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diff --git a/old/pygst10.txt b/old/pygst10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..02295ce --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pygst10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3582 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Paying Guest, by George Gissing +#4 in our series by George Gissing + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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You must feel lonely, now and +then, during the day, and as we have plenty of room--' + +Emmeline took the matter seriously, but, being a young woman of some +discretion, did not voice all her thoughts. The rent was heavy: so +was the cost of Clarence's season-ticket. Against this they had set +the advantage of the fine air of Sutton, so good for the child and +for the mother, both vastly better in health since they quitted +London. Moreover, the remoteness of their friends favoured economy; +they could easily decline invitations, and need not often issue +them. They had a valid excuse for avoiding public entertainments--an +expense so often imposed by mere fashion. The house was roomy, the +garden delightful. Clarence, good fellow, might be sincere in his +wish for her to have companionship; at the same time, this +advertisement had probably appealed to him in another way. + +'A YOUNG LADY desires to find a home with respectable, +well-connected family, in a suburb of London, or not more than 15 +miles from Charing Cross. Can give excellent references. Terms not +so much a consideration as comfort and pleasant society. No +boarding-house.--Address: Louise, Messrs. Higgins & Co., Fenchurch +St., E.C.' + +She read it again and again. + +'It wouldn't be nice if people said that we were taking lodgers.' + +'No fear of that. This is evidently some well-to-do person. It's a +very common arrangement nowadays, you know; they are called "paying +guests." Of course I shouldn't dream of having anyone you didn't +thoroughly like the look of.' + +'Do you think,' asked Emmeline doubtfully, 'that we should quite +_do_? "Well-connected family"--' + +'My dear girl! Surely we have nothing to be ashamed of?' + +'Of course not, Clarence. But--and "pleasant society." What about +that?' + +'Your society is pleasant enough, I hope,' answered Mumford, +gracefully. 'And the Fentimans--' + +This was the only family with whom they were intimate at Sutton. +Nice people; a trifle sober, perhaps, and not in conspicuously +flourishing circumstances; but perfectly presentable. + +'I'm afraid--' murmured Emmeline, and stopped short. 'As you say,' +she added presently, 'this is someone very well off. "Terms not so +much a consideration"--' + +'Well, I tell you what--there can be no harm in dropping a note. The +kind of note that commits one to nothing, you know. Shall I write +it, or will you?' + +They concocted it together, and the rough draft was copied by +Emmeline. She wrote a very pretty hand, and had no difficulty +whatever about punctuation. A careful letter, calculated for the eye +of refinement; it supplied only the indispensable details of the +writer's position, and left terms for future adjustment. + +'It's so easy to explain to people,' said Mumford, with an air of +satisfaction, when he came back from the post, 'that you wanted a +companion. As I'm quite sure you do. A friend coming to stay with +you for a time--that's how I should put it.' + +A week passed, and there came no reply. Mumford pretended not to +care much, but Emmeline imagined a new anxiety in his look. + +'Do be frank with me, dear,' she urged one evening. 'Are we living +too--' + +He answered her with entire truthfulness. Ground for serious +uneasiness there was none whatever; he could more than make ends +meet, and had every reason to hope it would always be so; but it +would relieve his mind if the end of the year saw a rather larger +surplus. He was now five-and-thirty--getting on in life. A man ought +to make provision beyond the mere life-assurance--and so on. + +'Shall I look out for other advertisements?' asked Emmeline. + +'Oh, dear, no! It was just that particular one that caught my eye.' + +Next morning arrived a letter, signed 'Louise E. Derrick.' The +writer said she had been waiting to compare and think over some two +hundred answers to her advertisement. 'It's really too absurd. How +can I remember them all? But I liked yours as soon as I read it, and +I am writing to you first of all. Will you let me come and see you? +I can tell you about myself much better than writing. Would tomorrow +do, in the afternoon? Please telegraph yes or no to Coburg Lodge, +Emilia Road, Tulse Hill.' + +To think over this letter Mumford missed his ordinary train. It was +not exactly the kind of letter he had expected, and Emmeline shared +his doubts. The handwriting seemed just passable; there was no +orthographic error; but--refinement? This young person wrote, too, +with such singular nonchalance. And she said absolutely nothing +about her domestic circumstances. Coburg Lodge, Tulse Hill. A decent +enough locality, doubtless; but-- + +'There's no harm in seeing her,' said Emmeline at length. 'Send a +telegram, Clarence. Do you know, I think she _may_ be the right kind +of girl. I was thinking of someone awfully grand, and it's rather a +relief. After all, you see, you--you are in business--' + +'To be sure. And this girl seems to belong to a business family. I +only wish she wrote in a more ladylike way.' + +Emmeline set her house in order, filled the drawing-room with +flowers, made the spare bedroom as inviting as possible, and, after +luncheon, spent a good deal of time in adorning her person. She was +a slight, pretty woman of something less than thirty; with a good, +but pale, complexion, hair tending to auburn, sincere eyes. Her +little vanities had no roots of ill-nature; she could admire without +envy, and loved an orderly domestic life. Her husband's desire to +increase his income had rather unsettled her; she exaggerated the +importance of to-day's interview, and resolved with nervous energy +to bring it to a successful issue, if Miss Derrick should prove a +possible companion. + +About four o'clock sounded the visitor's ring. From her bedroom +window Emmeline had seen Miss Derrick's approach. As the distance +from the station was only five minutes' walk, the stranger naturally +came on foot. A dark girl, and of tolerably good features; rather +dressy; with a carriage corresponding to the tone of her letter--an +easy swing; head well up and shoulders squared. 'Oh, how I _hope_ +she isn't vulgar!' said Emmeline to herself. 'I don't like the +bat--I don't. And that sunshade with the immense handle.' From the +top of the stairs she heard a clear, unaffected voice: 'Mrs. Mumford +at home?' Yes, the aspirate _was_ sounded--thank goodness! + +It surprised her, on entering the room, to find that Miss Derrick +looked no less nervous than she was herself. The girl's cheeks were +flushed, and she half choked over her 'How do you do?' + +'I hope you had no difficulty in finding the house. I would have met +you at the station if you had mentioned the train. Oh, but--how +silly!--I shouldn't have known you.' + +Miss Derrick laughed, and seemed of a sudden much more at ease. + +'Oh, I like you for that!' she exclaimed mirthfully. 'It's just the +kind of thing I say myself sometimes. And I'm so glad to see that +you are--you mustn't be offended--I mean you're not the kind of +person to be afraid of.' + +They laughed together. Emmeline could not subdue her delight when +she found that the girl really might be accepted as a lady. There +were faults of costume undeniably; money had been misspent in +several directions; but no glaring vulgarity hurt the eye. And her +speech, though not strictly speaking refined, was free from the +faults that betray low origin. Then, she seemed good-natured though +there was something about her mouth not altogether charming. + +'Do you know Sutton at all?' Emmeline inquired. + +'Never was here before. But I like the look of it. I like this +house, too. I suppose you know a lot of people here, Mrs. Mumford?' + +'Well--no. There's only one family we know at all well. Our friends +live in London. Of course they often come out here. I don't know +whether you are acquainted with any of them. The Kirby Simpsons, of +West Kensington; and Mrs. Hollings, of Highgate--' + +Miss Derrick cast down her eyes and seemed to reflect. Then she +spoke abruptly. + +'I don't know any people to speak of. I ought to tell you that my +mother has come down with me. She's waiting at the station till I go +back; then she'll come and see you. You're surprised? Well, I had +better tell you that I'm leaving home because I can't get on with my +people. Mother and I have always quarrelled, but it has been worse +than ever lately. I must explain that she has married a second time, +and Mr. Higgins--I'm glad to say that isn't _my_ name--has a +daughter of his own by a first marriage; and we can't bear each +other--Miss Higgins, I mean. Some day, if I come to live here, I +daresay I shall tell you more. Mr. Higgins is rich, and I can't say +he's unkind to me; he'll give me as much as I want; but I'm sure +he'll be very glad to get me out of the house. I have no money of my +own--worse luck! Well, we thought it best for me to come alone, +first, and see--just to see, you know--whether we were likely to +suit each other. Then mother will come and tell you all she has to +say about me. Of course I know what it'll be. They all say I've a +horrible temper. I don't think so myself; and I'm sure I don't think +I should quarrel with _you_, you look so nice. But I can't get on at +home, and it's better for all that we should part. I'm just +two-and-twenty--do I look older? I haven't learnt to do anything, +and I suppose I shall never need to.' + +'Do you wish to see _much_ society?' inquired Mrs. Mumford, who was +thinking rapidly, 'or should you prefer a few really nice people? +I'm afraid I don't quite understand yet whether you want society of +the pleasure-seeking kind, or--' + +She left the alternative vague. Miss Derrick again reflected for a +moment before abruptly declaring herself. + +'I feel sure that your friends are the kind I want to know. At all +events, I should like to try. The great thing is to get away from +home and see how things look.' + +They laughed together. Emmeline, after a little more talk, offered +to take her visitor over the house, and Miss Derrick had loud praise +for everything she saw. + +'What I like about you,' she exclaimed of a sudden, as they stood +looking from a bedroom window on to the garden, 'is that you don't +put on any--you know what I mean. People seem to me to be generally +either low and ignorant, or so high and mighty there's no getting on +with them at all. You're just what I wanted to find. Now I must go +and send mother to see you.' + +Emmeline protested against this awkward proceeding. Why should not +both come together and have a cup of tea? If it were desired, Miss +Derrick could step into the garden whilst her mother said whatever +she wished to say. The girl assented, and in excellent spirits +betook herself to the railway station. Emmeline waited something +less than a quarter of an hour; then a hansom drove up, and Mrs. +Higgins, after a deliberate surveyal of the house front, followed +her daughter up the pathway. + +The first sight of the portly lady made the situation clearer to +Mrs. Mumford. Louise Derrick represented a certain stage of +civilisation, a degree of conscious striving for better things; Mrs. +Higgins was prosperous and self-satisfied vulgarity. Of a complexion +much lighter than the girl's, she still possessed a coarse +comeliness, which pointed back to the dairymaid type of damsel. Her +features revealed at the same time a kindly nature and an irascible +tendency. Monstrously overdressed, and weighted with costly gewgaws, +she came forward panting and perspiring, and, before paying any heed +to her hostess, closely surveyed the room. + +'Mrs. Mumford,' said the girl, 'this is my mother. Mother, this is +Mrs. Mumford. And now, please, let me go somewhere while you have +your talk.' + +'Yes, that'll be best, that'll be best,' exclaimed Mrs. Higgins. +'Dear, 'ow 'ot it is! Run out into the garden, Louise. Nice little +'ouse, Mrs. Mumford. And Louise seems quite taken with you. She +doesn't take to people very easy, either. Of course, you can give +satisfactory references? I like to do things in a business-like way. +I understand your 'usband is in the City; shouldn't wonder if he +knows some of Mr. 'Iggins's friends. Yes, I will take a cup, if you +please. I've just had one at the station, but it's such thirsty +weather. And what do you think of Louise? Because I'd very much +rather you said plainly if you don't think you could get on.' + +'But, indeed, I fancy we could, Mrs. Higgins.' + +'Well, I'm sure I'm very glad _of_ it. It isn't everybody can get on +with Louise. I dessay she's told you a good deal about me and her +stepfather. I don't think she's any reason to complain of the +treatment--' + +'She said you were both very kind to her,' interposed the hostess. + +'I'm sure we _try_ to be, and Mr. 'Iggins, he doesn't mind what he +gives her. A five-pound note, if you'll believe me, is no more than +a sixpence to him when he gives her presents. You see, Mrs. +Rumford--no, Mumford, isn't it?--I was first married very +young--scarcely eighteen, I was; and Mr. Derrick died on our +wedding-day, two years after. Then came Mr. 'Iggins. Of course I +waited a proper time. And one thing I can say, that no woman was +ever 'appier with two 'usbands than I've been. I've two sons growing +up, hearty boys as ever you saw. If it wasn't for this trouble with +Louise--' She stopped to wipe her face. 'I dessay she's told you +that Mr. 'Iggins, who was a widower when I met him, has a daughter +of his first marriage--her poor mother died at the birth, and she's +older than Louise. I don't mind telling _you_, Mrs. Mumford, she's +close upon six-and-twenty, and nothing like so good-looking as +Louise, neither. Mr. 'Iggins, he's kindness itself; but when it +comes to differences between his daughter and _my_ daughter, well, +it isn't in nature he shouldn't favour his own. There's more be'ind, +but I dessay you can guess, and I won't trouble you with things that +don't concern you. And that's how it stands, you see.' + +By a rapid calculation Emmeline discovered; with surprise, that Mrs. +Higgins could not be much more than forty years of age. It must have +been a life of gross self-indulgence that had made the woman look at +least ten years older. This very undesirable parentage naturally +affected Emmeline's opinion of Louise, whose faults began to show in +a more pronounced light. One thing was clear: but for the fact that +Louise aimed at a separation from her relatives, it would be barely +possible to think of receiving her. If Mrs. Higgins thought of +coming down to Sutton at unexpected moments--no, that was too +dreadful. + +'Should you wish, Mrs. Higgins, to entrust your daughter to me +entirely?' + +'My dear Mrs. Rumford, it's very little that _my_ wishes has to do +with it! She's made up her mind to leave 'ome, and all I can do is +to see she gets with respectable people, which I feel sure you are; +and of course I shall have your references.' + +Emmeline turned pale at the suggestion. She all but decided that the +matter must go no further. + +'And what might your terms be--inclusive?' Mrs. Higgins proceeded to +inquire. + +At this moment a servant entered with tea, and Emmeline, sorely +flurried, talked rapidly of the advantages of Sutton as a residence. +She did not allow her visitor to put in a word till the door closed +again. Then, with an air of decision, she announced her terms; they +would be three guineas a week. It was half a guinea more than she +and Clarence had decided to ask. She expected, she hoped, Mrs. +Higgins would look grave. But nothing of the kind; Louise's mother +seemed to think the suggestion very reasonable. Thereupon Emmeline +added that, of course, the young lady would discharge her own +laundress's bill. To this also Mrs. Higgins readily assented. + +'A hundred and sixty pounds per annum!' Emmeline kept repeating to +herself. And, alas! it looked as if she might have asked much more. +The reference difficulty might be minimised by naming her own +married sister, who lived at Blackheath, and Clarence's most +intimate friend, Mr. Tarling, who held a good position in a City +house, and had a most respectable address at West Kensington. But +her heart misgave her. She dreaded her husband's return home. + +The conversation was prolonged for half-an-hour. Emmeline gave her +references, and in return requested the like from Mrs. Higgins. This +astonished the good woman. Why, her husband was Messrs. 'Iggins of +Fenchurch Street! Oh, a mere formality, Emmeline hastened to +add--for Mr. Mumford's satisfaction. So Mrs. Higgins very pompously +named two City firms, and negotiations, for the present, were at an +end. + +Louise, summoned to the drawing-room, looked rather tired of +waiting. + +'When can you have me, Mrs. Mumford?' she asked. 'I've quite made up +my mind to come.' + +'I'm afraid a day or two must pass, Miss Derrick--' + +'The references, my dear,' began Mrs. Higgins. + +'Oh, nonsense! It's all right; anyone can see.' + +'There you go! Always cutting short the words in my mouth. I can't +endure such behaviour, and I wonder what Mrs. Rumford thinks of it. +I've given Mrs. Rumford fair warning--' + +They wrangled for a few minutes, Emmeline feeling too depressed and +anxious to interpose with polite commonplaces. When at length they +took their leave, she saw the last of them with a sigh of +thanksgiving. It had happened most fortunately that no one called +this afternoon. + +'Clarence, it's _quite_ out of the question.' Thus she greeted her +husband. 'The girl herself I could endure, but oh, her odious +mother!--Three guineas a week! I could cry over the thought.' + +By the first post in the morning came a letter from Louise. She +wrote appealingly, touchingly. 'I know you couldn't stand my mother, +but do please have me. I like Sutton, and I like your house, and I +like you. I promise faithfully nobody from home shall ever come to +see me, so don't be afraid. Of course if you won't have me, somebody +else will; I've got two hundred to choose from, but I'd rather come +to you. Do write and say I may come. I'm so sorry I quarrelled with +mother before you. I promise never to quarrel with you. I'm very +good-tempered when I get what I want.' With much more to the same +effect. + +'We _will_ have her,' declared Mumford. 'Why not, if the old people +keep away?