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diff --git a/6331-h/6331-h.htm b/6331-h/6331-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..50d3ee9 --- /dev/null +++ b/6331-h/6331-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,24667 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Pillars of the House, Vol. I (of 2), by Charlotte M. Yonge</title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} +.p6 {margin-top: 6em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%} +hr.full {width: 95%;} + +hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +hr.r65 {width: 65%; margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 3em;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + .tdl {text-align: left;} + .tdr {text-align: right;} + .tdc {text-align: center;} + + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +a:link {color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } + +v:link {color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + + hr.pg { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Pillars of the House, Vol. I (of 2), by +Charlotte M. Yonge</h1> +<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 <a +href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></p> +<p>Title: The Pillars of the House, Vol. I (of 2)</p> +<p> or, Under Wode, Under Rode</p> +<p>Author: Charlotte M. Yonge</p> +<p>Release Date: November 26, 2002 [eBook #6331]<br /> +This revision first posted: January 20, 2014</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PILLARS OF THE HOUSE, VOL. I (OF 2)***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Sandra Laythorpe<br /> + and revised by Clare Graham and Marc D'Hooghe<br /> + (<a href="http://www.freeliterature.org">http://www.freeliterature.org</a>)<br /> + using page images generously made available by<br /> + the Google Books Library Project<br /> + (<a href="http://books.google.com">http://books.google.com</a>)<br /> + <br /> + HTML version prepared by Clare Graham and Marc D'Hooghe</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Project Gutenberg has the other volume of this work.<br /> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44721/44721-h/44721-h.htm">Volume II</a>: see http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44721/44721-h/44721-h.htm + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>THE PILLARS OF THE HOUSE;</h1> + +<h4>OR,</h4> + +<h4>UNDER WODE, UNDER RODE.</h4> + + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h2>CHARLOTTE M. YONGE</h2> + +<h4>AUTHOR OF 'THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE,' ETC.</h4> + + +<h4><i>IN TWO VOLUMES.</i></h4> + +<h4>VOL I.</h4> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h5>London:</h5> + +<h5>MACMILLAN AND CO.</h5> + +<h5>1875.</h5> + + +<hr class="full" /> +<h5>CONTENTS TO VOL. I.</h5> + +<div class="center" style="font-size: 0.8em;"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">I.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">THE BIRTH-DAY GIFT</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">II.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">THE PIC-NIC</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">III.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">FORTUNATUS' PURSE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">IV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">TWILIGHT AND DAWN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">V.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">WORKING FOR BREAD</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">VI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">THE CACIQUE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">VII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">THE CHESS-PLAYER'S BATTLE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">VIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">THE HOME</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">IX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">THE THIRTEEN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">X.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">THE FAMILY COBWEB ON THE MOVE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">THE CHORAL FESTIVAL</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">GIANT DESPAIR'S CASTLE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">PEGASUS IN HARNESS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XIV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">WHAT IT MAY LEAD TO</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XV.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">WHAT IT LED TO</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XVI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">THE WINTER OF DISCONTENT</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XVII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">MIDSUMMER SUN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XVIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">BY THE RIVER</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XIX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">THE HOUSE WITHOUT PILLARS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XX.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">VALE LESTON</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XXI.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">A KETTLE OF FISH</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XXII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">THE REAL THING AND NO MISTAKE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">XXIII.</td><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">SMOKE-JACK ALLEY</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE BIRTH-DAY GIFT.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 27%;"> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'O I've got a plum-cake, and a feast let us make,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Come, school-fellows, come at my call;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">I assure you 'tis nice, and we'll all have a slice,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Here's more than enough for us all.'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 18em;"><i>Jane Taylor.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>'It is come! Felix, it is come!'</p> + +<p>So cried, shouted, shrieked a chorus, as a street door was torn open +to admit four boys, with their leathern straps of books over their +shoulders. They set up a responsive yell of 'Jolly! Jolly!' which +being caught up and re-echoed by at least five voices within, caused +a considerable volume of sound in the narrow entry and narrower +staircase, up which might be seen a sort of pyramid of children.</p> + +<p>'Where is it?' asked the tallest of the four arrivals, as he soberly +hung up his hat.</p> + +<p>'Mamma has got it in the drawing-room, and Papa has been in ever since +dinner,' was the universal cry from two fine complexioned, handsome +girls, from a much smaller girl and boy, and from a creature rolling on +the stairs, whose sex and speech seemed as yet uncertain.</p> + +<p>'And where's Cherry?' was the further question; 'is she there too?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, but—' as he laid his hand on the door—'don't open the letter +there. Get Cherry, and we'll settle what to do with it.'</p> + +<p>'O Felix, I've a stunning notion!'</p> + +<p>'Felix, promise to do what I want!'</p> + +<p>'Felix, do pray buy me some Turkish delight!'</p> + +<p>'Felix, I do want the big spotty horse.'</p> + +<p>Such shouts and insinuations, all deserving the epithet of the first, +pursued Felix as he entered a room, small, and with all the contents +faded and worn, but with an air of having been once tasteful, and +still made the best of. Contents we say advisedly, meaning not merely +the furniture but the inmates, namely, the pale wan fragile mother, +working, but with the baby on her knee, and looking as if care and toil +had brought her to skin and bone, though still with sweet eyes and a +lovely smile; the father, tall and picturesque, with straight handsome +features, but with a hectic colour, wasted cheek, and lustrous eye, +that were sad earnests of the future. He was still under forty, his +wife some years less; and elder than either in its expression of wasted +suffering was the countenance of the little girl of thirteen years old +who lay on the sofa, with pencil, paper, and book, her face with her +mother's features exaggerated into a look at once keen and patient, all +three forming a sad contrast to the solid exuberant health on the other +side the door.</p> + +<p>Truly the boy who entered was a picture of sturdy English vigour, +stout-limbed, rosy faced, clear eyed, open, and straightforward +looking, perhaps a little clumsy with the clumsiness of sixteen, +especially when conscience required tearing spirits to be subdued to +the endurance of the feeble. It was, however, a bright congratulating +look that met him from the trio. The little girl started up: 'Your +sovereign's come, Felix!'</p> + +<p>The father showed his transparent-looking white teeth in a merry laugh. +'Here are the galleons, you boy named in a lucky hour! How many times +have you spent them in fancy?'</p> + +<p>The mother held up the letter, addressed to Master Felix Chester +Underwood, No. 8, St. Oswald's Buildings, Bexley, and smiled as she +said, 'Is it all right, my boy?'</p> + +<p>'They want me to open it outside, Mamma!—Come, White-heart, we want +you at the council.'</p> + +<p>And putting his arm round his little sister Geraldine's waist, while +she took up her small crutch, Felix disappeared with her, the mother +looking wistfully after them, the father giving something between a +laugh and a sigh.</p> + +<p>'Then you decide against speaking to him,' said Mrs. Underwood.</p> + +<p>'Poor children, yes. A little happiness will do them a great deal more +good than the pound would do to us. The drops that will fill their +little cup will but be lost in our sea.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I like what comes from Vale Leston to be still a festive matter,' +said Mrs. Underwood; 'and at least we are sure the dear boy will never +spend it selfishly. It only struck me whether he would not enjoy +finding himself able to throw something into the common stock.'</p> + +<p>'<i>He</i> would, honest lad,' said Mr. Underwood; 'but, Mamma, you are very +hard-hearted towards the rabble. Even if this one pound would provide +all the shoes and port wine that are pressing on the maternal mind, the +stimulus of a day's treat would be much more wholesome.'</p> + +<p>'But not for you,' said his wife.</p> + +<p>'Yes, for me. If the boy includes us old folks in his festivity, it +will be as good as a week's port wine. You doubt, my sweet Enid. Has +not our long honeymoon at Vale Leston helped us all this time?' Her +name was Mary, but having once declared her to be a woman made of the +same stuff as Enid, he had made it his pet title for her.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Underwood's thoughts went far away into the long ago of Vale +Leston. She could hardly believe that nine years only had passed since +that seven-years' honeymoon. She was a woman of the fewest possible +words, and her husband generally answered her face instead of her voice.</p> + +<p>Vale Leston had promised to be an ample provision when Edward Underwood +had resigned his fellowship to marry the Rector's niece and adopted +daughter, his own distant cousin, with the assurance of being presented +to the living hereafter, and acting in the meantime as curate. It +was a family living, always held conjointly with a tolerably good +estate, enough to qualify the owner for the dangerous position of +'squarson,' as no doubt many a clerical Underwood had been ever since +their branch had grown out from the stem of the elder line, which had +now disappeared. These comfortable quarters had seemed a matter of +certainty, until the uncle died suddenly and with a flaw in his will, +so that the undesirable nephew and heir-at-law whom he had desired to +exclude, a rich dissipated man, son to a brother older than the father +of the favourite niece, had stepped in, and differing <i>in toto</i> from +Edward Underwood, had made his own son take orders for the sake of the +living, and it had been the effort of the young wife ever since not to +disobey her husband by showing that it had been to her the being driven +out of paradise.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>ASSISTANT CURACY.—A Priest of Catholic opinions is needed +at a town parish. Resident Rector and three Curates. Daily +Prayers. Choral Service on Sundays and Holy-days. Weekly +Communion.—Apply to P.C.B., St. Oswald's Rectory, Bexley.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Every one knows the sort of advertisement which had brought Mr. +Underwood to Bexley, as a place which would accord with the doctrines +and practices dear to him. Indeed, apart from the advertisement, +Bexley had a fame. A great rubrical war had there been fought out by +the Rector of St. Oswald's, and when he had become a colonial Bishop, +his successor was reported to have carried on his work; and the beauty +of the restored church, and the exquisite services, were so generally +talked of, that Mr. Underwood thought himself fortunate in obtaining +the appointment. Mr. Bevan too, the Rector, was an exceedingly +courteous, kindly-mannered man, talking in a soft low voice in the most +affectionate and considerate manner, and with good taste and judgment +that exceedingly struck and pleased the new curate. It was the more +surprise to him to find the congregations thin, and a general languor +and indifference about the people who attended the church. There was +also a good deal of opposition in the parish, some old sullen seceders +who went to a neighbouring proprietary chapel, many more of erratic +tastes haunted the places of worship of the numerous sects, who swarmed +in the town, and many more were living in a state of town heathenism.</p> + +<p>It was not long before the perception of the cause began to grow upon +Mr. Underwood. The machinery was perfect, but the spring was failing; +the salt was there, but where was the savour? The discourses he heard +from his rector were in one point of view faultless, but the old +Scottish word 'fushionless' would rise into his thoughts whenever +they ended, and something of effect and point was sure to fail; they +were bodies without souls, and might well satisfy a certain excellent +solicitor, who always praised them as 'just the right medium, sober, +moderate, and unexciting.'