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diff --git a/43281-0.txt b/43281-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6cb4e27 --- /dev/null +++ b/43281-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14055 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43281 *** + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + https://archive.org/details/crippscarrierwoo00blac + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + + + + +CRIPPS, THE CARRIER. + +A WOODLAND TALE. + +by + +RICHARD DODDRIDGE BLACKMORE, + +Author of "Lorna Doone," "Alice Lorraine," etc. + + + [Greek: ar estin hêmin logidion gnômên echon, + humn men autôn ouchi dexiôteron, + kômpsdias de photikês sophôteron;] + + AR. VESP. 64. + + +New Edition + + + + + + + +London: +Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Limited, +St. Dunstan's House, +Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C. +1892. + +[All rights reserved.] + + + * * * * * * + + BY THE SAME AUTHOR. + + + LORNA DOONE. + + (_Illustrated, édition de luxe, parchment, 35s.; plainer + bindings, 31s. 6d., 21s., and 7s. 6d._) + + ALICE LORRAINE. + CLARA VAUGHAN. + CRADOCK NOWELL, + CRIPPS, THE CARRIER. + MARY ANERLEY. + EREMA: or, My Father's Sin. + CHRISTOWELL: A Dartmoor Tale. + TOMMY UPMORE. + SPRINGHAVEN. + KIT AND KITTY. + + LONDON: + SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, LIMITED. + FETTER LANE. FLEET STREET, E.C. + + * * * * * * + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY 1 + II. THE SWING OF THE PICKAXE 7 + III. OAKLEAF POTATOES 14 + IV. CRIPPS IN A QUANDARY 21 + V. A RIDE THROUGH THE SNOW 24 + VI. THE PUBLIC OF THE "PUBLIC" 30 + VII. THE BEST FOOT FOREMOST 37 + VIII. BALDERDASH 43 + IX. CRIPPS IN AFFLICTION 50 + X. ALL DEAD AGAINST HIM 55 + XI. KNOCKER VERSUS BELL-PULL 60 + XII. MR. JOHN SMITH 68 + XIII. MR. SMITH IS ACTIVE 74 + XIV. SO IS MR. SHARP 79 + XV. A SPOTTED DOG 85 + XVI. A GRAND SMOCK-FROCK 91 + XVII. INSTALLED AT BRASENOSE 98 + XVIII. A FLASH OF LIGHT 104 + XIX. A STORMY NIGHT 110 + XX. CRIPPS DRAWS THE CORK 120 + XXI. CINNAMINTA 127 + XXII. A DELICATE SUBJECT 132 + XXIII. QUITE ANOTHER PAIR OF SOCKS! 141 + XXIV. SUO SIBI BACULO 149 + XXV. MISS PATCH 157 + XXVI. RUTS 164 + XXVII. RATS 173 + XXVIII. BOOTS ON 180 + XXIX. A SPIDER'S DINNER-PARTY 190 + XXX. THE FIRE-BELL 198 + XXXI. THROW PHYSIC TO THE DOGS 206 + XXXII. CRIPPS ON CELIBACY 214 + XXXIII. KIT 223 + XXXIV. A WOOLHOPIAN 230 + XXXV. NIGHTINGALES 237 + XXXVI. MAY MORN 242 + XXXVII. MAY-DAY 248 +XXXVIII. THE DIGNITY OF THE FAMILY 259 + XXXIX. A TOMBSTONE 267 + XL. LET ME OUT 276 + XLI. REASON AND UNREASON 284 + XLII. MEETING THE COACH 291 + XLIII. THE MOTIVE 300 + XLIV. THE MANNER 307 + XLV. THE POSITION 313 + XLVI. IN THE MESHES 324 + XLVII. COMBINED WISDOM 335 + XLVIII. MASCULINE ERROR 342 + XLIX. PROMETHEUS VINCTUS 351 + L. FEMININE ERROR 361 + LI. UNFILIAL 367 + LII. UNPATERNAL 375 + LIII. "THIS WILL DO" 386 + LIV. CRIPPS BRINGS HOME THE CROWN 391 + LV. SMITH TO THE RESCUE 402 + LVI. FATAL ACCIDENT TO THE CARRIER 410 + + + + +CRIPPS, THE CARRIER. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY. + + +The little village of Beckley lies, or rather lay many years ago, in +the quiet embrace of old Stow Wood, well known to every Oxford man who +loves the horn or fusil. This wood or forest (now broken up into many +straggling copses) spread in the olden time across the main breadth of +the highland to the north of Headington, between the valley of the +Cherwell and the bogs of Otmoor. Beckley itself, though once +approached by the Roman road from Alchester, must for many a century +have nursed its rural quietude, withdrawn as it was from the +stage-waggon track from High Wycombe to Chipping Norton, through +Wheatley, Islip, and Bletchingdon, and lying in a tangle of narrow +lanes leading only to one another. So Beckley took that cheerful view +of life which enabled the fox to disdain the blandishments of the +vintage, and prided itself on its happy seclusion and untutored +honesty. + +But as all sons of Adam must have something or other to say to the +rest, and especially to his daughters, this little village carried on +some commerce with the outer world; and did it through a carrier. + +The name of this excellent man was Cripps; and the Carrier's mantle, +or woolsey coat, had descended on this particular Cripps from many +generations. All the Cripps family had a habit of adding largely to +their number in every generation. In this they resembled most other +families which have to fight the world, and therefore recruit their +forces zealously; but in one great point they were very distinct--they +agreed among one another. And ever since roads were made, or rather +lanes began trying to make themselves, one great tradition had +confirmed the dynasty of Crippses. + +This was that the eldest son should take the carrying business; the +second son (upon first avoidance) should have the baker's shop in +Oxford over against old Balliol College; the third should have the +queer old swine-farm in the heart of Stow Forest; the fourth should be +the butcher of Beckley, and the fifth its shoemaker. If ever it +pleased the Lord to proceed with the masculine fork of the family (as +had happened several times), the sixth boy and the rest were expected +to start on their travels, when big enough. As for the girls, the +Carrier, being the head of the family, and holding the house and the +stable and cart, was bound to take the maids, one by one, to and fro +under his tilt twice a week, till the public fell in love with them. + +Now, so many things come cross and across in the countless ins and +outs of life, that even the laws of the Crippses failed sometimes, in +some jot or tittle. Still there they stuck, and strong cause was +needed ere they could be departed from. Of course the side-shoots of +the family (shoemakers' sons, and so on) were not to be bound by this +great code, however ambitious to be so. To deal with such rovers is +not our duty. Our privilege is to trace the strict succession of the +Crippses, the deeds of the Carrier now on the throne and his second +best brother, the baker, with a little side-peep at the man on the +farm, and a shy desire to be very delicate to the last unmarried +"female." + +The present head of the family, Zacchary Cripps, the Beckley carrier, +under the laws of time (which are even stricter than the Cripps' +code), was crossing the ridge of manhood towards the western side of +forty, without providing the due successor to the ancestral +driving-board. Public opinion was already beginning to exclaim at him; +and the man who kept the chandler's shop, with a large small family to +maintain, was threatening to make the most of this, and set up his own +eldest son on the road; though "dot and carry one" was all he knew +about the business. Zacchary was not a likely man to be at all upset +by this; but rather one of a tarrying order, as his name might +indicate. + +Truly intelligent families living round about the city of Oxford had, +and even to this day have, a habit of naming their male babies after +the books of the Bible, in their just canonical sequence; while +infants of the better sex are baptized into the Apocrypha, or even the +Epistles. So that Zacchary should have been "Genesis," only his father +had suffered such pangs of mind at being cut down, by the +ever-strengthening curtness of British diction, into "Jenny Cripps," +that he laid his thumb to the New Testament when his first man-child +was born to him, and finding a father in like case, quite relieved of +responsibility, took it for a good sign, and applied his name +triumphantly. + +But though the eldest born was thus transferred into the New +Testament, the second son reverted to the proper dispensation; and the +one who went into the baker's shop was Exodus, as he ought to be. The +children of the former Exodus were turned out testamentarily, save +those who were needed to carry the bread out till their cousin's boys +should be big enough. + +All of these doings were right enough, and everybody approved of them. +Leviticus Cripps was the lord of the swine, and Numbers bore the +cleaver, while Deuteronomy stuck to his last, when the public-house +could spare him. There was only one more brother of the dominant +generation, whose name was "Pentachook," for thus they pronounced the +collective eponym, and he had been compendiously kicked abroad, to +seek his own fortune, right early. + +But as for the daughters (who took their names from the best women of +the Apocrypha, and sat up successively under the tilt until they were +disposed of), for the moment it is enough to say that all except one +were now forth and settled. Some married farmers, some married +tradesmen, one took a miller's eldest son, one had a gentleman more or +less, but all with expectations. Only the youngest was still in the +tilt, a very pretty girl called Esther. + +All Beckley declared that Esther's heart had been touched by a College +lad, who came some five years since to lodge with Zacchary for the +long vacation, and was waited on by this young girl, supposed to be +then unripe for dreaming of the tender sentiment. That a girl of only +fifteen summers should allow her thoughts to stray, contrary to all +common sense and her duty to her betters, for no other reason (to +anybody's knowledge) than that a young man ate and drank with less +noise than the Crippses, and went on about the moonlight and the +stars, and the rubbishy things in the hedges--that a child like that +should know no better than to mix what a gentleman said with his inner +meaning--put it right or left, it showed that something was amiss with +her. However, the women would say no more until it was pulled out of +them. To mix or meddle with the Crippses was like putting one's +fingers into a steel trap. + +With female opinion in this condition, and eager to catch at anything, +Mrs. Exodus Cripps, in Oxford, was confined rather suddenly. She had +kneaded a batch of two sacks of flour, to put it to rise for the +morning, and her husband (who should not have let her do it) was +smoking a pipe, and exciting her. Nevertheless, it would not have +harmed her (as both the doctor and the midwife said) if only she had +kept herself from arguing while about it. But, somehow or other, her +husband said a thing she could not agree with, and the strength of her +reason went the other way, and it served him right that he had to rush +off in his slippers to the night-bell. + +On the next day, although things were quite brought round, and the +world was the richer by the addition of another rational animal, Mr. +Exodus sent up the crumpet-boy all the way from Broad Street in Oxford +to Beckley, to beg and implore Miss Esther Cripps to come down and +attend to the caudle. And the crumpet-boy, being short of breath, +became so full of power that the Carrier scarcely knew what to do in +the teeth of so urgent a message. For he had made quite a pet of his +youngest sister, and the twenty years of age betwixt them stopped the +gap of rivalry. It was getting quite late in the afternoon when the +crumpet-boy knocked at the Carrier's door, because he had met upon +Magdalen Bridge a boy who owed him twopence; and eager as he was to +fulfil his duty, a sense of justice to himself compelled him to do his +best to get it. His knowledge of the world was increased by the +failure of this Utopian vision, for the other boy offered to toss him +"double or quits," and having no specie, borrowed poor Crumpy's last +penny to do it; then, being defeated in the issue, he cast the young +baker's cap over the bridge, and made off at fine speed with his coin +of the realm. What other thing could Crumpy do than attempt to outvie +his activity? In a word, he chased him as far as Carfax, with +well-winged feet and sad labour of lungs, but Mercury laughed at +Astræa, and Crumpy had a very distant view of fivepence. Recording a +highly vindictive vow, he scratched his bare head, and set forth +again, being further from Beckley than at his first start. + +It certainly was an unlucky thing that the day of the week should be +Tuesday--Tuesday, the 19th of December, 1837. For Zacchary always had +to make his rounds on a Wednesday and a Saturday, and if he were to +drive his poor old Dobbin into Oxford on a Tuesday evening, how could +he get through his business to-morrow? For Dobbin insisted on a day in +stable whenever he had been in Oxford. He was full of the air of the +laziest place, and perhaps the most delightful, in the world. He +despised all the horses of low agriculture after that inspiration, and +he sighed out sweet grunts at the colour of his straw, instead of +getting up the next morning. + +Zacchary Cripps was a thoughtful man, as well as a very kind-hearted +one. In the crown of his hat he always carried a monthly calendar +gummed on cardboard, and opposite almost every day he had dots, or +round O's, or crosses. Each of these to his very steady mind meant +something not to be neglected; and being (as time went) a pretty fair +scholar--ere School Boards destroyed true scholarship--with the help +of his horse he could make out nearly every place he had to call at. +So now he looked at the crumpet-boy, to receive and absorb his +excitement, and then he turned to young Esther, and let her speak +first, as she always liked to do. + +"Oh, please to go back quite as fast as you can," said Esther to the +Crumpy, "and say that I shall be there before you; or, at any rate, as +soon as you are. And, Crumpy, there ought to be something for you. +Dear Zak, have you got twopence?" + +"Not I," said the Carrier, "and if I had, it would do him a deal more +harm than good. Run away down the hill, my lad, and you come to me at +the Golden Cross, perhaps as soon as Saturday, and I'll look in my bag +for a halfpenny. Run away, boy; run away, or the bogies will be after +you." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SWING OF THE PICKAXE. + + +The baker's boy felt that his luck was askew upon this day of his +existence, for Carrier Cripps was vexed so much at this sudden demand +for his sister that he never even thought of asking the boy to have a +glass of home-brewed ale. + +"Zak, what made you send the boy away?" Esther asked, when she came +downstairs, with her bonnet and short cloak on. "Of course, I am very +foolish; but he would have been some little company." + +"There, now, I never thought of it! I am doiled, a do believe, +sometimes. Tramp with you to the Bar mysell, I wull. Sarve me right +for a-doin' of it." + +"Indeed, then, you won't," she answered firmly. "There's a hard day's +work for you, Zak, to-morrow, with all the Christmas parcels, and your +touch of rheumatics so bad last week." + +"Why, bless the cheeld, I be as hearty as ever!" + +"Of course you are, Zak; of course you are, and think nought of a sack +of potatoes. But if you declare to come with me one step, backward is +the only step I take." + +"Well, well," said the Carrier, glad on the whole to escape a long +walk and keep conscience clear; "when you say a thing, Etty, what good +is it? Round these here parts none would harm 'ee. And none of they +furriners be about just now." + +"Good-night, Zak, good-night, dear," cried Esther, to shorten +departure, for Cripps was a man of a slow turn of mind, and might go +on for an hour or two; "I shall sleep there to-night, of course, and +meet you at the Golden Cross to-morrow. When had I best be there?" + +"Well, you know better than I do. It might be one o'clock, or it might +be two, or it might be half-past three a'most. All you have to do is +this--to leave word at the bar with Sally Brown." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," she answered; "I don't like bars, +and I don't like Miss Brown. I shall look in the yard for the cart, +brother." + +"You'll do pretty much as you like. That much a may be cock-sure of." +But before he could finish his exposition of his sister's character, +she was out of sight; and he dropped his grumble, and doubted his mind +about letting her go. Nor that any one at all of the neighbourhood +would hurt her; but that there had been much talk about a camp of +dark-skinned people in Cowley Marsh, not long ago. Therefore he laid +his palm flat from his eyebrows, to follow the distance further; and +seeing no more than the hedges of the lane (now growing in the cold +wind naked) and the track of the lane (from wet mud slaking into +light-coloured crustiness), without any figures, or sound, or shadow, +or sense of life moving anywhere--he made for the best side of his +cottage-door, and brightened up the firelight. + +The weather had been for some few weeks in a good constitutional +English state; that is to say, it had no settled tendency towards +anything. Or at any rate, so it seemed to people who took little heed +of it. There had been a little rain, and then a little snow, and a +touch of frost, and then a sample of fog, and so on: trying all +varieties, to suit the British public. True Britons, however, had +grumbled duly at each successive overture; so that the winter was now +resolving henceforth only to please itself. And this determined will +was in the wind, the air, and the earth itself, just when night began +to fall on this dark day of December. + +As Esther turned the corner from the Beckley lane into the road, the +broad coach road to Oxford, she met a wind that knew its mind coming +over the crest of Shotover, a stern east wind that whistled sadly over +the brown and barren fields, and bitterly piped in the roadway. To the +chill of this blast the sere oak-leaves shivered in the dusk and +rattled; the grey ash saplings bent their naked length to get away +from it; and the surly stubs of the hedge went to and fro to one +another. The slimy dips of the path began to rib themselves, like the +fronds of fern, and to shrink into wrinkles and sinewy knobs; while +the broader puddles, though skirred by the breeze, found the network +of ice veiling over them. This, as it crusted, began to be capable of +a consistent quivering, with a frail infinitude of spikelets, crossing +and yet carrying into one another. And the cold work (marred every now +and then by the hurry of the wind that urged it) in the main was going +on so fast, that the face of the water ceased to glisten, and instead +of ruffling lifted, and instead of waving wavered. So that, as the +surface trembled, any level eye might see little splinters (held as +are the ribs and harl of feathers) spreading, and rising like stems of +lace, and then with a smooth, crisp jostle sinking, as the wind flew +over them, into the quavering consistence of a coverlet of ice. + +Esther Cripps took little heed of these things, or of any other in the +matter of weather, except to say to herself now and then how bitter +cold the wind was, and that she feared it would turn to snow, and how +she longed to be sitting with a cup of "Aunt Exie's" caudle in the +snug room next to the bakehouse, or how glad she would be to get only +as far as the first house of St. Clement's, to see the lamps and the +lights in the shops, and be quit of this dreary loneliness. For now it +must be three market days since fearful rumours began to stir in +several neighbouring villages, which made even strong men discontent +with solitude towards nightfall; and as for the women--just now poor +Esther would rather not think of what they declared. It was all very +well to pretend to doubt it while hanging the clothes out, or turning +the mangle; but as for laughing out here in the dark, and a mile away +from the nearest house--Good Lord! How that white owl frightened her! + +Being a sensible and brave girl, she forced her mind as well as she +could into another channel, and lifted the cover of the basket in +which she had some nice things for "Aunt Exie," and then she set off +for a bold little run, until she was out of breath, and trembling at +the sound of her own light feet. For though all the Crippses were +known to be of a firm and resolute fibre, who could expect a young +maid like this to tramp on like a Roman sentinel? + +And a lucky thing for her it was that she tried nothing of the sort, +but glided along with her heart in her mouth, and her short skirt +tucked up round her. Lucky also for her that the ground (which she so +little heeded, and so wanted to get over) was in that early stage of +freezing, or of drying to forestall frost, in which it deadens sound +as much as the later stage enlivens it, otherwise it is doubtful +whether she would have seen the Christmas-dressing of the shops in +Oxford. + +For, a little further on, she came, without so much as a cow in the +road or a sheep in a field for company, to a dark narrow place, where +the way hung over the verge of a stony hollow, an ancient pit which +had once been worked as part of the quarries of Headington. This had +long been of bad repute as a haunted and ill-omened place; and even +the Carrier himself, strong and resolute as he was, felt no shame in +whispering when he passed by in the moonlight. And the name of the +place was the "Gipsy's Grave." Therefore, as Esther Cripps approached +it, she was half inclined to wait and hide herself in a bush or gap +until a cart or waggon should come down the hill behind her, or an +honest dairyman whistling softly to reassure his shadow, or even a +woman no braver than herself. + +But neither any cart came near, nor any other kind of company, only +the violence of the wind, and the keen increase of the frost-bite. So +that the girl made up her mind to put the best foot foremost, and run +through her terrors at such a pace that none of them could lay hold of +her. + +Through yards of darkness she skimmed the ground, in haste only to be +rid of it, without looking forward, or over her shoulders, or +anywhere, when she could help it. And now she was ready to laugh at +herself and her stupid fears, as she caught through the trees a +glimpse of the lights of Oxford, down in the low land, scarcely more +than a mile and a half away from her. In the joy of relief she was +ready to jump and pant without fear of the echoes, when suddenly +something caught her ears. + +This was not a thing at first to be at all afraid of, but only just +enough to rouse a little curiosity. It seemed to be nothing more nor +less than the steady stroke of a pickaxe. The sound came from the +further corner of the deserted quarry, where a crest of soft and +shingly rock overhung a briary thicket. Any person working there would +be quite out of sight from the road, by reason of the bend of the +hollow. + +The blow of the tool came dull and heavy on the dark and frosty wind; +and Esther almost made up her mind to run on, and take no heed of it. +And so she would have done, no doubt, if she had not been a Cripps +girl. But in this family firm and settled opinions had been handed +down concerning the rights of property--the rights that overcome all +wrongs, and outlive death. The brother Leviticus of Stow Wood had sown +a piece of waste at the corner of the clevice with winter carrots for +his herd of swine. The land being none of his thus far, his right so +to treat it was not established, and therefore likely to be attacked +by any rapacious encroacher. Esther felt all such things keenly, and +resolved to find out what was going on. + +To this intent she gathered in the skirt of her frock and the fulling +of her cloak, and fending the twigs from her eyes and bonnet, quietly +slipped through a gap in the hedge. For she knew that a steep track, +trodden by children in the blackberry season, led from this gap to the +deep and tangled bottom of the quarry. With care and fear she went +softly down, and followed the curve of the hollow. + +The heavy sound of the pickaxe ceased, as she came near and nearer, +and the muttering of rough voices made her shrink into a nook and +listen. + +"Tell 'ee, I did see zummat moving," said a man, whom she could dimly +make out on the beetling ridge above her, by the light of the clearing +eastern sky; "a zummat moving down yonner, I tell 'ee." + +"No patience, I han't no patience with 'ee," answered a taller man +coming forward, and speaking with a guttural twang, as if the roof of +his mouth were imperfect. "Skeary Jem is your name and nature. Give me +the pick if thee beest aveared. Is this job to be finished to-night, +or not?" + +The answer was only a growl or an oath, and the swing of the tool +began again, while Esther's fright grew hot, and thumped in her heart, +and made her throat swell. It was all she could do to keep quiet +breath, and prevent herself from screaming; for something told her +that she was watching a darker crime than theft of roots or robbery of +a sheepfold. + +In a short or a long time--she knew not which--as she still lay hid +and dared not show her face above the gorse-tuft, a sound of sliding +and falling shale heavily shook her refuge. She drew herself closer, +and prayed to the Lord, and clasped her hands before her eyes, and +cowered, expecting to be killed at least. And then she peeped forth, +to know what it was about. She never had harmed any mortal body; why +should she be frightened so? + +In the catch of the breath which comes when sudden courage makes gulp +at uncertainty, she lifted herself by a stiff old root, to know the +very worst of it. Better almost to be killed and be done with, than +bear the heart-pang of this terrible fear. And there she saw a thing +that struck her so aback with amazement, that every timid sense was +mute. + +Whether the sky began to shed a hovering light, or the girl's own eyes +spread and bred a power of vision from their nervous dilation--at any +rate, she saw in the darkness what she had not seen till now. It was +the body of a young woman (such a body as herself might be), lying, +only with white things round it, in the black corner, with gravel and +earth and pieces of rock rolling down on it. There was nothing to +frighten a sensible person now that the worst was known perhaps. +Everybody must be buried at some time. Why should she be frightened +so? + +However, Esther Cripps fell faint, and lay in that state long enough +for tons of burying rock to fall, and secret buryers to depart. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +OAKLEAF POTATOES. + + +"Of all slow people in this slow place, I am quite certain that there +is none so slow as Cripps, the Carrier." + +This "hot spache," as the patient Zacchary would perhaps have called +it, passed the lips of no less a person than old Squire Oglander. He, +on the 20th day of December (the day after that we began with), was +hurrying up and down the long straight walk of his kitchen garden, and +running every now and then to a post of vantage, from which he could +look over the top of his beloved holly hedge, and make out some of the +zigzags of the narrow lane from Beckley. A bitter black frost had now +set in, and the Squire knew that if he wanted anything more fetched +out of his ground, or anything new put into it, it might be weeks +before he got another chance of doing it. So he made a good bustle, +and stamped, and ran, and did all he could to arouse his men, who knew +him too well to concern themselves about any of his menaces. + +"I tell you we are all caught napping, Thomas. I tell you we ought to +be ashamed of ourselves. The frost is an inch in the ground already. +Artichokes, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, even horse-radish for our +Christmas beef--and upon my soul, a row of potatoes never even dug +yet! Unless I am after you at every corner--well, I am blessed if I +don't see our keeping onions!" + +"Now, measter, 'ee no call to be so grum! None of they things'll be a +haporth the worse. The frost'll ony swaten 'em." + +"You zany, I know all your talk. Hold your tongue. Not a glass of beer +will I send out, if this is all I get for it. Sweeten them, indeed! +And when we want them, are we to dig them with mattocks, pray? Or do +you thick-heads expect it to thaw to order, when the pot is bubbling? +Stir your lazy legs, or I'll throw every one of you on the work-house +the moment the first snow falls." + +The three men grinned at one another, and proceeded leisurely. They +knew much better than the Squire himself what his gentle nature was, +and that he always expiated a scolding with a jug of beer. + +"Man and boy," said the eldest of them, speaking below his breath, as +if this tyranny had extinguished him; "in this here gearden have I +worked, man and boy, for threescore year, and always gi'en +satisfaction. Workuss! What would his father a' said, to hear tell in +this gearden of workuss? Workuss! Well, let un coom, if a will! Can't +be harder work, God knoweth." + +"Tummuss, Tummuss, you may say that," said another lazy rascal, +shaking his head, with his heel on his spade, and then wiping his +forehead laboriously. "'Tis the sweat of our brow, Tummuss, none of +'em thinks on--but there, they was born to be driving of us!" + +Squire Oglander made as if he heard them not; and then he hurried to +the hedge again, and stood on the wall of the leaf-mould pit, and +peered over the beard of hollies. And this time he spied in the +distance Cripps, or at any rate the tilt of the Crippsian cart, +jogging sedately to the rhythm of the feet of Dobbin. + +"Hurrah!" cried the Squire, who was still as young in mind as if he +had no body. "By George, we shall be just in time. Never mind what I +said, my lads. I was a little bit cross, I know. Take out the crumbs +from the bottom of your trenches, and go two inches deeper. Our new +potatoes are come at last! Mary, come out with a gallon of ale." + +Squire Oglander, having retired now from the army and all warfare, was +warmly devoted to the arts of peace. Farming, planting, gardening, +breeding, training of dogs, and so on--all of these quiet delights +fell softly on a very active mind, when the vigour of the body began +to fail. He loved his farm, and he loved his garden, and all his +attempts at improvement, and nothing better than to point out his own +mistakes to rash admirers. But where is the pleasure of showing things +to strangers who know nothing? The old man's grand delight of all was +to astonish his own daughter, his only child, Grace Oglander. + +This it was that made him work so hard at the present moment. He was +determined to have his kitchen garden in first-rate winter order by +the time his daughter should come home from a visit to her aunt at +Cowley. Now this sister, Mrs. Fermitage, had promised to bring home +their joint pet Gracie in time for the dinner at five o'clock that +very day, and to dine there with them; so that it was needful to look +alive, and to make quick step of everything. Moreover, this good +Squire had some little insight (as behoves a farmer and a sportsman) +into the ways and meaning of the weather of the neighbourhood. He knew +as well as a short-tailed field-mouse that a long frost was coming. +The sharp dry rustle of the upturned leaves of holly and of ivy, the +heavy stoop of the sullen sky, the patches of spaded mould already +browning with powdery crispness, the upward shivering look of the +grass, and the loss of all gloss upon everything, and the shuddering +rattle in the teeth of a man who opened his mouth to the wind at +all--many other things than these, as well as all of them, were here; +that any man (not blind, or deaf, or choked in citied ignorance) might +fall to at once, and dig every root of his potatoes. + +But the strange thing, in this present matter, was that Squire +Oglander was bent not only on digging potatoes, but also on planting +them, this very day. Forsooth it was one of his fixed dates in the +chronicles of the garden, that happen what might, or be the season +whatsoever it chose to be, new potatoes and peas he would have by the +last day of May, at the latest. And this without any ignoble resort to +forcing-pit, hot-bed, or even cold frame; under the pure gaze of the +sky, by that time they must be ready. Now, this may be easy at +Ventnor, or Penzance, or even Bournemouth; but in the highlands of +Oxfordshire it requires some skill and management. In the first place, +both pea and potato must be of a kind that is ready to awake right +early; and then they must be humoured with a very choice place; and +after that they must be shielded from the winter's rages. If all these +"musts" can be complied with, and several "ifs" are solved aright, the +gardener (eager as well as patient) may hope to get pleasure from his +early work. + +Of all men there was none perhaps more capable of hoping than this +good Squire Oglander. In his garden and his household, or among his +friends and neighbours, or the world at large, he not only tried to +see, but saw, the very best side of everything. When things fell out +amiss, he always looked very wise, and shook his head, and declared +that he had predicted them; and before very long he began to find out +that they were not so bad as they might have been. His ruddy face, and +blue eyes, and sometimes decidedly waggish nose, as well as his crisp +white hair, and way of standing to be looked at, let everybody know +that here was a man of no great pretension, yet true, and of kind and +happy heart, and fit to be relied upon. Ten thousand such may be found +in England; and they cannot be too many. + +"Inside and outside, all look alive!" cried this gentleman, running to +and fro: "Gracie will be home; Miss Grace, I mean; and not a bit of +fire in the drawing-room grate! No Christmas-boxes for any of you +sluts! Now, I did not mean that, Mary, as you might know. Inside the +women, and outside the men--now, what is this paper for, my dear?" + +"That there Cripps, sir, have a sent 'un in. He be gettin' so +pertikular!" + +"Quite right. Quite right. Business is business. No man can be too +particular. Let him sit down and have a pint of ale. He wants me to +sign this paper, does he? Very well; tell him to come next week. My +fingers are cramped with the wind. Tell Cripps--now, don't you be in +such a hurry, Mary; Cripps is not a marrying man." + +"As if I would touch him with a pair of tongs, sir! A Hookham to have +a Cripps, sir!--a man who always smells as if he had been a-combing of +a horse!" + +"Ah, poor Mary, the grapes are sour. Tell bachelor Cripps to send in +the bag. And bring me the little truck-basket, Mary; I dare say that +will hold them. Just in time, they are only just in time. To-morrow +would have been a day too late." + +The Squire was to pay a guinea for this bushel of early oakleaf +potatoes, a sort that was warranted to beat the ashleaf by a +fortnight, and to crop tenfold as much. The bag had been sent by the +Henley coach from a nursery near Maidenhead, and left at the Black +Horse in St. Clement's, to be called for by the Beckley carrier. + +"Stay now," cried the Squire; "now I think of it we will unpack the +bag in the brewery, Mary. They have had a fire there all the morning. +And it will save making any mess in here. Miss Grace is coming, bless +her heart! And she'll give it to me, if she finds any dirt." + +"But, sir, if you please, Master Cripps now just is beginning of his +pint of ale. And he never hurrieth over that----" + +"Well, we don't want Cripps. We only want the bag. Jem will bring it +into the brewery, if you want to sit with Cripps. Cripps is tired, I +dare say. These young men's legs are not fit for much. Stop--call old +Thomas; he's the best, after all. If I want a thing done, I come back +to the old folk, after all." + +"Well, sir, I don't think you have any reason to say that. Howsomever, +here cometh Mr. Kale. Mr. Kale, if you please, you be wanted." + +Presently Thomas Kale, the man who had worked so long in the garden +there, followed his master across the court, with the bag of potatoes +on his back. The weight was a trifle, of course, being scarcely over +half a hundredweight; but Thomas was too old a hand to make too light +of anything. + +"I've knowed the time," he said, setting down the sack on the head of +an empty barrel, "when that there weight would have failed, you might +say, to crook my little finger. Now, make so bold--do you know the +raison?" + +"Why, Thomas, we cannot expect to be always so young as we were once, +you know." + +"Nout to do wi' it--less nor nout. The raison lie all in the vittels, +maister; the vittels is fallen from what they was." + +"Thomas, you give me no peace with your victuals. You must groan to +the cook, not to me, about them. Now, cut the cord. Why, what has +Cripps been about?" + +The bag was made of a stout grey canvas, not so thick as sacking, and +as the creases of the neck began to open, under the slackening cord, +three or four red stripes were shown, such as are sometimes to be +found in the neck of a leather mail-bag, when the postmaster has been +in a hurry, and dropped his wax too plenteously. But the stripes in +these creases were not dry and brittle, as of run sealing-wax, but +clammy and damp, as if some thick fluid had oozed from dripping +fingers. + +"I don't like the look of it," cried the old Squire. "Cripps should be +more careful. He has left the bag down at his brother the butcher's. I +am sure they never sent it out like this. Not that I am of a squeamish +order, but still--good God! What is this that I see?" + +With scarcely time for his cheeks to blanch, or his firm old hands to +tremble, Squire Oglander took from the mouth of the sack a coil of +long bright golden hair. The brown shade of the potatoes beneath it +set off its glistening beauty. He knew it at a glance; there was no +such hair in all Oxfordshire but his Gracie's. A piece of paper was +roughly twisted in and out the shining wreath. This he spread in the +hollow of his palm, and then put on his spectacles, and read by the +waning light these words, "All you will ever see of her." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +CRIPPS IN A QUANDARY. + + +Worth Oglander, now in his seventieth year, although he might be a +trifle fat, was a truly hale and active man. His limbs were as sound +as his conscience; and he was well content with his life and age. He +had seen a good deal of the world and of enemies, in the stirring +times of war. But no wrong lay in the bottom of his heart, no harm +ever done to any one, except that he had killed a few Frenchmen, +perhaps, as all Englishmen used to be forced to do. + +Moreover, he had what most folk now, of the very best kind, have +almost outlived, a staunch and steadfast faith in the management of +the world by its Maker. We are too clever now for all this, of course. +But it must be allowed that this fine old faith bred courage, truth, +and comfort. + +"Whoever has played this trick with me," said the Squire, as soon as +he recovered himself, "is, to say the least of it, a blackguard. Even +for a Christmas joke, it is carrying things a great deal too far. I +have played, and been played, many practical jokes, when there was +nothing else to do; in winter-quarters, and such like. But this is +beyond---- Thomas, run and fetch Cripps. I will get to the bottom of +this, I am resolved." + +In a minute or two Master Cripps came in. His face was a little +flushed, from the power of the compliments paid to Mary, but his eyes +were quite firm, and his breeches and gaiters strictly under +discipline of the legs inside them. + +"Servant, sir," he said, touching his forelock, nearly of the colour +of clover hay; "all correct, I hope, Squire, safe and sound and in +good condition. That's how I deliver all goods, barring the will of +the A'mighty." + +"Tell me the meaning of this." As he spoke Mr. Oglander held up the +bright wreath of hair, and pointed to the red stains on the sack. +Cripps, as behoved a slow-minded man, stared at the hair, and the bag, +and the Squire, the roof of the brewery, and all the tubs; and then +began feeling in his hat for orders. + +"Cripps, are you dumb; are you tipsy; or what? Or are you too much +ashamed of yourself?" + +"I ain't done nort for to be ashamed of--me, nor my father avoore me." + +"Then will you tell me what this means? Are you going to keep me all +night, for God's sake?" + +"Squire, I never, I never see'd 'un. I know no more than a sto-un. I +know no more than the dead, I do." + +"Where did you get the bag? Was it like this? Who gave it to you? Have +you let it out of sight? Did you see anybody come near it?" + +"Squire, I can't tell 'ee such a many things. They heft up the barg to +me at the Black Horse, where the bargs is alwas left for you. I took +no heed of 'un, out of common. And no one have a titched him since, +but me." + +There was nothing more to be learned from Cripps, except that he +passed the Black Horse that day a little earlier than usual, and had +not brought his sister Esther, who was to have met him at the Golden +Cross. He had come home by way of Elsfield, having something to +deliver there, and had given a lift to old Shepherd Wakeling; but that +could have naught to do with it. + +It was now getting dark, and the Squire every moment grew more and +more uneasy. "Keep all this nonsense to yourself now, Cripps," he +said, as he stowed the bag under a tub, and carefully covered his +daughter's hair, and the piece of paper, with a straining sieve; "it +might annoy me very much if this joke went any further, you know. I +can trust Thomas to hold his tongue, and I hope I can trust you, +neighbour Cripps." + +"Your honour knoweth what I be," answered the loyal Carrier. "Ever +since I were a boy--but there, they all knows what I be." + +Master Cripps, with his brain "a good piece doiled," as he afterwards +said of it, made his way back to the cart, and mounted in his special +manner. Although he was only two-score years of age, he had so much +rheumatism in his right knee--whether it sprang from the mud, or the +ruts, or (as he believed) from the turnpike gates--that he was bound +to get up in this way. First he looked well up and down the lane, to +be sure there was no other cart in sight, then he said "whoa-hoa" to +Dobbin (who was always quite ready to receive that advice), and then +he put his left foot on the little step, and made sure that it was +quite steady. Throwing his weight on that foot, he laid hold of the +crupper with his right hand, and placed his stiff knee on the flat of +the shaft, never without a groan or two. At this stage he rested, to +collect his powers; and then with decisive action flung his left foot +upon the footboard, and casting the weight of his body thither, came +down on the seat, with a thump and rattle. He was now all right, and +Dobbin felt it, and acknowledged the fact with a grateful grunt. Then +Carrier Cripps took up the reins, and made a little flourish with his +brass-bound whip, and Dobbin put up his head, and started with his +most convenient foot. + +"I dunno what to make of this here start," said Cripps to himself, and +his horse and cart, as soon as he had smitten his broad chest long +enough to arouse circulation. "Seemeth to me a queer thing truly. But +I never were a hand at a riddle. Wugg then, Dobbin! Wun'not go home +to-night?" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A RIDE THROUGH THE SNOW. + + +Meanwhile the old Squire, with a troubled mind, kept talking and +walking about, and listening for the rumble of his sister's carriage, +the clank of horses' hoofs, and the ring of wheels upon the frozen +road. He could not believe that any one in the world would hurt his +darling Gracie. Everybody loved her so, and the whole parish was so +fond of her, and she had such a way of easing every one's +perplexities, that if any villain durst even think of touching a hair +of her blessed head--yet whose hair was it?--whose hair was it? And +such a quantity as never could have been cut with her consent! + +"This is too much! I cannot bear it!" he said to himself, after many a +turn, and anxious search of the distance; "Joan's carriage should have +been here long ago. My darling would have made them keep their time. I +cannot stop here: I must go to meet them. But I need not startle any +one." + +To provide for this, he just looked in at the kitchen door, and told +the old cook to keep the dinner back awhile; for the roads were so bad +that the ladies were almost sure to be behind their time; and then he +went quietly to the stable, where the horses were bedded down, and by +the light of an old horn lantern saddled and bridled his favourite +hack. + +Heavy snow-clouds had been gathering all the afternoon; and now as he +passed through a side-gate into the lane, and turned his mare's head +eastward, the forward flakes were borne by the sharp wind into his +white whiskers. "We shall have a coarse night of it, I doubt," he said +to himself, as he buttoned his coat. At every turn of the lane he +hoped to meet his sister's chariot labouring up the slippery track +with the coal-black horses gray with snow, and somebody well wrapped +up inside, to make him laugh at his childish fears. But corner after +corner he turned, and met no carriage, no cart, no horse, nor even so +much as a man afoot; only the snow getting thicker and sharper, and +the wind beginning to wail to it. The ruts of the lane grew more +distinct, as their combs of frozen mud attracted and held the driving +whiteness; and the frogs of heavy cart-horses might be traced by the +hoary increment. Then in three or four minutes, a silvery greyness +(cast by the brown face of the roadway underlying the skin of snow) +glistened between steep hedgerows wherein the depth of darkness +rested. Soon even these showed traitor members, and began to hang the +white feather forth, where drooping spray or jutting thicket stopped +the course of the laden air. Every hoof of the horse fell softer than +it had fallen the step before, and the old man stooped to heed his +reins, as his hoary eyebrows crusted. + +Fear struck colder to his heart than frost, as he turned the last +corner of his way, without meeting presence or token of his sister or +darling daughter. In the deepening snow he drew his horse up under the +two great yew-trees that overhung his sister's gate, and fumbled in +the dark for the handle. The close heavy gates were locked and barred; +and nothing had lately passed through them. Then he hoped that the +weather might have stopped the carriage, and he tugged out the heavy +bronze lion's-head in the pillar, which was the bell-pull. The bell in +the porch of the house clanged deeply, and the mastiff heavily bayed +at him; but he had to make the bell clang thrice before any servant +answered it. + +"Who be you there?" at last a gruff voice asked, without stretch of +courtesy. "This sort of weather, come ringing like that! If 'ee say +much more, I'll let the big dog loose." + +"Open the gate, you young oaf," cried the Squire. "I suppose you are +one of the new lot, eh? Not to know me, Worth Oglander!" + +"Why couldn't you have said so then?" the surly fellow answered, as he +slowly opened one leaf of the gate, sweeping a fringe of snow back. + +"Such a fellow wouldn't be with me half a day. Are you too big for +your work, sir? Run on before me, you piecrust in pumps, or you shall +taste my whip, sir." + +The footman, for once in his life, took his feet up, and ran in a +bluster of rage and terror to the front door, which he had left wide +open to secure a retreat from violence. Mr. Oglander struck his mare, +and she started so that he scarcely pulled her head up under the +coigne of his sister's porch. + +"What is all this, I would beg to know? If you think to frighten me, +you are mistaken. Oh, Worth is it? Worth, whatever do you mean by +making such a commotion?" + +Three or four frightened maids were peeping, safe in the gloom of the +entrance-hall; while the lady of the house came forward bravely in the +lamp-light. + +"I will speak to you presently, Joan," said the Squire, as he vainly +searched, with a falling heart, for some dear face behind her. "Here, +Bob, I know you at any rate; take the old mare to the stable." + +Then, with a sign to his sister, he followed her softly into the +dining-room. At a glance he saw that she had dined alone, and he fell +into a chair, and could not speak. + +"Have you brought back the stockings? Why, how ill you look? The cold +has been too much for you, brother. You should not have come out. What +was Grace doing to let----" + +"Where is my daughter Grace?" + +"Your daughter Grace! My niece Grace! Why, at home in her father's +house, to be sure! Worth, are your wits wandering?" + +"When did Grace leave you?" + +"At three o'clock, yesterday. How can you ask, when you sent in such +hot haste for her? You might be quite sure that she would not linger. +I thought it rather--let me tell you----" + +"I never sent for Grace. I have not seen her!" + +Mrs. Fermitage looked at her brother steadily, with one hand fencing +her forehead. She knew that he was of no drunken kind--yet once in a +way a man might take too much--especially in such weather. But he +answered her gaze with such eyes that she came up to him, and began to +tremble. + +"I tell you, Joan, I never sent for Grace. If you don't know where she +is--none but God knows!" + +"I have told you all," his sister answered, catching her breath at +every word almost--"a letter came from you, overruling the whole of +our arrangement--you were not ill; but you wanted her for some +particular purpose. She was to walk, and you would meet her; and walk +she did, poor darling! And I was so hurt that I would not send----" + +"You let her go, Joan! You let her go! It was a piece of your proud +temper. Her death lies at your door. And so will mine!" + +Mr. Oglander was very sorry, as soon as he had spoken thus unjustly; +but the deep pang of the heart devoured any qualms of conscience. + +"Are you sure that you let her go? Are you sure that she is not in +this house now?" he cried, coming up to his sister, and taking both +hands to be sure of her. "She must be here; and you are joking with +me." + +"Worth, she left this house at two o'clock by that timepiece +yesterday, instead of to-day, as we meant to do. She would not let any +one go with her, because you were coming down the hill to meet her. +Not expecting to go home that day, she had a pair of my silk stockings +on, because--well, I need not go into that--and knowing what a darling +little fidget she is, I thought she had sent you back with them, and +to make your peace for so flurrying me." + +"Have you nothing more to tell me, Joan? I shall go mad while you +dwell on your stockings. Who brought that letter? What is become of +it? Did you see it? Can you think of anything? Oh, Joan, you women are +so quick-witted! Surely you can think of something!" + +Mrs. Fermitage knew what her brother meant; but no sign would she show +of it. The Squire was thinking of a little touch of something that +might have grown up into love, if Grace had not been so shy about it, +and so full of doubts as to what she ought to do. Her aunt had been +anxious to help this forward; but not for the world to speak of it. + +"Concerning the letter, I only just saw it. I was up--well, well, I +mean I happened to have something to do in my own room then. The dear +creature knocked at my door, and I could not let her in at the +moment----" + +"You were doing your wig--well, well, go on." + +"I was doing nothing of the kind--your anxiety need not make you rude, +Worth. However, she put the letter under the door, and I saw that it +was your handwriting, and so urgent that I was quite flurried, and she +was off in two minutes, without my even kissing her. Oh, poor dear! My +little dear! She said good-bye through the key-hole, and could not +wait for me even to kiss her!" + +At this thought the elderly lady broke down, and could for the moment +do nothing but sob. + +"Dear heart, dear heart!" cried the Squire, who was deeply attached to +his sister; "don't take on so, my dear good Joan! We know of no harm +as yet--that is"--for he thought of the coil of hair, but with strong +effort forbore to speak of it--"nothing I mean in any way positive, or +disastrous. She may have, you know--she may have taken it into her +head to--to leave us for awhile, Joan." + +"To run away! To elope! Not she! She is the last girl in the world to +do it. Whatever may have happened, she has not done that. You ought to +know better than that, Worth." + +"Perhaps I do; I have no more time to talk of that, or any other +thing. I shall hurry into Oxford, and see John Smith, and let +everybody know of it. What do I care what people think? Send a man on +horseback to Beckley at once. Have you any man worth a pinch of salt? +You are always changing so." + +"I cannot keep cripples, or sots, dear brother. Take any one you +please of them." + +"Any one who will deign to come, you should say. Deep snow tries the +mettle of new-comers." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE PUBLIC OF THE "PUBLIC." + + +Meanwhile, Esther Cripps, who perhaps could have thrown some light on +this strange affair, was very uneasy in her mind. She had not heard, +of course, as yet, that Grace Oglander was missing. But she could not +get rid of the fright she had felt, and the dread of some dark secret. +Her sister-in-law was in such a condition that she must not be told of +it; and as for her brother Exodus, it would be worse than useless to +speak to him. He had taken it into his head, ever since that business +with the "College gent," that his sister was not "right-minded"--that +she dreamed things, and imagined things; and that anything she liked +to say should be listened to, and thought no more of. And Baker Cripps +was one of those men from whose minds no hydraulic power can lift an +idea--laid once, laid for ever. + +Esther had no one to tell her tale to. She longed to be home at +Beckley; but there had been such symptoms with the baker's wife, that +a woman, of the largest experience to be found in Oxford, declared +that there was another coming. This was not so. But still (as all the +women said) it might have been; and where was the man to lay down the +law to them that had been through it? + +The whole of this was made quite right in the end and everybody +satisfied; but it prevented poor Esther from going to the Golden +Cross, as she should have done; and the Carrier (having a little tiff +with his brother about a sack of meal, as long ago as Michaelmas) left +him to bake his own bread, and would rather drive over his dinner than +dine with him. + +The days of the week are hard to follow, as everybody must have long +found out; but still, from Tuesday to Saturday is a considerable time +to think of. Master Cripps had two carrying days, two great days of +long voyaging. Not that he refrained from coasting here and there +about the parish, or up and down a lane or two, on days of briefer +enterprise; or refused to take some washings round; for he was not the +man to be ashamed of earning sixpence honourably. + +But now such weather had set in, that even Cripps, with his active +turn and pride in his honest calling, was forced to stay at home and +boil the bones the butcher sent him, and nurse his stiff knee, and +smoke his pipe, and go no further than his bed of hardy kail, or +Dobbin's stable. Except that when the sun went down--if it ever got +up, for aught he knew--his social instincts so awoke, that he managed +to go to the corner of the lane, where the blacksmith kept the +"public-house." This was a most respectable house, frequented very +quietly. Master Cripps, from his intercourse with the world, and +leading position in Beckley, as well as his pleasant way of letting +other people talk, and nodding when their words were wisdom--Cripps +had long been accepted as the oracle; and he liked it. + +Even there--in his brightest moments, when he smoked his pipe and +thought, leaving emptier folk to waste the income of their brain in +words, and even when he had been roused up to settle some vast +question by a brief emphatic utterance--his satisfaction was now +alloyed. Not from any threat of rival wisdom--that was hopeless--but +from the universal call for a guiding judgment from him. The whole of +Beckley village now was more upset than had been known for thirty +years and upward. Ever since Napoleon had been expected to encamp at +Carfax, and all the University went into white gaiters against him, +there had been no such stir of parochial mind as now was heaving. +Cripps could remember the former movement, and how his father had lost +wisdom by saying that nothing would come of it--whereas the greatest +things came of it; the tailor was bankrupt by making breeches which +the Government would not pay for, the publican bought a horse and +defied his brewer on the strength of it, and the parish-clerk limped +for the rest of his life through the loss of two toes when +tipsy--therefore Zacchary Cripps was now determined to hide his +opinion. + +When the mind is in this uncertain state, it fails of receiving that +consideration which it is slowly exerting. If Cripps had stood up, and +rashly spoken, he must have carried all before him: whereas now he +felt, and was grieved to feel, that shallow fellows were taking his +place, by dint of decisive ignorance. This Friday evening, everybody, +who had teeth to face the arrowy wind, came into the Dusty Anvil, well +laden with enormous rumours. + +Phil Hiss, the blacksmith, had a daughter, who served him as a +barmaid, Amelia, or Mealy Hiss; a year or two older than Miss +Oglander, and in the simple country fashion (setting birth and rank +aside) a true ally and favourite. Now, some old woman in Beckley had +said, as long ago as yesterday, that she could not believe but what +Mealy Hiss, who dressed herself so outrageous, knew a deal more than +she dared speak out concerning that wonderful unkid thing about the +Squire's daughter. For her part, this old woman was sure that a young +man lay at the bottom of it. Them good young ladies that went to the +school, and made up soup and such-like, was not a bit better than the +rest of us; and if butter wouldn't melt in their mouths, pitchforks +wouldn't choke them. She would say no more, it was no concern of hers; +and everybody knew what she was. But as sure as her copper burst that +morning, something would come out ere long; and Mealy would be at the +bottom of it! + +Miss Amelia Hiss, before she lit her two tallow-candles--which never +was allowed to be done till a quart of beer had been called for--knew +right well that all her wits must be brought into use that evening. A +young man, who had a liking for her, which she was beginning to think +about, came in before his time to tell her all that Gammer Gurdon +said. Wherefore she put on her new neck-ribbon (believed to have come +express from London) and her agate brooch, and other most imposing +properties. With the confidence of all these, she drew the ale, and +kept her distance. + +For an hour or so these tactics answered. Young men, old men, and good +women (who came of course for their husbands' sakes), soberly took +their little drop of beer, nodded to one another, and said little. +Pressure lay on heart and mind; and nature's safety-valve, the tongue, +was sat upon by prudence. But this, of course, could not last long. +Little jerkings of short questions broke the crust of silence; lips +from blowing froth of beer began to relax their grimness; eyelids that +had drooped went up, and winks grew into friendly gaze; and everybody +began to beg everybody's pardon less. The genial power of good ale, +and the presence of old friends, were working on the solid English +hearts; and every man was ready for his neighbour to say something. + +Hiss, the blacksmith and the landlord, felt that on his heavy +shoulders lay the duty of promoting warmth and cordiality. He sat +without a coat, as usual, and his woolsey sleeves rolled back +displayed the proper might of arm. In one grimy hand he held a pipe, +at which he had given the final puff, and in the other a broad-rimmed +penny, ready to drop it into the balance of the brass tobacco-box, and +open it for a fresh supply. First he glanced at the door, to be sure +that his daughter Mealy could not hear; for ever since her mother's +death he had stood in some awe of Mealy; and then receiving from +Zacchary Cripps a nod of grave encouragement, he fixed his eyes on him +through the smoke, and uttered what all were inditing of. + +"I call this a very rum start, I do, about poor Squire's daughter." + +The public of the public gazed with admiring approval at him. The +sentiment was their own, and he had put it well and briefly. In +different ways, according to the state and manner of each of them, +they let him know that he was right, and might hold on by what he +said. Then Master Hiss grew proud of this, and left it for some other +body to bear the weight of thinking out. But even before his broad +forefinger had quite finished with his pipe, and pressed the crown of +fuel flat, a man of no particular wisdom, and without much money, +could not check a weak desire to say something striking. His name was +Batts, and he kept a shop, and many things in it which he could not +sell. Before he spoke, he took precautions to secure an audience, by +standing up, and rapping the table with the heel of his half-pint mug. +"Hear, hear!" cried some young fellow; and Batts was afraid that he +had gone too far. + +"Gentlemen," said Grocer Batts, the very same man who had threatened +to put his son into the carrying line, "I bows, in course, to superior +wisdom, and them as is always to and fro. But every man must think his +thoughts, right or wrong, and speak them out, and not be afeared of no +one. And my mind is that in this here business, we be all of us going +to work the wrong way altogether." + +As no one had any sense as yet of having gone to work at all, in this +or any other matter, and several men had made up their minds to be +thrown out of work on the Saturday night if the bitter weather lasted, +this great speech of Grocer Batts created some confusion. + +"Let 'un go to work, hisself!" "What do he know about work?" +"Altogether wrong! Give me the saw-dust for to clear my throat!" These +and stronger exclamations showed poor Batts that it would have been +better for trade if he had held his tongue. He hid his discomfiture in +his mug, and made believe to drink, although it had ever so long been +empty. + +But Carrier Cripps had a generous soul. He did not owe so much as a +halfpenny piece to Master Batts, neither did he expect to make a +single halfpenny out of him--quite the contrary, in fact; and yet he +came to his rescue. + +"Touching what neighbour Batts have said," he began in his slow and +steadfast voice, "it may be neither here nor there; and all of us be +liable, in our best of times, to error. But I do believe as he means +well, and hath a good deal inside him, and a large family to put up +with. He may be right, and all us in the wrong. Time will show, with +patience. I have knowed so many things as looked at first unlikely, +come true as Gospel in the end, and so many things I were sure of turn +out quite contrairy, that whenever a man hath aught to say, I likes to +hearken to him. There now, I han't no more to say; and I leave you to +make the best of it." + +Zacchary rose, for his time was up; he saw that hot words might ensue, +and he detested brawling. Moreover, although he did not always keep +strict time with his horse and cart, no man among the living could be +more punctual to his pillow. With kind "good-nights" from all, he +passed, and left the smoky scene behind. As he stopped at the bar to +say good-bye, and to pay his score to Amelia, for whom he had a +liking, a short, quick, rosy man came in, shaking snow from his boots, +and seeming to have lost his way that night. By the light from the +bar, the Carrier knew him, and was about to speak to him, but received +a sign to hold his tongue, and pass on without notice. Clumsily enough +he did as he was bidden, and went forth, puzzled in his homely pate by +this new piece of mystery. + +For the man who passed him was John Smith, not as yet well-known, but +held by all who had experience of him to be the shrewdest man in +Oxford. This man quietly went into the sanded parlour, and took his +glass, and showed good manners to the company. They set him down as a +wayfarer, but a pleasant one, and well to do; and as words began to +kindle with the friction of opinions, he listened to all that was +said, but did not presume to side with any one. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE BEST FOOT FOREMOST. + + +The arrows of the snowy wind came shooting over Shotover. It was +Saturday now of that same week with which we began on Tuesday. The +mercury during those four days had not risen once above 28° of +Fahrenheit, and now it stood about 22°, and lower than that in the +river meadows. Trusty and resolute Dobbin never had a harder job than +now. Some parts of Headington Hill give pretty smart collar-work in +the best of times; and now with deep snow scarred by hoofs, and ridged +by wheels, but not worn down, hard it seemed for a horse, however +sagacious, to judge what to do. Dobbin had seen snow ere now, and gone +through a good deal of it. But that was before the snow had fallen so +thickly on his own mane and tail, and even his wise eyebrows. That was +in the golden days, when youth and quick impatience moved him, and the +biggest flint before his wheel was crushed, with a snort at the +road-surveyor. + +But now he was come to a different state of body, and therefore of +spirit too. At his time of life it would not do to be extravagant of +strength; it was not comely to kick up the heels; neither was it wise +to cherish indignation at the whip. So now on the homeward road, with +a heavy Christmas-laden cart to drag, this fine old horse took good +care of himself, and having only a choice of evils, chose the least +that he could find. + +Alas, the smallest that he could find were great and very heavy ills. +Scarcely any man stops to think of the many weary cares that weigh +upon the back of an honest horse. Men are eloquent on the trouble that +sits behind the horseman; but the silent horse may bear all that, and +the troublesome man in the saddle to boot, without any poet to pity +him. Dobbin knew all this, but was too much of a horse to dwell on it. +He kept his tongue well under bit, and his eyes in sagacious blinkers, +and sturdily up the hill he stepped, while Cripps, his master, trudged +beside him. + +Every "talented" man must think, whenever he walks beside a horse, of +the superior talents of the horse--the bounty of nature in four curved +legs, the pleasure there must be in timing them, the pride of the hard +and goutless feet, the glory of the mane (to which the human beard is +no more than seaweed in a billow), the power of blowing (which no man +has in a comely and decorous form); and last, not least, the final +blessing of terminating usefully in a tail. Zacchary Cripps was a man +of five talents, and traded with them wisely; but often as he walked +beside his horse, and smelled his superiority, he became quite humble, +and wiped his head, and put his whip back in the cart again. The +horse, on the other hand, looked up to Zacchary with soft faith and +love. He knew that his master could not be expected quite to +understand the ways a horse is bound to have of getting on in +harness--the hundreds of things that must needs be done--and done in +proper order, too--the duty of going always like a piece of the finest +music, with chains, and shafts, and buckles, and hard leather to be +harmonized, and the load which men are not born to drag, until they +make it for themselves. Dobbin felt the difference, but he never +grumbled as men do. + +He made the best of the situation; and it was a hard one. The hill was +strong against the collar; and, by reason of the snow, zigzag and the +corkscrew tactics could not be resorted to. At all of these he was a +dab, by dint of steep experience; but now the long hill must be +breasted, and both shoulders set to it. The ruts were as slippery as +glass, and did not altogether fit the wheels he had behind him; and in +spite of the spikes which the blacksmith gave him, the snow balled on +his hairy feet. So he stopped, and shook himself, and panted with +large resolutions; and Cripps from his capacious pockets fetched the +two oak wedges, and pushed one under either wheel; while Esther, who +was coming home at last, jumped from her seat, to help the load, and +patted Dobbin's kind nose, and said a word or two to cheer him. + +"The best harse as ever looked through a bridle," Zacchary declared +across his mane; "but he must be hoomered with his own way now, same +as the rest on us, when us grows old. Etty, my dear, no call for you +to come down and catch chilblains." + +"Zak, I am going to push behind. I am not big enough to do much good. +But I would rather be alongside of you, through this here bend of the +road, I would." + +For now the dusk was gathering in, as they toiled up the lonesome and +snowy road where it overhung the "Gipsy's Grave." + +"This here bend be as good as any other," said Cripps, though himself +afraid of it. "What ails you, girl? What hath ailed you, ever since +out of Oxford town you come? Is it a jail thou be coming home to? +Oxford turns the head of thee!" + +"Now, Zak, you know better than that. I would liefer be at Beckley any +day. But I have been that frightened since I passed this road on +Tuesday night that scarce a morsel could I eat or drink, and never +sleep for dreaming." + +"Frightened, child? Lord, bless my heart! you make me creep by talking +so. There, wait till we be in our own lane--can't spare the time now +to speak of it." + +"Oh, but, Zak, if you please, you must. I have had it on my mind so +long. And I kept it for you, till we got to the place, that you might +go and see to it." + +"Etty, now, this is childish stuff; no time to hearken to any such +tell-up. Enough to do, the Lord knows there be, without no foolish +stories." + +"It is not a foolish story, Zak. It is what I saw with my own eyes. We +are close to the place; it was in a dark hollow, just below the road +on here. I will show you; and then I will stand by the cart, while you +go and seek into it." + +"I wun't leave the haigh road for any one, I tell 'ee. All these goods +is committed to my charge, and my dooty is to stick to them. A likely +thing as I'd leave the cart to be robbed in that there sort of way. +Ah, ha! they'd soon find out, I reckon, what Zacchary Cripps is made +of." + +"Ah, we all know how brave you are, dear Zak. And perhaps you wouldn't +like to leave me, brother?" + +"No, no; of course not. How could I do it? All by yourself, and the +weather getting dark. Hup! Hup! Dobbin, there. Best foot foremost +kills the hill." + +But Esther was even more strongly set to tell the story and relieve +her mind, than Zacchary was to relieve his mind by turning a deaf ear +to all of it. Nevertheless, she might have failed, if it had not been +for a lucky chance. Dobbin, after a very fine rush, and spirited +bodily tug at the shafts, was suddenly forced to pull up and pant, and +spread his legs, to keep where he was, until his wind should come back +again. And he stopped with the off-wheel of the cart within a few +yards of the gap in the hedge, where Esther began her search that +night. She knew the place at a glance, although in the snow it looked +so different; and she ran to the gap, and peeped as if she expected to +see it all again. + +In all the beauty of fair earth, few things are more beautiful than +snow on clustering ivy-leaves. Wednesday's fall had been shaken off; +for even in the coldest weather, jealous winds and evaporation soon +clear foliage of snow. But a little powdery shed of flakes had come at +noon that very day, like the flitting of a fairy; and every delicate +star shone crisply in its cupped or pillowed rest. The girl was afraid +to shake a leaf, because she had her best bonnet on; therefore she +drew back, and called the reluctant Zacchary to gaze. + +"Nort but a sight of snow," said he; "it hath almost filled old quarry +up. Harse have rested, and so have we. Shan't be home by candlelight. +Wugg then! Dobbin--wugg then! wilt 'a?" + +"Stop, brother, stop! Don't be in such a hurry. Something I must tell +you now, that I have been feared to tell anybody else. It was so +dreadfully terrible! Do you see anything in the snow down there?" + +"As I am a sinner, there be something moving. Jump up into the cart, +girl. I shall never get round with my things to-night." + +"There is something there, Zak, that will never move again. There is +the dead body of a woman there!" + +"No romantics! No romantics!" the Carrier answered as he turned away; +but his cheeks beneath a week's growth of beard turned as white as the +snow in the buckthorn. No living man might scare him--but a woman, and +a dead one---- + +"Come, Zak," cried Esther, having seen much worse than she was likely +now to see, "you cannot be afraid of 'romantics,' Zak. Come here, and +I will show thee." + +Driven by shame and curiosity, the valiant Cripps came back to her, +and even allowed himself to be led a little way through the gap into +the deep untrodden and drifted snow. She took him as far as a corner, +whence the nook of the quarry was visible; and there with trembling +fingers pointed to a vast billow of pure white, piled by the driving +east wind over the grave, as she thought, of the murdered one. + +"Enough," he said, having heard her tale, and becoming at once a man +again in the face of something real; "my dear, what a fright thou must +have had! How couldst thou have kept it all this time? I would not +tell thee our news at home, for fear of tarrifying thee in the cold. +Hath no one to Oxford told thee?" + +"Told me what? Oh, Zak, dear Zak, I am so frightened, I can hardly +stand." + +"Then run, girl, run! We must go home, fast as ever we can, for +constable." + +He took her to the cart, and reckless of Dobbin's indignation, lashed +him up the hill, and made him trot the whole length of Beckley lane, +then threw a sack over his loins and left his Christmas parcels in the +frost and snow, while he hurried to Squire Oglander. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +BALDERDASH. + + +Worth Oglander sat in his old oak chair, weary, and very low of heart, +but not altogether broken down. He had not been in bed since last +Monday night, and had slept, if at all, in the saddle, or on the roof +of the Henley and Maidenhead coach. For miles he had scoured the +country round, until his three horses quite broke down, with the +weather so much against them; and all the bran to be got in the +villages was made away with in mashes. One of these horses "got the +pipes;" and had to be tickled before he could eat. + +The Squire cared not a button for this. The most particular of mankind +concerning what is grossly and contemptuously (if not carnivorously) +spoken of as "horseflesh," forgets his tender feelings towards the +noblest of all animals when his own flesh and blood come into +competition with them. But ride, and lash, and spur as he might, the +old Squire made no discovery. + +His daughter, his only child, in whom all the rest of his old life +lived and loved, was gone and lost; not even leaving knowledge of +where she lay, or surety of a better meeting. His faith in God was +true and firm; for on the whole he was a pious man, although no great +professor: and if it had pleased the Lord to take his only joy from +his old age, he could have tried to bear it. + +But thus to lose her, without good-bye, without even knowing how the +loss befell, and with the deep misery of doubting what she might +herself have done--only a chilly stoic, or a remarkably warm +Christian, could have borne it with resignation. The Squire was +neither of these; but only a simple, kind, and loving-hearted +gentleman; with many faults, and among them, a habit of expecting the +Lord to favour him perpetually. And of this he could not quit himself, +in the deepest tribulation; but still expected all things to be +tempered to his happiness, according to his own ideas of what +happiness should be. The clergyman of the parish, a good and zealous +man, had called upon him, and with many words had proved how thankful +he was bound to be for this kindly-ordered chastisement. The Squire, +however, could not see it. He listened with his old politeness, but a +sad and weary face, and quietly said that the words were good, but he +could not yet enter into them. Hereat the parson withdrew, to wait for +a softer and wiser season. + +And now, in the dusk of this cold dark day, Squire Oglander sat gazing +from the window of his dining-room; with his head fallen back, and his +white chin up, and hard-worn hands clasped languidly. His heavy eyes +dwelled on the dreary snow that buried his daughter's handiwork--the +dwarf plants not to be traced, and the tall ones only as soft +hillocks, like the tufts in a great white counterpane. And more and +more, as the twilight deepened, and the curves of white grew dim, he +kept repeating below his voice, "Her winding-sheet, her winding-sheet; +and her pretty eyes wide open perhaps!" + +"Now, sir, if you please, you must--you must," cried Mary Hookham, his +best maid, trotting in with her thumbs turned back from a right hot +dish, and her lips up as if she were longing to kiss him, to let out +her feelings. "Here be a duster, by way of a cloth, not to scorch the +table against Miss Grace comes home again. Sir, if you please, you +must ate a bit. Not a bit have you aten sin' Toosday, and it is enough +to kill a carrier's horse. 'Take on,' as my mother have often said; +'take on, as you must, if your heart is right, when the hand of the +Lord is upon you; but never take off with your victuals.' And a hearty +good woman my mother is, and have seen much tribulation. You never +would repent, sir, of hearkening to me, and of trying of her, till +such time as poor Miss Grace comes back. And not a penny would she +charge you." + +"Let her come, if she will," he answered, without thinking twice about +it; for he paid no heed to household matters in his present trouble. +"Let her come, if you wish it, Mary. At any rate, she can do no harm." + +"She will do a mort of good, sir. But now do try to ate a bit. My +mother will make you, if you have her, sir." + +The old man did his best to eat; for he knew that he must keep his +strength up, to abide the end of it. And Mary, without asking leave, +lit four good candles, and drew the curtains, and made the fire +cheerful. "All of us has our troubles," said Mary; "but these here +pickles is wonderful." + +"You are a good girl," answered the Squire; "and you deserve a good +husband. Now, if either the man from Oxford or young Mr. Overshute +should come, show them in directly; but I can see no other person. No +more, thank you. Take all away, Mary." + +"Oh my! what a precious little bit you've had! But as sure as my name +is Mary Hookham, you shall have three glasses of port, sir. You don't +keep no butler, because you knows better; and no housekeeper, because +you don't know mother. Likewise, Miss Grace is so clever--but there, +now, if she stay long for her honeymoon, a housekeeper you must have, +sir." + +The master was tempted to ask what she meant, but he scarcely thought +it worth while, perhaps. By pressure of advice from all the womankind +within his doors (whenever they could get hold of him) he had been +sped on many bootless errands, as was natural. For without any ground, +except that of their hearts, all the gentler bosoms of the place were +filled with large belief that this was only a lovely love affair. + +Russel Overshute, the heir of the Overshutes of Shotover, was a young +man who could speak for himself, and did it sometimes too strongly. He +had long been taken prisoner by the sweet spell of Grace Oglander; and +being of a bold and fearless order, he had so avowed himself. But her +father had always been against him; not from personal dislike, but +simply because he could not bear his "wild political sentiments." +Worth Oglander was as staunch an old Tory as ever stood in buckram, +although in social and domestic matters perhaps almost too gentle. +Radical and rascal were upon his tongue the self-same word; and he +passed the salt with the back of his hand to even a mild Reformer. + +And now, as he drank his glass of port, by dint of Mary's management, +and did his best to think about it, as he always used to do, the door +of the room was thrown open strongly, and in strode Russel Overshute. + +"Will you kindly leave the room," he said to the sedulous Mary. "I +wish to say a few words to the Squire of a private nature." + +This young gentleman was a favourite with maid-servants everywhere, +because he always spoke to them "just the same as if they was ladies." +Every housemaid now demands this, in our advanced intelligence; and +doubtless she is right; but forty years ago it was otherwise, and +"Polly, my dear," and a chuck of the chin, were not as yet vile +antiquity. Mary made a bob of the order still taught at the +village-school, and set a glass for the gentleman, and simpered, and +departed. + +"Shake hands with me, Squire," said Overshute, as Mr. Oglander arose, +with cold dignity, and bowed to him. "You have sent for me; I rode +over at once, the moment that I heard of it. I returned from London +this afternoon, having been there for a fortnight. When I heard the +news, I was thunderstruck. What can I do to help you?" + +"I will not shake hands with you," answered the Squire, "until you +have solemnly pledged your honour, that you know nothing of this--of +this--there, I have no word for it!" Mr. Oglander trembled, though his +eyes were stern. His last hope of his daughter's life lay in the young +man before him; and bitterly as he would have felt the treachery of +his only child, and deeply as he despised himself for harbouring such +a suspicion--yet even that disgrace and blow would be better than the +alternative, the only alternative--her death. + +"I should have thought it quite needless," young Overshute answered, +with some disdain, until he observed the father's face, so broken down +with misery; "from any one but you, sir, it would have been an insult. +If you do not know the Overshutes, you ought to know your own +daughter." + +"But against her will--against her will. Say that you took her against +her will. You have been from home. For what else was it? Tell me the +truth, Russel Overshute--only the truth, and I will forgive you." + +"You have nothing to forgive, sir. Upon the word of an Englishman, I +hadn't even heard of it." + +The old man watched his clear keen eyes, with deep tears gathering in +his own. Then Russel took his hand, and led him tenderly to his hard +oak chair. + +For a minute or two not a word was said: the young man doubting what +to say, and the old one really not caring whether he ever spoke again. +At last he looked up and spread both hands, as if he groped forth from +a heavy dream; and the rheumatism from so much night-work caught him +in both shoulder-blades. + +"What is it?--what is it?" he cried. "I have lived a long time in this +wicked world, and I have not found it painful." + +"My dear sir," his visitor answered, pitying him sincerely, and hiding +(like a man) his own deep heart-burn of anxiety, "may I say, without +your being in the least degree offended, what I fancy--or at least, I +mean a thing that has occurred to me? You will take it for its worth. +Most likely you will laugh at it; but taking my chance of that, may I +say it? Will you promise not to be angry?" + +"I wish I could be angry, Russel. What have I to be angry for?" + +"A terrible wrong, if I am right, but not a purely hopeless one. I +have not had time to think it out, because I have been hurried so. +But, right or wrong, what I think is this--the whole is a foul scheme +of Luke Sharp's." + +"Luke Sharp! My own solicitor! The most respectable man in Oxford! +Overshute, you have made me hope, and then you dash me with +balderdash!" + +"Well, sir, I have no evidence at all; but I go by something I heard +in London, which supplies the strongest motive; and I know, from my +own family affairs, what Luke Sharp will do when he has strong motive. +I beg you to keep my guess quite secret. Not that I fear a score of +such fellows, but that he would be ten times craftier if he thought we +suspected him; and he is crafty enough without that, as his principal +client, the Devil, knows!" + +"I will not speak of it," the Squire answered; "such a crotchet is not +worth speaking of, and it might get you into great trouble. With one +thing and another now, I am so knocked about, that I cannot put two +and two together. But one thing really comforts me." + +"My dear sir, I am so glad! What is it?" + +"That a man of your old family, Russel, and at the same time of such +new ways, is still enabled by the grace of God to retain his faith in +the Devil." + +"While Luke Sharp lives I cannot lose it," he answered, with a bitter +smile. "That man is too deep and consummate a villain to be +uninspired. But now, sir, we have no time to lose. You tell me what +you have done, and then I will tell you what I have been thinking of, +unless you are too exhausted." + +For the old man, in spite of fierce anxiety, long suspense, and keen +excitement, began to be so overpowered with downright bodily weariness +that now he could scarcely keep his head from nodding, and his eyes +from closing. The hope which had roused him, when Overshute entered, +was gone, and despair took the place of it; tired body and sad mind +had but a very low heart to work them. Russel, with a strong man's +pity, and the love which must arise between one man and another +whenever small vanity vanishes, watched the creeping shades of slumber +soften the lines of the harrowed face. As evening steals along a +hill-side where the sun has tyrannised, and spreads the withering and +the wearying of the day with gentleness, and brings relief to rugged +points, and breadth of calm to everything; so the Squire's fine old +face relaxed in slumber's halo, and tranquil ease began to settle on +each yielding lineament; when open flew the door of the room, and +Mary, at the top of her voice, exclaimed-- + +"Plaize, sir, Maister Cripps be here." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CRIPPS IN AFFLICTION. + + +"Confound that Cripps!" young Overshute cried, with irritation getting +the better of his larger elements; while the Squire slowly awoke and +stared, and rubbed his gray eyelashes, and said that he really was +almost falling off, and he ought to be quite ashamed of himself. Then +he begged his visitor's pardon for bad manners, and asked what the +matter was. "Sir, it is only that fool Cripps," said the young man, +still in vexation, and signing to Mary to go, and to shut the door. +"Some trumpery parcel, of course. They might have let you rest for a +minute or two." + +"No, sir, no; if you plaize, sir, no!" cried Mary, advancing with her +hands up. "Maister Cripps have seen something terrible, and he hath +come straight to his Worship. He be that out of breath that he was +aforced to lay hold of me, before he could stand a'most! He must have +met them sheep-stealers!" + +"Sheep-stealing again!" said Mr. Oglander, who was an active +magistrate. "Well, let him come in. I have troubles of my own; but I +must attend to my duty." + +"Let me attend to it," interposed the other, being also one of the +"great unpaid." "You must not be pestered with such things now. Try to +get some little rest while I attend to this Cripps affair." + +"I am much obliged to you," answered the Squire, rising, and looking +wide-awake; "but I will hear what he has to say myself. Of course, I +shall be too glad of your aid if you are not in a hurry." + +Mr. Overshute knew that this fine old Justice, although so good in the +main, was not entirely free from foibles, of which there was none more +conspicuous than a keen and resolute jealousy if any brother +magistrate dared to meddle with Beckley matters. Therefore Russel for +the time withdrew, but promised to return in half an hour, not only +for the sake of consulting with the Squire, but also because he +suspected that Cripps might be come on an errand different from what +Mary had imagined. + +Meanwhile, the Carrier could hardly be kept from bursting in +head-foremost. Betty, the cook, laid hold of him in the passage, while +he was short of breath; but he pushed at even her, although he ought +to have known better manners. Betty was also in a state of mind at +having cooked no dinner worth speaking of since Tuesday; and Cripps, +if his wits had been about him, must have yielded space and bowed. +Betty, however, was nearly as wide, and a great deal thicker than he +was; and she spread forth two great arms that might have stopped even +Dobbin with a load downhill. + +At last the signal was passed that Cripps might now come on, and tell +his tale; and he felt as if he should have served them right by +refusing to say anything. But when he saw the Squire's jovial face +drawn thin with misery, and his sturdy form unlike itself, and the +soft puzzled manner in lieu of the old distinct demand to know +everything, Zacchary Cripps came forward gently, and thought of what +he had to tell, with fear. + +"What is it, my good fellow?" asked the Squire, perceiving his +hesitation. "Nothing amiss with your household, I sincerely hope, my +friend? You are a fortunate man in one thing--you have had no children +yet." + +"Ay, ay; your Worship is right enough there. The Lord lends they, and +He takes them away. And the taking be worse than the giving was good." + +"Now, Master Cripps, we must not talk so. All is meant for the best, I +doubt." + +"Her may be. Her may be," Cripps replied. "The Lord is the one to +pronounce upon that, knowing His own maning best. But He do give very +hard measure some time to them as have never desarved it. Now, there +be your poor Miss Grace, for instance. As nice a young lady as ever +lived; the purtiest ever come out of a bed; that humble, too, and +gracious always, that 'Cripps,' she would say--nay 'Master +Cripps'--she always give me my proper title, even on a dirty linen +day--'Master Cripps,' her always said, 'let me mark it off, in your +hat, for you'--no matter whether it was my best hat, or the one with +the grease come through--'Master Cripps,' she always say, 'let me mark +it out for you.'" + +"Very well, Cripps. I know all that. It is nothing to what my Grace +was. And I hope, with God's blessing, she will do it again. But what +is it you are so full of, Cripps?" + +The Carrier felt in the crown of his hat, and then inside the lining; +as if he had something entered there, to help him in this predicament. +And then he turned away, to wipe--as if the weather was very wet--the +drops of the hedge from the daze of his eyes; and after that he could +not help himself, but out with everything. + +"I knows where Miss Gracie be," he began with a little defiance, as +if, after all, it was nothing to him, but a thing that he might have a +bet about. "I knows where our Miss Gracie lies--dead and cold--dead +and cold--without no coffin, nor a winding-sheet--the purty crature, +the purty crature--there, what a fool I be, good Lord!" + +Master Cripps, at the picture himself had drawn, was taken with a +short fit of sobs, and turned away, partly to hunt for his "kercher," +and partly to shun the poor Squire's eyes. Mr. Oglander slowly laid +down the pen, which he had taken for notes of a case, and standing as +firm as his own great oak-tree (famous in that neighbourhood), gave no +sign of the shock, except in the colour of his face, and the +brightness of his gaze. + +"Go on, Cripps, as soon as you can," he said in a calm and gentle +voice. "Try not to keep me waiting, Cripps." + +"I be trying; I be trying all I knows. The blessed angel be dead and +buried, close to Tickuss's tatie crop, in the corner of bramble +quarry. At least, I mean Tickuss's taties was there; but he dug them a +fortnight, come Monday, he did." + +"The corner of the 'Gipsy's Grave,' as they call it. Who found it? How +do you know it?" + +"Esther was there. She seed the whole of it. Before the snow +come--last Tuesday night." + +"Tuesday night! Ah, Tuesday night!"