--You are quite sure she sounds her _h's_?' + +'Oh, quite. She has been to pretty good schools, I think. And I dare +say I could persuade her to get other dresses and hats.' + +'Of course you could. Really, it seems almost a duty to take her-- +doesn't it?' + +So the matter was settled, and Mumford ran off gaily to catch his +train. + +Three days later Miss Derrick arrived, bringing with her something +like half-a-ton of luggage. She bounded up the doorsteps, and, +meeting Mrs. Mumford in the hall, kissed her fervently. + +'I've got such heaps to tell you Mr. Higgins has given me twenty +pounds to go on with--for myself; I mean; of course he'll pay +everything else. How delighted I am to be here! Please pay the +cabman I've got no change.' + +A few hours before this there had come a letter from Mrs. Higgins; +better written and spelt than would have seemed likely. + +'Dear Mrs. Mumford,' it ran, 'L. is coming to-morrow morning, and I +hope you won't repent. There's just one thing I meant to have said +to you but forgot, so I'll say it now. If it should happen that any +gentleman of your acquaintance takes a fancy to L., and if it should +come to anything, I'm sure both Mr. H. and me would be _most +thankful_, and Mr. H. would behave handsome to her. And what's more, +I'm sure he would be only too glad to show _in a handsome way_ the +thanks he would owe to you and Mr. M.--Very truly yours, Susan H. +Higgins.' + + + +CHAPTER II + + +'Runnymede' (so the Mumfords' house was named) stood on its own +little plot of ground in one of the tree-shadowed roads which +persuade the inhabitants of Sutton that they live in the country. It +was of red brick, and double-fronted, with a porch of wood and +stucco; bay windows on one side of the entrance, and flat on the +other, made a contrast pleasing to the suburban eye. The little +front garden had a close fence of unpainted lath, a characteristic +of the neighbourhood. At the back of the house lay a long, narrow +lawn, bordered with flower-beds, and shaded at the far end by a fine +horse-chestnut. + +Emmeline talked much of the delightful proximity of the Downs; one +would have imagined her taking long walks over the breezy uplands to +Ban stead or Epsom, or yet further afield The fact was, she saw no +more of the country than if she had lived at Brixton. Her windows +looked only upon the surrounding houses and their garden foliage. +Occasionally she walked along the asphalte pavement of the Brighton +Road--a nursemaids' promenade--as far as the stone which marks +twelve miles from Westminster Bridge. Here, indeed, she breathed the +air of the hills, but villas on either hand obstructed the view, and +brought London much nearer than the measured distance. Like her +friends and neighbours, Emmeline enjoyed Sutton because it was a +most respectable little portion of the great town, set in a purer +atmosphere. The country would have depressed her. + +In this respect Miss Derrick proved a congenial companion. Louise +made no pretence of rural inclinations, but had a great liking for +tree-shadowed asphalte, for the results of elaborate horticulture, +for the repose and the quiet of villadom. + +'I should like to have a house just like this,' she declared, on her +first evening at "Runnymede," talking with her host and hostess out +in the garden. 'It's quite big enough, unless, of course, you have a +very large family, which must be rather a bore.' She laughed +ingenuously. 'And one gets to town so easily. What do you pay for +your season-ticket, Mr. Mumford? Oh, well! that isn't much. I almost +think I shall get one.' + +'Do you wish to go up very often, then?' asked Emmeline, reflecting +on her new responsibilities. + +'Oh! not every day, of course. But a season-ticket saves the bother +each time, and you have a sort of feeling, you know, that you can be +in town whenever you like.' + +It had not hitherto been the Mumfords' wont to dress for dinner, but +this evening they did so, and obviously to Miss Derrick's +gratification. She herself appeared in a dress which altogether +outshone that of her hostess. Afterwards, in private, she drew +Emmeline's attention to this garb, and frankly asked her opinion of +it. + +'Very nice indeed,' murmured the married lady, with a good-natured +smile. 'Perhaps a little--' + +'There, I know what you're going to say. You think it's too showy. +Now I want you to tell me just what you think about +everything--everything. I shan't be offended. I'm not so silly. You +know I've come here to learn all sorts of things. To-morrow you +shall go over all my dresses with me, and those you don't like I'll +get rid of. I've never had anyone to tell me what's nice and what +isn't. I want to be--oh, well, you know what I mean.' + +'But, my dear,' said Emmeline, 'there's something I don't quite +understand. You say I'm to speak plainly, and so I will. How is it +that you haven't made friends long ago with the sort of people you +wish to know? It isn't as if you were in poor circumstances.' + +'How _could_ I make friends with nice people when I was ashamed to +have them at home? The best I know are quite poor--girls I went to +school with. They're much better educated than I am, but they make +their own living, and so I can't see very much of them, and I'm not +sure they want to see much of _me_. I wish I knew what people think +of me; they call me vulgar, I believe--the kind I'm speaking of. +Now, do tell me, Mrs. Mumford, _am_ I vulgar?' + +'My dear Miss Derrick--' Emmeline began in protest, but was at once +interrupted. + +'Oh! that isn't what I want. You must call me Louise, or Lou, if you +like, and just say what you really think. Yes, I see, I _am_ rather +vulgar, and what can you expect? Look at mother; and if you saw Mr. +Higgins, oh! The mistake I made was to leave school so soon. I got +sick of it, and left at sixteen, and of course the idiots at home--I +mean the foolish people--let me have my own way. I'm not clever, you +know, and I didn't get on well at school. They used to say I could +do much better if I liked, and perhaps it was more laziness than +stupidity, though I don't care for books--I wish I did. I've had +lots of friends, but I never keep them for very long. I don't know +whether it's their fault or mine. My oldest friends are Amy Barker +and Muriel Featherstone; they were both at the school at Clapham, +and now Amy does type-writing in the City, and Muriel is at a +photographer's. They're awfully nice girls, and t like them so much; +but then, you see, they haven't enough money to live in what _I_ +call a nice way, and, you know, I should never think of asking them +to advise me about my dresses, or anything of that kind. A friend of +mine once began to say something and I didn't like it; after that we +had nothing to do with each other.' + +Emmeline could not hide her amusement. + +'Well, that's just it,' went on the other frankly. 'I _have_ rather +a sharp temper, and I suppose I don't get on well with most people. +I used to quarrel dreadfully with some of the girls at school--the +uppish sort. And yet all the time I wanted to be friends with them. +But, of course, I could never have taken them home.' + +Mrs. Mumford began to read the girl's character, and to understand +how its complexity had shaped her life. She was still uneasy as to +the impression this guest would make upon their friends, but on the +whole it seemed probable that Louise would conscientiously submit +herself to instruction, and do her very best to be "nice." +Clarence's opinion was still favourable; he pronounced Miss Derrick +"very amusing," and less of a savage than his wife's description had +led him to expect. + +Having the assistance of two servants and a nurse-girl, Emmeline was +not overburdened with domestic work. She soon found it fortunate +that her child, a girl of two years old, needed no great share of +her attention; for Miss Derrick, though at first she affected an +extravagant interest in the baby, very soon had enough of that +plaything, and showed a decided preference for Emmeline's society +out of sight and hearing of nursery affairs. On the afternoon of the +second day they went together to call upon Mrs. Fentiman, who lived +at a distance of a quarter of an hour's walk, in a house called +"Hazeldene"; a semi-detached house, considerably smaller than +"Runnymede," and neither without nor within so pleasant to look +upon. Mrs. Fentiman, a tall, hard-featured, but amiable lady, had +two young children who occupied most of her time; at present one of +them was ailing, and the mother could talk of nothing else but this +distressing circumstance. The call lasted only for ten minutes, and +Emmeline felt that her companion was disappointed. + +'Children are a great trouble,' Louise remarked, when they had left +the house. 'People ought never to marry unless they can keep a lot +of servants. Not long ago I was rather fond of somebody, but I +wouldn't have him because he had no money. Don't you think I was +quite right?' + +'I have no doubt you were.' + +'And now,' pursued the girl, poking the ground with her sunshade as +she walked, 'there's somebody else. And that's one of the things I +want to tell you about. He has about three hundred a year. It isn't +much, of course; but I suppose Mr. Higgins would give me something. +And yet I'm sure it won't come to anything. Let's go home and have a +good talk, shall we?' + +Mrs. Higgins's letter had caused Emmeline and her husband no little +amusement; but at the same time it led them to reflect. Certainly +they numbered among their acquaintances one or two marriageable +young men who might perchance be attracted by Miss Derrick, +especially if they learnt that Mr. Higgins was disposed to 'behave +handsomely' to his stepdaughter; but the Mumfords had no desire to +see Louise speedily married. To the bribe with which the letter +ended they could give no serious thought. Having secured their +"paying guest," they hoped she would remain with them for a year or +two at least. But already Louise had dropped hints such as Emmeline +could not fail to understand, and her avowal of serious interest in +a lover came rather as an annoyance than a surprise to Mrs. Mumford. + +It was a hot afternoon, and they had tea brought out into the +garden, under the rustling leaves of the chestnut. + +'You don't know anyone else at Sutton except Mrs. Fentiman?' said +Louise, as she leaned back in the wicker chair. + +'Not intimately. But some of our friends from London will be coming +on Sunday. I've asked four people to lunch.' + +'How jolly! Of course you'll tell me all about them before then. But +I want to talk about Mr. Cobb. Please, _two_ lumps of sugar. I've +known him for about a year and a half. We seem quite old friends, +and he writes to me; I don't answer the letters, unless there's +something to say. To tell the truth, I don't like him.' + +'How can that be if you seem old friends?' + +'Well, he likes _me_; and there's no harm in that, so long as he +understands. I'm sure _you_ wouldn't like him. He's a rough, coarse +sort of man, and has a dreadful temper.' + +'Good gracious! What is his position?' + +'Oh, he's connected with the what-d'ye-call-it Electric Lighting +Company. He travels about a good deal. I shouldn't mind that; it +must be rather nice not to have one's husband always at home. Just +now I believe he's in Ireland. I shall be having a letter from him +very soon, no doubt. He doesn't know I've left home, and it'll make +him wild. Yes, that's the kind of man he is. Fearfully jealous, and +such a temper! If I married him, I'm quite sure he would beat me +some day.' + +'Oh!' Emmeline exclaimed. 'How can you have anything to do with such +a man?' + +'He's very nice sometimes,' answered Louise, thoughtfully. + +'But do you really mean that he is "rough and coarse"?' + +'Yes, I do. You couldn't call him a gentleman. I've never seen his +people; they live somewhere a long way off; and I shouldn't wonder +if they are a horrid lot. His last letter was quite insulting. He +said--let me see, what was it? Yes--"You have neither heart nor +brains, and I shall do my best not to waste another thought on you?" +What do you think of that?' + +'It seems very extraordinary, my dear. How can he write to you in +that way if you never gave him any encouragement?' + +'Well, but I suppose I have done. We've met on the Common now and +then, and--and that kind of thing. I'm afraid you're shocked, Mrs. +Mumford. I know it isn't the way that nice people behave, and I'm +going to give it up.' + +'Does your mother know him?' + +'Oh, yes! there's no secret about it. Mother rather likes him. Of +course he behaves himself when he's at the house. I've a good mind +to ask him to call here so that you could see him. Yes, I should +like you to sea him. You wouldn't mind?' + +'Not if you really wish it, Louise. But--I can't help thinking you +exaggerate his faults.' + +'Not a bit. He's a regular brute when he gets angry.' + +'My dear,' Emmeline interposed softly, 'that isn't quite a ladylike +expression.' + +'No, it isn't. Thank you, Mrs. Mumford. I meant to say he is horrid +--very disagreeable. Then there's something else I want to tell you +about. Cissy Higgins--that's Mr. Higgins's daughter, you know--is +half engaged to a man called Bowling--an awful idiot--' + +'I don't think I would use that word, dear.' + +'Thank you, Mrs. Mumford. I mean to say he's a regular silly. But +he's in a very good position--a partner in Jannaway Brothers of +Woolwich, though he isn't thirty yet. Well, now, what do you think? +Mr. Bowling doesn't seem to know his own mind, and just lately he's +been paying so much attention to _me_ that Cissy has got quite +frantic about it. This was really and truly the reason why I left +home.' + +'I see,' murmured the listener, with a look of genuine interest. + +'Yes. They wanted to get me out of the way. There wasn't the +slightest fear that I should try to cut Cissy Higgins out; but it +was getting very awkward for her, I admit. Now that's the kind of +thing that doesn't go on among nice people, isn't it?' + +'But what do you mean, Louise, when you say that Miss Higgins and +Mr.--Mr. Bowling are _half_ engaged?' + +'Oh, I mean she has refused him once, just for form's sake; but he +knows very well she means to have him. People of your kind don't do +that sort of thing, do they?' + +'I hardly know,' Emmeline replied, colouring a little at certain +private reminiscences. 'And am I to understand that you wouldn't on +any account listen to Mr. Bowling?' + +Louise laughed. + +'Oh, there's no knowing what I might do to spite Cissy. We hate each +other, of course. But I can't fancy myself marrying him, He has a +long nose, and talks through it. And he says "think you" for "thank +you," and he sings--oh, to hear him sing! I can't bear the man.' + +The matter of this conversation Emmeline reported to her husband at +night, and they agreed in the hope that neither Mr. Cobb nor Mr. +Bowling would make an appearance at "Runnymede." Mumford opined that +these individuals were "cads." Small wonder, he said, that the girl +wished to enter a new social sphere. His wife, on the other hand, +had a suspicion that Miss Derrick would not be content to see the +last of Mr. Cobb. He, the electrical engineer, or whatever he was, +could hardly be such a ruffian as the girl depicted. His words, 'You +have neither heart nor brains,' seemed to indicate anything but a +coarse mind. + +'But what a bad-tempered lot they are!' Mumford observed. 'I suppose +people of that sort quarrel and abuse each other merely to pass the +time. They seem to be just one degree above the roughs who come to +blows and get into the police court. You must really do your best to +get the girl out of it; I'm sure she is worthy of better things.' + +'She is--in one way,' answered his wife judicially. 'But her +education stopped too soon. I doubt if it's possible to change her +very much. And--I really should like, after all, to see Mr. Cobb.' + +Mumford broke into a laugh. + +'There you go! The eternal feminine. You'll have her married in six +months.' + +'Don't be vulgar, Clarence. And we've talked enough of Louise for +the present.' + +Miss Derrick's presentiment that a letter from Mr. Cobb would soon +reach her was justified the next day; it arrived in the afternoon, +readdressed from Tulse Hill. Emmeline observed the eagerness with +which this epistle was pounced upon and carried off for private +perusal. She saw, too, that in half-an-hour's time Louise left the +house--doubtless to post a reply. But, to her surprise, not a word +of the matter escaped Miss Derrick during the whole evening. + +In her school-days, Louise had learned to "play the piano," but, +caring little or nothing for music, she had hardly touched a key for +several years. Now the idea possessed her that she must resume her +practising, and to-day she had spent hours at the piano, with +painful effect upon Mrs. Mumford's nerves. After dinner she offered +to play to Mumford, and he, good-natured fellow, stood by her to +turn over the leaves. Emmeline, with fancy work in her hands, +watched the two. She was not one of the most foolish of her sex, but +it relieved her when Clarence moved away. + +The next morning Louise was an hour late for breakfast. She came +down when Mumford had left the house, and Emmeline saw with surprise +that she was dressed for going out. + +'Just a cup of coffee, please. I've no appetite this morning, and I +want to catch a train for Victoria as soon as possible.' + +'When will you be back?' + +'Oh, I don't quite know. To tea, I think.' + +The girl had all at once grown reticent, and her lips showed the +less amiable possibilities of their contour. + + + +CHAPTER III + + +At dinner-time she had not returned. It being Saturday, Mumford was +back early in the afternoon, and Miss Derrick's absence caused no +grief. Emmeline could play with baby in the garden, whilst her +husband smoked his pipe and looked on in the old comfortable way. +They already felt that domestic life was not quite the same with a +stranger to share it. Doubtless they would get used to the new +restraints; but Miss Derrick must not expect them to disorganise +their mealtimes on her account. Promptly at half-past seven they sat +down to dine, and had just risen from the table, when Louise +appeared. + +She was in excellent spirits, without a trace of the morning's +ill-humour. No apologies! If she didn't feel quite free to come and +go, without putting people out, there would be no comfort in life. A +slice of the joint, that was all she wanted, and she would have done +in a few minutes. + +'I've taken tickets for Toole's Theatre on Monday night. You must +both come. You can, can't you?' + +Mumford and his wife glanced at each other. Yes, they could go; it +was very kind of Miss Derrick; but-- + +'That's all right, it'll be jolly. The idea struck me in the train, +as I was going up; so I took a cab from Victoria and booked the +places first thing. Third row from the front, dress circle; the best +I could do. Please let me have my dinner alone. Mrs. Mumford, I want +to tell you something afterwards.' + +Clarence went round to see his friend Fentiman, with whom he usually +had a chat on Saturday evening. Emmeline was soon joined by the +guest in the drawing-room. + +'There, you may read that,' said Louise, holding out a letter. 