</p> + +<p>In the first pleasure of a strong, active, and enterprising man, at +finding his plans unopposed by authority, Mr. Underwood had been +delighted with his rector's ready consent to whatever he undertook, +and was the last person to perceive that Mr. Bevan, though objecting +to nothing, let all the rough and tough work lapse upon his curates, +and took nothing but the graceful representative part. Even then, +Mr. Underwood had something to say in his defence; Mr. Bevan was +valetudinarian in his habits, and besides—he was in the midst of a +courtship—after his marriage he would give his mind to his parish.</p> + +<p>For Mr. Bevan, hitherto a confirmed and rather precise and luxurious +bachelor, to the general surprise, married a certain Lady Price, the +young widow of an old admiral, and with her began a new <i>régime.</i></p> + +<p>My Lady, as every one called her, since she retained her title and +name, was by no means desirous of altering the ornamental arrangements +in church, which she regarded with pride; but she was doubly anxious +to guard her husband's health; and she also had the sharpest eye to +the main chance. Hitherto, whatever had been the disappointments and +shortcomings at the Rectory, there had been free-handed expenditure, +and no stint either in charity or the expenses connected with the +service; but Lady Price had no notion of taking on her uncalled-for +outlay. The parish must do its part, and it was called on to do so +in modes that did not add to the Rector's popularity. Moreover, the +arrangements were on the principle of getting as much as possible out +of everybody, and no official failed to feel the pinch. The Rector +was as bland, gentle, and obliging as ever; but he seldom transacted +any affairs that he could help; and in the six years that had elapsed +since the marriage, every person connected with the church had changed, +except Mr. Underwood.</p> + +<p>Yet, perhaps, as senior curate, he had felt the alteration most +heavily. He had to be, or to refuse to be, my Lady's instrument in her +various appeals; he came in for her indignation at wastefulness, and +at the unauthorised demands on the Rector; he had to feel what it was +to have no longer unlimited resources of broth and wine to fall back +upon at the Rectory; he had to supply the shortcomings of the new staff +brought in on lower terms—and all this, moreover, when his own health +and vigour were beginning to fail.</p> + +<p>Lady Price did not like him or his family. They were poor, and she +distrusted the poor; and what was worse, she knew they were better +born and better bred than herself, and had higher aims. Gentle Mrs. +Underwood, absorbed in household cares, no more thought of rivalry +with her than with the Queen; but the soft movement, the low voice, +the quiet sweep of the worn garments, were a constant vexation to my +Lady, who having once pronounced the curate's wife affected, held to +her opinion. With Mr. Underwood she had had a fight or two, and had not +conquered, and now they were on terms of perfect respect and civility +on his side, and of distance and politeness on hers. She might talk of +him half contemptuously but she never durst show herself otherwise than +civil, though she was always longing to bring in some more deferential +person in his place; and, whenever illness interfered with his duties, +she spoke largely to her friends of the impropriety of a man's +undertaking what he could not perform.</p> + +<p>One of her reductions had been the economising the third curate, while +making the second be always a neophyte, who received his title for +Orders, and remained his two years upon a small stipend.</p> + +<p>The change last Easter, which had substituted a deacon for a priest, +had fallen heavily on Mr. Underwood, and would have been heavier still, +but that the new comer, Charles Audley, had attached himself warmly +to him. The young man was the son of a family of rank and connection, +and Lady Price's vanity was flattered by obtaining his assistance; +but her vexation was proportionably excited by his preference for the +Underwood household, where, in truth—with all its poverty—he found +the only atmosphere thoroughly congenial to him in all the parish of +St. Oswald's.</p> + +<p>Speedily comprehending the state of things, he put his vigorous young +shoulder to the wheel, and, full of affectionate love and admiration +for Mr. Underwood, spared himself nothing in the hope of saving him +fatigue or exertion, quietly gave up his own holidays, was always at +his post, and had hitherto so far lightened Mr. Underwood's toil, that +he was undoubtedly getting through this summer better than the last, +for his bodily frame had long been affected by the increased amount of +toil in an ungenial atmosphere, and every access of cold weather had +told on him in throat and chest attacks, which, with characteristic +buoyancy, he would not believe serious. He never deemed himself aught +but 'better,' and the invalid habits that crept on him by stealth, +always seemed to his brave spirit consequent on a day's extra fatigue, +or the last attention to a departing cough. Alas! when every day's +fatigue was extra, the cough always depart<i>ing</i>, never depart<i>ed</i>.</p> + +<p>Yet, though it had become a standing order in the house, that for +an hour after papa came in from his rounds, no one of the children +should be in the drawing-room, except poor little lame Geraldine, +who was permanently established there; and that afterwards, even on +strong compulsion, they should only come in one by one, as quietly as +possible, he never ceased to apologise to them for their banishment +when he felt it needful, and when he was at ease, would renew the +merriment that sometimes cost him dear.</p> + +<p>The children had, for the most part, inherited that precious heirloom +of contentment and elasticity, and were as happy in nooks and corners +in bed-room, nursery, staircase or kitchen, as they could have been in +extensive play-rooms and gardens.</p> + +<p>See them in full council upon the expenditure of the annual gift that +an old admiral at Vale Leston, who was godfather to Felix, was wont to +send the boy on his birth-day—that third of July, which had seemed +so bright, when birth-days had begun in the family, that no name save +Felix could adequately express his parent's feelings.</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Underwood had fancies as to nomenclature; and that +staircase-full of children rejoiced in eccentric appellations. To begin +at the bottom—here sat on a hassock, her back against the wall, her +sharp old fairy's face uplifted, little Geraldine, otherwise Cherry, +a title that had suited her round rosiness well, till after the first +winter at Bexley, when the miseries of a diseased ankle-joint had +set in, and paled her into the tender aliases of White-heart, or +Sweet-heart. She was, as might be plainly seen in her grey eyes, a +clever child; and teaching her was a great delight to her father, and +often interested him when he was unequal to anything else. Her dark +eyebrows frowned with anxiety as she lifted up her little pointed +chin to watch sturdy frank-faced Felix, who with elaborate slowness +dealt with the envelope, tasting slowly of the excitement it created, +and edging away from the baluster, on which, causing it to contribute +frightful creaks to the general Babel, were perched numbers 4, 6, +7, and 8, to wit, Edgar, Clement, Fulbert, and Lancelot, all three +handsome, blue-eyed, fair-faced lads. Indeed Edgar was remarkable, even +among this decidedly fine-looking family. He had a peculiarly delicate +contour of feature and complexion, though perfectly healthy; and there +was something of the same expression, half keen, half dreamy, as in +Geraldine, his junior by one year; while the grace of all the attitudes +of his slender lissome figure showed to advantage beside Felix's more +sturdy form, and deliberate or downright movements; while Clement was +paler, slighter, and with rather infantine features, and shining wavy +brown hair, that nothing ever seemed to ruffle, looked so much as if +he ought to have been a girl, that Tina, short for Clementina, was his +school name. Fulbert, stout, square, fat-cheeked, and permanently rough +and dusty, looked as if he hardly belonged to the rest.</p> + +<p>The four eldest were day-scholars at the city grammar-school; but +Lancelot, a bright-faced little fellow in knickerbockers, was a pupil +of whoever would or could teach him at home, as was the little girl +who was clinging to his leg, and whose name of Robina seemed to have +moulded her into some curious likeness to a robin-redbreast, with her +brown soft hair, rosy cheeks, bright merry eyes, plump form, and quick +loving audacity. Above her sat a girl of fifteen, with the family +features in their prettiest development—the chiseled straight profile, +the clear white roseately tinted skin, the large well-opened azure +eyes, the profuse glossy hair, the long, slender, graceful limbs, and +that pretty head leant against the knees of her own very counterpart; +for these were Wilmet and Alda, the twin girls who had succeeded Felix, +and whose beauty had been the marvel of Vale Leston, their shabby dress +the scorn of the day school at Bexley. And forming the apex of the +pyramid, perched astride on the very shoulders of much-enduring Wilmet, +was three years old Angela—Baby Bernard being quiescent in a cradle +near mamma. N.B. Mrs. Underwood, though her girls had such masculine +names, had made so strong a protest against their being called by +boyish abbreviations, that only in one case had nature been too strong +for her, and Robina had turned into Bobbie. Wilmet's second name being +Ursula, she was apt to be known as W. W.</p> + +<p>'Make haste, Felix, you intolerable boy! don't be so slow!' cried Alda.</p> + +<p>'Is there a letter?' inquired Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Yes, more's the pity!' said Felix. 'Now I shall have to answer it.'</p> + +<p>'I'll do that, if you'll give me what's inside,' said Edgar.</p> + +<p>'Is it there?' exclaimed Cherry, in a tone of doubt, that sent an +electric thrill of dismay through the audience; Lance nearly toppling +over, to the horror of the adjacent sisters, and the grave rebuke of +Clement.</p> + +<p>'If it should be a sell!' gasped Fulbert.</p> + +<p>'Suppose it were,' said Felix gravely.</p> + +<p>'Then,' said Edgar, 'you can disown the old rogue Chester.'</p> + +<p>'What stuff!' interposed Clement.</p> + +<p>'I'd cut him out of my will on the spot,' persisted Edgar.</p> + +<p>'But it is all right,' said Cherry, looking with quiet certainty into +her brother's face; and he nodded and coloured at the same time.</p> + +<p>'But it is not a pretty one,' said little Robina. 'Last year it was +green, and before that red; and this is nasty stupid black and white, +and all thin crackling paper.'</p> + +<p>Felix laughed, and held up the document.</p> + +<p>'What!' cried Fulbert. 'Five! Why, 'tisn't only five shillings! the +horrid old cheat!'</p> + +<p>'It's a five-pound note!' screamed Cherry. 'I saw one when Papa went to +the bank! O Felix, Felix!'</p> + +<p>A five-pound note! It seemed to take away the breath of those who knew +what it meant, and then an exulting shout broke forth.</p> + +<p>'Well,' said Edgar solemnly, 'old Chester is a brick! Three cheers for +him!'</p> + +<p>Which cheers having been perpetrated with due vociferation, the cry +began, 'O Felix, what will you do with it?'</p> + +<p>'Buy a pony!' cried Fulbert.</p> + +<p>'A rocking-horse,' chirped Robina.</p> + +<p>'Punch every week,' shouted Lance.</p> + +<p>'A knife apiece,' said Fulbert.</p> + +<p>'How can you all be so selfish?' pronounced Clement. 'Now a harmonium +would be good to us all.'</p> + +<p>'Then get some cotton, for our ears into the bargain, if Tina is to +play on it,' said Edgar.</p> + +<p>'I shall take the note to mother,' said the owner.</p> + +<p>'Oh!' screamed all but Wilmet and Cherry, 'that's as bad as not having +it at all!'</p> + +<p>Maybe Felix thought so, for it was with a certain gravity and solemnity +of demeanour that he entered the drawing-room, causing his father to +exclaim, 'How now? No slip between cup and lip? Not infelix, Felix?'</p> + +<p>'No, papa, but it's <i>this;</i> and I thought I ought to bring it.'</p> + +<p>The dew at once was in the mother's eyes, as she sprang up and kissed +the boy's brow, saying, 'Felix, dear, don't show it to me. You were +meant to be happy with it. Go and be so.'</p> + +<p>'Stay,' said Mr. Underwood, 'Felix will really enjoy helping us to this +extent more than any private expenditure. Is it not so, my boy? Well +then, I propose that the sovereign of old prescriptive right should +go to his <i>menus plaisirs</i>, and the rest to something needful; but he +shall say to what. Said I well, old fellow?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, thank you, thank you!' cried Felix ardently.</p> + +<p>'Thank me for permission to do as you will with your own?' smiled Mr. +Underwood.</p> + +<p>'You will choose, then, Felix?' said his mother wistfully, her desires +divided between port wine for Papa, and pale ale for Geraldine.</p> + +<p>'Yes, mamma,' was the prompt answer. 'Then, please, let Wilmet and Alda +be rigged out fresh for Sundays.'</p> + +<p>'Wilmet and Alda!' exclaimed Mamma.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I should like that better than anything, please,' said the boy. +'All our fellows say they would be the prettiest girls in all Bexley, +if they were properly dressed; and those horrid girls at Miss Pearson's +lead them a life about those old black hats.'</p> + +<p>'Poor dears! I have found Alda crying when she was dressing for +church,' mused Mrs. Underwood; 'and though I have scolded her, I could +have cried too, to think how unlike their girlhood is to mine.'</p> + +<p>'And if you went to fetch them home from school, you would know how bad +it is, Mamma,' said Felix. 'Wilmet does not mind it, but Alda cries, +and the sneaking girls do it the more; and they are girls, so one can't +lick them; and they have not all got brothers.'</p> + +<p>'To be licked instead!' said Mr. Underwood, unable to help being amused.</p> + +<p>'Well, yes, Papa; and so you see it would be no end of a comfort to +make them look like the rest.'</p> + +<p>'By all means, Felix. The ladies can tell how far your benefaction will +go; but as far as it can accomplish, the twins shall be resplendent. +Now then, back to your anxious clients. Only tell me first how my kind +old friend the Admiral is.'</p> + +<p>'Here's his letter, Father; I quite forgot to read it.'</p> + +<p>'Some day, I hope, you will know him enough to care for him personally. +Now you may be off.—Nay, Enid, love, your daughters could not have +lived much longer without clothes to their backs.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, yes, it must have been done,' sighed the poor mother; 'but I +fancied Felix would have thought of you first.'