--for the moment, the old man had +lost his clearness. "It can't have been Tuesday night--it was +Wednesday when I rode down to my sister's. Cripps, your sister must +have dreamed it. My darling was then at her aunt's, quite safe. You +have frightened me for nothing, Cripps." + +"I am glad with all my heart," cried Zacchary; "I am quite sure it +were Tuesday night, because of Mrs. Exie. And your Worship knows best +of the days, no doubt. Thank the Lord for all His mercies! Well, +seeing now it were somebody else, in no ways particular, and perhaps +one of them gipsy girls as took the fever to Cowley, if your Worship +will take your pen again, I will tell you all as Esther seed:--Two men +with a pickaxe working, where the stone overhangeth so, and the corpse +of a nice young woman laid for the stone to bury it natural. No harm +at all in the world, when you come to think, being nought of a +Christian body. And they let go the rock, and it come down over, to +save all infection. Lord, what a turn that Etty gived me, all about a +trifle!" The Carrier wiped his forehead, and smiled. "And won't I give +it well to her?" + +"Poor girl! It is no trifle, Cripps, whoever it may have been. But +stop--I am all abroad. It was Tuesday afternoon when my poor darling +left Mrs. Fermitage. And to the quarry, across the fields, from the +way she would come, is not half a mile--half a mile of fields and +hedgerows---- Oh, Cripps, it was my daughter!" + +"Her maight a' been, sure enough," said Cripps, in whom the reflective +vein, for the moment, had crossed the sentimental--"sure enough, her +maight a' been. A pasture meadow, and a field of rape, and Gibbs's +turnips, and then a fallow, and then into Tickuss's taties--half an +hour maight a' done the carrying--and consarning of the rest--your +Worship, now when did she leave the lady? Can you count the time of +it?" + +"Zacchary now, the will of the Lord be done, without calculation! My +grave is all I care to count on, if my Grace lies buried so. But +before I go to it, please God, I will find out who has done it!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +ALL DEAD AGAINST HIM. + + +"Now, do 'ee put on a muffler, sir," cried Mary, running out with her +arms full, as Mr. Oglander set forth in the bitter air, without +overcoat, but ready to meet everything. At the door was his old +Whitechapel cart, with a fresh young colt between the shafts, pawing +the snow, and snorting; the only one of his little stud not lamed by +rugged travelling. The floor of the cart was jingling with iron tools, +as the young horse shook himself; and the Squire's groom, and two +gardeners, were ready to jump in, when called for. They stamped a +little, and flapped their bodies, as if they would like a cordial; but +their master was too busy with his own heart to remember it. + +"If we be goin' to dig some hours in such weather as this be," Mr. +Kale managed to whisper--"best way put in a good brandy flask, Mary, +my dear, with Master's leave. Poor soul, a' can't heed everything." + +"Go along," answered Mary; "you have had enough. Shamed I be of you, +to think of such things, and to look at that poor Hangel!" + +"So plaize your Worship, let me drive," said Cripps, who was going to +sit in front. "A young horse, and you at your time of life, and all +this trouble over you!" + +"Give me the reins, my friend," cried his Worship; and Cripps, in some +dread for his neck, obeyed. The men jumped in, and the young horse +started at a rather dangerous pace. Many a time had Miss Grace fed +him, and he used to follow her, like a lamb. + +"He will take us safe enough," said the Squire; "he seems to know what +he is going for." + +Not another word was spoken, until they came to the gap at the verge +of the quarry, where the frosty moon shone through it. "Tie him here," +said the master shortly, as the groom produced his ring-rope; "and +throw the big cloth over him. Now, all of you come; and Cripps go +first." + +Scared as they were, they could not in shame decline the old man's +orders; and the sturdy Cripps, with a spade on his shoulders, led +through the drifted thicket. Behind him plodded the Squire, with an +unlit lantern in one hand, and a stout oak staff in the other; the +moonlight glistening in his long white hair, and sparkling frost in +his hoary beard. The snow before them showed no print larger than the +pad of an old dog-fox pursuing the spluttering track of a pheasant's +spurs; and it crunched beneath their boots with the crusty impact of +crisp severance. All around was white and waste with depth of unknown +loneliness; and Master Cripps said for the rest of his life, that he +could not tell what he was about, to do it! + +After many flounderings in and out of hollow places, they came to the +corner of the quarry-dingle, and found it entirely choked with snow. +The driving of the north-east wind had gathered as into a funnel +there, and had stacked the snow of many acres in a hollow of less than +half a rood. The men stopped short, where the gaunt brown fern, and +then the furze, and then the hazels, in rising tier waded out of +sight; and behind them even some ash-saplings scarcely had a knuckled +joint to lift from out their burial. Over the whole the cold moon +shone, and made the depth look deeper. The men stopped short, and +looked at their shovels, and looked at one another. They may not have +been very bright of mind, or accustomed to hurried conclusions; and +doubtless they were, as true Englishmen are, of a tough unelastic +fibre. All powers of evil were banded against them, and they saw no +turn to take; still it was not their own wish to go back, without +having struck a blow for it. + +"You can do nothing," said the Squire, with perhaps the first bitter +feeling he had yet displayed. "All things are dead against me; I must +grin, as you say, and bear it. It would take a whole corps of sappers +and miners a week to clear this place out. We cannot even be sure of +the spot; we cannot tell where the corner is; all is smothered up so. +Ill luck always rides ill luck. This proves beyond doubt that my child +lies here!" + +The men were good men, as men go, and they all felt love and pity for +the lost young lady and the poor old master. Still their fingers were +so blue, and their frozen feet so hard to feel, and the deep white +gulf before them surged so palpably invincible, that they could not +repine at a dispensation which sent them home to their suppers. + +"Nort to be done till change of weather," said Cripps, as they sat in +the cart again; "I reckon they villains knew what was coming, better +nor I, who have kept the road, man and boy, for thirty year. The Lord +knoweth best, as He always do! But to my mind He maneth to kape on +snowing and freezing for a month at laste. Moon have changed last +night, I b'lieve; and a bitter moon we shall have of it." + +And so they did; the bitterest moon, save one, of the present century. +And old men said that there had not been such a winter, and such a +sight of snow, since the one which the Lord had sent on purpose to +discomfit Bony. + +Mr. Oglander, in his lonely home, strove bravely to make the best of +it. He had none of that grand religious consolation which some people +have (especially for others), and he grounded his happiness perhaps +too much upon his own hearthstone. His mind was not an extraordinary +one, and his soul was too old-fashioned to demand periods of purging. + +Moreover, his sister Joan came up--a truly pious and devoted woman, +the widow of an Oxford wine-merchant. Mrs. Fermitage loved her niece +so deeply that she had no patience with any selfish pinings after her. +"She is gone to the better land," she said; "the shores of bliss +unspeakable!--unless Russel Overshute knows about her a great deal +more than he will tell. I have far less confidence in that young man +since he took to wear india-rubber. But to wish her back is a very +sinful and unchristian act, I fear." + +"Now, Joan, you know that you wish her back every time that you sit +down, or get up, or go to tea without her." + +"Yes, I know, I know, I do. And most of all when I pour it out--she +used to do it for me. But, Worth, you can wrestle more than I can. The +Lord expects so much more of a man!" + +Being exhorted thus, the Squire did his best to wrestle. Not that any +words of hers could carry now their former weight; for if he had no +daughter left, what good was money left to her? The Squire did not +want his sister's money for himself at all. Indeed, he would rather be +without it. Dirty money, won by trade!--but still it had been his duty +always to try to get it for his daughter. And this is worth a word or +two. + +At the Oxford bank, and among the lawyers and the leading tradesmen, +it had been a well-known thing that old Fermitage had not died with +less than £150,000 behind him. Even in Oxford there never had been a +man so illustrious for port wine. "Fortiter occupa portum" was the +motto over the door to his vaults, and he fortified port impregnably. +Therefore he supplied all the common-room cellars, which cannot have +too much geropiga; and among the undergraduates his name was surety +for another glass. And there really was a port wine basis; so that +nobody died of him. + +All these things are beside the mark. Mr. Fermitage, however, went on, +and hit his mark continually; and his mark was that bull's eye of this +golden age, a yellow imprint of a dragon. So many of these came +pouring in that he kept them in bottles without any "kicks," sealed, +and left to mature, and acquire "the genuine bottle flavour." When he +had bottled half a pipe of these, and was thinking of beginning now to +store them in the wood, a man coming down with a tap found him dead; +and was too much scared to steal anything. + +This man reproached himself, ever afterwards, for his irresolute +conscience; and the two executors gave him nothing but blame for his +behaviour. People in Holiwell said that these two took a dozen bottles +of guineas between them, to toast their testator's memory; but +Holiwell never has been famous for the holy thing lying at the bottom +of the well. Enough that he was dead; and every man, seeing his +funeral, praised him. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +KNOCKER VERSUS BELL-PULL. + + +There is, or was, a street in Oxford, near the ruins of the ancient +castle, and behind the new county jail, where one of the many offsets +of the Isis filters its artificial way beneath low arches and betwixt +dead walls; and this street (partly destroyed since then) was known to +the elder generation by the name of "Cross Duck Lane." Of course what +remains of it now exults in an infinitely grander title, though +smelling thereby no sweeter. With that we have nothing to do; the +street was "Cross Duck Lane" in our time. + +Here, in a highly respectable house, a truly respectable man was +living, with his business and his family. "Luke Sharp, gentleman," was +his name, description, style, and title; and he was not by any means a +bad man, so as to be an Attorney. + +This man possessed a great deal of influence, having much +house-property; and he never in the least disguised his sentiments, or +played fast and loose with them. Being of a commanding figure, and +fine straightforward aspect, he left an impression, wherever he went, +of honesty, vigour, and manliness. And he went into very good society, +as often as he cared to do so; for although not a native of Oxford, +but of unknown (though clearly large) origin, he now was the head, and +indeed the entirety, of a long-established legal firm. He had married +the daughter of the senior partner, and bought or ousted away the +rest; and although the legend on his plate was still "Piper, Pepper, +Sharp, and Co.," every one knew that the learning, wealth, and honour +of the whole concern were now embodied in Mr. Luke Sharp. Such a man +was under no necessity ever to blow his own trumpet. + +His wife, a fat and goodly person, Miranda Piper of former days, +happened to be the first cousin and nearest relative of a famous +man--"Port-wine Fermitage" himself; and his death had affected her +very sadly. For she found that he had provided for himself a most +precarious future, by unjust disposal of his worldly goods, which he +could not come back to rectify. To his godson, her only child and her +idol, Christopher Fermitage Sharp, he had left a copy of Dr. +Doddridge's "Expositor," and nothing else! A golden work, no +doubt--but still golden precepts fill no purse, but rather tend to +empty it. Mrs. Luke Sharp, though a very good Christian, repacked and +sent back the "Expositor." + +If Mr. Sharp had been at home, he would not have let her do so. He was +full at all times of large generous impulse, but never yet guilty of +impulsive acts. It had always been said that his son was to have the +bottled half-pipe of gold, or the chief body of it, after the widow's +life-interest. Whereas now, Mrs. Fermitage, if she liked, might roll +all the bottles down the High Street. She, however, was a careful +woman; and it was manifest where the whole of this Côte d'Or vintage +would be binned away--to wit, in the cellars of Beckley Barton, with +the key at Grace Oglander's very pretty waist. Mr. Sharp at the moment +could descry no cure; but still to show temper was a vulgar thing. + +Now, upon the New Year's Day of 1838, the bitter weather continuing +still, and doing its best to grow more bitter, Mr. Sharp, being of a +festive turn, had closed his office early. The demand for universal +closing and perpetual holiday had not yet risen to its present height, +and the clerks, though familiar with the kindness of their principal, +scarcely expected such a premature relief. But this only added to the +satisfaction with which they went home to their New Year dinners. + +But Mr. Sharp, though of early habits, and hungry at proper seasons, +was not preparing for his dinner now. He had ordered his turkey to be +kept back, and begged his wife to see to it until he could make out +and settle the import of a letter which reached him about one o'clock. +It had been delivered by a groom on horseback, who had suffered some +inward struggle before he had stooped to ring the Attorney's bell. For +"Cross Duck House," though a comfortable place, was not of an +aristocratic cast. The letter was short, and expounded little. + + "SIR,--I shall do myself the honour of calling upon you at four + o'clock this afternoon, upon some important business. + + "Obediently yours, + + "RUSSEL OVERSHUTE." + +It is not altogether an agreeable thing, even for a man with the +finest conscience, such as Mr. Sharp was blest with, to receive a +challenge upon an unknown point, curtly worded in this wise. And the +pleasure does not increase, when the strong correspondent is partly +suspected of holding unfavourable views towards one, and the gaze of +self-inspection needs a little more time to compose itself. Luke Sharp +had led an unblemished life, since the follies of his youth subsided; +he subscribed to inevitable charities; and he waited for his rents, +when sure of them. Still he did not like that letter. + +Now he took off the coat which he wore at his desk, and his waistcoat +of the morning, and washed his nice white hands, and clothed himself +in expensive dignity. Then he opened his book of daily entries, and +folded blotting-paper, and prepared to receive instructions, or give +advice, or be wise abstractedly. But he thought it a sound precaution +to have his son Christopher within earshot; for young Overshute was +reputed to be of a rather excitable nature; therefore Kit Sharp was +commanded to finish the cleaning of his gun--which was his chief +delight--in his father's closet adjoining the office, and to keep the +door shut, unless called for. + +The lawyer was not kept waiting long. As the clock of St. Thomas +struck four, the shoes of a horse rang sharply on the icy road, and +the office-bell kicked up its tongue, with a jerk showing great +extra-mural energy. "Let him ring again," said Mr. Sharp; "I defy him +to ring much harder." + +The defiance was soon proved to be unsound; for in less than ten +seconds, the bell, which had stood many years of strong emotion, was +visited with such a violent spasm that nothing short of the +melting-pot restored its constitution. A piece clinked on the passage +floor, and the lawyer was filled with unfeigned wrath. That bell had +been ringing for three generations, and was the Palladium of the firm. + +"What clumsy clod-hopper," cried Mr. Sharp, rushing out, as if he saw +nobody--"what beggarly bumpkin has broken my bell? Mr. Overshute!--oh! +I beg pardon, I am sure!" + +"We must make allowance," said Russel calmly, "for fidgety animals, +Mr. Sharp; and for thick gloves in this frosty weather. John, take my +horse on the Seven-bridges road, and be back in exactly fifteen +minutes. How kind of you to be at home, Mr. Sharp!" + +With the words, the young man bestowed on the lawyer a short sharp +glance, which entirely failed to penetrate the latter. + +"Shut out this cold wind, for Heaven's sake!" he exclaimed, as he shut +in his visitor. "You young folk never seem to feel the cold. But you +carry it a little too far sometimes. Ah, I must have been about your +age when we had such another hard winter as this, four and twenty +years ago. Scarcely so bitter, but a deal more snow; snow, snow, six +feet everywhere. I was six and twenty then--about your age, I take it, +sir?" + +"My age to a tittle," said Overshute; "but I am generally taken for +thirty-two. How can you have guessed it so?" + +"Early thought, sir, juvenile thought, and advanced intelligence make +young people look far in front of their age. When you come to my time +of life, young sir, your thoughts and your looks will be younger. Now +take this chair. Never mind your boots; let them hiss as they will on +the fender. I like to hear it--a genial sound--a touch of emery paper +in the morning, and there we are, ready for other boots. I have had +men here come fifty miles across country, as the crow flies, to see +me, when the floods were out; and go away with minds comforted." + +"I have heard of your skill in all legal points. But I am not come on +that account. Quibbles and shuffles I detest." + +"Well, Mr. Overshute, I have met with a good deal of rudeness in my +early days; before I was known, as I am now. It was worth my while to +disarm it then. It is not so now, in your case. You belong to a very +good county family; and although you are committed to inferior hands, +if you had come in a friendly spirit, I would have been glad to serve +you. As it is, I can only request you to say what your purpose is, and +to settle it." + +Russel Overshute, with his large and powerful eyes, gazed straight at +Sharp; and Mr. Sharp (who had steely eyes--the best of all for getting +on with--not very large, but as keen as need be) therewith answered +complacently, and as if he saw hope of amusement. + +"You puzzle me, Sharp," said Overshute--about the worst thing he could +have said; and he knew it before the words had passed. + +"I am called, for the most part, 'Mister Sharp,' except by gentlemen +of my own age, or friends who entirely trust me. Mr. Russel Overshute, +explain how I have puzzled you." + +"Never mind that. You would never understand. Have you any idea what +has brought me here?" + +"Yes, to be plain with you, I have. One of your least, but very oldest +tenants, has been caught out in poaching. You hate the game-laws; you +are a Radical, ranter, and reformer. You know that your lawyer is good +and active, but too well known as a Liberal. It requires a man of +settled principles to contest with the game-laws." + +"You could not be more wide astray!" cried young Overshute +triumphantly, taking in every word the other had said, as a piece of +his victory. "No, no, thank goodness, we are not come so low that we +cannot get off our tenants, in spite of any evidence; you must indeed +think that our family is quite reduced to the dirt, if we can no +longer do even that much." + +"Not at all, sir. You are much too hot. I only supposed for the moment +that your principles might have stopped you." + +"Oh dear, no! My mother could not take it at all, in that way. Now, +where have you put Grace Oglander?" + +Impetuous Russel, with his nostrils quivering, and his eyes fixed on +the lawyer's, and his right hand clenching his heavy whip, purposely +fired his question thus, like a thunderbolt out of pure heaven. He +felt sure of producing a grand effect; and so he did, but not the +right one. + +"You threaten me, do you?" said Mr. Sharp. "I think that you make a +mistake, young man. Violence is objectionable in every way, though +natural with fools, who believe they are the stronger. I am sorry to +have spoiled your whip; but you will acknowledge that the fault was +yours. Now, I am ready for reason--if you are." + +With a grave bow, Luke Sharp offered Russel the fragments of his pet +hunting-crop, which he had caught from his hand, and snapped like a +stick of peppermint, as he spoke. Overshute thought himself a fine, +strong fellow, and with very good reason; but the quickness of his +antagonist left him gasping. + +"I want no apologies," Mr. Sharp continued, going to his desk; while +the young man looked sadly at his brazen-knockered butt, for he had +been at that admirable college, and cherished his chief reminiscence +of it thus. "Apologies are always waste of time. You have threatened +me, and you have found your mistake. Such a formidable antagonist +makes one's hand shake. Still, I think that I can hit my key-hole." + +"You can always make your keys fit, I dare say. But you never could do +that to me again." + +"Very likely not. I shall never care to try it. Physical force is +always low. But, as a gentleman, you must own that you first offered +violence." + +"Mr. Sharp, I confess that I did. Not in word, or deed; but still my +manner fairly imported it. And the first respect I ever felt for you, +I feel now, for your quickness and pluck." + +"I am pleased with any respect from you; because you have little for +anything. Now, repeat your question, moderately." + +"Where have you put Grace Oglander?" + +"Let me offer you a chair again. Striding about with frozen feet is +almost the worst thing a man can do. However, you seem to be a little +excited. Have you brought me a letter from my client, to authorize +this inquiry?" + +"From Mr. Oglander? Oh no! He has no idea of my being here." + +"We will get over that. You are a friend of his, and a neighbour. He +has asked you, in a general way, to help him in this sad great +trouble." + +"Not at all. He would rather not have my interference. He does not +like its motive." + +"And the motive is, that like many other people, you were attached to +this young lady?" + +"Certainly, I am. I would give my life at any moment for her." + +"Well, well; I will not speak quite so strongly as you do. Life grows +dearer as it gets more short. But still, I would give my best year +remaining to get to the bottom of this problem." + +"You would?" cried young Overshute, looking at him, with admiration of +his strength and truth. "Give me your hand, sir? I have wronged you! I +see that I am but a hasty fool!" + +"You should never own that," said the lawyer. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +MR. JOHN SMITH. + + +Meanwhile all Beckley and villages around were seething with a ferment +of excitement and contradiction. Esther Cripps had been strictly +ordered by the authorities to hold her tongue; and so far as in her +lay she did so. But there were others--the Squire's three men, and +even the Carrier himself, who had so many things to think, that they +were pretty sure to say some of them. One or two of them had wives; +and though these women could not be called by their very worst friends +"inquisitive," it was not right and lawful that they should be +debarred of everything. They did all they could not to know any more +than they were really bound to know; and whatever was forced upon them +had no chance of going any further. + +This made several women look at one another slyly, each knowing more +than the other, and nodding while sounding the other's ignorance. +Until, with one accord they grew provoked at being treated so; and +truth being multiplied to its cube became, of course, infinite error. + +Now, Mrs. Fermitage having been obliged to return to Cowley, Mary +Hookham's mother had established her power by this time; and being, as +her daughter had pronounced, a conspicuous member of the females, she +exerted herself about all that was said, and saw the other side of +everything. She never went to no public-house--nobody could say that +of her; but perhaps she could put two and two together every bit as +well as them that did. It had been her fortune to acquire exceptional +experience--or, as she put it more plainly, "she had a seed a many +things;" and the impressions left thereby upon her idiosyncrasy (or, +in her own words, "what she come to think") was and were that nothing +could be true that she had not known the like of. This was the secret +of her success in life--which, however, as yet bore no proportion to +her merits. She frankly scouted as "a pack of stuff" everything to +which her history afforded no vivid parallel. In a word, she believed +only what she had seen. + +Now, incredulity is a grand power. To be able to say, "Oh, don't tell +me," or "None of your stuff!" when the rest of the audience, stricken +with awe, is gaping, confers at once the esteem of superior intellect +and vigour. And when there are good high people, who derive comfort +from the denial, the chances are that the active sceptic does not get +the worst of it. + +Mrs. Hookham plainly declared that Esther's tale was neither more nor +less than a trumpery cock-and-bull story. She would not call it a +parcel of lies, because the poor girl might have dreamed it. Walking +in the snow was no more than walking in one's sleep; she knew that, +from her own experience; and if there had been no snow as yet, that +made her all the more sure to be right; the air was full of it, and of +course it would have more power overhead. Depend upon it, she had seen +a bush, if indeed she did see anything, and being so dazed by the +weather, she had gone and dreamed the rest of it. + +Beckley, on the other hand, having known Esther ever since she toddled +out of her cradle, and knowing her brothers, the carrier, the baker, +and the butcher, and having no experience yet of Mother Hookham's +wisdom, as good as told the latter lady not to be "so bounceable." She +must not come into this parish, and pretend to know more about things +that belonged to it than those who were bred and born there. + +But Mrs. Hookham's opinion was, in one way, very important, however +little weight it carried at the Dusty Anvil. Mr. Oglander himself had +to depend for his food entirely on Mrs. Hookham's efforts; for Betty, +the cook, went purely off her head, after all she had gone through; +and they put her in bed with a little barley-water, and much malt +liquor in a nobler form. And though Mrs. Hookham at her time of life +was reluctant so to demean herself, she found all the rest such a +"Noah's compass," that she roused up the fires of departed youth, and +flourished with the basting-ladle. A clever well-conditioned dame, +with a will of her own, is somebody. + +"Now, sir," she cried, rushing in to the Squire, with a basin of +first-rate ox-tail soup, upon that melancholy New Year's Day, "you +have been out in the snow again! No use denying of it, sir; I can see +it by the chattering of your teeth. I call it a bad, wicked thing to +go on so. Flying in the face of the Lord like that!" + +"You are a most kind and good soul, Mrs. Hookham. But surely you would +not have me sit with my hands crossed, doing nothing." + +"No, no; surely not. Take the spoon in one hand, and the basin in the +other. You owe it to yourself to keep up your strength, and to some +one else as well, good sir." + +"I have no one else now to owe it to," the old man answered, sadly +tucking his napkin into his waistcoat pockets. + +"Yes, you have. You have your Miss Gracie, alive and kicking, as sure +as I be; and with a deal more of life in front of her; though scarce a +week passes but what I takes my regular dose of calumny. Ah, if it had +not been for that, I never could have been twenty year a widow." + +"Don't cry, Mrs. Hookham. I beg you not to cry. You have many good +children to look after; and there still is abundance of calomel. But +why do you talk so about my darling?" + +"Because, sir, please God, I means to see you spend many a happy year +together. Lord have mercy, if I had took for granted every trouble as +come upon me, who could a' tried for to cheat me this day? My +goodness, don't go for to swallow the bones, sir!" + +"To be sure not. No, I was not thinking. Of course there are bones in +every tail." + +"And a heap of bones in them Crippses' tale, sir, as won't go down +with me nohow. Have faith in the mercy of the Lord, sir; and in your +own experience." + +"That is exactly what I try to do. There cannot be any one in the +world so bad as to hurt my Gracie. Mrs. Hookham, you never can have +seen anybody like her. She was so full of life and kindness that +everybody who knew her seemed to have her in their own family. She +never made pretence to be above herself, or any one; and she entered +into everybody's trouble quite as if she had brought it on. She never +asked them any questions, whether it might have been their own fault; +and she gave away all her own money first before she came to me for +more. She was so simple, and so pleasant, and so full of playful +ways--but there, when I think of that, it makes me almost as bad as +you women are. Take out the dish. I am very much obliged to you." + +"Not a bit, sir, not a bit as yet," the brisk dame answered, with +tears on her cheeks. "But before very long, you will own that you was; +when you find every word I say come true. Oh my! How that startled me! +Somebody coming the short way from the fields! That wonderful man, as +is always prowling about, unbeknown to any one. They don't like me in +the village much, civil as I am to all of them. But as sure as six is +half a dozen, that Smith is the one they ought to hate." + +"If he is there, show him in at once," said the Squire, without +further argument; "and let no one come interrupting us." + +This was very hard upon Mrs. Hookham; and she could not help showing +it in her answer. + +"Oh, to be sure, sir! Oh, to be sure not! What is my poor opinion +compared to his? Ah well, it is a fine thing to be a man!" + +The man, for whose sake she was thus cast out, seemed to be of the +same opinion. He walked, and looked, and spoke as if it was indeed a +fine thing to be a man; but the finest of all things to be the man +inside his own cloth and leather. Short and thick of form he was, and +likely to be at close quarters a dangerous antagonist. And the set of +his jaws, and the glance of his eyes, showed that no want of manhood +would at the critical moment disable him. His face was of a strong red +colour, equally spread all over it, as if he lived much in the open +air, and fed well, and enjoyed his food. + +"John Smith, your Worship--John Smith," he said, without troubling +Mrs. Hookham. "I hope I see your Worship better. Don't rise, I beg of +you. May I shut the door? Oh, Mary, your tea is waiting." + +"Mary, indeed!" cried widow Hookham, ungraciously departing; "young +man, address my darter thus!" + +"Now, what have you done, Smith, what have you done?" the old +gentleman asked, stooping over him. "Or have you done nothing at all +as usual? You tell me to have patience every day, and every day I have +less and less." + +"The elements are against us, sir. If the weather had been anything +but what it is, I must have known everything long ago. Stop, sir, +stop; it is no idle excuse, as you seem to fancy. It is not the snow +that I speak of; it is the intense and deadly cold, that keeps all but +the very strong people indoors. How can any man talk when his beard is +frozen? Look, sir!" + +From his short brown beard he took lumps of ice, beginning to thaw in +the warmth of the room, and cast them into the fire to hiss. Mr. +Oglander gazed as if he thought that his visitor took a liberty, but +one that could not matter much. "Go on, sir, with your report," he +said. + +"Well, sir, in this chain of crime," Mr. Smith replied in a sprightly +manner, "we have found one very important link." + +"What is it, Smith? Don't keep me waiting. Don't fear me. I am now +prepared to stand anything whatever." + +"Well, sir, we have discovered, at last, the body of your Worship's +daughter." + +The Squire bowed, and hid his face. By the aid of faith, he had been +hoping against hope, till it came to this. Then he looked up, with his +bright old eyes for the moment very steady, and said with a firm +though hollow voice-- + +"The will of the Lord be done! The will of the Lord be done, Smith." + +"The will of the Lord shall not be done," cried Mr. Smith +emphatically, and striking his thick knees with his fist, "until the +man who has done it shall be swung, Squire, swung! Make up your mind +to that, your Worship. You may safely make up your mind to that." + +"What good will it do me?" the father asked, talking with himself +alone. "Will it ever bring back my girl--my child? Bereaved I am, but +it cannot be long! I shall meet her in a better world, Smith." + +"To be sure your Worship will, with the angels and archangels. But to +my mind that will be no satisfaction, till the man has swung for it." + +"Excuse me for a moment, will you, Mr. Smith, excuse me? I have no +right to be overcome, and I thought I had got beyond all that. Ring +the bell, and they will bring you cold sirloin and a jug of ale. Help +yourself, and don't mind me. I will come back directly. No, thank you; +I can walk alone. How many have had much worse to bear! You will find +the under-cut the best." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +MR. SMITH IS ACTIVE. + + +Mr. John Smith was a little upset at seeing the Squire so put out. But +he said to himself: "It is natural--after all, it is natural. Poor old +chap! he has taken it as well as could be expected. However, we must +all live; and I feel uncommonly peckish just now. I declare I would +rather have had something hot, this weather. But in such a case, one +must put up with things. I wonder if they have got any horseradish. +All frozen hard in the ground, I fear--no harm, at any rate, in +asking." + +With this self-commune he rang the bell; and Mary, by her mother's +order, answered. "I'll not go nigh the baste!" cried widow Hookham, +still indignant. Mary, like a good maid, laid the cloth without a +syllable, and, like a good young woman, took the keenest heed of Mr. +Smith, without letting him dream that she peeped at him. + +"Thank you, Mary," said Mr. Smith, to open conversation. + +"My mother's name is Mary," she answered, "and perhaps you would like +some pickles." + +"By all means, as there is no horseradish. Bring onions, gherkins, and +walnuts, Mary. But above all things, walnuts." + +"You must have what you can get," said Mary. "I will go and tell +master what you require." + +"On no account, Mary; on no account! He is gone away to pray, I +believe. On no account disturb him." + +"Poor dear, I should hope not. Perhaps you can manage with what I have +set before you." + +"I will do my best," he answered. + +"The scum of the earth!" said Mary to herself; good servants being the +most intensely aristocratic of all the world. + +"He never dined at a gentleman's table before, and his head is turned +with it. Our kitchen is too good for him. But poor master never heeds +nothing now." + +As soon, however, as Mr. Smith had appeased the rage of hunger, and +having called for a glass of hot brandy and water, was clinking the +spoon in it, the Squire showed that he did heed something, by coming +back calmly to talk with him. Mr. Oglander had passed the bitterest +hour of his long life yet; filled at every turn of thought with +yearning to break down and weep. Sometimes his mind was so confused +that he did not know how old he was, but seemed to be in the long past +days, with his loving wife upon his arm, and their Gracie toddling in +front of them. He spoke to them both as he used to do, and speaking +cleared his thoughts again; and he shook away the dreamy joy in the +blank forlorn of facts. At last he washed his face, and brushed his +silver hair and untended beard, and half in the looking-glass expected +to see his daughter scolding him, because he knew that he had +neglected many things she insisted on; and his conscience caught him +when he seemed to be taking a low advantage. + +"I hope you have been treated well," he said, with his fine +old-fashioned bow, to Smith, as he came back again. "I do not often +leave my guests to attend to themselves in this way." + +"Don't apologize, Squire, I beg you. I have done first chop, I assure +you, sir. I have not tasted real mustard, ground at home as yours is, +since I was up in Durham county, where they never grow it." + +"Well, Mr. Smith," said the Squire, trying to smile at his +facetiousness, "I am very glad that you have done well. In weather +like this, a young man like you must want a good deal of nourishment. +But now, will you--will you tell me----" + +"Yes, your Worship, everything! Of course you are anxious; and I +thoroughly enter into your feelings. There are none of the women at +the door, I hope?" + +"Such things do not happen in my house. I will not interrupt you." + +"Very well, sir; then sit down here. You must be aware in the first +place, then, that I was not likely to be content with your way of +regarding things. The Lord is the Lord of the weather, of course, and +does it without consulting us. Nevertheless, He allows us also to do +our best against it. So I took the bull by the horns, as John Bull, by +his name, has a right to do. I just resolved to beat the weather, and +have it out with everything. So I communicated with the authorities in +London. You know we are in a transition state--a transition state at +present, sir--between the old system and the new." + +"Yes, yes, of course I know all that." + +"Very well, your Worship, we are obliged, of course, to be doubly +careful. In London, we are quite established; but down here, we must +feel our way. The magistrates, saving your Worship's presence, look +upon us with dislike, as if we were superseding them. That will wear +off, your Worship, and the new system will work wonders." + +"Yes, so you all say. But now, be quick. What wonders have you +wrought, John Smith?" + +"Well, I was going to tell your Worship when you interrupted me. You +know that story of Cripps, the Carrier, and his sister--what's her +name? Well, some folk believed it, and some bereaved it. I did neither +of the two, but resolved to get to the bottom of it. Your Worship was +afraid, you remember--well, then, let us say daunted, sir--or, if you +will not have that, we may say, that you trusted in Providence." + +"It was not quite that; but still, Mr. Smith----" + +"Your Worship will excuse me. Things of that sort happen always, and +the people are always wrong that do it. I trusted in Providence once +myself, but now I trust twice in my own self first and leave +Providence to come after me. Ha, ha! I speak my mind. No offence, your +Worship. Well then, this was what I did. A brave regiment of soldiers +having newly returned from India, was ordered to march from London to +the Land's End for change of temperature. They had not been supplied, +of course, with any change of clothes for climate, and they felt it a +little, but were exhorted not to be too particular. Two companies were +to be billeted at Abingdon last evening; and having, of course, +received notice of that, I procured authority to use them. They +shivered so that they wanted work; and there is nothing, your Worship, +like discipline." + +"Of course, I know that from my early days. Will you tell your story +speedily?" + +"Sir, that is just what I am doing. I brought them without many words +to the quarry, where ten times the number of our clodhoppers would +only have shovelled at one another. Bless my heart! they did work, and +with order and arrangement. Being clothed all in cotton, they had no +time to lose, unless they meant to get frozen; and it was a fine +sight, I assure your Worship, to see how they showed their +shoulder-blades, being skinny from that hot climate, and their +brown-freckled arms in the white of the drift, and the Indian steam +coming out of them! In about two hours all the ground was clear, and +the trees put away, like basket-work; and then we could see what had +happened exactly, and even the mark of the pickaxes. Every word of +that girl was proved true to a tittle! I never heard finer evidence. +We can even see that two men had been at work, and the stroke of their +tools was different. You may trust me for getting up a case; but I see +that you have no patience, Squire. We shovelled away all the fallen +rock, and mould, and stumps, and furze-roots; and, at last, we came to +the poor, poor innocent body, as fresh as the daylight!" + +"I can hear no more! You have lost no child--if you have, perhaps you +could spare it. Tell me nothing--nothing more! But prove that it was +my child!" + +"Lord a' mercy, your Worship! Why, you are only fit to go to bed! +Here, Mary! Mary! Mother Hookham! Curse the bell--I have broken it! +Your master is taken very queer! Look alive, woman! Stir your stumps! +A pot of hot water and a foot-tub! Don't get scared--he will be all +right. I always carry a fleam with me. I can bleed him as well as any +doctor. Hold his head up. Let me feel. Oh, he is not going to die just +yet! Stop your caterwauling! There, I have relieved his veins. He will +know us all in a minute again. He ought to have had a deal more +spirit. I never could have expected this. I smoothed off everything so +nicely--just as if it was a lady----" + +"Did you, indeed! I have heard every word," said widow Hookham +sternly. "You locked the door, or I would have had my ten nails in you +long ago! Poor dear! What is a scum like you? And after all, what have +you done, John Smith?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SO IS MR. SHARP. + + +On the very next day it was known throughout the parish and the +neighbourhood that the ancient Squire had broken down at last, under +the weight of anxieties. Nobody blamed him much for this, except his +own sister and Mr. Smith. Mrs. Fermitage said that he ought to have +shown more faith and resignation; and John Smith declared that all his +plans were thrown out by this stupidity. What proper inquiry could be +held, when the universal desire was to spare the feelings and respect +the affliction of a poor old man? + +Mr. Smith was right. An inquest truly must be held upon the body which +had been found by the soldiers. But the Coroner, being a good old +friend and admirer of the Oglanders, contrived that the matter should +be a mere form, and the verdict an open nullity. Mr. Luke Sharp +appeared, and in a dignified reserve was ready to represent the +family. He said a few words, in the very best taste, and scarcely +dared to hint at things which must be painful to everybody left alive +to think of them. How the crush of tons of rock upon an unprotected +female form had made it impossible to say--and how all the hair (which +more than any other human gift survived the sad, sad change), having +been cut off, was there no longer--and how there was really nothing +except a pair of not over new silk stockings, belonging to a lady of +lofty position in the county, and the widow of an eminent gentleman, +but not required, he might hope, to present herself so painfully. Mr. +Sharp could say no more; and the jury felt that he now must come, or, +failing him, his son, Kit Sharp, into the £150,000 of "Port-wine +Fermitage." + +Therefore they returned the verdict carried in his pocket by them, +"Death by misadventure of a young lady, name unknown." Their object +was to satisfy the Squire and their consciences; and they found it +wise, as it generally is, not to be too particular. And the Coroner +was the last man to make any fuss about anything. + +"Are you satisfied now, Mr. Overshute?" asked Lawyer Sharp, as Russel +met him in the passage of the Quarry Arms, where the inquest had been +taken. "The jury have done their best, at once to meet the facts of +the case, and respect the feelings of the family." + +"Satisfied! How can I be? Such a hocus-pocus I never knew. It is not +for me to interfere, while things are in this wretched state. +Everybody knows what an inquest is. No doubt you have done your duty, +and acted according to your instructions. Come in here, where we can +speak privately." + +Mr. Sharp did not look quite as if he desired a private interview. +However, he followed the young man with the best grace he could +muster. + +"I am going to speak quite calmly, and have no whip now for you to +snap," said Russel, sitting down, as soon as he had set a chair for +Mr. Sharp; "but may I ask you why you have done your utmost to prevent +what seemed, to an ordinary mind, the first and most essential thing?" + +"The identification? Yes, of course. Will you come and satisfy +yourself? The key of the room is in my pocket." + +"I cannot do it. I cannot do it," answered the young man, shuddering. +"My last recollection must not be----" + +"Young sir, I respect your feelings. And need I ask you, after that, +whether I have done amiss in sparing the feelings of the family? And +there is something more important than even that at stake just now. +You know the poor Squire's sad condition. The poor old gentleman is +pretty well broken down at last, I fear. What else could we expect of +him? And the doctor his sister had brought from London says that his +life hangs positively upon a thread of hope. Therefore we are telling +him sad stories, or rather, I ought to say, happy stories; and though +he is too sharp to swallow them all, they do him good, sir--they do +him good." + +"I can quite understand it. But how does that bear--I mean you could +have misled him surely about the result of this inquest?" + +"By no means. He would have insisted on seeing a copy of _The Herald_. +In fact, if the jury could not have been managed, I had arranged with +the editor to print a special copy giving the verdict as we wanted it. +A pious fraud, of course; and so it is better to dispense with it. +This verdict will set him up again upon his poor old legs, I hope. He +seemed to dread the final blow so, and the bandying to and fro of his +unfortunate daughter's name. I scarcely see why it should be so; but +so it is, Mr. Overshute." + +"Of course it is. How can you doubt it? How can it be otherwise? You +can have no good blood in you--I beg your pardon, I speak rashly; but +I did not mean to speak rudely. All I mean to say is that you need no +more explain yourself. I seem to be always doubting you; and it always +shows what a fool I am." + +"Now, don't say that," Mr. Luke Sharp answered, with a fine and genial +smile. "You are acknowledged to be the most rising member of the +County Bench. But still, sir, still there is such a thing as going too +far with acuteness, sir. You may not perceive it yet; but when you +come to my age, you will own it." + +"Truly. But who can be too suspicious, when such things are done as +these? I tell you, Sharp, that I would give my head off my shoulders, +this very instant, to know who has done this damned villainy!--this +infernal--unnatural wrong, to my darling--to my darling!" + +"Mr. Overshute, how can we tell that any wrong has been done to her?" + +"No wrong to take her life! No wrong to cut off all her lovely hair, +and to send it to her father! No wrong to leave us as we are, with +nothing now to care for! You spoke like a sensible man just now--oh, +don't think that I am excitable." + +"Well, how can I think otherwise? But do me the justice to remember +that I do not for one moment assert what everybody takes for granted. +It seems too probable, and it cannot for the present at least be +disproved, that here we have the sad finale of the poor young lady. +But it must be borne in mind that, on the other hand, the body----" + +"The thing could be settled in two minutes--Sharp, I have no patience +with you!" + +"So it appears; and, making due allowance, I am not vexed with you. +You mean, of course, the interior garments, the nether clothing, and +so on. There is not a clue afforded there. We have found no name on +anything. The features and form, as I need not tell you----" + +"I cannot bear to hear of that. Has any old servant of the family; has +the family doctor----" + +"All those measures were taken, of course. We had the two oldest +servants. But the one was flurried out of her wits, and the other +three-quarters frozen. And you know what a fellow old Splinters is, +the crustiest of the crusty. He took it in bitter dudgeon that Sir +Anthony had been sent for to see the poor old Squire. And all he would +say was, 'Yes, yes, yes; you had better send for Sir Anthony. Perhaps +he could bring--oh, of course he could bring--my poor little pet to +life again!' Then we tried her aunt, Mrs. Fermitage, one of the last +who had seen her living. But bless you, my dear sir, a team of horses +would not have lugged her into the room. She cried, and shrieked, and +fainted away." + +"'Barbarous creatures!' she said, 'you will have to hold another +inquest, if you are so unmanly. I could not even see my dear husband,' +and then she fell into hysterics, and we had to send two miles for +brandy. Now, sir, have we anything more to do? Shall we send a litter +or a coffin for the Squire himself?" + +"You are inclined to be sarcastic. But you have taken a great deal +upon yourself. You seem to have ordered everything. Mr. Luke Sharp +everywhere!" + +"Will you tell me who else there was to do it? It has not been a very +pleasant task, and certainly not a profitable one. I shall reap the +usual reward--to be called a busybody by every one. But that is a +trifle. Now, if there is anything you can suggest, Mr. Overshute, it +shall be done at once. Take time to think. I feel a little tired and +in need of rest. There has been so much to think of. You should have +come to help us sooner. But, no doubt, you felt a sort of delicacy +about it. The worthy jurymen's feet at last have ceased to rattle in +the passage. My horse will not be here just yet. You will not think me +rude, if I snatch a little rest, while you consider. For three nights +I have had no sleep. Have I your good permission, sir? Here is the key +of that room, meanwhile." + +Russel Overshute was surprised to see Mr. Sharp draw forth a large +silk handkerchief, with spots of white upon a yellow ground, and +spread it carefully over the crown of his long, deep head, and around +his temples down to the fine grey eyebrows. Then lifting gaitered +heels upon the flat wide bar of the iron fender--the weather being as +cold as ever--in less than a minute Mr. Luke Sharp was asleep beyond +all contradiction. He slept the sleep of the just, with that gentle +whisper of a snore which Aristotle hints at to prove that virtue +being, as she must be, in the mean, doth in the neutral third of life +maintain a middle course between loud snore and silent slumber. + +If Mr. Sharp had striven hard to produce a powerful effect, young +Overshute might have suspected him; but this calm, good sleep and pure +sense of rest laid him open for all the world to take a larger view of +him. No bad man could sleep like that. No narrow-minded man could be +so wide to nature's noblest power. Only a fine and genial soul could +sweetly thus resign itself. The soft content of well-earned repose +spoke volumes in calm silence. Here was a good man (if ever there was +one), at peace with his conscience, the world, and heaven! + +Overshute was enabled thus to look at things more loftily;--to judge a +man as he should be judged, when he challenges no verdict;--to see +that there are large points of view, which we lose by worldly wisdom, +and by little peeps through selfish holes, too one-eyed and +ungenerous. Overshute could not bear the idea of any illiberality. He +hated suspicion in anybody, unless it were just; as his own should be. +In this condition of mind he pondered, while the honest lawyer slept. +And he could not think of anything neglected, or mismanaged much, in +the present helpless state of things. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A SPOTTED DOG. + + +When at last the frost broke up, and streams began to run again, and +everywhere the earth was glad that men should see her face once more; +and forest-trees, and roadside pollards, and bushes of the common +hedgerow, straightened their unburdened backs, and stood for spring to +look at them; a beautiful young maiden came as far as she could come, +and sighed; as if the beauty of the land awaking was a grief to her. + +This pretty lady, in the young moss-bud, and slender-necked chalice of +innocence, was laden with dews of sorrow, such as nature, in her outer +dealings with the more material world, defers until autumnal night and +russet hours are waiting. Scarcely in full bloom of youth, but ripe +for blush or dreaminess, she felt the power of early spring, and the +budding hope around her. + +"Am I to be a prisoner always, ever more a prisoner?" she said, as she +touched a willow catkin, the earliest of all, the silver one. She +stroked the delicate silken tassel, doubtful of its prudence yet; and +she looked for leaves, but none there were, and nothing to hold +commune. + +The feeble sun seemed well content to have a mere glimpse of the earth +again, and spread his glances diffidently, as if he expected shadow. +Nevertheless, there he was at last; and the world received him +tenderly. + +"It has been such a long, long time. It seems to grow longer, as the +days draw out, and nobody comes to talk to me. My place it is to obey, +of course--but still, but still--there he is again!" + +The girl drew back; for a fine young man, in a grand new velvet +shooting-coat, wearing also a long shawl waistcoat and good buck-skin +breeches, which (combined with calf-skin gaiters) set off his legs to +the uttermost,--in all this picturesque apparel, and swinging a gun +right gallantly, there he was, and no mistake! He was quietly trying +through the covert, without any beaters, but with a brace of clever +spaniels, for woodcock, snipe, or rabbit perhaps; the season for game +being over. A tall, well-made, and rather nice young man (so far as a +bashful girl might guess) he seemed at this third view of him; and of +course it would be an exceedingly rude and pointed thing to run away. +Needless, also, and indeed absurd; because she was sure that when last +they met, he was frightened much more than she was. It was nothing +less than a duty now, to find out whether he had recovered himself. If +he had done so, it would be as well to frighten him even more this +time. And if he had not, it would only be fair to see what could be +done for him. + +One of his dogs--a "cocking spannel," as the great Mr. Looker +warranted--a good young bitch, with liver-coloured spots, and drop +ears torn by brambles, and eyes full of brownish yellow light, ran up +to the girl confidentially, and wagged a brief tail, and sniffed a +little, and with sound discretion gazed. Each black nostril was like a +mark of panting interrogation, and one ear was tucked up like a small +tunnel, and the eye that belonged to it blinked with acumen. + +"You pretty dear, come and let me pat you," the young lady cried, +looking down at the dog, as if there were nobody else in the world. +"Oh, I am so fond of dogs--what is your name? Come and tell me, +darling." + +"Her name is 'Grace,'" said the master, advancing in a bashful but not +clumsy way. "The most beautiful name in the world, I think." + +"Oh, do you think so, Mr.---- but I beg your pardon, you have not told +me what your own name is, I think." + +"I hope you are quite well," he answered, turning his gun away +carefully; "quite well this fine afternoon. How beautiful it is to see +the sun, and all the things coming back again so!" + +"Oh yes! and the lovely willow-trees! I never noticed them so before. +I had no idea that they did all this." She was stroking the flossiness +as she spoke. + +"Neither had I," said the young man, trying to be most agreeable, and +glancing shyly at the haze of silver in lily fingers glistening; "but +do not you think that they do it because--because they can scarcely +help themselves?" + +"No! how can you be so stupid? Excuse me--I did not mean that, I am +sure. But they do it because it is their nature; and they like to do +it." + +"You know them, no doubt; and you understand them, because you are +like them." + +He was frightened as soon as he had said this; which he thought (while +he uttered it) rather good. + +"I am really astonished," the fair maid said, with the gleam of a +smile in her lively eyes, but her bright lips very steadfast, "to be +compared to a willow-tree. I thought that a willow meant--but never +mind, I am glad to be like a willow." + +"Oh no! oh no! You are not one bit--I am sure you will never be like a +willow. What could I have been thinking of?" + +"No harm whatever, I am sure of that," she answered, with so sweet a +look, that he stopped from scraping the toe of his boot on a clump of +moss; and in his heart was wholly taken up with her--"I am sure that +you meant to be very polite." + +"More than that--a great deal more than that--oh, ever so much more +than that!" + +She let him look at her for a moment, because he had something that he +wanted to express. And she, from pure natural curiosity, would have +been glad to know what it was. And so their eyes dwelt upon one +another just long enough for each to be almost ashamed of leaving off; +and in that short time they seemed to be pleased with one another's +nature. The youth was the first to look away; because he feared that +he might be rude; whereas a maiden cannot be rude. With the speed of a +glance she knew all that, and she blushed at the colour these things +were taking. "I am sure that I ought to go," she said. + +"And so ought I, long and long ago. I am sure I cannot tell why I +stop. If you were to get into any trouble----" + +"You are very kind. You need not be anxious. If you do not know why +you stop--the sooner you run away at full speed the better." + +"Oh, I hope you won't say that," he replied, being gifted by nature +with powers of courting, which only wanted practice. "I really think +that you scarcely ought to say so unkind a thing as that." + +"Very well, then. May I say this, that you have important things to +attend to, and that it looks--indeed it does--as if it was coming on +to rain?" + +"I assure you there is no fear of that--although, if it did, there is +plenty of shelter. But look at the sun--how it shines in your hair! +Oh, why do you keep your hair so short? It looks as if it ought to be +ten feet long." + +"Well, suppose that it was--not quite ten feet, for that would be +rather hard to manage--but say only half that length, and then for a +very good reason was all cut off--but that is altogether another +thing, and in no way can concern you. I give you a very good day, +sir." + +"No, no! you will give me a very bad day, if you hurry away so +suddenly. I am anxious to know a great deal more about you. Why do you +live in this lonely place, quite as if you were imprisoned here? And +what makes you look so unhappy sometimes, although your nature is so +bright? There! what a brute I am! I have made you cry. I ought to +shoot myself." + +"You must not talk of such wicked things. I am not crying; I am very +happy--at least, I mean quite happy enough. Good-bye! or I never shall +bear you again." + +As she turned away, without looking at him, he saw that her pure young +breast was filled with a grief he must not intrude upon. And at the +same moment he caught a glimpse through the trees of some one coming. +So he lifted his smart Glengarry cap, and in sad perplexity strode +away. But over his shoulder he softly said--"I shall come again--you +must let me do that--I am sure that I can help you." + +The young lady made no answer; but turned as soon as she thought he +was out of sight, and wistfully looked after him. + +"Here comes that Miss Patch, of course," she said. "I wonder whether +she has spied him out. Her eyes are always everywhere." + +"Oh, my darling child," cried Miss Patch, an elderly lady of great +dignity; "I had no idea you were gone so far. Come in, I beg of you, +come this moment; what has excited you like this?" + +"Nothing at all. At least, I mean, I am not in the least excited. Oh! +look at the beautiful sunset!" + +Miss Patch, with deep gravity, took out her spectacles, placed them on +her fine Roman nose, and gazed eastward to watch the sunset. + +"Oh dear no! not there," cried her charge in a hurry; "here, it is all +in this direction." + +"I thought that I saw a spotted dog," the lady answered, still gazing +steadily down the side of the forest by which the youth had made his +exit; "a spotted dog, Grace, I am almost sure." + +"Yes, I dare say. I believe that there is a dog with some spots in the +neighbourhood." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A GRAND SMOCK-FROCK. + + +Upon the Saturday after this, being market-day at Oxford, Zacchary +Cripps was in and out with the places and the people, as busy as the +best of them. The number of things that he had to do used to set his +poor brain buzzing; until he went into the Bar--not the grand one, but +the Hostler's Bar, at the Golden Cross--and left dry froth at the +bottom of a pewter quart measure of find old ale. At this flitting +trace of exhaustion he always gazed for a moment as if he longed to +behold just such another, and then, with a sigh of self-dedication to +all the great duties before him, out he pulled his leather bag, and +counted fourpence four times over (without any multiplication thereof, +but a desire to have less subtraction), and then he generally shook +his head, in penitence at his own love of good ale, and the fugitive +fate of the passion. The last step was to deposit his fourpence firmly +upon the metal counter, challenging all the bad pence and half-pence +pilloried there as a warning; and then with a glance at the barmaid +Sally, to encourage her still to hope for him, away went Cripps to the +duties of the day. + +These always took him to the market first, a crowded and very narrow +quarter then, where he always had a great host of commissions, at very +small figures, to execute. His honesty was so broadly known that it +was become quite an onerous gift, as happens in much higher grades of +life. Folk, all along both his roads of travel, naturally took great +advantage of it; being certain that he would spend their money quite +as gingerly as his own, and charge them no more than he was compelled +by honesty towards himself to charge. + +Farmers, butchers, poulterers, hucksters, chandlers, and +grocers--black, yellow, and green--all knew Zacchary Cripps, and paid +him the compliment of asking fifty per cent. above what they meant, or +even hoped to take. Of this the Carrier was well aware, and upon the +whole it pleased him. The triumph each time of rubbing down, by +friction of tongue and chafe of spirit, eighteen-pence into a +shilling, although it might be but a matter of course, never lost any +of its charms for him. His brisk eyes sparkled as he pulled off his +hat, and made the most learned annotations there--if learning is (as +generally happens) the knowledge of what nobody else can read. + +But now, before he had filled the great leathern apron of his +capacities--which being full, his hat had no room for any further +entries--a thing came to pass which startled him; so far at least as +the road and the world had left him the power of starting. He saw his +own brother, Leviticus, standing in friendly talk with a rabbit-man; a +man whose reputation was not at a hopeless distance beyond reproach; a +man who had been three times in prison--whether he ought or ought not +to have been, this is a difficult point to debate. His friends +contended that he ought not--if so, he of course was wrong to go +there. His enemies vowed that he ought to be there--if so, he could +rightly be nowhere else. The man got the benefit of both opinions, in +a powerfully negative condition of confidence on the part of the human +brotherhood. But for all that, there were bigger rogues to be found in +Oxford. + +Cripps, however, as the head of the family, having seigneurial rights +by birth--as well as, in his own opinion, force of superior +intellect--saw, and at once discharged, his duty. No taint of poached +rabbits must lie, for a moment, on the straightforward path of the +Crippses. Zacchary, therefore, held up one hand, as a warning to +Tickuss to say no more, until he could get at him--for just at this +moment a dead lock arose, through a fight of four women about a rotten +egg--but when that had lapsed into hysterics, the Carrier struggled to +his brother's elbow. + +Leviticus Cripps was a large, ruddy man, half a head taller than the +heir of the house, but not so well built for carrying boxes. His frame +was at the broadest and thickest of itself at that very important part +of the human system which has to do with aliment. But inasmuch as all +parts do that, more or less directly, accuracy would specify (if +allowable) his stomach. Here he was well developed; but narrowed or +sloped towards less essential points; whereas the Carrier was at his +greatest across and around the shoulders. A keen physiologist would +refer this palpable distinction to their respective occupations. The +one fed pigs and fed upon them, and therefore required this local +enlargement for sympathy, and for assimilation. The other bore the +burden of good things for the benefit of others; which is anything but +fattening. + +Be that as it will, they differed thus; and they differed still more +in countenance. Zacchary had a bright open face, with a short nose of +brave and comely cock, a mouth large, pleasant, and mild as a cow's, a +strong square forehead, and blue eyes of great vivacity, and some +humour. He had true Cripps' hair, like a horn-beam hedge in the month +of January; and a thick curly beard of good hay colour, shaven into +three scollops like a clover leaf. His manner of standing, and +speaking, and looking was sturdy, and plain, and resolute; and he +stuck out his elbows, and set his knuckles on his hips, whenever both +hands were empty. + +On the contrary, Tickuss, his brother, looked at every one, and at all +times, rather as if he were being suspected. Wrongly suspected, of +course, and puzzled to tell at all why it should be so; and as a +general rule, a little surly at such injustice. The expression of his +face was heavy, slow-witted, and shyly inquisitive; his hair was +black, and his eyes of a muddy brown with small slippery pupils; and +he kept his legs in a fidgety state, as if prone to be wanted for +running away. In stature, however, and weight this man was certainly +above the average; and he would rather do a good than a bad thing, +whenever the motives were equivalent. + +But if his soul could not always walk in spotless raiment, his body at +least was clad in the garb of innocence. No man in Oxford market wore +a smock that could be compared with his. For on such great occasions +Leviticus came in a noble shepherd's smock, long and flowing around +him well, a triumph of mind in design and construction, and a marvel +of hand in fine stitching and plaiting, goffering, crimping, and +ironing. The broad turned-over collar was like a snow-drift tattooed +by fairies, the sleeves were gathered in as religiously as a bishop's +gossamer; and the front was four-square with cunning work; a span was +the length, and a span the breadth, like the breastplate over the +ephod. As for Tickuss himself, he cared no more than the wool of a pig +for such trifles; beyond this, that he liked to have his neighbours +looking up to, and the women looking after, him. Even in the new +unsullied sanctity of this chasuble, he would grasp by the tail an +Irish pig, if sore occasion befell them both. It was Mrs. Leviticus +who adorned him (after a sea of soap-suds and many irons tested +ejectively) with this magnificent vesture, suggested to feminine +capacity, perhaps, in the days of the Tabernacle. + +"Leviticus," said Zacchary sternly, leading him down a wet red alley, +peopled only with cooped chicks, and paved with unsaleable giblets; +"Leviticus, what be thou doing, this day? Many queer things have I +seed of thee--but to beat this here--never nothing!" + +"I dunno what dost mean," Tickuss answered unsteadily. + +"Now, I call that a lie," said the Carrier firmly but mildly, as if +well used thereto; as a dog is to fleas in the summer time. + +"A might be; and yet again a might not," Tickuss replied, with keen +sense of logic, but none of impeached ethics. + +"Do 'ee know, or do 'ee not?"--the ruthless Carrier pressed him--"that +there hosebird have a been in jail?" + +"Now, I do believe; let me call to mind"--said Tickuss, with his +duller eyes at bay--"that I did hear summat as come nigh that. But, +Lord bless you, the best of men goes to jail sometimes! Do you call to +mind old Squire Dempster----" + +"Naught to do wi' it! naught to do wi' it?" Zacchary cried, with a +crack of his thumb. "That were an old gentleman's misfortune; the same +as Saint Paul and Saint Peter did once. But that hosebird I see you +talking along of, have been in jail three times--three times I tell +'ee--and no miracle. And if ever I sees you dealing with him----" he +closed his sentence emphatically, by shaking his fist in the immediate +neighbourhood of his brother's retiring nose. + +"Well, well! no need to take on so, Zak," cried the bigger man at safe +distance; "you might bear in mind that I has my troubles, and no +covered cart at the tail of me. And a family, Zak, as wears out more +boots than a tanyard a week could make good to 'em. But there, I never +finds anybody gifted with no consideration. Why, if I was to talk till +to-morrow night----" + +"If you was to talk to next Leap-year's day, you could not fetch right +out of wrong, Tickuss. And you know pretty well what I be. Now, what +was you doing of with that black George? Mind, no lies won't go down +with me." + +"Best way go and get him to tell 'ee," the younger brother answered +sulkily. "It will do 'ee good like, to get it out of he." + +"No harm to try," answered Cripps with alacrity; "no fear for me to be +seen along of un; only for the likes of you, Tickuss." + +The Carrier set off, to stake his higher repute against lowest +communications; but his brother, with no "heed of smock or of crock," +took three long strides and stopped him. + +"Hearken me, hearken me, Zak!" he cried, with a start at a cock that +crowed at him, and his face like the wattles of chanticleer--"Zak, for +the sake of the Lord in heaven, and of my seven little ones,--stop a +bit!" + +"I bain't in no hurry that I know on," replied the Cripps of pure +conscience; "you told me to ask of him, and I were a-goin' on the wag +to do so." + +"Come out into the Turl, Zak; come out into the Turl a minute; there +is nobody there now. They young College-boys be all at their lessons, +or hunting. There is no place to come near the Turl for a talk, when +they noisy College chaps are gone." + +By a narrow back lane they got into the Turl, at that time of day +little harassed by any, unless it were the children of the porter of +Lincoln or Exeter. "Now, what is it thou hast got to say?" asked +Zacchary. But this was the very thing the younger brother was vainly +seeking for. + +"Nort, nort, Zak; nort of any 'count," he stammered, after casting in +his slow imagination for a good, fat, well-seasoned lie. + +"Now spake out the truth, man, whatever it be," said the Carrier, +trying to encourage him; "Tickuss, thou art always getting into +scrapes by manes of crooked dealing. But I'll not turn my back on +thee, if for once canst spake the truth like a man, brother." + +Leviticus struggled with his nature, while his little eyes rolled +slowly, and his plaited breastplate rose and fell. He stole some +irresolute glances at his brother's clear, straight-forward face; and +he might have saved himself by doing what he was half-inclined to do. +But circumstances aided nature to defeat his better star. The wife of +the porter of Lincoln College had sent forth one of her little girls +to buy a bunch of turnips. She knew that turnips would be very scarce +after so much hard weather; but her stew would be no good without +them; and among many other fine emotions, anxiety was now foremost. So +she thrust forth her head from the venerable porch, and at the top of +her voice exclaimed--"Turmots, turmots, turmots!" + +At that loud cry, Leviticus Cripps turned pale--for his conscience +smote him. "She meaneth me, she meaneth me, she meaneth my +turmot-field;" he whispered, with his long legs bent for departure; +"'tis a thousand pound they have offered, Zak. Come away, come away, +down Ship Street; there is a pump, and I want some water." + +"But tell me what thou wast agoing to say," cried his brother, laying +hold of him. + +"Dash it! I will tell thee the truth, then, Zak. I just went and cut +up a maisly sow--as fine a bit of pork as you ever clapped eyes on, +but for they little beauty spots. And the clerk of the market bought +some for his dinner; and he have got a bad cook, a cantankerous woman, +and now I be in a pretty mess!" + +"Not a word of all that do I believe," said Cripps. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +INSTALLED AT BRASENOSE. + + +Master Cripps was accustomed mainly to daylight roads and open ways. +It was true that he had a good many corners to turn between Beckley +and Oxford, whether his course were through Elsfield and Marston, or +the broader track from Headington. But for all sharp turns he had two +great maxims--keep on the proper side, and go slowly. By virtue of +these, he had never been damaged himself, or forced to pay damages; +and when he was in a pleasant vein, at the Dusty Anvil, or anywhere +else, it was useless to tell him that any mischance need happen to a +man who heeded this--that is to say, if he drove a good horse, and saw +to the shoeing of the nag himself. Of course there was also the will +of the Lord. But that was quite sure to go right, if you watched it. + +If he has any good substance in him, a man who spends most of his +daylight time in the company of an honest horse, is sure to improve so +much that none of his bad companions know him--supposing that he ever +had any. The simplicity and the good will of the horse, his faith in +mankind, and his earnest desire to earn his oats, and have plenty of +them; also the knowledge that his time is short, and his longest worn +shoes will outlast him; and that when he is dead, quite another must +be bought, who will cost twice as much as he did--these things (if any +sense can be made of them) operate on the human mind, in a measure, +for the most part, favourable. + +Allowance, therefore, must be made for Master Leviticus Cripps and his +character, as often as it is borne in mind that he, from society of +good horses, was (by mere mischance of birth) fetched down to +communion with low hogs. Not that hogs are in any way low, from a +properly elevated gazing-point; and taking, perhaps, the loftiest of +human considerations, they are, as yet, fondly believed to be much +better on a dish than horses. + +But that--as Cripps would plainly put it--is neither here nor there +just now; and it is ever so much better to let a man make his own +excuses, which he can generally do pretty well. + +"Cripps, well met!" cried Russel Overshute, seizing him by the apron, +as Zacchary stood at the corner of Ship Street, to shake his head +after his brother, who had made off down the Corn Market; "you are the +very man I want to see!" + +"Lor' a mercy now, be I, your Worship? Well, there are not many +gentlemen as it does me more good to look at." + +Without any flattery he might say that. It was good, after dealing +with a crooked man, to set eyes upon young Overshute. In his face +there was no possibility of lie, hidden thought, or subterfuge. +Whatever he meant was there expressed, in quick bold features, and +frank bright eyes. His tall straight figure, firm neck, and broad +shoulders helped to make people respect what he meant; moreover, he +walked as if he had always something in view before him. He never +turned round to look after a pretty girl, as weak young fellows do. He +admired a pretty girl very much; but had too much respect for her to +show it. He had made his choice, once for all in life; and his choice +was sweet Grace Oglander. + +"I made sure of meeting you, Master Cripps; if not in the market, at +any rate where you put up your fine old horse. I like a man who likes +his horse. I want to speak to you quietly, Cripps." + +"I am your man, sir. Goo where you plaiseth. Without no beckoning, I +be after you." + +"There is nothing to make any fuss about, Cripps. And the whole world +is welcome to what I say, whenever there is no one else concerned. At +present, there are other people concerned;--and get out of the way, +you jackanapes!" + +In symmetry with his advanced ideas, he should not have spoken +thus--but he spake it; and the eavesdropper touched his hat, and made +off very hastily. + +Russel was not at all certain of having quite acted up to his better +lights, and longed to square up all the wrong with a shilling; but, +with higher philosophy, suppressed that foolish yearning. "Now, +Cripps, just follow me," he said. + +The Carrier grumbled to himself a little, because of all his parcels, +and the change he was to call for somewhere, and a woman who could not +make up her mind about a bullock's liver--not to think of more +important things in every other direction. No one thought nothing of +the value of his time; every bit the same as if he was a lean old +horse turned out to grass! In spite of all that, Master Cripps did his +best to keep time with the long legs before him. Thus was he led +through well-known ways to the modest gate of Brasenose, which being +passed, he went up a staircase near the unpretentious hall of that +very good society. "Why am I here?" thought Cripps, but, with his +usual resignation, added, "I have aseed finer places nor this." This, +in the range of his great experience, doubtless was an established +truth. But even his view of the breadth of the world received a little +twist of wonder, when over a narrow dark doorway, which Mr. Overshute +passed in silence, he read--for read he could--these words, "Rev. +Thomas Hardenow." "May I be danged," said Cripps, "if I ever come +across such a queer thing as this here be!" + +However, he quelled his emotions and followed the lengthy-striding +Overshute into a long low room containing uncommonly little furniture. +There was no one there, except Overshute, and a scout, who flitted +away in ripe haste, with an order upon the buttery. + +"Now, Cripps, didst thou ever taste college ale?" Mr. Overshute asked, +as he took a chair like the dead bones of Ezekiel. "Master Carrier, +here thou hast the tokens of a new and important movement. In my time, +chairs were comfortable. But they make them now, only to mortify the +flesh." + +"Did your Worship mean me to sit down?" asked Cripps, touching the +forelock which he kept combed for that purpose. + +"Certainly, Cripps. Be not critical; but sit." + +"I thank your Worship kindly," he answered with little cause for +gratitude. "I have a-druv many thousand mile on a seat no worse nor +this, perhaps." + +"Your reservation is wise, my friend. Your driving-board must have +been velvet to this. But the new lights are not in our Brewery yet. If +they get there, they will have the worst of it. Here comes the +tankard! Well done, old Hooper. Score a gallon to me for my family." + +"With pleasure, sir," answered Hooper, truly, while he set on the +table a tray filled with solid luncheon. "Ah, I see you remember the +good old times, when there was those in this college, sir, that never +thought twice about keeping down the flesh; and better flesh, sir, +they had ever so much than these as are always a-doctoring of it. Ah, +when I comes to recall to my mind what my father said to me, when fust +he led me in under King Solomon's nose--'Bob, my boy,' he says to +me----" + +"Now, Hooper, I know that his advice was good. The fruit thereof is in +yourself. You shall tell me all about it the very next time I come to +see you." + +"Ah, they never cares now to hearken," said Hooper to himself, as, +with the resignation of an ancient scout, he coughed, and bowed, and +stroked the cloth, and contemplated Cripps with mild surprise, and +then made a quiet exit. As for listening at the door, a good scout +scorns such benefit. He likes to help himself to something more solid +than the words behind him. + +"If I may make so bold," said the Carrier, after waiting as long as he +could, with Overshute clearly forgetting him; "what was it your +Worship was going to tell me? Time is going by, sir, and our horse +will miss his feeding." + +"Attend to your own, Cripps, attend to your own. I beg your pardon for +not helping you. But that you can do for yourself, I dare say. I am +trying to think out something. I used to be quick; I am very slow +now." + +Cripps made a little face at this, to show that the ways of his +betters had good right to be beyond him; and then he stood upon his +sturdy bowed legs, and turned a quick corner of eye at the door, in +fear of any fasting influence, and seeing nothing of the kind, with +pleasure laid hold of a large knife and fork. + +"Lay about you, Cripps, my friend; lay about you to your utmost." So +said Mr. Overshute, himself refusing everything. + +"Railly now, I dunno, your Worship, how to get on, all a-ating by +myself. Some folk can, and some breaks down at it. I must have +somebody to ate with me--so be it was only now a babby, or a dog." + +"I thank you for the frank comparison, Cripps. Well, help me, if you +must--ah, I see you can carve." + +"I am better at the raw mate, sir; but I can make shift when roasted. +Butcher Numbers my brother, your Worship--but perhaps you never heered +on him?" + +"Oh yes, I know, Cripps. A highly respectable thriving man he is too. +All your family thrive, and everybody speaks so well of them. Why, +look at Leviticus! They tell me he has three hundred pigs!" + +Like most men who have the great gift of gaining good will and +popularity, Russel Overshute loved a bit of gossip about his +neighbours. + +"Your Worship," said Cripps, disappointing him of any new information, +"pigs is out of my way altogether. When I was a young man of tender +years, counteracted I was for to carry a pig. Three pounds twelve +shillings and four pence he cost me, in less than three-quarters of a +mile of road; and squeak, squeak, all the way, as if I was a-killing +of him, and not he me. Seemeth he smelled some apples somewhere, and +he went through a chaney clock, and a violin, and a set of first-born +babby-linen for Squire Corser's daughter; grown up now she is, your +Worship must a met her riding. And that was not the worst of it +nother----" + +"Well, Cripps, you must tell me another time. It was terribly hard +upon you. But, my friend, the gentleman who lives here will be back +for his hat, when the clock strikes two. Cap and gown off, when the +clock strikes two. From two until five he walks fifteen miles, +whatever the state of the weather is." + +"Lord bless me, your Worship, I could not travel that, with an empty +cart, and all downhill!" + +"Never mind, Cripps. Will you try to listen, and offer no +observation?" + +"To say nort,--does your Worship mean? Well, all our family be +esteemed for that." + +"Then prove the justice of that esteem; for I have a long story to +tell you, Cripps, and no long time to do it in." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +A FLASH OF LIGHT. + + +The Carrier, with a decisive gesture, ceased from both solid and +liquid food, and settled his face, and whole body, and members into a +grim and yet flexible aspect, as if he were driving a half-broken +horse, and must be prepared for any sort of start. And yet with all +this he reconciled a duly receptive deference, and a pleasant +readiness, as if he were his own Dobbin, just fresh from stable. + +"I need not tell you, Master Cripps," said Russel, "how I have picked +up the many little things, which have been coming to my knowledge +lately. And I will not be too positive about any of them; because I +made such a mistake in the beginning of this inquiry. All my +suspicions at first were set on a man who was purely innocent--a legal +gentleman of fair repute, to whom I have now made all honourable +amends. In the most candid manner he has forgiven me, and desires no +better than to act in the best faith with us." + +"Asking your pardon for interrupting--did the gentleman happen to have +a sharp name?" + +"Yes, Cripps, he did. But no more of that. I was over sharp myself, no +doubt; he is thoroughly blameless, and more than that, his behaviour +has been most generous, most unwearying, most---- I never can do +justice to him." + +"Well, your Worship, no--perhaps not. A would take a rare sharp un to +do so." + +"You hold by the vulgar prejudice--well, I should be the last to blame +you. That, however, has nothing to do with what I want to ask you. But +first, I must tell you my reason, Cripps. You know I have no faith +whatever in that man John Smith. At first I thought him a tool of +Mr.--never mind who--since I was so wrong. I am now convinced that +John Smith is 'art and part' in the whole affair himself. He has +thrown dust in our eyes throughout. He has stopped us from taking the +proper track. Do you remember what discredit he threw on your sister's +story?" + +"He didn't believe a word of un. Had a good mind, I had, to a' knocked +un down." + +"To be sure, Cripps, I wonder that you forbore. Though violent +measures must not be encouraged. And I myself thought that your sister +might have made some mistakes through her scare in the dark. Poor +thing! Her hair can have wanted no bandoline ever since, I should +fancy. What a brave girl too not to shriek or faint!" + +"Well, her did goo zummut queer, sir, and lie down in the quarry-pit. +Perhaps 'twas the wisest thing the poor young wench could do." + +"No doubt it was--the very wisest. However, before she lost her wits +she noticed, as I understand her to say--or rather she was +particularly struck with the harsh cackling voice of the taller man, +who also had a pointed hat, she thinks. It was not exactly a cackling +voice, nor a clacking voice, nor a guttural voice, but something +compounded of all three. Your sister, of course, could not quite so +describe it; but she imitated it; which was better." + +"Her hath had great advantages. Her can imitate a'most anything. Her +waited for months on a College-chap, the very same in whose house we +be sitting now." + +"Cripps, that is strange. But to come back again. Your sister, who is +a very nice girl, indeed, and a good member of a good family----" + +"Ay, your Worship, that her be. Wish a could come across the man as +would dare to say the contrairy!" + +"Now, Cripps, we never shall get on, while you are so horribly +warlike. Are you ready to listen to me, or not?" + +"Every blessed word, your Worship, every blessed word goeth down; unto +such time as you begins to spake of things at home to me." + +"Such dangerous topics I will avoid. And now for the man with this +villainous voice. You knew, or at any rate now you know, that I never +was satisfied with that wretched affair that was called an 'Inquest.' +Inquest a non inquirendo--but I beg your pardon, my good Cripps. +Enough that the whole was pompous child's play, guided by crafty hands +beneath; as happens with most inquests. I only doubted the more, +friend Cripps; I only doubted the more, from having a wrong way taken +to extinguish doubts." + +"To be sure, your Worship; a lie on the back of another lie makes un +go heavier." + +"Well, never mind; only this I did. For a few days perhaps I was +overcome; and the illness of my dear old friend, the Squire, and the +trouble of managing so that he should not hear anything to kill him; +and my own slowness at the back of it all; for I never, as you know, +am hasty--these things, one and another, kept me from going on +horseback anywhere." + +"To be sure, your Worship, to be sure. You ought to be always +a-horseback. I've a-seed you many times on the Bench; but you looks a +very poor stick there compared to what 'ee be a-horseback." + +"Now, Cripps, where is your reverence? You call me 'your Worship,' and +in the same breath contemn my judicial functions. I must commit you +for a week's hard labour at getting in and out of your own cart, if +you will not allow me to speak, Cripps. At last I have frightened you, +have I? Then let me secure the result in silence. Well, after the +weather began to change from that tremendous frost and snow, and the +poor Squire fell into the quiet state that he has been in ever since, +I found that nothing would do for me, my health not being quite as +usual----" + +"Oh, your Worship was wonderfully kind; they told me you was as good +as any old woman in the room almost!" + +"Except to take long rides, Cripps, nothing at all would do for me. +And, not to speak of myself too much, I believe that saved me from +falling into a weak, and spooney, and godless state. I assure you +there were times--however, never mind that, I am all right now, +and----" + +"Thank the Lord! you ought to say, sir; but you great Squires upon the +bench----" + +"Thank the Lord! I do say, Cripps; I thank Him every day for it. But +if I may edge in a word, in your unusually eloquent state, I will tell +you just what happened to me. I never believed, and never will, that +poor Miss Oglander is dead. The coroner and the jury believed that +they had her remains before them, although for the Squire's sake they +forbore to identify her in the verdict. Your sister, no doubt, +believed the same; and so did almost every one. I could not go, I +could not go--no doubt I was a fool; but I could not face the chance +of what I might see, after what I had heard of it. Well, I began to +ride about, saying nothing of course to any one. And the more I rode, +the more my spirit and faith in good things came back to me. And I +think I have been rewarded, Cripps; at last I have been rewarded. It +is not very much; but still it is like a flash of light to me. I have +found out the man with the horrible voice." + +"Lord have mercy upon me! your Worship--the man as laid hold of the +pick-axe!" + +"I have found him, Cripps, I do believe. But rather by pure luck than +skill." + +"There be no such thing as luck, your Worship; if you will excoose me. +The Lord in heaven is the master of us!" + +"Upon my word, it looks almost like it, though I never took that view +of things. However, this was the way of it. To-day is Saturday. Well, +it was last Wednesday night, I was coming home from a long, and wet, +and muddy ride to Maidenhead. That little town always pleases me; and +I like the landlord and the hostler, and I am sure that my horse is +fed----" + +"Your Worship must never think such a thing, without you see it mixed, +and feel it, and watch him a-munching, until he hath done." + +"More than that, I have always fancied, ever since that story was +about the bag of potatoes you brought, without knowing any more of +it--ever since I heard of that, it has seemed to me that more +inquiries ought to be made at Maidenhead. I need not say why; but I +know that the Squire's opinion had been the same, as long as--I mean +while--his health permitted. On Wednesday I went to the foreman of the +nursery whence the potatoes came. It was raining hard, and he was in a +shed, with a green baize apron on, seeing to some potting work. I got +him away from the other men, and I found him a very sharp fellow +indeed. He remembered all about those potatoes, especially as Squire +Oglander had ridden from Oxford, in the snowy weather, to ask many +questions about them. But the Squire could not put the questions I +did. The poor old gentleman could not bear, of course, to expose his +trouble. But I threw away all little scruples (as truly I should have +done long ago), and I told the good foreman every word, so far as we +know it yet, at least. He was shocked beyond expression--people take +things in such different ways--not at the poor Squire's loss and +anguish, but that anybody should have dared to meddle with his own pet +'oakleafs,' and, above all, his new pet seal. + +"'I sealed them myself,' he said, 'sealed them myself, sir, with the +new coat of arms that we paid for that month, because of the tricks of +the trade, sir! Has anybody dared to imitate----' 'No, Mr. Foreman,' I +said, 'they simply cut away your seal altogether, and tied it again, +without any seal.' 