'It's +from Mr. Cobb; came yesterday, but I didn't care to talk about it +then. Yes, please read it; I want you to.' + +Reluctantly, but with curiosity, Emmeline glanced over the sheet. +Mr. Cobb wrote in ignorance of Miss Derrick's having left home. It +was a plain, formal letter, giving a brief account of his doings in +Ireland, and making a request that Louise would meet him, if +possible, on Streatham Common, at three o'clock on Saturday +afternoon. And he signed himself--'Very sincerely yours.' + +'I made up my mind at once,' said the girl, 'that I wouldn't meet +him. That kind of thing will have to stop. I'm not going to think +any more of him, and it's better to make him understand it at once +--isn't it?' + +Emmeline heartily concurred. + +'Still,' pursued the other, with an air of great satisfaction, 'I +thought I had better go home for this afternoon. Because when he +didn't see me on the Common he was pretty sure to call at the house, +and I didn't want mother or Cissy to be talking about me to him +before he had heard my own explanation.' + +'Didn't you answer the letter?' asked Emmeline. + +'No. I just sent a line to mother, to let her know I was coming over +to-day, so that she might stay at home. Well, and it happened just +as I thought. Mr. Cobb came to the house at half-past three. But +before that I'd had a terrible row with Cissy. That isn't a nice +expression, I know, but it really was one of our worst quarrels. Mr. +Bowling hasn't been near since I left, and Cissy is furious. She +said such things that I had to tell her very plainly what I thought +of her; and she positively foamed at the mouth! "Now look here," she +said, "if I find out that he goes to Sutton, you'll see what will +happen." "_What_ will happen?" I asked. "Father will stop your +allowance, and you'll have to get on as best you can." "Oh, very +well," I said, "in that case I shall marry Mr. Bowling." You should +have seen her rage! "You said you wouldn't marry him if he had ten +thousand a year!" she screamed. "I dare say I did; but if I've +nothing to live upon--" "You can marry your Mr. Cobb, can't you?" +And she almost cried; and I should have felt sorry for her if she +hadn't made me so angry. "No," I said, "I can't marry Mr. Cobb. And +I never dreamt of marrying Mr. Cobb. And--"' + +Emmeline interposed. + +'Really, Louise, that kind of talk isn't at all ladylike. What a +pity you went home.' + +'Yes, I was sorry for it afterwards. I shan't go again for a long +time; I promise you I won't. However, Mr. Cobb came, and I saw him +alone. He was astonished when he heard what had been going on; he +was astonished at _me_, too--I mean, the way I spoke. I wanted him +to understand at once that there was nothing between us; I talked in +rather a--you know the sort of way.' She raised her chin slightly, +and looked down from under her eyelids. 'Oh, I assure you I behaved +quite nicely. But he got into a rage, as he always does, and began +to call me names, and I wouldn't stand it. "Mr. Cobb," I said, very +severely, "either you will conduct yourself properly, or you will +leave the house." Then he tried another tone, and said very +different things--the kind of thing one likes to hear, you know; but +I pretended that I didn't care for it a bit. "It's all over between +us then?" he shouted at last; yes, really shouted, and I'm sure +people must have heard. "All over?" I said. "But there never _was_ +anything--nothing serious." "Oh, all right. Good-bye, then." And off +he rushed. And I dare say I've seen the last of him--for a time.' + +'Now do try to live quietly, my dear,' said Emmeline. 'Go on with +your music, and read a little each day--' + +'Yes, that's just what I'm going to do, dear Mrs. Mumford. And your +friends will be here to-morrow; it'll be so quiet and nice. And on +Monday we shall go to the theatre, just for a change. And I'm not +going to think of those people. It's all settled. I shall live very +quietly indeed.' + +She banged on the piano till nearly eleven o'clock, and went off to +bed with a smile of virtuous contentment. + +The guests who arrived on Sunday morning were Mr. and Mrs. Grove, +Mr. Bilton, and Mr. Dunnill. Mrs. Grove was Emmeline's elder sister, +a merry, talkative, kindly woman. Aware of the circumstances, she at +once made friends with Miss Derrick, and greatly pleased that young +lady by a skilful blending of "superior" talk with easy homeliness. +Mr. Bilton, a stockbroker's clerk, represented the better kind of +City young man--athletic, yet intelligent, spirited without +vulgarity a breezy, good-humoured, wholesome fellow. He came down on +his bicycle, and would return in the same way. Louise at once made a +resolve to learn cycling. + +'I wish you lived at Sutton, Mr. Bilton. I should ask you to teach +me.' + +'I'm really very sorry that I don't,' replied the young man +discreetly. + +'Oh, never mind. I'll find somebody.' + +The fourth arrival, Mr. Dunnill, was older and less affable. He +talked chiefly with Mr. Grove, a very quiet, somewhat careworn man; +neither of them seemed able to shake off business, but they did not +obtrude it on the company in general. The day passed pleasantly, but +in Miss Derrick's opinion, rather soberly. Doing her best to +fascinate Mr. Bilton, she felt a slight disappointment at her +inability to engross his attention, and at the civil friendliness +which he thought a sufficient reply to her gay sallies. For so +good-looking and well-dressed a man he struck her as singularly +reserved. But perhaps he was "engaged"; yes, that must be the +explanation. When the guests had left, she put a plain question to +Mrs. Mumford. + +'I don't _think_ he is engaged,' answered Emmeline, who on the whole +was satisfied with Miss Derrick's demeanour throughout the day. + +'Oh! But, of course, he _may_ be, without you knowing it. Or is it +always made known?' + +'There's no rule about it, my dear.' + +'Well, they're very nice people,' said Louise, with a little sigh. +'And I like your sister so much. I'm glad she asked me to go and see +her. Is Mr. Bilton often at her house?--Don't misunderstand me, Mrs. +Mumford. It's only that I _do_ like men's society; there's no harm, +is there? And people like Mr. Bilton are very different from those +I've known; and I want to see more of them, you know.' + +'There's no harm in saying that to _me_, Louise,' replied Mrs. +Mumford. 'But pray be careful not to seem "forward." People +think--and say--such disagreeable things.' + +Miss Derrick was grateful, and again gave an assurance that repose +and modesty should be the rule of her life. + +At the theatre on Monday evening she exhibited a childlike enjoyment +which her companions could not but envy. The freshness of her +sensibilities was indeed remarkable, and Emmeline observed with +pleasure that her mind seemed to have a very wholesome tone. Louise +might commit follies, and be guilty of bad taste to any extent, but +nothing in her savoured of depravity. + +Tuesday she spent at home, pretending to read a little, and +obviously thinking a great deal. On Wednesday morning she proposed +of a sudden that Emmeline should go up to town with her on a +shopping expedition. They had already turned over her wardrobe, +numerous articles whereof were condemned by Mrs. Mumford's taste, +and by Louise cheerfully sacrificed; she could not rest till new +purchases had been made. So, after early luncheon, they took train +to Victoria, Louise insisting that all the expenses should be hers. +By five o'clock she had laid out some fifteen pounds, vastly to her +satisfaction. They took tea at a restaurant, and reached Sutton not +long before Mumford's return. + +On Friday they went to London again, to call upon Mrs. Grove. Louise +promised that this should be her last "outing" for a whole week. She +admitted a feeling of restlessness, but after to-day she would +overcome it. And that night she apologised formally to Mumford for +taking his wife so much from home. + +'Please don't think I shall always be running about like this. I +feel that I'm settling down. We are going to be very comfortable and +quiet.' + +And, to the surprise of her friends, more than a week went by before +she declared that a day in town was absolutely necessary. Mr. +Higgins had sent her a fresh supply of money, as there were still a +few things she needed to purchase. But this time Emmeline begged her +to go alone, and Louise seemed quite satisfied with the arrangement. + +Early in the afternoon, as Mrs. Mumford was making ready to go out, +the servant announced to her that a gentleman had called to see Miss +Derrick; on learning that Miss Derrick was away, he had asked sundry +questions, and ended by requesting an interview with Mrs. Mumford. +His name was Cobb. + +'Show him into the drawing-room,' said Emmeline, a trifle agitated. +'I will be down in a few moments.' + +Beset by anxious anticipations, she entered the room, and saw before +her a figure not wholly unlike what she had imagined: a wiry, +resolute-looking man, with knitted brows, lips close-set, and heavy +feet firmly planted on the carpet. He was respectably dressed, but +nothing more, and in his large bare hands held a brown hat marked +with a grease spot. One would have judged him a skilled mechanic. +When he began to speak, his blunt but civil phrases were in keeping +with this impression. He had not the tone of an educated man, yet +committed no vulgar errors. + +'My name is Cobb. I must beg your pardon for troubling you. Perhaps +you have heard of me from Miss Derrick?' + +'Yes, Mr. Cobb, your name has been mentioned,' Emmeline replied +nervously. 'Will you sit down?' + +'Thank you, I will.' + +He twisted his hat about, and seemed to prepare with difficulty the +next remark, which at length burst, rather than fell, from his lips. + +'I wanted to see Miss Derrick. I suppose she is still living with +you? They told me so.' + +A terrible man, thought Emmeline, when roused to anger; his words +must descend like sledge-hammers. And it would not take much to +anger him. For all that, he had by no means a truculent countenance. +He was trying to smile, and his features softened agreeably enough. +The more closely she observed him, the less grew Emmeline's wonder +that Louise felt an interest in the man. + +'Miss Derrick is likely to stay with us for some time, I believe. +She has only gone to town, to do some shopping.' + +'I see. When I met her last she talked a good deal about you, Mrs. +Mumford, and that's why I thought I would ask to see you. You have a +good deal of influence over her.' + +'Do you think so?' returned Emmeline, not displeased. 'I hope I may +use it for her good.' + +'So do I. But--well, it comes to this, Mrs. Mumford. She seemed to +hint--though she didn't exactly say so--that you were advising her +to have nothing more to do with me. Of course you don't know me, and +I've no doubt you do what you think the best for her. I should feel +it a kindness if you would just tell me whether you are really +persuading her to think no more about me.' + +It was an alarming challenge. Emmeline's fears returned; she half +expected an outbreak of violence. The man was growing very nervous, +and his muscles showed the working of strong emotion. + +'I have given her no such advice, Mr. Cobb,' she answered, with an +attempt at calm dignity. 'Miss Derrick's private affairs don't at +all concern me. In such matters as this she is really quite old +enough to judge for herself.' + +'That's what _I_ should have said,' remarked Mr. Cobb sturdily. 'I +hope you'll excuse me; I don't wish to make myself offensive. After +what she said to me when we met last, I suppose most men would just +let her go her own way. But--but somehow I can't do that. The thing +is, I can't trust what she says; I don't believe she knows her own +mind. And so long as you tell me that you're not interfering--I +mean, that you don't think it right to set her against me--' + +'I assure you, nothing of the kind.' + +There was a brief silence, then Cobb's voice again sounded with +blunt emphasis. + +'We're neither of us very good-tempered. We've known each other +about a year, and we must have quarrelled about fifty times.' + +'Do you think, then,' ventured the hostess, 'that it would ever be +possible for you to live peacefully together?' + +'Yes, I do,' was the robust answer. 'It would be a fight for the +upper hand, but I know who'd get it, and after that things would be +all right.' + +Emmeline could not restrain a laugh, and her visitor joined in it +with a heartiness which spoke in his favour. + +'I promise you, Mr. Cobb, that I will do nothing whatever against +your interests.' + +'That's very kind of you, and it's all I wanted to know.' + +He stood up. Emmeline, still doubtful how to behave, asked him if he +would call on another day, when Miss Derrick might be at home. + +'It's only by chance I was able to get here this afternoon,' he +replied. 'I haven't much time to go running about after her, and +that's where I'm at a disadvantage. I don't know whether there's +anyone else, and I'm not asking you to tell me, if you know. Of +course I have to take my chance; but so long as you don't speak +against me--and she thinks a great deal of your advice--' + +'I'm very glad to be assured of that. All I shall do, Mr. Cobb, is +to keep before her mind the duty of behaving straightforwardly.' + +'That's the thing! Nobody can ask more than that.' + +Emmeline hesitated, but could not dismiss him without shaking hands. +That he did not offer to do so until invited, though he betrayed no +sense of social inferiority, seemed another point in his favour. + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Not half an hour after Cobb's departure Louise returned. Emmeline +was surprised to see her back so soon; they met near the railway +station as Mrs. Mumford was on her way to a shop in High Street. + +'Isn't it good of me! If I had stayed longer I should have gone home +to quarrel with Cissy; but I struggled against the temptation. Going +to the grocer's? Oh, do let me go with you, and see how you do that +kind of thing. I never gave an order at the grocer's in my life-- +no, indeed I never did. Mother and Cissy have always looked after +that. And I want to learn about housekeeping; you promised to teach +me.' + +Emmeline made no mention of Mr. Cobb's call until they reached the +house. + +'He came here!' Louise exclaimed, reddening. 'What impudence! I +shall at once write and tell him that his behaviour is outrageous. +Am I to be hunted like this?' + +Her wrath seemed genuine enough; but she was vehemently eager to +learn all that had passed. Emmeline made a truthful report. + +'You're quite sure that was all? Oh, his impertinence! Well, and now +that you've seen him, don't you understand how--how impossible it +is?' + +'I shall say nothing more about it, Louise. It isn't my business +to--' + +The girl's face threatened a tempest. As Emmeline was moving away, +she rudely obstructed her. + +'I insist on you telling me what you think. It was abominable of him +to come when I wasn't at home; and I don't think you ought to have +seen him. You've no right to keep your thoughts to yourself!' + +Mrs. Mumford was offended, and showed it. + +'I have a perfect right, and I shall do so. Please don't let us +quarrel. You may be fond of it, but I am not.' + +Louise went from the room and remained invisible till just before +dinner, when she came down with a grave and rather haughty +countenance. To Mumford's remarks she replied with curt formality; +he, prepared for this state of things, began conversing cheerfully +with his wife, and Miss Derrick kept silence. After dinner, she +passed out into the garden. + +'It won't do,' said Mumford. 'The house is upset. I'm afraid we +shall have to get rid of her.' + +'If she can't behave herself, I'm afraid we must. It's my fault. I +ought to have known that it would never do.' + +At half-past ten, Louise was still sitting out of doors in the dark. +Emmeline, wishing to lock up for the night, went to summon her +troublesome guest. + +'Hadn't you better come in?' + +'Yes. But I think you are very unkind, Mrs. Mumford.' + +'Miss Derrick, I really can't do anything but leave you alone when +you are in such an unpleasant hum our.' + +'But that's just what you _oughtn't_ to do. When I'm left alone I +sulk, and that's bad for all of us. If you would just get angry and +give me what I deserve, it would be all over very soon.' + +'You are always talking about "nice" people. Nice people don't have +scenes of that kind.' + +'No, I suppose not. And I'm very sorry, and if you'll let me beg +your pardon--. There, and we might have made it up hours ago. I +won't ask you to tell me what you think of Mr. Cobb. I've written +him the kind of letter his impudence deserves.' + +'Very well. We won't talk of it any more. And if you _could_ be a +little quieter in your manners, Louise--' + +'I will, I promise I will I Let me say good-night to Mr. Mumford.' + +For a day or two there was halcyon weather. On Saturday afternoon +Louise hired a carriage and took her friends for a drive into the +country; at her special request the child accompanied them. Nothing +could have been more delightful. She had quite made up her mind to +have a house, some day, at Sutton. She hoped the Mumfords would +"always" live there, that they might perpetually enjoy each other's +society. What were the rents? she inquired. Well, to begin with, she +would be content with one of the smaller houses; a modest, +semidetached little place, like those at the far end of Cedar Road. +They were perfectly respectable--were they not? How this change in +her station was to come about Louise offered no hint, and did not +seem to think of the matter. + +Then restlessness again came upon her. One day she all but declared +her disappointment that the Mumfords saw so few people. Emmeline, +repeating this to her husband, avowed a certain compunction. + +'I almost feel that I deliberately misled her. You know, Clarence, +in our first conversation I mentioned the Kirby Simpsons and Mrs. +Hollings, and I feel sure she remembers. It wouldn't be nice to be +taking her money on false pretences, would it?' + +'Oh, don't trouble. It's quite certain she has someone in mind whom +she means to marry before long.' + +'I can't help thinking that. But I don't know who it can be. She had +a letter this morning in a man's writing, and didn't speak of it. It +wasn't Mr. Cobb.' + +Louise, next day, put a point-blank question. + +'Didn't you say that you knew some people at West Kensington?' + +'Oh, yes,' answered Emmeline, carelessly. 