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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..52531eb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #60966 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60966) diff --git a/old/60966-8.txt b/old/60966-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7593107..0000000 --- a/old/60966-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4689 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's A Righted Wrong, Volume 3 (of 3), by Edmund Yates - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: A Righted Wrong, Volume 3 (of 3) - A Novel. - -Author: Edmund Yates - -Release Date: December 19, 2019 [EBook #60966] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A RIGHTED WRONG, VOLUME 3 (OF 3) *** - - - - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by the U.S. Archive - - - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Note: - 1. Page scan source: web archive; - https://archive.org/details/rightedwrongnove03yate/page/n4 - (Library of the University of Illinois) - - - - - - -A RIGHTED WRONG. - - - - -A RIGHTED WRONG. -A Novel. - - -BY -EDMUND YATES, -AUTHOR OF -"BLACK SHEEP," "THE FORLORN HOPE," "BROKEN TO HARNESS," ETC. - - -IN THREE VOLUMES. -VOL. III. - - -LONDON: -TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18 CATHERINE ST., STRAND. -1870. - -[_All rights reserved_.] - - - - -LONDON: -ROBSON AND SONS, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W. - - - - -CONTENTS OF VOL. III. - -CHAP. -I. Twenty Years after. -II. Robert Meredith. -III. Time and Change. -IV. The Heiress of the Deane. -V. The "Raccroc de Noces." -VI. The First Moves in the Game. -VII. Drifting. -VIII. The Mine is sprung. -IX. The Righting of the Wrong. - - - - -A RIGHTED WRONG. - - -CHAPTER I. ] -TWENTY YEARS AFTER. - - -An unusually beautiful day, in an exceptionally beautiful summer, and -a grand old mansion, in all its bravery, wearing its best air of -preparation and festivity. Even in the merest outline such a picture -has its charms; and that which the sunshine lighted up on one -particular occasion, about to be described, merited close attention, -and the study of its every detail. - -Sheltered by a fine plantation, which, in any other than the land of -flood and fell, might have been called a forest, and situated on the -incline of a conical hill, the low park land, picturesquely planted, -stretching away from it, until lost in the boundary of trees -beneath,--a large, imposing house, built of gray, cut stone, presented -its wide and lofty façade to the light. The architecture was -irregular, picturesque, and effective; and now, with its numerous -windows, some sparkling in the sunshine, others thrown wide open to -admit the sweet air, the Deane had an almost palatial appearance. -Along the front ran a wide stone terrace, from which three flights of -steps, one in the centre, and one at either end, led down to an -Italian garden, intersected by the wide avenue. - -Large French windows opened on this stone expanse, and now, in the -lazy summer day, the silken curtains were faintly stirring, and the -sound of voices, and of occasional low laughter, came softly to the -hearing of two persons, a man and a woman, who were seated on a garden -bench, in an angle of the terrace. The countless sounds of Nature, -which make a music all their own, were around them, and the scene had -in it every element of beauty and joy; but these two persons seemed to -be but little moved by it, to have little in common with all that -surrounded them and with the feelings it was calculated to suggest. - -They were for the most part silent, and when they spoke it was sadly -and slowly, as they speak upon whom the memory of the past is strong, -and who habitually live in it more than in the present. There was a -deference in the tone and manner of the woman, which would have made -an observer aware that though the utmost kindliness and unrestraint -existed in her relations with her companion, she was not his equal in -station; and her manner of speaking, though quite free from all that -ordinarily constitutes vulgarity, would have betrayed that difference -still more plainly. - -She was a tall woman, apparently about forty years old, and handsome, -in a peculiar style. Her face was not refined, and yet far from -common; the features well formed, and the expression eminently candid -and sensible. Health and content were plainly to be read in the still -bright complexion and clear gray Irish eyes. She wore a handsome silk -dress, and a lace cap covered her still abundant dark hair, and in her -dress and air were unmistakable indications of her position in life. -She looked what she was, the responsible head of a household, -authoritative and respected. - -We have seen her before, many years ago, on board the ship which -brought Margaret Hungerford to England, Margaret Hungerford, who has -slept for nearly twenty years under the shade of the great yew in the -churchyard, which is not so far from the Deane but that sharp eyes can -mark where the darker line of its solemn trees crosses the woods of -the lower park land. The years have set their mark upon the handsome -Irish girl, who had won such trust and affection from the forlorn -young widow, who had done with it all now, all love and fear, all -sorrow and forlornness, and need of help, for ever. Not only for ever, -but so long ago, that her name and memory were mere traditions, while -the trees she had planted were still but youngsters among trees, and -the path cut through the Fir Field by her directions was still known -as the "new" road. - -There, on the spot where she had often sat with Baldwin and talked of -the future, which they were never to see, Margaret's friend, humble -indeed, but rightly judged and worthily trusted, sat, this beautiful -summer's day, in the untouched prime of her health and strength and -comeliness, and talked of the dear dead woman; but vaguely, timidly, -as the long dead are spoken of when they are mentioned at all to one -from whom the years had not obscured her, though they had gathered the -dimness which age brings around every other image of the past and of -the future. - -He with whom Rose Doran talked was an old man, but older in mind and -in health than in years, of which he had not yet seen the allotted -number. Of a slight, spare figure always, and now so bowed that the -malformation of the shoulders was merged in the general bending -weakness of the frame, and the stooped head was habitually held -downwards, the old man might have been of any age to which infirmity -like his could attain. Even on this warm day he was wrapped in a cloak -lined with fur, and his white transparent face looked as if warm blood -had never coloured the fine closely-wrinkled skin, on which the -innumerable lines were marked as though they had been cunningly drawn -by needles. He wore a low-crowned, wide-leaved soft hat, and scanty -silver locks showed under the brim; but if the hat had been removed it -would have been seen that the head which it had covered was almost -entirely bald, and of the same transparent ivory texture as the face. - -It would be difficult to imagine anything more fragile-looking than -the old man, as he sat, wrapped in his cloak, his bowed shoulders -supported by the angle of the terrace, and his hands, long, white, and -skeleton-like, placidly folded on his knees. The only trace of vigour -remaining in him was to be found in the eyes, and here expression, -feeling, memory yet lingered and sometimes gave forth such gleams of -light and purpose as seemed to tell of the youth of the soul within -him still. - -A crutch stood against the wall by his side, and a thick stick, with a -strong ivory handle, lay upon the bench. These were unmistakable signs -of the feebleness and decay which had come to the old man, but they -would not have told a close observer more than might have been learned -by a glance at his feet. They were not distorted, none of the ugly -shapelessness of age and disease was to be seen there. They were slim, -and shapely, and neatly attired, in the old-fashioned silk stocking -and buckled shoe of a more polite and formal period, but they were -totally inexpressive. No one could have looked at the old man's feet, -set comfortably upon a soft lambskin rug, but remaining there quite -motionless, without seeing that they had almost ceased to do their -work. With much difficulty, and very slowly, by the aid of the crutch -and the stick, they would still carry him a little way from the sunny -sitting-room on the ground floor to the sunny corner of the terrace, -for the most part--but that was all. - -He was not discontented that it should be all, for he suffered little -now in his old age--perhaps he had suffered as much as he could before -that time came; and was no more irritable or peevish. A little tired, -a little wondering betimes that he had so long to wait, while so many -whose day had promised to be prolonged and bright in its morning had -passed on, out of sight, before him: but a happy old man, for all -that, in a quiet, musing way, and "very little trouble to any one." - -Yes, that was the general opinion of Mr. Dugdale, old Mr. Dugdale, as -the household, for some unexplained reason, called him, and few things -vexed the spirit of Gertrude Baldwin so nearly beyond bearing, as the -assurances to that effect which her aunt, Mrs. Carteret, was in the -habit of promulgating to an inquisitive and sympathising -neighbourhood. For Mrs. Carteret (she had been the eldest Miss Crofton -a great many years ago) was not of a very refined nature, and it is -just possible that when she commented on Mr. Dugdale's reduced and -sometimes almost deathlike appearance, to the effect that any one "to -see him would think he could die off quite easily," she rather -resented his not availing himself of that apparent facility without -delay. He did not, however; and Mrs. Carteret was the only person who -ever found the gentle, kindly man in the way, and she never dared to -hint to her husband that she did so. - -Her niece inherited from her dead mother all the quick-sightedness -which made her keen to see and to suffer, where her affections were -concerned, and the first seeds of dissension had been sown some years -before, between the aunt and the niece, by the girl's perceiving that -"old" Mr. Dugdale was not considered by Mrs. Carteret as such an -acquisition to the family party at the Deane as its fair and gentle, -but high-spirited, young mistress held him to be. It was on that -occasion that Gertrude had contrived, very mildly and very skilfully, -but still after a decided and unmistakable fashion, to remind her aunt -of the fact that she, and not Mrs. Carteret, was the lady of the house -in which the old man had been found _de trop_; and thence had -originated a state of things destined to produce most unforeseen -consequences. - -The immediate result, however, had been an increased observance in -manner, and an additional dislike in reality, to Mr. Dugdale, on the -part of Mrs. Carteret, which the old man perceived--as indeed he -perceived everything, for his powers of observation were by no means -enfeebled--but which it never occurred to him to resent. What could it -possibly signify to him that Mrs. Carteret did not like him, and -wished it might be in her power to get rid of him? It was not in her -power; it was not within the compass of any earthly will to separate -him from Margaret's child; and as for Mrs. Carteret herself, it is to -be feared that old Mr. Dugdale, after the saturnine fashion of his -earlier years, cherished a quiet contempt for that lady, while he -readily acknowledged that she was a good sort of woman in her way. It -was not in his way, that was all. - -Mrs. Doran was especially devoted to Mr. Dugdale, to whom she owed the -prosperous position which she had held in the household at the Deane -for so many years now, that she was as much a part of the place to the -inhabitants as the forest trees or the family portraits. Consequently -she was not particularly attached to Mrs. Carteret, and presumed -occasionally to criticise that lady's proceedings after a fashion -which, had she been aware of it, would have gone far to fortify her in -one of her favourite and most frequently-expressed opinions, that it -was a great mistake to keep servants too long. "They always presume -upon it, and become impertinent and troublesome." - -But Mrs. Carteret would never have ventured to include Mrs. Doran -among the "servants" otherwise than in her most private cogitations. -Rose was a privileged person there, by a more sacred if not a stronger -right than that of Mrs. Carteret herself. - -But on this bright, beautiful day, when the old man had come out upon -the terrace to bask awhile in the genial sunshine, why was Rose Doran -with him? Ordinarily he had younger, fairer companions, in whose faces -and voices there were many happy, sad memories for him, and whose love -and care brightened the days fast going down to the last setting of -the sun of his life. They were absent to-day, and the two to whom, of -all the numerous household at the Deane, the day had most of -retrospective meaning were alone together. - -"It's wonderful how well I remember her, sir," Rose was saying; -"sometimes that is. There's many a day I disremember her entirely, but -when I do think about her--as to-day--I can see her plain. And I'm -glad, somehow, I never saw her in her grandeur; for if I did, an' - all the years that have gone by since then, I couldn't but think no -one else had a right to it." - -"I understand what you mean, Rose, and when I remember her, sometimes, -as you say, it isn't in her grandeur, but as she was when you and she -came home first; - -"Yes, sir, and you saw us goin' in at the door of the little -inn--who'd ever think there'd be a hotel as big as Morrison's, and a -deal cleaner, in the very same place now?--and you not knowin' us, and -she seein' you in a minute. Isn't it strange, Mr. Dugdale, to remember -it after twenty, ay, more than twenty years? How long is it then, sir, -rightly?" - -"Twenty-three years and some months, Rose." - -"True for you, sir. And now Miss Gerty's to be her own mistress, and -no one to say by your leave or with your leave to her, the darling! -The master would have been a proud man, rest his soul! this day." - -The old man did not notice her remark. But after a little while, as if -he had been thinking over it, he bowed the bent head still lower, and -moved the thin white hands, and sighed. - -"Are you chilly at all, sir?" asked his quickly-observant companion. -"The sun is shifting a little; would you like to go in?" - -"No," he replied; and then asked, after a pause, "How are they getting -on?" - -"Beautifully," Rose answered. "The house is a picture; and as to the -ball-room, nothing could be more beautiful. Miss Eleanor has it all -done out with flowers, and I'm only afraid she'll be tired before the -time comes for the dancing. Do you think you'll be able to sit up to -see it, sir?" - -"I don't know, Rose; but I will try. Gerty seems to wish it so much, -foolish child; as if it could make any difference to her that an old -man like me should be there to see her happy and admired." - -"An' why shouldn't she?" remonstrated Rose in a tone almost of -vexation. "Do you think the children oughtn't to have some nature in -them? If Miss Gerty was no better nor a baby when the mistress--the -Lord be good to her!--was taken, and Miss Eleanor never saw the smile -of her mother's face at all, sure they know about her all the same, -and it's more and not less they think about her, the older they grow, -and the better they know the want of a mother, through seeing other -people with mothers and fathers and friends of all kinds, and no one -to dare to deny them--not that I'm sayin' or thinkin' there's any one -would harm innocent lambs like them, nor try to put between them--but -the world's a quare world, Mr. Dugdale, and they're beginnin' to find -it out, and the more they know of it, the more they miss the mother -they never knew at all, and the father they did not know much -about--and the more they cling to them that did know, and can tell -them. Many's the time, Mr. Dugdale, that Miss Gerty has said to me, -'Isn't it odd that uncle James remembers mamma much better than uncle -Carteret or aunt Lucy remember her, and can tell us much more about -our father?--and yet they were all young people together, and near -relations, and he wasn't.' And it was only the other day, when you -told Miss Gerty she was to have the poor mistress's picture for her -comin' of age, she says to me, 'There's uncle and aunt Carteret -couldn't tell me whether it's like her or not; and there's uncle James -knows all about it, and can tell when I'm like her and when Nelly is, -and yet they say old people forget everything.' Beggin' your pardon, -sir, for saying you're old, but the dear child said the very words. -An' so, if she didn't want you to-night to see her in her glory, and -to be like the smile of the father and mother that's in heaven upon -her, I wouldn't think much of her, Mr. Dugdale, 'deed I wouldn't -then." - -"Well, well. Rose, it seems the children are of your opinion, for they -have made me promise to sit up as late as possible; and I have heard -as much about their dresses as either their maids or yourself, I'll be -bound." - -"An' beautiful they'll look in them, Mr. Dugdale, particularly Miss -Gerty. Don't you think she grows wonderfully like her mother? Not that -I ever saw her look bright and happy like Miss Gerty; but I think she -must have been just like her, after she was married to the poor -master. You know I went away before that, sir; but perhaps you -disremember." - -"No, no, Rose, I remember. I remember it all very well, because she -told me if she wanted you and could not send for you herself I was to -do so, because Mr. Baldwin did not know you. No, no; it is a long time -ago, a very long time, but I don't forget, I don't forget." - -"An' you see the likeness, sir?" - -"Yes, I see the likeness, I see it very plainly; as we grow old, time -seems so much shorter that it does not appear at all strange to me -that I should remember her so well. There were many years during which -I could hardly recall her face even when I was looking at the picture, -but all that dimness seems to have cleared away now, and all my memory -come back. Gerty is wonderfully like her, only more placid; her manner -is more like her father's." - -They were silent for a time, during which Rose Doran knitted -diligently,--her fingers were never idle, and her subordinates in the -household said the same of her eyes and ears,--and then she began to -talk again. - -"It'll be a fine ball, sir. They say the beautifulest, except the -Duke's, that ever was in this part of the country. And sure, so it -ought, for where's there the like of Miss Baldwin of the Deane for -beauty or for fortune either? An' what could be too good in the way of -a ball for _her?_" - -There was a note of challenge in the Irishwoman's voice. Mr. Dugdale -observed it with amusement, and replied, - -"I daresay it will go off very well. Mrs. Carteret is a good hand at -this kind of thing." - -"She is," said Rose shortly; "and as it's Miss Gerty's money it's all -to come out of, she'll have no notion of saving anything." - -This was the nearest approach to a frank expression of her -not-particularly-exalted opinion of Mrs. Carteret on which Rose had -ever ventured, and Mr. Dugdale did not encourage her to pursue it by -any remark; but, observing that the girls had said they would come out -to him, and were after their time, and that he would go and look for -them, he began to make slow preparations for a change of place. - -Rose's steady arm aided him, and he was soon proceeding slowly along -the terrace, his crutch under his left arm and his stick in his right -hand, while Rose walked by his side. As he slowly and apparently -painfully dragged himself along--only apparently, for he rarely -suffered pain now--Mr. Dugdale presented a picture of decrepitude -which contrasted strangely with a picture which any observer, had -there chanced to be one upon the terrace that day, might have seen, -and which he and Rose stood still to look at with intense pleasure. - -Through the open windows of a large room upon the terrace the interior -was to be seen. The apartment was of splendid dimensions, and the -richly-decorated walls and ceiling were ornamented with classical -designs appropriate to the festive purposes of a ball-room. A bank of -flowers was constructed to enclose a space designed for an orchestra, -and several musical instruments were already arranged in their places. - -A grand piano was in the middle, and a lady was seated before it, -whose nimble fingers were flying over the keys, producing the strains -of a brilliantly provocative and inspiriting valse. The lady was not -alone. In the centre of the room, whose polished floor was almost as -bright and slippery as glass, stood two young girls, the arms of each -around the waist of the other, their heads thrown back, their eyes -beaming with laughter, and their hearts beating with the exertion of -the wild dance they had just concluded. - -As Mr. Dugdale and Rose drew near the window, the pause for breath -came to a conclusion, the music gushed forth, more than ever inviting, -and the dancers were off again, spinning round and round in their -girlish glee in a boisterous exaggeration of the figure of the dance, -irresistibly merry and attractive. They flew down the length of the -room, crossed to its extremity, and came whirling up to the central -window. There stood Mr. Dugdale with uplifted threatening stick, and -Rose, with her knitting dropped, fascinated with admiration. Then they -checked their headlong career, and, with some difficulty, came to a -stop opposite the pair on the terrace, laughingly shaking their heads -in imitation of the pretended rebuke they were conveying. - -"A rational way to rehearse for your ball, Gerty," said Mr. Dugdale, -as he stepped, with the assistance of the young girl's ready hand, -into the room, followed by Rose. "And a capital plan for you, Nelly, -who are so easily tired. You silly children, don't you think you will -have enough dancing to-night?" - -"Not half enough," replied one of the girls, "not quarter; none of the -people will stay after five or six at the latest." - -"I should hope not, indeed," said Mr. Dugdale. "And you are resolved -to begin punctually at ten; you _are_ unconscionable." - -"And then you know, uncle James," said the girl whom he had called -Gerty, "we cannot dance together to-night; we are grown up, you know, -hopelessly grown up; it's awful, isn't it? and besides--besides aunt -Lucy tempted us with her beautiful playing--and the floor is so -delightful; and now don't you really, really think it will be a -delightful ball?" - -"I have not the smallest misgiving about it, Gerty, though I don't -know much of balls. But I am sure Mrs. Carteret will join me in urging -you not to tire yourselves any more just now." - -Mrs. Carteret left the piano, and joined the girls, who immediately -entered on a discussion of the measures already taken for the -beautification of the ball-room, and the possibility of still farther -adorning it, which was finally pronounced hopeless, everything being -already quite perfect, and the party adjourned to luncheon. - - -So the years had sped away, and all the fears, and hopes, and sorrows -they had given birth to had also come to their death, according to the -wonderful law of immutability, and were no more. The mother in her -marble tomb beneath the yew-tree, the father in his unmarked grave in -the desert, but united in the country too far off for mortal ken or -comprehension, were well-nigh forgotten here; and their children were -women now. - -The little party assembled at the Deane on this occasion--the -twenty-first anniversary of Gertrude Baldwin's birth--had but little -sadness among them, and were visited with but slight recollections of -the far distant past. Twenty years is a long time. No saying can be -more trite and more true; yet there are persons and circumstances, -and, more than all, there are feelings which are not forgotten, -ignored, killed in twenty years. - -There were two unseen guests that day at the table--at whose head Mrs. -Carteret, who was in a gracious, not to say gushing mood, insisted on -Gertrude's taking her place for the first time--whose presence Mr. -Dugdale felt, though he was an old man now, and his fancy was no -longer active. He had his place opposite to Gertrude, and from it he -could see, hanging on the wall behind her chair, her father's -portrait. It was a fine picture, the work of a first-rate artist, -and the face was full of harmony and expression. The graceful lines, -the rich colouring of youthful manhood were there, and the sunny -blue eyes smiled as if they could see the gay girls, the handsome, -self-conscious, self-important woman, the wan and feeble old man. From -the portrait Mr. Dugdale's glance wandered to the girlish face and -figure before him and just under it; and a pang of exceeding keen and -bitter remembrance smote him--ay, after twenty years. - -Gertrude Meriton Baldwin was a handsomer girl than her mother had -been, but wonderfully like her. No trouble, no care, no touch of -degradation, humiliation, concealment, bitterness of any kind, had -ever lighted on the daughter's well-cared-for girlhood, which had been -permitted all its natural expansion, all its legitimate enjoyment and -careless gladness. No passion, unwise and ungoverned, had come into -her life to trouble and disturb it too soon--to fill it with vain -illusions, and the sure heritage of disappointment. A happy childhood -had grown into a happy girlhood, and now that happy girlhood had -ripened into a womanhood, with every promise of happiness for the -future. - -She was taller than her mother, and had more colour; but the features -were almost the same. The brow was a little less broad, the lips were -fuller, but the eyes were in no way different, so far as they had been -called upon for expression up to the present time; they had looked -like Margaret's, and no doubt would so look in every farther -development of life, circumstance, and character. - -Eleanor, who amused herself during the luncheon,--at which Mr. Dugdale -was unusually silent, and Mrs. Carteret occupied herself rather -emphatically, on the plea that dinner was a doubtful good when a ball -was in preparation,--was not in the least like her father, her mother, -or her sister. She was very small, delicately formed, and fragile in -appearance, with a clear dark complexion, large black eyes, and a -profusion of glossy black hair, which, especially when in close -contrast with the clear gray eyes and soft brown hair of her sister, -gave her a foreign appearance, of which she was quite conscious and -rather proud. - -Hitherto there had been no difference in the lot of the sisters. The -childish joys and sorrows of the one had been those of the other, and -girlhood had brought to them no separate fortune. Nor were things -materially altered now. The independence of action which Gertrude -attained upon this day would be Eleanor's in a very short time, and in -point of wealth they were nearly equal. For each there had been a long -minority. Eleanor Davyntry had not long survived her brother, and all -her disposable fortune was her younger niece's. Apart from their -orphanhood, no girls could have had a more enviable lot than the two -who were in such wild spirits on that summer's day, which invested one -of them with all the dignity of legal womanhood, and all the -responsibility of a great heiress. - -Eleanor was of a different temperament from that of Gertrude, more -vehement, more passionate, less self-reliant, less sustained. Hitherto -the difference had shown itself but seldom and slightly, and there had -been little or nothing to develop it. But a shrewd observer would have -noticed it, even in the manner in which each regarded the promised -pleasure of the evening, in the easy joyousness of the one, and the -passionate eagerness of the other. - -When luncheon had nearly reached a conclusion, the sounds of wheels -upon the drive sent Eleanor rushing to the window. A stylish dog-cart, -in which were seated a tall, fine-looking, rather heavy middle-aged -man and an irreproachable groom, was rapidly approaching the house. - -"It is uncle," said Eleanor; "now we shall know for certain who's -coming from Edinburgh. What a good thing you thought of the telegraph, -aunt!" - -"Yes," said Mrs. Carteret. "When one has to put people up for the -night, it is better to know exactly how many to expect." - -In a few minutes Haldane Carteret was in the room, and had handed an -open telegraphic despatch to Gertrude. - -"They're all coming, you see," he said good-humouredly; "and _you'll_ -be glad to hear, Lucy, there's no doubt about Meredith. He has got -that troublesome business settled, as he always does get everything -settled he puts his mind to, and he will be down by the mail, and here -by eleven." - -"That is delightful," said Gertrude, with frank outspoken pleasure. -"You have brought nothing but good news, uncle." - -"And the programmes--isn't that what you call them? I hope they're all -right." - -"I'm sure they are.--Aunt, what room are you going to give Mr. -Meredith?" - -Then ensued a domestic discussion, in which Gertrude and Mrs. Carteret -took an active share; but Eleanor stood looking out of the window, and -did not utter a word. - - - - -CHAPTER II. -ROBERT MEREDITH. - - -The twenty years which had rolled over the head of Robert Meredith, -the anxiously expected guest, since last we saw him, may be thus -briefly recapitulated. The school selected by James Dugdale for his -protégé's education was the now celebrated, but then little heard-of -Grammar-school of Lowebarre. Not that the _alumni_, as they delight to -call themselves, recognise their old place of education by any such -familiar name. To them it is and always will be the Fairfax-school; -they are "Fairfaxians," and the word Lowebarre is altogether ignored. - -The _fons et origo_ of these academic groves, pleasantly situate in -the immediate vicinity of the metropolis, was one Sir Anthony Fairfax, -a worthy knight of the time of Queen Elizabeth, who, having lived his -life merrily, according to the fashion of the old English gentlemen of -those days, more especially in the matter of the consumption of sack -and the carrying out of the _droits de seigneurie_, thought it better -towards his latter days to endeavour to get up a few entries on the -other side of the ledger of his life, and found the easiest method in -the doing a deed of beneficence on a large scale. This was nothing -less than the foundation of a school at Lowebarre, where a portion of -his property was situate, for the education of forty boys, who were to -be gratuitously instructed in the learned languages, and morally and -religiously brought up. How the scheme worked in those dark ages it -is, of course, impossible to say. - -But ten years before Robert Meredith was inducted into the _arcana_ of -the classics the Fairfax school was in a very low state indeed, and -the Fairfaxians themselves were no better than a set of roughs. The -head master, an old gentleman who had been classically educated, -indeed, but over whose head the rust of many years of farming had -accumulated, took little heed of his scholars, whose numbers -consequently dwindled half-year by half-year, and who, as they -neglected not only the arts but everything else but stone-throwing and -orchard-robbing had no manners to soften, and became brutal. - -This state of affairs could not last. One of the governors or -trustees acting under the founder's will saw that not merely was the -muster-roll of the school diminishing, but its social _status_ was -almost gone. He called a meeting of his coadjutors, impressed upon -them the necessity of taking vigorous steps for getting rid of the -then head master, and of at once procuring the services of a man ready -to go with the times. Advertisements judiciously worded were sent to -all the newspapers, inviting candidates for the head-mastership of the -Fairfax school, and dilating in glowing terms on the advantages of -that position; but time passed, and the post yet remained open. Those -who presented themselves were too much of the stamp of the existing -holder of the situation to suit the enlarged views of the trustees, -and it was not until Mr. Warwick, the governor who had first suggested -the reform, busied himself personally in the matter, that the fitting -individual was secured. - -The Rev. Charles Crampton, who, having taken a first-class in classics -and a second in mathematics, having been Fellow of his college and -tutor of some of the best men of their years, had finally succumbed to -the power of love, and subsided into a curacy of seventy-five pounds a -year, was Mr. Warwick's selection. He brought with him testimonials of -the highest character; but what weighed most with Mr. Warwick was the -earnest recommendation of James Dugdale, who had been Mr. Crampton's -college friend. - -Poor Charles Crampton, when he sacrificed his fellowship for love, had -little notion that he would have to pass the remainder of his life in -grinding in a mill of boys. To study the Fathers, to prepare two or -three editions of his favourite classic authors, to play in a more -modern and refined manner the part of the parson in the "Deserted -Village," had been his hope. But though the old adage was not -followed, though when Poverty came in at the door (and she did come -speedily enough, not in her harshest fiercest aspect it is true, but -looking quite grimly enough to frighten an educated and refined -gentleman). Love did not fly out of the window, yet Charles Crampton -had suffered sufficiently from _turpis egestas_ to induce him at once -to accept the offer. - -The salary of the Fairfax head-mastership, though not large, -quintupled his then income; the position held out to him was that of a -gentleman, and though he had not any wild ideas of the dignity and -responsibility of a school-mastership, the notion of having to battle -in aid of a failing cause pleased and invigorated him, more especially -when he reflected that, should he succeed, the _kudos_ of that success -would be all his own. - -So the Reverend Charles Crampton was installed at Lowebarre, and the -wisdom of Mr. Warwick's selection was speedily proved. Men of position -and influence in the world, who had been Mr. Crampton's friends at -college; others, a little younger, to whom he had been tutor; and the -neighbouring gentry, when they found they had resident among them one -who was not merely a scholar and a man of parts, but by birth and -breeding one of themselves,--sent their sons to the Fairfax school, -and received Mr. and Mrs. Crampton with all politeness and attention. - -By the time that Robert Meredith arrived at Lowebarre the school was -thoroughly well known; its scholars numbered nearly two hundred; its -"speech-days" were attended, as the local journals happily expressed -it, "by lords spiritual and temporal, the dignitaries of the Bar, the -Bench, and the Senate, and the flower of the aristocracy;" while, -source of Mr. Crampton's greatest pride, there stood on either side of -the Gothic window in the great school-hall, on a chocolate ground, in -gold letters, a list of the exhibitioners of the school, and of the -honours gained by Fairfaxians, at the two universities. - -To a boy brought up amidst the incongruities of colonial life the -order and regularity of the Fairfax school possessed all the elements -of bewildering novelty. But with his habitual quietude and secret -observation Robert Meredith set himself to work to acquire an insight -into the characters both of his masters and his school-fellows, and -determined, according to his wont, to turn the result of his studies -to his own benefit. - -The forty boys provided for by the beneficence of good old Sir Anthony -Fairfax--"foundation-boys," as they were called--were now, of course, -in a considerable minority in the school. They were for the most part -sons of residents in the immediate neighbourhood; but for the benefit -of those young gentlemen who came from afar, the head master received -boarders at his own house, and at another under his immediate control, -while certain of the under masters enjoyed similar privileges. - -The number of young gentlemen received under Mr. Crampton's own roof -was rigidly limited to three; for Mrs. Crampton was a nervous little -woman, who shrunk from the sound of cantering bluchers, and whose -housekeeping talent was not of an extensive order. The triumvirate -paid highly, more highly than James Dugdale thought necessary; and -Hayes Meredith was of his opinion. The boy would have to rough it in -after life, he said,--"roughing it" was a traditional idea with -him,--and it would be useless to bring the lad up on velvet. So that -Robert found his quarters in Mr. Crampton's second boarding-house, -where forty or fifty lads, all the sons of gentlemen of modern -fortune, dwelt in more or less harmony out of school-hours, and were -presided over by Mr. Boldero, the mathematical master. - -On his first entry into this herd of boys, Robert Meredith felt that -he could scarcely congratulate himself on his lines having fallen in -pleasant places. He had sufficient acuteness to foresee what the -lively youths amongst whom he was about to dwell would reckon as his -deficiencies, and consequently would select and enter upon at once to -his immediate opprobrium. That he was colonial, and not English born, -would be, he was aware, immediately resented with scorn by his -companions, and regarded as a reason for overwhelming him with -obloquy. It was, therefore, a fact to be kept most secret; but after -the lapse of a few days it was inadvertently revealed by the "chum" to -whom alone Robert had mentioned the circumstance. When once known it -afforded subject for the keenest sarcasm; "bushranger," "kangaroo," -"ticket-of-leave," were among the choice epithets bestowed upon him. - -It would not be either pleasant or profitable to linger over the story -of Robert Meredith's school-days. They have no interest for us beyond -this, that they developed his disposition, and insensibly influenced -all his after life. He regarded his schoolmates with scorn as -unbounded as it was studiously concealed, and he cultivated their -unsuspecting good-will with a success which rendered him in a short -time, in all points essential to his comfort, their master. He made -rapid progress in his studies, and kept before his mind with -steadiness which was certainly wonderful at his age--and, had it been -induced by a more elevated actuating motive, would have been most -admirable--the purpose with which he had come to England. - -When the end of his schoolboy life drew near, and the much longed-for -University career was about to begin, Robert Meredith took leave of -Mr. Crampton with mutual assurances of good-will. If the conscientious -and reverend gentleman had been closely questioned with regard to his -sentiments concerning his clever colonial pupil, he must have -acknowledged that he admired rather than liked him. But there was no -one to dive into the secrets of his soul, and in the letter which Mr. -Crampton addressed to Mr. Dugdale on the occasion, he gave him, with -perfect truth, a highly favourable account of Robert Meredith, of -which one sentence really contained the pith. "He is conspicuous for -talent," wrote the reverend gentleman; "but I think even his abilities -are less marked than his tact, in which he surpasses any young man -whose character has come under my observation." - -"So in argument, and so in life--tact is a great matter." Behold the -guiding spirit of Robert Meredith's career, even in its present -fledgling days. It was tact that made him eschew anything that might -look like "sapping," or rigidity of morals, as much as he eschewed -dissipation and actual fast life while at college. It was tact that -made his wine-parties, though the numbers invited were small, and the -liquids by no means so expensive as those furnished by many of his -acquaintances, the pleasantest in the university. It was tact that -took him now and then into the hunting-field, that made him a constant -attendant at Bullingdon and Cowley Marsh, where his bowling and -batting rendered him a welcome ally and a formidable opponent; and it -was tact which allotted him just that amount of work necessary for a -fair start in his future career. - -Robert Meredith knew perfectly that in that future career at the bar -the honours gained at college would have little weight--that the -position to be gained would depend materially upon the talent and -industry brought to bear upon the dry study of the law itself, upon -the mastery of technical details; above all, upon the reading of that -greatest of problems, the human heart, and the motives influencing it. -To hold his own was all he aimed at while at college, and he did so; -but some of his friends, who knew what really lay in him, were -grievously disappointed when the lists were published, and it was -found that Robert Meredith had only gained a double second. George -Ritherdon grieved openly, and refused to be comforted even by his own -success, and by the acclamations which rang round the steady reading -set of Bodhamites when it was known that George Ritherdon's name stood -at the head of the first class. - -The two friends were not to be separated--that was Ritherdon's -greatest consolation. Mr. Plowden, the great conveyancer of the Middle -Temple, had made arrangements to receive both of them to read with -him; and in the very dingy chambers occupied by that great professor -of the law they speedily found themselves installed. A man overgrown -with legal rust, and prematurely drowsy with a lifelong residence -within the "dusty purlieus of the law," was Mr. Plowden; but his name -was well known, his fame was thoroughly established; many of his -pupils were leading men at the bar; and the dry tomes which bore his -name as author were recognised text-books of the profession. - -Moreover, James Dugdale had heard, from certain old college chums, -that underneath Mr. Plowden's legal crust there was to be found a keen -knowledge of human nature, and a certain power of will, which, -properly exercised, would be of the greatest assistance in moulding -and forming such a character as Robert Meredith's. It was, therefore, -with a comfortable sense of duty done that James Dugdale saw the young -man established in Mr. Plowden's chambers, and, from all he had heard, -he was by no means sorry that Robert was to have George Ritherdon as -his companion. - -There are certain persons who seem to be specially designed and cut -out by nature for prosperity, and with whom, on the whole, it does not -seem to disagree. They bear the test well, they are not arrogant, -insolent, or apparently unfeeling, and they make more friends than -enemies. Such people find many true believers in them, to surround -them with a sincere and heartfelt worship, to regard all their good -fortune as their indisputable right, and resent any cross, crook, or -turning in it as an injustice on the part of Providence, or "some -one." We all know one person at least of this class, for whose "luck" -it is difficult to account, except as "luck," and of whom no one has -anything unfavourable to say, or the disposition to say it. - -Robert Meredith was one of this favoured class of persons. He had the -good fortune to possess certain external gifts which go far towards -making a man popular, and under which it is always difficult, -especially to women, to believe that a cold heart is concealed. The -handsome lad had grown up into a handsomer man, and one chiefly -remarkable for his easy and graceful manners, which harmonised with an -elegant figure and a voice which had a very deceptive depth, -sweetness, and impressiveness of intonation about it. - -The ardent admirer, the unswerving true believer in Meredith's case -was, as we have seen, George Ritherdon; and it would have been curious -and interesting to investigate the extent and importance of the -influence of this early contracted and steadily maintained friendship -on the lives of both men, and on the estimation in which Meredith was -held by the world outside that companionship. - -He would have been very loth to believe that any particle of his -importance, a shade of warmth in the manner of his welcome anywhere, -an impulse of confidence in his ability, leading to his being employed -in cases above his apparent mark and standing, were the result of an -unexpressed belief in George Ritherdon, a tacit but very general -respect and admiration for the earnest, honest, irreproachable -integrity of the man, who was clever, indeed, as well as good, but so -much more exceptionally good than exceptionally clever, that the -latter quality was almost overlooked by his friends, who were numerous -and influential. Wherever George's influence could reach, wherever his -efforts could be made available, Meredith's interests were safe, -Meredith's ambition was aided. - -Naturally of a frank and communicative disposition, liking sympathy -and the expression of it, fond of his home and his family, and ever -ready to be actively interested in all that concerned them, there was -not an incident in his history, direct or indirect, with which he -would not have made his "chum" acquainted on the least hint of -the "chum's" desiring to know it; and, in fact, Robert Meredith, -who had too much tact to permit his friend to perceive that his -communicativeness occasionally bored him, was in thorough possession -of his friend's history past and present. - -But this was not reciprocal, except in a very superficial scale. -Robert Meredith was perhaps not intentionally reticent with George -Ritherdon, and it occurred very seldom to the latter to think his -friend reticent at all, but he was habitually cautious. The same -quality which had made him a taciturn observer in the house at -Chayleigh, able to conceal his dislike of Mr. Baldwin, and to -appreciate thoroughly without appearing to observe the tie which bound -James Dugdale to his old friend's daughter, now in his manhood enabled -him to win the regard of others, and to learn all about them, without -letting them either find out much about him, or offending them, or -inspiring them with distrust by cold and calculated reserve. - -As a matter of fact, George Ritherdon knew very much less of his -friend than his friend knew of him, and of one portion of his life he -was in absolute ignorance. It was that which included his residence at -Chayleigh, and his subsequent relations with the families of Carteret -and Baldwin. George had heard the names in casual mention, and he knew -that when Meredith went for a fortnight or so to Scotland in the -"long" he went to a place called the Deane, where a retired officer of -artillery, named Haldane Carteret, lived, who kept a very good house, -and gave "men" some very capital shooting. - -But George did not shoot; and had he been devoted to that manly -pursuit, he would never have thought it in the least unkind or -negligent in Meredith to have omitted to share his opportunities in -that way with him; he would never have thought about it at all indeed; -so the Deane was quite unknown territory, even speculatively, to this -good fellow. He knew nothing of the young heiress and her sister. No -stray photograph or missish letter, left about in the careless -disarray of bachelor's chambers, had ever excited George's curiosity, -or led to "chaff" on his part upon Meredith's predilection for -travelling north, whenever he could spare the time to travel at all, -upon his indifference to "the palms and temples of the south." George -was not an adept in the polite modern art of "chaff," and few men -could have been found to offer less occasion for its exercise than -Robert Meredith. - -It had sometimes occurred to George to wonder why a man so popular -with women, so "rising" as Robert Meredith, a man who had undoubtedly, -in default of some untoward accident, a brilliant professional career -and all its concomitant social advantages before him, had not married; -but this was a matter on which he would not have considered that even -their close friendship would have justified him in putting any -questions to Meredith. - -The _tu quoque_ which might have been Meredith's reply was of easy -explanation. George Ritherdon had had a disappointment in his youth, -and had never thought seriously about marriage since. The -disappointment had taken place in his early imprudent days, when no -connection, even distantly collateral, existed in his mind between -money and marriage, and he had long since arrived at the conviction -that, even if it did come into his head or heart to fall in love -again, he could not afford to marry, and therefore must, acting upon -the gentlemanly precepts which had always governed him, resist any -such inclination as dishonourable to himself and ungenerous towards -its object. - -The world had "marched" to a very quick step indeed since the days of -George's almost boyhood, when the beautiful but penniless Camilla -Jackson had fascinated him "into fits" at a carpet dance in the -neighbourhood of his father's house, and he had forthwith set to work, -in the fervent realms of his imagination, to fit up, furnish, and -start a most desirable and charming little establishment, to be -presided over by that young lady in the delightful capacity of wife. -Of course the beautiful Camilla was always to be attired in the -choicest French millinery and the clearest white muslins. Laundresses' -bills had no place, nor had those of the _modiste_, in the -unsophisticated imagination of the young man, and breakages were as -far from his thoughts as babies. - -George had lived and learned since then, and he dreamed no more -dreams now; he knew better. Unless some tremendous, wholly unexpected, -and extravagantly-unlikely piece of good luck should come in his -way--something about as probable as the adventures of Sindbad or -Prince Camaralzaman, in which case he would immediately look about for -an eligible young lady to take the larger share of it off his -unaccustomed hands--George would now never marry. - -Camilla had disdained the white muslin and the millinery regardless of -the washing bill, of which indeed she had early been taught by an -exemplary and fearfully managing mother to be ceaselessly reminiscent; -and George not unfrequently saw her now in a carriage, the mere -varnish whereof told of wealth of perfectly aggressive amount, in a -carriage crammed with healthy, clean, rich-looking children, and -gorgeously arrayed in velvets and furs of great price. - -That Meredith was not a marrying man was the conclusion at which -George Ritherdon arrived, when he discussed with himself the oddity of -the coincidence which threw them together, and speculated upon how -long the engagement would last. - -In one respect the friends were very differently circumstanced. George -Ritherdon had "no end" of relations, cousins by the score, aunts and -uncles in liberal proportions. But Robert Meredith was a lonely man. -His colonial origin explained that. He had never sought to renew any -of the ties of family connection broken by his father when he left -England; he had found friends steady and serviceable, and he wisely -preferred contenting himself with them to cultivating dubiously -disposed relatives. Boy though he was, he made a correct hit in this. - -"If they were likely to be any use to me, my father would have put me -in some kind of communication with them; he certainly would have -looked them up when he came home, which he never did." - -Therefore Robert never troubled himself more about any of the family -connections on this side of the world, and, indeed, troubled himself -very little about those on the other. As time went by he was -accustomed to say to himself that he knew they were all getting on -well, and that was enough for him. Sometimes he wondered whether he -should ever see them again; whether, if he did not "see his way" here, -he might not go in for colonial practice; whether one or more of his -brothers, children when he saw them last, might not take the same -fancy which he had taken for seeing the old world. But nothing of all -this happened. - -Robert Meredith had neared the end of his college career when -intelligence of his father's death reached him, and caused him -genuine, if temporary, suffering. His thoughts went back then to the -old home and the old times, and he did feel for a time a disinterested -wish that he had been with his mother--how she had loved him, how she -loved him still, through all those years of separation!