +herself could her feelings have permitted her to appear anywhere in +public so soon. Thus, while Mr Ashburton occupied himself much with the +question which had taken possession of his mind, Lucilla took a good +book, which seemed the best reading for her in her circumstances, and +when she had looked after all her straitened affairs in the morning, sat +down sweetly in the afternoon quiet of her retirement and seclusion, and +let things take their way. + + + + +_Chapter XLVII_ + + +As the election approached, it became gradually the one absorbing object +of interest in Carlingford. The contest was so equal that everybody took +a certain share in it, and became excited as the decisive moment drew +nigh. Most of the people in Grange Lane were for Mr Ashburton, but then +the Rector, who was a host in himself, was for Mr Cavendish; and the +coquetting of the Dissenting interest, which was sometimes drawn towards +the liberal sentiments of the former candidate, but sometimes could not +help reflecting that Mr Ashburton "dealt" in George Street; and the +fluctuations of the bargemen, who were, many of them, freemen, and a +very difficult part of the population, excited the most vivid interest. +Young Mr Wentworth, who had but lately come to Carlingford, had already +begun to acquire a great influence at Wharfside, where most of the +bargees lived, and the steady ones would no doubt have been largely +swayed by him had his inclinations been the same as the Rector's; but Mr +Wentworth, perversely enough, had conceived that intuitive repugnance +for Mr Cavendish which a high-principled and not very tolerant young man +often feels for the middle-aged individual who still conceives himself +to have some right to be called young, and whose antecedents are not +entirely beyond suspicion. Mr Wentworth's disinclination (and he was a +man rather apt to take his own way) lay like a great boulder across the +stream of the Rector's enthusiasm, and unquestionably interrupted it a +little. Both the candidates and both the committees had accordingly work +enough to do up to the last moment. Mr Cavendish all at once became a +connoisseur in hams, and gave a magnificent order in the most +complimentary way to Tozer, who received it with a broad smile, and +"booked" it, as he said. "It ain't ham he's a wanting," the butterman +said, not without amusement; for Tozer was well-to-do, and, except that +he felt the honour of a mark of confidence, was not to be moved one way +or another by one order. "If he dealt regular, it might be different. +Them's the sort of folks as a man feels drawn to," said the true +philosopher. Mr Ashburton, on the other side, did not make the +impression which his friends thought he ought to have made in Prickett's +Lane; but at least nobody could say that he did not stick very close to +his work. He went at it like a man night and day, and neglected no means +of carrying it to a successful issue; whereas, as Mr Centum and Mr +Woodburn mourned in secret to each other, Cavendish required perpetual +egging on. He did not like to get up in the morning, and get early to +his work. It went against all his habits--as if his habits mattered in +the face of so great an emergency; and in the afternoon it was hard to +prevent him from lounging into some of his haunts, which were utterly +out of the way of business. He would stay in Masters's for an hour at a +time, though he knew Mr Wentworth, who was Masters's great patron, did +not care for him, and that his favour for such a Tractarian sort of +place was bitter to the Rector. Anything for a little idleness and waste +of time, poor Mr Centum said, who was two stone lighter on the eve of +the election than when the canvass began. Such a contrast would make any +man angry. Mr Cavendish was goaded into more activity as the decisive +moment approached, and performed what seemed to himself unparalleled +feats. But it was only two days before the moment of fate when the +accident happened to him which brought such dismay to all his +supporters. Our own opinion is, that it did not materially affect the +issue of the contest one way or other; but that was the reverse of the +feeling which prevailed in Grange Lane. + +It was just two days before the election, and all seemed going on +sufficiently well. Mr Cavendish had been meeting a Dissenting committee, +and it was on leaving them that he found himself at the corner of Grove +Street, where, under ordinary circumstances, he had no occasion to be. +At a later period he was rather fond of saying that it was not of his +own motion that he was there at all, but only in obedience to the +committee, which ordered him about like a nigger. The spring afternoon +was darkening, and the Dissenters (almost wholly unimpressed by his +arguments, and remarking more strongly than ever where Mr Ashburton +"dealt," and how thoroughly everybody knew all about him) had all +dispersed. It was but natural, when Mr Cavendish came to the corner of +Grove Street, where, in other days, he had played a very different part, +that certain softening influences should take possession of his soul. +"What a voice she had, by Jove!" he said to himself; "very different +from that shrill pipe of Lucilla's." To tell the truth, if there was one +person in Carlingford whom he felt a resentment against, it was Lucilla. +She had never done him any harm to speak of, and once she had +unquestionably done him a great deal of good. But, on the other hand, it +was she who first showed herself candidly conscious that he had grown +stout, and who all along had supported and encouraged his rival. It was +possible, no doubt, that this might be pique; and, mixed with his anger +for her sins against him, Mr Cavendish had, at the same time, a +counterbalancing sense that there still remained to him in his life one +supereminently wise thing that he still could do--and that was, to go +down Grange Lane instantly to the Doctor's silenced house, and go down +on his knees, or do any other absurdity that might be necessary to make +Lucilla marry him; after which act he would henceforward be, pecuniarily +and otherwise (notwithstanding that she was poor), a saved man. It did +not occur to him that Lucilla would never have married him, even had he +gone down on his knees; but perhaps that would be too much to ask any +man to believe of any woman; and his feeling that this was the right +thing to do, rather strengthened than otherwise the revolt of his heart +against Lucilla. It was twilight, as we have said, and he had done a +hard day's work, and there was still an hour before dinner which he +seemed to have a right to dispose of in his own way; and he did +hesitate at the corner of Grove Street, laying himself open, as it were, +to any temptation that might offer itself. Temptations come, as a +general rule, when they are sought; and thus, on the very eve of the +election, a grievous accident happened to Mr Cavendish. It might have +happened at any time, to be sure, but this was the most inopportune +moment possible, and it came accordingly now. + +For, as he made that pause, some one passed him whom he could not but +look after with a certain interest. She went past him with a whisk, as +if she too was not without reminiscences. It was not such a figure as a +romantic young man would be attracted by on such a sudden meeting, and +it was not attraction but recollection that moved Mr Cavendish. It was +the figure of a large woman in a large shawl, not very gracefully put +on, and making her look very square about the shoulders and bunchy at +the neck; and the robe that was whisked past him was that peculiar kind +of faded silk gown which looks and rustles like tin, or some other thin +metallic substance. He made that momentary pause at the street corner, +and then he went on, slowly, not following her, to be sure, but merely, +as he said to himself, pursuing his own course; for it was just as easy +to get into Grange Lane by the farther end as by this end. He went along +very slowly, and the lady before him walked quickly, even with something +like a bounce of excitement, and went in at Mr Lake's door long before +Mr Cavendish reached it. When he came up on a level with the parlour +window, which was partially open though the evening was so cold, Mr +Cavendish positively started, notwithstanding the old associations which +had been rising in his mind; for there was pouring forth from the +half-open window such a volume of melody as had not been heard for years +in Grove Street. Perhaps the voice had lost some of its freshness, but +in the surprise of the moment the hearer was not critical; and its +volume and force seemed even greater than before. + +It has been already mentioned in this history that a contralto had a +special charm for Mr Cavendish. He was so struck that he stood +stock-still for the moment, not knowing what to make of it; and then he +wavered for another moment, with a sudden sense that the old allegorical +crisis had occurred to him, and that Pleasure, in a magnificent gush of +song, wooed him on one side, while Duty, with still small voice, called +him at the other. He stood still, he wavered--for fifty seconds perhaps +the issue was uncertain, and the victim was still within reach of +salvation; but the result in such a case depends very much upon whether +a man really likes doing his duty, which is by no means an invariable +necessity. Mr Cavendish had in the abstract no sort of desire to do his +unless when he could not help it, and consequently his resistance to +temptation was very feeble. He was standing knocking at Mr Lake's door +before half the thoughts appropriate to the occasion had got through his +mind, and found himself sitting on the little sofa in Mr Lake's parlour +as he used to do ten years ago, before he could explain to himself how +he came there. It was all, surely, a kind of enchantment altogether. He +was there--he who had been so long away from Carlingford--he who had +been so deeply offended by hearing his name seriously coupled with that +of Barbara Lake--he who ought to have been anywhere in the world rather +than here upon the eve of his election, when all the world was keeping +watch over his conduct. And it was Barbara who sat at the piano +singing--singing one of the same songs, as if she had spent the entire +interval in that occupation, and never had done anything else all these +years. The sensation was so strange that Mr Cavendish may be excused for +feeling a little uncertainty as to whether or not he was dreaming, which +made him unable to answer himself the graver question whether or not he +was doing what he ought to do. He did not seem to be able to make out +whether it was now or ten years ago--whether he was a young man free to +amuse himself, or a man who was getting stout, and upon whom the eyes of +an anxious constituency were fixed. And then, after being so virtuous +for a length of time, a forbidden pleasure was sweet. + +Mr Cavendish's ideas, however, gradually arranged themselves as he sat +in the corner of the little haircloth sofa, and began to take in the +differences as well as the bewildering resemblances of the present and +past. Barbara, like himself, had changed. She did not insult him, as +Lucilla had done, by fresh looks and mischievous candour about "going +off." Barbara _had_ gone off, like himself, and, like himself, did not +mean to acknowledge it. She had expanded all over, as was natural to a +contralto. Her eyes were blacker and more brilliant in a way, but they +were eyes which owned an indescribable amount of usage; and her cheeks, +too, wore the deep roses of old, deepened and fixed by wear and tear. +Instead of feeling ashamed of himself in her presence, as he had done in +Lucilla's, Mr Cavendish felt somehow consoled and justified and +sympathetic. "Poor soul!" he said to himself, as he sat by while she was +singing. She, too, had been in the wars, and had not come out +scatheless. She did not reproach him, nor commiserate him, nor look at +him with that mixture of wonder and tolerance and pity which other +people had manifested. She did not even remark that he had grown stout. +He was not a man fallen, fallen, fallen from his high estate, to +Barbara. She herself had fallen from the pinnacles of youth, and Mr +Cavendish was still a great man in her eyes. She sang for him as she had +sung ten years ago, and received him with a flutter of suppressed +delight, and in her satisfaction was full of excitement. The hardworked +candidate sank deeper and deeper into the corner of the sofa and +listened to the music, and felt it very soothing and pleasant, for +everybody had united in goading him on rather than petting him for the +last month or two of his life. + +"Now tell me something about yourself," he said, when the song was over, +and Barbara had turned round, as she used to do in old times, on her +music-stool; "I hear you have been away, like me." + +"Not like you," said Barbara, "for you went because you pleased, and I +went----" + +"Why did you go?" asked Mr Cavendish. + +"Because I could not stay here any longer," said Barbara, with her +old vehemence; "because I was talked about, and looked down upon, +and----Well, never mind, that's all over now; and I am sure I am very +glad to see you, Mr Cavendish, as a _friend_." + +And with that something like a tear came into her eye. She had been +knocked about a good deal in the world, and though she had not learned +much, still she had learned that she was young no longer, and could not +indulge in the caprices of that past condition of existence. Mr +Cavendish, for his part, could not but smile at this intimation that he +was to be received as a friend, and consequently need not have any fear +of Barbara's fascinations,--as if a woman of her age, worn and gone off +as she was, could be supposed dangerous; but still he was touched by her +tone. + +"We were once very good friends, Barbara," said the inconsistent man; +"we have lost sight of each other for a long time, as people do in this +world; but we were once very good friends." + +"Yes," she said, with a slight touch of annoyance in her voice; "but +since we have lost sight of each other for so long, I don't see why you +should call me Barbara. It would be much more becoming to say Miss +Lake." + +Mr Cavendish was amused, and he was touched and flattered. Most people +had been rather forbearing to him since he came back, putting up with +him for old friendship's sake, or supporting his cause as that of a +reformed man, and giving him, on the whole, a sort of patronising +humiliating countenance; and to find somebody in whose eyes he was still +the paladin of old times, _the_ Mr Cavendish whom people in Grange Lane +were proud of, was balm to his wounded soul. + +"I don't know how I am to learn to say Miss Lake--when you are just as +good to me as ever, and sing as you have just been doing," he said. "I +suppose you say so because you find me so changed?" + +Upon which Barbara lifted her black eyes and looked at him as she had +scarcely done before. The eyes were as bright as ever, and they were +softened a little for the moment out of the stare that seemed to have +grown habitual to them; and her crimson cheeks glowed as of old; and +though she was untidy, and looked worn, and like a creature much +buffeted about by wind and waves, she was still what connoisseurs in +that article call a fine woman. She looked full at Mr Cavendish, and +then she cast down her eyes, as if the sight was too much for her. "I +don't see any difference," she said, with a certain tremor in her voice; +for he was a man of whom, in the days of her youth, she had been fond in +her way. + +And naturally Mr Cavendish was more touched than ever. He took her hand, +and called her Barbara again without any reproof; and he saw that she +trembled, and that his presence here made to the full as great an +impression as he had ever done in his palmiest days. Perhaps a greater +impression; for their old commerce had been stormy, and interrupted by +many a hurricane; and Barbara then had, or thought she might have, many +strings to her bow, and did not believe that there was only one Mr +Cavendish in the world. Now all that was changed: and if this old hope +should revive again, it would not be allowed to die away for any +gratification of temper. Mr Cavendish did not remember ever to have seen +her tremble before, and he too was fond of her in his way. + +This curious revival did not come to anything of deeper importance, for +of course just then Rose came in from her household affairs, and Mr Lake +to tea; and the candidate recollected that it was time for dinner. But +father and sister also gave him, in their different ways, a rather +flattering reception. Mr Lake had already pledged him his vote, and was +full of interest as to how things were going on, and enthusiastic for +his success; and Rose scowled upon him as of old, as on a dangerous +character, whose comings and goings could not be seen without +apprehension; which was an unexpected pleasure to a man who had been +startled to find how very little commotion his presence made in Grange +Lane. He pressed Barbara's hand as he went away, and went to his dinner +with a heart which certainly beat lighter, and a more pleasant sense of +returning self-confidence, than he had felt for a long time. When he was +coming out of the house, as a matter of course, he met with the chief of +his Dissenting supporters, accompanied (for Mr Bury, as has been said, +was very Low-Church, and loved, wherever he could do it, to work in +unison with his Dissenting brethren) by the Rector's churchwarden, both +of whom stopped with a curiously critical air to speak to the Candidate, +who had to be every man's friend for the time being. The look in their +eyes sent an icy chill through him, but still the forbidden pleasure had +been sweet. As he walked home, he could not help thinking it over, and +going back ten years, and feeling a little doubtful about it, whether it +was then or now. And as he mused Miss Marjoribanks, whom he could not +help continually connecting and contrasting with the other, appeared