'The Kirby Simpsons. +They're away from home.' + +'I'm sorry for that. Isn't there anyone else we could go and see, or +ask over here?' + +'I think it very likely Mr. Bilton will come down in a few days.' + +Louise received Mr. Bilton's name with moderate interest. But she +dropped the subject, and seemed to reconcile herself to domestic +pleasures. + +It was on the evening of this day that Emmeline received a letter +which gave her much annoyance. Her sister, Mrs. Grove, wrote thus: + +'How news does get about! And what ridiculous forms it takes! Here +is Mrs. Powell writing to me from Birmingham, and she says she has +heard that you have taken in the daughter of some wealthy _parvenu_, +for a consideration, to train her in the ways of decent society! +Just the kind of thing Mrs. Powell would delight in talking about-- +she is so very malicious. Where she got her information I can't +imagine. She doesn't give the slightest hint. "They tell me"--I copy +her words--"that the girl is all but a savage, and does and says the +most awful things. I quite admire Mrs. Mumford's courage. I've heard +of people doing this kind of thing, and I always wondered how they +got on with their friends." Of course I have written to contradict +this rubbish. But it's very annoying, I'm sure.' + +Mumford was angry. The source of these fables must be either Bilton +or Dunnill, yet he had not thought either of them the kind of men to +make mischief. Who else knew anything of the affair? Searching her +memory, Emmeline recalled a person unknown to her, a married lady, +who had dropped in at Mrs. Grove's when she and Louise were there. + +'I didn't like her--a supercilious sort of person. And she talked a +great deal of her acquaintance with important people. It's far more +likely to have come from her than from either of those men. I shall +write and tell Molly so.' + +They began to feel uncomfortable, and seriously thought of getting +rid of the burden so imprudently undertaken. Louise, the next day, +wanted to take Emmeline to town, and showed dissatisfaction when she +had to go unaccompanied. She stayed till late in the evening, and +came back with a gay account of her calls upon two or three old +friends--the girls of whom she had spoken to Mrs. Mumford. One of +them, Miss Featherstone, she had taken to dine with her at a +restaurant, and afterwards they had spent an hour or two at Miss +Featherstone's lodgings. + +'I didn't go near Tulse Hill, and if you knew how I am wondering +what is going on there! Not a line from anyone. I shall write to +mother to-morrow.' + +Emmeline produced a letter which had arrived for Miss Derrick. + +'Why didn't you give it me before?' Louise exclaimed, impatiently. + +'My dear, you had so much to tell me. I waited for the first pause.' + +'That isn't from home,' said the girl, after a glance at the +envelope. 'It's nothing.' + +After saying good-night, she called to Emmeline from her bedroom +door. Entering the room, Mrs. Mumford saw the open letter in +Louise's hand, and read in her face a desire of confession. + +'I want to tell you something. Don't be in a hurry; just a few +minutes. This letter is from Mr. Bowling. Yes, and I've had one from +him before, and I was obliged to answer it.' + +'Do you mean they are love-letters?' + +'Yes, I'm afraid they are. And it's so stupid, and I'm so vexed. I +don't want to have anything to do with him, as I told you long ago.' +Louise often used expressions which to a stranger would have implied +that her intimacy with Mrs. Mumford was of years' standing. 'He +wrote for the first time last week. Such a silly letter! I wish you +would read it. Well, he said that it was all over between him and +Cissy, and that he cared only for me, and always had, and always +would--you know how men write. He said he considered himself quite +free. Cissy had refused him, and wasn't that enough? Now that I was +away from home, he could write to me, and wouldn't I let him see me? +Of course I wrote that I didn't _want_ to see him, and I thought he +was behaving very badly--though I don't really think so, because +it's all that idiot Cissy's fault. Didn't I do quite right?' + +'I think so.' + +'Very well. And now he's writing again, you see; oh, such a lot of +rubbish! I can hear him saying it all through his nose. Do tell me +what I ought to do next.' + +'You must either pay no attention to the letter, or reply so that he +can't possibly misunderstand you.' + +'Call him names, you mean?' + +'My dear Louise!' + +'But that's the only way with such men. I suppose you never were +bothered with them. I think I'd better not write at all.' + +Emmeline approved this course, and soon left Miss Derrick to her +reflections. + +The next day Louise carried out her resolve to write for information +regarding the progress of things at Coburg Lodge. She had not long +to wait for a reply, and it was of so startling a nature that she +ran at once to Mrs. Mumford, whom she found in the nursery. + +'Do please come down. Here's something I must tell you about. What +do you think mother says? I've to go back home again at once.' + +'What's the reason?' Emmeline inquired, knowing not whether to be +glad or sorry. + +'I'll read it to you:--"Dear Lou," she says, "you've made a great +deal of trouble, and I hope you're satisfied. Things are all upside +down, and I've never seen dada"--that's Mr. Higgins, of course-- +"I've never seen dada in such a bad temper, not since first I knew +him. Mr. B."--that's Mr. Bowling, you know--"has told him plain that +he doesn't think any more of Cissy, and that nothing mustn't be +expected of him."--Oh what sweet letters mother does write!--"That +was when dada went and asked him about his intentions, as he +couldn't help doing, because Cissy is fretting so. It's all over, +and of course you're the cause of it; and, though I can't blame you +as much as the others do, I think you _are_ to blame. And Cissy said +she must go to the seaside to get over it, and she went off +yesterday to Margate to your Aunt Annie's boarding-house, and there +she says she shall stay as long as she doesn't feel quite well, and +dada has to pay two guineas a week for her. So he says at once, 'Now +Loo 'll have to come back. I'm not going to pay for the both of them +boarding out,' he says. And he means it. He has told me to write to +you at once, and you're to come as soon as you can, and he won't be +responsible to Mrs. Mumford for more than another week's +payment."--There! But I shan't go, for all that. The idea! I left +home just to please them, and now I'm to go back just when it suits +their convenience. Certainly not.' + +'But what will you do, Louise,' asked Mrs. Mumford, 'if Mr. Higgins +is quite determined?' + +'Do? Oh! I shall settle it easy enough. I shall write at once to the +old man and tell him I'm getting on so nicely in every way that I +couldn't dream of leaving you. It's all nonsense, you'll see.' + +Emmeline and her husband held a council that night, and resolved +that, whatever the issue of Louise's appeal to her stepfather, this +was a very good opportunity for getting rid of their guest. They +would wait till Louise made known the upshot of her negotiations. It +seemed probable that Mr. Higgins would spare them the unpleasantness +of telling Miss Derrick she must leave. If not, that disagreeable +necessity must be faced. + +'I had rather cut down expenses all round,' said Emmeline, 'than +have our home upset in this way. It isn't like home at all. Louise +is a whirlwind, and the longer she stays, the worse it'll be.' + +'Yes, it won't do at all,' Mumford assented. 'By the bye, I met +Bilton to-day, and he asked after Miss Derrick. I didn't like his +look or his tone at all. I feel quite sure there's a joke going +round at our expense. Confound it!' + +'Never mind. It'll be over in a day or two, and it'll be a lesson to +you, Clarence, won't it?' + +'I quite admit that the idea was mine,' her husband replied, rather +irritably. 'But it wasn't I who accepted the girl as a suitable +person.' + +'And certainly it wasn't _me_!' rejoined Emmeline. 'You will please +to remember that I said again and again--' + +'Oh, hang it, Emmy! We made a blunder, both of us, and don't let us +make it worse by wrangling about it. There you are; people of that +class bring infection into the house. If she stayed here a +twelvemonth, we should have got to throwing things at each other.' + +The answer to Louise's letter of remonstrance came in the form of +Mrs. Higgins herself Shortly before luncheon that lady drove up to +"Runnymede" in a cab, and her daughter, who had just returned from a +walk, was startled to hear of the arrival. + +'You've got to come home with me, Lou,' Mrs. Higgins began, as she +wiped her perspiring face. 'I've promised to have you back by this +afternoon. Dada's right down angry; you wouldn't know him. He blames +everything on to you, and you'd better just come home quiet.' + +'I shall do nothing of the kind,' answered Louise, her temper +rising. + +Mrs. Higgins glared at her and began to rail; the voice was +painfully audible to Emmeline, who just then passed through the +hall. Miss Derrick gave as good as she received; a battle raged for +some minutes, differing from many a former conflict only in the +moderation of pitch and vocabulary due to their being in a +stranger's house. + +'Then you won't come?' cried the mother at length. 'I've had my +journey for nothing, have I? Then just go and fetch Mrs. +What's-her-name. She must hear what I've got to say.' + +'Mrs. Mumford isn't at home,' answered Louise, with bold mendacity. +'And a very good thing too. I should be sorry for her to see you in +the state you're in.' + +'I'm in no more of a state than you are, Louise! And just you listen +to this. Not one farthing more will you have from 'ome--not one +farthing! And you may think yourself lucky if you still '_ave_ a +'ome. For all I know, you'll have to earn your own living, and I'd +like to hear how you mean to do it. As soon as I get back I shall +write to Mrs. What's-her-name and tell her that nothing will be paid +for you after the week that's due and the week that's for notice. +Now just take heed of what you're doing, Lou. It may have more +serious results than you think for.' + +'I've thought all I'm going to think,' replied the girl. 'I shall +stay here as long as I like, and be indebted neither to you nor to +stepfather.' + +Mrs. Mumford breathed a sigh of thankfulness that she was not called +upon to take part in this scene. It was bad enough that the servant +engaged in laying lunch could hear distinctly Mrs. Higgins's coarse +and violent onslaught. When the front door at length closed she +rejoiced, but with trembling; for the words that fell upon her ear +from the hall announced too plainly that Louise was determined to +stay. + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Miss Derrick had gone back into the drawing-room, and, to Emmeline's +surprise, remained there. This retirement was ominous; the girl must +be taking some resolve. Emmeline, on her part, braced her courage +for the step on which she had decided. Luncheon awaited them, but it +would be much better to arrive at an understanding before they sat +down to the meal. She entered the room and found Louise leaning on +the back of a chair. + +'I dare say you heard the row,' Miss Derrick remarked coldly. 'I'm +very sorry, but nothing of that kind shall happen again.' + +Her countenance was disturbed, she seemed to be putting a restraint +upon herself, and only with great effort to subdue her voice. + +'What are you going to do?' asked Emmeline, in a friendly tone, but, +as it were, from a distance. + +'I am going to ask you to do me a great kindness, Mrs. Mumford.' + +There was no reply. The girl paused a moment, then resumed +impulsively. + +'Mr. Higgins says that if I don't come home, he won't let me have +any more money. They're going to write and tell you that they won't +be responsible after this for my board and lodging. Of course I +shall not go home; I shouldn't dream of it; I'd rather earn my +living as--as a scullery maid. I want to ask you, Mrs. Mumford, +whether you will let me stay on, and trust me to pay what I owe you. +It won't be for very long, and I promise you I _will_ pay, every +penny.' + +The natural impulse of Emmeline's disposition was to reply with +hospitable kindliness; she found it very difficult to maintain her +purpose; it shamed her to behave like the ordinary landlady, to +appear actuated by mean motives. But the domestic strain was growing +intolerable, and she felt sure that Clarence would be exasperated if +her weakness prolonged it. + +'Now do let me advise you, Louise,' she answered gently. 'Are you +acting wisely? Wouldn't it be very much better to go home?', + +Louise lost all her self-control. Flushed with anger, her eyes +glaring, she broke into vehement exclamations. + +'You want to get rid of me! Very well, I'll go this moment. I was +going to tell you something; but you don't care what becomes of me. +I'll send for my luggage; you shan't be troubled with it long. And +you'll be paid all that's owing. I didn't think you were one of that +kind. I'll go this minute.' + +'Just as you please,' said Emmeline, 'Your temper is really so +very--' + +'Oh, I know. It's always my temper, and nobody else is ever to +blame. I wouldn't stay another night in the house, if I had to sleep +on the Downs!' + +She flung out of the room and flew upstairs. Emmeline, angered by +this unwarrantable treatment, determined to hold aloof, and let the +girl do as she would. Miss Derrick was of full age, and quite +capable of taking care of herself, or at all events ought to be. +Perhaps this was the only possible issue of the difficulties in +which they had all become involved; neither Louise nor her parents +could be dealt with in the rational, peaceful way preferred by +well-conditioned people. To get her out of the house was the main +point; if she chose to depart in a whirlwind, that was her own +affair. All but certainly she would go home, to-morrow if not +to-day. + +In less than a quarter of an hour her step sounded on the +stairs--would she turn into the dining-room, where Emmeline now sat +at table? No; straight through the hall, and out at the front door, +which closed, however, quite softly behind her. That she did not +slam it seemed wonderful to Emmeline. The girl was not wholly a +savage. + +Presently Mrs. Mumford went up to inspect the forsaken chamber. +Louise had packed all her things: of course she must have tumbled +them recklessly into the trunks. Drawers were left open, as if to +exhibit their emptiness, but in other respects the room looked tidy +enough. Neatness and order came by no means naturally to Miss +Derrick, and Emmeline did not know what pains the girl had taken, +ever since her arrival, to live in conformity with the habits of a +'nice' household. + +Louise, meanwhile, had gone to the railway station, intending to +take a ticket for Victoria. But half an hour must elapse before the +arrival of a train, and she walked about in an irresolute mood. For +one thing, she felt hungry; at Sutton her appetite had been keen, +and meal-times were always welcome. She entered the refreshment +room, and with inward murmurs made a repast which reminded her of +the excellent luncheon she might now have been enjoying. All the +time, she pondered her situation. Ultimately, instead of booking for +Victoria, she procured a ticket for Epsom Downs, and had not long to +wait for the train. + +It was a hot day at the end of June. Wafts of breezy coolness passed +now and then over the high open country, but did not suffice to +combat the sun's steady glare. After walking half a mile or so, +absorbed in thought, Louise suffered so much that she looked about +for shadow. Before her was the towering ugliness of the Grand Stand; +this she had seen and admired when driving past it with her friends; +it did not now attract her. In another direction the Downs were +edged with trees, and that way she turned. All but overcome with +heat and weariness, she at length found a shaded spot where her +solitude seemed secure. And, after seating herself, the first thing +she did was to have a good cry. + +Then for an hour she sat thinking, and as she thought her face +gradually emerged from gloom--the better, truer face which so often +allowed itself to be disguised at the prompting of an evil spirit; +her softening lips all but smiled, as if at an amusing suggestion, +and her eyes, in their reverie, seemed to behold a pleasant promise. +Unconsciously she plucked and tasted the sweet stems of grass that +grew about her. At length, the sun's movements having robbed her of +shadow, she rose, looked at her watch, and glanced around for +another retreat. Hard by was a little wood, delightfully grassy and +cool, fenced about with railings she could easily have climbed; but +a notice-board, severely admonishing trespassers, forbade the +attempt. With a petulant remark to herself on the selfishness of +"those people," she sauntered past. + +Along this edge of the Downs stands a picturesque row of pine-trees, +stunted, bittered, and twisted through many a winter by the upland +gales. Louise noticed them, only to think for a moment what ugly +trees they were. Before her, east, west, and north, lay the wooded +landscape, soft of hue beneath the summer sky, spreading its +tranquil beauty far away to the mists of the horizon. In vivacious +company she would have called it, and perhaps have thought it, a +charming view; alone, she had no eye for such things--an +indifference characteristic of her mind, and not at all dependent +upon its mood. Presently another patch of shade invited her to +repose again, and again she meditated for an hour or more. + +The sun had grown less ardent, and a breeze, no longer fitful, made +walking pleasant. The sight of holiday-making school-children, who, +in their ribboned hats and white pinafores, were having tea not far +away, suggested to Louise that she also would like such refreshment. +Doubtless it might be procured at the inn yonder, near the +racecourse, and thither she began to move. Her thoughts were more at +rest; she had made her plan for the evening; all that had to be done +was to kill time for another hour or so. Walking lightly over the +turf, she noticed the chalk marks significant of golf, and wondered +how the game was played. Without difficulty she obtained her cup of +tea, loitered over it as long as possible, strayed yet awhile about +the Downs, and towards half-past six made for the railway station. + +She travelled no further than Sutton, and there lingered in the +waiting room till the arrival of a certain train from London Bridge. +As the train came in she took up a position near the exit. Among the +people who had alighted, her eye soon perceived Clarence Mumford. +She stepped up to him and drew his attention. + +'Oh! have you come by the same train?' he asked, shaking hands with +her. + +'No. I've been waiting here because I wanted to see you, Mr. +Mumford. Will you spare me a minute or two?' + +'Here? In the station?' + +'Please--if you don't mind.' + +Astonished, Mumford drew aside with her to a quiet part of the long +platform. Louise, keeping a very grave countenance, told him rapidly +all that had befallen