--when this -calamity came upon her. The necessity for a large correspondence with -his brothers, and the feeling, always a terrible one in cases where a -long distance lies between persons affected by the same event, that -his father's death had taken place while he was quite unconscious of -it, and was already long past when he heard of it, touched chords -dulled if not silenced. - -The account which he received of family affairs was prosperous: one of -his sisters was already married, the other would follow her example -after a due and decorous lapse of time. His brothers were to carry on -Hayes Meredith's business, in whose profits his father left him a -small share. Altogether, apart from feeling--and it was unusual for -Robert Meredith to find it difficult to keep any matter of -consideration apart from feeling--the position of affairs was -eminently satisfactory, and the young man, ambitious, industrious, and -self-reliant, felt that he and his were well treated by fate. - -He felt the blank which his father's death created a good deal. He had -corresponded with him very regularly, and the freshness and vigour, -the plain practical sense and shrewdness of the older man's mind had -been pleasant and useful to the younger. He had not expected the -event, either. Hayes Meredith was a strong, hale, athletic man, and -his son had always thought of him as he had last seen him. No bad -accounts of his health had ever reached Robert, and he had never -thought of his father's death as a probable occurrence. - -On the whole, this was the most remarkable event, and by many degrees -the most impressive, which had befallen in Meredith's life, and its -influence upon him was decidedly injurious. He had always been hard, -and from that time he became harder--not in appearance, nothing was -more characteristic of the young man than his easy and sympathetic -manner, but in reality he felt more solitary now that the one bond of -intellectual companionship between him and his home was broken, and -this solitude was not good for him. As for his mother, he was apt to -think of her as a very good woman in her way--an excellent woman -indeed. A man must be much worse than Robert Meredith before he ceases -to believe this of his own mother; but she knew nothing whatever of -the world--of the old world particularly--and could not be made to -understand it. He wrote to her--he never neglected doing so; but there -was more expression than truth of feeling in his letters, and the -mail-day was not a pleasant epoch. - - - - -CHAPTER III. -TIME AND CHANGE. - - -While Mr. Carteret lived, Robert Meredith had been a frequent visitor -to Chayleigh. The quiet, eccentric old gentleman had remained in the -old house, and had faithfully guarded his beloved collection to the -last. But that emporium of curiosities had not received many additions -after Mrs. Baldwin's death. The old man had taken, after a time, a -little feeble pleasure in it, it is true; but only because those about -him had acted on the hint which Margaret herself had given them, after -the death of Mrs. Carteret, and persuaded him to resume his care of -the collection because his daughter had been so fond of it. - -Always quiet, uncomplaining, and kind to every one, the old man would -have had rather a snubbed and subdued kind of life of it, under the -rule of Haldane's bouncing Lucy, but for the vigilance of James -Dugdale. That silent and unsuspected sufferer sedulously watched and -cared for the old man, and Mrs. Haldane, who by no means liked him, so -far respected and feared him that she never ventured to dispute any of -his arrangements for Mr. Carteret's welfare. - -He continued to like Lucy "pretty well," and to regard Robert Meredith -with special favour, though he lived long enough to see Robert pass -quite out of the category of exceptional boys. Indeed, so much did he -like him, that at one time he entertained an idea of bequeathing to -him the famous collection, after the demise of James Dugdale, who was -to have a life interest in its delights and treasures; but on the old -gentleman's broaching the subject to him one day, Robert Meredith put -the objections to the scheme so very strongly to him, that he -acknowledged the superior wisdom of his young friend, bowed to his -decision, and liked him more than ever for his disinterestedness. - -Robert represented to him that, though the possession of the -collection must afford to any happy mortal capable of appreciating it -the purest and most lasting gratification, not so much the pleasure of -the individual as the preservation, the dignity, and the safe keeping -of the collection itself ought to be considered. Unhappily, he, Robert -Meredith, was not likely to possess a house in which the treasure -might be conveniently and suitably lodged, and it was a melancholy -fact that neither Haldane nor his wife appreciated the collection; -and, when the present owner of Chayleigh should be no more, and his -bequest should have come into operation, there would arise the -grievous necessity of dislodging the collection. - -Under these circumstances--stated very carefully by Robert Meredith, -who knew that his particular friend Mrs. Haldane would bundle both -James and the collection out of doors with the smallest possible delay -on the commencement of her absolute reign, unless indeed some very -valuable consideration should attach itself to her not doing so--he -suggested that Mr. Carteret would do well to conquer his objection to -the "merging" of the collection. That it should be "merged" after his -death was a less painful contingency to contemplate than that it -should be destroyed or materially injured. The best, the most -effectual plan would be, that Mr. Carteret should bequeath the -collection, on James Dugdale's death, to his granddaughter, the -heiress of the Deane, with the request that it might be transferred -thither, there to remain as an heirloom for ever. The old gentleman -submitted with a sigh; and this testamentary arrangement was actually -made. - -The friendship between Robert and Mrs. Haldane, which had commenced in -his boyish admiration of her, and her keen appreciation of the -sentiment, remained unabated, which, considering that the pretty and -vivacious Lucy was not conspicuous for steadiness of feeling, was not -a little remarkable. Perhaps the lady believed in her secret soul, as -the years wore on, that she could have explained Robert's not being a -marrying man. - -A strictly proper and virtuous British matron was Mrs. Haldane -Carteret--a very dragon of propriety indeed, and a lady who would not -have received her own sister, if she had been so unlucky as to "get -talked of"--and therefore this insinuation must be fully explained, in -order to prevent the slightest misapprehension on the subject. Lucy -would have been unspeakably shocked had it ever been said or thought -by any one that Robert Meredith entertained any feeling warmer than -the most strictly regulated friendship for her; but she did not object -to a secret sentiment on her own part, which sometimes found -expression in reverie, and in a murmured "poor boy," in a little -genial sense of satisfaction as the time went by and Robert did not -marry, and was not talked of as likely to marry--when his polite -attention to her underwent no alteration, and she still felt she -enjoyed his confidence. Mrs. Haldane was a little mistaken in the -latter particular. She did _not_ enjoy the confidence of Robert -Meredith; but neither was any other person in possession of that -privilege, though it was one of the charms, or rather the -achievements, of his manner, that he could convey the flattering -impression to any one he pleased. - -When Haldane and his wife were put, by the death of Mr. Carteret, in -possession of Chayleigh--an event which occurred seven years after -Margaret's decease, and four years later than that of Mr. -Baldwin--James Dugdale continued to reside in the old house, which had -been his home for so many years, only until the return of Lady -Davyntry and her orphan nieces to England. Haldane Carteret, a "good -fellow" in all the popular acceptation of the word, was rather a weak -fellow also, especially where his pretty wife's whims or feelings were -concerned; and not all his sincere and grateful regard for his old -friend could prevent his feeling relieved, when James told him he -could not resist Lady Davyntry's pressing entreaty that he should take -up his abode with her and "the children." Every one spoke of the -orphan girls as "the children," and their fatherless and motherless -estate was wonderfully tempered to them. - -The Deane had been let by Mr. Baldwin's executors for a long term of -years; but James Dugdale applied to the tenant in possession for -permission to have the collection transferred thither, and received -it. Thus Mrs. Haldane was disembarrassed within a very short period of -her father-in-law and his incomprehensible curiosities and of James -Dugdale. To do her justice, Mrs. Haldane was sorry for the gentle, -quiet old man; and it certainly was not with reference to him that she -expressed her satisfaction, when all the flittings had been -accomplished, in "being at last the mistress of her own house." There -must have been a good deal of the imaginative faculty about Mrs. -Haldane Carteret when she rejoiced in her freedom from trammels; for -it never could have occurred to anybody that she had not been -thoroughly and indisputably the mistress of Chayleigh from the day of -her arrival there. But there is a great deal in imagination, and Mrs. -Haldane knew her own business best. - -When James Dugdale left Chayleigh, as a residence, for ever, the -passion-flower which embowered the window of the room which had once -been Margaret's, and had ever since been his, was in the full beauty -and richness of its bloom. He cut a few twigs and leaves, and one or -two of the grand solemn flowers, and took his leave of the room and -the window and the tree. It was very painful, even after all those -years--more painful than those to whom life is full of activity and -change could conceive or would believe. But so thoroughly was this a -final parting, and so truly did James Dugdale feel it so, that when, -some time afterwards, Mrs. Haldane, having read in some new medical -treatise that "green things"--as she generally termed everything that -grew, from the cedar of Lebanon to the parsley of private life--were -unwholesome on the walls of a house, had the passion-flower and the -trellis cleared away, and the wall above the verandah neatly -whitewashed, it hardly gave him a pang. - -In all the chancres which befell the family at Chayleigh, Robert -Meredith had a certain share. Mr. Carteret never ceased to like him, -to look for his coming, to enjoy, in his quiet way, the adaptive young -man's society. James never permitted the interest he had taken in him -for his old friend's sake--his old friend dead and gone now, like all -the rest--to flag or falter. Perhaps he held by that feeling all the -more conscientiously that he had never been much drawn towards Robert -Meredith individually. The feeling towards him which he and Margaret -had shared at the first had remained with him always, like all his -feelings; for it was part of the constitution of his mind, a part -powerful for suffering, that he did not change. - -When Lady Davyntry went abroad with "the children" James Dugdale's -life had become more than ever solitary; and, though conscious that he -derived very little pleasure from Robert's presence, he encouraged the -visits which Mrs. Haldane was ever ready to invite. - -But a day of still greater change came--a sad and heavy day to James -Dugdale, and of tremendous loss and evil to the orphan girls. Lady -Davyntry died--not suddenly, but unexpectedly--and the full -responsibility of the guardianship of Gertrude and Eleanor Baldwin was -thrown upon Haldane Carteret and James Dugdale. Davyntry, in which Mr. -Baldwin's sister had only a life interest, passed into the possession -of the young man who had succeeded to the title on the death of Sir -Richard Davyntry; and the choice of the guardians to the young girls, -as to the future home of their wards, lay between Chayleigh and the -Deane, of which it became possible for them to resume possession -shortly after Lady Davyntry's death. - -When the decision which assigned the Deane to the young heiresses as -their future abode had been reached and acted upon, Robert Meredith -naturally ceased to have much intercourse with the Carterets and with -James Dugdale. - -Haldane was very much pleased with the kind of life he led at the -Deane. He made a first-rate "country gentleman," an ardent sportsman, -a pleasant companion, hospitable, kind-hearted, _insouciant_, fond of -the place and of everything in it, devoted to his wife--"absurdly so," -as the spinsters of the neighbourhood, a remarkably numerous class -even for Scotland, declared--and most indulgent and affectionate to -his nieces. This latter quality the aforesaid spinsters accounted for -satisfactorily on the double grounds, that it was not likely he would -be anything but indulgent to such rich girls--of course he expected to -be well recompensed when they came into "all their property"--and -that, as he had no children of his own, he might very well care for -his "poor dear sister's fatherless girls." - -The worthy ex-captain of artillery knew little and cared less how -people accounted for the strange phenomena of his fulfilling carefully -and conscientiously a sacred duty. He was a good, happy, unsuspicious -man, and "the children" loved him better than any one in the world, -except James Dugdale and Rose Doran. - -Mrs. Carteret was in the habit of "going south" much more frequently -than Haldane did so; she liked a few weeks in London in the season, -and she scrupulously visited her own family, by whom she was regarded -with much affection and admiration, not quite unmingled with awe. - -The eldest Miss Crofton's "match" had "turned out" much better than -the family had expected, and Lucy Carteret shone very brilliantly -indeed in the reflected light shed upon her by the wealth and station -of her husband's nieces and wards. On the occasion of her visits to -England she always saw a good deal of Robert Meredith; and so--owing -to the convenience of modern locomotion, Mrs. Carteret's former home -had been brought within easy reach of London--Robert was a not -unfrequent guest of old Mr. Crofton's when his daughter was sojourning -there. Chayleigh had been advantageously let by Haldane for some years -beyond the term of his nieces' minority. - -On the last occasion of her "going south" Mrs. Carteret had been -accompanied by Eleanor Baldwin, whose health, always delicate, had -recently occasioned her uncle and aunt some anxiety. She had enjoyed -her trip, and Robert had been very much with both ladies. Never had -Mrs. Carteret been more thoroughly convinced that he was one of the -most charming of men; never had the secret suspicion, that she could, -if she chose, explain the reason of his having remained up to his -present age unmarried, presented itself so frequently and so strongly -to her mind. - -Robert Meredith had been told by Mrs. Carteret that Haldane intended -to celebrate the attainment of her majority by the heiress of the -Deane in splendid style, and he had received from her a pressing -invitation to be present on the occasion. The time of year made it -difficult for him to feel sure of being able to leave town; but he -promised that he would go to the Deane on that auspicious and -delightful occasion, then six months in perspective, if he could -possibly manage it. - -It was during this visit of Mrs. Carteret to London that George -Ritherdon made her acquaintance, and saw for the first time one of -"the Baldwin children," of whom he had heard occasional casual -mention. Robert Meredith's "chum" pleased Mrs. Carteret much, -especially when he did the honours of the Temple Church to her and -Eleanor; and while explaining all the objects of interest and their -associations, did so with a happy and successful assumption of merely -refreshing their memory, which was indicative of the nicest tact. The -general result was that, when Robert Meredith received a formal -reminder of his promise to come to the Deane for Gertrude's birthday, -the letter enclosed a pressing invitation to George Ritherdon to -accompany his friend. - -"Of course you'll come. There's much less to keep you in town than -there is to keep me, for that matter, so you can't pretend to object," -said Meredith, as the friends were discussing their letters and their -breakfast simultaneously. - -"I should like it very much indeed," said Ritherdon; "but--" - -"Very well, of course you'll do it." interrupted Meredith; and was -about to say something more, when the entrance of their "mutual" -servant suspended the conversation. - -The man addressed himself to Robert, with the information that a -person was then waiting in the passage, who urgently requested to be -admitted to see him; that the person was an old man, not of remarkably -prosperous appearance; and that he had replied to the servant's -remonstrance, on his presenting himself at such an unseemly hour, that -he was sure Mr. Meredith would see him, for he came from Australia, -and from his own "people" there. - -Surprised, but by no means discomposed, Robert Meredith made no reply -to the servant, but said to George Ritherdon, - -"It sounds odd. I suppose I ought to see him." - -"I think so, old fellow; and I'll clear off;" which he did. - -"Show the old person from Australia in, Wilham." said Meredith to the -servant, and added to himself, "I wonder what he has got to say to -me--nothing I need mind. I should have had bad news by post, if there -was any to send." - - - - -CHAPTER IV. -THE HEIRESS OF THE DEANE. - - -"Are you nearly ready, girls?" asked Mrs. Haldane Carteret of her -nieces, as she entered the large dressing-room which divided the -bedrooms occupied by Gertrude and Eleanor Baldwin, and was joint -territory, common to them both. - -This apartment was very handsomely proportioned, and furnished in a -sumptuous style. It abounded in light and looking-glasses, and the two -young girls then under the hands of their respective maids had the -advantage of seeing themselves reflected many times in mirrors fixed -and mirrors movable. Their ball-room toilette was almost complete, and -the smaller supplementary articles of their paraphernalia of adornment -were strewn about the room in pretty profusion. - -"We are very nearly ready, aunt Lucy," replied Eleanor; "are there any -people come yet?" - -"Yes, the Congreves, and Rennies, and Comrie of Largs; they always -make a point of being the first arrivals and the last departures -everywhere," said Mrs. Carteret, as she profited by the long mirror -which formed the reverse of the door by which she had entered to -rearrange the folds of her remarkably becoming dress of blue satin and -silver. "Pray make haste, Gerty. It does not so much matter about -Nelly, but you really must be in the reception-room before any more -people come. Just imagine your not being there when Lord and Lady -Gelston arrive, or even Sir Maitland and Lady Cardeness." - -Mrs. Haldane Carteret was a woman of perfectly well-proportioned mind. -She knew how to define the distinctions of rank as accurately as a -king-at-arms, and could balance the comparative turpitude of a slight -to a baron with that of a slight to a baronet with quite a -mathematical nicety of precision. - -"Almost ready, aunt Lucy. Only my gloves and bracelets to put on, and -then I am ready. But I certainly shall not go down without Nelly; she -would get on much better without me than I should without her" (here -the girl smiled as her mother had smiled in the brief days of her -happy and contented love). "We should have been ready sooner, but that -we took a final scamper off to the guests' rooms to see how Rose had -disposed of Mr. Meredith and Mr. Ritherdon." - -"Ah, by the bye, I suppose they have arrived," said Mrs. Carteret; "I -must go and see them. I will come back again, and I hope you will both -be ready." - -In a few minutes the preparations were complete, and the two young -girls were receiving the unequivocal compliments of their maids and -their mirrors. Happy, joyous, hopeful, handsome creatures they looked, -as they stood, their arms entwined, surveying their lithe, graceful, -white-robed figures with natural pride and very pardonable vanity. The -glance of the elder girl dwelt only passingly upon herself; it turned -then to dwell upon her sister with delight, with exultation. - -"How beautiful you look, my darling Nelly! I am sure no one in the -room will be able to compare with you to-night." - -"Not you, Gertrude? Are you not the queen of the ball in every sense? -Depend upon it, no one will have eyes to-night for any one except the -heiress of the Deane." - -"Then every one will be blind and foolish," returned Gertrude, as she -gave the speaker a sisterly push; "and there are a few whom I don't -think that of, Nelly. Don't you dread the idea of the speech-making at -supper? I do, and uncle Haldane does, because he will have to return -thanks for me; and I'm sure everybody else does, because Lord Gelston -is so frightfully long-winded and historical, and so tremendously well -up in the history of all the Meritons and all the Baldwins, and who -married, and whom, and when they did it, and there's no stopping him -when he starts; however, we must think of the dancing and the fun, and -not remember the dreadful speeches until they come to be made." - -"I daresay you won't mind them so much when the time comes." said -Nelly, with the least touch of something unpleasant in her voice; "at -all events, I need not--they will not make any speeches about _me_, -that's a comfort!" - -"My darling Nelly! as if I thought about it for _myself_. If you must -listen and look pleased at tiresomeness, what does it matter of what -is _apropos_? and where is the difference between you and me?" - -"Very present, very perceptible, after this day," said Nelly; "no one -will fail to keep it in mind. Did you not notice what aunt Lucy said? -My being ready or not did not matter, but the presence of 'the heiress -of the Deane' was indispensable." - -"I did hear it," said Gertrude, turning a flushed cheek and a -deprecatory glance upon her sister; "and did you not hear what I said? -But here come aunt Lucy and Rose." - -The entry of Rose Doran was the signal for enthusiastic comments on -the appearance of the two young girls, and the little cloud which had -threatened for a moment to gather over the sisters was joyously -dissipated. Mr. Dugdale wished to see them in his sitting-room, Rose -said, before they went downstairs, and she had come to bring them to -him. - -"You'll have time enough to let the old gentleman have a peep at you, -my darlings," said the good woman, whose eyes were moist with the -rising tears produced by many associations which almost overpowered -the admiration and delight with which she regarded the girls; "though -there's a dale o' quality come, they're all in the study, makin' sure -of their cloaks and things, or drinkin' coffee and chattin' to one -another. So go to the old man, my girls; he won't keep ye a minute." - -"He surely won't disappoint us," exclaimed Gertrude; "he promised to -come down, and he _must_!" - -"So he will, alanna," said Rose, using the same term of endearment, -and in the same soothing tone, with which she had been wont to assuage -Gertrude's griefs in her childhood--"never you fear, so he will, when -the room is full, and he can get round behind the people to his own -chair in the corner; only he wants a look at you all to himself -first." - -"Then I will go on," said Mrs. Haldane in rather a vexed tone. "You -will find me in the morning room; and pray, Gerty, make no delay." - -Then Mrs. Haldane walked majestically away, her blue and silver train -rustling superbly over the crimson-velvet carpet of the long, wide -corridor, which, like the grand staircase, was of polished oak. - -Mr. Dugdale's rooms at the Deane were in a quiet and secluded part of -the spacious house, attainable by a small staircase which was -approached by a curtained archway opening off the corridor into which -the girls' rooms opened. The rooms were handsome, though not large, -and were luxuriously furnished, but they were chiefly remarkable for -the numerous evidences of feminine care, taste, and industry in their -arrangement. The comfortable and the ornamental were dexterously -united in these rooms, in which needlework abounded, and whose most -prized decorations were the work of the pencils of the two girls. - -The apartments consisted of three rooms--bedroom, dressing-room, and -sitting-room, the latter lined with books, and bearing many -indications that the studies, tastes, and habits which had occupied -James Dugdale's youth and manhood had lightened the burden of his -infirmities, and taken the deadly sting out of his sorrows, were not -abandoned now in his old age. And in truth this was the case; the -feebleness which had invaded the delicate and sensitive frame more and -more surely with each succeeding year, had not touched the mind. That -was strong, active, bright, full of vitality still, promising -extinction or even dimness only with the dissolution of the frame. - -In his frequent fits of thinking about himself, and yet out of -himself--as though he were contemplating the problems presented by the -existence, and pondering the future, of another--James Dugdale was -wont to wonder at his own tenacity of life. Ever since his youth he -had been a sufferer in body, and had sustained great trials of mind; -he had been always more or less feeble, and of the nervous febrile -temperament which is said (erroneously) to wear itself out rapidly. -But he had lived on and on, and the young, the strong, the prosperous, -the happy, had passed before him, and been lost in the dimness of the -separation of death. - -He had been carefully dressed by his servant for the festivities of -the evening, and had laid down upon the couch beside the windows of -his sitting-room, from which a beautiful view was to be had in the -daytime, through which the summer moonlight was streaming now, and had -fallen into a reverie. His mind was singularly placid, his memory was -singularly clear to-night, as he lay still, listening to the stir in -the house, his face turned from the light of the candles which burned -on the tables and the mantelpiece; and passing in mental review the -persons and the events of long years ago. - -How perfectly distinct and vivid they were to-night--his parents, his -boyhood, the time when it was first discovered that he must never -expect to be a healthy, vigorous man--his student days and their -associations, the friends of that period of his life! Hayes Meredith -was a young man--how curiously his memory reproduced him; and then his -cousin Sibylla, his sole kinswoman and his steady friend--the old man -who had loved him so well, and the sad dark episode of Margaret's -marriage. How plainly he could see Godfrey Hungerford, and how -distinctly he could recall the instinctive dislike, suspicion, -repulsion he had caused him, and which he early learnt to know was -bitter jealousy! Baldwin and Lady Davyntry, that kind, sympathising -friend of later days--she whom he still mourned with a poignancy which -time had blunted in the case of the others;--it was hard to -understand, very wonderful to realise, that they were dead and he -alive--he went on with his ordinary life betimes, and did not think -about it much, but to-night it seemed impossible. - -The wonderful incompleteness, the unmeaningness of life, the -phantasmagoria of fragmentary existences occupied him, while all -around him were preparations for a festival. Lastly came the image of -Margaret, back in all the freshness of her youth, beauty, and -happiness, as she had been twenty years ago, and the old man wondered -at the strange distinctness of his memory. - -Twenty years! a long, long time even at an earlier period of life, a -wonderfully long time at his, to keep the memory green. He had had and -lost many friends, but only one love; yes, that was the explanation; -that was why she, who had died young long ago, never to grow old, -never to have any withering touch of time laid upon her beauty, she -who was to be remembered as a radiant creature always, had never had a -predecessor, a successor, or a rival in his heart; so there was no -other image to trouble or confuse hers. The circumstances which had -killed her, as he felt, as surely as disease had ever killed,--they, -too, returned freshly to his memory; he seemed to live through those -old, old days again, and in some degree to realise once more their -keen anxiety and distress. - -How it had all passed away--how little it had really mattered--how -little anything really mattered, after all, except the other world, -and the reunion there, without which life, the most renowned as much -as the meanest, would indeed be "a tale told by an idiot," and, in the -multitude of the ages, and the spanlike brevity of its own duration, -"signifying nothing"! It seemed like a dream, and yet it was all real: -she had lived and suffered, feared, foreseen, and died under this very -roof, beneath which he dwelt, and from which its master went forth a -patient, but none the less a broken-hearted man, to die afar off, to -lie in the solemn dust of the grand old world. - -Were they, the two whom he remembered so well in their youth and love -and happiness, any nearer to him than the most ancient of the ancient -dead? Was there any difference or degree in all that inconceivable -separation? Who could tell him that? Who could still the pang, which -time can never lessen, which comes with the immeasurable change? We -are in time and space, and they, the dead, are, as we say, beyond -their bounds, set free from them. What, then, is their share with us? - -He was thinking of these things, which indeed were wont to occupy his -mind when he was very peaceful and alone, and thinking also how very -brief all our uncertainty is--how short a time the Creator keeps His -creatures in ignorance and suspense, and that he was very near to the -lifting of the curtain--when Gertrude and Eleanor Baldwin came into -the room, and gaily challenged his admiration of their ball-dresses, -their wreaths, their bouquets, and their general appearance. - -With the keenly strong remembrance of Margaret which he had been -dwelling upon freshly before him, James Dugdale was struck by the -likeness which Gertrude presented to her mother. Her face was more -strictly handsome, her figure promised to be fuller and grander, but -the resemblance in feature, in gesture, in voice, in all the subtler -affinities which constitute the truth of such resemblances, was, -complete. Had she stood thus, in her white dress, flower crowned, by -his couch, alone, James Dugdale might have thought the spirit world -had unbarred its portals for a little to give him a glimpse of -Margaret in her eternal youth; but her arm was linked in that of her -sister, and the old man's gaze included them both. - -"Do I like you, you witches?" said Mr. Dugdale; "what a question! I -think you are both incomparably perfect, and among all the compliments -you will hear to-night, I don't think you will have a more -satisfactory one than that. I see you are wearing your pearls, -Nelly.--Where are your diamonds, Miss Baldwin?" - -Gertrude blushed, and looked a little uncomfortable. - -"I would rather not wear them," she said; "pearls don't matter much, -but diamonds would make too much difference between Nelly and me. I -asked uncle Haldane, and he said I certainly need not wear them unless -I liked; indeed, he said it is better taste for an unmarried woman, -while she is very young, not to wear diamonds; so they are undisturbed -in all their grandeur." - -"Isn't she ridiculous?" said Eleanor. "I am sure if I were in her -place I should wear my diamonds, especially to-night." - -"I am quite sure you would do no such thing, Nelly," said Miss -Baldwin; "and we must go now, or aunt Lucy will be put out.--Mind you -come down soon; I shall be looking out for you." - -Then the two girls kissed the old man affectionately and left him. -There was some trouble in James Dugdale's mind when the light forms -disappeared, and he listened to the murmur of their voices for a few -moments, before it died away when they reached the grand staircase. - -"If Eleanor were in Gertrude's place!" The girl's words had struck a -chord of painful remembrance in the old man's mind. The time had come -now when the wrong done to the younger by the elder, the wrong done to -the children by the parents in all unconsciousness, was to bear its -first fruits. As the years had gone by, and especially since Lady -Davyntry's death had left James Dugdale sole possessor of the -knowledge of the truth, he had remembered it but seldom. - -When the news of Mr. Baldwin's death had reached England, he and Lady -Davyntry had spoken together much and solemnly of the mysterious -dealings of Providence with the family. They had silently accepted -his resolution--never to give Margaret a successor in his heart and -house--and, in view of that determination, they had regarded the -arrangement which he had made of his property as in every respect wise -and commendable. But they had secretly hoped that time, whose -unfailing influence, however disliked or even struggled against, they -both had too much experience of life to doubt or dispute, would modify -and finally upset Mr. Baldwin's resolution on that point, and that the -girls might eventually be removed from what they wisely regarded as a -perilous and undesirable position. Wealth and station would always be -theirs, even if a second marriage should give a male heir to the -Deane. - -But these hopes were not destined to be realised. Mr. Baldwin never -returned from his journey to the East, and the heavy weight of -heiress-ship fell upon his daughters in their childhood. Of late years -the secret of which he alone was in possession had begun to appear -dreamlike and mythical to James Dugdale. It had been a terrible thing -in its time, but that time was past and its terror with it, and it was -only an old memory now--an old memory which Nelly's words had -awakened, just when he did not care to have it evoked, just when it -was as painful as it ever could be any more. The old man rose from his -couch and went to a bookcase with glass doors, which faced the -mantelpiece in his sitting-room. On one of the lower shelves, within -easy reach of his hand, lay a large blue-velvet casket. He took it -out, set it on the table, and opened it. It contained a picture--the -portrait of Margaret with her infant in her arms, which she had had -painted for him at Naples twenty years before. The portrait was -surrounded by a frame of peculiar design. It consisted of a wreath of -passion-flowers, the stems and leaves in gold, the flowers in white -enamel, with every detail of form and colouring accurately carried -out. This was the only jeweller's work which had ever been done by -James Dugdale's order; this was the most valuable article in every -sense in his possession. He placed the picture on the table, and sat -down before it and looked at it intently, studying in every line the -likeness which had impressed him so deeply to-night; and then he -replaced it in the casket, which he reconsigned to the bookcase. This -done, he rang for his servant and went down to the ball-room, whence -delightful strains of brilliant music were issuing, blended with the -sound of voices and the tread of dancing feet. - -The scene was a beautiful one. All that money, taste, and goodwill -could accomplish to render the fête given in celebration of Gertrude's -birthday successfully charming, had been done, and the result was -eminently satisfactory. Many of the guests had come from distances -which in England would have been regarded as invincible -obstacles--would indeed have rendered the sending of invitations a -meaningless, or according to our amiable insular phrase a "French," -compliment--but which in Scotland were regarded as mere matters of -course. An unusual number of pretty girls adorned the ball-room, and -they danced with pleasure and animation also peculiarly Scotch. - -Gertrude had gone through the ordeal of congratulation very well; and -now, very much relieved that that part of the business had come to a -conclusion, was dancing a surprisingly animated quadrille with Lord -Gelston, while Lady Gelston was talking superlatives to Haldane -Carteret, who had wisely decided, some years before, on coming to live -in Scotland, that there was more to be gained than lost by being -understood at once to be excluded from the category of dancing men. - -The room, much longer than its width, and beautifully decorated and -lighted, was amply occupied without being overfilled; and the splendid -many-coloured dresses, the moving figures, the soft sound of speech -and laughter, the indescribable joyous rustle which pervades an -assemblage where youth and beauty are in the majority, made up a scene -to whose attraction James Dugdale's nerves vibrated strangely. He had -been present on few similar occasions in his life, and he looked about -him with the pleased curiosity of a child. The military contingent had -duly arrived from Edinburgh, Leith, and Hamilton, and were enjoying -their accustomed popularity. - -Of the many faces in the room there were few known to James Dugdale, -with the exception of those of the near neighbours to the Deane. -Before he had time to become familiar with the movement and the -glitter of the unaccustomed scene, a pause occurred in the dancing, -and the group nearest to him broke up and moved away. Then he saw -Eleanor Baldwin talking to a gentleman whose figure seemed very -familiar to him, though he could not see his face. Eleanor was looking -up at the gentleman, her face full of light and animation, a rich -colour in her cheeks, her dark eyes sparkling with pleasure. Almost as -soon as he saw her, she saw him, and said: - -"O, there's uncle James, let us go and speak to him." - -She walked quickly across the room, followed by her companion, who -was, as James Dugdale then perceived, Robert Meredith. The old man and -the man no longer young indeed, but still and ever a boy to him, -greeted each other warmly. - -"When did you come, Robert? Why have I not seen you before?" - -"We came down by the mail, sir, and found the ladies gone to dress; -and Mrs. Doran said you were resting, in preparation for the fatigue -of the evening, so we would not disturb you. I am glad to see you -looking so well, sir." - -"Thank you, Robert--where's Ritherdon?" - -"He has gone in chase of Gerty, uncle James," said Eleanor; "he wants -to know what dances she can spare him, I believe; but I fancy he has -not much chance--_even I_ could only promise positively for one." - -Robert Meredith looked at her narrowly as he said: - -"Ritherdon has pluck, I must say. I never dreamed of such a privilege -as dancing to-night with the lady of the Deane. But I did calculate -upon a _raccroc de noces_ for to-morrow--I suppose that's safe?" - -"I suppose so," said Eleanor. - -"_You_ kept a few dances for me, didn't you?" he asked. - -"Yes, I did, but I am nobody, you know." - -"This is one of them," said Meredith, and then, as he led her away -into the throng, again set in motion by the music, he said meaningly, -"and I do not know,--at least, _I do_." - -His arm was round her now, and he had whirled her into the circle of -waltzers, and the girl felt that the bright scene was brighter, the -music sweeter and more inspiriting, the dance more delightful, because -of the words and the tone in which he had spoken them. - -George Ritherdon had been quite as unsuccessful in his quest as -Eleanor had foreseen, and as soon as Gertrude had convinced him of his -ill-fortune, by permitting him to read the record of the pretty little -ivory and silver _carnet_ which hung at her waist, he, in his turn, -made his way to Mr. Dugdale's chair. There he remained until Nelly's -one dance should be "due," talking with the old man, who was -wonderfully bright and unwearied of things in general, and of the -young ladies in particular. - -It was an unfashionable peculiarity of George Ritherdon's that he was -always deferential towards age, even when age was much less venerable -and less intelligent, much more _arrière_ than in the case of Mr. -Dugdale. Therefore, let the subjects on which the old gentleman had -chosen to talk with him have been as dull and uninteresting to him as -possible, he would have exerted himself to converse about them -pleasantly, and with the air of attention and interest which is the -truest conversational politeness. - -But in the present instance no effort was required. Ritherdon felt a -sincere and growing interest in the "children," as Mr. Dugdale soon -began to call them in talking to him, and found something which -appealed to his heart--strangely soft, pure, and upright in its -impulses, considering the length of time it had pulsated amid the -world,--in the long-enduring, constant family friendship which bound -the old man's life up with that of these young people, who were no kin -of his. The ball was the gayest, the most successful, in George -Ritherdon's opinion, at which he had ever "assisted," the night a -happy and memorable one in his life; but no part of it was more -thoroughly enjoyable to him than the time he passed seated by the old -man's side, their conversation interrupted only by the people who came -up to speak to Mr. Dugdale, and by the girls, who paid him flying -visits. - -Robert Meredith and his friend saw little of each other during the -night, until after James Dugdale had retired, which he did when supper -was announced. That sumptuous entertainment was as terrible an ordeal -as Gertrude had expected. Lord Gelston was as inexorably long-winded, -as overwhelmingly genealogical as usual; and if anything could have -made her more uncomfortable than the ponderous congratulations of the -noble lord, and the marked attentions of Lady Gelston and the -Honourable Mr. Dort, the eldest son of the distinguished but by no -means wealthy pair, it would have been the kindly but inartistic -efforts of her uncle Haldane, who was neither a ready thinker nor an -adept at speaking, to express how far short of her personal qualities -fell the gifts of wealth and station allotted to her. - -A very decent amount of general attention was bestowed upon Lord -Gelston and Haldane Carteret, and the speeches of both were received -with all proper enthusiasm; but there was one listener who heard them -with more than the attention of politeness, and with a smile on his -lips which, if "the children's" dead mother saw it, must have reminded -her of one she had known and disliked in earthly days long ago. But -even the speeches were over at last, and the younger guests left the -banquet and returned to the ball-room, and dancing recommenced. -Nothing equals in vigour and perseverance Scotch dancing, no -entertainment is capable of such preternatural prolongation as a -Scotch ball. The institution might be the modern successor of the -feasts of the Norsemen in the Bersekyr days. - -"Do these people ever intend to leave off, do you think?" George -Ritherdon asked of Robert Meredith, when the external light had become -difficult of exclusion, and all the dowagers had given over talking -and taking refreshment, except that of slumber. - -"I don't know indeed; doesn't look like it; but there's no reason why -we shouldn't," returned Meredith; "let us say good-morning to Mrs. -Carteret, and decamp." - -A masterly manoeuvre, which they put into instant execution, -unobserved by any one but Eleanor Baldwin. She had danced several -times with Meredith during the night, and had contrived to give -Ritherdon "one more" in addition to the promised valse; she had been -very gay, happy, and animated; much admired and fully conscious of it; -but now she grew tired, and began to wish the ball were over. People -were unreasonable to keep it up so late; this was making a toil of a -pleasure; no, she really could not join in this interminable cotillon. -She wondered whether aunt Lucy would mind her leaving the room; she -would find her and ask her. So she did find Mrs. Haldane Carteret, who -was looking, rather yellow and elderly in the mixed intrusive light, -and Mrs. Haldane answered her rather snappishly, - -"Yes, yes, of course you may go. It is really absurdly late; no wonder -you're tired; I am sure I am. Gerty must remain of course, but you may -go." - -Eleanor had got the permission she desired, and she left the room, but -not gladly. The manner of that permission did not please her; many -little things of the same kind had hurt her lately; and as she slowly -mounted the stairs her face was dark, and she muttered to herself, - -"Gerty must of course remain, but you may go." - - -An hour later, when the morning had fairly asserted its sway, when the -latest lingering of the guests not staying in the house had departed, -fortified by hot strong coffee against the fatigue of their homeward -route, when to those staying in the house welcome announcement had -been made that breakfast was to be served at twelve, and continued for -an indefinite time,--Gertrude Baldwin entered her dressing-room. She -had desired that her maid should not remain up, and having glanced -into Eleanor's bedroom and seen that she was asleep, she took off -her ball-dress, set the windows wide open, and sat down in her -dressing-gown, letting the sweet morning air play upon her face to -calm the hurry of her spirits and to think. - -This had been an eventful day for that young girl; indeed, the whole -preceding week, during which her guardians, Haldane Carteret and James -Dugdale, had explained to her in resigning their trust all the -particulars of her position, had been of great moment in her life. -Previously she had known, vaguely, that she was very rich, and she had -had a tolerably clear notion of the origin and ordering of her wealth, -but she fully understood it now. Her uncle had wished her to give her -attention to the accounts of the estate, as he explained them to her, -and she had complied with his wish. In the course of these -transactions, she had been shown her father's will, and had been made -acquainted as minutely with her sister Eleanor's position as with her -own. - -The time up to that day had been so full of business, and all the -hours of the day and night just gone had been so full of pleasure, -that she felt strongly the need of a little leisure and solitude now. -She was glad Nelly was asleep, glad she had not been obliged to talk -over the ball with her--glad to put the ball itself out of her -thoughts for a little, although she had enjoyed it with all the -unaffected zest of her age. - -Gertrude was not tired; she had danced incessantly, and the emotions -of the day had been many and various; but she was strong and very -happy, in all the unruffled peace of her girlhood, which had only -progressed hitherto in prosperity, and she rarely felt fatigue. The -fresh morning air, the calm, the solitude, were better for her than -sleep. Presently a delicious stillness fell on everything; no more -doors were shut or opened, no desultory footsteps loitered about; the -birds' music only filled the air with the most beautiful of the sounds -of morning. - -There came with the day to Gertrude a sense of change. She realised -her womanhood now--she realised her position, and it appeared to her a -very solemn and responsible one. Her uncle had told her, in answer to -her request, that he would continue to exercise the functions from -which the attainment of her majority formally discharged him--that he -would do so provided she would take an active part in the conduct of -the estate, urging the necessity which existed for her duly qualifying -herself for the independent administration of her affairs in the -future. He reminded her that she could only hold the property in trust -for her children, if she were destined to become a wife and mother, -and must therefore learn how to save from her large income. - -"You see, my dear," Haldane had said to her, "everything not included -in the entail is left absolutely to Nelly, and in this respect she is -better off than you are. She is not indeed so rich, but she can -dispose of her property, by settlement and by will, just as she -pleases, whereas you cannot dispose of a shilling. Your eldest son, or -your eldest daughter, if you have no son, must inherit all. The estate -is chargeable for the benefit of younger children to a very small -extent. I will show you how and how much presently. The fortune your -grandfather gave to to your aunt, Lady Davyntry, and which Eleanor -inherits from her, was almost entirely derived from accumulations and -other extraneous property. So, you see, Nelly's money is more -absolutely hers than yours is yours; but though you have not so much -freedom, there is one advantage in your position. If you fall into bad -hands, which God forbid, and we will take all possible care to -prevent--yes, Gerty, don't look so horrified, my child, all the men in -the world are not good, as your poor mother could have told you--your -money will be safe; no man can beggar _you_; whereas Eleanor would be -quite helpless in such a case. There is nothing to protect her; her -husband, if he could only persuade her to marry without a strict -settlement, could make ducks and drakes of her money, if he chose." - -"But surely she never would be persuaded to do anything so foolish and -so unprincipled," said Gertrude, with a pretty air of dignity, -woman-of-the-worldishness, and landed proprietor combined, and feeling -already as if she had the deepest appreciation of the rights, -privileges, and duties of property. - -"I don't know that, my dear," said Haldane; "women are easily -persuaded to folly, and there are men who have a knack of persuading -you that imprudence is generosity, and self-sacrifice proved by -endangering other people's peace and prosperity--as your poor mother -could also have told you. However, we need not make ourselves -prematurely uncomfortable about Nelly. Let us hope her choice may be -wise and happy, and that she may use the freedom her father and her -aunt left her with discretion." - -The discussion then turned upon other matters of business, and this -part of the subject was abandoned. - -It returned to Gertrude Baldwin's thoughts as she looked pensively -abroad on her wide domains in the early morning, and it troubled her. - -"We were both so little when he left us," she thought, "that I don't -think my father could have preferred Nelly very much to me, and my -mother only saw her for a minute before she died. Rose told me she had -scarcely strength to hold the baby to her breast, and not strength -enough to speak a word to it, so she cannot have loved her more than -me; I was with her for a little time--it is very strange. What care -has been taken to give her all he could give; and nothing left to me -for my own self, on account of my own self! And how strange uncle -James looked when I said so! I am sure he understands that I feel it -and wonder at it. - -"How little I know of my mother, and I so like her, he says! Perhaps I -am old enough now for them to tell me more about her and that first -marriage of hers, which I am sure must have been something dreadful. I -will ask uncle James some day when he is very well. Aunt Lucy has -never told us anything but that she and mamma were great friends, and -mamma was 'a dear thing.' Somehow I don t like to hear our dear dead -mother spoken of as 'a dear thing'--absurd, I daresay, but I do not; -and dear aunt Eleanor never talked of her as anything but papa's -wife--his idolised wife. - -"How well I remember when I first began to understand that he died of -her loss in reality, though it took time to kill him, because he was -good and patient and tried to be resigned! But he could not live -longer without her, and God knew it and did not ask him. I remember so -well when aunt Eleanor told me that, and seemed to know it so well, -that she could better bear to know that he was dead than to know that -he was still wandering about, because there was no home for him here. -I wonder was he very fond of us--or perhaps he was not able to be. I -am sure he tried. Ah, well! this we can never, never know until we are -orphan children no longer; and any doubt dishonours him. - -"To think that I am so important a personage, the owner of a great -estate, the employer of so many of my fellow-creatures,--with so much -power in my weak woman's hands for good or for evil,--and that I am -all this solely because of great misfortune--solely because I am an -orphan! If they were living, there might indeed have been rejoicing -here to-day, for our pleasure and our parents' pride: but no more. It -is wonderful to think of that,--wonderful to think of what might have -been. Shall I be a good woman, I wonder? Shall I be a faithful -steward? I don't know--I am so ignorant: but for uncle James, I am so -lonely. At least I will try--for my father's sake, and mamma's, and -his, and for my own sake and for God's; but O, I wish, I wish I could -have found in my father's will anything, however trifling, which he -desired to come to me from him, for my own sake." - -Tears were standing in the dark, clear gray eyes of the young lady of -the Deane, and she had forgotten all about the birthday ball. - - - - -CHAPTER V. -THE "RACCROC DE NOCES." - - -The breakfast-table at the Deane was but scantily furnished with -guests at noon on the day after the ball, and only among the younger -portion of that restricted number did the spirit of "talking it over" -prevail. The gentlemen, with the exception of George Ritherdon, -discussed their breakfast and their newspapers, and the matrons were -decidedly sleepy and a little cross. George was in high spirits. He -had very thorough notions on the subject of enjoying a holiday, and he -included among them the delight of escaping from the obligation of -reading newspapers. - -"Look at your friend, Mr. What's-his-name, of some queer place, like -Sir Walter Scott's novels," he whispered to Gertrude. "The idea of -coming on a brief visit to Paradise, and troubling your head about -foreign politics and the money-market! There he goes--Prussia, indeed! -What a combination of ideas--Bochum Dollfs and the Deane!" - -Gertrude laughed. The pleasant unaffected gaiety of his manner pleased -her. She had not been prepared to find George Ritherdon so light of -heart, so ready to be amused, and to acknowledge it. She knew that he -was younger than his chum Robert Meredith; but she had fancied there -would be some resemblance between them, when she should come to know -them better, in a few days' close association with them. But there was -no resemblance; the friendship between them, the daily companionship -had brought about no assimilation, and there was one circumstance -which set Gerty thinking and puzzling to find out why it should be so. -She had known Robert Meredith for years; her acquaintance with George -Ritherdon was of the slightest; and yet, when the day after the ball -came in its turn to a conclusion, and she once again set her mind to -the task of "thinking it over," she felt that she knew more of George -Ritherdon, had seen more certain indications of his disposition, and -could divine more of his life than she knew, had seen, or could divine -in the case of Robert Meredith. The girl was of a thoughtful -speculative turn of mind, an observer of character, and imaginative. -She pondered a good deal upon the subject, and constantly recurred to -her first thought. "How odd it is that I should feel as if I could -tell at once how Mr. Ritherdon would act in any given case, and I -don't feel that in the least about Robert Meredith!" - -"I was horribly ill-treated last night," George said, after he and -Gertrude had exchanged ideas on the subject of newspapers in vacation -time. "You ask me to a ball. Miss Baldwin, and then don't give me a -dance. I call it treacherous and inhospitable." - -"I couldn't help it," said Gerty earnestly, with perfect simplicity. -"I had to 'dance down the set,' as they say in the country dances--to -begin at the beginning of the table of precedence, and go on to the -end." - -"A very unfair advantage for the fogeys," said George Ritherdon, not -without having made sure that none of Gertrude's partners of last -night were at the table. - -"The Honourable Dort would be grateful if he heard you, Ritherdon," -observed Meredith. - -"I suppose one couldn't reasonably call _him_ a fogey," returned -George. - -Gertrude laughed; but Eleanor said sharply, - -"No, he is only a fool." - -Meredith was seated next her, and while the others went on talking, he -said to her in a low tone, - -"Do you think him a fool? I don't. He knows the value of first -impressions, and being early in the field, or I am much mistaken." - -If Robert Meredith had made a similar remark to Gertrude, she would -simply have looked at him with her grave gray eyes, in utter ignorance -of his meaning; but Nelly understood him perfectly. - -"He _is_ an admirer of Gerty's," she said. - -"And a more ardent admirer of the Deane," said Meredith. "Do you like -him?" - -"Not at all. Not that it matters whether I do or not; but Gerty does -not either. I daresay Lord and Lady Gelston think it would be a very -good thing." - -"No doubt they do. Nothing more suitable could be devised; and as -people of their class usually believe that human affairs are strictly -regulated according to their convenience, and look upon Providence as -a kind of confidential and trustworthy agent, more or less adroit, but -entirely in their interests, no doubt they have it all settled -comfortably. There was the complacent ring of such a plan in that -pompous old donkey's bray last night, and a kind of protecting -mother-in-law-like air about the old woman, which I should not have -liked had I been in your sister's place." - -Eleanor's cheek flushed; the tone, even more than the words, told upon -her. - -"What detestable impertinence!" she said. "The idea of people who are -held to be nobler than others making such calculations, and -condescending to such meanness for money!" - -"Not in the least surprising; as you will find when you know the world -a little better. That the wind should be tempered to the shorn lambs -of the aristocracy by the intervention of commoner people's money, -they regard as a natural law; and as they are the most irresponsible, -they are the most shameless class in society. As to their -condescending to meanness for money, you don't reflect--as, indeed, -how should you?--that money is the object which best repays such -condescension." - -There was a dubious look in Nelly's face. The young girl was flattered -and pleased that this handsome accomplished man of the world--who was -so much more _her_ friend, in consequence of their association in -London, than her sister's--should talk to her thus, giving her the -benefit of his experience; and yet there might be something to be -said, if not for Mr. Dort's parents, for Mr. Dort himself. Her colour -deepened, as she said timidly, - -"How well _you_ must know the world, to be able to discern people's -motives and see through their schemes so readily! But perhaps Mr. Dort -really cares for Gertrude." - -"Perhaps he does. She is a nice girl; and if her fortune and position -don't spoil her, any man might well 'care for her,'as you call it, -for herself. But the disinterestedness of Mr. Dort is not affected, to -my mind, by the fact that the appendage to the fortune he is hunting -does not happen to be disagreeable. Supposing she had not the -fortune, or supposing she lost it, would Mr. Dort care for--that is, -marry--your sister then?" - -"I don't suppose he would," said Eleanor thoughtfully. - -"And I am sure he would not," said Meredith. Then, as there was a -general rising and dispersion of the company, he added in a whisper, -and with a glance beneath which the girl's eyes fell, "The privilege -of being loved for herself is the proudest any woman can boast, and -cannot be included in an entail." - - -"Mr. M'llwaine wants to see you for half an hour, Gertrude, before he -returns to Glasgow," said Haldane Carteret to his niece as she was -leaving the breakfast-room, accompanied by Nelly and two young ladies -who formed part of the "staying company" at the Deane. - -"Does he?" said Gertrude. "What for? It won't take me half an hour to -bid him good-bye." - -"Business, my dear, business." said her uncle. "You are a woman of -business now, you know, and must attend to it." - -"I wonder how often I have had notice of that fact," said Gerty. -"I will go to Mr. M'llwaine now, uncle; but you must come too, -please.--And, Nelly, will you take all the people to the -croquet-ground? I will come as soon as I can." - -Gertrude went away with her uncle, and Nelly led the way to an -anteroom, in which garden-hats and other articles of casual equipment -were to be found. - -"It is to be hoped Captain Carteret will not keep on reminding Miss -Baldwin of her duties and dignities," whispered Meredith to Eleanor, -as the party assembled on the terrace. "It will be embarrassing if he -does, though she carries it off well, with her pretty air of -unconsciousness." - -Eleanor said nothing in answer, but her face darkened, and the first -sentence she spoke afterwards had a harsh tone in it. - -The day was very fine, the summer heat was tempered by a cool breeze, -and the glare of the sun was softened by flitting fleecy clouds. The -group collected on the beautifully-kept croquet-ground of the Deane -was as pretty and as picturesque as any which was to be seen under the -summer sky that day. Mrs. Haldane Carteret, who was by no means "a -frisky matron," but who enjoyed unbroken animal spirits and much -better health than she could have been induced to acknowledge, was -particularly fond of croquet, which, as her feet and ankles were -irreproachable, was not to be wondered at. She was an indefatigable, a -perfectly good-humoured player, and owed not a little of her -popularity in the neighbourhood to her ever-ready willingness to get -up croquet-parties at home, or to go out to them. - -Haldane too was not a bad or a reluctant player; and, on the whole, -the Deane held a creditable place in the long list of country houses -much devoted to this popular science. - -Miss Congreve and her sister "perfectly doated on" croquet, and all -the young men were enthusiasts in the art, except George Ritherdon, -who played too badly to like it, and had never gotten over the painful -remembrance of having once caused a young lady, whose face was fairer -than her temper, to weep tears of spite and wrathfulness by his -blunders in a "match." - -"How long is this going to last?" George asked Meredith, when the game -was fairly inaugurated, and the animation of the party proved how much -to their taste their proceedings were. - -Meredith did not answer until he had watched with narrow and critical -interest the stroke which Nelly was then about to make. When the ball -had rolled through the hoop, and it was somebody else's turn, he said, - -"Until such time as, having breakfasted at twelve with the prospect of -dining at seven, we can contrive to fancy that we want something to -eat, I suppose." - -"Well, then, as I don't play, and cannot flatter myself I shall be -missed, I shall go in, write some letters, and have a stroll. You will -tell Miss Baldwin I don't play croquet, if she should do me the honour -to remark my absence?" - -"Certainly," said Meredith; and as George turned away, he said to -Eleanor, - -"I will tell your sister, if she likes, that George does not play -croquet or any other game." - -She looked up inquiringly. - -"No," he said; "he is the most thoroughly honest--indeed, I might say -the only thoroughly honest--man, who has not any brains, of my -acquaintance. _He_ won't lay siege to the heiress, and have no eyes -for anybody else, no matter how superior; and yet a little or a good -deal of money would be as valuable to George as to most men, I -believe." - -"I thought Mr. Ritherdon seemed very much taken with Gertrude," said -Nelly, who had ceased for the moment to perform the mystic evolutions -of the noble game--in a confidential tone, into which she had -unconsciously dropped when speaking to Meredith. - -"No doubt, so he is; but if she imagines he is going to be an easy -conquest--to propose and be rejected--she will be mistaken." - -A little while ago, and who would have dared to speak in such a tone -of her sister to Eleanor Baldwin? Whom would she have believed, who -should have told her that she could have heard unmoved insinuations -almost amounting to accusations of that sister's vanity, pride, and -coquetry? The sweet poison of flattery was taking effect, the deadly -plant of jealousy was taking ready root. - -"I suppose," she said, "every man who comes to the house will be set -down as a _pretendant_ of Gertrude's--that is to be expected. If any -man of our acquaintance has real self-respect, he will keep away." - -"Indeed!" said Meredith. "Would you make no exceptions to so harsh a -rule?