to +him as a kind of jealous Queen Eleanor, who had a right to him, and +could take possession at any time, should she choose to make the effort; +while Barbara was a Rosamond, dilapidated indeed, but always ready to +receive and console him in her bower. This was the kind of unconscious +sentiment he had in his mind, feeling sure, as he mused, that Lucilla +would be very glad to marry him, and that it would be very wise on his +part to ask her, and was a thing which might still probably come to +pass. Of course he could not see into Miss Marjoribanks's mind, which +had travelled such a long way beyond him. He gave a glance up at the +windows as he passed her door, and felt a kind of disagreeable +satisfaction in seeing how diminished the lights were in the once +radiant house. And Lucilla was so fond of a great deal of light! but +she could not afford now to spend as much money upon wax as a +Continental church might do. Mr Cavendish had so odd a sense of +Lucilla's power over him, that it gave him a certain pleasure to think +of the coming down of her pride and diminution of her lights. + +But the fact was, that not more than ten minutes after he had passed her +door with this reflection, Lucilla, sitting with her good book on the +table and her work in her hand, in the room which was not so well +lighted as it used to be, heard that Mr Cavendish had been met with +coming out of Mr Lake's, and that Barbara had been singing to him, and +that there was no telling what might have happened. "A man ain't the man +for Carlingford as takes up with that sort," Thomas said indignantly, +who had come to pay his former mistress a visit, and to assure her of +his brother-in-law's vote. He was a little more free-spoken than of old, +being now set up, and an independent householder, and calling no man +master; and he was naturally indignant at an occurrence which, regarded +in the light of past events, was an insult not only to Carlingford, but +to Lucilla. Miss Marjoribanks was evidently startled by the news. She +looked up quickly as if she had been about to speak, and then stopped +herself and turned her back upon Thomas, and poked the fire in a most +energetic way. She had even taken the hearth-brush in her hand to make +all tidy after this onslaught, but that was a thing that went to +Thomas's heart. + +"I couldn't stand by and see it, Miss Lucilla," said Thomas; "it don't +feel natural;" and there was actually a kind of moisture in his eye as +he took that domestic implement out of her hand. Mr Cavendish pitied +Lucilla for having less light than of old, and Thomas for being reduced +so low as to sweep her own hearth. But Lucilla was very far from pitying +her own case. She had been making an effort over herself, and she had +come out of it triumphant; after reading so many good books, it is not +to be wondered at if she felt herself a changed and softened and +elevated character. She had the means in her hands of doing her +candidate's rival a deadly mischief, and yet, for old friendship's sake, +Lucilla made up her mind to forbear. + +"I will give it you, Thomas," she said, with dignity, holding the +hearth-brush, which was in such circumstances elevated into something +sublime, "if you will promise, never, until after the election--never +to say a word about Mr Cavendish and Miss Lake. It was quite right to +tell me, and you are very kind about the hearth; but you must promise +never to say a syllable about it, not even to Nancy, until the election +is over; or I will never give it you, nor ask you to do a single thing +for me again." + +Thomas was so much struck with this address that he said "Good Lord!" in +sheer amazement; and then he made the necessary vow, and took the +hearth-brush out of Lucilla's hand. + +"No doubt he was asking for Mr Lake's vote," said Miss Marjoribanks. +"They say everybody is making great exertions, and you know they are +both my friends. I ought to be pleased whoever wins. But it is impressed +on my mind that Mr Ashburton will be the man," Lucilla added, with a +little solemnity, "and, Thomas, we must give them fair-play." + +It would be vain to assert that Thomas understood this romantic +generosity, but he was taken by surprise, and had relinquished his own +liberty in the matter, and had nothing further to say. Indeed he had so +little to say downstairs, that Nancy, who was longing for a little +gossip, insulted and reviled him, and declared that since he took up +with _that_ Betsy there never was a sensible word to be got out of him. +And all the time the poor man was burning with this bit of news. Many a +man has bartered his free-will before under the influence of female +wiles, or so at least history would have us believe; but few have done +it for so poor a compensation as that hearth-brush. Thomas withdrew sore +at heart, longing for the election to be over, and kept his word like an +honest man; but notwithstanding, before the evening was over, the fatal +news was spreading like fire to every house in Grange Lane. + + + + +_Chapter XLVIII_ + + +It is probable that Mr Cavendish considered the indulgence above +recorded all the more excusable in that it was Saturday night. The +nomination was to take place on Monday, and if a man was not to be +supposed to be done with his work on the Saturday evening, when could he +be expected to have a moment of repose? He had thought as he went +home--for naturally, while putting himself so skilfully in the way of +temptation, such questions had not entered into his mind--that the fact +of to-morrow being Sunday would effectually neutralise any harm he could +have been supposed to have done by a visit so simple and natural, and +that neither his sister nor his committee, the two powers of which he +stood in a certain awe, could so much as hear of it until the election +was over, and all decided for good or for evil. This had been a comfort +to his mind, but it was the very falsest and most deceitful consolation. +That intervening Sunday was a severer calamity for Mr Cavendish than +half a dozen ordinary days. The general excitement had risen so high, +and all the chances on both sides had been so often discussed and +debated, that something new was as water in the desert to the thirsting +constituency. The story was all through Grange Lane that very night, but +Carlingford itself, from St Roque's to the wilderness of the North End, +tingled with it next morning. It is true, the Rector made no special +allusion to it in his sermon, though the tone of all his services was so +sad, and his own fine countenance looked so melancholy, that Mr Bury's +devoted followers could all see that he had something on his mind. But +Mr Tufton at Salem Chapel was not so reticent. He was a man quite famous +for his extempore gifts, and who rather liked to preach about any very +recent public event, which it was evident to all his hearers could not +have found place in a "prepared" discourse; and his sermon that morning +was upon wickedness in high places, upon men who sought the confidence +of their fellows only to betray it, and offered to the poor man a hand +red with his sister's (metaphorical) blood. + +But it would be wrong to say that this was the general tone of public +opinion in Grove Street; most people, on the contrary, thought of Mr +Cavendish not as a wolf thirsting for the lamb's blood, but rather +himself as a kind of lamb caught in the thicket, and about to be offered +up in sacrifice. Such was the impression of a great many influential +persons who had been wavering hitherto, and inclining on the whole to Mr +Cavendish's liberal principles and supposed Low-Church views. A man +whose hand is red metaphorically with your sister's blood is no doubt a +highly objectionable personage; but it is doubtful whether, under the +circumstances, an enlightened constituency might not consider the man +who had given a perfectly unstained hand to so thoroughly unsatisfactory +a sister as more objectionable still; and the indignation of Grange Lane +at Barbara's reappearance was nothing to the fury of George Street, and +even of Wharfside, where the bargees began to scoff openly. Society had +nothing worse to say than to quote Mrs Chiley, and assert that "these +artist people were all adventurers"; and then Grange Lane in general +could not forget that it "had met" Barbara, nor dismiss from its +consideration her black eyes, her level brows, and her magnificent +contralto; whereas in the other region the idea of the Member for +Carlingford marrying "that sort!" cast all the world into temporary +delirium. It was a still more deadly offence to the small people than to +the great. And the exceptional standing which poor Mr Lake and his +daughter Rose used to lay claim to--the "rank of their own" which they +possessed as artists--was a pretension much more disagreeable to the +shopkeepers than to society in general. Thus in every sense Mr Cavendish +had done the very worst for himself by his ill-timed indulgence; and his +guilt was about the same with most of his critics whether he meant +perfectly well and innocently, or entertained the most guilty intentions +ever conceived by man. + +And all his misfortunes were increased by the fact that the intervening +day was a Sunday. Barbara Lake herself, who did not know what people +were saying, and who, if she had known, would not have cared, came to +church, as was natural, in the morning; and under pretence that the +family pew was full, had the assurance, as people remarked, to come to +the middle aisle, in that same silk dress which rustled like tin, and +made more demonstration than the richest draperies. The pew-opener +disapproved of her as much as everybody else did, but she could not turn +the intruder out; and though Barbara had a long time to wait, and was +curiously inspected by all the eyes near her while she did so, the end +was that she got a seat in her rustling silk not very far from where +Lucilla sat in deep mourning, a model of every righteous observance. As +for poor Barbara, she too was very exemplary in church. She meant nobody +any harm, poor soul. She could not help the flashing of those big black +eyes, to which the level line above them gave such a curious appearance +of obliqueness--nor was it to be expected that she should deny herself +the use of her advantages, or omit to "take the second" in all the +canticles with such melodious liquid tones as made everybody stop and +look round. She had a perfect right to do it; indeed it was her duty, as +it is everybody's duty, to aid to the best of their ability in the +church-music of their parish, which was what Lucilla Marjoribanks +persisted in saying in answer to all objections. But the effect was +great in the congregation, and even the Rector himself was seen to +change colour as his eye fell upon the unlucky young woman. Mr +Cavendish, for his part, knew her voice the moment he heard it, and gave +a little start, and received such a look from his sister, who was +standing by him, as turned him to stone. Mrs Woodburn looked at him, and +so did her husband, and Mr Centum turned a solemnly inquiring +reproachful gaze upon him from the other side of the aisle. "Oh, Harry, +you will kill me with vexation! why, for goodness' sake, did you let her +come?" his sister whispered when they had all sat down again. "Good +heavens! how could I help it?" cried poor Mr Cavendish, almost loud +enough to be heard. And then by the slight, almost imperceptible, hum +around him, he felt that not only his sister and his committee, but the +Rector and all Carlingford, had their eyes upon him, and was thankful to +look up the lesson, poor man, and bury his face in it. It was a hard +punishment for the indiscretion of an hour. + +But perhaps of all the people concerned it was the Rector who was the +most to be pitied. He had staked his honour upon Mr Cavendish's +repentance, and here was he going back, publicly to wallow in the +mire--and it was Sunday when such a worldly subject ought not to be +permitted to enter a good man's mind, much less to be discussed and +acted upon as it ought to be if anything was to be done; for there was +little more than this sacred day remaining in which to undo the mischief +which a too great confidence in human nature had wrought. And then, to +tell the truth, the Rector did not know how to turn back. It would have +been hard, very hard, to have told all the people who confided in him +that he had never had any stronger evidence for Mr Cavendish's +repentance than he now had for his backsliding; and to give in, and let +the other side have it all their own way, and throw over the candidate +with whom he had identified himself, was as painful to Mr Bury as if, +instead of being very Low-Church, he had been the most muscular of +Christians. Being in this state of mind, it may be supposed that his +sister's mild wonder and trembling speculations at lunch, when they were +alone together, were well qualified to raise some sparks of that old +Adam, who, though well kept under, still existed in the Rector's, as in +most other human breasts. + +"But, dear Edward, I would not quite condemn him," Miss Bury said. "He +has been the cause of a good deal of remark, you know, and the poor girl +has been talked about. He may think it is his duty to make her amends. +For anything we can tell, he may have the most honourable +intentions----" + +"Oh, bother his honourable intentions!" said the Rector. Such an +exclamation from him was as bad as the most dreadful oath from an +ordinary man, and very nearly made Miss Bury drop from her chair in +amazement. Things must have gone very far indeed when the Rector himself +disregarded all proprieties and the sacredness of the day in such a +wildly-daring fashion. For, to tell the truth, in his secret heart Mr +Bury was himself a little of the way of thinking of the people in Grove +Street. Strictly speaking, if a man has done anything to make a young +woman be talked about, every well-principled person ought to desire that +he should make her amends; but at the same time, at such a crisis there +was little consolation in the fact that the candidate one was supporting +and doing daily battle for had honourable intentions in respect to +Barbara Lake. If it had been Rose Lake, it would still have been a blow; +but Rose was unspeakably respectable, and nobody could have said a +syllable on the subject: while Barbara, who came to church in a tin +gown, and rustled up the middle aisle in it, attracting all eyes, and +took such a second in the canticles that she overwhelmed the choir +itself--Barbara, who had made people talk at Lucilla's parties, and had +been ten years away, wandering over the face of the earth, nobody could +tell where--governessing, singing, play-acting, perhaps, for anything +that anybody could tell! A clergyman, it is true, dared not have said +such a thing, and Mr Bury's remorse would have been bitter could he have +really believed himself capable even of thinking it; but still it is +certain that the unconscious, unexpressed idea in his mind was, that the +honourable intentions were the worst of it--that a candidate might be a +fool, or even an unrepentant sinner, and after all it would be chiefly +his own concern; but that so much as to dream of making Barbara Lake the +Member's wife, was the deepest insult that could be offered to +Carlingford. The Rector carried his burden silently all day, and +scarcely opened his lips, as all his sympathetic following remarked; but +before he went to bed he made a singular statement, the complete +accuracy of which an impartial observer might be disposed to doubt, but +which Mr Bury uttered with profound sincerity, and with a sigh of +self-compassion. "_Now_ I understand Lucilla Marjoribanks," was what the +good man said, and he all but puffed out the candle he had just lighted, +with that sigh. + +Lucilla, however, in her own person took no part in it at all, one way +or other. She shook hands very kindly with Barbara, and hoped she would +come and see her, and made it clearly apparent that _she_ at least bore +no malice. "I am very glad I told Thomas to say nothing about it," she +said to Aunt Jemima, who, however, did not know the circumstances, and +was very little the wiser, as may be supposed. + +And then the two ladies walked home together, and Miss Marjoribanks +devoted herself to her good books. It was almost the first moment of +repose that Lucilla had ever had in her busy life, and it was a repose +not only permitted but enjoined. Society, which had all along expected +so much from her, expected now that she should not find herself able for +any exertion; and Miss Marjoribanks responded nobly, as she had always +done, to the requirements of society. To a mind less perfectly +regulated, the fact that the election which had been so interesting to +her was now about, as may be said, to take place without her, would have +been of itself a severe trial; and the sweet composure with which she +bore it was not one of the least remarkable phenomena of the present +crisis. But the fact was that this Sunday was on the whole an oppressive +day. Mr Ashburton came in for a moment, it is true, between services; +but he himself, though generally so steady, was unsettled and agitated. +He had been bearing the excitement well until this last almost +incredible accident occurred, which made it possible that he might not +only win, but win by a large majority. "The Dissenters have all held out +till now, and would not pledge themselves," he said to Lucilla, actually +with a tremble in his voice; and then he told her about Mr Tufton's +sermon and the wickedness in high places, and the hand imbrued +metaphorically in his sister's blood. + +"I wonder how he could say so," said Lucilla, with indignation. "It is +just like those Dissenters. What harm was there in going to see her? I +heard of it last night, but even for your interest I would never have +spread such mere gossip as that." + +"No--certainly it is mere gossip," said Mr Ashburton; "but it will do +him a great deal of harm all the same," and then once more he got +restless and abstracted. "I suppose