since his departure from home in the morning. + +'I behaved horridly, and I was sorry for it as soon as I had left +the house. After all Mrs. Mumford's kindness to me, and yours, I +don't know how I could be so horrid. But the quarrel with mother had +upset me so, and I felt so miserable when Mrs. Mumford seemed to +want to get rid of me. I feel sure she didn't really want to send me +away: she was only advising me, as she thought, for my good. But I +can't, and won't, go home. And I've been waiting all the afternoon +to see you. No; not here. I went to Epsom Downs and walked about, +and then came back just in time. And--do you think I might go back? +I don't mean now, at once, but this evening, after you've had +dinner. I really don't know where to go for the night, and it's such +a stupid position to be in, isn't it?' + +With perfect naivete, or with perfect simulation of it, +she looked him in the face, and it was Mumford who had to avert his +eyes. The young man felt very uncomfortable. + +'Oh! I'm quite sure Emmy will be glad to let you come for the night, +Miss Derrick--' + +'Yes, but--Mr. Mumford, I want to stay longer--a few weeks longer. +Do you think Mrs. Mumford would forgive me? I have made up my mind +what to do, and I ought to have told her. I should have, if I hadn't +lost my temper.' + +'Well,' replied the other, in grave embarrassment, but feeling that +he had no alternative, 'let us go to the house--' + +'Oh! I couldn't. I shouldn't like anyone to know that I spoke to you +about it. It wouldn't be nice, would it? I thought if I came later, +after dinner. And perhaps you could talk to Mrs. Mumford, and--and +prepare her. I mean, perhaps you wouldn't mind saying you were sorry +I had gone so suddenly. And then perhaps Mrs. Mumford--she's so +kind--would say that she was sorry too. And then I might come into +the garden and find you both sitting there--' + +Mumford, despite his most uneasy frame of mind, betrayed a passing +amusement. He looked into the girl's face and saw its prettiness +flush with pretty confusion, and this did not tend to restore his +tranquillity. + +'What shall you do in the meantime?' + +'Oh! go into the town and have something to eat, and then walk +about.' + +'You must be dreadfully tired already.' + +'Just a little; but I don't mind. It serves me right. I shall be so +grateful to you, Mr. Mumford. If you won't let me come, I suppose I +must go to London and ask one of my friends to take me in.' + +'I will arrange it. Come about half-past eight. We shall be in the +garden by then.' + +Avoiding her look, he moved away and ran up the stairs. But from the +exit of the station he walked slowly, in part to calm himself, to +assume his ordinary appearance, and in part to think over the comedy +he was going to play. + +Emmeline met him at the door, herself too much flurried to notice +anything peculiar in her husband's aspect. She repeated the story +with which he was already acquainted. + +'And really, after all, I am so glad!' was her conclusion. 'I didn't +think she had really gone; all the afternoon I've been expecting to +see her back again. But she won't come now, and it is a good thing +to have done with the wretched business. I only hope she will tell +the truth to her people. She might say that we turned her out of the +house. But I don't think so; in spite of all her faults, she never +seemed deceitful or malicious.' + +Mumford was strongly tempted to reveal what had happened at the +station, but he saw danger alike in disclosure and in reticence. + +When there enters the slightest possibility of jealousy, a man can +never be sure that his wife will act as a rational being. He feared +to tell the simple truth lest Emmeline should not believe his +innocence of previous plotting with Miss Derrick, or at all events +should be irritated by the circumstances into refusing Louise a +lodging for the night. And with no less apprehension he decided at +length to keep the secret, which might so easily become known +hereafter, and would then have such disagreeable consequences. + +'Well, let us have dinner, Emmy; I'm hungry. Yes, it's a good thing +she has gone; but I wish it hadn't happened in that way. What a +spitfire she is!' + +'I never, never saw the like. And if you had heard Mrs. Higgins! Oh, +what dreadful people! Clarence, hear me register a vow--' + +'It was my fault, dear. I'm awfully sorry I got you in for such +horrors. It was wholly and entirely my fault.' + +By due insistence on this, Mumford of course put his wife into an +excellent humour, and, after they had dined, she returned to her +regret that the girl should have gone so suddenly. Clarence, +declaring that he would allow himself a cigar, instead of the usual +pipe, to celebrate the restoration of domestic peace, soon led +Emmeline into the garden. + +'Heavens! how hot it has been. Eighty-five in our office at +noon--eighty-five! Fellows are discarding waistcoats and wearing +what they call a cummerbund--silk sash round the waist. I think I +must follow the fashion. How should I look, do you think?' + +'You don't really mind that we lose the money?' Emmeline asked +presently. + +'Pooh! We shall do well enough.--Who's that?' + +Someone was entering the garden by the side path. And in a moment +there remained no doubt who the person was. Louise came forward, her +head bent, her features eloquent of fatigue and distress. + +'Mrs. Mumford--I couldn't--without asking you to forgive me--' + +Her voice broke with a sob. She stood in a humble attitude, and +Emmeline, though pierced with vexation, had no choice but to hold +out a welcoming hand. + +'Have you come all the way back from London just to say this?' + +'I haven't been to London. I've walked about--all day--and oh, I'm +so tired and miserable! Will you let me stay, just for to-night? I +shall be so grateful.' + +'Of course you may stay, Miss Derrick. It was very far from my wish +to see you go off at a moment's notice. But I really couldn't stop +you.' + +Mumford had stepped aside, out of hearing. He forgot his private +embarrassment in speculation as to the young woman's character. That +she was acting distress and penitence he could hardly believe; +indeed, there was no necessity to accuse her of dishonest behaviour. +The trivial concealment between him and her amounted to nothing, did +not alter the facts of the situation. But what could be at the root +of her seemingly so foolish existence? Emmeline held to the view +that she was in love with the man Cobb, though perhaps unwilling to +admit it, even in her own silly mind. It might be so, and, _if_ so, +it made her more interesting; for one was tempted to think that +Louise had not the power of loving at all. Yet, for his own part, he +couldn't help liking her; the eyes at had looked into his at the +station haunted him a little, and would not let him think of her +contemptuously. But what a woman to make ones wife! Unless--unless-- + +Louise had gone into the house. Emmeline approached her husband. + +'There! I foresaw it. Isn't vexing?' + +'Never mind, dear. She'll go to morrow, or the day after.' + +'I wish I could be sure of that.' + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Louise did not appear again that evening. Thoroughly tired, she +unpacked her trunks, sat awhile by the open window, listening to a +piano in a neighbouring house, and then jumped into bed. From ten +o'clock to eight next morning she slept soundly. + +At breakfast her behaviour was marked with excessive decorum. To the +ordinary civilities of her host and hostess she replied softly, +modestly, in the manner of a very young and timid girl; save when +addressed, she kept silence, and sat with head inclined; a virginal +freshness breathed about her; she ate very little, and that without +her usual gusto, but rather as if performing a dainty ceremony. Her +eyes never moved in Mumford's direction. + +The threatened letter from Mrs. Higgins had arrived; Emmeline and +her husband read it before their guest came down. If Louise +continued to reside with them, they entertained her with a full +knowledge that no payment must be expected from Coburg Lodge. +Emmeline awaited the disclosure of her guest's project, which had +more than once been alluded to yesterday; she could not dream of +permitting Louise to stay for more than a day or two, whatever the +suggestion offered. This morning she had again heard from her +sister, Mrs. Grove, who was strongly of opinion that Miss Derrick +should be sent back to her native sphere. + +'I shall always feel,' she said to her husband, 'that we have +behaved badly. I was guilty of false pretences. Fortunately, we have +the excuse of her unbearable temper. But for that, I should feel +dreadfully ashamed of myself.' + +Very soon after Mumford's departure, Louise begged for a few +minutes' private talk. + +'Every time I come into this drawing-room, Mrs. Mumford, I think how +pretty it is. What pains you must have taken in furnishing it! I +never saw such nice curtains anywhere else. And that little screen +--I _am_ so fond of that screen!' + +'It was a wedding present from an old friend,' Emmeline replied, +complacently regarding the object, which shone with embroidery of +many colours. + +'Will you help me when _I_ furnish _my_ drawing-room?' Louise asked +sweetly. And she added, with a direct look, 'I don't think it will +be very long.' + +'Indeed?' + +'I am going to marry Mr. Bowling.' + +Emmeline could no longer fed astonishment at anything her guest said +or did. The tone, the air, with which Louise made this declaration +affected her with a sense of something quite unforeseen; but, at the +same time, she asked herself why she had not foreseen it. Was not +this the obvious answer to the riddle? All along, Louise had wished +to marry Mr. Bowling. She might or might not have consciously helped +to bring about the rupture between Mr. Bowling and Miss Higgins; she +might, or might not, have felt genuinely reluctant to take advantage +of her half-sister's defeat. But a struggle had been going on in the +girl's conscience, at all events. Yes, this explained everything. +And, on the whole, it seemed to speak in Louise's favour. Her +ridicule of Mr. Bowling's person and character became, in this new +light, a proof of desire to resist her inclinations. She had only +yielded when it was certain that Miss Higgins's former lover had +quite thrown off his old allegiance, and when no good could be done +by self-sacrifice. + +'When did you make up your mind to this, Louise?' + +'Yesterday, after our horrid quarrel. No, _you_ didn't quarrel; it +was all my abominable temper. This morning I'm going to answer Mr. +Bowling's last letter, and I shall tell him--what I've told you. +He'll be delighted!' + +'Then you have really wished for this from the first?' + +Louise plucked at the fringe on the arm of her chair, and replied at +length with maidenly frankness. + +'I always thought it would be a good marriage for me. But I +never--do believe me--I never tried to cut Cissy out. The truth is I +thought a good deal of the other--of Mr. Cobb. But I knew that I +_couldn't_ marry him. It would be dreadful; we should quarrel +frightfully, and he would kill me--I feel sure he would, he's so +violent in his temper. But Mr. Bowling is very nice; he couldn't get +angry if he tried. And ho has a much better position than Mr. Cobb.' + +Emmeline began to waver in her conviction and to feel a natural +annoyance. + +'And you think,' she said coldly, 'that your marriage will take +place soon?' + +'That's what I want to speak about, dear Mrs. Mumford. Did you hear +from my mother this morning? Then you see what my position is. I am +homeless. If I leave you, I don't know where I shall go. When Mr. +Higgins knows I'm going to. marry Mr. Bowling he won't have me in +the house, even if I wanted to go back. Cissy Will be furious: +she'll come back from Margate just to keep up her father's anger +against me. If you could let me stay here just a short time, Mrs. +Mumford; just a few weeks I should _so_ like to be married from your +house.' + +The listener trembled with irritation, and before she could command +her voice Louise added eagerly: + +'Of course, when we're married, Mr. Bowling will pay all my debts.' + +''You are quite mistaken,' said Emmeline distantly, 'if you think +that the money matter has anything to do with--with my unreadiness +to agree--' + +'Oh, I didn't think it--not for a moment. I'm a trouble to you; I +know I am. But I'll be so quiet, dear Mrs. Mumford. You shall hardly +know I'm in the house. If once it's all settled I shall _never_ be +out of temper. Do, please, let me stay! I like you so much, and how +wretched it would be if I had to be married from a lodging-house.' + +'I'm afraid, Louise--I'm really afraid--' + +'Of my temper?' the girl interrupted. 'If ever I say an angry word +you shall turn me out that very moment. Dear Mrs. Mumford! Oh! +_what_ shall I do if you won't be kind to me? What will become of +me? I have no home, and everybody hates me.' + +'Tears streamed down her face; she lay back, overcome with misery. +Emmeline was distracted. She felt herself powerless to act as +common-sense dictated, yet desired more than ever to rid herself of +every shadow of responsibility for the girl's proceedings. The idea +of this marriage taking place at "Runnymede" made her blood run +cold. No, no; _that_ was absolutely out of the question. But equally +impossible did it seem to speak with brutal decision. Once more she +must temporise, and hope for courage on another day. + +'I can't--I really can't give you a definite answer till I have +spoken with Mr. Mumford.' + +'Oh! I am sure he will do me this kindness,' sobbed Louise. + +A slight emphasis on the "he" touched Mrs. Mumford unpleasantly. She +rose, and began to pick out some overblown flowers from a vase on +the table near her. Presently Louise became silent. Before either of +them spoke again a postman's knock sounded at the house-door, and +Emmeline went to see what letter had been delivered. It was for Miss +Derrick; the handwriting, as Emmeline knew, that of Mr. Cobb. + +'Oh, bother!' Louise murmured, as she took the letter from Mrs. +Mumford's hand. 'Well, I'm a trouble to everybody, and I don't know +how it'll all end. I daresay I shan't live very long.' + +'Don't talk nonsense, Louise.' + +'Should you like me to go at once, Mrs. Mumford?' the girl asked, +with a submissive sigh. + +'No, no. Let us think over it for a day or two. Perhaps you haven't +quite made up your mind, after all.' + +To this, oddly enough, Louise gave no reply. She lingered by the +window, nervously bending and rolling her letter, which she did not +seem to think of opening. After a glance or two of discreet +curiosity, Mrs. Mumford left the room. Daily duties called for +attention, and she was not at all inclined to talk further with +Louise. The girl, as soon as she found herself alone, broke Mr. +Cobb's envelope, which contained four sides of bold handwriting--not +a long letter, but, as usual, vigorously worded. 'Dear Miss +Derrick,' he wrote, 'I haven't been in a hurry to reply to your +last, as it seemed to me that you were in one of your touchy moods +when you sent it. It wasn't my fault that I called at the house when +you were away. I happened to have business at Croydon unexpectedly, +and ran over to Sutton just on the chance of seeing you. And I have +no objection to tell you all I said to your friend there. I am not +in the habit of saying things behind people's backs that I don't +wish them to hear. All I did was to ask out plainly whether Mrs. M. +was trying to persuade you to have nothing to do with me. She said +she wasn't, and that she didn't wish to interfere one way or +another. I told her that I could ask no more than that. She seemed +to me a sensible sort of woman, and I don't suppose you'll get much +harm from her, though I daresay she thinks more about dress and +amusements, and so on, than is good for her or anyone else. You say +at the end of your letter that I'm to let you know when I think of +coming again, and if you mean by that that you would be glad to see +me, I can only say, thank you. I don't mean to give you up yet, and +I don't believe you want me to say what you will. I don't spy after +you; you're mistaken in that. But I'm pretty much always thinking +about you, and I wish you were nearer to me. I may have to go to +Bristol in a week or two, and perhaps I shall be there for a month +or more, so I must see you before then. Will you tell me what day +would suit you, after seven? If you don't want me to come to the +house, then meet me where you like. And there's only one more thing +I have to say--you must deal honestly with me. I can wait, but I +won't be deceived.' + +Louise pondered for a long time, turning now to this part of the +letter, now to that. And the lines of her face, though they made no +approach to smiling, indicated agreeable thoughts. Tears had left +just sufficient trace to give her meditations a semblance of +unwonted seriousness. + +About midday she went up to her room and wrote letters. The first +was to Miss Cissy Higgins:--'Dear Ciss,--I dare say you would like +to know that Mr. B. has proposed to me. If you have any objection, +please let me know it by return.--Affectionately yours, L. E. +DERRICK.' This she addressed to Margate, and stamped with a little +thump of the fist. Her next sheet of paper was devoted to Mr. +Bowling, and the letter, though brief, cost her some thought. 'Dear +Mr. Bowling,--Your last is so very nice and kind that I feel I ought +to answer it without delay, but I cannot answer in the way you wish. +I must have a long, long time to think over such a very important +question. I don't blame you in the least for your behaviour to +someone we know of; and I think, after all that happened, you were +quite free. It is quite true that she did not behave +straightforwardly, and I am very sorry to have to say it. I shall +not be going home again: I have quite made up my mind about that. I +am afraid I must not let you come here to call upon me. I have a +particular reason for it. To tell you the truth, my friend Mrs. +Mumford is _very_ particular, and rather fussy, and has a rather +trying temper. So please do not come just yet. I am quite well, and +enjoying myself in a _very_ quiet way.--I remain, sincerely yours, +LOUISE E. DERRICK.' Finally she penned a reply to Mr. Cobb, and +this, after a glance at a railway time-table, gave her no trouble at +all. 'Dear Mr. Cobb,' she scribbled, 'if you really _must_ see me +before you go away to Bristol, or wherever it is, you had better +meet me on Saturday at Streatham Station, which is about halfway +between me and you. I shall come by the train from Sutton, which +reaches Streatham at 8.6.