'Oh, then,' he replied, 'that quite alters the +case. If they had only meddled with our new arms, while the money was +hot that we paid for them, what a case we might have had! But to knock +them off--no action lies.' + +"Cripps, it took me a very long time to warm him up to the matter +again, after that great disappointment. He was burning for some great +suit at law against some rival nursery, which always pays the upstart +one; but I led him round, and by patient words and simple truth +brought him back to reason. The packing of the bag he remembered well, +and the pouring of a lot of buck-wheat husks around and among the +potato sets, to keep them from bruising, and to keep out frost, which +seemed even then to be in the air. And he sent his best man to the +Oxford coach, the first down coach from London, which passed by their +gate about ten o'clock, and would be in Oxford about two, with the +weather and the roads as usual. In that case, the bag could scarcely +have been at the Black Horse more than half an hour before you came +and laid hold of it; and being put into the bar, as the Squire's +parcels always are, it was very unlikely to be tampered with." + +"Lord a' mercy! your Worship, it was witchcraft then! The same as I +said all along; it were witches' craft, and nothing else." + +"Stop, Cripps, don't you be in such a hurry. But wait till you hear +what I have next to tell. But oh, here comes my friend Hardenow, as +punctual as the clock strikes two! Well, old fellow, how are you +getting on?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +A STORMY NIGHT. + + +The Rev. Thomas Hardenow, fellow and tutor of Brasenose, strode into +his own room at full speed, and stopped abruptly at sight of the +Carrier. "Of all men, most I have avoided thee," was in his mind; but +he spoke it not, though being a strongly outspoken man. Not that he +ever had done any wrong to make him be shy of the Cripps race; but +that he felt in his heart a desire for commune, which must be +dangerous. He knew that in him lurked a foolish tendency towards +Esther; and (which was worse) he knew that she had done her best to +overcome a still more foolish turn towards him. + +Cripps, however (who would have fed the doves of Venus on black peas), +looked upon any little bygone "coorting" as a social and congenial +topic, enabling a quiet man to get on (if he only had a good memory) +with almost any woman. Like a sensible man, he had always acquitted +Hardenow of any blame in the matter, knowing that young girls' fancies +may be caught without any angling. "If her chose to be a fool, how +were he to blame for it?" And the Carrier never forgot the stages of +social distinction. "Servant, sir," he therefore said, with his usual +salaam; "hope I see you well, sir." + +"Thank you, Zacchary," said Mr. Hardenow, taking the Carrier's horny +palm (which always smelled of straps and buckles), and trying to +squeeze it, with a passive result, "I am pretty well, Zacchary, thank +you." + +"Then you don't look it, sir, that you doesn't. We heerd you was +getting on wonderful well. But the proof of the puddin' ain't in you, +sir." + +"That's right, Cripps," cried Overshute; "give it to him, Cripps! Why, +he starves himself! Ever since he took his first and second, and got +his fellowship and took orders, he hasn't known what a good dinner is. +He keeps all the fasts in the calendar, and the vigils of the +festivals, and he ought to have an appetite for the feasts; but he +overstays his time, and can't keep anything on his stomach!" + +"Now, Russel, as usual!" Hardenow answered, with a true and pleasant +smile; "what a fine fellow you would be, if you only had moderation! +But I see that you want to talk to Cripps; and I have several men +waiting in the quad. Where is my beaver? Oh! here, to be sure! Will +you come with us? No, of course you can't. Will you dine in hall with +me?" + +"Of course, I won't. But come you and dine with me on Sunday--the only +day you dare eat a bit--and my mother will do her best to strengthen +you, build you up, establish you, for a fortnight of macaroni. Will +you come?" + +"Yes, yes, to-morrow--to be sure--I have many things I want to say to +you. Good-bye for the present; good-bye, Master Cripps." + +"There goes one of the finest fellows, of all the fine fellows yet +ruined by rubbish!" With these words Russel Overshute ran to the +window and looked out. A dozen or more of young men were waiting, the +best undergraduates of the college, for Mr. Hardenow to lead them for +fifteen miles, without a word. + +"Well, every man to his liking," said Russel; "but that would be about +the last of mine. Now, Cripps, most patient of carriers, are you ready +for me to go on or not?" + +"I hath a been thinking about my horse. How greedy o' me to be ating +like this"--for the thought of so much fasting had made him set to +again, while he got the chance--"drinking likewise of college +ale--better I have tasted, but not often--and all this time, as you +might say, old Dobbin easing of his dainty foot, with no more nor a +wisp of hay to drag through his water--if he hath any." + +"An excruciating picture, Cripps, drawn by too vivid a conscience. +Dobbin is as happy as he can be, with twenty-five horses to talk to +him. At this very moment I behold him munching choicest of white oats +and chaff." + +"Your Worship can see through a stone-wall, they say; but they only +keeps black oats at the Cross just now, along of a contract the +landlord have made--and a blind sort of bargain, to my thinking----" + +"Never mind that--let him have black oats then, or Irish oats, or no +oats at all. But do you wish to hear my story out, or will you leave +it till next Saturday?" + +"Sir, you might a' seen as I was waiting, until such time as you plaze +to go on wi' un." + +"Very well, Cripps, that satisfies the most exacting historian. I will +go on where I left off, if that point can be established. Well, I left +the foreman of the nursery telling me about the man he sent with the +bag of potatoes to the Oxford coach. He told me he was one of his +sharpest hands, who had been off work for a week or two then, and had +only returned that morning. 'Joe Smith' was his name; and when they +could get him to work, he would do as much work as any two other men +on the place. He might be trusted with anything, if he only undertook +it; but the worst of him was that he never could be got to stick long +to anything. Here to-day and gone to-morrow had always been his +character; and they thought that he must be of gipsy race, and perhaps +had a wandering family. + +"This made me a little curious about the man; and I asked to see him. +But the foreman said that for some days now he had not been near the +nursery, and they thought that he was on the Oxford road, in the +neighbourhood of Nettlebed; and another thing--if I did see him, I +could not make out more than half he said, for the man had such a +defect in his voice, that only those who were used to him could be +certain of his meaning. Suddenly I thought of your sister's tale, and +I said to the foreman, 'Does he speak like this?' imitating as well as +I could your sister's imitation of him. 'You know the man, sir,' the +foreman answered; 'you have got him so exactly, that you must have +heard him many times.' I told him no more, but asked him to describe +Joe Smith's appearance. He answered that he was a tall, dark man, +loosely built, but powerful, with a stoop in his neck, and a long +sharp nose; and he generally wore a brown pointed hat. + +"Cripps, you may well suppose that my suspicions were strong by this +time. Here was your sister's description--so far as the poor girl +could see in the dusk and the fright--confirmed to the very letter; +and here was the clear opportunity offered for slipping the wreath of +hair into the bag." + +"Your Worship, now, your Worship! you be a bit too sharp! If that +there man were at Headington quarry at nightfall of the Tuesday, how +could he possible a' been to Maidenhead next morning? No, no, your +Worship are too sharp." + +"Too thick, you mean, Cripps; and not sharp enough. But listen to me +for a moment. Those long-legged gipsies think very little of going +thirty miles in a night; though they never travel by day so. And then +there is the up mail-coach. Of course he would not pay his fare, but +he might hang on beneath the guard's bugle, with or without his +knowledge, and slip away at the changing-houses. Of that objection I +think nothing. It serves to my mind as a confirmation." + +"Very well, sir," said Cripps discreetly; "who be I for to argify?" + +"No, Cripps, of course not. But still I wish to allow you to think of +everything. You may not be right; but still I like you to speak when +you think of anything. That is what I have always said, and contended +for continually--let every man speak--when sensible." + +"Your Worship hath hit the mark again. The old Squire saith, 'let no +man speak,' as St. Paul sayeth of the women. But your Worship saith +'let all men speak, all women likewise, as hath a tongue'--and then +you stoppeth us both the more, by restirrecting all on us, women or +men, whichever a may happen, till such time as all turns up sensible. +Now, there never could ever be such a time!" + +"Carrier, you are satirical. Keep from the Dusty Anvil, Cripps. Marry +a wife, and you will have a surfeit of argument at home. But still you +have been very good on the whole, and you never will get home +to-night. At any rate, I was so convinced, in spite of all smaller +difficulties, that I bound the foreman to let me know, by a man on +horseback, at any expense, the moment he saw Joe Smith again. And his +parting words to me were these--'Well, sir, don't you think harm of +Joe without sure proof against him. He is a random chap, I know; but I +never saw a better man to earn his wages.' + +"Well, I went back to the inn at once, and rode leisurely to Henley. +It was raining hard, and the river in flood with all the melted snow +and so on, when I crossed that pretty bridge. I had been trying in +vain to think what was the best thing I could do; not liking to go +home, and leave my new discovery so vague. But being soaked and chilly +now, I resolved to have a glass of something hot, for fear of taking a +violent cold, and losing perhaps a week by it. So I went into the +entrance of that good inn by the waterside, and called for some brandy +and water hot. The landlord was good enough to come out; and knowing +me from old boating days, he got into a talk with me. I had helped him +at the sessions about a house of his at Dorchester; and nothing could +exceed his good will. Remembering how the gipsies hang about the boats +and the waterside, I asked him (quite as a random shot) whether any of +them happened to be in the neighbourhood just now. He thought perhaps +that I was timid about my dark ride homeward, and he told me all he +knew of them. There was one lot, as usual, in the open ground about +Nuneham, and another large camp near Chalgrove, and another, quite a +small pitch that, on the edge of the firs above Nettlebed. + +"This last was the lot for me; and I pressed him so about them, that +he looked at me with a peculiar grin. 'What do you mean by that?' I +asked. 'Now, Squire Overshute, as if you did not know!' he answered. +'Doth your Worship happen to remember Cinnaminta's name?' + +"Cripps, I assure you I was astonished. Of course you knew +Cinnaminta--well, I don't want to be interrupted. No one could say any +harm of her; and a lovelier girl was never seen. The landlord had +heard some bygone gossip about Cinnaminta and myself. I did admire +her. I am not ashamed to say that I greatly admired her. And so did +every young fellow here, who had got a bit of pluck in him. I will not +go into that question; but you know what Cinnaminta was." + +Cripps nodded, with a thick mixture of feelings. His poetical self had +been smitten more with Cinnaminta than he cared to tell; and his +practical self was getting into a terrible hubbub about his horse. "To +be sure, your Worship," was all he said. + +"Very well, now you understand me. To hear of Cinnaminta being in that +camp at Nettlebed made me so determined that I laid hold of the +landlord by the collar without thinking. He begged me not to ride off +with him, or his business would be ruined; and feeling that he weighed +about eighteen stone, I left him on his threshold. + +"I could not bear to ask him now another word of anything. Knowing +looks, and winks, and reeking jokes so irritate me, when I know that a +woman is pure and good. You remember how we all lost Cinnaminta. Three +or four score of undergraduates, reckless of parental will, had +offered her matrimony; and three or four newly-elected fellows were +asking whether they would vacate, if they happened to jump the +broomstick." + +"All that were too fine to last," muttered Cripps, most sensibly. "But +her ought to a' had a sound man on the road--a man with a horse well +seasoned, and a substantial cart--her ought." + +"Oh, then, Cripps, you were smitten too! A nice connection for light +parcels! Well, never mind. The whole thing is over. We all are sadder +and wiser men; but we like to know who the chief sufferer is--what man +has won the beauty. And with this in my mind, I rode up the hill, and +resolved to go through with my seeking. + +"When I got to the end of 'the fair-mile,' the night came down in +earnest. You know my young horse 'Cantelupe,' freckled like a melon. +He knows me as well as my old dog; and a child can ride him. But in +the dark he gets often nervous, and jumps across the road, if he sees +what he does not consider sociable. So that one must watch his ears, +whatever the weather may be. And now the weather was as bad as man or +horse could be out in. + +"All day, there had been spits of rain, with sudden puffs of wind, and +streaks of green upon the sky, and racing clouds with ragged edges. +You remember the weather of course; Wednesday is one of your Oxford +days. Well, I hope you were home before it began to pelt as it did +that evening. For myself I did not care one fig. I would rather be +drenched than slowly sodden. But I did care for my horse; because he +had whistled a little in the afternoon, and his throat is slightly +delicate. And the whirr of the wind in the hedge, and the way it +struck the naked branches back, like the clashing of clubs against the +sky, were enough to make even a steady old horse uneasy at the things +before him. Moreover, the road began to flash with that peculiar light +which comes upward or downward--who can tell?--in reckless tumults of +the air and earth. The road was running like a river; come here and go +there, like glass it shone with the furious blows of the wind striking +a pale gleam out of it. I stooped upon Cantelupe's neck, or the wind +would have dashed me back over his crupper. + +"Suddenly in this swirl and roar, my horse stood steadfast. He spread +his fore legs and stooped his head to throw his balance forward; and +his mane (which had been lashing my beard) swished down in a waterfall +of hair. I was startled as much as he was, and in the strange light +stared about. 'You have better eyes than I have,' I said, 'or else you +are a fool, Canty.' + +"I thought that he was a fool, until I followed the turn of his head, +and there I saw a white thing in the ditch. Something white or rather +of a whity-brown colour was in the trough, with something dark leaning +over it. 'Who are you there?' I shouted, and the wind blew my voice +back between my teeth. + +"'Nort to you, master. Nort to you. Go on, and look to your own +consarns.' + +"This rough reply was in a harsh high cackle, rather than a human +voice; but it came through the roar of the tempest clearly, as no +common voice could come. For a moment, I had a great mind to do +exactly as I was ordered. But curiosity, and perhaps some pity for the +fellow, stopped me. 'I will not leave you, my friend,' I said, 'until +I am sure that I can do no good.' The man was in such trouble, that he +made no answer which I could hear, so I jumped from my horse, who +would come no nearer; and holding the bridle, I went up to see. + +"In as sheltered a spot as could be found, but still in a dripping and +weltering place, lay, or rather rolled and kicked, a poor child in a +most violent fit. 'Don't 'ee now, my little Tom; don't 'ee, that's a +deary, don't!' The man kept coaxing, and moaning, and trying to smooth +down little legs and arms. 'Let it have its way,' I said; 'only keep +the head well up; and try to put something between the teeth.' Without +any answer, he did as I bade; and what he put betwixt the teeth must +have been his own great thumb. Of course he mistook me for a doctor. +None but a doctor was likely to be out riding on so rough a night." + +"Ah, how I do pity they poor chaps!" cried Carrier Cripps, who really +could not wait one minute longer. "Many a naight I mates 'em a +starting for ten or twenty maile of it, just when I be in the smell o' +my supper, and nort but nightcap arterward. Leastways, I mean, arter +pipe and hot summat. Your Worship'll 'scoose me a-breakin' in. But +there's half my arrands to do yet, and the sun gone flat on the +Radcliffe! The Lord knows if I shall get home to-night. But if I +doos--might I make so bold--your Worship be coming to see poor Squire? +Your Worship is not like some worships be--and I has got a rare drop +of fine old stuff! Your Worship is not the man to take me crooked. I +means no liberty, mind you." + +"Of that I am certain," Mr. Overshute answered. "Cripps, your +suggestion just hits the mark. I particularly want to see your sister. +That was my object in seeking you. And I did not like to see her, +until you should have had time to prepare her. I have several things +to see to here, and then I will ride to Beckley. Mrs. Hookham will +give me a bit of dinner, when I have seen my dear friend the Squire. +At night, I will come down, and smoke a pipe, and finish my story with +you, as soon as I am sure you have had your supper." + +"Never you pay no heed at all," said Master Cripps, with solemnity, +"to no thought of my zupper, sir. That be entire what you worships +call a zecondary consideration. However, I will have un, if so be I +can. And you mustn't goo for to think, sir, that goo I would now, if +stay I could. I goes with that there story, the same as the jog of a +cart to the trot of the nag. My wits kapes on agoin' up and down. But +business is a piece of the body, sir. But no slape for me; nor no +church to-morrow; wi'out I hears the last of that there tale!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +CRIPPS DRAWS THE CORK. + + +Any kind good-natured person, loving bright simplicity, would have +thought it a little treat to look round the Carrier's dwelling-room, +upon that Saturday evening, when he expected Mr. Overshute. Not that +Cripps himself was over-tidy, or too particular. He was so kindly +familiar now with hay, and straw, and bits of string, and chaff, and +chips, and promiscuous parcels, that on the whole he preferred a +litter to any exertions of broom or brush. But Esther, who ruled the +house at home, was the essence of quick neatness, and scorned all +comfort, unless it looked--as well as was--right comfortable. And now, +expecting so grand a guest, she had tucked up her sleeves, and stirred +her pretty arms to no small purpose. + +The room was still a kitchen, and she had made no attempt to disguise +that much. But what can look better than a kitchen, clean, and bright, +and well supplied with the cheery tools of appetite. It was a +good-sized room, and very picturesque with snugness. Little corners, +in and out, gave play for light and shadow; the fireplace retired far +enough to well express itself; and the dresser had brass-handled +drawers, that seemed quietly nursing table-cloths. Well, above these, +upon lofty hooks, the chronicles of the present generation might be +read on cups. Zacchary headed the line, of course; and then--as +Genesis is ignored by grander generations--Exodus, and Leviticus (the +fount of much fine movement), and Numbers, and a great many more, +showed that the Carrier's father and mother had gladly baptized every +one. + +In front of the fire sat the Carrier, with nearly all of his best +clothes on, and gazing at a warming-pan. He had been forbidden to eat +his supper, for fear of making a smell of it; and he had a great mind +to go to bed, and have some hot coals under him. For nearly five miles +of uphill work and laying his shoulder against the spokes, he had been +promising himself a rare good supper, and a pipe to follow; and now +where were they? In the far background. He had no idea of rebellion; +still that saucepan on the simmer made the most provoking movements. +Therefore he put up his feet upon a stump of oak (which had for +generations cooled down pots), and he turned with a shake of his head +toward the fire, and sniffed the sniff of Tantalus, and muttered--"Ah, +well! the Lord knoweth best!" and thought to himself that if ever +again he invited the quality to his house, he would wait till he had +his own quantity first. + +Esther was quite in a flutter; although she was ready to deny it +stoutly, and to blush a bright red in doing so. To her, of course, +Justice Overshute was simply a great man, who must have the chair of +state, and the talk of restraint, and a clean dry hearth, and the +curtsy, and the best white apron of deference. To her it could make +not one jot of difference, that Mr. Overshute happened to be the most +intimate friend of some other gentleman, who never came near her, +except in dreams. Tush, she had the very greatest mind, when the house +was clean and tidy, to go and spend the evening with her dear friend +Mealy at the Anvil. But Zacchary would not hear of this; and how could +she go against Zacchary? + +So she brought the grand chair, the arm-chair of yew-tree--the tree +that used to shade the graves of unrecorded Crippses--a chair of +deepest red complexion, countenanced with a cushion. The cushion was +but a little pad in the dark capacious hollow; suggesting to an +innocent mind, that a lean man had left his hat there, and a fat man +had sat down on it. But the mind of every Cripps yet known was +strictly reverential; and this was the curule chair, and even the +Olympian throne of Crippses. + +Russel Overshute knocked at the door, in his usual quick and impetuous +way. In the main he was a gentleman; and he would have knocked at a +nobleman's door exactly as he did at the Carrier's. But all radical +theories, fine as they are, detract from gentle practice; and the +too-large-minded man, while young, takes a flying leap over small +niceties. He does not remember that poor men need more deference than +rich men, because they are not used to it. To put it more +plainly--Overshute knocked hard, and meant no harm by it. + +"Come in, sir, and kindly welcome!" Cripps began, as he showed him in; +"plaize to take this chair, your Worship. Never mind your boots; Lor' +bless us! the mud of three counties cometh here." + +"Then it goes away again very quickly! Miss Cripps, how are you? May I +shake hands?" + +Esther, who had been shrinking into the shade of the clock and the +dresser, came forward with a brave bright blush, and offered her hand, +as a lady might. Russel Overshute took it kindly, and bowed to her +curtsy, and smiled at her. In an honest manly way, he admired pretty +Esther. + +"Master Cripps, you are too bad; and your sister in the conspiracy +too! I do believe that your mind is set to make me as tipsy as a king +to-night!" + +"They little things!" said the Carrier, pointing to the old oak table, +where a bottle of grand old whiskey shone with the reflected gleam of +lemons, and glasses danced in the firelight--"they little things, sir, +was never set for so good a gentleman afore, nor a one to do such +honour to un. But they might be worse, sir, they might be worse, to +spake their simple due of un. And how is poor Squire to-night, your +Worship?" + +"Well, he is about as usual. Nothing seems to move him much. He sits +in his old chair, and listens for a step that never comes. But his +patience is wonderful. It ought to be a lesson to us; and I hope it +has been one to me. He trusts in the Lord, Cripps, as strongly as +ever. I fear I should have given up that long ago, if I were laid on +my back as he is." + +"Young folk," answered Cripps, as he drew the cork--"meaning no +disrespect to you, sir--when they encounters trouble, is like a young +horse a-coming to the foot of a hill for the fust time wi' a heavy +load. He feeleth the collar beginning to press, and he tosseth his +head, and that maketh un worse. He beginneth to get into fret and +fume, and he shaketh his legs with anger, and he turneth his head and +foameth a bit, and champeth, to ax the maning o' it. And then you can +judge what the stuff of him is. If he be bad stuff, he throweth them +back, and tilteth up his loins, and spraddleth. But if he hath good +stuff, he throweth out his chest, and putteth the fire into his eyes, +and closeth his nostrils, and gathereth his legs, and straineth his +muscles like a bowstring. But be he as good as a wool, he longeth to +see over the top of that there hill, afore he be half-way up it." + +"Well, Cripps, I have done that, I confess. I have longed to see over +the top of the hill; and Heaven only knows where that top is! But as +sure as we sit here and drink this glass of punch to your sister's +health, and to yours, good Carrier, so surely shall our dear old +friend receive the reward of his faith and courage; whether in this +world or the next!" + +"Thank 'ee kindly, sir. Etty, is that the best sort of curtsy they +teaches now? Now, don't blush, child, but make a betterer. But as to +what your Worship was a-saying of, I virtually hopes a may come to +pass in this world we be living in. Otherwise, maybe, us never may +know on it, the kingdom of Heaven being such a size." + +"Cripps, I believe it will be in this world. And I hope that I am on +the straight road now towards making out some part of it. You have +told your sister all I told you at Brasenose this morning according to +my directions? Very well, then; I may begin again at the point where I +left off with you. Where did I break it? I almost forget." + +"With the man's big thumb in the mouth of the cheeld, while you was +a-looking at him, sir; and the wind and the rain blowing furious." + +"Ah yes, I remember; and so they were. I thought that the crest of the +hedge would fall over, and bury the whole of us out of the way. And +when the poor boy had kicked out his convulsions, and fallen into a +senseless sleep, the rough man turned on me savagely, as if I could +have prevented it. 'A pretty doctor you be!' he exclaimed. But I took +the upper hand of him. 'Stand back there!' I said; and I lifted the +child (expecting him to strike me all the while), and placed the poor +little fellow on my horse, and managed to get up into my saddle before +the wind blew him off again. 'Now lead the way to your home,' I said. +And muttering something, he set off. + +"He strode along at such a pace that, having to manage both child and +horse, it was all I could do to keep up with him. But I kept him in +sight till he came to a common, and there he struck sharply away to +the right. By the light of the wind and the rain, and a star that +twinkled where the storm was lifting, I followed him, perhaps for half +a mile, through a narrow track, in and out furze and bramble. At last +he turned suddenly round a corner, and a shadow fell behind him--his +own shadow thrown by a gusty gleam of fire. Cantelupe--that is my +horse, Miss Esther--has not learned to stand fire yet, and he shied at +the light, and set off through the furze, as if with the hounds in +full cry before him. We were very lucky not to break our necks, going +headlong in the dark among rabbit-holes. I thought that I must have +dropped the child, as the best thing to be done for him; but the +shaking revived him, and he clung to me. + +"I got my horse under command at last; but we must have gone half a +mile anywhere, and to find the way back seemed a hopeless task. But +the quick-witted people (who knew what had happened, and what was +likely to come of it) saved me miles of roundabout by a very simple +expedient. They hoisted from time to time a torch of dry furze blazing +upon a pole; and though the light flared and went out on the wind, by +the quick repetition they guided me. In the cold and the wet, it +rejoiced my heart to think of a good fire somewhere." + +"Etty, stir the fire up," the hospitable Cripps interrupted. "His +Worship hath shivers, to think of it. When a man, or, beg pardon, a +gentleman, feeleth the small of his back go creeping, he needeth good +fire to come up his legs, and a hot summat to go down him. Etty, be +quick with the water now." + +"Cripps, Cripps, Carrier Cripps! do you want to have me spilled on the +road to-night? I am trying to tell things in proper order. But how can +I do it, if you go on so? However, as I was beginning to say, +Cantelupe, and the child, and I, fetched back to the place at last, +where the flash of light had started us. And we saw, not a flash, but +a glow this time, a steadfast body of cheerful fire, with pots and +cauldrons over it. So well had the spot been chosen, in the lee of +ground and growth, that the ash of the fire lay round the embers, as +still as the beard of an oyster; while thicket and tree but a few +yards off were threshing in the wind and wailing. Behind this fire, +and under a rick-cloth sloping from a sandstone crest, women and +children, and one or two men, sat as happy and snug as could be: dry, +and warm, and ready for supper, and pleased with the wind and the rain +outside, which improved their comfort and appetite. And now and then +the children seemed to be pulling at an important woman, to hurry her, +perhaps, in her cookery. + +"But while I was watching them, keeping my horse on the verge of light +and shadow, a woman, quite different from the rest, came out of the +darkness after me. Heedless of weather, and reckless of self, she had +been seeking for me, or rather for my little burden. Her hair was +steeped with the drenching rain, for she wore no hat or bonnet; and +her dark clothes hung on the lines of her figure, as women hate to let +them do. Her eyes and face I could not see because of the way the +light fell; but I seemed to know her none the less. + +"While I gazed in doubt, my little fellow slipped like an eel from my +clasp and the saddle; and almost before I could tell where he +was--there he was in the arms of his mother! Wonders of love now began +to go on; and it struck me that I was one too many in a scene of that +sort; and I turned my good horse, to be off and away. But the woman +called out, and a man laid hold of my bridle, and took his hat off, +when, with the usual impulse of a stopped Briton, I was going to +strike at him. I saw that it was my good friend of the ditch, and I +came to parley with him. + +"What with his scarcity of manners, and of polished language, and +worst of all his want of palate, I found it hard, with so much wind +blowing out here all around us, to understand his meaning. This was +rude of me to the last degree, for the queerly-voiced man was doing no +less than inviting me, with all his heart, to an uncommonly good +dinner!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +CINNAMINTA. + + +"Now that," said Cripps, "is what I call the proper way of doing +things. Arter all, they hathens knows a dale more than we credit 'em." + +"Well, Miss Esther," asked Russel, turning to his other listener, +"what do you think about it now?" + +"Sir," she replied, with her round cheeks coloured by the excitement +of his tale, and shining in the firelight, "I do not know what the +manners may be among the gentry in such things. But if it had been one +of us, we never could have supped with him." + +"You are right," answered Overshute; "so I felt. Starving as I was, I +could not break bread with a man like that, until he should have +cleared himself. He did not seem to be conscious of any dark mistrust +on my part; and that was natural enough, as he did not even know me. +But when I said that I must ride home as fast as I could, he asked me +first to come and have a look at the poor little child. This I could +not well refuse; so I gave my horse to a boy to hold, and followed him +into the warm dry place, and into his own corner. As I passed, and the +people made way for me, I saw that they were genuine gipsies, not mere +English vagabonds. There was no mistaking the clearly-cut features, +and the olive complexions, and the dark eyes, lashed both above and +below. My gruff companion raised a screen, and showed me into his +snuggery. + +"It was dimly lit by a queer old lamp of red earthenware, and of Roman +shape. Couches of heather, and a few low stools, and some vessels were +the only furniture; but the place was beautifully clean, and fragrant +with dry fern and herbs. In the furthest corner lay little Tom, with a +woman bending over him. At the sound of our entry she turned to meet +us, and I saw Cinnaminta. Her hair, and eyes, and graceful carriage +were as grand as ever, and her forehead as clear and noble; but her +face had lost the bright puzzle of youth, and the flush of damask +beauty. In a word, that rich mysterious look, which used to thrill so +many hearts, was changed into the glance of fear, and the restless +gaze of anxiety. + +"She knew me at once, and asked, with a very poor attempt at +gaiety--'Are you come to have your fortune told, sir?' + +"Before I could answer, her husband spoke some words in her own +language, and the 'Princess,' as we used to call her, took my hand in +both of hers, and kissed it, and poured forth her thanks. She had been +so engrossed with her poor sick child that she had not known me on +horseback. Having done so little to deserve her thanks, I was quite +surprised at such gratitude; and it made me fear that she must be now +unaccustomed to kind treatment. I asked how her grandmother was, who +used to sit up so proudly at Cowley, as well as her sister, the little +thing that used to run in and out so. As I spoke of them, she shook +her head and gazed at some long distance, to tell me that they were no +more. I could not remember the rest of her people, except her Uncle +Kershoe, as fine a fellow as ever stole a horse. When I spoke of him, +she laughed as if he were going on as well as ever; and I hoped that +it might be no son of his to whom I had trusted Cantelupe. But of +course I knew that gipsy honour would hold him sacred for the time, +even if he were Bay Middleton. Then I asked her about her own +children, and again she shook her head and said--'Three, all three in +one are now; and that is the one you saved.' With that, while her +husband left the tent, Cinnaminta led me to look at the poor little +fellow in his deep warm sleep. A beautiful little boy it was; a real +Princess might yearn in vain for such a lovely offspring, if only the +stamp of health had been on him. But the glow of airy health and +breezy vigour was not on him; neither will it ever be, so far as one +may judge by skin. Clear, transparent, pearly skin, all whose colour +seems to come from under, instead of over it; the more the wind or the +sun strikes on it, the more its colour evaporates. I fear that poor +Cinnaminta's child will go the way of the younger ones." + +"Poor dear! poor dear!" exclaimed the Carrier, rubbing his nose in a +sad slow way. "I can guess what her would be to them. If her loseth +that little un, mind--well then, you will see if her dothn't go arter +un." + +"I believe that she will," replied Overshute; "I never saw any one so +wrapped up in another being as she is. As for Joe Smith, her husband, +and the way she treats him, I couldn't--no, I never could put up with +it, even if it were---- But, Miss Esther, why do you look with such a +curious smile at me? Of such matters what can you know? However, there +goes your clock again! Cripps, I shall never get home to-night; and my +mother will think I was poaching. Because I will not send the poachers +to prison, she believes that I must be a poacher myself!" + +"Now, verily, your Worship, that bates all I have ever heerd of! How +could a Justice go a-poaching, howsomever he tried his best?" + +"Cripps, he might. I believe he might, if he really did his best for +it. However, let that question pass; although it is highly +interesting. I will try, at my leisure, to solve it. But how can I +think of such little things in the middle of great sad ones? It really +made me feel as if I never should laugh again almost, when I saw this +fine unselfish woman controlling herself, and commanding herself, in +the depth of her misery about her child. And when I thought how she +might have got on, if she only had liked education, and that; and to +marry a fellow of Oriel; I assure you, Miss Esther, I began to feel +how women throw away their chances. Of course, I could not hint at +things disloyal--or what shall I call them? Unconjugal, perhaps, is +what I mean; unuxorial, or what it may be. But although I am slow at +seeing things; because I used to think myself too quick, and have made +false charges through it; I really could not help feeling sure that +poor Cinnaminta had made an awkward tally with her husband. However, +that was no concern of mine. She had made her own choice, and must +stick to it. But to think of it made me uncomfortable, and I could not +speak then of what I wished to speak of, but took short leave and rode +away. First, however, I got permission to come over again on the +Friday--yesterday, I mean; and now I will tell you exactly what +happened then." + +"Your Worship do tell a tale," said Cripps; "that wonderful, that us +be almost there! They women takes a man, whether or no he wool; and +when they gets tired of un, they puts all the fault on he, they do! +There was a woman as did the washing, over to Squire Pemberton's; +nothing to look at--unless you hadn't seen done-up hair for a +twelve-month, the same as happens to the sailors; and in her +go-roundings of no account, for to catch the notice of a man much. But +that very woman, I'm danged if her didn't----" + +"Zacchary, hush!" said Esther; and the Carrier muttered, "Of course, +of course! No chance of fair play wi' un! Well, go on, your Worship." + +"I have very little more to tell you, as yet," Overshute answered, +with a smile at both. "You have listened with wonderful patience to +me; and I am surprised at remembering half of what happened to me in a +hurry so. I shall make more allowance for witnesses now, when they get +confused and hesitate. But, as I was going to say, I rode over to +Nettlebed Common, or whatever it is called, in good time yesterday, so +as to have a long quiet talk with Cinnaminta; knowing that if she +would not tell me the truth, she would tell no falsehood. As I rode +along in that fine spring sun, my mind was unusually clear and bright. +I saw to a nicety what questions I ought to put, and how to put them; +and nothing of all the ins and outs of this matter could escape me. +When the sun threw my shadow, as sharp as a die, I could not help +laughing to the open road and the clear long breadth of prospect, at +the narrow stupid thoughts we had been thinking throughout the winter. +In a word, I was sure, as I am of my life, of finding sweet Grace +Oglander, and restoring her father to his fine old health, and +spreading great happiness everywhere; and thus I rode up to the +gipsy-camp--and there was not a shadow or a trace of it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +A DELICATE SUBJECT. + + +The log had burned down, and the fire was low, when Russel thus ended +his story. Cripps was indignant, because he had made up his mind for +"summat of a zettlement;" and Esther was full of young womanly +thoughts about Cinnaminta and her poor child. But even before they +could consult one another, or cross-examine, a loud, sharp knock at +the door was heard, and in ran Mary Hookham. + +"Oh, if you please, sir--oh, if you please, sir!" she exclaimed with +both hands up, and making the most of her shawl fringe, "such a thing +have turned up!--I never! Them stockings! Oh, them silk stockings, +sir! Your Worship--oh, them silk stockings, sir!" + +"My dear," said Cripps in a fatherly tone, and with less contemporary +feeling than Mary might wish to inspire him with--"my dear good maid, +you be that upset, that to spake, without sloping the spout of the +kettle, might lade to a'most anything. Etty, you ain't had a drap of +nort--and all the better for 'ee. Give over your glass, girl. Now, +Miss Mary, the laste little drap, and then you spakes; and then you +has another drap. 'Scoose me, your Worship, to make so bold; but a +young man can't see them things in the right light." + +"Oh, Master Cripps, now!" cried Mary Hookham, "what but a young man be +you yourself? And none of they young men can point their tongues, to +compare with you, to my mind. But I beg your pardon, sir, Mr. +Russel--your name come so familiar to me, through our dear young lady. +I forgot what I was a-doing, your Worship, to be sitting down in your +presence so!" + +"Mary, if you get up I shall get up also, and go away. We are both +enjoying the hospitality of our good friend, Master Cripps. Now, Mary, +by no means hurry yourself; but tell me at your leisure why you came, +and what your news is." + +"Silk stockings, forsooth!" cried Master Cripps, being vexed at this +break of the evening. "Why, my grandmother had a whole pair of they! I +belave I could find 'em now, I do! Silk stockings, to break up one's +comfort for! Not but what I be glad to see you. Mary, my dear, I drink +your good health, touching spoons in lack of lips." + +"Oh, Mr. Cripps, you are so funny! And you do make me fell things in +such a way! Bless me, if I haven't dropped my comb! Oh, I am so +shocked to trouble you! Natteral hair are so provoking, compared to +what most people wears now-a-days. But about what I come for--oh, your +Worship, stockings is not what I ought to speak of, except in the ear +of females." + +"Stockings are a very good subject, Mary; particularly if they are +silk ones." + +"Lor, sir! Now, I never thought of that! To be sure, that makes all +the difference! Well then, your Worship must know all, and Master +Cripps, and Miss Esther, too. It seemeth that Mrs. Fermitage, master's +own sister, you know, sir, have never been comfortable in her mind +about her behaviour when the 'quest was held. Things lay on her nerves +at that time so, that off and on she hardly seemed to know where she +was, or how dooty lay to her. Not that she is at all selfish, if you +please to understand me--no more selfish than I myself be, or any one +of us here present. But ladies requires allowance; and it makes me +have a pain to think of it. You could not expect her--could you +now?--to go through it, as if she was a man; or rather, I should say, +a gentleman." + +"Of course we could not," answered Overshute; and the Carrier began to +think, why not. + +"However, she did go through it," said Mary, "as well as the very best +man could have done. She covered her feelings, as you might say, with +a pint pot, or with less than that." + +"With a wine-glass of brandy, I did hear tell," said Master Cripps +inquiringly. + +"No, no; that was a shocking story. It makes me ashamed of the place +as we live in whenever I heer such scandalies!" + +"Miss Mary, my dear, I beg your pardon. Lord knows I only say what I +heers! Take a little drop, Miss, and go on." + +"It makes one afeared to touch a drop of most hinnocent mixture as +ever was," continued poor Mary, after one good gulp; "and at the same +time most respectable waters--when people as never had opportunity of +forming no judgment about them--people as only can spit out their +tongues at them as have some good taste in theirn, when such folk--for +people they are not--dareth to go forth to say---- But I see you are +laughing at me, your Worship; and perhaps I well deserve it, sir. It +is no place of mine to convarse of such subjects--me who never deals +with 'em! But, one way or other, that good lady (as, barring her way +with her servants, she is, which our good master have many a time, up +and given it to her about), well, this very day, sir, in she come when +I was a-doing of my morning doos--every bit as partiklar, sir, as if I +had a mistress over me; and she say to me, 'Mary Hookham!' and I says, +'Yes, ma'am; at your service.' And she ask me without any more to +do--the just words I cannot now call to mind--for to send at once, +without troubling poor master, to fetch they stockings as was put by, +to the period of the coroner's 'quest. Poor master have never been +allowed to see them, no more has none of us, sir; for fear of setting +on foot some allowance of vulgar curiosity. And all of us is not above +it, I know; but that is a natteral error in places where few has had +much eddication." + +"I don't hold much with that there eddication," cried the Carrier +rather gloomily. "A may suit some people, but not many. They puts it +on 'em all alike wi'out trial of constitootion. Some goes better for +it; but most volk worse." + +"Well, you know best, Mr. Cripps, of course. Up and down the road as +you be, every door give you a hinstance. His Worship is all for +eddication; and no one need swaller it, unless they likes. But pretty +well schooled as I have been, sir, I looks down on no one. And now, +when master's sister made that sudden call upon me, I assure you, sir, +and Master Cripps, and Miss Esther in the corner there, the very first +thing as I longed for was more knowledge of the ways of the kingdom. +More sense, I mean, of where the powers puts the things that have been +called up and laid at the feet of the law-courts. They stockings was +more lost to me, than gone to be washed by the gipsies. + +"It never would have done for me to say that much to Mrs. Fermitage. +She would have been out in a wrath at once, for she is not sweet like +master; so I gave her all 'yes' instead of 'why' or 'how,' as we do to +quick-tempered gentlefolk. And then I ran away to ask my mother, and +she no more than laughed at me. 'You silly child,' says mother, quite +as if there had never been a fool till now; 'when the law getteth hold +of a thing, there be only two places for to find it in.' 'Two places, +mother! What two places?' said I, without construction. 'Why, the +right-hand or the left-hand pocket of a lawyer's breeches,' mother +answered, just as if she had served all her time with a tailor. Now, +don't laugh, Mr. Overshute; it is true, every word as I tell you." + +"Ay, that her be," cried Cripps, with a smack of one hand on the +other. "Your mother is a wonderful woman for truth and sense, my +deary." + +"Well, well," replied Mary, with a broad knowing smile, as much as to +say, "You had better try her" "at her time of life her ought to be, if +ever they seek to attain it. So I acted according to mother's +directions, letting her always speak foremost. And between us we got +Master Kale to go, on his legs, all the way to Oxford with the hope of +a lift back with you, Master Cripps; but, late as you was, he were +later. He carried a letter from Mrs. Fermitage, couched in the +thirtieth person, to Mrs. Luke Sharp of Cross-Duck House, the very one +as sent that good book back. Master's sister have felt below contempt +towards her since that time, and in dignity could do no otherwise. And +now she put it short and sharp, as no less could be expected--and word +for word can I say of it-- + +"'Mrs. Fermitage has the honour of presenting her compliments to Mrs. +Sharp, and begs to express her surprise at the strange retention by +Mrs. S. of a pair of valuable silk stockings, which are the property +of Mrs. F. If they are not in use, it is begged that they may be +returned by the bearer.--Postscript: Mrs. F. takes this opportunity of +acknowledging the return of a book, which, being filled only with the +word of God, was perhaps of less practical value to Mrs. S. than silk +stockings appear to be.' + +"'That will fetch them,' said my mother; 'if they be in the house, +that will fetch them, ma'am. No lady could stand against them +inawindows.' And, sure enough, back they come by Mr. Kale, about an +hour after you left our house, sir. It seems that Mr. Luke Sharp was +gone to dine with the Corporation, or likely they never would have +come at all. And they never would have come at all, because Mrs. Sharp +could not have found them, if it hadn't been that Master Sharp, the +boy they think such wonders of, just happened to come in from +shooting, where the whole of his time he spends. He found his mother +in the hystrikes of a heart too full for tears, as she expressed it +bootifully to both cook and housemaid; and they pointed to the letter, +and he read it; and he were that put out, that Master Kale, seeing the +two big barrels of his gun, were touched in his conscience, and ran +away and got under the mangle. What happened then, he were afeard to +be sure of; but the cook and the housemaid brought him out, and they +locked him in, to eat a bit, which he did with trembles of +thankfulness. And, almost afore he had licked his knife as clean as he +like to leave it, that wicked young man he kicked open the door, and +flung a parcel at him. + +"'Tell your d----d missus,' he says--your Worship, I hopes no offence to +the statues--'tell her,' he says, 'that her rubbish is there! And add, +without no compliments, that a lady of her birth should a' known +better than to insult another lady so!'" + +"Well done, Kit Sharp!" exclaimed Overshute. "I rather admire him for +that. Not that he ought to have sworn so, of course. But I like a +young fellow to get in a rage when he thinks that his mother is +trampled on." + +"Then you might a' been satisfied with him, sir. In a rage he were, +and no mistake! So much so that our Mr. Kale made off by the quickest +door out of the premises. But the cook, she ran after him out to the +steps, when there was the corners between them, and she begged him not +to give a bad account, but to put a Christian turn to it. And she told +poor Tummuss that she had a manner of doing veal fit to surprise him; +and if he could drop in on Sunday week, he might go home the wiser. +The Lord knows how she hit so quick upon his bad propensities; for he +do pay attention to his victuals, whatever his other feelings be. +However, away he come at last; and I doubt if he goeth in a hurry +again. + +"Of course he knowed better than give the broken handles of his +message. It is only the boys and the girls does that, for the pleasure +of vexing their betters. Master Kale sent his parcel in by me, +together with Mrs. Sharp's compliments; leaving the truth in the +kitchen to strengthen, and follow to the parlour, as the cat comes in. +And so master's sister, she put out her hand all covered with rings, +and no shaking; and I makes my best entry just like this, excusing +your presence, Mr. Russel, sir; and she nod to me pleasantly, and take +it. 'Mary, you may go,' she said; and for sure, I am not one of those +who linger. + +"There happened, however, to be a new candle full of thieves and +guttering; and being opposite a looking-glass made it more +reproachful. So back I turned by the corner of a screen, for to right +it without disturbance. I had no more idea, bless you, Master Cripps, +of cooriosity, than might have happened to yourself, sir! But I pulled +a pair of scissors out of my pocket, no snuffers being handy; and then +I heer'd a most sad groan. + +"To my heart it went, like a clap of thunder, having almost expected +it, which made it worse; and back I ran to do my dooty, if afforded +rightly. And sure enough there was poor Mrs. Fermitage afell back well +into the long-backed chair, with her legs out straight, and her hands +to her forehead, and a pair of grey stockings laid naked on her lap! +'Is it they things, ma'am? Is it they?' I asked, and she put up her +chin to acknowledge it. By the way they were lying upon her lap, I was +sure that she was vexed with them. 'Oh, Mary,' she cried out; 'oh, +Mary Hookham, I am both as foolish and a wicked woman, if ever in the +world there was one!' + +"So deeply was I shocked by this, master's own sister, and a mint of +money, going the wrong way to kingdom come--that I give her both ends +of the smelling-bottle, open, and running on her velvet gown, as +innocent as possible. 'Oh, you wicked, wicked girl!' she says, coming +round, before I could stop; 'do you know what it cost a yard, you +minx?' + +"This gave me good hopes of her, being so natteral. Twice the price +comes always into ladies' minds, when damage is; if anybody can be +made to pay. But it did not become me to speak one word, as you see, +Mr. Russel, and Master Cripps. And there was my reward at once. + +"'I must have a magistrate,' she cries; 'a independent justice of the +peace. Not my poor brother--too much of him already. Where is that boy +Overshute?' she says, saving, of course, your Worship's presence. 'I +heered he were gone to that low carrier's. Mary, run and fetch him!'" + +"My brother to be called a low carrier!" young Esther exclaimed, with +her hand on her heart. "What carrier is to Compare with him?" + +"Never you mind, cheel," answered Cripps, with a smile that shone like +a warming-pan; "the womens may say what they pleases on me, so long as +I does my dooty by 'em. Squaze the lemon for his Worship, afore un +goeth." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +QUITE ANOTHER PAIR OF SOCKS! + + +Mr. Overshute had always been on good terms with Mrs. Fermitage, his +"advanced ideas" marching well with her political sentiments, so far +as she had any. And upon a still more tender subject, peace and +good-will throve between them. The lady desired no better suitor for +her niece than Russel Overshute, and had laboured both by word and +deed to afford him fair opportunity. Moreover, it was one of her great +delights, when time went heavily with her, to foster a quiet little +fight between young Russel and his mother. Those two, though filled +with the deepest affection and admiration for each other, could +scarcely sit half an hour together without a warm argument rising. The +late Mr. Overshute had been for years a knight of the shire, and for +some few months a member of the Tory Government; and this conferred on +his widow, of course, authority paramount throughout the county upon +every political question. How great, then, was her indignation, to +find subversive and radically erroneous principles coming up, where +none but the best seed had been sown. Three generations ago, there had +been a very hasty Overshute; but he had been meted with his own +measure, and his balance struck upon the block. This had a wholesome +influence on the family, while they remembered it; and child after +child had been brought up with the most correct opinions. But here was +the young head of the house, with a stiff neck, such as used to be +adjusted in a nick upon Tower-hill. Mrs. Overshute therefore spent +much of her time in lamenting, and the rest in arguing. + +For none of these things Mrs. Fermitage cared. With her, the idea of +change was free. She had long rebelled against her brother's dictation +of the Constitution, and believed they were rogues, all the lot of +them, as her dear good husband used to say. "Port-wine Fermitage" went +too far when he laid down this law for the females. Without a particle +of ill-meaning, he did a great deal of mischief. + +Now Mrs. Fermitage sat well up, in a chair that had been newly +stuffed. She was very uncomfortable; and it made her cross, because +she was a good-sized woman. She kept on turning, but all for the +worse; and her mind was uneasy at her brother's house. The room was +gone dark, and the lights going down, while Miss Mary Hookham was +revelling in the mansion of the Carrier. Nobody cared to hurry for the +sake of anybody else, of course; and Mrs. Fermitage could not see what +the good of all her money was. + +The lady was all the more vexed with others, because her own +conscience was vexed with her; and as Overshute came with his quick, +firm step, she spoke to him rather sharply. + +"Well, Russel Overshute, there was a time when you would not have left +me to sit in this sad way by myself all the evening. But that was when +I had pretty faces near me. I must not expect such attentions now!" + +"My dear Mrs. Fermitage, I had no idea that you were even in the +house. The good Squire sent me a very nice dinner; but you did not +grace it with your presence." + +"And for a very good reason, Russel. I have on my mind an anxiety +which precludes all idea of eating." + +"Oh, Mrs. Fermitage, never say that! You have been brought up too +delicately." + +"Russel, I believe that is too true. The world has conspired to spoil +me. I seem to be quite in a sad position, entirely for the sake of +others. Now, look at me, Russel; and just tell me what you think." + +Overshute always obeyed a lady in little things of this kind. He +looked at Mrs. Fermitage, which really was a pleasant thing to do; and +he thought to himself that he never had seen a lady of her time of +life more comfortable, nicely fat, and thoroughly well dressed and +fed. + +"My opinion is," he proceeded with a very pretty salaam and smile, +"that you never looked better in your life, ma'am! And that is a very +great deal to say!" + +"Well, Russel, well," she answered, rising in good old fashion, and +curtsying; "your opinions have not spoiled your manners, whatever your +dear mother may say. You always were a very upright boy; and you +always say exactly what you think. This makes your opinion so +valuable. I shall shake off ten years of my life. But I really was +quite low-spirited, and down at heart, when you came in. I fear that I +have not quite acted for the best, entirely as I meant to do so. You +remember that horrible state of things, nearly two months ago, and my +great distress?" + +"At the time of that wretched inquest? Yes; you were timid, as well +you might be." + +"It was not only that. But the weather was so cold that I scarcely +knew what I was doing at all. Hard weather is to me as it is to a +plant, a delicate fern, or something. My circulation no longer is +correct; even if it goes on at all. I scarcely can answer for what I +am doing when they put me into cold rooms and bitter draughts. I feel +that the organs of my face are red, and that every one is looking at +me. And then such a tingle begins to dawn through the whole of my +constitution, that to judge me by ordinary rules is barbarous and +iniquitous." + +"To be sure, to be sure!" answered Overshute, laying one finger on his +expressive nose, and wondering what was next to come. + +"Yes, and that is the manner in which justice is now administered. The +canal was frozen, and the people of the inn grudged a quarter of a +hundredweight of coal. The people at the yards had put it up so, that +it would have been wrong to encourage them. I had ordered my own +stumps to be burned up, and the flower-baskets, and so on. Anything +rather than order coals, till the swindling dealers came down again. +And the Coroner sided with the price of coals, because he had three +top-coats on. The jury, however, with their teeth all chattering, +wanted only to be done and go. They were only too glad, when any +witness failed to answer when called upon; and having all made up +their minds outside, they were shivering to declare them. I speak now, +from what I heard afterwards." + +"You speak the bare truth, Mrs. Fermitage. You have the best +authority. The foreman is your chimney-sweep." + +"Yes; and that made him feel the cold the more. But you should see him +on a Sunday, Russel. He is so respectable, and his nails so white. I +will not listen to a word against him; and he valued my custom, on his +oath he did. 'What verdict does Missus desire?' he asked. And he made +all the rest go accordingly. Nobody knows what they might have sworn, +without a clever man to guide them." + +"Of course. What can you expect? But still, you have something new to +tell me?" + +"Well, Russel, new or old, here it is. And you must bear in mind how I +felt, and what everybody was saying. In the first place, then, you +must remember that there was a great deal said about a pair of my silk +stockings. Now, I shrank particularly from having an intimate matter +of that sort made the subject of public gossip. It was neither +becoming, nor ladylike, to drag little questions of my wardrobe into +the eye of the nation so. Already it was too much to know that a pair +of such articles had been found bearing my initials. Most decidedly I +refused, and I am sure any lady would do the same, to go into a hard +cold witness-box, and under the eyes of some scores of males proclaim +my complicity with such things. If I had seen it my duty, I would have +endeavoured to conquer my feelings; but of course I took it all for +granted that everything was too clear already. And my dear brother! I +thought of him; and thought of every one, except myself. Could I do +more, Russel Overshute?" + +"Indeed, my dear madam, I do not see how. You would have come forward, +if necessary. But you did not see any necessity." + +"Much more than that. There was much more than that. There was my duty +to my brother, stronger than even to my niece. He is getting elderly; +and for me to be printed as proving anything against his daughter, +would surely have been too much for him. He looked to me so for +consolation, and some one to say kind words to him, that to find me in +evidence against him might have been his death-blow. No consideration +for myself or my own feelings had the weight of a rose-leaf with me. +In the breach I would have stood, if I had followed my own wishes. But +my duty was to curb myself. You are following me, Russel, carefully?" + +"Word for word, as you say it, madam; so far as my poor wits allow." + +"Very well, then. I have made it quite clear. That is the beauty of +having to explain to clever people." + +"I thank you for the compliment," replied Overshute, with a puzzled +look; "but I have not earned it; for I cannot see that you have told +me anything that I did not know some weeks ago. It may be my +stupidity, of course; but I thought that something had occurred quite +lately." + +"Oh yes, to be sure! It was only to-day! I meant to have told you that +first of all. I was grossly insulted. But I am so forgiving that I had +forgotten it--quite forgotten it, until you happened to speak of it. A +peculiarly insolent proceeding on the part of poor Mrs. Sharp, it +appears--or, perhaps, some one for her; for everybody says that she +really now has no mind of her own. She did not write me one single +line, although I had written politely to her; and she sent me a +message--I am sure of it--too bad to be repeated. No one would tell me +what it was; which aggravates it to the last degree. I assure you I +have not been so upset for years; or, at any rate, not since poor +Grace was lost. And about that, unless I am much mistaken, that very +low, selfish, and plotting person, knows a great deal more than we +have ever dreamed. It would not surprise me in the least, especially +after what happened today, to find Mrs. Sharp at the bottom of all of +it. At any rate, she has aroused my suspicion by her contemptible +insolence. And I am not a person to drop a thing." + +"Why, what has she done?" asked Overshute once more; while in spite of +impatience he could scarcely help smiling at poor Mrs. Fermitage's +petty wrath and frequent self-contradiction. + +"What she did was this. She sent me back, not even packed in nice +white paper, not even sprinkled with eau de Cologne, not even +washed--what do you think of that?--but rolled up anyhow in brown +paper, the same as a drayman would use for his taps--oh, Russel, would +you ever believe it!" + +"Certainly it seems very unpolite. But what was it she sent back to +you?" + +"Not even the article I expected! Not even that ingredient of costume +which I had lent poor Gracie, very nice and pretty ones--but an old +grey pair of silken-hose, disgraceful even to look at! It is true that +they bear my initials; but I had discarded them long ago." + +"What a strange thing!" cried Overshute, flushed with quick +excitement. "How reckless we were at the inquest! We had made up our +minds without evidence, on the mere faith of coincidence. And you--you +have never taken the trouble to look into this point until now--and +now perhaps quite by accident! We were told that you had recognised +the stockings; and it turns out that you never even saw them. It is +strange and almost wicked negligence." + +"I have told you my motives. I can say no more," exclaimed Mrs. +Fermitage, with her fine fresh colour heightened by shame or anger. +"Of course, I felt sure--who could fail to do so?--that the stockings +found with my name on them must be the pair I had lent my niece. It +seemed most absurd that I should have to see them. It was more than my +nerves could bear; and the Coroner was not so unmanly as to force me. +Pray, did you go and see everything, sir?" + +"Mrs. Fermitage, I am the very last person who has any right to +reproach you. I failed in my duty, far more than you in yours. In a +man, of course, it was a thousand times worse. There is no excuse for +me. I yielded to a poor unmanly weakness. I wished to keep my memory +of the poor dear, as I had seen her last. I should have considered +that the poor frail body is not our true identity----" + +"Quite so, of course. And therefore, what was the use of your going to +see it? No, no, you behaved very well, Russel Overshute; and so did I, +if it comes to that. Nobody can be quite blameless, of course; and we +are told in the Bible not to hope for it. If we all do our duty +according to our inner lights, and so on, the Apostle can say no great +harm of us, in his rudest moment to the ladies." + +"Let us settle that we both have done our best," said Russel very +sadly; knowing how far from the truth it was, but seeing the folly of +arguing. + +"And now will you tell me, what made you send for those silk +ingredients of costume so suddenly; and then show them to me?" + +"With pleasure, dear Russel. You understand me, when no one else has +any sympathy. I sent for them, or at least for what I fully expected +to be the ones, because an impertinent young woman, foolishly trusted +with very good keys, gave me notice to go, last evening. Of course she +will fly before I have a chance of finding how much she has +stolen--they all take very good care to do that; and knowing what the +spirit of the age is--dress, dress, fal-lals, ribbons, heels in the +air, and so on--I made up my mind to have a turn out to-day, and see +how much they had left me. No man can imagine, and scarcely any woman, +all the vexations I had to go through. Five pair and a half of +silk-hose were missing, as well as a thousand more important things; +and they all backed up one another. They stood me out to my face that +I never had more than eight pair of the Christchurch-Tom +stockings--excuse me for being so coarse, my dear; whereas I had got +the receipt for twelve pair from the man that sold them with the big +Tom bells on immediately above the instep. I happened to remember that +I had lent my darling Gracie pair No. 12, numbered, as all of them +were, downright. And so to confound those false-tongued hussies, I +came over here in search of them. Finding that they were not here--for +the lawyers, of course, steal everything--I was not going to be beaten +so. I sent as polite a letter as, after her shameful rudeness, any +lady could write, to Mrs. Luke Sharp--a poor woman who expected every +halfpenny of my dear husband's savings. How far she deserves them, you +have seen to-day. And sooner would I burn myself, like a sooty widow, +with all my goods evaporating, than ever leave sixpence for her to +clutch, after such behaviour. Russel, you will remember this. You are +my executor." + +"My dear Mrs. Fermitage, I pray you in no way to be excited. We have +not heard all of the story, and we know that servants who are of a +faithful kind exaggerate slights to their masters. It was one of the +Squire's old servants who went. Your own would, perhaps, have known +better. But now, may I see the things Mrs. Sharp sent you?" + +"You may. And you may take them, if you like. Or rather, I should say +that I beg you to take them. They ought to be in your custody. Will +you oblige me by taking them, Russel, and carefully inspecting them? +For that, of course, you must have daylight. Take them in the paper, +just as they came, and keep them until I ask for them. They can be of +no importance, because they are not what I lent to Gracie. Except for +my name on them, I am sure that I never could have remembered them. +They were darned in the days when I was poor. How often I wish that I +still were poor! Then nobody wanted to plot against me, and even to +steal my stockings! Oh, Russel, do you think they have murdered my +darling because she was to have my money?" + +"No, I think nothing of the kind! I believe that our darling Grace is +alive; and I believe it tenfold since I saw these things! I am not +very old in the ways of the world; and my judgment has always been +wrong throughout. But my faith is the same as the grand old Squire's, +though forty years of life behind him. I firmly believe that, blindly +as we ourselves have managed everything, all will be guided aright for +us; and happiness, even in this world, come. Because, though we have +done no great good, we have done harm to no one; and the Lord in +heaven knows it! Also, He knows that we trust in Him, so far as the +trouble allows us. Very well; I will take these stockings home. You +shall hear from me on Monday. I believe that our Grace is alive; and +God will enable me to deliver her! Please Him, I will never leave off +till then!" + +The young man looked so grand and strong in his faith, and truth, and +righteousness, that the elderly lady said no word, but let her eyes +flow, and kissed him. He placed the stockings in an inner pocket, +carelessly wrapped in their paper; and he rode home apace to please +his mother; and having a cold on him from all his wettings, he +perspired freely; and at every stretch of his galloping horse he was +absorbing typhus fever. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +SUO SIBI BACULO. + + +In April, when the sunny buds were showing forth their little frills; +and birds, that love to hop sideways and try the toleration of the +sprays that they are picking at, were almost too busy to chirp, and +hung as happily as possible upside down, shaking the flutter of young +green lace; while at the same time (for it is a season of great +coincidence) pigs reared aloft little corkscrew tails, and scorning +their nose-rings, employed them as thimbles for making a punch in the +broidery of turf; also when--if the above is not enough--ducks and +geese, and cocks and hens, and even the dogs (who regard green grass +as an emetic mainly) were all, without knowing it, beginning to wag +themselves as they walked or waddled, and to shine in the sun, and to +look very large in their own eyes and those of their consorts; neither +was there any man who could ride a horse, without knowing how--unless +he first had starved him;--at this young jump of the year and of life, +Grace Oglander wanted to go for a walk. + +She had not by any means been buried in the haunted quarry; neither +had she as yet required burial in any place. On the contrary, here she +walked more blooming and lovely than even her custom was; and the +spring sun glistening upon the gold letters of her tombstone at +Beckley, ordered by her good Aunt Fermitage--the same sun (without any +strain of his eyes at all likely to turn him to a Strabo) was +pleasantly making and taking light in the fluctuations of her growing +hair. + +Her bright hair (which had been so cruelly cropped) instead of being +the worse for the process, was waving and glowing again in vast +multiplicity of vigour; like a specimen golden geranium shorn to +double the number of its facets; and the blue in the spring of her +eyes was enough to dissatisfy the sun with his own sky. However, he +showed no discontent, but filled the young wood with cheerful rays, +and the open glades with merriment, and even the sombre heart of +labouring man with streaks of liveliness. For here were comforts that +come in, without the eye considering them; and pleasures, which when +thought of fly; and delicate delights, that have no idea of being +delightful. + +Hereupon the proper thing is for something very harsh to break in, and +discomfit all the wandering vision of earthly happiness. But the +proper thing, in the present instance, showed its propriety by +absence. Nothing broke the flow of sunshine and the eddy of soft +shade! unless it were a little ruffle of the south wind seeking leaves +before they were quite ready; or the rustle of a rabbit, anxious about +his family; or the flutter of a bird, uncertain where to stand and +sing his best. + +Grace (without a thought of what her own thoughts were or whether she +had any mind for thinking) rambled on, as a school-girl does when the +hours of school are over. Every single fall or rise of nature's work +was kind to her, and led her into various veins of inductive +unphilosophy. The packing and storing of last year's leaves, as if +exceeding precious, gathered together by the wind and land in some +rich rustling corner; the fitting of these into one another (for fear +of losing one of them) wonderfully compact, as if with the hammer of a +gold-beater, or the unknown implement wherewith a hen packs up her +hatched egg-shells; the stiff upstanding of fine young stuff, hazel, +ash, and so on, tapering straight as a fishing-rod, and knobbing out +on either side with scarcely controllable bulges; over, and above, and +throughout all, and sensible of their largeness, the spreading +quietude of great trees, just breathing their buds on the air again, +but not in a hurry (as in young days) to rush into perils of +leafiness--pleased with all these proofs of soft revival and tender +movement, the fair maid almost forgot her own depression and +perplexities. + +When howling winter was put to the rout and banished underground; and +the weather, perhaps, might be hoped to behave as decently as an +English spring, most skittish of seasons, should order it; and the +blue ray of growth (which predominates then, according to the +spectroscopists) was pouring encouragement on things green; how was a +girl in her own spring yet, to strive against all such influence? + +At any rate Grace made no attempt to do anything of the kind; but +wandered at her own sweet will, within the limits of her own parole. +She knew that she was in seclusion here, by her father's command, for +her own good; and much as she yearned, from time to time, to be at +home, with all the many things she was so fond of, she was such a +dutiful child, and so loving, that she put her own wishes by, and +smiled and sighed, instead of pouting. It could not be very long now, +she was sure, until her father should come home, and call for her, as +he had promised, and take her once more to beloved Beckley, after this +mournful exile. + +Full as she was of all these thoughts, and heeding her own ways but +little, so long as she kept within the outer ring of fence allowed to +her, she fell into a little stupid fright, as she called it +afterwards; for which there was no one but herself to blame. Only +yesterday that good Miss Patch (her governess and sweet guardian) had +particularly begged her to be careful; because the times were now so +bad that lawless people went everywhere. Miss Patch herself had heard +several noises she could not at all account for; and while she +considered it quite a duty to trace up everything to its proper +source, and absolutely confide in Providence, whose instrumentality is +to be traced by all the poor instruments seeking it, still there are +times when it cannot be done; and then the right thing is to keep +within sight or call of a highly respectable man. + +This was exactly what Grace might have done, and would have done, but +for the tempting day; for a truly respectable man had been near her, +when first she began her little walk; a man whom she had beheld more +than once, but always at a little distance; a tall stout man, +according to her distant ideas of him, always busy in a quiet way, and +almost grudging the time to touch his broad-flapped hat without +lifting his head, when he saw her in the woodland. Grace had never +asked him who he was, nor been within talking distance of him; at +which she was almost surprised, when she thought how glad, as a rule, +are all Oxfordshire workmen to have a good excuse for leaving off. +However, she was far beyond him now, when she met another man who +frightened her. + +This was a fellow of dark complexion, dressed in a dirty fustian suit, +and bearing on his shoulder a thick hedge-stake, from which hung a +number of rabbit-skins. His character might be excellent; but his +appearance did not recommend him to the confidence of the public. +Grace shrank aside, but his quick eyes had spied her; and, indeed, she +almost feared from his manner, that he had been on the watch for her. +So she put the best face on it, and tried to pass him, without showing +any misgivings. + +But the rabbit-man was not to be thus defrauded of his right to good +society. With a quick sharp turn he cast off the skins from his staff, +and stretched that slimy implement across the way with one hand; while +he held forth the other caressingly, and performed a pretty little +caper. + +"Allow me to pass, if you please," said Grace, attempting to look very +resolute; "these are our grounds. You are trespassing." + +"Now, my purty young lady," said the rabbit-man, coming so close that +she could not fly, "you wouldn't be too hard, would you now? I sees a +great many young maids about--but Lor' there, what be they to compare +with you!" + +"I am sure that you do not mean any harm," replied Grace, though with +much inward doubt: "nobody ever does any harm to me; but every one is +so kind to me. My father is so good to all who get into any trouble. I +am not worth robbing, Mr. Rabbit-man; honest as you are, no doubt. But +I think that I can find a shilling, for you to take home to your +family." + +"Now, Missy, sweet Missy, when once I seen you, how could I think of a +shilling--or two? You was coming out herefor to kiss me, I know; the +same as I dreamed about last night. Lor' bless them bootiful eyes and +lips, the most massionary man as ever was a'most, would sooner have a +kiss, than a crown, of 'em!" + +"You insolent fellow! how dare you speak to me in this manner? Do you +know who I am? Do you know who my father is?" + +"No, Missy; but I dessay a thunderin' beak, as have sent me to prison; +and now I have got you in prison too. No comin' out, wi'out paying of +your fine, my dear." The dirty scamp, with an appreciative grin, laid +hold of poor Grace's trembling hand, and drew her towards him; while +she tried vainly to shriek, for her voice had forsaken her--when +bodily down went the rabbit-man, felled by a most inconsiderate blow. +He dropped so suddenly, that he fetched poor Grace to her knees, by +his violent grasp of her; and when he let go, she could not get up for +a moment, because her head went round. Then two strong hands were put +into hers; and she rose, and faced a young gentleman. + +In her confusion, and sense of vile indignity, she did the natural +thing. She staggered away to a tree, and spread both hands before her +eyes, and burst forth sobbing, as if her heart would break. Instead of +approaching to comfort her, the young man applied himself first to +revenge. He espied on the path the stick of the prostrate rabbit-man, +and laid hold of it. Then, striving to keep his conscience clear, and +by no means hit a man on the ground, he seized the poor dealer in fur +by the neck, and propped him well up in a sapling fork. Having him +thus well situated for penal operations, without any question of +jurisdiction, or even of the merits of the case, he proceeded to +exhaust the utility of the stick, by breaking it over its owner's +back. The calm wood echoed with the sound of wooden thumps, and the +young buds trembled at the activity of a stick. + +"Lor' a' mussy, a' mussy!" cried the rabbit-man. "You be gooin' +outside of the bargain, sir!" + +"Oh, don't!--oh, please don't!" Grace exclaimed, running forth from +her retirement. "I dare say he did not know any better. He may have +had a little too much beer. Poor fellow, he has had quite enough! Oh, +stop, do stop, for my sake!" + +"For nothing else--in the world--would I stop," said the youth, who +was breathless with hitting so hard, and still looking yearningly at +the stick, now splintered by so much exercise; "but if you beg him +off, he gets off, of course--though he has not had half enough of it. +You vile black rascal, will you ever look at a young lady in your life +again?" + +"Oh, no, so--oh, no, sir--so help me--" cried the rabbit-man, rubbing +himself all over. "Do 'ee let me whisper a word to you." + +"If I see your filthy sneaking face two seconds more, I'll take a new +stick to you, and a much tougher one. Out of my sight with your +carrion!" + +Black George, with amazement and fury, gazed at the stern and +threatening countenance. Then seeing the elbow beginning to lift, he +hobbled, as fast as his bruises allowed, to his bundle of skins in the +brushwood. Then with a whimper and snivel he passed the broken staff, +now thrown at him, through his savoury burden, and with exaggerated +limps departed. + +"See if I don't show this to your governor," he muttered, as he turned +back and scowled, when out of sight and hearing; "I never were took in +so over a job, in all my life afore, were I! One bull for a hiding +like that!" he grumbled, as he pulled out a sovereign, and looked at +it. "Five bull would hardly cover it. Why, the young cove can't a' +been told nort about it. A scurvy joke--a very scurvy joke. I ain't +got a bone in me as don't ache!" + +Leaving him thus to pursue his departure, young Christopher Sharp, +with great self-content at the good luck of this exploit, turned +towards Grace, who was trembling and blushing; and he trembled and +blushed in his turn at her. + +"I am so sorry I have frightened you," he said in the most submissive +way; "I have done you more harm than good, I fear. I should have known +better. But for the moment, I really could not command myself. I hope +you will not despise me for it." + +"Despise you! Can I ever thank you? But I am not fit to do anything +now. I think I had better go home if you please. I am not likely to be +annoyed again. And there is a good man in a field half-way." + +"To be sure, you know best," the young man answered, cooling into +disappointment. "Still, I may follow at a distance, mayn't I? The +weather looks quite as if it would be dark. And at this time of year, +scarcely anybody knows. There seem to be tramps almost everywhere. But +I am sure I do not wish to press myself. I can go on with the business +that brought me here. I am searching for the true old wind-flower." + +"Oh, are you?" said Grace; "how exceedingly lucky! I can show you +exactly where to find it; if only you could manage to come to-morrow." + +"To-morrow? Let me see--to-morrow! Yes, I believe I have no +engagements. But will you not be afraid--I mean--after that +blackguard's behaviour to-day? Not, of course, that he should be +thought of twice--but still--oh, I never can express myself." + +"I understand every word you would say," the young lady answered +decisively; "and I never mean to wander so far again. Still, when I +know that you are botanising; or rather, I mean when a gentleman is +near--but I also can never express myself. You never must come--oh, I +mean--good-bye! But I feel that you ought to be careful, because that +bad man may lie in wait for you." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +MISS PATCH. + + +That evening Grace made one more trial to procure a little comfort in +her own affairs. In the dark low parlour of the cottage, where she had +lived for the last three months, with only Miss Patch and a deaf old +woman for company and comfort, she sat by the fire and stitched hard, +to abide her opportunity. At the corner of the table sat the good Miss +Patch, with her spectacles on, and occasionally nodding over her +favourite author, Ezekiel. + +It was impossible for anybody to look at Miss Patch, and believe in +anything against her high integrity. That lofty nose, and hard-set +mouth, and the fine abstracted yet benevolent gaze of those hollow +grey eyes, were enough to show that here was a lady of strict moral +principle and high sense of duty. Incorruptible and grandly honest, +but prickly as a hedgehog with prejudice, she could not be driven into +any evil course, and required no leading into what she thought the +right one. And the right course to her was always the simplest of all +things to discover. Because it was that which led most directly to the +glory of God at the expense of man. Anything that would smite down +pride, and overthrow earthly schemes, and abase the creature before +the Creator--that to her mind was the thing commanded; and if it +combined therewith a cut at "papal arrogance," and priestly influence, +then the command was as delightful as it was imperative. + +This tall and very clear-minded lady was, by an in and out sort of +way, related to Squire Oglander. She called him her "brother;" and the +Squire once (to comfort her in a vile toothache) had gone so far as to +call her his "sister." Still that, to his mind, was a piece of +flattery, not to be remembered when the tooth was stopped;--from no +pride on his part; but because of his ever-abiding execration of her +father--the well-known Captain Patch. + +Captain Patch was the man who married the last Squire Oglander's +second wife, that is to say, our good Squire's stepmother, after the +lady had despatched her first husband, by uneasy stages, to a better +world. Captain Patch took her for her life-interest under the Oglander +settlement; and sterling friends of his declared him much too cheap at +the money. But the Oglanders took quite the contrary view, and hated +his name while he drew their cash. Yet the Captain proceeded to have a +large family, of whom this Hannah Patch was the eldest. + +A godly father (as a general rule) has godless children; and happily +the converse of that rule holds true. The children of a godless father +(scared by the misery they have seen), being acquitted of the fifth +commandment, frequently go back to the first. And so it befell with +almost all of that impious fellow's family. Nevertheless the Squire, +believing in the "commandment with promise," as well as the +denunciation at the end of the second, kept himself clear of the +Patches, so far as good manners and kindness permitted him, Miss +Patch, knowing how good she was, had keenly resented this prejudice +after vainly endeavouring to beat it down. Also she felt--not +ill-will--but still a melancholy forgiveness, and uneasiness about the +present position of Grace's poor mother, who had died in her sins, +without any apology to Miss Patch. + +However, put all these things as one may (according to constitution), +this lady was very good in her way, and desired to make all others +good. There was not one faulty point about her, so far as she could +discover it; and her rule of conduct was to judge her own doings by a +higher standard than was to be hoped for of any other person. +Therefore of course, for other persons she could judge what was right +and godly infinitely better than they could. + +"Oh, Aunty," said Grace, by way of coaxing, having found this of good +service ere now; "Aunty, don't you wish it was tea-time now?" + +"All meals come in their proper season. We should be grateful for +them; but not greedy." + +"Oh, but, Aunty, you would not call it greedy to be hungry, I should +hope. And you would be so hungry, if you only knew. Ah, but you won't +get me to tell you though. I have always been celebrated for making +them. And this time I have quite surpassed myself. Now, how much will +you offer me to tell you what it is?" + +"Grace, you are frivolous!" Miss Patch answered, yet with a slight +inclination of her nose towards the brown kitchen where the wood-fire +burned. "If our food is wholesome, and vouchsafed in proportion to our +daily wants, we should lift up our hearts and be thankful. To let our +minds dwell upon that which is a bodily question only, tends to +degrade them, and leads us to confound the true end--the glory of our +Maker--with the means to that end, which are vulgarly called +victuals." + +"Very well, Aunty, we will do with bread and butter. I only made my +Sally Lunns for you; and if they degrade your mind, I will give them +to Margery Daw, or the cottage with ten children, down at the bottom +of the wood. What a treat they will have, to be sure, with them!" + +"Not so, my dear! If you made them for me, I should fail in my duty if +I refused them. We are ordered to be kind and courteous and +long-suffering towards one another. And I know that you make them +particularly well. They are quite unfit for people in that lower +sphere of life. It would be quite sinful to tempt them so! They would +puff them up with vanity, and worldliness, and pride. But if you +insist upon my tasting them, my dear, in justice to your work I think +that you should see to the toasting. Poor Mrs. Daw smokes everything." + +"Of course she does. But I never meant to let her do them, Aunty. Only +I wanted to be quite sure first that you would oblige me by tasting +them." + +"My dear, I will do so, as soon as you please." The good lady shut up +Ezekiel, and waited. In a few minutes back came Grace, with all things +done to a nicety, each against each contending hotly whether the first +human duty were to drink choice tea or to eat Sally Lunns. Miss Patch +always saw her course marked out by special guidance, and devoutly +thus was enabled to act simultaneously. + +Grace took a little bit now and again to criticise her own handiwork, +while with her bright eyes she watched the relaxing of the rigid +countenance. "My dear," said Miss Patch, "they are excellent! and they +do the greatest credit to your gifts! To let any talent lie idle is +sinful. You might make a few every day, my dear." + +"To be sure I will, Aunty, with the greatest pleasure. I do love to do +anything that reminds me of my dear father! Oh, Aunty, will you tell +me something?" + +"Yes, Grace, anything you ask aright. Young girls, of course, must +submit to those whose duty it is to guide them. Undue curiosity must +be checked, as leading to perverse naughtiness. The principle, or want +of principle, inculcated now by bad education, can lead to nothing +else but ruin and disgrace. How different all was when I was young! My +gallant and spirited father, well known as a brave defender of his +country, would never have dreamed of allowing us to be inquisitive as +to his whereabouts. But all things are subverted now; filial duty is a +thing unknown." + +"Oh, but, Aunty, of course we never pretend to be half as good as you +were. Still I don't think that you can conclude that I do not love my +dear father, because I am not one bit afraid of him." + +"Don't cry, child. It is foolish and weak, and rebellious against +Divine wisdom. All things are ordered for our good." + +"Then crying must be ordered for our good, or we should be able to +help it, ma'am. But you can't call it 'crying,' when I do just what I +do. It is such a long and lonely time; and I never have been away more +than a week at a time from my darling father, until now; and now it is +fifteen weeks and five days since I saw him! Oh, it is dreadful to +think of!" + +"Very well, my dear, it may be fifty weeks, or fifty years, if the +Lord so wills. Self-command is one of the very first lessons that all +human beings must learn." + +"Yes, I know all that. And I do command myself to the very utmost. You +know that you praised me--quite praised me--yesterday; which is a rare +thing for you to do. What did you say then? Please not to retract, and +spoil the whole beauty of your good word." + +"No, my dear child, you need not be afraid. Whenever you deserve +praise, you shall have it. You saw an old sack with the name of +'Beckley' on it, and although you were silly enough to set to and kiss +it, as if it were your father, you positively did not shed one tear!" + +"For which I deserve a gold medal at least. I should like to have it +for my counterpane; but you sent it away most ruthlessly. Now, I want +to know, Aunty, how it came to be here--miles, leagues, longitudes, +away from darling Beckley?" + +Miss Patch looked a little stern again at this. She perceived that her +duty was to tell some stories, in a case of this kind, wherein the end +justified the means so paramountly. Still every new story which she +had to tell seemed to make her more cross than the one before; whether +from accumulated adverse score, or from the increased chances of +detection. + +"Sacks arrive and sacks depart," she answered, as if laying down a +dogma, "according to the decrees of Providence. Ever since the time of +Joseph, sacks have had their special mission. Our limited intelligence +cannot follow the mundane pilgrimage of sacks." + +"No, Aunty, of course, they get stolen so! But this particular sack I +saw had on it the name of a good honest man, one of the very best men +in Beckley, Zacchary Cripps, the Carrier. His name did bring things to +my mind so--all the parcels and good nice things that he carries as if +they were made of glass; and the way my father looks over the hedge to +watch for his cart at the turn of the lane; and his pretty sister Etty +sitting up as if she didn't want to be looked at; and old Dobbin +splashing along, plod, plod; and our Mary setting her cap at him +vainly; and the way he goes rubbing his boots, as if he would have +every one of the nails out; and then dearest father calling out, 'Have +you brought us Her Majesty's new crown, Cripps?' and Cripps, putting +up his hand like that, and grinning as if it was a grand idea, and +then slyly peeping round where the beer-jug hangs--oh, Aunty, shall I +ever see it all again?" + +"Well, Grace, you will lose very little if you don't. It is one of my +brother's worst failings that he gives away fermented liquor to the +lower orders inconsiderately. It encourages them in the bad habits to +which they are only too prone, even when discouraged." + +"Oh no, Aunty! Cripps is the soberest of men. And he does take his +beer with such a relish, it is quite a treat to see him. Oh, if I +could only see his old cart now, jogging along, like a man with one +prong!" + +"Grace! Miss Oglander! Your metaphor is of an excessively vulgar +description!" + +"Is it, Aunty? Then I am very sorry. I am sure I didn't mean any harm +at all. Only I was thinking of the way a certain one-legged fiddler +walks--but, Aunty, all this is so frivolous! With all the solemn +duties around us, Aunty----" + +"Yes, my dear, I do wish you would think a little more of them. Every +day I do my best. Your nature is not more corrupt than must be, with +all who have the sad _phronema sarkos_; but unhappily you always +exhibit, both in word and action, something so--I will not use at all +a harsh word for it--something so sadly unsolemn." + +"What can I do, Aunt? It really is not my fault. I try for five +minutes together to be solemn. And then there comes something or +other--how can I tell how?