</p> + +<p>'He thought of troubles much more felt than any of mine. Poor children! +the hard apprenticeship will serve them all their lives.'</p> + +<p>Meantime Felix returned with the words, 'Hurrah! we are to have the +sovereign just as usual; and all the rest is to go to turn out Wilmet +and Alda like respectable young females.—Hollo, now!'</p> + +<p>For Alda had precipitated herself down-stairs, to throttle him with her +embraces; while Cherry cried out, 'That's right! Oh, do get those dear +white hats you told me about;' but the public, even there a many-headed +monster thing, was less content.</p> + +<p>'What, all in girls' trumpery?' 'That's the stupidest sell I ever heard +of!' 'Oh, I did so want a pony!' were the cries of the boys.</p> + +<p>Even Robina was so far infected as to cry, 'I wanted a ride.'</p> + +<p>And Wilmet reproachfully exclaimed, 'O Felix, you should have got +something for Papa. Don't you know, Mr. Rugg said he ought to have a +respirator. It is a great shame.'</p> + +<p>'I don't think he would have let me, Wilmet,' said Felix, looking up; +'and I never thought of it. Besides, I can't have those girls making +asses of themselves at you.'</p> + +<p>'Oh no, don't listen to Wilmet!' cried Alda. 'You are the very best +brother in all the world! Now we shall be fit to be seen at the break +up. I don't think I could have played my piece if I knew every one was +looking at my horrid old alpaca.'</p> + +<p>'And there'll be hats for Cherry and Bobbie too!' entreated Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Oh, don't put it into their heads!' gasped Alda.</p> + +<p>'No, I'll have you two fit to be seen first,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'Well, it's a horrid shame,' grumbled Fulbert; 'we have always all gone +shares in Felix's birth-day tip.'</p> + +<p>'So you do now,' said Felix; 'there's the pound all the same as usual.'</p> + +<p>That pound was always being spent in imagination; and the voices broke +out again.</p> + +<p>'Oh, then Papa can have the respirator!'</p> + +<p>'Felix, the rocking-horse!'</p> + +<p>'Felix, do get us three little cannon to make a jolly row every +birth-day!'</p> + +<p>'Felix, do you know that Charlie Froggatt says he would sell that big +Newfoundland for a pound? and that would be among us all.'</p> + +<p>'Nonsense, Fulbert! a big dog is always eating; but there is a +concertina at Lake's.'</p> + +<p>'Tina—tina—concertina! But, I say, Fee, there's White-heart been +wishing her heart out all the time for a real good paint-box.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, never mind that, Ed; no one would care for one but you and me; and +the little ones would spoil all the paints.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, resumed Wilmet, from her throne, 'it would be the worry of one's +life to keep the little ones off them; and baby would be poisoned to a +dead certainty. Now the respirator—'</p> + +<p>'Now the concertina—'</p> + +<p>'Now Punch—'</p> + +<p>'Now the dog—'</p> + +<p>'Now the rocking-horse—'</p> + +<p>'Now the cannon—'</p> + +<p>'I'll tell you what,' said Felix, 'I've settled how it is to be. We'll +get John Harper's van, and all go out to the Castle, with a jolly cold +dinner—yes, you, Cherry, and all; Ed and I will carry you—and dine on +the grass, and—'</p> + +<p>A chorus of shouts interrupted him, all ecstatic, and rendered more +emphatic by the stamping of feet.</p> + +<p>'And Angela will go!' added Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'And Papa,' entreated Cherry.</p> + +<p>'And Mamma too, if she will,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'And Mr. Audley,' pronounced Robina, echoed by Clement and Angela. 'Mr. +Audley must go!'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Audley!' grunted Felix. 'I want nobody but ourselves.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, and if he went we could not stay jolly late. My Lady would make +no end of a row if both curates cut the evening prayers.'</p> + +<p>'For shame, Edgar!' cried the three elder girls.</p> + +<p>While Wilmet added, 'We could not stay late, because of Papa and the +little ones. But I don't want Mr. Audley, either.'</p> + +<p>'No, no! Papa and he will talk to each other, and be of no use,' said +Geraldine. 'Oh, how delicious! Will the wild-roses be out? When shall +it be, Felix?'</p> + +<p>'Well, the first fine day after school breaks up, I should say.'</p> + +<p>'Hurrah! hurrah!'</p> + +<p>And there was another dance, in the midst of which Mr. Underwood opened +the door, to ask what honourable member was receiving such deafening +cheers.</p> + +<p>'Here! here he is, Papa!' cried Alda. 'He is going to take us all out +to a pic-nic in the Castle woods; and won't you come, Papa?'</p> + +<p>'O Papa, you will come!' said Felix. And the whole staircase bawled in +accordance.</p> + +<p>'Come! to be sure I will!' said his father; 'and only too glad to be +asked! I trust we shall prove to have found the way to get the maximum +of pleasure out of Admiral Chester's gift.'</p> + +<p>'If Mamma will go,' said Felix. 'I wonder what the van will cost, and +what will be left for the dinner.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, let us two cook the whole dinner,' entreated the twins.</p> + +<p>'Wait now,' said Felix. 'I didn't know it was so late, Father.' And he +carefully helped his father on with his coat; and as a church bell made +itself heard, set forth with him.</p> + +<p>When the service was musical, Felix and his two next brothers both +formed part of the choir; and though this was not the case on this +evening, Felix knew that his mother was easier when he or Wilmet could +watch over Papa's wraps.</p> + +<p>And Mamma herself, with one at least of the twins, was busy enough in +giving the lesser ones their supper, and disposing of them in bed, so +that the discreet alone might remain to the later tea-drinking.</p> + +<p>And 'Sibby' must be made a sharer of the good news in her lower region, +though she was sure to disbelieve in Alda and Wilmet's amateur cookery.</p> + +<p>Sibby was Wilmet's foster-mother. Poor thing! Mr. Underwood had found +her in dire need in the workhouse, a child herself of seventeen, with +a new-born babe, fresh from the discovery that the soldier-husband, as +she thought, and who had at least 'gone before the praste with her,' +and brought her from her Kilkenny home, was previously husband to +another woman. She was tenderly cared for by Mr. Underwood's mother, +who was then alive, and keeping house for the whole party at the +Rectory; and having come into the Vale Leston nursery, she never left +it. Her own child died in teething, and she clung so passionately to +her nursling, that Mrs. Underwood had no heart to separate them, Roman +Catholic though she was, and difficult to dispose of. She was not the +usual talking merry Irishwoman; if ever she had been such, her heart +was broken; and she was always meek, quiet, subdued, and attentive; +forgetful sometimes, but tender and trustworthy to the last degree with +the children.</p> + +<p>She had held fast to the family in their reverses, and no more thought +of not sharing their lot than one of their children. Indeed, it would +not have been much more possible to send her out to shift for herself +in England; and her own people seemed to have vanished in the famine, +for her letters, with her savings, came back from the dead-letter +office. She put her shoulder to the burthen, and, with one small scrub +under her, got through an amazing amount of work: and though her great +deep liquid brown eyes looked as pathetic as ever, she certainly was +in far better spirits than when she sat in the nursery. To be sure, +she was a much better nurse than she was a cook; but as both could not +be had, Mrs. Underwood was content and thankful to have a servant so +entirely one with themselves in interests and affections; and who had +the further perfection of never wanting any society but the children's; +shrinking from English gossips, and never showing a weakness, save for +Irish tramps. Moreover, she was a prodigious knitter; and it was her +boast that not one of the six young gentlemen had yet worn stocking or +sock, but what came from her needles, and had been re-footed by her to +the last extremity of wear.</p> + +<p>Meantime, Felix and Clement walked with their father to the church. +There it was, that handsome church; the evening sun in slanting beams +coming through the gorgeous west window to the illuminated walls, and +the rich inlaid marble and alabaster of the chancel mellowed by the +pure evening light. The east window, done before glass-painting had +improved, was tame and ill-executed, and there was, even ćsthetically, +a strange unsatisfactory feeling in looking at the heavy, though +handsome, incrustations and arcades of dark marble that formed the +reredos. It was all very correct; but it wanted life.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bevan was not there, he had gone out to dinner, and the +congregation consisted of some young ladies, old men, and three little +children. Mr. Audley read all, save the Absolution and the Lessons; and +the responses sounded low and feeble in the great church, though there +was one voice among them glad and hearty in dedicating and entrusting +the new year of his life with its unknown burthen.</p> + +<p>Felix had heard sayings and seen looks which, boldly as his sanguine +spirit resisted them, would hang in a heavy boding cloud over his mind, +and were already casting a grave shadow there.</p> + +<p>And if the thought of his fivefold gift swelled the fervour of his +'Amen' to the General Thanksgiving, there was another deep heartfelt +Amen, which breathed forth earnest gratitude for the possession of such +a first-born son.</p> + +<p>'That is a very good boy,' the father could not help saying to Mr. +Audley, as, on quitting the churchyard, Felix exclaiming, 'Papa, may I +just get it changed and ask about the van?' darted across the street, +with Clement, into a large grocer's shop nearly opposite, where a brisk +evening traffic was going on in the long daylight of hot July; and he +could not but tell of the birth-day gift, and how it was to be spent. +'<i>Res angusta domi</i>,' he said, with a smile, 'is a thing to be thankful +for, when it has such effects upon a lad.'</p> + +<p>'You must add a small taste of example to the prescription,' said Mr. +Audley. 'Is this all the birth-day present Felix has had?'</p> + +<p>'Well, I believe Cherry gave him one of her original designs; but +birth-days are too numerous for us to stand presents.'</p> + +<p>The other curate half sighed. He was a great contrast—a much smaller +man than his senior, slight, slim, and pale, but with no look of +ill-health about him; brown eyed and haired, and with the indefinable +look about all his appointments and dress, that showed he had lived +in unconscious luxury and refinement all his days. His thoughts went +back to a home, where the only perplexity was how to deal with an +absolute glut of presents, and to his own actual doubts what to send +that youngest sister, who would feel slighted if Charlie sent nothing, +but really could not want anything; a book she would not read, a jewel +could seldom get a turn of being worn, a trinket would only be fresh +lumber for her room. Then he revolved the possibilities of making Felix +a present, without silencing his father's confidences, and felt that +it could not be done in any direct manner at present; nay, that it +could hardly add to the radiant happiness of the boy, who rushed across +the road, almost under the nose of the railway-omnibus horses, and +exclaimed—</p> + +<p>'He will let us have it for nothing, Father! He says it would be hiring +it out, and he can't do that: but he would esteem it a great favour +if we would go in it, and not pay anything, except just a shilling to +Harris for a pint of beer. Won't it be jolly, Father?'</p> + +<p>'Spicy would be more appropriate,' said Mr. Underwood, laughing, as the +vehicle in question drew up at the shop door, with Mr. Harper's name +and all his groceries inscribed in gold letters upon the awning.</p> + +<p>'I'm so glad I thought of Harper's,' continued Felix. 'I asked him +instead of Buff, because I knew Mamma would want it to be covered. Now +there's lots of room; and we boys will walk up all the hills.'</p> + +<p>'I hope there is room for me, Felix,' suggested Mr. Audley.</p> + +<p>'Or,' suggested Mr. Underwood, 'you might, like John Gilpin, "ride on +horseback after we."'</p> + +<p>'Felix looks non-content,' said Mr. Audley. 'I am afraid I was not in +his programme. Speak out—let us have it.'</p> + +<p>'Why,' said Felix, looking down, 'our little ones all wanted to have +you; but then we thought we should all be obliged to come home too +soon, unless you took the service for Papa.'</p> + +<p>'He certainly ought not to go to church after it,' said Mr. Audley; +'but I can settle that by riding home in good time. What's the day?'</p> + +<p>'The day after the girls' break-up, if you please,' said Felix, still +not perfectly happy, but unable to help himself; and manifesting quite +enough reluctance to make his father ask, as soon as they had parted, +what made him so ungracious.</p> + +<p>'Only, Papa,' said Felix frankly, 'that we know that you and he will +get into some Church talk, and then you'll be of no use; and we wanted +to have it all to ourselves.'</p> + +<p>'Take care, Felix,' said Mr. Underwood; 'large families are apt to get +into a state of savage exclusiveness.'</p> + +<p>Felix had to bear the drawback, and the groans it caused from Wilmet, +Edgar, and Fulbert: the rest decidedly rejoiced. And Mr. Underwood +privately confided the objection to his friend, observing merrily that +they would bind themselves by a promise not to talk shop throughout the +expedition.</p> + +<p>It was a brilliantly happy week. Pretty hats, bound with dark blue +velvet, and fresh black silk jackets, were squeezed out of the four +pounds, with the help of a few shillings out of the intended hire of +the van, and were the glory of the whole family, both of those who were +to wear them and those who were not.</p> + +<p>On Saturday evening, just as the four elder young people were about +to sally forth to do the marketing for their pic-nic, a great hamper +made its appearance in the passage, addressed to F. C. Underwood, +Esq., and with nothing to pay. Only there was a note fastened to the +side, saying, 'Dear Felix, pray let the spicy van find room for my +contribution to your pic-nic. I told my mother to send me what was +proper from home.—C. S. A.'</p> + +<p>Mrs. Underwood was dragged out to superintend the unpacking, which +she greatly advised should be merely a surface investigation. That +was quite enough, however, to assure her that for Felix to lay in any +provision, except the tea and the bread she had already promised, would +be entirely superfluous. The girls were disappointed of their cookery; +but derived consolation from the long walk with the brothers, in which +a cake of good carmine and a lump of gamboge were purchased for Cherry, +and two penny dolls for Robina and Angela. What would become of the +rest of the pound?