--Yours truly, L. E. D.' + +To-day was Thursday. When Saturday came the state of things at +"Runnymede" had undergone no change whatever; Emmeline still waited +for a moment of courage, and Mumford, though he did not relish the +prospect, began to think it more than probable that Miss Derrick +would hold her ground until her actual marriage with Mr. Bowling. +Whether that unknown person would discharge the debt his betrothed +was incurring seemed an altogether uncertain matter. Louise, in the +meantime, kept quiet as a mouse--so strangely quiet, indeed, that +Emmeline's prophetic soul dreaded some impending disturbance, worse +than any they had yet suffered. + +At luncheon, Louise made known that she would have to leave in the +middle of dinner to catch a train. No explanation was offered or +asked, but Emmeline, it being Saturday, said she would put the +dinner-hour earlier, to suit her friend's convenience. Louise smiled +pleasantly, and said how very kind it was of Mrs. Mumford. + +She had no difficulty in reaching Streatham by the time appointed. +Unfortunately, it was a cloudy evening, and a spattering of rain +fell from time to time. + +'I suppose you'll be afraid to walk to the Common,' said Mr. Cobb, +who stood waiting at the exit from the station, and showed more +satisfaction in his countenance when Louise appeared than he evinced +in words. + +'Oh, I don't care,' she answered. 'It won't rain much, and I've +brought my umbrella, and I've nothing on that will take any harm.' + +She had, indeed, dressed herself in her least demonstrative costume. +Cobb wore the usual garb of his leisure hours, which was better than +that in which he had called the other day at "Runnymede." For some +minutes they walked towards Streatham Common without interchange of +a word, and with no glance at each other. Then the man coughed, and +said bluntly that he was glad Louise had come. + +'Well, I wanted to see you,' was her answer. + +'What about?' + +'I don't think I shall be able to stay with the Mumfords. They're +very nice people, but they're not exactly my sort, and we don't get +on very well. Where had I better go?' + +'Go? Why home, of course. The best place for you.' + +Cobb was prepared for a hot retort, but it did not come. After a +moment's reflection, Louise said quietly: + +'I can't go home. I've quarrelled with them too badly. You haven't +seen mother lately? Then I must tell you how things are.' + +She did so, with no concealment save of the correspondence with Mr. +Bowling, and the not unimportant statements concerning him which she +had made to Mrs. Mumford. In talking with Cobb, Louise seemed to +drop a degree or so in social status; her language was much less +careful than when she conversed with the Mumfords, and even her +voice struck a note of less refinement. Decidedly she was more +herself, if that could be said of one who very rarely made conscious +disguise of her characteristics. + +'Better stay where you are, then, for the present,' said Cobb, when +he had listened attentively. 'I dare say you can get along well +enough with the people, if you try.' + +'That's all very well; but what about paying them? I shall owe three +guineas for every week I stop.' + +'It's a great deal, and they ought to feed you very well for it,' +replied the other, smiling rather sourly. + +'Don't be vulgar. I suppose you think I ought to live on a few +shillings a week.' + +'Lots of people have to. But there's no reason why _you_ should. But +look here: why should you be quarrelling with your people now about +that fellow Bowling? You don't see him anywhere, do you?' + +He flashed a glance at her, and Louise answered with a defiant +motion of the head. + +'No, I don't. But they put the blame on me, all the same. I +shouldn't wonder if they think I'm trying to get him.' + +She opened her umbrella, for heavy drops had begun to fall; they +pattered on Cobb's hard felt hat, and Louise tried to shelter him as +well as herself. + +'Never mind me,' he said. 'And here, let me hold that thing over +you. If you just put your arm in mine, it'll be easier. That's the +way. Take two steps to my one; that's it.' + +Again they were silent for a few moments. They had reached the +Common, and Cobb struck along a path most likely to be unfrequented. +No wind was blowing; the rain fell in steady spots that could all +but be counted, and the air grew dark. + +'Well, I can only propose one thing,' sounded the masculine voice. +'You can get out of it by marrying me.' + +Louise gave a little laugh, rather timid than scornful. + +'Yes, I suppose I can. But it's an awkward way. It would be rather +like using a sledge-hammer to crack a nut.' + +'It'll come sooner or later,' asserted Cobb, with genial confidence. + +'That's what I don't like about you.' Louise withdrew her arm +petulantly. 'You always speak as if I couldn't help myself. Don't +you suppose I have any choice?' + +'Plenty, no doubt,' was the grim answer. + +'Whenever we begin to quarrel it's your fault,' pursued Miss +Derrick, with unaccustomed moderation of tone. 'I never knew a man +who behaved like you do. You seem to think the way to make anyone +like you is to bully them. We should have got on very much better if +you had tried to be pleasant.' + +'I don't think we've got along badly, all things considered,' Cobb +replied, as if after weighing a doubt. 'We'd a good deal rather be +together than apart, it seems to me; or else, why do we keep +meeting? And I don't want to bully anybody--least of all, you. It's +a way I have of talking, I suppose. You must judge a man by his +actions and his meaning, not by the tone of his voice. You know very +well what a great deal I think of you. Of course I don't like it +when you begin to speak as if you were only playing with me; nobody +would.' + +'I'm serious enough,' said Louise, trying to hold the umbrella over +her companion, and only succeeding in directing moisture down the +back of his neck. 'And it's partly through you that I've got into +such difficulties.' + +'How do you make that out?' + +'If it wasn't for you, I should very likely marry Mr. Bowling.' + +'Oh, he's asked you, has he?' cried Cobb, staring at her. 'Why +didn't you tell me that before?--Don't let me stand in your way. I +dare say he's just the kind of man for you. At all events, he's like +you in not knowing his own mind.' + +'Go on! Go on!' Louise exclaimed carelessly. 'There's plenty of +time. Say all you've got to say.' + +From the gloom of the eastward sky came a rattling of thunder, like +quick pistol-shots. Cobb checked his steps. + +'We mustn't go any further. You're getting wet, and the rain isn't +likely to stop.' + +'I shall not go back,' Louise answered, 'until something has been +settled.' And she stood before him, her eyes cast down, whilst Cobb +looked at the darkening sky. 'I want to know what's going to become +of me. The Mumfords won't keep me much longer, and I don't wish to +stay where I'm not wanted.' + +'Let us walk down the hill.' + +A flash of lightning made Louise start, and the thunder rattled +again. But only light drops were falling. The girl stood her ground. + +'I want to know what I am to do. If you can't help me, say so, and +let me go my own way.' + +'Of course I can help you. That is, if you'll be honest with me. I +want to know, first of all, whether you've been encouraging that man +Bowling.' + +'No, I haven't.' + +'Very well, I believe you. And now I'll make you a fair offer. Marry +me as soon as I can make the arrangements, and I'll pay all you owe, +and see that you are in comfortable lodgings until I've time to get +a house. It could be done before I go to Bristol, and then, of +course, you could go with me.' + +'You speak,' said Louise, after a short silence, 'just as if you +were making an agreement with a servant.' + +'That's all nonsense, and you know it. I've told you how I think, +often enough, in letters, and I'm not good at saying it. Look here, +I don't think it's very wise to stand out in the middle of the +Common in a thunderstorm. Let us walk on, and I think I would put +down your umbrella.' + +'It wouldn't trouble you much if I were struck with lightning.' + +'All right, take it so. I shan't trouble to contradict.' + +Louise followed his advice, and they began to walk quickly down the +slope towards Streatham. Neither spoke until they were in the high +road again. A strong wind was driving the rain-clouds to other +regions and the thunder had ceased; there came a grey twilight; rows +of lamps made a shimmering upon the wet ways. + +'What sort of a house would you take?' Louise asked suddenly. + +'Oh, a decent enough house. What kind do you want?' + +'Something like the Mumfords'. It needn't be quite so large,' she +added quickly; 'but a house with a garden, in a nice road, and in a +respectable part.' + +'That would suit me well enough,' answered Cobb cheerfully. 'You +seem to think I want to drag you down, but you're very much +mistaken. I'm doing pretty well, and likely, as far as I can see, to +do better. I don't grudge you money; far from it. All I want to know +is, that you'll marry me for my own sake.' + +He dropped his voice, not to express tenderness, but because other +people were near. Upon Louise, however, it had a pleasing effect, +and she smiled. + +'Very well,' she made answer, in the same subdued tone. 'Then let us +settle it in that way.' + +They talked amicably for the rest of the time that they spent +together. It was nearly an hour, and never before had they succeeded +in conversing so long without a quarrel. Louise became light-hearted +and mirthful; her companion, though less abandoned to the mood of +the moment, wore a hopeful countenance. Through all his roughness, +Cobb was distinguished by a personal delicacy which no doubt had +impressed Louise, say what she might of pretended fears. At parting, +he merely shook hands with her, as always. + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Glad of a free evening, Emmeline, after dinner, walked round to Mrs. +Fentiman's. Louise had put a restraint upon the wonted friendly +intercourse between the Mumfords and their only familiar +acquaintances at Sutton. Mrs. Fentiman liked to talk of purely +domestic matters, and in a stranger's presence she was never at +ease. Coming alone, and when the children were all safe in bed, +Emmeline had a warm welcome. For the first time she spoke of her +troublesome guest without reserve. This chat would have been restful +and enjoyable but for a most unfortunate remark that fell from the +elder lady, a perfectly innocent mention of something her husband +had told her, but, secretly, so disturbing Mrs. Mumford that, after +hearing it, she got away as soon as possible, and walked quickly +home with dark countenance. + +It was ten o'clock; Louise had not yet returned, but might do so any +moment. Wishing to be sure of privacy in a conversation with her +husband, Emmeline summoned him from his book to the bedroom. + +'Well, what has happened now?' exclaimed Mumford. 'If this kind of +thing goes on much longer I shall feel inclined to take a lodging in +town.' + +'I have heard something very strange. I can hardly believe it; there +must have been a mistake.' + +'What is it? Really, one's nerves--' + +'Is it true that, on Thursday evening, you and Miss Derrick were +seen talking together at the station? Thursday: the day she went off +and came back again after dinner.' + +Mumford would gladly have got out of this scrape at any expense of +mendacity, but he saw at once how useless such an attempt would +prove. Exasperated by the result of his indiscretion, and resenting, +as all men do, the undignified necessity of defending himself, he +flew into a rage. Yes, it _was_ true, and what next? The girl had +waylaid him, begged him to intercede for her with his wife. Of +course it would have been better to come home and reveal the matter; +he didn't do so because it seemed to put him in a silly position. +For Heaven's sake, let the whole absurd business be forgotten and +done with! + +Emmeline, though not sufficiently enlightened to be above small +jealousies, would have been ashamed to declare her feeling with the +energy of unsophisticated female nature. She replied coldly and +loftily that the matter, of course, _was_ done with; that it +interested her no more; but that she could not help regretting an +instance of secretiveness such as she had never before discovered in +her husband. Surely he had put himself in a much sillier position, +as things turned out, than if he had followed the dictates of +honour. + +'The upshot of it is this,' cried Mumford: 'Miss Derrick has to +leave the house, and, if necessary, I shall tell her so myself.' + +Again Emmeline was cold and lofty. There was no necessity whatever +for any further communication between Clarence and Miss Derrick. Let +the affair be left entirely in her hands. Indeed, she must very +specially request that Clarence would have nothing more to do with +Miss Derrick's business. Whereupon Mumford took offence. Did +Emmeline wish to imply that there had been anything improper in his +behaviour beyond the paltry indiscretion to which he had confessed? +No; Emmeline was thankful to say that she did not harbour base +suspicions. Then, rejoined Mumford, let this be the last word of a +difference as hateful to him as to her. And he left the room. + +His wife did not linger more than a minute behind him, and she sat +in the drawing-room to await Miss Derrick's return; Mumford kept +apart in what was called the library. To her credit, Emmeline tried +hard to believe that she had learnt the whole truth; her mind, as +she had justly declared, was not prone to ignoble imaginings; but +acquitting her husband by no means involved an equal charity towards +Louise. Hitherto uncertain in her judgment, she had now the relief +of an assurance that Miss Derrick was not at all a proper person to +entertain as a guest, on whatever terms. The incident of the railway +station proved her to be utterly lacking in self-respect, in +feminine modesty, even if her behaviour merited no darker +description. Emmeline could now face with confidence the scene from +which she had shrunk; not only was it a duty to insist upon Miss +Derrick's departure, it would be a positive pleasure. + +Louise very soon entered; she came into the room with her brightest +look, and cried gaily: + +'Oh, I hope I haven't kept you waiting for me. Are you alone?' + +'No. I have been out.' + +'Had you the storm here? I'm not going to keep you talking; you look +tired.' + +'I am rather,' said Emmeline, with reserve. She had no intention of +allowing Louise to suspect the real cause of what she was about to +say--that would have seemed to her undignified; but she could not +speak quite naturally. 'Still, I should be glad if you would sit +down for a minute.' + +The girl took a chair and began to draw off her gloves. She +understood what was coming; it appeared in Emmeline's face. + +'Something to say to me, Mrs. Mumford?' + +'I hope you won't think me unkind. I feel obliged to ask you when +you will be able to make new arrangements.' + +'You would like me to go soon?' said Louise, inspecting her +finger-nails, and speaking without irritation. + +'I am sorry to say that I think it better you should leave us. +Forgive this plain speaking, Miss Derrick. It's always best to be +perfectly straightforward, isn't it?' + +Whether she felt the force of this innuendo or not, Louise took it +in good part. As if the idea had only just struck her, she looked up +cheerfully. + +'You're quite right, Mrs. Mumford. I'm sure you've been very kind to +me, and I've had a very pleasant time here, but it wouldn't do for +me to stay longer. May I wait over to-morrow, just till Wednesday +morning, to have an answer to a letter?' + +'Certainly, if it is quite understood that there will be no delay +beyond that. There are circumstances--private matters--I don't feel +quite able to explain. But I must be sure that you will have left us +by Wednesday afternoon.' + +'You may be sure of it. I will write a line and post it to-night, +for it to go as soon as possible.' + +Therewith Louise stood up and, smiling, withdrew. Emmeline was both +relieved and surprised; she had not thought it possible for the girl +to conduct herself at such a juncture with such perfect propriety. +An outbreak of ill-temper, perhaps of insolence, had seemed more +than likely; at best she looked for tears and entreaties. Well, it +was over, and by Wednesday the house would be restored to its +ancient calm. Ancient, indeed! One could not believe that so short a +time had passed since Miss Derrick first entered the portals. Only +one more day. + +'Oh, blindness to the future, kindly given, That each may fill the +circle marked by Heaven.' At school, Emmeline had learnt and recited +these lines; but it was long since they had recurred to her memory. + +In ten minutes Louise had written her letter. She went out, +returned, and looked in at the drawing-room, with a pleasant smile. +'Good-night, Mrs. Mumford.' 'Good-night, Miss Derrick.' For the +grace of the thing, Emmeline would have liked to say 'Louise,' but +could not bring her lips to utter the name. + +About a year ago there had been a little misunderstanding between +Mr. and Mrs. Mumford, which lasted for some twenty-four hours, +during which they had nothing to say to each other. To-night they +found themselves in a similar situation, and remembered that last +difference, and wondered, both of them, at the harmony of their +married life. It was in truth wonderful enough; twelve months +without a shadow of ill-feeling between them. The reflection +compelled Mumford to speak when his head was on the pillow. + +'Emmy, we're making fools of ourselves. Just tell me what you have +done.' + +'I can't see how _I_ am guilty of foolishness,' was the clear-cut +reply. + +'Then why are you angry with me?' + +'I don't like deceit.' + +'Hanged if I don't dislike it just as much. When is that girl +going?' + +Emmeline made known the understanding at which she had arrived, and +her husband breathed an exclamation of profound thankfulness. But +peace was not perfectly restored. + +In another room, Louise lay communing with her thoughts, which were +not at all disagreeable. She had written to Cobb, telling him what +had happened, and asking him to let her know by Wednesday morning +what she was to do. She could not go home; he must not bid her do +so; but she would take a lodging wherever he liked. The position +seemed romantic and enjoyable. Not till after her actual marriage +should the people at home know what had become of her. She was +marrying with utter disregard of all her dearest ambitions all the +same, she had rather be the wife of Cobb than of anyone else. Her +stepfather might recover his old kindness and generosity as soon as +he knew she no longer stood in Cissy's way, and that she had never +seriously thought of marrying Mr. Bowling. Had she not thought of +it? The question did not enter her own mind, and she would have been +quite incapable of passing a satisfactory cross-examination on the +subject. + +Mrs. Mumford, foreseeing the difficulty of spending the next day at +home, told her husband in the morning that she would have early +luncheon and go to see Mrs. Grove. + +'And I should like you to fetch me from there, after business, +please.' + +'I will,' answered Clarence readily. He mentally added a hope that +his wife did not mean to supervise him henceforth and for ever. If +so, their troubles were only beginning. + +At breakfast, Louise continued to be discretion itself. She talked +of her departure on the morrow as though it had long been a settled +thing, and was quite unconnected with disagreeable circumstances. +Only midway in the morning did Mrs. Mumford, who had been busy with +her child, speak of the early luncheon and her journey to town. She +hoped Miss Derrick would not mind being left alone. + +'Oh, don't speak of it,' answered Louise. 