--that proves too much for me. My father +used to love to see me laugh. He said it was quite the proper thing to +do. And he was so funny (when he had no trouble) that without putting +anything into anybody's head, he set them all off laughing. Aunty, you +would have been amused to hear him. Quite in the quiet time, almost in +the evening, I have known my father make such beautiful jokes, without +thinking of them, that I often longed for the old horn lanthorn, to +see all the people laughing. Even you would laugh, dear Aunty, if you +only heard him." + +"The laughter of fools is the crackling of thorns. Grace, you are +nothing but a very green goose. Even a stray lamb would afford me +better hopes. But knock at the wall with the poker, my dear, that +Margery Daw may come in to prayers." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +RUTS. + + +There are few things more interesting than ruts; regarded at the +proper time, and in the proper manner. The artists, who show us so +many things unheeded by our duller selves, have dwelled on this +subject minutely, and shown their appreciation of a few good ruts. But +they are a little inclined sometimes to mark them too distinctly, +scarcely making due allowance for the vast diversity of wheels, as +well as their many caprices of wagging, according to the state of +their washers, the tug of the horse, and their own wearing, and a host +of other things. Each rut moreover has a voice of its own; not only in +its first formation, but at every period of depression in the muggy +weather, or rough rebellion in a fine black frost, and above all other +times in the loose insurrection of a thaw. There always is a bit of +something hard and something soft in it; jags that contradict all +things with a jerk; and deep subsidence, soft as flattery. + +There scarcely could be a finer sample of ruts than was afforded by a +narrow lane, or timber-track, at the extreme north-western outskirt of +Stow Forest. Everything here was favourable to the very finest growth +of ruts. The road had once been made, which is a necessary foundation +for any masterpiece of rut-work; it then had been left to maintain +itself, which encourages wholesome development. Another great +advantage was that the hard uniformity of straight lines had no chance +here of prevailing. For though the course was not so crooked, as in +some lanes it may have been, neither was there hedge, or rail, or +other mean constriction; yet some fine old trees insisted now and +then, from either side, upon their own grand right of way, and +stretched great arms that would sweep any driver, or horseman, +backward from his seat, unless he steered so as to double them. + +Now therefore to one of these corners came, from out the thicket of +underwood, a stout man with a crafty slouch, and a wary and suspicious +glance. He had thrown a sack over his long white smock, whether to +save it from brambles, or to cover its glare in the shady wood; for +his general aspect was that of a man who likes to see all things, but +not to be seen. And now as he stooped to examine the ruts at a point +where they clearly defined themselves, either from habit, or for +special reason, he kept as far back by the briary ditch as he could +without loss of near insight. + +This man, being a member of the great Cripps race--whether worthy, or +not, of that staunch lineal excellence--had an hereditary perception +of the right way to examine a rut. It would have been easy enough, +perhaps, in a lane of little traffic, to judge whether anything lately +had passed, with the weather and ground as usual. But to-day--the day +after what has been told of--both weather and ground had just taken a +turn, as abrupt as if both were feminine. The smile of soft spring was +changed into a frown, and the glad young buoyancy of the earth into a +stiff sort of feeling, not frozen or crisp, but as happens to a man +when a shiver of ague vibrates through a genial perspiration. To put +it more clearly, the wind had chopped round to the east, and was +blowing keenly--a masterful, strongly pronounced, and busily energetic +east wind, as superior to hypocrisy as it was to all claims of mercy. +At the sound and the feel of its vehement sweep, surprise and alarm +ran through the wood; and the nestling-places of the sun ruffled up +like a hen that calls her chicks to her. The foremost of the buds of +the tall trees shook; not as they shake to a west wind, but with a +sense of standing naked; the twigs that carried them flattened +upwards, having lost all pleasure; the branches, instead of bowing +kindly (as they do to any other wind), also went upward, with a stiff +cold back, and a hatred at being treated so. Many and many a little +leaf, still snug in its own overcoat, shrunk back, and preferred to +defer all the joys of the sky, if this were a sample of them. And many +and many a big leaf (thrust, without any voice of its own, on the +world) had no chance of sighing yet, but whistled on the wind, and +felt it piping through its fluted heart; and knowing what a +liver-coloured selvage must come round its green, bewailed the hour +that coaxed it forth from the notched, and tattered, and cast-off +frizzle, dancing by this time the wind knows where. + +Because the east wind does what no other wind of the welkin ever does. +It does not come from the good sky downward, bringing higher breath to +us; nor even on the level of the ancient things, spreading average +movement. This alone of all winds strikes from the face of the good +earth upward, sweeping the blush from the skin of the land, and +wrinkling all who live thereon. That is the time when the very best +man finds little to rejoice in; unless it be a fire of seasoned logs, +or his own contrariety; the fur of all animals (being their temper) +moves away and crawls on them; and even bland dogs and sweet horses +feel each several hair at issue with their well-brushed conscience. + +All of that may be true; and yet there may be so many exceptions. At +any rate, Master Leviticus Cripps looked none the worse for the whole +of it. His cheeks were of richly varied fibre, like a new-shelled +kidney-bean; his mouth (of a very considerable size) looked +comfortable and not hungry; and all around him there was an influence +tending to intimate that he had dined. + +For that he did not care as he should. He was not a man who allowed +his dinner to modify his character. The best streaky bacon and three +new-laid eggs had nurtured and manured his outer man, but failed to +improve him inwardly. Even the expression of his face was very +slightly mollified by a first-rate meal; though some of the corners +looked lubricated. + +"Hath a been by again, or hath a not?" whispered Tickuss to himself, +as he stared at a tangled web of ruts, and blessed the east wind for +confounding of them, so that a wheel could not swear to its own. The +east wind answered with a scolding dash, that cast his sack over his +head, and shook out his white smock, scattering over the view, like a +jack-towel on the washing-line. Acknowledging this salutation with a +curse, Leviticus gathered his sack more tightly, and bending one long +leg before him, stealthily peered awry at the wheel-tracks. This was +the way to discover whatever had happened last among them, instead of +looking across or along them, where the nicer shades would fail. + +At first he could make but little of it. The east wind, whirling last +year's leaves from the couches where the west had piled them, and +parching the flakes of the mud (as if exposed upon a scraper), had +made it a hard thing to settle the date of the transit even of a +timber dray. One of these had passed not long ago, with a great trunk +swinging and swagging on the road, and slurring the scollops of the +horse-track. + +Therefore Tickuss, for some time, looked less wise than usual, and +scratched his head. The brain replied, as it generally does, to this +soft local stimulant, so briskly in fact that the master soon was able +to clap both his hands into their natural home--the pockets of his +breeches--and thus to survey the scene, and grin. + +"Did 'ee think to do me, then, old brother Zak? Now did 'ee, did 'ee, +did 'ee? Ah, I were aborn afore you, Zak; or if I were not, it were +mother's mistake. Go along wi 'ee, Zak, go along wi' 'ee! Go home to +thy cat, and thy little kitten, Etty." + +He knew, by the track, that his brother had passed a good while ago, +or he would not have dared to speak in this rebellious vein. And what +he said next was even more disloyal. + +"Danged if I ain't a gude mind to hornstring that old hosebird of a +Dobbin; ay, and I wull too, if Zak cometh prowling round my place, +like this. If a didn't mane no trachery, why dothn't a come in, and +call for a horn of ale and a bite of cold bakkon. Ho, ho, we've a +pretty well stopped him of that, though. No Master Zak now; go thine +own ways. Keep thyzell to thyzell's the law of the land, to my +thinking." + +Now a year, or even six months ago, Leviticus Cripps would sooner have +lost a score of pigs than make such a speech, inhospitable, unnatural, +unbrotherly, and violently un-Crippsian. Nothing but his own bad +conscience (as he fell more and more away from honour and due esteem +for Beckley) could have suggested to him such a low and crooked view +of Zacchary. The Carrier was not, in any measure, spying or prowling, +or even watching. Such courses were out of his track altogether. +Rather would he have come with a fist, if the family honour demanded +it; and therewith have converted his brother's olfactory organ into +something loftier, as the medium of a sense of honesty. + +In bare point of fact the family honour demanded this vindication. But +the need had not as yet been conveyed to the knowledge of the +executive power. Zacchary had no suspicion at present of his brother's +fearful lapse. And the only thing that brought him down that lane, was +another stroke of business in the washing line. Squire Corser had +married a new sort of wife with a tendency towards the nobility; +wherefore a monthly wash was out of keeping with her loftier views, +though she had a fine kitchen-garden; and she cried, till the Squire +put the whole of it out, and sent it every week to Beckley. Hence a +new duty for Dobbin arose, which he faced with his usual patience, +simply reserving his right to travel at the pace he considered +expedient, and to have a stronger and deeper bottom stitched to his +old nose-bag. + +The first time the Carrier traversed that road, fraternal duty +impelled him to make all proper inquiries concerning the health of his +brother, and the character of his tap. But though the reply upon both +these points was favourable and pleasing, Zacchary met with so queer a +reception, that dignity and self-respect compelled him to vow that for +many a journey he would pass with a dry mouth, rather than turn in. Of +all the nephews and nieces, who loved to make him their own carrier, +by sitting astride perhaps two on each leg, and one on each oölitic +vamp, and shouting "Gee, gee," till he panted worse than Dobbin obese +with young saintfoin--likewise who always jumped up in his cart, and +laid hold of the reins and the whip even, and wore out the patience of +any other horse except the horse before them--of all these delightful +young pests, not one was now permitted to come near him. And not only +that, which alone was very strange, but even Susannah, the wife of +Leviticus, and sister-in-law of Zacchary, evidently had upon her +tongue laid a dumb weight of responsibility. Quite as if Zak were an +interloper, or an inquisitive stranger, thrusting a keen but +unjustified nose into things that were better without it. Susannah was +always a very good woman, and used to look up to Zacchary, because her +father was a basket-maker; and even now she said no harm; but still +there was something about her, when she muttered that she must go and +wash the potatoes, timid, and cold, and unhearty-like. + +The Carrier made up his mind that they all were in trouble about their +mortgage again; just as they were about six months back, when the land +was likely to be lost to them. And finding it not a desirable thing to +be called upon to contribute, he jogged well away from all such +tactics, with his pockets buttoned. Not that he would have grudged any +good turn to any one of his family; but that his strong common sense +allowed him no faith in a liar. And for many years he had known that +Tickuss was the liar of the family. + +Leviticus took quite a different view of the whole of this proceeding. +He was under no terror about his mortgage, for reasons as yet quite +private; and his thick shallow cunning, like an underground gutter, +was full of its own rats only. He was certain that Zak had suspected +him, in spite of the care he had taken to keep his wife and children +away from him; and believing this, he was certain also that Zak was +playing the spy on him. + +While he was meditating thus in his slow and turbid mind, and turning +away from the corner of the road towards his beloved pig-lairs, the +rattle of the sharp east wind was laden with a softer and heavier +sound--the hoofs of a horse upon sod and mud. Tickuss, with two or +three long strides, got behind a crooked tree, so as to hide or +exhibit himself, according to what should come to pass. + +What came to pass was a horse in the first place, of good family and +good feed; and on his back a man who shared in at least the latter +excellence. These two were not coming by the forest lane, but along a +quiet narrow track, which cut off many of its corners. To judge of the +two which looked the more honest, would have required another horse in +council with another man. At sight of this arrival Tickuss came forth, +and scraped humbly. + +"Don't stand there, like a monkey at a fair!" cried Mr. Sharp--for he +it was, and no mistake about him. "Am I to come through the brambles +to you? Can't you come up, like a man with his wits, where this +beastly wind doesn't blow so hard? Who can hear chaw-bacon talk off +there?" + +Leviticus Cripps made a vast lot of gestures, commending the value of +caution, and pointing to the lane half a hundred yards off, as if it +contained a whole band of brigands. Mr. Sharp was not a patient man, +and he knew that there was no danger. Therefore he swore pretty +freely, until the abject lord of swine restored him to a pleasant +humour by a pitiful tale of Black George's trouble on the previous +afternoon. + +"Catching it? Ay, and no mistake!" Tickuss Cripps repeated; "the dust +from his jacket--oh Lor', oh Lor! I had followed on softly to see the +fun, without Missy knowing I were near, of course; and may I never--if +I didn't think a would a'most have killed un! Ho, ho! it'll be a good +round week, I reckon, afore Jarge stitcheth up a ferret's mouth again. +He took me in terrible, that very morning; he were worse took in +hiszell afore the arternoon was out. Praise the Lard for all his +goodness, sir." + +"Well, well. It shall be made up to him. But of course you did not let +him, or any one else, get any idea who the lady is." + +"Governor, no man hath any sense of that," Leviticus answered, with +one finger on his nose; "save and excep' the old lady to the cottage, +and you and I, and you knows whether there be any other." + +"Leviticus Cripps, no lies to me! Of course your own wife has got the +whole thing out of you." + +"Her!" replied Tickuss, with a high contempt, for which he should have +had his ears boxed. "No, no, master, a would have been all over +Hoxford months ago, if her had knowed ort of it. Her knoweth of course +there be zumbody up to cottage with old lady; but her hath zucked in +the American story, the same as everybody else have. Who would ever +drame of our old Squire's daughter, when the whole world hath killed +and buried her? But none the less for that I kep her, and the +children, out of the way of our Zak, I did. Um might go talking on the +volk up to cottage; and Zak would be for goin' up with one of his +cards parraventur. Lor', how old Zak's eyes would come out of his +head! The old bat-fowl!--a would crack my zides to see un!" + +"You had better keep your fat sides sound and quiet," Mr. Sharp +answered sternly; for the slow wits of Tickuss, being tickled by that +rare thing, an imagination, the result was of course a guffaw whose +breadth was exceeded only by its length. + +"Oh Lor', oh Lor'--to see the old bat-fowl with the eyes comin' out of +the head of un! I'll be danged if I shouldn't choke!--oh Lor'!" + +Mr. Sharp saw that Tickuss, being once set off, might be trusted to go +on for at least half an hour, with minute-guns of cackling, loutish, +self-glorifying cachinnation, as amenable to reason as a hiccough is. +The lawyer's time was too precious to waste thus, so having learned +all that he cared to learn, and hearing wheels in the forest lane, he +turned back along the narrow covert-ride; and he thought within +himself, for he never mused aloud--"My bold stroke bids fair to be a +great success. Nobody dreams that the girl is here. She herself +believes every word that she is told. Kit is over head and ears; and +she will be the same with him, after that fine rescue. Our only +marplot has been laid by the heels at the very nick of time. We have +only to manage Kit himself--who is a most confounded sort. The luck is +with me, the luck is with me; and none shall be the wiser, Only give +me one month more." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +RATS. + + +Meanwhile at Shotover Grange, as well as at poor old Beckley Barton, +trouble was prevailing and the usual style of things upset. Russel +Overshute, though not beloved by everybody (because of his strong will +and words), was at any rate thought much of, and would be sadly missed +by all. All the women of the household made an idol of him. He spoke +so kindly, and said "thank you," when many men would have grunted; and +he did not seem to be aware of any padlocked bar of humanity betwixt +him and his "inferiors." At the same time he took no liberty any more +than he invited it; and his fine appearance and strength of readiness +made him look the master. + +The men, on the other hand, were not sure of their sorrow to see less +of him. He had always kept a keen eye upon them, as the master of a +large house ought to do; and he always bore in mind the great truth +that men on the whole are much lazier than women. Still even the worst +man about the place, while he freely took advantage of the present +sweet immunity, would have been sorry to hear of a thing which might +drive him to seek for another place. + +But what were all these, even all put together, in the weight of their +feelings, to compare with the mother of young Overshute? Many might +cry, but none would mourn; nobody could have any right to mourn, +except herself, his mother. This was her son, and her only hope. If it +pleased the Lord to rob her of him, He might as well take her soon +afterwards, without any more to do. + +This middle-aged lady was not pious, and made no pretence to be so. +Her opinion was that the Lord awarded things according to what people +do, and left them at liberty to carry on, without any great +interference. She knew that she always had been superfluously able to +manage her own affairs; and to hear weak ladies going on and on about +the will of the Lord, and so forth, sometimes was a trial to her +manners and hospitality. In this terrible illness of her son, she had +plenty of self-command, but very little resignation. With stern +activity and self-devotion, she watched him by day and by night so +jealously, that the nurses took offence and, fearing contagion, kept +their distance, though they drew their wages. + +This was the time to show what stuff both men and women were made of. +Fair-weather visitors, and delightful gossips, and the most devoted +friends, stood far aloof from the tainted gale, and fumigated their +letters. The best of them sent their grooms to the lodge, with orders +to be very careful, and to be sure to use tobacco during the moment of +colloquy. Others had so much faith that everything would be ordered +for the best, that they went to the seaside at once, to be delivered +from presumption. Many saw a visitation for some secret sin, that +otherwise might have festered inwardly and destroyed the immortal +part. Of course they would not even hint that he could have murdered +Grace Oglander; nothing was further from their thoughts; the idea was +much too terrible. Still there were many things that long had called +for explanation--and none had been afforded. + +Leaving these to go their way, a few kind souls came fluttering to the +house of pestilence and death. Two housemaids, and the boy who cleaned +the servant's shoes, had been struck down, and never rose again, +except with very cautious liftings into their last narrow cells. The +disease had spread from their master; and their constitutions were not +like his. Also the senior footman and the under-cook, were in their +beds; but the people who had their work to do believed them to be only +shamming. + +The master, however, still fought on, without any knowledge of the +conflict. His mind was beyond all the guidance of will, and afar from +its wonted subjects. It roved among clouds that had long blown away; +nebules of logic, dialectic fogs, and thunderstorms of enthymeme, the +pelting of soritic hail, and all the other perturbed condition of +undergraduate weather. In these things, unlike his friend Hardenow, he +had never taken delight, and now they rose up to avenge themselves. At +other times the poor fellow lay in depths of deepest lethargy, +voiceless, motionless, and almost breathless. None but his mother +would believe sometimes that he was not downright dead and gone. + +Of course Mrs. Overshute had called in the best advice to be had from +the whole of the great profession of medicine. The roughness of the +Abernethy school was still in vogue with country doctors; as even now +some of it may be found in a craft which ought to be gentle in +proportion to its helplessness. With timid people this roughness goes +a long way towards creating faith, and makes them try to get better +for fear of being insulted about it. In London however this Centauric +school of medicine had not thriven, when the rude Nessus could not +heal himself. A soft and soothing and genial race of Æsculapians +arose; the "vis medicatrix naturæ" was exalted and fed with calves' +feet; and the hand of velvet and the tongue of silver commended and +sweetened the pill of bread. + +At the head of this pleasing and amiable band (who seldom either +killed or cured) was the famous Sir Anthony Thistledown. This was the +great physician who had been invoked from London--to the strong +disgust of Splinters, then the foremost light at Oxford--when Squire +Oglander was seized with his very serious illness. And now Sir Anthony +did his best, with the aid of the reconciled Splinters, to soothe away +death from the weary couch of the last of the race of Overshute. + +"A pretty story I've aheerd in Oxford to-day; make me shamed, it +doth," said Zacchary Cripps to his sister Etty, while he smoked his +contemplative pipe by the fire of Stow logs, one cold and windy April +evening. "What do you think they've abeen and doed?" + +"Who, and where, Zak? How can I tell?" Esther was busy, trimming three +rashers, before she put them into the frying-pan. "I really do believe +you expect me to know everybody that comes to your thoughts, quite as +if it was my own mind." + +"Well, so you ought," said the Carrier. "The women nowadays are so +sharp, no man can have his own mind to his self. But anyhow you ought +to know that I mean up to poor Worship Overshute's. Ah, a fine young +gentleman as ever lived. Seemeth to be no more than last night as he +sat in that there chair and said the queerest thing as ever were said +by a Justice of the county bench." + +"What do you mean, Zak? I never heard him say anything but was kind +and proper, and a credit to him." + +"Might be proper, or might not. But anyhow 'twere impossible. Did a +tell me, or did a not, he would try to go a-poaching? When folk begins +to talk like that, 'tis a sign of the ill come over them. Ah's me, +'tis little he'll ever do of poaching, or shutting, or riding to +hounds, or tasting again of my best bottle! Bad enough job it be about +old Squire, but he be an old man in a way of speaking. Well, the Lord +He knoweth best, and us be all in the hollow of His hand. But he were +a fine young fellow, as fine a young fellow as ever I see; and not a +bit of pride about un!" + +Sadly reflecting, the Carrier stopped his pipe with a twig from the +fireplace, and gazed at the soot, because his eyes were bright. + +"But what were you going to tell me?" asked Etty, bringing her brother +back to his subject, as she often was obliged to do. + +"Railly, I be almost ashamed to tell 'ee. For such a thing to come to +pass in our own county, and a'most the same parish, and only two +turnpike gates atween. What do 'ee think of every soul in that there +house running right away, wi'out no notice, nor so much as 'good-bye!' +One and all on 'em, one and all; so I were told by a truthful man. And +the poor old leddy with her dying son, and not a single blessed woman +for to make the pap!" + +"I never can believe that they would be such cowards," Esther answered +as she left her work and came to look at Zacchary. "Men might, but +women never, I should hope. And such a kind good house it is! Oh, Zak, +it must be a wicked story!" + +"It is true enough, Etty, and too true. As I was a-coming home I seed +five on 'em standing all together under the elms by Magdalen College. +Their friends would not take them in, I was told, and nobody wouldn't +go nigh 'em. Perhaps they were sorry they had doed it then." + +"The wretches! They ought to sleep out in the rain, without even a +pigsty for shelter! Now, Zak, I never do anything without you; but to +Shotover Grange I go to-night, unless you bar the door on me; and if +you do I will get out of window!" + +"Esther, I never heerd tell of such a thing. If you was under a duty, +well and good; but to fly into the face of the Lord like that, without +no call upon you----" + +"There is a call upon me!" she answered, flushing with calm +resolution; "it is the Lord that calls me, Zak, and He will send me +back again. Now you shall have your supper, while you think it over +quietly. I will not go without your leave, brother; but I am sure you +will give it when you come to think." + +The Carrier, while he munched his bacon, and drank his quart of +home-brewed ale, was, in his quiet mind, more troubled than he had +ever been before, or, at any rate, since he used to pass the tent of +young Cinnaminta. That was the one great romance of his life, and +since he had quelled it with his sturdy strength, and looked round the +world as usual, scarcely any trouble worse than pence and halfpence +had been on him. From week to week, and year to year, he had worked a +cheerful road of life, breathing the fine air, looking at the sights, +feeling as little as need be felt the influence of nature, making new +friends all along his beat, even quicker than the old ones went their +way, carrying on a very decent trade, highly respecting the powers +that be, and highly respected by them. But now he found suddenly +brought before him a matter for consideration, which, in his ordinary +state of mind, would have circulated for a fortnight. Precipitance of +mind to him was worse than driving down a quarry; his practice had +always been, and now it was become his habit, to turn every question +inside out and upside down, and across and across, and finger every +seam of it (as if he were buying a secondhand sack) ere ever he began +to trust his weight to any side of it. To do all this required some +hours with a mind so unelectric, and even after that he liked to have +a good night's sleep, and find the core of his resolve set hard in the +morning. + +For this due process there was now no time. He dared not even to begin +it, knowing that it could not be wrought out; therefore he betook +himself to a plan which once before had served him well. After groping +in the bottom of a sacred pocket (where sample-beans and scarlet +runners got into the loops of keys, and bits of whipcord were wound +tightly round old turnpike tickets, and a little shoemaker's awl in a +cork kept company with a shoe-pick), Master Cripps with his +blunt-headed fingers got hold of a crooked sixpence. The bend alone +would have only conferred a simple charm upon it, but when to the bend +there was added a hole, that sixpence became Delphic. Cripps had +consulted it once before when a quick-tempered farmer hurried him +concerning the purchase of a rick of hay. The Carrier had no +superstition, but he greatly abounded with gratitude; and, having made +a great hit about that rick, the least he could do to the sixpence was +to consult it again under similar hurry. + +He said to himself, "Now the Lord send me right. If you comes out +heads, little Etty shall go; if you comes out tails, I shall take it +for a sign that we ought to turn tails in this here job." + +He said no more, but with great extrication worked his oracular +sixpence up through a rattle of obstructions. Like the lots cast in a +steep-headed man's helmet, up came the sixpence reluctantly. + +"I have a got 'ee. Now, what dost thou say?" cried Cripps, with the +triumph of an obstinate man. "Never a lie hast thou told me yet. Spake +up, little fellow." Being thus adjured, the crooked sixpence, in +gratitude for much friction, gleamed softly in the firelight; but even +the Carrier, keen as his eyes were, could not make out head or tail. +"Vetch me a can'le and the looking-glass," he called out to Esther; +the looking-glass being a large old lens, which had been left behind +by Hardenow. Esther brought both in about half a minute; and Cripps, +with the little coin sternly sitting as flatly in his palm as its form +allowed, began to examine it carefully. With one eye shut, as if +firing a gun, he tried the lens at every distance from a foot to half +an inch, shifting the candle about until some of his frizzly hair took +fire, and with this assistance he exclaimed at last, "Heads, +child!--heads it is! Thou shalt go; the will of the Lord ordaineth it! +Plaize the Lord to send thee back safe and sound as now thou goest! +None on us, to my knowledge, has done aught to deserve to be punished +for." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +BOOTS ON. + + +When a very active man is suddenly "laid by the heels;" sad as the +dispensation is, there are sure to be some who rejoice in it. Even if +it be only a zealous clerk, sausage-maker, or grave-digger, thus upset +in his activities; there are one or two compeers who rejoice in the +heart, while they deeply lament with the lip. Not that they have the +very smallest atom of ill-will about them. They are thoroughly +good-hearted fellows, as are nine men out of every ten; and within, as +well as without, they would grieve to hear that their valued friend +was dead. + +Still, for the moment, and while we believe, as everybody does about +everybody else, that he is sure as a top to come round again, it is a +relief to have this busy fellow just out of the way a bit; and there +is an inward hugging of the lazier spirit at the thought that the +restless one will have received a lesson, and be pulled back to a +milder state. Be this view of the matter either true or false, in a +general way, at least in this particular instance (the illness of +Russel Overshute), some of it seemed to apply right well. + +There was no one who wished him positive death, not even of those whom +he had most justly visited with the treadmill; but there were several +who were not sorry to hear of this check to his energies; and foremost +among them might be counted Mr. Luke Sharp and the great John Smith. + +Mr. John Smith had surprised his friends, and disappointed the entire +public, by finding out nothing at all about anything after his one +great discovery, made with the help of the British army. For some +cause or other, best known to himself, he had dropped his +indefatigability and taken to very grave shakes of his head instead of +nimble footings. He feigned to be very busy still with this leading +case of the neighbourhood; but though his superiors might believe it, +his underlings were not to be misled. All of these knew whether Mr. +John was launching thunderbolts or throwing dust, and were well aware +that he had quite taken up with the latter process in the Beckley +case. + +Why, or even exactly when, this change had occurred, they did not +know, only they were sure that the reason lay deep in the pocket of +Mr. Smith; which conclusion, as we shall see, did no more honour to +their heads than to their hearts. + +But still, whatever his feelings were, or his desires in the matter, +the resolute face and active step of this intelligent officer were +often to be seen and heard at Beckley; and to several persons in the +village they were becoming welcome. Numbers Cripps, the butcher, was +moved with gentle goodwill towards him, having heard what a fine knife +and fork he played, and finding it true in the Squire's bill. Also +Phil Hiss of the Dusty Anvil found the fame of this gentleman telling +on his average receipts; and several old women, who had some time back +made up their accounts for a better world, and were taking the +interest in scandal, hailed with delight this unexpected bonus and +true premium. To mention young spinsters would be immoral, for none of +them had any certainty whether there was, or was not, any Mrs. John +Smith. Rustic modesty forbade that the Carrier should be asked to +settle this great point directly. Still there were methods of letting +him know how desirable any information was. + +At all these symptoms of renown, when brought to his knowledge, Mr. +Smith only smiled and shook his head. He had several good reasons of +his own for haunting the village as he did; one of them being that he +thus obeyed the general orders he had received. Also he really liked +the Squire, his victuals, and his domestics. Among these latter he had +quite outlived any little prejudice created by his early manner; and +even Mary Hookham was now inclined to use him as an irritant, or +stimulant, for the lukewarm Cripps. But being a sharp and quick young +woman, Mary took care not to go too far. + +"How is the fine old gentleman now? Mary, my love, how is he?" Mr. +Smith asked, as he pulled off his cloak in the lobby, just after +church-time, and just before early dinner-time, on the morrow of that +Saturday night when Esther set off for Shotover. Although it was +spring, she had not gone alone, but had taken a son of the butcher +with her; the effect of that quarry-scene on her nerves would last as +long as she did. + +Mary was bound not to answer Mr. Smith whenever he spoke in that +festive way. That much had been settled betwixt her and her mother, +remembering what a place Beckley was. But she did all her duty, as a +good maid should, in the way of receiving a visitor. She took his +cloak from him, and she hung it on a hook--most men wore a cloak just +then for walking, whether it were wet or dry, and part of the coming +"Tractarian movement" was to cast away that cloak--and then Mary saw +on the feathery collar a leaf-bud that threatened to become a moth, +according to her entomology. This she picked out, with a "shoo" and a +"shish" as she trod it underfoot; and Mr. John Smith, having terror of +insects, and being a very clean man, recoiled, just when he was +thinking of stealing a kiss. This little piece of business placed them +on their proper terms again. + +"How is your master, Miss Hookham? I hope you find him getting better. +Everything now is looking up again!" + +"No, Mr. Smith; he is very sadly. Thanking you, sir, for inquiring of +him. He do seem a little better one day, and we all begins to hope and +hope, and then there come something all over him again, the same as +might be this here cloak, sir, thrown on the head of that there stick. +But come in and see him, Mr. Smith, if you please. I thought it was +the rector when you rang. But master will be glad to see you every bit +the same as if you was, no doubt." + +John Smith, who was never to be put down by any small comparisons, +followed quick Mary with a stedfast march over the quiet matting. +Potters, with their broken shards, had not yet made it a trial to +walk, and a still greater trial to look downward, on the road to +dinner. In the long, old-fashioned dining-room sat the Squire at the +head of his table. For many years it had been his wont to have an +early dinner on Sunday, with a knife and fork always ready for the +clergyman, who was a bachelor of middle age. The clergyman came, or +did not come, according to his own convenience, without ceremony or +apology. + +"I beg you to excuse," said the Squire rising, as Smith was shown into +the room, "my absence from church this morning, Mr. Warbelow. I had +quite made up my mind to go, and everything was quite ready, when I +did not feel quite so well as usual, and was ordered to stay at home." + +Squire Oglander made his fine old-fashioned bow when he had spoken, +and held out his hand for the parson to take it, as the parson always +did, with eyes that gave a look of grief and then fell, and kind lips +that murmured that all things were ordered for the best. But instead +of the parson's gentle clasp, the Squire, whose sight was beginning to +fail together with his other faculties, was saluted with a strong +rough grasp, and a gaze from entirely unclerical eyes. + +"How is your Worship? Well, nicely, I hope. Charming you look, sir, as +ever I see." + +"Sir, I thank you. I am in good health. But I have not the honour of +remembering your name." + +"Smith, your Worship--John Smith, at your service; as he was the day +before yesterday. 'Out of sight out of mind,' the old saying is. I +suppose you find it so, sir!" + +With this home-thrust, delivered quite unwittingly, Mr. Smith sat +down; his opinion was that Her Majesty's service levelled all +distinctions. Mr. Oglander gave him one glance, like the keen look of +his better days, and then turned away and gazed round the room for +something out of sight, but never likely to be out of mind. The old +man was weak, and knew his weakness. In the presence of a gentleman he +might have broken down and wept, and been much better for it; but +before a man of this sort, not a sign would he let out of the sorrow +that was killing him. + +It had been settled by all doctors, when the Squire was in his first +illness, that nothing should be said by Smith, or any one else +(without great cause), about the trouble which was ever in the heart +of all the house. Nothing, at least to the Squire himself, for fear of +exciting him fatally. Little rumours might be filtered through the +servants towards him; especially through Mother Hookham, who put +hopeful grains of Paradise into the heavy beer of fact. Such things +did the old man good. His faith in the Lord, when beginning to flag, +was renewed by fibs of this good old woman; and each confirmed the +other. + +In former days he would have resented and nipped in the +bud--kind-hearted as he was--John Smith's familiarity. But now he had +no heart to care about any of such trifles. He begged Mr. Smith to +take a chair, quite as if he were waiting to be invited; then, weak as +he was, he tottered to the bell-pull, rather than ask his guest to +ring. John Smith jumped up to help, but felt uncertain what good +manners were. + +"Mary," said the Squire, when Mary came; "you always look out of the +window, I think, to see the people come out of church." + +"Never, sir, never! Except whenever I feels wicked not to a' been +there myself. Such time it seemeth to do me good; like smelling of the +good words over there." + +"Yes, that is very right. All I want to know is whether Mr. Warbelow +is coming up here." + +"No, sir; not this time, I believe. He seemed to have got a young +lady with un, as wore a blue cloak with three slashes to the sleeve, +and a bonnet with yellow French roses in it, and a striped skirt, +made of the very same stuff as I seed in to Cavell's--no, not +Cavell's--t'other shop over the way, round the corner; likewise her +had----" + +"Then, Mary, bring in the dinner, if you please. This gentleman will +dine with me, instead of Mr. Warbelow." + +"Well now, if I ever did!" Miss Hookham exclaimed to herself in the +passage. "Why, a must be a sort of a gentleman! Master wouldn't dine +along of Master Cripps; but to my mind Zak be the gentleman afore he!" + +The Squire's oblique little sarcasm--if sarcasm at all it were--failed +to hit Mr. Smith altogether; he cordially accepted plate and spoon, +and fell to at the soup, which was excellent. The soup was followed by +a fine sirloin; whereupon Mr. Oglander, through some association of +ideas, could not suppress a little sigh. + +"Never sigh at your meat, sir," cried Mr. Smith; "give me the +carving-knife, sir, if you are unequal to the situation. To sigh at +such a sirloin--oh fie, oh fie!" + +"I was thinking of some one who always used to like the brown," the +old man said, in the simplest manner, as if an apology were needed. + +"Well, sir, I like the brown very much! I will put it by for myself, +sir, and help you to an inner slice. Here, Mary, a plate for your +master! Quick! Everything will be cold, my goodness! And who sliced +this horse-radish, pray? for slicing it is, not scraping." + +Mary was obliged to bite her tongue to keep it in any way mannersome; +when the door was thrown open, and in came her mother, with her face +quite white, and both hands stretched on high. + +"Oh my! oh my! a sin I call it--a wicked, cruel, sinful sin!" Widow +Hookham exclaimed as soon as she could speak. "All over the village, +all over the parish, in two days' time at the latest it will be. Oh, +how could your Worship allow of it?" + +"Give your mamma a glass of wine, my dear," said Mr. John Smith, as +the widow fell back, with violent menace of fainting, or worse; while +the poor Squire, expecting some new blow, folded his tremulous hands +to receive it. "Take a good drink, ma'am, and then relieve your +system." + +"That Cripps! oh, that Cripps!" exclaimed Mrs. Hookham, as soon as the +wine, which first "went the wrong way," had taken the right direction; +"if ever a darter of mine hath Cripps, in spite of two stockings of +money, they say----" + +"What is it about Cripps?" asked the Squire, in a voice that required +an immediate answer. The first news of his trouble had come through +Cripps; and now, in his helpless condition, he always connected the +name of the Carrier with the solution, if one there should be. + +"He hath done a thing he ought to be ashamed on!" screamed Mrs. +Hookham, with such excitement, that they were forced to give her +another glass of wine; "he hath brought into this parish, and the +buzzum of his family, pestilence and death, he hath! And who be he to +do such a thing, a road-faring, twopenny carrier?" + +"Cripps charges a good deal more than twopence," said Mr. Oglander +quietly; for his hopes and fears were once more postponed. + +"He hath brought the worst load ever were brought!" cried the widow, +growing eloquent. "Black death, and the plague, and the murrain of +Egypt hath come in through Cripps the Carrier! How much will he charge +Beckley, your Worship? How much shall Beckley pay him, when she +mourneth for her children? when she spreadeth forth her hands and +seeketh north and south, and cannot find them, because they are not?" + +"What is it, good woman?" cried Smith, impatiently, "what is all this +uproar? do tell us, and have done with it?" + +"Good man," replied Widow Hookham tartly, "my words are addressed to +your betters, sir. Your Worship knoweth well that Master Kale hath +leave and license for his Sunday dinner; ever since his poor wife +died, he sitteth with a knife and fork to the right side of our +cook-maid. He were that genteel, I do assure you, although his +appearance bespeaketh it not, and city gents may look down on him; he +had such a sense of propriety, not a word did he say all the time of +dinner to raise an objection to the weakest stomach. But as soon as he +see that all were done, and the parlour dinner forward, he layeth his +finger on his lips, and looketh to me as the prime authority; and when +I ask him to speak out, no secrets being among good friends, what he +said were a deal too much for me, or any other Christian person." + +"Well, well, ma'am, if your own dinner was respected, you might have +showed some respect for ours," Mr. Smith exclaimed very sadly, +beholding the gravy in the channelled dish margined with grease, and +the noble sirloin weeping with lost opportunity. But Mr. Oglander took +no notice. To such things he was indifferent now. + +"To keep the mind dwelling upon earthly victuals," the widow replied +severely, "on the Lord's Day, and with the Day of the Lord a-hanging +special over us--such things is beyond me to deal with, and calls for +Mr. Warbelow. Carrier Cripps hath sent his sister over to nurse Squire +Overshute!" + +John Smith pretended to be busy with his beef, but Mary, who made a +point of watching whatever he did (without well knowing why), startled +as she was by her mother's words, this girl had her quick eyes upon +his face, and was sure that it lost colour, as the carved sirloin of +beef had done from the trickling of the gravy. + +"Overshute! nurse Mr. Overshute?" cried the Squire with great +astonishment. "Why, what ails Mr. Overshute? It is a long time since I +have seen him, and I thought that he had perhaps forgotten me. He used +to come very often, when--but who am I to tempt him? When my darling +was here, in the time of my darling, everybody came to visit me; now +nobody comes, and of course it is right. There is nobody for them to +look at now, and no one to make them laugh a little. Ah, she used to +make them laugh, till I was quite jealous, I do believe; not of +myself, bless your heart! but of her, because I never liked her to +have too much to say to anybody, unless it was one who could +understand her. And nobody ever turned up that was able, in any way, +to understand her, except her poor old father, sir." + +The Squire, at the end of this long speech (which had been a great +deal too much for him) stood up, and flourished his fork, which should +have been better employed in feeding him, and looked from face to +face, in fear that he had made himself ridiculous. Nobody laughed at +him, or even smiled; and he was pleased with this, and resolved never +to give such occasion again; because it would have shamed him so. And +after all it was his own business. None of these people could have any +idea, and he hoped they never might have. By this time his mind was +dropping softly into some confusion, and feeling it so, he sat down +again, and drank the glass of wine which Mary Hookham kindly held for +him. + +For a few minutes Mr. John Smith had his flourish (to let both the +women be sure who he was) all about the Queen, and the law of the +land, and the jurisdiction of the Bench, and he threatened the absent +Cripps with three months' imprisonment, and perhaps the treadmill. He +knew that he was talking unswept rubbish, but his audience was female. +They listened to him without leaving off their work; and their courage +increased as his did. + +But presently Mr. Oglander, who had seemed to be taking a nap, arose, +and said, as clearly as ever he had said anything in his clearest +days-- + +"Mary, go and tell Charles to put the saddle on the mare at once." + +"Oh Lor', sir! whatever are you thinking of? Lor' a massy, sir, I +couldn't do it, I couldn't! You ain't abeen a-horseback for nigh four +months, and your orders is to keep quiet in your chair, and not even +look out o' winder, sir. Do 'ee plaize to go into your slippers, sir?" + +"I will not go into my slippers, Mary. I will go into my boots. I hear +that Mr. Overshute is ill, and I gather from what you have all been +saying that his illness is of such a kind that nobody will go near +him. I have wronged the young gentleman bitterly, and I will do my +best to right myself. If I never do another thing, I will ride to +Shotover this day. Order the mare, as I tell you, and the air will do +me good, please God!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +A SPIDER'S DINNER-PARTY. + + +Now was the happy time when Oxford, ever old, yet ever fresh with the +gay triennial crown of youth, was preparing itself for that sweet +leisure for which it is seldom ill prepared. Being the paramount +castle and strongest feudal hold of stout "idlesse," this fair city +has not much to do to get itself into prime condition for the noblest +efforts and most arduous feats of invincible laziness. The first and +most essential step is to summon all her students, and send them to +chapel to pay their vows. After this there need be no misgiving or +fear of industry. With one accord they issue forth, all pledged to do +nothing for the day, week, or month; each intellectual brow is stamped +with the strongest resolve not to open a book; and + + "Games are the spur which the clear spirit doth raise, + To scorn the Dons, and live luxurious days." + +This being so, whether winter shatters the Isid wave against Folly +bridge, or spring's arrival rustles in the wavering leaves of +Magdalen, or autumn strews the chastened fragrance of many brewers on +ripe air--how much more when beauteous summer fosters the coy down on +the lip of the junior sophist like thistle-seed, and casts the +freshman's shadow hotly on the flags of High Street--now or never is +the proper period not to overwork one's self, and the hour for taking +it easy. + +But against each sacred rite and hallowed custom of the place, against +each good old-fashioned smoothness, and fine-fed sequacity, a rapid +stir was now arising, and a strong desire to give a shove. There were +some few people who really thought that the little world in which they +lay was one they ought to move in; that perfect life was not to be had +without some attempt at breathing; and that a fire (though beautifully +laid) gives little warmth till kindled. + +However, these were young fellows mostly, clever in their way, but not +quite sound; and the heads of houses, generally speaking, abode on the +house-top, and did not come down. Still they kept their sagacious eyes +on the movement gathering down below, and made up their minds to crush +it as soon as they could be quite certain of being too late. But these +things ride not upon the cart of Cripps--though Cripps is a +theologian, when you beat his charges down. + +After the Easter vacation was over, with too few fattening festivals, +the most popular tutor in Brasenose (being the only one who ever tried +to teach) came back to his rooms and his college work with a very fine +appetite for doing good;--according, at least, to his own ideas of +good, and duty, and usefulness; all of which were fundamentally wrong +in the opinion of the other tutors. But Hardenow, while he avoided +carefully all disputes with his colleagues, strictly kept to his own +course, and doing more work than the other five (all put together) +attempted, was permitted to have his own way, because of the trouble +there might be in stopping him. + +The college met for the idle term, on Saturday morning, as usual. On +Saturday afternoon Hardenow led off his old "squad" with two new +recruits, for their fifteen miles of hard walking. Athletics and +training were as yet unknown (except with the "eight" for Henley), and +this Tractarian movement may have earned its name, ere the birth of +No. 90, from the tract of road traversed, in a toe-and-heel track, by +the fine young fellows who were up to it. At any rate that was what +the country people said, and these are more often right than wrong, +and the same opinion still abides with them. + +Hardenow only took this long tramp for the sake of collecting his +forces. Saturday was not their proper day for this very admirable +coat-tail chase. Neither did they swallow hill and plain in this +manner on a Sunday. Lectures were needful to fetch them up to the +proper pitch for striding so. Wherefore on the morrow Mr. Hardenow was +free for a cruise on his own account, after morning sermon at St. +Mary's; and not having heard of his old friend Russel for several +weeks, he resolved to go and hunt him up in his own home. + +It was not a possible thing for this very active and spare-bodied man +to lounge upon his road. Whatever it was that he undertook, he carried +on the action with such a swing and emphasis, that he seemed to be +doing nothing else. He wore a short spencer, and a long-tailed coat, +"typical"--to use the pet word of that age--both of his curt brevity +and his ankle-reaching gravity. His jacket stuck into him, and his +coat struck away with the power of an adverse wind, while the boys +turned back and stared at him; but he was so accustomed to that sort +of thing that he never thought of looking round. He might have been +tail-piped for seven leagues without troubling his head about it. + +This was a man of great power of mind, and led up to a lofty standard; +pure, unselfish, good, and grand (so far as any grandeur can be in the +human compound), watchful over himself at almost every corner of his +ways, kind of heart, and fond of children; loving all simplicity, +quick to catch and glance the meaning of minds very different from his +own; subtle also, and deep to reason, but never much inclined to +argue. He had a shy and very peculiar manner of turning his eyes away +from even an undergraduate, when his words did not command assent; as +sometimes happened with freshmen full of conceit from some great +public school. + +The manner of his mind was never to assert itself, or enter into +controversy. He felt that no arguments would stir himself when he had +solidly cast his thoughts; and he had of all courtesies the rarest (at +any rate with Englishmen), the courtesy of hoping that another could +reason as well as himself. + +In this honest and strenuous nature there was one deficiency. The Rev. +Thomas Hardenow, copious of mind and active, clear of memory, and keen +at every knot of scholarship, patient and candid too, and not at all +intolerant, yet never could reach the highest rank, through want of +native humour. His view of things was nearly always anxious and +earnest. His standing-point was so fixed and stable, that every +subject might be said to revolve on its own axis during its revolution +round him; and the side that never presented itself was the ludicrous +or lightsome one. + +As he strode up the hill, with the back of his leg-line concave at the +calf, instead of convex (whenever his fluttering skirt allowed a +glimpse of what he never thought about), it was brought home suddenly +to his ranging mind that he might be within view of Beckley. At a bend +of the rising road he turned, and endwise down a plait of hills, and +between soft pillowy folds of trees, the simple old church of Beckley +stood, for his thoughts to make the most of it. And, to guide them, +the chime of the gentle bells, foretelling of the service at three +o'clock, came on the tremulous conveyance of the wind, murmuring the +burden he knew so well--"old men and ancient dames, married folk and +children, bachelors and maidens, all come to church!" + +Hardenow thought of the months he had spent, some few years back, in +that quiet place; of the long, laborious, lonesome days, the solid +hours divided well, the space allotted for each hard drill; then (when +the pages grew dim and dark, and the bat flitted over the lattice, or +the white owl sailed to the rickyard), the glory of sallying into the +air, inhaling grander volumes than ever from mortal breath proceeded, +and plunging into leaves that speak of one great Author only. And well +he remembered in all that toil the pure delight of the Sunday; the +precious balm of kicking out both legs, and turning on the pillow +until eight o'clock; the leisurely breakfast with the Saturday papers, +instead of Aristotle; the instructive and amusing walk to church, +where everybody admired him, and he set the fashion for at least ten +years; the dread of the parson that a man who was known as the best of +his year at Oxford should pick out the fallacies of his old logic; and +then the culminating triumph of Sabbatic jubilee--the dinner, the +dinner, wherewith the whole week had been privily gestating; up to +that crowning moment when Cripps, in a coat of no mean broadcloth, +entered with a dish of Crippsic size, with the "trimmings" coming +after him in a tray, and lifting the cover with a pant and flourish, +said, "Well, sir, now, what do 'ee plaize to think of that?" + +Nor in this pleasant retrospect of kindness and simplicity was the +element of rustic grace and beauty wholly absent--the slight young +figure that flitted in and out, with quick desire to please him; the +soft pretty smile with which his improvements of Beckley dialect were +received; and the sweet gray eyes that filled with tears so, the day +before his college met. Hardenow had feared, humble-minded as he was, +that the young girl might be falling into liking him too well; and he +knew that there might be on his own part too much reciprocity. +Therefore (much as he loved Cripps, and fully as he allowed for all +that was to be said upon every side), he had felt himself bound to +take no more than a distant view of Beckley. + +Even now, after three years and a half, there was some resolve in him +to that effect, or the residue of a resolution. He turned from the +gentle invitation of the distant bells, and went on with his face set +towards the house of his old friend, Overshute. When he came to the +lodge (which was like a great beehive stuck at the end of a row of +trees), it caused him a little surprise to find the gate wide open, +and nobody there. But he thought that, as it was Sunday, perhaps the +lodge-people were gone for a holiday; and so he trudged onward, and +met no one to throw any light upon anything. + +In this way he came to the door at last, with the fine old porch of +Purbeck stone heavily overhanging it, and the long wings of the house +stretched out, with empty windows either way. Hardenow rang and +knocked, and then set to and knocked and rang again; and then sat down +on a stone balustrade; and then jumped up with just vigour renewed, +and pushed and pulled, and in every way worked to the utmost degree of +capacity everything that had ever been gifted with any power of +conducting sound. + +Nobody answered. The sound of his energy went into places far away, +and echoed there, and then from stony corners came back to him. He +traced the whole range of the windows and caught no sign of any life +inside them. At last, he pushed the great door, and lo! there was +nothing to resist his thrust, except its sullen weight. + +When Hardenow stood in the old-fashioned hall, which was not at all +"baronial," he found himself getting into such a fright that he had a +great mind to go away again. If there had only been anybody with +him--however inferior in "mental power"--he might have been able to +refresh himself by demonstrating something, and then have marched on +to the practical proof. But now he was all by himself, in strange and +unaccountable loneliness. The sense of his condition perhaps induced +him to set to and shout. The silence was so oppressive, that the sound +of his own voice almost alarmed him by its audacity. So, after +shouting "Russel!" thrice, he stopped, and listened, and heard nothing +except that cold and shuddering ring, as of hardware in frosty +weather, which stone and plaster and timber give when deserted by +their lords--mankind. + +Knowing pretty well all the chief rooms of the house, Hardenow +resolved to go and see if they were locked; and grasping his black +holly-stick for self-defence, he made for the dining-room. The door +was wide open; the cloth on the table, with knives and forks and +glasses placed, as if for a small dinner-party; but the only guest +visible was a long-legged spider, with a sound and healthy appetite, +who had come down to dine from the oak beams overhead, and was sitting +in his web between a claret bottle and a cruet-stand, ready to receive +with a cordial clasp any eligible visitor. + +Hardenow tasted the water in a jug, and found it quite stale and +nasty; then he opened a napkin, and the bread inside it was dry and +hard as biscuit. Then he saw with still further surprise that the +windows were open to their utmost extent, and the basket of plate was +on the sideboard. + +"My old friend Russel, my dear old fellow!" he cried with his hand on +his heart where lurked disease as yet unsuspected, "what strange +misfortune has befallen you? No wonder my letter was left unanswered. +Perhaps the dear fellow is now being buried, and every one gone to his +funeral. But no; if it were so, these things would not be thus. The +funeral feast is a grand institution. Everything would be fresh and +lively, and five leaves put into the dinner-table." With this true +reflection, he left the room to seek the solution elsewhere. + +He failed, however, to find it in any of the downstair sitting-rooms. +Then he went even into the kitchen, thinking the liberty allowable +under such conditions. The grate was cold and the table bare; on the +one lay a drift of soot, on the other a level deposit of dust, with a +few grimy implements to distribute it. + +Hardenow made up his mind for the worst. He was not addicted to +fiction (as haply was indicated by his good degree), but he could not +help recalling certain eastern and even classic tales; and if he had +come upon all the household sitting in native marble, or from the +waistband downward turned into fish, or logs, or dragons, he might +have been partly surprised, but must have been wholly thankful for the +explanation. Failing however to discover this, and being resolved to +go through with the matter, the tutor of Brasenose mounted the black +oak staircase of this enchanted house. At the head of the stairs was a +wide, low passage, leading right and left from a balustraded gallery. +The young man chose first the passage to the right, and tightening his +grip of the stick, strode on. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE FIRE-BELL. + + +The doors of the rooms on either side were not only open but fastened +back; the sashes of the windows were all thrown up; and the rain, +which had followed when the east wind fell, had entered and made +puddles on the sills inside. Such a draught of air rushed down the +passage that Hardenow's lengthy skirts flickered out, in the orthodox +fashion, behind him. + +At the end of this passage he came to a small alcove, fenced off with +a loose white curtain, shaking and jerking itself in the wind. He put +this aside with his stick; and two doorways, leading into separate +rooms, but with no doors in them, faced him. Something told him that +both these rooms held human life, or human death. + +First he looked in at the one on the left. He expected to see lonely +death; perhaps corruption; or he knew not what. His nerves were strung +or unstrung (whichever is the medical way of putting it) to such a +degree that he wholly forgot, or entirely put by, everything, except +his own absorbing sense of his duty, as a man in holy orders. This +duty had never been practised yet in any serious way, because he had +never been able to afford it. It costs so much more money than it +brings in. However, in the midst of more lucrative work, he had felt +that he was sacred to it--rich or poor--and he often had a special +hankering after it. This leaning towards the cure of souls had a good +chance now of being gratified. + +In the room on the left hand he saw a little bed, laid at the foot of +a fat four-poster, which with carved mouths grinned at it; and on this +little bed of white (without curtain, or trimming, or tester), lay a +lady, or a lady's body, cast down recklessly, in sleep or death, with +the face entirely covered by a silvery cloud of hair. From the manner +in which one arm was bent, Hardenow thought that the lady lived. There +was nothing else to show it. Being a young man, a gentleman also, he +hung back and trembled back from entering that room. + +Without any power to "revolve things well," as he always directed his +pupils to do, Hardenow stepped to the other doorway, and silently +settled his gaze inside. His eyes were so worried that he could not +trust them, until he had time to consider what they told. + +They told him a tale even stranger than that which had grown upon him +for an hour now, and passed from a void alarm into a terror; they +showed him the loveliest girl--according to their rendering--that ever +they had rested on till now; a maiden sitting in a low chair reading, +silently sometimes, and sometimes in a whisper, according to some +signal, perhaps, of which he saw no sign. There was no other person in +the room, so far as he could see; and he strained his eyes with +extreme anxiety to make out that. + +The Rev. Thomas Hardenow knew (as clearly as his keen perception ever +had brought any knowledge home) that he was not discharging the +functions now--unless they were too catholic--of the sacerdotal +office, in watching a young woman through a doorway, without either +leave or notice. But though he must have been aware of this, it +scarcely seemed now to occur to him; or whether it did, or did not, he +went on in the same manner gazing. + +The girl could not see him; it was not fair play. The width of great +windows, for instance, kept up such a rattling of blinds, and such +flapping of cords, and even the floor was so strewn with herbs (for +the sake of their aroma), that anybody might quite come close to +anybody who had cast away fear (in the vast despair of prostration), +without any sense of approach until perhaps hand was laid upon +shoulder. Hardenow took no more advantage of these things than about +half a minute. In that half-minute, however, his outward faculties +(being all alive with fear) rendered to his inward and endiathetic +organs a picture, a schema, or a plasm--the proper word may be left to +him--such as would remain inside, at least while the mind abode there. + +The sound of low, laborious breath pervaded the sick room now and +then, between the creaking noises and the sighing of the wind. In +spite of all draughts, the air was heavy with the scent of herbs +strewn broadcast, to prevent infection--tansy, wormwood, rue, and +sage, burnt lavender and rosemary. The use of acids in malignant +fevers was at that time much in vogue, and saucers of vinegar and +verjuice, steeped lemon-peel, and such like, as well as dozens of +medicine bottles, stood upon little tables. Still Hardenow could not +see the patient; only by following the glance of the reader could he +discover the direction. It was the girl herself, however, on whom his +wondering eyes were bent. At first he seemed to know her face, and +then he was sure that he must have been wrong. The sense of doing +good, and the wonderful influence of pity, had changed the face of a +pretty girl into that of a beautiful woman. Hardenow banished his +first idea, and wondered what strange young lady this could be. + +Although she was reading aloud, and doing it not so very badly, it was +plain enough that she expected no one to listen to her. The sound of +her voice, perhaps, was soothing to some one who understood no words; +as people (in some of the many unknown conditions of brain) have been +soothed and recovered by a thread of waterfall broken with a +walking-stick. At any rate, she read on, and her reading fell like +decent poetry. + +Hardenow scarcely knew what he ought to do. He did not like to go +forward; and it was a mean thing to go backward, rendering no help, +when help seemed wanted so extremely. He peeped back into the other +room; and there was the lady with the fine white hair, sleeping as +soundly as a weary top driven into dreaming by extreme activity of +blows. + +Nothing less than a fine idea could have delivered Hardenow from this +bad situation. It was suddenly borne in upon his mind that the house +had a rare old fire-bell, a relic of nobler ages, hanging from a bar +in a little open cot, scarcely big enough for a hen-roost; and Russel +had shown him one day, with a laugh, the corner in which the rope +hung. There certainly could be but very little chance of doing harm by +ringing it; what could be worse than the present state of things? Some +good Samaritan might come. No Levite was left to be driven away. + +For Hardenow understood the situation now. The meaning of a very short +paragraph in the Oxford paper of Saturday, which he had glanced at and +cast by, came distinctly home to him. The careful editor had omitted +name of person and of place, but had made his report quite clear to +those who held a key to the reference. "How very dull-witted now I +must be!" cried the poor young fellow in his lonely trouble. "I ought +to have known it. But we never know the clearest things until too +late." It was not only for the sake of acquitting himself of an +awkward matter, but also in the hope of doing good to the few left +desolate, that Hardenow moved forth his legs, from the windy white +curtain away again. + +He went down the passage at a very great pace, as nearly akin to a run +as the practice of long steady walks permitted; and then at the head +of the staircase he turned, and remembered a quiet little corner. +Here, in an out-of-the-way recess, the rope of the alarm-bell hung; +and he saw it, even in that niche, moving to and fro with the +universal draught. Hardenow seized it, and rang such a peal as the old +bell had never given tongue to before. The bell was a large one, sound +and clear; and the call must have startled the neighbourhood for a +mile, if it could be startled. + +"Really, I do believe I have roused somebody at last!" exclaimed the +ringer, as he looked through a window commanding the road to the +house, and saw a man on horse-back coming. "But, surely, unless he +sprang out of the ground, he must have been coming before I began." + +In this strange loneliness, almost any visitor would be welcome; and +Hardenow ran towards the top of the stairs to see who it was, and to +meet him. But here, as he turned the corner of the balustraded +gallery, a scared and hurrying young woman, almost ran into his arms. + +"Oh, what is it?" she cried, drawing back, and blushing to a deeper +colour than well-extracted blood can show; "there is no funeral yet! +He is not dead! Who is ringing the bell so? It has startled even him, +and will either kill or save him! Kill him, it will kill him, I am +almost sure!" + +"Esther--Miss Cripps--what a fool I am! I never thought of that--I did +not know--how could I tell? I am all in the dark! Is it Russel +Overshute?" + +"Yes, Mr. Hardenow. Everybody knows it. Every one has taken good care +to run away. Even the doctors will come no more! They say it is +hopeless; and they might only infect their other patients. I fear that +his mother must die too! She has taken the fever in a milder form; but +walk she will, while walk she can. And at her time of life it is such +a chance. But I cannot stop one moment!" + +"And at your time of life is it nothing, Esther? You seem to think of +everybody but yourself. Is this fair to your own hearth and home?" + +While he was speaking he looked at her eyes; and her eyes were filling +with deep tears--a dangerous process to contemplate. + +"Oh, no, there is no fear of that," she answered misunderstanding him; +"I shall take good care not to go home until I am quite sure that +there is no risk." + +"That is not what I mean. I mean supposing you yourself should catch +it." + +"If I do, they will let me stay here, I am sure. But I have no fear of +it. The hand that led me here will lead me back again. But you ought +not to be here. I am quite forgetting you." + +Hardenow looked at her with admiration warmer than he could put into +words. She had been thinking of him throughout. She thought of every +one except herself. Even in the moment of first surprise she had drawn +away so that she stood to leeward; and while they were speaking she +took good care that the current of wind passed from him to her. Also +in one hand she carried a little chafing-dish producing lively +fumigation. + +"Now, if you please, I must go back to him. Nothing would move him; he +lay for hours, as a log lies on a stone. I could not have knowledge +whether he was living, only for his breathing sometimes like a moan. +The sound of the bell seemed to call him to life, for he thought it +was his own funeral. His mother is with him; worn out as she is, the +lady awoke at his rambling. She sent me to find out the meaning. Now, +sir, please to go back round the corner; the shivering wind comes down +the passage." + +Hardenow was not such a coward as to obey her orders. He even wanted +to shake hands with her, as in her girlhood he used to do, when he had +frightened this little pupil with too much emendation. But Esther +curtsied at a distance, and started away--until her retreat was cut +off very suddenly. + +"Why, ho girl! Ho girl; and young man in the corner! What is the +meaning of all this? I have come to see things righted; my name is +Worth Oglander. I find this here old house silent as a grave, and you +two looking like a brace of robbers! Young woman!--young woman!--why, +bless me now, if it isn't our own Etty Cripps! I did believe, and I +would believe, but for knowing of your family, Etty, and your brother +Cripps the Carrier, that here you are for the purpose of setting this +old mansion afire!" + +Esther, having been hard set to sustain what had happened already (as +well as unblest with a wink of sleep since Friday night), was now +unable to assert her dignity. She simply leaned against the wall, and +gently blew into the embers of her disinfecting stuff. She knew that +the Squire might kill himself, after all his weeks of confinement, by +coming over here, in this rash manner, and working himself up so. But +it was not her place to say a word; even if she could say it. + +"Mr. Oglander," said Hardenow, coming forward and offering his hand, +while Esther looked at them from beneath a cloud of smoke, "I know +your name better than you know mine. You happened to be on the +continent when I was staying in your village. My name is Thomas +Hardenow. I am a priest of the Anglican Church, and have no intention +of setting anything on fire." + +"Lor' bless me! Lord bless me! Are you the young fellow that turned +half the heads of Beckley, and made the Oxford examiners all tumble +back, like dead herrings with their jaws down? Cripps was in the +schools, and he told me all about it. And you were a friend of poor +Overshute. I am proud to make your acquaintance, sir." + +"Master Cripps has inverted the story, I fear," Hardenow answered, +with a glance at Esther; while he could not, without rudeness, get his +hand out of the ancient Squire's (which clung to another, in this weak +time, as heartily as it used to do); "the examiners made a dry herring +of me. But I am very glad to see you, sir; I have heard of--at least, +I mean, I feared--that you were in weak health almost." + +"Not a bit of it! I was fool enough--or rather I should say, my +sister--to have a lot of doctors down; fellows worth their weight in +gold, or at any rate in brass, every day of their own blessed lives; +and yet with that temptation even, they cannot lengthen their own +days. Of that I will tell you some other time. They kept me indoors, +and they drenched me with physic--this, that, and the other. God bless +you, sir, this hour of the air, with my own old good mare under me, +has done me more good--but my head goes round; just a little; not +anything to notice. Etty, my dear, don't you be afraid." + +With these words the Squire sank down on the floor, not through any +kind of fit, or even loss of consciousness; but merely because his +fine old legs (being quite out of practice for so many weeks) had +found it a little more than they could do to keep themselves firm in +the stirrups, and then carry their master up slippery stairs, and +after that have to support a good deal of excitement among the trunk +parts. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THROW PHYSIC TO THE DOGS. + + +"In all my life I never knew such a very extraordinary thing," said +Squire Oglander on the following Tuesday, to his old friend Dr. +Splinters. "Why, look you here, he was wholly given up by the very +first man in London--that the poor young fellow was--can you deny +that, Splinters?" + +"Well, between you and me and the door-post, Squire," answered his +learned visitor, "I am not quite so sure that Sir Anthony is quite the +rose and crown of the profession. He may be a great Court card and all +that, and the rage with all the nobility; but for all that, Squire, +there are good men in comparatively obscure positions; men who have +devoted their lives to science from the purest motives; modest men, +sir, who are thankful to pocket their poor guinea; men who would scorn +any handle to their name or any shabby interloping; sir, I say there +are d----d good men----" + +"But even you, Splinters, come now--even you gave him up--unless we +are wholly misinformed." + +"Not at all. That was quite a mistake. The fact was simply this. When +Sir Anthony pronounced his opinion at our last consultation, it was +not my place to contradict him--we never do that with a London +man--but I ventured in my own mind to differ even from our brilliant +light, sir. For I said to myself, 'first see the effect of the +remedial agent which I myself, in the absence of this Londoner, have +exhibited.' I was suddenly called away to retrieve a case of shocking +blundering by a quack at Iffley. That was why you did not see me, +Squire." + +"Oh, yes, to be sure! I quite see now," answered Mr. Oglander, with a +quiet internal wink. "And when you came you found the most wonderful +effect from your remedial agent." + +"That I did. Something I could scarcely have believed. Soft sweet +sleep, a genial perspiration, an equable pulse, nice gentle +breathing--the very conditions of hygiene which Sir Anthony's efforts +could never produce. Why, my good sir, in all the records of the +therapeutic art, there is no example of such rapid efficacy. I think +it will henceforth be acknowledged that Dr. Splinters knows what he is +about. My dear friend, you know that there is nothing I dislike so +much as the appearance of vaunting. If I had only condescended to +that, nobody could have stopped me, sir. But no, Squire, no; I have +always been the same; and I have not an enemy, except myself." + +"You may say more than that, sir--a great deal more than that. You may +say that you have many friends, doctor, who admire your great +abilities. But as to Russel Overshute, if the poor fellow does come +round the general belief will be that he must thank the fire-bell." + +"The fire-bell! My dear sir, in this age of advanced +therapeutics--Oglander, you must know better than to listen to that +low story!" + +"Splinters, I know that foolish tales are told about almost +everything. But being there myself, I thought there might be something +in it." + +"Nothing whatever! I never heard such nonsense! I was quite angry with +Esther Cripps. What can chits of girls know? They must have their +chatter." + +"I suppose they must," said the Squire sadly, thinking of his own dear +Grace; "still they may be right sometimes. At any rate, doctor, the +fire-bell did as much good as your medicine did. Take another glass of +wine. I would not hurt your feelings for the world, my dear old +friend." + +"Oglander," answered Dr. Splinters, putting up his great gold +spectacles, so that beneath them he might see--for he never could see +through them--how to pour out his fine glass of port, "Oglander, you +have something or other that you are keeping in the background. +Squire, whatever it is, out with it. Between you and me, sir, there +should be nothing but downright yes or no, Mr. Oglander. Downright yes +or no, sir." + +"Of course, of course," said the Squire, relapsing into some quiet +mood again; "that was how I always liked it. Splinters, you must know +I did. And I never meant anything against it, by bringing this here +little bottle back. It may have saved the poor boy's life; and of +course it did, if you say so. But the seal is still on the cork, and +the stuff all there; so it may do good again. I dare say the good came +through the glass; you doctors have such devices!" Mr. Oglander took a +small square bottle from his inner peculiar pocket, and gave it to the +doctor, so as not to disturb his wine-glass. + +"How the deuce did you get hold of this?" cried Splinters, being an +angry man when taken without notice; "this is some of that girl's +insolent tricks!--I call her an insolent and wicked girl!" + +"I call her a good and a brave girl!--the very best girl in Beckley, +since--but, my dear Splinters, you must not be vexed. She told me that +you had the greatest faith in this last idea of yours; and it struck +me at once that you might wish to try it in some other case; and so I +brought it. You see it has not been opened." + +"It doesn't matter whether it was used or not," cried Dr. Splinters +vehemently; "there is the stuff, sir; and here is the result! Am I to +understand, sir, that you deny the existence of Providence?" + +"Far be such a thing from me!" the Squire replied, with a little +indignation at such an idea; and then, remembering that Splinters was +his guest, he changed the subject. "How could I help having faith in +the Lord, when I see His care made manifest? Why, look at me, +Splinters; I am twice the man I was last Sunday morning! Why is it so? +Why, because it pleased a gracious Providence to make it my duty, as a +man, to ride!--to ride, sir, a very considerable distance, on a mare +who had been eating her head off. Every one vowed that I never could +do it; and my good housekeeper locked me in; and when I unscrewed the +lock, she sent two men after me, to pick me up. Very good, sir; here I +am, enjoying my glass of port, with the full intention of having +another. Yesterday I sent to our road-contractor for a three-headed +and double-handed hammer; and Kale smashed up, in about two minutes, +three hundred and twenty medicine bottles! They will come in for the +top of the orchard wall." + +"Squire," answered Splinters, with a twinkling eye, "it is not at all +improbable that you may be right. There are some constitutions so +perverse that to exhibit the best remedial agent is just the same +thing as to reason with a pig. But it is high time for me to be +jogging on my road. If Beckley and Shotover discard my extremely +humble services, there are other places in the world, sir, besides +Beckley and Shotover." + +"There is no other place in the world for you, except Beckley, for +some hours, my friend. We have known one another long enough, to allow +for one another now. I would have arranged a rubber for you--but, +but--well, you know what I mean--sadly selfish; but I cannot help it." + +The doctor, though vain and irritable, was easily touched with +softness. He thought of all his many children, and of the long pain he +had felt at losing one out of a dozen; then without process of thought +he felt for the loss of one; where one was all. + +"Oglander, you need not say another word," he answered, putting forth +his hand, to squeeze any trifle away between them. "A rubber in winter +is all very well; and so it is in summer, at the proper time, but on a +magnificent spring evening, to watch the sunset between one's cards is +not--I mean that it is very nice indeed, but still it ought scarcely +to be done, when you can help it. Now, I will just take the leastest +little drop of your grand Curaçoa before I smoke; and then if you have +one of those old Manillas, I am your man for a stroll in the garden." + +To go into a garden in good weather soothes the temper. The freedom of +getting out of doors is a gracious joy to begin with; and when the +first blush of that is past, without any trouble there come forward so +many things to be looked at. Even since yesterday--if we had the good +hap to see them yesterday--many thousand of little things have spent +the time in changing. Even with the weather scarcely different from +yesterday's--though differ it must in some small points, when in its +most consistent mood--even with no man to come and dig, and fork, and +roll, and by all human devices harass; and even without any children +dancing, plucking, pulling, trampling, and enjoying their blessed +little hearts, as freely as any flower does; yet in the absence of all +those local contributions towards variety, variety there will be for +all who have the time to look for it. + +The most observant and delightful poets of the present age, instead of +being masters of nature, prefer to be nature's masters. Having +obtained this power they use it with such diligence and spirit, that +they make the peach and the apple bloom together, and the plum keep +the kalendar of the lilac. Once in a way, such a thing does almost +happen (without the poet's aid)--that is to say, when a long cold +winter is broken by a genial outburst waking every dormant life; and +after that, a repressive chill returns, and lasts to the May month. At +such a time, when hope deferred springs anew as hope assured, and fear +breaks into fluttering joy, and faith moves steadily into growth, then +a truly poetic confusion arises in the works of earth. + +In such a state of things the squire and the doctor walked to and fro +in the garden; the Squire still looking very pale and feeble, but with +the help of his favourite spud, managing to get along, and to enjoy +the evening. The blush of the peach wall was not over, and yet the +trellised apple-tree was softly unsheathing puckered buds, all in +little clusters pointed like rosettes of coral. The petals of the +plum-bloom still were hovering with their edges brown, although in a +corner near a chimney, positively a lilac-bush was thrusting forth +those livid jags which lift and curve themselves so swiftly into +plumes of beauty. The two good gentlemen were surprised; each wanted +particularly to hear what the other thought of it; but neither would +deign to ask; and either feared to speak his thoughts, for fear of +giving the other an advantage. Because they were rival gardeners; and +so they avoided the subject. + +"This is the very first cigar," said the Squire, as they turned at the +end of the peach wall, over against a young Grosse Mignonne, +beautifully trained on the Seymour system, and bright with the central +glow of pistil, although the petals were dropping--"my very first +cigar, since that--you know what I mean, of course--since I have cared +whether I were in my garden, or in my grave. But the Lord supports me. +Providence is good; or how could I be smoking this cigar?" + +"You must not learn to look at things in that way," Dr. Splinters +answered; "Oglander, you must learn to know better. You are in an +uncomfortable frame of mind, or you would not have flouted me with +that bottle, after all our friendship. Why, bless me! Only look around +you. Badly pruned as your trees are, what a picture there is of +largeness!" + +"Yes, Splinters, more than you could find in yours; which you amputate +into a doctor's bamboo. But now, perhaps, you may doubt it, Splinters, +because your trees are so very poor--but I have not felt any pride at +all, any pride at all, in one of them. What is the good of lovely +trees, with only one's self to enjoy them?" + +"Now, Oglander, there you are again! How often must I tell you? Your +poor little Gracie is gone, of course; and a nice little thing she +was, to be sure. But here you are again as well as ever, or at any +rate as positive. I judge a man's state of health very much by his +powers of contradiction. And yours are first-rate. Go to, go to! You +are equal to another wife. Take a young one, and have more Gracies." + +"Splinters, do you know what I should do," Mr. Oglander answered, with +his spud uplifted, "if my powers were such as you suppose--because I +smashed your bottles?" + +"Yes, I dare say you would knock me down, and never beg my pardon till +the wedding breakfast." + +"You are right in the first part; but wrong in the second. Oh, doctor, +is there no one able to share the simplest thoughts we have?" + +"To minister to a mind diseased? First, he must have his own mind +diseased; as all the blessed poets have. But look! The green fly--who +would ever believe it, after our Siberian winter? The aphis is hatched +in your young peach-shoots before they have made even half a joint. +That comes of your Seymour system." + +"Ridiculous!" answered the Squire; "but never mind! What matter now? +Then you really do think, Splinters--now, as an old friend, try to +tell me--in pure sincerity, do you think that I have altogether lost +my Gracie?" + +"Oglander, no! I can truly say no. We are all good Christians, I +should hope. She is not lost, but gone before." + +"But, my dear fellow, will you never understand that she ought to +have gone, long after? It is all very well for you, who have got +some baker's dozen of little ones, and lost only one in the +measles--forgive me, I know it was hard upon you--I say things that I +should not say--but if you could only bring your mind--however, I +daresay you have tried to do it; and what right have I to ask you? +Splinters, I know I am puzzle-headed; and many people think me worse +than that. But you have the sense to understand me, because for many +years you have been acquainted with my constitution. Now, Splinters, +tell me, in three words--shall I live to see my Gracie?" + +"That you will, Squire; and to see her married; and to dance on your +lap her children!" So said Dr. Splinters, fearing what might happen, +if he did not say it. + +"Only to see her. That is all I want. And to have her in my arms once +more. And to hear her tell me, with her own true tongue, that she +never ran away from me. After that I shall be ready for my coffin, and +know that the Lord has ordered it. Here comes more of your dust into +my eyes! Splinters, will you never learn how to knock your ash off?