</p> + +<p>On Sunday, the offertory was, as usual on ordinary occasions, rather +scanty; but there was one half-sovereign; and Mr. Underwood was +convinced that it had come from under the one white surplice that had +still remained on the choir boys' bench.</p> + +<p>He stayed in the vestry after the others to count and take care of +the offerings, and as he took up the gold, he could not but look at +his son, who was waiting for him, and who flushed all over as he met +his eye. 'Yes, Papa, I wanted to tell you—I did grudge it at first,' +he said hoarsely. 'I knew it was the tithe; but it seemed so much +away from them all. I settled that two shillings was the tenth of my +own share, and I would give that to-day; and then came Mr. Harper's +kindness about the van; and next, when I was thinking how I could +save the tenth part without stinting everybody, came all Mr. Audley's +hamper. It is very strange and happy, Papa, and I have still something +left.'</p> + +<p>'I believe,' said Mr. Underwood, 'that you will find the considering +the tithe as not your own, is the safest way of keeping poverty from +grinding you, or wealth from spoiling you.'</p> + +<p>And very affectionately he leant on his son's shoulder all the way +home; while Mr. Audley was at luncheon at the Rectory with my Lady, and +her twelve years old daughter.</p> + +<p>'Mamma,' said Miss Price, 'did you see the Underwoods in new hats?'</p> + +<p>'Of course I did, my dear. They were quite conspicuous enough; but when +people make a great deal of their poverty, they always do break out in +the most unexpected ways.'</p> + +<p>'They are pretty girls,' said the Rector, rather dreamily, 'and I +suppose they must have new clothes sometimes.'</p> + +<p>'You will always find,' proceeded Lady Price without regard, 'that +people of that sort have a wonderful eye to the becoming—nothing +economical for them! I am sorry for Mr. Underwood, his wife is bringing +up a set of fine ladies, who will trust to their pretty looks, and be +quite above doing anything for themselves.'</p> + +<p>'Do you think Wilmet and Alda Underwood so very pretty, Mr. Audley?' +inquired Miss Price, turning her precocious eyes upon him.</p> + +<p>'Remarkably so,' Mr. Audley replied, with a courteous setting-down tone +that was the only thing that ever approached to subduing Miss Price, +and which set her pouting without an answer.</p> + +<p>'It is a great misfortune to girls in that station of life to have that +painted-doll sort of beauty,' added my Lady; 'and what was it I heard +about a pic-nic party?'</p> + +<p>'No party, my dear,' replied the Rector, 'only a little fresh air for +the family—a day in Centry Park. Felix spends his birth-day present +from his godfather in taking them.'</p> + +<p>'Ah! I always was sure they had rich friends, though they keep it so +close. Never let me hear of their poverty after this.'</p> + +<p>Answers only rendered it worse, so my Lady had it her own way, and not +being known to the public in St. Oswald's Buildings, did not trouble +them much. Yet there was a certain deference to public opinion there, +when Alda was heard pouting, 'Felix, why did you go to that horrid +Harper? Just fancy Miss Price seeing us!'</p> + +<p>'Who cares for a stuck-up thing like Miss Price?' growled Felix.</p> + +<p>'I don't care for her,' said Edgar; 'but it is just as well to have +some notion of things, and Felix hasn't a grain. Why, all the fellows +will be asking which of us is pepper, and which Souchong? I wouldn't +have Froggatt or Bruce see me in it at no price.'</p> + +<p>'Very well, stay at home, then,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'You could have had the waggonet from the Fortinbras Arms,' said Alda.</p> + +<p>'Ay—for all my money, and not for love.'</p> + +<p>'For shame, Alda,' said her twin sister; 'how can you be so ridiculous!'</p> + +<p>'You know yourself, Wilmet, it is quite true; if any of the girls see +us, we shall be labelled "The Groceries."'</p> + +<p>'Get inside far enough, and they will not see you.'</p> + +<p>'Ay, but there'll be that disgusting little Bobbie and Lance sitting in +the front, making no end of row,' said Edgar; 'and the whole place will +know that Mr. Underwood and his family are going out for a spree in old +Harper's van! Pah! I shall walk.'</p> + +<p>'So shall I,' said Alda, 'at least till we are out of the town; but +that won't do any good if those children will make themselves so +horridly conspicuous. Could not we have the thing to meet us somewhere +out of town, Felix?'</p> + +<p>'And how would you get Cherry there, or Mamma? Or Baby?—No, no, if you +are too genteel for the van, you may walk.'</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE PIC-NIC.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 30%;"> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'There, on a slope of orchard, Francis laid</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">A damask napkin, wrought with horse and hound;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Brought out a dusky loaf that smelt of home,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And, half-cut down, a pasty costly made,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Where quail and pigeon, lark and leveret lay,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Like fossils of the rock, with golden yolks</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Imbedded and injellied; last, with these</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">A flask of cider from his father's vats,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Prime which I knew;—and so we sat and ate.'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 15em;"><i>Tennyson.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>No. 8, St. Oswald's Buildings was a roomy house, which owed its +cheapness to its situation, this being neither in the genteel nor the +busy part of Bexley. It was tall and red, and possessed a good many +rooms, and it looked out into a narrow street, the opposite side of +which consisted of the long wall of a brewery, which was joined farther +on to that of the stable-yard of the Fortinbras Arms, the principal +hotel, which had been much frequented in old posting days, and +therefore had offices on a large scale. Only their side, however, was +presented to St. Oswald's Buildings, the front, with its arched 'porte +cochčre,' being in the High Street, as it was still called, though it +was a good deal outshone by the newer part of the town.</p> + +<p>The next-door neighbours of No. 8 were on the one hand a carpenter's +yard, the view of which was charming to the children, and the noises +not <i>too</i> obnoxious to their parents; and on the other the Rectory +garden, which separated them from the churchyard, now of course +disused. It had no entrance towards their lane; and to reach the +church, it was necessary to turn the corner of the wall, and go in +through the south porch, which opened close upon the High Street.</p> + +<p>In this old street lay the two buildings that chiefly concerned the +young Underwoods, <i>i.e.</i> the two schools. That for boys was an old +foundation, which had fallen into decay, and had been reformed and +revivified in nineteenth-century fashion, to suit the requirements +of the town. The place, though in the south of England, had become +noted as a pottery, owing partly to the possession of large fields +of a peculiar clay, which was so bad for vegetable growth, as to +proclaim its destiny to become pots and pans, partly to its convenient +neighbourhood to the rising seaport of Dearport, which was only an hour +from it by railway. The old St. Oswald's school had been moulded under +the influence of new comers, who had upset the rules of the founder, +and arranged the terms on the broadest principles of liberality, +bringing, instead of the drowsy old clerical master, a very brisk +and lively young layman, who had a knack of conveying instruction of +multifarious kinds such as had never occurred to his predecessor.</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood had a certain liking for the man, and when tolerably +well, enjoyed the breaking a lance with him over his many crude +heterodoxies; but he did not love the school, and as long as he was +able had taught his boys himself, and likewise taken a few day-pupils +of the upper ranks, who were preparing for public schools. But when his +failure of health rendered this impracticable, the positive evil of +idleness was, he felt, greater than any possible ones that might arise +from either the teaching or the associations of the town school, and he +trusted to home influence to counteract any such dangers. Or perhaps +more truly he dreaded lest his own reluctance might partly come from +prejudice in favour of gentlemen and public schools; and he believed +that where a course seemed of absolute necessity, Providence became +a guard in its seeming perils. Indeed, that which he disapproved in +Mr. Ryder's school was more of omission than commission. It was that +secularity was the system, rather than the substance of that secularity.</p> + +<p>So Felix and Edgar went to school, and were in due time followed by +Clement and Fulbert; and their bright wits, and the educated atmosphere +of their home, made their career brilliant and successful. Mr. Ryder +was greatly pleased to have got the sons of a man whom he could not but +admire and respect, and was anxious that the boys should be the means +of conquering the antiquated prejudices in favour of exclusiveness at +school.</p> + +<p>Felix and Edgar were neck and neck, carrying off all the prizes of +the highest form but one—Felix, those that depended on industry and +accuracy; Edgar, those that could be gained by readiness and dexterity. +Both were to be promoted to the upper form; and Mr. Ryder called upon +their father in great enjoyment of their triumph, and likewise to +communicate his confident certainty that they would do him and Bexley +credit by obtaining the most notable scholarships of the University. +Mr. Underwood was not a little delighted, grateful for the cordial +sympathy, and he fully agreed that his own lads had benefited by the +clear vigorous teaching they had received; but though he smiled and +allowed that they had taken no harm, he said good-humouredly that 'Of +course, he must consider <i>that</i> as the proof of his own powers of +counteraction.'</p> + +<p>'Exactly so,' said the schoolmaster. 'All we wish is, that each home +should exercise its powers of counteraction. We do the teaching, you +form the opinions.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! are we parents still to be allowed to form the opinions?'</p> + +<p>'If you <i>will</i>. Your house is your castle, and the dungeons there may +be what you will.'</p> + +<p>'Well, I cannot have a quarrel with you to-day, Ryder! As long as I +can show up my boys as tokens of God's blessing on their home, you are +welcome to them as instances of wits well sharpened by thorough good +instruction.'</p> + +<p>Mrs. Underwood had likewise had a congratulatory visit that was very +gratifying. The girls' school, a big old red house, standing back from +the road at the quietest end of the town, was kept by two daughters of +a former clergyman, well educated and conscientious women, whom she +esteemed highly, and who gave a real good grounding to all who came +under their hands, going on the opposite principle to Mr. Ryder's, and +trying to supply that which the homes lacked.</p> + +<p>And they did often succeed in supplying it, though their scholars came +from a class where there was much to subdue; and just at present their +difficulties had been much increased by their having been honoured +by the education of Miss Price. Seven governesses in succession had +proved incapable of bearing with Lady Price; and the young lady had +in consequence been sent to Miss Pearson's, not without an endeavour +on her mother's part to obtain an abatement in terms in honour of the +<i>éclat</i> of her rank.</p> + +<p>There her airs proved so infectious, that, as Miss Pearson said, the +only assistance she had in lessening their evil influence was the +perfect lady-likeness of the Underwood twins, and the warm affection +that Wilmet inspired. Alda headed a sort of counter party against +Caroline Price, which went on the principle of requiting scorn with +scorn; but Wilmet's motherly nature made her the centre of attraction +to all the weak and young, and her uprightness bore many besides +herself through the temptation to little arts. Both sisters had prizes, +Alda's the first and best; and Miss Pearson further offered to let +Wilmet pay for her own studies and those of a sister, by becoming +teacher to the youngest class, and supervisor during the mid-day +recreation, herself and her sister dining at school.</p> + +<p>It was a handsome offer for such a young beginner, and the mother's +eyes filled with tears of pleasure; and yet there was a but—</p> + +<p>'Not come home to dinner!' cried the children. 'Can't it be Alda +instead of Wilmet? We do always want Wilmet so, and Alda would do just +as well at school.'</p> + +<p>Alda too was surprised; for was not she more regular and more forward +than her twin sister, who was always the one to be kept at home when +any little emergency made Mamma want the aid of an elder daughter? +And the mother would almost have asked that Alda might be the chosen +governess pupil, if Mr. Underwood had not said, 'No, my dear, Miss +Pearson must have her own choice. It is a great kindness, and must be +accepted as such. I suppose Robina must be the new scholar. My little +pupil will not leave me.'</p> + +<p>Geraldine only heard of the alternative, to say, 'I'll be nobody's +pupil but yours, Papa.'</p> + +<p>While Robina was proportionably exalted by her preferment, and took to +teasing every one in the house to hear her spelling and her tables, +that she might not fulfil Edgar's prediction by going down to the +bottom of the baby-class; and up and down the stairs she ran, chanting +in a sing-song measure—</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 25%;"> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'Twenty pence are one and eightpence,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Thirty pence are two and sixpence,'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>and so on, till her father said, smiling, 'Compensations again, Mother: +the less you teach them the more they are willing to learn.' The mother +shook her head, and said the theory was more comfortable than safe, and +that she did not find Lancelot an instance of it.