--not in favour of those to whom Miss Baldwin would be nothing, -except your sister?" - -"Nelly, Nelly, what are you about? You are moonstruck, I think!" -exclaimed Mrs. Haldane Carteret, whose superabundant alertness could -not brook an interval in the game; and Eleanor was absolved by this -direct appeal from any necessity to take notice of the words spoken by -Meredith. - -No immediate opportunity of again addressing Eleanor arose, so -Meredith divided his attentions, in claiming her due share of which -Mrs. Carteret was very exacting, among the party in general, which was -shortly reinforced by the arrival of a number of visitors from the -"contagious countries," and, conspicuous among them, Mr. Dort. This -honourable young gentleman, though all his parents and friends could -possibly desire, in point of fashion, was perhaps a little less than -people in general might have desired in point of brains. Indeed, he -possessed as little of that important ingredient in the composition of -humanity as was at all consistent with his keeping up his animal life -and keeping himself out of an idiot asylum. - -In appearance he was rather prepossessing; for he had a well-bred -not-too-pretty face, "nice" hair (and a capital valet, who rarely -received his wages), a tolerably good figure, and better taste in -dress than is usually combined with fatuity. He never talked much, -which was a good thing for himself and his friends. He had a dim kind -of notion that he did not get at his ideas, or at any rate did not put -them in words, with quite so much facility as other people did, and -so, actuated by a feeble gleam of common sense, he remained tolerably -silent in general. As he naturally enjoyed the aristocratic privilege -of not being required to exert himself for anybody's good or -convenience, he experienced no sort of awkwardness or misgiving when, -on making a call, after the ordinary greeting of civilised life (with -all the _r_'s eliminated, and all the words jumbled together), he -remained perfectly silent, in contemplation of the chimneypiece, -except when a dog was present, then he pulled its ears, until the -conclusion of his visit. He was very harmless, except to tradespeople, -and not unamiable--rather cheerful and happy indeed than otherwise, -though his habitual expression was one of vapid discontent. He would -have made it sardonic if he could, but he couldn't; he had too little -nose and not enough moustache for that, and his strong-minded mamma -had advised him to give it up. - -"I know your cousin Adolphus does it," Lady Gelston said indulgently; -"but just consider his natural advantages. Don't do it, Matthew; you -_can't_ sneer with an upper lip like yours; and, besides, why _should_ -you sneer?" - -"There's something in that, ma'am, certainly," returned her admiring -son, with his usual deliberation. "I really don't see why I should; -because, you see, I ain't clever enough for people to expect it:" -which was the cleverest thing the Honourable Matthew had ever said, up -to that period of his existence. - -The young ladies in the neighbourhood rather liked Mr. Dort. He was a -good deal in Scotland, chiefly because he found an alarming scarcity -of ready money was apt to set in, after he had made a comparatively -short sojourn in London, and each time this happened he would remark -to his friends, in the tone and with the manner of a discoverer, - -"And there are things one must have money for, don't you know? one -can't tick for everything--cabs, and waiters, and so on, don't you -know?" - -This unhappy perversity of circumstances brought the Honourable -Matthew home to his ancestral castle earlier, and caused him to remain -there longer, than was customary with the territorial magnates; and -Lord and Lady Gelston were, also for sound pecuniary reasons, -all-the-year-rounders, and very good neighbours with every family -entitled to that distinction. The young ladies, then, liked Mr. Dort. -He was useful, agreeable, and "safe." Now this peculiar-sounding -qualification was one which, however puzzling to the uninitiated, was -thoroughly understood in the neighbourhood, and its general -acceptation made things very pleasant. - -The young ladies might like Mr. Dort, and Mr. Dort might and did like -the young ladies, without any risk of undue expectations being -excited, or female jealousies and rivalries being aroused. Every one -knew that Mr. Dort's parents intended their son to marry an heiress, -and that Mr. Dort himself was quite of their opinion. When the -appointed time and the selected heiress should come, the young ladies -were prepared to give up Mr. Dort with cheerfulness. Perhaps they -hoped the chosen heiress might be ugly, and certainly they hoped she -would "behave properly to the neighbourhood," but there their -single-minded cogitations stopped. A good deal of the feudal spirit -lingered about the Gelston precincts, and if the son of the lord and -the lady, the heir of the undeniably grand, if rather out-at-elbows, -castle, had been a monk, or a married man, he could hardly have been -more secure from a design on the part of any young lady to convert -herself into the Honourable Mrs. Dort. - -The pleasantest unanimity of feeling prevailed in the community -respecting him, and all the married ladies declared they "quite felt -for dear Lady Gelston," in her natural anxiety to "have her son -settled." Her son was not particularly anxious about it himself, but -then it was not his way to be particularly anxious about anything but -the "sit" of his garments, and the punctuality of his meals, and this -indifference was normal. Local heiresses were not plentiful in the -vicinity of Gelston, but Lady Gelston did not trust to the home -supply. She had long ago enlisted the sympathies and the services of -such of her friends as enjoyed favourable opportunities for "knowing -about that sort of thing," and who either had no sons, or such as were -happily disposed of. She was a practically-minded woman, and fully -alive to the advantage of securing as many resources as possible. - -Lady Gelston would have been perfectly capable of the insolence of -considering her son's success in the case of the local heiresses--_par -excellence_, Miss Baldwin--perfectly indubitable, but of the folly she -was not capable. He would have a very good chance, she felt convinced, -and she was determined he should try it as soon as it would be -decently possible for him to do so. - -"Matt is not the only young man of rank she will meet, even here," -said the lady, when she condescended to explain her views to her -acquiescent lord. - -Who, be it observed, was quite as well convinced of the advantages of -the alliance, and quite as anxious it should take place, as his wife; -but who preferred repose to action, gave her ladyship credit for -practical ability and a contrary taste, and entertained a general idea -that scheming in all its departments had better be left to a woman. - -"Matt's chance will be before she goes to London," continued her -ladyship; "and I really think it is a good one. She likes him, and -that goes a great way with a girl"--said as if she were gently -compassionating a weakness--"and I think the Carterets are sensible -people, likely to see their own advantage in her marrying into a -family who are on good terms with them, and can make it worth their -while to behave nicely. Then there's the advantage to _her_ of the -connection. Our son, my dear, living _here_, is a better match for her -than Lord Anybody's son, living elsewhere, and unconnected with her -people. Really, nothing could be more--more providential, I really -consider it, for her." And Lady Gelston nodded approvingly, as if the -power alluded to had been present, and could have appreciated the -polite encouragement. - -"Well, my dear, you seem to have taken everything into consideration, -and I have no doubt you are right. I hope _they_ will see it in the -same light." - -"I hope so; but if they don't--and that's why I am anxious Matt should -not lose time"--Lady Gelston had a trick of parenthesis--"I shall see -about that Treherne girl--Mrs. Peile's niece, you know. Lady John -Tarbett sent me a very satisfactory account of her the other day. And -by the bye, that reminds me I must go and answer her letter." - -Had Lady Gelston been conscious that all her acquaintances were -thoroughly aware of the projects which she cherished in reference to -Gertrude Baldwin, she would not have been in the least annoyed. The -matter presented itself to her mind in a practical common-sense -aspect, much as his designs with regard to the "middle-aged lady" -presented themselves to the mind of Mr. Peter Magnus. "Husband on one -side, wife on the other;" fortune on one side, rank on the other; -mutual accommodation, excellent arrangement for all parties--a little -condescending on the part of the Honourable Matthew perhaps, but then -the girl was really very rich, and that was all about it. Any one -ordinarily clear-sighted, and with any knowledge of the world at all, -must recognise the advantages to all parties. If the Carterets and -Miss Baldwin were insensible to them--well, it would be provoking, but -there were other heiresses, and certain conditions of heiress-ship -were tolerably frequent, in which an Honourable Matthew would be a -greater prize than to Miss Meriton Baldwin of the Deane. - -When Mr. Dort made his appearance on the Deane croquet-ground, there -was not an individual present who did not know that he was there with -a definite purpose, and in obedience to the orders of Lady Gelston, -and they all watched his proceedings with curiosity. The fates were -not propitious to the Honourable Matthew, who had been preparing, on -his way, certain pretty speeches, which he flattered himself would be -effective, and would help towards "getting it over," which was his -periphrastic manner of alluding, in his self-communings, to the -proposal appointed to be made to Miss Baldwin. Gertrude was not -present, and everybody was intent upon croquet. - -"Where is your sister?" he asked Eleanor, after they had exchanged -good-morrows, and agreed that the ball of the previous night had been -a successful festivity. - -The droll directness of the question was too much for Nelly; she -laughed outright. - -"I really cannot tell you," she replied; "she ought to have been here -long ago; but no doubt she will come now." - -"I hope so," said Mr. Dort with fervent seriousness. "I should think -she would soon come." - -And then he retired modestly to a garden-seat and softly repeated the -phrases, which he began to find it desperately difficult to retain in -his memory. - -Robert Meredith had adhered with some tenacity to the croquet-party, -and had been a witness to this little scene. The amusement, just a -little dashed with pique, which Eleanor displayed did not escape him. - -"He is an original, certainly," said Meredith, "which, for the sake of -humanity, it is to be hoped will not be extensively copied. I fancy he -will propose to-day." - -"Very likely," said Nelly; "every one knows he, or his mother, has -intended it for a long time. In fact, Gerty rather wants to have it -over, as Mr. Dort is not a bad creature, and the sooner he understands -that, though she has no notion of marrying him, he may come here all -the same, the pleasanter it will be for all parties." - -"Of course she _has_ no notion of marrying him?" - -"Mr. Meredith, you are insulting! Gerty marry Matt Dort--an idiot like -that!" - -"An idiot with an old title and a castle to match, in not distant -perspective, combination of county influence, &c. &c. &c.," said -Meredith, smiling; "not so very improbable, after all." - -"So Lady Gelston thinks," replied Nelly; "and won't it be a sell--the -slang is delightfully expressive--when she finds it is not he." - -"And wouldn't it be a sell for her ladyship if it were? thought -Meredith. - -"I suppose it will, indeed." was his reply. "Though all this is very -amusing, I fancy I should consider it very humiliating if I were a -woman. I cannot see anything enviable in a position which exposes one -to such barefaced speculation." - -"Nonsense!" returned Eleanor, with a forced smile; "depend on it, if -you were a woman, you would like very well to be in Gertrude's -position, and have every one making much of you." - -As she spoke she threw down her mallet, and declared herself tired of -croquet. - -"Here is Gertrude at last," said Mrs. Haldane Carteret, and all the -party looked in the direction of the house. There was Gertrude, coming -along the terrace, and with her George Ritherdon, supporting on his -arm Mr. Dugdale. - -"Let us go and meet them," said Eleanor, "and tell Gerty to put the -Honourable Matthew out of pain as soon as possible." - -"He is to be here this evening, I suppose," said Meredith, as they -moved off the croquet-ground. - -"Yes," answered Eleanor; "Lady Gelston carefully provided for that -last night--not that it was necessary, for he would have invited -himself, and come under any circumstances." - -When Eleanor and Meredith joined Miss Baldwin and her escort, George -Ritherdon said to his friend: - -"I will ask you to take my place. I find the post-hour here is -horribly early, and I must really let my mother know where I am." - -"What on earth have you been doing?" said Meredith, as he offered his -arm to Mr. Dugdale. "You went away two hours ago to write letters, -you said." - -"I think we are to blame," said Gerty. "Mr. Ritherdon found us in the -morning room--found uncle James and me, I mean--and we got talking, as -Miss Congreve says, and--" - -"And I had an opportunity of finding out how much Ritherdon is to be -liked," interposed Mr. Dugdale, George being now out of hearing. "I -congratulate you on your companion, Robert." - -Meredith replied cordially, and the party advanced towards the lawn. -The two girls preceded Mr. Dugdale and Meredith, and as the sound of -their voices reached the latter, he correctly divined that they were -amusing themselves at the expense of Mr. Dort. On the approach of Miss -Baldwin, the Honourable Matthew promptly abandoned the garden bench, -from which no blandishments had previously availed to entice him, and -repeated the phrases which had occasioned him so much trouble, with -very suspicious glibness, to the undisguised amusement of the two -girls. Mr. Dort was not in the least abashed. He had no sense of -humour and not a particle of bashfulness, and, if he had reasoned on -the subject at all, would have imputed their hilarity to the natural -propensity of women to giggle, rather than have entertained any -suspicion that he had made himself ridiculous. But he never reasoned, -and he was always perfectly comfortable. - -The afternoon passed merrily away, and a pleasant dinner-party -succeeded. George Ritherdon had become quite a popular person before -the promised dance--not at all splendid, in comparison with the ball -of the preceding evening--began, and he confided to Meredith his -surprise at finding himself "getting on so well," he who was such a -bad hand at "society business." - -Gertrude gave him several dances that evening--Miss Congreve thought -rather too many,--and she gave Mr. Dort one, and a tolerably prolonged -audience in the ante-room, after which it was generally observed that -the expression of discontent habitual to his features was more marked -than usual. He left the Deane long before the party broke up, and -found his lady mother still up, and ready to receive his report of -proceedings. - -"Well, Matt, how have you got on?" was her ladyship's terse question. - -"I haven't got on at all," replied the Honourable Matthew. "She said -'No' almost before I'd asked her, and was so infernally pleasant about -it, that, hang it! I couldn't get up anything like the proper thing -under the circumstances,--you know, mother,--the 'may not time--can -you not give me a hope?' business." - -"Excessively provoking," said Lady Gelston, turning very red in the -face, and speaking in a tone which was the peculiar aversion of her -son: "she is a stupid perverse girl, and I'm certain you mismanaged -the affair." - -"No, I didn't," said the Honourable Matt; "there ain't much management -about it, that I can see. I said, 'Will you marry me?'--that's flat, I -think,--and she said, 'Certainly not;' _that's_ flat, I think;--a -perfect flounder, in my opinion." - -"Well, well, it can't be helped," said Lady Gelston, with a glance at -her son which might have meant that she had arrived at a comprehension -of what a fool he really was. "There, go away, and let me get to bed. -It's too bad; but there's no help for it. We must only try elsewhere." -she continued, as if speaking to herself. - -"Stop a bit, mother," interposed the Honourable Matt, without the -least impatience or any change of expression, "I want to consult you -about something. Don't you think what I particularly want is ready -money--money that isn't tied up, I mean--not the entail business, -don't you know, but the other thing?" - -"I think you want money in any way and in any quantity in which it can -be had," returned Lady Gelston impatiently. "How can you ask such -foolish questions?" - -"I'm not. I heard all about Nelly Baldwin's money to-night. Captain -Carteret was talking about it to old Largs, and he's so deaf that the -Captain had to roar all the particulars; and I'll tell you what, -mother,--by Jove, I'll go in for Nelly." - -Robert Meredith and George Ritherdon were to remain a week at the -Deane. The three days which succeeded their arrival were passed in -the ordinary pleasurable pursuits of a luxurious and hospitable -country-house, and were unmarked by any events which made themselves -at all conspicuous. Nevertheless they were days with a meaning, an -epoch with a history, and their course included two incidents. The -sisters had a quarrel, which they kept strictly to themselves; and -George Ritherdon received a long letter, which he read with profound -amazement, which he promptly destroyed, and concerning whose contents -he said not a word to any one. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. -THE FIRST MOVES IN THE GAME. - -Some time passed away, after the memorable fête which had celebrated -the majority of Miss Meriton Baldwin of the Deane, during which, to an -uninitiated observer, the aspect of affairs in that splendid and -well-regulated mansion remained unchanged. County festivities took -place; and the importance of the young ladies at the Deane was not a -better established fact than their popularity. - -With the comic seriousness which distinguished him, the Honourable -Matthew Dort had "gone in for Nelly." He visited at the Deane with -tranquil regularity, he played croquet imperturbably; only that he now -watched Eleanor's balls, and was as confident she would "croquet" -everybody as he had formerly been free from doubt about Gertrude's -prowess; he rehearsed his speeches, and uttered them with entire -self-possession. In due time he proposed to Eleanor, in the exact -terms in which he had already done Gertrude that honour: and he was -refused by her quite as definitively, but less politely than he had -been refused by her sister. On this occasion also he went home to his -mother, and related to her his defeat with a happy absence of -embarrassment. - -Lady Gelston was very angry. She really did not know what the -world--and especially the young women who were in it--was coming to; -she wondered who the Baldwin girls expected to get. But of one thing -she was convinced--Matthew must have made a fool of himself somehow, -or he could not have failed in both instances. The accused Matthew did -not defend himself. Very likely he had made a fool of himself, but it -could not be helped. Neither Gertrude nor Eleanor would marry him, and -it was quite clear he could not make either of them do so. His mother -had much better not worry herself about them; and when the shooting -was over, or he was tired of it, he would "look-up that girl of Lady -Jane Tarbert's." - -With this prospect, and with the intention of snubbing the Baldwins, -Lady Gelston was forced to be content. But the snubbing, though her -ladyship was an adept in the practice, did not succeed. The Baldwins -declined to perceive that they were snubbed, and the neighbourhood -declined to follow Lady Gelston's lead in this particular. The Deane -was the most popular house in the county, and the Baldwins were the -happiest and most enviable people. - -This fair surface was but a deceitful seeming; at least, so far as the -sisters were concerned. An estrangement, which had had its -commencement on Gertrude's birthday, and had since increased by -insensible degrees, had grown up between them; an estrangement which -not all their efforts--made in the case of Eleanor from pride, in that -of Gertrude from wounded feeling--could hide from the notice of their -uncle and aunt, from James Dugdale and Rose Doran; an estrangement -which made each eagerly court external associations, and find relief, -in the frequent presence of others, from the constant sense of their -changed relation. James Dugdale saw this change with keen sorrow; but -when he attempted to investigate it, he was met by Gertrude with an -earnest assurance that she was entirely ignorant of its origin, and an -equally earnest entreaty that he would not speak to Eleanor about it. -It would be useless, Gertrude said, and she must put her faith in time -and her sister's truer interpretation of her. - -Appeal to Eleanor was met with flat denial, and an angry refusal to -submit to interference, which in itself betrayed the evil root of all -this dissension. Gertrude was supreme, the angry sister said; _she_ -was nothing. Gertrude of course could not err; all the good things of -this world were for Gertrude, including the absolute subservience of -her sister. But she might not, indeed she should not, find it quite so -easy to command _that_. A good deal of harm was done by Mrs. -Carteret, not intentionally, but yet after her characteristic fashion. -She much preferred Eleanor to Gertrude, and she made herself a -partisan of the former, by pitying her, because _she_ only could know -how little she was really to blame. Haldane treated the matter very -lightly. He regarded it as a girlish squabble, which would resolve -itself into nothing in a very short time, and at the worst would be -dissipated by a stronger feeling. So soon as a lover should appear on -the scene, their good-humoured uncle believed it would be all -right,--provided indeed they did not happen to fall in love with the -same man, and quarrel desperately about him. - -Rose Doran regarded the state of things with anger and horror. - -"It's just the devil's work, sir," she said to Mr. Dugdale; "puttin' -jealousy and bitterness between them two, fatherless and motherless as -they are, and no one to show them the only kind of love in which -there's no room for more or less. It's just the devil's work, and he's -doing it bravely; and Miss Nelly's to his hand, for that jealousy was -always in her; not but there's somebody behindhand, I'm sure of it, -puttin' coals on the fire." - -Rose was at first disposed to suspect Mrs. Carteret of this -supererogatory work, but she did not continue to suspect her. She knew -the girls so thoroughly, she was in no doubt respecting the amount of -influence their aunt could exert over them, and in Nelly's case she -was aware this was much less than in that of Gertrude. Besides, Mrs. -Doran's practical wisdom controlled her feminine suspicion; she could -not discern an adequate motive, and she therefore exonerated aunt -Lucy. But she was no less convinced that, in this unhappy matter, -Eleanor was not left alone to the unassisted promptings of her -disposition, in which Rose had early perceived the terrible taint of -jealousy. And her acute observation guided her aright before long; it -guided her to an individual whom she had instinctively distrusted in -his boyhood--to Robert Meredith. - -Though she had hardly seen him for many years past, and though, in her -position in the household at the Deane, she had not come into any -contact with him of late. Rose Doran had never got over the dislike of -Robert Meredith which she had conceived at the terrible time of her -beloved mistress's death. On that occasion James Dugdale had obeyed -Margaret's instructions so faithfully and promptly, that Rose Moore -had reached the Deane in time to kneel beside her unclosed coffin, and -whisper, on her cold lips, the promise on which she had instinctively -relied,--the promise that her children should be henceforth Rose's -sacred charge and care. Among the mourners at the funeral of Mrs. -Baldwin were Hayes Meredith and his son; the former entirely absorbed -in grief for the event, and in thoughts of the future, as his secret -knowledge forced him to contemplate it; the latter, with ample leisure -of mind to look about him, to observe and admire, and with the -pleasant conviction that every one was too much occupied to take any -notice of him. He conducted himself with propriety at the funeral, and -afterwards, while he was in sight of the family; and he was far from -supposing that Rose Moore was watching his looks and his manner, on -other occasions, with mingled disgust and curiosity, and that she said -to herself, "The Lord be good to us! but I believe, upon my soul and -faith, _the boy is glad she's taken_." - -Rose had never deliberately recalled this impression during all the -years which had witnessed her faithful fulfilment of her vow, but she -had never lost it; and the conviction which now came to her, during -Robert Meredith's stay at the Deane, and which gained strength with -every day which ensued on his departure, had its origin in it. Had it -needed confirmation, it would have obtained it from the utter and -peremptory rejection of her good offices, on Nelly's part, and the -burst of angry disdain with which the infatuated girl met her -suggestion, that Mr. Meredith was no friend of Gertrude's. Eleanor -Baldwin had travelled no small distance on the thorny road of evil, -when she rewarded Rose's suggestion with a haughty request, which -fired Rose's Irish blood, but with a flame quickly quenched in healing -waters of love and pity,--that she would in future remember, and keep, -_her place_. - -"It's because I never forget my place, the place your mother put me -in, Miss Nelly, that I warn you," said her faithful friend. - -Then Eleanor felt ashamed of herself; but pride and anger and deadly -jealousy carried the day over the wholesome sentiment, and she turned -away hastily, leaving Rose without a word. - -In much more than its external meaning was that festival time of deep -importance to Gertrude and Eleanor Meriton Baldwin. It was fraught -with the fate of both. While Robert Meredith and his friend remained -at the Deane, the relation of the sisters was unchanged in appearance. -It seemed as if their mysterious quarrel had had no lasting effect. -The after estrangement was, however, its legitimate fruit, as well as -the consequence of the pernicious ideas which Robert Meredith had set -himself assiduously to cultivate in the mind of Nelly. An explanation -of the state of mind of Robert Meredith, at the termination of his -visit to the Deane, will sufficiently elucidate the quarrel of the -sisters, and its distressing results. - -Robert Meredith had arrived at the Deane full of one purpose, which -had been vaguely present to his mind for some years, but to which -certain circumstances had of late lent consistency, fixedness, and -urgency. This purpose was to make himself acceptable in the eyes of -Miss Baldwin. He had hitherto troubled himself but little about the -young lady. When she should have reached her majority, his time should -have come. It had arrived; and not Mr. M'llwaine himself--who had gone -to the Deane, accompanied by the huge mass of papers to which Haldane -Carteret had found it difficult to induce his niece to give reasonable -attention--had proceeded thither with a more strictly business-like -purpose in view than that which actuated the handsome barrister. -Robert would have despised himself as sincerely, and almost as much, -as he was in the habit of despising his neighbours, if he had been -capable of permitting sentiment to influence him in so grave an affair -as that of securing his fortune for life,--which was precisely his -purpose; and he had formed his plans totally irrespective of -Gertrude's attractions, or their possible influence upon himself. He -had two schemes in his mind, both, in his belief, equally practicable; -and he determined to be guided by circumstances as to which of the two -he should adopt. If the second should present itself as the more -advisable, an indispensable preliminary to the secure playing of the -long game it would involve was the alienation of the sisters. It could -do no harm, in any case, to make an immediate move in that direction; -and therefore Robert Meredith made it. - -When Eleanor Baldwin made her escape from the ballroom on that -memorable night, leaving her sister to the cares which her superior -importance devolved upon her, Robert Meredith's eager words of -admiration, and still more expressive looks, had filled the girl's -heart--already dangerously trembling towards him--with a strange -tumultuous joy, contending with the jealous bitterness he had -contrived to implant in it. But when he and George Ritherdon bade one -another good-night at the door of George's room, after a brief -commentary upon the beauty of the morning, he had enough that was ever -in his thoughts to keep him from sleep. The comparative advantages of -the first of his plans over the second had immensely increased in his -estimation. - -The beauty, the simplicity, the tender pathetic grace of Gertrude, had -struck with a strange attractive freshness upon his palled sense, and -he had awakened, with a delicious consciousness, to the conviction -that he might combine the utmost gratification of two passions by the -successful prosecution of his scheme. To make that delicate, refined, -lovely girl love him as passionately, as foolishly, as the dark -beauty, her sister, would love him, if it suited his purpose to -encourage the dawning feeling he had seen in her eyes, and felt in -every movement and word of hers during the evening, would indeed be -triumph, adding a delicious flavour to the wealth and station which -should be his. He understood now what the charm was which Gertrude's -mother, whom he had hated, had had for men,--the charm of a pure and -refined intellectuality, with underlying possibilities of intense and -exalted feeling,--these were to be divined in the depths of the clear -gray, unabashed eyes, and in the sensitive curves of a mouth as -delicate as her mother's, but less ascetic. - -Had he made a favourable impression on Gertrude? Had she learned from -her sister's report to regard him with favour, and had he confirmed -that report? He did not feel comfortably certain on this point. -Gertrude had not given him any indication beyond the additional -attention which he claimed as Mr. Dugdale's particular friend. But -Robert Meredith did not trouble himself much on this point; he had -time before him, and he knew perfectly well how to use it. But it was -characteristic of the man that, though he dwelt, to his last waking -moment, upon Gertrude's beauty and charm, he thought, just as he fell -asleep, "If she thwarts me, it will all add zest to the revenge which -Miss Eleanor's eyes tell me is secure in any case." - -The story of the remainder of Robert Meredith's visit may be briefly -told. Gertrude did thwart him. Not intentionally; for she, being the -most candid of girls, was wholly incapable of understanding his -double-dealing policy. She frankly regarded him as her sister's -admirer, and she unreservedly regretted that he should be so. She did -not like Robert Meredith; between him and her there was an absolute -absence of sympathy, and she shrank with an inexplicable repugnance -and fear from his looks--covert and yet bold--and from the admiration -which he insinuated, the understanding which he attempted to imply, -whenever he could take or contrive an opportunity of doing so, -unobserved and unheard by Eleanor. She avoided him whenever it was -possible, and she never remained alone with him. - -Robert Meredith was a vain man--but vanity was not his ruling passion, -one or two others had precedence of it--therefore he did not fail to -see, or hesitate to confess to himself, that Gertrude had thwarted -him, that there would not be room, in the accomplishment of his -scheme; for the delicious gratification of two passions at once, and -that he would do well to fall back upon the second game, for playing -which he had the cards in his hand. It was not without intense -mortification he made this avowal to himself. He was a man to whom -failure was indeed bitter; but he speedily found consolation in musing -upon the perfection of a certain revenge which he meditated. - -"If she would marry me, in ignorance," he said to himself, "I should -be the Deane's master and hers; but, if she would not marry me under -any circumstances, to escape any penalty--and I begin to think that is -certain now--I have her in my power, and _all, all, all_ will be -mine." - -These reflections, made by Robert Meredith during the week which was -to conclude his stay at the Deane, led him to take a certain -resolution, whose execution was fraught with immediate results to the -sisters. - -A small but very animated dancing-party had taken place at the Deane; -and Robert had closely studied the demeanour of Gertrude and Eleanor -to him and to each other. The estrangement of the sisters had not then -become manifest; but he detected and exulted in it. On Gertrude's part -there was a nervous anxiety to put Eleanor forward, to consult her, to -defer to her in everything; on Eleanor's there was an affectation of -indifference, an assumption of deference, a giving of herself the -appearance of being a guest, which was in extremely bad taste, but -thoroughly delightful to Robert Meredith. If a servant asked Eleanor a -question, she pointedly referred him to her sister; she professed an -entire ignorance of Miss Baldwin's plans for the evening; she divided -herself from her in innumerable little expressive ways, which Gertrude -noted with a sick heart and a manner which betrayed painful -nervousness; and she abandoned herself to the influence of the -flattery and the insidious suggestions of the tempter to a degree -which justified him in believing that he might be entirely sure of -her, whether the pursuit of his purpose should lead him to break her -heart by marrying her sister, or crown her hopes by marrying herself. - -It was Gertrude's custom to resort to the library every morning after -breakfast, and there to occupy herself with her drawing, at a table -beside a large window which opened on the lawn. She was usually -undisturbed, as Mr. Dugdale remained in his own rooms all the morning, -her uncle frequented the stable and farmyard, Eleanor devoted the -morning hours to music, and Mrs. Carteret had no attraction towards -the library. George Ritherdon had sometimes found his way thither; and -Gertrude had, on those occasions, found it not unpleasant to lay aside -her pencil, and discuss with her guest some of the contents of her -amply-stored bookshelves. But George was engaged in writing letters on -the morning which followed the before-mentioned dancing-party; and -Robert Meredith found Miss Baldwin, as he expected, alone. Gertrude -tried hard to receive him in the most ordinary way, but her -embarrassment was distressingly apparent; and he coolly showed her -that he perceived it. After a few words--she could hardly have told -what words--she collected her drawing-materials, and said something -confusedly about being waited for by Mrs. Carteret, as she rose to -leave the room. But Robert Meredith, with a bold fixed look, which, in -spite of herself, she saw and felt in every nerve, detained her; and -gravely informing her that he had purposely selected that opportunity -of finding her alone, in order to make a communication of importance -to her, requested her to listen to him. His manner was not loverlike, -it was even, under all the formality of his address, slightly -contemptuous; but she knew instantly what it was she had to listen to, -and a prayer arose in her heart by a sudden inexplicable impulse. She -resumed her seat, and leaning her arm on the table which divided her -from Robert Meredith, she shaded her eyes with her hand, and prepared -to listen to him. - -It was as her instinctive dread had told her. In set phrase, and -with his bold covetous eyes fixed upon her, Meredith told her his -errand,--told her he loved her, and asked her to marry him--made -mention too of her wealth, and the risk he ran of being misinterpreted -by the world, of having base motives imparted to him--a risk more than -counterbalanced by his love, and his faith in his ability to make her -understand and believe that she was sought by him for herself alone. - -Robert Meredith spoke well, and with fire and energy; but, as Gertrude -listened to him, her distress and embarrassment subsided, and she -removed the sheltering hand from her eyes. When he urgently entreated -her to reply, she said very gently: - -"I should feel more pain, Mr. Meredith, in telling you that I cannot -return the preference with which you honour me, if I did not feel so -convinced that your love for me is only imaginary. Had it been real, -you would not have remembered my wealth, or cared about the opinion of -the world." - -This answer staggered the man to whom it was addressed more than any -indignation could have done. He burst out into renewed protestations; -but Gertrude, with grave dignity, begged him to desist, and again -asserting that as her guardian's friend he should ever be esteemed -hers, assured him it was useless to pursue his suit. Then she rose, -and moved towards the door. - -"Is this a final answer, Miss Baldwin?" asked Meredith. - -"Quite final, Mr. Meredith." - -"Stay a moment. May I hope you will not add to the mortification of -this refusal the injury of making it known to Mr. Dugdale or Mrs. -Carteret, indeed to any one? I confess I could hardly endure the -ridicule or the compassion which must attend a rejected suitor of the -heiress of the Deane." - -There was a devil's sneer in his voice and on his face; but Gerty took -no heed of it, as she replied, with quiet dignity, - -"We have a code of honour also, we women, Mr. Meredith; and you may be -quite sure I shall never so far offend against it as to mention this -matter to _any one_." Then she added, with a sweet smile, in which her -perfect incredulity regarding his professions was fully though -unconsciously expressed: - -"I will leave you now; and I hope you will forget all this as soon and -as completely as I shall." - -Robert Meredith followed her with his eyes as she left the room, and -passing along the terrace, went down into her flower-garden, and -lingered there, utterly oblivious of him; and a deadly feeling of -hatred, such hatred as springs most profusely from baffled passion, -arose in his heart, and blossomed into sudden strength and purpose. - -"Yes," he muttered; "you have taken up the thread of your mother's -story, and you shall spin it out to some purpose. A little while, and -Eleanor will be of age; and then, my fine heiress of the Deane, -then we shall see who has won to-day. A little while, and if I -can only keep Oakley quiet till then, I am safe. Safe! more than -safe,--triumphant, victorious!" - -It was on the next day that Nelly, intoxicated by the artful -flatteries of Robert Meredith, and tortured by the jealousy which he -had fostered, taunted her sister with the powerlessness of money to -purchase love. The taunt fell harmlessly on Gertrude's pure and -upright heart; but it startled her, uttered by her sister. How had -Nelly come by such knowledge, and why did she apply it to her? She -hastily asked her why; and to her astonishment was answered, that in -one treasure at least Nelly was richer than she was--the treasure of a -brave and true man's love! The reply shook Gertrude like a reed. There -was indeed one man who answered to this description; there was one man -to win whose love would be the most blissful lot which Heaven could -bestow. There was one man, who never, by word or deed or look, had -implied to Gertrude Baldwin that such a lot might be hers--had her -sister won _him_? Well indeed might she exult, if she were so -supremely blest, and hold not Gertrude only, but all womankind her -inferiors. Pale and breathless, she awaited the complete elucidation -to be expected from Eleanor's taunting wrath, and it came. It came, -not as her fearful shrinking heart had foreboden, but in the avowal -that Eleanor spoke of Robert Meredith. - -With the passing away of the great pang of terror that had clutched at -her heart, Gertrude was again calm and clear-sighted; but she was -deeply grieved. She felt how unworthy was the man her sister loved, -how baseless her belief that she possessed his affections. She was far -from being able to comprehend such a nature as that of Robert -Meredith; but she had a vague consciousness that, in his binding her -to secrecy respecting his proposal to her, there had been a -treacherous intent; and though she would not break her promise, she -appealed to her sister on grounds and terms which a little more -knowledge of human nature would have taught her must be in vain. Then -came the inevitable result, a bitter and lasting quarrel, and an -ineradicable belief on Eleanor's part that Gertrude's refusal to -credit Meredith's love for her sister arose from the most despicable -motives--pride, envy, and jealousy. Where was the sisterly love, where -was the unbroken confidence of years now? Blasted by the fierce breath -of passion, poisoned by the insidious art of the tempter. - -So a treacherous appearance of calm and happiness existed at the Deane -during the months which succeeded the departure of the friends, and -none but those concerned were aware of two circumstances which had -entirely changed the lives of the bright and beautiful sisters. One -was the fact that Eleanor Baldwin was secretly betrothed to Robert -Meredith, with the understanding that on her coming of age she would -marry him, with or without the consent of her relatives. The other was -that the plodding industrious barrister George Ritherdon, who carried -back to his chambers in the Temple more than one unaccustomed -sensation, had taken with him, unconsciously, the unasked heart of the -young mistress of the Deane. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. -DRIFTING. - - -With the commencement of the season, Major and Mrs. Carteret and their -nieces followed the multitude to London. This proceeding was but -little in accordance with the wishes of Gertrude Baldwin, who loved -her home and her dependents, the pleasant routine of her country -duties and recreations; but she could not oppose herself to the -general opinion that it was the right thing to do, in which even Mr. -Dugdale, her great support and ally, agreed with the others. In her -capacity of woman of fashion, Mrs. Carteret was quite shocked that -Gertrude should have passed her twenty-first year without coming out -in proper style in London; but in that of chaperone, or, as she called -it, maternal friend to a great heiress, she had recognised the wisdom -and propriety of permitting her to attain to years of discretion -before she should be formally delivered over to the wiles of the -fortune-hunters and the perils of the "great world." Not but that -there were fortune-hunters in Scotland, witness the Honourable Matthew -Dort; but Gertrude was not likely to be bewildered by their devices in -the sober atmosphere of her home. - -Miss Baldwin's mind had not changed on the subject of the superiority -of her Scottish home to anything which a London residence could offer, -and which would certainly wear an air of triumph for her, however -false that air might be. Gertrude was by no means worldly wise. She -had none of the cynical foresight leading her to see in every one who -approached her a covetous idolater of her wealth. She would have -regarded herself with horror if she had lost her faith in love or -friendship; and indeed she had been so accustomed to the presence of -wealth all her life, that she did not understand its effect on others, -and had no mental standard by which to estimate its value, either -material or moral. It was not, therefore, from any unwomanly disdain -of the motives of those whom she was to sojourn amongst in London that -Gertrude took the prospect coolly, showing none of the excitement and -exultation to which Eleanor gave unrestrained expression, and which -made her amiable to Gertrude to an extent unparalleled for many months -past. The truth was that there was a secret in Gertrude's heart, a -preoccupation of Gertrude's mind, to which everything beside, so far -as she was individually concerned, had to yield. This pervading -sentiment did not render her selfish, she was as ready with her -sympathies for others as ever, but it did make her absent and -indifferent. - -Robert Meredith and his friend had passed a fortnight at Christmas at -the Deane, and there the plans of the family for the coming season had -been discussed. Gertrude had learned with surprise and discomfiture -that her living in London, where he lived, would not imply her seeing -very much of George Ritherdon. She fancied he had been at some pains -to make her understand this, and the consciousness rendered her -uneasy. Why had he dwelt upon the busy nature of his life, the -diversity between his occupations and hers? Why had he drawn a merry -sketch for her of the wide difference between the society, such as it -was, in which alone he had a footing, and the gilded saloons which -were to throw their doors open for her? He had not offended her by -cynicism, which was as far from his happy and loyal nature as from -hers; but he had made her thoughtful and uncomfortable by an -insistence upon this point, which she could but refer to a wish to -make her understand that she must not expect him to contribute to the -anticipated pleasures of her sojourn in London. And with this -conviction vanished all such anticipations from Gertrude's fancy. - -That was an enchanted fortnight. The hours had flown, and a beautiful -new world had opened itself to the girl's perception. She had been too -happy to be afraid of Robert Meredith, or ungracious to him. She had -utterly forgotten the rule of action she had laid down for herself, in -consideration of her sister's perverse jealousy and alienation. She -had determined to treat Meredith with cold politeness, to show him and -Eleanor that she imputed to his sinister influence the state of things -which occasioned her so much pain. But she forgot the pain; she was -happy, and the sunshine of her content spread all around her. - -Robert Meredith had a difficult game to play at this time, but he -played it with skill and success. It is not a light test of skill when -an elderly coquette is persuaded by a _ci-devant_ admirer to abandon -the conquering for the confidential _rôle_, and this was precisely the -test which Robert Meredith applied to his _savoir faire_. The secret -betrothal between himself and Eleanor placed them on so secure a -footing, that he was able, without annoying Eleanor, notwithstanding -her exacting disposition, to devote much of his time to Mrs. Carteret, -towards whom his tone modified itself from the slightly vulgar, -somewhat obtrusive gallantry which had been wont to characterise it, -to the very perfection of deferential observance and highly-prized -intimacy. He had appealed to some of Eleanor's best feelings in order -to induce her to consent to the secrecy of their engagement--to her -disinclination to produce family discord, to her duty of avoiding the -rendering of her aunt's position as between her and Gertrude -difficult, and to her noble confidence in his judgment and fidelity, -which it should be his loftiest aim in life to justify and reward. - -He had not only poisoned Eleanor's mind against her sister, but he had -succeeded in undermining the grateful affection which the misguided -girl had once entertained for Mr. Dugdale. He had made her remark the -preference which, in many small ways, the old man showed for -Gertrude--a preference of whose origin and justification Eleanor had -no knowledge to enable her to understand it aright--and assured her -that in him too, in deference to that universal baseness which -dictated subservience to her sister's wealth, Eleanor would find a -bitter opponent to her love, a ruthless adversary of her happiness. -His wicked counsels prevailed. Something romantic in the girl's -disposition responded to the idea of a persecuted passion; and the -demon of jealousy, now thoroughly awakened in her, wrought -unrestrained all the mischief her human evil genius desired. Meredith -counselled Eleanor to soften her manner towards Gertrude, for the -better security of their secret against the danger of her awakened -suspicions; and she obeyed him. He forbade her to tell Mrs. Carteret -all the truth, lest it might hereafter compromise her with her husband -and Mr. Dugdale, but told her to cultivate her good graces in every -way, so that in the time to come her aid might be sure; and she obeyed -him. The result of all this was much more peace for Gertrude; and as -Meredith kept himself out of her way, devoting himself to Mrs. -Carteret and Eleanor, and leaving George Ritherdon to her society, it -had the additional effect of increasing and consolidating her -attachment to George. - -Major Carteret was habitually unobservant; his wife confined her -attention to Robert Meredith, of whose wishes she was the delighted -confidante, and Eleanor, whom she did not at present suspect of more -than an incipient inclination towards Robert. Mr. Dugdale,--whose -health had declined considerably since the autumn, did not leave his -rooms, and saw the different members of the family singly,--was -totally unconscious of the drama being played out so near him. Things -were better between the sisters, and he rejoiced at that. The -favourable impression which George Ritherdon had made upon him on his -first visit to the Deane was deepened during his second, and he -greatly enjoyed his society. Gertrude passed many happy hours, working -or drawing, beside her old friend's sofa, while the two men talked -with mutual pleasure and sympathy. When that happy fortnight ended and -the friends had returned to London, Gertrude found her greatest -consolation in Mr. Dugdale's frequent allusions to George, and in the -eulogiums which he pronounced on his mind and his manners, the latter -being a point on which the old gentleman was difficult and fastidious. - -During and since that time, Gertrude, who was singularly free from -vanity and quite incapable of pretence, had frequently asked herself -whether she had not given her heart to one who did not love her. Even -if it had been so to her indisputable knowledge, she would not have -striven to withdraw the gift. She loved him, once and for ever, and -she would, sanctify that love in her heart, if he were never to be -more to her than the truest and most valued of friends. She was -utterly sincere and candid in this resolution; she had no -foreknowledge of the difficulty, the impossibility of maintaining it. -She was content, ay, even happy, in her uncertainty, which was -sometimes hope, but never despair. Such a possibility as that George -should love her and refrain from telling her so, because of her -wealth, literally never occurred to her, any more than that, if he -loved her, and told her so, the most unscrupulous calumniator in the -world could accuse him of caring for that wealth, of even remembering -it. It had no place in her thoughts at all. She lived her dream-life -happily; sometimes her dreams were brighter, sometimes more sombre; -but their glitter did not come from her gold, their shadow was not -cast by cynical doubt, by worldly-wise suspicion. - -When the time came for their journey to London, Gertrude was more sad -than elated. Her best friend, the one on whom she leaned with the -trusting reliance of a daughter, from whom she had ever experienced -the fond indulgence of a parent, was to remain at the Deane. Mr. -Dugdale's health rendered it impossible for him to accompany the -family, and Mrs. Carteret and Eleanor did not regret his absence. -Their feelings were in accord on every point connected with the -expedition. Eleanor foresaw no impediment to her frequent enjoyment of -Robert Meredith's society, under the auspices of Mrs. Carteret, who, -on her part, had great satisfaction in the prospect of partaking in -the gaieties of a London season, for which she still retained an -unpalled taste, and maintaining a splendid establishment at the -expense of her niece. - -More than half the interval which had to elapse between Gertrude's -attainment of her majority and Eleanor's reaching a similar period had -now elapsed, and Robert Meredith's successful prosecution of his -schemes with respect to the Baldwins was uncheckered by any reverse. -In other respects things were not progressing quite so favourably with -him. He had been negligent in his professional business of late, since -his mind had been full of the mysterious game he was playing, and the -inevitable, inexorable result of this negligence was making itself -felt. George Ritherdon, on the contrary, was getting on rapidly for a -barrister, and was beginning to be talked about as a man with a name -and a standing. The relations between the two had insensibly relaxed, -as was only natural, considering that the strongest tie between them, -their common industry, their common ambition, had so considerably -slackened. Nothing approaching to a quarrel had taken place; but they -were tired of one another, and each was aware of the fact. The -sentiment dated from their second visit to the Deane, whence each had -returned preoccupied with his own thoughts, his own preferences, and -profoundly conscious that no sympathy existed between them. - -Little had been said between the two relative to the Baldwins' sojourn -in London; and when George Ritherdon, made aware of their arrival by -the _Morning Post_, asked his friend when he intended to present -himself at their house in Portman-square, he was disagreeably -surprised by the cold brevity of Meredith's reply that he had been -there already, had indeed seen the ladies on the very day of their -arrival, and was going to dine with them the same evening. - -George made no remark upon this communication, and left a card for -Major Carteret on the following day. An invitation to dinner followed, -and on his mentioning the circumstance to Meredith, George was -surprised and offended by his manner. He laughed unpleasantly, and -said something about the futility of George's expecting to be received -on the same footing as he had been in the country, which made him -decidedly angry. - -"I don't understand you, Meredith," he said. "You brought me to the -Deane, I owe the acquaintance entirely to you, and now you talk as if -you resented it." - -"Nonsense, old fellow," returned Robert with good humour, which cost -him an effort; "I only discourage your going to the Baldwins, because -I do not want to hear you talked of as an unsuccessful competitor for -the heiress's money-bags, and because I know, if you have any leaning -in that direction, it will be quite useless. The young ladies fly at -higher game than you or I." - -A deep flush overspread George Ritherdon's face as he replied: - -"I beg you will not include me, in your own mind, in the category of -fortune-hunters; as for what other people think or say, you need not -trouble yourself." - -"As you please. I only warn you that Gertrude Baldwin is an interested -coquette, determined to make the most of her money,--to buy rank with -it, at all events, but by no means averse to numbering her thousands -of victims in the mean time." - -"You speak harshly of this girl, Meredith, and cruelly." - -"I speak candidly, because I am speaking to _you_. You don't suppose I -would put another fellow on his guard. I might have got bit myself, -you know, if I had not understood her in time. However, we had better -not talk about it. Forewarned, forearmed, they say, though I can't say -I ever knew any good come of warning any one." - -Thereupon Meredith pretended to be very busy with his papers, and the -subject dropped. But it left a very unpleasant impression on George's -mind. "An interested coquette!" No more revolting description could be -given of any woman within the category of those whom an honest man -could ever think of marrying. Had George Ritherdon thought of marrying -Gertrude? No. Did he love her? He knew in his heart he did; but he did -not question for a moment his power of keeping the fact hidden from -the object of his love, and every other person. He would have regarded -the declaration of his feelings to an inexperienced girl, who had had -no opportunity of choice, of seeing the world, of forming her judgment -of character, to whom the language of love was utterly unknown, on the -eve of her entrance upon a scene on which she ought to enter perfectly -untrammelled, as in the highest degree dishonourable. He would have -held this opinion concerning any woman whose wealth should have made -her position so exceptionally difficult as that of Gertrude; but in -her particular instance he had an additional motive for his strict -self-conquest and reticence, which, if it ever could be explained, -must remain concealed for the present. - -George Ritherdon had no coxcombry or conceit about him, and he had not -made up his mind by any means that Gertrude loved him, or was likely -to be brought to love him in the future, should he find that the -ordeal to which she was about to be exposed had left her still -fancy-free, and his own circumstances be such as to enable him to -believe he might try for the great prize of her heart and hand without -dishonour. He did not deceive himself as to the obstacles and the -rivals he might have to encounter; he gave all the fascinations of the -new sphere in which Gertrude was about to shine their full credit and -importance, and he contented himself with this conclusion: - -"If, when she has had full experience, ample time, when she knows her -position and her own mind perfectly, I can be sure that she prefers me -to all the world beside, I will win her, and marry her, without -bestowing a thought on her fortune, or caring a straw for any one's -interpretation of my motives, caring only for _hers_." - -Steadily acting upon the plan he had laid down for himself, George -Ritherdon frequented Gertrude's society not often enough to make his -visits a subject of comment, not sufficiently seldom to induce her to -think him indifferent or estranged. She and Eleanor were going through -the ordinary routine of the life of London in the season; he rarely -participated in its more tumultuous and irrational pleasures. But he -kept a tolerably strict watch upon Gertrude for all that; and he had -no reason to believe, at the end of the second month of her stay in -London, that any one of the numerous admirers with whom rumour and his -own observation had accredited her, had found the slightest favour -with the young lady of the Deane. - -Before the end of that second month, Robert Meredith and George -Ritherdon had parted company. The former could perhaps have given a -plain and conclusive reason for his desire that so it should be; but, -in the case of the latter, the actuating motive was more vague. George -felt that they did not get on together. The Baldwins were hardly ever -mentioned between them, though each knew the terms on which the other -stood with the family, and they not unfrequently met at the house in -Portman-square. The dissolution of the old arrangement, once so -pleasant to them both, was plainly imminent to each before it actually -occurred, and it might have come about after a disagreeable fashion -but for a fortunate accident. The gentleman who had been George's -university tutor, and with whom he had always maintained intimate -relations, died, and bequeathed to George his numerous and valuable -library. What was he to do with the books? Their joint chambers would -not accommodate them. George took a large set in another building, and -the difficulty was solved, to their mutual relief, without a quarrel. - -The season was a brilliant one, and Gertrude and Eleanor Baldwin had -their full share of its glories and its pleasures. They enjoyed it, -after their different fashions, but Gertrude more than Eleanor. In the -heart of each there was indeed a disquieting secret; but in the one -case there was no self-reproach, no misgiving, while in the other that -voice would occasionally make itself heard. As time passed over, -Gertrude felt more and more hopeful that George Ritherdon loved her, -though for some reason which she could not penetrate, but to which it -was not difficult for her docile nature to submit, he did not at -present avow the sentiment. Her happiness was not lost, it was only -deferred; she would be patient, and then she could always comfort -herself with the knowledge that her love for him--pure, lofty, with no -element of torment in it--could never die, or be taken from her, while -she lived. - -Eleanor's lot was by no means so favoured, and she proved more -difficult to manage than Robert Meredith had foreseen. She chafed -under the restraint of her position, and suffered agonies of suspicion -and jealousy. The evil passion which he had been quick to see and -skilful to cultivate, for his own purposes, was easily turned against -him, a contingency which with all his astuteness he had failed to -apprehend; and Eleanor's daily increasing imperiousness and distrust -made him tremble for the safety of his secret and the success of his -plans. - -Nothing made Eleanor so suspicious of the falsehood of his -professions, nothing exasperated her so much, as Robert Meredith's -imperviousness to the feeling which had obtained so fearful a dominion -over her. If she could but have roused his jealousy, as she -ceaselessly endeavoured to do, by such reckless flirtations as brought -her into trouble with even her careless uncle, and furnished plentiful -food for ill-natured tongues, she would have been more easy, less -unhappy, more convinced. But Robert would not be made jealous, and his -easy tranquil assumption of confident power, not laid aside even -during the stolen interviews in which he bewildered her with his -passionate protestations and caresses, sometimes nearly drove her mad. -An instinct, which it had been well for her if she had heeded, told -her that this man was not true to her. But she loved him madly. -He had changed her whole nature, it seemed to her, in the few -seldom-recurring moments in which she saw clearly into the past, and -strained fearful eyes into the future; he had ruined the peace and -happiness of her home, he had estranged her from her sister, he had -taught her lessons of scorn and suspicion towards all her kind. But -she loved him, him only in all the world. - -Towards the close of the season, Haldane Carteret grew extremely -impatient. He had been, he considered, quite an unreasonable time on -duty, and he declared his intention of at once returning to the Deane. -The men-servants would suffice for an escort for Mrs. Carteret and her -nieces; or, if they did not like that arrangement, he was sure -Meredith, who was coming down for the shooting at all events, would -make it convenient to leave town a week or so sooner, and take care of -them on the journey. No one had any objection to urge against this -proposal; and Major Carteret took himself off, hardly more to his own -satisfaction than to that of his wife, who declared herself worn out -by his "crossness," and disgusted with his selfishness. - -On the following evening Robert Meredith had a guest at his chambers, -who, to judge by the moody and impatient expression of his host's -countenance, was anything but welcome. Meredith had dined at -Portman-square, where he had met George Ritherdon, to whom Miss -Baldwin, with her simplest and yet most dignified air, had given, in -her own and her uncle's name, an invitation to the Deane for the -shooting season. This incident was highly displeasing to Meredith, -who, distracted by an uneasy suspicion that his friend had found him -out to a certain extent, desired nothing less than his presence during -any part of the critical time which must elapse before he could make -his _coup_. Robert had returned to his chambers in a sullen and -exasperated temper, which was intensified by the spectacle which met -his view. An old man, shabby of aspect, and anything but venerable in -appearance or bearing--an old man with bleared watery eyes, bushy gray -eyebrows, and dirty gray hair--was seated in an arm-chair by the open -window, smoking a churchwarden pipe and drinking hot brandy-and water. -The mingled odours of tobacco and spirits perfumed the room after a -fashion which harmonised ill with the sweet autumnal air and the -flowers which adorned the sitting-room, in accordance with one of the -owner's most harmless tastes. - -"What, you here, Oakley!" said Meredith, in a tone which did not -dissemble his disgust. "What are you doing here? What has brought you -up from Cheltenham?" - -"Business," replied the unvenerable visitor quietly, without rising or -making any attempt at a salutation of his reluctant host. "Business," -he repeated with an emphatic nod. - -"With me?" Meredith threw his hat and gloves upon a table, and sat -down, sullenly facing his visitor. - -"With you. Look here, I'm tired of all this. You see, I am not so -young as you are, and at my time of life I can't afford to play a -waiting game. You can't, if you would, make it worth my while to do -it; and as the case actually stands, you _don't_ make it worth my -while to play any game at all--of yours, I mean. Of course I should, -in any case, play mine." - -"I don't understand you," said Meredith, making a strong effort to -keep his temper and speak with indifference. "I have kept the terms I -made with you to the letter. What do you mean by _your_ game, as apart -from mine?" - -"Just this. I have no interest whatever in your marrying this girl -rather than in any other man's marrying her. It does not matter to me -where my price comes from; I'm sure of it from her husband, whoever he -may be, and I don't believe you're sure that she _will_ marry you. You -have tried to keep me dark, and in the dark, cunningly enough; but I -have found out more about them than you think for, for all that; and I -know she has more than one string to her bow, and at least one of them -more profitable to play upon than you are. If you can't persuade the -girl to marry you before she's of age, and raise money for me upon her -expectations, or if you can't in some way make things more -comfortable, I shall try whether I cannot carry my information to a -better market. Indeed, I am so tired of living respectably upon a -pittance, paid with a dreary exactitude which is distressingly like -Somerset House, I have been seriously contemplating an affecting visit -to my relative Mrs. Carteret, and a family arrangement to buy me off -at once at a long price." - -"And _my_ knowledge of the affair; what do you make of _that_, in your -rascally calculation? - -"Not quite so much as _you_ make of it in _your_ rascally calculation, -my good friend; for it is not knowledge at all, it is only guesswork; -and you have not an atom of proof without my evidence, which I am -quite as willing to withhold as to give, for Mr. Trapbois' omnipotent -motive--a consideration." - -For all answer, Robert Meredith rose, opened an iron safe let into the -wall of the room, and hidden by a curtain--greedily followed the while -by the old man's eyes, which watched for the gold he hoped he had -extorted--and took out a red-leather pocket-book, with a clasp of -brass wirework. He came up to the old man's side, and opening a page -of the memorandum-book, pointed to an entry upon it. - -"No evidence, I think you said. Not so fast, my faithful colleague. -What is _that?