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +CRIPPS ON CELIBACY. + + +Whatever might or may be said by any number of most able and homicidal +physicians, Russel Overshute will believe, as long as he draws breath +of life, that by the grace of the Lord he owes that privilege to the +fire-bell. In this belief he has always been most strongly supported +by Esther Cripps, who perhaps was the first to suggest the idea; for +he at that time must have failed to know a fire-bell from a +water-bucket. The doctors had left him, through no fear for their own +lives, but in despair of his. There was far less risk of infection now +than in the earlier stages. No sooner, however, did the household find +out that the medical men had abandoned the case, than panic seized +their gallant hearts, and with one accord they ran away. From Saturday +morning till Saturday night, when Esther came from Beckley, there was +nobody left to watch and soothe the poor despairing misery, except the +helpless and worn-out mother. + +One thing is certain (and even the doctors, with their usual +sharpness, found it wise to acknowledge this)--both Mr. Overshute and +his mother must have been dead bodies with little hope of Christian +burial, if that brave girl had not set forth (without any one even +asking her) on the Saturday night to help them. Mrs. Overshute had +quite thrown up all hope of everything--save the mercy of God in a +better world, and His justice upon her enemies--when quite in the dark +this young girl came, while she was lying down on her back, and +curtsied, and asked her pleasure. + +If Esther had not curtsied, perhaps Mrs. Overshute in that state of +mind would have taken her for an angel; though Etty's bonnet, made by +herself, was not at all angelical. But she knew her for one of the +lower orders (who bend knee instead of neck), and belonging herself to +a fine old race, she rallied her last energies with a power of +condescension. + +However, these are medical, physical, social, economical, and perhaps +even psychological questions--wherein what remains except perpetual +inquiry? Enough is to say that Russell Overshute, having long had a +ringing in his ears, was rung out of that, and rung back to life, by +the lively peal of the fire-bell. And ever since that, whenever he is +ill--though it be only a little touch of gout--he immediately sends a +good corpulent man to lay hold of the rope and swing to it. These +things are of later date. For the present, this young man (although he +certainly had turned the corner) lay still in a very precarious state, +with a feeble mother to pray for him. Mrs. Overshute held that same +vile fever, but in a very different form, as at her time of life was +natural. With her it was intermittent, low, stealthy, and undermining. +It never affected her brain, or drove her into furious calenture, but +rooted slowly inward, preying on her life quite leisurely. Their cases +differed, as a knock-down blow differs from a quiet grasp. + +But though the house lay still in sadness, loneliness, and dull +suspense, and though the doctors, having abandoned the case, had the +manners not to come again, still from day to day there was some little +growth of liveliness. Hardenow came almost daily, having put his class +of striders under a deputy six-leaguer; the Squire also might be +expected, whenever Mother Hookham let him out; and even Zacchary +Cripps renewed an old washing in that direction. He came, with the +hoops of his cart taken out, because of the beautiful weather, and +four good baskets of clothes for to wash (whose wearers were happy +enough to have no idea where their "things" were), and quite at the +centre of his gravity--as felt by himself, and endorsed by +Dobbin--anybody getting up with a curious eye might well have beheld a +phenomenon. For here stood a very large pickling tub, with the cover +taken off for the sake of air; around the sides was salted pork--hands +and springs, and belly pieces--and in the middle was a good-sized +barrel of the then existent native. + +"Veed 'un," cried Cripps, with his coat-tails up, while tugging at his +heavy tub; "veed 'un, Etty, whatsomever 'ee do. Salt is the main thing +for 'un now. I have heerd tell that they burns away every bit of the +salt inside 'em, in these here bouts of fever. If 'ee can replace 'un, +laife comes round; or else they goes off, like the snuff of a candle. +Bless me, I must be getting fevery myzell, or never should have a job +to lift this here. Now the quality of this pickle you know well, for +the most part fell on your shoulders. Home-bred, home-born, home-fed, +home-slaughtered, and home-salted--that's what I calls pork!" + +"Yes, to be sure, Zak," Etty answered, laying her hand to the tub upon +the shaft-stock, while Dobbin wagged his tail at her; "but what have +you got in this very small cask, sitting in the middle of all the +brine?" + +"Why, you know, Etty, you must have seed me bring 'em for all the +great folk about Christmas-tide. Oysters, as lives in the sea, and +must be salt inside of their barryels. So I clapped them in here for a +fresh smack of it, and uncommonly strengthening things they be if you +take them with enow of treble X. Likely his worship will be too weak +to keep them down with the covers on yet, as is the proper way, they +tell me; so you best way take out the hearts and give him." + +"Oh, brother," cried Esther, remembering suddenly, "I ought not to be +talking to you like this. Whatever could I be thinking of? What would +the people at Beckley say? They would fear to come nigh you for a +month, Zak, and your business would be ruined. Now, do jog on, you and +dear old Dobbin. How well I knew the sound of his old feet. I can't +give you the fever, Dobbin, can I?" + +With this perhaps incorrect or, at any rate, unestablished hypothesis, +she gave the old horse a lingering kiss just below his blinkers, in +return for which he jerked off some froth on the sleeve of her dress, +and shook himself; while the Carrier, having discharged his cargo, +smote himself with both arms, from habit rather than necessity, and +approached his young sister for his usual hearty smack. + +"No, Zak, no," she cried, running up the steps, "I have no fear of +taking it myself whatever; but if I should happen to give it to you, I +never should get over it." + +"Well, well, little un, the Lord knows best," Master Cripps answered, +without repining too bitterly at this arrangement; "but ating of my +victuals lonesome is worse than having no salt to them; you better +come home pretty soon, my dear, or somehow or other there might happen +to be some one over in the corner, 'longside of our best frying-pan." + +Etty had heard this threat so often, that now she only laughed at it. +But instead of laughing, she blushed most sadly at her brother's +parting words: + +"God bless you, Etty, for a brave good girl; and speed you home to +Beckley. You want more sleep of nights, my dear; your cheeks are +getting like a pillow-case. But excoose my mentioning of one thing, +Etty; I be like a father to 'ee; don't 'ee have more than you can help +to say to the great scholard, Master Hardenow." + +Cripps was a gentleman, in an inner kind of way, and he took good care +to be getting up his shaft (with his stiff knee stiffer than ever, +from the long frost of last winter) while he discharged his duty, as +he thought it, at, as well as to, his sister. Then he deposited the +polished part of his breeches on the driving-board, and brought his +"game-leg" into the right stick-out, and with his usual deliberation +started--nay, that is too strong a word--persuaded into progress his +congenial and deliberate horse. Neither of them hurried on a +washing-day, any more than they hurried upon any other day. + +Zacchary knew that his sister was--as Master Phil Hiss had said of +her--"a most terrible hand at blushing;" and she could not bear to be +looked at in this electric aurora of maidenhood; and therefore he +managed to be a long way off, ere even he turned both head and hand, +to deliver last issue of "God bless you!" + +Full of confusion about herself, and clearness of duty for other +people, Esther Cripps ran in, to see to the many things now depending +upon her. There were now three servants in the house, gathered from +good stuff around, but wholly void of any wit, to make up for want of +experience. Esther had no experience either, but she possessed good +store of sense, and quickness, and kind energy. Whatever she thought +of her brother's warning, she would think of afterwards. For the +present she must do her best concerning other people; and Mrs. +Overshute needed now more nursing than her son did. + +Zacchary Cripps, at the very first distance at which he was sure of +not being seen, began to shake his head, and shook it, in a resolutely +reflective way, for nearly three quarters of a mile. The trees above +him were alive with beauty, alike of sight, and sound, and scent; and +the Carrier made up his mind for a pipe, to enable him to consider +things. His custom was not to smoke, except when good occasion +offered; and he tried to have no contempt for carriers (of inferior +family) who could not deliver a side of bacon without smoking it over +again almost. Zacchary Cripps, like all good men, stood up for the +dignity of his work. Strictly meditating thus, he saw a slight figure +approaching with a rapid swing, and presently met Mr. Hardenow. + +The fellow and tutor of Brazenose, at the sight of Cripps and the +well-known cart, stopped short to ask how things were going on at the +house on the hill above them. The Carrier answered that it would be +many a long day, he was afraid, ere his worship could get about again, +and that he ought to be kept very quiet, and those would be his best +friends now who had the least to say to him. Also he was told that the +poor old lady would find it as much as her life was worth, if she was +interrupted or terrified now. + +"But, my good Cripps," answered Hardenow, "I am not going either to +interrupt or terrify them. All I desire is to have a little talk with +your good and intelligent sister." + +Poor Zacchary felt that his own tactics thus were turned against him; +and, after a little stammering and heightened glow of countenance, he +betook himself to his more usual course--that of plain out-speaking. +But first he got down from his driving-board that he might not fail in +due respect to a gentleman and clergyman. Master Cripps had no liking +at all for the duty which he felt bound to take in hand. He would +rather have a row with three turnpike-men than presume to speak to a +gentleman; therefore his bow-leg seemed to twitch him at the knee, as +he led Hardenow aside into a quiet gateway; but his eyes were firm and +his manner grave and steadfast as he began to speak. + +"Mr. Hardenow, now I must ask your pardon, for a few words as I want +to say. You are a gentleman, of course, and a very learned scholar; +and I be nothing but a common carrier--a 'carrier for hire,' they +calls me in the law, when they comes upon me for damages. Howsoever, I +has to do my part off the road as well as on it, sir; and my dooty to +them of my own household comes next to my dooty to God and myzell. You +are a good man, I know, and a kind one, and would not, beknown to +yourself, harm any one. It would go to your heart, I believe, Mr. +Hardenow, from what I seed of you, when you was quite a lad, if anyhow +you was to be art or part in bringing unhappiness of mind to any that +had trusted you." + +"I should hope so, Cripps. I have some idea of what you mean, but can +hardly think--at any rate, speak more plainly." + +"Well then, sir, I means all about your goings on with our little +Etty, or, at any rate, her goings on with you, which cometh to the +same thing in the end, so far as I be acquaint of it. You might think, +if you was not told distinkly to the contrairy, that having no +business to lift up her eyes, she never would do so according. But I +do assure you, sir, when it cometh to such like manner of taking on, +the last thing as ever gets called into the account is sensible +reason. They feels this, and they feels that; and then they falls to +a-dreaming; and the world goes into their tub, same as butter, and +they scoops it out, and pats, and stamps it to their own size and +liking, and then the whole melteth, and a sour fool is left." + +"Master Cripps, what you say is wise; and the like has often happened. +But your sister is a most noble girl. You do her gross injustice by +talking as if she were nothing but a common village maid. She is +brave, she is pure, she is grandly unselfish. Her mind is well above +feminine average; anything more so goes always amiss. You should not +have such a low opinion as you seem to have of your sister, Cripps." + +"Sir, my opinion is high enough. Now, to bring your own fine words to +the test, would you ever dream of marrying the maid, if I and she both +was agreeable?" + +"It would be an honour to me to do so. For the prejudices of the world +I care not one fig. But surely you know that we contend for the +celibacy of the clergy." + +"Maning as a parson maun't marry a wife?" asked Cripps, by the light +of nature. + +"Yes, my friend, that is what we now maintain in the Anglican +communion, as the tradition of the Church." + +"Well, may I be danged!" cried Cripps, who was an ardent theologian. +"Then, if I may make so bold to ask, sir, how could there a' been a +tribe of Levi? They must all a' died out in the first generation; if +'em ever come to any generation at all." + +"Your objection is ingenious, Cripps; but the analogy fails entirely. +We are guided in such matters by unbroken and unquestionable tradition +of the early Church." + +"Then, sir, if you goes outside of the Bible, you stand on your own +legs, and leave us no kind of leg to stand upon. However, I believe +that you mean well, sir, and I am sure that you never do no great +harm. And, as to our Etty, if you feel like that in an honest, +helpless sort of way, I beg the honour of shaking hands, sir, for the +spirit that is inside of you." + +"Certainly, certainly, Cripps, with great pleasure!" + +"And then of asking you to tramp another road, for your own sake, as +well as hers, sir. And may the Lord teach you to know your own mind." + +"Cripps, I will follow your advice for the present; though you have +said some things that you scarcely ought to say." + +"Then I humbly beg your pardon, sir. Every one of us doeth that same +sometimes. The bridle of the tongue falleth into the teeth, when the +lash is laid on us." + +"Your metaphors are quite classical. However, I respect you greatly, +Cripps, for your straightforward conduct. I am not a weak man, any +more than you are; although you seem to think me one. I like and +admire your sister Esther, for courage combined with gentleness. I +always liked her, when she was a child; and I understood her nature. +But as to her--liking me more than she ought; Cripps, you are +imaginative." + +"Never heerd before," cried Cripps, "any accoosation of that there +kind." + +"My friend, it is the rarest compliment. However, your horse is quite +ready to walk off; and so am I, towards Cowley. I will not go to +Shotover Grange to-day; and I will avoid your sister; though I rarely +do like talking to her." + +"You are a man sir," cried Zacchary Cripps, as Hardenow set off across +the fields. "God bless your reverence, though you never get a waife! A +true man he is, and a maight a' been a faine one, if he hadn't taken +to them stiff coat tails." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +KIT. + + +In the meanwhile, Mrs. Luke Sharp was growing very anxious about her +son, and only child and idol, Christopher. Not that there was anything +at all amiss with his bodily health, so far at least as she could see; +but that he seemed so unsettled in his mind, so absent and +preoccupied, and careless even of his out-door sports, which at one +time were his only care. Of course, at this time of year, there was +very little employment for the gun, but there was plenty of fishing to +be got, such as it was, round Oxford, and it must be a very bad time +of year when there are no rats for little terriers, and badgers for +the larger tribe. Yet none of these things now possessed the proper +charm for Christopher. Wherever he was, he always seemed to be wanting +to be somewhere else; and, like a hydrophobic dog, he hated to be +looked at; while (after the manner of a cat assisted lately by Lucina) +he ran up into his own loft, when he thought there was nobody +watching. + +Well arranged as all this might be, and keen, and self-satisfactory, +there was something keener, and not very easy to satisfy, looking +after it. The love of a mother may fairly be trusted to outwit any +such calf-love as was making a fool of this unfledged fellow, fresh +from the feather-bed of a private school. + +Considering whence he came, and how he had been brought up and +pampered, Kit Sharp was a very fine young fellow, and--thanks to his +liking for gun and rod--he could scarcely be called a milksop. Still +he was only a boy in mind, and in manner quite unformed and shy; his +father (for reasons of his own) having always refused to enter him at +any of the colleges. He might perhaps have shaped his raw material by +the noblest models, if he had been admitted into the society of +undergraduates. But the members of the University entertained in those +days, and probably still entertain, a just and inevitable contempt for +all the non-togati. Kit Sharp had made some fluttering overtures of +the flag of friendship towards one or two random undergraduates who +had a nice taste for ratting; he had even dined and wined, once or +twice, in a not ignoble college; and had been acknowledged to know a +meerschaum as well as if he owned a statute-book. But the boy always +fancied, perhaps through foolish and shy pride on his part, that these +most hospitable and kind young men had their jokes to themselves about +him. Perhaps it was so; but in pure goodwill. Take him for all in all, +and allow for the needs of his situation--which towards the third year +grow imperative--and the Oxford undergraduate is as good as any other +young gentleman. + +But Kit Sharp being exceedingly proud, and most secretive of his +pride, would not long receive, without return, good hospitality. And +this alone, without other suspicions, would have set bounds to his +dealing with a race profusely hospitable. His dear and good mother +would gladly have invited a Cross Duck Houseful of undergraduates, and +left them to get on as they might, if only thereby her pet son might +have sense of salt for salt with them; but Mr. Luke Sharp took a +different view. To his mind, the junior members of the glorious +University were a most disagreeable and unprofitable lot to deal with. +He never, of course, condescended to the Vice-Chancellor's court, and +he despised all little actions, in that large word's legal sense. He +liked a fine old Don, or Head of a House, who had saved a sack of +money, or well earned it by vitality. But for any such young fellows, +with no expectations, or paulo-post-futura such, Mr. Sharp was now too +long established to put a leaf into his dinner-table. This being so, +and Christopher also of restricted pocket-money (so that no dinners at +the Star or Mitre could be contemplated), Master Kit Sharp, in a "town +and gown row," must have lent the weight of his quiet, but very +considerable, fist to the oppidan faction. + +"Kit, now, my darling Kit, do tell me," said Mrs. Sharp for about the +fiftieth time, as she sat with her son in the sweet spring twilight, +at the large western window of Cross Duck House; "what is it that +makes you sigh so? You almost break your poor mother's heart. I never +did know you sigh, my own one. Now, is it for want of a rat, my +darling? If rats are a sovereign apiece, you shall have one." + +"Rats, mother! Why, I can catch my own, without any appeal to 'the +Filthy!' Rats are never far away from legal premises, like these." + +"You should not speak so of your father's house, Kit. And I am sure +that no rats ever come upstairs, or out of the window I must jump. But +now you are only avoiding the subject. What is it that disturbs your +mind, Kit?" + +"Once more, mother, I have the greatest objection to being called +'Kit.' It sounds so small, and--and so horribly prosaic. All the +dictionaries say that it means, either the outfit of a common soldier, +or else a diminutive kind of fiddle." + +"Christopher, I really beg your pardon. I know how much loftier you +are, of course; but I cannot get over the habit, Kit. Well, well, +then--My darling, I hope you are not at all above being 'my darling,' +Kit." + +"Mother, you may call me what you like. It can make no difference in +my destinies." + +"Christopher, you make my blood run cold. My darling, I implore you +not to sigh so. Your dear father pays my allowance on Monday. I know +what has long been the aspiration of your heart. Kit, you shall have a +live badger of your own." + +"I hate the very name of rats and badgers. Everything is so low and +nasty. How can you look at that noble sunset, and be full of badgers? +Mother, it grieves me to leave you alone; but how can I help it, when +you go on so? I shall go for a walk on the Botley Road." + +"Take your pipe, Kit, take your pipe; whatever you do, Kit, take your +pipe," screamed poor Mrs. Sharp, as he stuck his hat on, as if it were +never to come off again. "Oh, Kit, there are such deep black holes; I +will fill your pipe for you, if you will only smoke." + +"Mother, you never know how to do it. And once more, my name is +'Christopher.'" + +The young man threw a light cloak on his shoulder, and set his +eyebrows sternly; and his countenance looked very picturesque in the +glow of his death's-head meerschaum. It occurred to his mother that +she had never seen anything more noble. As soon as she had heard him +bang the door, Mrs. Sharp ran back to the window, whence she could +watch all Cross Duck Lane, and she saw him striding along towards the +quickest outlet to the country. + +"How wonderful it is!" she said to herself, with tears all ready; +"only the other day he was quite a little boy, and whipped a top, and +cried if a pin ran into him. And now he is, far beyond all dispute, +the finest young man in Oxford; he has the highest contempt for all +vulgar sports, and he bolts the door of his bedroom. His father calls +him thick and soft! Ah, he cannot understand his qualities! There is +the deepest and purest well-spring of unintelligible poetry in Kit. +His great mind is perturbed, and has hurried him into commune with the +evening star. Thank goodness that he has got his pipe!" + +Before Mrs. Sharp had turned one page of her truly voluminous thoughts +about her son, a sharp click awoke the front-door lock, and a steady +and well-jointed step made creaks on the old oak staircase. Mrs. Sharp +drew back from her meditative vigil, and trimmed her little curls +aright. + +"Miranda, I have some work to do to-night," said Mr. Sharp, in his +quiet even voice; "and I thought it better to come up and tell you, so +that you need not expect me again. Just have the fire in the office +lighted. I can work better there than I can upstairs; and I find the +evenings damp, although the long cold winter is gone at last. If I +should ring about ten o'clock it will be for a cup of coffee. If I do +not ring then, send everybody to bed. And do not expect me until you +see me." + +"Certainly, Luke, I quite understand," answered Mrs. Sharp, having +been for years accustomed to such arrangements; "but, my dear, before +you begin, can you spare me five minutes, for a little conversation?" + +"Of course I can, Miranda! I am always at your service." + +Mrs. Sharp thought to herself that this was a slight exaggeration. +Still on the whole she had little to complain of. Mr. Sharp always +remembered the time when he cast sad distant eyes at her, Miranda +Piper,--more enchanting than a will-case, more highly cherished than +the deed-box of an Earl. Nothing but impudence had enabled him to +marry her; thereby his impudence was exhausted in that one direction, +and he ever remained polite to her. + +"Then, Luke, will you just take your favourite chair, and answer me +only one question?" As she said these words, Mrs. Sharp took care to +set the chair so that she could get the last gleam of sunset on her +dear lord's face. Her husband thoroughly understood all this, and +accepted the situation. + +"Now, do tell me, Luke--you notice everything, though you do not +always speak of it--have you observed how very strangely Kit has been +going on for some time now? And have you any idea of the reason? And +do you think that we ought to allow it, my dear?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Sharp, I have observed it. You need not be at all uneasy +about it. I am observing him very closely. When I disapprove, I shall +stop it at once." + +"But surely, my dear, surely I, his mother, am not to be kept in the +dark about it? I know that you always take your own course, and your +course is quite sure to be the right one; but surely, my dear, when +something important is evidently going on about my own child, you +would never have the heart to keep it from me. I could not endure it; +indeed, I could not. I should fret myself away to skin and bone." + +"It would take a long time to do that, my dear," replied Mr. Sharp, as +he looked with satisfaction at her fine plump figure. It pleased him +to hear, as he often did, that there was not in Oxford a finer couple +of middle-aged people than Mr. and Mrs. Sharp. "However, I should be +exceedingly grieved ever to initiate such a process. But first, before +I tell you anything at all, I will ask you to promise two things most +clearly." + +"My dear, I would promise fifty things rather than put up with this +cruel anxiety." + +"Yes, I dare say. But I do not want rash promises, Miranda. You must +pledge yourself to two things, and keep your pledges." + +"I will do so in a moment, with the greatest pleasure. You would never +ask anything wrong, I am sure. Only do not keep me waiting so." + +"In the first place, then, you must promise me, whether my plan turns +out well or ill, on no account to blame me for it, but to give me the +credit of having acted for the best throughout." + +"Nothing can be easier than to promise that. My dear, you always do +act for the best; and what is more, the best always comes of it." + +"Very well, you promise that; also, you must pledge yourself to +conceal from every one, and most of all from Christopher, everything I +am about to tell you, and to act under my directions." + +"To be sure, my dear; to be sure, I will. Nothing is more reasonable +than that I should keep your secrets." + +"I know that you will try, Miranda; and I know that you have much +self-command. Also, you will see the importance of acting as I direct +you. All I fear is that when you see poor Kit moping, or sighing, and +groaning, it may be almost beyond your power to refrain your motherly +heart." + +"Have no fear, Luke; have no fear whatever. When I know that it is for +his true interest, as of course it will be, I shall be exceedingly +sorry for him; but still he may go on as much as he pleases; and of +course, he has not behaved well at all, in being so mysterious to his +own mother." + +Luke Sharp looked at his wife, to ask whether any offshoot of this +reproach was intended at all to come home to him. If he had discovered +any sign of that, the wife of his bosom would have waited long without +getting another word from him. For seldom as Mr. Sharp showed temper, +he held back, with the chain-curb of expedience, as quick a temper as +ever threatened to bolt with any man's fair repute. But now he +received no irritation. His wife looked back at him kindly and +sweetly, with moist expressive eyes; and he saw that she still was in +her duty. + +"Miranda," he said, being touched by this, for he had a great deal of +conscience, "my darling, I will tell you something such as you never +heard before. I have made a bold stroke, a very bold one; but I think +it must succeed. And justice is with me, as you will own, after all +the attempts to rob us. Perhaps you never heard a stranger story; but +still I am sure you will agree with me, that in every step I have +taken I am most completely and perfectly justified." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +A WOOLHOPIAN. + + +It is only fair towards Mr. Sharp to acquit him of all intention to +trust his wife with a very important secret, as long as he could help +it. He was well aware of the risk he ran in taking such a desperate +step; but the risk was forced upon him now by several circumstances. +Also, he wanted her aid just now, in a matter in which he could not +possibly have it without trusting her. Hence he resolved to make a +virtue of necessity, as the saying is, and at the same time get the +great relief which even a strong mind, in long scheming, obtains, by +having its burden shared. + +This resolve of his was no sudden one. For several days he had made up +his mind, that when he should be questioned upon the subject--which he +foresaw must happen--he would earn the credit of candour, and the +grace of womanly gratitude, by making a clean breast of it. There +could be no better season than this. The house was quiet; his son was +away; the shadows of the coming evening softly fell before her step; +Cross Duck Lane looked very touching in the calm of twilight; and Mrs. +Sharp was in the melting mood. Therefore the learned and conscientious +lawyer perceived that the client's affairs, about which he was going +to busy himself, might safely wait for another day, while he was +sweeping his own hearth clean. So he locked the door, and looked out +of the window, where sparrows were swarming to their ivy roost; and +then he drew in the old lattice, and turned the iron tongue that +fastened it. Mrs. Sharp looked on, while some little suggestion of +fear came to qualify eagerness. + +"Luke, I declare you quite make me nervous. I shall be afraid to go to +bed to-night. Really, a stranger, or a timid person, would think you +were going to confess a murder!" + +"My dear, if you feel at all inclined to give way," Mr. Sharp +answered, as if glad to escape, "we will have out our talk +to-morrow--or, no--to-morrow I have an appointment at Woodstock. The +day after that we will recur to it. I see that it will be better so." + +"Luke, is your mind astray? I quite fear so. Can you imagine that I +could wait for two days, after what you have told me?" + +"My dear, I was only considering yourself. If you wish it, I will +begin at once. Only for your own sake, I must insist on your sitting +calmly down. There, my dear! Now, do not agitate yourself. There is +nothing to frighten anybody. It is the most simple thing; and you will +laugh, when you have heard it." + +"Then I wish I had heard it, Luke. For I feel more inclined to cry +than laugh." + +"Miranda, you must not be foolish. Such a thing is not at all like +you. Very well, now you are quite sedate. Now please not to interrupt +me once; but ask your questions afterwards. If you ask me a question I +shall stop, and go to the office with my papers." Mr. Sharp looked at +his wife; and she bowed her head in obedience. "To begin at the very +beginning," he said, with a smile to re-assure her, "you will do me +the justice to remember that I have worked very hard for my living. +And I have prospered well, Miranda, having you as both the foundation +and the crown of my prosperity. I was perfectly satisfied, as you +know, living quite up to my wishes, and putting a little cash by every +year of our lives, and paying on a heavy life-insurance, in case of my +own life dropping--for the sake of you and Christopher. You know all +that?" + +"Darling Luke, I do. But you make me cry, when you talk like that." + +"Very well. That is as it should be. We were as happy as need be +expected, until the great wrong befell us--the fierce injustice of +losing every farthing to which we were clearly entitled. You were the +proper successor to all the property of old Fermitage. That old +curmudgeon, and wholesale poisoner of the University, made a fool of +himself, towards his latter end, by marrying Miss Oglander. Old +Black-Strap, as of course we know, had no other motive for doing such +a thing, except his low ambition to be connected with a good old +family. Ever since he began life as a bottleboy, in the cellars of old +Jerry Pigaud----" + +"He never did that, Luke. How can you speak so of my father's own +first cousin? He was an extremely respectable young man; my father +always said so." + +"While he was making his money, Miranda, of course he was respectable. +And everybody respected him, as soon as he had made it. However, I +have not the smallest intention of reproaching the poor old villain. +He acted according to his lights, and they led him very badly. A +foolish ambition induced him to marry that pompous old maid, Joan +Oglander, who had been jilted by Commodore Patch, the son of the +famous captain. We all know what followed; the old man was but a doll +in the hands of his lady-wife. He left all the scrapings and screwings +of his life, for her to do what she pleased with--at least, everybody +supposes so." + +"What do you mean, Luke?" asked Mrs. Sharp, having inkling of legal +surprises. "Do you mean that there is a later will? Has he done +justice to me, after all?" + +"No, my dear. He never saved his soul by attending to his own kindred. +But he just had the sense to make a little change at last, when his +wife would not come near him. You know what he died of. It was coming +on for weeks; though at last it struck him suddenly. The port-wine +fungus of his old vaults grew into his lungs, and stopped them. It had +shown for some time in his face and throat; and his wife was afraid of +catching it. She took it to be some infectious fever, of which she is +always so terribly afraid. The old man knew that his time was short; +but take to his bed he would not. Of all born men the most stubborn he +was; as any man must be, to get on well. 'If I am to die of the +fungus,' he said, 'I will have a little more of it.' And he went, and +with his own hands hunted up a magnum of port, which had been laid by, +from the vintage of 1745, in the first days of Jerry Pigaud. But +before that, he had sent for me; and I was there when he opened it." + +"Luke, you take my breath away. Such wonderful things I have never +heard. At least, not in our own family." + +"Of course, my dear. We all accept wonders with quietude, till they +come home to us. Well, when he fetched out this old bottle, it was +fungus inside from heel to neck. He held it up against the light, and +the glass being whiter than now they make, and the wine gone almost +white with age, there you could see this extraordinary growth, like +cords in the bottle, and valves across it, and a long yellow sheath +like a crocus-flower. I had never seen anything like it before; but he +knew all about it. 'Ah, I know a genleman,' he grunted in his +throat--he never could say 'gentleman,' as you remember--'a genleman +as would give a hundred guineas for this here bottle! Quibbles, he +shouldn't have it for a thousand! My boy, you and I will drink it. Say +no, and I'll cut off your wife with a half-penny!' Miranda, what could +I do but try to humour him to the utmost? If I had had the smallest +inkling of the iniquitous will he had made, of course, I never would +have sat on the head of the cask, down in his dingy and reeking +vaults, by the hour together, to please him. But never mind that--in a +moment he took a long-handled knife, or chopper, and holding the +bottle upright, struck off the neck and a part of the shoulder, as +straight as a line, at the level of the wine. 'Not many men could do +that,' he said; 'none of your clumsy cork-screwers for me! Now, +Quibbles, here's a real treat for you! Talk of beeswing, my boy, +here's a beehive!' And really it was more like eating than drinking +wine; for all the body was gone into the fungus. Nastier stuff I never +tasted; but, luckily, he took the lion's share. 'Now, Quibbles, I'll +tell you a secret,' he said, after swallowing at least a quart; 'a +very pretty girl came and kissed me t'other day, in among these very +bottles. Such a little duck--not a bit ashamed or afeared of my +fungus, as my missus is. And her breath was as sweet as the violets of +'20! "Well now, my little dear," thinks I, as I stood back and looked +at her, "that was kind of you to kiss an old man a-dying of port wine +fungus! And if he only lives another day, you shall have the right to +kiss the Royal family, if you cares to do it." Quibbles, I wouldn't +call in you, nor any other thief of a lawyer. Lawyers are very well +over a glass; but keep 'em outside of the cellar, say I. Very good +company, in their way; but the only company I put trust in is the one +I have dealt with all my life,--and many a thousand pounds I have paid +them--The Royal Wine Company of Oporto. So now, if anything happens to +me--though I am not in such a hurry to be binned away, and walled up +for the resurrection--Quibbles, wait six months; and then you go to +the Royal Oporto Company, and ask for a genleman of the name of Jolly +Fellows.'" + +"Now, Luke, I am all anxiety to hear," exclaimed Mrs. Sharp, with a +sudden interruption, "what was the end of this very strange affair. I +perceive now that I have foreseen the whole of it. But it is not right +that you should speak so long, without one morsel of refreshment. It +is many hours since you dined, my dear, and a very poor dinner you had +of it. You shall have a glass of white wine, and a slice of tongue, +between a little cold roll and butter. It will not in any way +interrupt you. I can get it all for you, without ringing the bell. +Only let me ask you one thing first--why have you never told me this +till now?" + +"Because, Miranda, it would disturb your mind. And I know that you +cannot endure suspense. Moreover, I scarcely knew what to think of it. +Poor old Fermitage (what with the fungus already in his tubes, and +what he was taking down) might be talking sheer nonsense for all that +I knew. And indeed, for a long time I treated it so; and I had no +stomach for a voyage to Oporto, upon mere speculation, and for the +benefit only of some pretty girl. Then I found out, by the purest +chance, that no voyage to Oporto was needful, that old 'Port-wine' +(who departed on his cask to a better world, the day after his magnum) +meant nothing more than the London stores and agency of the Oporto +Company. And even after that I made one expedition to the Minories, +all for nothing. Two or three very polite young dons stared at me, and +thought I was come to chaff them, or perhaps had turned up from their +vaults top-heavy, when I asked for 'Senhor Jolly Fellows.' And so I +came away, and lost some months, and might never have thought it worth +while to go again, except for another mere accident." + +"My dear, what a chapter of accidents!" cried Mrs. Sharp, while +feeding him. "I thought that you were a great deal too clever to allow +any room for accidents." + +"Women think so. Men know better," the lawyer replied sententiously; +his ability was too well-known to need his vindication. "And, Miranda, +you forget that I had as yet no personal interest in the question. But +when I happened to have a Portuguese gentleman as a client--a man who +had spent many years in England--and happened to be talking of our +language to him, I told him one part of the story, and asked if he +could throw any light on it. He told me at once that the name which +had so puzzled me must be Gelofilos--a Portuguese surname, by no means +common. And the next time I was in town, I had occasion to call in St. +John's Street, and found myself, almost by accident again, not far +from the Company's offices." + +"Mr. Sharp, you left such a thing to chance, when you knew that it +might pull down that dreadful woman's insolence!" + +"My dear, it is not the duty of my life to mitigate feminine +arrogance. And to undertake such a crusade, gratis! I am equal to a +bold stroke, as you will see, if your patience lasts--but never to +such a vast undertaking. When it comes before me, in the way of +business, naturally I take it up. But this was no business of my own; +and the will was proved, and assets called in; for the old rogue did +not owe one penny. Well, I went again, and this time I got hold of the +right man---- Miranda, I hear the bell!" + +The new office-bell, the successor to the one that succumbed to Russel +Overshute, rang as hard as ring it could. A special messenger was come +from London, and in half an hour Mr. Luke Sharp was sitting on the box +of the night up mail. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +NIGHTINGALES. + + +This sudden departure of Mr. Luke Sharp, in the very marrow of his +story, left his good wife in a trying and altogether discontented +state of mind. She knew that she could have no more particulars until +he came back again; for Sharp had even less faith in the post than the +post of that period deserved. She might have to wait for days and +days, with a double anxiety urging her. + +In the first place, although she felt nothing but pity for poor old +Mrs. Fermitage, and would have been really sorry to hear of anything +likely to vex her, she could not help being desirous to know if there +were any danger of a thing so sad. But her second anxiety was a great +deal keener, being sharpened by the ever moving grit of love; in the +dreadful state of mind her son was in, how would all this act upon +him? His father had been forced, by some urgency of things, to put on +his box-coat, and make off, without even time for a hurried whisper as +to the residue of his tale. Mrs. Sharp felt that there might be +something which her husband feared to spread before her, without +plenty of time to lead up to it; and having for many years been +visited (whenever she was not quite herself) with poignant doubts +whether Mr. Sharp was anchored upon Scriptural principles, she almost +persuaded herself for the moment that he meant to put up with the loss +of the money. + +However, a little reflection sufficed to clear away this sadly awful +cloud of scepticism, and to assure her that Mr. Sharp, however he +might swerve in theory, would be orthodox enough in practice to follow +the straight path towards the money. And then she began to think of +nothing except her own beloved Kit. + +The last hurried words of her husband had been--"Not one word to Kit, +or you ruin all; let him groan as he likes; only watch him closely. I +shall be back by Saturday night. God bless you, my dear! Keep up your +spirits. I have the whip-hand of the lot of them." + +Herein lay her faith and hope. She never had known her husband fail, +when he really made up his mind to succeed; and therefore in the +bottom of her heart she doubted the genuine loss of Grace Oglander. +Sharp had discovered, and traced to their end, clues of the finest +gossamer, when his interest led him to do so. That he should be +baffled, and own himself to be so, was beyond her experience. +Therefore, although as yet she had no more than a guess at her +husband's schemes, she could not help fancying, after his words, that +they might have to do with Grace Oglander. + +Before she had time to think out her thoughts, Christopher, their main +subject, returned from Wytham Wood, after holding long rivalry of woe +with nightingales. He still carried on, and well-carried off, the +style of the love-lorn Romeo. He swung his cloak quite as well as +could be expected of an Englishman--who is born to hate fly-away +apparel, all of which is womanish; but the necessities of his position +had driven him now to a very short pipe. His favourite meerschaum had +fallen into sorrow as terrible as his own. In a highly poetical moment +he had sucked it so hard that the oil arose, and took him with a hot +spot upon a white tongue, impregnated then with a sonnet. All sonnets +are of the tongue and ear; but Kit misliked having his split up, just +when it was coming to the final kick. Therefore he gave his pipe a +thump, beyond such a pipe's endurance; and being as sensitive as +himself, and of equally fine material, it simply refused to draw any +more, as long as he breathed poetry. Still breathing poetry, he +marched home, with the stump of a farthing clay, newly baked in the +Summertown Road, to console him. + +Now, if this young man had failed of one of the triple human +combination--weed, and clay, and fire--where and how might he have +ended not only that one evening, but all the rest of the evenings of +his young life? His appearance and manner had at first imported to any +one whom he came across--and he truly did come across them in his wide +and loose march out of Oxford city--that he might be sought for in a +few hours' time, and only the inferior portion found. His mother +worried him, so did his father, so did all humanity, save one--who +worried him more than any, or all of it put together. The trees and +the road, and the singing of the birds, and the gladness of the green +world worried him. Luckily for himself he had bought a good box of +German tinder, and from ash to ash his spirit glowed slowly into a +more philosophic state. Gradually the beauty of the trees and hedges +and the sloping fields began to steal around him; the warbled pleasure +of the little birds made overture to his sympathy, and the lustrous +calm of shadowed waters spread its picture through his mind. + +His body also responded to the influences of the time of day, and the +love of nature freshened into the natural love of cupboard. Hunger +awoke in his system somewhere, and spread sweet pictures in a tasteful +part. For a "moment of supreme agony" he wrestled with the coarse +material instinct, then turned on his heel, as our novelists say, and +made off for his father's kitchen. + +His poor mother caught him the moment he came in, and pulled off his +hat and his opera-cloak, and frizzled up his curls for him. She seemed +to think that he must have been for a journey of at least a hundred +leagues; that the fault of his going was hers, and the virtue of his +ever coming back was all his own. Then she looked at him slyly, and +with some sadness, and yet a considerable touch of pride, by the light +of a three-wicked cocoa-candle; and feeling quite sure that she had +him to herself, trembled at the boldness of the shot she made: + +"Oh, Kit, why have you never told me? I have found it all out. You +have fallen in love!" + +Christopher Fermitage Sharp, Esquire--as he always entitled himself, +upon the collar of spaniel or terrier--had nothing to say for a +moment, but softly withdrew, to have his blush in shadow. Of all the +world, best he loved his mother--before, or after, somebody else--and +his simple, unpractised, and uncored heart, was shy of the job it was +carrying on. Therefore he turned from his mother's face, and her eager +eyes, and expectant arms. + +"Come and tell me, my darling," she whispered, trying to get a good +look at his reluctant eyes, and wholly oblivious of her promise to his +father. "I will not be angry at all, Kit, although you never should +have left me to find it out in this way." + +"There is nothing to find out," he answered, making a turn towards the +kitchen stairs. "I just want my supper, if there is anything to eat." + +"To eat, Kit! And I thought so much better of you. After all, I must +have been quite wrong. What a shame to invent such stories!" + +"You must have invented them, yourself, dear mother," said Kit with +recovered bravery. "Let me hear it all out when I have had my supper." + +"I will go down this moment, and see what there is," replied his good +mother eagerly. "Is there anything, now, that can coax your appetite?" + +"Yes, mother, oysters will be over to-morrow. I should like two dozen +fried with butter, and a pound and a quarter of rump-steak, cut thick, +and not overdone." + +"You shall have them, my darling, in twenty minutes. Now, be sure that +you put your fur slippers on; I saw quite a fog coming over Port +Meadow, as much as half an hour ago. This is the worst time of year to +take cold. 'A May cold is a thirty-day cold.' What a stupe I must be," +she continued to herself, "to imagine that the boy could be in love! I +will take care to say not another word, or I might break my promise to +his father. What a pity! He has a noble moustache coming, and only his +mother to admire it!" + +In spite of all disappointment, this good mother paid the warmest heed +to the ordering, ay, and the cooking, of the supper of her only child. +A juicier steak never sat on a gridiron; fatter oysters never frizzled +with the pure bubble of goodness. Kit sat up, and made short work of +all that came before him. + +"Now, mother, what is it you want to say?" His tone was not defiant, +but nicely self-possessed, and softly rich with triumph of digestion. +And a silver tankard of Morel's ale helped him to express himself. + +"My dear boy, I have nothing to say, except that you have lifted a +great weight off my mind, a very great weight beyond description, by +leaving behind you not even a trace of the existence of that fine +rump-steak." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +MAY MORN. + + +It was the morn when the tall and shapely tower of Magdalen is crowned +with a fillet of shining white, awaiting the first step of sunrise. +Once a year, for generations, this has been the sign of it--eager +eyes, and gaping mouths, little knuckles blue with cold, and clumsy +little feet inclined to slide upon the slippery lead. All are bound to +keep together for the radiant moment; all are a little elated at their +height above all other boys; all have a strong idea that the sun, when +he comes, will be full of them; and every one of them longs to be back +beneath his mother's blankets. + +It is a tradition with this choir (handed, or chanted, down from very +ancient choral ancestry) that the sun never rises on May-day without +iced dew to glance upon. Scientific record here comes in to prop +tradition. The icy saints may be going by, but they leave their breath +behind them. And the poets, who have sent forth their maids to "gather +the dews of May," knew, and meant, that dew must freeze to stand that +operation. + +But though the sky was bright, and the dew lay sparkling for the +maidens, the frost on this particular morning was not so keen as +usual. The trees that took the early light (more chaste without the +yellow ray) glistened rather with soft moisture than with stiff +encrustment; and sprays, that kept their sally into fickle air half +latent, showing only little scolloped crinkles with a knob in them, +held in every downy quillet liquid, rather than solid, gem. + +Christopher Sharp, looking none the worse for his excellent supper of +last night, laid his fattish elbow on the parapet of the bridge, and +mused. Poetical feeling had fetched him out, thus early in the +morning, to hear the choir salute the sun, and to be moved with +sympathy. The moon is the proper deity of all true lovers, and has +them under good command when she pleases. But for half the weeks of a +month, she declines to sit in the court of lunacy; at least, as +regards this earth, having her own men and women to attend to. This +young man knew that she could not be found, with a view to meditation, +now; and his mind relapsed to the sun--a coarse power, poetical only +when he sets and rises. + +With strength and command of the work of men, and leaving their dreams +to his sister, the sun leaped up, with a shake of his brow and a +scattering of the dew-clouds. The gates of the east swung right and +left; so that tall trees on a hill seemed less than reeds in the rush +of glory; and lines (like the spread of a crystal fan) trembled along +the lowland. Inlets now, and lanes of vision (scarcely opened +yesterday, and closed perhaps to-morrow) guided shafts of light along +the level widening ways they love. Tree and tower, hill and wall, and +water and broad meadow, stood, or lay, or leaned (according to the +stamp set on them), one and all receiving, sharing, and rejoicing in +the day. + +Between the battlements, and above them, burst and rose the choral +hymn; and as the laws of sound compelled it to go upward mainly, the +part that came down was pleasing. Christopher, seeing but little of +the boys, and not hearing very much, was almost enabled to regard the +whole as a vocal effort of the angels: and thus in solemn thought he +wandered as far as the high-tolled turnpike gate. + +"I will hie me to Cowley," said he to himself, instead of turning back +again; "there will I probe the hidden import of impending destiny. +This long and dark suspense is more than can be brooked by human +power. I know a jolly gipsy-woman; and if I went home I should have to +wait three hours for my breakfast." + +With these words he felt in the pockets of his coat, to be sure that +oracular cash was there, and found a silk purse with more money than +usual, stored for the purchase of a dog called "Pablo," a hero among +badgers. + +"What is Pablo to me, or I to Pablo?" he muttered with a smothered +sigh. "She told me she thought it a cruel and cowardly thing to kill +fifty rats in five minutes. Never more--alas, never more!" With a +resolute step, but a clouded brow, he buttoned his coat, and strode +onward. + +Now, if he had been in a fit state of mind for looking about him, he +might have found a thousand things worth looking at. But none of them, +in his present hurry, won from him either glimpse or thought. He +trudged along the broad London road at a good brisk rate, while the +sun glanced over the highlands, and the dewy ridges, away on the left +towards Shotover. The noble city behind him, stretched its rising +sweep of tower, and spire, and dome, and serried battlement, stately +among ancient trees, and rich with more than mere external glory to an +Englishman. And away to the right hand sloped broad meadows, green +with spring, and fluttered with the pearly hyaline of dew, lifting +pillars of dark willow in the distance, where the Isis ran. + +But what are these things to a lover, unless they hit the moment's +mood? The fair, unfenced, free-landscaped road for him might just as +well have been wattled, like a skittle-alley, and roofed with +Croggon's patent felt. At certain--or rather uncertain--moments, he +might have rejoiced in the wide glad heart of nature spread to welcome +him; and must have felt, as lovers feel, the ravishment of beauty. It +happened, however, that his eyes were open to nothing above, or +around, or before him, unless it should present itself in the image of +a gipsy's tent. + +He turned to the left, before the road entered the new enclosures +towards Iffley, and trod his own track towards Cowley Marsh. The crisp +dew, brushed by his hasty feet, ran into large globes behind him; and +jerks of dust, brought up by pressure, fell and curdled on them. In +the haze of the morning, he looked much larger than he had any right +to seem, and the shadow of his arms and hat stretched into hollow +places. There was no other moving figure to be seen, except from time +to time, of a creature, the colonist of commons, whose mental frame +was not so unlike his own just now, as bodily form and style of +walking might in misty grandeur seem. Though Kit was not such a stupid +fellow, when free from his present bewitchment. + +Scant of patience he came to a place where the elbow of a hedge jutted +forth upon the common. A mighty hedge of beetling brows, and +over-hanging shagginess, and shelfy curves, and brambly depths, and +true Devonian amplitude. High farming would have swept it down, and +out of its long course ploughed an acre. Young Sharp had not traced +its windings far, before he came upon a tidy-looking tent, pitched, +with the judgment of experience, in a snug and sheltered spot. The +rest of the camp might be seen in the distance, glistening in the +sunrise. This tent seemed to have crept away, for the sake of peace +and privacy. + +Christopher quickened his steps, expecting to be met by a host of +children, rushing forth with outstretched hands, and shaggy hair, and +wild black eyes. But there was not so much as a child to be seen, nor +the curling smoke of a hedge-trough fire, nor even the scattered ash +betokening cookery of the night before. The canvas of the tent was +down; no head peeped forth, no naked leg or grimy foot protruded, to +show that the inner world was sleeping; even the dog, so rarely +absent, seemed to be really absent now. + +The young man knew that the tent was not very likely to be unoccupied; +but naturally he did not like to peep into it uninvited; and he turned +away to visit the chief community of rovers, when the sound of a low +soft moan recalled him. Still for a moment he hesitated, until he +heard the like sound again, low, and clear, and musical from the +deepest chords of sorrow. Kit felt sure that it must be a woman, in +storms of trouble helpless; and full as he was of his own affairs he +was impelled to interfere. So he lifted back the canvas drawn across +the opening, and looked in. + +There lay a woman on the sandy ground, with her back turned towards +the light, her neck and shoulders a little raised by the short support +of one elbow, and her head, and all that therein was, fixed in a +rigour of gazing. Although her face was not to be seen, and the +hopeless moan of her wail had ceased, Kit Sharp knew that he was in +the presence of a grand and long-abiding woe. + +He drew back, and he tried to make out what it was, and he sighed for +concert--even as a young dog whimpers to a mother who has lost her +pups--and, little as he knew of women, from his own mother, or whether +or no, he judged that this woman had lost a child. That it was her +only one, was more than he could tell or guess. The woman, disturbed +by the change of light, turned round and steadily gazed at him, or +rather at the opening which he filled; for her eyes had no perception +of him. Kit was so scared that he jerked his head back, and nearly +knocked his hat off. He never had seen such a thing before; and, if he +had his choice he never would see such a thing again. The great dark, +hollow eyes had lost similitude of human eyes: hope and fear and +thought were gone; nothing remained but desolation and bare, reckless +misery. + +Christopher's gaze fell under hers. It would be a sheer impertinence +to lay his small troubles before such woe. + +"What is it? Oh! what is it?" asked the woman, at last having some +idea that somebody was near her. + +"I am very sorry; I assure you, ma'am, that I never felt more sorry in +all my life," said Kit, who was a very kind-hearted fellow, and had +now espied a small boy lying dead. "I give you my word of honour, +ma'am, that if I could have guessed it, I would never have looked in." + +Without any answer, the gipsy-woman turned again to her dead child, +and took two little hands in hers, and rubbed them, and sat up, +imagining that she felt some sign of life. She drew the little body to +her breast, and laid the face to hers, and breathed into pale open +lips (scarcely fallen into death), and lifted little eyelids with her +tongue, and would not be convinced that no light came from under them; +and then she rubbed again at every place where any warmth or polish of +the skin yet lingered. She fancied that she felt the little fellow +coming back to her, and she kept the whole of her own body moving to +encourage him. + +There was nothing to encourage. He had breathed his latest breath. His +mother might go on with kisses, friction, and caresses, with every +power she possessed of muscle, and lungs, and brain, and heart. There +he lay, as dead as a stone--one stone more on the earth; and the whole +earth could not bring him back again. + +Cinnaminta bowed her head. She laid the little bit of all she ever +loved upon her lap, and fetched the small arms so that she could hold +them both together, and spread the careless face upon the breast where +once it had felt its way; and then she looked up in search of Kit, or +any one to say something to. + +"It is a just thing. I have earned it. I have robbed an old man of his +only child; and I am robbed of mine." + +These words she spoke not in her own language, but in plain good +English; and then she lay down in her quiet scoop of sand, and folded +her little boy in with her. Christopher saw that there was nothing to +be done. He cared to go no further in search of fortune-tellers; and, +being too young to dare to offer worthless consolation, he wisely +resolved to go home and have fried bacon; wherein he succeeded. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +MAY-DAY. + + +Ere yet it was noon of that same day, to the great delight of Mrs. +Sharp, a strong desire to fish arose in the candid bosom of +Christopher. + +"Mother," he said, "I shall have a bit of early grub, and take my rod, +and try whether I can't manage to bring you a few perch home for +supper. Or, if the perch are not taking yet, I may have a chance of a +trout or two." + +"Oh, that will be delightful, Kit! We can dine whenever we please, you +know, as your dear father is from home. We will have the cold lamb at +one o'clock. I can easily make my dinner then; and then, Kit, if you +are very good, what do you think I will try to do? Such a treat as you +hardly ever had!" + +"What, mother?--what? I must be off to get my tackle ready." + +"My dear, I will send to Mr. Squeaker Smith, and order a nice light +vehicle, with a very steady pony. And, Kit, I will put on my very +worst cloak, and a bonnet not worth six-pence, and stout india-rubber +overshoes. And so you shall drive me wherever you please; and I will +see you catch all the fish. And you will enjoy every fish twice as +much, because your dear mother is looking at you. I will bring some +sandwiches, my pet, and your father's flask of sherry; and we can stay +out till it is quite dark. Why, Kit, you don't look pleased about it!" + +"Mother, how can I be pleased to hear you speak of such things, at +this time of year? The spring is scarcely beginning yet, and the edges +of the water are all swampy. You would be up to your knees, in no +time, in the most horrible yellow slime. I should be most delighted to +have your company, my dearest mother; but it will not do." + +"Very well, Kit; you know best. But, at least, I can have the ride +with you, and wait somewhere while you go fishing?" + +"If I were going anywhere else, perhaps we might have contrived it so. +But while the wind stays in its present quarter, it is worse than +useless to think of fishing, except in the most outlandish places. +There would not be even a public-house, if you could stop at such a +place, within miles of the water I am going to. And the roads are +beyond conception. No wheels can get along them, except in the very +height of summer, or a dry black-frost. My dear mother, I am truly +grieved to lose your company; but I must ride the old cob Sam, and tie +him to a tree or gate; and over and over again you have told me how +long you have been waiting for the chance of a good long afternoon to +do a little shopping. And the London fashions, for the summer season, +arrived by the coach only yesterday." + +"Did they, indeed? Are you sure of that? Well, Kit, I would rather +have come with you than seen the whole world of fashions, although you +can judge, and a lady cannot. But I do not care about that, my dear, +if only you enjoy yourself. Ring the bell, my darling, and I will see +about your dinner." + +Kit's heart burned within him sadly, and his cheeks kept it well in +countenance, as the shocking fraud thus practised by him upon his +good, unselfish mother. However, there was no help for it; and, after +all, mothers must be made to be cheated; or why do they love it so? + +Thus well-balanced with his conscience, Kit put all his smartest +clothes on, as soon as the early dinner was done, and he felt quite +sure in his own mind that his mother was safely embarked upon her +grand expedition of shopping. He saw her as clean as possible off the +premises and round the utmost corner of the lane; and then he waited +for a minute and a half, to be sure that she had not forgotten her +purse, or something else most essential. At last, he became sure as +sure could be, that his admirable mother must now be sitting on a high +chair in a fashionable shop; and with that he ran up to his own room, +and kicked off his every-day breeches, and with great caution and vast +study drew a brand-new pair of noble pantaloons, with a military +stripe, up his well-nourished and established legs. He gazed at the +result, and found that on the whole it was not bad; and then he put on +his best velvet waistcoat, of a chaste sprig-pattern, not too gaudy. A +waterfall tie with a turquoise pin, and a cutaway coat of a soft +bottle-green, completed him for the eyes of the public, and--for which +he cared far more--certain especially private eyes. + +Christopher, feeling himself thus attired, and receiving the silent +approval of his glass, stole downstairs in a very clever way, and took +from his own private cupboard a whip of white pellucid whalebone, +silver-mounted, and set with a large and radiant Cairngorm pebble. His +mother had given him this on his very last birth-day, and he had never +used it, wisely fearing to be laughed at. But now he tucked it under +his arm, and swaggering as he had seen hussars do, turned into a +passage leading to his private outlet. + +Hugging himself upon all his skill, and feeling assured of grand +success, Kit allowed his heels to clank, and carried his head with an +arrogant twist. And so, near a window, where good light came in large +quantity from the garden, he marched into his mother's arms. + +"Kit!" cried his mother; and he said, "Yes," being unable to deny that +truth. His mother looked at him, and his jaunty whip, and particularly +lively suit of clothes; and she knew that he had been telling lies to +her by the hundred or the bushel; and she would have been very glad to +scorn him, if she could have helped being proud of him. Kit was unable +to carry on any more in the way of falsehood. He tried to look fierce, +but his mother laughed; and he saw that he must knock under. + +"My dear boy," she said, for the moment daring to follow up her +triumph, "is this the costume in which you go forth to fish in the +most outlandish places, with the yellow ooze above your knees? And is +that your fishing-rod? Oh, Kit!--come, Kit, now you are caught at +last!" + +"My dear mother, I have told you stories; but I will leave off at +last. Now there is not one instant to explain. I have not so much as a +moment to spare. If you only could guess how important it is, you +would draw in your cloak in a moment. You never shall know another +single word, unless you have the manners, mother, to pull in your +cloak and let me go by." + +"Kit, you may go. When you look at me like that, you may as well do +anything. You have gone by your mother for ever so long; or at any +rate gone away from her." + +With these words, Mrs. Sharp made way for her son to pass her; and +Kit, in a reckless manner, was going to take advantage of it; then he +turned back his face, to say goodbye, and his mother's eyes were away +from him. She could not look at him, because she knew that her look +would pain him; but she held out her hand; and he took it and kissed +it; and then he made off as hard as he could go. + +Mrs. Sharp turned back, and showed some hankering to run after him; +and then she remembered what a laugh would arise in Cross Duck Lane to +see such sport; and so she sighed a heavy sigh--knowing how long she +must have to wait--and retired to her own thoughtful corner, with no +heart left for shopping. + +But Kit saw that now it was "neck or nothing;" with best foot foremost +he made his way through back lanes leading towards the conscientious +obscurity of Worcester College--for Beaumont Street still abode in the +future--and skirting the coasts of Jericho, dangerously hospitable, he +emerged at last in broad St. Giles', without a stone to prate of his +whereabouts. Here he went into livery stables, where he was well +known, and found the cob Sam at his service; for no university man +would ride him (even upon Hobson's choice) because of his ignominious +aspect. But Kit knew his value, and his lasting powers, and sagacious +gratitude; and whenever he wanted a horse trustworthy in patience, +obedience, and wit, he always took brown Sam. To Sam it was a treat to +carry Kit, because of the victuals ordered at almost every lenient +stage; and the grand largesse of oats and beans was more than he could +get for a week in stable. And so he set forth, with a spirited neigh, +on the Kidlington road, to cross the Cherwell, and make his way +towards Weston. The heart of Christopher burned within him whenever he +thought of his mother; but a man is a man for all that, and cannot be +tied to apron-strings. So Kit shook his whip, and the Cairngorm +flashed in the sun, and the spirit of youth did the same. He was +certain to see the sweet maid to-day, knowing her manners and customs, +and when she was ordered forth for her mossy walk upon the margin of +the wood. + +The soft sun hung in the light of the wood, as if he were guided by +the breeze and air; and gentle warmth flowed through the alleys, where +the nesting pheasant ran. Little fluttering, timid things, that meant +to be leaves, please God, some day, but had been baffled and beaten +about so, that their faith was shrunk to hope; little rifts of cover +also keeping beauty coiled inside, and ready to open, like a bivalve +shell, to the pulse of the summer-tide, and then to be sweet blossom; +and the ground below them pressing upward with ambition of young +green; and the sky above them spread with liquid blue behind white +pillows. + +But these things are not well to be seen without just entering into +the wood; and in doing so there can be no harm, with the light so +inviting, and the way so clear. Grace had a little idea that perhaps +she had better stop outside the wood, but still that walk was within +her bounds, and her orders were to take exercise; and she saw some +very pretty flowers there; and if they would not come to her, she had +nothing to do but to go to them. Still she ought to have known that +now things had changed from what they were as little as a week ago; +that a dotted veil of innumerable buds would hang between her and the +good Miss Patch, while many forward trees were casting quite a shade +of mystery. Nevertheless, she had no fear. If anybody did come near +her, it would only be somebody thoroughly afraid of her. For now she +knew, and was proud to know, that Kit was the prey of her bow and +spear. + +Whether she cared for him, or not, was a wholly different question. +But in her dismal dullness and long, wearisome seclusion, the finest +possible chance was offered for any young gentleman to meet her, and +make acquaintance of nature's doing. At first she had kept this to +herself, in dread of conceit and vanity; but when it outgrew accident, +she told "Aunt Patch" the whole affair, and asked what she was to do +about it. Thereupon she was told to avoid the snares of childish +vanity, to look at the back of her looking-glass, and never dare to +dream again that any one could be drawn by her. + +Her young mind had been eased by this, although with a good deal of +pain about it; and it made her more venturesome to discover whether +the whole of that superior estimate of herself was true. Whether she +was so entirely vain or stupid, whenever she looked at herself; and +whether it was so utterly and bitterly impossible that anybody should +come--as he said--miles and miles for the simple pleasure of looking, +for one or two minutes, at herself. + +Grace was quite certain that she had no desire to meet anybody, when +she went into the wood. She hoped to be spared any trial of that sort. +She had been told on the highest authority, that nobody could come +looking after her--the assertion was less flattering perhaps than +reassuring; and, to test its truth, she went a little further than she +meant to go. + +Suddenly at a corner, where the whole of the ground fell downward, and +grass was overhanging grass so early in the season, and sapling shoots +from the self-same stool stood a yard above each other, and down in +the hollow a little brook sang of its stony troubles to the whispering +reeds--here Grace Oglander happened to meet a very fine young man +indeed. The astonishment of these two might be seen, at a moment's +glance, to be mutual. The maiden, by gift of nature, was the first to +express it, with dress, and hand, and eye. She showed a warm eagerness +to retire; yet waited half a moment for the sake of proper dignity. + +Kit looked at her with a clear intuition that now was his chance of +chances to make certain-sure of her. If he could only now be strong, +and take her consent for granted, and so induce her to set seal to it, +she never would withdraw; and the two might settle the rest at their +leisure. + +He loved the young lady with all his heart; and beyond that he knew +nothing of her, except that she was worthy. But she had not given her +heart as yet; and, with natural female common sense, she would like to +know a great deal more about him before she said too much to him. Also +in her mind--if not in her heart--there was a clearer likeness of a +very different man--a man who was a man in earnest, and walked with a +stronger and firmer step, and lurked behind no corners. + +"This path is so extremely narrow," Miss Oglander said, with a very +pretty blush, "and the ground is so steep, that I fear I must put you +to some little inconvenience. But if I hold carefully by this branch, +perhaps there will be room for you to pass." + +"You are most kind and considerate," he answered, as if he were in +peril of a precipice; "but I would not for the world give you such +trouble. And I don't want to go any further now. It cannot matter in +the least, I do assure you." + +"But surely you must have been going somewhere. You are most polite. +But I cannot think for one moment of turning you back like this." + +"Then, may I sit down? I feel a little tired; and the weather has +suddenly become so warm. Don't you think it is very trying?" + +"To people who are not very strong perhaps it is. But surely it ought +not to be so to you." + +"Well, I must not put all the blame upon the weather. There are so +many other things much worse. If I could only tell you." + +"Oh, I am so very sorry, Mr. Sharp. I had no idea you had such +troubles. It must be so sad for you, while you are so young." + +"Yes, I suppose many people call me young. And perhaps to the outward +eye I am so. But no one except myself can dream of the anxieties that +prey upon me." + +Christopher, by this time, was growing very crafty, as the above +speech of his will show. The paternal gift was awaking within him, but +softened by maternal goodness; so that it was not likely to be used +with much severity. And now, at the end of his speech, he sighed, and +without any thought laid his right hand on the rich heart of his +velvet waistcoat, where beautiful forget-me-nots were blooming out of +willow leaves. Then Grace could not help thinking how that +trouble-worn right hand had been uplifted in her cause, and had +descended on the rabbit-man. And although she was most anxious to +discourage the present vein of thought, she could not suppress one +little sigh--sweeter music to the ear of Kit than ever had been played +or dreamed. + +"Now, would you really like to know?--you are so wonderfully good," he +continued, with his eyes cast down, and every possible appearance of +excessive misery; "would you, I mean, do your best, not only not to be +offended, but to pity and forgive me, if, or rather supposing that, I +were to endeavour to explain, what--what it is, who--who she is--no, +no, I do not quite mean that. I scarcely know how to express myself. +Things are too many for me." + +"Oh, but you must not allow them to be so, Mr. Sharp; indeed, you +mustn't. I am sure that you must have a very good mother, from what +you told me the other day; and if you have done any harm, though I +scarcely can think such a thing of you, the best and most +straightforward course is to go and tell your mother everything; and +then it is so nice afterwards." + +"Yes, to be sure. How wise you are! You seem to know almost +everything. I never saw any one like you at all. But the fact is that +I am a little too old; I am obliged now to steer my own course in +life. My mother is as good as gold, and much better; but she never +could understand my feelings." + +"Then come in, and tell my dear old Aunt Patch. She is so virtuous, +and she always never doubts about anything; she sees the right thing +to be done in a moment, and she never listens to arguments. If you +will only come in and see her, it might be such a relief to you." + +"You seem to mistake me altogether," cried the young man, with his +patience gone. "What good could any old aunts do to me? Surely you +know who it is that I want!" + +"How can I imagine that?" + +"Why, you, only you, only you, sweet Grace! I should like to see the +whole earth swallowed up, if only you and I were left together!" + +Grace Oglander blushed at the power of his words, and the pressure of +his hand on hers. Then, having plenty of her father's spirit, she +fixed her bright sensible eyes on his face, so that he saw that he had +better stop. "I am afraid that it is no good," he said. + +"I am very much obliged to you," answered Grace, with her fair cheeks +full of colour, and her hands drawn carefully back to her sides; "but +will you be kind enough to stand up, and let me speak for a moment. I +believe that you are very good, and I may say very harmless, and you +have helped me in the very kindest way, and I never shall forget your +goodness. Ever since you came, I am sure, I have been glad to think of +you; and your dogs, and your gun, and your fishing-rod reminded me of +my father; and I am very, very sorry, that what you have just said +will prevent me from thinking any more about you, or coming anywhere, +into any kind of places, where there are trees like this, again. I +ought to have done it--at least, I mean, I never ought to have done it +at all; but I did think that you were so nice; and now you have +undeceived me. I know who your father is very well, although I have +seldom seen him; and though I dislike the law, I declare that would +not have mattered very much to me. But you do not even know my name, +as several times you have proved to me; and how you can ride thirty +miles from Oxford, in all sorts of weather, without being tired, and +your dogs so fresh, has always been a puzzle to me." + +"Thirty miles from Oxford!" Christopher Sharp cried, in great +amazement; for in the very lowest condition of the heart figures will +maintain themselves. + +"Yes; thirty miles, or thirty leagues. Sometimes I hear one thing, and +sometimes the other." + +"Where you are standing now is about seven miles and three-quarters +from Summer-town gate!" + +"Surely, Mr. Sharp, you are laughing at me! How far am I from Beckley, +then, according to your calculation?" + +"How did you ever hear of Beckley? It is quite a little village. A +miserable little place!" + +"Indeed, then, it is not. It is the very finest place in all the +world; or at any rate the nicest, and the dearest, and the prettiest!" + +"But how can you, just come from America, have such an opinion of such +a little hole?" + +"A little hole! Why, it stands on a hill! You never can have been near +it, if you think of calling it a 'hole!' And as for my coming from +America, you seem to have no geography. I have never been further away +from darling Beckley, to my knowledge, than I am now." + +Kit Sharp looked at her with greater amazement than that with which +she looked at him. And then with one accord they spied a fat man +coming along the hollow, and trying not to glance at them. With keen +young instinct they knew that this villain was purely intent upon +watching them. + +"Come again, if you please, to-morrow," said Grace, while pretending +to gaze at the clouds; "you have told me such things that I never +shall sleep. Come earlier, and wait for me. Not that you must think +anything; only that now you are bound, as a gentleman, to go on with +what you were telling me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE DIGNITY OF THE FAMILY. + + +If Grace had only stayed five minutes longer in the place where she +was when the fat man came in sight, her eyes and heart would have been +delighted by the appearance of a true old friend. But she felt so much +terror of that stout person, who always seemed to be watching her +afar, that in spite of the extraordinary interest aroused by some of +her companion's words, as well as by his manner, she could not help +running away abruptly, and taking shelter in the little bowered +cottage. + +Meanwhile, the stout man in the white frock coat slouched along the +furzy valley, with a clownish step. He carried a long pig-whip, and +now and then indulged in a crack or flick at some imaginary pig, while +a crafty grin, or a wink of one little eye, enlivened his heavy +countenance. He was clearly aware of all that had been happening in +the wood above him, for the buds as yet rather served to guide the +lines of sight than to baffle them; but he showed no desire to +interfere, for instead of taking the cross-path, which would have +brought him face to face with Kit, he kept down the glade towards the +timber-track, which led in another direction. By the side of the +little brook he turned the corner of a thick holly-bush, and suddenly +met his brother, Master Zacchary Cripps, the Carrier. + +The Carrier was in no pleasant mood; his eyes were stern and +steadfast, and the colour of his healthy cheeks was deepened into +crimson. He bore with a bent arm and set muscle the sceptral whip of +the family, bound with spiral brass, and newly fitted with a heavy +lash. Moreover, he had come with his Sunday hat on, and his air and +walk were menacing. Leviticus started and turned pale, and his cunning +eyes glanced for a chance of escape. + +"Thou goest not hence, Brother Tickuss," said Cripps, "until thou hast +answered what I shall ax, and answered with thine eyes on mine." + +"Ax away," said the pigman, sprawling out his fat legs, as if he did +not care; "ax away, so long as it be of thy own consarns." + +"It is of my own consarns to keep my father's sons from being rogues +and liars, and getting into Oxford jail, and into the hands of the +hangman." + +Leviticus trembled, with fear more than anger. "Thou always was +foul-mouthed," he muttered. + +"It is a lie!" shouted Zacchary; "as big a lie as ever thou spak'st! I +always were that clean of tongue--no odds for that now. Wilt answer +me, or will not? Thou liedst to me in Oxford streets the last time as +I spake to thee." + +"Well, well, maybe a small piece I did; but nothing to lay hold on +much. Brother Zak, thou must not be so hard. What man can be always +arkerate?" + +"A man can spake the truth if he goeth to try, or else a must be a +fule. And, Tickuss, thou wast always more rogue than fule. And now +here am I, to ax thee spashal what roguery thou beest up to now? Whom +hast thou got at the cottage in the wood?" + +"Thou'd best way go up there, and see for thyzell. A old lady from +Amerikay as wanteth to retaire frout the world. Won't her zend thee +a-running down the hill? Ah, and I'd like to see thee, Zak. Her'd lay +thy own whip about thee; and her tongue be worse nor a dozen whips!" + +Really, while Tickuss was telling this lie, he managed to look at his +brother so firmly, in the rally of impudence brought to bay, that Zak +for the moment (in spite of all experience) believed him. And the +Carrier dreaded--as the lord of swine knew well--nothing so much as a +fierce woman's tongue. + +"What be the reason, then," he went on, still keeping his eyes on the +face of Tickuss, "that thou hast been keeping thyself and thy pigs out +o' market, and even thy waife and children to home, same as if 'em had +gotten the plague? And what be the reason, Leviticus Cripps, that thou +fearest to go to a wholesome public-house, and have thy pint of ale, +and see thy neighbours, as behooveth a God-fearing man? To my mind, +either thou art gone daft, and the woman should take the lead o' thee, +or else thou art screwed out of honest ways." + +The Carrier now looked at his brother, with more of pity than +suspicion. Tickuss had always been regarded as the weak member of the +family, because he laid on more fat than muscle, even in the time of +most active growth. And to keep him regularly straight was more than +all the set efforts of the brotherhood could, even when he was young, +effect. Therefore Zak stood back some little, and the butt of his whip +fell down to earth. Leviticus saw his chance, and seized it. + +"Consarning of goin' to public-house, I would never be too particular. +A man may do it, or a man may not, according to manner of his things +at home, or his own little brew, or the temper of his wife. I would +not blame him, nor yet praise him, for things as he knoweth best +about. To make light of a man for not going to public, is the same as +to blame him for stopping from church. A man as careth for good +opinion goeth to both, but a cannot always do it. And I ain't a been +in church now for more nor a week of Sundays." + +The force of this reasoning came home to Cripps. If a man was unable +to go to church, there was good room for arguing that his duty towards +the public-house must not be too rigidly exacted. Zacchary therefore +fetched a sigh. None of the race had broken up at so early an age as +that of Tickuss. But still, from his own sad experience, the Carrier +knew what pigs were; and he thought that his brother, though younger +than himself, might be called away before him. + +"Tickuss," he said, "I may a' been too hard. Nobody knows but them +that has to do it what the worrit of the roads is. I may a' said a +word here and there too much, and a bit outside the Gospel. According +to they a man must believe a liar, and forgive un, and forgive un over +and over again, the same as I tries to forgive you, Tickuss." + +Zacchary offered his hand to his brother, but Leviticus was ashamed to +take it. With the load now weighing upon his mind, and the sense in +his heart of what Zacchary was, Tickuss--whatever his roguery +was--could not make believe to have none of it. So he turned away, +with his feelings hurt too much for the clasp fraternal. + +"When a man hath no more respect for hiszell," he muttered over his +puckered shoulder, "and no more respect for his father and mother +avore un, than to call his very next brother but one a rogue and a +liar, and a schemer against publics, to my mind he have gone too far, +and not shown the manners relied upon." + +"Very well," replied Cripps; "just as you like, Tickuss; though I +never did hear as I were short of manners; and there's twelve mailes +of road as knows better than that. Now, since you go on like that, and +there seemeth no chance of supper 'long of 'ee, I shall just walk up +to cottage, and ax any orders for the Carrier. Good evening, brother +Tickuss." + +With these words Zak set off, and Tickuss repented sadly of the evil +temper which had forbidden him to shake hands. But now to oppose the +Carrier's purpose would be a little too suspicious. He must go his way +and take his chance; he was worse than a pig when his mind was made +up. + +"Go thy way, and be danged to thee!" thought Leviticus, looking after +him. "Little thou wilt take, however, but to knock thy thick head +again' a wall. Old lady looketh out too sharp for any of they danged +old Beckley carcases. Come thee down to our ouze," he shouted in irony +after his brother, "and tell us the noos thou hast picked up, and what +'em be doing in Amerikay! A vine time o' life for thee to turn spy!" + +It was lucky for him that he made off briskly among thick brushwood +and tangled swamps, for Zacchary Cripps at the last word turned round, +with his face of a fine plum-colour, and a stamp of rage which made +his stiff knees tingle worse than a dozen turnpikes. + +"Spy, didst thou say?" he shouted, staring, with his honest, wrathful +eyes, through every glimpse of thicket near the spot where his brother +had disappeared--"Spy! if thou beest a man come out, and say it again +to the face of me! I'll show thee how to spell 'spy' pretty quick. +Leviticus Cripps, thou art a coward, to the back of a thief and a +sneaking skulk, unless thou comest out of they thick places, to stand +to the word thou hast spoken." + +Zacchary stood in a wide bay of copse, and he knew that his voice went +through the wood; for he spoke with the whole power of his lungs; and +the tender leaves above him quivered like a little breath of fringe, +and the birds flew out of their ivy castles, and a piece of bare-faced +rock in the distance answered him--but nothing else. + +"Thou art a bigger man than I be," shouted the Carrier, being carried +beyond himself by the state of things; "come out if thou art a man, +and hast any blood of Cripps in thee!" But this appeal received no +answer, except from the quiet rock again, and a peaceful thrush +sitting over his nest, and well accustomed to the woodman's call. + +Zacchary had always felt scorn of Tickuss, but now he almost disdained +himself for springing of one wedlock with him. He stood in the place +where he must be seen if Tickuss wished to see him, until he was quite +sure that no such longing existed on his brother's part. Then the +family seemed to be lowered so by this behaviour of a leading member, +that when the Carrier moved his legs, he had not the spirit to crack +his whip. + +"What shall us do? Whatever shall us do?" he said to himself more +reasonably, with the anger dying out of his kind blue eyes. "A hath +insulted of me, but a hath a big family of little uns to kape up. I +harn't had no knowledge how that zort o' thing may drive a man out of +his proper ways. Like enough it maketh them careful to tell lies, and +shun the thrashing." + +Taking this view of the case, Master Cripps turned away from the path +towards his brother's house, to which, in the flush of first anger, he +meant to go, and there to wait for him; and being rather slow of +resolution, he naturally set forth again on the track of the one last +interrupted. He would go to this cottage in the wood of which he had +heard through one of his washerwomen--though none of them had any +washing thence--and then he would satisfy his own mind concerning an +ugly rumour, which had unsettled that mind since Tuesday. For in his +own hearing it had been said--by a woman, it is true, but still a +woman who came of a truthful family, and was married now into the +like--that Master Leviticus Cripps was harbouring pirates and +conspirators, believed to have come from America, in a little place +out of the way of all honest people, where the deaf old woman was. +Nobody ever had leave to the house; never a butcher, nor baker, nor +tea-grocer, nor a milkman, nor even a respectable washerwoman--there +was nothing except a great dog to rush out and bite without even +barking. + +Zacchary had no easy task to find the little cottage of which he had +heard, for it lay well back from all thoroughfares, and so embedded +among ivied trees, that he passed and re-passed several times before +he descried it; and even then he would not have done so if it had not +chanced that Miss Patch, who loved good things when she could get +them, was about to dine on a juicy roaster, supplied by the wary +Leviticus. Grace herself had prepared the currant sauce, before she +went forth for her daily walk, and deaf old Margery Daw was stooping +over the fierce wood fire on the ground, and basting with a short iron +spoon. The double result was a wreath of blue smoke rising from the +crooked chimney, and a very rich odour streaming forth from door and +window on the vernal air. The eyes and the nose of the Carrier at once +presented him with clear impressions. + +"Amerikayans understands good living." Giving utterance to this +profound and incontrovertible reflection, Cripps came to a halt and +sagely considered the situation. The first thing he asked, as usual, +was--"How would the law of the land lie?" Here was a lonely, +unprotected cottage, inhabited by an elderly foreign lady, who +especially sought retirement. Had he any legal right to insist on +knowing who she was, and all about her? Would he not rather be a +trespasser, and liable to a fine, and perhaps the jail, if he forced +himself in, without invitation and wilfully, against the inhabitants' +wish? And even if that came to nothing--as it might--could he say that +it was a manly and straightforward action on his part? He had no enemy +that he knew of, unless it was Black George, the poacher; but there +were always plenty of people ready to say ill-natured things about a +prosperous neighbour; and like enough they would set it afoot that he +had gone spying on a helpless lady, because she had never employed +him. And then his brother's reproach, which had so fiercely aroused +him, came back to his mind. + +Neither was it wholly absent from his thoughts, that a great dog was +said to reside on these premises, whose manner was the peculiarly +unattractive one of rushing out to bite without a bark. The Carrier +had suffered in his time from dogs, as was natural to his calling; and +although his flesh was so wholesome that the result had never been +serious, he was conscious of a definite desire to defer all increase +of experience in that line. + +"Spy!" he exclaimed, as he sat down rather to rest his stiff knee than +to watch the hut. "That never hath been said of me, and never shall +without a lie. But one on 'em might come out, mayhap, and give me some +zatisfaction." + +Before his words were cool, Miss Patch herself appeared in the +doorway. She saw not Cripps, who had happened to put himself in a +knowing corner; and being in a quietly savage mood (from desire of +pig, and dread that stupid old Margery was murdering pig, by revolving +him too near the fire), she cast such a glance at the young leaves +around her, as seemed enough to nip them in the bud. Then she threw +away something with a scornful sweep, and Cripps believed almost every +word his brother had been saying. + +"I'll be blessed if I don't scuttle off," he said to himself and the +moss he was sitting on. "In my time I have a seen all zorts of womans, +but none to come nigh this sample as be come over from Amerikay! +Sarveth me right for cooriosity. Amend me if ever I come anigh of any +Amerikayans again!