it is of no use asking you if you +would join Lady Richmond's party at the Blue Boar? You could have a +window almost to yourself, you know, and would be quite quiet." + +Lucilla shook her head, and the movement was more expressive than words. +"I did not think you would," said Mr Ashburton; and then he took her +hand, and his looks too became full of meaning. "Then I must say adieu," +he said--"adieu until it is all over. I shall not have a moment that I +can call my own--this will be an eventful week for me." + +"You mean an eventful day," said Lucilla; for Mr Ashburton was not such +a novice as to be afraid of the appearance he would have to make at the +nomination. He did not contradict her, but he pressed her hand with a +look which was equivalent to kissing it, though he was not romantic +enough to go quite that length. When he was gone, Miss Marjoribanks +could not but wonder a little what he could mean by looking forward to +an eventful week. For her own part, she could not but feel that after so +much excitement things would feel rather flat for the rest of the week, +and that it was almost wrong to have an election on a Tuesday. Could it +be that Mr Ashburton had some other contest or candidateship in store +for himself which he had not told her about? Such a thing was quite +possible; but what had Lucilla in her mourning to do with worldly +contingencies? She went back to her seat in the corner of the sofa and +her book of sermons, and read fifty pages before tea-time; she knew how +much, because she had put a mark in her book when Mr Ashburton came in. +Marks are very necessary things generally in sermon-books; and Lucilla +could not but feel pleased to think that since her visitor went away she +had got over so much ground. + +To compare Carlingford to a volcano that night (and indeed all the next +day, which was the day of nomination) would be a stale similitude; and +yet in some respects it was like a volcano. It was not the same kind of +excitement which arises in a town where politics run very high--if there +are any towns nowadays in such a state of unsophisticated nature. +Neither was it a place where simple corruption could carry the day; for +the freemen of Wharfside were, after all, but a small portion of the +population. It was in reality a quite ideal sort of contest--a contest +for the best man, such as would have pleased the purest-minded +philosopher. It was the man most fit to represent Carlingford for whom +everybody was looking, not a man to be baited about parish-rates and +Reform Bills and the Irish Church;--a man who lived in, or near the +town, and "dealt regular" at all the best shops; a man who would not +disgrace his constituency by any unlawful or injudicious sort of +love-making--who would attend to the town's interests and subscribe to +its charities, and take the lead in a general way. This was what +Carlingford was looking for, as Miss Marjoribanks, with that intuitive +rapidity which was characteristic of her genius, had at once remarked; +and when everybody went home from church and chapel, though it was +Sunday, the whole town thrilled and throbbed with this great question. +People might have found it possible to condone a sin or wink at a mere +backsliding; but there were few so bigoted in their faith as to believe +that the man who was capable of marrying Barbara Lake could ever be the +man for Carlingford; and thus it was that Mr Cavendish, who had been +flourishing like a green bay-tree, withered away, as it were, in a +moment, and the place that had known him knew him no more. + +The hustings were erected at that central spot, just under the windows +of the Blue Boar, where Grange Lane and George Street meet, the most +central point in Carlingford. It was so near that Lucilla could hear the +shouts and the music and all the divers noises of the election, but +could not, even when she went into the very corner of the window and +strained her eyes to the utmost, see what was going on, which was a very +trying position. We will not linger upon the proceedings or excitement +of Monday, when the nomination and the speeches were made, and when the +show of hands was certainly thought to be in Mr Cavendish's favour. But +it was the next day that was the real trial. Lady Richmond and her party +drove past at a very early hour, and looked up at Miss Marjoribanks's +windows, and congratulated themselves that they were so early, and that +poor dear Lucilla would not have the additional pain of seeing them go +past. But Lucilla did see them, though, with her usual good sense, she +kept behind the blind. She never did anything absurd in the way of early +rising on ordinary occasions; but this morning it was impossible to +restrain a certain excitement, and though it did her no good, still she +got up an hour earlier than usual, and listened to the music, and heard +the cabs rattling about, and could not help it if her heart beat +quicker. It was perhaps a more important crisis for Miss Marjoribanks +than for any other person, save one, in Carlingford; for of course it +would be foolish to attempt to assert that she did not understand by +this time what Mr Ashburton meant; and it may be imagined how hard it +was upon Lucilla to be thus, as it were, in the very outside row of the +assembly--to hear all the distant shouts and sounds, everything that was +noisy and inarticulate, and conveyed no meaning, and to be out of reach +of all that could really inform her as to what was going on. + +She saw from her window the cabs rushing past, now with her own +violet-and-green colours, now with the blue-and-yellow. And sometimes it +seemed to Lucilla that the blue-and-yellow predominated, and that the +carriages which mounted the hostile standard carried voters in larger +numbers and more enthusiastic condition. The first load of bargemen that +came up Grange Lane from the farther end of Wharf side were all Blues; +and when a spectator is thus held on the very edge of the event in a +suspense which grows every moment more intolerable, especially when he +or she is disposed to believe that things in general go on all the worse +for his or her absence, it is no wonder if that spectator becomes +nervous, and sees all the dangers at their darkest. What if, after all, +old liking and friendship had prevailed over that beautiful optimism +which Lucilla had done so much to instil into the minds of her +townsfolk? What if something more mercenary and less elevating than the +ideal search for the best man, in which she had hoped Carlingford was +engaged, should have swayed the popular mind to the other side? All +these painful questions went through Lucilla's mind as the day crept on; +and her suspense was much aggravated by Aunt Jemima, who took no real +interest in the election, but who kept saying every ten minutes--"I +wonder how the poll is going on--I wonder what that is they are +shouting--is it 'Ashburton for ever!' or 'Cavendish for ever!' Lucilla? +Your ears should be sharper than mine; but I think it is Cavendish." +Lucilla thought so too, and her heart quaked within her, and she went +and squeezed herself into the corner of the window, to try whether it +was not possible to catch a glimpse of the field of battle; and her +perseverance was finally rewarded by the sight of the extremity of the +wooden planks which formed the polling-booth; but there was little +satisfaction to be got out of that. And then the continual dropping of +Aunt Jemima's questions drove her wild. "My dear aunt," she said at +last, "I can see nothing and hear nothing, and you know as much about +what is going on as I do"--which, it will be acknowledged, was not an +answer such as one would have expected from Lucilla's perfect temper and +wonderful self-control. + +The election went on with all its usual commotion while Miss +Marjoribanks watched and waited. Mr Cavendish's committee brought their +supporters very well up in the morning--no doubt by way of making sure +of them, as somebody suggested on the other side; and for some time Mrs +Woodburn's party at Masters's windows (which Masters had given rather +reluctantly, by way of pleasing the Rector) looked in better spirits and +less anxious than Lady Richmond's party, which was at the Blue Boar. +Towards noon Mr Cavendish himself went up to his female supporters with +the bulletin of the poll--the same bulletin which Mr Ashburton had just +sent down to Lucilla. These were the numbers; and they made Masters's +triumphant, while silence and anxiety fell upon the Blue Boar:-- + + Cavendish 283 + Ashburton 275 + +When Miss Marjoribanks received this disastrous intelligence, she put +the note in her pocket without saying a word to Aunt Jemima, and left +her window, and went back to her worsted-work; but as for Mrs Woodburn, +she gave her brother a hug, and laughed, and cried, and believed in it, +like a silly woman as she was. + +"It is something quite unlooked-for, and which I never could have +calculated upon," she said, thrusting her hand into an imaginary +waistcoat with Mr Ashburton's very look and tone, which was beyond +measure amusing to all the party. They laughed so long, and were so gay, +that Lady Richmond solemnly levelled her opera-glass at them with the +air of a woman who was used to elections, but knew how such _parvenus_ +have their heads turned by a prominent position. "That woman is taking +some of us off," she said, "but if it is me, I can bear it. There is +nothing so vulgar as that sort of thing, and I hope you never encourage +it in your presence, my dears." + +Just at that moment, however, an incident occurred which took up the +attention of the ladies at the windows, and eclipsed even the interest +of the election. Poor Barbara Lake was interested, too, to know if her +friend would win. She was not entertaining any particular hopes or plans +about him. Years and hard experiences had humbled Barbara. The Brussels +veil which she used to dream of had faded as much from her memory as +poor Rose's Honiton design, for which she had got the prize. At the +present moment, instead of nourishing the ambitious designs which +everybody laid to her charge, she would have been content with the very +innocent privilege of talking a little to her next employers about Mr +Cavendish, the member for Carlingford, and his visits to her father's +house. But at the same time, she had once been fond of him, and she took +a great interest in him, and was very anxious that he should win. And +she was in the habit, like so many other women, of finding out, as far +as she could, what was going on, and going to see everything that there +might be to see. She had brought one of her young brothers with her, +whose anxiety to see the fun was quite as great as her own; and she was +arrayed in the tin dress--her best available garment--which was made +long, according to the fashion, and which, as Barbara scorned to tuck it +up, was continually getting trodden on, and talked about, and reviled +at, on that crowded pavement. The two parties of ladies saw, and even it +might be said heard, the sweep of the metallic garment, which was +undergoing such rough usage, and which was her best, poor soul. Lady +Richmond had alighted from her carriage carefully tucked up, though +there were only a few steps to make, and there was no _lady_ in +Carlingford who would have swept "a good gown" over the stones in such +a way; but then poor Barbara was not precisely a lady, and thought it +right to look as if it did not matter. She went up to read the numbers +of the poll--in the sight of everybody; and she clasped her hands +together with ecstatic satisfaction as she read; and young Carmine, her +brother, dashed into the midst of the fray, and shouted "Cavendish for +ever! hurrah for Cavendish!" and could scarcely be drawn back again to +take his sister home. Even when she withdrew, she did not go home, but +went slowly up and down Grange Lane with her rustling train behind her, +with the intention of coming back for further information. Lady Richmond +and Mrs Woodburn both lost all thought of the election as they watched; +and lo! when their wandering thoughts came back again, the tide had +turned. + +The tide had turned. Whether it was Barbara, or whether it was fate, or +whether it was the deadly unanimity of those Dissenters, who, after all +their wavering, had at last decided for the man who "dealt" in George +Street--no one could tell; but by two o'clock Mr Ashburton was so far +ahead that he felt himself justified in sending another bulletin to +Lucilla--so far that there was no reasonable hope of the opposite +candidate ever making up his lost ground. Mrs Woodburn was not a woman +to be content when reasonable hope was over--she clung to the last +possibility desperately, with a pertinacity beyond all reason, and swore +in her heart that it was Barbara that had done it, and cursed her with +her best energies; which, however, as these are not melodramatic days, +was a thing which did the culprit no possible harm. When Barbara herself +came back from her promenade in Grange Lane, and saw the altered +numbers, she again clasped her hands together for a moment, and looked +as if she were going to faint; and it was at that moment that Mr +Cavendish's eyes fell upon her, as ill fortune would have it. They were +all looking at him as if it was his fault; and the sight of that +sympathetic face was consoling to the defeated candidate. He took off +his hat before everybody; probably, as his sister afterwards said, he +would have gone and offered her his arm had he been near enough. How +could anybody wonder, after that, that things had gone against him, and +that, notwithstanding all his advantages, he was the loser in the fight? + +As for Lucilla, she had gone back to her worsted-work when she got Mr +Ashburton's first note, in which his rival's name stood above his own. +She looked quite composed, and Aunt Jemima went on teasing with her +senseless questions. But Miss Marjoribanks put up with it all; though +the lingering progress of these hours from one o'clock to four, the +sound of cabs furiously driven by, the distant shouts, the hum of +indefinite din that filled the air, exciting every moment a keener +curiosity, and giving no satisfaction or information, would have been +enough to have driven a less large intelligence out of its wits. Lucilla +bore it, doing as much as she could of her worsted-work, and saying +nothing to nobody, except, indeed, an occasional word to Aunt Jemima, +who would have an answer. She was not walking about Grange Lane +repeating a kind of prayer for the success of her candidate, as Barbara +Lake was doing; but perhaps, on the whole, Barbara had the easiest time +of it at that moment of uncertainty. When the next report came, +Lucilla's fingers trembled as she opened it, so great was her emotion; +but after that she recovered herself as if by magic. She grew pale, and +then gave a kind of sob, and then a kind of laugh, and finally put her +worsted-work back into her basket, and threw Mr Ashburton's note into +the fire. + +"It is all right," said Lucilla. "Mr Ashburton is a hundred ahead, and +they can never make up that. I am so sorry for poor Mr Cavendish. If he +only had not been so imprudent on Saturday night!" + +"I am sure I don't understand you," said Aunt Jemima. "After being so +anxious about one candidate, how can you be so sorry for the other? I +suppose you did not want them both to win?" + +"Yes, I think that _was_ what I wanted," said Lucilla, drying her eyes; +and then she awoke to the practical exigencies of the position. "There +will be quantities of people coming to have a cup of tea, and I must +speak to Nancy," she said, and went downstairs with a cheerful heart. It +might be said to be as good as decided, so far as regarded Mr Ashburton; +and when it came for her final judgment, what was it that she ought to +say? + +It was very well that Miss Marjoribanks's unfailing foresight led her to +speak to Nancy; for the fact was, that after four o'clock, when the +polling was over, everybody came in to tea. All Lady Richmond's party +came, as a matter of course, and Mr Ashburton himself, for a few +minutes, bearing meekly his new honours; and so many more people +besides, that but for knowing it was a special occasion, and that "our +gentleman" was elected, Nancy's mind never could have borne the strain. +And the tea that was used was something frightful. As for Aunt Jemima, +who had just then a good many thoughts of her own to occupy her, and did +not care so much as the rest for all the chatter that was going on, nor +for all those details about poor Barbara and Mr Cavendish's looks, which +Lucilla received with such interest, she could not but make a +calculation in passing as to this new item of fashionable expenditure +into which her niece was plunging so wildly. To be sure, it was an +occasion that never might occur again, and everybody was so excited as +to forget even that Lucilla was in mourning, and that such a number of +people in the house so soon might be more than she could bear. And she +was excited herself, and forgot that she was not able for it. But still +Aunt Jemima, sitting by, could not help thinking, that even five-o'clock +teas of good quality and unlimited amount would very soon prove to be +impracticable upon two hundred a year. + + + + +_Chapter XLIX_ + + +Mr Ashburton, it may be supposed, had but little time to think on that +eventful evening; and yet he was thinking all the way home, as he drove +back in the chilly spring night to his own house. If his further course +of action had been made in any way to depend upon the events of this +day, it was now settled beyond all further uncertainty; and though he +was not a man in his first youth, nor a likely subject for a romantic +passion, still he was a little excited by the position in which he found +himself. Miss Marjoribanks had been his inspiring genius, and had +interested herself in his success in the warmest and fullest way; and if +ever a woman was made for a certain position, Lucilla was made to be the +wife of the Member for Carlingford. Long, long ago, at