</p> + +<p>But there was a general sense of having earned the holiday, when the +grocery van came to the door, on a morning of glorious sunshine. Edgar +and Alda, true to their promise, had walked on so far ahead as to +avoid being seen in the town in connection with it; and Fulbert had +started with them to exhale his impatience, but then had turned back +half-way, that he might not lose the delicious spectacle of the packing +of the vehicle. A grand pack it was: first, the precious hamper; then a +long sofa-cushion, laid along the bottom; then Geraldine lifted in by +Sibby and Felix, and folded up with shawls, and propped with cushions +by Mamma, whose imagination foresaw more shaking than did the more +youthful anticipation; then Mamma herself, not with 'little baby,' but +with Angela on her lap, and Angela's feet in all manner of unexpected +places; then a roll of umbrellas and wraps; then Wilmet, Fulbert, +Lance, and Robina—nowhere in particular; and lastly Papa, making room +for Clement between himself and the good-humoured lad of a driver, who +had not long ago been a member of the choir; while Felix, whom nothing +could tire on that day, dived rapidly down a complication of alleys, +declaring he should be up with the walkers long before they were +overtaken by the van.</p> + +<p>Next appeared Mr. Audley, with his pretty chestnut horse, offering +in the plenitude of his good-nature to give Lance a ride, whereupon +vociferous '<i>me toos</i>' resounded from within the curtains; and the +matter was compounded on ride and tie principles, in which the +Underwood juniors got all the ride, and Mr. Audley all the <i>tie</i>—if +that consisted in walking and holding the bridle.</p> + +<p>By the time the very long and dull suburbs of Bexley were passed, with +their interminable villas and rows of little ten-pound houses—the +children's daily <i>country</i> walk, poor things!—the two elder boys and +their sister were overtaken, the latter now very glad to condescend to +the van.</p> + +<p>'Oh, how nice to get beyond our tiresome old tether!' she said, +arranging herself a peep-hole between the curtains. 'I am so sick of +all those dusty black beeches, and formal evergreens. How can you stare +at them so, Cherry?'</p> + +<p>But Geraldine was in a quiet trance of delight; she had never spoken a +word since she had first found a chink in the awning, but had watched +with avid eyes the moving panorama of houses, gardens, trees, flowers, +carriages, horses, passengers, nursemaids, perambulators, and children. +It was all a perfect feast to the long-imprisoned eyes, and the more +charming from the dreamy silence in which she gazed. When Felix came up +to the slit through which the bright eyes gleamed, and asked whether +she were comfortable and liked it, her answer was a long-drawn gasp +from the wells of infinite satisfaction, such as set him calculating +how many drives in a Bath-chair the remnant of his birth-day gift would +yet produce.</p> + +<p>But there were greater delights; corn-fields touched with amber, woods +sloping up hills, deep lanes edged with luxuriant ferns, greenery that +drove the young folk half mad with delight, and made them scream to +be let out and gather—gather to their hearts' content. Only Mamma +recommended not tiring themselves, but trusting that Centry Park would +afford even superior flowers to those they passed.</p> + +<p>They reached the lodge-gate at last. They were known, for the Castle +had been long untenanted, and they, like other inhabitants of Bexley, +had from time to time enjoyed themselves in the Park; but to-day there +was a shadow of demur. The gentleman who was going to buy the place was +looking over it—but surely—</p> + +<p>Horror began to spread over the inmates of the van.</p> + +<p>'But did you come by appointment, sir?' added the gatekeeper's wife, +coming out; 'the gentleman's name is Mr. Underwood.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood was obliged to disclaim any appointment; but he looked +round at the children's blank faces, and saw lips quivering, and eyes +gazing wistfully into the paradise of green shade, and added, 'If the +gentleman has not actually bought it, he could not object. We do not +wish to go near the house.'</p> + +<p>Maybe Mr. Audley, who was standing near the gate, added another more +substantial argument, for 'Oh, certainly, sir,' at once followed; and +the van was allowed to turn down a gravelled road, which skirted an +extensive plantation.</p> + +<p>Every one now left it, except Mrs. Underwood, Cherry, and Angela; and +the children began to rush and roll in wild delight on the grassy +slope, and to fill their hands with the heather and ling, shrieking +with delight. Wilmet had enough to do to watch over Angela in her +toddling, tumbling felicity; while Felix, weighted with Robina on his +back, Edgar, Fulbert, Clement, and Lance, ran in and out among the +turf; and Alda, demurely walking by her papa, opined that it was 'very +odd that the gentleman's name should be Underwood.'</p> + +<p>'Less odd than if it was Upperwood,' said her father, as if to throw +aside the subject; and then, after a few moments' thought, and an odd +little smile, as if at some thought within himself, he began to hand +in flowers to Cherry, and to play with little Angela. Mr. Audley had +gone to put up his horse at the village inn, and did not join the party +again till they had reached what the children called Pic-nic Hollow—a +spot where a bank suddenly rose above a bright dimpling stream with a +bed of rock, the wood opening an exquisite vista under its beech trees +beyond, and a keeper's lodge standing conveniently for the boiling of +kettles.</p> + +<p>Here the van was disposed of, the horses taken out and provided with +food, Cherry carried to a mossy throne under a glorious beech-tree, +and the hampers unpacked by Mamma and Wilmet, among much capering and +dancing of the rest of the family, and numerous rejected volunteers of +assistance. Felix and Alda were allowed to spread the table-cloth and +place the dishes, but Edgar was only entreated to keep the rest out of +the way.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Geraldine sat under the silvery bole of her beech-tree, +looking up through its delicate light green leaves to the blue sky, +not even wanting to speak, lest anything should break that perfection +of enjoyment. Her father watched the little pale absorbed countenance, +and as Mr. Audley came up, touched him to direct his attention to the +child's expression; but the outcry of welcome with which the rest +greeted the new-comer was too much for even Cherry's trance, and +she was a merry child at once, hungry with unwonted appetite, and +so relishing her share of the magnificent standing-pie, that Mrs. +Underwood reproved herself for thinking what the poor child would be if +she had such fare and such air daily, instead of ill-dressed mutton in +the oppressive smoke-laden atmosphere.</p> + +<p>And meantime, Lance was crowing like a cock, and the other boys were +laughing at Robina for her utter ignorance of the white-fleshed biped +she was eating.</p> + +<p>'No, Clem, chickens have got feathers and wings, and their long necks +hang down! This can't be one of them.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps it is a robin-redbreast,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'No, nobody kills robin-redbreasts, because they covered the poor +little children with leaves.'</p> + +<p>'Will you cover me with leaves, if I am lost, Bobbie?' said Mr. Audley; +but as soon as she found that his attention was gained, she returned to +the charge.</p> + +<p>'Please, did it come from your own home? and what is it, really?'</p> + +<p>'Why, Bobbie, I am hardly prepared to say whether it is a Hamburg or +a Houdan, or a more unambitious Dorking. Cannot you eat in comfort +without being certified?'</p> + +<p>'The species will be enough for her without the varieties,' said her +father. 'You have given us a new experience, you see, Audley, and we +may make a curious study of contrasts—not of Audley and myself, Mother +dear, but of the two Underwoods who seem to be in this place together +to-day.'</p> + +<p>'Who is it?' was of course the cry; and the inquiry was in Mrs. +Underwood's eyes, though it did not pass her quiet lips. It was to her +that he answered, 'Yes, my dear—Tom; I have little doubt that it is +he. He was a very rich man when last I heard of him.'</p> + +<p>'Is that the man at Vale Leston?' whispered Alda to Felix. 'Oh, I hope +he is not coming here to insult us.'</p> + +<p>'Bosh!' said Felix; 'that man's name is Fulbert. Listen, if you want to +hear.'</p> + +<p>'Twenty years ago,' continued Mr. Underwood, 'I thought myself a +prodigiously fine fellow—with my arms full of prizes at Harrow, +and my Trinity scholarship—and could just, in the plenitude of my +presumption, extend a little conceited patronage to that unlucky dunce, +Tom Underwood, the lag of every form, and thankful for a high stool at +old Kedge's. And now my children view a cold fowl as an unprecedented +monster, while his might, I imagine, revel in '<i>pâtés de foie gras</i>.'</p> + +<p>'O Papa, but we like you so much better as you are!' cried Geraldine.</p> + +<p>'Eh, Cherry!' said Mr. Underwood, 'what say you? Shouldn't you like me +better if I were buying that king beech-tree, and all the rest of it?'</p> + +<p>Cherry edged nearer, mastered his hand, and looked up in his face with +a whole soul of negation in her wistful eyes. 'No, no, no—just as you +are,' she whispered.</p> + +<p>Some mood of curiosity had come over him, and he turned an +interrogative look elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Alda spoke. 'Of course, it would be horrid not to be a clergyman; but +it is a great shame.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Wilmet, 'it can't be a shame for this cousin Tom to +have earned a fortune fairly—if he has; but'—and she pressed her +hands tightly together as she looked at the thin worn faces of her +parents—'one can't help wishing. Why do things always go hard and +wrong?' and the tears dimmed her bright eyes.</p> + +<p>'Because—they <i>don't</i>,' said her father, with a half-serious +quaintness that vexed her, and forced her to turn away to let the tear +drop.</p> + +<p>Clement said, in his calm voice, 'How can you be all so repining and +foolish!'</p> + +<p>And Mr. Underwood, almost in lazy mischief, pursued his experiment. +'Eh, Felix, you are the party most concerned—what say you?'</p> + +<p>'Most concerned?' Felix looked up surprised, then recollected himself. +'I don't care,' he said, with an appearance of gruff sullenness; +but his father could not content himself without continuing in a +semi-teasing tone, 'Don't care—eh? Why, this Centry Underwood once +belonged to our family—that's the reason Tom is after it. If I had +not scouted old Kedge, you would be prancing about here, a Harrovian, +counting the partridges.'</p> + +<p>'Don't!' broke in Felix, with a growl.</p> + +<p>'Never fear, Fee,' cried Edgar, with his hand on his brother's +shoulder; 'if one man got on in life, another may. If one only was +grown up, and had the start——' and his blue eyes sparkled.</p> + +<p>'I did not know Care's clutch had been so tight,' sighed Mr. Underwood, +half to himself, half to his wife. 'It is not safe, my gentle Enid, to +try such experiments. Eh!' rousing himself, 'what's that? Have the mob +there a right to any sentiments?'</p> + +<p>'Only,' cried Clement, shouting with laughter, 'Lance thought you were +wanted to hold a high stool for Jack Ketch.'</p> + +<p>'For a green goose!' shouted Lance, indignantly.</p> + +<p>'Oh!' cried Robina, in the tone of one who had made a scientific +discovery, 'did the goose have a high stool to lay the golden eggs?'</p> + +<p>'A most pertinent question, Bobbie, and much more reasonable than +mine,' said Mr. Underwood; while his colleague gravely answered, 'Yes, +Bobbie, golden eggs are almost always laid by geese on high stools.'</p> + +<p>'I've got a picture of one! It has got a long neck and long legs,' +quoth Bobbie.</p> + +<p>'It is only a flamingo, you little goose yourself,' cried Clement.</p> + +<p>'Here is the golden egg of the present,' said Mr. Underwood, +replenishing the boy's plate with that delicious pie. 'What's that +beverage, Wilmet? Any horrible brew of your own?'</p> + +<p>'No; it is out of Mr. Audley's hamper.'</p> + +<p>'The universal hamper. It is like the fairy gifts that produced +unlimited eatables. I dreaded cowslip wine or periwinkle broth.'</p> + +<p>'No, no, Papa,' sighed Alda, 'we only once made cowslip tea at Vale +Leston.'</p> + +<p>'Vale Leston is prohibited for the day.—Master Felix Chester +Underwood, your good health; and the same to the new Underwood of +Centry Underwood.'</p> + +<p>'Shall we see him, Papa?' asked Alda.</p> + +<p>'If either party desires the gratification, no doubt it will come +about.'</p> + +<p>'Shall not you call on him, Papa?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly not before he comes. Mother, some of the wonderful +bottle—ay, you covetous miser of a woman, or I'll make a libation of +it all. Audley, it must have wrung your father's butler's heart to have +thrown away this port on a pic-nic. What did you tell him to delude +him?'</p> + +<p>'Only what was true—that I was to meet a gentleman who was a judge of +the article.'</p> + +<p>'For shame!' he answered, laughing. 'What right had you to know that I +knew the taste of Cape from Roriz?'</p> + +<p>But his evident enjoyment of the 'good creature' was no small pleasure +to the provider, though it was almost choking to meet the glistening +glance of Mrs. Underwood's grateful eyes, knowing, as she did, that +there were three more such bottles in the straw at the bottom of +the hamper. And when baby Angela had clasped her fat hands, and, as +'youngest at the board,' 'inclined the head and pronounced the solemn +word,' her father added, '<i>Gratias Deo</i>, and <i>Grazie a lei</i>. We must +renew our childhood's training, dear Mary—make our bow and curtesy, +and say "Thank you for our good dinner."'</p> + +<p>'Thank Felix for our pleasant day,' said Mr. Audley. 'Come, boys, have +a swing! there's a branch too good not to be used; and Ful has already +hung himself up like a two-toed sloth.'</p> + +<p>Then began the real festivity—the swinging, the flower and fern +hunting, the drawing, the racing and shouting, the merry calls and +exchange of gay foolish talk and raillery.</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood lay back on a slope of moss, with a plaid beneath him, +and a cushion under his head, and said that the Elysian fields must +have been a prevision of this beech-wood. Mrs. Underwood, with Felix +and Wilmet, tied up the plates, knives, and forks; and then the +mother, taking Angela with her, went to negotiate kettle-boiling at +the cottage. Geraldine would fain have sketched, but the glory and the +beauty, and the very lassitude of delight and novelty, made her eyes +swim with a delicious mist; and Edgar, who had begun when she did, +threw down his pencil as soon as he saw Felix at liberty, and the two +boys rushed away into the wood for a good tearing scramble and climb, +like creatures intoxicated with the freedom of the greenwood.