_" - -"Initials, a date,--a guess, Meredith, a mere surmise, not an atom of -proof." - -"And this?" Robert Meredith took an oblong slip of paper out of a -pocket in the book, and held it up to the old man's eyes. "An attested -copy of the marriage-register is evidence, I fancy." - -"Yes," said Mr. Oakley reluctantly; "that's evidence of one part of -the story, to be sure; but not of the material part, the only part -that's profitable to _you_. You can't do without me--you can't indeed; -but I can do very well without you. You will save time and trouble by -acknowledging the fact, and acting on it." - -"What the d--l do you want me to do?" said Meredith fiercely, as he -threw the pocket-book back into the safe and locked the doors in a -rage. "I can't marry the girl till she is of age. I tell you I am -perfectly sure of her. Do you think I am such a fool as to allow any -doubt to exist on that point? But I don't choose to change my plans, -and _I won't_ change them, let you threaten as you will. You old -idiot! you would ruin yourself by thwarting me. You don't know these -people--_I do_; and you could as soon induce them to join you in -robbing a church as to buy you off in the way you propose. You had -much better stick to the bargain you've made, and have patience. I -think if _I_ can find patience, _you_ may." - -Mr. Oakley reflected for some minutes, his bushy gray eyebrows meeting -above his frowning eyes. At last he said: - -"Then I'll tell you what it is, Meredith. You shall give me 20_l_. -extra now, to-night, and introduce me at once, to-morrow, to the -family, and we'll go on playing on the square again." - -"No," said Meredith; "it won't do. I can't give you 20_l_.; I can't -spare the money. I'll give you 10_l_., on condition you don't show -yourself here until I send for you. And as to introducing you to the -family just yet, it is out of the question. It would only embarrass -our proceedings, and do you no good." - -"What do you mean?" said Oakley furiously. "Why should you not -introduce me to my own relative? I choose to partake of the advantages -of her capital match. I intend to be Mrs. Carteret's guest at the -Deane this autumn, whether the prospect be agreeable to you or not." - -Meredith smiled, a slow exasperating smile, carefully exaggerated into -distinctness for the old man's dimmed vision, as he said: - -"_I_ could have no objection to do my good friend Mrs. Carteret the -kindness of reuniting her with a long-severed member of her family, -and to introduce you as a visitor at Portman-square, during the few -days they will be in town, would not be any trouble to me; but as for -your being invited to the Deane, the idea is _too_ absurd." - -"And why?" - -"Because Miss Baldwin, and not your relative, is the mistress of that -very eligible mansion; because you are not the style of person Miss -Baldwin admires; and because, you may take my word for it, you will -never set your foot within those doors while the Deane belongs to Miss -Baldwin." - -The old man's face turned a fiery red, and the angry colour showed -itself under his thin gray hair. - -"While the Deane belongs to Miss Baldwin!" he repeated low and slowly. -"Well, then, there's no use talking about it. Hand over the 10_l_., -and I'll be off." - -In a few minutes Robert Meredith was alone, and as he listened to Mr. -Oakley's heavy tread upon the stairs, he muttered: - -"It's a useful study, that of the ruling passions of one's -fellow-creatures. An expert finds it tolerably easy to work them to -his advantage. Avarice and pride! eh, Mr. Oakley? and pride the -stronger of the two. You won't give me much more trouble. No danger of -your being bribed to abstain from saying or doing anything that can -harm Miss Baldwin." - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. -THE MINE IS SPRUNG. - - -Time sped on, and no fresh obstacle opposed itself to Robert -Meredith's designs. His venerable colleague gave him no farther -trouble. He had calculated with accuracy on Gertrude's nobility and -delicacy of mind preventing her seeking to prejudice his friends in -the household at the Deane against him, leading her to keep her -promise of secrecy in its most perfect spirit. Thus, he pursued his -design against her undisturbed, under her own roof, and with all the -appearance of a good understanding existing between them. - -Meredith was, however, mistaken in supposing that Gertrude was -ignorant of her sister's attachment to him. She was much too -keen-sighted where her affections were concerned to be deceived as to -the state of Eleanor's mind, even had it not painfully revealed itself -in the altered relations between them. She knew her sister's -infatuation well, and she deplored it bitterly. The sorrow it caused -her was all the more keen, because it was the first of her life in -which she had not had recourse to Mr. Dugdale for advice, sympathy, -and consolation. Now, she asked for none of these at his hands. She -could not have claimed them without divulging the secret she had -pledged herself to keep, and grieving the old man by changing his -regard for the son of his dead friend into distrust and dislike. -So Gertrude suffered in silence; and as she became more and more -isolated--as she felt the sweet home ties relaxing daily--she clung -all the more firmly to the hope, the conviction that George Ritherdon -loved her; though for some reason, which she was content to take on -trust, to respect without understanding, he was resolved not to tell -her so yet. - -George Ritherdon passed three weeks, that autumn, at the Deane; but -Meredith avoided him--making an excuse for selecting the period of his -visit for fulfilling another engagement. During those three weeks the -regard and esteem of old Mr. Dugdale and George Ritherdon for each -other so increased by intimacy, that Gertrude had the satisfaction of -seeing them occupy the respective positions which she would most -ardently have desired had her dearest hopes been realised. When -George's visit had reached its conclusion, Mr. Dugdale took leave of -him as he might have done of a son, and the young man left his old -friend's rooms deeply affected. Gertrude was not much seen by the -family that day, and it was understood Mr. Dugdale had requested her -to pass the afternoon with him. - -"Why does he say nothin', when any one that wasn't as blind as a bat -could see he dotes on the ground she walks on?" asked Mr. Dugdale's -faithful friend and confidante, Mrs. Doran, when they compared notes -in the evening, after Gertrude had pleaded fatigue and left them. - -"I don't know, indeed," was Mr. Dugdale's answer. "I suppose he thinks -she has not had a fair chance of choosing yet." - -"Hasn't seen enough of grand young gentlemen just dyin' to put her -money in their pockets, and spend it on other people, maybe!" said -Mrs. Doran ironically. "Bad luck to it, for money it's the curse of -the world; for you don't know which does the most harm--too little of -it, or too much! However, it's only waiting a bit, and they'll find -each other out. Sure, he's a gentleman born and bred, and every inch -of him, and made for her, if ever there was a match made in heaven." - -So Gertrude's best friends were silently waiting for the fulfilment of -her hope. Mr. Dugdale had asked George Ritherdon to write to him -frequently,--a request to which the young man had gratefully acceded; -and his latest letter had informed Mr. Dugdale that he found himself -obliged to leave London, for an indefinite period and at much -inconvenience, owing to his mother's illness. - -The time was now approaching when Eleanor should attain her majority, -and Gertrude had resolved that the event should be celebrated with all -the distinction which had attended her own. - -To Eleanor and to Mrs. Carteret the birthday-fête had the surpassing -attraction of a charming entertainment, rendered still more delightful -by the presence of the lover of the one and the particular friend of -the other. To Gertrude, though she strove to be bright and gay, and -though she sought by every means in her power to evince her affection -for the sister who turned away with steady coldness from all her -advances, the occasion was a melancholy one. It furnished a sad -contrast to the fête which had welcomed her own coming of age in every -respect,--above all, in that one which had become most important to -her: George was not present. - -Robert Meredith caused his manner to be remarked on this occasion by -more than one of the guests at the Deane. To Miss Baldwin he was -scrupulously but distantly polite; with Mrs. Carteret he assumed a -tone of intimacy which she seconded to the full; but to Eleanor he -bore himself like an acknowledged and triumphant lover. Every one saw -this, including Mr. Dugdale, during his brief visit to the scene of -the festivities, and Haldane Carteret, not remarkable for quickness of -observation. The fact made both these observers uneasy, but they did -not make any comment to one another upon their suspicions. - -The sisters, who had each been dancing nearly all night, did not meet -on the conclusion of the ball. The old familiar habit of a long talk, -in one of their respective dressing-rooms, after all the household had -retired, had long been abandoned; and when, on this occasion, -Gertrude--resolved to make an effort to break through the barrier so -silently but effectually reared between them--went to her sister's -room, she found the door locked, and though she heard Eleanor moving -about, no answer to her petition for admittance was returned. Full of -care and foreboding, Gertrude returned to her room, and it was broad -day before she forgot her grief, and the presentiment of evil which -accompanied it, in sleep. - -The ladies did not appear at breakfast the next morning, and the party -consisted only of Major Carteret, Robert Meredith, and two harmless -individuals who were staying in the house, and in no way remarkable or -important. On the conclusion of the meal Robert Meredith requested -Major Carteret to accord him an interview, which the latter agreed to -do with some hesitation. They adjourned to the library, and there -Meredith, with no circumlocution, and in a plain and business-like -manner, informed Major Carteret that he had proposed to his niece -Eleanor Baldwin, been accepted by her, and that she had requested him -to communicate the fact to Major Carteret. - -Eleanor's uncle received the intelligence with awkwardness rather than -with actual disapprobation, and acquitted himself not very well in -replying. Something of unpleasantly-felt power in Meredith's tone -jarred upon him as he used a perfectly discreet formula of words in -making the announcement. Haldane Carteret did not dislike or distrust -Meredith, and he was not an interested man. He had married for love -himself, and he knew his niece had sufficient fortune to deprive her -conduct of imprudence, if she chose to do the same. It was not fair to -take it for granted that Meredith was not attached to Eleanor, that he -was actuated by interested motives; and yet Haldane Carteret, an -honest man, if not bright, felt that all was not straightforward and -simple feeling in this matter. He said something about disparity of -age; then admitted that, in referring Meredith to him, his niece had -merely treated him with dutiful courtesy, as his guardianship and -authority had terminated; and finally, on being pressed by Meredith, -said he perceived no objection, beyond the evident one that his niece -might have looked for more decided worldly advantages in her marriage, -and that he thought the proceeding had been somewhat too precipitate -for the best interests of both. All this Haldane Carteret said, -because his native honesty obliged him to say it; but heartily wishing -he could bring the interview to a close, or hand Meredith over to his -wife, who would probably be delighted. - -Meredith received Major Carteret's remarks with calm politeness, but -hardly thought it necessary to combat them. He could not see the -disparity in age in any serious light, and he ventured to assure his -Eleanor's uncle he and she had understood one another for some time; -there was no real precipitation in the matter. As for the advantages -which such a marriage secured to him, he was most ready to acknowledge -them, and to admit their effect on the general estimate of his -motives, but he did not mind that. Secure against an unkind -interpretation by Eleanor and her relatives, he was indifferent to any -other opinion. He flattered himself Mrs. Carteret would learn the news -with satisfaction. This was ground on which Major Carteret could meet -him with cordial assent; and he got over his difficulties by referring -the happy lover to Mrs. Carteret; and having summoned her to the -library to receive Meredith's communication from himself, he left them -together. - -Mrs. Carteret was expansively and enthusiastically delighted. She -declared she felt herself quite a girl again in contemplating the -happiness of her beloved niece and her old friend; and it may be -assumed that Robert Meredith had evinced very nice tact and discretion -in the method by which he conveyed the information to her. - -It was no small portion of the suffering which Gertrude Baldwin had to -undergo at this time, that she heard the news of her sister's -engagement--not from Eleanor herself, not in any kindly sisterly -conference, but from Mrs. Carteret, whose light gleeful manner of -imparting the information to Gertrude was far from conveying any sense -of its importance to the agitated girl; and who filled up the measure -of her congratulations to everybody concerned, by remarking that in -"poor dear Eleanor's invidious position, it was most desirable that -she should marry early, and before Gerty had made her choice." This -speech chilled Gertrude into silence, and she left her aunt--having -uttered only a few commonplace words--with the well-founded conviction -that Eleanor would believe her either envious, indifferent, or -prejudiced against her and Meredith. Gertrude was quite alone in her -distress of mind, as she purposely avoided Mr. Dugdale--being -unwilling to awaken a suspicion in his mind of its cause--and Mrs. -Doran, who she instinctively knew would penetrate and share her -feelings. - -In the course of the day both those members of the family were made -aware of Eleanor's engagement. Old Mr. Dugdale took the intimation -very calmly, as it was his wont to take all things now, since he had -ceased to feel keenly save where Gertrude was concerned. Mrs. Doran -heard it, with a sad foreboding heart and a gloomy face. She had never -liked, she had never trusted Robert Meredith; and she could not forget -that the man her dear dead mistress's daughter was about to marry was -the same who, as a boy, had hated Margaret. - -Robert Meredith and Gertrude did not meet alone. They mutually and -successfully avoided each other, and the elder sister was pointedly -excluded by Eleanor and Mrs. Carteret from all the discussions which -ensued relative to the arrangements for the marriage, which was to -take place soon. Gertrude heard that her aunt and her sister purposed -to go to London, to purchase Eleanor's _trousseau_, to select -Eleanor's house, without a word of comment. But when something was -said about the marriage taking place in London, she interposed, and in -her customary sweet and yet dignified way remonstrated. Eleanor, she -said, ought to leave no house for a husband's, but her own. - -"Mine!" said Eleanor. "I presume you mean yours--you are talking of -the Deane." - -"I am talking of our mutual home, Eleanor, where once no such evil -thing as a divided interest ever had a place.--Uncle,"--here she -turned to Major Carteret, and laid her hand impressively upon his -arm,--"speak for me in this. Tell Eleanor I am right, and that -our parents--I, at least, have never felt their loss so bitterly -before--would have had it so." - -"I'm sure I don't know what to say," replied Haldane Carteret -forlornly. "I can't conceive what has come between you two girls; but -I must say I do think Gerty is in the right in this instance.--Lucy, -my dear, the wedding must be at the Deane." - -So that was settled; and afterwards, until Eleanor and Mrs. Carteret, -accompanied by Robert Meredith, went to London, things were better -between the sisters. There was not, indeed, any renewal of the -intimate affection, the unrestrained cordiality of other times; and -Gertrude felt mournfully that a complete restoration could never -be--the constant interposition of Meredith would render that -impossible. Under ordinary circumstances, the marriage of one by -involving separation from the other must have loosened the old bonds; -but this marriage was indeed fatal. They were young girls, however, -and the evil influence which had come between them had not yet -completely done its work, had not spoiled all their common interest in -the topics which fittingly engage the minds of young girls. Gertrude -strove to forget her own wounded feelings, to conquer her -apprehensions, and to disarm the jealous reticence of her sister by -frank interest and generous zeal. She succeeded to some extent, and -the interval between the declaration of the engagement and the -departure of Mrs. Carteret and Eleanor was the happiest time, so far -as she was individually concerned, that Gertrude had known since the -first painful consciousness of division had come between the sisters. - -Everything went on quietly on the surface of life at the Deane when -Eleanor and her aunt had left home. Mr. Dugdale was a little more -feeble, perhaps; his daily airing upon the terrace was shorter, his -period of seclusion in his own rooms was lengthened; but he was very -cheerful, and seemed to desire Gertrude's presence more constantly -than ever. - -The visit to London was as prosperous as its purpose was pleasant. -Mrs. Carteret's letters were quite exultant. Never had she enjoyed -herself more, she flattered herself Eleanor's _trousseau_ was -unimpeachable, and Robert Meredith was the most devoted of lovers and -the most delightful of men. She had had an agreeable surprise, too, -since she had been in London. She fancied she had chanced to mention -to Gertrude that a distant relative of hers, whom she had only seen as -a very young child--a Mr. Oakley--had gone out to Australia, and, it -had happened oddly enough, had there known Robert Meredith's father -and their beloved Margaret's first husband; indeed, he had known -Gertrude's dear mother herself. This gentleman--a fine venerable old -man, "quite a Rembrandt's head, indeed," Mrs. Carteret added--was now -in London, having made an honourable independence; and he naturally -wished to find friends and a little social intercourse among such of -his relatives as were still living. Mr. Meredith had brought him to -see her, and the dear old gentleman had been much gratified and deeply -affected by the meeting. Mrs. Carteret went on to say that, knowing -dear Gertrude's invariable kindness and wish to please everybody, and -also taking into consideration her characteristic respect for old age -combined with virtue and respectability,--so remarkably displayed in -the case of their dear Mr. Dugdale,--she had ventured to promise Mr. -Oakley a welcome to the Deane, on behalf of Miss Baldwin, on the -approaching auspicious occasion. - -To this letter Gertrude replied promptly, expressing her pleasure at -having it in her power to gratify Mrs. Carteret, and enclosing a -cordially-worded invitation to the Deane to the venerable old -gentleman with the Rembrandt head; who received it with a chuckle, and -a muttered commendation of the long-sightedness which had made Robert -Meredith defer his introduction to Miss Baldwin until the present -truly convenient season. - -On her side, Gertrude was making preparations on a splendid scale for -the celebration of her sister's marriage in her ancestral home. -Nothing that affection and generosity could suggest was neglected by -the young heiress, whose own tastes were of the simplest order, to -gratify those of Eleanor. She lavished gifts upon her with an -unsparing hand, and, indeed, valued her wealth chiefly because it -enabled her to obey the dictates of a most generous nature. - -Mrs. Carteret and Eleanor returned to the Deane, attended by Mr. -Oakley. Robert Meredith was to follow the day before that fixed for -the wedding. The old gentleman did not impress Gertrude particularly -as being venerable, as distinguished from old, in either person or -manner; and she quickly perceived that Mrs. Carteret was aware and -ashamed of his underbred presuming manners. This perception, however, -was only another motive to induce Gertrude to treat him with the -utmost courtesy and consideration. She must shield her aunt from any -unpleasantness which might arise in consequence of her relative's -evident unfitness for the society into which she had brought him. At -all events, it would only be putting up with him for a short time, and -he certainly could do no harm. So Gertrude was perseveringly kind and -gentle to Mr. Oakley, and actually so far impressed the old gentleman -favourably, that he believed Robert Meredith to have lied in imputing -disdainful pride to her, and almost regretted the part he had -undertaken to play. There was no help for it now, however; he might as -well profit by the transaction, which it was altogether too late to -avert. Thus did the faint scruples called into existence in Mr. -Oakley's breast, by the unassuming and graceful goodness of the girl -he had undertaken to injure, fall flat before the strength of -interested rascality. - -The wedding of Eleanor Meriton Baldwin presented a striking contrast -to that of her mother, which had excited so much contemptuous comment -among the "neighbours" in the old, old times at Chayleigh. People of -rank, wealth, and fashion assembled in gorgeous attire to behold the -ceremonial, which was rendered as stately and imposing as possible. -The dress of the bride was magnificent, and her beauty was the theme -of every tongue. The bridegroom was rather less insignificant than the -bridegroom generally is, and looked happy and contented; as well he -might look, the people said, getting such a fortune. Miss Baldwin's -own husband would not be so lucky in some respects; for this gentleman -might do as he pleased with Miss Nelly's money--she _would_ have it -so, and she could leave him the whole of it--whereas in Miss Baldwin's -case it would be different. - -The wedding-guests were splendidly entertained; all agreed that the -whole affair had been exceptionally prosperous. The leave-taking -between the sisters was not witnessed by any intrusive eyes; and in -the final hurry and confusion no one noticed that Robert Meredith did -not shake hands with Miss Baldwin, that he spoke no word to her. -Gertrude noticed the omission, and with pain. It was over now, and she -would fain have made the best of it--have been friends with her -sister's husband, if he would have allowed her to be so. That he -should have been thus vindictive on his wedding-day, that he should -have had place in his heart for any thought of anger or ill-will, -boded evil to Eleanor's peace, her sister thought. But it never -occurred to her to fear that it might also bode evil to her own, -otherwise than through that sister whom she loved. - -In Scottish fashion a ball wound up the festivities of the Deane, and -proved, in its turn, a successful entertainment. Miss Baldwin, indeed, -looked tired and pale; but that was only natural, after so much -excitement and the parting with her sister. The dreamy look that came -over her at times was easily explicable, without any one's being -likely to divine that the absence of one figure from that brilliant -crowd had anything to do with its origin. And yet, as the hours wore -on, Gertrude forgot the fresh pang the day had brought her--forgot -Meredith and her forebodings, forgot all save George Ritherdon and -that he was not there. - - -Three weeks had elapsed since Eleanor Baldwin's marriage. Mrs. -Carteret had received two short letters from the bride, but Mrs. -Meredith had not written to her sister. Mr. Oakley was still at the -Deane, where his presence had become exceedingly unpleasant not only -to Miss Baldwin, but to Major and Mrs. Carteret, to whom he had -dropped one or two hints relative to Meredith's character and probable -treatment of Eleanor, which had made them vaguely, though unavowedly, -uncomfortable. Gertrude was keenly distressed, and had found it -impossible to keep the knowledge of her trouble and its cause from Mr. -Dugdale. Some unnamed undefinable evil seemed to be brooding over the -Deane. It was not known exactly where the newly-married pair were. -Eleanor had given no address in her last letter, and Gertrude and Mrs. -Carteret (the latter most unwillingly) admitted that it seemed -constrained and strangely reticent. - -The fourth week had begun, when one morning, as the family party were -dispersing after breakfast, a servant announced the arrival of a -gentleman from London, who desired to see Miss Baldwin on urgent -business. He placed a card in his mistresses hand as he delivered the -message. - -"Mr. Sankey!" read Gertrude aloud; "I don't know the name. What can -his business be with me?" - -"_I_ know the name," said Mr. Oakley hurriedly, "and I fear I know the -business he comes on too. Meredith has sent him.--Major Carteret, you -had better see this gentleman first--you had, indeed. Miss Baldwin -cannot be spared _much_; but do you come with me and see him, and let -us spare her all we can." - - - - -CHAPTER IX. -THE RIGHTING OF THE WRONG. - - -Some years have passed since the blow fell on Gertrude Baldwin which -deprived her of wealth and station, which struck away from her her -home, and left her to face the curiosity, the ill-will, the evil -report of the world which had envied and flattered her, as best she -might. The story of the interval does not take long in the telling, -and, considering its import to so many, has but few salient points. - -No resistance was made by Gertrude or counselled by her advisers; no -resistance to the hard cold terms of Robert Meredith's claim on his -wife's behalf. It was all true: Gertrude was an illegitimate child and -Eleanor the rightful heir. The proofs--consisting of Mr. Oakley's -evidence concerning Godfrey Hungerford's death, and the attested -certificate of the date of that occurrence, and the testimony of the -certificate of the second marriage ceremony performed between Mr. -Baldwin and Margaret--were as simple as they were indisputable, and -Gertrude made unqualified submission at once. - -She suffered, no doubt, very keenly, but much less than her friends -Mr. Dugdale and Rose Doran suffered for her. So much was made plain to -her, so much was cleared-up to her now. She knew now why it was her -father had left her nothing by his will; she understood now from what -solicitude it had arisen that he and her aunt, whose loving care she -remembered so well, had bequeathed everything within their power to -Eleanor. Thus they had endeavoured to atone for the unconscious -unintentional wrong done to the legitimate daughter and heiress. And -all their efforts, all their care, had failed; the invincible -inexorable truth had come to light, and the result of all these -efforts was that Eleanor had everything--yes, everything. The young -girl who had risen that morning absolute mistress of the splendid -house and the broad acres of the Deane, and the large fortune which -could so fittingly maintain them, stood in that stately house the same -night a penniless dependent on the sister who had placed herself and -all she possessed in the power of Gertrude's only enemy. - -It was long before Miss Baldwin, or indeed any of the party, realised -this--long before the full extent of the truth presented itself to -their minds; but when it came, it came with terrible conviction and -conclusiveness. There was nothing for Gertrude. Her father's loving -care had indeed been her undoing. The situation was a dreadful one, -escape from it impossible. Robert Meredith had no longer anything to -gain by either dissimulation or temporising; on the contrary, he now -felt it to be his interest that every one concerned should be cured of -all their illusions concerning him as soon and as effectually as -possible, and should arrive at a clear comprehension of his powers, -motives, and intentions. He assumed at once the name that his marriage -with the heiress of Mr. Meriton Baldwin imposed upon him; and his -letter to Haldane Carteret was simply a reference to the bearer as -qualified to give all needful explanations and proofs, and in the -event, which he took for granted, of the young lady known as Miss -Baldwin not disputing the facts, he begged it might be understood that -she could be suffered to remain at the Deane only a very short time. -He hoped no farther communication on this subject might be required. -The young lady would best consult her own interest by abstaining from -making any such communication necessary. - -It is unnecessary to dwell on this portion of the trial appointed to -Gertrude. Its bitterness came from Eleanor, not from her triumphant -enemy. Her sister made no sign--not a word of kindness, of sympathy, -of regret came from her whose life had been almost identical with that -of Gertrude for so many years. Even Mrs. Carteret--who, the first -shock and surprise over, was characteristically disposed to keep on -good terms with the new Mr. Meriton Baldwin, and in reality an extreme -partisan, endeavoured to get credit for impartial fairness, and a "no -business of mine" bearing--even Mrs. Carteret was indignant with -Eleanor. Her shallow nature did not comprehend the growth and force of -such evil feelings as she had nurtured in the mind of her niece. -Gertrude suffered fearfully, but anger had little share in her pain. A -deadly fear for her sister possessed her; a fear which suggested -itself speedily, when she found that Eleanor made no sign, and which -grew into conviction under the influence of Rose Doran's manifest -belief in its reason and validity. Eleanor's silence was her husband's -doing; she was under his influence and dominion, she was afraid of -him. When Gertrude, who had striven to hide her feelings on this point -from Mr. Dugdale, could not hide them from Rose Doran, that faithful -friend said sadly, - -"It's true for you. Miss Gerty; she's in the grip of a bad man, my -poor child, and she's not to be blamed." - -Then Gertrude, in the depth of her love and pity for her sister, -forgave her freely, and never did blame her more, but mourned for her, -as she might have done had she been dead and laid beside their mother -beneath the great yew-tree, only more bitterly. All it is necessary to -record here is, that Eleanor's silence remained unbroken--unbroken, -when her sister, with Mr. Dugdale and Mrs. Doran left the Deane for -ever, turning away from all the associations and surroundings which -had been mutually dear to them--unbroken, when some time after -Gertrude wrote to her to tell her that she was well and happy, and -more than reconciled to all that had befallen her, except only her -alienation from her sister's heart. - -Much time had now gone over, and Eleanor's silence still remained -unbroken. There was absolutely no communication between the sisters. -Major and Mrs. Carteret were living at Chayleigh, in a style which at -first Lucy had found it not easy to adopt after the pleasant places of -the Deane. But she had hit upon a consolation which, if imaginary, was -likewise immense; this was the notion of independence. To be her own -mistress, the mistress of her own house, her own servants, and her own -time was discovered by Mrs. Carteret to be a blissful state of things. -Besides this consolation, she had soon "brought round" Major Carteret -to an acquiescent form of mind respecting the state of things at the -Deane, and they made frequent visits there; but not even in this -indirect way was the separation between the sisters modified. Mrs. -Carteret was given to understand on the first occasion of her meeting -Mr. and Mrs. Meredith Baldwin--and a very awkward meeting it was--that -it would be for her own interest to abstain from speaking of Gertrude -to Eleanor, and, indeed, that her retaining the valuable privilege of -an _entrée_ at the Deane was contingent on her strict obedience to -this hint. Mrs. Carteret proved worthy of her old friend's confidence; -and the former life at the Deane might never have had existence for -any reminiscence of it that was to be traced now. - -The intelligence which reached Gertrude of her sister through her -uncle and aunt was too vague to satisfy her. Eleanor was very popular, -very much admired; Eleanor's entertainments were splendid; and Mrs. -Carteret felt convinced she and Meredith Baldwin lived fully up to -their income, large as it was. She really could not say whether -Eleanor was _happy_, according to dear Gertrude's strange exaggerated -notions. She had at least everything which ought to make her so, and -she was always in very high spirits. She was rather restless and fond -of change, and no doubt Meredith was a good deal away from her; and -then poor dear Eleanor had always had a strong dash of jealousy in her -disposition, and she never was remarkably reasonable. No doubt she did -occasionally make herself unpleasant and ridiculous if her husband -stayed away when she thought he ought to be with her; but she got over -it again, and it did not signify. As to Meredith's ill-treating -Eleanor, Mrs. Carteret begged Gertrude not to be so silly as to -believe anything of the kind, if such ill-natured reports should reach -her. Why, everybody knew Meredith was no fool; and if Eleanor (who was -very delicate--and no wonder, considering her restless racketing) did -not make a will in his favour, he would have nothing at all in case of -her death. There was no heir to the Deane--two infants had been born, -but each had lived only a few hours--and Mrs. Carteret knew positively -that Eleanor had made no will. Meredith was not likely (supposing him -to have no better motive--which Mrs. Carteret, though her tone had -become greatly modified of late in speaking of her quondam admirer, -could not endure to suppose) to endanger his chance of future -independent wealth by ill-treating the person who could confer it on -him. - -This was poor comfort; but it was all Gertrude could get, and she was -forced to be content with it. The old life at the Deane had faded -away; no change could bring her back the past; she never could have -any interest in it. She sometimes speculated upon whether it would add -to her grief, if her sister died, to think of her father's property, -her own old home, in the possession of total strangers. She had hardly -ever heard anything of the next heir--a bachelor, already a rich man, -living in England. This gentleman's name was Mordaunt, and he had a -younger brother, who had assumed another name on his marriage, and to -whose children the Deane, failing direct heirs of Eleanor, would -descend. The sisters knew nothing more of these distant connections, -nor had there ever been any acquaintance between them and Fitzwilliam -Baldwin. - -Though Gertrude sometimes pondered on these things it must not be -supposed that she brooded on them, or that the irrevocable past filled -an undue place in her practical and useful life. The misfortune which -had befallen her had from the first its alleviations; and there came a -day when Gertrude would have eagerly denied that it was a misfortune -at all--a day when she would have declared it was the source of all -her happiness, the providential solution of every doubt and difficulty -which had beset her path. What that day was the reader is soon to -know. - -The first act of Mr. Dugdale when the truth was made known to -him--when he clearly understood that once more the foreboding of the -woman he had loved and mourned with such matchless and abiding -constancy had been fulfilled so many years after its shadow had -darkened her day--was to declare his intention of immediately leaving -the Deane, and forming a new home for Gertrude. How devoutly he -thanked God then for the life at whose duration he had been sometimes -tempted to murmur, the length of days which had enabled him to profit -by the impulse which had prompted him to decline to add to the ruin -which, in their blindness, they had all accumulated to heap in -Gertrude's path! When he explained this to her, and made her see how -her father and mother had loved her, great peace came to Gertrude, and -much happiness in the perfect confidence between her and her aged -friend, owning no exception now. In his zeal for Margaret's child, Mr. -Dugdale seemed to find strength which had not been his for years. He -bore the journey to the neighbourhood of London, whither Mrs. Doran -had preceded them for the purpose of engaging a house for them, well; -and he settled into his new home as readily as Gertrude did. - -In a neat small house in a western suburb of London, George Ritherdon -found Mr. Dugdale and her whom he had last seen in all the lustre of -wealth and station, when he returned from the long absence which had -been occasioned by his mother's illness and subsequent death. George -was perfectly conscious that neither his voice nor his manner, when he -was introduced by the faithful Rose with manifest satisfaction, -conveyed the impression which might have been considered suitable to -the occasion, whether regarded from their point of view or from his. -He knew his eyes were bright and his cheek flushed; he knew his voice -was thrilling with pleasure, with happiness, with hope; and he -abandoned any attempt to express a sadness he did not feel, to affect -to grieve for a change in Gertrude's circumstances and position which -rendered him exquisitely happy, and for which he, though by no means a -presumptuous man, felt an inward irresistible conviction he should be -able to console her. - - -In less than a year from the falling of the long-planned blow on -Gertrude Baldwin's defenceless head, the day before alluded to had -dawned upon her--the day on which she recognised the seemingly -insurmountable misfortune of her life as its greatest blessing and the -source of all its happiness. It was her wedding-day. There was no need -for waiting longer for equality in their fortunes; there was no need -to think of what the world might say of George or of her. The world -she had lived in had ceased to remember and to talk of her; the world -he lived in would respect him, as it had ever done, and welcome her. -Theirs was a quiet happy courtship, a peaceful hopeful time, blessed -with their old friend's earnest approval and loving presence. A -rational prospect of the best kind of content this world can give was -opening before them--a prospect of neither poverty nor riches, of no -distinction in mere name--the meaningless legacy of others--but of a -position to be worthily won. Mutual love, confidence, and respect, and -such experience of life as, leaving them the power of enjoying its -good, should save them from its illusions--such was the dowry with -which these two began their married life. - -Major and Mrs. Carteret attended the quiet wedding, at which they and -two friends of George Ritherdon's were the only guests. Gertrude had -hoped that Mrs. Carteret would have been the bearer to her of some -communication from her sister, that the barrier, which she felt no -doubt had been interposed by Meredith's authority, would on this -occasion be broken down. But Eleanor still made no sign; and Mrs. -Carteret could tell Gertrude no more than that Eleanor had heard the -news of her sister's intended marriage with agitation, but in silence, -and that she was then in London, _en route_ for the Continent, where -she was to pass the winter. This was a cloud; but it was the only one -upon the brightness of Gertrude's wedding-day, and it soon passed -over. It had quite passed when the bride and bridegroom were bidding -farewell to Mr. Dugdale, before they went away on their brief -wedding-trip. It was to be very brief; for they would not leave him -alone for any length of time; and in the mean time Mr. Dugdale was to -remove into the larger house in the same neighbourhood which was to be -the home of George and Gertrude. - -The farewell words had been spoken, and Gertrude had risen from her -kneeling position beside the old man's chair, when the servant entered -and handed Gertrude a parcel addressed to her by the name not three -hours old, addressed to her in Eleanor's hand. She broke the seal, and -the contents proved to be a flat case containing a suit of beautiful -pearls. A scrap of paper lay among the jewels. Gertrude seized it -eagerly and read: - -"_Wear these, darling, for the sake of old times, and of me. Forgive -me, and make your husband forgive me, and love me a little even yet -and after all, as I love you forever and better than all_." - -As Gertrude's tears fell fast upon the precious words, and George and -Mr. Dugdale looked at her, distressed and yet glad, Rose Doran came to -her side, and said, while she dried her eyes as if she were still the -child she had nursed: - -"There, there, alanna, didn't I tell you it wasn't _her_ fault at all, -but _his_? and now you see for yourself it's true, and you'll go away -with an easier mind. And, mark my words, it's coming right--it's -coming right by degrees, and it will all come right in the end." - -Mr. Dugdale still kept late hours, as he had done all his life. Mrs. -Doran left him at the usual hour in more than his accustomed spirits, -and not apparently fatigued by the unusual emotion of the day. When he -was alone, the old man passed some time in reading; then he closed his -book and gave himself up to thought. His thoughts were seemingly very -peaceful, and not sad; for there was a calm and patient smile upon the -worn face, to which old age had brought a serene dignity. His large -deeply-cushioned arm-chair moved easily upon its castors, and, after a -period of profound stillness, he rolled himself in the chair towards a -writing-table, on which a lamp was burning. He unlocked a deep drawer, -the lowest of a set on his right-hand, and took out two objects. One -was his will, which he spread out upon the table and read attentively. -Then muttering to himself, "A few kind words to Nelly,--God help her, -poor child!" he wrote half-a-dozen lines on the reverse of one of the -pages of the document, and appended his initials in a clear and steady -hand. This done, he replaced the paper in the drawer, and turned his -attention to the other object he had taken out. - -It was the portrait of Margaret, in its beautiful setting of -passion-flowers in jeweller's work of enamel and gold. There was -reverential tenderness in the old man's touch as he placed the picture -upright before him, opened the screens of golden filigree, and -"fell to such perusal" of it as had been familiar to him since the -coffin-lid had closed over the face it feebly shadowed forth. The -minutes fled by as he gazed upon the likeness of the beautiful -spiritual face which had gone down to the grave in untouched -loveliness; and a glass upon his dressing-table alongside reflected -his bowed head, sunken features, bent shadowy figure, and thin gray -hair. Now and then a few unconnected murmurs escaped his lips, but -rarely; while his gaze remained fixed, and a solemn peacefulness -spread over his face. - -"The same eyes in heaven," he whispered, "the same smile. How many -years have I looked for them, and longed for them--how many, many -years! I shall go to _her_; but she has not been waiting and watching -for _me_. No, no; heaven has been full enough to her all this time -with _him_ there." - -He changed the position of the picture slightly, and leaned his head -back against the cushion in his chair, looking at the face from a -greater distance; then stretched out his folded hands and rested them -upon the table. - -"A long, long time--but nearly over, I think--and I have not murmured -overmuch, for your sake, Margaret. But now, now I think I may make the -_Nunc dimittis_ my evensong." - -A little longer the old man's gaze remained fixed upon the picture; -and then his form settled down amid the cushions, his hands fell -gently from the edge of the table upon his knees, and his eyes closed -softly. Through the hours of the night the lamp burned, and lighted up -the picture with its golden trellised covers unclosed, and lighted up -the old man's serene face. But with the morning the flame in the lamp -flickered and died, and the sunshine came in, and gleamed upon the -walls and the floor. Voices and footsteps stirred in the house, and -soon Mrs. Doran came to Mr. Dugdale's room, as she did every morning. -Then she knew, when she looked at the old man and touched his passive -hands, still clasped and resting on his knee,--so gentle had been the -parting between the body and the spirit,--that his sleep was never to -know waking until the resurrection morning. - - -The blinds are closely drawn in Gertrude Ritherdon's house, and she -sits alone, dressed in deep mourning. There is a touch of sadness upon -her beauty; but she is more beautiful than she was in her girlhood, -and for all the sorrow in her face today, one can see she is a happy -woman. She is so. A happy wife, loved, trusted, honoured; her -husband's companion and his friend. A proud and happy mother too, -untroubled, when she watches her boy's baby glee and hears his -laughter, with any remembrance of a great inheritance which was once -to have been the birthright of her first-born son. A happy woman in -her house, and popular with her friends; one whose life is full of -blessings and void of bitterness. It is not for her faithful old -friend Gertrude Ritherdon wears mourning to-day. That wound has long -been healed, and she and her husband have none but sunny happy -thoughts of him. Death has come nearer to Gertrude this time even than -he came when Mr. Dugdale answered his summons--they have received -formal notice of Eleanor's decease. The event has been long looked -for, and Gertrude has well known that life has had nothing desirable -in it for Eleanor. The sisters have never met, and of late Eleanor has -lived abroad altogether, her husband being rarely with her; but -Gertrude knows that her sister's former feelings have long ago -returned, and there is sorrow, but not anguish, in this definitive -earthly parting. - -George Ritherdon has been summoned to Naples, where Eleanor Baldwin -died, by Major Carteret, and Gertrude is now expecting his return. Her -thoughts have been busy with the past; and when they have rested upon -Robert Meredith, it has been without any anger for herself, but with -some wonder as to how he will take the passing away to a stranger of -all the wealth and luxury he bought at such a price, and enjoyed for -so comparatively short a time. He will be a rich man, no doubt, with -all Eleanor had to bestow on him; but he will have to see a stranger -in the place he filled so pompously, and to feel himself once more a -person of no importance. For Eleanor has died childless, and the Deane -passes away to the eldest son of the late brother of that Mr. Mordaunt -who was the next in the entail, and who, strange to say, died only two -days before the death of Mrs. Meredith Baldwin occurred. Gertrude has -heard this vaguely, in the hurry of George's departure, and during the -first bewilderment which death brings with it. - -A carriage stops, and Gertrude lifts the end of a blind and looks out. -Two gentlemen enter the house, and in a few seconds she is clasped in -her husband's arms, and sees, standing behind him, her uncle. Major -Carteret. She greets him affectionately, and then loses her composure -and bursts into tears. The two men allow her to give vent to her -feelings without remonstrance, and when she is again calm, they talk a -little of their journey, and then approach the subject of Eleanor's -death. Gertrude knows the particulars of the event, and they go on to -speak of the will. - -"I thought it better to tell you than to write about it," says George. -"You must prepare for a surprise, Gertrude. Eleanor has left her -entire fortune--it is much wasted, but still large--to you." - -"To me!" exclaimed Gertrude, "to me! And what has she left to -Meredith?" - -"Nothing," replied Major Carteret. "Precisely what he deserved. She -makes no mention of him, his name does not occur in the will. She -probably explains her motives and tells the sad story of her life in a -letter which she left directed to me, that I may give it unopened into -your hands. You shall have it, but hear first what we have to tell -you. She has left you everything in her power to bequeath, and left it -all at your absolute disposal." - -Gertrude seemed stupefied. At length she said slowly: - -"What must he feel? What did he say?" - -"I don't know what he felt," replied Major Carteret. "What he said -quickly deprived me of all inclination to pity him, the scoundrel! I -hope we have all heard and seen the last of him. His worthy associate, -Oakley, made me understand his character long ago; but while poor -Nelly lived it would have served no purpose to resent it, and we had -nothing to gain by exposing him. Now it turns out she has avenged -herself and us all, and we can afford to dismiss him from our minds. -You must allow me to congratulate you, Gertrude, on poor Nelly's -handsome legacy, and then on something much more important still." - -Gertrude looked from her husband to her uncle nervously, and her lips -trembled. - -"What is it? I can't bear much more." - -George put his arm firmly round her, and placing her on a sofa, took -his place by her side. At this moment Mrs. Doran came quietly into the -room and approached the group. Haldane made her a sign to be silent, -while George spoke to his wife: - -"While I was staying at the Deane, when I first went there for your -birthday, Gertrude, my mother wrote to me, and told me it was a -curious circumstance that I should be a visitor at Miss Baldwin's -house. Why? Can you guess?" - -Gertrude silently shook her head. - -"Because, as I then learned for the first time, my father's old -bachelor brother, Mr. Mordaunt, was in the entail of the Deane, and in -the very improbable event of there being no direct heir, that which -has come to pass might come to pass. Do you understand what has -happened now, my darling?" - -"No," stammered Gertrude; "I--I do not." - -"This is what has happened: my uncle, Mr. Mordaunt, is dead. I am his -heir. My father took my mother's name in consequence of a family -quarrel about his marriage, and, as you know, he died some years ago. -I am the next in the entail, and Eleanor's dying without a child, -makes me the possessor of the Deane. You now know why I did not ask -you to be my wife when I believed you to be the lawful owner of the -property; you now know how doubly joyfully I made you my wife when you -lost it. Gertrude, my darling, I think you will prize your old name -and your old home more than ever now that it is your husband who gives -them back to you." - -"I said it would all come right, Miss Gerty, didn't I, alanna?" -exclaimed Rose Doran, as she in her turn caught Gertrude in her strong -arms, and rocked her to and fro like an infant. "But I never thought -it could come so right. Honest people and rogues have got their due in -_this_ world, once in a way, anyhow." - - - - -THE END. - - ------------------------------------------------------ -LONDON: ROBSON AND SONS, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W. - - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's A Righted Wrong, Volume 3 (of 3), by Edmund Yates - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A RIGHTED WRONG, VOLUME 3 (OF 3) *** - -***** This file should be named 60966-8.txt or 60966-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/9/6/60966/ - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by the U.S. Archive -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - diff --git a/old/60966-8.zip b/old/60966-8.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d82ed15..0000000 --- a/old/60966-8.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60966-h.zip b/old/60966-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4a5c9ea..0000000 --- a/old/60966-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60966-h/60966-h.htm b/old/60966-h/60966-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 7c7d4fe..0000000 --- a/old/60966-h/60966-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4790 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> -<html> -<head> -<title>A Righted Wrong. (Vol. 3 of 3)</title> -<meta name="Subtitle" content="A Novel."> -<meta name="Author" content="Edmund Yates"> -<meta name="Publisher" content="Tinsley Brothers"> -<meta name="Date" content="1870"> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> -<style type="text/css"> -body {margin-left:10%; - margin-right:10%; background-color:#FFFFFF;} - -p {text-indent:1em; text-align: left;} - -p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:20%;} -p.center {text-align: center;} -p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} - -h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} - -span.sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:110%;} - -hr.W10 {width:10%; color:black; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt} -hr.W20 {width:20%; color:black; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt} -hr.W50 {width:50%; color:black;} -hr.W90 {width:90%; color:black;} - -p.hang1 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:-3em;} - -</style> -</head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's A Righted Wrong, Volume 3 (of 3), by Edmund Yates - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: A Righted Wrong, Volume 3 (of 3) - A Novel. - -Author: Edmund Yates - -Release Date: December 19, 2019 [EBook #60966] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A RIGHTED WRONG, VOLUME 3 (OF 3) *** - - - - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by the U.S. Archive - - - - - -</pre> - -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Note:<br> -1. Page scan source: web archive;<br> -https://archive.org/details/rightedwrongnove03yate/page/n4<br> -(Library of the University of Illinois)</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h3>A RIGHTED WRONG.</h3> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h3>A RIGHTED WRONG.</h3> -<h4>A Novel.</h4> -<br> -<br> -<br><br> -<h5>BY</h5> -<h4>EDMUND YATES,</h4> -<h5>AUTHOR OF -"BLACK SHEEP," "THE FORLORN HOPE," "BROKEN TO HARNESS," ETC.</h5> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4>IN THREE VOLUMES.</h4> -<h4>VOL. III.</h4> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4>LONDON: -TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18 CATHERINE ST., STRAND. -1870.</h4> - -<h5>[<i>All rights reserved</i>.]</h5> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h5>LONDON: -ROBSON AND SONS, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W.</h5> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<table cellpadding="10" style="width: 90%; font-weight: bold; margin-left: 5%"> -<colgroup> -<col style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: right"> -<col style="width: 90%; vertical-align: top; text-align: left"> -</colgroup> -<tr> -<td colspan="2"> -<h4>CONTENTS OF VOL. III.</h4></td> -</tr><tr> -<td>CHAP.</td> -<td></td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div3Ref_01" href="#div3_01">I.</a></td> -<td>Twenty Years after.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div3Ref_02" href="#div3_02">II.</a></td> -<td>Robert Meredith.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div3Ref_03" href="#div3_03">III.</a></td> -<td>Time and Change.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div3Ref_04" href="#div3_04">IV.</a></td> -<td>The Heiress of the Deane.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div3Ref_05" href="#div3_05">V.</a></td> -<td>The "Raccroc de Noces.".</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div3Ref_06" href="#div3_06">VI.