the very +beginning of her career, when it was of Mr Cavendish that everybody was +thinking, the ideal fitness of this position had struck everybody. +Circumstances had changed since then, and Mr Cavendish had fallen, and a +worthier hero had been placed in his stead; but though the person was +changed, the circumstances remained unaltered. Natural fitness was +indeed so apparent, that many people would have been disposed to say +that it was Lucilla's duty to accept Mr Ashburton, even independent of +the fact that he was perfectly eligible in every other respect. + +But with all this the new Member for Carlingford was not able to assure +himself that there had been anything particular in Lucilla's manner to +himself. With her as with Carlingford, it was pure optimism. He was the +best man, and her quick intelligence had divined it sooner than anybody +else had done. Whether there was anything more in it, Mr Ashburton could +not tell. His own impression was that she would accept him; but if she +did not, he would have no right to complain of "encouragement," or to +think himself jilted. This was what he was thinking as he drove home; +but at the same time he was very far from being in a desponding state of +mind. He felt very nearly as sure that Lucilla would be his wife, as if +they were already standing before the Rector in Carlingford Church. He +had just won one victory, which naturally made him feel more confident +of winning another; and even without entertaining any over-exalted +opinion of himself, it was evident that, under all the circumstances, a +woman of thirty, with two hundred a year, would be a fool to reject such +an offer. And Lucilla was the very furthest in the world from being a +fool. It was in every respect the beginning of a new world to Mr +Ashburton, and it would have been out of nature had he not been a little +excited. After the quiet life he had led at the Firs, biding his time, +he had now to look forward to a busy and important existence, half of it +spent amid the commotion and ceaseless stir of town. A new career, a +wife, a new position, the most important in his district--it was not +much wonder if Mr Ashburton felt a little excited. He was fatigued at +the same time, too much fatigued to be disposed for sleep; and all these +united influences swayed him to a state of mind very much unlike his +ordinary sensible calm. All his excitement culminated so in thoughts of +Lucilla, that the new Member felt himself truly a lover; and late as the +hour was, he took up a candle and once more made a survey all alone of +his solitary house. + +Nothing could look more dismal than the dark rooms, where there was +neither light nor fire--the great desert drawing-room, for example, +which stood unchanged as it had been in the days of his grand-aunts, the +good old ladies who had bequeathed the Firs to Mr Ashburton. He had made +no change in it, and scarcely ever used it, keeping to his library and +dining-room, with the possibility, no doubt, always before him of +preparing it in due course of time for his wife. That moment had now +arrived, and in his excitement he went into the desolate room with his +candle, which just made the darkness visible, and tried to see the dusky +curtains and faded carpet, and the indescribable fossil air which +everything had. There were the odd little spider-legged stands, upon +which the Miss Penrhyns had placed their work-boxes, and the old sofas +on which they had sat, and the floods of old tapestry-work with which +they had decorated their favourite sitting-room. The sight of it chilled +the Member for Carlingford, and made him sad. He tried to turn his +thoughts to the time when this same room should be fitted up to suit +Lucilla's complexion, and should be gay with light and with her +presence. He did all he could to realise the moment when, with a +mistress so active and energetic, the whole place would change its +aspect, and glow forth resplendent into the twilight of the county, a +central point for all. Perhaps it was his fatigue which gained upon him +just at this moment, and repulsed all livelier thoughts; but the fact +is, that however willing Lucilla might turn out to be, her image was +coy, and would not come. The more Mr Ashburton tried to think of her as +in possession here, the more the grim images of the two old Miss +Penrhyns walked out of the darkness and asserted their prior claims. +They even seemed to have got into the library before him when he went +back, though there his fire was burning, and his lamp. After that there +was nothing left for a man to do, even though he had been that day +elected Member for Carlingford, but to yield to the weakness of an +ordinary mortal, and go to bed. + +Thoughts very different, but even more disturbing, were going on at the +same time in Grange Lane. Poor Mr Cavendish, for one thing,--upbraided +by everybody's looks, and even by some people's words--feeling himself +condemned, censured, and despised on all sides--smarting under his +sister's wild reproaches and her husband's blunt commentary +thereupon,--had slunk away from their society after dinner, not seeing +_now_ why he should bear it any longer. "By Jove! if it had only been +for _her_ sake, you might have left over your philandering for another +night," Mr Woodburn had said, in his coarse way; and it was all Mr +Cavendish could do to refrain from saying that one time and another he +had done quite enough for _her_ sake, but he did not see any reason why +he should put up with it any longer. He strolled out of doors, though +the town was still in commotion, and could not but think of the +sympathetic countenance which had paled to-day at sight of the numbers +of the poll. She, by Heaven! might have had reason to find fault with +him, and she had never done so; _she_ had never perceived that he was +stout, or changed from old times. As he entertained these thoughts, his +steps going down Grange Lane gradually quickened, but he did not say to +himself where he was going. He went a very roundabout way, as if he did +not mean it, as far as St Roque's, and then up by the lane to the +far-off desert extremity of Grove Street. It was simply to walk off his +excitement and disappointment, and free himself from criticism for that +evening at least; but as he walked he could not help thinking that +Barbara, if she were well dressed, would still be a fine woman, that her +voice was magnificent in its way, and that about Naples, perhaps, or the +baths of Lucca, or in Germany, or the south of France, a man might be +able to get on well enough with such a companion, where society was not +so exacting or stiff-starched as in England. And the end was, that the +feet of the defeated candidate carried him, ere ever he was aware, with +some kind of independent volition of their own, to Mr Lake's door--and +it may be here said, once for all, that this visit was decisive of Mr +Cavendish's fate. + +This will not be regarded as anything but a digression by such of +Lucilla's friends as may be solicitous to know what she was making up +her mind to under the circumstances; but the truth is that Lucilla's +historian cannot, any more than Miss Marjoribanks herself could, refrain +from a certain regret over Mr Cavendish. That was what he came to, poor +man! after all his experiences; a man who was capable of so much better +things--a man even who, if he had made a right use of his opportunities, +might once have had as good a chance as any other of marrying Lucilla +herself. If there ever was an instance of chances thrown away and lost +opportunities, surely here was that lamentable example. And thus, poor +man! all his hopes and all his chances came to an end. + +As for Miss Marjoribanks herself, it would be vain to say that this was +not a very exciting moment for her. If there ever could be said to be a +time when she temporarily lost the entire sway and control of herself +and her feelings, it would be at this crisis. She went about all that +evening like a woman in a dream. For the first time in her life she not +only did not know what she would do, but she did not know what she +wanted to do. There could now be no mistaking what Mr Ashburton's +intentions were. Up to a very recent time Lucilla had been able to take +refuge in her mourning, and conclude that she had no present occasion to +disturb herself. But now that calm was over. She could not conceal from +herself that it was in her power by a word to reap all the advantages of +the election, and to step at once into the only position which she had +ever felt might be superior to her own in Carlingford. At last this +great testimonial of female merit was to be laid at her feet. A man +thoroughly eligible in every way--moderately rich, well connected, able +to restore to her all, and more than all, the advantages which she had +lost at her father's death--a man, above all, who was Member for +Carlingford, was going to offer himself to her acceptance, and put his +happiness in her hands; and while she was so well aware of this, she was +not at all so well aware what answer she would make him. Lucilla's mind +was in such a commotion as she sat over her embroidery, that she thought +it strange indeed that it did not show, and could not understand how +Aunt Jemima could sit there so quietly opposite her, as if nothing was +the matter. But, to tell the truth, there was a good deal the matter +with Aunt Jemima too, which was perhaps the reason why she saw no signs +of her companion's agitation. Mrs John Marjoribanks had not been able +any more than her niece to shut her eyes to Mr Ashburton's evident +meaning, and now that matters were visibly coming to a crisis, a sudden +panic and horror had seized her. What would Tom say? If she stood by and +saw the prize snapped up under her very eyes, what account could she +give to her son of her stewardship? how could she explain her silence as +to all _his_ wishes and intentions, her absolute avoidance of his name +in all her conversations with Lucilla? While Miss Marjoribanks marvelled +that the emotion in her breast could be invisible, and at Aunt Jemima's +insensibility, the bosom of that good woman was throbbing with equal +excitement. Sometimes each made an indifferent remark, and panted after +it, as if she had given utterance to the most exhausting emotions; but +so great was the preoccupation of both that neither observed how it was +faring with the other. + +But perhaps, on the whole, it was Aunt Jemima that suffered the most; +for her there was nothing flattering, nothing gratifying, no prospect of +change or increased happiness, or any of the splendours of imagination +involved. All that could happen to her would be the displeasure of her +son and his disappointment; and it might be her fault, she who could +have consented to be chopped up in little pieces, if that would have +done Tom any good; but who, notwithstanding, was not anxious for him to +marry his cousin, now that her father's fortune was all lost and she had +but two hundred a year. They had a silent cup of tea together at eight +o'clock, after that noisy exciting one at five, which had been shared by +half Carlingford, as Aunt Jemima thought. The buzz of that impromptu +assembly, in which everybody talked at the same moment, and nobody +listened, except perhaps Lucilla, had all died away into utter +stillness; but the excitement had not died away; _that_ had only risen +to a white heat, silent and consuming, as the two ladies sat over their +tea. + +"Do you expect Mr Ashburton to-morrow, Lucilla?" Aunt Jemima said, after +a long pause. + +"Mr Ashburton?" said Lucilla, with a slight start; and, to tell the +truth, she was glad to employ that childish expedient to gain a little +time, and consider what she should say. "Indeed I don't know if he will +have time to come. Most likely there will be a great deal to do." + +"If he does come," said Mrs John, with a sigh--"or _when_ he does come, +I ought to say, for you know very well he _will_ come, Lucilla--I +suppose there is no doubt that he will have something very particular to +say." + +"I am sure I don't know, Aunt Jemima," said Miss Marjoribanks; but she +never raised her eyes from her work, as she would have done in any other +case. "Now that the election is over, you know----" + +"I hope, my dear, I have been long enough in the world to know all about +that," Aunt Jemima said severely, "and what it means when young ladies +take such interest in elections;" and then some such feeling as the dog +had in the manger--a jealousy of those who sought the gift though she +herself did not want it--came over Mrs John, and at the same time a +sudden desire to clear her conscience and make a stand for Tom. She did +it suddenly, and went further than she meant to go; but then she never +dreamt it would have the least effect. "I would not say anything to +disturb your mind, Lucilla, if you have made up your mind; but when you +receive your new friends, you might think of other people who perhaps +have been fond of you before you ever saw them, or heard their very +name." + +She was frightened at it herself before the words were out of her mouth, +and the effect it had upon Miss Marjoribanks was wonderful. She threw +her embroidery away, and looked Tom's mother keenly in the face. "I +don't think you know anybody who is fond of me, Aunt Jemima," she said; +"I don't suppose anybody is fond of me. Do you?" said Lucilla. But by +that time Aunt Jemima had got thoroughly frightened, both at herself and +her companion, and had nothing more to say. + +"I am sure all these people to-day have been too much for you," she +said. "I wonder what they could all be thinking of, for my part, +flocking in upon you like that, so soon after----I thought it was very +indelicate of Lady Richmond. And Lucilla, my dear, your nerves are quite +affected, and I am sure you ought to go to bed." + +Upon which Miss Marjoribanks recovered herself in a moment, and folded +up her worsted-work. "I do feel tired," she said sweetly, "and perhaps +it _was_ too much. I think I will take your advice, Aunt Jemima. The +excitement keeps one up for the moment, and then it tells after. I +suppose the best thing is to go to bed." + +"Much the best, my dear," Aunt Jemima said, giving Lucilla a kiss; but +she did not take her own advice. She took a long time to think it all +over, and sat up by the side of the decaying fire until it was +midnight--an hour at which a female establishment like this should +surely have been all shut up and at rest. And Lucilla did very much the +same thing, wondering greatly what her aunt could tell her if she had a +mind, and having the greatest inclination in the world to break into her +chamber, and see, at any risk, what was in Tom's last letter. If she +could have seen that, it might have thrown some light on the problem +Lucilla was discussing, or given her some guidance through her +difficulties. It was just then that Mr Ashburton was inviting her image +into the fossil drawing-room, and finding nothing but the grim shades of +the Miss Penrhyns answer to his call. Perhaps this was because Lucilla's +image at that moment was called upon more potently from another quarter +in a more familiar voice. + +But after this exhausting day and late sitting-up, everybody was late in +the morning, at least in Grange Lane. Miss Marjoribanks had slept +little all night, and she was not in a more settled state of mind when +the day returned which probably would bring the matter to a speedy +decision. Her mind was like a country held by two armies, one of which +by turns swept the other into a corner, but only to be driven back in +its turn. After the unaccountable stupidity of the general public--after +all the Cavendishes, Beverleys, and Riders who had once had it in their +power to distinguish themselves by at least making her an offer, and who +had not done it--here at last, in all good faith, honesty, and +promptitude, had appeared a man superior to them all--a man whom she +would have no reason to be ashamed of in any particular, sensible like +herself, public-spirited like herself--a man whose pursuits she could +enter into fully, who had a perfectly ideal position to offer her, and +in whose person, indeed, all sorts of desirable qualities seemed to +meet. Miss Marjoribanks, when she considered all this, and thought over +all their recent intercourse, and the terms of friendship into which the +election had brought them, felt, as any other sensible person would have +felt, that there was only one answer which could be given to such a man. +If she neglected or played with his devotion, then certainly she never +would deserve to have another such possibility afforded to her, and +merited nothing better than to live and die a single woman on two +hundred a year. But then, on the other hand, there would rush forth a +crowd of quick-coming and fantastic suggestions which took away +Lucilla's breath, and made her heart beat loud. What if there might be +"other people" who had been fond of her before she ever heard of Mr +Ashburton's name? What if there might be some one in the world who was +ready, not to offer her his hand and fortune in a reasonable way, as Mr +Ashburton no doubt would, but to throw himself all in a heap at her +feet, and make the greatest fool of himself possible for her sake? Miss +Marjoribanks had been the very soul of good sense all her days, but now +her ruling quality seemed to forsake her. And yet she could not consent +to yield herself up to pure unreason without a struggle. She fought +manfully, womanfully against the weakness which hitherto must have been +lying hidden in some out-of-the-way corner in her heart. Probably if Mr +Ashburton had asked her all at once amid the excitement of the election, +or at any other unpremeditated moment, Lucilla would have been saved all +this self-torment; but it is hard upon a woman to have a proposal +hanging over her head by a hair, as it were, and to look forward to it +without any uncertainty or mystery, and have full time to make up her +mind. And there was no accounting for the curious force and vividness +with which