</p> + +<p>After a time they came back, dropping armfuls of loose-strife, +meadow-sweet, blue vetch, and honey-suckle over delighted Cherry; +and falling down by her side, coats off, all gasp and laughter, and +breathless narrative of exploits and adventures, which somehow died +away into the sleepiness due to their previous five-mile walk. Felix +went quite off, lying flat on his back, with his head on Cherry's +little spreading lilac cotton frock, and his mouth wide open, much +tempting Edgar to pop in a pebble; and this being prevented by tender +Cherry in vehement dumb show, Edgar consoled himself by a decidedly +uncomplimentary caricature of him as Giant Blunderbore (a name derived +from Fee, Fa, Fum) gaping for hasty pudding.</p> + +<p>'That's a horrid shame!' remonstrated Geraldine. 'Dear old Fee, when +the whole treat is owing to him!'</p> + +<p>'It is a tidy little lark for a Blunderbore to have thought of,' said +Edgar. ''Tis a good sort of giant after all, poor fellow!'</p> + +<p>'Poor!' said Cherry indignantly. 'Oh, you mean what Papa said—that he +is the greatest loser of us all. I wonder what made him talk in that +way? He never did before.'</p> + +<p>'I am sorry for <i>him</i>,' said Edgar, indicating his brother. 'He is +famous stuff for a landlord and member of parliament—plenty of wits +and brains—only he wants to be put on a shelf to be got at. Wherever +he is, he'll go on there! Now, a start is all I want! Give me my one +step—and then—O Gerald, some day I'll lift you all up!'</p> + +<p>'What's that?' said Felix, waking as the enthusiastic voice was raised. +'Edgar lifting us all! What a bounce we should all come down with!'</p> + +<p>'We were talking of what Papa said at dinner,' explained Cherry. 'What +did you think about it, Fee?'</p> + +<p>'I didn't think at all, I wished he hadn't,' said Felix, stretching +himself.</p> + +<p>'Why not?' said Cherry, a little ruffled at even Felix wishing Papa had +not.</p> + +<p>'There's no use having things put into one's head.'</p> + +<p>'O Felix, you don't want to change?' cried Cherry.</p> + +<p>'No,' he said; but it was a 'no' in a tone she did not understand. The +change he saw that hardship was working was that from which he recoiled.</p> + +<p>'That's like you, Blunderbore,' said Edgar. 'Now, the very reason I am +glad not to be born a great swell, but only a poor gentleman, is that +so much is open to one; and if one does anything great, it is all the +greater and more credit.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Felix, sitting up; 'when you have once got a scholarship, +there will be the whole world before you.'</p> + +<p>'Papa got a scholarship,' said Cherry.</p> + +<p>'Oh yes!' said Edgar; 'but every one knows what happens to a man that +takes Orders and marries young; and he had the most extraordinary +ill-luck besides! Now, as Ryder says, any man with brains can shine. +And I am only doubting whether to take to scholarship or art! I love +art more than anything, and it is the speediest.'</p> + +<p>The conversation was broken, for just then Wilmet was seen peering +about with an anxious, careful eye.</p> + +<p>'What is it, my deputy Partlet?' asked her father. 'Which of your brood +are you looking for?'</p> + +<p>'I can't see Robina,' said Wilmet anxiously. 'She was swinging just +now, but neither she nor Lance is with the big boys.'</p> + +<p>'Flown up higher,' said Mr. Underwood, pretending to spy among the +branches. 'Flapsy, come down! Bobbie, where are you?'</p> + +<p>A voice answered him; and in another moment Robina and Lance stood in +the glade, and with them a girl newly come to her teens, whom they +pulled forward, crying, 'She says she's our cousin!'</p> + +<p>'Indeed,' said Mr. Underwood: 'I am sure you are very much obliged to +her.'</p> + +<p>'I am Mary Alda Underwood,' said the girl abruptly; 'and I'm sure there +must be a very naughty boy here. He had put these poor little things up +a tree, and run away.'</p> + +<p>'No, no! He only put us up because Tina bothered about it!' screamed +Lance and Robina at once; 'he wasn't naughty. We were being monkeys.'</p> + +<p>'Black spider-monkeys,' added Robina.</p> + +<p>'And I swung about like a real one, Father,' said Lance, 'and was +trying to get Bobbie down, only she grew afraid.'</p> + +<p>'It was ten feet from the ground,' said Mary Alda, impressively, 'and +they had lost their way; but they told me who they were. I'm come down +with my father to see the place.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood heartily shook hands with her, thanked her, and asked +where her father was.</p> + +<p>'Gone out with the man to see a farm two miles off,' she said. 'He told +me I might stay in the house, or roam where I liked, and I saw you all +looking so happy; I've been watching you this long time.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed!' said Mr. Underwood, 'till you captured two of us! Well, we +are obliged for the introduction, especially if you are to be our +neighbour.'</p> + +<p>'And my cousins will be friends with me,' continued Mary Alda. 'I'm all +alone, you know.'</p> + +<p>'No, I did not know,' said Mr. Underwood. 'Are you the only child?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' she said, looking wistfully at the groups around her; 'and it is +very horrid—oh dear! who is that pretty one? No, there's another of +them!'</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood laughed heartily. 'I suppose you mean Wilmet and +Alda,' he said. 'Come, girls, and see your new cousin—Mary, did you +say?—Your name backward, Alda Mary.'</p> + +<p>'Mary,' she repeated. 'Papa calls me Mary, but Mamma wants it to be +Marilda all in one word, because she says it is more distinguished; but +I like a sensible name like other people.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood was much amused. He felt he had found a character in +his newly-discovered cousin. She was Underwood all over in his eyes, +used to the characteristic family features, although entirely devoid +of that delicacy and refinement of form and complexion that was so +remarkable in himself and in most of his children, who were all, except +poor little Cherry, a good deal alike, and most of them handsome. +There was a sort of clumsiness in the shape of every outline, and a +coarseness in the colouring, that made her like a bad drawing of one of +his own girls; the eyes were larger, the red of the cheeks was redder, +the lips were thicker, the teeth were irregular; the figure, instead +of being what the French call <i>élancé</i>, was short, high-shouldered, +and thick-set, and the head looked too large. She was over-dressed, +too, with a smart hat and spangled feather, a womanly silk mantle and +much-trimmed skirt, from which a heavy quilling had detached itself, +and was trailing on the ground; her hands were ungloved, and showed +red stumpy fingers, but her face had a bright open honest heartiness +of expression, and a sort of resolute straightforwardness, that +attracted and pleased him; and, moreover, there was something in the +family likeness, grotesque as it was, that could not but arouse a +fellow-feeling in his warm and open heart, which neither neglect nor +misfortune had ever chilled.</p> + +<p>'I think I should have known you,' he said, smiling. 'Here! let me +introduce you; here is our little lame white-hearted Cherry, and the +twins, as like as two peas. Wilmet, Alda—here!'</p> + +<p>'Shall I mend your frock?' was Wilmet's first greeting, as she put her +hand in her pocket, and produced a little housewife.</p> + +<p>'Oh, thank you! You've got a needle and thread! What fun!'</p> + +<p>'The little ones are very apt to tear themselves, so I like to have it +ready.'</p> + +<p>'How delicious! And you mend for them? I wish I had any one to mend +for. Please show me, and let me do it. I tried to tear the nasty thing +off, but it would not come. I wish Mamma would let me wear sensible +print like yours.'</p> + +<p>'Are you laughing at us?' said Wilmet rather bluntly.</p> + +<p>'No, indeed, not a bit,' said Marilda, or Mary Alda, eagerly. 'If you +only knew how tiresome it all is.'</p> + +<p>'What is?'</p> + +<p>'Why, being fine—having a governess, and talking French, and learning +to dance, and coming down into the drawing-room. Then Grandmamma Kedge +tells me how she used to run about in pattens, and feed the chickens, +and scrub the floor, and I do so wish I was her. Can you scrub, and do +those nice things?'</p> + +<p>'Not a floor,' said Wilmet; 'and we live in the town.'</p> + +<p>'So have we done till now; but Papa is going to get this place, because +he says it is family property; and I hope he will, for they will +never be able to screw me up here as they do at home. I say, which is +Fulbert? Won't your father punish him?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, no! You should not have told, Marilda. We never tell Papa of +little tricks of the boys.'</p> + +<p>'But the little darling might have broken her neck.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! life in a large family is made up of <i>might haves</i>,' said Alda.</p> + +<p>'Why, I do declare there's a smaller still! What a little duck!' and +she pounced upon Angela.</p> + +<p>'We have a smaller than that,' said Wilmet—'Bernard, only we left him +at home.'</p> + +<p>'Tell me all your names!' cried Marilda, delighted.</p> + +<p>She was perfectly happy, and chattered on in great delight in her +downright voice, as much at ease as if she had known them all her life. +She shared their tea, and wanted Mr. Underwood to come and see her +father at the house; but as she could not promise his early return, and +it was necessary to get the van under weigh before five, this could not +be.</p> + +<p>However, she would not leave them till they were all packed into the +van, and then only parted with repeated kisses and auguries of many +future meetings; so that the children looked down a vista of unlimited +enjoyment of Centry Park. Edgar, little gentleman as he was, saw her as +far back on the way as he could venture.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h4> + +<h3>FORTUNATUS' PURSE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 35%;"> +'Out, base mechanical churl!'—<i>Shakespeare.</i><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Weeks went on, and nothing more was heard of 'Marilda' except the +wishes and wonderings of the children. Alda decided that she was one +of the heartless fine ladies one heard of in books—and no wonder, +when her father was in trade, and she looked so vulgar; while Wilmet +contended against her finery, and Cherry transferred the heartlessness +to her cruel father and mother, and Robina never ceased to watch for +her from the window, even when Felix and Edgar for very weariness had +prohibited the subject from being ever mentioned, and further checked +it by declaring that Marilda looked like a cow.</p> + +<p>There was plenty besides to think of; and the late summer and early +autumn rolled cheerily away. The wonderful remnant of Felix's birth-day +gift was partly applied to the hire of a chair for Geraldine upon every +favourable evening; and as the boys themselves were always ready to +act as horses, they obtained it on moderate terms, which made the sum +hold out in a marvellous manner. And not only were these drives delight +unimaginable to the little maid, but the frequent breaths of pure air +seemed to give her vigour; she ate more, smiled more, and moved with +less pain and difficulty, so that the thought of a partial recovery +began to seem far less impossible.</p> + +<p>The children trooping about her, she used to be drawn to the nearest +bit of greensward, tree, or copse, and there would occupy herself +with the attempt to sketch, often in company with Edgar; and with a +few hints from her father, would be busied for days after with the +finishing them, or sometimes the idealizing them, and filling them with +the personages she had read of in books of history or fiction. She was +a sensitive little body, who found it hard not to be fretful, when told +that it was very ill-natured to object to having her paints daubed over +her drawings by Lance, Robina, and Angel—an accusation often brought +against her by rough, kindly Sibby, and sometimes even by Wilmet in an +extremity; while Mamma's subdued entreaty, that she would do something +to please the little ones, if it could be without mischief to herself, +always humiliated her more than anything else, and made her ready to +leave all to their mercy, save for deference to Edgar, and gratitude to +Felix. Robina would look on soberly enough in admiration; but Lance's +notions of art were comic, and Fulbert's were arbitrary, and both were +imperiously carried out with due contempt for the inferior sex, and +were sure to infect both the little sisters.</p> + +<p>Then, of course, so many holiday boys were hard to keep in order. +Clement had a strong propensity in that direction; he was a grave, +quiet boy, without much sense of the absurd, and was generally the +victim of Edgar's wit; but, on the other hand, he was much in the +habit of objecting to anything Edgar or Fulbert proposed, and thereby +giving forbidden or doubtful amusements double zest. He was never <i>in</i> +mischief, and yet he was never an element of peace.</p> + +<p>All this, however, was mitigated when the holidays ended, and Lance +was allowed to follow his brothers to school, while Bobbie importantly +trotted in the wake of her sisters. Mamma and Cherry felt it no small +comfort to have no one at home who did not sleep away two or three of +the morning hours; and the lessons that the little girl delighted to +prepare for her father went on in peace—the arithmetic, the French, +the Latin, and even the verses of Greek Testament, that he always said +rested him.</p> + +<p>And he was 'quite well,' he said himself; and though his wife never +confirmed this reply, he was everywhere as usual—in church, in schools +of all kinds, in parish meetings, by sick-beds, or in cottages, as +bright and as popular as ever, perhaps the more so that he was more +transparently thin, and every stranger started at the sound of his +cough; though the Bexley people had grown weary of repeating the same +augury for four or five years, and began, like 'my Lady,' to call it +'constitutional.'