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +A TOMBSTONE. + + +Are there any who do not quicken to the impulse of young life, lifted +free of long repression and the dread of dull relapse? Can we find a +man or woman (holding almost any age) able to come out and meet the +challenge of the sun, conveyed in cartel of white clouds of May, and +yet to stick to private sense of sulky wrongs and brooding hate? + +If we could find such a man or woman (by great waste of labour, in a +search ungracious), and if it should seem worth while to attempt to +cure the case, scarcely anything could be thought of, leading more +directly towards the end in view, than to fetch that person, and plant +him or her, without a word of explanation, among the flower-beds on +the little lawn of Beckley Barton. + +The flowers themselves, and their open eyes, and the sparkling smile +of the grass, and the untold commerce of the freighted bees, and rich +voluntaries of thrush and blackbird (ruffled to the throat with song); +and over the whole the soft flow of sunshine, like a vast pervasive +river of gold, with silver wave of clouds--who could dwell on petty +aches and pains among such grandeur? + +The old Squire sat in his bower-chair with a warm cloak over his +shoulders. His age was threescore and ten this day; and he looked back +through the length of years, and marvelled at their fleeting. The +stirring times of his youth, and the daily perils of his prime of +life, the long hard battle, and the slow promotion--because he had +given offence by some projection of honest opinion--the heavy +disappointment, and the forced retirement from the army when the wars +were over, with only the rank of Major, which he preferred to sink in +Squire--because he ought to have been, according to his own view of +the matter, a good Lieutenant-general--and then a very short golden +age of five years and a quarter, from his wedding-day to the death of +his wife, a single and sweet-hearted wife--and after that (as sorrow +sank into the soothing breast of time) the soft, and gentle, and +undreamed-of step of comfort, coming almost faster than was welcome, +while his little daughter grew. + +After that the old man tried to think no more, but be content. To let +the little scenes of dancing, and of asking, and of listening, and of +looking puzzled, and of waiting to know truly whether all was +earnest--because already childhood had suspicion that there might be +things intended to delude it--and of raising from the level of papa's +well-buttoned pocket, clear bright eyes that did not know a guinea +from a halfpenny; and then, with the very extraordinary spring from +the elasticity of red calves (which happily departs right early), the +jumping into opened arms, and the laying on of little lips, and the +murmurs of delighted love--to let his recollections of all these die +out, and to do without them, was this old man's business now. + +For he had been convinced at last--strange as it may seem, until we +call to mind how the strongest convictions are produced by the weakest +logic--at last he could no longer hope to see his Grace again; because +he had beheld her tombstone. Having made up his mind to go to church +that very Sunday morning, in spite of all Widow Hookham could do to +stop him, he had spied a new stone in the graveyard corner sacred to +the family of Oglander. The old man went up to see what it was, and +nobody liked to follow him. And nobody was surprised that he did not +show his white head at the chancel-door; though the parson waited five +minutes for him, being exceeding loth to waste ten lines, which he had +interlarded into a sermon of thirty years back, for the present sad +occasion. + +For the old Squire sat on his grandfather's tombstone (a tabular piece +of memorial, suited to an hospitable man; where all his descendants +might sit around, and have their dinners served to them), and he +leaned his shaven chin on the head of his stout oak staff, and he took +off his hat, and let his white hair fall about. He fixed his still +bright eyes on the tombstone of his daughter, and tried to fasten his +mind there also, and to make out how old she was. He was angry with +himself for not being able to tell to a day without thinking; but +days, and years, and thoughts, and doings of quiet love quite slipping +by, and spreading without ruffle, had left him little to lay hold of +as a knotted record. Therefore he sat with his chin on his stick, and +had no sense of church-time, until the choir (which comprised seven +Crippses) bellowed out an anthem, which must have shaken their +grandfathers in their graves; unless in their time they had done the +same. + +In this great uproar and applause, which always travelled for half a +mile, the Squire had made his escape from the graveyard; and then he +had gone home without a word and eaten his dinner, because he must +when the due time came for it. And now, being filled with substantial +faith that his household was nicely enjoying itself, he was come to +his bower to think and wonder, and perhaps by-and-by to fall fast +asleep, but never awake to bright hope again. + +To this relief and mild incline of gentle age, his head was bowing and +his white hair settling down, according as the sun, or wind, or +clouds, or time of day desired, when some one darkened half his light, +and there stood Mary Hookham. + +Mary had the newest of all new spring fashions on her head, and +breast, and waist, and everywhere. A truly spirited girl was she, as +well as a very handy one; and she never thought twice of a sixpence or +shilling, if a soiled paper-pattern could be had for it. And now she +was busy with half a guinea, kindly beginning to form its impress on +her moist hard-working palm. + +"He have had a time of it!" she exclaimed, as her master began to gaze +around. "Oh my, what a time of it he have had!" + +"Mary, I suppose you are talking of me. Yes, I have had a bad time on +the whole. But many people have had far worse." + +"Yes, sir. And will you see one who hath? As fine a young gentleman as +ever lived; so ready to speak up for everybody, and walking like a +statute. It give me such a turn! I do believe you never would know +him, sir; without his name come in with him. Squire Overshute, sir, if +you please, requesteth the honour of seeing of you." + +"Mary, I am hardly fit for it. I was doing my best to sit quite quiet, +and to try to think of things. I am not as I was yesterday, or even as +I was this morning. But if I ought to see him--why, I will. And +perhaps I ought, no doubt, when I come to think of things. The poor +young man has been very ill. To be sure, I remember all about it. Show +him where I am at once. What a sad thing for his mother! His mother is +a wonderful clever woman, of the soundest views in politics." + +"His mother be dead, sir; I had better tell you for fear of begetting +any trifles with him; although we was told to keep such things from +you. Howsomever, I do think he be coming to himself, or he would not +have fallen out of patience as a hath done; and now here he be, sir!" + +Russel Overshute, narrowed and flattened into half of his proper size, +and heightened thereby to unnatural stature--for stoop he would not, +although so weak--here he was walking along the damp walk, when a bed, +or a sofa, or a drawn-out chair at Shotover Grange, was his proper +place. He walked with the help of a crutch-handled stick, and his deep +mourning dress made him look almost ghastly. His eyes, however, were +bright and steady, and he made an attempt at a cheerful smile, as he +congratulated the Squire on the great improvement of his health. + +"For that I have to thank you, my dear friend," answered Mr. Oglander; +"for weeks I had been helpless, till I helped myself; I mean, of +course, by the great blessing of the Lord. But of your sad troubles, +whatever shall I say----" + +"My dear sir, say nothing, if you please--I cannot bear as yet to +speak of them. I ought to be thankful that life is spared to +me--doubtless for some good purpose. And I think I know what that +purpose is; though now I am confident of nothing." + +"Neither am I, Russel, neither am I," said the old man, observing how +low his voice was, and speaking in a low sad voice himself. "I used to +have confidence in the good will and watchful care of the Almighty +over all who trust in Him. But now there is something over there"--he +pointed towards the churchyard--"which shows that we may carry such +ideas to a foolish point. But I cannot speak of it; say no more." + +"I will own," replied Overshute, studying the Squire's downcast face, +to see how far he might venture, "at one time I thought that you +yourself carried such notions to a foolish length. That was before my +illness. Now, I most fully believe that you were quite right." + +"Yes, I suppose that I was--so far as duty goes, and the parson's +advice. But as for the result--where is it?" + +"As yet we see none. But we very soon shall. Can you bear to hear +something I want to say, and to listen to it attentively?" + +"I believe that I can, Russel. There is nothing now that can disturb +me very much." + +"This will disturb you, my dear sir, but in a very pleasant way, I +hope. As sure as I stand and look at you here, and as sure as the +Almighty looks down at us both, that grave in Beckley churchyard holds +a gipsy-woman, and no child of yours! Ah! I put it too abruptly, as I +always do. But give me your arm, sir, and walk a few steps. I am not +very strong, any more than you are. But, please God, we will both get +stronger, as soon as our troubles begin to lift." + +Each of them took the right course to get stronger, by putting forth +his little strength, to help and guide the other's steps. + +"Russel, what did you say just now?" Mr. Oglander asked, when the pair +had managed to get as far as another little bower, Grace's own, and +there sat down. "I must have taken your meaning wrong. I am not so +clear as I was, and often there is a noise inside my head." + +"I told you, sir, that I had proved for certain that your dear +daughter has not been buried here--nor anywhere else, to my firm +belief. Also I have found out and established (to my own most bitter +cost) who it was that lies buried here, and of what terrible disease +she died. As regards my own illness, I would go through it again--come +what might come of it--for the sake of your darling Grace; but, alas! +I have lost my own dear mother through this utterly fiendish plot--for +such it is, I do believe! This poor girl buried here was the younger +sister of Cinnaminta!" + +"Cinnaminta!" said the Squire, trying to arouse old memory. "Surely I +have heard that name. But tell me all, Russel; for God's sake, tell me +all, and how you came to find it out, and what it has to do with my +lost pet." + +"My dear sir, if you tremble so I shall fear to tell you another word. +Remember, it is all good, so far as it goes; instead of trembling you +should smile and rejoice." + +"So I will--so I will; or at least I will try. There, now, look--I +have taken a pinch of snuff, you need have no fear for me after that." + +"All I know beyond what I have told you is that your Gracie--and my +Grace too--was driven off in a chaise and pair, through the narrow +lanes towards Wheatley. I have not been able to follow the track in my +present helpless condition; and, indeed, what I know I only learned +this morning; and I thought it my duty to come and tell you at once. I +had it from poor Cinnaminta's own lips, who for a week or more had +been lurking near the house to see me. This morning I could not resist +a little walk--lonely and miserable as it was--and the poor thing told +me all she knew. She was in the deepest affliction herself at the loss +of her only surviving child, and she fancied that I had saved his life +before, and she had deep pangs of ingratitude, and of Nemesis, etc.; +and hence she was driven to confess all her share; which was but a +little one. She was tempted by the chance of getting money enough to +place her child in the care of a first-rate doctor." + +"But Grace--my poor Grace!--how was she tempted--or was she forced +away from me?" + +"That I cannot say as yet; Cinnaminta had no idea. She did not even +see the carriage; for she herself was borne off by her tribe, who were +quite in a panic at the fever. But she heard that no violence was +used, and there was a lady in the chaise; and poor Grace went quite +readily, though she certainly did seem to sob a little. It was no +elopement, Mr. Oglander, nor anything at all of that kind. The poor +girl believed that she was acting under your orders in all she did; +just as she had believed that same when she left her aunt's house to +meet you on the homeward road, through that forged letter, which, most +unluckily, she put into her pocket. There, I believe I have told you +all I can think of for the moment. Of course, you will keep the whole +to yourself, for we have to deal with subtle brutes. Is there anything +you would like to ask?" + +"Russel Overshute," said the Squire, "I am not fit to go into things +now; I mean all the little ins and outs. And you look so very ill, my +dear fellow, I am quite ashamed of allowing you to talk. Come into the +house and have some nourishment. If any man ever wanted it, you do +now. How did you come over?" + +"Well, I broke a very ancient vow. If there is anything I detest it is +to see a young man sitting alone inside of a close carriage. But we +never know what we may come to. I tried to get upon my horse, but +could not. By the bye, do you know Hardenow?" + +"Not much," said the Squire; "I have seen him once or twice, and I +know that he is a great friend of yours. He is one of the new lights, +is not he?" + +"I am sure I don't know, or care. He is a wonderfully clever fellow, +and as true as steel, and a gentleman. He has heard of course of your +sad trouble, but only the popular account of it. He does not even know +of my feelings--but I will not speak now of them----" + +"You may, my dear fellow, with all my heart. You have behaved like a +true son to me; and if ever a gracious Providence----" + +Overshute took Mr. Oglander's hand, and held it in silence for a +moment; he could not bear the idea of even the faintest appearance of +a bargain now. The Squire understood, and liked him all the better, +and waved his left hand towards the dining-room. + +"One thing more, while we are alone," resumed the young man, much as +he longed for, and absolutely needed, good warm victuals; "Hardenow is +a tremendous walker; six miles an hour are nothing to him; the 'Flying +Dutchman' he is called, although he hasn't got a bit of calf. Of +course, I would not introduce him into this matter without your leave. +But may I tell him all, and send him scouting, while you and I are so +laid upon the shelf? He can go where you and I could not, and nobody +will suspect him. And, of course, as regards intelligence alone, he is +worth a dozen of that ass John Smith; at any rate, he would find no +mare's nests. May I try it? If so, I will take on the carriage to +Oxford, as soon as I have had a bit to eat." + +"With all my heart," cried the Squire, whose eyes were full again of +life and hope. "Hardenow owes a debt to Beckley. It was Cripps who got +him his honours and fellowship--or at least the Carrier says so; and +we all believe our Carrier. And after all, whatever there is to do, +nobody does it like a gentleman, and especially a good scholar. I +remember a striking passage in the syntax of the Eton Latin grammar. I +make no pretension to learning when I quote it, for it hath been +quoted in the House of Lords. Perhaps you remember it, my dear +Russel." + +"My Latin has turned quite rusty, Squire," answered Overshute, +knowing, as well as Proteus, what was coming. + +"The passage is this,"--Mr. Oglander always smote his frilled shirt, +in this erudition, and delivered, _ore rotundo_-- + + "Scilicet ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes, + Emollit mores, nec sinit esse feros." + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +LET ME OUT. + + +At about the same hour of that Sunday afternoon, Miss Patch sat alone +in her little cottage, stubbornly reasoning with herself. She was +growing rather weary of her task, which had been a long and heavy one; +a great deal longer, and a great deal heavier, than she ever could +have dreamed at the outset. It was for the sake of the kingdom of +heaven that she had laid her hand to this plough; and now it seemed +likely to be a "plough," in the sense in which that word is lightly +used by undergraduates. + +For public opinion Miss Patch cared nothing. Her view of the world was +purely and precisely "Scriptural," according to her own +interpretation. Any line of action was especially recommended to her +by the certainty that "the world" would condemn it. She had led a life +of misery with her father, the gambling captain, the man of fashion, +who made slaves of his children; and being already of a narrow gauge +of mind, she laid herself out for theology; not true religion, but +enough to please her, and make her sure that she was always right. + +Grace, being truly of a docile nature, and most unsuspicious (as her +father was before her), had implicit faith in the truth and honour of +her good Aunt Patch. She looked upon her as so devoutly pious and +grandly upright, that any idea of fraud on her part seemed almost +profanity. She believed the good lady to be acting wholly under the +guidance of her own father, and as his representative; in which there +seemed nothing either strained or strange, especially as the Squire +had once placed his daughter in the charge of Miss Patch, for a course +of Scriptural and historical reading. And the first misgiving in the +poor girl's mind arose from what Christopher Sharp had told her. Of +pining and lonely weariness, weeks and weeks she had endured, under +the firm belief that her father was compelled to have it so, and in +the hope of the glorious time when he should come to take her home. +For all that she could see good reason--according to what she had been +told--but she could see no reason whatever why Miss Patch should have +told her falsehoods as to the place in which they lived. Having been +challenged upon this subject by her indignant niece, the elderly lady +now sat thinking. She was as firmly convinced as ever, that in all she +had done, she had acted strictly and purely for the glory of the Lord. +Grace, a great heiress, and a silly girl, was at the point of being +snapped up by the papists, and made one of them; whereupon both an +immortal soul and £150,000 would be devoted to perdition. Of this Miss +Patch had been thoroughly assured before she would give her help at +all. It was well known that Russel Overshute loved and would win Grace +Oglander, and that Russel's dearest friend was Hardenow of Brasenose, +and that Hardenow was the deepest Jesuit ever admitted to holy orders +in the Church of England; therefore, at heart, Russel Overshute must +be a papist of the deepest dye; and anybody with half an eye could see +through that conspiracy. To defeat such a scheme, Miss Patch would +have promised to spend six months in a hollow tree; but promise and +performance are a "very different pair of shoes;" and the lady (though +fed, like a woodpecker, on the choicest of all sylvan food) even now, +in four months' time, was tiring of her martyrdom. + +Her cottage in a wood had long been growing loathsome to her. The +deeds of the Lord she admired greatly, when they were homicidal; but +of His large and kindly works she had no congenial liking. The +fluttering spread of leaves, that hang like tips of empty gloves one +day, and after one kind night lift forth (like the hand of a baby with +his mind made up), and the change of colour all under the trees, +whether the ground be grassed or naked; also the delicate sliding of +the light in and out the peeling wands of brush-wood, and flat upon +the lichened stones, and even in the coarsest hour of the day--which +generally is from 1 to 2 p.m., when all mankind are dining--the quiet +spread and receptive width of growth that has to catch its light--for +none of these pretty little scenes did Miss Patch care so much as half +a patch. And she was sure that they gave her the rheumatism. + +She was longing to be in London now, to sit beneath the noble +eloquence of preachers and orators most divine, who spend the prime of +the year in reviling their friends and extolling the negro. Whereas +for weeks and weeks, in this ungodly forest, she had no chance of +receiving any spiritual ministration; save once, when Tickuss, on a +Sunday morning, had driven her in his pig-cart to a little Wesleyan +chapel some three miles off at the end of a hamlet. Here people stared +at her so, and asked such questions, that she durst not go again; and, +indeed, the pleasure was not worth the risk, for the shoemaker who +preached was a thoroughly quiet, ungifted man, without an evil word +for anybody. + +Not only these large regrets and yearnings were thronging upon this +lady now, but also a small although feminine feeling of desire for +support and guidance. Strong-minded as she was, and conscious of her +lofty mission, from time to time she grew faint-hearted in that dreary +solitude, without the encouragement of the cool male will. This for +some days she had not received, and she knew not why it had failed +her. + +Though the afternoon was so bright with temptation, the wood so rich +with wonders, Miss Patch preferred to nurse her knee by the little +fire in her parlour. She had always hated to be out of doors, and to +see too much of things which did not bear out her opinions, and to +lose that clear knowledge of the will of the Lord which is lost by +those who study Him. She loved to discern in everything that happened +to her liking "the grand and infinite potentiality of an all-wise +Providence;" and, if a little thing went amiss, she laid all the blame +to the badly principled interference of the devil. + +While she was deeply pondering thus, and warming her little teapot, in +ran the beautiful and lively girl, who had long been growing too much +for her. It was not only the brighter spring of young life in this +Gracie, and her pretty ways, and nice surprises, and pleasure in +pleasing others, and graceful turns of cookery, but also her pure +fount of loving-kindness which (having no other way out) was obliged +to steal around Miss Patch herself. Although she had been ill-content +with the only explanation she could get about her dwelling-place--to +wit, that in these roadless parts distance was very much a matter of +conjecture--Grace had no suspicion yet of any plot or conspiracy. All +things had been planned so deeply, and carried out so cleverly, that +any such suspicion would have been contrary to her nature. She had +lost, by some unaccountable carelessness, both the note from her +father, which she had received at her Aunt Joan's, and also his more +important letter delivered to her, when she met the chaise, by her +kind and pious "Aunty Patch." In the first note (delivered by a little +boy) she had simply been called forth to meet her father in the lane, +and to walk home with him, as he wished to speak with her by herself. +She was not to wait to pack any of her clothes, as they would be sent +for afterwards; and he hoped her Aunt Joan would excuse his deferring +their little dinner for the present. + +But when, instead of meeting him, she found the chaise with Miss Patch +inside it, and was invited to step in, a real letter was handed to +her, the whole of which in the waning light--the day being very brown +and gloomy--she could not easily make out. But she learned enough to +see that she was to place herself under the care of Miss Patch, and +not expect to see her dear father for at least some weeks to come. Her +hair, for the reason therein given, was to be cut off at once, and not +even kept in the carriage; and the poor girl submitted, with a few low +sobs, to the loss of her beautiful bright tresses. But what were they? +How small and selfish of her to think twice of them in the presence of +the heavy trouble threatening her dear father, and the anguish of +losing him for so long, without even so much as a kiss of farewell! +For, after his first brief scrawl, he had found that, by starting at +once, he could catch at Falmouth the packet for Demerara, and thus +save a fortnight in getting to his estates, which were threatened with +ruin. If these should be lost to him, Gracie knew (as he had no +secrets from her) that half his income would go at one sweep--which, +for his own sake, would matter little; but, for the sake of his +darling, must, if possible, be prevented. + +He had no time now for another word, except that he had left his house +at Beckley, just as it stood, to be let by his agent, to cover the +expenses of this long voyage, and to get him out of two difficulties. +He could not have left his dear child there alone; and, if he could, +he would not have done so, for a most virulent fever had long been +hanging about, and had now broken out hard by; and Dr. Splinters had +strictly ordered, the moment he heard of it, that the dear child's +hair should be cropped to her head, and burned or cast away, for +nothing harboured infection as hair did. With a few words of blessing, +and comfort, and love, and a promise to write from Demerara, and a +fatherly hope that for his sake she would submit to Miss Patch in all +things, and make the most of this opportunity for completing her +course of Scriptural and historical reading, the dear old father had +signed himself her "loving papa, W. O." + +Grace would have been a very different girl from her own frank self, +if she had even dreamed of suspecting the genuineness of this letter. +It was in her father's crabbed, and upright, and queerly-jointed hand, +from the first line to the last. For a moment, indeed, she had been +surprised that he called himself her "papa," because he did not like +the word, and thought it a piece of the foreign stuff which had better +continue to be foreign. But there stood the word; and in his hurry how +could he stop to such trifles? This letter had been lost; poor Grace +could not imagine how, because she had taken such great care of it, +and had slept with it under her pillow always. Nevertheless, it had +disappeared, leaving tears of self-reproach in her downcast eyes, as +she searched the wood for it. And this made her careful tenfold of the +two letters she had received from George-town. + +But now, as she came with her Sunday hat on, and her pretty Woodstock +gloves, and her neat brown skirt looped up (for challenge of briers, +and furze, and dog-rose), and, best of all, with the bloom on her +cheeks, and the sparkle in her clear soft eyes, and the May sun making +glory in her rolling clouds of new-grown hair--and, better than best, +that smile of the heart filling the whole young face with light--she +really looked as if it would be impossible to say "no" to her. + +"Aunty," she began, "it is quite an age since you have let me have a +walk at all. One would think that I wanted to run away with that very +smart young gentleman, who possesses and exhibits that extremely +lustrous riding-whip. If he has only got a horse to match it--what is +the name, dear Aunty, of that inestimable historical jewel that +somebody stole out of somebody's eye?" + +"Grace, will you never remember anything? It is now called the Orloff, +or Schaffras gem, and is set in the Russian sceptre." + +"Then that must be the name of this gentleman's horse, to enable it to +go with such a whip. Dear Aunty now, even that whip will not tempt me +or move me to run away from you. Only do please to allow me forth. +This horrid little garden is so shaded and sour, that even a daisy +cannot live. But in the wood I find all things lovely. May I have a +run for only half an hour?" + +"Upon one condition," replied Miss Patch; "that if you see any one, +you shall come back at once, and let me know." + +"What, even the fat man with the flapped hat and the smock on? I never +go out without seeing him, though he never seems to see me at all. He +must be very short-sighted." + +"Oh no, my dear; never mind that poor man; he looks after the cattle +or something. What I mean is, any young gentleman, who ought to be at +home on the Sabbath day. And wrestle with your natural frivolity, my +dear, that no worldly thoughts may assault and hurt the soul upon this +holy day." + +"I will do my best, Aunty. But how can I help thinking of the things I +see?" + +Miss Patch having less than any faith in unregenerate human nature, +feared that she might have been wrong in allowing even this limited +freedom to Grace. The truth of it was that, without fresh guidance +from a mind far deeper than her own, she could not see the right thing +to do in the new complication arising. The interviews between Kit +Sharp and Grace were the very thing desired, and surely must have led +to something good, which ought to be carefully followed up. And yet, +if she met him again, she would be quite sure to go on with her +questions; and Kit, being purely outside of the plot, would reply with +the most inconvenient truth. Miss Patch had written, as promptly as +could be, to ask what she ought to do in this crisis. But no answer +had come through the trusty Tickuss, nor any well-provided visit. The +Christian-minded lady could not tell at all what to make of it. Then, +calling to mind the sacredness of the day, she dismissed the subject; +and sternly rebuked deaf Margery Daw for not keeping the kettle +boiling. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +REASON AND UNREASON. + + +When things were in this very ticklish condition almost everywhere, +and even Cripps himself could scarcely sleep because of rumours, and +Dobbin in his own clean stable found the flies too many for him, an +exceedingly active man set out to scour the whole of the +neighbourhood. To the large and vigorous mind of the Rev. Thomas +Hardenow, the worst of all sins (because the most tempting and +universal) was indolence. + +Hardenow never condemned a poor man for having his pint or his quart +of ale (with his better half to help him), when he had earned it by a +hard day's work, and had fed his children likewise. Hardenow thought +it not easy to find any hypocrisy more bald or any morality more cheap +than that or those which strut about, reviling the poor man for +taking, in the cheaper liquid form, the nourishment which "his +betters" can afford to have in the shape of meat; and then are not +content with it, unless it is curdled with some duly sour vintage. And +passing such crucial points of debate, Hardenow always could make +allowance for any sins rather than those which spring from a +treacherous, sneaking, and lying essence. + +Now, a council was held at the Grange of Shotover on the Monday. A sad +and melancholy house it was, with its fine old mistress lately buried, +and its poor young master only half recovered. The young tutor had +been especially invited, and having heard everything from the Squire +(who was proud of having ridden so far, yet broke down ridiculously +among his boasts), and from Russel Overshute (who had thrown himself +back for at least three days by excitement and exertion yesterday), +and also from Mrs. Fermitage (who had lately been feeling herself +overlooked), Hardenow thought for some little time before he would +give his opinion. Not that he was, by any manner of means, possessed +with the greatness of his own ideas; but that Mrs. Fermitage, from a +low velvet chair, looked up at him with such emphatic inquiry and +implicit faith, that he was quite in a difficulty how to speak, or +what to say. + +And so he said a very few short words of sympathy and of kindness, and +gladly offered to do his best, and obey the orders given him; so far, +at least, as his duty to his college and pupils permitted. He +confessed that he had thought of this matter many times before he was +invited to do so, and without the knowledge which he now possessed, or +the special interest in the subject which he now must feel for the +sake of Russel. But Mrs. Fermitage, filled with respect for the wisdom +of a fellow and tutor of a college, would not let Hardenow thus +escape; and being compelled to give his opinion, he did so with his +usual clearness. + +"I am not at all a man of the world," he said; "and of the law I know +nothing. My friend Russel is a man of the world, and knows a good deal +of the law as well. A word from him is worth many of mine. But if Mrs. +Fermitage insists upon having my crude ideas, they are these. First of +the first, and by far the most important--I believe that Miss Oglander +is alive, and that her father will receive her safe and sound, though +not perhaps still Miss Oglander." + +"God bless you, my dear sir!" the Squire broke in, getting up to lay +hold of the young man's hand. "I don't care a straw what her name may +be--Snooks, or Snobbs, or Higginbotham--if I only get sight of my +darling child again!" + +Russel Overshute looked rather queer at this, and so did Mrs. +Fermitage; but the Squire continued in the same sort of way--"What +odds about her name, if it only is my Grace?" + +"Exactly so," replied Hardenow; "that natural feeling of yours perhaps +has been foreseen and counted on; and that may be why such trouble was +taken to terrify you with the idea of her death. Also, of course, that +would paralyze your search, while the villains are at leisure to +complete their work." + +"I declare, I never thought of that," cried Russel. "How extremely +thick-headed of me! That theory accounts for a number of things that +cannot be otherwise explained. What a head you have got, my dear Tom, +to be sure!" + +"I wish I could believe it!" Mr. Oglander exclaimed, whilst his sister +clasped her fair fat hands, and looked with amazement at every one. +"But I see no motive, no motive whatever. My Grace was a dear good +girl, as everybody knows, and a fortune in herself; but of worldly +goods she had very little, any more than I have; and her prospects +were naturally contingent--contingent upon many things, which may not +come to pass, I hope, for many years--if they ever do." Here he looked +at his sister, and she said, "I hope so." "Therefore," continued Mr. +Oglander, "while there are so many fine girls in the county, very much +better worth carrying off--so far as mere worthless pelf is +concerned--why should anybody steal my Grace unless they stole her for +her own sake?" + +Here the Squire sat down, and took to drumming with his stick. His +feelings were hurt at the idea--though it was so entirely of his own +origination--that his daughter had been carried off for the sake of +her money, not of her own dear self. Hardenow looked at him and made +no answer. He felt that it did not behove a mere stranger to ask about +the young lady's expectations; while Overshute was more imperatively +silenced by his relations towards the family. But Mrs. Fermitage came +to the rescue. Great was her faith in the value of money, and she +liked to have it known that she had plenty. + +"Tut, tut," she cried, shaking out her new brocaded silk--a mourning +dress certainly, but softly trimmed with purple--"why should we make +any mystery of things, when the truth is most important? And the truth +is, Mr. Hardenow, that my dear niece had very good expectations. My +deeply lamented husband, respected, and I may say reverenced, for +upwards of half a century, in every college of Oxford, and even more +so by the corporation, for the pure integrity of his character, the +loftiness of his principles, and--and the substance of his--what they +make the wine of--he was not the man, Mr. Hardenow, to leave a devoted +wife behind him, who had stepped perhaps out of her rank a little, not +being of commercial birth, you know, but never found cause to regret +it, without some provision for the earthly time which she, being many +years his junior----" + +"Come, come, Joan, not so very many," exclaimed the truthful Squire; +"about five, or say six, at the utmost. You were born on the 25th of +June, A.D.----" + +"Worth, I was not asking you for statistics. Mr. Hardenow, you will +excuse my brother. He has always had a rude style of interruption; he +learned it, I believe, in the army, and we always make allowance for +it. But to go back to what I was saying--my good and ever to be +lamented husband, being, let us say, ten years my senior--Worth, will +that content you?--left every farthing of his property to me; and a +good husband always does the same thing, I am told, and I believe they +are ordered in the Bible; and, of course, I have no one to leave it to +but Grace; and being so extraordinarily advanced in years, as my dear +brother has impressed upon you, they could not have any very long time +to wait; and my desire is to do my duty; and perhaps that lies at the +bottom of it all." + +After relieving her mind in this succinct yet copious manner, the good +lady went into her chair again, carefully directing, in whatever state +of mind, the gathering and the falling of her dress aright. And though +it might be fancied that her colour had been high, anybody now could +see that her dignity had conquered it. + +"Now, the whole of this goes for next to nothing," said the Squire, +while the young men looked at one another, and longed to be out of the +way of it. "As we have got into the subject, let us go right down to +the bottom of it. What are filthy pence and halfpence, or a cellar, +like Balak's, of silver and gold, when compared with the life of one +pure dear soul? I may not express myself theologically, but you can +see what I mean exactly. I mean that I would kick old Port-wine's +dross to the bottom of the Red Sea, where Pharaoh lies, if it turns +out that that has killed my child, or made her this long time dead to +me." + +Having justified his feelings thus, the old man stood up, and went to +the window, to look for his horse. The very last thing he desired +always was to let out what he felt too much. But to hear that old +thief of a "Port-wine Fermitage" praised, and his lucre put forward, +quite as if it were an equivalent for Grace, and to think that he owed +to that filthy cause the loss of the liveliest, loveliest darling, +without whom he had neither life nor love--such things were enough to +break the balance of his patience; and the rest might think them out +amongst them. + +Now, this might have made a very serious to-do between Mr. Oglander +and his sister Joan, both of them being of the stiff-necked order, if +he had been allowed to ride away like this. Mrs. Fermitage had her +great carriage in the yard, and two black horses with wide valleys +down their backs, rattling rings of the brightest brass, while they +stood in the stable with a bail between them, and gently deigned to +blow the chaff off from the oats of Shotover. This goodly pair made a +great rush now into the mind of their mistress--the only sort of rush +they ever made--and seeing her brother in that state of mind to get +away from her, she became inspired with an equal desire to get away +from him. + +"Will you kindly ring the bell," she said, "and order my horses to be +put to? I think I have quite said every word I had to say. And being +the only lady present, of course I labour under some--well, some +little disadvantages. Not, of course, that I mean for a moment----" + +"To be sure not, Joan! You never do know what you mean. You would be a +very nasty woman if you did. Now, do let us turn our minds the +pleasant way to everything. If any word has come from me to lead to +strong kind of argument, I beg pardon of everybody; and then there +ought to be an end of it." + +Mrs. Fermitage scarcely knew what to say, but in a relenting way +looked round for some one to take it up for her. And she was not long +without somebody. + +"Mr. Oglander," said Russel Overshute, "you really ought to give us +time to think. You are growing so hasty, sir, since you came back to +your seat in the saddle, and your cross-country ways, that you want to +ride over every one of us--ladies and gentlemen, all alike." + +The old Squire laughed, he could not help it, at the thought of his +own effrontery. He felt that there might be some truth about it, ever +since it had come into his mind that he might not after all be +childless. He would not have any one know, for a thousands pounds, why +he was laughing; or that half another word might turn it into weeping. +He had seen it proved in learned books that no man knew the way to +weep at his time of life; and if his own case went against it, he had +the manners to be ashamed of it. So he waited till he felt that his +face was right, and then he went up to his sister Joan, who was +growing uneasy about her own words; and he took her two plump hands in +his, and gave a glance, for all there present to be welcome witnesses. +And then, having knowledge for the last ten years how much too fat she +was to lift, he managed to kiss her in the two right places, +disarranging nothing. + +His sister looked up at him, as soon as he had done it, with a sense +of his propriety and study of her harmonies; and she whispered to him +quietly, "I beg you pardon, brother." And he spoke up for all to hear +him, "Joan, my dear, I beg your pardon." + +"Now, the first thing to be done," said Hardenow, "is to find +Cinnaminta and her husband Smith. But allow me to make one important +request, that even your adviser, Mr. Luke Sharp, shall not be informed +of what has passed to-day, or what Overshute found out yesterday." + +With some little surprise they agreed to this. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +MEETING THE COACH. + + +There happened, however, to be some one else, whose opinion differed +very widely from that of Mr. Hardenow, as to the necessity for any +prompt appearance of either Mr. or Mrs. Joseph Smith. + +The old red house in Cross Duck Lane was ready to jump out of its +windows--if such a feat be possible--with eagerness and anxiety at the +long absence of its master. Mr. Luke Sharp had not crossed his own +threshold for ten whole days, including two Sundays, when even an +attorney may give leg-bail to the Power under whose "Ca. ad sa." he +lives. The business of the noble firm of Piper, Pepper, Sharp, & Co. +was falling sadly into arrears, at the very busiest time of year; for +Mr. Sharp had always kept his very best clerks in leading strings; and +Kit thus far, with his mother's aid, had battled against all articles. +Christopher Fermitage Sharp, Esq., was resolved to be a country +gentleman and a sportsman, and no quill-driver; he felt that his arms, +and legs as well, were a great deal too good for going on and under +desk. + +With fine resignation Kit accepted the absence of his father. With his +father away, he was a very great man; with his father at home, he was +quite a small boy. He liked to play master of a house, and frighten +his mother and the maids; and vow to dine at the Mitre all the rest of +the week--if that was their style of cookery! + +But poor Mrs. Sharp could not treat the matter thus. Truly delighted +as she was to see her dear boy take his father's place, and conduct +himself with dignity as the head of the household, and find fault with +things of which he knew nothing, and order this, that, and the other +away--still she could not help remembering that all this was not as it +ought to be. Christopher ought to have been in tortures of intense +anxiety; and, so far as that went, so ought she; and she really tried +very hard not to sleep, and to sit up listening for the night-bell. +But a man who thinks everything of his own will, and nothing of any +other person's wish, may be pretty sure that none will miss his +presence so much as himself does. + +In spite of all that, Mrs. Sharp was anxious, and so were the rest of +the household--though rather perhaps with care than love--at the long, +unaccountable absence of the head and the brain of everything. Even +the boys in Cross Duck Lane, who had a strong idea that Lawyer Sharp +would defend them against the magistrates, were beginning to feel that +they must look out before throwing stones at any other boys. + +"You are not at all the thing, my darling boy," said Mrs. Sharp to +Christopher, on the evening of that same Monday on which the Council +had been held at Shotover; "your want of appetite makes me wretched. +Now, put on your cloak, my pet, and go as far as Carfax, or Magdalen +Bridge. The two evening coaches will soon be in--the 'Defiance' and +the 'Regulator.' I have a strong idea that your father will come by +one or other of them." + +"I may just as well go there as anywhere else," the young man answered +gloomily. For some days now he had striven in vain for an interview +with his charmer; and, most unkindest cut of all, he had spied her +once, and she had run away. "It does not matter where I go." + +"When you talk like that, dear child, you have no idea what you do. +You simply break the heart of your poor mother--and much you care for +that! Now, if you should see any very fresh calves' sweet-breads, or +even a pig's fry, or anything you fancy, order it in, dear, at once; +and be sure that you are at home by nine o'clock; and bring your dear +papa with you, if you can." + +Kit, with a sigh and a roll of his eyes, flung his cloak around him; +and with long, slow, melancholy strides clomb the arduous steep of +Carfax. Here at that time--if any faith there be to bruit of +veterans--eighty well-equipped quadrigæ daily passed with prance of +steeds and sound of classic trump, and often youthful charioteer, more +apt to handle than win ribbons. Forty chariots came from smoke, and +wealth, and din of blessed Rome; and other forty sped them back, with +the glory and mud of the country divine. + +The moody Kit ensconced himself, away from the tramp of the vulgar crowd, +in the beetling doorway of a tailor who had put his shutters up; and +thrice being challenged by proctors velvet-sleeved, and velvet-selvaged +Pro--"Sir, are you a member of this university?"--thrice had the pleasure +of answering "No!" Once and again he wiped his hectic cheek and +fevered brow with a yellow bandana, from which the winner of last +year's Derby was washing out; and he saw the "Defiance" and the +"Regulator" pass, newly horsed from rival inns, exalting their horns +against one another, with splinter-bars swinging behind cocked tails, +all eager for their race upon the Cheltenham road. But he saw not the +author of his existence; yet no tear bedewed his unfilial eye, though +these were the likeliest coaches. + +"All right," he said, putting his pipe in its case; "governor won't +come home to-night. I'm in no hurry, if he isn't. I think I'll have +sheep's trotters. It's a beastly time of the year for anything." +Twitching his cloak, which had two long tassels, he strode, from his +post of observation and morbid meditation, towards a tidy and clean +little tripe-shop. He knew the old woman who kept it, in George +Street; and she always put him into good condition by generous +admiration. + +Alas! he had stridden but a very few strides, when he met the up-coach +from Woodstock, wearily with spent horses making rally for the Star. +The driver (a man of fine family at Christchurch, now in his seventh +term, and fighting off his "smalls"), with a turn of his strong arm, +pulled the team together, while with the other hand he launched a +scouring flourish of the shrill scourge over every blessed horse's +ears. + +"Well done, my lord!" said the gentleman on the box, as the four +horses pulled up foot for foot, and stood with their ears and their +noses one for one; "you have brought them up in noble style, my lord. +I never saw it done more perfectly." + +My lord touched his white hat, and said nothing. He had crowned his +day, as he always loved to crown it; and now, if he could get into a +back room of the Star, pull off his top-boots and cape, and don cap +and gown, and fetch back to college clear of £5 fine--as happy as any +lord would he be, till nature sent him forth to drive again tomorrow. + +But Kit, having very keen ears, had recognised, even from the other +side of the street, the sound of his dear father's voice. Mr. Luke +Sharp never missed a chance of commending a nobleman's exploits; but +he would not have spoken in so loud a tone, perhaps, if he had known +that his son was near at hand. For he hated with a consistent +hatred--whether he were doing well or ill--all observation of his +movements by any member of his household. Christopher, being well +aware of this, pursued his own course in the shadow, but resolved, +with filial piety, to keep his good father in sight for fear of his +falling into any mischief. + +First of all, Mr. Sharp--as observed at a respectful distance by his +son--went into the coach office, and there left his hand-bag and his +travelling coat; then, carrying something rolled under his arm, he +betook himself to a little quiet tap-room, and called for something +that loomed and steamed afar, very much after the manner of hot brown +grog. + +"Ho, ho!" muttered Kit; "then he isn't going home. My duty to the +household commands me to learn why." + +With a smack of his lips, Mr. Sharp the elder came out into +Corn-Market Street again, and turning his back on his home, set forth +at a rapid pace for the broad desert of St. Giles. Here he passed into +an unlit alley, in the lonely parts beyond St. John's; and Kit, full +of wonder, was about to follow, but hung back as the receding figure +suddenly stopped and began to shift about. In a nice dark place, the +learned gentleman unrolled the travelling rug he had been carrying, +undoubled it, after that, from some selvage--and, lo, there was a city +watchman's large loose overall! Then he pressed down the crown of his +black spring-hat, till it lay on his head like a pancake, pulled the +pouch of his long cloak over that, and emerged from his alley with a +vigilant slouch, whistling "Moll Maloney." Considerable surprise found +its way into the candid mind of Christopher. + +"Well now!" thought the ungrateful youth, as he shrank behind a tree +to peep; "I always knew that the governor was a notch or two too deep +for us; but what he is up to now surpasses all experience of him. What +shall I do? It seems so nasty to go spying after him. And yet things +are taking such a very strange turn, that, for the sake of my mother, +who is worth a thousand of him, I do believe I am bound to see what +this strange go may lead to." + +Young curiosity sprang forth, and strongly backed up his sense of +duty; insomuch that Kit, after hesitating and listening for any other +step, stealthily followed the "author of his existence" across the +dark and dusty road. "He is going to Squeaker Smith's," thought the +lad; "he will get a horse, and ride away, no end; and of course I can +never go after him. I am sure it has something to do with me. Such +troubles are enough to drive one mad." + +But Mr. Sharp did not turn in at the lamp-lit entrance to those mews. +He shunned the beaming oil, which threw barred shadows upon sawdust of +a fine device, and, keeping all his merits in the dark, strode on, +like a watchman newly ordered to his post. Then suddenly he turned +down a narrow unmade lane, hillocked with clay, and leading (as +Christopher knew quite well) to the wildest part of "Jericho." + +"I will follow him no further," said Kit Sharp, with a pang of +astonishment and doubt; "he is my father; what right have I to pry +into his secrets? How I wish that I had not followed him at all! It +serves me right for meanness. I will go home now; what care I for +anything--trotters, cow-heel, or sweet-bread?" + +As he turned, to carry out this good resolve, with a heart that would +have ailed him more for leaving fears unfinished, the sound of a +clouting, loutish footstep came along the broken mud-banks of the +narrow lane. The place was lonely, dark, and villainous: foot-pads +still abounded. Kit knew that his father often carried large sums of +money, and always the great gold watch; he might have been decoyed +here for robbery and murder, upon pretence of secret business; clearly +it was the young man's duty not to be too far away. Therefore he drew +back, and stood in the jaws of the dark entrance. + +But while he was ready to leap forth if wanted, the sound of quiet +voices told him that there was no danger. Kit could not hear the first +few words; but his father came back towards the mouth of the lane, as +if he would much rather not go into the dark too deeply. Christopher +therefore was obliged either to draw back into the hedge, and there +lie hid without moving, or else to come forward and declare himself. +He knew that the latter was his proper course, or he might have known +it, if he had taken time to think; but the dread of his father and the +hurry of the moment drove him, without thought, into the +lurking-place. It was quite dark now, and there was not a lamp within +a furlong of them. + +"You quite understand me, then;" Mr. Sharp was speaking in a low clear +voice; "you are not to say a word to Cripps about it. He is true +enough to me, because he dare not be otherwise; but he is an arrant +coward. I want a man who has the spirit to defy the law, when he knows +that he is well backed up." + +"Governor, I am your man for that. I have defied the law, since I were +that high, with only my mother, in the wukuss, to back me." + +"What I mean is, to defy the wrong fashions of the law; the petty +rules that go against all common sense and equity." + +"All the fashions of the law be wrong. I might a' got on in the world +like a house afire, if it hadn't been for the devil's own law. To tell +me a thing is agin the law is as good as an eyster to my teeth. Go on, +governor, no fear of that, I say." + +"And you know where to find, at any moment, a man as resolute as +yourself--Joe Smith. Well, you know what you have to do, in case of +any sudden stir arising. At present all goes well; but all, at any +moment, may go wrong. Squire Overshute is about again at last----" + +"Ah, if I could only come across of he of a dark night, such as this +be----" + +"And that fool Cinnaminta has told him all she knows--which, luckily, +is not very much. I took good care to keep women out of it. And the +Carrier too has been smelling about--but he hasn't the sense of his +own horse. Night and day, George, night and day, keep a look-out, and +have the horses ready. You know what I have done for you, my man." + +"Governor, if it hadn't been for you, I might a' seed the clouds +through a halter loop." + +"You speak the truth, and express it well. And you may still enjoy +that fair opportunity, unless you attend to every word I say." + +"No fear, governor; I know you too well. A good friend and a bad enemy +you be. Thick and thin, sir--thick and thin. Agin all the world, sir, +I sticks by you." + +"Enough for to-night, my man. Get ready and be off. I shall know where +to find you, as before. I shall ride over to-morrow, if I find it +needful." + +With these words, Mr. Luke Sharp set off at a good round pace for +Oxford, while the other man shambled and whistled his way homewards up +the black-mouthed lane. Perceiving these things, Christopher Sharp, +with young bones, leaped from his hiding-place. Astonishment might +have been read upon his ingenuous and fat countenance, if the lighting +committee of the corporation had carried out their duty. But (having +no house of their own out here) they had, far back, put colophon upon +the nascent gas-pipe. The ambition of the city, at that time, was to +fill all the houses of the citizens, and extend in no direction. But +though his countenance, for want of light, only wasted its amazement, +Kit--like Hector with his windpipe damaged, but not by any means +perforated--gave issue to his sentiments. Unlike Hector--so far as we +know--Kit had been forming a habit of using language too strong for +ladies. + +"Blow me!" was his unheroic exclamation--"blow me, if ever yet I knew +so queer a start as this! Sure as eggs is eggs, that is the very +blackguard I drubbed for his insolence! His voice is enough, and his +snuffle; and I believe he was rubbing his nose in the dark. I am sure +he's the man; I could swear it's the man, though I could not see his +filthy face at all. My father to be in a conspiracy with him! And poor +Cinnaminta, and Mr. Overshute! What the dickens is the meaning of it +all? The governor has a thousand times my brains, as everybody says, +and I am the last to grudge it to him; and he thinks he can do what he +likes with me. I am not quite sure of that, if he puts my pecker up +too heavily." + +To throw his favourite light on his own reflections, Kit Sharp lit his +pipe, and followed slowly in his father's wake. Wiser, and wider, and +brighter men might be found betwixt every two lamp-posts, but few more +simple, soft, and gentle than this honest lawyer's son. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +THE MOTIVE. + + +Perfectly free from all suspicions, and as happy as he deserved to be, +Mr. Sharp leaned back in his easy chair, after making an excellent +supper, and gazed with complacency at his good wife. He was really +glad to be at home again, and to find his admiring household safe, and +to rest for a while with a quiet brain, as the lord and master of +everything. Christopher had been sent to bed, as if he were only ten +years old; for instead of exhibiting the proper joy, he had behaved in +a very strange and absent manner; and his father, who delighted much +in snubbing him sometimes, had requested him to seek his pillow. Kit +had accepted this proposal very gladly, longing as he did to think +over by himself that strange adventure of the evening. + +"Now, darling Luke," began Mrs. Sharp, as soon as she had made her +husband quite snug, and provided him with a glass of negus, "you +really must be amazed at my unparalleled patience and self-control. +You ran away suddenly at the very crisis of a most interesting and +momentous tale. And from that day to this I have not had one word; and +how to behave to Kit has been a riddle beyond riddles. How I have seen +to the dinner--I am sure--and of sleep I have scarcely had fifty +winks, between my anxiety about you, and misery at not knowing how the +story ended." + +"Very well, Miranda, I will tell you all the rest; together with the +postscript added since I went to London. Only you must stay up very +late, I fear, to get to the proper end of it." + +"I will stay till the cocks crow. At least, I mean, dear, if, after +your long journey, you are really fit for it. If not, I will wait till +to-morrow, dear." + +Mr. Sharp was touched by his wife's consideration for him. He loved +her more than he loved any one else in the world, except himself; and +though (like many other clear-headed men) he had small faith in brains +feminine, he was not quite certain that he might not get some useful +idea out of them when the matter at issue was feminine. + +"I am ready, if you are, my dear," he said, for he hated to beat about +the bush. "Only I must know where I left off. With all I have done +since, I quite forget." + +"You left off just when you had discovered the real man who was called +'Jolly Fellows;' the man Cousin Fermitage left his will with." + +"To be sure! Or at least, it was a codicil. Very well, I found him in +the wine-vaults of the company, where they have been for generations. +He was going round with some large and good customer, such as old +Fermitage himself had been. Senhor Gelofilos had a link in one hand, +and in the other a deep dock-glass, while a man in his shadow bore a +flashing gimlet and a long-armed siphon-tap. From cell to cell, and +pipe to pipe, they were going in regular order, showing brands, +_ex_ this, and _ex_ that, and making little taps and trying them. + +"I was admitted, without a word, as one of this solemn procession, +being taken for a member of the sacred trade; and the number of sips +of wine I got, and the importance attached to my opinion, would have +made you laugh, Miranda. At length I got a chance of speaking alone to +Senhor Gelofilos, a tall, dark, gentlemanly man, of grave and +dignified manner. He at once remembered that he had received a paper +from Mr. Fermitage; of its nature however he knew nothing, not being +acquainted with our legal forms. He had kept it ever since in a box at +his house, and if I could call upon him after office hours, he would +show it to me with pleasure. Accordingly, I took a hackney-coach to +his house near Hampstead in the evening, and found that old +'Port-wine' had not deceived me during our last interview. + +"I held in my hand a most important codicil to the old man's will, +duly executed and attested, so far at least as could be decided +without inquiry. By this codicil he revoked his will thus far, that, +instead of leaving the residue, after payment of legacies, to his +widow absolutely, he left her a life-interest in that residue, after +bequeathing the sum of £20,000, duty free, to his niece, Grace +Oglander." + +"Out of my money, Luke!" cried Mrs. Sharp indignantly. "Twenty +thousand pounds out of my money! And what niece of his was she, I +should like to know? Was there nothing whatever for his own flesh and +blood?" + +"Nothing whatever," answered Mr. Sharp calmly. "But wait a bit, +Miranda, wait. Well, all the residue of his estate, after the decease +of his said wife, Joan, was by this codicil absolutely given to his +said niece Grace. He said that they both would know why he had made +the change. And then the rest of his will was confirmed, as usual." + +"I never heard such a thing! I never heard such robbery!" exclaimed +Mrs. Sharp, with a panting breast. "I hope you will contest it all, my +dear. If there is law in the land, you cannot fail to upset such a +vile, vile will! You can show that the fungus got into his brain." + +"My dear, it is my object to establish that will, or the codicil +rather, which I thus discovered. I am obliged to proceed very +carefully, of course; a rash step would ruin everything. Unluckily the +executors remain as before, though he would not trust them with the +codicil. Well, one of them, as you know, bought such a lot of port, +half-price, at his testator's sale, that in three months he required +an executor for himself. The other took warning by his fate, and is +going in for claret and the sour Rhenish wines. This has made him as +surly as a bear, and he is a most difficult man to manage. But if any +one can handle him, I can; and he has a deadly quarrel with that +haughty Joan. I had first ascertained, without any stir, that the +attestation is quite correct--two stupid bottle-men, who gave no +thought to what they were doing, but can swear to the signing; and the +codicil itself, though 'Port-wine' drew it without any lawyer, is +quite clear and good. At the proper moment I produce the codicil, +account for my possession of it, go to Mr. Wigginton, and make him +prove it; and then, I think, we turn the tables on the proud old +widow." + +"Oh, Luke, what a blessed day that would be for me! The things I have +endured from that odious woman! Of course, it will mortify her not to +have disposal, and to have to give up £20,000--the miser, the screw, +the Expositor hypocrite! The filthy silk stockings I should be ashamed +to own! But, darling Luke, I do not see how we ourselves are a bit the +better off for it. Poor Grace being dead, of course her father takes +the money." + +"Suppose, for a moment that, instead of being dead, Grace Oglander is +the wedded wife, by that time, of a certain Christopher Fermitage +Sharp, and without any settlement!" + +"What!" exclaimed Mrs. Sharp, jumping with astonishment. "Is it +possible? Is it possible?" + +"It is more than possible, it is probable; and without some very bad +luck, it is certain!" + +"Oh, you darling love!" she very nearly shouted, giving him a hug with +her plump white arms. "Oh, Luke, Luke, it is the noblest thing I ever +heard! And she is such a nice girl, too, so sweet, and clever, and +superior! The very daughter I would have chosen out of fifty thousand! +And with all that money at her back! Why, we can retire, and set up a +green barouche! I shall have it lined with the new agate colour, +trimmed with deep puce, like the Marchioness of Marston's--that is, if +you approve, of course, my dear. And a pair of iron-greys always go +the best with that. But, Luke, you will laugh at me for being in a +hurry. There is plenty of time, dear, is there not?--though they do +say that carriage-builders are so slow. But they think so much of +their old family, my dear. I know how very wonderfully managing you +are, and as clever as can be consistent with the highest principle. +But do tell me, how you have contrived all this so well, and never +even let me guess a single whisper of it." + +"It has required some tact and skill," Mr. Sharp replied, with a +twinkle in his eyes, and taking a good pull at his port-wine negus; +"and even more than that, Miranda, without a bold stroke it could +never have been done. I staked almost everything upon the die; not +quite everything, for I made all arrangements if we should have to +fly." + +"Fly, my dear!" cried Mrs. Sharp, looking up with a very different +face. "What do you mean, Luke? To have to run away!" + +"Quite so. There is no great stroke without great miss. And if I had +missed, we must all have bolted suddenly." + +"The Lord forbid! Run away in disgrace from my father's own house, and +the whole world that knows us! I never could have tried to go through +such a trial." + +"Yes, my dear Miranda, it might have come to that. And you would have +gone through the whole of it, without a single murmur." + +"Luke, I positively tremble at you!" the good woman answered, as her +eyes fell under his. "How stern you can look when you want to scare +me!" + +"Miranda, I tell you the simple truth. We must all have been in France +within twelve hours if, if--well, never mind. Nothing venture nothing +win. But happily we have won, I believe; though we must not be too +sure as yet. We have justice on our side; but justice does not always +prevail against petty facts. And public opinion would set against us +with great ferocity, if we failed. If we succeed, all men will praise +us as soon as we begin to spend our money, and exert it near home at +the outset. Everything depends upon success; of course, it always does +in everything." + +"My dear, it is not fair of you to talk like that," Mrs. Sharp +answered, with tears in her eyes; for, in all her kind and ungirt +nature, there was no entry for cynicism; "you must feel that I would +hold by you always, whatever all the world might have the impudence to +say, dear." + +"Beyond a doubt you would. You could do no otherwise. But that might +be of very little use. I mean, that it would be the very greatest +prop, and comfort, and blessing, and support in every way, and would +keep up one's faith, to some extent, in human nature, and divine +assistance--but still, if we had to live on three pound ten a week! +However, we will not anticipate the worst. You would like to know how +the whole thing stands now?" + +Mrs. Luke Sharp, although not very clever, and wholly incapable of any +plot herself (beyond such little stratagems as ladies do concoct, for +fetching down the price of rep, or getting gloves at a quarter of +their cost), nevertheless had her share of common sense, and that +which generally goes therewith--respect for the opinion of good +people. She knew that her husband was a very bold man, as well as a +very strong-willed one; he had often done things which she had thought +too daring; and yet they had always turned out well. But what he had +now in hand was, even according to his own account, the most risky and +perilous venture yet; and though (like the partner of a gambler) she +warmed up to back his hand, and cheer him, and let her heart go with +him, in her wiser mind she had shivers, and shudders, and a chill +shadow of the end of it. + +Mr. Sharp saw that his wife was timid; which of all things would be +fatal now; for her aid was indispensable. Otherwise, perhaps, he would +not have been quite so ready to tell her everything. He had put things +so that her dislikes and envies, as well as her likings, and loves, +and ambitions would compel her to work with him. If she were lukewarm +his whole scheme must fail. At the mere idea his temper stirred. "Will +you hear the rest? Or is your mind upset?" he asked a little roughly. +His wife looked up brightly from some little blink of thought. "Every +word of it now, I must hear every word, if you will be so kind, my +dear. I will go and see that all the doors are shut." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +THE MANNER. + + +"You see now, Miranda," continued Mr. Sharp, as his wife came and sat +quite close to him, "that it was my duty to make the most of the +knowledge thus providentially obtained. We had met with a bitter +disappointment through the most gross injustice, brought about, no +doubt, by craft, and wheedling, and black falsehood. When old +Fermitage stood godfather to our only child, and showed a sense of +duty towards him by bottling and walling up a pipe of wine, everybody +looked upon Kit as certain to stand in his shoes in the course of +time. You know how we always looked forward to it, not covetously or +improperly, but simply as a matter of justice. And you remember what +he said to me, before he went to church with Joan Oglander: 'Quibbles, +my boy, this shall make no difference between you and me, mind!' + +"I am sure that he meant it when he said it; but that artful woman so +led him astray, and laid down the law about wives and husbands, and +'county families,' and all that, and pouring contempt upon our +profession, that all his better feelings left him, and he made the +will he did. And but for her low, unwomanly cowardice during his last +illness, so it would have stood--as she believes it even now to +stand." + +"Oh, what a pure delight it will be," cried the lady, unable to help +herself, "such a triumph of right over might and falsehood! Do let me +be there to see it." + +"There is time enough to think of that, Miranda. Well, as soon as ever +I felt quite sure of my ground about the codicil (which Senhor +Gelofilos placed in my hands after making inquiry about me here, and +being satisfied of my relationship and respectability), I began to +cast about for the most effectual mode of working it. It was clear in +a moment that the right course was to make a match between Grace, now +the legal heiress, and Kit, the legitimate heir. But here I was met by +difficulties which appeared at first sight insuperable. The pride of +the old Squire, and his family nonsense, the suit of Russel Overshute, +and the girl's own liking for that young fellow (which I had some +reason to suspect), the impossibility of getting at the girl, and last +not least the stupid shyness of our Christopher himself; these and +other obstacles compelled me to knock them all out of the way, by some +decisive action. The girl must be taken out of stupid people's power, +and brought to know what was good for her. + +"Of course, I might have cut the matter short by walking the girl off, +and allowing her no food until she consented to marry Kit; and +probably if I could only have foreseen my sad anxieties and heavy +outlay, I should have acted in that way. But I have a natural dislike +to measures that wear an appearance of harshness; and I could not tell +how Kit might take it, or even you, Miranda dear. In this sad puzzle, +some good inspiration brought to my mind Hannah Patch, then living by +herself in London. In a sort of a manner she is my sister (as I have +told you long ago), although she is so many years my elder." + +Mrs. Sharp nodded; she knew all about it and admired her husband none +the less for being the illegitimate son of the fashionable Captain +Patch. + +"Very well," this admirable man resumed, "you are aware that Hannah +looked very coldly upon me, and spoke of me always as 'that child of +sin,' until I was enabled to marry you, my dear, through your +disinterested affection, which is my choicest treasure. Having won +that, and another more lucrative (but less delightful) partnership, I +became to sweet Hannah the child of love, and was immediately allowed +the privilege of doing all her legal business gratis. You have often +grumbled at that, but I had some knowledge of what I was about, my +dear, and I soon obtained that due influence over her which all women +ought to have some man to wield. Setting aside her present use, Hannah +Patch has £200 a year of her own, which might be much better invested, +and shall be, as soon as it comes to us; but it would not do to have +her too set up herself." + +"Oh Luke, what a large-minded dear you are!" whispered Mrs. Sharp, +with much enthusiasm; "I do believe nothing escapes you, and nothing +that gets into your hand ever does get out again!" + +"Well, I am pretty well for that," he answered, looking at his large, +strong palm; "I began with my hands pretty empty, God knows, and only +my own brain to fill them. But perseverance, integrity, and readiness +to oblige, have brought me on; and above all things, Miranda, the +grace that I found in your kind eyes." + +The kind and still pretty eyes looked prettier, and almost young, with +the gleam of tears; while the owner of all this integrity proved that +it had stood him in good stead, by drawing from his pocket, and +spreading on his head, a handkerchief which had cost him yesterday +fourteen and sixpence, in Holborn, ready hemmed. + +"Yes," he continued with a very honest smile; "you see me as I am, my +dear; and there are many poor people in the world worse off. Still it +would never do for me to stop. One must be either backward or forward, +always; and I prefer to be forward. And I hope to make a great step +now. But there must be no hesitation. Well, to go on with my story, I +saw how useful Miss Patch might be to us. She has strong religious +views, which always make it so easy to guide any one aright, by giving +the proper turn to things. Pugnacious dread of Popery, and valiant +terror of the Jesuits, are the leading-strings of her poor old mind. I +got firm hold of both of these, and being trustee of her money also, I +found her quite ready to do good deeds. + +"I allowed her to perceive that if things went on, without our +interference, Grace Oglander would be married, and her enormous +fortune sacrificed, to a man whose bosom friend is a Jesuit, a fierce +wolf in sheep's clothing--an uncommonly clever fellow by the bye--a +very young tutor of Brasenose. She had heard of him; for his name is +well known among the leaders of this new sect, who call themselves +Anglo-Catholics, and will end by being Roman Catholics. Of these good +men (according to their lights) Hannah Patch has even deeper terror +than of downright Jesuits. Naturally such stuff matters not to me; +except when I can work it." + +"Hannah Patch also had a special grudge against old Squire Oglander, a +man very well in his way, and very honest, who thinks a great deal of +his own opinions, and is fit to be his own grandfather. He had no love +at all for the Patch connection--the patch on the family, as he called +it--and the marriage of his stepmother with Captain Patch, and the +Captain's patronising air towards him--in a word, Miranda, he hated +them all. + +"However, when Hannah was in trouble once or twice, and without a roof +to shelter her--before she got her present bit of cash--old Oglander +had her down, and was very good, and tried to like her. He put his +child under her care to learn 'theology,' as she called it, and he +paid her well for teaching her the Psalms, and the other +denunciations. They went away together to some very lonely place; +while the Squire was a week or two away from home. And now it occurred +to me that this experience might be repeated, and prolonged if +needful. Oglander had been nervous, as I knew, and as his daughter +also knew, about some form of black fever or something, which had been +killing some gipsy people, and was likely to come into the villages. I +made use of this fact, with Hannah Patch to help me, and quietly took +my young heiress off to a snug little home in the thick of the woods, +where I should be sorry to reside myself. She was under the holy wing +of Miss Patch; and there she abides to this present day; and I feed +them very well, I assure you. They cost me four pound ten a week; for +the evangelical Hannah believes it to be the clearest 'mark of the +beast' to eat meat less than twice a day; and Leviticus Cripps, who +supplies all the victuals, is making a fortune out of me. No bigger +rogue ever lived than that fellow. He is under my thumb so entirely +that if I told him to roll in the mud he would roll. And yet with all +his awe of me, he cannot forbear from cheating me. He has found out a +manner of dipping his pork so that he turns it into beef or mutton, +according to the orders from the cottage; and he charges me butcher's +price for it, and cartage for six miles and a half, and a penny a +pound for trimming off the flanks!" + +"My dear!" said Mrs. Sharp, "it is impossible! He never could deceive a +woman so, however devoted her mind might be. The grain of the meat is +quite different, and the formation of the bones not at all alike; and +directly it began to roast----" + +"Well, never mind, Miranda, there they are quite reconciled to the +situation; except that Hannah Patch is always hankering after 'the +means of grace,' and the young girl mooning about her sweet old parent +and beloved Beckley. Sometimes there are very fine scenes between +them; but upon the whole they get on well together, and appreciate one +another's virtues. And I heartily trust that the merits of our Kit +have made their impression on a sensitive young heart. They took to +one another quite kindly in the romance of the situation, when I +brought their sweet innocence into contact by a very simple stratagem. +The dear young creatures have believed themselves to be outwitting +everybody; the very thing I laboured for them both to do. All's well +that ends well--don't you think, Miranda?" + +"I am so entirely lost--I mean I am so unable to think it all out, +without more time being given me," Mrs. Sharp answered, while she +passed her hand across her unwrinkled forehead, and into her generally +consulted curl, "that really, Luke, for the moment I can only admire +your audacity. But I think, dear, that in a matter of this kind--an +especially feminine province, I may say--you might have done me the +honour of consulting me." + +"Miranda, it was not to be thought of. Your health and well-being are +the dearest objects of my life. I will only ask, could you have borne +the suspense, and the worry, and anxiety of the last four months; +above all, the necessity for silence?" + +"Yes, Luke, I could have been very silent; but I cannot abide anxiety. +You call me a dear fat soul sometimes, and your judgment is always +correct, my dear. At the same time, I have little views of my own, and +sensible ways of regarding things. You would like to hear my opinion, +Luke, and to answer me one or two questions?" + +"Certainly, Miranda; beyond all doubt. For what other purpose do I +tell you all? Now, let me have a nap for five minutes, my dear, while +you ponder this subject and arrange your questions." + +He threw his smart handkerchief over his head, stretched out his feet, +and took a nice little doze. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +THE POSITION. + + +"Among my relations," said Mrs. Sharp, reclining, for fear of +asserting herself, as soon as her lord looked up again. "I have always +been thought to possess a certain amount of stupid common sense. +Nothing of depth, or grand stratagems, I mean, but a way of being +right nearly nine times out of ten. And I think that this feeling is +coming over me, just now." + +"My dear, if it is so, do relieve yourself. Do not consider my ideas +for a moment, but let me know what your own are." + +"Luke, how you love to ridicule me! Well, if my opinion is of no +account, I can only ask questions, as you tell me. In the first place, +how did you get the girl away?" + +"Most easily; under her father's orders. Hannah can write the old +gentleman's hand to any extent, and his style as well. For the glory +of the Lord she did so." + +"And how did you bring her to do such shocking things? She must have +had a strong idea that they were not honest." + +"Far otherwise. She took an enthusiastic view of the matter from the +very first. I made it quite clear to her how much there was at stake; +and the hardest job for a long time was to prevent her from being too +zealous. She scorns to take anything for herself, unless it can be put +religiously. And for a long time I was quite afraid that I could not +get a metal band on her. But she found out, before it was quite too +late, that the mission of the "Brotherly-love-abounders," upon the +west coast of Africa, had had all their missionaries eaten up, and +required a round sum to replace them. I promised her £5000 for that, +when her own mission ends in glory." + +"Then you are quite certain to have her tight. I might trust you for +every precaution, Luke. But how have you managed to keep them so +quiet, while the neighbourhood was alive with it? And in what corner +of the world have you got them? And who was the poor girl that really +did die?" + +"One question at a time, if you please, Miranda, though they all hang +pretty much upon one hook. I have kept them so quiet, because they are +in a corner of a world where no one goes; in a lonely cottage at the +furthest extremity of the old Stow Wood, where their nearest road is a +timber-track three-quarters of a mile away. They are waited on by a +deaf old woman, who believes them to be Americans, which accounts to +her mind for any oddness. Their washing is done at home, and all their +food is procured through Cripps the swine-herd, whose forest farm lies +well away, so that none of his children go to them. Cripps is indebted +to me, and I hold a mortgage of every rod of his land, and a bill of +sale of his furniture and stock. He dare not play traitor and claim +the reward, or I should throw him into prison for forgery, upon a +little transaction of some time back. Moreover, he has no motive; for +I have promised him the same sum, and his bill of sale cancelled, when +the wedding is happily celebrated. Meanwhile he is making fine +pickings out of me, and he caters at a profit of cent. per cent. There +is nobody else who knows anything about it, except a pair of gipsy +fellows, too wide awake to come near the law for any amount of +guineas. One of them is old Kershoe, the celebrated horse-stealer, +whom I employed to drive and horse the needful vehicle from London. He +knew where to get his horses without any postmaster being the wiser, +and his vehicle was a very tidy carriage, bought by the gipsies for a +dwelling-place, and furbished up so that the chaises of the age are +not to be compared with it. The inquiries made at all livery-stables, +and posting-houses, and so on, by order of Overshute and the good +Squire, and some of them through my own agency, have afforded me +genial pleasure and some little share of profit." + +"Really, my dear," said Mrs. Sharp; "you were scarcely right in +charging for them. You should have remembered that you knew all about +it." + +"That was exactly what I did, my dear; and I felt how expensive that +knowledge was. As a little set-off against the pig-master's bills, I +made heavy entries against the good Squire. The fault is his own. He +should not have driven me into costly proceedings by that lowest of +all things the arrogance of birth. Well, the other gipsy man is no +other than Joe Smith, who jumped the broomstick with the lovely +Princess Cinnaminta. You must have heard of her, Miranda. Half the +ladies in Oxford were most bitterly jealous of her, some years back." + +"I am sure then that I never was, Mr. Sharp!--a poor creature sitting +under sacks, and doing juggling!" + +"Nothing of the kind. You never saw her. She is a woman of superior +mind and most refined appearance. Indeed, her eyes are such as +never----" + +"Oh, that is where you have been, Luke, is it, while we have been here +for a fortnight, trembling----" + +"Nonsense, Miranda; don't be so absurd. The poor thing has just lost +her only child, and I believe she will go mad with it. It was her +pretty sister, young Khebyra, who died of collapse, and was buried the +same night. This case was most extraordinary. The fever struck her, +without any illness, just as the plague and the cholera have done, +with a headlong, concentrated leap; as a thunderstorm gathers itself +sometimes into one blue ball of lightning. She was laughing at ten +o'clock, and her poor young jaw tied up at noon; and a great panic +burst among them." + +"Luke!" exclaimed Mrs. Sharp, strongly shuddering; "you never mean to +say that you came home to me, from being among such people, without a +change of clothes, or anything!" + +"How could I come home without anything, my dear? But I was not +'among' them at all that day, nor at any other period. I never go to +work in that coarse sort of way. Familiarity begets contempt. However, +I was soon informed of this most sad occurrence; and for a while it +quite upset me, coming as it did at such a very busy time. However, +when I had time to dwell more calmly on the subject, I began to see a +chance of turning this keen blow to my benefit. + +"The gipsy camp was broken up with fatalistic terror--the most abject +of all terrors; as the courage of the fatalist is the fiercest of all +courage. They carried off their Royal stock, the heiress of the gipsy +throne--as soon as some fine thief is hanged--quite as the bees are +said to carry off their queen, when a hornet comes. Poor Cinnaminta +was caught away just when I might have made her useful; and only two +men were left to attend to the burial of her sister. Of these, my +friend Joseph Smith was one, as he ought to be, being Cinnaminta's +spouse. + +"It was a very active time for me, I assure you, Miranda dear. The +complication was almost too much to be settled in so short a time. And +some of my hair, which had been quite strong, was lying quite flat in +the morning. Perhaps you remember telling me." + +"Yes, that I do, Luke! I could not make it out. Your hair had always +stood so well; and a far better colour than the young men have got! +And you told me that it was gone like that from taking Cockle's +antibilious pills!" + +"Miranda, I have never deceived you. I did take a couple, and they +helped me on. But, without attributing too much to them, I did make a +lucky turn of it. Their manner of sepulture is brief and wise; or, at +any rate, that of this tribe is; though they differ, I believe, very +widely. These wait till they are sure that the sun has set, and then +they begin to excavate. I was able to suggest that, in this great +hurry and scattering of the tribes of Israel, the wisest plan would be +to adopt and adapt a very quiet corner already hollowed, and indicated +by name (which is so much more abiding than substance) as a legendary +gipsy Aceldama. The idea was caught at, as it well deserved to be, in +the panic, and lack of time, and terror of the poor dead body. The +poor thing was buried there with very hasty movements, her sister and +the rest being hurried away; and it is quite remarkable how this (the +merest episode) has, by the turn of events, assumed a primary +importance. + +"Foresight, and insight, and second-sight almost, would be attributed +to me by any one who did not know the facts. Scarcely anybody would +believe, as this thing worked in my favour so much, that I can +scarcely claim the invention, any more than I can take any credit for +the weather. Indeed, I may say, without the smallest presumption or +profanity, that something higher than mere fortune has favoured my +plans from the very first. I had provided for at least one whole day's +start, before any alarm should be given; but the weather secured me, I +may say, six weeks, before anything could be done in earnest, And then +the discovery of that body, by a girl who was frightened into fits +almost, and its tardy disinterment, and the universal conclusion about +it, which I perhaps helped in some measure to shape, also the illness +with which it pleased Providence to visit Messrs. Oglander and +Overshute--I really feel that I have the deepest cause to be grateful, +and I trust that I am so." + +"Certainly, my dear, your cause is just," said Mrs. Sharp, as her +husband showed some symptoms of dropping off to sleep again; "but in +carrying it out you have inflicted pain and sad, sad anxiety on a poor +old man. Can he ever forgive you, or make it up?" + +"I should hope for his own sake," replied the lawyer, "that he will +cast away narrow-mindedness; otherwise we shall not permit him to rush +into the embraces of his daughter. But if he proves relentless, it +matters little, except for the opinion of the world. He cannot touch +'Portwine's' property at all; and he may do what he likes with his own +little wealth. His outside value is some £40,000. However, if I +understand him aright, we shall manage to secure his money too, tied +up, I dare say--but what matters that? He is a most fond papa, and his +joy will soon wash away all evil thoughts." + +"How delightful it will be!" cried the lady, with a sigh, "to restore +his long-lost child to him. Still it will be a most delicate task. You +must leave all that to me, Luke." + +"With pleasure, my dear Miranda; your kind heart quite adapts you for +such a melting scene. And, indeed, I would rather be out of the way. +But I want your help for more than that." + +"You shall have it, Luke, with all my heart and soul! It is too late +now to draw back; though, if you had asked my advice, I would have +tried to stop you. But just one question more--how did you get rid of +John Smith and his inquiries? They say that he is such a very shrewd +man." + +"Do you not know, will nobody ever know, the difference between small, +uneducated cunning and the clear intelligence of a practised mind? To +suppose that John Smith would ever give me any trouble! He has been +most useful. I directed his inquiries; and exhausted the inquisitive +spirit through him." + +"But you did not let him know----" + +"Miranda, now, I shall go to bed, if I am so very fast asleep. Can no +woman ever dream of large utility? I have had no better friend, +throughout this long anxiety, than John Smith. And without the +expenditure of one farthing, I have guided him into the course that he +should take. When he hears of anything, the first thing he asks +is--'Now, what would Lawyer Sharp be inclined to think of this?' +Perhaps I have taken more trouble than was needful. But, at any rate, +it would be disgraceful indeed if John Smith could cause me +uneasiness. The only man I have ever had the smallest fear of has been +Russel Overshute. Not that the young fellow is at all acute; but that +he cannot be by any means imbued with the proper respect for my +character." + +"How very shocking of him, my dear Luke, when your character has been +so many years established!" + +"Miranda, it is indeed shocking!