that strange idea about "other people," upon which Aunt +Jemima would throw no light, had come into Lucilla's head. + +She was still in the same frightful chaos of uncertainty when Mr +Ashburton was shown into the drawing-room. She had not even heard him +ring, and was thus deprived of the one possible moment of coming to a +decision before she faced and confronted her fate. Miss Marjoribanks's +heart gave a great jump, and then she recovered herself, and rose up +without faltering, and shook hands with him. She was all alone, for Aunt +Jemima had not found herself equal to facing the emergency; and there +was not the least possibility of evading or postponing, or in any way +running away from it now. Lucilla sat down again upon her sofa where she +had been sitting, and composed herself with a certain despairing +tranquillity, and trusted in Providence. She had thrown herself on other +occasions, though never at an equally important crisis, upon the +inspiration of the moment, and she felt it would not forsake her now. + +"I should be sorry the election was over," said Mr Ashburton, who was +naturally a little agitated too, "if I thought its privileges were over, +and you would not let me come----I shall always think I owe my success +to you; and I would thank you for being so kind--so very kind to me, +if----" + +"Oh, dear, no; pray don't say so," cried Lucilla. "I only felt sure that +you were the best man--the only man--for Carlingford." + +"I wish I might but prove the best man for something else," said the +candidate nervously; and then he cleared his throat. "I would say you +had been kind if I did not hope--if I was not so very anxious that you +should be something more than kind. It may be vain of me, but I think we +could get on together. I think I could understand you, and do you +justice----Lucilla! what is the matter? Good heavens! is it possible +that I have taken you quite by surprise?" + +What caused this question was that Miss Marjoribanks had all at once +changed colour, and given a great start, and put her hand to her breast, +where her heart had taken such a leap that she felt it in her throat. +But it was not because of what Mr Ashburton was saying; it was because +of one of the very commonest sounds of everyday existence--a cab +driving down Grange Lane; but then it was a cab driving in such a way +that you could have sworn there was somebody in it in a terrible hurry, +and who had just arrived by the twelve o'clock train. + +"Oh, no, no," said Miss Marjoribanks; "I know you have always done me +more than justice, Mr Ashburton, and so have all my friends; and I am +sure we always will get on well together. I wish you joy with all my +heart, and I wish you every happiness; and I always thought, up to this +very last moment----" + +Lucilla stopped again, and once more put her hand to her breast. Her +heart gave another jump, and, if such a thing were possible to a heart, +went off from its mistress altogether, and rushed downstairs bodily to +see who was coming. Yet, with all her agitation, she had still enough +self-control to lift an appealing look--a look which threw herself upon +his mercy, and implored his forbearance--to Mr Ashburton's face. + +As for the Member for Carlingford, he was confounded, and could not tell +what to make of it. What was it she had thought up to the very last +moment? Was this a refusal, or was she only putting off his claim, or +was it something altogether independent of him and his intentions that +agitated Lucilla to such an unusual extent? While he sat in his +confusion trying to make it out, the most startling sound interrupted +the interview. The old disused bell that had so often called Dr +Marjoribanks up at night, and which hung near the door of the old +Doctor's room, just over the drawing-room, began to peal through the +silence, as if rung by a hand too impatient to notice what it was with +which it made its summons. + +"Papa's bell!" Miss Marjoribanks cried, with a little shriek; and she +got up trembling, and then dropped upon her seat again, and in her +agitated state burst into tears. And Mr Ashburton felt that, under these +most extraordinary circumstances, even so sensible a woman as Lucilla +might be justified in fainting, embarrassing and uncomfortable as that +would be. + +"I will go and see what it means," he said, with still half the air of a +man who had a right to go and see, and was, as it were, almost in his +own house. As he turned round, the door bell pealed wildly below in +correction of the mistake. It was evident that somebody wanted admission +who had not a moment to lose, and who was in the habit of pulling wildly +at whatever came in his way. Mr Ashburton went out of the room to see +who it was, a little amused and a little alarmed, but much annoyed at +bottom, as was only natural, at such an interruption. He did not very +well know whether he was accepted or rejected; but it was equally his +duty in either case to put a stop to the ringing of that ghostly bell. +He went away, meaning to return immediately and have it out and know his +fate. And Lucilla, whose heart had come back, having fully ascertained +who it was, and was now choking her with its beating, was left to await +the new event and the new-comer alone. + + + + +_Chapter L_ + + +Mr Ashburton went away from Lucilla's side, thinking to come back again, +and clear everything up: but he did not come back. Though he heard +nothing, and saw nothing, that could throw any distinct light on the +state of her mind, yet instinct came to his aid, it is to be supposed, +in the matter. He did not return: and Lucilla sat on her sofa with her +hands clasped together to support her, and her heart leaping in her very +mouth. She was in a perfect frenzy of suspense, listening with her whole +heart and soul; but that did not prevent the same crowd of thoughts +which had been persecuting her for twenty-four hours from keeping up +their wild career as before. What reason had she to suppose that "any +one" had arrived? Who could arrive in that accidental way, without a +word of warning? And what possible excuse had she to offer to herself +for sending the new member for Carlingford--a man so excellent and +honourable and eligible--away? The minutes, or rather the seconds, +passed over Miss Marjoribanks like hours, as she sat thus waiting, not +daring to stir lest the slightest movement might keep from her ears some +sound from below, till at last the interval seemed so long that her +heart began to sink, and her excitement to fail. It could not be any +one--if it had been any one, something more must have come of it before +now. It must have been Lydia Richmond coming to see her sister next +door, or somebody connected with the election, or---- + +When she got as far as this, Lucilla's heart suddenly mounted up again +with a spring into her ears. She heard neither words nor voice, but she +heard something which had as great an effect upon her as either could +have had. On the landing half-way up the stairs, there had stood in Dr +Marjoribanks's house from time immemorial a little old-fashioned table, +with a large china bowl upon it, in which the cards of visitors were +placed. It was a great bowl, and it was always full, and anybody rushing +upstairs in a reckless way might easily upset table and cards and all in +their progress. This was what happened while Lucilla sat listening. +There was a rumble, a crash, and a sound as of falling leaves, and it +made her heart, as we have said, jump into her ears. "It is the table +and all the cards," said Lucilla--and in that moment her composure came +back to her as by a miracle. She unclasped her hands, which she had been +holding pressed painfully together by way of supporting herself, and she +gave a long sigh of unutterable relief, and her whirl of thought stopped +and cleared up with an instantaneous rapidity. Everything seemed to be +explained by that sound; and there never was a greater change upon the +looks and feelings of any one in this world than that which passed upon +the looks and feelings of Lucilla, in the interval between the drawing +up of that cab and the rush of Tom Marjoribanks at the drawing-room +door. + +For after the commotion on the staircase Lucilla had no further doubt on +the subject. She even had the strength to get up to meet him, and hold +out her hands to him by way of welcome--but found herself, before she +knew how, in the arms of a man with a beard, who was so much changed in +his own person that he ventured to kiss her, which was a thing Tom +Marjoribanks, though her cousin, had never dared to do before. He kissed +her--such was his audacity; and then he held her at arm's length to have +a good look at her; and then, according to all appearance, would have +repeated his first salutation, but that Lucilla had come to herself, and +took the reins at once into her hand. + +"Tom!" she said, "of course it is you; nobody else would have been so +impertinent. When did you come? Where did you come from? Who could ever +have thought of your appearing like this, in such an altogether +unexpected----?" + +"Unexpected!" said Tom, with an astonished air. "But I suppose you had +other things to think of. Ah, Lucilla, I could not write to you. I felt +I ought to be beside you, trying if there was not something I could do. +My mother told you, of course; but I could not trust myself to write to +_you_." + +Then Lucilla saw it all, and that Aunt Jemima had meant to do Mr +Ashburton a good turn. And she was not grateful to her aunt, however +kind her intentions might have been. But Tom was holding her hand, and +looking into her face while this thought passed through her mind, and +Miss Marjoribanks was not the woman, under any circumstances, to make +dispeace. + +"I am sure I am very glad," said Lucilla. "I would say you were changed, +but only of course that would make you think how I am changed; and +though one knows one has gone off----" + +"I never saw you look so nice all your life," cried Tom energetically; +and he took hold of both her hands, and looked into her face more and +more. To be sure he had a kind of right, being a cousin, and newly +returned after so long an absence; but it was embarrassing all the same. + +"Oh, Tom, don't say so," cried Lucilla; "if you but knew how different +the house is, and everything so altered--and dear papa!" + +It was natural, and indeed it was only proper, that Miss Marjoribanks +should cry--which she did abundantly, partly for grief, and partly +because of the flutter of agitation, and something like joy, in which +she was, and which, considering that she had always frankly owned that +she was fond of Tom, was quite natural too. She cried with honest +abandonment, and did not take much notice what her cousin was doing to +comfort her, though indeed he applied himself to that benevolent office +in the most anxious way. + +"Don't cry, Lucilla," he said, "I can't bear it. It don't look natural +to see you cry. My poor uncle was an old man, and you were always the +best daughter in the world----" + +"Oh, Tom! sometimes I don't think so," sobbed Lucilla; "sometimes I +think if I had sat up that last night----And you don't know how good he +was. It was me he was thinking of, and never himself. When he heard the +money was lost, all that he said was, Poor Lucilla! You rang his bell +though it is the night-bell, and nobody ever touches it now; I knew it +could be nobody but you; and to see you again brings up everything so +distinctly. Oh, Tom! he was always very fond of you." + +"Lucilla," said Tom Marjoribanks, "you know I always had a great regard +for my uncle. But it was not for him I came back. He was never half so +fond of me as I am of you. You know that as well as I do. There never +was a time that I would not have gone to the other end of the world if +you had told me; and I have done it as near as possible. I went to India +because you sent me away. And I have come back----" + +"You have not come back only for an hour, I hope?" said Miss +Marjoribanks, with momentary impatience; "you are not obliged to talk of +everything all in a moment--and when one has not even got over one's +surprise at seeing you. When _did_ you come back? When did you have +anything to eat? You want your breakfast or your lunch or something; +and, Tom! the idea of sitting here talking to me, and talking nonsense, +when you have not seen your mother. She is in her own room, you +unnatural boy--the blue room, next to what used to be yours. To think +Aunt Jemima should be in the house, and you should sit here talking +nonsense to me!" + +"This minute," said Tom apologetically; but he drew his chair in front +of Miss Marjoribanks, so that she could not get away. "I have come back +to stay as long as you will let me," he said; "don't go away yet. Look +here, Lucilla--if you had married, I would have tried to bear it; but as +long as you are not married, I can't help feeling as if there might be a +chance for me yet. And that is why I have come home. I met somebody +coming downstairs." + +"Tom," said Miss Marjoribanks, "it is dreadful to see that you have come +back just as tiresome as ever. I always said I would not marry for ten +years. If you mean to think I have never had any opportunities----" + +"Lucilla," said Tom, and there was decision in his eye, "somebody came +downstairs as I came in. I want to know whether it is to be him or me!" + +"Him--or you!" said Lucilla, in dismay. Blunderer as he was, he had gone +direct to the very heart of the question, and it was impossible not to +tremble a little in the presence of such straightforward +clear-sightedness. Miss Marjoribanks had risen up to make her escape as +soon as it should be possible, but she was so much struck by Tom's +unlooked-for perspicuity, that she sat down again in her consternation. +"I think you are going out of your mind," she said. "What do you know +about the gentleman who went downstairs? I am not such a wonderful +beauty, nor such a witch, that everybody who sees me should want to--to +marry me. Don't talk any more nonsense, but let me go and get you +something to eat." + +"They would if they were of my way of thinking," said the persistent +Tom. "Lucilla, you shan't go. This is what I have come home for. You may +as well know at once, and then there can be no mistake about it. My poor +uncle is gone, and you can't be left by yourself in the world. Will you +have him or me?" + +"I am not going to be tyrannised over like this," said Lucilla, with +indignation, again rising, though he still held her hands. "You talk as +if you had just come for a call, and had everything to say in a moment. +When a man comes off a long journey it is his breakfast he wants, and +not a--not anything else that I know of. Go up to your mother, and let +me go." + +"Will you have him or me?" repeated Tom. It was not wisdom, is was +instinct, that made him thus hold fast by his text; and as for Lucilla, +nothing but the softened state in which she was, nothing but the fact +that it was Tom Marjoribanks who had been ten years away, and was always +ridiculous, could have kept her from putting down at once such an +attempt to coerce her. But the truth was, that Miss Marjoribanks did not +feel her own mistress at that moment, and perhaps that was why he had +the audacity to repeat, "Will you have him or me?" + +Then Lucilla found herself fairly driven to bay. "Tom!" she said, with a +solemnity that overwhelmed him for the moment, for he thought at first, +with natural panic, that it was himself who was being rejected, "I would +not have _him_ if he were to go down on his knees. I know he is very +nice and very agreeable, and the best man----And I am sure I ought to do +it," said Miss Marjoribanks, with a mournful sense of her own weakness; +"and everybody will expect it of me; but I am not going to have him, and +I never meant it, whatever you or anybody may say." + +When Lucilla had made this decisive utterance she turned away with a +certain melancholy majesty to go and see after lunch--for he had loosed +her hand and fallen back in consternation, thinking for the moment that +it was all over. Miss Marjoribanks sighed, and turned round, not +thinking of Tom, who was safe enough, but with a natural regret for the +member for Carlingford, who now, poor man, was as much out of the +question as if he had been dead and buried. But before she reached the +door Tom had recovered himself. He went up to her in his ridiculous way +without the slightest regard either for the repast she was so anxious to +prepare for him, or for his mother's feelings, or indeed for anything +else in the world, except the one thing which had brought him, as he +said, home. + +"Then, Lucilla, after all, it is to be me," he said, taking her to him, +and arresting her progress as if she had been a baby; and though he had +such a beard, and was twice as big and strong as he used to be, there +were big tears in the great fellow's eyes. "It is to be me after all," +said Tom, looking at her in a way that startled Lucilla. "Say it is to +be me!" + +Miss Marjoribanks had come through many a social crisis with dignity and +composure. She had never yet been known to fail in an emergency. She had +managed Mr Cavendish, and, up to the last moment, Mr Ashburton, and all +the intervening candidates for her favour, with perfect self-control and +command of the situation. Perhaps it was because, as she had herself +said, her feelings had never been engaged. But now, when it was only +Tom--he whom, once upon a time, she had dismissed with affectionate +composure, and given such excellent advice to, and regarded in so +motherly a way--all Lucilla's powers seemed to fail her. It is hard to +have to wind up with such a confession after having so long entertained +a confidence in Lucilla which nothing seemed likely to impair. She broke +down just at the moment when she had most need to have all her wits +about her. Perhaps it was her past agitation which had been too much for +her. Perhaps it was the tears in Tom Marjoribanks's eyes. But the fact +was that Lucilla relinquished her superior position for the time