</p> + +<p>So came the autumn Ember Week; and Mr. Audley had to go to receive +Priests' Orders, and afterwards to spend the next fortnight with his +parents, who complained that they had not seen him once since he had +settled at Bexley. The last week was the break-up of summer weather, +and Mr. Bevan caught cold, and was rheumatic; there were two funerals +on wet and windy days, and when Mr. Audley, on Lady Price's entreating +summons, wrenched himself from a murmuring home, and, starting by an +early train, arrived half through the St. Michael's Day Service, it was +to see Mr. Underwood looking indeed like some ethereal ascetic saint, +with his bright eyes and wasted features, and to hear him preach in +extempore—as was his custom—a sermon on the blessedness of angel +helps, which in its intense fervour, almost rapture, was to many as if +it came from a white-winged angel himself. Mr. Audley glided into his +own place, and met Felix's look of relief. The sermon was finished, +and the blessing given; but before he could descend the steps, the +cough had come on, and with it severe hćmorrhage. They had to send +one startled boy for Mrs. Underwood, and another for the doctor, and +it was an hour before he could be taken home in a chair. No one ever +forgot that sermon, for it was the last he ever preached. He was very +ill indeed for several days, but still hopeful and cheerful; and as the +weather mended, and the calm brightness of October set in, he rallied, +and came downstairs again, not looking many degrees more wan and hectic +than before, with a mind as alert as usual, and his kind heart much +gratified by the many attentions of his parishioners during his illness.</p> + +<p>During the worst, Mrs. Underwood had been obliged to keep one of the +elder girls at home—Wilmet at first, both by her own desire and that +of Alda; but it was soon made a special matter of entreaty by Miss +Pearson, that the substitution might not take place; the little class +was always naughty under Alda, and something the same effect seemed to +be produced on Angela and Bernard. They made so much less disturbance +when entrusted to Cherry, that the mother often sent Alda to sit by +papa, even though she knew he liked nothing so well as to have his +little pupil's soft voice repeating to him the Latin hymns she loved to +learn on purpose. Alda read or sang to him very prettily, and they were +very happy together; but then Wilmet could do that as well, and also +mind the babies, or do invalid cookery, and supplement Sibby's defects, +and set the mother free for the one occupation she cared for most—the +constant watching of that wasted countenance.</p> + +<p>But all was better. He had been able to collect his children for +their evening's Bible lesson and Sunday Catechism, and to resume the +preparation of Edgar and Geraldine for their Confirmation, though it +was at least a year distant, and even had spoken of sending for others +of his catechumens. Wilmet and Alda were both at school, the two +babies out with Sibby, Mamma at work, Papa dreaming over a Comment on +the Epistle to the Philippians, which was very near his heart, and he +always called his holiday work, and Geraldine reading on her little +couch when there was a sharp ring at the bell, and after an interval, +the girl who daily came in to help, announced 'Lady Price.'</p> + +<p>Even my Lady had been startled and softened by the reality of Mr. +Underwood's illness, and remorseful for having coddled her husband at +his expense; she had sent many enquiries, some dainties, and a good +many recipes; and she had made no objection to Mr. Bevan's frequent and +affectionate visits, nor even to his making it obvious that however +little his senior curate might do that winter, he would not accept his +resignation for the present.</p> + +<p>It was enough to make Mr. Underwood feel absolutely warm and grateful +to his old tormentor, as he rose, not without some effort, held out +his hand to her, and cheerily answered her inquiries for his cough. +She even discussed the berries in the hedges, and the prospects of a +mild winter, in a friendly, hesitating tone; and actually commended Mr. +Underwood's last pupil-teacher, before she began—'I am afraid I am +come upon a disagreeable business.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood expected to hear of his own inefficiency; or perhaps +that Mr. Audley had adopted some habit my Lady disapproved, or that +the schoolmaster was misbehaving, or that some Christmas dole was +to be curtailed, and that he would have to announce it because Mr. +Bevan would not. He was not prepared to hear, 'Are you aware that—in +short—perhaps you can explain it, but has not your son Felix been +spending a good deal of money—for him, I mean—lately?'</p> + +<p>'Felix had a present from his godfather,' said Mr. Underwood, not at +all moved, so secure was he that this must be an exaggeration.</p> + +<p>'Last summer, I heard of that. It was laid out on a pic-nic,' said Lady +Price, severely.</p> + +<p>'It was intended to be so spent,' said the curate; 'but people were +so good-natured, that very little actually went that way, and the +remainder was left in his own hands.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Mr. Underwood, but I am afraid that remainder has been made to +cover a good deal of which you do not know!'</p> + +<p>Mrs. Underwood flushed, and would have started forward. Her husband +looked at her with a reassuring smile. My Lady, evidently angered +at their blindness, went on, 'It is a painful duty, Mr. Underwood, +especially in your present state; but I think it due to you, as the +father of a family, to state what I have learned.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you. What is it?'</p> + +<p>'Have you reckoned the number of times the chair has been hired?' +and as he shook his head, 'That alone would amount to more than a +pound. Besides which, your daughters have been provided with books and +music—fruit has been bought—all amiable ways of spending money, no +doubt; but the question is, how was it procured?'</p> + +<p>'Indeed,' said Mr. Underwood, still pausing.</p> + +<p>'And,' added the lady, 'the means can, I am afraid, be hardly doubted, +though possibly the boy may have done it in ignorance. Indeed, one of +his sisters allowed as much.'</p> + +<p>'What did she allow, Lady Price?'</p> + +<p>'That—that it was won at play, Mr. Underwood. You know Mr. Froggatt +gives his boy an absurd amount of pocket-money, and when she was taxed +with this, your daughter—Alda is her name, I believe—allowed that—'</p> + +<p>'Papa, Papa!' breathlessly broke out Cherry, who had been forgotten +on her little sofa all this time, but now dashed forward, stumping +impetuously with her crutch—'Papa, it's all Alda, how can she be so +horrid?'</p> + +<p>'What is it, my dear?' said Mr. Underwood. 'You can explain it, I see. +Tell Lady Price what you mean, Geraldine,' he added gravely, to compose +the child, who was sobbing with excitement and indignation.</p> + +<p>'O Lady Price!' she cried, facing about with her hair over her face, +'he earned it—he earned every bit of it! How could any one think he +did not?'</p> + +<p>'Earned it? What does that mean, little girl?' said Lady Price, still +severely. 'If he did the boy's exercises for him—'</p> + +<p>'No, no, no,' interrupted Geraldine, 'it was old Mr. Froggatt. He asked +Felix to look over the papers he had to print for the boys' work at the +Grammar School, because it is all Latin and Greek, and Charles Froggatt +is so careless and inaccurate, that he can't be trusted.'</p> + +<p>The faces of the father and mother had entirely cleared; but Lady Price +coughed drily, saying, 'And you did not know of this arrangement?'</p> + +<p>Geraldine's eyes began to twinkle with tears. 'I don't know what Felix +will say to me for telling now,' she said.</p> + +<p>'It must have come to light some time, though concealment is always a +proof of shame,' began Lady Price in a consoling tone that filled the +little lame girl with a fresh passion, drawing up her head.</p> + +<p>'Shame! Nobody's ashamed! Only Mamma and Felix and Wilmet never will +bear that Papa should know how terribly we do want things sometimes.'</p> + +<p>And Geraldine, overpowered by her own unguarded words, ran into her +mother's arms, and hid her face on her shoulder.</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Lady Price,' said Mr. Underwood gravely. 'I am glad my +little girl has been able to satisfy you that Felix has honestly earned +whatever he may have spent.'</p> + +<p>'If you are satisfied,' returned the lady, 'it is not my affair; but I +must say I should like to know of such transactions among my children.'</p> + +<p>'Sometimes one is glad to have a boy to be perfectly trusted,' said Mr. +Underwood.</p> + +<p>'But you will speak to him?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly I shall.'</p> + +<p>Lady Price felt that she must go, and rose up with an endeavour to +retract. 'Well, it is a relief to Mr. Bevan and me to find your son not +consciously in fault, for it would have been a most serious thing. And +in such a matter as this, of course you can do as <i>you</i> please.'</p> + +<p>To this Mr. Underwood made no reply, as none was necessary, but only +saw her out to the door in that extremely polite manner that always +made her feel smallest; and then he dropped into his chair again, with +a curl of the lip, and the murmur, 'Not consciously!'</p> + +<p>'O Papa, Papa!' cried Cherry.</p> + +<p>'Dear Felix!' said the mother, with tears in her eyes; 'but what can +Alda have been saying?'</p> + +<p>Cherry was about to speak again, but her father gently put her aside. +'A little quietness now, if you please, my dear; and send Felix to me +when he comes in. Let me have him alone, but don't say anything to him.'</p> + +<p>There was no need to send Felix to his father, for he came in of his +own accord, radiant, with a paper containing a report of a public +meeting on Church matters that his father had been wishing to see.</p> + +<p>'Thanks, my boy,' said Mr. Underwood; 'where does this come from?'</p> + +<p>'From Froggatt's, father. It was only fourpence.'</p> + +<p>'But, Felix, repeated fourpences must exhaust even that Fortunatus' +purse of Admiral Chester's.'</p> + +<p>Felix coloured. 'Yes, Papa, I wanted to tell you; but I waited till you +were better.'</p> + +<p>'You will hardly find a better time than the present,' said Mr +Underwood.</p> + +<p>'It is only this,' said Felix, with a little hesitation. 'You +know there's a good deal of printing to be done for the school +sometimes—the questions in Latin and Greek and Algebra, and even +when Mr. Ryder does have the proofs, it wants some one who really +understands to see that the corrections are properly done. Old Smith +used to do it, by real force of Chinese accuracy, but he has been ill +for some time, and Mr. Froggatt can't see to do it himself, and Charlie +won't, and can't be trusted either. So one day, when I was reading in +the shop, Mr. Froggatt asked me to see if a thing was right; and it +went on: he asked me after a time to take anything I liked, and I did +get some school books we all wanted; but after that, just when you +were ill, I could not help telling him I had rather have the money. O +Father!' cried the boy, struck by a certain look of distress, 'did I do +wrong?'</p> + +<p>'Not in the least, my boy. Go on; what does he give you?'</p> + +<p>'Exactly at the rate he gave Smith for doing the same work,' said +Felix: 'it always was an extra for being so troublesome. It was seven +shillings last week—generally it comes to three or four and sixpence.'</p> + +<p>'And when do you do it?'</p> + +<p>'I run in after I come out of school for half an hour. Last Saturday +I corrected a sheet of the Pursuivant, because Mr. Froggatt had to go +out, and that made it more. And, Father, Mr. Froggatt says that poor +old Smith will never be fit for work again.'</p> + +<p>'Then I suppose these welcome earnings of yours will end when he has a +successor?'</p> + +<p>Felix came nearer. 'Papa,' he said, 'Mr. Froggatt told me that if +Charlie would only have taken to the work, he would have done without +another man in Smith's place, and got him gradually into editing the +paper too. He said he wished I was not a gentleman's son, for if I +had not been so I should have suited him exactly, and should be worth +a guinea a week even now. And, Father, do not you really think I had +better take it?'</p> + +<p>'You, Felix!' Mr. Underwood was exceedingly startled for the moment.</p> + +<p>'You see,' said Felix rather grimly, leaning his head on the +mantelshelf, and looking into the fire, 'any other way I can only be an +expense for years upon years, even if I did get a scholarship.'</p> + +<p>His face was crimson, and his teeth set. Mr. Underwood lay back in his +chair for some seconds; then said in a low voice, 'I see you know all +about it, Felix; and that I am going to leave you as heavy a burthen as +ever lad took on willing shoulders.'</p> + +<p>Felix knew well enough, but his father had never uttered a word of +despondency to him before, and he could only go on gazing steadfastly +into the fire with an inarticulate moan.</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood opened the first leaf of a volume of St. Augustine, +beside him, a relic of former days, the family shield and motto +within—namely, a cross potent, or crutch-shaped, and the old English +motto, 'Under Wode, Under Rode.'</p> + +<p>'Under wood, under rood,' he repeated. 'It was once but sing-song to +me. Now what a sermon! The load is the Cross. Bear thy cross, and thy +cross will bear thee, like little Geraldine's cross potent—Rod and +Rood, Cross and Crutch—all the same etymologically and veritably.'</p> + +<p>'Don't call them a burthen, pray!' said Felix, with a sense both of +deprecation and of being unable to turn to the point.</p> + +<p>'My boy, I am afraid I was thinking more of myself than of you. I am +an ungrateful fool; and when a crutch is offered to me, I take hold of +it as a log instead of a rood. I did not know how much pride there was +left in me till I found what a bitter pill this is!'</p> + +<p>Felix was more crimson than ever. 'Ought I not—' he began.</p> + +<p>'The <i>ought</i> is not on your side, Felix. It is not all folly, I hope; +but I had thought you would have been a better parson than your father.'</p> + +<p>There were tears in the boy's eyes now. 'There are the others; I may be +able to help them.'</p> + +<p>'And,' added Mr. Underwood, 'I know that to be a really poor priest, +there should be no one dependent on one, or it becomes, "Put me into +one of the priest's offices, that I may eat a piece of bread." It is +lowering! Yes, you are right. Even suppose you could be educated, +by the time you were ordained, you would still have half these poor +children on your hands, and it would only be my own story over again, +and beginning younger. You are right, Felix; but I never saw the +impossibility so fully before. I am glad some inward doubt held me back +from the impulse to dedicate my first-born.'