--but what can be expected of a +Radical? Ever since that villainous Reform Bill passed, the spirit of +true reverence is destroyed. But he must have some respect for me, as +soon as he knows all. Although, to confess the pure truth, my dear, +things have worked in my favour so, that I scarcely deserve any credit +at all, except for the original conception. That, however, was a brave +one." + +"It was, indeed; and I am scarcely brave enough to be comfortable. +There is never any knowing how the world may take things. It is true +that old Fermitage was not your client, and you had been very badly +treated, and had a right to make the most of any knowledge obtained by +accident. But old Mr. Oglander is your client, and has trusted you +even in the present matter. I do not think that my father would have +considered it quite professional to behave so." + +Mrs. Luke Sharp was alarmed at her own boldness in making such a +speech as this. She dropped her eyes under her husband's gaze; but he +took her remarks quite calmly. + +"My dear, we will talk of that another time. The fact that I do a +thing--after all my experience--should prove it to be not +unprofessional. At the present moment, I want to go to bed; and if you +are anxious to begin hair-splitting, bed is my immediate refuge. But +if you wish to know about the future of your son, you must listen, and +not try to reason." + +"I did not mean to vex you, Luke. I might have been certain that you +knew best. And you always have so many things behind, that Solomon +himself could never judge you. Tell me all about my darling Kit, and I +will not even dare to cough or breathe." + +"My dear, it would grieve me to hear you cough, and break my heart if +you did not breathe. But I fear that your Kit is unworthy of your +sighs. He has lost his young heart beyond redemption, without having +the manners to tell his mother!" + +"They all do it, Luke; of course they do. It is no good to find fault +with them. I have been expecting that sort of thing so long. And when +he went to Spiers for the melanochaitotrophe, with the yellow stopper +to it, I knew as well as possible what he was about. I knew that his +precious young heart must be gone; for it cost him seven and +sixpence!" + +"Yes, my dear; and it went the right way, in the very line I had laid +for it. I will tell you another time how I managed that, with Hannah +Patch, of course, to help me. The poor boy was conquered at first +sight; for the weather was cold, with snow still in the ditches, and I +gave him sixpenny-worth of brandy-balls. So Kit went shooting, and got +shot, according to my arrangement. Ever since that, the great job has +been to temper and guide his rampant energies." + +"And of course he knows nothing--oh no, he would be so very unworthy, +if he did! Oh, do say that he knows nothing, Luke!" + +"My dear, I can give you that pleasing assurance; although it is a +puzzling one to me. Christopher Fermitage Sharp knows not Grace +Oglander from the young woman in the moon. He believes her to have +sailed from a new and better world. Undoubtedly he is my son, Miranda; +yet where did he get his thick-headedness?" + +"Mr. Sharp!" + +"Miranda, make allowance for me. Such things are truly puzzling. +However, you perceive the situation. Here is a very fine young +fellow--in his mother's opinion and his own--desperately smitten with +a girl unknown, and romantically situated in a wood. There is reason +to believe that this young lady is not insensible to his merits; he +looks very nice in his sporting costume, he has no one to compete with +him, he is her only bit of life for the day, he leaves her now and +then a romantic rabbit, and he rescues her from a ruffian. But here +the true difficulty begins. We cannot well unite them in the holy +bonds, without a clear knowledge on the part of either of the true +patronymic of the other. The heroine knows that the hero rejoices in +the good and useful name of 'Sharp'; but he knows not that his +lady-love is one Grace Oglander of Beckley Barton. + +"Here, again, you perceive a fine stroke of justice. If Squire +Oglander had only extended his hospitalities to us, Christopher must +have known Grace quite well, and I could not have brought them +together so. At present he believes her to be a Miss Holland, from the +United States of America; and as she has promised Miss Patch not to +speak of her own affairs to anybody (according to her father's wish, +in one of the Demerara letters), that idea of his might still +continue; although she has begun to ask him questions, which are not +at all convenient. But things must be brought to a point as soon as +possible. Having the advantage of directing the inquiries, or at any +rate being consulted about them, I see no great element of danger yet; +and of course I launched all the first expeditions in every direction +but the right one. That setting up of the tombstone by poor old Joan +was a very heavy blow to the inquisitive." + +"But, my dear, that did not make the poor girl dead a bit more than +she was dead before." + +"Miranda, you do not understand the world. The evidence of a tombstone +is the strongest there can be, and beats that of fifty living +witnesses. I won a most difficult case for our firm when I was an +ardent youth, and the victory enabled me to aspire to your hand, by +taking a mallet and a chisel, and a little nitric acid, and converting +a 'Francis,' by moonlight, into a 'Frances.' I kept the matter to +myself, of course; for your good father was a squeamish hand. But you +have heard me speak of it." + +"Yes, but I thought it so wrong, my dear, even though, as you said, +truth required it." + +"Truth did require it. The old stonemason had not known how to spell +the word. I corrected his heterography; and we confounded the tricks +of the evil ones. All is fair in love and law, so long as violence is +done to neither. And now I wish Kit's unsophisticated mind to be led +to the perception of that great truth. It is needful for him to be +delicately admitted to a knowledge of my intentions. There is nobody +who can do this as you can. He takes rather clumsy and obstinate views +of things he is too young to understand. The main point of all, with a +mind like his, is to dwell upon the justice of our case and the depth +of our affection, which has led to such a sacrifice of the common +conventional view of things." + +"My dear, but I have had nothing to do with it. Conception, plan, and +execution are all your own, and no other person's. Why, I had not even +dreamed----" + +"Still, you must put it to him, Miranda, as if it was your doing more +than mine. He has more faith in your--well, what shall I call it? I +would not for a moment wrong him by supposing that he doubts his own +father's integrity--in your practical judgment, let us say, and +perception of the nicest principles. It is absolutely necessary that +you should appear to have acted throughout in close unison with me. In +fact, it would be better to let the boy perceive that the whole idea +from the very first was yours; as in simple fact it must have been, if +circumstances had permitted me to tell you all that I desired. To any +idea of yours he takes more kindly perhaps than to those which are +mine. This is not quite correct, some would say; but I am above +jealousy. I always desire that he should love his mother, and make a +pattern of her. His poor father gets knocked about here and there, and +cannot halt to keep himself rigidly upright, though it always is his +ambition. But women are so different, and so much better. Even Kit +perceives that truth. Let him know, my darling, that your peace of +mind is entirely staked upon his following out the plan which you mean +to propose to him." + +"But, my dear Luke, I have not the least notion of any plan of any +sort." + +"Never mind, Miranda; make him promise. I will tell you all about it +afterwards. It is better not to let him know too much. Knowledge +should come in small doses always, otherwise it puffs up young people. +Alas! now I feel that I am not as I was! Twenty years ago I could have +sat up all night talking, and not shown a sign of it next day. I have +not had any sleep for the last twelve nights. Do you see any rays in +my eyes, dear wife? They are sure indications of heart disease. When I +am tired they always come." + +"Oh, Luke, Luke, you will break my heart! You shall not say another +word. Have some more negus--I insist upon it! It is no good to put +your hand over the glass--and then come to bed immediately. You are +working too hard for your family, my pet." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +IN THE MESHES. + + +Now being newly inspired by that warm theologian--as Miss Patch really +believed him to be--Luke Sharp, the lady felt capable of a bold +stroke, which her conscience had seemed to cry out against, till +loftier thoughts enlarged it. She delivered to her dear niece a +letter, written in pale ink and upon strange paper, which she drew +from a thicker one addressed to herself, and received "through their +butcher" from a post-office. Wondering who their butcher was, but +delighted to get her dear father's letter, Grace ran away to devour +it. + +It was dated from George-town, English Guayana, and though full of +affection, showed touching traces of delicate health and despondency. +The poor girl wiped her eyes at her father's tender longing to see her +once more, and his earnest prayers for every blessing upon their +invaluable friend, Miss Patch. Then he spoke of himself in a manner +which made it impossible for her to keep her eyes wiped, so deep was +his sadness, and yet so heroically did he attempt to conceal it from +her; and then came a few lines, which surprised her greatly. He said +that a little bird had told him that during her strict retirement from +the world in accordance with his wishes, she had learned to esteem a +most worthy young man, for whom he had always felt warm regard, and, +he might even say, affection. He doubted whether, at his own time of +life, and with this strange languor creeping over him, he could ever +bear the voyage to England, unless his little darling would come over +to fetch him, or at least to behold him once more alive; and if she +would do so, she must indeed be quick. He need not say that to dream +of her travelling so far all alone was impossible; but if, for the +sake of her father, she could dispense with some old formalities, and +speedily carry out their mutual choice, he might with his whole heart +appeal to her husband to bring her out by the next packet. + +He said little more, except that he had learned by the bitter teaching +of adversity who were his true friends, and who were false. No one had +shown any truth and reality except Mr. Sharp of Oxford; but he never +could have dreamed, till it came to the test, that even the lowest of +the low would treat him as young Mr. Overshute had done. That subject +was too painful, so he ended with another adjuration to his daughter. + +"Aunty, I have had the most extraordinary letter," cried Grace, coming +in with her eyes quite dreadful; "it astonishes me beyond everything. +May I see the postmark of yours which it came in? I shall think I am +dreaming till I see the postmark." + +"The stamp of the office, do you mean, my dear? Oh yes, you are +welcome to see, Grace. Here it is, 'George-town, Demerara.' The date +is not quite clear without my spectacles. Those foreign dies are +always cut so badly." + +"Never mind the date, aunt. I have the date inside, in my dear +father's writing. But I am quite astonished how my father can have +heard----" + +"Something about you, sly little puss! You need not blush so, for I +long have guessed it." + +"But indeed it is not true--indeed it is not. I may have been amused, +but I never, never--and oh, what he says then of somebody else--such a +thing I should have thought impossible! How can one have any faith in +any one?" + +"My dear child, what you mean is this: How can one have any faith in +worldly and ungodly people? With their mouths they speak deceit; the +poison of asps is under their lips----" + +"Oh no, he never was ungodly; to see him walk would show you that; and +if being good to the poor sick people, and dashing into the middle of +the whooping-cough----" + +"How am I to know of whom you speak? You appear to have acted in a +very forward way with some one your father disapproves of." + +"I assure you, I never did anything of the kind. It is not at all my +manner. I thought you considered it wrong to make unfounded +accusations." + +"Grace, what a most un-Christian temper you still continue to display +at times! Your cheeks are quite red, and your eyes excited, in a way +very sad to witness. The trouble I have taken is beyond all knowledge. +If you do not value it, your father does." + +"Aunty Patch, may I see exactly what my daddy says to you? I will show +you mine if you will show me yours." + +"My dear, you seem to forget continually. You treat me as if I were of +your own age, and had never been through the very first alarm which +comes for our salvation. It has not come to you, or you could not be +so frivolous and worldly as you are. When first it rang, even for +myself----" + +"How many times does it ring, Aunt? I mean for every individual +sinner, as you always call us." + +"My dear, it rings three times, as has been proved by the most +inspired of all modern preachers, the Rev. Wm. Romaine, while +amplifying the blessed words of the pious Joseph Alleine. He begins +his discourse upon it thus----" + +"Aunty, you have told me that so many times that I could go up into +his desk and do it. It is all so very good and superior; but there are +times when it will not come. You, or at any rate I, for certain, may +go down on our knees and pray, and nothing ever comes of it. I have +been at it every night and morning, really quite letting go whatever I +was thinking of--and what is there to come of it, except this letter? +And it doesn't sound as if my father ever wrote a word of it." + +"Grace, what do you mean, if you please?" + +"I mean what I do not please. I mean that I have been here at least +five months, as long as any fifty, and have put up with the +miserablest things--now, never mind about my English, if you please, +it is quite good enough for such a place as this--and have done my +very best to put up with you, who are enough to take fifty people's +lives away, with perpetual propriety--and have hoped and hoped, and +prayed and prayed, till my knees are not fit to be looked at--and now, +after all, what has come of it? That I am to marry a boy with a red +cord down his legs, and a crystal in his whip, and a pretty face that +seems to come from his mamma's watch-pocket, and a very nice and +gentle way of looking at a lady, as if he were quite capable, if he +had the opportunity, of saying 'bo' to any goose on the other side of +the river!" + +"My dear, do you prefer bold ruffians, then, like the vagabond you +were rescued from?" + +"I don't know at all what I do prefer, Aunt Patch, unless it is just +to be left to myself, and have nothing to say to any one." + +"Why, Grace, that is the very thing you complained of in your sinful +and ungrateful speech, just now! But do not disturb me with any more +temper. I must take the opportunity, before the mail goes out, to tell +your poor sick father how you have received his letter." + +"Oh no, if you please not. You are quite mistaken, if you think that I +thought of myself first. My dear father knows that I never would do +that; and it would be quite vain to tell him so. Oh, my darling, +darling father!--where are you now, and whatever are you doing?" + +"Grace, you are becoming outrageous quite. You know quite well where +your father is; and as to what he is doing, you know from his own +letter that he is lying ill, and longing for you to attend upon him. +And this is the way that you qualify yourself!" + +"Somehow or other now--I do not mean to be wicked, aunt--but I don't +think my father ever wrote that letter--I mean, at any rate, of his +own free will. Somebody must have stood over him--I feel as if I +really saw them--and made him say this, and that, and things that he +never used to think of saying. Why, he never would have dreamed, when +he was well, of telling me I was to marry anybody. He was so jealous +of me, he could hardly bear any gentleman to dare to smile; and he +used to make me promise to begin to let him know, five years before I +thought of any one. And now for him to tell me to marry in a +week--just as if he was putting down a silver-side to salt--and to +marry a boy that he scarcely ever heard of, and never even introduced +to me--he must have been, he cannot but have been, either wonderfully +affected by the climate, or shackled down in a slave-driver's dungeon, +until he had no idea what he was about." + +"Have you finished, Grace, now? Is your violence over?" + +"No; I have no violence; and it is not half over. But still, if you +wish to say anything, I will do all I can to listen to it." + +"You are most obliging. One would really think that I were seventeen, +and you nearly seventy." + +"Aunt Patch, you know that I am as good as nineteen; and instead of +being seventy you are scarcely fifty-five." + +"Grace, your memory is better about ages than about what you do not +wish to hear of. And you do not wish to hear, with the common +selfishness of the period, of the duty which is the most sacred of +all, and at the same time the noblest privilege--the duty of +self-sacrifice. What are your own little inclinations, petty conceits, +and miserable jokes--jokes that are ever at deadly enmity with all +deep religion--ah, what are they--you selfish and frivolous +girl!--when set in the balance with a parent's life--and a parent +whose life would have been in no danger but for his perfect devotion +to you?" + +"Aunt Patch, I never heard you speak of my father at all in that sort +of way before. You generally talk of him as if he were careless, and +worldly, and heterodox, most frivolous, and quite unregenerate. And +now quite suddenly you find out all his value. What do you want me to +do so much, Aunt Patch?" + +"Don't look at me like that, child; you quite insult me. As if it +could matter to me what you do--except for your own eternal welfare. +If you think it the right thing to let your father die in a savage +land, calling vainly for you, and buried among land-crabs without a +drop of water--that is a matter for you hereafter to render your own +account of. You have tired me, Grace. I am not so young as you are; +and I have more feeling. I must lie down a little; you have so upset +me. When you have recovered your proper frame of mind, perhaps you +will kindly see that Margery has washed out the little brown teapot." + +"To be sure, aunty, I am up to all her tricks. And I will just toast +you a water-biscuit, and put a morsel of salt butter on it, scarcely +so large as a little French bean. Go to sleep, aunty, for about an +hour. I am getting into a very proper frame of mind; I can never stay +very long out of it. May I go into the wood, just to think a little of +my darling father's letter?" + +"Yes, Grace; but not for more than half an hour, on condition that you +speak to no one. You have made my head ache sadly. Leave your father's +letter here." + +"Oh no, if you please, let me take it with me. How can I think without +it?" + +Miss Patch was so sleepy that she said, "Very well; let me see it +again when you have made the tea." Whereupon Grace, having beaten up +the cushion of the good lady's only luxury, and laid her down softly, +and kissed her forehead (for fear of having made it ache), stole her +own chance for a little quiet thought, in a shelter of the woods more +soft than thought. For the summer was coming with a stride of light; +and bashful corners, full of lateness, tried to ease it off with moss. + +In a nook of this kind, far from any path, and tenderly withdrawn into +its own green rest, the lonely and bewildered girl stopped suddenly, +and began to think. She drew forth the letter which had grieved her +so; and she wondered that it had not grieved her more. It was not yet +clear to her young frank mind that suspicion, like a mole, was at work +in it. To get her thoughts better, and to feel some goodness, she sat +upon a peaceful turret of new spear-grass, and spread her letter open, +and began to cry. She knew that this was not at all the proper way to +take things; and yet if any one had come, and preached to her, and +proved it all, she could have made no other answer than to cry the +more for it. + +The beautiful light of the glancing day turned corners, and came round +to her; the lovable joy of the many, many things which there is no +time to notice, spread itself silently upon the air, or told itself +only in fragrance; and the glossy young blades of grass stood up, and +complacently measured their shadows. + +Here lay Grace for a long sad hour, taking no heed of the things +around her, however much they heeded her. The white windflower with +its drooping bells, and the bluebell, and the harebell, and the +pasque-flower--softest of all soft tints--likewise the delicate +stitchwort, and the breath of the lingering primrose, and the white +violet that outvies its sister (that sweet usurper of the coloured +name) in fragrance and in purity; and hiding for its life, without any +one to seek, the sensitive wood-sorrel; and, in and out, and behind +them all, the cups, and the sceptres, and the balls of moss, and the +shells and the combs of lichen--in the middle of the whole, this +foolish maid had not one thought to throw to them. She ought to have +sighed at their power of coming one after another for ever, whereas +her own life was but a morning dew; but she failed to make any such +reflection. + +What she was thinking of she never could have told; except that she +had a long letter on her lap, and could not bring her mind to it. And +here in the hollow, when the warmth came round, of the evening fringed +with cloudlets, she was fairer than any of the buds or flowers, and +ever so much larger. But she could not be allowed to bloom like them. + +"Oh, I beg pardon," cried an unseen stranger in a very clear, keen +voice; "I fear I am intruding in some private grounds. I was making a +short cut, which generally is a long one. If you will just show me how +to get out again, I will get out with all speed, and thank you." + +Grace looked around with surprise but no fear. She knew that the voice +was a gentleman's; but until she got up, and looked up the little +hollow, she could not see any one. "Please not to be frightened," said +the gentleman again; "I deserve to be punished, perhaps, but not to +that extent. I fancied that I knew every copse in the county. I have +proved, and must suffer for, my ignorance." + +As he spoke he came forward on a little turfy ledge, about thirty feet +above her; and she saw that he looked at her with great surprise. She +felt that she had been crying very sadly, and this might have made her +eyes look strange. Quite as if by accident, she let her hair drop +forward, for she could not bear to be so observed; and at that very +moment there flowed a gleam of sunshine through it. She was the very +painting of the picture in her father's room. + +"Saints in heaven!" cried Hardenow, who never went further than this +in amazement, "I have found Grace Oglander! Stop, if you please--I +beseech you, stop!" + +But Grace was so frightened, and so pledge-bound, that no adjuration +stopped her. If Hardenow had only been less eager, there and then he +might have made his bow, and introduced himself. But Gracie thought of +the rabbit-man, and her promise, and her loneliness, and without +looking back, she was round the corner, and not a ribbon left to trace +her by. And now again if Hardenow had only been less eager, he might +have caught the fair fugitive by following in her footsteps. But for +such a simple course as that he was much too clever. Instead of +running down at once to the spot where she had vanished, and thence +giving chase, he must needs try a cross cut to intercept her. There +were trees and bushes in the way, it was true, but he would very soon +get through them; and to meet her face to face would be more dignified +than to run after her. + +So he made a beautifully correct cast as to the line she must have +taken, and aiming well ahead of her, leaped the crest of the hollow +and set off down the hill apace. But here he was suddenly checked by +meeting a dense row of hollies, which he had not seen by reason of the +brushwood. In a dauntless manner he dashed in among them, scratching +his face and hands, and losing a fine large piece of black kerseymere +from the skirt of his coat, and suffering many other lesser damages. +But what was far worse, he lost Grace also; for out of that holly +grove he could not get for a long, long time; and even then he found +himself on the wrong side--the one where he had entered. + +If good Anglo-Catholics ever did swear, the Rev. Thomas Hardenow must +now have sworn, for his plight was of that kind which engenders wrath +in the patient, and pleasantry on the part of the spectator. His face +suggested recent duello with a cat, his white tie was tattered and +hanging down his back, his typical coat was a mere postilion's jacket, +and the condition of his gaiters afforded to the sceptic the clearest +proof of the sad effects of perpetual self-denial. His hat, with the +instinct of self-preservation, had rolled out from the thicket when he +first rushed in; and now he picked up this wiser portion of his head, +and was thankful to have something left. + +Chances were against him; but what is chance? He had an exceedingly +strong will of his own, and having had the worst of this matter so +far, he was doubly resolved to go through with it. Without a second +thought about his present guise or aspect, he ran back to the spot +which he had left so unadvisedly. There he did what he ought to have +done ten minutes or a quarter of an hour ago, he ran down the slope to +the nest in the nook which had been occupied by Grace. Then he took to +the track which she had taken; but she had been much too quick for +him; she had even snatched up her letter, so that he was none the +wiser. He came to a spot where the narrow and thickly woven trackway +broke into two; and whether of the two to choose was more than a +moment's doubt to him. Then he seemed to see some glint of footsteps, +and sweep of soft sprays by a dress towards the right; and making a +dash through a dark hole towards it, was straightway enveloped in a +doubled rabbit-net, cast over his surviving hat. + +"Hold un tight, Jarge, now thou'st got un!" cried out somebody whom he +could not see, "poachin' son of a gun, us'll poach un!" + +"Poaching--my good friends," cried Hardenow, trying to lift his arms +and turn his head round, all vainly; "you can scarcely know the +meaning of that word, or you never would think of applying it to me. +Let me see you, that I may explain. I have been trespassing, I am +afraid; but by the purest accident--allow me to turn round, and reason +quietly; I have the greatest objection to violence; I never use, nor +allow it to be used. If you are honest gamekeepers, exceeding your +duty through earnest zeal, I would be the last to find fault with you; +want of earnestness is the great fault of this age. But you must not +allow yourselves to be misled by some little recent mischances to my +clothes. Such things befall almost everybody exploring unknown places. +You are pulling me! you are exceeding your duty! Is the bucolic mind +so dense? Here I am at your mercy--just show yourselves. You may choke +me if you like, but the result will be--oh!--that you will also be +choked yourselves!" + +"A rare fine-plucked one as ever I see," said rabbiting George to +Leviticus Cripps, when Hardenow lay between them, senseless from the +pressure upon his throat; "ease him off a bit, my lad, he never done +no harm to me. They long-coated parsons is good old women, and he be +cut up into a young gal now. Lay hold on the poor devil, right end +foremost, zoon as I have stopped uns praching. Did ever you see such a +guy out of a barrow?" + +Heavy-witted Tickuss made no answer, but laid hold of the captive by +his shoulders, so that himself might be still unseen, if consciousness +should return too soon. Black George tucked the feet under his arm, +after winding the tail of the net round the shanks, and expressing +surprise at their slimness; and in no better way than this these two +ignorant bumpkins swung the body of one of the leading spirits of the +rising age to the hog-pound. + +Thomas Hardenow was not the man to be long insensible. Every fibre of +his frame was a wire of electric life. He was "all there"--to use a +slang expression, which, by some wondrous accident, has a little pith +in it--in about two minutes; not a bit of him was absent; and he +showed it by hanging like a lump upon his bearers as they fetched him +to an empty hog-house, dropped him anyhow, and locked him in; then one +of them jumped on a little horse and galloped off to Oxford. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +COMBINED WISDOM. + + +"I really cannot go on like this," said Mr. Sharp to Mrs. Sharp, quite +early on the following morning. "Thank God, I am not of a nervous +nature, and patience is one of my largest virtues. But acting, as I +have done, for the best, I cannot be expected to put up with perpetual +suspense. This very day I will settle this matter, one way or the +other." The lawyer for the first time now was flurried; he had heard +of the capture of a spy last night--for so poor Hardenow had been +described--and though he had kept that new matter to himself, he was +puzzled to see his way through with it. + +"Luke, my dear," replied Mrs. Sharp, with some of her tightenings not +done up, "surely there need not be such hurry. You make me quite +shiver, when you speak like that. I shall come down to breakfast +without any power; and the Port-meadow eel will go out for the maids. +Should we ever behold it again, Luke?" + +"Of course not; how could you expect it? Slippery, slippery--hard it +is to lay fast hold of anything; and the worst of all to bind is +woman. I do not mean you, my dear; you need not look like that; you +are as firm as this tag of your stays--corset, corset--I beg pardon; +how can a man tell the fashionable words?" + +"But, Luke, you surely would not think of proceeding to extremities?" + +"Any extremity; if it only were the last. For the good of my family, I +have worked hard; and there never should have been all this worry with +it. Miranda, I may have strayed outside the truth, and outside the +law--which is so much larger--but one thing I beg you to bear in mind. +Not a thing have I done, except for you and Kit. Money to me is the +last thing I think of; pure affection is the very first. And no one +can meddle with your settlement." + +"Oh, my darling," Mrs. Sharp exclaimed, as she fell back from looking +at the looking-glass, "you are almost too good for this world, Luke! +You think of everybody in the world except yourself. It is not the +right way to get on, dear. We must try to be a little harder." + +"I have thought so, Miranda; I must try to do it. Petty little +sentiments must be dropped. We must rise and face the state of things +which it has pleased Providence to bring about. I am responsible for a +great deal of it; and with your assistance, I will see it through. We +must take Kit in hand at once. My dear wife, can I rely upon you?" + +"Luke, you may rely upon me for anything short of perjury; and if it +comes to that, I must think first." + +"No man ever had a better any more than he could have a truer wife, or +one so perpetually young." With these words Mr. Sharp performed some +little operations, which, even in the "highest circles," are sometimes +allowed to be brought about by masculine hands, when clever enough; +and before very long this affectionate pair went down to breakfast and +enjoyed fried eel. + +Kit, who had caught this fine eel, was not there; perhaps he was gone +forth to catch another; so they left him the tail to be warmed up. In +the present condition of his active mind, and the mournful absence of +his beloved, Christopher found a dark and moody pleasure in laying +night-lines. If his snare were successful, he hauled out his victim, +and, with a scornful smile, despatched him; if the line held nothing, +he cast it in again, with a sigh of habitual frustration. This +morning, however, he was not gone forth on his usual round of +inspection, but had only walked up to the livery-stables, to make sure +of his favourite hack for the day. He had made up his mind that he +must see Grace that very same day, come what would of it; he would go +much earlier, and watch the door; and if this bad fortune still +continued, he would rush up at last and declare himself. + +But this bold resolve had a different issue; for no sooner had the +young man, with some reluctance and self-reproach, dealt bravely with +a solid breakfast, than he was requested by his dear mother to come +into his father's little study. + +Now, this invitation was not in accordance with the present mood of +Christopher. He had made up his mind to be off right soon for the +bowers of his beloved, with a roll and some tongue in his little +fishing-creel, and a bottle of beer in each holster. In the depth of +the wood he might thus get on, and enjoy to the utmost fruition of his +heart all the beauty of nature around him. It was a cruel blow to +march just then to a lecture from the governor, whose little private +study he particularly loathed, and regarded as the den of the evil +one. However, he set up his pluck and went. + +Mr. Sharp, looking (if possible) more upright and bright than usual, +sat in front of the large and strong-legged desk, where he kept his +more private records, such as never went into the office. Mrs. Sharp +also took a legal chair, and contemplated Kit with a softer gaze. He +with a beating heart stood up, like a youth under orders to construe. + +"My son," began the father and the master, in a manner large and +affable, "prepare yourself for a little surprise on the part of those +whose principal object is your truest welfare. For some weeks now you +have made your dear mother anxious and unhappy, by certain proceedings +which you thought it wise and manly to conceal from her." + +"Yes, you know you did, Kit!" Mrs. Sharp interposed, shaking her short +curls, and trying to look fierce. The boy, with a deep blush, looked +at her, as if everybody now was against him. + +"Christopher, we will not blame you," resumed Mr. Sharp, rather +hastily, for fear that his wife should jump up and spoil all. "Our +object in calling you is not that. You have acted according to our +wishes mainly, though you need not have done it so furtively. You have +formed an attachment to a certain young lady, who leads for the +present a retired life, in a quiet part of the old Stow Wood. And she +returns your affection. Is it so, or is it not?" + +"I--I--I," stammered Kit, seeking for his mother's eyes, which had +buried themselves in her handkerchief. "I can't say a word about what +she thinks. She--she--she has got such a fashion of running away so. +But I--I--I--well, then, it's no good telling a lie about it; I am +deucedly fond of her!" + +"That is exactly what I wished to know; though not expressed very +tastefully. Well, and do you know who she is, my son?" + +"Yes, I know all that quite well; as much as any fellow wants to know. +She is a young lady, and she knows all the flowers, and the birds, and +the names of the trees almost. She can put me right about the kings of +England; and she knows my dogs as well as I do." + +"A highly accomplished young lady, in short?" + +"Yes, I should say a great deal more than that. I care very little for +accomplishments. But--but if I must come to the point--I do like her, +and no mistake!" + +"Then you would not like some other man to come, and run away with +her, quite against her will?" + +"That man must run over my body first," cried Kit, with so much spirit +that his father looked proud, and his poor mother trembled. + +"Well, well, my boy," continued the good lawyer, "it will be your own +fault if the villain gets the chance. I am doing all I can to provide +against it; and am even obliged to employ some means of a nature not +at all congenial to me, for--for that very reason. You are sure that +you love this young lady, Kit?" + +"Father, I would not say anything strong; but I would go on my knees, +all the way from here to there, for the smallest chance of getting +her!" + +"Very good. That is as it should be. I would have done the very same +for your dear mother. Mamma, you have often reminded me of it, when +anything--well, those are reminiscences; but they lie at the bottom of +everything. A mercenary marriage is an outrage to all good feeling." + +"She has not got a sixpence, father; she told me so. She makes all the +bread, and she puts by all the dripping." + +"My dear boy, you know then what a good wife is. Mamma, we shall have +to clear out the room where the rocking-horse is, and the old +magic-lantern, and let this young couple go into it." + +"My dear, it would be a long job; and there are a great many cracks in +the paper; but still we could have in old Josephine." + +"Those are mere details, Momma. But this is a serious question; and +the boy must not be hurried. He may not have made up his mind; or he +may desire to change it to-morrow. He is too young to have any settled +will; and there is no reason why he should not wait----" + +"Not a day will I wait--not an hour would I wait; in ten minutes I +could pack everything!" + +"He might wait for a twelvemonth, my dear Miranda, and sound his own +feelings, and the young girl's too, if we could only be certain that +the young man of rank, with the four bay horses, was not in earnest +when he swore to carry her off to-morrow." + +"My dear husband," Mrs. Sharp said, softly; "let us hope that he meant +nothing by it. Such things are frequently said, and come to nothing." + +"I tell you what it is," Kit almost shouted, with his fist upon the +sacred desk; "you cannot in any way enter into my feelings upon such +matters! I beg your pardon, that is not what I mean, and I ought never +to have said it. But still, comparatively speaking, you can take these +things easily, and go on, and think people foolish--but I cannot. I +know when my mind is made up, and I do it. And to stop me with all +sorts of nonsense--at least, to find fifty reasons why I should do +nothing--is the surest of all ways to make me do it. I have many +people who will follow me through thick and thin; though you may not +believe it, because you cannot understand me, and your views are +confined to propriety. Mine are not. And you may find that out in a +very short time. At any rate, if I do a thing that brings you, father +and mother, into any evil words, all I can say is, you never should +have stopped me." + +With this very lucid expression of ideas, Christopher strode away, and +left his parents petrified--as he thought. Mrs. Sharp was inclined to +be a dripping well; but Mr. Sharp was dry enough. "Exactly, exactly," +he said, as he always said when a thing had come up to his reckoning; +"nothing could have been done much better. Put the money in his best +breeches' pocket, my dear, without my knowledge; and at the back-door +kiss him. Adjure him to do nothing rash; and lend him your own +wedding-ring, and weep. For a runaway match the most lucky of all +things is the boy's mother's wedding-ring. And above all things, not a +word about his rival, until he asks--and then all mystery; only you +know a great deal more than you dare tell." + +"Oh, Luke, are you sure that it will all go aright?" + +"Miranda, tell me anything we can be sure of, and you will have given +me a new idea. And I want ideas; I want them sadly. My power of +invention is failing me, or at any rate that of combining my +inventions. You did not observe that I was nervous, did you?" + +"Nervous! Luke--you nervous! I should think that the end of the world +was coming if I saw any nervousness in you! And in the presence of a +boy, indeed----" + +"My dear wife, I will give you my word that I felt--well, I will not +say 'nervous,' if you dislike it--but a little uncomfortable, and not +quite clear, when I saw how Kit was taking things. Real affection is a +dreadful thing. I did not want so much of it. I meant to have told him +who she is, till the turn of things made me doubt about it. But he is +quite up for anything now, I believe, though he must be told before he +goes. He is such a calf that he must not imagine that she has a +sixpence to bless herself. He would fly off in a moment if he guessed +the truth. He must know her name; and that you must tell him; and you +know how to explain it all a thousand-fold better than I do." + +"Possibly I do," replied Mrs. Sharp; "I may have some very few ideas +of my own; although according to you, Mr. Sharp, I am only the mother +of a calf!" + +"Very well said, my dear. And I have the honour of being his father." +They smiled at one another, for they both knew how to give and take. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +MASCULINE ERROR. + + +Christopher Fermitage Sharp, Esquire, strode forth, to have room as +well as time for thought. His comely young face was unusually red, and +he stroked his almost visible moustache, as a stimulant to manhood. So +deep and stern were his meditations, that he never even thought of his +pipe until he came to a bridge on the Botley road, whereon he was +accustomed to lean, and smoke, and gaze at the little fish quietly. +From the force of habit he pulled out his meerschaum, flint and steel, +and German tinder, and through blue rings of his own creation, watched +and envied the little fish. For though it was not yet the manner of +his mind to examine itself very deeply, he had a strong conviction +that the fish were happy, and that he was miserable. Upon the former +point there could not be two opinions--unless the fish themselves held +one--when any man observed how the little fellows jumped at the +spicy-flavoured flies (that fluttered on fluid gold to them), or +flashed in and out among one another, with a frolicsome spread of +silver, or, best of all, in calm contemplation, softly moved pellucid +fins, and gently opened fans of gills, with magnifying eyes intent +upon the glory of the lustrous world. Kit considered them with an +envious gaze. Were they harassed, were they tortured, were they racked +with agonised despair, by the proceedings of the female fish? + +Compelled to turn his grim thoughts inward, he knew not that he was +jealous. He only knew that if he were to meet the young nobleman with +the four bay horses, it would be an evil day for one of them. Tush, +why should he not go and forestall that bloated, unprincipled +aristocrat--whose intentions might even be dishonourable--by having +four horses himself, and persuading that queen of beauty to elope with +him? He had given his parents due notice; and if he had done what they +wished by thus falling in love, it could not be very much against +their wishes if he made a hasty match of it. But could this lovely +young American be persuaded to come with him. He had far too much +respect for her to dream of using violence. But surely if he could +convince her of the peril she was in, and could promise her safe +refuge with a grave old lady, a valued relative of his own, while she +should have time to consider his suit, his devotion, his eternal +constancy, his everlasting absorption into her higher and purer +identity-- + +He pulled out his purse; it contained four and sixpence--a shilling +and three halfpence for each horse, and nothing for the postilions. +"We must do it less grandly," he said to himself; "and after all it +will be better so. How could four horses ever get through that wood? I +must have been a fool to think of it. A very light chaise and pair +will do ten times better, at a quarter of the money. I can get tick +for that from old Squeaker himself; and the governor will have to pay; +it need not cost me more than half a crown, and about three bob for +turnpikes. Fifteen miles to old Aunt Peggy's on the Wycombe road. Once +there, I defy them to do what they like. I am always the master of +that house, and I know where they keep the blunderbuss. I have the +greatest mind not to go home at all, but complete my arrangements +immediately. Squeaker would lend me a guinea with pleasure; he is a +large-minded man, I am sure. What a fool I was to give poor Cinnaminta +such a quantity of tin that day!--and yet how could I help it? I might +have gone on like a lord but for that." + +Kit turned round and shook his head in several directions, trying to +bring to his mind the places where money might be hoped for. Than this +there is no mental effort more difficult and absorbing. No wonder +therefore that, in this contemplation, he did not hear the up-mail +full-gallop, springing the arch from the Cheltenham side, to make a +fine run into Oxford. "Hoi there, stoopid!" the coachman shouted, for +the bridge was narrow, and the coach danced across it, with the vigour +of the well-corded team. "Oh, Kit, is it? Climb for your hat, Kit." + +Kit's best friend--so far as he had any friends in the University--by +a stroke of fine art, sent the lash of his whip round the hat of the +hero, and deposited it, ere one might cry, "Where art thou gone?" on +the oil-cloth, which sat on the top of the luggage, which sat on the +top of the coach which he drove, like the heir of all the race of +Nimshi. The hireling Jehu sat beside him, and having been at it since +nine o'clock last night, snored with a flourish not inferior to that +which the mail-guard began upon his horn. + +Kit was familiar with a coach at speed, as every young Englishman at +that time was. In a twinkle he dashed at the hind-boot, laid hold of +the handle, and was up at once; the guard, with an eye to an honest +half-crown, moving sideways, but offering no help, because it would +have been an insult. Then over the hump of the luggage crawled Kit, +and clapped his own hat on his head, and between the shoulders of two +fat passengers, threw forth his strong arm, and "bonneted" the +spanking son of Nimshi. The leaders ran askew, till they were caught +up; and the smart young driver would have thrown down the reins, and +committed a personal assault on Kit, who was perfectly ready to reply +to it--being skilled in the art of self-defence--if the two fat +passengers, having seen the whole, had not joined hands, and stopped +it. + +"Tit for tat; tit for tat!" they cried; "Squire, you began it, and you +have your due." And so, with a hearty laugh, on they galloped. + +"If you should have anything to say to me," cried Kit, as he swung +himself off the early mail, at the corner of his native Cross Duck +Lane, "you will know where to find me. But you must wait a day or two, +for I have a particular engagement." + +"All rubbish, Kit! Come and wine with me at seven. I shall have tooled +home the 'Nonpareil' by then." + +Christopher, though stern, was placable. He kissed his hand to his +reconciled friend, while he shook his head, to decline the invitation, +and strode off vigorously to consult his mother. To consult his dear +mother meant to get money out of her, which was a very easy thing to +do; and having a good deal of conscience, Kit seldom abused that +opportunity, unless he was really driven to it. Metallic necessity was +on him now; his courage had been rising for the last half-hour. "Faint +heart never won fair lady," rang to the tune of many horses' feet. His +dash through the air had set his spirits flying; his exploit, and the +applause thereof, had taught him his own value. From this day forth he +was a man of the world; and a man of the world was entitled to a wife. + +It is the last infirmity of noble and too active minds, to feel that +nothing is done well unless their presence guides it; to doubt the +possibility of sage prevision and nice conduct, through the ins and +outs of things, if ever the master-spirit trusts the master-body to be +away, and the countless eyes of the brain to give twinkle, instead of +the two solid lights of the head. Hence it was that Mr. Sharp, at +sight of Kit, came forth to meet him, although he had arranged to send +the mother. And this--as Mrs. Sharp declared to her dying day--was the +greatest mistake ever made by a man of most wonderful mind; while she +was putting away the linen. + +"Come in here, my boy," he said to his son, who was strictly vexed to +see him, and yearning to be round the corner; "there are one or two +things that have never been made quite clear to your understanding. We +do not expect you to be too clear-sighted at your time of life, and so +on. Come in that I may have a word with you." + +Christopher, with a little thrill of fear, once more entered the +sacred den, and there stood as usual; while his father sat and +regarded him with a lightsome smile. One of the many causes which had +long been at work to impair the young man's filial affection was, that +his father behaved as if it were not worth while to be in earnest with +him; as if Kit Sharp had a mind no riper than just to afford amusement +to mature and busy intellects. Christopher knew his own depth, and was +trying to be strong too, whenever he could think of it. And if he did +spend most of his time in sport and congenial pastime, of one thing he +was certain--that he never did harm to any one. Could his father say +that much for himself? + +"Aha, my boy, aha," said the elder Sharp in that very same vein which +always so annoyed and vexed his son; "what will you give me for a +little secret, a sweet little secret about a young lady in whom you +take the deepest interest?" + +The ingenuous youth, in spite of all efforts, could not help blushing +deeply; for he had a purely candid skin, reproduced from Piper +ancestry. And the sense of hot cheeks made him glow to the vital +centres of the nobler stuff. Therefore he scraped with his toes--which +was a trick of his--and kept silence. + +"Pocket money gone again?" continued his father pleasantly; "nothing +to offer his kind papa for most valuable information? Courting is an +expensive business--I ought to have remembered that. And the younger +the parties the more it costs; hot-house flowers, and a +smelling-bottle, a trifle of a ring, just to learn the size; that +being accepted, the bolder brooch, charmed bracelet, and locket for +the virgin heart--no wonder you are short of cash, my Kit." + +"You don't know one atom about it," cried Christopher, boiling with +meritorious wrath. "I never gave her nothing--and she wouldn't have +it!" + +"The double negative, to be sure. How forcible and how natural it is! +Well, well, my boy, let us try to believe you. Scatter all doubts by +exhibiting your wealth. You had five pounds and ten shillings lately; +and you pay nothing for anything that can be placed to your father's +credit. Let me see your cash-box, Kit." + +"This is all that I have at present," said Christopher, pulling out +his three-and-sixpence--for he had given the guard a shilling; "but +you must not suppose that this is all to which I am entitled. I have +I.O.U's from junior members of the University for really more than I +can reckon up; and every one of them will get the money from his +sisters, in the long vacation." + +"Oh, Kit, Kit! The firm ends with me. I must sell the good-will for +the very worst old song, if it once leaks out what a fool you are. By +what strange cross of reckless blood can such a boy be the future head +of Piper, Pepper, Sharp, & Co.?" Mr. Sharp covered up his long clear +head, and hid--for this once--true emotion. Kit looked at the kerchief +with a very queer glance. He was not at all affected by this +lamentation, however just, because he had heard it so often before; +and he never could make out exactly how much of him his father could +manage to descry through that veil Palladian. + +"Well, sir," he said, "you have always told me, as long as I can +remember, that I was to be a gentleman; and gentlemen trust one +another." + +"Very well said!" Mr. Sharp replied, with a deeply irritating smile; +"and now I will trust you, young sir, in a matter of importance. +Remember that I trust you as a gentleman--for I need not tell you one +word, unless I choose--and if I depart from my usual practice, it is +partly because you are beginning to claim a sort of maturity. Very +well, let us see if it can be relied upon. You pledge your word to +keep silence, and I tell you what you never could find out." + +Kit was divided with his mind in twain; whether he should draw the +sharp falchion of his wit, or whether he should rather speak honeysome +words; and, as nearly always happens when Minerva is admitted, he +betook himself to the gentler process. + +"Very well, sir," he said, pulling up his collar, as if he had +whiskers to push it down, "whatever I am told in confidence is allowed +to go no further. It is scarcely necessary for me to say that I +reserve, of course, the final right of reference to my honour." + +"To be sure, and to your ripe judgment and almost patriarchal +experience, Kit. Then be it known to you, aged youth, that you have +not shown hoar sagacity. You do not even know who the lady is whom you +have honoured with your wise addresses." + +"And I don't care a d----n who she is," cried Kit, "so long as I love +her, and she loves me!" + +"My son, you are turbulent and hasty. Your wisdom has left you +suddenly. Your manners also; or you would not swear in the presence of +your father." + +"Sir, I was wrong; and I beg your pardon. But I think that I learned +the first way of it from you." + +"Kit, Kit, recall that speech! You must have gone altogether dreaming +lately. My discourse is always moderate, and to the last degree +professional. However, in spite of the generous impulse, which +scarcely seems natural at your threescore years and ten, it does seem +a needful precaution to learn the name, style, and title of the lady +whom you will vow to love, honour, and--obey." + +"Her name," cried Kit, without any sense of legal phrase and jingle, +"is Grace Holland. Her style is a great deal better than anybody +else's. And as for title, such rubbish is unknown in the gigantic +young nation to which she belongs." + +"Her name," said Mr. Sharp, setting his face for the conquest of this +boy, and fixing keen hard eyes upon him, "is Grace Oglander, the +daughter of the old Squire of Beckley. Her style--in your sense of the +word--is that of a rustic young lady; and her title, by courtesy, is +Miss--a barbarous modern abbreviation." + +The youth was at first too much amazed to say a word; for he was not +quick-witted, as his father was. He gave a little gasp, and his fine +brown eyes, which he could not remove from his father's, changed their +expression from defiance to doubt, and from doubt to fear, and from +fear to sorrow, with a little dawning of contempt. "Why, my man, is +this beyond your experience of life?" asked Luke Sharp, trying to look +his son down, but failing, and beginning to grow uneasy. Kit's face +was aflame with excitement, and his lips were trembling; but his eyes +grew stern. + +"Father, I hope you do not mean what you have said--that you are only +joking with me--at any rate, that you have not known it--that you have +not done it--that you have not even left poor old Mr. Oglander one +hour----" + +"Wait, boy, wait! You know nothing about it. Who are you to judge of +such matters, indeed? Remember to whom you are speaking, if you +please. I have done what was right; and for your sake I have done it." + +"For my sake! Why, I never had seen the young lady before I was told +that she was dead and buried--murdered, as everybody said--and the +tracing of the criminals was mainly left to you! I longed to help, but +I knew that you despised me; and now do you mean to say that you did +it?" + +Luke Sharp was a quick-tempered man. He had borne a great deal more +than usual. And now he spoke with vast disdain. + +"To be sure, Kit, I murdered her; as is proved to such a mind as yours +by the fact of her being now alive! What can I have done to have a +fool for my son?" + +"And what have I done to have a rogue for a father? You may knock me +down, sir, if you please!"--for Mr. Sharp arose, as if that would be +his next proceeding;--"you have always used your authority very much +in that manner with me. I don't want to be knocked down; but if it +will do you any good, pray proceed to it; and down I go." + +"I declare, after all, you have got some little wit," cried the +lawyer, with a smile withdrawing, and recovering self-command. "I +cannot be angry with a boy like you, because you know no better. Oh, +here comes your mother! Your excitement has aroused her. Mamma, you +have not the least idea what a lion you have to answer for. I leave +him to you, my dear. Soothe him, feed him, and try to find his +humming-top." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +PROMETHEUS VINCTUS. + + +"I will not die like this! It is unseemly to die like this!" the Rev. +Thomas Hardenow was exclaiming at this very time, but a few miles off. +"I hope I am not a coward altogether; but the ignominy is unbearable. +In this den of Eumæus, this sty of Sycorax, entangled in the meshes of +a foul hog-net, and with hogs' grunt, grunt, for the chorus of my +woes! My Prometheus class is just waiting for me at the present +moment, so far as I can reckon here the climbing of the day; and I had +rendered into English verses that delicious bit of chorus--'With thy +woes of mighty groaning, mortals feel a fellow-moaning, And of Colchic +land indwellers, maids who never quail in fight;' and so on--how +small-minded of me to forget it now!--down to, 'And springs of +holy-watered rivers wail thy pitiable woe.' But instead of nymphs of +ocean, here comes that old pig again! If he could only grout up that +board--which he must do sooner or later--what part of me will he begin +upon? Probably this little finger--it is so white and helpless! If I +could only, only move!--to be eaten alive by pigs! Well, well--there +is not so very much left for them. Infinitely better men have had a +lower end than that. Only I would bend my knees--if bend them I +could--to the Giver of all good, that I may be insensible before the +pigs begin." + +His plight was a very unfortunate one; but still in the blackest veil +of woe there is sure to be some little threadbare place--from so many +people having worn that veil--and even poor Hardenow had one good +"look-out." To wit, although he had been without food for +six-and-twenty hours now (having been caught in the treacherous toils +soon after he set his toes towards his dinner), he was not by any +means in the same state in which a Low-Church clergyman must have +been. His system was so attuned to fasting, and all his parts so +disciplined, that "cupboard" was only whispered among them in a +submissive manner; and even his stomach concluded sorrowfully that it +must be Friday. + +Beyond this considerable advantage--which could not last much +longer--there was really little to console him. His cowardly captors, +not content with the rabbit-net twined round him, had swathed him also +in the stronger meshes of a corded gig-net. And even after that, Black +George, having had the handling of his legs, and discovered the vigour +of their boniness, was so impressed that he called out--"I never did +heckle such a wiry chap. Fetch a pair of they tough thongs, Tickuss, +same as thou makest use of for ringing of the pigs, my lad." + +"Whish!--can't 'ee whish, with my name so pat?" Leviticus whispered +sulkily; but he brought the unyielding thongs, wherewith the fellow +and tutor of Brasenose very soon had his wrists and ankles strapped. +And in spite of all struggles through the livelong night, as firmly as +a trussed hare was he fixed. + +Nevertheless, he could roll a little, though not very fast, because +his elbows stopped him; for being of the sharpest they stuck into the +ground, which was of a loamy nature. He fought with this difficulty, +as with every other; for a braver heart never dwelled in any body, +whether fat or lean; and he plucked up his angles from their bed of +earth, whenever the limits of cord would yield. He knew all about the +manufacture of twine--so far as one not in the trade could know +it--because he had got up the subject for the sake of a whipcord of a +puzzle in Theocritus; but this only served to make his case the worse; +for at that time honest string was made. The dressing, and the facing, +and the thousand other rogueries, make it quite impossible to tie a +good knot now; and even if a strap has any leather in it, its first +operation is a compromise. + +But at that stouter period, bind made bound. Mr. Hardenow could roll a +little; but that was as much as he could do. And rolling did him very +little good, except by way of exercise; because he was pulled up short +so suddenly by feather-edged boarding, with a coat of tar. The place +in which he was penned was most unworthy of such an occupant. It was +not even the principal meal-house, or the best treasury of "wash." It +was not the kitchen of the tasteful pigs, or even their back-kitchen, +but something combining the qualities of their scullery and dust-bin. +But the floor was clean, and a man lying lowly, so far as smell was +concerned, had certainly the best of the situation; inasmuch as all +odours must ascend to the pure ether of the exalted. Hardenow knew +that it was vain to roll, because the door was padlocked, and the +lower end, to which he chiefly tended, had a loose board, lifted every +now and then by the unringed snout of a very good old sow. Pure +curiosity was her motive, and no evil appetite, as her eyes might +tell. She had never seen a fellow and a tutor of a college rolling, as +she herself loved to do; and yet in a comparatively clumsy way. She +grunted deep disapproval of his movements, and was vexed that her +instructions were entirely thrown away. + +"Ah, Linus, Linus be the cry; and let the good be conqueror!" Mr. +Hardenow quoted, as his legs began to ache; "henceforth, if I have any +henceforth, how palpably shall I realise the difference between the +alindethra and the circular conistra! In this limited place I combine +the two; but without the advantages of either. I take it that, whether +of horse, or hen, or human being, the essential condition of +revolutionary enjoyment is--that the limbs be free. In my case, they +are not free. The exhilaration which would ensue, and of which, if I +remember rightly, Pliny speaks--or is it Ælian?--my memory seems to be +rolling too; but be the authority what it will, in my case that +exhilaration is (at least for the moment) not forthcoming. But I ought +to condemn myself far rather than writers who treat of a subject with +the gravity of authority; that is to say, if they ever tried it. +'Experimentum in corpore vili,' is what all writers have preferred. If +their own bodies were not too noble, what powerful impress they might +have left!" + +After such a cynical delivery as this, it served him particularly +right to hit, in the course of revolution, upon a bit of bone even +harder than his own; a staunch piece of noble old ossification +(whether of herbivorous, carnivorous, or omnivorous dragon), such as +would have brought Professor Buckland from Christ Church headlong, or +even Professor Owen, from the British Museum, the Melampus of all good +dragons. Hardenow knew nothing about it; except that it ran into him, +and jerked him in such a way over the ground, that he got into the +highest corner, and gladly would have rubbed himself, if good hemp had +yielded room for it. + +But this sad blow, which seemed at first the buffet of the third and +crowning billow of his woe, proved to be a blessing in disguise; +inasmuch as the reaction impelled him to a spot where he descried some +encouragement to work. And a little encouragement was enough for him. +By virtue of inborn calmness, long classical training and memories, +and pure Anglo-Catholic discipline, the young man was still "as fresh +as paint," in a trouble which would have exhausted the vigour of a far +more powerful and fiery man. Russel Overshute, for instance, even in +his best health would have worn his wits out long ago, by futile +wrath, and raving hunger. + +Mr. Hardenow could not even guess how there came to be quite a thick +cluster of pretty little holes, of about the size of a swan's quill, +drilled completely through the board against which his mishap had +driven him. The board was a stoutish slab of larch, cut +"feather-edged;" and the saw having struck upon most of these holes +obliquely, their form was elliptic instead of round, and their axes +not being at right angles to the board, they attracted no attention by +admitting light, since the light of course entered obliquely. In some +parts as close as the holes of a colander, in other places scattered +more widely, they jotted the plank for nearly a yard of its length, +and afforded a fine specimen of the penetrative powers of a colony of +_Sirex gigas_, so often mistaken for the hornet. + +But though as to their efficient cause he could form no opinion, +Hardenow hoped that their final cause might be to save his life; which +he quietly believed to be in great peril. For he knew that he lay in +the remote obscurity of a sad and savage wood, unvisited by justice, +trade, or benefit of clergy. Here, if no good spirit came, or unseen +genius, to release him, die he must at his own leisure, which would be +a long one. And he could discover no moral to be read from his +pre-historic skeleton; unless it were that very low one--"stick to thy +own business." + +A man of ordinary mind would not have troubled his head about this. +"_Post me, diluvium_," is the strengthening sentiment of this age; no +fulcrum whatever for any good work; and the death of all immortality. +Hardenow would have none of that; he had no idea of leaving ashes fit +to nourish nothing. Collecting his energies for a noble protest +against having lived altogether in vain, he brought his fettered +heels, like a double-headed hammer, as hard as his probolistic swing +could whirl, against the very thickest-crowded cells of bygone +domicile. The wooden shed rang, and the uprights shook, and the nose +of the sow at the lower end was jarred, and her feelings hurt; for, +truly speaking, her motives had been misunderstood. And if Hardenow +had but kept pigs of his own, he would have gone to work down there, +to help her, and so perhaps have got her to release him from his +toils. Everybody, however, must be allowed to go to work in his own +way: and to find fault with him, when he tries to do his best, is (as +all kind critics own) alike ungraceful and ungracious. Mr. Hardenow +worked right hard, as he always did at everything, and his heels had +their sparables as good as new, and capable of calcitration, though he +wore nothing stronger than Oxford shoes with a bow of silk ribbon on +the instep. The ribbon held fast, and he kicked or rather swung his +feet by a process of revolution, as bravely as if he had Hessian boots +on. At the very first stroke he had fetched out a splinter as big as +the scoop of a marrow-spoon; and delivering his coupled heels +precisely where little tunnels afforded target, in a quarter of an +hour he had worked a good hole, and was able to refresh himself with +the largeness of the outer world. + +Not that he could, however skilled now in rolling, roll himself out of +his black jail yet--for the piece punched out was only four inches +wide--but that he got a very decent width (in proportion at least to +man's average view) for clear consideration of the world outside. And +what he saw now was a pretty little sight, or peep at country scenery. +For the wood, just here, was not so thick that a man could not see it +by reason of the trees--as the Irishman forcibly observed--but a +dotted slope of bush and timber widening and opening sunny reaches out +of the narrow forest track. There was no house to be seen, nor +cottage, nor even barn or stable, nor any moving creature, except a +pig or two grouting in the tufted grass, and gray-headed daws at +leisure perking and prying, for the good of their home-circle. + +But presently the prisoner espied a wicket-gate, nearly at the bottom +of the sylvan slope, with a little space roughly stoned before +it--almost a sure sign, in a neighbourhood like that, of a human +dwelling-place inside. And when Hardenow's eyes, recovering tone, +assured him of the existence of some moss-grown steps, for the +climbing of a horse upon either side, he felt a sudden (though it may +not have been a strictly logical) happiness, from the warm idea that +there must be some of the human race not far from him. He placed his +lips close to the hole which he had made, and shouted his very +loudest, and then stopped a little while, to watch what might come of +it, and then sent forth another shout. But nothing came of it, except +that the pigs pricked up their ears and looked around and grunted; and +the jackdaws gave a little jerk or two, and flapped their wings, but +did not fly; and a soft woody echo, of a fibrous texture, answered as +weakly as a boy who does not know. + +This was pretty much what Hardenow expected. He saw that the +wicket-gate was a long way off, three or four hundred yards perhaps; +but he did not know that his jailer, Tickuss Cripps, was the man who +lived inside of it. Otherwise his sagacious mind would have yielded +quiet mercy to his lungs. For Leviticus was such a cruel and cowardly +blunderer, that, in mere terror, he probably would have dashed grand +brains out. But luckily he was far away now, and so were all other +spies and villains; and only a little child--boy or girl, at that +distance nobody could say which--toddled out to the wicket-gate, and +laid fat arms against it, and laboured, with impatient grunts, to push +it open. Having seen no one for a long time now, Hardenow took an +extraordinary interest in the efforts of this child. The success or +the failure of this little atom could not in any way matter to him; +yet he threw his whole power of sight into the strain of the distant +conflict. He made up his mind that if the child got out, he should be +able to do the like. + +Then having most accurate "introspection" (so far as humanity has such +gift) he feared that his mind must be a little on the wane, ere ever +such weakness entered it. To any other mind the wonder would have been +that his should continue to be so tough; but he hated shortcomings, +and began to feel them. Laying this nice question by, until there +should be no child left to look at, he gazed with his whole might at +this little peg of a body, in the distance, toppling forward, and +throwing out behind the weight of its great efforts. He wondered at +his own interest--as we all ought to wonder, if we took the trouble. +This little peg, now in battle with the gate, was a solid Peg in +earnest; a fine little Cripps, about five years old, as firm as if +just turned out of a churn. She was backward in speech, as all the +Crippses are; and she rather stared forth her ideas than spoke them. +But still, let her once get a settlement concerning a thing that must +be done to carry out her own ideas; and in her face might be seen, +once for all, that stop she never would till her own self had done it. +Hardenow could not see any face, but he felt quite a surety of +sturdiness, from the solid mould of attitude. + +That heavy gate, standing stiffly on its heels, groaned +obstreperously, and gibed at the unripe passion of this little maid. +It banged her chubby knees, and it bruised her warted hand, and it +even bestowed a low cowardly buffet upon her expressive and determined +cheek. And while she lamented this wrong, and allowed want of judgment +to kick out at it, unjust it may have been, but true it is, that she +received a still worse visitation. The forefoot of the gate, which was +quite shaky and rattlesome in its joints, came down like a skittle-pin +upon her little toes, which were only protected on a Sunday. "Ototoi, +Ototoi!" cried Mr. Hardenow, with a thrilling gush of woe, as if his +own toes were undergoing it. Bitter, yet truly just, lamentation awoke +all the echoes of the woods and hills, and Hardenow thought that it +was all up now--that this small atom of the wooded world would accept +her sad fate, and run in to tell her mother. + +But no; this child was the Carrier's niece; and a man's niece--under +some law of the Lord, untraced by acephalous progeny--takes after him +oftentimes a great deal closer than his own beloved daughter does. +Whether or no, here was this little animal, as obstinate as the very +Carrier. Taught by adversity she did thus:--Against the gate-post she +settled her most substantial availability, and exerted it, and spared +it not. Therewith she raised one solid leg, and spread the naked foot +thereof, while her lips were as firm as any toe of all the lot, +against the vile thing that had knocked her about, and the power that +was contradicting her. Nothing could withstand this fixed resolution +of one of the far more resolute moiety of humanity. With a creak of +surrender, the gate gave back; and out came little Peggy Cripps, with +a broad face glowing with triumph, which suddenly fell into a length +of terror, as the vindictive gate closed behind her. To get out had +been a great labour, but to get back was an impossibility; and +Hardenow, even so far away, could interpret the gesture of despair and +horror. "Poor little thing! How I wish that I could help her!" he said +to himself, and very soon began to think that mutual aid might with +proper skill be compassed. + +With this good idea, he renewed his shouts, but offered them in a more +insinuating form; and being now assured that the child was female, his +capacious mind framed a brief appeal to the very first instinct of all +female life. Possibly therefore the fairer half of pig and daw +creation appropriated with pleasure his address. At any rate, although +the child began to look around, she had no idea whence came the words, +"Pretty little dear! little beauty!" etc., with which the learned +prisoner was endeavouring to allure her. + +But at last, by a very great effort and with pain, Hardenow managed to +extract from the nets his white cravat, or rather his cravat which had +been white, when it first hung down his back from the taloned clasp of +the hollies. By much contrivance and ingenious rollings, he brought +out a pretty good wisp of white, and hoisted it bravely betwixt gyved +feet, and at the little breach displayed it. And the soft breath of +May, which was wandering about, came and uncrinkled, and in little +tatters waved the universal symbol of Succession Apostolical, as well +as dinner-parties. + +Little Peggy happened at this moment to be staring, with a loose +uncertain glimpse of thought that somebody somewhere was calling her. +By the flutter of the white cravat, her wandering eyes were caught at +last, and fixed for a minute of deliberate growth of wonder. Not a +step towards that dreadful white ghost would she budge; but a +steadfast idea was implanted in her mind, and was likely to come up +very slowly. + +"It is waste of time; I have lost half an hour. The poor little +thing--I have only scared her. Now let me think what I ought to do +next." + +But even while he addressed himself to that very difficult problem, +Hardenow began to feel that he could not grapple with it. His mind was +as clear as ever, but his bodily strength was failing. He had often +fasted for a longer time, but never with his body invested thus, and +all his members straitened. The little girl sank from his weary eyes, +though he longed to know what would become of her; and he scarcely had +any perception at all of pigs that were going on after their manner, +and rabbits quite ready for their early dinner, the moment the sun +began to slope, and a fine cock partridge, who in his way was proud +because his wife had now laid a baker's dozen of eggs, and but for his +dissuasion would begin to sit to-morrow; and after that a round-nosed +hare, with a philoprogenitive forehead, but no clear idea yet of +leverets; and after that, as the shadows grew long, a cart, drawn by a +horse, as carts seem always to demand that they shall be--the horse of +a strong and incisive stamp (to use the two pet words of the day), the +cart not so very far behind him there, as they gave word to stop at +the gate to one another--and in the cart, and above the cart, and +driving both it and the horse thereof, as Abraham drove on the plain +of Mamre, Zacchary Cripps; and sitting at his side, the far-travelled +and accomplished Esther. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +FEMININE ERROR. + + +Meanwhile, at Cross Duck House, ever since that interview of the +morning, things were becoming, from hour to hour, more critical and +threatening. If Mr. Sharp could only have believed that his son was +now a man, or at least should be treated as though he were; and if +after that the too active lawyer could only have conceived it possible +that some things might go on all the better without him; it is likely +enough that his righteous and gallant devices would have sped more +easily. + +But Luke Sharp had governed his own little world so long that he +scarcely could imagine serious rebellion. And he cared not to hide his +large contempt for the intellect of Christopher, or the grievance +which he had always felt--at being the father of a donkey. And so, +without further probation or pledge, he went forth to make his own +arrangements, leaving young Kit to his mother's charge, like a dummy, +to be stroked down and dressed. + +If he had left Kit but an hour before for his mother to tell him +everything, and round the corners, and smooth the levels, and wrap it +all up in delicious romance, as women do so easily, with their power +of believing whatever they wish, the boy might have jumped at the soft +sweet bait; for he verily loved his sylvan maid. But now all his +virtue and courage, and even temper, were on the outlook; and only one +thing more was needed to drive him to a desperate resolve. + +And that one thing was supplied, in the purest innocence, by Mrs. +Sharp; though the question would never have arisen if her son had been +left to her sole handling. + +"Then, mother, I suppose," said Kit as simply as if he smelled no rat +whatever, thoroughly as he understood that race, "if I should be +fortunate enough to marry beautiful Miss Oglander, we shall have to +live on bread and cheese, until it shall please the senior people to +be reconciled, and help us?" + +"No, Kit! What are you talking of, child? The lady has £20,000 of her +own! And £150,000 to follow, which nobody can take from her!" + +With a very heavy heart he turned away. Nothing more was required to +settle him. He saw the whole business of the plotting now; and the +young romance was out of it. He went to the bow-window looking on the +lane, and felt himself akin to a little ragamuffin, who was cheating +all the other boys at marbles. Hard bitterness and keen misery were +battling in his mind which should be the first to have its way and +speak. + +"This comes of being a lawyer's son!" he cried, turning round for one +bad glance at his mother. "She said that she disliked the law. I don't +dislike, I abhor it." + +"So you may, my dear boy, and welcome now. This will lift you +altogether beyond it. Your dear father may consider it his duty to +continue the office, and so on; but you will be a country gentleman, +Kit, with horses, and dogs, and Manton guns, and a pack of hounds, and +a long barouche, and hot-house grapes. And I will come and live with +you, my darling; or at least make our country house of it, and show +you how to manage things. For the whole world will be trying to cheat +you, Kit; you are too good-natured, and grand in your ways! You must +try to be a little sharper, darling, with that mint of money." + +"Must I? But suppose that I won't have it." + +"Sometimes I believe that you think it manly to provoke your mother. +The money ought to have been ours, Kit; mine by heritage and justice; +at least a year and a half ago. A moderate provision should have been +made for a woman, who may have her good points--though everybody has +failed to discover them--and who married with a view to jointure. Ten +thousand pounds would have been very handsome--far handsomer than she +ever was, poor thing!--and then by every law, human and divine, all +the rest must have come to you and me, my dear. Now, I hope that you +see things in their proper light." + +"Well, I dare say I do," he answered, with a little turn of sulkiness, +such as he often got when people could not understand him. "Mother, +you will allow me to have my own opinion; as you have yours." + +"Certainly, Kit! Of course, my dear. You know that you always have +been allowed extraordinary liberty in that way. No boy in any school +could have more; even where all the noblemen's sons are allowed to +make apple-pie beds for the masters. Every night, my dear boy, when +your father was away, it has rested with you, and you cannot deny it, +to settle to a nicety what there must be for supper." + +"Such trumpery stuff is not worth a thought. I am now like a fellow +divided in two. You might guess what I am about, a little. It is high +time for me to come forward. You cannot see things, perhaps, as I do. +How often must I tell you? I give you my word as a gentleman--all this +is exceedingly trying." + +"Of course it is, Kit; of course it is. What else could be expected of +it? But still, we must all of us go through trials; and then we come +out purified." + +"Not if we made them for ourselves, mother; and made them particularly +dirty ones. But I cannot talk of it; what do I know? A lot of things +come tempting me. Everybody laughs at me for wondering what my mind +is. And everybody cheats me, as you said. Let the governor carry on +his own devices. I have made up my mind to consider a good deal, and +behave then according to circumstances." + +"You will behave, I trust, exactly as your parents wish. They have +seen so much more of the world than you have; they are far better +judges of right and wrong; and their only desire is your highest +interest. You will break your poor mother's heart, dear Kit, if you do +anything foolish now." + +The latter argument had much more weight with young Sharp than the +former; but pledging himself as yet to nothing, he ran away to his own +room to think; while his mother, with serious misgivings, went down to +see about the soup, and hurry on the dinner. She knew that in vaunting +Miss Oglander's wealth she had done the very thing she was ordered not +to do, and she was frightened at the way in which her son had taken +it. + +Mr. Sharp did not come home to their early dinner at half-past one +o'clock; indeed, his wife did not expect him much; and his son was +delighted not to see him. Kit sat heavily, but took his food as usual. +The condition of his mind might be very sad indeed, but his body was +not to be driven thereby to neglect the duties of its own department. +He helped his dear mother to some loin of mutton; and when she only +played with it, and her knife and fork were trembling, he was angered, +and his eyes sought hers; and she tried to look at him and smile, but +made a wretched job of it. Christopher reserved his opinion about +this; but it did not help in any way to impair his resolution. + +For dessert they had a little dish of strawberries from pot-plants in +the greenhouse; and as they were the first of the season, the young +fellow took to them rather greedily. His mother was charmed with this +condescension, and urged him so well that in about three minutes the +shining red globes ticked with gold were represented by a small, +ignoble pile of frilled stalks blurred with pink. At this moment in +walked the master of the house. + +He had been as fully occupied as a certain unobtrusive, but never +inactive, gentleman, proverbially must be in a gale of wind. The day +was unusually warm for the May month, and the streets of Oxford dusty. +Mr. Sharp had been working a roundabout course, and working it very +rapidly; he had managed to snatch at a sandwich or two--for he could +not go long without nourishment--but throughout all his haste he had +given himself, with the brightest vision of refreshing joy, just time +to catch these strawberries. At least he was sure of it. But now, +where were they? + +"Ah, I see you know how to snap up a good thing!" cried the lawyer, +with a glance of contempt and wrath; "show the same promptitude in +what has been arranged for your benefit this afternoon, my boy; and +then you will be, in earnest, what you put on your dogs' collars." + +This was not the way to treat Kit Sharp; but the lawyer never could +resist a sneer, even when his temper was at its best, which it +certainly was not just now. + +Kit looked a little ashamed for a moment, but made no excuse for his +greediness; he was sure that his mother would do that best. By this +time he had resolved to avoid, for the present, all further dispute +with his father. Whatever was arranged for him he would do his best to +accept, with one condition--that he should be allowed to see the young +lady first, and test her good-will towards him, before her "removal" +(as Mr. Sharp mildly called it) was attempted. His sanguine young +heart had long been doing its utmost to convince him that this +sweet-tempered and simple maid could never bring herself to the +terrible cruelty of rejecting him. He felt how unworthy he was; but +still so was everybody else--especially the villain with the four bay +horses: from that scoundrel he would save her, even if he had to +dissemble more than he ever had done before. + +Luke Sharp, with his eyes fixed on his son in lofty contemplation, +beheld (as through a grand microscope) these despicable little +reasonings. To argue with Kit was more foolish than filing a +declaration against a man of straw. To suppose that Kit would ever +really rebel was more absurd than to imagine that a case would be +decided upon its merits. "So be it," he said; "but of course, even you +would never be quite such a fool as to tell her what your father and +mother have done for her good." + +There still was a little to be done, and some nicety of combination to +see to; and after a short consultation with his wife, and particular +instructions as to management of Kit, Mr. Sharp rode off on his own +stout horse, with a heavily loaded whip and a brace of pistols, +because there were some rogues about. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +UNFILIAL. + + +"At seven o'clock all must be ready," said Mr. Sharp, towards the +close of a hurried conversation with Miss Patch, Grace Oglander being +sent out of the way, according to established signal; "there is no +time to lose, and no ladies' tricks of unpunctuality, if you please. +We must have day-light for these horrid forest-roads, and time it so +as to get into the London road about half-past eight. We must be in +London by two in the morning; the horses, and all that will be +forthcoming. Kit rides outside, and I follow on horse-back. Hannah, +why do you hesitate?" + +"Because I cannot--I cannot go away, without having seen that Jesuit +priest in the pig-net wallowing. It is such a grand providential +work--the arm of the Lord has descended from heaven, and bound him in +his own meshes. Luke, I beg you, I implore you--I can pack up +everything in an hour--do not rob me of a sight like that." + +"Hannah, are you mad? You have never been allowed to go near that +place, and you never shall!" + +"Well, you know best; but it does seem very cruel, after all the lack +of grace I have borne with here, to miss the great Protestant work +thus accomplished. But suppose that the child should refuse to come +with us--we have no letters now, nor any other ministration." + +"We have no time now for such trumpery; we must carry things now with +a much higher hand. Everything hangs upon the next few hours; and by +this time to-morrow night all shall be safe: Kit and the girl gone for +their honeymoon, and you sitting under the most furious dustman that +ever thumped a cushion." + +"Oh, Luke, how can you speak as if you really had no reverence?" + +"Because there is no time for such stuff now. We have the strength, +and we must use it. Just go and get ready. I must ride to meet my +people. The girl, I suppose, is with Kit by this time. What a pair of +nincompoops they will be!" + +"I am sure they will be a very pretty pair--so far as poor sinful +exterior goes--and, what is of a thousand-fold more importance, their +worldly means will be the means of grace to hundreds of our poor +fellow-creatures, who, because their skin is of a different tint, and +in their own opinion a finer one, are debarred----" + +"Now, Hannah, no time for that. Get ready. And mind that there must be +no feminine weakness if circumstances should compel us to employ a +little compulsion. Call to your mind that the Lord is with us; the +sword of the Lord and of Gideon." + +Pleased with his knowledge of Holy Writ, he went to the place where +his horse was tied, and there he found a man with a message for him, +which he just stopped to hearken. + +"As loovin' as a pair o' toortle doves; he hath a-got her by the +middle; as sweet as my missus were to me, afore us went to church +togither!" Black George had been set to watch Kit and Gracie, during +their private interview, lest any precaution should be overlooked. + +"Right! Here's a guinea for you, my man. Now, you know what to do till +I come back--to stay where you are, and keep a sharp look-out. Can the +fool in the net do without any water? Very well, after dark, give him +some food, bandage his eyes, and walk him to and fro, and let him go +in Banbury. + +"All right, governor. A rare bait he shall have of it, with a little +swim in the canal, to clane un." + +"No hardship, no cruelty!" cried Mr. Sharp, with his finger to his +forehead, as he rode away; "only a little wise discipline to lead him +into closer attention to his own affairs." + +Black George looked after his master with a grin of admiration. "He +sticketh at nort," said George to himself, as he began to fill a grimy +pipe; "he sticketh at nort no more than I would. And with all that +house and lands to back un! Most folk with money got no pluck left, +for thinking of others as owneth the same. I'll be danged if he +dothn't carry on as bold as if he slep' in a rabbit-hole." With these +words he sat down to watch the house, according to his orders. + +But this man's description of what he had seen in the wood was not a +correct one--much as he meant to speak the truth--for many reasons, +and most of all this: that he ran away before the end of it. It was a +pretty and a moving scene; but the rabbit-man cared a great deal more +for the pipe, which he could not smoke in this duty, and the guinea +which he hoped to get out of it. And it happened, as near as one can +tell, on this wise: + +Grace Oglander, came down the winding wooded path, with her heart +pit-a-patting at every step, because she was ordered to meet somebody. +An idea of that kind did not please her. A prude, or a prim, she would +never wish to be; and a little bit of flirting had been a great +relief, and a pleasant change in her loneliness. But to bring matters +to so stern a point, and have to say what she meant to say, in as few +words as possible, and then walk off--these strong measures were not +to her liking, because she was a most kind-hearted girl, and had much +good-will towards Christopher. + +Kit on the other hand, came along fast, with a resolute brow and firm +heavy stride. He had made up his mind to be wretched for life, if the +heart upon which he had set his own should refuse to throb +responsively. But whatever his fate might be, he would tread the +highest path of generosity, chivalry, and honour; and this resolution +was well set forth in the following nervous and pathetic lines, found +in his blotting-paper after his untimely--but stay, let us not +anticipate. These words had been watered with a flood of tears. + + "C. F. S. TO MISS G. O. + + Say that happier mortal woos thee, + Say that nobler knight pursues thee, + While this blighted being teareth + All the festive robes it weareth, + While this dead heart splits to lose thee-- + Ah, could I so misuse thee? + Though this bosom, rent by thunder, + Crash its last hope anchor'd in thee; + Liefer would I groan thereunder, + Than by falsehood win thee!" + +And now they met in a gentle place, roofed with leaves, and floored +with moss, and decorated with bluebells. The chill of the earth was +gone by and forgotten, and the power of the sky come back again; +stately tree, and graceful bush, and brown depths of tangled +prickliness--everything having green life in it--was spreading its +green, and proud of it. Under this roof, and in these halls of bright +young verdure, the youth and the maid came face to face befittingly. +Grace, as bright as a rose, and flushing with true tint of wild rose, +drew back and bowed, and then, perceiving serious hurt of Christopher, +kindly offered a warm white hand--a delicious touch for any one. Kit +laid hold of this and kept it, though with constant fear of doing more +than was established, and, trying to look firm and overpowering, led +the fair young woman to a trunk of fallen oak. + +Here they both sat down; and Grace was not so far as she could wish +from yielding to a little kind of trembling which arose in her. She +glanced at Kit sideways whenever she felt that he could not be looking +at her; and she kept her wise eyes mainly downward whenever they +seemed to be wanted--not that she could not look up and speak, only +that she would rather wait until there was no other help for it; and +as for that, she felt no fear, being sure that he was afraid of her. +Kit, on the other hand, was full of fear, and did all he could in the +craftiest manner to make his love look up at him. He could not tell +how she might take his tale; but he knew by instinct that his eyes +would help him where his tongue might fail. At last he said-- + +"Now, will you promise faithfully not to be angry with me?" + +"Oh yes, oh yes--to be sure," said Grace; "why should I be angry?" + +"Because I can't help it--I give you my honour. I have tried very +hard, but I cannot help it." + +"Then who could be angry with you, unless it was something very +wicked?" + +"It is not very wicked, it is very good--too good for me, a great +deal, I am afraid." + +"There cannot be many things too good for you; you are simple, and +brave, and gentle." + +"But this is too good for me, ever so much, because it is your own +dear self." + +Grace was afraid that this was coming; and now she lifted her soft +blue eyes and looked at him quite tenderly, and yet so directly and +clearly that he knew in a moment what she had for him--pity, and +trust, and liking; but of heart's love not one atom. + +"I know what you mean," he whispered sadly, with his bright young face +cast down. "I cannot think what can have made me such a fool. Only +please to tell me one thing. Has there been any chap in front of me?" + +"How can I tell what you mean?" asked Grace; but her colour showed +that she could guess. + +"I must not ask who it is, of course. Only say it's not the swell that +drives the four bay horses." + +"I do not know any one that drives four bay horses. And now I think +that I had better go. Only, as I cannot ever meet you any more, I must +try to tell you that I like you very much, and never shall forget what +I owe to you; and I hope you will very soon recover from this--this +little disappointment; and my dear father, as soon as we return to +England--for I must go to fetch him----" + +"Grace--oh, let me call you 'Grace' once or twice, it can't matter +here in the middle of the wood--Grace, I was so taken up with myself, +and full of my miserable folly, which of course I ought to have known +better----" + +"I must not stop to hear any more. There is my hand--yes, of course +you may kiss it, after all that you have done for me." + +"I am going to do a great deal more for you," cried Kit, quite carried +away with the yielding kindness of lovely fingers. "For your sake I am +going to injure and disgrace my own father--though the Lord knows the +shame is of his own making. It is my father who has kept you here; and +to-night he is going to carry you off. Miss Patch is only a tool of +his. Your own father knows not a word about it. He believes you to be +dead and buried. Your tombstone is set up at Beckley, and your father +goes and cries over it." + +"But his letters--his letters from Demerara? Oh! my head swims round! +Let me hold by this tree for a moment!" + +Kit threw his arm round her delicate waist to save her from falling; +and away crept George, who had lurked behind a young birch-tree too +far off to hear their words. + +"You must rouse up your courage," said Kit, with a yearning gaze at +his sweet burden, yet taking no advantage of her. "Rouse up your +courage, and I will do my best to save you from myself. It is very +hard--it is cruelly cruel, and nobody will thank me!" + +"His letters from Demerara!" cried Grace, having scarcely heard a word +he said. "How could he have written them? You must be wrong." + +"Of such letters I have never heard. I suppose they must have been +forgeries. I give you my word that your father has been the whole of +the time at Beckley, and a great deal too ill to go from home." + +"Too ill!--my father? Yes, of course--of course! How could he help +being ill without me? And he thinks I am dead? Oh! he thinks that I am +dead! I wonder that he could dare to be alive. But let me try to think +a little." + +She tottered back to the old stump of the tree, and sat down there, +and burst forth into an extraordinary gush of weeping: more sad and +pitiful tears had never watered an innocent face before. "Let me +cry!--let me cry!" was her only answer when the young man clumsily +tried to comfort. + +Kit got up and strode about; his indignation at her deep low sobs, and +her brilliant cheeks like a river's bed, and her rich hair dabbled +like drifted corn, and above all the violent pain which made her lay +both hands to her heart and squeeze--his wrath made him long to knock +down people entitled to his love and reverence. He knew that her heart +was quite full of her father in all his long desolation, and was +making a row of pictures of him in deepening tribulation; but a girl +might go on like that for ever; a man must take the lead of her. + +"If you please, Miss Oglander," he said, going up and lifting both her +hands, and making her look up at him, "you have scarcely five minutes +to make up your mind whether you wish to save your father, or to be +carried away from him." + +Grace in confusion and fear looked up. All about herself she had +forgotten; she had even forgotten that Kit was near; she was only +pondering slowly now--as the mind at most critical moments does--some +straw of a trifle that blew across. + +"Do you care to save your father's life?" asked Kit, rather sternly, +not seeing in the least the condition of her mind, but wondering at +it. "If you do, you must come with me, this moment, down the hill, +down the hill, as fast as ever you can. I know a place where they can +never find us. We must hide there till dark, and then I will take you +to Beckley." + +But the young lady's nerves would not act at command. The shock and +surprise had been too severe. All she could do was to gaze at Kit, +with soft imploring eyes, that tried to beg pardon for her +helplessness. + +"If we stay here another minute, you are lost!" cried Kit, as he heard +the sound of the carriage-wheels near the cottage, on the rise above +them. "One question only--will you trust me?" + +She moved her pale lips to say "yes," and faintly lifted one hand to +him. Kit waited for no other sign, but caught her in his sturdy arms, +and bore her down the hill as fast as he could go, without scratching +her snow-white face, or tearing the arm which hung on his shoulder. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +UNPATERNAL. + + +Meanwhile, Mr. Sharp had his forces ready, and was waiting for Grace +and Christopher. Cinnaminta's good Uncle Kershoe (who spent half of +his useful time in stealing horses, and the other half in disguising +and disposing of them), although he might not have desired to show +himself so long before the moonlight, yet, true to honour, here he +was, blinking beneath a three-cornered hat, like a grandly respectable +coachman. The carriage was drawn up in a shady place, quite out of +sight from the windows; and the horses, having very rare experience of +oats, were embracing a fine opportunity. In picturesque attitudes of +tobacconizing--if the depth of the wood covers barbarism--three fine +fellows might now be seen; to wit, Black George, Joe Smith, and that +substantial householder, Tickuss Cripps. In the chaise sat a lady of +comfortable aspect, though fidgeting now with fat, well-gloved hands. +Mrs. Sharp had begged not to have to stop at home and wonder what +might be doing with her own Kit: and the case being now one of "neck +or nothing," her husband had let her come, foreseeing that she might +be of use with Grace Oglander. For the moment, however, she looked +more likely to need attendance for herself; for she kept glancing +round towards the cottage-door, while her plump and still comely +cheeks were twitching, and tears of deep thought about the merits of +her son held her heart in quick readiness to be up and help them. Once +Mr. Sharp, whose main good point, among several others, was affection +for his wife, rode up, and in a playful manner tickled her nose with +the buckskin loop of his loaded whip, and laughed at her. She felt how +kind it was of him, but her smile was only feeble. + +"Now mind, dear," said Mr. Sharp, reining his horse (as strong as an +oak and as bright as a daisy), "feel no anxiety about me. You have +plenty of nourishment in your three bags; keep them all alive with it. +Everything is mapped out perfectly. Near Wycombe, without rousing any +landlord, you have a fresh pair of horses. In a desert place called +the 'New Road,' in London, I meet you and take charge of you." + +"May Kit have his pipe on the box? I am sure it will make him go so +much sweeter." + +"Fifty, if he likes. You put his sealskin pouch in. You think of every +one before yourself." + +"But can I get on with that dreadful woman? Don't you think she will +preach me to death, Luke?" + +"Miranda, my dear, you are talking loosely. You forget the great gift +that you possess--the noblest endowment of the nobler sex. You can +sleep whenever you like, and do it without even a suspicion of a +snore. It is the very finest form of listening. Good-bye! You will be +a most happy party. When once I see you packed, I shall spur on in +front." + +Mr. Sharp kissed his hand, and rode back to the cottage. Right well he +knew what a time ladies take to put their clothes upon them; and the +more grow the years of their practice in the art, the longer grow the +hours needful. Still he thought Miss Patch had been quite long enough. +But what could he say, when he saw her at her window, with the +looking-glass sternly set back upon the drawers, lifting her hands in +short prayer to the Lord: as genuine a prayer as was ever tried. She +was praying for a blessing on this new adventure, and that all might +lead up to the glory of the Kingdom; she besought to be relieved at +last from her wearying instrumentality. Mr. Sharp still had some +little faith left--for he was a man of much good feeling--and he did +not scoff at his sister's prayer, as a man of low nature might have +done. + +Nevertheless he struck up with his whip at the ivy round her bedroom +window, to impress the need of brevity; and the lady, though shocked +at the suggestion of curtailment, did curtail immediately. In less +than five minutes, she was busy at the doorway, seeing to the exit of +everything; and presently, with very pious precision, she gave Mrs. +Margery Daw half a crown, and a tract which some friend should read to +her, after rubbing her glands with a rind of bacon, and a worn-out +pocket-handkerchief, which had belonged to the mighty Rowland Hill, +whose voice went three miles and a half. + +Then Miss Patch (with her dress tucked up, and her spectacles at their +brightest) marched, with a copy of the Scriptures borne prominently +forward, and the tags of her cloak doubled up on her arm, towards the +carriage, where Grace must be waiting for her. The sloping of the +sunset threw her shadow, and the ring-doves in the wood were cooing. +The peace and the beauty touched even her heart; and the hushing of +the winds of evening in the nestling of the wood appeased the ruffled +mind to that simplicity of childhood, where God and good are one. + +But just as she was shaking hands benevolently with Mrs. Sharp, before +getting into the carriage, back rode Mr. Sharp at full gallop, and +without any ceremony shouted, "Where's the girl?" + +"Miss Oglander! Why, I thought she was here!" Hannah Patch answered, +with a little gasp. + +"And I thought she was coming with you," cried Mrs. Sharp; "as well as +my dear boy, Christopher." + +"I let her go to meet him as you arranged," Miss Patch exclaimed +decisively; "I had nothing to do with her after that." + +"Is it possible that the boy has rogued me?" As Mr. Sharp said these +few words, his face took a colour never seen before, even by his +loving wife: The colour was, a livid purple, and it made his sparkling +eyes look pale. + +"They must be at the cottage," Mrs. Sharp suggested; "let me go to +look for the naughty young couple." + +The lawyer had his reasons for preventing this, as well as for keeping +himself where he was; and therefore at a sign from him, Miss Patch +turned back, and set off with all haste for the cottage. No sooner had +she turned the corner, than Joe Smith, the tall gipsy, emerged from +the wood with long strides into the road, and beckoned to Mr. Sharp +urgently. The lawyer was with him in a moment, and almost struck him +in his fury at what he heard. + +"How could you allow it? You great tinkering fool! Run to the corner +where the two lanes meet. Take George with you. I will ride straight +down the road. No, stop, cut the traces of those two horses! You jump +on one, and Black George on the other, and off for the Corner full +gallop! You ought to be there before the cart. I will ride straight +for that rotten old jolter! Zounds, is one man to beat five of us?" +Waiting for no answer, he struck spurs into his horse, and, stooping +over the withers, dashed into a tangled alley, which seemed to lead +towards the timber-track. + +No wonder Mr. Sharp was in such a rage, for what had happened was +exactly this--only much of it happened with more speed than words:-- + +Cripps, the Carrier, had been put up by several friends and relations +(especially Numbers, the butcher, who missed the pork trade of +Leviticus) to bring things directly to a point, instead of letting +them go on, in a way which was neither one thing nor the other. +Confessing all the claims of duty, poor Zacchary only asked how he +could discharge them. He had done his very best, and he had found out +nothing. If any one could tell him what more to do, he would wear out +his Sunday shoes to thank them. + +"Brother Zak," said Mrs. Numbers, with a feeling which in a less loyal +family would have been contempt, "have you set a woman to work; now, +have you?" + +Every Cripps present was struck with this, and most of all the +Carrier. Mrs. Numbers herself was quite ready to go, but a feud had +arisen betwixt her and Susannah, as to whether three-holed or +four-holed buttons cut the cotton faster; and therefore the Carrier +resolved to take his own sister Etty, who never quarrelled. It was +found out that she required change of air, and, indeed, she had been +rather delicate ever since her long sad task at Shotover. Now, +Leviticus durst not refuse to receive her, much as he disliked the +plan. The girl went without any idea of playing spy; all she knew was +that her brother was suspected of falling into low company, and she +was to put him on his mettle, if she could. + +Hence it was that Hardenow, gazing betwixt the two feather-edged +boards, beheld--just before he lost his wits--the honoured vehicle of +Cripps, with empty washing baskets standing, on its welcome homeward +road, to discharge the fair Etty at her brother's gate. Tickuss was +away upon Mr. Sharp's business, and Zacchary, through a grand sense of +honour, would not take advantage of the chance by going in. Craft and +wickedness might be in full play with them, but a wife should on no +account be taken unawares, and tempted to speak outside her duty. + +Therefore the Carrier kissed his sister in the soft gleam of the +sunset-clouds, and refusing so much as a glass of ale, touched up +Dobbin with a tickle of the whip; and that excellent nag (after +looking round for oats in a dream, which his common sense premised to +be too sanguine) brushed all his latter elegances with his tail, and +fetching round his blinkers a most sad adieu to Esther, gave a little +grunt at fortune and resignedly set off. Alas, when he grunted at a +light day's work, how little did he guess what unparalleled exertions +parted him yet from his stable for the night! + +For while Master Cripps, with an equable mind, was jogging it gently +on the silent way, and (thinking how lonely his cottage would be +without Esther) was balancing in his mind the respective charms of his +three admirers, Mary Hookham, Mealy Hiss, and Sally Brown of the +Golden Cross, and sadly concluding that he must make up his mind to +one of the three ere long--suddenly he beheld a thing which frightened +him more than a dozen wives. + +Cripps was come to a turn of the track--for it scarcely could be +called a road--and was sadly singing to Dobbin and himself that +exquisite elegiac-- + + "Needles and pins, needles and pins, + When a man marries, his trouble begins!" + +Dobbin also, though he never had been married, was trying to keep time +to this tune, as he always did to sound sentiments; when the two of +them saw a sight that came, like a stroke for profanity, over them. + +Directly in front of them, from a thick bush, sprang a beautiful girl +into the middle of the lane, and spread out her hand to stop them. If +the evening light had been a little paler, or even the moon had been +behind her, a ghost she must have been then, and for ever. Cripps +stared as if he would have no eyes any more; but Dobbin had received a +great many comforts from the little hands spread out to him; and he +stopped and sniffed, and lifted up his nose (now growing more +decidedly aquiline) that it might be stroked, and even possibly +regaled with a bunch of white-blossomed clover. + +"Oh, Cripps, good Cripps, you dear old Cripps!" Grace Oglander cried +with great tears in her eyes, "you never have forgotten me, Zacchary +Cripps? They say that I am dead and buried. It isn't true, not a word +of it! Dear Cripps, I am as sound alive as you are. Only I have been +shamefully treated! Do let me get up in your cart, good Cripps, and my +father will thank you for ever!" + +"But, Missy, poor Missy," Cripps stammered out, drawing on his heart +for every word, "you was buried on the seventh day of January, in the +year of our Lord, 1838; three pickaxes was broken over digging of your +grave, by reason of the frosty weather; and all of us come to your +funeral! Do 'ee go back, miss, that's a dear! The churchyard to +Beckley is a comfortable place, and this here wood no place for a +Christian." + +"But, Cripps, dear Cripps, do try to let me speak! They might have +broken thirty pickaxes, but I had nothing at all to do with it. May I +get up? Oh, may I get up? It is the only chance of saving me. I hear a +horse tearing through the wood! Oh, dear, clever Cripps, you will +repent it for the rest of all your life. Even Dobbin is sharper than +you are." + +"You blessed old ass!" cried a stern young voice, as Kit Sharp (who +had meant not to show) rushed forward, "there is no time for your +heavy brain to work. You shall have the young lady, dead or alive! +Pardon me, Grace--no help for it. Now, thick-headed bumpkin, put one +arm round her, and off at full gallop with your old screw! If you give +her up I will hang you by the neck to the tail of your broken +rattletrap!" + +"Oh, Cripps, dear Cripps, I assure you on my honour," said Grace, as +tossed up by her lover, she sat in the seat of Esther, "I have never +been dead any more than you have. I can't tell you now; oh, drive on, +drive, if you have a spark of manhood in you!" + +A horse and horseman came out of the wood, about fifty yards behind +them, and Grace would have fallen headlong, but for the half-reluctant +arm of Cripps, as Dobbin with a jump (quite unknown in his very first +assay of harness) set off full gallop over rut and rock, with a blow +on his back, from the fist of Kit, like the tumble of a chimney-pot. + +Then Christopher Sharp, after one sad look at Grace Oglander's flying +figure, turned round to confront his father. + +"What means all this?" cried the lawyer fiercely, being obliged to +rein up his horse, unless he would trample Kit underfoot. + +"It means this," answered his son, with firm gaze, and strong grasp of +his bridle, "that you have made a great mistake, sir--that you must +give up your plan altogether--that the poor young lady who has been so +deceived----" + +"Let go my bridle, will you? Am I to stop here--to be baffled by you? +Idiot, let go my bridle!" + +"Father, you shall not--for your own sake, you shall not! I may be an +idiot, but I will not be a blackguard----" + +"If by the time I have counted three, your hand is on my bridle, I +will knock you down, and ride over you!" + +Their eyes met in furious conflict of will, the elder man's glaring +with the blaze of an opal, the younger one's steady with a deep brown +glow. + +"Strike me dead, if you choose!" said Kit, as his father raised his +arm, with the loaded whip swinging, and counted, "One, two, +three!"--then the crashing blow fell on the naked temple; and it was +not needed twice. + +Dashing the rowels into his horse (whose knees struck the boy in the +chest as he fell, and hurled him among the bushes), the lawyer, +without even looking round, rode madly after Zacchary. Dobbin had won +a good start by this time, and was round the corner, doing great +wonders for his time of life--tossing the tubs, and the baskets, and +Grace, and even the sturdy Carrier, like fritters in a pan, while the +cart leaped and plunged, and the spokes of the wheels went round too +fast to be counted. Cripps tugged at Dobbin with all his might; but +for the first time in his life, the old horse rebelled, and flung on +at full speed. + +"He knoweth best, miss; he knoweth best," cried Zacchary, while Grace +clung to him; "he hath a divination of his own, if he dothn't kick the +cart to tatters. But never would I turn tail on a single man--who is +yon chap riding after us?" + +"Oh, Cripps, it is that dreadful man," whispered Grace, with her teeth +jerking into her tongue; "who has kept me in prison, and perhaps +killed my father! Oh, Dobbin, sweet Dobbin, try one more gallop, and +you shall have clover for ever!" + +Poor Dobbin responded with his best endeavour; but, alas! his old +feet, and his legs, and his breath were not as in the palmy days; and +a long shambling trot, with a canter for a change, were the utmost he +could compass. He wagged his grey tail, in brief expostulation, +conveying that he could go no faster. + +"Now for it," said Cripps, as the foe overhauled them. "I never was +afeard of one man yet! and I don't mane to begin at this time of life. +Missy, go down into the body of the cart. Her rideth aisily enough by +now; and cover thee up with the bucking-baskets. Cripps will take thee +to thy father, little un. Never fear, my deary!" + +She obeyed him by jumping back into the cart--but as for hiding in a +basket, Grace had a little too much of her father's spirit. The +weather was so fine that no tilt was on; she sat on the rail there, +and faced her bitter foe. + +"That child is my ward!" shouted Mr. Sharp, riding up to the side of +Cripps; while his eyes passed on from Grace's; "give her up to me this +moment, fellow! I can take her by law of the land; and I will!" + +"Liar Sharp," answered Master Cripps, desiring to address him +professionally, "this here young lady belongeth to her father; and no +man else shall have her. Any reasoning thou hast to come down with, us +will hearken, as we goes along; if so be that thou keepest to a civil +tongue. But high words never bate me down one penny; and never shall +do so, while the Lord is with me." + +"Hark you, Cripps," replied Mr. Sharp, putting his lips to the +Carrier's ear; and whispering so that Grace could only guess at +enormous sums of money (which sums began doubling at every +breath)--"down on the nail, and no man the wiser!" + +"But the devil a great deal the wiser," said the Carrier, grinning +gently, as if he saw the power of evil fleeing away in discomfiture. +"Now Liar Sharp hath outwitted hisself. What Liar would offer such a +sight of money for what were his own by the lai of the land?" + +"You cursed fool, will you die?" cried Sharp, drawing and cocking a +great horse-pistol; "your blood be on your head--then yield!" + +Cripps, with great presence of mind, made believe for a moment to +surrender, till Mr. Sharp lowered his weapon, and came up to stop the +cart, and to take out Grace. In a moment, the Carrier, with a +wonderful stroke, learned from long whip-wielding, fetched down his +new lash on the eyeball of the young and ticklish horse of the lawyer. +Mad with pain and rage, the horse stood up as straight as a soldier +drilling, and balanced on the turn to fall back, break his spine, and +crush his rider. Luke Sharp in his peril slipped off, and the +cart-wheel comfortably crunched over his left foot. His pistol-bullet +whizzed through a tall old tree. He stood on one foot, and swore +horribly. + +"Gee wugg, Dobbin," said Cripps, in a cheerful, but not by any means +excited, vein; "us needn't gallop any more now, I reckon. The Liar +hath put his foot in it. Plaize now, Miss Grace, come and sit to front +again." + +"We shall have you yet, you d----d old clod!" Mr. Sharp in his rage +yelled after him; "oh, I'll pay you out for this devil's own trick! +You aren't come to the Corner yet." + +"Ho, ho!" shouted Cripps; "Liar Sharp, my duty to you! You don't catch +me goin' to the Corner, sir, if some of the firm be awaitin' for me +there." + +With these words he gaily struck off to the right, through a by-lane, +unknown, but just passable, where the sound of his wheels was no +longer heard, and the mossy boughs closed over him. Grace clung to his +arm; and glory and gladness filled the simple heart of Cripps. + +Meanwhile Mr. Sharp, who had stuck to his bridle, limped to his horse, +but could not mount. Then he drew forth the other pistol from the near +holster, and cocked it and levelled it at Cripps; but thanks to brave +Dobbin, now the distance was too great; and he kept the charge for +nobler use. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +"THIS WILL DO." + + +Mr. Sharp's young horse, being highly fed and victualled for the long +ride to London, and having been struck in the eye unjustly, and jarred +in the brain by the roar of a pistol and whizz of a bullet between his +pricked ears, was now in a state of mind which offered no fair field +for pure reasoning process. A better-disposed horse was never foaled; +and possibly none--setting Dobbin aside, as the premier and quite +unapproachable type--who took a clearer view of his duties to the +provider of corn, hay, and straw, and was more ready to face and +undergo all proper responsibilities. + +Therefore he cannot be fairly blamed, and not a pound should be +deducted from his warrantable value, simply because he now did what +any other young horse in the world would have felt to be right. He +stared all around to ask what was coming next, and he tugged on the +bridle, with his fore-feet out, as a leverage against injustice, and +his hind-legs spread wide apart, like a merry-thought, ready to hop +anywhere. At the same time he stared with great terrified eyes, now at +the man who had involved him in these perils, and now at the darkening +forest which might hold even worse in the background. + +Mr. Sharp was not in the mood for coaxing, or any conciliation. His +left foot was crushed so that he could only hop, and to put it to the +ground was agony; his own son had turned against him; and a +contemptible clod had outwitted him; disgrace, and ruin, and death +stared at him; and here was his favourite horse a rebel! He fixed his +fierce eyes on the eyes of the horse, and fairly quelled him with +fury. The eyes of the horse shrank back, and turned, and trembled, and +blinked, and pleaded softly, and then absolutely fawned. Being a very +intelligent nag, he was as sure as any sound Christian of the +personality of the devil--and, far worse than that, of his presence +now before him. + +He came round whinnying to his master's side, as gentle as a lamb, and +as abject as a hang-dog; he allowed the lame lawyer to pick up his +whip, and to lash him on his poor back, without a wince, and to lead +him (when weary of that) to a stump, from which he was able to mount +again. + +"Thank you, you devil," cried Mr. Sharp, giving his good horse another +swinging lash; "it is hopeless altogether to ride after the cart. That +part of the play is played out and done with. The pious papa and the +milk-and-water missy rush into each other's arms. And as for me--well, +well, I have learned to make a horse obey me. Now, sir, if you please, +we will join the ladies--gently, because of your master's foot." + +He rode back quietly along the track over which he had chased the +Carrier's cart; and his foot was now in such anguish that the whole of +his wonderful self-command was needed to keep him silent. He set his +hard lips, and his rigid nose was drawn as pale as parchment, and the +fire of his eyes died into the dulness of universal rancour. No +hard-hearted man can find his joy in the sweet soft works of nature, +any more than the naked flint nurses flowers. The beauty of the young +May twilight flowing through the woven wood, and harbouring, like a +blue bloom, here and there, in bays of verdure; while upward all the +great trees reared their domes once more in summer roofage, and +stopped out the heavens; while in among them, finding refuge, birds +(before the dark fell on them) filled the world with melody; and all +the hushing rustle of the well-earned night was settling down--through +all of these rode Mr. Sharp, and hated every one of them. + +Presently his horse gave a little turn of head, but was too cowed down +to shy again; and a tall woman, darkly clad, was standing by the +timber track, with one hand up to catch his eyes. + +"You here, Cinnaminta!" cried the lawyer with surprise. "I have no +time now. What do you want with me?" + +"I want you to see the work of your hand--your only child, dead by +your own blow!" + +Struck with cold horror, he could not speak. But he reeled in the +saddle, with his hand on his heart, and stared at Cinnaminta. + +"It is true," she said softly; "come here and see it. Even for you, +Luke Sharp, I never could have wished a sight like this. You have +ruined my life; you have made my people thieves; the loss of my +children lies on you. But to see your only son murdered by yourself is +too bad even for such as you." + +"I never meant it--I never dreamed it--God is my witness that I never +did. I thought his head was a great deal thicker." + +Sneerer as he was, he meant no jest now. He simply spoke the earnest +truth. In his passion he had struck men before, and knocked them down, +with no great harm; he forgot his own fury in this one blow, and the +weight of his heavily-loaded whip. + +"If you cannot believe," she answered sternly, supposing him to be +jeering still, "you had better come here. He was a kind, good lad, +good to me, and to my last child. I have made him look very nice. Will +you come? Or will you go and tell his mother?" + +Luke Sharp looked at her in the same sort of way in which many of his +victims had looked at him. Then he touched his horse gently, having +had too much of rage, and allowed him to take his own choice of way. + +The poor horse, having had a very bad time of it, made the most of +this privilege. Setting an example to mankind (whose first thought is +not sure to be of home) the poor fellow pointed the white star on his +forehead towards his distant stable. Oxford was many a bad mile away, +but his heart was set upon being there. Sleepily therefore he jogged +along, having never known such a day of it. + +While he thought of his oat-sieve sweetly, and nice little nibbles at +his clover hay, and the comfortable soothing of his creased places by +a man who would sing a tune to him, his rider was in a very different +case, without one hope to turn to. + +The rising of the moon to assuage the earth of all the long sun fever, +the spread of dewy light, and quivering of the nerves of shadow, and +then the soft, unfeatured beauty of the dim tranquillity, coming over +Luke Sharp's road, or flitting on his face, what difference could they +make to its white despair? He hated light, he loathed the shade, he +scorned the meekness of the dapple, and he cursed the darkness. + +Out of sight of the road, and yet within a level course of it, there +lay, to his knowledge, a deep, and quiet, and seldom-troubled +forest-pool. This had long been in his mind, and coming to the +footpath now, he drew his bridle towards it. + +The moon was here fenced out by trees, and thickets of blackthorn, and +ivy hanging like a funeral pall. Except that here at the lip of +darkness, one broad beam of light stole in, and shivered on gray boles +of willow, and quivered on black lustrous smoothness of contemptuous +water. + +To the verge of this water Luke Sharp rode, with his horse prepared +for anything. He swept with his keen eyes all the length of liquid +darkness, ebbing into blackness in the distance. And he spoke his last +words--"This will do." + +Then he drove his horse into the margin of the pool, till the water +was up to the girths, and the broad beams of the moon shone over them. +Here he drew both feet from the stirrup-irons, and sat on his saddle +sideways, sluicing his crushed and burning foot, and watching the +water drip from it. And then he carefully pulled from the holster the +pistol that still was loaded, took care that the flint and the priming +were right, and turning his horse that he might escape, while the man +fell into deep water, steadfastly gazed at the moon, and laid the +muzzle to his temple, justly careful that it should be the temple, and +the vein which tallied with that upon which he had struck his son. + +A blaze lit up the forest-pool, and a roar shook the pall of ivy; a +heavy plash added to the treasures of the deep, and a little flotilla +of white stuff began to sail about on the black water, in the +commotion made by man and horse. When Mr. Sharp was an office-boy, his +name had been "Little Big-brains." + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +CRIPPS BRINGS HOME THE CROWN. + + +Although the solid Cripps might now be supposed by other people to +have baffled all his enemies, in his own mind there was no sense of +triumph, but much of wonder. The first thing he did when all danger +was past, and Dobbin was pedalling his old tune--"three-happence and +tuppence; three-happence and tuppence; a good horse knows what his +shoes are worth"--was to tie up Gracie in a pair of sacks. He thumped +them well on the foot-board first, to shake all the mealiness out of +them; and then, with permission, he spread one over the delicate +shoulders, and the other in front, across the trembling heart and +throat. Then, by some hereditary art, he fastened them together, so +that the night air could not creep between. + +"Cripps, you are too good," said Grace; "if I could only tell you half +the times that I have thought of you; and once when I saw a sack of +yours----" + +"Lor', miss, the very one as I have missed! Had un got a red cross, +thick to one side--the Lord only knows what a fool I be, to carry on +with such rum-tums now; however I'll have hold of he--and zummat more, +ere I be done with it." Here the Carrier rubbed his mouth on his +sleeve, as he always did to stop himself. He was not going to publish +the family disgrace till he had avenged it. "But now, miss, not +another word you say. Inside of them sacks you go to sleep; the Lord +knows you want it dearly; and fall away you can't nohow. Scratched you +be to that extreme in getting out of Satan's den, that tallow candles +dropped in water is what I must see to. None on 'em knows it, no, not +one on 'em. Man or horse, it cometh all the same. It taketh a man to +do it, though." + +"I should like to see a horse do it," said Grace; and her sleepy smile +passed into sleep. Eager as she was to be in her father's arms, the +excitement, and the exertion, and the unwonted shaking, and passage +through the air, began to tell their usual tale. + +This was the very thing the crafty Carrier longed to bring about. It +left him time to consider how to meet two difficulties. The first was +to get her through Beckley without any uproar of the natives; the +second, to place her in her father's arms without dangerous emotion. +The former point he compassed well, by taking advantage of the many +ins and outs of the leisurely lanes of Beckley, so that he drew up at +the back door of the Barton, without a single sapient villager being +one bit the wiser. + +Now, if he only had his sister with him, the second point might have +been better managed; because he would have sent her on in front, to +treat with Mrs. Hookham, and employ all the feminine skill supplied by +quickness, sympathy, and invention. As it was, he must do the best he +could; and his greatest difficulty was with Grace herself. + +The young lady by this time was wide awake, and stirred with such +violent throbbings of heart, at the view of divine and desirable +Beckley sleeping in the moonlight, and at the breath of her own +home-door, and haunt of her darling father's steps, that Cripps had to +hold her down by her sacks, and wished that he could strap her so. "Do +'ee zit still, miss; do 'ee zit still," he kept on saying, till he was +afraid of being rude. + +"You are a tyrant, Cripps; a perfect tyrant! Because you have picked +me up, and been so good, have you any right to keep me from my +father?" + +"Them rasonings," said Cripps in a decided tone, "is good; but comes +to nothing. Either you do as I begs of you, missy, or I turns Dobbin's +head, and back you go. It is for the Squire's sake I spake so harsh to +'ee. Supposin' you was to kill him, missy, what would you say +arterwards?" + +"Oh, is he so dreadfully ill as that? I will do everything exactly as +you tell me." + +"Then get down very softly, miss, and run and hide in that old +doorway, quite out of the moonshine, and stay there till I come to +fetch 'ee." + +Still covered with the sacks, the maiden did as she was told; while +the Carrier, with ungainly skill, and needless cautions to his horse +(who stood like a rock), descended. Then he walked into the Squire's +kitchen, with whip in hand, as usual, as if he were come to deliver +goods. + +The fat cook now was sitting calmly by the fire meditating. To her the +time of year made no difference, except for the time that meat must +hang, and the recollection of what was in its prime, and the +consideration of the draught required, and the shutting of the sun out +when he spoiled the fire. In the fire of young days, when herself +quite raw, this admirable cook had been "done brown" by a handsome +young Methodist preacher. Before she understood what a basting-ladle +is, her head was set spinning by his tongue and eyes; he had three +wives already, but he put her on the list, took all her money out of +her, and went another circuit. The poor girl spent about a year in +crying, and then she returned to the Church of England, buried her +baby, and became a cook. Without being soured by any evil, she now had +long experience, and a ripe style of twirling her thumbs upon her +apron. + +"Plaize, Mrs. Cook," began Zacchary, entering under official +privilege, and trying to look full of business, "do 'ee know where to +lay hand on Mother Hookham? A vallyble piece of goods I has to +deliver, and must have good recate for un." + +"But lor', Master Cripps, now, whatever be about? It ain't one of your +Hoxford days; and us never sends out no washing!" + +"You've a-knowed me a long time now, ain't you, Mrs. Cook? Did you +ever know me for to play trickum-trully?" + +"Never have you done that to my knowledge," the good woman answered +steadfastly, though pained in her heart by the thought of one who had; +"Master Cripps is known to be the breadth of his own word." + +"Then, my good soul, will 'ee fetch down Mother Hookham? It bain't for +the flourishes, the Lord A'mighty knows. I haven't got the governing +of them little scrawls myself nor the seasoning amongst them as +appertains to you. Bootifully you could a' done it, Mrs. Cook; but the +directions here is so particular! For a job of this sort, you are +twenty years too young." + +"Oh, Master Cripps," cried the cook, who made a star, like that upon a +pie, for her manual sign; "well you know that the ruin of my days has +been trust in eddication. Standing outside of it, I was a-took in, and +afore there come any pen or pencil, £320 was gone. Not for a moment do +I blame the Word of God, only them as blasphemeth it. But the whole of +my innard parts is turned against a papper, even on a pie-crust." + +"Don't 'ee give way now, dear heart alive! Many a time have you told +me, and every time I feels the more for 'ee. Quite a young 'ooman you +be still in a way, and a treasure for a young man with a whame in his +throat, and half-a-guinea every week you might aim for roasting +dinner-parties. But do 'ee now go, and fetch Mother Hookham down." + +"The old 'ooman isn't in the house, Master Cripps. She hath so many +things to mind that the wonder is how she can ever go through of them. +A heavy weight she hath taken off my shoulders, ever since here she +come, in virtue of her tongue. But her darter can be had to put a +flour to a'most anything if my signs isn't grand enough to go into +your hat, Master Cripps." + +"Now, my dear good soul," replied the Carrier, standing back and +looking at her, "you be taking of everything in a crooked way, you be. +I have a little thing to see to--nort to say of kitchen in it, and +some sort of style pecooliar. Requaireth pecooliar management, I do +assure you, and no harm. Will 'ee plaize to hearken to me now? Such as +I have to say--not much." + +The brave cook answered this appeal by running to fetch Mary Hookham; +in everything that now she did, even with such a man as Cripps, the +remembrance of vile deceit made her look out for a witness. Mary came +down with a bounce as if she had never been near her looking-glass, +but was born with her ribbons and colour to match. And her eyes shone +fresh at the sight of Master Cripps. + +"How well you be looking, my dear, for sure!" said the Carrier, having +(as a soldier has) his admiration of a pretty girl quickened by the +sound of firearms. "And I be come to make 'ee look still better." + +Mary cast a glance at the cook, as if she thought her one too many. +Cripps must be going to declare his mind at last; and Mary had such +faith in him, that she required no witness. + +"Who do 'ee think I have brought 'ee back?" asked Zacchary, meaning to +be very quiet, but speaking so loud in his pride, that Mary, with a +pale face, ran and shut the door upon the steps leading to her +master's quarters. Then she came back more at leisure, and put her +elbows to her sides, and looked at Master Cripps, as if she had never +meant to think of him for herself. And this made Cripps, who had been +exulting at her first proceedings, put down his whip and wonder. + +"Not Miss Grace!" cried Mary; "surely never our Miss Grace!" + +"What a intellect that young woman hath!" said Cripps aloud, +reflecting; "a'most too much, I be verily afeared." + +"Oh no, Master Cripps, not at all too much for any one as entereth +into it, with a household feeling. But were I right? Oh, Master +Cripps, were I right?" + +"Mary Hookham," said Cripps, coming over, and laying his hand on her +shoulder (as he used to do when she was a little wench, and made him a +curtsy with a glass of ale, even then admiring him), "Mary, you were +right, as I never could believe any would have the quickness. Cripps +hath a-brought home to this old ancient mansion the very most vallyble +case of goods as ever were inside it. Better than the crown as the +young Queen hath, for ten months now, preparing." + +"Alive?" asked Mary, shrinking back towards the fire, for his metaphor +might mean coffins. + +"Now, there you go down again--there you go down," answered Cripps, +who enjoyed the situation, and desired to make the most of it. "I +thought you was all intellect--but better perhaps without too much. +Put it to yourself now, Mary, whether I should look like this, if I +had only brought the remainses." + +"Oh, where is her? Where is her? Wherever can her be?" cried Mary, +forgetting all her fine education, in strong vernacular excitement. + +"Her be where I knows to find her again," answered Zacchary, with a +steadfast face. It was not for any one to run in and strike a light +betwixt him and his own work. "Her might be to Abingdon, or to +Banbury. Proper time come, I can vetch her forrard." + +"Oh, I thought you had got her in the house, Master Cripps. How +disappointing you do grow, to be sure! I suppose it is the way of all +men." + +Mary shed a tear, and Master Cripps (having been tried by sundry +women) went closer, to be sure of it. He was pleased at the sign, but +he went on with his business. + +"You desarve to know everything. Now, can 'ee shut the doors, without +a chance of anybody breaking in?" + +Mary and the cook, with a glance at one another, fastened all the +doors of the large low kitchen, except the one leading to the lane +itself. + +"You bide just as you be," said Cripps, "and I'll show 'ee something +worth looking at." + +He ran to the place where Grace was hiding, in the chill and the heat +of impatience, and he took the coarse sacks from her shoulders, as if +her sackcloth time was done at last. Then he led her to the warmth and +light, and she hung behind afraid of them. That strange, but not +uncommon shyness of one's own familiar home--when long unseen--came +over her; and she felt, for the moment, almost afraid of her own +beloved father. But Cripps made her come, and both Mary Hookham and +the fat cook cried, "Oh my! My good!" and ran up and kissed her, and +held her hands; while she stood pale and mute, with large blue eyes +brimful of tears, and lips that wavered between smile and sob. + +"Does he--does he know about me?" she managed to say to Cripps, while +she glanced at the door leading up to her father's room. + +"Not he! Lord bless you, my dear," said Cripps, "it taketh 'em all +half an hour apiece to believe as you ever be alive, miss." + +"It would never take my father two minutes," answered Grace; "he will +be a great deal too glad of it to doubt." + +"You promised to bide by my diraxions," the Carrier cried +reproachfully; "if 'ee don't, I 'on't answer for nort of it. Now sit +you down, miss, by back-kitchen door, to come or go either way, +according as is ordered. Now, Mary, plaize to go, and say, that Cripps +hath come to see his Worship about a little mistake he hath made." + +Mr. Oglander never refused to see any who came to visit him. His +simple, straightforward mind compelled him to go through with +everything as it turned up, whether it were of his own business, or +any other person's. Therefore he said, "Show Cripps in here." + +Cripps was in no hurry to be shown in. He felt that he had a ticklish +job to carry through, and he might drop the handles if himself were +touched amiss. And he thought that he could get on much better with a +clever woman there to help him. + +"Plaize, your Worship," he began, coming in, with his finger to his +forelock, and his stiff knee sticking out. "Don't 'ee run away now, +Mary, that's a dear; you knows all the way-bills; and his Worship will +allow of you." + +"Why, Cripps," Mr. Oglander exclaimed, "you are making a very great +fuss to-night; and you look as if you had been run over. Even if it is +half-a-crown, Cripps, you are come to prove against me--put it down. I +will not dispute it. I know that you would rather wrong yourself than +me." The old gentleman was tired, and he did not want to talk. + +"In coorse, in coorse," said Zacchary (as if every man preferred to +wrong himself), "but the point is a different thing; and, Mary, speak +up, and say you know it is." + +"Yes, sir, I do assure you now," said Mary, "the point is altogether +quite a different sort of thing." + +"Then why can't you come to it?" cried the Squire; "is it that you +want to marry one another?" + +Mary's face blushed to a fine young colour; and Cripps made a nod at +her, as if he meant to think of it, but must leave that for another +evening. + +"I never could abide such stuff," muttered Mary, "as if all the world +was a-made of wives and husbands!" + +The Squire sat calmly with his head upon his hand, and his white hair +glistening in the lamplight, as he gazed from one to the other, with a +smile of melancholy amusement. It would be a great discomfort to him +to lose Mary Hookham's services; and he thought it a little unkind of +her to leave him in this sad loneliness; but he had not lived +threescore years and ten without knowing what the way of the world is. +Therefore, if Cripps had made up his mind--as the women had long been +declaring that he as a man was bound to do--Mr. Oglander would be the +last to complain, or say a word to damp them. The Carrier himself had +some idea that such was the working of the Squire's mind. + +"Now, your Worship," he said, putting Mary away to a place where she +could use her handkerchief, "will 'ee plaize to hearken, without your +own opinion before hast heard what there be to say? Nayther of us +drameth of doing you the wrong to take away Mary, while you be wanting +of her. You ought to have knowed us better, Squire. And as for poor +Mary, I ain't said a word to back up her hopes of a-having me yet. +Now, Miss Mary, have I?" + +"No, that you never haven't, Master Cripps! And it may come too late; +if it ever do come." + +"Well, well," continued Mr. Cripps, without much terror at the way she +turned her back; "railly, your Worship, it was you who throwed us out. +Reckoning of my times is a hard thing for me; and a hundred and four +times a year is too much for the discretion of a horse a'most." + +"Very well, Cripps," said the Squire in despair; "every one knows that +you must have your time. Not a word will I speak again, until I have +your leave." + +"I calls it onhandsome of your Worship to say that; being so contrary +of my best karaksteristicks. Your Worship maneth all things for the +best, I am persuaded; but speaking thus you drives me into such a +prespiration, the same as used to be a sweat when I was young and +forced to it. Now, doth your Worship know that all things cometh in a +round, like a sound cart-wheel, to all such folks as trusts the Lord?" + +"I know that you have such a theory, Cripps. You beat the whole +village in theology." + +"And the learned scholar in Oxford, your Worship; he were quite +doubled up about the tribe of Levi. But for all of their stuff, the +Lord still goeth on, making His rounds to His own right time; and now +His time hath come for you, Squire." + +"Do try to speak out, Cripps; and tell me what excites you so." + +"Mary, his Worship is beginning to look white. Fetch in the +pepper-castor, and the gallon of vinegar as I delivered last +Wednesday." + +"No, Mary, no. I want nothing of the kind. Tell him--beg him--just to +speak out what he means." + +"Cripps--Master Cripps, now," cried Mary in a tremble; "you be going +too far, and then stopping of a heap like. His Worship ought to be let +into the whole of it gradooal--gradooal--gradooal." + +"Can 'ee trust in the word of the Lord, your Worship?" asked Cripps, +advancing bravely. "Can 'ee do that now, without no disrespect to +'ee?" + +"In two minutes more you'll drive me mad, between you!" the old Squire +shouted, as he rose and spread his arms. "In the name of God, what is +it? Is it of my daughter?" + +"Yes, yes, father dearest! who else could it be in the whole of the +world?" a clear voice cried, as a timid form grew clear. "They would +go on all the night; but I could not wait a moment. Daddy, I am sure +that you won't be frightened. You can't have too much of your own +Grace, can you? Don't let it go to your heart, my darling. Grace will +rub it for you. There, let me put my head just as I used, and then you +will be certain, won't you?" + +She laid her head upon her father's breast, while Mary caught hold of +the Carrier's sleeve, and led him away to the passage. Then the old +man's weak and trembling fingers strayed among his daughter's hair, +and he could not speak, or smile, or weep. + +"There, you will be better directly, darling," she whispered, looking +up with streaming eyes, as she felt him tremble exceedingly, and her +quick hands eased him of the little brooch (containing her mother's +hair and her own), which fastened his quivering shirt-frill; "you +wanted me to come back, didn't you? But not in such a hurry, +darling--not in such a hurry. Father dear, why ever don't you kiss +me?" + +"If you did not run away, dear--say you did not run away." + +"Daddy, you cannot be so ill-minded; so very wicked to your only +child." + +The old man took his child's hand in his own, and soothed her down, +and drew her down, until they were kneeling at the table side by side; +then they put up their hands to thank God for one another, and did it +not with lips, but with heart and soul. + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +SMITH TO THE RESCUE. + + +Now, in the whole of Beckley village, scarcely a soul under eighty +years of age (unless it were of some child under eight, tucked up in +rosy slumber) failed to discuss within half an hour the "miracle" +about Grace Oglander. That word was first set afoot in the parish by a +man of settled habits, and therefore of sure authority. For Thomas +Kale had been put upon a horse, when the Carrier's leg would not go +up, and ordered to ride for his life to tell Squire Overshute all that +was come to pass. + +This Kale was a man of large wondering power, gifted moreover with a +faith in ghosts, which often detracted from his comfort. He had seen +his young mistress in a half-light only, when the household was called +to look at her; and now he was ordered to a house where a lady had +died not more than a few weeks back. Between Beckley Barton and +Shotover Grange, there are two places known to be haunted. The +necessity for priming Thomas, before he started, had occurred +unluckily to himself alone. Already, as he rode out of the yard, a +gatepost and a tree shone spectrally. He felt the necessity for +priming himself; and, prudent man as he was, he saw no mischief in +affording it. Squire Overshute could not give him less than a guinea +for his tidings. Therefore (though pledged to the utmost not to speak) +he took the very turn which the prudent Cripps had shunned; and +pulling up at the window of the Dusty Anvil, gave a shout for hot +gin-and-water. + +The Anvil was ringing with hilarity that night, and its dust, if heavy +sprinkling could ally it, was subsiding. For Beckley having played a +cricket-match with Islip, and beaten the dalesmen by ten wickets--as +needs must be with five Crippses holding willow--an equally invincible +resolve arose to out-eat the losers at the supper. Islip, defeated but +not disgraced, was well represented both in flesh and cash; and as Mr. +Kale called for his modest glass, a generous feeling awoke in the +breasts of several young men to pay for it. For the wickets had been +pitched in a meadow of the Squire's, where Kale had plied scythe and +roller. + +Thomas Kale saw that it would be a most uncandid and illiberal act to +open his mouth for a negative only. He firmly restricted good feeling, +however, to three good bumpers, and a bottomer; pledging himself, on +compulsion, to call on his way back and manage the duplicate. But his +heart was so good, that before he rode off, with a flout at all ghosts +and goblins, he took an old crony by the name upon his smock, and told +him where to go for a "miracle." + +Now, who should this be but old Daddy Wakeling, that ancient and +valued friend of Cripps, and one of the best men in Elsfield parish? +Daddy was forced to spend much of his time outside his own parish, for +the best of reasons--and a melancholy one--there was no public-house +inside of it. Here he was now, with his fine white locks and +patriarchal countenance, propounding a test to our finest qualities, a +touchstone of one's lofty confidence or low cynicism--whether the +subject should now be pronounced more venerable, or more tipsy. + +But old Daddy Wakeling would be the very last (when getting near the +middle of his third gallon) to conceal from his friends any gratifying +news; and ere ever Kale's horse's heels turned the corner, Daddy's +wise old lips were wagging into the ear of a crony. In less than two +minutes, Phil Hiss had got the news; a council was held in the +long-room of the inn; and a march upon the Squire's house, and a +serenade by every one who could scrape, blow, twang, or halloa, was +the resolution of a moment. + +In the thick of the rout, as with good intent they approached the +old-fashioned coach-doors (which led to the front where they meant to +be musical), a short square fellow slipped out of the crowd, and +without observation went his way. His way was to a little hut of a +stable, fastened only with a prong outside, but holding a nice young +horse, who had finished his supper, but was not sleepy. He neighed as +John Smith came in, for he felt quite inclined for a little exercise, +and he knew the value of the saying he had heard--"After supper, trot +a mile." Numbers Cripps was his owner, in that shameful age of +ownership--which soon will be abolished, now that its prime key is +gone, the key of holy wedlock--and the butcher had offered Mr. Smith a +ride, whenever he should happen to want one. + +The night was well up in the sky, and the track of summer daylight +star-swept; the dim remembrance of a brighter hour (that hangs round a +tree, like a halo) was gone; and only little twinkles shone through +bays of leafage against the tidal power of the moon; and the long +immeasurable stretch of silence spread faint avenues of fear. + +Mr. John Smith was a very brave man. Imagination never stirred the +corpulence of his comfort. What he either saw or sifted out by his own +process, that he believed; and very little else. And so he rode, +through light and shade, and the grain of the air which is neither; +while the forest grew deeper with phantasm, and the depth of night +made way for him. + +Suddenly even he was startled. In a dark narrow place, where he kept +the track, and stuck his heels under his horse's belly (for fear of +being taken sideways), something dashed by him, with a pant and roar, +and fire flying out of it. Mr. Smith blessed his stars that he was not +rolled over, as he very well might have been; for that which flew by +him, like a streak of meteor, was a strong horse frantic. + +Smith turned round in his saddle, and stared; but the runaway sped the +faster, as if he were rushing away from the forest, with a pack of +wolves behind him. The stirrups of his empty saddle struck fire, +clashing under him, and his swift flight scarcely left a sound of +breath or hoof to follow him. + +"The devil is after him!" said John Smith; "I never saw a horse in +such a state of mind. I may as well mark the spot where he came out. +He has left, as sure as I sit here, a tale to be told, in the +background." + +Without dismounting, he broke off a branch of young white poplar, and +cast it so that by daylight he could find it; and then, with a very +uneasy mind, he rode on, to trace the rest of it. He was not by any +means in Luke Sharp's pay (as one or two persons had suspected), +neither was he even of his privy council; and yet he was bound hand +and foot to him; partly by fealty of a conquered mind, and partly by +sense of his brother Joe's complicity and subservience. John Smith, in +his own way, was an honourable man; and money was no bribe to him. + +With quickened alarm, he rode on at all speed towards the cottage of +the swineherd. Never in any way had he dealt with the sylvan schemes +of Mr. Sharp, or even from a distance watched them. It was long ere he +had any clear suspicions--for his tall brother kept miles away from +him--and in seeking the remains of Grace under the snowdrift, he +wrought out his duty with blind honesty. + +John Smith's nerves were of iron, and even the riderless horse had not +scattered them; but though he rode on bravely still, a cloud of gloom +fell over him. It would make a sad difference to his life if anything +had happened to Mr. Sharp (for Smith had invested a little money under +the lawyer's guidance), and knowing Luke Sharp as he did, he feared +that evil had befallen him. + +Hence, with dark misgiving, and the set resolve to face it, he lashed +his horse on at a perilous rate, through the wattled ways of +moonlight. The glance and the glimpse of light and shade flew past +him, like a cataract, till suddenly even he was scared by the sound of +his name in a sad clear voice. He pulled up his horse, and laid his +hand on the butt of a pistol beneath his cape, till a woman came forth +into the light, and said-- + +"I was sure you would come; but too late--it is too late!" + +"Cinnaminta, show me," he answered very softly, knowing by her gesture +that the mischief was at hand. As soon as he was off his horse, and +had made him fast by the bridle, she led him round some shadowy +corners into a little dingle. This had no great trees to crowd it; and +though it lay below the level of the wood around, the moon was high +enough now to throw a broad gangway of light along it. The sides were +fringed or jagged with darkness, cumbrous tree or mantled ivy jutting +forth black elbows; but in the middle lay and spread fair sward of +dewy emblements, swept with brightness, and garnished for a Whitsun +dance of fairies. + +But now, instead of skip and music, sigh and sob and wailing noises of +the human heart were heard. A fine young form, of the Oxford build, +lay heavily girt with molehills, enfolded vainly in a velvet cloak, +and vainly on every side adjured to open its eyes and come back again. +Kit was not at all the fellow thus to be addressed in vain--if he only +could have heard the living voices challenge him. His love of sport +had been love of pluck, as it generally is with Englishmen; and all +his dogs, of different sizes, must have taught him something. His +mother now was pulling at him, in a storm of fear and hope. She felt +that he could not be dead, because it would be so outrageous; and yet +her feeble heart was fearful that such things had been before. Happily +for herself, she knew not what had happened to him; but took it for an +accident of the woods; for the gipsy-woman, who alone had seen it, had +been too kind to tell the truth. + +"Oh, Kit, Kit! now only look!" the poor fond mother was going on; +"only lift one eyelid, darling; only move one little hand"--his hands +were of very considerable size--"or do anything, anything you like, +dear, just to show that you are coming back, back to your own mother! +Kit--oh, my Kit, my own and ever only Kit--or Christopher, if you like +it better, darling--here have I been for whole hours and hours, and +not one word will you say to me! If ever I laughed at you, Kit, in my +life, you must have felt how proud I was. There is not anything in all +the world, or anybody to come near you, Kit. Only come--only be near +me, instead of breaking all my heart like this!" + +Worn out with misery, she fell back; and Cinnaminta, with a short +quick sigh, knelt down on the turf, and supported her. + +"Four times have I had to bear it, and every time worse than the time +before," she said in her soft clear tone to herself; but only to +remind herself of the tenderness she was sure to show. "And this was +her only one, and grown up!" + +Her face (still beautiful and lovely with the sad love in her eyes, +the memory of the time when still there was somebody to live for) +shone in the gentle light, now poured abundantly on all of them. Of +all who had lived, and loved, and suffered, and now made shadows in +the moonshine, not one had been down to the holy depths of sorrow as +this woman had. + +"Catch un up now," cried John Smith, who never knew how his ideas were +timed; "catch un up by the heels, one of 'ee, while I take un by the +head. This here baistly hole be enow to fetch the ghost of his life +out. He hath got life in him. Don't tell me! His ears be like a shell; +and no dead man's is. Rap on the nob! Lor' bless my heart, I'd sooner +have fifty, than one on the basket. What, all on you afeard to heckle +him?" + +"Oh no, sir, oh no, sir," cried poor Mrs. Sharp, as Tickuss, and +another man, fell away; "I am not very strong, but I can help my +child." + +"Ma'am, you are a lady!" said John Smith, that being his very highest +crown of praise; "but as for you--a d----d set of cowards--go to the +devil, all of you! Now, ma'am, I will not trouble you, except to +follow after us. Cinny will clear the way in front; it cometh more +natural to her. And you, ma'am, shall follow me as you please; and +sorry I am not to help you. A little shaking will do him a world of +good." + +He was taking up Kit, with a well-adjusted balance, while he spoke to +her; and he wasted his breath in nothing, except in telling her to +follow him. As the hind comes after the poor slain fawn, or the cow +runs after the netted cart, where the white face of her calf weeps +out, even so Mrs. Sharp of her dress thought nothing--though cut up, +like a carrot, in the latest London style, and trimmed with almost +every flower nature never saw--anyhow, after Kit she went, and knew +not light from darkness. + +Mr. Smith sturdily managed to get on; he was thickly built, and had +well-set reins; and though poor Kit was no feather-weight, his bearer +did not flag with him. Then setting the body of the lad on a mound, +where the moon shone clearly upon his face, and the night air fanned +him quietly, John Smith very calmly pulled out a bright weapon, and +flourished it, and felt the edge. + +"Oh no, sir! Oh pray, sir!" cried Mrs. Sharp, falling on her knees, +and enclasping her poor boy. + +"Cinny, just lead her behind that bush. 'Tis either death, or blood, +with him." + +"Oh no, I never could bear to be out of sight. If it really must be +done, I will not shriek. I will not even sigh. Only let me stay by his +side!" + +John Smith signed to his sister-in-law, who took the mother's +trembling hands, and turned her away for a moment. + +"Now fetch cold water. That vein must not be allowed to bleed too +long, ma'am. 'Tis a ticklish one to manage for a surgeon even; and at +present it is sulky. But it only wants a little air, and just the +least little touch again. If you could just manage to go and say your +prayers, ma'am, we could get on a long sight better." + +"Oh, I never thought of that. How sinful of me! Oh, kind good man, I +implore of you--" + +"Not of me, ma'am. Pray to God in heaven, unless you wish to see me +run away. And if I do, he slips right off the hooks." + +She turned away, with her weak hands clasped; but whether she prayed +or not, never could she tell. But one thing she bore in mind, as long +as soul abode with it, and that was the leap of her heart when Smith +shouted in a good loud voice, "All right!" + + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +FATAL ACCIDENT TO THE CARRIER. + + +Now, that little maid who with such strength, alike of mind and body, +had opened the paternal gate, and then bewailed her prowess, happened +to be the especial favourite of her good Aunt Esther. Therefore no +sooner had the Carrier begun his eventful homeward course, as +heretofore related, than Etty, who loved a forest walk and felt rather +dull without Zacchary, took Peggy's fat red hand, and, after a good +tea with Susannah, set forth for an evening stroll, to gather flowers +and hear the birds sing. + +Almost before they had got well into the wooded places, Peggy shrank +away from a black timber shed, partly overhung by trees. + +"Peggy not go there, Aunt Etty," she said; "goose in there, a great +white goose!" + +"A ghost, you little goose?" answered Esther, laughing, for still +there was good sunset. "Come and show me; I want to see a ghost." + +"No, no, no!" cried the child, pulling backward, and struggling as +hard as she had struggled with the gate; "Peggy see a white goose in a +black hole there, all day." + +"Then, Peggy, stop here while I go and look. You won't be afraid to do +that, will you?" + +Running bravely up to the hole in the boards, Esther saw, to her great +amazement, the form, perhaps the corpse, of a man, stretched at length +on the ground inside. It lay too much in the dark for the face to be +seen, and the dress was so swaddled with netting, and earthy, that +little could be made of it. A torn strip of cambric, that once had +been white, lay partly on the body and partly on the board. Esther +caught it up; she remembered having ironed something of this shape for +somebody once, who was going to be examined. She knew where to look +for the mark, and there she saw in small letters--"T. Hardenow." + +Surprised as she was, she did not lose her wits or courage, as she +used to do. She ran to the door of the shed, tried the padlock, and +finding it fastened (as she had feared), made haste to the +grain-house, and seized a bunch of keys. Not one of them truly was +born with the lock, but one was soon found to serve the turn; then +Esther pushed back the creaking door, and timidly gazed round the +shadowy shed. She was quite alone now, for her little niece, with +short sobs of terror, had set off for home. + +In the light admitted by the open door, young Esther descried a poor +miserable thing, helpless, still as a log, and senseless, yet to her +faithful heart the idol of all adoration. Gently, step by step, she +stole to the prostrate form, and knelt down softly, and reverently +touched it. She feared to seem to take advantage of a helpless moment; +and yet a keen joy, mixed with terror, shone in the eagerness of her +eyes. "He is alive, I am sure of that," she said to herself, as she +pulled forth a pair of strong scissors which she always carried; "he +is alive, but very, very nearly dead. What wretches can have treated +him like this?" + +In two minutes, Hardenow was free from every cord and throng of +bondage; his lax arms fell at his sides; his legs (that had saved his +life by kicking) slowly sank back to their native angles, like a +lobster's claw untied, and his small and dismally empty stomach +quivered almost invisibly. + +"Oh, he is starving, or downright starved!" cried Esther, watching his +white lips, which trembled with some glad memory of suction, and then +stiffened again to some Anglican dream. "After all, I have blamed +other folk quite amiss. He hath corded himself away from his victuals +to give way to his noble principles. But how could he lock himself in? +The Lord must have sent a bad angel to tempt him, and then to turn the +key on him." + +Before she had finished this reasoning process, the girl was half-way +towards the cot of Tickuss, her heart outweighing her mind, according +to all true feminine proportions. She ran in swiftly upon Susannah, +sitting in the dusky kitchen and pondering over a very slow fire the +cookery of the children's supper. These good young children never +failed to go to see the pigs fed, and down at the styes they all were +at this moment, with no victuals come, and the pigs all squeaking, +because the pig-master was not at home. + +This was most sad, and the children felt it; nevertheless they bore +it, knowing that their own pot was warming. But they too might have +squeaked, if they had known that out of their own pot Aunt Etty was +stealing half the meat and all the little cobs of jelly. It was as +fine a pot of stuff as ever Susannah Cripps had made, for she did not +hold at all with fattening the pigs, and starving her own children; +and she argued most justly, while Esther all the while was ladling all +the virtue out. + +Etty had never been known to do anything violent or high-handed; yet +now, without entering into even the very shortest train of reasoning, +away she went swifter than any train, bearing in her right hand the +best dresser-jug (filled with the children's tidbits of nurture), and +in her left hand flourishing Susannah's own darling silver +wedding-spoon. Mrs. Leviticus longed to rush in chase of her; but ere +her slowly startled nerves could send the necessary tingle to her +ruminating knees, the girl was out of sight, and for her vestige +lingered naught but a very provoking smell of soup. + +Now, in so advanced a stage of the world's existence (and of this +narrative) is it needful, judicious, or even becoming to describe, +spoonful by spoonful, however grateful, delicious, and absorbing, the +process of administering and receiving soup? To "give and take" is +said, by people of large experience in life, to be about the latest +and most consummate lesson of humanity; coming even after that extreme +of wisdom which teaches us to "grin and bear it." But in the present +trifling instance, two young people very soon began to be +comparatively at home with the subject. The opening of the eyes, in +all countries and creatures, is done a good deal later than the +opening of the mouth; the latter being the essential, the former quite +a fortuitous proceeding. + +After six spoonfuls, as counted by Esther, Hardenow opened both his +eyes; after two or three more, he knew where he was; and when he had +swallowed a dozen and a bonus, scarcely any of his wits were wanting. +Still Esther, for fear of a relapse, went on; though her hand trembled +dreadfully when he sat up, with his poor bones creaking sadly, and +tried to be steady upon her arm, but was overbalanced by his weight of +brain. Instead of shrieking, or screaming, she took advantage of this +opportunity, and his bony chin dropping afforded the finest opening +towards his interior. + +To put it briefly, he quite came round, and after twenty spoonfuls +vowed--with the conscience rushing for the moment into the arms of +common sense--that never would he fast again. And after thirty were +absorbed and beginning to assimilate, he gazed at Esther's smiling +eyes, and saw the clearest and truest solution of his "postulates on +celibacy." Esther dropped her eyes in terror, and made him drink the +dregs and bottom, with a convert's zealous gulp. And as it happened, +this was wise. + +If any malignant persons charge him with having sold, for a mess of +pottage, man's noblest birthright, celibacy, let every such person be +corded up, at the longest possible date after breakfast, and the +shortest before dinner--or rather, alas! before dinner-time--let him +stay corded, and rolling about in a hog-house (as long as roll he can, +which never would approach Mr. Hardenow's cycle); let him, throughout +this whole period, instead of eating, expect to be eaten; then with a +wolf in his stomach (if he has one) let him lose his wits (if he has +any), and then let a lovely girl come and free him, and feed him, and +cry over him, and regard him--with his clothes at their very worst, +and cakes of dirt in his eyes and mouth--as the imperial Jove in some +Dictæan cavern dormant; and then, as the light and the life flow back, +and the power of his heart awakes, let there manifestly accrue thereto +a better, gentler, and sweeter heart, timid even of its own pulse, and +ashamed of its own veracity--and then if he takes all this unmoved, +why, let him be corded up again, and nobody come to deliver him. + +Esther only smiled and wept at her patient's ardent words and +impassioned gratitude. She knew that between them was a great gulf +fixed, and that the leap across it seldom has a happy landing; and +when poor Hardenow fell back, in the weak reaction of a heart more fit +for pain than passion, she knelt at his side, and nursed and cheered +him, less with the air of a courted maiden than of a careful handmaid. +In the end, however, this feeling (like most of those which are +adverse to our wishes) was prevailed upon to subside, and Esther, +although of the least revolutionary and longest-established stock in +England--that of the genuine Crippses, whose name, originally no doubt +"Chrysippus," indicates the possession of a golden horse--Etty Cripps, +finding that the heart of her adored one had, in Splinters' opinion, a +perilous fissure, requiring change of climate, consented at last +(having no house of her own) to come down from the tilt, and go to +Africa. + +For Hardenow, as he grew older and able to regard mankind more +largely, came out from many of the narrow ways, which (like the lanes +of Beckley) satisfy their final cause by leading into one another. +With the growth of his learning, his candour grew; and he strove to +bind others by his own strap and buckle, as little as he offered to be +bound by theirs. Therefore when two of his very best friends made a +_bonâ fide_ job of it, and being unable to think their thoughts out +got it done by deputy, and sank to infallible happiness, Thomas +Hardenow pulled up, and set his heels into the ground of common sense, +like a horse at the brink of a quarry-pit; and the field of reason, +rich and gracious, opened its gates again to him. + +Herein he cut no capers, as so many of the wilder spirits did, but +made himself ready for some true work and solid advantage to his race. +And so, before any University Mission, or plough-and-Bible enterprise, +Hardenow set forth to open a track for commerce and civilization, and +to fight the devil and slavery in the rich rude heart of Africa. +Besides his extraordinary gift of tongues, he had many other +qualifications--the wiriness of his legs and stomach, his quiet style +of listening (so that even a "nigger" need not be snubbed), his +magnificent freedom from humour (an element fatal to stern +convictions), and last not least, as he said to Etty, for a clinching +argument, his wife's acquaintance with the carrying trade. + +Happy exile, how much better than home misery it is! But the House of +Cripps sent forth another member into banishment, with little choice +or chance of much felicity on his part. As there are woes more strong +than tears, so are there crimes beyond the lash. When the doings of +Leviticus were brought to light, and shown to be unsuccessful, a +council of Crippses was held in his hog-house, and a stern decree +passed to expatriate him. Tickuss was offered his fair say, and did +his very best to defend himself; but the case from the first was +hopeless. If he had wronged any other parish than Beckley, or even any +other as well, there might have been some escape for him. Cruelty, +cowardice, treason high and low, perjury to his own elder brother, and +eternal disgrace to his birthplace--there was not a word in the mouth +of any one half bad enough to use to him. The Carrier rose, and said +all he could say, for the sake of the many children; but weighty with +piety as he was, he could not stem the many-fountained torrent of the +Crippsic wrath. The pigs of Leviticus were divided among all the +nephews and nieces, and cousins (ere ever a creditor got a hock-rope +or a flick-whip ready), and Tickuss himself, unhoused, unstyed, +unlarded, and unsmocked, wandered forth with his business gone, like a +Gadarene swine-herd void of swine. + +For years and years that fine old hog-farm was the haunt of rats and +rabbits; never a grunt or squeak of porker (ringing or rung +eloquently) shook the fringe of ivied shade, or jarred the acorn in +its cup, until a third son arose and grew up to Zacchary Cripps +hereafter. All the neighbourhood lay under a cloud of fear and +sadness, because of what Luke Sharp had done, not to others, but +himself. Luke Sharp, the greatest of all lawyers--so the affrighted +woodman says--may and must, alas, be seen (at certain moments of the +forest moon) rising on horseback from the black pool where his black +life ended, gaining the shore with a silent bound, and galloping, with +his arm held forth as straight as any sign-post, to the nook of dark +lane where he smote his son; and then to the ruined hut, wherein he +imprisoned the fair lady; and then to the rotting shed, in which he +corded and starved the great Oxford scholar. + +Whether, for the assertion of the law, Luke Sharp is allowed by some +evil power thus to revisit the glimpses of the moon, or whether he +lies in silent blackness, ignorant of evil--sure it is that no one +cares to stay beyond the fall of dusk in that part of the forest. + +But as soon as the lawyer's wife and son, by virtue of the poplar +mark, had found and quietly buried his disappointed corpse, they made +the very best of a broken business, as cheerfully as could be hoped +for. Each of them sighed very heavily at times, especially when they +were almost certain of hearing again, round the corner or downstairs, +a masterful and very memorable tread. Therefore, with what speed they +might, they let their fine old Cross Duck House, and fleeing all low +curiosity, unpleasant remark, and significant glance, took refuge +under the quiet roof of Kit's aunt Peggy, near High Wycombe, where he +had hoped to lodge, and woo his timid forest angel. Here Kit found +tardy comfort, and recovered health quite rapidly, by writing his own +dirge in many admirable metres, till, being at length made laureate of +a strictly local paper--at a salary of nil per annum, and some quarts +of ale to stand--he swung his cloak and lit his pipe in the style of +better days. + +From those whom his father had wronged so deeply he would accept no +help whatever, much as they desired to show their sense of his good +behaviour. And when the second-best ambition of his life arrived by +coach--that notable dog, "Pablo"--if Christopher could have sniffed +lightest scent of Beckley, or Shotover, in the black dog-winkles of +his nostrils, the odds are ten to one that Oxford never would have +sighed (as all through the October term she did) at the loss of her +finest badgerer. + +In spite of all this obstinacy, three people were resolved to make him +come round and be comfortable, settled, and respectable. To this they +brought him in the end, and made him give up fugitive pieces, sonnets, +stanzas to a left-hand glove, and epitaphs on a cenotaph. The Squire, +and Russel, and Grace could not compose their own snug happiness +without providing that Kit should be less miserable than his poetry. +So they married him to a banker's daughter, and--better still--put him +in the bank itself. + +The loyalty of Mrs. Fermitage to her distinguished husband's memory +was never disturbed by any knowledge of that fatal codicil. Poor Mrs. +Sharp, as she slowly recovered from the sad grief wrought by greed, +more and more reverently cherished her great husband's high repute. +She rejoined him in a better world--or at least she set forth to do +so--without any knowledge of the blow he had given to her son's head, +and her own heart. Kit, like a man, concealed that outrage, and, like +a good son, listened to his departed father's praises. But in her +heart the widow felt that some of these might be imperilled, if that +codicil turned up. Long time she kept it in reserve, as a thunderbolt +for Joan Fermitage; but Pablo's arrival improved her feelings, and so +did the banker's daughter; and finally, on Kit's wedding-day, with a +sigh and a prayer, she took advantage of a clear fire and a rapid +draught--and the codicil flew through the chimney-pot. + +As a lawyer's daughter, she revered such things. In the same capacity, +she knew that now it could make no great practical difference; for +Grace was quite sure of her good aunt's money. And again, as a widow +and mother, she felt what a stain must be cast on the name she loved +best, if this little document ever came to light--other than good +firelight. + +But why should Esther have had no house of her own, as darkly hinted +above, so as to almost compel her to descend from tilt to tent? The +reason is not far to seek, and he who runs may read it, without +running out of Beckley. + +Cripps, the Carrier, now being past the middle milestone of man's +life, and seeing every day, more and more, the grey hairs in his +horse's tail, lowered his whip in a shady place, and let his reins go +slackly, and pulled his crooked sixpence out, and could not see to +read it. And yet the summer sun was bright in the top of the bushes +over him! + +"I vear a must; I zee no way out of un," Zacchary said to his lonely +self. "Etty is as good as gone a'ready; her cannot stan' out agin that +there celibacy; and none else understandeth the frying-pan. The Lord +knows how I have fought agin the womminses, seeing all as I has seen. +And better I might a' done, if I must come to it, many a time in the +last ten year. Better at laste for the brown, white, and yellow; +though the woman as brought might a' shattered 'em again. After all, +Mary might be a deal worse; though I have a-felt some doubt consarning +of her tongue; but her hath a proper respect for me, and forty puns to +Oxford bank--if her moother spaiketh raight of her; and the Squaire +hath given me a new horse, to come on whenso Dobbin beginneth to wear +out. Therefore his domestics hath first claim; though I'd soonder +draive Dobbin than ten of un. What shall us do now? Whatever shall us +do?" + +Zacchary Cripps pulled off his hat in a slow perspiration of suspense; +for if he once made up his mind, there would be no way out of it. He +looked at his horse with a sad misgiving, both on his own account and +Dobbin's. The marriage of the master might wrong the horse, and the +horse might no more be the master's. Suddenly a bright idea struck +him--a bar of sunshine through the shade. + +"Thou shalt zettle it, Dobbin," he cried, leaning over and stroking +his gingery loins. "It consarneth thee most, or, leastways, quite as +much. Never hath any man had a better horse. The will of the Lord +takes the strength out of all of us; but He leaveth, and addeth to the +wisdom therein. Dobbin, thou seest things as never men can tell of. +Now, if thou waggest thy tail to the right--I will; and so be to the +left--I wun't. Mind what thou doest now. Call upon thy wisdom, nag, +and give thy master honestly the sense of thy discretion." + +With a settled mind, and no disturbance, he awaited the delivery of +Dobbin's tail. A fly settled on the white foam of the harness on the +off side of this ancient horse. Away went his tail with a sprightly +flick at it; and Cripps accepted the result. The result was the +satisfaction of Mary's long and faithful love for him, and the happy +continuance, in woodland roads, of the loyal race and unpretentious +course of Cripps, the Carrier. + + +THE END. + + + + +NEW ISSUE OF LOW'S STANDARD NOVELS. + +_Cloth elegant 2s. 6d.; picture boards, 2s._ + + +The following are being published at short intervals:-- + + Lorna Doone By R. D. Blackmore. + Far from the Madding Crowd " Thos. Hardy. + Senior Partner " Mrs. Riddell. + Clara Vaughan " R. D. Blackmore. + The Guardian Angel " Oliver Wendell Holmes. + Her Great Idea, and Other Stories " Mrs. Walford. + Three Recruits " Joseph Hatton. + The Mayor of Casterbridge " Thos. Hardy. + The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks } " Frank R. Stockton, + and Mrs. Aleshine; and The } Author of "Rudder + Dusantes } Grange." + Adela Cathcart " George Macdonald. + Cripps, the Carrier " R. D. Blackmore. + Dred " Mrs. Beecher Stowe. + Trumpet-Major " Thos. Hardy. + Daisies and Buttercups " Mrs. Riddell. + Guild Court " George Macdonald. + Mary Anerley " R. D. Blackmore. + A Golden Sorrow " Mrs. Cashel Hoey. + Innocent " Mrs. Oliphant. + Sarah de Berenger " Jean Ingelow. + The Bee Man of Orn { " Frank R. Stockton, Author + { of "Rudder Grange." + Under the Stars and under the } + Crescent } " Edwin de Leon. + Hand of Ethelberta " Thos. Hardy. + Vicar's Daughter " George Macdonald. + Some One Else " Mrs. Croker. + Out of Court " Mrs. Cashel Hoey. + Alice Lorraine " R. D. Blackmore. + Old Town Folk " Mrs. Beecher Stowe. + A Pair of Blue Eyes " Thos Hardy. + Half Way " Miss M. Betham-Edwards. + Ulu: An African Romance { " Joseph Thomson and + { E. Harris-Smith. + Two on a Tower " Thos. Hardy. + Poganuc People " Mrs. Beecher Stowe. + Old House at Sandwich " Joseph Hatton. + Tommy Upmore " R. D. Blackmore. + Stephen Archer " George Macdonald. + John Jerome " Jean Ingelow. + A Stern Chase " Mrs. Cashel Hoey. + Bonaventure " Geo. W. Cable. + +_To be followed by others._ + + + LONDON: SAMPSON, LOW, MARSTON & CO., + _Limited_, + ST. DUNSTAN'S HOUSE, FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C. + + + + + * * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. + +Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained +as printed. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43281 *** |