being, +and suffered him to make any assertion he pleased, and was so weak as to +cry, for the second time, too--which, of all things in the world, was +surely the last thing to have been expected of Miss Marjoribanks at the +moment which decided her fate. + +Lucilla cried, and acquiesced, and thought of her father and of the +Member for Carlingford, and gave to each a tear and a regret; and she +did not even take the trouble to answer any question, or to think who it +was she was leaning on. It was to be Tom after all--after all the +archdeacons, doctors, generals, members of Parliament--after the ten +years and more in which she had not gone off--after the poor old +Doctor's grudge against the nephew whom he did not wish to inherit his +wealth, and Aunt Jemima's quiet wiles, and attempt to disappoint her +boy. Fate and honest love had been waiting all the time till their +moment came; and now it was not even necessary to say anything about it. +The fact was so clear that it did not require stating. It was to be Tom +after all. + +To do him justice, Tom behaved at this moment, in which affairs were +left in his hands, as if he had been training for it all his life. +Perhaps it was the first time in which he had done anything absolutely +without a blunder. He had wasted no time, and no words, and left no room +for consideration, or for that natural relenting towards his rival which +was inevitable as soon as Mr Ashburton was off the field. He had +insisted, and he had perceived that there was but one alternative for +Lucilla. Now that all was over, he took her back to her seat, and +comforted her, and made no offensive demonstrations of triumph. "It is +to be me after all!" he repeated; and it was utterly impossible to add +anything to the eloquent brevity of this succinct statement of the case. + +"Tom," said Miss Marjoribanks, when she had a little recovered, "if it +is to be you, that is no reason why you should be so unnatural. Go up +directly and see your mother. What will Aunt Jemima think of me if she +knows I have let you stay talking nonsense here?" + +"Yes, Lucilla--this moment," said Tom; but all the same he showed not +the slightest inclination to go away. He did not quite believe in it as +yet, and could not help feeling as if, should he venture to leave her, +the whole fabric of his incredible good fortune must dissolve and melt +away. As for Lucilla, her self-possession gradually came back to her +when the crisis was over, and she felt that her involuntary abdication +had lasted long enough, and that it was full time to take the management +of affairs back into her own hands. + +"You shall go _now_," she said, drying her eyes, "or else you cannot +stay here. I thought of letting you stay in the house, as Aunt Jemima is +with me; but if you do not mean to go and tell your mother, I will tell +Nancy to send your things up to the Blue Boar. Ring the bell, please; if +you will not ring the bell, I will do it myself, Tom. You may say what +you like, but I know you are famishing; and Aunt Jemima is in the blue +room, next door to----Oh, here is Nancy. It is Mr Tom, who has come +home," said Lucilla hastily, not without a rising colour; for it was +hard to explain why, when his mother was in the blue room all this +time, he should have stayed here. + +"Yes, Miss Lucilla--so I heard," said Nancy, dropping a doubtful +curtsey. And then only Tom was persuaded, and bethought himself of his +natural duty, and rushed upstairs. He seized Nancy's hand, and shook it +violently, as he passed her, to her great consternation. The moment of +his supremacy was over. It was to be Tom after all; but Lucilla had +recovered her self-possession, and taken the helm in her hand again, and +Tom was master of the situation no more. + +"Yes, it is Mr Tom," said Lucilla, shaking her head with something +between a smile and a sigh. "It could be nobody but him that would ring +_that_ bell, and upset all the cards. I hope he has not broken dear +papa's punch-bowl that he used to be so fond of. He must have something +to eat, Nancy, though he is such an awkward boy." + +"I don't see nothing like a boy in him," said Nancy; "he's big and +stout, and one o' them awful beards. There's been a deal of changes +since he went away; but if he's new comed off that terrible long +journey, it is but natural, as you say, Miss Lucilla, that he should +want something to eat." + +And then Miss Marjoribanks made various suggestions, which were received +still doubtfully by her prime minister. Nancy, to tell the truth, did +not like the turn things were taking. Lucilla's maiden household had +been on the whole getting along very comfortably, and there was no +telling how long it might have lasted without any new revolution. To be +sure, Mr Ashburton had looked dangerous, but Nancy had seen a great many +dangers of that kind blow over, and was not easily alarmed. Mr Tom, +however, was a very different person; and Nancy was sufficiently +penetrating to see that something had happened. Therefore, she received +very coldly Lucilla's suggestions about lunch. "It ain't like the old +times," she said at last, "when there was always something as one could +put to the fire in a hurry;" and Nancy stood turning round the handle of +the door in her hand, and contemplating the changed state of affairs +with a sigh. + +"That would be all very true if you were like anybody else," said +Lucilla; "but I hope you would not like to send Mr Tom off to the Blue +Boar. After all, perhaps it is better to have a--a gentleman in the +house. I know you always used to think so. They are a great deal of +trouble; but--for some things, you know----" said Lucilla; "and then Mr +Tom is not just like other people; and whatever happens, Nancy, you are +an old dear, and it shall never make any difference between you and me." + +When she had said these words, Lucilla gave her faithful servant a hug, +and sent her off to look after Tom Marjoribanks's meal; and then she +herself went half-way downstairs and picked up the cards that were still +scattered about the landing, and found with satisfaction that the +Doctor's old punch-bowl was not broken. All Tom's things were lying +below in the hall--heaps of queer Indian-looking baggage--tossed down +anyhow in a corner, as if the owner had been in much too great a hurry +to think of any secondary circumstances. "And it was there he met poor +Mr Ashburton," said Lucilla to herself, with a certain pathos. There it +was indeed that the encounter had taken place. They had seen each other +but for a moment, but that moment had been enough to send the Member for +Carlingford away dejected, and to impress upon Tom's mind the +alternative that it was either to be "him or me." Miss Marjoribanks +contemplated the spot with a certain tender sentimental interest, as any +gentle moralist might look at a field of battle. What feelings must have +been in the minds of the two as they met and looked at each other! What +a dread sense of disappointment on the one side; what sharp stimulation +on the other! Thus Lucilla stood and looked down from her own landing +upon the scene of that encounter, full of pensive interest. And now it +was all over, and Mr Ashburton had passed away as completely as Mr +Chiltern, who was in his grave, poor man; or Mr Cavendish, who was going +to marry Barbara Lake. The thought of so sudden a revolution made +Lucilla giddy as she went thoughtfully upstairs. Poor Mr Ashburton! It +hardly seemed real even to Miss Marjoribanks when she sat down again in +the drawing-room, and confessed to herself that, after all, it was to be +Tom. + +But when he came downstairs again with his mother, Lucilla was quite +herself, and had got over all her weakness. Aunt Jemima, for her part, +was in a very agitated state of mind. Tom had come too soon or Mr +Ashburton too late, and all the fruits of her little bit of treachery +were accordingly lost, and at the same time, the treachery itself +remained, revealed at least to one person in the very clearest light. +It did not seem possible to Aunt Jemima that Lucilla would not tell. If +she had not done it now, in the excitement of the moment, at least it +would come out some time when she was least expecting it, and her son's +esteem and confidence would be lost. Therefore it was with a very blank +countenance that Mrs John Marjoribanks came downstairs. She dared not +say a word, and she had to kiss her niece, and take her to her maternal +bosom, Tom looking on all the while; but she gave Lucilla a look that +was pitiful to see. And when Tom finally was dismissed to his room, to +open his trunks, and show the things he had brought home, Aunt Jemima +drew near her future daughter with wistful guiltiness. There was no +comfort to her in the thought of the India shawl, which her son had gone +to find. Any day, any hour, Lucilla might tell; and if the unlucky +mother were put on her defence, what could she say? + +"Lucilla," said the guilty woman, under her breath, "I am sure you think +it very strange. I don't attempt to deceive _you_. I can't tell you how +thankful and glad I am that it has all ended so well; but you know, +Lucilla, in the first place, I did not know what your feelings were; and +I thought, perhaps, that if anything would tell, it would be a surprise, +and then----" + +"Did you, Aunt Jemima?" said Miss Marjoribanks, with gentle wonder. "I +thought you had been thinking of Mr Ashburton, for my part." + +"And so I was, Lucilla," said the poor lady, with great relief and +eagerness. "I thought he was coming forward, and of course he would have +been a far better match than my Tom. I had to think for you both, my +dear. And then I never knew what your feelings were, nor if you would +care; and then it was not as if there had been a day fixed----" + +"Dear Aunt Jemima," said Miss Marjoribanks, "if you are pleased now, +what does it matter? but I do hope you are pleased now?" + +And Mrs John took her niece into her arms again this time with better +will, and cried. "I am as happy as ever I can be," said the inconsistent +mother. "I always knew you were fond of each other, Lucilla; before you +knew it yourselves, I saw what would come of it. But my poor +brother-in-law----And you will make my boy happy, and never turn him +against his mother," cried the repentant sinner. Lucilla was not the +woman to resist such an appeal. Mrs John had meant truly enough towards +her in other ways, if not in this way; and Miss Marjoribanks was fond of +her aunt, and it ended in a kiss of peace freely bestowed, and a vow of +protection and guidance from the strong to the weak, though the last was +only uttered in the protectress's liberal heart. + + + + +_Chapter LI_ + + +When Miss Marjoribanks had time to consider the prospect which had thus +so suddenly opened before her, it also had its difficulties, like +everything else in the world. Her marriage now could not be the +straightforward business it might have been had it been Mr Ashburton +instead of Tom. In that case she would have gone to an established house +and life--to take her place in the one and her share in the other, and +to find the greater part of her surroundings and duties already fixed +for her, which was a thing that would have very greatly simplified the +matter. But Tom, who had dashed home from India at full speed as soon as +he heard of his uncle's death, had left his profession behind him at +Calcutta, and had nothing to do in England, and was probably too old to +resume his (non) practice at the bar, even if he had been in the least +disposed to do so; while, at the same time, an idle man--a man to be +found everlastingly at home--would have been insupportable to Lucilla. +Miss Marjoribanks might feel disposed (for everybody's good) to assume +the sovereign authority in her own house, but to marry anybody that +would be merely an appendage to her was a thing not to be thought of; +and as soon as the first preliminaries were arranged her active mind +sprang up with redoubled vigour from the maze in which it had been. Her +intelligence had suspended, so to speak, all its ordinary operations for +twenty-four hours at least, while it was busy investigating the purely +personal question: from the moment when the Member for Carlingford was +finally elected until Tom Marjoribanks rang the night-bell at the old +Doctor's door, Lucilla's thoughts had been in that state of +over-stimulation and absorption which is almost as bad as having no +power of thought at all. But as soon as the pressure was removed--as +soon as it was all over, and the decision made, and no further question +was possible--then Miss Marjoribanks's active mind sprang up with +renewed energy. For it was not only a new beginning, but everything had +to be settled and arranged. + +Her mind was full of it while her hands were busy putting away all the +Indian presents which Tom had brought--presents which were chronological +in their character, and which he had begun to accumulate from the very +beginning of his exile. It could not but be touching to Lucilla to see +how he had thought of her for all these years; but her mind being, as +everybody is aware, of a nobly practical kind, her thoughts, instead of +dallying with these tokens of the past, went forward with serious +solicitude into the future. The marriage could not take place until the +year was out; and there was, accordingly, time to arrange everything, +and to settle all the necessary preliminaries to a point as near +perfection as is possible to merely human details. Tom, no doubt, was +very urgent and pressing, and would have precipitated everything, and +had the whole business concluded to-morrow, if he could have had his +way. But the fact was that, having once given in to him in the memorable +way which we have already recorded, Lucilla did not now, so far as the +final arrangements were concerned, make much account of Tom's wishes. +Heaven be praised, there was one of the two who knew what was right and +proper, and was not to be moved from the correct path by any absurd +representations. Miss Marjoribanks was revolving all these important +questions when she laid her hand by chance, as people say, upon the +_Carlingford Gazette_, all damp and inky, which had just been laid upon +the library table. It contained, of course, all the news of the +election, but Lucilla was too well acquainted with that beforehand to +think of condescending to derive her information from a newspaper. She +looked at the advertisements with an eye which saw all that was there +without pausing upon anything in particular. She saw the usual notice +about marmalade oranges, and the announcement that young Mr Vincent, who +after that made himself so well known in Carlingford, was to preach the +next Sunday in Salem Chapel, and all the other important novelties in +the place; but naturally she took but a moderate amount of interest in +such details as these. + +Suddenly, however, Lucilla's eye, which, if it could ever be said to be +vacant, had been regarding vacantly the list of advertisements, kindled +up, and all its usual energy and intelligence came back to it. Her +thoughtful face woke up as from a dream. Her head, which had been +drooping in pensive meditation, grew erect--her whole figure expanded. +She clasped her hands together, as if in the fervour of the moment, +nobody else being present, she could not refrain from shaking hands with +herself, and giving vent to a self-congratulation. "It is a special +providence," said Lucilla to herself, with her usual piety; and then she +folded up the paper in a little square, with the announcement in the +middle which had struck her so much, and placed it where Tom could not +fail to see it when he came in, and went upstairs with a new and +definite direction given to her thoughts. That was how it must be! +Lucilla, for her part, felt no difficulty in discerning the leadings of +Providence, and she could not but appreciate the readiness with which +her desires were attended to, and the prompt clearing-up of her +difficulties. There are people whose inclinations Providence does not +seem to superintend with such painstaking watchfulness; but then, no +doubt, that must be their own fault. + +And when Tom came in, they had what Aunt Jemima called "one of their +discussions" about their future life, although the only thing in it +worthy consideration, so far as Tom was concerned, seemed to be the time +when they should be married, which occupied at present all that hero's +faculties. "Everything else will arrange itself after, you know," he +said, with calm confidence. "Time enough for all the rest. The thing is, +Lucilla, to decide when you will leave off those formalities, and let It +be. Why shouldn't it be now? Do you think my uncle would wish to keep us +unhappy all for an idea?" + +"My dear Tom, I am not in the least unhappy," said Lucilla, interrupting +him sweetly, "nor you either, unless you tell dreadful stories; and as +for poor dear papa," Miss Marjoribanks added, with a sigh, "if we were +to do exactly as _he_ wished, I don't think It would ever be. If you +were not so foolish, you would not oblige me to say such things. Tom, +let us leave off talking nonsense--the thing that we both want is +something to do." + +"That is what _I_ want," said Tom quickly, "but as for you, Lucilla, you +shall do nothing but enjoy yourself and take care of yourself. The idea +of _you_ wanting something to do!" + +Miss Marjoribanks regarded her betrothed with mild and affectionate +contempt as he thus delivered himself of his foolish sentiments. "It is +of no use trying to make him understand," she said, with an air of +resignation. "Do you know that I have always been doing something, and +responsible for something, all my life?" + +"Yes, my poor darling," said Tom, "I know; but now you are in my hands I +mean to take care of you, Lucilla; you shall have no more anxiety or +trouble. What is the good of a man if he can't save the woman he is fond +of from all that?" cried the honest fellow--and Lucilla could not but +cast a despairing glance round her, as if appealing to heaven and earth. +What was to be