</a></td> -<td>The First Moves in the Game.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div3Ref_07" href="#div3_07">VII.</a></td> -<td>Drifting.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div3Ref_08" href="#div3_08">VIII.</a></td> -<td>The Mine is sprung.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div3Ref_09" href="#div3_09">IX.</a></td> -<td>The Righting of the Wrong.</td> -</tr></table> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h3>A RIGHTED WRONG.</h3> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div3_01" href="#div3Ref_01">CHAPTER I.</a></h4> -<h5>TWENTY YEARS AFTER.</h5> -<br> - -<p>An unusually beautiful day, in an exceptionally beautiful summer, and -a grand old mansion, in all its bravery, wearing its best air of -preparation and festivity. Even in the merest outline such a picture -has its charms; and that which the sunshine lighted up on one -particular occasion, about to be described, merited close attention, -and the study of its every detail.</p> - -<p>Sheltered by a fine plantation, which, in any other than the land of -flood and fell, might have been called a forest, and situated on the -incline of a conical hill, the low park land, picturesquely planted, -stretching away from it, until lost in the boundary of trees -beneath,--a large, imposing house, built of gray, cut stone, presented -its wide and lofty façade to the light. The architecture was -irregular, picturesque, and effective; and now, with its numerous -windows, some sparkling in the sunshine, others thrown wide open to -admit the sweet air, the Deane had an almost palatial appearance. -Along the front ran a wide stone terrace, from which three flights of -steps, one in the centre, and one at either end, led down to an -Italian garden, intersected by the wide avenue.</p> - -<p>Large French windows opened on this stone expanse, and now, in the -lazy summer day, the silken curtains were faintly stirring, and the -sound of voices, and of occasional low laughter, came softly to the -hearing of two persons, a man and a woman, who were seated on a garden -bench, in an angle of the terrace. The countless sounds of Nature, -which make a music all their own, were around them, and the scene had -in it every element of beauty and joy; but these two persons seemed to -be but little moved by it, to have little in common with all that -surrounded them and with the feelings it was calculated to suggest.</p> - -<p>They were for the most part silent, and when they spoke it was sadly -and slowly, as they speak upon whom the memory of the past is strong, -and who habitually live in it more than in the present. There was a -deference in the tone and manner of the woman, which would have made -an observer aware that though the utmost kindliness and unrestraint -existed in her relations with her companion, she was not his equal in -station; and her manner of speaking, though quite free from all that -ordinarily constitutes vulgarity, would have betrayed that difference -still more plainly.</p> - -<p>She was a tall woman, apparently about forty years old, and handsome, -in a peculiar style. Her face was not refined, and yet far from -common; the features well formed, and the expression eminently candid -and sensible. Health and content were plainly to be read in the still -bright complexion and clear gray Irish eyes. She wore a handsome silk -dress, and a lace cap covered her still abundant dark hair, and in her -dress and air were unmistakable indications of her position in life. -She looked what she was, the responsible head of a household, -authoritative and respected.</p> - -<p>We have seen her before, many years ago, on board the ship which -brought Margaret Hungerford to England, Margaret Hungerford, who has -slept for nearly twenty years under the shade of the great yew in the -churchyard, which is not so far from the Deane but that sharp eyes can -mark where the darker line of its solemn trees crosses the woods of -the lower park land. The years have set their mark upon the handsome -Irish girl, who had won such trust and affection from the forlorn -young widow, who had done with it all now, all love and fear, all -sorrow and forlornness, and need of help, for ever. Not only for ever, -but so long ago, that her name and memory were mere traditions, while -the trees she had planted were still but youngsters among trees, and -the path cut through the Fir Field by her directions was still known -as the "new" road.</p> - -<p>There, on the spot where she had often sat with Baldwin and talked of -the future, which they were never to see, Margaret's friend, humble -indeed, but rightly judged and worthily trusted, sat, this beautiful -summer's day, in the untouched prime of her health and strength and -comeliness, and talked of the dear dead woman; but vaguely, timidly, -as the long dead are spoken of when they are mentioned at all to one -from whom the years had not obscured her, though they had gathered the -dimness which age brings around every other image of the past and of -the future.</p> - -<p>He with whom Rose Doran talked was an old man, but older in mind and -in health than in years, of which he had not yet seen the allotted -number. Of a slight, spare figure always, and now so bowed that the -malformation of the shoulders was merged in the general bending -weakness of the frame, and the stooped head was habitually held -downwards, the old man might have been of any age to which infirmity -like his could attain. Even on this warm day he was wrapped in a cloak -lined with fur, and his white transparent face looked as if warm blood -had never coloured the fine closely-wrinkled skin, on which the -innumerable lines were marked as though they had been cunningly drawn -by needles. He wore a low-crowned, wide-leaved soft hat, and scanty -silver locks showed under the brim; but if the hat had been removed it -would have been seen that the head which it had covered was almost -entirely bald, and of the same transparent ivory texture as the face.</p> - -<p>It would be difficult to imagine anything more fragile-looking than -the old man, as he sat, wrapped in his cloak, his bowed shoulders -supported by the angle of the terrace, and his hands, long, white, and -skeleton-like, placidly folded on his knees. The only trace of vigour -remaining in him was to be found in the eyes, and here expression, -feeling, memory yet lingered and sometimes gave forth such gleams of -light and purpose as seemed to tell of the youth of the soul within -him still.</p> - -<p>A crutch stood against the wall by his side, and a thick stick, with a -strong ivory handle, lay upon the bench. These were unmistakable signs -of the feebleness and decay which had come to the old man, but they -would not have told a close observer more than might have been learned -by a glance at his feet. They were not distorted, none of the ugly -shapelessness of age and disease was to be seen there. They were slim, -and shapely, and neatly attired, in the old-fashioned silk stocking -and buckled shoe of a more polite and formal period, but they were -totally inexpressive. No one could have looked at the old man's feet, -set comfortably upon a soft lambskin rug, but remaining there quite -motionless, without seeing that they had almost ceased to do their -work. With much difficulty, and very slowly, by the aid of the crutch -and the stick, they would still carry him a little way from the sunny -sitting-room on the ground floor to the sunny corner of the terrace, -for the most part--but that was all.</p> - -<p>He was not discontented that it should be all, for he suffered little -now in his old age--perhaps he had suffered as much as he could before -that time came; and was no more irritable or peevish. A little tired, -a little wondering betimes that he had so long to wait, while so many -whose day had promised to be prolonged and bright in its morning had -passed on, out of sight, before him: but a happy old man, for all -that, in a quiet, musing way, and "very little trouble to any one."</p> - -<p>Yes, that was the general opinion of Mr. Dugdale, old Mr. Dugdale, as -the household, for some unexplained reason, called him, and few things -vexed the spirit of Gertrude Baldwin so nearly beyond bearing, as the -assurances to that effect which her aunt, Mrs. Carteret, was in the -habit of promulgating to an inquisitive and sympathising -neighbourhood. For Mrs. Carteret (she had been the eldest Miss Crofton -a great many years ago) was not of a very refined nature, and it is -just possible that when she commented on Mr. Dugdale's reduced and -sometimes almost deathlike appearance, to the effect that any one "to -see him would think he could die off quite easily," she rather -resented his not availing himself of that apparent facility without -delay. He did not, however; and Mrs. Carteret was the only person who -ever found the gentle, kindly man in the way, and she never dared to -hint to her husband that she did so.</p> - -<p>Her niece inherited from her dead mother all the quick-sightedness -which made her keen to see and to suffer, where her affections were -concerned, and the first seeds of dissension had been sown some years -before, between the aunt and the niece, by the girl's perceiving that -"old" Mr. Dugdale was not considered by Mrs. Carteret as such an -acquisition to the family party at the Deane as its fair and gentle, -but high-spirited, young mistress held him to be. It was on that -occasion that Gertrude had contrived, very mildly and very skilfully, -but still after a decided and unmistakable fashion, to remind her aunt -of the fact that she, and not Mrs. Carteret, was the lady of the house -in which the old man had been found _de trop_; and thence had -originated a state of things destined to produce most unforeseen -consequences.</p> - -<p>The immediate result, however, had been an increased observance in -manner, and an additional dislike in reality, to Mr. Dugdale, on the -part of Mrs. Carteret, which the old man perceived--as indeed he -perceived everything, for his powers of observation were by no means -enfeebled--but which it never occurred to him to resent. What could it -possibly signify to him that Mrs. Carteret did not like him, and -wished it might be in her power to get rid of him? It was not in her -power; it was not within the compass of any earthly will to separate -him from Margaret's child; and as for Mrs. Carteret herself, it is to -be feared that old Mr. Dugdale, after the saturnine fashion of his -earlier years, cherished a quiet contempt for that lady, while he -readily acknowledged that she was a good sort of woman in her way. It -was not in his way, that was all.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Doran was especially devoted to Mr. Dugdale, to whom she owed the -prosperous position which she had held in the household at the Deane -for so many years now, that she was as much a part of the place to the -inhabitants as the forest trees or the family portraits. Consequently -she was not particularly attached to Mrs. Carteret, and presumed -occasionally to criticise that lady's proceedings after a fashion -which, had she been aware of it, would have gone far to fortify her in -one of her favourite and most frequently-expressed opinions, that it -was a great mistake to keep servants too long. "They always presume -upon it, and become impertinent and troublesome."</p> - -<p>But Mrs. Carteret would never have ventured to include Mrs. Doran -among the "servants" otherwise than in her most private cogitations. -Rose was a privileged person there, by a more sacred if not a stronger -right than that of Mrs. Carteret herself.</p> - -<p>But on this bright, beautiful day, when the old man had come out upon -the terrace to bask awhile in the genial sunshine, why was Rose Doran -with him? Ordinarily he had younger, fairer companions, in whose faces -and voices there were many happy, sad memories for him, and whose love -and care brightened the days fast going down to the last setting of -the sun of his life. They were absent to-day, and the two to whom, of -all the numerous household at the Deane, the day had most of -retrospective meaning were alone together.</p> - -<p>"It's wonderful how well I remember her, sir," Rose was saying; -"sometimes that is. There's many a day I disremember her entirely, but -when I do think about her--as to-day--I can see her plain. And I'm -glad, somehow, I never saw her in her grandeur; for if I did, an' -all the years that have gone by since then, I couldn't but think no -one else had a right to it."</p> - -<p>"I understand what you mean, Rose, and when I remember her, sometimes, -as you say, it isn't in her grandeur, but as she was when you and she -came home first;</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir, and you saw us goin' in at the door of the little -inn--who'd ever think there'd be a hotel as big as Morrison's, and a -deal cleaner, in the very same place now?--and you not knowin' us, and -she seein' you in a minute. Isn't it strange, Mr. Dugdale, to remember -it after twenty, ay, more than twenty years? How long is it then, sir, -rightly?"</p> - -<p>"Twenty-three years and some months, Rose."</p> - -<p>"True for you, sir. And now Miss Gerty's to be her own mistress, and -no one to say by your leave or with your leave to her, the darling! -The master would have been a proud man, rest his soul! this day."</p> - -<p>The old man did not notice her remark. But after a little while, as if -he had been thinking over it, he bowed the bent head still lower, and -moved the thin white hands, and sighed.</p> - -<p>"Are you chilly at all, sir?" asked his quickly-observant companion. -"The sun is shifting a little; would you like to go in?"</p> - -<p>"No," he replied; and then asked, after a pause, "How are they getting -on?"</p> - -<p>"Beautifully," Rose answered. "The house is a picture; and as to the -ball-room, nothing could be more beautiful. Miss Eleanor has it all -done out with flowers, and I'm only afraid she'll be tired before the -time comes for the dancing. Do you think you'll be able to sit up to -see it, sir?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know, Rose; but I will try. Gerty seems to wish it so much, -foolish child; as if it could make any difference to her that an old -man like me should be there to see her happy and admired."</p> - -<p>"An' why shouldn't she?" remonstrated Rose in a tone almost of -vexation. "Do you think the children oughtn't to have some nature in -them? If Miss Gerty was no better nor a baby when the mistress--the -Lord be good to her!--was taken, and Miss Eleanor never saw the smile -of her mother's face at all, sure they know about her all the same, -and it's more and not less they think about her, the older they grow, -and the better they know the want of a mother, through seeing other -people with mothers and fathers and friends of all kinds, and no one -to dare to deny them--not that I'm sayin' or thinkin' there's any one -would harm innocent lambs like them, nor try to put between them--but -the world's a quare world, Mr. Dugdale, and they're beginnin' to find -it out, and the more they know of it, the more they miss the mother -they never knew at all, and the father they did not know much -about--and the more they cling to them that did know, and can tell -them. Many's the time, Mr. Dugdale, that Miss Gerty has said to me, -'Isn't it odd that uncle James remembers mamma much better than uncle -Carteret or aunt Lucy remember her, and can tell us much more about -our father?--and yet they were all young people together, and near -relations, and he wasn't.' And it was only the other day, when you -told Miss Gerty she was to have the poor mistress's picture for her -comin' of age, she says to me, 'There's uncle and aunt Carteret -couldn't tell me whether it's like her or not; and there's uncle James -knows all about it, and can tell when I'm like her and when Nelly is, -and yet they say old people forget everything.' Beggin' your pardon, -sir, for saying you're old, but the dear child said the very words. -An' so, if she didn't want you to-night to see her in her glory, and -to be like the smile of the father and mother that's in heaven upon -her, I wouldn't think much of her, Mr. Dugdale, 'deed I wouldn't -then."</p> - -<p>"Well, well. Rose, it seems the children are of your opinion, for they -have made me promise to sit up as late as possible; and I have heard -as much about their dresses as either their maids or yourself, I'll be -bound."</p> - -<p>"An' beautiful they'll look in them, Mr. Dugdale, particularly Miss -Gerty. Don't you think she grows wonderfully like her mother? Not that -I ever saw her look bright and happy like Miss Gerty; but I think she -must have been just like her, after she was married to the poor -master. You know I went away before that, sir; but perhaps you -disremember."</p> - -<p>"No, no, Rose, I remember. I remember it all very well, because she -told me if she wanted you and could not send for you herself I was to -do so, because Mr. Baldwin did not know you. No, no; it is a long time -ago, a very long time, but I don't forget, I don't forget."</p> - -<p>"An' you see the likeness, sir?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, I see the likeness, I see it very plainly; as we grow old, time -seems so much shorter that it does not appear at all strange to me -that I should remember her so well. There were many years during which -I could hardly recall her face even when I was looking at the picture, -but all that dimness seems to have cleared away now, and all my memory -come back. Gerty is wonderfully like her, only more placid; her manner -is more like her father's."</p> - -<p>They were silent for a time, during which Rose Doran knitted -diligently,--her fingers were never idle, and her subordinates in the -household said the same of her eyes and ears,--and then she began to -talk again.</p> - -<p>"It'll be a fine ball, sir. They say the beautifulest, except the -Duke's, that ever was in this part of the country. And sure, so it -ought, for where's there the like of Miss Baldwin of the Deane for -beauty or for fortune either? An' what could be too good in the way of -a ball for _her?_"</p> - -<p>There was a note of challenge in the Irishwoman's voice. Mr. Dugdale -observed it with amusement, and replied,</p> - -<p>"I daresay it will go off very well. Mrs. Carteret is a good hand at -this kind of thing."</p> - -<p>"She is," said Rose shortly; "and as it's Miss Gerty's money it's all -to come out of, she'll have no notion of saving anything."</p> - -<p>This was the nearest approach to a frank expression of her -not-particularly-exalted opinion of Mrs. Carteret on which Rose had -ever ventured, and Mr. Dugdale did not encourage her to pursue it by -any remark; but, observing that the girls had said they would come out -to him, and were after their time, and that he would go and look for -them, he began to make slow preparations for a change of place.</p> - -<p>Rose's steady arm aided him, and he was soon proceeding slowly along -the terrace, his crutch under his left arm and his stick in his right -hand, while Rose walked by his side. As he slowly and apparently -painfully dragged himself along--only apparently, for he rarely -suffered pain now--Mr. Dugdale presented a picture of decrepitude -which contrasted strangely with a picture which any observer, had -there chanced to be one upon the terrace that day, might have seen, -and which he and Rose stood still to look at with intense pleasure.</p> - -<p>Through the open windows of a large room upon the terrace the interior -was to be seen. The apartment was of splendid dimensions, and the -richly-decorated walls and ceiling were ornamented with classical -designs appropriate to the festive purposes of a ball-room. A bank of -flowers was constructed to enclose a space designed for an orchestra, -and several musical instruments were already arranged in their places.</p> - -<p>A grand piano was in the middle, and a lady was seated before it, -whose nimble fingers were flying over the keys, producing the strains -of a brilliantly provocative and inspiriting valse. The lady was not -alone. In the centre of the room, whose polished floor was almost as -bright and slippery as glass, stood two young girls, the arms of each -around the waist of the other, their heads thrown back, their eyes -beaming with laughter, and their hearts beating with the exertion of -the wild dance they had just concluded.</p> - -<p>As Mr. Dugdale and Rose drew near the window, the pause for breath -came to a conclusion, the music gushed forth, more than ever inviting, -and the dancers were off again, spinning round and round in their -girlish glee in a boisterous exaggeration of the figure of the dance, -irresistibly merry and attractive. They flew down the length of the -room, crossed to its extremity, and came whirling up to the central -window. There stood Mr. Dugdale with uplifted threatening stick, and -Rose, with her knitting dropped, fascinated with admiration. Then they -checked their headlong career, and, with some difficulty, came to a -stop opposite the pair on the terrace, laughingly shaking their heads -in imitation of the pretended rebuke they were conveying.</p> - -<p>"A rational way to rehearse for your ball, Gerty," said Mr. Dugdale, -as he stepped, with the assistance of the young girl's ready hand, -into the room, followed by Rose. "And a capital plan for you, Nelly, -who are so easily tired. You silly children, don't you think you will -have enough dancing to-night?"</p> - -<p>"Not half enough," replied one of the girls, "not quarter; none of the -people will stay after five or six at the latest."</p> - -<p>"I should hope not, indeed," said Mr. Dugdale. "And you are resolved -to begin punctually at ten; you _are_ unconscionable."</p> - -<p>"And then you know, uncle James," said the girl whom he had called -Gerty, "we cannot dance together to-night; we are grown up, you know, -hopelessly grown up; it's awful, isn't it? and besides--besides aunt -Lucy tempted us with her beautiful playing--and the floor is so -delightful; and now don't you really, really think it will be a -delightful ball?"</p> - -<p>"I have not the smallest misgiving about it, Gerty, though I don't -know much of balls. But I am sure Mrs. Carteret will join me in urging -you not to tire yourselves any more just now."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Carteret left the piano, and joined the girls, who immediately -entered on a discussion of the measures already taken for the -beautification of the ball-room, and the possibility of still farther -adorning it, which was finally pronounced hopeless, everything being -already quite perfect, and the party adjourned to luncheon.</p> -<br> - -<p>So the years had sped away, and all the fears, and hopes, and sorrows -they had given birth to had also come to their death, according to the -wonderful law of immutability, and were no more. The mother in her -marble tomb beneath the yew-tree, the father in his unmarked grave in -the desert, but united in the country too far off for mortal ken or -comprehension, were well-nigh forgotten here; and their children were -women now.</p> - -<p>The little party assembled at the Deane on this occasion--the -twenty-first anniversary of Gertrude Baldwin's birth--had but little -sadness among them, and were visited with but slight recollections of -the far distant past. Twenty years is a long time. No saying can be -more trite and more true; yet there are persons and circumstances, -and, more than all, there are feelings which are not forgotten, -ignored, killed in twenty years.</p> - -<p>There were two unseen guests that day at the table--at whose head Mrs. -Carteret, who was in a gracious, not to say gushing mood, insisted on -Gertrude's taking her place for the first time--whose presence Mr. -Dugdale felt, though he was an old man now, and his fancy was no -longer active. He had his place opposite to Gertrude, and from it he -could see, hanging on the wall behind her chair, her father's -portrait. It was a fine picture, the work of a first-rate artist, -and the face was full of harmony and expression. The graceful lines, -the rich colouring of youthful manhood were there, and the sunny -blue eyes smiled as if they could see the gay girls, the handsome, -self-conscious, self-important woman, the wan and feeble old man. From -the portrait Mr. Dugdale's glance wandered to the girlish face and -figure before him and just under it; and a pang of exceeding keen and -bitter remembrance smote him--ay, after twenty years.</p> - -<p>Gertrude Meriton Baldwin was a handsomer girl than her mother had -been, but wonderfully like her. No trouble, no care, no touch of -degradation, humiliation, concealment, bitterness of any kind, had -ever lighted on the daughter's well-cared-for girlhood, which had been -permitted all its natural expansion, all its legitimate enjoyment and -careless gladness. No passion, unwise and ungoverned, had come into -her life to trouble and disturb it too soon--to fill it with vain -illusions, and the sure heritage of disappointment. A happy childhood -had grown into a happy girlhood, and now that happy girlhood had -ripened into a womanhood, with every promise of happiness for the -future.</p> - -<p>She was taller than her mother, and had more colour; but the features -were almost the same. The brow was a little less broad, the lips were -fuller, but the eyes were in no way different, so far as they had been -called upon for expression up to the present time; they had looked -like Margaret's, and no doubt would so look in every farther -development of life, circumstance, and character.</p> - -<p>Eleanor, who amused herself during the luncheon,--at which Mr. Dugdale -was unusually silent, and Mrs. Carteret occupied herself rather -emphatically, on the plea that dinner was a doubtful good when a ball -was in preparation,--was not in the least like her father, her mother, -or her sister. She was very small, delicately formed, and fragile in -appearance, with a clear dark complexion, large black eyes, and a -profusion of glossy black hair, which, especially when in close -contrast with the clear gray eyes and soft brown hair of her sister, -gave her a foreign appearance, of which she was quite conscious and -rather proud.</p> - -<p>Hitherto there had been no difference in the lot of the sisters. The -childish joys and sorrows of the one had been those of the other, and -girlhood had brought to them no separate fortune. Nor were things -materially altered now. The independence of action which Gertrude -attained upon this day would be Eleanor's in a very short time, and in -point of wealth they were nearly equal. For each there had been a long -minority. Eleanor Davyntry had not long survived her brother, and all -her disposable fortune was her younger niece's. Apart from their -orphanhood, no girls could have had a more enviable lot than the two -who were in such wild spirits on that summer's day, which invested one -of them with all the dignity of legal womanhood, and all the -responsibility of a great heiress.</p> - -<p>Eleanor was of a different temperament from that of Gertrude, more -vehement, more passionate, less self-reliant, less sustained. Hitherto -the difference had shown itself but seldom and slightly, and there had -been little or nothing to develop it. But a shrewd observer would have -noticed it, even in the manner in which each regarded the promised -pleasure of the evening, in the easy joyousness of the one, and the -passionate eagerness of the other.</p> - -<p>When luncheon had nearly reached a conclusion, the sounds of wheels -upon the drive sent Eleanor rushing to the window. A stylish dog-cart, -in which were seated a tall, fine-looking, rather heavy middle-aged -man and an irreproachable groom, was rapidly approaching the house.</p> - -<p>"It is uncle," said Eleanor; "now we shall know for certain who's -coming from Edinburgh. What a good thing you thought of the telegraph, -aunt!"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Carteret. "When one has to put people up for the -night, it is better to know exactly how many to expect."</p> - -<p>In a few minutes Haldane Carteret was in the room, and had handed an -open telegraphic despatch to Gertrude.</p> - -<p>"They're all coming, you see," he said good-humouredly; "and _you'll_ -be glad to hear, Lucy, there's no doubt about Meredith. He has got -that troublesome business settled, as he always does get everything -settled he puts his mind to, and he will be down by the mail, and here -by eleven."</p> - -<p>"That is delightful," said Gertrude, with frank outspoken pleasure. -"You have brought nothing but good news, uncle."</p> - -<p>"And the programmes--isn't that what you call them? I hope they're all -right."</p> - -<p>"I'm sure they are.--Aunt, what room are you going to give Mr. -Meredith?"</p> - -<p>Then ensued a domestic discussion, in which Gertrude and Mrs. Carteret -took an active share; but Eleanor stood looking out of the window, and -did not utter a word.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div3_02" href="#div3Ref_02">CHAPTER II.</a></h4> -<h5>ROBERT MEREDITH.</h5> -<br> - -<p>The twenty years which had rolled over the head of Robert Meredith, -the anxiously expected guest, since last we saw him, may be thus -briefly recapitulated. The school selected by James Dugdale for his -protégé's education was the now celebrated, but then little heard-of -Grammar-school of Lowebarre. Not that the _alumni_, as they delight to -call themselves, recognise their old place of education by any such -familiar name. To them it is and always will be the Fairfax-school; -they are "Fairfaxians," and the word Lowebarre is altogether ignored.</p> - -<p>The _fons et origo_ of these academic groves, pleasantly situate in -the immediate vicinity of the metropolis, was one Sir Anthony Fairfax, -a worthy knight of the time of Queen Elizabeth, who, having lived his -life merrily, according to the fashion of the old English gentlemen of -those days, more especially in the matter of the consumption of sack -and the carrying out of the _droits de seigneurie_, thought it better -towards his latter days to endeavour to get up a few entries on the -other side of the ledger of his life, and found the easiest method in -the doing a deed of beneficence on a large scale. This was nothing -less than the foundation of a school at Lowebarre, where a portion of -his property was situate, for the education of forty boys, who were to -be gratuitously instructed in the learned languages, and morally and -religiously brought up. How the scheme worked in those dark ages it -is, of course, impossible to say.</p> - -<p>But ten years before Robert Meredith was inducted into the _arcana_ of -the classics the Fairfax school was in a very low state indeed, and -the Fairfaxians themselves were no better than a set of roughs. The -head master, an old gentleman who had been classically educated, -indeed, but over whose head the rust of many years of farming had -accumulated, took little heed of his scholars, whose numbers -consequently dwindled half-year by half-year, and who, as they -neglected not only the arts but everything else but stone-throwing and -orchard-robbing had no manners to soften, and became brutal.</p> - -<p>This state of affairs could not last. One of the governors or -trustees acting under the founder's will saw that not merely was the -muster-roll of the school diminishing, but its social _status_ was -almost gone. He called a meeting of his coadjutors, impressed upon -them the necessity of taking vigorous steps for getting rid of the -then head master, and of at once procuring the services of a man ready -to go with the times. Advertisements judiciously worded were sent to -all the newspapers, inviting candidates for the head-mastership of the -Fairfax school, and dilating in glowing terms on the advantages of -that position; but time passed, and the post yet remained open. Those -who presented themselves were too much of the stamp of the existing -holder of the situation to suit the enlarged views of the trustees, -and it was not until Mr. Warwick, the governor who had first suggested -the reform, busied himself personally in the matter, that the fitting -individual was secured.</p> - -<p>The Rev. Charles Crampton, who, having taken a first-class in classics -and a second in mathematics, having been Fellow of his college and -tutor of some of the best men of their years, had finally succumbed to -the power of love, and subsided into a curacy of seventy-five pounds a -year, was Mr. Warwick's selection. He brought with him testimonials of -the highest character; but what weighed most with Mr. Warwick was the -earnest recommendation of James Dugdale, who had been Mr. Crampton's -college friend.</p> - -<p>Poor Charles Crampton, when he sacrificed his fellowship for love, had -little notion that he would have to pass the remainder of his life in -grinding in a mill of boys. To study the Fathers, to prepare two or -three editions of his favourite classic authors, to play in a more -modern and refined manner the part of the parson in the "Deserted -Village," had been his hope. But though the old adage was not -followed, though when Poverty came in at the door (and she did come -speedily enough, not in her harshest fiercest aspect it is true, but -looking quite grimly enough to frighten an educated and refined -gentleman). Love did not fly out of the window, yet Charles Crampton -had suffered sufficiently from _turpis egestas_ to induce him at once -to accept the offer.</p> - -<p>The salary of the Fairfax head-mastership, though not large, -quintupled his then income; the position held out to him was that of a -gentleman, and though he had not any wild ideas of the dignity and -responsibility of a school-mastership, the notion of having to battle -in aid of a failing cause pleased and invigorated him, more especially -when he reflected that, should he succeed, the _kudos_ of that success -would be all his own.</p> - -<p>So the Reverend Charles Crampton was installed at Lowebarre, and the -wisdom of Mr. Warwick's selection was speedily proved. Men of position -and influence in the world, who had been Mr. Crampton's friends at -college; others, a little younger, to whom he had been tutor; and the -neighbouring gentry, when they found they had resident among them one -who was not merely a scholar and a man of parts, but by birth and -breeding one of themselves,--sent their sons to the Fairfax school, -and received Mr. and Mrs. Crampton with all politeness and attention.</p> - -<p>By the time that Robert Meredith arrived at Lowebarre the school was -thoroughly well known; its scholars numbered nearly two hundred; its -"speech-days" were attended, as the local journals happily expressed -it, "by lords spiritual and temporal, the dignitaries of the Bar, the -Bench, and the Senate, and the flower of the aristocracy;" while, -source of Mr. Crampton's greatest pride, there stood on either side of -the Gothic window in the great school-hall, on a chocolate ground, in -gold letters, a list of the exhibitioners of the school, and of the -honours gained by Fairfaxians, at the two universities.</p> - -<p>To a boy brought up amidst the incongruities of colonial life the -order and regularity of the Fairfax school possessed all the elements -of bewildering novelty. But with his habitual quietude and secret -observation Robert Meredith set himself to work to acquire an insight -into the characters both of his masters and his school-fellows, and -determined, according to his wont, to turn the result of his studies -to his own benefit.</p> - -<p>The forty boys provided for by the beneficence of good old Sir Anthony -Fairfax--"foundation-boys," as they were called--were now, of course, -in a considerable minority in the school. They were for the most part -sons of residents in the immediate neighbourhood; but for the benefit -of those young gentlemen who came from afar, the head master received -boarders at his own house, and at another under his immediate control, -while certain of the under masters enjoyed similar privileges.</p> - -<p>The number of young gentlemen received under Mr. Crampton's own roof -was rigidly limited to three; for Mrs. Crampton was a nervous little -woman, who shrunk from the sound of cantering bluchers, and whose -housekeeping talent was not of an extensive order. The triumvirate -paid highly, more highly than James Dugdale thought necessary; and -Hayes Meredith was of his opinion. The boy would have to rough it in -after life, he said,--"roughing it" was a traditional idea with -him,--and it would be useless to bring the lad up on velvet. So that -Robert found his quarters in Mr. Crampton's second boarding-house, -where forty or fifty lads, all the sons of gentlemen of modern -fortune, dwelt in more or less harmony out of school-hours, and were -presided over by Mr. Boldero, the mathematical master.</p> - -<p>On his first entry into this herd of boys, Robert Meredith felt that -he could scarcely congratulate himself on his lines having fallen in -pleasant places. He had sufficient acuteness to foresee what the -lively youths amongst whom he was about to dwell would reckon as his -deficiencies, and consequently would select and enter upon at once to -his immediate opprobrium. That he was colonial, and not English born, -would be, he was aware, immediately resented with scorn by his -companions, and regarded as a reason for overwhelming him with -obloquy. It was, therefore, a fact to be kept most secret; but after -the lapse of a few days it was inadvertently revealed by the "chum" to -whom alone Robert had mentioned the circumstance. When once known it -afforded subject for the keenest sarcasm; "bushranger," "kangaroo," -"ticket-of-leave," were among the choice epithets bestowed upon him.</p> - -<p>It would not be either pleasant or profitable to linger over the story -of Robert Meredith's school-days. They have no interest for us beyond -this, that they developed his disposition, and insensibly influenced -all his after life. He regarded his schoolmates with scorn as -unbounded as it was studiously concealed, and he cultivated their -unsuspecting good-will with a success which rendered him in a short -time, in all points essential to his comfort, their master. He made -rapid progress in his studies, and kept before his mind with -steadiness which was certainly wonderful at his age--and, had it been -induced by a more elevated actuating motive, would have been most -admirable--the purpose with which he had come to England.</p> - -<p>When the end of his schoolboy life drew near, and the much longed-for -University career was about to begin, Robert Meredith took leave of -Mr. Crampton with mutual assurances of good-will. If the conscientious -and reverend gentleman had been closely questioned with regard to his -sentiments concerning his clever colonial pupil, he must have -acknowledged that he admired rather than liked him. But there was no -one to dive into the secrets of his soul, and in the letter which Mr. -Crampton addressed to Mr. Dugdale on the occasion, he gave him, with -perfect truth, a highly favourable account of Robert Meredith, of -which one sentence really contained the pith. "He is conspicuous for -talent," wrote the reverend gentleman; "but I think even his abilities -are less marked than his tact, in which he surpasses any young man -whose character has come under my observation."</p> - -<p>"So in argument, and so in life--tact is a great matter." Behold the -guiding spirit of Robert Meredith's career, even in its present -fledgling days. It was tact that made him eschew anything that might -look like "sapping," or rigidity of morals, as much as he eschewed -dissipation and actual fast life while at college. It was tact that -made his wine-parties, though the numbers invited were small, and the -liquids by no means so expensive as those furnished by many of his -acquaintances, the pleasantest in the university. It was tact that -took him now and then into the hunting-field, that made him a constant -attendant at Bullingdon and Cowley Marsh, where his bowling and -batting rendered him a welcome ally and a formidable opponent; and it -was tact which allotted him just that amount of work necessary for a -fair start in his future career.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith knew perfectly that in that future career at the bar -the honours gained at college would have little weight--that the -position to be gained would depend materially upon the talent and -industry brought to bear upon the dry study of the law itself, upon -the mastery of technical details; above all, upon the reading of that -greatest of problems, the human heart, and the motives influencing it. -To hold his own was all he aimed at while at college, and he did so; -but some of his friends, who knew what really lay in him, were -grievously disappointed when the lists were published, and it was -found that Robert Meredith had only gained a double second. George -Ritherdon grieved openly, and refused to be comforted even by his own -success, and by the acclamations which rang round the steady reading -set of Bodhamites when it was known that George Ritherdon's name stood -at the head of the first class.</p> - -<p>The two friends were not to be separated--that was Ritherdon's -greatest consolation. Mr. Plowden, the great conveyancer of the Middle -Temple, had made arrangements to receive both of them to read with -him; and in the very dingy chambers occupied by that great professor -of the law they speedily found themselves installed. A man overgrown -with legal rust, and prematurely drowsy with a lifelong residence -within the "dusty purlieus of the law," was Mr. Plowden; but his name -was well known, his fame was thoroughly established; many of his -pupils were leading men at the bar; and the dry tomes which bore his -name as author were recognised text-books of the profession.</p> - -<p>Moreover, James Dugdale had heard, from certain old college chums, -that underneath Mr. Plowden's legal crust there was to be found a keen -knowledge of human nature, and a certain power of will, which, -properly exercised, would be of the greatest assistance in moulding -and forming such a character as Robert Meredith's. It was, therefore, -with a comfortable sense of duty done that James Dugdale saw the young -man established in Mr. Plowden's chambers, and, from all he had heard, -he was by no means sorry that Robert was to have George Ritherdon as -his companion.</p> - -<p>There are certain persons who seem to be specially designed and cut -out by nature for prosperity, and with whom, on the whole, it does not -seem to disagree. They bear the test well, they are not arrogant, -insolent, or apparently unfeeling, and they make more friends than -enemies. Such people find many true believers in them, to surround -them with a sincere and heartfelt worship, to regard all their good -fortune as their indisputable right, and resent any cross, crook, or -turning in it as an injustice on the part of Providence, or "some -one." We all know one person at least of this class, for whose "luck" -it is difficult to account, except as "luck," and of whom no one has -anything unfavourable to say, or the disposition to say it.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith was one of this favoured class of persons. He had the -good fortune to possess certain external gifts which go far towards -making a man popular, and under which it is always difficult, -especially to women, to believe that a cold heart is concealed. The -handsome lad had grown up into a handsomer man, and one chiefly -remarkable for his easy and graceful manners, which harmonised with an -elegant figure and a voice which had a very deceptive depth, -sweetness, and impressiveness of intonation about it.</p> - -<p>The ardent admirer, the unswerving true believer in Meredith's case -was, as we have seen, George Ritherdon; and it would have been curious -and interesting to investigate the extent and importance of the -influence of this early contracted and steadily maintained friendship -on the lives of both men, and on the estimation in which Meredith was -held by the world outside that companionship.</p> - -<p>He would have been very loth to believe that any particle of his -importance, a shade of warmth in the manner of his welcome anywhere, -an impulse of confidence in his ability, leading to his being employed -in cases above his apparent mark and standing, were the result of an -unexpressed belief in George Ritherdon, a tacit but very general -respect and admiration for the earnest, honest, irreproachable -integrity of the man, who was clever, indeed, as well as good, but so -much more exceptionally good than exceptionally clever, that the -latter quality was almost overlooked by his friends, who were numerous -and influential. Wherever George's influence could reach, wherever his -efforts could be made available, Meredith's interests were safe, -Meredith's ambition was aided.</p> - -<p>Naturally of a frank and communicative disposition, liking sympathy -and the expression of it, fond of his home and his family, and ever -ready to be actively interested in all that concerned them, there was -not an incident in his history, direct or indirect, with which he -would not have made his "chum" acquainted on the least hint of -the "chum's" desiring to know it; and, in fact, Robert Meredith, -who had too much tact to permit his friend to perceive that his -communicativeness occasionally bored him, was in thorough possession -of his friend's history past and present.</p> - -<p>But this was not reciprocal, except in a very superficial scale. -Robert Meredith was perhaps not intentionally reticent with George -Ritherdon, and it occurred very seldom to the latter to think his -friend reticent at all, but he was habitually cautious. The same -quality which had made him a taciturn observer in the house at -Chayleigh, able to conceal his dislike of Mr. Baldwin, and to -appreciate thoroughly without appearing to observe the tie which bound -James Dugdale to his old friend's daughter, now in his manhood enabled -him to win the regard of others, and to learn all about them, without -letting them either find out much about him, or offending them, or -inspiring them with distrust by cold and calculated reserve.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, George Ritherdon knew very much less of his -friend than his friend knew of him, and of one portion of his life he -was in absolute ignorance. It was that which included his residence at -Chayleigh, and his subsequent relations with the families of Carteret -and Baldwin. George had heard the names in casual mention, and he knew -that when Meredith went for a fortnight or so to Scotland in the -"long" he went to a place called the Deane, where a retired officer of -artillery, named Haldane Carteret, lived, who kept a very good house, -and gave "men" some very capital shooting.</p> - -<p>But George did not shoot; and had he been devoted to that manly -pursuit, he would never have thought it in the least unkind or -negligent in Meredith to have omitted to share his opportunities in -that way with him; he would never have thought about it at all indeed; -so the Deane was quite unknown territory, even speculatively, to this -good fellow. He knew nothing of the young heiress and her sister. No -stray photograph or missish letter, left about in the careless -disarray of bachelor's chambers, had ever excited George's curiosity, -or led to "chaff" on his part upon Meredith's predilection for -travelling north, whenever he could spare the time to travel at all, -upon his indifference to "the palms and temples of the south." George -was not an adept in the polite modern art of "chaff," and few men -could have been found to offer less occasion for its exercise than -Robert Meredith.</p> - -<p>It had sometimes occurred to George to wonder why a man so popular -with women, so "rising" as Robert Meredith, a man who had undoubtedly, -in default of some untoward accident, a brilliant professional career -and all its concomitant social advantages before him, had not married; -but this was a matter on which he would not have considered that even -their close friendship would have justified him in putting any -questions to Meredith.</p> - -<p>The _tu quoque_ which might have been Meredith's reply was of easy -explanation. George Ritherdon had had a disappointment in his youth, -and had never thought seriously about marriage since. The -disappointment had taken place in his early imprudent days, when no -connection, even distantly collateral, existed in his mind between -money and marriage, and he had long since arrived at the conviction -that, even if it did come into his head or heart to fall in love -again, he could not afford to marry, and therefore must, acting upon -the gentlemanly precepts which had always governed him, resist any -such inclination as dishonourable to himself and ungenerous towards -its object.</p> - -<p>The world had "marched" to a very quick step indeed since the days of -George's almost boyhood, when the beautiful but penniless Camilla -Jackson had fascinated him "into fits" at a carpet dance in the -neighbourhood of his father's house, and he had forthwith set to work, -in the fervent realms of his imagination, to fit up, furnish, and -start a most desirable and charming little establishment, to be -presided over by that young lady in the delightful capacity of wife. -Of course the beautiful Camilla was always to be attired in the -choicest French millinery and the clearest white muslins. Laundresses' -bills had no place, nor had those of the _modiste_, in the -unsophisticated imagination of the young man, and breakages were as -far from his thoughts as babies.</p> - -<p>George had lived and learned since then, and he dreamed no more -dreams now; he knew better. Unless some tremendous, wholly unexpected, -and extravagantly-unlikely piece of good luck should come in his -way--something about as probable as the adventures of Sindbad or -Prince Camaralzaman, in which case he would immediately look about for -an eligible young lady to take the larger share of it off his -unaccustomed hands--George would now never marry.</p> - -<p>Camilla had disdained the white muslin and the millinery regardless of -the washing bill, of which indeed she had early been taught by an -exemplary and fearfully managing mother to be ceaselessly reminiscent; -and George not unfrequently saw her now in a carriage, the mere -varnish whereof told of wealth of perfectly aggressive amount, in a -carriage crammed with healthy, clean, rich-looking children, and -gorgeously arrayed in velvets and furs of great price.</p> - -<p>That Meredith was not a marrying man was the conclusion at which -George Ritherdon arrived, when he discussed with himself the oddity of -the coincidence which threw them together, and speculated upon how -long the engagement would last.</p> - -<p>In one respect the friends were very differently circumstanced. George -Ritherdon had "no end" of relations, cousins by the score, aunts and -uncles in liberal proportions. But Robert Meredith was a lonely man. -His colonial origin explained that. He had never sought to renew any -of the ties of family connection broken by his father when he left -England; he had found friends steady and serviceable, and he wisely -preferred contenting himself with them to cultivating dubiously -disposed relatives. Boy though he was, he made a correct hit in this.</p> - -<p>"If they were likely to be any use to me, my father would have put me -in some kind of communication with them; he certainly would have -looked them up when he came home, which he never did."</p> - -<p>Therefore Robert never troubled himself more about any of the family -connections on this side of the world, and, indeed, troubled himself -very little about those on the other. As time went by he was -accustomed to say to himself that he knew they were all getting on -well, and that was enough for him. Sometimes he wondered whether he -should ever see them again; whether, if he did not "see his way" here, -he might not go in for colonial practice; whether one or more of his -brothers, children when he saw them last, might not take the same -fancy which he had taken for seeing the old world. But nothing of all -this happened.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith had neared the end of his college career when -intelligence of his father's death reached him, and caused him -genuine, if temporary, suffering. His thoughts went back then to the -old home and the old times, and he did feel for a time a disinterested -wish that he had been with his mother--how she had loved him, how she -loved him still, through all those years of separation!--when this -calamity came upon her. The necessity for a large correspondence with -his brothers, and the feeling, always a terrible one in cases where a -long distance lies between persons affected by the same event, that -his father's death had taken place while he was quite unconscious of -it, and was already long past when he heard of it, touched chords -dulled if not silenced.</p> - -<p>The account which he received of family affairs was prosperous: one of -his sisters was already married, the other would follow her example -after a due and decorous lapse of time. His brothers were to carry on -Hayes Meredith's business, in whose profits his father left him a -small share. Altogether, apart from feeling--and it was unusual for -Robert Meredith to find it difficult to keep any matter of -consideration apart from feeling--the position of affairs was -eminently satisfactory, and the young man, ambitious, industrious, and -self-reliant, felt that he and his were well treated by fate.</p> - -<p>He felt the blank which his father's death created a good deal. He had -corresponded with him very regularly, and the freshness and vigour, -the plain practical sense and shrewdness of the older man's mind had -been pleasant and useful to the younger. He had not expected the -event, either. Hayes Meredith was a strong, hale, athletic man, and -his son had always thought of him as he had last seen him. No bad -accounts of his health had ever reached Robert, and he had never -thought of his father's death as a probable occurrence.</p> - -<p>On the whole, this was the most remarkable event, and by many degrees -the most impressive, which had befallen in Meredith's life, and its -influence upon him was decidedly injurious. He had always been hard, -and from that time he became harder--not in appearance, nothing was -more characteristic of the young man than his easy and sympathetic -manner, but in reality he felt more solitary now that the one bond of -intellectual companionship between him and his home was broken, and -this solitude was not good for him. As for his mother, he was apt to -think of her as a very good woman in her way--an excellent woman -indeed. A man must be much worse than Robert Meredith before he ceases -to believe this of his own mother; but she knew nothing whatever of -the world--of the old world particularly--and could not be made to -understand it. He wrote to her--he never neglected doing so; but there -was more expression than truth of feeling in his letters, and the -mail-day was not a pleasant epoch.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div3_03" href="#div3Ref_03">CHAPTER III.</a></h4> -<h5>TIME AND CHANGE.</h5> -<br> - -<p>While Mr. Carteret lived, Robert Meredith had been a frequent visitor -to Chayleigh. The quiet, eccentric old gentleman had remained in the -old house, and had faithfully guarded his beloved collection to the -last. But that emporium of curiosities had not received many additions -after Mrs. Baldwin's death. The old man had taken, after a time, a -little feeble pleasure in it, it is true; but only because those about -him had acted on the hint which Margaret herself had given them, after -the death of Mrs. Carteret, and persuaded him to resume his care of -the collection because his daughter had been so fond of it.</p> - -<p>Always quiet, uncomplaining, and kind to every one, the old man would -have had rather a snubbed and subdued kind of life of it, under the -rule of Haldane's bouncing Lucy, but for the vigilance of James -Dugdale. That silent and unsuspected sufferer sedulously watched and -cared for the old man, and Mrs. Haldane, who by no means liked him, so -far respected and feared him that she never ventured to dispute any of -his arrangements for Mr. Carteret's welfare.</p> - -<p>He continued to like Lucy "pretty well," and to regard Robert Meredith -with special favour, though he lived long enough to see Robert pass -quite out of the category of exceptional boys. Indeed, so much did he -like him, that at one time he entertained an idea of bequeathing to -him the famous collection, after the demise of James Dugdale, who was -to have a life interest in its delights and treasures; but on the old -gentleman's broaching the subject to him one day, Robert Meredith put -the objections to the scheme so very strongly to him, that he -acknowledged the superior wisdom of his young friend, bowed to his -decision, and liked him more than ever for his disinterestedness.</p> - -<p>Robert represented to him that, though the possession of the -collection must afford to any happy mortal capable of appreciating it -the purest and most lasting gratification, not so much the pleasure of -the individual as the preservation, the dignity, and the safe keeping -of the collection itself ought to be considered. Unhappily, he, Robert -Meredith, was not likely to possess a house in which the treasure -might be conveniently and suitably lodged, and it was a melancholy -fact that neither Haldane nor his wife appreciated the collection; -and, when the present owner of Chayleigh should be no more, and his -bequest should have come into operation, there would arise the -grievous necessity of dislodging the collection.</p> - -<p>Under these circumstances--stated very carefully by Robert Meredith, -who knew that his particular friend Mrs. Haldane would bundle both -James and the collection out of doors with the smallest possible delay -on the commencement of her absolute reign, unless indeed some very -valuable consideration should attach itself to her not doing so--he -suggested that Mr. Carteret would do well to conquer his objection to -the "merging" of the collection. That it should be "merged" after his -death was a less painful contingency to contemplate than that it -should be destroyed or materially injured. The best, the most -effectual plan would be, that Mr. Carteret should bequeath the -collection, on James Dugdale's death, to his granddaughter, the -heiress of the Deane, with the request that it might be transferred -thither, there to remain as an heirloom for ever. The old gentleman -submitted with a sigh; and this testamentary arrangement was actually -made.</p> - -<p>The friendship between Robert and Mrs. Haldane, which had commenced in -his boyish admiration of her, and her keen appreciation of the -sentiment, remained unabated, which, considering that the pretty and -vivacious Lucy was not conspicuous for steadiness of feeling, was not -a little remarkable. Perhaps the lady believed in her secret soul, as -the years wore on, that she could have explained Robert's not being a -marrying man.</p> - -<p>A strictly proper and virtuous British matron was Mrs. Haldane -Carteret--a very dragon of propriety indeed, and a lady who would not -have received her own sister, if she had been so unlucky as to "get -talked of"--and therefore this insinuation must be fully explained, in -order to prevent the slightest misapprehension on the subject. Lucy -would have been unspeakably shocked had it ever been said or thought -by any one that Robert Meredith entertained any feeling warmer than -the most strictly regulated friendship for her; but she did not object -to a secret sentiment on her own part, which sometimes found -expression in reverie, and in a murmured "poor boy," in a little -genial sense of satisfaction as the time went by and Robert did not -marry, and was not talked of as likely to marry--when his polite -attention to her underwent no alteration, and she still felt she -enjoyed his confidence. Mrs. Haldane was a little mistaken in the -latter particular. She did _not_ enjoy the confidence of Robert -Meredith; but neither was any other person in possession of that -privilege, though it was one of the charms, or rather the -achievements, of his manner, that he could convey the flattering -impression to any one he pleased.