'I've lots to do. You'll +give my kind regards to Mrs. Grove?' + +So they ate together at midday, rather silently, but with faces +composed. And Emmeline, after a last look into the nursery, hastened +away to catch her train. She had no misgivings; during her absence, +all would be well as ever. + +Louise passed the time without difficulty, and at seven o'clock made +an excellent dinner. This evening no reply could be expected from +Cobb, as he was not likely to have received her letter of last night +till his return home from business. Still, there might be something +from someone; she always looked eagerly for the postman. + +The weather was gloomy. Not long after eight the housemaid brought +in a lighted lamp, and set it, as usual, upon the little black +four-legged table in the drawing-room. And in the same moment the +knocker of the front door sounded a vigorous rat-tat-tat, a +visitor's summons. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +'It may be someone calling upon me,' said Louise to the servant. +'Let me know the name before you show anyone in.' + +'Of course, miss,' replied the domestic, with pert familiarity, and +took her time in arranging the shade of the lamp. When she returned +from the door it was to announce, smilingly, that Mr. Cobb wished to +see Miss Derrick. + +'Please to show him in.' + +Louise stood in an attitude of joyous excitement, her eyes +sparkling. But at the first glance she perceived that her lover's +mood was by no means correspondingly gay. Cobb stalked forward and +kept a stern gaze upon her, but said nothing. + +'Well? You got my letter, I suppose?' + +'What letter?' + +He had not been home since breakfast-time, so Louise's appeal to him +for advice lay waiting his arrival. Impatiently, she described the +course of events. As soon as she had finished, Cobb threw his hat +aside and addressed her harshly. + +'I want to know what you mean by writing to your sister that you are +going to marry Bowling. I saw your mother this morning, and that's +what she told me. It must have been only a day or two ago that you +said that. Just explain, if you please. I'm about sick of this kind +of thing, and I'll have the truth out of you.' + +His anger had never taken such a form as this; for the first time +Louise did in truth feel afraid of him. She shrank away, her heart +throbbed, and her tongue refused its office. + +'Say what you mean by it!' Cobb repeated, in a voice that was all +the more alarming because he kept it low. + +'Did you write that to your sister?' + +'Yes--but I never meant it--it was just to make her angry--' + +'You expect me to believe that? And, if it's true, doesn't it make +you out a nice sort of girl? But I don't believe it You've been +thinking of him in that way all along; and you've been writing to +him, or meeting him, since you came here. What sort of behaviour do +you call this?' + +Louise was recovering self-possession; the irritability of her own +temper began to support her courage. + +'What if I have? I'd never given _you_ any promise till last night, +had I? I was free to marry anyone I liked, wasn't I? What do _you_ +mean by coming here and going on like this? I've told you the truth +about that letter, and I've always told you the truth about +everything. If you don't like it, say so and go.' + +Cobb was impressed by the energy of her defence. He looked her +straight in the eyes, and paused a moment; then spoke less +violently. + +'You haven't told me the _whole_ truth. I want to know when you saw +Bowling last.' + +'I haven't seen him since I left home.' + +'When did you write to him last?' + +'The same day I wrote to Cissy. And I shall answer no more +questions.' + +'Of course not. But that's quite enough. You've been playing a +double game; if you haven't told lies, you've acted them. What sort +of a wife would you make? How could I ever believe a word you said? +I shall have no more to do with you.' + +He turned away, and, in the violence of the movement, knocked over a +little toy chair, one of those perfectly useless, and no less ugly, +impediments which stand about the floor of a well-furnished +drawing-room. Too angry to stoop and set the object on its legs +again, he strode towards the door. Louise followed him. + +'You are going?' she asked, in a struggling voice. + +Cobb paid no attention, and all but reached the door. She laid a +hand upon him. + +'You are going?' + +The touch and the voice checked him. Again he turned abruptly and +seized the hand that rested upon his arm. + +'Why are you stopping me? What do you want with me? I'm to help you +out of the fix you've got into, is that it? I'm to find you a +lodging, and take no end of trouble, and then in a week's time get a +letter to say that you want nothing more to do with me.' + +Louise was pale with anger and fear, and as many other emotions as +her little heart and brain could well hold. She did not look her +best--far from it but the man saw something in her eyes which threw +a fresh spell upon him. Still grasping her one hand, he caught her +by the other arm, held her as far off as he could, and glared +passionately as he spoke. + +'What do you want?' + +'You know--I've told you the truth--' + +His grasp hurt her; she tried to release herself, and moved +backwards. For a moment Cobb left her free; she moved backward +again, her eyes drawing him on. She felt her power, and could not be +content with thus much exercise of it. + +'You may go if you like. But you understand, if you do--' + +Cobb, inflamed with desire and jealousy, made an effort to recapture +her. Louise sprang away from him; but immediately behind her lay the +foolish little chair which he had kicked over, and just beyond +_that_ stood the scarcely less foolish little table which supported +the heavy lamp, with its bowl of coloured glass and its spreading +yellow shade. She tottered back, fell with all her weight against +the table, and brought the lamp crashing to the floor. A shriek of +terror from Louise, from her lover a shout of alarm, blended with +the sound of breaking glass. In an instant a great flame shot up +half way to the ceiling. The lamp-shade was ablaze; the +much-embroidered screen, Mrs. Mumford's wedding present, forthwith +caught fire from a burning tongue that ran along the carpet; and +Louise's dress, well sprinkled with paraffin, aided the +conflagration. Cobb, of course, saw only the danger to the girl. He +seized the woollen hearthrug and tried to wrap it about her; but +with screams of pain and frantic struggles, Louise did her best to +thwart his purpose. + +The window was open, and now a servant, rushing in to see what the +uproar meant, gave the blaze every benefit of draught. + +'Bring water!' roared Cobb, who had just succeeded in extinguishing +Louise's dress, and was carrying her, still despite her struggles, +out of the room. 'Here, one of you take Miss Derrick to the next +house. Bring water, you!' + +All three servants were scampering and screeching about the hall. +Cobb caught hold of one of them and all but twisted her arm out of +its socket. At his fierce command, the woman supported Louise into +the garden, and thence, after a minute or two of faintness on the +sufferer's part, led her to the gate of the neighbouring house. The +people who lived there chanced to be taking the air on their front +lawn. Without delay, Louise was conveyed beneath the roof, and her +host, a man of energy, sped towards the fire to be of what +assistance he could. + +The lamp-shade, the screen, the little table and the diminutive +chair blazed gallantly, and with such a volleying of poisonous fumes +that Cobb could scarce hold his ground to do battle. Louise out of +the way, he at once became cool and resourceful. Before a flame +could reach the window he had rent down the flimsy curtains and +flung them outside. Bellowing for the water which was so long in +coming, he used the hearthrug to some purpose on the outskirts of +the bonfire, but had to keep falling back for fresh air. Then +appeared a pail and a can, which he emptied effectively, and next +moment sounded the voice of the gentleman from next door. + +'Have you a garden hose? Set it on to the tap, and bring it in +here.' + +The hose was brought into play, and in no great time the last flame +had flickered out amid a deluge. When all danger was at an end, one +of the servants, the nurse-girl, uttered a sudden shriek; it merely +signified that she had now thought for the first time of the little +child asleep upstairs. Aided by the housemaid, she rushed to the +nursery, snatched her charge from bed, and carried the unhappy +youngster into the breezes of the night, where he screamed at the +top of his gamut. + +Cobb, when he no longer feared that the house would be burnt down, +hurried to inquire after Louise. She lay on a couch, wrapped in a +dressing-gown; for the side and one sleeve of her dress had been +burnt away. Her moaning never ceased; there was a fire-mark on the +lower part of her face, and she stared with eyes of terror and +anguish at whoever approached her. Already a doctor had been sent +for, and Cobb, reporting that all was safe at 'Runnymede,' wished to +remove her at once to her own bed room, and the strangers were eager +to assist. + +'What will the Mumfords say?' Louise asked of a sudden, trying to +raise herself. + +'Leave all that to me,' Cobb replied reassuringly. 'I'll make it all +right; don't trouble yourself.' + +The nervous shock had made her powerless; they carried her in a +chair back to 'Runnymede,' and upstairs to her bedroom. Scarcely was +this done when Mr. and Mrs. Mumford, after a leisurely walk from the +station, approached their garden gate. The sight of a little crowd +of people in the quiet road, the smell of burning, loud voices of +excited servants, caused them to run forward in alarm. Emmeline, +frenzied by the certainty that her own house was on fire, began to +cry aloud for her child, and Mumford rushed like a madman through +the garden. + +'It's all right,' said a man who stood in the doorway. 'You Mr. +Mumford? It's all right. There's been a fire, but we've got it out.' + +Emmeline learnt at the same moment that her child had suffered no +harm, but she would not pause until she saw the little one and held +him in her embrace. Meanwhile, Cobb and Mumford talked in the +devastated drawing-room, which was illumined with candles. + +'It's a bad job, Mr. Mumford. My name is Cobb: I daresay you've +heard of me. I came to see Miss Derrick, and I was clumsy enough to +knock the lamp over.' + +'Knock the lamp over! How could you do that? Were you drunk?' + +'No, but you may well ask the question. I stumbled over something--a +little chair, I think--and fell against the table with the lamp on +it.' + +'Where's Miss Derrick?' + +'Upstairs. She got rather badly burnt, I'm afraid. We've sent for a +doctor.' + +'And here I am,' spoke a voice behind them. 'Sorry to see this, Mr. +Mumford.' + +The two went upstairs together, and on the first landing encountered +Emmeline, sobbing and wailing hysterically with the child in her +arms. Her husband spoke soothingly. + +'Don't, don't, Emmy. Here's Dr. Billings come to see Miss Derrick. +She's the only one that has been hurt. Go down, there's a good girl, +and send somebody to help in Miss Derrick's room; you can't be any +use yourself just now.' + +'But how did it happen? Oh, _how_ did it happen?' + +'I'll come and tell you all about it. Better put the boy to bed +again, hadn't you?' + +When she had recovered her senses Emmeline took this advice, and, +leaving the nurse by the child's cot, went down to survey the ruin +of her property. It was a sorry sight. Where she had left a +reception-room such as any suburban lady in moderate circumstances +might be proud of; she now beheld a mere mass of unrecognisable +furniture, heaped on what had once been a carpet, amid dripping +walls and under a grimed ceiling. + +'Oh! Oh!' She all but sank before the horror of the spectacle. Then, +in a voice of fierce conviction, 'She did it! _She_ did it! It was +because I told her to leave. I _know_ she did it on purpose!' + +Mumford closed the door of the room, shutting out Cobb and the cook +and the housemaid. He repeated the story Cobb had told him, and +quietly urged the improbability of his wife's explanation. Miss +Derrick, he pointed out, was lying prostrate from severe burns; the +fire must have been accidental, but the accident, to be sure, was +extraordinary enough. Thereupon Mrs. Mumford's wrath turned against +Cobb. What business had such a man--a low-class savage--in _her_ +drawing-room? He must have come knowing that she and her husband +were away for the evening. + +'You can question him, if you like,' said Mumford. 'He's out there.' + +Emmeline opened the door, and at once heard a cry of pain from +upstairs. Mumford, also hearing it, and seeing Cobb's +misery-stricken face by the light of the hall lamp, whispered to his +wife: + +'Hadn't you better go up, dear? Dr. Billings may think it strange.' + +It was much wiser to urge this consideration than to make a direct +plea for mercy. Emmeline did not care to have it reported that +selfish distress made her indifferent to the sufferings of a friend +staying in her house. But she could not pass Cobb without addressing +him severely. + +'So _you_ are the cause of this!' + +'I am, Mrs. Mumford, and I can only say that I'll do my best to make +good the damage to your house.' + +'Make good I fancy you have strange ideas of the value of the +property destroyed.' + +Insolence was no characteristic of Mrs. Mumford. But calamity had +put her beside herself; she spoke, not in her own person, but as a +woman whose carpets, curtains and bric-a-brac have +ignominiously perished. + +'I'll make it good,' Cobb repeated humbly, 'however long it takes +me. And don't be angry with that poor girl, Mrs. Mumford. It wasn't +her fault, not in any way. She didn't know I was coming; she hadn't +asked me to come. I'm entirely to blame.' + +'You mean to say you knocked over the table by accident?' + +'I did indeed. And I wish I'd been burnt myself instead of her.' + +He had suffered, by the way, no inconsiderable scorching, to which +his hands would testify for many a week; but of this he was still +hardly aware. Emmeline, with a glance of uttermost scorn, left him, +and ascended to the room where the doctor was busy. Free to behave +as he thought fit, Mumford beckoned Cobb to follow him into the +front garden, where they conversed with masculine calm. + +'I shall put up at Sutton for the night,' said Cobb, 'and perhaps +you'll let me call the first thing in the morning to ask how she +gets on.' + +'Of course. We'll see the doctor when he comes down. But I wish I +could understand how you managed to throw the lamp down.' + +'The truth is,' Cobb replied, 'we were quarrelling. I'd heard +something about her that made me wild, and I came and behaved like a +fool. I feel just now as if I could go and cut my throat, that's the +fact. If anything happens to her, I believe I shall. I might as +well, in any case; she'll never look at me again.' + +'Oh, don't take such a dark view of it.' + +The doctor came out, on his way to fetch certain requirements, and +the two men walked with him to his house in the next road. They +learned that Louise was not dangerously injured; her recovery would +be merely a matter of time and care. Cobb gave a description of the +fire, and his hearers marvelled that the results were no worse. + +'You must have some burns too?' said the doctor, whose curiosity was +piqued by everything he saw and heard of the strange occurrence. 'I +thought so; those hands must be attended to.' + +Meanwhile, Emmeline sat by the bedside and listened to the +hysterical lamentation in which Louise gave her own--the +true--account of the catastrophe. It was all her fault, and upon her +let all the blame fall. She would humble herself to Mr. Higgins and +get him to pay for the furniture destroyed. If Mrs. Mumford would +but forgive her! And so on, as her poor body agonised, and the blood +grew feverish in her veins. + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +'Accept it? Certainly. Why should we bear the loss if he's able to +make it good? He seems to be very well off for an unmarried man.' + +'Yes,' replied Mumford, 'but he's just going to marry, and it +seems--Well, after all, you know, he didn't really cause the +damage. I should have felt much less scruple if Higgins had offered +to pay--' + +'He _did_ cause the damage,' asseverated Emmeline. 