done with a man who had so little understanding of her, +and of himself, and of the eternal fitness of things? + +"My dear Tom," she said once more, mildly, "we may have lost some money, +but we are very well off, and Providence has been very kind to us. And +there are a great many poor people in the world who are not so well off. +I have always tried to be of some use to my fellow-creatures," said +Lucilla, "and I don't mean, whatever you may say, to give it up now." + +"My dearest Lucilla, if it was the poor you were thinking of----! I +might have known it was something different from my stupid notions," +cried Tom. This kind of adoration was new to Lucilla, notwithstanding +her many experiences. And he thought it so good of her to condescend to +be good, that she could not help thinking a little better of herself +than ordinary, though that, perhaps, was not absolutely needful; and +then she proceeded with the elucidation of her views. + +"I have been of some use to my fellow-creatures in my way," said Miss +Marjoribanks modestly, "but it has been hard work, and people are not +always grateful, you know. And then things are a good deal changed in +Carlingford. A woman may devote herself to putting some life into +society, and give up years of her time, and--and even her opportunities +and all that, and do a great deal of good; but yet if she is put aside +for a moment, there is an end of it. I have been doing the best I could +for Carlingford for ten years," said Lucilla, with a little natural +sadness, "and if any one were to examine into it, where is it all now? +They have only got into the way of looking to me; and I do believe if +you were to go up and down from Elsworthy's to St Roque's, though you +might find people at dinner here and there, you would not find a shadow +of what could really be called society in all Grange Lane!" + +Lucilla paused, for naturally her feelings were moved, and while Tom +bent over her with tender and respectful devotion, it was not to be +wondered at if Miss Marjoribanks, in the emotion of her heart, should +wipe away a tear. + +"After working at it for ten years!" said Lucilla; "and now, since poor +papa died, who was always full of discrimination----This is what will +come of it, Tom," she added solemnly--"they will go back to their old +ridiculous parties, as if they had never seen anything better; and they +will all break up into little cliques, and make their awful morning +calls and freeze one another to death. That will be the end of it all, +after one has slaved like a--like a woman in a mill," said the +disappointed reformer, "and given up ten years." + +"My poor darling!" cried Tom, who would have liked to go and challenge +Carlingford for being so insensible to his Lucilla's devotion and +cherishing maternal care. + +"But if it had been the poor," said Miss Marjoribanks, recovering her +spirits a little, "they could not help being the better for what one did +for them. They might continue to be as stupid as ever, and ungrateful, +and all that; but if they were warm and comfortable, instead of cold and +hungry, it would always make a difference. Tom, I will tell you what you +will do if you want to please me. You will take all our money and +realise it, you know, whatever that means, and go off directly, as fast +as the train can carry you, and buy an Estate." + +"An estate!" cried Tom, in consternation; and the magnitude of the word +was such, and Lucilla was so entirely in earnest, that he jumped from +his chair and gazed at her as if constrained, notwithstanding his +amazement, to rush off instantly and obey. + +"I did not mean just this moment," said Lucilla; "sit down and we can +talk it all over, Tom. You know it would be something for you to do; you +cannot just go living on like this at your age; you could improve the +land, you know, and do all that sort of thing, and the people you could +leave to me." + +"But Lucilla," said Tom, recovering a little from his consternation, "it +is not so easy buying an estate. I mean all that I have to be settled +upon you, in case of anything happening. Land may be a safe enough +investment; but you know, very often, Lucilla--the fact is, it doesn't +pay." + +"_We_ could make it pay," said Miss Marjoribanks, with a benevolent +smile, "and besides there are estates and estates. I don't want you to +go and throw away your money. It was in the _Carlingford Gazette_ this +morning, and I can't help feeling it was a special providence. Of course +you never looked at it in the paper, though I marked it for you. Tom, it +is Marchbank that I want you to buy. You know how papa used to talk of +it. He used to say it was just a nice little property that a gentleman +could manage. If he had been spared," said Lucilla, putting her +handkerchief to her eyes, "and these wicked dreadful people had not +failed, nor nothing happened, I know he would have bought it himself. +Dear papa! and he would have given it to me; and most likely, so far as +one can tell, it would have come to you at the last, and you would have +been Marjoribanks of Marchbank, like our great-great-grandpapa; and that +is what I want you to do." + +Lucilla's proposition, as it thus unfolded itself, took away Tom +Marjoribanks's breath, for notwithstanding that it came from a (young) +lady, and was confused by some slightly unintelligible conditions about +doing good to one's fellow-creatures, it was not a trifling or romantic +suggestion. Tom, too, could remember Marchbank, and his uncle's interest +in it, and the careful way in which he explained to the ignorant that +this was the correct pronunciation of his own name. While Lucilla made +her concluding address, Tom seemed to see himself a little fellow, with +his eyes and his ears very wide open, trotting about with small steps +after the Doctor, as he went over the red-brick house and neglected +gardens at Marchbank: it was only to be let then, and had passed through +many hands, and was in miserable case, both lands and house. But neither +the lands nor the house were bad of themselves, and Tom was, like +Lucilla, perfectly well aware that something might be made of them. + +This idea gave a new direction to his thoughts. Though he had been +brought up to the bar, he had never been a lover of town, and was in +reality, like so many young Englishmen, better qualified to be something +in the shape of a country gentleman than for any other profession in the +world; and he had left his profession behind, and was in most urgent +want of something to do. He did not give in at once with a lover's +abject submission, but thought it over for twenty-four hours at all his +spare moments,--when he was smoking his evening cigar in the garden, +and studying the light in his lady's window, and when he ought to have +been asleep, and again in the morning when he sallied forth, before Miss +Marjoribanks's blinds were drawn up or the house had fairly awoke. He +was not a man of brilliant ability, but he had that sure and steady eye +for the real secret of a position which must have been revealed to every +competent critic by the wonderful clear-sightedness with which he saw, +and the wise persistence with which he held to the necessity of an +immediate choice between himself and Mr Ashburton. He had seen that +there was but one alternative, and he had suffered no delay nor +divergence from the question in hand. And it was this same quality which +had helped him to the very pretty addition to his small patrimony which +he had meant to settle on Lucilla, and which would now make the +acquisition of Marchbank an easy thing enough. And though Tom had looked +wise on the subject of investment in land, it was a kind of investment +in every way agreeable to him. Thus Lucilla's arrow went straight to the +mark--straighter even than she had expected; for besides all the other +and more substantial considerations, there was to Tom's mind a sweet +sense of poetic justice in the thought that, after his poor uncle's +failure, who had never thought him good enough for Lucilla, it should be +he and no other who would give this coveted possession to his cousin. +Had Marchbank been in the market in Dr Marjoribanks's time, it was, as +Lucilla herself said, his money that would have bought it; but in such a +case, so far as the Doctor was concerned, there would have been little +chance for Tom. Now all that was changed, and it was in Tom's hands that +the wealth of the family lay. It was he who was the head, and could +alone carry out what Lucilla's more original genius suggested. If the +Doctor could but have seen it, he who had formed plans so very +different--but perhaps by that time Dr Marjoribanks had found out that +Providence after all had not been so ill-advised as he once thought in +committing to his care such a creative intelligence as that of Lucilla, +and withholding from him "the boy." + +As for Miss Marjoribanks, after she had made up her mind and stated her +conviction, she gave herself no further trouble on the subject, but took +it for granted, with that true wisdom which is unfortunately so rare +among women. She did not talk about it overmuch, or display any feverish +anxiety about Marchbank, but left her suggestion to work, and had faith +in Tom. At the same time, the tranquillising sense of now knowing, to a +certain extent, what lay before her came into Lucilla's mind. It would +be a new sphere, but a sphere in which she would find herself at home. +Still near enough to Carlingford to keep a watchful eye upon society and +give it the benefit of her experience, and yet at the same time +translated into a new world, where her influence might be of untold +advantage, as Lucilla modestly said, to her fellow-creatures. There was +a village not far from the gates at Marchbank, where every kind of +village nuisance was to be found. There are people who are very tragical +about village nuisances, and there are other people who assail them with +loathing, as a duty forced upon their consciences; but Lucilla was +neither of the one way of thinking nor of the other. It gave her the +liveliest satisfaction to think of all the disorder and disarray of the +Marchbank village. Her fingers itched to be at it--to set all the +crooked things straight, and clean away the rubbish, and set everything, +as she said, on a sound foundation. If it had been a model village, with +prize flower-gardens and clean as Arcadia, the thought of it would not +have given Miss Marjoribanks half so much pleasure. The recollection of +all the wretched hovels and miserable cottages exhilarated her heart. + +"They may be as stupid and ungrateful as they like," she said to +herself, "but to be warm and comfortable instead of cold and hungry +always makes a difference." Perhaps it was not the highest motive +possible, and it might be more satisfactory to some people to think of +Lucilla as actuated by lofty sentiments of philanthropy; but to persons +acquainted with Miss Marjoribanks's character, her biographer would +scorn to make any pretence. What would be the good of a spirit full of +boundless activity and benevolent impulses if there was nobody to +help?--what would be the use of self-devotion if the race in general +stood in no need of charitable ministrations? Lucilla had been of use to +her fellow-creatures all her life; and though she was about to +relinquish one branch of usefulness, that was not to say that she should +be prevented from entering into another. The state of the Marchbank +village did her good to the very bottom of her soul. It justified her to +herself for her choice of Tom, which, but for this chance of doing good, +might perhaps have had the air of a merely selfish personal preference. +Now she could regard it in a loftier light, and the thought was sweet +to Lucilla; for such a beautiful way of helping her neighbour would no +doubt have been to a certain extent impracticable amid the many +occupations of the Member's wife. + +Perhaps the most difficult thing in Miss Marjoribanks's way at this +otherwise satisfactory moment was the difficulty she found in persuading +society, first of the reality, and then of the justice, of the step she +had taken. Most of them, to tell the truth, had forgotten all about Tom +Marjoribanks. It is true that when Lucilla's intentions and prospects +were discussed in Grange Lane, as they had been so often, it was not +uncommon for people to say, "There was once a cousin, you know"; but +nobody had ever given very much heed to the suggestion. When Lucilla +went to tell Mrs Chiley of what had happened, she was but inadequately +prepared for the surprise with which her intelligence was received. For +it all seemed natural enough to Miss Marjoribanks. She had gone on very +steadily for a long time, without thinking particularly about anybody, +and disposed to accept the most eligible and satisfactory person who +happened to present himself; but all the time there had been a warm +corner in her heart for Tom. And then the eligible person had not come, +and she had been worried and wearied, and had had her losses, like most +other people. And it had always been pleasant to remember that there was +one man in the world who, if she but held out a finger to him----But +then the people in Grange Lane were not capable of discrimination on +such a delicate subject, and had never, as was to be expected, had the +smallest insight into Lucilla's heart. + +"You have something to tell me, Lucilla?" said old Mrs Chiley. "You need +not say no, for I can see it in your eyes. And how lucky it is the +Colonel is out, and we can have it all to ourselves! Come here and sit +by me, and tell me all--every word." + +"Dear Mrs Chiley," said Lucilla, "you can always see what one means +before one says a word. And it has all happened so suddenly; but the +very first thing I thought of doing was to come and tell you." + +Mrs Chiley gave her young friend, who was leaning over her, a hug, which +was the only answer which could be made to so touching a speech, and +drew Lucilla down upon a low chair that had been placed by the side of +her sofa. She kept Miss Marjoribanks's hand in her own, and caressed it, +and looked at her with satisfaction in every line of her face. After +waiting so long, and having so many disappointments, everything was +going to turn out so entirely as it ought to do at last. + +"I think I know what you are going to tell me, my dear," said Mrs +Chiley; "and I am so pleased, Lucilla. I only wonder you did not give me +a hint from the very first. You remember I asked you when you came here +that snowy evening. I was a hard-hearted old woman, and I dare say you +were very vexed; but I am so glad to think that the Colonel never stood +out against him, but gave his consent that very day." + +This was the moment, if there ever was such a moment, when Lucilla lost +courage. Mrs Chiley was so entirely confident as to what was coming, and +it was something so different that was really coming; and it was hard +upon Miss Marjoribanks to feel that she was about to disappoint +everybody's expectations. She had to clear her throat before she +spoke--she who was generally so ready for every emergency; and she could +not help feeling for the moment as if she was a young girl who had run +away with somebody, and deceived all her anxious friends. + +"Dear Mrs Chiley, I am afraid I am not going to say what you expected," +said Lucilla. "I am very comfortable and happy, and I think it's for the +best; and I am so anxious that you should like him; but it is not the +person you are thinking of. It is----" + +Here the old lady, to Lucilla's surprise, rose up upon her pillows and +threw her arms round her, and kissed her over again, and fell a-crying. +"I always said how generous you were, Lucilla," cried Mrs Chiley. "I +knew it from the first. I was always fond of him, you know; and now that +he has been beaten, poor dear, and disappointed, you've gone and made it +up to him! Lucilla, other people may say what they like, but it is just +what I always expected of you!" + +This unlooked-for burst of enthusiasm took Lucilla entirely by surprise. +She could not say in reply that Mr Cavendish did not want her to make it +up to him; but the fact that this was the only alternative which +occurred to Mrs Chiley filled Miss Marjoribanks with a sense of +something like positive guilt. She had deceived everybody, and raised +false expectations, and how was she to explain herself? It was with +humility and embarrassment that she spoke. + +"I don't know what you will say when you hear who it really is," she +said. "He has been fond of me all this time, though he has been so far +away. He went to India because I sent him, and he came back as soon as +ever he heard about--what had happened. And what could I do? I could not +be so ungrateful or so hard-hearted _again_, as to send him away?" + +"Lucilla, who is it?" said Mrs Chiley, growing pale--for she generally +had a little wintry bloom on her cheek like the China roses she was so +fond of. "Don't keep me like this in suspense." + +"Dear Mrs Chiley," said Lucilla, with the brevity of excitement, "I +don't see what other person in the world it could be but my cousin Tom." + +Poor Mrs Chiley started, so that the sofa and Lucilla's chair and the +very room shook. She said herself afterwards that she felt as if +somebody had discharged a pistol into her breast. She was so shocked and +startled that she threw off all her coverings and the Afghanistan +blanket Mrs Beverley had sent, and put her tottering old feet to the +floor; and then she took her young friend solemnly by both her hands. + +"Oh, Lucilla, my poor dear!" she cried, "you have gone and done it +without thinking what you were doing. You have taken it into your head +that it was all over, and that there was nothing more to look for. And +you are only nine-and-twenty, Lucilla; and many a girl marries very +well--better than common--long after she's nine-and-twenty; and I know +for a fact--oh! my poor dear child, I know for a _certain_ fact!