</p> - -<p>When Haldane and his wife were put, by the death of Mr. Carteret, in -possession of Chayleigh--an event which occurred seven years after -Margaret's decease, and four years later than that of Mr. -Baldwin--James Dugdale continued to reside in the old house, which had -been his home for so many years, only until the return of Lady -Davyntry and her orphan nieces to England. Haldane Carteret, a "good -fellow" in all the popular acceptation of the word, was rather a weak -fellow also, especially where his pretty wife's whims or feelings were -concerned; and not all his sincere and grateful regard for his old -friend could prevent his feeling relieved, when James told him he -could not resist Lady Davyntry's pressing entreaty that he should take -up his abode with her and "the children." Every one spoke of the -orphan girls as "the children," and their fatherless and motherless -estate was wonderfully tempered to them.</p> - -<p>The Deane had been let by Mr. Baldwin's executors for a long term of -years; but James Dugdale applied to the tenant in possession for -permission to have the collection transferred thither, and received -it. Thus Mrs. Haldane was disembarrassed within a very short period of -her father-in-law and his incomprehensible curiosities and of James -Dugdale. To do her justice, Mrs. Haldane was sorry for the gentle, -quiet old man; and it certainly was not with reference to him that she -expressed her satisfaction, when all the flittings had been -accomplished, in "being at last the mistress of her own house." There -must have been a good deal of the imaginative faculty about Mrs. -Haldane Carteret when she rejoiced in her freedom from trammels; for -it never could have occurred to anybody that she had not been -thoroughly and indisputably the mistress of Chayleigh from the day of -her arrival there. But there is a great deal in imagination, and Mrs. -Haldane knew her own business best.</p> - -<p>When James Dugdale left Chayleigh, as a residence, for ever, the -passion-flower which embowered the window of the room which had once -been Margaret's, and had ever since been his, was in the full beauty -and richness of its bloom. He cut a few twigs and leaves, and one or -two of the grand solemn flowers, and took his leave of the room and -the window and the tree. It was very painful, even after all those -years--more painful than those to whom life is full of activity and -change could conceive or would believe. But so thoroughly was this a -final parting, and so truly did James Dugdale feel it so, that when, -some time afterwards, Mrs. Haldane, having read in some new medical -treatise that "green things"--as she generally termed everything that -grew, from the cedar of Lebanon to the parsley of private life--were -unwholesome on the walls of a house, had the passion-flower and the -trellis cleared away, and the wall above the verandah neatly -whitewashed, it hardly gave him a pang.</p> - -<p>In all the chancres which befell the family at Chayleigh, Robert -Meredith had a certain share. Mr. Carteret never ceased to like him, -to look for his coming, to enjoy, in his quiet way, the adaptive young -man's society. James never permitted the interest he had taken in him -for his old friend's sake--his old friend dead and gone now, like all -the rest--to flag or falter. Perhaps he held by that feeling all the -more conscientiously that he had never been much drawn towards Robert -Meredith individually. The feeling towards him which he and Margaret -had shared at the first had remained with him always, like all his -feelings; for it was part of the constitution of his mind, a part -powerful for suffering, that he did not change.</p> - -<p>When Lady Davyntry went abroad with "the children" James Dugdale's -life had become more than ever solitary; and, though conscious that he -derived very little pleasure from Robert's presence, he encouraged the -visits which Mrs. Haldane was ever ready to invite.</p> - -<p>But a day of still greater change came--a sad and heavy day to James -Dugdale, and of tremendous loss and evil to the orphan girls. Lady -Davyntry died--not suddenly, but unexpectedly--and the full -responsibility of the guardianship of Gertrude and Eleanor Baldwin was -thrown upon Haldane Carteret and James Dugdale. Davyntry, in which Mr. -Baldwin's sister had only a life interest, passed into the possession -of the young man who had succeeded to the title on the death of Sir -Richard Davyntry; and the choice of the guardians to the young girls, -as to the future home of their wards, lay between Chayleigh and the -Deane, of which it became possible for them to resume possession -shortly after Lady Davyntry's death.</p> - -<p>When the decision which assigned the Deane to the young heiresses as -their future abode had been reached and acted upon, Robert Meredith -naturally ceased to have much intercourse with the Carterets and with -James Dugdale.</p> - -<p>Haldane was very much pleased with the kind of life he led at the -Deane. He made a first-rate "country gentleman," an ardent sportsman, -a pleasant companion, hospitable, kind-hearted, _insouciant_, fond of -the place and of everything in it, devoted to his wife--"absurdly so," -as the spinsters of the neighbourhood, a remarkably numerous class -even for Scotland, declared--and most indulgent and affectionate to -his nieces. This latter quality the aforesaid spinsters accounted for -satisfactorily on the double grounds, that it was not likely he would -be anything but indulgent to such rich girls--of course he expected to -be well recompensed when they came into "all their property"--and -that, as he had no children of his own, he might very well care for -his "poor dear sister's fatherless girls."</p> - -<p>The worthy ex-captain of artillery knew little and cared less how -people accounted for the strange phenomena of his fulfilling carefully -and conscientiously a sacred duty. He was a good, happy, unsuspicious -man, and "the children" loved him better than any one in the world, -except James Dugdale and Rose Doran.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Carteret was in the habit of "going south" much more frequently -than Haldane did so; she liked a few weeks in London in the season, -and she scrupulously visited her own family, by whom she was regarded -with much affection and admiration, not quite unmingled with awe.</p> - -<p>The eldest Miss Crofton's "match" had "turned out" much better than -the family had expected, and Lucy Carteret shone very brilliantly -indeed in the reflected light shed upon her by the wealth and station -of her husband's nieces and wards. On the occasion of her visits to -England she always saw a good deal of Robert Meredith; and so--owing -to the convenience of modern locomotion, Mrs. Carteret's former home -had been brought within easy reach of London--Robert was a not -unfrequent guest of old Mr. Crofton's when his daughter was sojourning -there. Chayleigh had been advantageously let by Haldane for some years -beyond the term of his nieces' minority.</p> - -<p>On the last occasion of her "going south" Mrs. Carteret had been -accompanied by Eleanor Baldwin, whose health, always delicate, had -recently occasioned her uncle and aunt some anxiety. She had enjoyed -her trip, and Robert had been very much with both ladies. Never had -Mrs. Carteret been more thoroughly convinced that he was one of the -most charming of men; never had the secret suspicion, that she could, -if she chose, explain the reason of his having remained up to his -present age unmarried, presented itself so frequently and so strongly -to her mind.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith had been told by Mrs. Carteret that Haldane intended -to celebrate the attainment of her majority by the heiress of the -Deane in splendid style, and he had received from her a pressing -invitation to be present on the occasion. The time of year made it -difficult for him to feel sure of being able to leave town; but he -promised that he would go to the Deane on that auspicious and -delightful occasion, then six months in perspective, if he could -possibly manage it.</p> - -<p>It was during this visit of Mrs. Carteret to London that George -Ritherdon made her acquaintance, and saw for the first time one of -"the Baldwin children," of whom he had heard occasional casual -mention. Robert Meredith's "chum" pleased Mrs. Carteret much, -especially when he did the honours of the Temple Church to her and -Eleanor; and while explaining all the objects of interest and their -associations, did so with a happy and successful assumption of merely -refreshing their memory, which was indicative of the nicest tact. The -general result was that, when Robert Meredith received a formal -reminder of his promise to come to the Deane for Gertrude's birthday, -the letter enclosed a pressing invitation to George Ritherdon to -accompany his friend.</p> - -<p>"Of course you'll come. There's much less to keep you in town than -there is to keep me, for that matter, so you can't pretend to object," -said Meredith, as the friends were discussing their letters and their -breakfast simultaneously.</p> - -<p>"I should like it very much indeed," said Ritherdon; "but--"</p> - -<p>"Very well, of course you'll do it." interrupted Meredith; and was -about to say something more, when the entrance of their "mutual" -servant suspended the conversation.</p> - -<p>The man addressed himself to Robert, with the information that a -person was then waiting in the passage, who urgently requested to be -admitted to see him; that the person was an old man, not of remarkably -prosperous appearance; and that he had replied to the servant's -remonstrance, on his presenting himself at such an unseemly hour, that -he was sure Mr. Meredith would see him, for he came from Australia, -and from his own "people" there.</p> - -<p>Surprised, but by no means discomposed, Robert Meredith made no reply -to the servant, but said to George Ritherdon,</p> - -<p>"It sounds odd. I suppose I ought to see him."</p> - -<p>"I think so, old fellow; and I'll clear off;" which he did.</p> - -<p>"Show the old person from Australia in, Wilham." said Meredith to the -servant, and added to himself, "I wonder what he has got to say to -me--nothing I need mind. I should have had bad news by post, if there -was any to send."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div3_04" href="#div3Ref_04">CHAPTER IV.</a></h4> -<h5>THE HEIRESS OF THE DEANE.</h5> -<br> - -<p>"Are you nearly ready, girls?" asked Mrs. Haldane Carteret of her -nieces, as she entered the large dressing-room which divided the -bedrooms occupied by Gertrude and Eleanor Baldwin, and was joint -territory, common to them both.</p> - -<p>This apartment was very handsomely proportioned, and furnished in a -sumptuous style. It abounded in light and looking-glasses, and the two -young girls then under the hands of their respective maids had the -advantage of seeing themselves reflected many times in mirrors fixed -and mirrors movable. Their ball-room toilette was almost complete, and -the smaller supplementary articles of their paraphernalia of adornment -were strewn about the room in pretty profusion.</p> - -<p>"We are very nearly ready, aunt Lucy," replied Eleanor; "are there any -people come yet?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, the Congreves, and Rennies, and Comrie of Largs; they always -make a point of being the first arrivals and the last departures -everywhere," said Mrs. Carteret, as she profited by the long mirror -which formed the reverse of the door by which she had entered to -rearrange the folds of her remarkably becoming dress of blue satin and -silver. "Pray make haste, Gerty. It does not so much matter about -Nelly, but you really must be in the reception-room before any more -people come. Just imagine your not being there when Lord and Lady -Gelston arrive, or even Sir Maitland and Lady Cardeness."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Haldane Carteret was a woman of perfectly well-proportioned mind. -She knew how to define the distinctions of rank as accurately as a -king-at-arms, and could balance the comparative turpitude of a slight -to a baron with that of a slight to a baronet with quite a -mathematical nicety of precision.</p> - -<p>"Almost ready, aunt Lucy. Only my gloves and bracelets to put on, and -then I am ready. But I certainly shall not go down without Nelly; she -would get on much better without me than I should without her" (here -the girl smiled as her mother had smiled in the brief days of her -happy and contented love). "We should have been ready sooner, but that -we took a final scamper off to the guests' rooms to see how Rose had -disposed of Mr. Meredith and Mr. Ritherdon."</p> - -<p>"Ah, by the bye, I suppose they have arrived," said Mrs. Carteret; "I -must go and see them. I will come back again, and I hope you will both -be ready."</p> - -<p>In a few minutes the preparations were complete, and the two young -girls were receiving the unequivocal compliments of their maids and -their mirrors. Happy, joyous, hopeful, handsome creatures they looked, -as they stood, their arms entwined, surveying their lithe, graceful, -white-robed figures with natural pride and very pardonable vanity. The -glance of the elder girl dwelt only passingly upon herself; it turned -then to dwell upon her sister with delight, with exultation.</p> - -<p>"How beautiful you look, my darling Nelly! I am sure no one in the -room will be able to compare with you to-night."</p> - -<p>"Not you, Gertrude? Are you not the queen of the ball in every sense? -Depend upon it, no one will have eyes to-night for any one except the -heiress of the Deane."</p> - -<p>"Then every one will be blind and foolish," returned Gertrude, as she -gave the speaker a sisterly push; "and there are a few whom I don't -think that of, Nelly. Don't you dread the idea of the speech-making at -supper? I do, and uncle Haldane does, because he will have to return -thanks for me; and I'm sure everybody else does, because Lord Gelston -is so frightfully long-winded and historical, and so tremendously well -up in the history of all the Meritons and all the Baldwins, and who -married, and whom, and when they did it, and there's no stopping him -when he starts; however, we must think of the dancing and the fun, and -not remember the dreadful speeches until they come to be made."</p> - -<p>"I daresay you won't mind them so much when the time comes." said -Nelly, with the least touch of something unpleasant in her voice; "at -all events, I need not--they will not make any speeches about _me_, -that's a comfort!"</p> - -<p>"My darling Nelly! as if I thought about it for _myself_. If you must -listen and look pleased at tiresomeness, what does it matter of what -is _apropos_? and where is the difference between you and me?"</p> - -<p>"Very present, very perceptible, after this day," said Nelly; "no one -will fail to keep it in mind. Did you not notice what aunt Lucy said? -My being ready or not did not matter, but the presence of 'the heiress -of the Deane' was indispensable."</p> - -<p>"I did hear it," said Gertrude, turning a flushed cheek and a -deprecatory glance upon her sister; "and did you not hear what I said? -But here come aunt Lucy and Rose."</p> - -<p>The entry of Rose Doran was the signal for enthusiastic comments on -the appearance of the two young girls, and the little cloud which had -threatened for a moment to gather over the sisters was joyously -dissipated. Mr. Dugdale wished to see them in his sitting-room, Rose -said, before they went downstairs, and she had come to bring them to -him.</p> - -<p>"You'll have time enough to let the old gentleman have a peep at you, -my darlings," said the good woman, whose eyes were moist with the -rising tears produced by many associations which almost overpowered -the admiration and delight with which she regarded the girls; "though -there's a dale o' quality come, they're all in the study, makin' sure -of their cloaks and things, or drinkin' coffee and chattin' to one -another. So go to the old man, my girls; he won't keep ye a minute."</p> - -<p>"He surely won't disappoint us," exclaimed Gertrude; "he promised to -come down, and he _must_!"</p> - -<p>"So he will, alanna," said Rose, using the same term of endearment, -and in the same soothing tone, with which she had been wont to assuage -Gertrude's griefs in her childhood--"never you fear, so he will, when -the room is full, and he can get round behind the people to his own -chair in the corner; only he wants a look at you all to himself -first."</p> - -<p>"Then I will go on," said Mrs. Haldane in rather a vexed tone. "You -will find me in the morning room; and pray, Gerty, make no delay."</p> - -<p>Then Mrs. Haldane walked majestically away, her blue and silver train -rustling superbly over the crimson-velvet carpet of the long, wide -corridor, which, like the grand staircase, was of polished oak.</p> - -<p>Mr. Dugdale's rooms at the Deane were in a quiet and secluded part of -the spacious house, attainable by a small staircase which was -approached by a curtained archway opening off the corridor into which -the girls' rooms opened. The rooms were handsome, though not large, -and were luxuriously furnished, but they were chiefly remarkable for -the numerous evidences of feminine care, taste, and industry in their -arrangement. The comfortable and the ornamental were dexterously -united in these rooms, in which needlework abounded, and whose most -prized decorations were the work of the pencils of the two girls.</p> - -<p>The apartments consisted of three rooms--bedroom, dressing-room, and -sitting-room, the latter lined with books, and bearing many -indications that the studies, tastes, and habits which had occupied -James Dugdale's youth and manhood had lightened the burden of his -infirmities, and taken the deadly sting out of his sorrows, were not -abandoned now in his old age. And in truth this was the case; the -feebleness which had invaded the delicate and sensitive frame more and -more surely with each succeeding year, had not touched the mind. That -was strong, active, bright, full of vitality still, promising -extinction or even dimness only with the dissolution of the frame.</p> - -<p>In his frequent fits of thinking about himself, and yet out of -himself--as though he were contemplating the problems presented by the -existence, and pondering the future, of another--James Dugdale was -wont to wonder at his own tenacity of life. Ever since his youth he -had been a sufferer in body, and had sustained great trials of mind; -he had been always more or less feeble, and of the nervous febrile -temperament which is said (erroneously) to wear itself out rapidly. -But he had lived on and on, and the young, the strong, the prosperous, -the happy, had passed before him, and been lost in the dimness of the -separation of death.</p> - -<p>He had been carefully dressed by his servant for the festivities of -the evening, and had laid down upon the couch beside the windows of -his sitting-room, from which a beautiful view was to be had in the -daytime, through which the summer moonlight was streaming now, and had -fallen into a reverie. His mind was singularly placid, his memory was -singularly clear to-night, as he lay still, listening to the stir in -the house, his face turned from the light of the candles which burned -on the tables and the mantelpiece; and passing in mental review the -persons and the events of long years ago.</p> - -<p>How perfectly distinct and vivid they were to-night--his parents, his -boyhood, the time when it was first discovered that he must never -expect to be a healthy, vigorous man--his student days and their -associations, the friends of that period of his life! Hayes Meredith -was a young man--how curiously his memory reproduced him; and then his -cousin Sibylla, his sole kinswoman and his steady friend--the old man -who had loved him so well, and the sad dark episode of Margaret's -marriage. How plainly he could see Godfrey Hungerford, and how -distinctly he could recall the instinctive dislike, suspicion, -repulsion he had caused him, and which he early learnt to know was -bitter jealousy! Baldwin and Lady Davyntry, that kind, sympathising -friend of later days--she whom he still mourned with a poignancy which -time had blunted in the case of the others;--it was hard to -understand, very wonderful to realise, that they were dead and he -alive--he went on with his ordinary life betimes, and did not think -about it much, but to-night it seemed impossible.</p> - -<p>The wonderful incompleteness, the unmeaningness of life, the -phantasmagoria of fragmentary existences occupied him, while all -around him were preparations for a festival. Lastly came the image of -Margaret, back in all the freshness of her youth, beauty, and -happiness, as she had been twenty years ago, and the old man wondered -at the strange distinctness of his memory.</p> - -<p>Twenty years! a long, long time even at an earlier period of life, a -wonderfully long time at his, to keep the memory green. He had had and -lost many friends, but only one love; yes, that was the explanation; -that was why she, who had died young long ago, never to grow old, -never to have any withering touch of time laid upon her beauty, she -who was to be remembered as a radiant creature always, had never had a -predecessor, a successor, or a rival in his heart; so there was no -other image to trouble or confuse hers. The circumstances which had -killed her, as he felt, as surely as disease had ever killed,--they, -too, returned freshly to his memory; he seemed to live through those -old, old days again, and in some degree to realise once more their -keen anxiety and distress.</p> - -<p>How it had all passed away--how little it had really mattered--how -little anything really mattered, after all, except the other world, -and the reunion there, without which life, the most renowned as much -as the meanest, would indeed be "a tale told by an idiot," and, in the -multitude of the ages, and the spanlike brevity of its own duration, -"signifying nothing"! It seemed like a dream, and yet it was all real: -she had lived and suffered, feared, foreseen, and died under this very -roof, beneath which he dwelt, and from which its master went forth a -patient, but none the less a broken-hearted man, to die afar off, to -lie in the solemn dust of the grand old world.</p> - -<p>Were they, the two whom he remembered so well in their youth and love -and happiness, any nearer to him than the most ancient of the ancient -dead? Was there any difference or degree in all that inconceivable -separation? Who could tell him that? Who could still the pang, which -time can never lessen, which comes with the immeasurable change? We -are in time and space, and they, the dead, are, as we say, beyond -their bounds, set free from them. What, then, is their share with us?</p> - -<p>He was thinking of these things, which indeed were wont to occupy his -mind when he was very peaceful and alone, and thinking also how very -brief all our uncertainty is--how short a time the Creator keeps His -creatures in ignorance and suspense, and that he was very near to the -lifting of the curtain--when Gertrude and Eleanor Baldwin came into -the room, and gaily challenged his admiration of their ball-dresses, -their wreaths, their bouquets, and their general appearance.</p> - -<p>With the keenly strong remembrance of Margaret which he had been -dwelling upon freshly before him, James Dugdale was struck by the -likeness which Gertrude presented to her mother. Her face was more -strictly handsome, her figure promised to be fuller and grander, but -the resemblance in feature, in gesture, in voice, in all the subtler -affinities which constitute the truth of such resemblances, was, -complete. Had she stood thus, in her white dress, flower crowned, by -his couch, alone, James Dugdale might have thought the spirit world -had unbarred its portals for a little to give him a glimpse of -Margaret in her eternal youth; but her arm was linked in that of her -sister, and the old man's gaze included them both.</p> - -<p>"Do I like you, you witches?" said Mr. Dugdale; "what a question! I -think you are both incomparably perfect, and among all the compliments -you will hear to-night, I don't think you will have a more -satisfactory one than that. I see you are wearing your pearls, -Nelly.--Where are your diamonds, Miss Baldwin?"</p> - -<p>Gertrude blushed, and looked a little uncomfortable.</p> - -<p>"I would rather not wear them," she said; "pearls don't matter much, -but diamonds would make too much difference between Nelly and me. I -asked uncle Haldane, and he said I certainly need not wear them unless -I liked; indeed, he said it is better taste for an unmarried woman, -while she is very young, not to wear diamonds; so they are undisturbed -in all their grandeur."</p> - -<p>"Isn't she ridiculous?" said Eleanor. "I am sure if I were in her -place I should wear my diamonds, especially to-night."</p> - -<p>"I am quite sure you would do no such thing, Nelly," said Miss -Baldwin; "and we must go now, or aunt Lucy will be put out.--Mind you -come down soon; I shall be looking out for you."</p> - -<p>Then the two girls kissed the old man affectionately and left him. -There was some trouble in James Dugdale's mind when the light forms -disappeared, and he listened to the murmur of their voices for a few -moments, before it died away when they reached the grand staircase.</p> - -<p>"If Eleanor were in Gertrude's place!" The girl's words had struck a -chord of painful remembrance in the old man's mind. The time had come -now when the wrong done to the younger by the elder, the wrong done to -the children by the parents in all unconsciousness, was to bear its -first fruits. As the years had gone by, and especially since Lady -Davyntry's death had left James Dugdale sole possessor of the -knowledge of the truth, he had remembered it but seldom.</p> - -<p>When the news of Mr. Baldwin's death had reached England, he and Lady -Davyntry had spoken together much and solemnly of the mysterious -dealings of Providence with the family. They had silently accepted -his resolution--never to give Margaret a successor in his heart and -house--and, in view of that determination, they had regarded the -arrangement which he had made of his property as in every respect wise -and commendable. But they had secretly hoped that time, whose -unfailing influence, however disliked or even struggled against, they -both had too much experience of life to doubt or dispute, would modify -and finally upset Mr. Baldwin's resolution on that point, and that the -girls might eventually be removed from what they wisely regarded as a -perilous and undesirable position. Wealth and station would always be -theirs, even if a second marriage should give a male heir to the -Deane.</p> - -<p>But these hopes were not destined to be realised. Mr. Baldwin never -returned from his journey to the East, and the heavy weight of -heiress-ship fell upon his daughters in their childhood. Of late years -the secret of which he alone was in possession had begun to appear -dreamlike and mythical to James Dugdale. It had been a terrible thing -in its time, but that time was past and its terror with it, and it was -only an old memory now--an old memory which Nelly's words had -awakened, just when he did not care to have it evoked, just when it -was as painful as it ever could be any more. The old man rose from his -couch and went to a bookcase with glass doors, which faced the -mantelpiece in his sitting-room. On one of the lower shelves, within -easy reach of his hand, lay a large blue-velvet casket. He took it -out, set it on the table, and opened it. It contained a picture--the -portrait of Margaret with her infant in her arms, which she had had -painted for him at Naples twenty years before. The portrait was -surrounded by a frame of peculiar design. It consisted of a wreath of -passion-flowers, the stems and leaves in gold, the flowers in white -enamel, with every detail of form and colouring accurately carried -out. This was the only jeweller's work which had ever been done by -James Dugdale's order; this was the most valuable article in every -sense in his possession. He placed the picture on the table, and sat -down before it and looked at it intently, studying in every line the -likeness which had impressed him so deeply to-night; and then he -replaced it in the casket, which he reconsigned to the bookcase. This -done, he rang for his servant and went down to the ball-room, whence -delightful strains of brilliant music were issuing, blended with the -sound of voices and the tread of dancing feet.</p> - -<p>The scene was a beautiful one. All that money, taste, and goodwill -could accomplish to render the fête given in celebration of Gertrude's -birthday successfully charming, had been done, and the result was -eminently satisfactory. Many of the guests had come from distances -which in England would have been regarded as invincible -obstacles--would indeed have rendered the sending of invitations a -meaningless, or according to our amiable insular phrase a "French," -compliment--but which in Scotland were regarded as mere matters of -course. An unusual number of pretty girls adorned the ball-room, and -they danced with pleasure and animation also peculiarly Scotch.</p> - -<p>Gertrude had gone through the ordeal of congratulation very well; and -now, very much relieved that that part of the business had come to a -conclusion, was dancing a surprisingly animated quadrille with Lord -Gelston, while Lady Gelston was talking superlatives to Haldane -Carteret, who had wisely decided, some years before, on coming to live -in Scotland, that there was more to be gained than lost by being -understood at once to be excluded from the category of dancing men.</p> - -<p>The room, much longer than its width, and beautifully decorated and -lighted, was amply occupied without being overfilled; and the splendid -many-coloured dresses, the moving figures, the soft sound of speech -and laughter, the indescribable joyous rustle which pervades an -assemblage where youth and beauty are in the majority, made up a scene -to whose attraction James Dugdale's nerves vibrated strangely. He had -been present on few similar occasions in his life, and he looked about -him with the pleased curiosity of a child. The military contingent had -duly arrived from Edinburgh, Leith, and Hamilton, and were enjoying -their accustomed popularity.</p> - -<p>Of the many faces in the room there were few known to James Dugdale, -with the exception of those of the near neighbours to the Deane. -Before he had time to become familiar with the movement and the -glitter of the unaccustomed scene, a pause occurred in the dancing, -and the group nearest to him broke up and moved away. Then he saw -Eleanor Baldwin talking to a gentleman whose figure seemed very -familiar to him, though he could not see his face. Eleanor was looking -up at the gentleman, her face full of light and animation, a rich -colour in her cheeks, her dark eyes sparkling with pleasure. Almost as -soon as he saw her, she saw him, and said:</p> - -<p>"O, there's uncle James, let us go and speak to him."</p> - -<p>She walked quickly across the room, followed by her companion, who -was, as James Dugdale then perceived, Robert Meredith. The old man and -the man no longer young indeed, but still and ever a boy to him, -greeted each other warmly.</p> - -<p>"When did you come, Robert? Why have I not seen you before?"</p> - -<p>"We came down by the mail, sir, and found the ladies gone to dress; -and Mrs. Doran said you were resting, in preparation for the fatigue -of the evening, so we would not disturb you. I am glad to see you -looking so well, sir."</p> - -<p>"Thank you, Robert--where's Ritherdon?"</p> - -<p>"He has gone in chase of Gerty, uncle James," said Eleanor; "he wants -to know what dances she can spare him, I believe; but I fancy he has -not much chance--_even I_ could only promise positively for one."</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith looked at her narrowly as he said:</p> - -<p>"Ritherdon has pluck, I must say. I never dreamed of such a privilege -as dancing to-night with the lady of the Deane. But I did calculate -upon a _raccroc de noces_ for to-morrow--I suppose that's safe?"</p> - -<p>"I suppose so," said Eleanor.</p> - -<p>"_You_ kept a few dances for me, didn't you?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"Yes, I did, but I am nobody, you know."</p> - -<p>"This is one of them," said Meredith, and then, as he led her away -into the throng, again set in motion by the music, he said meaningly, -"and I do not know,--at least, _I do_."</p> - -<p>His arm was round her now, and he had whirled her into the circle of -waltzers, and the girl felt that the bright scene was brighter, the -music sweeter and more inspiriting, the dance more delightful, because -of the words and the tone in which he had spoken them.</p> - -<p>George Ritherdon had been quite as unsuccessful in his quest as -Eleanor had foreseen, and as soon as Gertrude had convinced him of his -ill-fortune, by permitting him to read the record of the pretty little -ivory and silver _carnet_ which hung at her waist, he, in his turn, -made his way to Mr. Dugdale's chair. There he remained until Nelly's -one dance should be "due," talking with the old man, who was -wonderfully bright and unwearied of things in general, and of the -young ladies in particular.</p> - -<p>It was an unfashionable peculiarity of George Ritherdon's that he was -always deferential towards age, even when age was much less venerable -and less intelligent, much more _arrière_ than in the case of Mr. -Dugdale. Therefore, let the subjects on which the old gentleman had -chosen to talk with him have been as dull and uninteresting to him as -possible, he would have exerted himself to converse about them -pleasantly, and with the air of attention and interest which is the -truest conversational politeness.</p> - -<p>But in the present instance no effort was required. Ritherdon felt a -sincere and growing interest in the "children," as Mr. Dugdale soon -began to call them in talking to him, and found something which -appealed to his heart--strangely soft, pure, and upright in its -impulses, considering the length of time it had pulsated amid the -world,--in the long-enduring, constant family friendship which bound -the old man's life up with that of these young people, who were no kin -of his. The ball was the gayest, the most successful, in George -Ritherdon's opinion, at which he had ever "assisted," the night a -happy and memorable one in his life; but no part of it was more -thoroughly enjoyable to him than the time he passed seated by the old -man's side, their conversation interrupted only by the people who came -up to speak to Mr. Dugdale, and by the girls, who paid him flying -visits.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith and his friend saw little of each other during the -night, until after James Dugdale had retired, which he did when supper -was announced. That sumptuous entertainment was as terrible an ordeal -as Gertrude had expected. Lord Gelston was as inexorably long-winded, -as overwhelmingly genealogical as usual; and if anything could have -made her more uncomfortable than the ponderous congratulations of the -noble lord, and the marked attentions of Lady Gelston and the -Honourable Mr. Dort, the eldest son of the distinguished but by no -means wealthy pair, it would have been the kindly but inartistic -efforts of her uncle Haldane, who was neither a ready thinker nor an -adept at speaking, to express how far short of her personal qualities -fell the gifts of wealth and station allotted to her.</p> - -<p>A very decent amount of general attention was bestowed upon Lord -Gelston and Haldane Carteret, and the speeches of both were received -with all proper enthusiasm; but there was one listener who heard them -with more than the attention of politeness, and with a smile on his -lips which, if "the children's" dead mother saw it, must have reminded -her of one she had known and disliked in earthly days long ago. But -even the speeches were over at last, and the younger guests left the -banquet and returned to the ball-room, and dancing recommenced. -Nothing equals in vigour and perseverance Scotch dancing, no -entertainment is capable of such preternatural prolongation as a -Scotch ball. The institution might be the modern successor of the -feasts of the Norsemen in the Bersekyr days.</p> - -<p>"Do these people ever intend to leave off, do you think?" George -Ritherdon asked of Robert Meredith, when the external light had become -difficult of exclusion, and all the dowagers had given over talking -and taking refreshment, except that of slumber.</p> - -<p>"I don't know indeed; doesn't look like it; but there's no reason why -we shouldn't," returned Meredith; "let us say good-morning to Mrs. -Carteret, and decamp."</p> - -<p>A masterly manoeuvre, which they put into instant execution, -unobserved by any one but Eleanor Baldwin. She had danced several -times with Meredith during the night, and had contrived to give -Ritherdon "one more" in addition to the promised valse; she had been -very gay, happy, and animated; much admired and fully conscious of it; -but now she grew tired, and began to wish the ball were over. People -were unreasonable to keep it up so late; this was making a toil of a -pleasure; no, she really could not join in this interminable cotillon. -She wondered whether aunt Lucy would mind her leaving the room; she -would find her and ask her. So she did find Mrs. Haldane Carteret, who -was looking, rather yellow and elderly in the mixed intrusive light, -and Mrs. Haldane answered her rather snappishly,</p> - -<p>"Yes, yes, of course you may go. It is really absurdly late; no wonder -you're tired; I am sure I am. Gerty must remain of course, but you may -go."</p> - -<p>Eleanor had got the permission she desired, and she left the room, but -not gladly. The manner of that permission did not please her; many -little things of the same kind had hurt her lately; and as she slowly -mounted the stairs her face was dark, and she muttered to herself,</p> - -<p>"Gerty must of course remain, but you may go."</p> -<br> - -<p>An hour later, when the morning had fairly asserted its sway, when the -latest lingering of the guests not staying in the house had departed, -fortified by hot strong coffee against the fatigue of their homeward -route, when to those staying in the house welcome announcement had -been made that breakfast was to be served at twelve, and continued for -an indefinite time,--Gertrude Baldwin entered her dressing-room. She -had desired that her maid should not remain up, and having glanced -into Eleanor's bedroom and seen that she was asleep, she took off -her ball-dress, set the windows wide open, and sat down in her -dressing-gown, letting the sweet morning air play upon her face to -calm the hurry of her spirits and to think.</p> - -<p>This had been an eventful day for that young girl; indeed, the whole -preceding week, during which her guardians, Haldane Carteret and James -Dugdale, had explained to her in resigning their trust all the -particulars of her position, had been of great moment in her life. -Previously she had known, vaguely, that she was very rich, and she had -had a tolerably clear notion of the origin and ordering of her wealth, -but she fully understood it now. Her uncle had wished her to give her -attention to the accounts of the estate, as he explained them to her, -and she had complied with his wish. In the course of these -transactions, she had been shown her father's will, and had been made -acquainted as minutely with her sister Eleanor's position as with her -own.</p> - -<p>The time up to that day had been so full of business, and all the -hours of the day and night just gone had been so full of pleasure, -that she felt strongly the need of a little leisure and solitude now. -She was glad Nelly was asleep, glad she had not been obliged to talk -over the ball with her--glad to put the ball itself out of her -thoughts for a little, although she had enjoyed it with all the -unaffected zest of her age.</p> - -<p>Gertrude was not tired; she had danced incessantly, and the emotions -of the day had been many and various; but she was strong and very -happy, in all the unruffled peace of her girlhood, which had only -progressed hitherto in prosperity, and she rarely felt fatigue. The -fresh morning air, the calm, the solitude, were better for her than -sleep. Presently a delicious stillness fell on everything; no more -doors were shut or opened, no desultory footsteps loitered about; the -birds' music only filled the air with the most beautiful of the sounds -of morning.</p> - -<p>There came with the day to Gertrude a sense of change. She realised -her womanhood now--she realised her position, and it appeared to her a -very solemn and responsible one. Her uncle had told her, in answer to -her request, that he would continue to exercise the functions from -which the attainment of her majority formally discharged him--that he -would do so provided she would take an active part in the conduct of -the estate, urging the necessity which existed for her duly qualifying -herself for the independent administration of her affairs in the -future. He reminded her that she could only hold the property in trust -for her children, if she were destined to become a wife and mother, -and must therefore learn how to save from her large income.</p> - -<p>"You see, my dear," Haldane had said to her, "everything not included -in the entail is left absolutely to Nelly, and in this respect she is -better off than you are. She is not indeed so rich, but she can -dispose of her property, by settlement and by will, just as she -pleases, whereas you cannot dispose of a shilling. Your eldest son, or -your eldest daughter, if you have no son, must inherit all. The estate -is chargeable for the benefit of younger children to a very small -extent. I will show you how and how much presently. The fortune your -grandfather gave to to your aunt, Lady Davyntry, and which Eleanor -inherits from her, was almost entirely derived from accumulations and -other extraneous property. So, you see, Nelly's money is more -absolutely hers than yours is yours; but though you have not so much -freedom, there is one advantage in your position. If you fall into bad -hands, which God forbid, and we will take all possible care to -prevent--yes, Gerty, don't look so horrified, my child, all the men in -the world are not good, as your poor mother could have told you--your -money will be safe; no man can beggar _you_; whereas Eleanor would be -quite helpless in such a case. There is nothing to protect her; her -husband, if he could only persuade her to marry without a strict -settlement, could make ducks and drakes of her money, if he chose."</p> - -<p>"But surely she never would be persuaded to do anything so foolish and -so unprincipled," said Gertrude, with a pretty air of dignity, -woman-of-the-worldishness, and landed proprietor combined, and feeling -already as if she had the deepest appreciation of the rights, -privileges, and duties of property.</p> - -<p>"I don't know that, my dear," said Haldane; "women are easily -persuaded to folly, and there are men who have a knack of persuading -you that imprudence is generosity, and self-sacrifice proved by -endangering other people's peace and prosperity--as your poor mother -could also have told you. However, we need not make ourselves -prematurely uncomfortable about Nelly. Let us hope her choice may be -wise and happy, and that she may use the freedom her father and her -aunt left her with discretion."</p> - -<p>The discussion then turned upon other matters of business, and this -part of the subject was abandoned.</p> - -<p>It returned to Gertrude Baldwin's thoughts as she looked pensively -abroad on her wide domains in the early morning, and it troubled her.</p> - -<p>"We were both so little when he left us," she thought, "that I don't -think my father could have preferred Nelly very much to me, and my -mother only saw her for a minute before she died. Rose told me she had -scarcely strength to hold the baby to her breast, and not strength -enough to speak a word to it, so she cannot have loved her more than -me; I was with her for a little time--it is very strange. What care -has been taken to give her all he could give; and nothing left to me -for my own self, on account of my own self! And how strange uncle -James looked when I said so! I am sure he understands that I feel it -and wonder at it.</p> - -<p>"How little I know of my mother, and I so like her, he says! Perhaps I -am old enough now for them to tell me more about her and that first -marriage of hers, which I am sure must have been something dreadful. I -will ask uncle James some day when he is very well. Aunt Lucy has -never told us anything but that she and mamma were great friends, and -mamma was 'a dear thing.' Somehow I don t like to hear our dear dead -mother spoken of as 'a dear thing'--absurd, I daresay, but I do not; -and dear aunt Eleanor never talked of her as anything but papa's -wife--his idolised wife.</p> - -<p>"How well I remember when I first began to understand that he died of -her loss in reality, though it took time to kill him, because he was -good and patient and tried to be resigned! But he could not live -longer without her, and God knew it and did not ask him. I remember so -well when aunt Eleanor told me that, and seemed to know it so well, -that she could better bear to know that he was dead than to know that -he was still wandering about, because there was no home for him here. -I wonder was he very fond of us--or perhaps he was not able to be. I -am sure he tried. Ah, well! this we can never, never know until we are -orphan children no longer; and any doubt dishonours him.</p> - -<p>"To think that I am so important a personage, the owner of a great -estate, the employer of so many of my fellow-creatures,--with so much -power in my weak woman's hands for good or for evil,--and that I am -all this solely because of great misfortune--solely because I am an -orphan! If they were living, there might indeed have been rejoicing -here to-day, for our pleasure and our parents' pride: but no more. It -is wonderful to think of that,--wonderful to think of what might have -been. Shall I be a good woman, I wonder? Shall I be a faithful -steward? I don't know--I am so ignorant: but for uncle James, I am so -lonely. At least I will try--for my father's sake, and mamma's, and -his, and for my own sake and for God's; but O, I wish, I wish I could -have found in my father's will anything, however trifling, which he -desired to come to me from him, for my own sake."</p> - -<p>Tears were standing in the dark, clear gray eyes of the young lady of -the Deane, and she had forgotten all about the birthday ball.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div3_05" href="#div3Ref_05">CHAPTER V.</a></h4> -<h5>THE "RACCROC DE NOCES."</h5> -<br> - -<p>The breakfast-table at the Deane was but scantily furnished with -guests at noon on the day after the ball, and only among the younger -portion of that restricted number did the spirit of "talking it over" -prevail. The gentlemen, with the exception of George Ritherdon, -discussed their breakfast and their newspapers, and the matrons were -decidedly sleepy and a little cross. George was in high spirits. He -had very thorough notions on the subject of enjoying a holiday, and he -included among them the delight of escaping from the obligation of -reading newspapers.</p> - -<p>"Look at your friend, Mr. What's-his-name, of some queer place, like -Sir Walter Scott's novels," he whispered to Gertrude. "The idea of -coming on a brief visit to Paradise, and troubling your head about -foreign politics and the money-market! There he goes--Prussia, indeed! -What a combination of ideas--Bochum Dollfs and the Deane!"</p> - -<p>Gertrude laughed. The pleasant unaffected gaiety of his manner pleased -her. She had not been prepared to find George Ritherdon so light of -heart, so ready to be amused, and to acknowledge it. She knew that he -was younger than his chum Robert Meredith; but she had fancied there -would be some resemblance between them, when she should come to know -them better, in a few days' close association with them. But there was -no resemblance; the friendship between them, the daily companionship -had brought about no assimilation, and there was one circumstance -which set Gerty thinking and puzzling to find out why it should be so. -She had known Robert Meredith for years; her acquaintance with George -Ritherdon was of the slightest; and yet, when the day after the ball -came in its turn to a conclusion, and she once again set her mind to -the task of "thinking it over," she felt that she knew more of George -Ritherdon, had seen more certain indications of his disposition, and -could divine more of his life than she knew, had seen, or could divine -in the case of Robert Meredith. The girl was of a thoughtful -speculative turn of mind, an observer of character, and imaginative. -She pondered a good deal upon the subject, and constantly recurred to -her first thought. "How odd it is that I should feel as if I could -tell at once how Mr. Ritherdon would act in any given case, and I -don't feel that in the least about Robert Meredith!"</p> - -<p>"I was horribly ill-treated last night," George said, after he and -Gertrude had exchanged ideas on the subject of newspapers in vacation -time. "You ask me to a ball. Miss Baldwin, and then don't give me a -dance. I call it treacherous and inhospitable."</p> - -<p>"I couldn't help it," said Gerty earnestly, with perfect simplicity. -"I had to 'dance down the set,' as they say in the country dances--to -begin at the beginning of the table of precedence, and go on to the -end."</p> - -<p>"A very unfair advantage for the fogeys," said George Ritherdon, not -without having made sure that none of Gertrude's partners of last -night were at the table.</p> - -<p>"The Honourable Dort would be grateful if he heard you, Ritherdon," -observed Meredith.</p> - -<p>"I suppose one couldn't reasonably call _him_ a fogey," returned -George.</p> - -<p>Gertrude laughed; but Eleanor said sharply,</p> - -<p>"No, he is only a fool."</p> - -<p>Meredith was seated next her, and while the others went on talking, he -said to her in a low tone,</p> - -<p>"Do you think him a fool? I don't. He knows the value of first -impressions, and being early in the field, or I am much mistaken."</p> - -<p>If Robert Meredith had made a similar remark to Gertrude, she would -simply have looked at him with her grave gray eyes, in utter ignorance -of his meaning; but Nelly understood him perfectly.</p> - -<p>"He _is_ an admirer of Gerty's," she said.</p> - -<p>"And a more ardent admirer of the Deane," said Meredith. "Do you like -him?"</p> - -<p>"Not at all. Not that it matters whether I do or not; but Gerty does -not either. I daresay Lord and Lady Gelston think it would be a very -good thing."</p> - -<p>"No doubt they do. Nothing more suitable could be devised; and as -people of their class usually believe that human affairs are strictly -regulated according to their convenience, and look upon Providence as -a kind of confidential and trustworthy agent, more or less adroit, but -entirely in their interests, no doubt they have it all settled -comfortably. There was the complacent ring of such a plan in that -pompous old donkey's bray last night, and a kind of protecting -mother-in-law-like air about the old woman, which I should not have -liked had I been in your sister's place."</p> - -<p>Eleanor's cheek flushed; the tone, even more than the words, told upon -her.</p> - -<p>"What detestable impertinence!" she said. "The idea of people who are -held to be nobler than others making such calculations, and -condescending to such meanness for money!"</p> - -<p>"Not in the least surprising; as you will find when you know the world -a little better. That the wind should be tempered to the shorn lambs -of the aristocracy by the intervention of commoner people's money, -they regard as a natural law; and as they are the most irresponsible, -they are the most shameless class in society. As to their -condescending to meanness for money, you don't reflect--as, indeed, -how should you?--that money is the object which best repays such -condescension."</p> - -<p>There was a dubious look in Nelly's face. The young girl was flattered -and pleased that this handsome accomplished man of the world--who was -so much more _her_ friend, in consequence of their association in -London, than her sister's--should talk to her thus, giving her the -benefit of his experience; and yet there might be something to be -said, if not for Mr. Dort's parents, for Mr. Dort himself. Her colour -deepened, as she said timidly,</p> - -<p>"How well _you_ must know the world, to be able to discern people's -motives and see through their schemes so readily! But perhaps Mr. Dort -really cares for Gertrude."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps he does. She is a nice girl; and if her fortune and position -don't spoil her, any man might well 'care for her,'as you call it, -for herself. But the disinterestedness of Mr. Dort is not affected, to -my mind, by the fact that the appendage to the fortune he is hunting -does not happen to be disagreeable. Supposing she had not the -fortune, or supposing she lost it, would Mr. Dort care for--that is, -marry--your sister then?"</p> - -<p>"I don't suppose he would," said Eleanor thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>"And I am sure he would not," said Meredith. Then, as there was a -general rising and dispersion of the company, he added in a whisper, -and with a glance beneath which the girl's eyes fell, "The privilege -of being loved for herself is the proudest any woman can boast, and -cannot be included in an entail."</p> -<br> - -<p>"Mr. M'llwaine wants to see you for half an hour, Gertrude, before he -returns to Glasgow," said Haldane Carteret to his niece as she was -leaving the breakfast-room, accompanied by Nelly and two young ladies -who formed part of the "staying company" at the Deane.</p> - -<p>"Does he?" said Gertrude. "What for? It won't take me half an hour to -bid him good-bye."</p> - -<p>"Business, my dear, business." said her uncle. "You are a woman of -business now, you know, and must attend to it."</p> - -<p>"I wonder how often I have had notice of that fact," said Gerty. -"I will go to Mr. M'llwaine now, uncle; but you must come too, -please.--And, Nelly, will you take all the people to the -croquet-ground? I will come as soon as I can."</p> - -<p>Gertrude went away with her uncle, and Nelly led the way to an -anteroom, in which garden-hats and other articles of casual equipment -were to be found.</p> - -<p>"It is to be hoped Captain Carteret will not keep on reminding Miss -Baldwin of her duties and dignities," whispered Meredith to Eleanor, -as the party assembled on the terrace. "It will be embarrassing if he -does, though she carries it off well, with her pretty air of -unconsciousness."</p> - -<p>Eleanor said nothing in answer, but her face darkened, and the first -sentence she spoke afterwards had a harsh tone in it.</p> - -<p>The day was very fine, the summer heat was tempered by a cool breeze, -and the glare of the sun was softened by flitting fleecy clouds. The -group collected on the beautifully-kept croquet-ground of the Deane -was as pretty and as picturesque as any which was to be seen under the -summer sky that day. Mrs. Haldane Carteret, who was by no means "a -frisky matron," but who enjoyed unbroken animal spirits and much -better health than she could have been induced to acknowledge, was -particularly fond of croquet, which, as her feet and ankles were -irreproachable, was not to be wondered at. She was an indefatigable, a -perfectly good-humoured player, and owed not a little of her -popularity in the neighbourhood to her ever-ready willingness to get -up croquet-parties at home, or to go out to them.</p> - -<p>Haldane too was not a bad or a reluctant player; and, on the whole, -the Deane held a creditable place in the long list of country houses -much devoted to this popular science.</p> - -<p>Miss Congreve and her sister "perfectly doated on" croquet, and all -the young men were enthusiasts in the art, except George Ritherdon, -who played too badly to like it, and had never gotten over the painful -remembrance of having once caused a young lady, whose face was fairer -than her temper, to weep tears of spite and wrathfulness by his -blunders in a "match."</p> - -<p>"How long is this going to last?" George asked Meredith, when the game -was fairly inaugurated, and the animation of the party proved how much -to their taste their proceedings were.</p> - -<p>Meredith did not answer until he had watched with narrow and critical -interest the stroke which Nelly was then about to make. When the ball -had rolled through the hoop, and it was somebody else's turn, he said,</p> - -<p>"Until such time as, having breakfasted at twelve with the prospect of -dining at seven, we can contrive to fancy that we want something to -eat, I suppose."</p> - -<p>"Well, then, as I don't play, and cannot flatter myself I shall be -missed, I shall go in, write some letters, and have a stroll. You will -tell Miss Baldwin I don't play croquet, if she should do me the honour -to remark my absence?"</p> - -<p>"Certainly," said Meredith; and as George turned away, he said to -Eleanor,</p> - -<p>"I will tell your sister, if she likes, that George does not play -croquet or any other game."</p> - -<p>She looked up inquiringly.</p> - -<p>"No," he said; "he is the most thoroughly honest--indeed, I might say -the only thoroughly honest--man, who has not any brains, of my -acquaintance. _He_ won't lay siege to the heiress, and have no eyes -for anybody else, no matter how superior; and yet a little or a good -deal of money would be as valuable to George as to most men, I -believe."</p> - -<p>"I thought Mr. Ritherdon seemed very much taken with Gertrude," said -Nelly, who had ceased for the moment to perform the mystic evolutions -of the noble game--in a confidential tone, into which she had -unconsciously dropped when speaking to Meredith.</p> - -<p>"No doubt, so he is; but if she imagines he is going to be an easy -conquest--to propose and be rejected--she will be mistaken."</p> - -<p>A little while ago, and who would have dared to speak in such a tone -of her sister to Eleanor Baldwin? Whom would she have believed, who -should have told her that she could have heard unmoved insinuations -almost amounting to accusations of that sister's vanity, pride, and -coquetry? The sweet poison of flattery was taking effect, the deadly -plant of jealousy was taking ready root.</p> - -<p>"I suppose," she said, "every man who comes to the house will be set -down as a _pretendant_ of Gertrude's--that is to be expected. If any -man of our acquaintance has real self-respect, he will keep away."</p> - -<p>"Indeed!" said Meredith. "Would you make no exceptions to so harsh a -rule?--not in favour of those to whom Miss Baldwin would be nothing, -except your sister?"</p> - -<p>"Nelly, Nelly, what are you about? You are moonstruck, I think!" -exclaimed Mrs. Haldane Carteret, whose superabundant alertness could -not brook an interval in the game; and Eleanor was absolved by this -direct appeal from any necessity to take notice of the words spoken by -Meredith.</p> - -<p>No immediate opportunity of again addressing Eleanor arose, so -Meredith divided his attentions, in claiming her due share of which -Mrs. Carteret was very exacting, among the party in general, which was -shortly reinforced by the arrival of a number of visitors from the -"contagious countries," and, conspicuous among them, Mr. Dort. This -honourable young gentleman, though all his parents and friends could -possibly desire, in point of fashion, was perhaps a little less than -people in general might have desired in point of brains. Indeed, he -possessed as little of that important ingredient in the composition of -humanity as was at all consistent with his keeping up his animal life -and keeping himself out of an idiot asylum.