'It was his gross +or violent behaviour. If we had been insured it wouldn't matter so +much. And pray let this be a warning, and insure at once. However +you look at it, he ought to pay.' + +Emmeline's temper had suffered much since she made the acquaintance +of Miss Derrick. Aforetime, she could discuss difference of opinion; +now a hint of diversity drove her at once to the female weapon-- +angry and iterative assertion. Her native delicacy, also, seemed to +have degenerated. Mumford could only hold his tongue and trust that +this would be but a temporary obscurement of his wife's amiable +virtues. + +Cobb had written from Bristol, a week after the accident, formally +requesting a statement of the pecuniary loss which the Mumfords had +suffered; he was resolved to repay them, and would do so, if +possible, as soon as he knew the sum. Mumford felt a trifle ashamed +to make the necessary declaration; at the outside, even with +expenses of painting and papering, their actual damage could not be +estimated at more than fifty pounds, and even Emmeline did not wish +to save appearances by making an excessive demand. The one costly +object in the room--the piano--was practically uninjured, and sundry +other pieces of furniture could easily be restored; for Cobb and his +companion, as amateur firemen, had by no means gone recklessly to +work. By candle-light, when the floor was still a swamp, things +looked more desperate than they proved to be on subsequent +investigation; and it is wonderful at how little outlay, in our +glistening times, a villa drawing-room may be fashionably equipped. +So Mumford wrote to his correspondent that only a few 'articles' had +absolutely perished; that it was not his wish to make any demand at +all; but that, if Mr. Cobb insisted on offering restitution, why, a +matter of fifty pounds, etc. etc. And in a few days this sum +arrived, in the form of a draft upon respectable bankers. + +Of course the house was in grievous disorder. Upholsterers' workmen +would have been bad enough, but much worse was the establishment of +Mrs. Higgins by her daughter's bedside, which naturally involved her +presence as a guest at table, and the endurance of her conversation +whenever she chose to come downstairs. Mumford urged his wife to +take her summer holiday--to go away with the child until all was put +right again--a phrase which included the removal of Miss Derrick +to her own home; but of this Emmeline would not hear. How could she +enjoy an hour of mental quietude when, for all she knew, Mrs. +Higgins and the patient might be throwing lamps at each other? And +her jealousy was still active, though she did not allow it to betray +itself in words. Clarence seemed to her quite needlessly anxious in +his inquiries concerning Miss Derrick's condition. Until that young +lady had disappeared from 'Runnymede' for ever, Emmeline would keep +matronly watch and ward. + +Mrs. Higgins declared at least a score of times every day that she +could _not_ understand how this dreadful affair had come to pass. +The most complete explanation from her daughter availed nothing; she +deemed the event an insoluble mystery, and, in familiar talk with +Mrs. Mumford, breathed singular charges against Louise's lover. +'She's shielding him, my dear. I've no doubt of it. I never had a +very good opinion of him, but now she shall never marry him with +_my_ consent.' To this kind of remark Emmeline at length deigned no +reply. She grew to detest Mrs. Higgins, and escaped her society by +every possible manoeuvre. + +'Oh, how pleasant it is,' she explained bitterly to her husband, 'to +think that everybody in the road is talking about us with contempt! +Of course tile servants have spread nice stories. And the +Wilkinsons'--these were the people next door--'look upon us as +hardly respectable. Even Mrs. Fentiman said yesterday that she +really could not conceive how I came to take that girl into the +house. I acknowledged that I must have been crazy.' + +'Whilst we're thoroughly upset,' replied Mumford, with irritation at +this purposeless talk, 'hadn't we better leave the house and go to +live as far away as possible?' + +'Indeed, I very much wish we could. I don't think I shall ever be +happy again at Sutton.' + +And Clarence went off muttering to himself about the absurdity and +the selfishness of women. + +For a week or ten days Louise lay very ill; then her vigorous +constitution began to assert itself. It helped her greatly towards +convalescence when she found that the scorches on her face would not +leave a permanent blemish. Mrs. Mumford came into the room once a +day and sat for a few minutes, neither of them desiring longer +communion, but they managed to exchange inquiries and remarks with a +show of came from Cobb, Emmeline made no friendliness. When the +fifty pounds mention of it. The next day, however, Mrs. Higgins +being absent when Emmeline looked in, Louise said with an air of +satisfaction + +'So he has paid the money! I'm very glad of that.' + +'Mr. Cobb insisted on paying,' Mrs. Mumford answered with reserve. +'We could not hurt his feelings by refusing.' + +'Well, that's all right, isn't it? You won't think so badly of us +now? Of course you wish you'd never set eyes on me, Mrs. Mumford; +but that's only natural: in your place I'm sure I should feel the +same. Still, now the money's paid, you won't always think unkindly +of me, will you?' + +The girl lay propped on pillows; her pale face, with its healing +scars, bore witness to what she had undergone, and. one of her arms +was completely swathed in bandages. Emmeline did not soften towards +her, but the frank speech, the rather pathetic little smile, in +decency demanded a suave response. + +'I shall wish you every happiness, Louise.' + +'Thank you. We shall be married as soon as ever I'm well, but I'm +sure I don't know where. Mother hates his very name, and does her +best to set me against him; but I just let her talk. We're beginning +to quarrel a little--did you hear us this morning? I try to keep +down my voice, and I shan't be here much longer, you know. I shall +go home at first my stepfather has written a kind letter, and of +course he's glad to know I shall marry Mr. Cobb. But I don't think +the wedding will be there. It wouldn't be nice to go to church in a +rage, as I'm sure I should with mother and Cissy looking on.' + +This might, or might not, signify a revival of the wish to be +married from 'Runnymede.' Emmeline quickly passed to another +subject. + +Mrs. Higgins was paying a visit to Coburg Lodge, where, during the +days of confusion, the master of the house had been left at his +servants' mercy. On her return, late in the evening, she entered +flurried and perspiring, and asked the servant who admitted her +where Mrs. Mumford was. + +'With master, in the library, 'm.' + +'Tell her I wish to speak to her at once.' + +Emmeline came forth, and a lamp was lighted in the dining-room, for +the drawing-room had not yet been restored to a habitable condition. +Silent, and wondering in gloomy resignation what new annoyance was +prepared for her, Emmeline sat with eyes averted, whilst the stout +woman mopped her face and talked disconnectedly of the hardships of +travelling in such weather as this; when at length she reached her +point, Mrs. Higgins became lucid and emphatic. + +'I've heard things as have made me that angry I can hardly bear +myself. Would you believe that people are trying to take away my +daughter's character? It's Cissy 'Iggins's doing: I'm sure of it, +though I haven't brought it 'ome to her yet. I dropped in to see +some friends of ours--I shouldn't wonder if you know the name; it's +Mrs. Jolliffe, a niece of Mr. Baxter--Baxter, Lukin and Co., you +know. And she told me in confidence what people are saying--as how +Louise was to marry Mr. Bowling, but he broke it off when he found +_the sort of people she was living with_, here at Sutton--and a +great many more things as I shouldn't like to tell you. Now what +_do_ you think of--' + +Emmeline, her eyes flashing, broke in angrily: + +'I think nothing at all about it, Mrs. Higgins, and I had very much +rather not hear the talk of such people.' + +'I don't wonder it aggravates you, Mrs. Mumford. Did anyone ever +hear such a scandal! I'm sure nobody that knows you could say a word +against your respectability, and, as I told Mrs. Jolliffe, she's +quite at liberty to call here to-morrow or the next day--' + +'Not to see _me_, I hope,' said Emmeline. 'I must refuse--' + +'Now just let me tell you what I've thought,' pursued the stout +lady, hardly aware of this interruption. 'This'll have to be set +right, both for Lou's sake and for yours, and to satisfy us all. +They're making a mystery, d'you see, of Lou leaving 'ome and going +off to live with strangers; and Cissy's been doing her best to make +people think there's something wrong--the spiteful creature! And +there's only one way of setting it right. As soon as Lou can be +dressed and got down, and when the drawing-room's finished, I want +her to ask all our friends here to five o'clock tea, just to let +them see with their own eyes--' + +'Mrs. Higgins!' + +'Of course there'll be no expense for _you_, Mrs. Mumford--not a +farthing. I'll provide everything, and all I ask of you is just to +sit in your own drawing-room--' + +'Mrs. Higgins, be so kind as to listen to me. This is quite +impossible. I can't dream of allowing any such thing.' + +The other glared in astonishment, which tended to wrath. + +'But can't you see, Mrs. Mumford, that it's for your _own_ good as +well as ours? Do you want people to be using your name--' + +'What can it matter to me how _such_ people think or speak of me?' +cried Emmeline, trembling with exasperation. + +'Such people! I don't think you know who you're talking about, Mrs. +Mumford. You'll let me tell you that my friends are as respectable +as yours--' + +'I shall not argue about it,' said Emmeline, standing up. 'You will +please to remember that already I've had a great deal of trouble and +annoyance, and what you propose would be quite intolerable. Once for +all, I can't dream of such a thing.' + +'Then all I can say is, Mrs. Mumford'--the speaker rose with heavy +dignity--'that you're not behaving in a very ladylike way. I'm not a +quarrelsome person, as you well know, and I don't say nasty things +if I can help it. But there's one thing I _must_ say and _will_ say, +and that is, that when we first came here you gave a very different +account of yourself to what it's turned out. You told me and my +daughter distinctly that you had a great deal of the very best +society, and that was what Lou came here _for_, and you knew it, and +you can't deny that you did. And I should like to know how much +society she's seen all the time she's been here--that's the question +I _ask_ you. I don't believe she's seen more than three or four +people altogether. They may have been respectable enough, and I'm +not the one to say they weren't, but I _do_ say it isn't what we was +led to expect, and that you can't deny, Mrs. Mumford.' + +She paused for breath. Emmeline had moved towards the door, and +stood struggling with the feminine rage which impelled her to +undignified altercation. To withdraw in silence would be like a +shamed confession of the charge brought against her, and she +suffered not a little from her consciousness of the modicum of truth +therein. + +'It was a most unfortunate thing, Mrs. Higgins,' burst from her +lips, 'that I ever consented to receive your daughter, knowing as I +did that she wasn't our social equal.' + +'Wasn't _what_?' exclaimed the other, as though the suggestion +startled her by its novelty. 'You think yourself superior to us? You +did us a favour--' + +Whilst Mrs. Higgins was uttering these words the door opened, and +there entered a figure which startled her into silence. It was that +of Louise, in a dressing-gown and slippers, with a shawl wrapped +about the upper part of her body. + +'I heard you quarrelling,' she began. (Her bedroom was immediately +above, and at this silent hour the voices of the angry ladies had +been quite audible to her as she lay in bed.) 'What _is_ it all +about? It's too bad of you, mother--' + +'The idea, Louise, of coming down like that!' cried her parent +indignantly. 'How did you know Mr. Mumford wasn't here? For shame! +Go up again this moment.' + +'I don't see any harm if Mr. Mumford had been here,' replied the +girl calmly. + +'I'm sure it's most unwise of you to leave your bed,' began +Emmeline, with anxious thought for Louise's health, due probably to +her dread of having the girl in the house for an indefinite period. + +'Oh, I've wrapped up. I feel shaky, that's all, and I shall have to +sit down.' She did so, on the nearest chair, with a little laugh at +her strange feebleness. + +'Now please _don't_ quarrel, you two. Mrs. Mumford, don't mind +anything that mother says.' + +Thereupon Louise's mother burst into a vehement exposition of the +reasons of discord, beginning with the calumnious stories she had +heard at Mrs. Jolliffe's, and ending with the outrageous arrogance +of Mrs. Mumford's latest remark. Louise listened with a smile. + +'Now look here, mother,' she said, when silence came for a moment, +'you can't expect Mrs. Mumford to have a lot of strangers coming to +the house just on my account. She's sick and tired of us all, and +wants to see our backs as soon as ever she can. I don't say it to +offend you, Mrs. Mumford, but you know it's true. And I tell you +what it is: To-morrow morning I'm going back home. Yes, I am. You +can't stay here, mother, after this, and I'm not going to have +anyone new to wait on me. I shall go home in a cab, straight from +this house to the other, and I'm quite sure I shan't take any harm.' + +'You won't do it till the doctor's given you leave,' said Mrs. +Higgins with concern. + +'He'll be here at ten in the morning, and I know he will give me +leave. So there's an end of it. And you can go to bed and sleep in +peace, Mrs. Mumford.' + +It was not at all unamiably said. But for Mrs. Higgins's presence, +Emmeline would have responded with a certain kindness. Still +smarting under the stout lady's accusations, which continued to +sound in sniffs and snorts, she answered as austerely as possible. + +'I must leave you to judge, Miss Derrick, how soon you feel able to +go. I don't wish you to do anything imprudent. But it will be much +better if Mrs. Higgins regards me as a stranger during the rest of +her stay here. Any communication she wishes to make to me must be +made through a servant.' + +Having thus delivered herself; Emmeline quitted the room. From the +library, of which the door was left ajar, she heard Louise and her +mother pass upstairs, both silent. Mumford, too well aware that yet +another disturbance had come upon his unhappy household, affected to +read, and it was only when the door of Louise's room had closed that +Emmeline spoke to him. + +'Mrs. Higgins will breakfast by herself to-morrow,' she said +severely. 'She may perhaps go before lunch; but in any case we shall +not sit down at table with her again.' + +'All right,' Mumford replied, studiously refraining from any hint of +curiosity. + +So, next morning, their breakfast was served in the library. Mrs. +Higgins came down at the usual hour, found the dining-room at her +disposal, and ate with customary appetite, alone. Had Emmeline's +experience lain among the more vigorously vulgar of her sex she +would have marvelled at Mrs. Higgins's silence and general +self-restraint during these last hours. Louise's mother might, +without transgressing the probabilities of the situation, have made +this a memorable morning indeed. She confined herself to a rather +frequent ringing of the bedroom bell. Her requests of the servants +became orders, such as she would have given in a hotel or +lodging-house, but no distinctly offensive word escaped her. And +this was almost entirely due to Louise's influence for the girl +impressed upon her mother that 'to make a row' would be the sure and +certain way of proving that Mrs. Mumford was justified in claiming +social superiority over her guests. + +The doctor, easily perceiving how matters stood, made no difficulty +about the patient's removal in a closed carriage, and, with exercise +of all obvious precautions, she might travel as soon as she liked. +Anticipating this, Mrs. Higgins had already packed all the luggage, +and Louise, as well as it could be managed, had been clad for the +journey. + +'I suppose you'll go and order the cab yourself?' she said to her +mother, when they were alone again. + +'Yes, I must, on account of making a bargain about the charge. A +nice expense you've been to us, Louise. That man ought to pay every +penny.' + +'I'll tell him you say so, and no doubt he will.' + +They wrangled about this whilst Mrs. Higgins was dressing to go out. +As soon as her mother had left the house Louise stole downstairs and +to the door of the drawing-room, which was half open. Emmeline, her +back turned, stood before the fireplace, as if considering some new +plan of decoration; she did not hear the girl's light step. +Whitewashers and paperhangers had done their work; a new carpet was +laid down; but pictures had still to be restored to their places, +and the furniture stood all together in the middle of the room. Not +till Louise had entered did her hostess look round. + +'Mrs. Mumford, I want to say good-bye.' + +'Oh, yes,' Emmeline answered civilly, but without a smile. +'Good-bye, Miss Derrick.' + +And she stepped forward to shake hands. + +'Don't be afraid,' said the girl, looking into her face +good-humouredly. 'You shall never see me again unless you wish to.' + +'I'm sure I wish you all happiness,' was the embarrassed reply. +'And--I shall be glad to hear of your marriage.' + +'I'll write to you about it. But you won't talk--unkindly about me +when I've gone--you and Mr. Mumford?' + +'No, no; indeed we shall not.' + +Louise tried to say something else, but without success. She pressed +Emmeline's hand, turned quickly, and disappeared. In half-an-hour's +time arrived the vehicle Mrs. Higgins had engaged; without delay +mother and daughter left the house, and were driven off. Mrs. +Mumford kept a strict retirement. When the two had gone she learnt +from the housemaid that their luggage would be removed later in the +day. + +A fortnight passed, and the Mumfords once more lived in +enjoyment of tranquillity, though Emmeline could not quite recover +her old self. They never spoke of the dread experiences through +which they had gone. Mumford's holiday time approached, and they +were making arrangements for a visit to the seaside, when one +morning a carrier's cart delivered a large package, unexpected and +of unknown contents. Emmeline stripped off the matting, and found-- +a drawing-room screen, not unlike that which she had lost in the +fire. Of course it came from Louise, and, though she professed +herself very much annoyed, Mrs. Mumford had no choice but to +acknowledge it in a civil little note addressed to Coburg Lodge. + +They were away from home for three weeks. On returning, Emmeline +found a letter which had arrived for her the day before; it was from +Louise, and announced her marriage. 'Dear Mrs. Mumford,--I know +you'll be glad to hear it's all over. It was to have been at the end +of October, when our house was ready for us. We have taken a very +nice one at Holloway. But of course something happened, and mother +and Cissy and I quarrelled so dreadfully that I went off and took a +lodging. And then Tom said that we must be married at once; and so +we were, without any fuss at all, and I think it was ever so much +better, though some girls would not care to go in their plain dress +and without friends or anything. After it was over, Tom and I had +just a little disagreement about something, but of course he gave +way, and I don't think we shall get on together at all badly. My +stepfather has been very nice, and is paying for all the furniture, +and has promised me a lot of things. Of course he is delighted to +see me out of the house, just as you were. You see that I write from +Broadstairs, where we are spending our honeymoon. Please remember me +to Mr. Mumford, and believe me, very sincerely yours, Louise L. +Cobb.' + +Enclosed was a wedding-card. + +'Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Cobb,' in gilt lettering, occupied the middle, +and across the right-hand upper corner ran 'Louise E. Derrick,' an +arrow transfixing the maiden surname. + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of The Paying Guest, by George Gissing + diff --git a/old/pygst10.zip b/old/pygst10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2d00b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pygst10.zip |