--that +Mr Ashburton was coming forward. He as good as said it to Lady Richmond, +Lucilla. He as good as said, as soon as the election was over--and now +you have gone and got impatient, and thrown yourself away!" + +Miss Marjoribanks was quite carried away for the moment by this flood of +sorrowful eloquence. She was silenced, and had nothing to answer, and +accepted it as in some respect the just penalty for the disappointment +she was causing everybody. She let Mrs Chiley say out her say, and then +she restored the old lady to her sofa, and made her comfortable, and +covered her up with all her wraps and blankets. Though she ran on in a +feeble strain all the time weeping and lamenting, Lucilla took no +notice. She wrapped her old friend up, and put her pillows just as she +liked them, and sat down again on the low chair; and by that time the +poor old lady had sunk into a faint sob of vexation and disappointment, +and had given her remonstrances up. + +"Now, I will tell you all about it," said Miss Marjoribanks. "I knew you +would be surprised; and if it would be any comfort to you, dear Mrs +Chiley, to know that Mr Ashburton _did_----" + +"And you refused him, Lucilla?" Mrs Chiley asked, with horror in her +face. + +"Ought I to have accepted him when there was somebody I liked better?" +said Lucilla, with the force of conscious virtue, "and you used always +to say just the contrary. One great thing that supported me was, that +_you_ would be sure to understand. I did not know it at the time," said +Miss Marjoribanks, with sweet confidence and simplicity, "but I see it +all now. Why it never came to anything before, you know, was that I +never could in my heart have accepted anybody but Tom." + +Mrs Chiley turned round with unaffected surprise, which was not +unmingled with awe. Up to this moment she had been under the impression +that it was the blindness, and folly, and stupidity of the gentlemen +which had kept it from ever coming to anything. It was altogether a new +light that broke upon her now, confusing, though on the whole +satisfactory; but for the moment she was struck dumb, and had no answer +to make. + +"I never knew it myself until--quite lately," said Miss Marjoribanks, +with confidential tenderness, "and I don't think I could tell it to any +one but you. Dear Mrs Chiley, you have always taken such an interest in +me! I sent him away, you know, and thought I was only fond of him +because he was my cousin. And then there were all the others, and some +of them were very nice; but always when it came to the point--And it +never came into my head that Tom was at the bottom of it all--never till +the other day." + +Mrs Chiley was still so much confounded by this unexpected revelation +that it was some time before she could find her voice; and even now the +light penetrated slowly into her mind, and it was only by degrees that +she accepted the new fact thus presented to her faith--that it was not +the gentlemen who were to blame--that it was all Lucilla's or rather Tom +Marjoribanks's fault. + +"And Mr Ashburton, Lucilla?" she asked faintly. + +"I am very sorry," said Miss Marjoribanks, "very, very sorry; but I +don't think I can blame myself that I gave him encouragement, you know. +I may have been foolish at other times, but I am sure I was very careful +with him. It was all the election that was to blame. I spoke very +frankly to him," Lucilla added, "for I knew he was a man to do me +justice; and it will always be a comfort to me to think that we had +our--our explanation, you know, before I knew it was Tom." + +"Well, Lucilla, it is a great change," said Mrs Chiley, who could not +reconcile herself to the new condition of affairs. "I don't mean to +pretend that I can make up my mind to it all at once. It seems so +strange that you should have been setting your heart on some one all +these ten years, and never saying a word; I wonder how you could do it. +And when people were always in the hopes that you would marry at home, +as it were, and settle in Carlingford. I am sure your poor dear papa +would be as much astonished as anybody. And I suppose now he will take +you away to Devonshire, where his mother lives, and we shall never see +you any more." And once more Mrs Chiley gave a little sob. "The Firs +would almost have been as good as Grange Lane," she said, "and the +Member for Carlingford, Lucilla!" + +As for Miss Marjoribanks, she knelt down by the side of the sofa and +took her old friend, as well as the blankets and pillows would permit, +into her arms. + +"Dear Mrs Chiley, we are going to buy Marchbank and settle," said +Lucilla, weeping a little for company. "You could not think I would ever +go far away from you. And as for being Member for Carlingford, there are +Members for counties too," Miss Marjoribanks said in her excitement. It +was a revelation which came out unawares, and which she never intended +to utter; but it threw a gleam of light over the new world of ambition +and progress which was opened to Lucilla's far-seeing vision; and Mrs +Chiley could not but yield to the spell of mingled awe and sympathy +which thrilled through her as she listened. It was not to be supposed +that what Lucilla did was done upon mere unthinking impulse; and when +she thought of Marchbank, there arose in Mrs Chiley's mind "the slow +beginnings of content." + +"But, Lucilla," the old lady said with solemnity, as she gave her a last +kiss of reconciliation and peace, "if all Grange Lane had taken their +oaths to it, I never could have believed, had you not told me, that, +after all, it was to be Tom!" + + + + +_Chapter the Last_ + + +This was the hardest personal encounter which Miss Marjoribanks was +subjected to; but when the news circulated in Grange Lane there was +first a dead pause of incredulity and amazement, and then such a +commotion as could be compared to nothing except a sudden squall at sea. +People who had been going peaceably on their way at one moment, thinking +of nothing, were to be seen the next buffeted by the wind of Rumour and +tossed about on the waves of Astonishment. To speak less metaphorically +(but there are moments of emotion so overwhelming and unprecedented that +they can be dealt with only in the language of metaphor), every +household in Grange Lane, and at least half of the humbler houses in +Grove Street, and a large proportion of the other dwellings in +Carlingford, were nearly as much agitated about Lucilla's marriage as if +it had been a daughter of their own. Now that he was recalled to their +minds in such a startling way, people began to recollect with greater +and greater distinctness that "there was once a cousin, you know," and +to remember him in his youth, and even in his boyhood, when he had been +much in Carlingford. And by degrees the Grange Lane people came to see +that they knew a great deal about Tom, and to remind each other of the +abrupt end of his last visit, and of his going to India immediately +after, and of many a little circumstance in Lucilla's looks and general +demeanour which this _dénouement_ seemed to make plain. + +Lady Richmond, though she was a little annoyed about Mr Ashburton's +disappointment, decided at once that it was best to ignore that +altogether, and was quite glad to think that she had always said there +must be somebody. "She bore up a great deal too well against all her +little disappointments," she said, when discussing the matter. "When a +girl does that one may be always sure there is somebody behind--and you +know I always said, when she was not just talking or busy, that there +was a preoccupation in Lucilla's eye." This was a speech which Mrs +Woodburn, as might have been expected, made a great deal of--but, +notwithstanding, it had its effect in Grange Lane. Going back upon their +recollections, most people were able to verify the fact that Miss +Marjoribanks had borne her little disappointments very well, and that +there was sometimes a preoccupation in her eye. The first was beyond +dispute; and as for the second, it was a thing which did not require a +very great stretch of imagination to suppose--and the unexpected +sensation of finding at last a distinct bit of romance to round off +Lucilla's history, was pleasant to most people. If she had married Mr +Ashburton, it would have been (so far as anything connected with Miss +Marjoribanks could be) a commonplace conclusion. But now she had upset +everybody's theories, and made an altogether original and unlooked-for +ending for herself, which was a thing to have been expected from +Lucilla, though nobody could have foreseen the special turn which her +originality would take. + +And nothing could have come in more appropriately after the election, +when people felt the blank of ordinary existence just beginning to +settle down upon them again. It kept all Carlingford in conversation for +a longer time than might be supposed in these busy days; for there was +not only the fact itself, but what _they_ were to do, and where they +were to go, to be discussed. And then Tom himself began to be visible +about Grange Lane; and he had heaps of Indian things among his baggage, +and recollected so affectionately the people he used to know, and +dispensed his curiosities with such a liberal hand, that the heart of +Carlingford was touched. He had a way of miscalculating distances, as +has been said, and exercised some kind of magnetic influence upon all +the little tables and unsteady articles of furniture, which somehow +seemed to fall if he but looked at them. But, on the other hand, John +Brown, who had in hand the sale of Marchbank, found him the most +straightforward and clear-headed of clients. The two had all the +preliminaries arranged before any other intending purchaser had time to +turn the matter over in his mind. And Tom had the old brick house full +of workmen before anybody knew it was his. When the summer had fairly +commenced he went over and lived there, and saw to everything, and went +so far as to fit up the drawing-room with the same well-remembered tint +of pale green which had been found ten years ago to suit so well with +Lucilla's complexion. It was perhaps a little hazardous to repeat the +experiment, for green, as everybody knows, is a very trying colour; but +it was a most touching and triumphant proof that to Tom, at least, +Lucilla was as young as ever, and had not even begun to go off. It was +Mr Holden who supplied everything, and he was naturally proud of the +trust thus reposed in him, and formed the very highest opinion of his +customer; and it was probably from his enthusiasm on this subject that +might be traced the commencement of that singular revolution of +sentiment in Grange Lane, which suddenly woke up all in an instant +without knowing how, to recognise the existence of Mr Marjoribanks, and +to forget the undue familiarity which had ventured upon the name of Tom. + +When Lucilla went over in the most proper and decorous way, under the +charge of Aunt Jemima, to see her future home, the sight of the village +at Marchbank was sweet to her eyes. That it was not by any means sweet +to any other sense did but enhance Miss Marjoribanks's satisfaction. "A +year after this!" she said to herself, and her bosom swelled; for to +realise clearly how much she had it in her power to do for her +fellow-creatures was indeed a pleasure. It occupied her a great deal +more than the gardens did, which Tom was arranging so carefully, or even +than the kitchen, which she inspected for the information of Nancy; for +at that time the drawing-room was not fitted up. Lucilla's eyes went +over the moral wilderness with the practical glance of a statesman, and, +at the same time, the sanguine enthusiasm of a philanthropist. She saw +of what it was capable, and already, in imagination, the desert +blossomed like a rose before her beneficent steps, and the sweet sense +of well-doing rose in her breast. And then to see Tom at Marchbank was +to see his qualities. He was not a man of original mind, nor one who +would be likely to take a bold initiative. Considering all the +circumstances, that was a gift which was scarcely to be wished for; but +he had a perfect genius for carrying out a suggestion, which, it need +scarcely be added, was a faculty that, considering the good fortune +which Providence had so long reserved for him, made his character as +near perfect as humanity permits. Lucilla felt, indeed, as she drove +away, that approbation of Providence which a well-regulated mind, in +possession of most things which it desires, might be expected to feel. +Other delusive fancies _had_ one time and another swept across her +horizon; but after all there could be no doubt that only thus could she +have been fitly mated, and full development afforded to all the +resources of her spirit. As the carriage passed the Firs she sighed and +put down her veil with a natural sentiment; but still she felt it was +for the best. The Member for Carlingford must be a busy man, occupied +about his own affairs, and with little leisure for doing good to his +fellow-creatures except in a parliamentary way. "And there are members +for counties as well," Lucilla, in the depths of her soul, said to +herself. Then there rose up before her a vision of a parish saved, a +village reformed, a county reorganised, and a triumphant election at the +end, the recompense and crown of all, which should put the government of +the country itself, to a certain extent, into competent hands. This was +the celestial vision which floated before Miss Marjoribanks's eyes as +she drove into Carlingford, and recollected, notwithstanding occasional +moments of discouragement, the successful work she had done, and the +good she had achieved in her native town. It was but the natural +culmination of her career that transferred her from the town to the +county, and held out to her the glorious task of serving her generation +in a twofold way, among the poor and among the rich. If a momentary sigh +for Grange Lane, which was about to lose her, breathed from her lips, it +was sweetened by a smile of satisfaction for the county which was about +to gain her. The lighter preface of life was past, and Lucilla had the +comfort of feeling that its course had been full of benefit to her +fellow-creatures; and now a larger sphere opened before her feet, and +Miss Marjoribanks felt that the arrangements of Providence were on the +whole full of discrimination, and that all was for the best, and she had +not lived in vain. + +This being the case, perhaps it is not necessary to go much further into +detail. Mr Ashburton never said anything about his disappointment, as +might have been expected. When he did mention that eventful day at all, +he said that he had happened accidentally to be calling on Miss +Marjoribanks the day her cousin came home, and saw at once the state of +affairs; and he sent her a very nice present when she was married. After +all, it was not her fault. If Providence had ordained that it was to be +Tom, how could Lucilla fly in the face of such an ordinance? and, at the +same time, there was to both parties the consoling reflection, that +whatever might happen to them as individuals, the best man had been +chosen for Carlingford, which was an abiding benefit to all concerned. + +Under all the circumstances, it was to be looked for that Miss +Marjoribanks's spirits should improve even in her mourning, and that the +tenacity with which she clung to her father's house should yield to the +changed state of affairs. This was so much the case, that Lucilla took +heart to show Mrs Rider all over it, and to point out all the +conveniences to her, and even, with a sigh, to call her attention to the +bell which hung over the Doctor's bedroom door. "It breaks my heart to +hear it," Miss Marjoribanks said; "but still Dr Rider will find it a +great convenience." It was a very nice house; and so the new Doctor's +wife, who had not been used to anything so spacious, was very willing to +say; and instead of feeling any grudge against the man who was thus in +every respect to take her father's place, so sweet are the softening +influences of time and personal well-being, that Lucilla, who was always +so good-natured, made many little arrangements for their comfort, and +even _left the carpets_, which was a thing nobody could have expected of +her, and which Aunt Jemima did not scruple to condemn. "They are all +fitted," Lucilla said, "and if they were taken up they would be spoiled; +and besides, we could have no use for them at Marchbank." It was a very +kind thing to do, and simplified matters very much for the Riders, who +were not rich. But Aunt Jemima, in the background, could not but pull +Lucilla's sleeve, and mutter indistinct remarks about a valuation, which +nobody paid any particular attention to at the moment, as there were so +many things much more important to think of and to do. + +And the presents that came pouring in from every quarter were enough to +have made up for twenty carpets. Lucilla got testimonials, so to speak, +from every side, and all Carlingford interested itself, as has been +said, in all the details of the marriage, as if it had been a daughter +of its own. "And yet it is odd to think that, after all, I shall never +be anything but Lucilla Marjoribanks!" she said, in the midst of all her +triumphs, with a certain pensiveness. If there could be any name that +would have suited her better, or is surrounded by more touching +associations, we leave it to her other friends to find out; for at the +moment of taking leave of her, there is something consoling to our own +mind in the thought that Lucilla can now suffer no change of name. As +she was in the first freshness of her youthful daring, when she rose +like the sun upon the chaos of society in Carlingford, so is she now as +she goes forth into the County to carry light and progress there. And +in this reflection there is surely comfort for the few remaining +malcontents, whom not even his own excellent qualities, and Lucilla's +happiness, can reconcile to the fact that after all it was Tom. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Miss Marjoribanks, by Mrs (Margaret) Oliphant + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41286 *** |