</p> - -<p>In appearance he was rather prepossessing; for he had a well-bred -not-too-pretty face, "nice" hair (and a capital valet, who rarely -received his wages), a tolerably good figure, and better taste in -dress than is usually combined with fatuity. He never talked much, -which was a good thing for himself and his friends. He had a dim kind -of notion that he did not get at his ideas, or at any rate did not put -them in words, with quite so much facility as other people did, and -so, actuated by a feeble gleam of common sense, he remained tolerably -silent in general. As he naturally enjoyed the aristocratic privilege -of not being required to exert himself for anybody's good or -convenience, he experienced no sort of awkwardness or misgiving when, -on making a call, after the ordinary greeting of civilised life (with -all the _r_'s eliminated, and all the words jumbled together), he -remained perfectly silent, in contemplation of the chimneypiece, -except when a dog was present, then he pulled its ears, until the -conclusion of his visit. He was very harmless, except to tradespeople, -and not unamiable--rather cheerful and happy indeed than otherwise, -though his habitual expression was one of vapid discontent. He would -have made it sardonic if he could, but he couldn't; he had too little -nose and not enough moustache for that, and his strong-minded mamma -had advised him to give it up.</p> - -<p>"I know your cousin Adolphus does it," Lady Gelston said indulgently; -"but just consider his natural advantages. Don't do it, Matthew; you -_can't_ sneer with an upper lip like yours; and, besides, why _should_ -you sneer?"</p> - -<p>"There's something in that, ma'am, certainly," returned her admiring -son, with his usual deliberation. "I really don't see why I should; -because, you see, I ain't clever enough for people to expect it:" -which was the cleverest thing the Honourable Matthew had ever said, up -to that period of his existence.</p> - -<p>The young ladies in the neighbourhood rather liked Mr. Dort. He was a -good deal in Scotland, chiefly because he found an alarming scarcity -of ready money was apt to set in, after he had made a comparatively -short sojourn in London, and each time this happened he would remark -to his friends, in the tone and with the manner of a discoverer,</p> - -<p>"And there are things one must have money for, don't you know? one -can't tick for everything--cabs, and waiters, and so on, don't you -know?"</p> - -<p>This unhappy perversity of circumstances brought the Honourable -Matthew home to his ancestral castle earlier, and caused him to remain -there longer, than was customary with the territorial magnates; and -Lord and Lady Gelston were, also for sound pecuniary reasons, -all-the-year-rounders, and very good neighbours with every family -entitled to that distinction. The young ladies, then, liked Mr. Dort. -He was useful, agreeable, and "safe." Now this peculiar-sounding -qualification was one which, however puzzling to the uninitiated, was -thoroughly understood in the neighbourhood, and its general -acceptation made things very pleasant.</p> - -<p>The young ladies might like Mr. Dort, and Mr. Dort might and did like -the young ladies, without any risk of undue expectations being -excited, or female jealousies and rivalries being aroused. Every one -knew that Mr. Dort's parents intended their son to marry an heiress, -and that Mr. Dort himself was quite of their opinion. When the -appointed time and the selected heiress should come, the young ladies -were prepared to give up Mr. Dort with cheerfulness. Perhaps they -hoped the chosen heiress might be ugly, and certainly they hoped she -would "behave properly to the neighbourhood," but there their -single-minded cogitations stopped. A good deal of the feudal spirit -lingered about the Gelston precincts, and if the son of the lord and -the lady, the heir of the undeniably grand, if rather out-at-elbows, -castle, had been a monk, or a married man, he could hardly have been -more secure from a design on the part of any young lady to convert -herself into the Honourable Mrs. Dort.</p> - -<p>The pleasantest unanimity of feeling prevailed in the community -respecting him, and all the married ladies declared they "quite felt -for dear Lady Gelston," in her natural anxiety to "have her son -settled." Her son was not particularly anxious about it himself, but -then it was not his way to be particularly anxious about anything but -the "sit" of his garments, and the punctuality of his meals, and this -indifference was normal. Local heiresses were not plentiful in the -vicinity of Gelston, but Lady Gelston did not trust to the home -supply. She had long ago enlisted the sympathies and the services of -such of her friends as enjoyed favourable opportunities for "knowing -about that sort of thing," and who either had no sons, or such as were -happily disposed of. She was a practically-minded woman, and fully -alive to the advantage of securing as many resources as possible.</p> - -<p>Lady Gelston would have been perfectly capable of the insolence of -considering her son's success in the case of the local heiresses--_par -excellence_, Miss Baldwin--perfectly indubitable, but of the folly she -was not capable. He would have a very good chance, she felt convinced, -and she was determined he should try it as soon as it would be -decently possible for him to do so.</p> - -<p>"Matt is not the only young man of rank she will meet, even here," -said the lady, when she condescended to explain her views to her -acquiescent lord.</p> - -<p>Who, be it observed, was quite as well convinced of the advantages of -the alliance, and quite as anxious it should take place, as his wife; -but who preferred repose to action, gave her ladyship credit for -practical ability and a contrary taste, and entertained a general idea -that scheming in all its departments had better be left to a woman.</p> - -<p>"Matt's chance will be before she goes to London," continued her -ladyship; "and I really think it is a good one. She likes him, and -that goes a great way with a girl"--said as if she were gently -compassionating a weakness--"and I think the Carterets are sensible -people, likely to see their own advantage in her marrying into a -family who are on good terms with them, and can make it worth their -while to behave nicely. Then there's the advantage to _her_ of the -connection. Our son, my dear, living _here_, is a better match for her -than Lord Anybody's son, living elsewhere, and unconnected with her -people. Really, nothing could be more--more providential, I really -consider it, for her." And Lady Gelston nodded approvingly, as if the -power alluded to had been present, and could have appreciated the -polite encouragement.</p> - -<p>"Well, my dear, you seem to have taken everything into consideration, -and I have no doubt you are right. I hope _they_ will see it in the -same light."</p> - -<p>"I hope so; but if they don't--and that's why I am anxious Matt should -not lose time"--Lady Gelston had a trick of parenthesis--"I shall see -about that Treherne girl--Mrs. Peile's niece, you know. Lady John -Tarbett sent me a very satisfactory account of her the other day. And -by the bye, that reminds me I must go and answer her letter."</p> - -<p>Had Lady Gelston been conscious that all her acquaintances were -thoroughly aware of the projects which she cherished in reference to -Gertrude Baldwin, she would not have been in the least annoyed. The -matter presented itself to her mind in a practical common-sense -aspect, much as his designs with regard to the "middle-aged lady" -presented themselves to the mind of Mr. Peter Magnus. "Husband on one -side, wife on the other;" fortune on one side, rank on the other; -mutual accommodation, excellent arrangement for all parties--a little -condescending on the part of the Honourable Matthew perhaps, but then -the girl was really very rich, and that was all about it. Any one -ordinarily clear-sighted, and with any knowledge of the world at all, -must recognise the advantages to all parties. If the Carterets and -Miss Baldwin were insensible to them--well, it would be provoking, but -there were other heiresses, and certain conditions of heiress-ship -were tolerably frequent, in which an Honourable Matthew would be a -greater prize than to Miss Meriton Baldwin of the Deane.</p> - -<p>When Mr. Dort made his appearance on the Deane croquet-ground, there -was not an individual present who did not know that he was there with -a definite purpose, and in obedience to the orders of Lady Gelston, -and they all watched his proceedings with curiosity. The fates were -not propitious to the Honourable Matthew, who had been preparing, on -his way, certain pretty speeches, which he flattered himself would be -effective, and would help towards "getting it over," which was his -periphrastic manner of alluding, in his self-communings, to the -proposal appointed to be made to Miss Baldwin. Gertrude was not -present, and everybody was intent upon croquet.</p> - -<p>"Where is your sister?" he asked Eleanor, after they had exchanged -good-morrows, and agreed that the ball of the previous night had been -a successful festivity.</p> - -<p>The droll directness of the question was too much for Nelly; she -laughed outright.</p> - -<p>"I really cannot tell you," she replied; "she ought to have been here -long ago; but no doubt she will come now."</p> - -<p>"I hope so," said Mr. Dort with fervent seriousness. "I should think -she would soon come."</p> - -<p>And then he retired modestly to a garden-seat and softly repeated the -phrases, which he began to find it desperately difficult to retain in -his memory.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith had adhered with some tenacity to the croquet-party, -and had been a witness to this little scene. The amusement, just a -little dashed with pique, which Eleanor displayed did not escape him.</p> - -<p>"He is an original, certainly," said Meredith, "which, for the sake of -humanity, it is to be hoped will not be extensively copied. I fancy he -will propose to-day."</p> - -<p>"Very likely," said Nelly; "every one knows he, or his mother, has -intended it for a long time. In fact, Gerty rather wants to have it -over, as Mr. Dort is not a bad creature, and the sooner he understands -that, though she has no notion of marrying him, he may come here all -the same, the pleasanter it will be for all parties."</p> - -<p>"Of course she _has_ no notion of marrying him?"</p> - -<p>"Mr. Meredith, you are insulting! Gerty marry Matt Dort--an idiot like -that!"</p> - -<p>"An idiot with an old title and a castle to match, in not distant -perspective, combination of county influence, &c. &c. &c.," said -Meredith, smiling; "not so very improbable, after all."</p> - -<p>"So Lady Gelston thinks," replied Nelly; "and won't it be a sell--the -slang is delightfully expressive--when she finds it is not he."</p> - -<p>"And wouldn't it be a sell for her ladyship if it were? thought -Meredith.</p> - -<p>"I suppose it will, indeed." was his reply. "Though all this is very -amusing, I fancy I should consider it very humiliating if I were a -woman. I cannot see anything enviable in a position which exposes one -to such barefaced speculation."</p> - -<p>"Nonsense!" returned Eleanor, with a forced smile; "depend on it, if -you were a woman, you would like very well to be in Gertrude's -position, and have every one making much of you."</p> - -<p>As she spoke she threw down her mallet, and declared herself tired of -croquet.</p> - -<p>"Here is Gertrude at last," said Mrs. Haldane Carteret, and all the -party looked in the direction of the house. There was Gertrude, coming -along the terrace, and with her George Ritherdon, supporting on his -arm Mr. Dugdale.</p> - -<p>"Let us go and meet them," said Eleanor, "and tell Gerty to put the -Honourable Matthew out of pain as soon as possible."</p> - -<p>"He is to be here this evening, I suppose," said Meredith, as they -moved off the croquet-ground.</p> - -<p>"Yes," answered Eleanor; "Lady Gelston carefully provided for that -last night--not that it was necessary, for he would have invited -himself, and come under any circumstances."</p> - -<p>When Eleanor and Meredith joined Miss Baldwin and her escort, George -Ritherdon said to his friend:</p> - -<p>"I will ask you to take my place. I find the post-hour here is -horribly early, and I must really let my mother know where I am."</p> - -<p>"What on earth have you been doing?" said Meredith, as he offered his -arm to Mr. Dugdale. "You went away two hours ago to write letters, -you said."</p> - -<p>"I think we are to blame," said Gerty. "Mr. Ritherdon found us in the -morning room--found uncle James and me, I mean--and we got talking, as -Miss Congreve says, and--"</p> - -<p>"And I had an opportunity of finding out how much Ritherdon is to be -liked," interposed Mr. Dugdale, George being now out of hearing. "I -congratulate you on your companion, Robert."</p> - -<p>Meredith replied cordially, and the party advanced towards the lawn. -The two girls preceded Mr. Dugdale and Meredith, and as the sound of -their voices reached the latter, he correctly divined that they were -amusing themselves at the expense of Mr. Dort. On the approach of Miss -Baldwin, the Honourable Matthew promptly abandoned the garden bench, -from which no blandishments had previously availed to entice him, and -repeated the phrases which had occasioned him so much trouble, with -very suspicious glibness, to the undisguised amusement of the two -girls. Mr. Dort was not in the least abashed. He had no sense of -humour and not a particle of bashfulness, and, if he had reasoned on -the subject at all, would have imputed their hilarity to the natural -propensity of women to giggle, rather than have entertained any -suspicion that he had made himself ridiculous. But he never reasoned, -and he was always perfectly comfortable.</p> - -<p>The afternoon passed merrily away, and a pleasant dinner-party -succeeded. George Ritherdon had become quite a popular person before -the promised dance--not at all splendid, in comparison with the ball -of the preceding evening--began, and he confided to Meredith his -surprise at finding himself "getting on so well," he who was such a -bad hand at "society business."</p> - -<p>Gertrude gave him several dances that evening--Miss Congreve thought -rather too many,--and she gave Mr. Dort one, and a tolerably prolonged -audience in the ante-room, after which it was generally observed that -the expression of discontent habitual to his features was more marked -than usual. He left the Deane long before the party broke up, and -found his lady mother still up, and ready to receive his report of -proceedings.</p> - -<p>"Well, Matt, how have you got on?" was her ladyship's terse question.</p> - -<p>"I haven't got on at all," replied the Honourable Matthew. "She said -'No' almost before I'd asked her, and was so infernally pleasant about -it, that, hang it! I couldn't get up anything like the proper thing -under the circumstances,--you know, mother,--the 'may not time--can -you not give me a hope?' business."</p> - -<p>"Excessively provoking," said Lady Gelston, turning very red in the -face, and speaking in a tone which was the peculiar aversion of her -son: "she is a stupid perverse girl, and I'm certain you mismanaged -the affair."</p> - -<p>"No, I didn't," said the Honourable Matt; "there ain't much management -about it, that I can see. I said, 'Will you marry me?'--that's flat, I -think,--and she said, 'Certainly not;' _that's_ flat, I think;--a -perfect flounder, in my opinion."</p> - -<p>"Well, well, it can't be helped," said Lady Gelston, with a glance at -her son which might have meant that she had arrived at a comprehension -of what a fool he really was. "There, go away, and let me get to bed. -It's too bad; but there's no help for it. We must only try elsewhere." -she continued, as if speaking to herself.</p> - -<p>"Stop a bit, mother," interposed the Honourable Matt, without the -least impatience or any change of expression, "I want to consult you -about something. Don't you think what I particularly want is ready -money--money that isn't tied up, I mean--not the entail business, -don't you know, but the other thing?"</p> - -<p>"I think you want money in any way and in any quantity in which it can -be had," returned Lady Gelston impatiently. "How can you ask such -foolish questions?"</p> - -<p>"I'm not. I heard all about Nelly Baldwin's money to-night. Captain -Carteret was talking about it to old Largs, and he's so deaf that the -Captain had to roar all the particulars; and I'll tell you what, -mother,--by Jove, I'll go in for Nelly."</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith and George Ritherdon were to remain a week at the -Deane. The three days which succeeded their arrival were passed in -the ordinary pleasurable pursuits of a luxurious and hospitable -country-house, and were unmarked by any events which made themselves -at all conspicuous. Nevertheless they were days with a meaning, an -epoch with a history, and their course included two incidents. The -sisters had a quarrel, which they kept strictly to themselves; and -George Ritherdon received a long letter, which he read with profound -amazement, which he promptly destroyed, and concerning whose contents -he said not a word to any one.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div3_06" href="#div3Ref_06">CHAPTER VI.</a></h4> -<h5>THE FIRST MOVES IN THE GAME.</h5> - -<p> -Some time passed away, after the memorable fête which had celebrated -the majority of Miss Meriton Baldwin of the Deane, during which, to an -uninitiated observer, the aspect of affairs in that splendid and -well-regulated mansion remained unchanged. County festivities took -place; and the importance of the young ladies at the Deane was not a -better established fact than their popularity.</p> - -<p>With the comic seriousness which distinguished him, the Honourable -Matthew Dort had "gone in for Nelly." He visited at the Deane with -tranquil regularity, he played croquet imperturbably; only that he now -watched Eleanor's balls, and was as confident she would "croquet" -everybody as he had formerly been free from doubt about Gertrude's -prowess; he rehearsed his speeches, and uttered them with entire -self-possession. In due time he proposed to Eleanor, in the exact -terms in which he had already done Gertrude that honour: and he was -refused by her quite as definitively, but less politely than he had -been refused by her sister. On this occasion also he went home to his -mother, and related to her his defeat with a happy absence of -embarrassment.</p> - -<p>Lady Gelston was very angry. She really did not know what the -world--and especially the young women who were in it--was coming to; -she wondered who the Baldwin girls expected to get. But of one thing -she was convinced--Matthew must have made a fool of himself somehow, -or he could not have failed in both instances. The accused Matthew did -not defend himself. Very likely he had made a fool of himself, but it -could not be helped. Neither Gertrude nor Eleanor would marry him, and -it was quite clear he could not make either of them do so. His mother -had much better not worry herself about them; and when the shooting -was over, or he was tired of it, he would "look-up that girl of Lady -Jane Tarbert's."</p> - -<p>With this prospect, and with the intention of snubbing the Baldwins, -Lady Gelston was forced to be content. But the snubbing, though her -ladyship was an adept in the practice, did not succeed. The Baldwins -declined to perceive that they were snubbed, and the neighbourhood -declined to follow Lady Gelston's lead in this particular. The Deane -was the most popular house in the county, and the Baldwins were the -happiest and most enviable people.</p> - -<p>This fair surface was but a deceitful seeming; at least, so far as the -sisters were concerned. An estrangement, which had had its -commencement on Gertrude's birthday, and had since increased by -insensible degrees, had grown up between them; an estrangement which -not all their efforts--made in the case of Eleanor from pride, in that -of Gertrude from wounded feeling--could hide from the notice of their -uncle and aunt, from James Dugdale and Rose Doran; an estrangement -which made each eagerly court external associations, and find relief, -in the frequent presence of others, from the constant sense of their -changed relation. James Dugdale saw this change with keen sorrow; but -when he attempted to investigate it, he was met by Gertrude with an -earnest assurance that she was entirely ignorant of its origin, and an -equally earnest entreaty that he would not speak to Eleanor about it. -It would be useless, Gertrude said, and she must put her faith in time -and her sister's truer interpretation of her.</p> - -<p>Appeal to Eleanor was met with flat denial, and an angry refusal to -submit to interference, which in itself betrayed the evil root of all -this dissension. Gertrude was supreme, the angry sister said; _she_ -was nothing. Gertrude of course could not err; all the good things of -this world were for Gertrude, including the absolute subservience of -her sister. But she might not, indeed she should not, find it quite so -easy to command _that_. A good deal of harm was done by Mrs. -Carteret, not intentionally, but yet after her characteristic fashion. -She much preferred Eleanor to Gertrude, and she made herself a -partisan of the former, by pitying her, because _she_ only could know -how little she was really to blame. Haldane treated the matter very -lightly. He regarded it as a girlish squabble, which would resolve -itself into nothing in a very short time, and at the worst would be -dissipated by a stronger feeling. So soon as a lover should appear on -the scene, their good-humoured uncle believed it would be all -right,--provided indeed they did not happen to fall in love with the -same man, and quarrel desperately about him.</p> - -<p>Rose Doran regarded the state of things with anger and horror.</p> - -<p>"It's just the devil's work, sir," she said to Mr. Dugdale; "puttin' -jealousy and bitterness between them two, fatherless and motherless as -they are, and no one to show them the only kind of love in which -there's no room for more or less. It's just the devil's work, and he's -doing it bravely; and Miss Nelly's to his hand, for that jealousy was -always in her; not but there's somebody behindhand, I'm sure of it, -puttin' coals on the fire."</p> - -<p>Rose was at first disposed to suspect Mrs. Carteret of this -supererogatory work, but she did not continue to suspect her. She knew -the girls so thoroughly, she was in no doubt respecting the amount of -influence their aunt could exert over them, and in Nelly's case she -was aware this was much less than in that of Gertrude. Besides, Mrs. -Doran's practical wisdom controlled her feminine suspicion; she could -not discern an adequate motive, and she therefore exonerated aunt -Lucy. But she was no less convinced that, in this unhappy matter, -Eleanor was not left alone to the unassisted promptings of her -disposition, in which Rose had early perceived the terrible taint of -jealousy. And her acute observation guided her aright before long; it -guided her to an individual whom she had instinctively distrusted in -his boyhood--to Robert Meredith.</p> - -<p>Though she had hardly seen him for many years past, and though, in her -position in the household at the Deane, she had not come into any -contact with him of late. Rose Doran had never got over the dislike of -Robert Meredith which she had conceived at the terrible time of her -beloved mistress's death. On that occasion James Dugdale had obeyed -Margaret's instructions so faithfully and promptly, that Rose Moore -had reached the Deane in time to kneel beside her unclosed coffin, and -whisper, on her cold lips, the promise on which she had instinctively -relied,--the promise that her children should be henceforth Rose's -sacred charge and care. Among the mourners at the funeral of Mrs. -Baldwin were Hayes Meredith and his son; the former entirely absorbed -in grief for the event, and in thoughts of the future, as his secret -knowledge forced him to contemplate it; the latter, with ample leisure -of mind to look about him, to observe and admire, and with the -pleasant conviction that every one was too much occupied to take any -notice of him. He conducted himself with propriety at the funeral, and -afterwards, while he was in sight of the family; and he was far from -supposing that Rose Moore was watching his looks and his manner, on -other occasions, with mingled disgust and curiosity, and that she said -to herself, "The Lord be good to us! but I believe, upon my soul and -faith, _the boy is glad she's taken_."</p> - -<p>Rose had never deliberately recalled this impression during all the -years which had witnessed her faithful fulfilment of her vow, but she -had never lost it; and the conviction which now came to her, during -Robert Meredith's stay at the Deane, and which gained strength with -every day which ensued on his departure, had its origin in it. Had it -needed confirmation, it would have obtained it from the utter and -peremptory rejection of her good offices, on Nelly's part, and the -burst of angry disdain with which the infatuated girl met her -suggestion, that Mr. Meredith was no friend of Gertrude's. Eleanor -Baldwin had travelled no small distance on the thorny road of evil, -when she rewarded Rose's suggestion with a haughty request, which -fired Rose's Irish blood, but with a flame quickly quenched in healing -waters of love and pity,--that she would in future remember, and keep, -_her place_.</p> - -<p>"It's because I never forget my place, the place your mother put me -in, Miss Nelly, that I warn you," said her faithful friend.</p> - -<p>Then Eleanor felt ashamed of herself; but pride and anger and deadly -jealousy carried the day over the wholesome sentiment, and she turned -away hastily, leaving Rose without a word.</p> - -<p>In much more than its external meaning was that festival time of deep -importance to Gertrude and Eleanor Meriton Baldwin. It was fraught -with the fate of both. While Robert Meredith and his friend remained -at the Deane, the relation of the sisters was unchanged in appearance. -It seemed as if their mysterious quarrel had had no lasting effect. -The after estrangement was, however, its legitimate fruit, as well as -the consequence of the pernicious ideas which Robert Meredith had set -himself assiduously to cultivate in the mind of Nelly. An explanation -of the state of mind of Robert Meredith, at the termination of his -visit to the Deane, will sufficiently elucidate the quarrel of the -sisters, and its distressing results.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith had arrived at the Deane full of one purpose, which -had been vaguely present to his mind for some years, but to which -certain circumstances had of late lent consistency, fixedness, and -urgency. This purpose was to make himself acceptable in the eyes of -Miss Baldwin. He had hitherto troubled himself but little about the -young lady. When she should have reached her majority, his time should -have come. It had arrived; and not Mr. M'llwaine himself--who had gone -to the Deane, accompanied by the huge mass of papers to which Haldane -Carteret had found it difficult to induce his niece to give reasonable -attention--had proceeded thither with a more strictly business-like -purpose in view than that which actuated the handsome barrister. -Robert would have despised himself as sincerely, and almost as much, -as he was in the habit of despising his neighbours, if he had been -capable of permitting sentiment to influence him in so grave an affair -as that of securing his fortune for life,--which was precisely his -purpose; and he had formed his plans totally irrespective of -Gertrude's attractions, or their possible influence upon himself. He -had two schemes in his mind, both, in his belief, equally practicable; -and he determined to be guided by circumstances as to which of the two -he should adopt. If the second should present itself as the more -advisable, an indispensable preliminary to the secure playing of the -long game it would involve was the alienation of the sisters. It could -do no harm, in any case, to make an immediate move in that direction; -and therefore Robert Meredith made it.</p> - -<p>When Eleanor Baldwin made her escape from the ballroom on that -memorable night, leaving her sister to the cares which her superior -importance devolved upon her, Robert Meredith's eager words of -admiration, and still more expressive looks, had filled the girl's -heart--already dangerously trembling towards him--with a strange -tumultuous joy, contending with the jealous bitterness he had -contrived to implant in it. But when he and George Ritherdon bade one -another good-night at the door of George's room, after a brief -commentary upon the beauty of the morning, he had enough that was ever -in his thoughts to keep him from sleep. The comparative advantages of -the first of his plans over the second had immensely increased in his -estimation.</p> - -<p>The beauty, the simplicity, the tender pathetic grace of Gertrude, had -struck with a strange attractive freshness upon his palled sense, and -he had awakened, with a delicious consciousness, to the conviction -that he might combine the utmost gratification of two passions by the -successful prosecution of his scheme. To make that delicate, refined, -lovely girl love him as passionately, as foolishly, as the dark -beauty, her sister, would love him, if it suited his purpose to -encourage the dawning feeling he had seen in her eyes, and felt in -every movement and word of hers during the evening, would indeed be -triumph, adding a delicious flavour to the wealth and station which -should be his. He understood now what the charm was which Gertrude's -mother, whom he had hated, had had for men,--the charm of a pure and -refined intellectuality, with underlying possibilities of intense and -exalted feeling,--these were to be divined in the depths of the clear -gray, unabashed eyes, and in the sensitive curves of a mouth as -delicate as her mother's, but less ascetic.</p> - -<p>Had he made a favourable impression on Gertrude? Had she learned from -her sister's report to regard him with favour, and had he confirmed -that report? He did not feel comfortably certain on this point. -Gertrude had not given him any indication beyond the additional -attention which he claimed as Mr. Dugdale's particular friend. But -Robert Meredith did not trouble himself much on this point; he had -time before him, and he knew perfectly well how to use it. But it was -characteristic of the man that, though he dwelt, to his last waking -moment, upon Gertrude's beauty and charm, he thought, just as he fell -asleep, "If she thwarts me, it will all add zest to the revenge which -Miss Eleanor's eyes tell me is secure in any case."</p> - -<p>The story of the remainder of Robert Meredith's visit may be briefly -told. Gertrude did thwart him. Not intentionally; for she, being the -most candid of girls, was wholly incapable of understanding his -double-dealing policy. She frankly regarded him as her sister's -admirer, and she unreservedly regretted that he should be so. She did -not like Robert Meredith; between him and her there was an absolute -absence of sympathy, and she shrank with an inexplicable repugnance -and fear from his looks--covert and yet bold--and from the admiration -which he insinuated, the understanding which he attempted to imply, -whenever he could take or contrive an opportunity of doing so, -unobserved and unheard by Eleanor. She avoided him whenever it was -possible, and she never remained alone with him.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith was a vain man--but vanity was not his ruling passion, -one or two others had precedence of it--therefore he did not fail to -see, or hesitate to confess to himself, that Gertrude had thwarted -him, that there would not be room, in the accomplishment of his -scheme; for the delicious gratification of two passions at once, and -that he would do well to fall back upon the second game, for playing -which he had the cards in his hand. It was not without intense -mortification he made this avowal to himself. He was a man to whom -failure was indeed bitter; but he speedily found consolation in musing -upon the perfection of a certain revenge which he meditated.</p> - -<p>"If she would marry me, in ignorance," he said to himself, "I should -be the Deane's master and hers; but, if she would not marry me under -any circumstances, to escape any penalty--and I begin to think that is -certain now--I have her in my power, and _all, all, all_ will be -mine."</p> - -<p>These reflections, made by Robert Meredith during the week which was -to conclude his stay at the Deane, led him to take a certain -resolution, whose execution was fraught with immediate results to the -sisters.</p> - -<p>A small but very animated dancing-party had taken place at the Deane; -and Robert had closely studied the demeanour of Gertrude and Eleanor -to him and to each other. The estrangement of the sisters had not then -become manifest; but he detected and exulted in it. On Gertrude's part -there was a nervous anxiety to put Eleanor forward, to consult her, to -defer to her in everything; on Eleanor's there was an affectation of -indifference, an assumption of deference, a giving of herself the -appearance of being a guest, which was in extremely bad taste, but -thoroughly delightful to Robert Meredith. If a servant asked Eleanor a -question, she pointedly referred him to her sister; she professed an -entire ignorance of Miss Baldwin's plans for the evening; she divided -herself from her in innumerable little expressive ways, which Gertrude -noted with a sick heart and a manner which betrayed painful -nervousness; and she abandoned herself to the influence of the -flattery and the insidious suggestions of the tempter to a degree -which justified him in believing that he might be entirely sure of -her, whether the pursuit of his purpose should lead him to break her -heart by marrying her sister, or crown her hopes by marrying herself.</p> - -<p>It was Gertrude's custom to resort to the library every morning after -breakfast, and there to occupy herself with her drawing, at a table -beside a large window which opened on the lawn. She was usually -undisturbed, as Mr. Dugdale remained in his own rooms all the morning, -her uncle frequented the stable and farmyard, Eleanor devoted the -morning hours to music, and Mrs. Carteret had no attraction towards -the library. George Ritherdon had sometimes found his way thither; and -Gertrude had, on those occasions, found it not unpleasant to lay aside -her pencil, and discuss with her guest some of the contents of her -amply-stored bookshelves. But George was engaged in writing letters on -the morning which followed the before-mentioned dancing-party; and -Robert Meredith found Miss Baldwin, as he expected, alone. Gertrude -tried hard to receive him in the most ordinary way, but her -embarrassment was distressingly apparent; and he coolly showed her -that he perceived it. After a few words--she could hardly have told -what words--she collected her drawing-materials, and said something -confusedly about being waited for by Mrs. Carteret, as she rose to -leave the room. But Robert Meredith, with a bold fixed look, which, in -spite of herself, she saw and felt in every nerve, detained her; and -gravely informing her that he had purposely selected that opportunity -of finding her alone, in order to make a communication of importance -to her, requested her to listen to him. His manner was not loverlike, -it was even, under all the formality of his address, slightly -contemptuous; but she knew instantly what it was she had to listen to, -and a prayer arose in her heart by a sudden inexplicable impulse. She -resumed her seat, and leaning her arm on the table which divided her -from Robert Meredith, she shaded her eyes with her hand, and prepared -to listen to him.</p> - -<p>It was as her instinctive dread had told her. In set phrase, and -with his bold covetous eyes fixed upon her, Meredith told her his -errand,--told her he loved her, and asked her to marry him--made -mention too of her wealth, and the risk he ran of being misinterpreted -by the world, of having base motives imparted to him--a risk more than -counterbalanced by his love, and his faith in his ability to make her -understand and believe that she was sought by him for herself alone.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith spoke well, and with fire and energy; but, as Gertrude -listened to him, her distress and embarrassment subsided, and she -removed the sheltering hand from her eyes. When he urgently entreated -her to reply, she said very gently:</p> - -<p>"I should feel more pain, Mr. Meredith, in telling you that I cannot -return the preference with which you honour me, if I did not feel so -convinced that your love for me is only imaginary. Had it been real, -you would not have remembered my wealth, or cared about the opinion of -the world."</p> - -<p>This answer staggered the man to whom it was addressed more than any -indignation could have done. He burst out into renewed protestations; -but Gertrude, with grave dignity, begged him to desist, and again -asserting that as her guardian's friend he should ever be esteemed -hers, assured him it was useless to pursue his suit. Then she rose, -and moved towards the door.</p> - -<p>"Is this a final answer, Miss Baldwin?" asked Meredith.</p> - -<p>"Quite final, Mr. Meredith."</p> - -<p>"Stay a moment. May I hope you will not add to the mortification of -this refusal the injury of making it known to Mr. Dugdale or Mrs. -Carteret, indeed to any one? I confess I could hardly endure the -ridicule or the compassion which must attend a rejected suitor of the -heiress of the Deane."</p> - -<p>There was a devil's sneer in his voice and on his face; but Gerty took -no heed of it, as she replied, with quiet dignity,</p> - -<p>"We have a code of honour also, we women, Mr. Meredith; and you may be -quite sure I shall never so far offend against it as to mention this -matter to _any one_." Then she added, with a sweet smile, in which her -perfect incredulity regarding his professions was fully though -unconsciously expressed:</p> - -<p>"I will leave you now; and I hope you will forget all this as soon and -as completely as I shall."</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith followed her with his eyes as she left the room, and -passing along the terrace, went down into her flower-garden, and -lingered there, utterly oblivious of him; and a deadly feeling of -hatred, such hatred as springs most profusely from baffled passion, -arose in his heart, and blossomed into sudden strength and purpose.</p> - -<p>"Yes," he muttered; "you have taken up the thread of your mother's -story, and you shall spin it out to some purpose. A little while, and -Eleanor will be of age; and then, my fine heiress of the Deane, -then we shall see who has won to-day. A little while, and if I -can only keep Oakley quiet till then, I am safe. Safe! more than -safe,--triumphant, victorious!"</p> - -<p>It was on the next day that Nelly, intoxicated by the artful -flatteries of Robert Meredith, and tortured by the jealousy which he -had fostered, taunted her sister with the powerlessness of money to -purchase love. The taunt fell harmlessly on Gertrude's pure and -upright heart; but it startled her, uttered by her sister. How had -Nelly come by such knowledge, and why did she apply it to her? She -hastily asked her why; and to her astonishment was answered, that in -one treasure at least Nelly was richer than she was--the treasure of a -brave and true man's love! The reply shook Gertrude like a reed. There -was indeed one man who answered to this description; there was one man -to win whose love would be the most blissful lot which Heaven could -bestow. There was one man, who never, by word or deed or look, had -implied to Gertrude Baldwin that such a lot might be hers--had her -sister won _him_? Well indeed might she exult, if she were so -supremely blest, and hold not Gertrude only, but all womankind her -inferiors. Pale and breathless, she awaited the complete elucidation -to be expected from Eleanor's taunting wrath, and it came. It came, -not as her fearful shrinking heart had foreboden, but in the avowal -that Eleanor spoke of Robert Meredith.</p> - -<p>With the passing away of the great pang of terror that had clutched at -her heart, Gertrude was again calm and clear-sighted; but she was -deeply grieved. She felt how unworthy was the man her sister loved, -how baseless her belief that she possessed his affections. She was far -from being able to comprehend such a nature as that of Robert -Meredith; but she had a vague consciousness that, in his binding her -to secrecy respecting his proposal to her, there had been a -treacherous intent; and though she would not break her promise, she -appealed to her sister on grounds and terms which a little more -knowledge of human nature would have taught her must be in vain. Then -came the inevitable result, a bitter and lasting quarrel, and an -ineradicable belief on Eleanor's part that Gertrude's refusal to -credit Meredith's love for her sister arose from the most despicable -motives--pride, envy, and jealousy. Where was the sisterly love, where -was the unbroken confidence of years now? Blasted by the fierce breath -of passion, poisoned by the insidious art of the tempter.</p> - -<p>So a treacherous appearance of calm and happiness existed at the Deane -during the months which succeeded the departure of the friends, and -none but those concerned were aware of two circumstances which had -entirely changed the lives of the bright and beautiful sisters. One -was the fact that Eleanor Baldwin was secretly betrothed to Robert -Meredith, with the understanding that on her coming of age she would -marry him, with or without the consent of her relatives. The other was -that the plodding industrious barrister George Ritherdon, who carried -back to his chambers in the Temple more than one unaccustomed -sensation, had taken with him, unconsciously, the unasked heart of the -young mistress of the Deane.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div3_07" href="#div3Ref_07">CHAPTER VII.</a></h4> -<h5>DRIFTING.</h5> -<br> - -<p>With the commencement of the season, Major and Mrs. Carteret and their -nieces followed the multitude to London. This proceeding was but -little in accordance with the wishes of Gertrude Baldwin, who loved -her home and her dependents, the pleasant routine of her country -duties and recreations; but she could not oppose herself to the -general opinion that it was the right thing to do, in which even Mr. -Dugdale, her great support and ally, agreed with the others. In her -capacity of woman of fashion, Mrs. Carteret was quite shocked that -Gertrude should have passed her twenty-first year without coming out -in proper style in London; but in that of chaperone, or, as she called -it, maternal friend to a great heiress, she had recognised the wisdom -and propriety of permitting her to attain to years of discretion -before she should be formally delivered over to the wiles of the -fortune-hunters and the perils of the "great world." Not but that -there were fortune-hunters in Scotland, witness the Honourable Matthew -Dort; but Gertrude was not likely to be bewildered by their devices in -the sober atmosphere of her home.</p> - -<p>Miss Baldwin's mind had not changed on the subject of the superiority -of her Scottish home to anything which a London residence could offer, -and which would certainly wear an air of triumph for her, however -false that air might be. Gertrude was by no means worldly wise. She -had none of the cynical foresight leading her to see in every one who -approached her a covetous idolater of her wealth. She would have -regarded herself with horror if she had lost her faith in love or -friendship; and indeed she had been so accustomed to the presence of -wealth all her life, that she did not understand its effect on others, -and had no mental standard by which to estimate its value, either -material or moral. It was not, therefore, from any unwomanly disdain -of the motives of those whom she was to sojourn amongst in London that -Gertrude took the prospect coolly, showing none of the excitement and -exultation to which Eleanor gave unrestrained expression, and which -made her amiable to Gertrude to an extent unparalleled for many months -past. The truth was that there was a secret in Gertrude's heart, a -preoccupation of Gertrude's mind, to which everything beside, so far -as she was individually concerned, had to yield. This pervading -sentiment did not render her selfish, she was as ready with her -sympathies for others as ever, but it did make her absent and -indifferent.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith and his friend had passed a fortnight at Christmas at -the Deane, and there the plans of the family for the coming season had -been discussed. Gertrude had learned with surprise and discomfiture -that her living in London, where he lived, would not imply her seeing -very much of George Ritherdon. She fancied he had been at some pains -to make her understand this, and the consciousness rendered her -uneasy. Why had he dwelt upon the busy nature of his life, the -diversity between his occupations and hers? Why had he drawn a merry -sketch for her of the wide difference between the society, such as it -was, in which alone he had a footing, and the gilded saloons which -were to throw their doors open for her? He had not offended her by -cynicism, which was as far from his happy and loyal nature as from -hers; but he had made her thoughtful and uncomfortable by an -insistence upon this point, which she could but refer to a wish to -make her understand that she must not expect him to contribute to the -anticipated pleasures of her sojourn in London. And with this -conviction vanished all such anticipations from Gertrude's fancy.</p> - -<p>That was an enchanted fortnight. The hours had flown, and a beautiful -new world had opened itself to the girl's perception. She had been too -happy to be afraid of Robert Meredith, or ungracious to him. She had -utterly forgotten the rule of action she had laid down for herself, in -consideration of her sister's perverse jealousy and alienation. She -had determined to treat Meredith with cold politeness, to show him and -Eleanor that she imputed to his sinister influence the state of things -which occasioned her so much pain. But she forgot the pain; she was -happy, and the sunshine of her content spread all around her.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith had a difficult game to play at this time, but he -played it with skill and success. It is not a light test of skill when -an elderly coquette is persuaded by a _ci-devant_ admirer to abandon -the conquering for the confidential _rôle_, and this was precisely the -test which Robert Meredith applied to his _savoir faire_. The secret -betrothal between himself and Eleanor placed them on so secure a -footing, that he was able, without annoying Eleanor, notwithstanding -her exacting disposition, to devote much of his time to Mrs. Carteret, -towards whom his tone modified itself from the slightly vulgar, -somewhat obtrusive gallantry which had been wont to characterise it, -to the very perfection of deferential observance and highly-prized -intimacy. He had appealed to some of Eleanor's best feelings in order -to induce her to consent to the secrecy of their engagement--to her -disinclination to produce family discord, to her duty of avoiding the -rendering of her aunt's position as between her and Gertrude -difficult, and to her noble confidence in his judgment and fidelity, -which it should be his loftiest aim in life to justify and reward.</p> - -<p>He had not only poisoned Eleanor's mind against her sister, but he had -succeeded in undermining the grateful affection which the misguided -girl had once entertained for Mr. Dugdale. He had made her remark the -preference which, in many small ways, the old man showed for -Gertrude--a preference of whose origin and justification Eleanor had -no knowledge to enable her to understand it aright--and assured her -that in him too, in deference to that universal baseness which -dictated subservience to her sister's wealth, Eleanor would find a -bitter opponent to her love, a ruthless adversary of her happiness. -His wicked counsels prevailed. Something romantic in the girl's -disposition responded to the idea of a persecuted passion; and the -demon of jealousy, now thoroughly awakened in her, wrought -unrestrained all the mischief her human evil genius desired. Meredith -counselled Eleanor to soften her manner towards Gertrude, for the -better security of their secret against the danger of her awakened -suspicions; and she obeyed him. He forbade her to tell Mrs. Carteret -all the truth, lest it might hereafter compromise her with her husband -and Mr. Dugdale, but told her to cultivate her good graces in every -way, so that in the time to come her aid might be sure; and she obeyed -him. The result of all this was much more peace for Gertrude; and as -Meredith kept himself out of her way, devoting himself to Mrs. -Carteret and Eleanor, and leaving George Ritherdon to her society, it -had the additional effect of increasing and consolidating her -attachment to George.</p> - -<p>Major Carteret was habitually unobservant; his wife confined her -attention to Robert Meredith, of whose wishes she was the delighted -confidante, and Eleanor, whom she did not at present suspect of more -than an incipient inclination towards Robert. Mr. Dugdale,--whose -health had declined considerably since the autumn, did not leave his -rooms, and saw the different members of the family singly,--was -totally unconscious of the drama being played out so near him. Things -were better between the sisters, and he rejoiced at that. The -favourable impression which George Ritherdon had made upon him on his -first visit to the Deane was deepened during his second, and he -greatly enjoyed his society. Gertrude passed many happy hours, working -or drawing, beside her old friend's sofa, while the two men talked -with mutual pleasure and sympathy. When that happy fortnight ended and -the friends had returned to London, Gertrude found her greatest -consolation in Mr. Dugdale's frequent allusions to George, and in the -eulogiums which he pronounced on his mind and his manners, the latter -being a point on which the old gentleman was difficult and fastidious.</p> - -<p>During and since that time, Gertrude, who was singularly free from -vanity and quite incapable of pretence, had frequently asked herself -whether she had not given her heart to one who did not love her. Even -if it had been so to her indisputable knowledge, she would not have -striven to withdraw the gift. She loved him, once and for ever, and -she would, sanctify that love in her heart, if he were never to be -more to her than the truest and most valued of friends. She was -utterly sincere and candid in this resolution; she had no -foreknowledge of the difficulty, the impossibility of maintaining it. -She was content, ay, even happy, in her uncertainty, which was -sometimes hope, but never despair. Such a possibility as that George -should love her and refrain from telling her so, because of her -wealth, literally never occurred to her, any more than that, if he -loved her, and told her so, the most unscrupulous calumniator in the -world could accuse him of caring for that wealth, of even remembering -it. It had no place in her thoughts at all. She lived her dream-life -happily; sometimes her dreams were brighter, sometimes more sombre; -but their glitter did not come from her gold, their shadow was not -cast by cynical doubt, by worldly-wise suspicion.</p> - -<p>When the time came for their journey to London, Gertrude was more sad -than elated. Her best friend, the one on whom she leaned with the -trusting reliance of a daughter, from whom she had ever experienced -the fond indulgence of a parent, was to remain at the Deane. Mr. -Dugdale's health rendered it impossible for him to accompany the -family, and Mrs. Carteret and Eleanor did not regret his absence. -Their feelings were in accord on every point connected with the -expedition. Eleanor foresaw no impediment to her frequent enjoyment of -Robert Meredith's society, under the auspices of Mrs. Carteret, who, -on her part, had great satisfaction in the prospect of partaking in -the gaieties of a London season, for which she still retained an -unpalled taste, and maintaining a splendid establishment at the -expense of her niece.</p> - -<p>More than half the interval which had to elapse between Gertrude's -attainment of her majority and Eleanor's reaching a similar period had -now elapsed, and Robert Meredith's successful prosecution of his -schemes with respect to the Baldwins was uncheckered by any reverse. -In other respects things were not progressing quite so favourably with -him. He had been negligent in his professional business of late, since -his mind had been full of the mysterious game he was playing, and the -inevitable, inexorable result of this negligence was making itself -felt. George Ritherdon, on the contrary, was getting on rapidly for a -barrister, and was beginning to be talked about as a man with a name -and a standing. The relations between the two had insensibly relaxed, -as was only natural, considering that the strongest tie between them, -their common industry, their common ambition, had so considerably -slackened. Nothing approaching to a quarrel had taken place; but they -were tired of one another, and each was aware of the fact. The -sentiment dated from their second visit to the Deane, whence each had -returned preoccupied with his own thoughts, his own preferences, and -profoundly conscious that no sympathy existed between them.</p> - -<p>Little had been said between the two relative to the Baldwins' sojourn -in London; and when George Ritherdon, made aware of their arrival by -the _Morning Post_, asked his friend when he intended to present -himself at their house in Portman-square, he was disagreeably -surprised by the cold brevity of Meredith's reply that he had been -there already, had indeed seen the ladies on the very day of their -arrival, and was going to dine with them the same evening.</p> - -<p>George made no remark upon this communication, and left a card for -Major Carteret on the following day. An invitation to dinner followed, -and on his mentioning the circumstance to Meredith, George was -surprised and offended by his manner. He laughed unpleasantly, and -said something about the futility of George's expecting to be received -on the same footing as he had been in the country, which made him -decidedly angry.</p> - -<p>"I don't understand you, Meredith," he said. "You brought me to the -Deane, I owe the acquaintance entirely to you, and now you talk as if -you resented it."</p> - -<p>"Nonsense, old fellow," returned Robert with good humour, which cost -him an effort; "I only discourage your going to the Baldwins, because -I do not want to hear you talked of as an unsuccessful competitor for -the heiress's money-bags, and because I know, if you have any leaning -in that direction, it will be quite useless. The young ladies fly at -higher game than you or I."</p> - -<p>A deep flush overspread George Ritherdon's face as he replied:</p> - -<p>"I beg you will not include me, in your own mind, in the category of -fortune-hunters; as for what other people think or say, you need not -trouble yourself."</p> - -<p>"As you please. I only warn you that Gertrude Baldwin is an interested -coquette, determined to make the most of her money,--to buy rank with -it, at all events, but by no means averse to numbering her thousands -of victims in the mean time."</p> - -<p>"You speak harshly of this girl, Meredith, and cruelly."</p> - -<p>"I speak candidly, because I am speaking to _you_. You don't suppose I -would put another fellow on his guard. I might have got bit myself, -you know, if I had not understood her in time. However, we had better -not talk about it. Forewarned, forearmed, they say, though I can't say -I ever knew any good come of warning any one."</p> - -<p>Thereupon Meredith pretended to be very busy with his papers, and the -subject dropped. But it left a very unpleasant impression on George's -mind. "An interested coquette!" No more revolting description could be -given of any woman within the category of those whom an honest man -could ever think of marrying. Had George Ritherdon thought of marrying -Gertrude? No. Did he love her? He knew in his heart he did; but he did -not question for a moment his power of keeping the fact hidden from -the object of his love, and every other person. He would have regarded -the declaration of his feelings to an inexperienced girl, who had had -no opportunity of choice, of seeing the world, of forming her judgment -of character, to whom the language of love was utterly unknown, on the -eve of her entrance upon a scene on which she ought to enter perfectly -untrammelled, as in the highest degree dishonourable. He would have -held this opinion concerning any woman whose wealth should have made -her position so exceptionally difficult as that of Gertrude; but in -her particular instance he had an additional motive for his strict -self-conquest and reticence, which, if it ever could be explained, -must remain concealed for the present.</p> - -<p>George Ritherdon had no coxcombry or conceit about him, and he had not -made up his mind by any means that Gertrude loved him, or was likely -to be brought to love him in the future, should he find that the -ordeal to which she was about to be exposed had left her still -fancy-free, and his own circumstances be such as to enable him to -believe he might try for the great prize of her heart and hand without -dishonour. He did not deceive himself as to the obstacles and the -rivals he might have to encounter; he gave all the fascinations of the -new sphere in which Gertrude was about to shine their full credit and -importance, and he contented himself with this conclusion:</p> - -<p>"If, when she has had full experience, ample time, when she knows her -position and her own mind perfectly, I can be sure that she prefers me -to all the world beside, I will win her, and marry her, without -bestowing a thought on her fortune, or caring a straw for any one's -interpretation of my motives, caring only for _hers_."</p> - -<p>Steadily acting upon the plan he had laid down for himself, George -Ritherdon frequented Gertrude's society not often enough to make his -visits a subject of comment, not sufficiently seldom to induce her to -think him indifferent or estranged. She and Eleanor were going through -the ordinary routine of the life of London in the season; he rarely -participated in its more tumultuous and irrational pleasures. But he -kept a tolerably strict watch upon Gertrude for all that; and he had -no reason to believe, at the end of the second month of her stay in -London, that any one of the numerous admirers with whom rumour and his -own observation had accredited her, had found the slightest favour -with the young lady of the Deane.</p> - -<p>Before the end of that second month, Robert Meredith and George -Ritherdon had parted company. The former could perhaps have given a -plain and conclusive reason for his desire that so it should be; but, -in the case of the latter, the actuating motive was more vague. George -felt that they did not get on together. The Baldwins were hardly ever -mentioned between them, though each knew the terms on which the other -stood with the family, and they not unfrequently met at the house in -Portman-square. The dissolution of the old arrangement, once so -pleasant to them both, was plainly imminent to each before it actually -occurred, and it might have come about after a disagreeable fashion -but for a fortunate accident. The gentleman who had been George's -university tutor, and with whom he had always maintained intimate -relations, died, and bequeathed to George his numerous and valuable -library. What was he to do with the books? Their joint chambers would -not accommodate them. George took a large set in another building, and -the difficulty was solved, to their mutual relief, without a quarrel.</p> - -<p>The season was a brilliant one, and Gertrude and Eleanor Baldwin had -their full share of its glories and its pleasures. They enjoyed it, -after their different fashions, but Gertrude more than Eleanor. In the -heart of each there was indeed a disquieting secret; but in the one -case there was no self-reproach, no misgiving, while in the other that -voice would occasionally make itself heard. As time passed over, -Gertrude felt more and more hopeful that George Ritherdon loved her, -though for some reason which she could not penetrate, but to which it -was not difficult for her docile nature to submit, he did not at -present avow the sentiment. Her happiness was not lost, it was only -deferred; she would be patient, and then she could always comfort -herself with the knowledge that her love for him--pure, lofty, with no -element of torment in it--could never die, or be taken from her, while -she lived.</p> - -<p>Eleanor's lot was by no means so favoured, and she proved more -difficult to manage than Robert Meredith had foreseen. She chafed -under the restraint of her position, and suffered agonies of suspicion -and jealousy. The evil passion which he had been quick to see and -skilful to cultivate, for his own purposes, was easily turned against -him, a contingency which with all his astuteness he had failed to -apprehend; and Eleanor's daily increasing imperiousness and distrust -made him tremble for the safety of his secret and the success of his -plans.</p> - -<p>Nothing made Eleanor so suspicious of the falsehood of his -professions, nothing exasperated her so much, as Robert Meredith's -imperviousness to the feeling which had obtained so fearful a dominion -over her. If she could but have roused his jealousy, as she -ceaselessly endeavoured to do, by such reckless flirtations as brought -her into trouble with even her careless uncle, and furnished plentiful -food for ill-natured tongues, she would have been more easy, less -unhappy, more convinced. But Robert would not be made jealous, and his -easy tranquil assumption of confident power, not laid aside even -during the stolen interviews in which he bewildered her with his -passionate protestations and caresses, sometimes nearly drove her mad. -An instinct, which it had been well for her if she had heeded, told -her that this man was not true to her. But she loved him madly. -He had changed her whole nature, it seemed to her, in the few -seldom-recurring moments in which she saw clearly into the past, and -strained fearful eyes into the future; he had ruined the peace and -happiness of her home, he had estranged her from her sister, he had -taught her lessons of scorn and suspicion towards all her kind. But -she loved him, him only in all the world.</p> - -<p>Towards the close of the season, Haldane Carteret grew extremely -impatient. He had been, he considered, quite an unreasonable time on -duty, and he declared his intention of at once returning to the Deane. -The men-servants would suffice for an escort for Mrs. Carteret and her -nieces; or, if they did not like that arrangement, he was sure -Meredith, who was coming down for the shooting at all events, would -make it convenient to leave town a week or so sooner, and take care of -them on the journey. No one had any objection to urge against this -proposal; and Major Carteret took himself off, hardly more to his own -satisfaction than to that of his wife, who declared herself worn out -by his "crossness," and disgusted with his selfishness.</p> - -<p>On the following evening Robert Meredith had a guest at his chambers, -who, to judge by the moody and impatient expression of his host's -countenance, was anything but welcome. Meredith had dined at -Portman-square, where he had met George Ritherdon, to whom Miss -Baldwin, with her simplest and yet most dignified air, had given, in -her own and her uncle's name, an invitation to the Deane for the -shooting season. This incident was highly displeasing to Meredith, -who, distracted by an uneasy suspicion that his friend had found him -out to a certain extent, desired nothing less than his presence during -any part of the critical time which must elapse before he could make -his _coup_. Robert had returned to his chambers in a sullen and -exasperated temper, which was intensified by the spectacle which met -his view. An old man, shabby of aspect, and anything but venerable in -appearance or bearing--an old man with bleared watery eyes, bushy gray -eyebrows, and dirty gray hair--was seated in an arm-chair by the open -window, smoking a churchwarden pipe and drinking hot brandy-and water. -The mingled odours of tobacco and spirits perfumed the room after a -fashion which harmonised ill with the sweet autumnal air and the -flowers which adorned the sitting-room, in accordance with one of the -owner's most harmless tastes.</p> - -<p>"What, you here, Oakley!" said Meredith, in a tone which did not -dissemble his disgust. "What are you doing here? What has brought you -up from Cheltenham?"</p> - -<p>"Business," replied the unvenerable visitor quietly, without rising or -making any attempt at a salutation of his reluctant host. "Business," -he repeated with an emphatic nod.</p> - -<p>"With me?" Meredith threw his hat and gloves upon a table, and sat -down, sullenly facing his visitor.</p> - -<p>"With you. Look here, I'm tired of all this. You see, I am not so -young as you are, and at my time of life I can't afford to play a -waiting game. You can't, if you would, make it worth my while to do -it; and as the case actually stands, you _don't_ make it worth my -while to play any game at all--of yours, I mean. Of course I should, -in any case, play mine."</p> - -<p>"I don't understand you," said Meredith, making a strong effort to -keep his temper and speak with indifference. "I have kept the terms I -made with you to the letter. What do you mean by _your_ game, as apart -from mine?"</p> - -<p>"Just this. I have no interest whatever in your marrying this girl -rather than in any other man's marrying her. It does not matter to me -where my price comes from; I'm sure of it from her husband, whoever he -may be, and I don't believe you're sure that she _will_ marry you. You -have tried to keep me dark, and in the dark, cunningly enough; but I -have found out more about them than you think for, for all that; and I -know she has more than one string to her bow, and at least one of them -more profitable to play upon than you are. If you can't persuade the -girl to marry you before she's of age, and raise money for me upon her -expectations, or if you can't in some way make things more -comfortable, I shall try whether I cannot carry my information to a -better market. Indeed, I am so tired of living respectably upon a -pittance, paid with a dreary exactitude which is distressingly like -Somerset House, I have been seriously contemplating an affecting visit -to my relative Mrs. Carteret, and a family arrangement to buy me off -at once at a long price."</p> - -<p>"And _my_ knowledge of the affair; what do you make of _that_, in your -rascally calculation?</p> - -<p>"Not quite so much as _you_ make of it in _your_ rascally calculation, -my good friend; for it is not knowledge at all, it is only guesswork; -and you have not an atom of proof without my evidence, which I am -quite as willing to withhold as to give, for Mr. Trapbois' omnipotent -motive--a consideration."</p> - -<p>For all answer, Robert Meredith rose, opened an iron safe let into the -wall of the room, and hidden by a curtain--greedily followed the while -by the old man's eyes, which watched for the gold he hoped he had -extorted--and took out a red-leather pocket-book, with a clasp of -brass wirework. He came up to the old man's side, and opening a page -of the memorandum-book, pointed to an entry upon it.</p> - -<p>"No evidence, I think you said. Not so fast, my faithful colleague. -What is _that?_"</p> - -<p>"Initials, a date,--a guess, Meredith, a mere surmise, not an atom of -proof."</p> - -<p>"And this?" Robert Meredith took an oblong slip of paper out of a -pocket in the book, and held it up to the old man's eyes. "An attested -copy of the marriage-register is evidence, I fancy."</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Mr. Oakley reluctantly; "that's evidence of one part of -the story, to be sure; but not of the material part, the only part -that's profitable to _you_. You can't do without me--you can't indeed; -but I can do very well without you. You will save time and trouble by -acknowledging the fact, and acting on it."</p> - -<p>"What the d--l do you want me to do?" said Meredith fiercely, as he -threw the pocket-book back into the safe and locked the doors in a -rage. "I can't marry the girl till she is of age. I tell you I am -perfectly sure of her. Do you think I am such a fool as to allow any -doubt to exist on that point? But I don't choose to change my plans, -and _I won't_ change them, let you threaten as you will. You old -idiot! you would ruin yourself by thwarting me. You don't know these -people--_I do_; and you could as soon induce them to join you in -robbing a church as to buy you off in the way you propose. You had -much better stick to the bargain you've made, and have patience. I -think if _I_ can find patience, _you_ may."</p> - -<p>Mr. Oakley reflected for some minutes, his bushy gray eyebrows meeting -above his frowning eyes. At last he said:</p> - -<p>"Then I'll tell you what it is, Meredith. You shall give me 20_l_. -extra now, to-night, and introduce me at once, to-morrow, to the -family, and we'll go on playing on the square again."</p> - -<p>"No," said Meredith; "it won't do. I can't give you 20_l_.; I can't -spare the money. I'll give you 10_l_., on condition you don't show -yourself here until I send for you. And as to introducing you to the -family just yet, it is out of the question. It would only embarrass -our proceedings, and do you no good."</p> - -<p>"What do you mean?" said Oakley furiously. "Why should you not -introduce me to my own relative? I choose to partake of the advantages -of her capital match. I intend to be Mrs. Carteret's guest at the -Deane this autumn, whether the prospect be agreeable to you or not."</p> - -<p>Meredith smiled, a slow exasperating smile, carefully exaggerated into -distinctness for the old man's dimmed vision, as he said:</p> - -<p>"_I_ could have no objection to do my good friend Mrs. Carteret the -kindness of reuniting her with a long-severed member of her family, -and to introduce you as a visitor at Portman-square, during the few -days they will be in town, would not be any trouble to me; but as for -your being invited to the Deane, the idea is _too_ absurd."</p> - -<p>"And why?"</p> - -<p>"Because Miss Baldwin, and not your relative, is the mistress of that -very eligible mansion; because you are not the style of person Miss -Baldwin admires; and because, you may take my word for it, you will -never set your foot within those doors while the Deane belongs to Miss -Baldwin."</p> - -<p>The old man's face turned a fiery red, and the angry colour showed -itself under his thin gray hair.</p> - -<p>"While the Deane belongs to Miss Baldwin!" he repeated low and slowly. -"Well, then, there's no use talking about it. Hand over the 10_l_., -and I'll be off."</p> - -<p>In a few minutes Robert Meredith was alone, and as he listened to Mr. -Oakley's heavy tread upon the stairs, he muttered:</p> - -<p>"It's a useful study, that of the ruling passions of one's -fellow-creatures. An expert finds it tolerably easy to work them to -his advantage. Avarice and pride! eh, Mr. Oakley? and pride the -stronger of the two. You won't give me much more trouble. No danger of -your being bribed to abstain from saying or doing anything that can -harm Miss Baldwin."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div3_08" href="#div3Ref_08">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h4> -<h5>THE MINE IS SPRUNG.</h5> -<br> - -<p>Time sped on, and no fresh obstacle opposed itself to Robert -Meredith's designs. His venerable colleague gave him no farther -trouble. He had calculated with accuracy on Gertrude's nobility and -delicacy of mind preventing her seeking to prejudice his friends in -the household at the Deane against him, leading her to keep her -promise of secrecy in its most perfect spirit. Thus, he pursued his -design against her undisturbed, under her own roof, and with all the -appearance of a good understanding existing between them.</p> - -<p>Meredith was, however, mistaken in supposing that Gertrude was -ignorant of her sister's attachment to him. She was much too -keen-sighted where her affections were concerned to be deceived as to -the state of Eleanor's mind, even had it not painfully revealed itself -in the altered relations between them. She knew her sister's -infatuation well, and she deplored it bitterly. The sorrow it caused -her was all the more keen, because it was the first of her life in -which she had not had recourse to Mr. Dugdale for advice, sympathy, -and consolation. Now, she asked for none of these at his hands. She -could not have claimed them without divulging the secret she had -pledged herself to keep, and grieving the old man by changing his -regard for the son of his dead friend into distrust and dislike. -So Gertrude suffered in silence; and as she became more and more -isolated--as she felt the sweet home ties relaxing daily--she clung -all the more firmly to the hope, the conviction that George Ritherdon -loved her; though for some reason, which she was content to take on -trust, to respect without understanding, he was resolved not to tell -her so yet.</p> - -<p>George Ritherdon passed three weeks, that autumn, at the Deane; but -Meredith avoided him--making an excuse for selecting the period of his -visit for fulfilling another engagement. During those three weeks the -regard and esteem of old Mr. Dugdale and George Ritherdon for each -other so increased by intimacy, that Gertrude had the satisfaction of -seeing them occupy the respective positions which she would most -ardently have desired had her dearest hopes been realised. When -George's visit had reached its conclusion, Mr. Dugdale took leave of -him as he might have done of a son, and the young man left his old -friend's rooms deeply affected. Gertrude was not much seen by the -family that day, and it was understood Mr. Dugdale had requested her -to pass the afternoon with him.</p> - -<p>"Why does he say nothin', when any one that wasn't as blind as a bat -could see he dotes on the ground she walks on?" asked Mr. Dugdale's -faithful friend and confidante, Mrs. Doran, when they compared notes -in the evening, after Gertrude had pleaded fatigue and left them.</p> - -<p>"I don't know, indeed," was Mr. Dugdale's answer. "I suppose he thinks -she has not had a fair chance of choosing yet."</p> - -<p>"Hasn't seen enough of grand young gentlemen just dyin' to put her -money in their pockets, and spend it on other people, maybe!" said -Mrs. Doran ironically. "Bad luck to it, for money it's the curse of -the world; for you don't know which does the most harm--too little of -it, or too much! However, it's only waiting a bit, and they'll find -each other out. Sure, he's a gentleman born and bred, and every inch -of him, and made for her, if ever there was a match made in heaven."</p> - -<p>So Gertrude's best friends were silently waiting for the fulfilment of -her hope. Mr. Dugdale had asked George Ritherdon to write to him -frequently,--a request to which the young man had gratefully acceded; -and his latest letter had informed Mr. Dugdale that he found himself -obliged to leave London, for an indefinite period and at much -inconvenience, owing to his mother's illness.</p> - -<p>The time was now approaching when Eleanor should attain her majority, -and Gertrude had resolved that the event should be celebrated with all -the distinction which had attended her own.</p> - -<p>To Eleanor and to Mrs. Carteret the birthday-fête had the surpassing -attraction of a charming entertainment, rendered still more delightful -by the presence of the lover of the one and the particular friend of -the other. To Gertrude, though she strove to be bright and gay, and -though she sought by every means in her power to evince her affection -for the sister who turned away with steady coldness from all her -advances, the occasion was a melancholy one. It furnished a sad -contrast to the fête which had welcomed her own coming of age in every -respect,--above all, in that one which had become most important to -her: George was not present.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith caused his manner to be remarked on this occasion by -more than one of the guests at the Deane. To Miss Baldwin he was -scrupulously but distantly polite; with Mrs. Carteret he assumed a -tone of intimacy which she seconded to the full; but to Eleanor he -bore himself like an acknowledged and triumphant lover. Every one saw -this, including Mr. Dugdale, during his brief visit to the scene of -the festivities, and Haldane Carteret, not remarkable for quickness of -observation. The fact made both these observers uneasy, but they did -not make any comment to one another upon their suspicions.</p> - -<p>The sisters, who had each been dancing nearly all night, did not meet -on the conclusion of the ball. The old familiar habit of a long talk, -in one of their respective dressing-rooms, after all the household had -retired, had long been abandoned; and when, on this occasion, -Gertrude--resolved to make an effort to break through the barrier so -silently but effectually reared between them--went to her sister's -room, she found the door locked, and though she heard Eleanor moving -about, no answer to her petition for admittance was returned. Full of -care and foreboding, Gertrude returned to her room, and it was broad -day before she forgot her grief, and the presentiment of evil which -accompanied it, in sleep.</p> - -<p>The ladies did not appear at breakfast the next morning, and the party -consisted only of Major Carteret, Robert Meredith, and two harmless -individuals who were staying in the house, and in no way remarkable or -important. On the conclusion of the meal Robert Meredith requested -Major Carteret to accord him an interview, which the latter agreed to -do with some hesitation. They adjourned to the library, and there -Meredith, with no circumlocution, and in a plain and business-like -manner, informed Major Carteret that he had proposed to his niece -Eleanor Baldwin, been accepted by her, and that she had requested him -to communicate the fact to Major Carteret.</p> - -<p>Eleanor's uncle received the intelligence with awkwardness rather than -with actual disapprobation, and acquitted himself not very well in -replying. Something of unpleasantly-felt power in Meredith's tone -jarred upon him as he used a perfectly discreet formula of words in -making the announcement. Haldane Carteret did not dislike or distrust -Meredith, and he was not an interested man. He had married for love -himself, and he knew his niece had sufficient fortune to deprive her -conduct of imprudence, if she chose to do the same. It was not fair to -take it for granted that Meredith was not attached to Eleanor, that he -was actuated by interested motives; and yet Haldane Carteret, an -honest man, if not bright, felt that all was not straightforward and -simple feeling in this matter. He said something about disparity of -age; then admitted that, in referring Meredith to him, his niece had -merely treated him with dutiful courtesy, as his guardianship and -authority had terminated; and finally, on being pressed by Meredith, -said he perceived no objection, beyond the evident one that his niece -might have looked for more decided worldly advantages in her marriage, -and that he thought the proceeding had been somewhat too precipitate -for the best interests of both. All this Haldane Carteret said, -because his native honesty obliged him to say it; but heartily wishing -he could bring the interview to a close, or hand Meredith over to his -wife, who would probably be delighted.</p> - -<p>Meredith received Major Carteret's remarks with calm politeness, but -hardly thought it necessary to combat them. He could not see the -disparity in age in any serious light, and he ventured to assure his -Eleanor's uncle he and she had understood one another for some time; -there was no real precipitation in the matter. As for the advantages -which such a marriage secured to him, he was most ready to acknowledge -them, and to admit their effect on the general estimate of his -motives, but he did not mind that. Secure against an unkind -interpretation by Eleanor and her relatives, he was indifferent to any -other opinion. He flattered himself Mrs. Carteret would learn the news -with satisfaction. This was ground on which Major Carteret could meet -him with cordial assent; and he got over his difficulties by referring -the happy lover to Mrs. Carteret; and having summoned her to the -library to receive Meredith's communication from himself, he left them -together.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Carteret was expansively and enthusiastically delighted. She -declared she felt herself quite a girl again in contemplating the -happiness of her beloved niece and her old friend; and it may be -assumed that Robert Meredith had evinced very nice tact and discretion -in the method by which he conveyed the information to her.</p> - -<p>It was no small portion of the suffering which Gertrude Baldwin had to -undergo at this time, that she heard the news of her sister's -engagement--not from Eleanor herself, not in any kindly sisterly -conference, but from Mrs. Carteret, whose light gleeful manner of -imparting the information to Gertrude was far from conveying any sense -of its importance to the agitated girl; and who filled up the measure -of her congratulations to everybody concerned, by remarking that in -"poor dear Eleanor's invidious position, it was most desirable that -she should marry early, and before Gerty had made her choice." This -speech chilled Gertrude into silence, and she left her aunt--having -uttered only a few commonplace words--with the well-founded conviction -that Eleanor would believe her either envious, indifferent, or -prejudiced against her and Meredith. Gertrude was quite alone in her -distress of mind, as she purposely avoided Mr. Dugdale--being -unwilling to awaken a suspicion in his mind of its cause--and Mrs. -Doran, who she instinctively knew would penetrate and share her -feelings.</p> - -<p>In the course of the day both those members of the family were made -aware of Eleanor's engagement. Old Mr. Dugdale took the intimation -very calmly, as it was his wont to take all things now, since he had -ceased to feel keenly save where Gertrude was concerned. Mrs. Doran -heard it, with a sad foreboding heart and a gloomy face. She had never -liked, she had never trusted Robert Meredith; and she could not forget -that the man her dear dead mistress's daughter was about to marry was -the same who, as a boy, had hated Margaret.</p> - -<p>Robert Meredith and Gertrude did not meet alone. They mutually and -successfully avoided each other, and the elder sister was pointedly -excluded by Eleanor and Mrs. Carteret from all the discussions which -ensued relative to the arrangements for the marriage, which was to -take place soon. Gertrude heard that her aunt and her sister purposed -to go to London, to purchase Eleanor's _trousseau_, to select -Eleanor's house, without a word of comment. But when something was -said about the marriage taking place in London, she interposed, and in -her customary sweet and yet dignified way remonstrated. Eleanor, she -said, ought to leave no house for a husband's, but her own.</p> - -<p>"Mine!" said Eleanor. "I presume you mean yours--you are talking of -the Deane."</p> - -<p>"I am talking of our mutual home, Eleanor, where once no such evil -thing as a divided interest ever had a place.--Uncle,"--here she -turned to Major Carteret, and laid her hand impressively upon his -arm,--"speak for me in this. Tell Eleanor I am right, and that -our parents--I, at least, have never felt their loss so bitterly -before--would have had it so."</p> - -<p>"I'm sure I don't know what to say," replied Haldane Carteret -forlornly. "I can't conceive what has come between you two girls; but -I must say I do think Gerty is in the right in this instance.--Lucy, -my dear, the wedding must be at the Deane."</p> - -<p>So that was settled; and afterwards, until Eleanor and Mrs. Carteret, -accompanied by Robert Meredith, went to London, things were better -between the sisters. There was not, indeed, any renewal of the -intimate affection, the unrestrained cordiality of other times; and -Gertrude felt mournfully that a complete restoration could never -be--the constant interposition of Meredith would render that -impossible. Under ordinary circumstances, the marriage of one by -involving separation from the other must have loosened the old bonds; -but this marriage was indeed fatal. They were young girls, however, -and the evil influence which had come between them had not yet -completely done its work, had not spoiled all their common interest in -the topics which fittingly engage the minds of young girls. Gertrude -strove to forget her own wounded feelings, to conquer her -apprehensions, and to disarm the jealous reticence of her sister by -frank interest and generous zeal. She succeeded to some extent, and -the interval between the declaration of the engagement and the -departure of Mrs. Carteret and Eleanor was the happiest time, so far -as she was individually concerned, that Gertrude had known since the -first painful consciousness of division had come between the sisters.</p> - -<p>Everything went on quietly on the surface of life at the Deane when -Eleanor and her aunt had left home. Mr. Dugdale was a little more -feeble, perhaps; his daily airing upon the terrace was shorter, his -period of seclusion in his own rooms was lengthened; but he was very -cheerful, and seemed to desire Gertrude's presence more constantly -than ever.</p> - -<p>The visit to London was as prosperous as its purpose was pleasant. -Mrs. Carteret's letters were quite exultant. Never had she enjoyed -herself more, she flattered herself Eleanor's _trousseau_ was -unimpeachable, and Robert Meredith was the most devoted of lovers and -the most delightful of men. She had had an agreeable surprise, too, -since she had been in London. She fancied she had chanced to mention -to Gertrude that a distant relative of hers, whom she had only seen as -a very young child--a Mr. Oakley--had gone out to Australia, and, it -had happened oddly enough, had there known Robert Meredith's father -and their beloved Margaret's first husband; indeed, he had known -Gertrude's dear mother herself. This gentleman--a fine venerable old -man, "quite a Rembrandt's head, indeed," Mrs. Carteret added--was now -in London, having made an honourable independence; and he naturally -wished to find friends and a little social intercourse among such of -his relatives as were still living. Mr. Meredith had brought him to -see her, and the dear old gentleman had been much gratified and deeply -affected by the meeting. Mrs. Carteret went on to say that, knowing -dear Gertrude's invariable kindness and wish to please everybody, and -also taking into consideration her characteristic respect for old age -combined with virtue and respectability,--so remarkably displayed in -the case of their dear Mr. Dugdale,--she had ventured to promise Mr. -Oakley a welcome to the Deane, on behalf of Miss Baldwin, on the -approaching auspicious occasion.</p> - -<p>To this letter Gertrude replied promptly, expressing her pleasure at -having it in her power to gratify Mrs. Carteret, and enclosing a -cordially-worded invitation to the Deane to the venerable old -gentleman with the Rembrandt head; who received it with a chuckle, and -a muttered commendation of the long-sightedness which had made Robert -Meredith defer his introduction to Miss Baldwin until the present -truly convenient season.</p> - -<p>On her side, Gertrude was making preparations on a splendid scale for -the celebration of her sister's marriage in her ancestral home. -Nothing that affection and generosity could suggest was neglected by -the young heiress, whose own tastes were of the simplest order, to -gratify those of Eleanor. She lavished gifts upon her with an -unsparing hand, and, indeed, valued her wealth chiefly because it -enabled her to obey the dictates of a most generous nature.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Carteret and Eleanor returned to the Deane, attended by Mr. -Oakley. Robert Meredith was to follow the day before that fixed for -the wedding. The old gentleman did not impress Gertrude particularly -as being venerable, as distinguished from old, in either person or -manner; and she quickly perceived that Mrs. Carteret was aware and -ashamed of his underbred presuming manners. This perception, however, -was only another motive to induce Gertrude to treat him with the -utmost courtesy and consideration. She must shield her aunt from any -unpleasantness which might arise in consequence of her relative's -evident unfitness for the society into which she had brought him. At -all events, it would only be putting up with him for a short time, and -he certainly could do no harm. So Gertrude was perseveringly kind and -gentle to Mr. Oakley, and actually so far impressed the old gentleman -favourably, that he believed Robert Meredith to have lied in imputing -disdainful pride to her, and almost regretted the part he had -undertaken to play. There was no help for it now, however; he might as -well profit by the transaction, which it was altogether too late to -avert. Thus did the faint scruples called into existence in Mr. -Oakley's breast, by the unassuming and graceful goodness of the girl -he had undertaken to injure, fall flat before the strength of -interested rascality.</p> - -<p>The wedding of Eleanor Meriton Baldwin presented a striking contrast -to that of her mother, which had excited so much contemptuous comment -among the "neighbours" in the old, old times at Chayleigh. People of -rank, wealth, and fashion assembled in gorgeous attire to behold the -ceremonial, which was rendered as stately and imposing as possible. -The dress of the bride was magnificent, and her beauty was the theme -of every tongue. The bridegroom was rather less insignificant than the -bridegroom generally is, and looked happy and contented; as well he -might look, the people said, getting such a fortune. Miss Baldwin's -own husband would not be so lucky in some respects; for this gentleman -might do as he pleased with Miss Nelly's money--she _would_ have it -so, and she could leave him the whole of it--whereas in Miss Baldwin's -case it would be different.</p> - -<p>The wedding-guests were splendidly entertained; all agreed that the -whole affair had been exceptionally prosperous. The leave-taking -between the sisters was not witnessed by any intrusive eyes; and in -the final hurry and confusion no one noticed that Robert Meredith did -not shake hands with Miss Baldwin, that he spoke no word to her. -Gertrude noticed the omission, and with pain. It was over now, and she -would fain have made the best of it--have been friends with her -sister's husband, if he would have allowed her to be so. That he -should have been thus vindictive on his wedding-day, that he should -have had place in his heart for any thought of anger or ill-will, -boded evil to Eleanor's peace, her sister thought. But it never -occurred to her to fear that it might also bode evil to her own, -otherwise than through that sister whom she loved.</p> - -<p>In Scottish fashion a ball wound up the festivities of the Deane, and -proved, in its turn, a successful entertainment. Miss Baldwin, indeed, -looked tired and pale; but that was only natural, after so much -excitement and the parting with her sister. The dreamy look that came -over her at times was easily explicable, without any one's being -likely to divine that the absence of one figure from that brilliant -crowd had anything to do with its origin. And yet, as the hours wore -on, Gertrude forgot the fresh pang the day had brought her--forgot -Meredith and her forebodings, forgot all save George Ritherdon and -that he was not there.</p> -<br> - -<p>Three weeks had elapsed since Eleanor Baldwin's marriage. Mrs. -Carteret had received two short letters from the bride, but Mrs. -Meredith had not written to her sister. Mr. Oakley was still at the -Deane, where his presence had become exceedingly unpleasant not only -to Miss Baldwin, but to Major and Mrs. Carteret, to whom he had -dropped one or two hints relative to Meredith's character and probable -treatment of Eleanor, which had made them vaguely, though unavowedly, -uncomfortable. Gertrude was keenly distressed, and had found it -impossible to keep the knowledge of her trouble and its cause from Mr. -Dugdale. Some unnamed undefinable evil seemed to be brooding over the -Deane. It was not known exactly where the newly-married pair were. -Eleanor had given no address in her last letter, and Gertrude and Mrs. -Carteret (the latter most unwillingly) admitted that it seemed -constrained and strangely reticent.</p> - -<p>The fourth week had begun, when one morning, as the family party were -dispersing after breakfast, a servant announced the arrival of a -gentleman from London, who desired to see Miss Baldwin on urgent -business. He placed a card in his mistresses hand as he delivered the -message.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Sankey!" read Gertrude aloud; "I don't know the name. What can -his business be with me?"</p> - -<p>"_I_ know the name," said Mr. Oakley hurriedly, "and I fear I know the -business he comes on too. Meredith has sent him.--Major Carteret, you -had better see this gentleman first--you had, indeed. Miss Baldwin -cannot be spared _much_; but do you come with me and see him, and let -us spare her all we can."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div3_09" href="#div3Ref_09">CHAPTER IX.</a></h4> -<h5>THE RIGHTING OF THE WRONG.</h5> -<br> - -<p>Some years have passed since the blow fell on Gertrude Baldwin which -deprived her of wealth and station, which struck away from her her -home, and left her to face the curiosity, the ill-will, the evil -report of the world which had envied and flattered her, as best she -might. The story of the interval does not take long in the telling, -and, considering its import to so many, has but few salient points.</p> - -<p>No resistance was made by Gertrude or counselled by her advisers; no -resistance to the hard cold terms of Robert Meredith's claim on his -wife's behalf. It was all true: Gertrude was an illegitimate child and -Eleanor the rightful heir. The proofs--consisting of Mr. Oakley's -evidence concerning Godfrey Hungerford's death, and the attested -certificate of the date of that occurrence, and the testimony of the -certificate of the second marriage ceremony performed between Mr. -Baldwin and Margaret--were as simple as they were indisputable, and -Gertrude made unqualified submission at once.</p> - -<p>She suffered, no doubt, very keenly, but much less than her friends -Mr. Dugdale and Rose Doran suffered for her. So much was made plain to -her, so much was cleared-up to her now. She knew now why it was her -father had left her nothing by his will; she understood now from what -solicitude it had arisen that he and her aunt, whose loving care she -remembered so well, had bequeathed everything within their power to -Eleanor. Thus they had endeavoured to atone for the unconscious -unintentional wrong done to the legitimate daughter and heiress. And -all their efforts, all their care, had failed; the invincible -inexorable truth had come to light, and the result of all these -efforts was that Eleanor had everything--yes, everything. The young -girl who had risen that morning absolute mistress of the splendid -house and the broad acres of the Deane, and the large fortune which -could so fittingly maintain them, stood in that stately house the same -night a penniless dependent on the sister who had placed herself and -all she possessed in the power of Gertrude's only enemy.</p> - -<p>It was long before Miss Baldwin, or indeed any of the party, realised -this--long before the full extent of the truth presented itself to -their minds; but when it came, it came with terrible conviction and -conclusiveness. There was nothing for Gertrude. Her father's loving -care had indeed been her undoing. The situation was a dreadful one, -escape from it impossible. Robert Meredith had no longer anything to -gain by either dissimulation or temporising; on the contrary, he now -felt it to be his interest that every one concerned should be cured of -all their illusions concerning him as soon and as effectually as -possible, and should arrive at a clear comprehension of his powers, -motives, and intentions. He assumed at once the name that his marriage -with the heiress of Mr. Meriton Baldwin imposed upon him; and his -letter to Haldane Carteret was simply a reference to the bearer as -qualified to give all needful explanations and proofs, and in the -event, which he took for granted, of the young lady known as Miss -Baldwin not disputing the facts, he begged it might be understood that -she could be suffered to remain at the Deane only a very short time. -He hoped no farther communication on this subject might be required. -The young lady would best consult her own interest by abstaining from -making any such communication necessary.</p> - -<p>It is unnecessary to dwell on this portion of the trial appointed to -Gertrude. Its bitterness came from Eleanor, not from her triumphant -enemy. Her sister made no sign--not a word of kindness, of sympathy, -of regret came from her whose life had been almost identical with that -of Gertrude for so many years. Even Mrs. Carteret--who, the first -shock and surprise over, was characteristically disposed to keep on -good terms with the new Mr. Meriton Baldwin, and in reality an extreme -partisan, endeavoured to get credit for impartial fairness, and a "no -business of mine" bearing--even Mrs. Carteret was indignant with -Eleanor. Her shallow nature did not comprehend the growth and force of -such evil feelings as she had nurtured in the mind of her niece. -Gertrude suffered fearfully, but anger had little share in her pain. A -deadly fear for her sister possessed her; a fear which suggested -itself speedily, when she found that Eleanor made no sign, and which -grew into conviction under the influence of Rose Doran's manifest -belief in its reason and validity. Eleanor's silence was her husband's -doing; she was under his influence and dominion, she was afraid of -him. When Gertrude, who had striven to hide her feelings on this point -from Mr. Dugdale, could not hide them from Rose Doran, that faithful -friend said sadly,</p> - -<p>"It's true for you. Miss Gerty; she's in the grip of a bad man, my -poor child, and she's not to be blamed."</p> - -<p>Then Gertrude, in the depth of her love and pity for her sister, -forgave her freely, and never did blame her more, but mourned for her, -as she might have done had she been dead and laid beside their mother -beneath the great yew-tree, only more bitterly. All it is necessary to -record here is, that Eleanor's silence remained unbroken--unbroken, -when her sister, with Mr. Dugdale and Mrs. Doran left the Deane for -ever, turning away from all the associations and surroundings which -had been mutually dear to them--unbroken, when some time after -Gertrude wrote to her to tell her that she was well and happy, and -more than reconciled to all that had befallen her, except only her -alienation from her sister's heart.</p> - -<p>Much time had now gone over, and Eleanor's silence still remained -unbroken. There was absolutely no communication between the sisters. -Major and Mrs. Carteret were living at Chayleigh, in a style which at -first Lucy had found it not easy to adopt after the pleasant places of -the Deane. But she had hit upon a consolation which, if imaginary, was -likewise immense; this was the notion of independence. To be her own -mistress, the mistress of her own house, her own servants, and her own -time was discovered by Mrs. Carteret to be a blissful state of things. -Besides this consolation, she had soon "brought round" Major Carteret -to an acquiescent form of mind respecting the state of things at the -Deane, and they made frequent visits there; but not even in this -indirect way was the separation between the sisters modified. Mrs. -Carteret was given to understand on the first occasion of her meeting -Mr. and Mrs. Meredith Baldwin--and a very awkward meeting it was--that -it would be for her own interest to abstain from speaking of Gertrude -to Eleanor, and, indeed, that her retaining the valuable privilege of -an _entrée_ at the Deane was contingent on her strict obedience to -this hint. Mrs. Carteret proved worthy of her old friend's confidence; -and the former life at the Deane might never have had existence for -any reminiscence of it that was to be traced now.</p> - -<p>The intelligence which reached Gertrude of her sister through her -uncle and aunt was too vague to satisfy her. Eleanor was very popular, -very much admired; Eleanor's entertainments were splendid; and Mrs. -Carteret felt convinced she and Meredith Baldwin lived fully up to -their income, large as it was. She really could not say whether -Eleanor was _happy_, according to dear Gertrude's strange exaggerated -notions. She had at least everything which ought to make her so, and -she was always in very high spirits. She was rather restless and fond -of change, and no doubt Meredith was a good deal away from her; and -then poor dear Eleanor had always had a strong dash of jealousy in her -disposition, and she never was remarkably reasonable. No doubt she did -occasionally make herself unpleasant and ridiculous if her husband -stayed away when she thought he ought to be with her; but she got over -it again, and it did not signify. As to Meredith's ill-treating -Eleanor, Mrs. Carteret begged Gertrude not to be so silly as to -believe anything of the kind, if such ill-natured reports should reach -her. Why, everybody knew Meredith was no fool; and if Eleanor (who was -very delicate--and no wonder, considering her restless racketing) did -not make a will in his favour, he would have nothing at all in case of -her death. There was no heir to the Deane--two infants had been born, -but each had lived only a few hours--and Mrs. Carteret knew positively -that Eleanor had made no will. Meredith was not likely (supposing him -to have no better motive--which Mrs. Carteret, though her tone had -become greatly modified of late in speaking of her quondam admirer, -could not endure to suppose) to endanger his chance of future -independent wealth by ill-treating the person who could confer it on -him.</p> - -<p>This was poor comfort; but it was all Gertrude could get, and she was -forced to be content with it. The old life at the Deane had faded -away; no change could bring her back the past; she never could have -any interest in it. She sometimes speculated upon whether it would add -to her grief, if her sister died, to think of her father's property, -her own old home, in the possession of total strangers. She had hardly -ever heard anything of the next heir--a bachelor, already a rich man, -living in England. This gentleman's name was Mordaunt, and he had a -younger brother, who had assumed another name on his marriage, and to -whose children the Deane, failing direct heirs of Eleanor, would -descend. The sisters knew nothing more of these distant connections, -nor had there ever been any acquaintance between them and Fitzwilliam -Baldwin.</p> - -<p>Though Gertrude sometimes pondered on these things it must not be -supposed that she brooded on them, or that the irrevocable past filled -an undue place in her practical and useful life. The misfortune which -had befallen her had from the first its alleviations; and there came a -day when Gertrude would have eagerly denied that it was a misfortune -at all--a day when she would have declared it was the source of all -her happiness, the providential solution of every doubt and difficulty -which had beset her path. What that day was the reader is soon to -know.</p> - -<p>The first act of Mr. Dugdale when the truth was made known to -him--when he clearly understood that once more the foreboding of the -woman he had loved and mourned with such matchless and abiding -constancy had been fulfilled so many years after its shadow had -darkened her day--was to declare his intention of immediately leaving -the Deane, and forming a new home for Gertrude. How devoutly he -thanked God then for the life at whose duration he had been sometimes -tempted to murmur, the length of days which had enabled him to profit -by the impulse which had prompted him to decline to add to the ruin -which, in their blindness, they had all accumulated to heap in -Gertrude's path! When he explained this to her, and made her see how -her father and mother had loved her, great peace came to Gertrude, and -much happiness in the perfect confidence between her and her aged -friend, owning no exception now. In his zeal for Margaret's child, Mr. -Dugdale seemed to find strength which had not been his for years. He -bore the journey to the neighbourhood of London, whither Mrs. Doran -had preceded them for the purpose of engaging a house for them, well; -and he settled into his new home as readily as Gertrude did.</p> - -<p>In a neat small house in a western suburb of London, George Ritherdon -found Mr. Dugdale and her whom he had last seen in all the lustre of -wealth and station, when he returned from the long absence which had -been occasioned by his mother's illness and subsequent death. George -was perfectly conscious that neither his voice nor his manner, when he -was introduced by the faithful Rose with manifest satisfaction, -conveyed the impression which might have been considered suitable to -the occasion, whether regarded from their point of view or from his. -He knew his eyes were bright and his cheek flushed; he knew his voice -was thrilling with pleasure, with happiness, with hope; and he -abandoned any attempt to express a sadness he did not feel, to affect -to grieve for a change in Gertrude's circumstances and position which -rendered him exquisitely happy, and for which he, though by no means a -presumptuous man, felt an inward irresistible conviction he should be -able to console her.</p> -<br> - -<p>In less than a year from the falling of the long-planned blow on -Gertrude Baldwin's defenceless head, the day before alluded to had -dawned upon her--the day on which she recognised the seemingly -insurmountable misfortune of her life as its greatest blessing and the -source of all its happiness. It was her wedding-day. There was no need -for waiting longer for equality in their fortunes; there was no need -to think of what the world might say of George or of her. The world -she had lived in had ceased to remember and to talk of her; the world -he lived in would respect him, as it had ever done, and welcome her. -Theirs was a quiet happy courtship, a peaceful hopeful time, blessed -with their old friend's earnest approval and loving presence. A -rational prospect of the best kind of content this world can give was -opening before them--a prospect of neither poverty nor riches, of no -distinction in mere name--the meaningless legacy of others--but of a -position to be worthily won. Mutual love, confidence, and respect, and -such experience of life as, leaving them the power of enjoying its -good, should save them from its illusions--such was the dowry with -which these two began their married life.</p> - -<p>Major and Mrs. Carteret attended the quiet wedding, at which they and -two friends of George Ritherdon's were the only guests. Gertrude had -hoped that Mrs. Carteret would have been the bearer to her of some -communication from her sister, that the barrier, which she felt no -doubt had been interposed by Meredith's authority, would on this -occasion be broken down. But Eleanor still made no sign; and Mrs. -Carteret could tell Gertrude no more than that Eleanor had heard the -news of her sister's intended marriage with agitation, but in silence, -and that she was then in London, _en route_ for the Continent, where -she was to pass the winter. This was a cloud; but it was the only one -upon the brightness of Gertrude's wedding-day, and it soon passed -over. It had quite passed when the bride and bridegroom were bidding -farewell to Mr. Dugdale, before they went away on their brief -wedding-trip. It was to be very brief; for they would not leave him -alone for any length of time; and in the mean time Mr. Dugdale was to -remove into the larger house in the same neighbourhood which was to be -the home of George and Gertrude.</p> - -<p>The farewell words had been spoken, and Gertrude had risen from her -kneeling position beside the old man's chair, when the servant entered -and handed Gertrude a parcel addressed to her by the name not three -hours old, addressed to her in Eleanor's hand. She broke the seal, and -the contents proved to be a flat case containing a suit of beautiful -pearls. A scrap of paper lay among the jewels. Gertrude seized it -eagerly and read:</p> - -<p>"_Wear these, darling, for the sake of old times, and of me. Forgive -me, and make your husband forgive me, and love me a little even yet -and after all, as I love you forever and better than all_."</p> - -<p>As Gertrude's tears fell fast upon the precious words, and George and -Mr. Dugdale looked at her, distressed and yet glad, Rose Doran came to -her side, and said, while she dried her eyes as if she were still the -child she had nursed:</p> - -<p>"There, there, alanna, didn't I tell you it wasn't _her_ fault at all, -but _his_? and now you see for yourself it's true, and you'll go away -with an easier mind. And, mark my words, it's coming right--it's -coming right by degrees, and it will all come right in the end."</p> - -<p>Mr. Dugdale still kept late hours, as he had done all his life. Mrs. -Doran left him at the usual hour in more than his accustomed spirits, -and not apparently fatigued by the unusual emotion of the day. When he -was alone, the old man passed some time in reading; then he closed his -book and gave himself up to thought. His thoughts were seemingly very -peaceful, and not sad; for there was a calm and patient smile upon the -worn face, to which old age had brought a serene dignity. His large -deeply-cushioned arm-chair moved easily upon its castors, and, after a -period of profound stillness, he rolled himself in the chair towards a -writing-table, on which a lamp was burning. He unlocked a deep drawer, -the lowest of a set on his right-hand, and took out two objects. One -was his will, which he spread out upon the table and read attentively. -Then muttering to himself, "A few kind words to Nelly,--God help her, -poor child!" he wrote half-a-dozen lines on the reverse of one of the -pages of the document, and appended his initials in a clear and steady -hand. This done, he replaced the paper in the drawer, and turned his -attention to the other object he had taken out.</p> - -<p>It was the portrait of Margaret, in its beautiful setting of -passion-flowers in jeweller's work of enamel and gold. There was -reverential tenderness in the old man's touch as he placed the picture -upright before him, opened the screens of golden filigree, and -"fell to such perusal" of it as had been familiar to him since the -coffin-lid had closed over the face it feebly shadowed forth. The -minutes fled by as he gazed upon the likeness of the beautiful -spiritual face which had gone down to the grave in untouched -loveliness; and a glass upon his dressing-table alongside reflected -his bowed head, sunken features, bent shadowy figure, and thin gray -hair. Now and then a few unconnected murmurs escaped his lips, but -rarely; while his gaze remained fixed, and a solemn peacefulness -spread over his face.</p> - -<p>"The same eyes in heaven," he whispered, "the same smile. How many -years have I looked for them, and longed for them--how many, many -years! I shall go to _her_; but she has not been waiting and watching -for _me_. No, no; heaven has been full enough to her all this time -with _him_ there."</p> - -<p>He changed the position of the picture slightly, and leaned his head -back against the cushion in his chair, looking at the face from a -greater distance; then stretched out his folded hands and rested them -upon the table.</p> - -<p>"A long, long time--but nearly over, I think--and I have not murmured -overmuch, for your sake, Margaret. But now, now I think I may make the -_Nunc dimittis_ my evensong."</p> - -<p>A little longer the old man's gaze remained fixed upon the picture; -and then his form settled down amid the cushions, his hands fell -gently from the edge of the table upon his knees, and his eyes closed -softly. Through the hours of the night the lamp burned, and lighted up -the picture with its golden trellised covers unclosed, and lighted up -the old man's serene face. But with the morning the flame in the lamp -flickered and died, and the sunshine came in, and gleamed upon the -walls and the floor. Voices and footsteps stirred in the house, and -soon Mrs. Doran came to Mr. Dugdale's room, as she did every morning. -Then she knew, when she looked at the old man and touched his passive -hands, still clasped and resting on his knee,--so gentle had been the -parting between the body and the spirit,--that his sleep was never to -know waking until the resurrection morning.</p> -<br> - -<p>The blinds are closely drawn in Gertrude Ritherdon's house, and she -sits alone, dressed in deep mourning. There is a touch of sadness upon -her beauty; but she is more beautiful than she was in her girlhood, -and for all the sorrow in her face today, one can see she is a happy -woman. She is so. A happy wife, loved, trusted, honoured; her -husband's companion and his friend. A proud and happy mother too, -untroubled, when she watches her boy's baby glee and hears his -laughter, with any remembrance of a great inheritance which was once -to have been the birthright of her first-born son. A happy woman in -her house, and popular with her friends; one whose life is full of -blessings and void of bitterness. It is not for her faithful old -friend Gertrude Ritherdon wears mourning to-day. That wound has long -been healed, and she and her husband have none but sunny happy -thoughts of him. Death has come nearer to Gertrude this time even than -he came when Mr. Dugdale answered his summons--they have received -formal notice of Eleanor's decease. The event has been long looked -for, and Gertrude has well known that life has had nothing desirable -in it for Eleanor. The sisters have never met, and of late Eleanor has -lived abroad altogether, her husband being rarely with her; but -Gertrude knows that her sister's former feelings have long ago -returned, and there is sorrow, but not anguish, in this definitive -earthly parting.</p> - -<p>George Ritherdon has been summoned to Naples, where Eleanor Baldwin -died, by Major Carteret, and Gertrude is now expecting his return. Her -thoughts have been busy with the past; and when they have rested upon -Robert Meredith, it has been without any anger for herself, but with -some wonder as to how he will take the passing away to a stranger of -all the wealth and luxury he bought at such a price, and enjoyed for -so comparatively short a time. He will be a rich man, no doubt, with -all Eleanor had to bestow on him; but he will have to see a stranger -in the place he filled so pompously, and to feel himself once more a -person of no importance. For Eleanor has died childless, and the Deane -passes away to the eldest son of the late brother of that Mr. Mordaunt -who was the next in the entail, and who, strange to say, died only two -days before the death of Mrs. Meredith Baldwin occurred. Gertrude has -heard this vaguely, in the hurry of George's departure, and during the -first bewilderment which death brings with it.</p> - -<p>A carriage stops, and Gertrude lifts the end of a blind and looks out. -Two gentlemen enter the house, and in a few seconds she is clasped in -her husband's arms, and sees, standing behind him, her uncle. Major -Carteret. She greets him affectionately, and then loses her composure -and bursts into tears. The two men allow her to give vent to her -feelings without remonstrance, and when she is again calm, they talk a -little of their journey, and then approach the subject of Eleanor's -death. Gertrude knows the particulars of the event, and they go on to -speak of the will.</p> - -<p>"I thought it better to tell you than to write about it," says George. -"You must prepare for a surprise, Gertrude. Eleanor has left her -entire fortune--it is much wasted, but still large--to you."</p> - -<p>"To me!" exclaimed Gertrude, "to me! And what has she left to -Meredith?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing," replied Major Carteret. "Precisely what he deserved. She -makes no mention of him, his name does not occur in the will. She -probably explains her motives and tells the sad story of her life in a -letter which she left directed to me, that I may give it unopened into -your hands. You shall have it, but hear first what we have to tell -you. She has left you everything in her power to bequeath, and left it -all at your absolute disposal."</p> - -<p>Gertrude seemed stupefied. At length she said slowly:</p> - -<p>"What must he feel? What did he say?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know what he felt," replied Major Carteret. "What he said -quickly deprived me of all inclination to pity him, the scoundrel! I -hope we have all heard and seen the last of him. His worthy associate, -Oakley, made me understand his character long ago; but while poor -Nelly lived it would have served no purpose to resent it, and we had -nothing to gain by exposing him. Now it turns out she has avenged -herself and us all, and we can afford to dismiss him from our minds. -You must allow me to congratulate you, Gertrude, on poor Nelly's -handsome legacy, and then on something much more important still."</p> - -<p>Gertrude looked from her husband to her uncle nervously, and her lips -trembled.</p> - -<p>"What is it? I can't bear much more."</p> - -<p>George put his arm firmly round her, and placing her on a sofa, took -his place by her side. At this moment Mrs. Doran came quietly into the -room and approached the group. Haldane made her a sign to be silent, -while George spoke to his wife:</p> - -<p>"While I was staying at the Deane, when I first went there for your -birthday, Gertrude, my mother wrote to me, and told me it was a -curious circumstance that I should be a visitor at Miss Baldwin's -house. Why? Can you guess?"</p> - -<p>Gertrude silently shook her head.</p> - -<p>"Because, as I then learned for the first time, my father's old -bachelor brother, Mr. Mordaunt, was in the entail of the Deane, and in -the very improbable event of there being no direct heir, that which -has come to pass might come to pass. Do you understand what has -happened now, my darling?"</p> - -<p>"No," stammered Gertrude; "I--I do not."</p> - -<p>"This is what has happened: my uncle, Mr. Mordaunt, is dead. I am his -heir. My father took my mother's name in consequence of a family -quarrel about his marriage, and, as you know, he died some years ago. -I am the next in the entail, and Eleanor's dying without a child, -makes me the possessor of the Deane. You now know why I did not ask -you to be my wife when I believed you to be the lawful owner of the -property; you now know how doubly joyfully I made you my wife when you -lost it. Gertrude, my darling, I think you will prize your old name -and your old home more than ever now that it is your husband who gives -them back to you."</p> - -<p>"I said it would all come right, Miss Gerty, didn't I, alanna?" -exclaimed Rose Doran, as she in her turn caught Gertrude in her strong -arms, and rocked her to and fro like an infant. "But I never thought -it could come so right. Honest people and rogues have got their due in -_this_ world, once in a way, anyhow."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4>END OF VOL. III.</h4> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h5>LONDON: ROBSON AND SONS, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W.</h5> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's A Righted Wrong, Volume 3 (of 3), by Edmund Yates - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A RIGHTED WRONG, VOLUME 3 (OF 3) *** - -***** This file should be named 60966-h.htm or 60966-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/9/6/60966/ - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by the U.S. Archive -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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