</p> + +<p>'It shall be one of the others instead,' said Felix in his throat.</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood smiled a little, and put his finger on the verse in his +beloved Epistle—'Look not every man on his own things but every man +also on the things of others.'</p> + +<p>'You really wish this. Do you consider what it involves?' he said.</p> + +<p>'I think I do,' said Felix in a stifled voice.</p> + +<p>'This is not as if it were a great publisher,' continued Mr. Underwood, +'with whom there would be no loss of position or real society; but a +little bookseller in a country town is a mere tradesman, and though a +man like Audley may take you up from time to time, it will never be on +an absolute equality; and it will be more and more forgotten who you +were. You will have to live in yourself and your home, <i>depending</i> on +no one else.'</p> + +<p>'I can stand that,' said Felix, smiling. 'Father, indeed I thought of +all that. Of course I don't like it, but I don't see how it is to be +helped.'</p> + +<p>'Sit down, Felix: let us go over it again. I suppose you don't know +what our subsistence is at present.'</p> + +<p>'I know you have Ł250 a year from Mr. Bevan.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I had Ł200 at first, and he added the Ł50 when the third curate +was given up. That goes with me, of course, if not before. On the other +hand, my poor good uncle, the wisest thing he ever did, made me insure +my life for Ł5000, so there will be Ł150 a year to depend on, besides +what we had of our own, only Ł2,350 left of it now. I have had to +break into it for the doctor's bills, but at least there are no debts. +Thank God, we have been saved from debt! I think,' he continued, 'that +probably it will have to be brought down to twenty-two hundred before +you have done with me. On the whole, then, there will be about Ł180 a +year for you all to live upon. Are you understanding, Felix?'</p> + +<p>For the boy's anxious look had gone out of his face, and given place to +a stunned expression which was only dispelled with a sudden start by +his father's inquiry. 'Yes, yes,' he said recalling himself.</p> + +<p>'I have left it all absolutely to your mother,' said Mr. Underwood. +'She will depend more and more on you, Felix; and I have made up my +mind to expect that no help will come to you but from yourselves. +Except that I hope some of you may be educated by clergy orphan +schools, but you are too old for that now. Felix, I believe it may be +right, but it is very sore to break off your education.'</p> + +<p>'I shall try to keep it up,' said Felix, 'in case anything should ever +turn up.'</p> + +<p>'A guinea a week!' said Mr. Underwood, thoughtfully. 'It would make you +all not much worse off than you are now, when I am out of the way. And +yet—' A violent cough came on. 'We must wait, Felix,' he said, when he +had recovered himself. 'I must have time to think; I will speak to you +to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>Felix left him, very grave and subdued. He buried himself in his tasks +for the next day, hardly looked up or smiled at little Bernard's most +earnest attempts at a game of play, and had not a word for even Cherry, +only when Wilmet begged anxiously to know if he thought Papa worse, he +answered that he believed not particularly so.</p> + +<p>Alda was sent to carry some tea to her father that evening. As she +set it down on the table before him, he said gently, 'My dear, I want +to know what has been passing among you and your school-fellows about +Felix.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, nothing, Papa,' said Alda rather hastily. 'Some nonsense or other +is always going on.'</p> + +<p>'Very true, no doubt; nor do I wish to be informed of general nonsense, +but of that which concerns you. What have you been saying or hearing +said about Felix?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, it's nonsense, Papa. Some of the girls will say anything +disagreeable.'</p> + +<p>'You need not have any scruples on Felix's account, Alda; I know +exactly what he has done. I want you to tell me what is being said—or +you have allowed to be said—about it.'</p> + +<p>'That horrible Miss Price!' was all the answer he got.</p> + +<p>He sat upright—laid on Alda's wrist a long bony burning hand, whose +clasp she did not forget for weeks, and forcing her to look at him, +said, 'Did you allow it to be believed that your brother Felix was a +gambler?'</p> + +<p>'Papa! I never said so!' cried Alda, beginning to sob.</p> + +<p>'Command yourself, Alda; I am not fit for a scene, and I may not be +able to speak to you many times again.'</p> + +<p>These words—far more new and startling to Alda than to her +brother—appalled her into quietness.</p> + +<p>'What did you say, Alda? or was it the deceit of silence?'</p> + +<p>She hung her head, but spoke at last.</p> + +<p>'I only said boys had ways and means! They did tease and plague so. +I do believe Carry Price counts every grape that goes into this +house—and they would know how I got my new music—and little Robina +would tell—and then came something about Mr. Froggatt; and if they +knew—'</p> + +<p>'If they knew what?'</p> + +<p>'Papa, you have no idea how nasty some of them are.'</p> + +<p>'My poor child, I am afraid I have some idea by seeing how nasty they +are making you! Gambling more creditable than honest labour!'</p> + +<p>Alda had it on the tip of her tongue to say winning things was not +gambling, but she knew that argument would be choked down; and she also +knew that though she had spoken truth as to her words, she had allowed +remarks to pass without protest, on the luck and licence that the model +boy allowed himself, and she was bitterly displeased with the treachery +of Miss Price.</p> + +<p>'These old rags of folly don't look pretty on other folk,' he sighed +pleasantly. 'Alda, listen to me. What I have heard to-day gives me more +fears for you than for any one of my children. Did you ever hear that +false shame leads to true shame? Never shuffle again! Remember, nothing +is mean that is not sin, and an acted falsehood like this is sin and +shame both—while your brother's deed is an honour.'</p> + +<p>Alda was obliged to go away murmuring within herself, 'That's all true: +it is very good of Felix, and I should not have equivocated, I know; +but those stupid girls, how is one to live with them?'</p> + +<p>Felix was not quite dressed the next morning when his mother came to +the door of the attic that he shared with Edgar and Fulbert.</p> + +<p>'He wants to speak to you before church, Felix. It has been a very bad +night, and the sooner this is settled the better.'</p> + +<p>'O Mother, I am very sorry—'</p> + +<p>'It can't be helped, my dear boy. I think it will really be a great +relief to him.'</p> + +<p>'And you, Mother, do you mind?'</p> + +<p>'Dear Felix, all <i>minding</i>, except to have you all well, and fed and +clothed, was worn out of me years ago. I can't feel anything in it but +that it will keep you by me, my dear good helpful boy.'</p> + +<p>Felix's heart leapt up, as it had not done for many a long day; but it +soon sank again. The children had never been admitted to their father's +room in the early morning, and Felix thought he must be suddenly worse +when he saw him in bed propped by pillows, pale and wearied; but the +usual bright smile made him like himself.</p> + +<p>'All right, old fellow,' he said brightly. 'Don't come up to me. I'm +<i>incog.</i> till I'm up and dressed. Are you in the same mind?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Father.'</p> + +<p>'Then ask Mr. Froggatt to do me the favour of coming to speak to me any +time after eleven o'clock that may suit him. I must understand what he +offers you. The nonsense is conquered, Felix; more shame for me that it +has followed me so far; but the sense remains. I must try to be sure +that this sacrifice of yours is a right one to be accepted. Any way, my +boy, I thank and bless you for it, and God will bless such a beginning. +There's the bell, be off,' he concluded.</p> + +<p>And, Papa,' blurted out Felix suddenly, 'would you <i>please</i> be +photographed. I have the money for it. <i>Pray—</i>'</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood smiled. 'Very well, Felix; that is, if I am ever capable +of getting up all the stairs to Coleman's sky-parlour.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, thank you!' and Felix ran away.</p> + +<p>Mr. Froggatt came in due time. He was an elderly portly man, well +shaven and smooth-faced, intensely respectable, having been brought +up to inherit an old hereditary business as bookseller, stationer, +and publisher of a weekly local paper, long before Bexley had broken +out into its present burning fever of furnaces. He was a very good +religious man, as Mr. Underwood well knew, having been his great +comforter through several family troubles, which had left him and his +wife alone with one surviving and woefully spoilt son, who hated the +trade, and had set his heart upon being a farmer—chiefly with a view +to hunting. Mr. Froggatt was conscious of having been too indulgent, +but the mother and son were against him; and the superior tone of +education that the son had received at the reformed grammar school had +only set him above the business, instead of, as had been intended, +rendering him more useful in it.</p> + +<p>Good Mr. Froggatt, an old-fashioned tradesman, with a profound feeling +for a real gentleman, was a good deal shocked at receiving Mr. +Underwood's message. He kept a reading-room, and was on terms of a +certain intimacy with its frequenters, such as had quite warranted his +first requests for Felix's good-natured help; and it had been really +as a sort of jesting compliment that he had told the young gentleman +that he wished he would take Smith's place, little expecting to see how +earnestly the words were caught up, how the boy asked whether he really +meant it; and when, on further consideration, he allowed that it might +be possible, begging him to wait till his father could be spoken to.</p> + +<p>Poor as he was, Mr. Underwood had never lost general respect. Something +there was in his fine presence and gentlemanly demeanour, and still +more in his showing no false shame, making no pretensions, and never +having a debt. Doctors' bills had pressed him heavily, but he had +sacrificed part of his small capital rather than not pay his way; and +thus no one guessed at the straits of the household. Mr. Froggatt had +never supposed he would entertain for a moment the idea of letting his +eldest son, a fine clever and studious lad, undertake a little country +business, and yet the old bookseller had come to wish it very much on +his own account. As he explained to Mr. Underwood, he loved his old +business, and knew that with more education he should have been able +to make more of it. His elder son had died just as intelligence and +energy were opening up plans that would have made both the shop and the +newspaper valuable and beneficial; while Charles's desertion left them +to decline with his father's declining years, and in danger of being +supplanted by some brisk new light. Felix Underwood was indeed very +young, but he had already proved his power of usefulness, and a very +few years would make him capable of being a right hand to the old man, +and he might in time make a position for himself. Mr. Froggatt would +otherwise ere long be forced by his own infirmity, to dispose of the +business at a disadvantage, and this would, he confessed, go to his +heart. Mr. Underwood felt greatly reconciled to the project. There was +real usefulness in the work, great means of influencing men for good, +and though there would be much of mechanical employment, for which it +was a pity to give up the boy's education, yet it was a stepping-stone +to something better, and it gave present and increasing means of +maintenance. There was less temptation in this way of life than in +almost any that could be devised, and it would give Mrs. Underwood the +comfort of a home with him. The great difficulty for the future was, +that Felix was never likely to have capital enough to purchase, or +become partner in, the business; but Mr. Froggatt explained that if he +gained experience in the editing of the Pursuivant, he would be always +able to obtain profitable employment, and that it was possible that +he might eventually take the business, and pay an annual sum out of +the profits to the Froggatt family, unless, indeed, something should +turn up which would keep him in his natural station. Such was the hope +lurking in the father's heart, even while he thankfully closed with the +offer; and Felix was put in the way of studying book-keeping till the +New Year, when he was to enter upon his duties and his salary.</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley was greatly troubled. It was with incredulous vivacity that +he inquired of Mr. Underwood if it were indeed true that Felix had +accepted such prospects.</p> + +<p>'Quite true,' said Mr. Underwood. 'You need not argue it with me, +Audley; my own mind has said all you could say seven times over.'</p> + +<p>'I should not venture on interference; but could you not let me try to +do—something?'</p> + +<p>'And welcome, my dear fellow: there are so many to be done for, that it +is well one can do for himself.'</p> + +<p>'But Felix—Felix out of them all!'</p> + +<p>'As the voice I want to silence has said a thousand times! No; Felix +seems capable of this, and it is not right to withhold him, and throw +his education upon the kind friends who might be helping the other +boys—boys whom I could not trust to fend for themselves and others, as +I can that dear lad.'</p> + +<p>'What he might be—'</p> + +<p>'Who knows whether he may not be a greater blessing in this work than +in that which we should have chosen for him? He may be a leaven for +good—among the men we have never been able to reach! My dear Audley, +don't be a greater ass about it than I was at first!'</p> + +<p>For the young curate really could not speak at first for a rush of +emotion.</p> + +<p>'It is not only for Felix's sake,' said he, smiling at last, 'but the +way you take it.'</p> + +<p>'And now, I am going to ask you to do something for me,' added Mr. +Underwood. 'I have left this magnificent estate of mine entirely to my +wife, appointing her sole guardian to my children. But I have begun +to think how much has been taken out of her by that shock of leaving +Vale Leston, and by that wonderful resolute patience that—that I shall +never be able to thank her for. I scarcely dare to let her know that I +see it. And when I look on to the winter that is before her,' he added, +much less calmly, 'I think she may not be long after me. I must add a +guardian. Once we had many good friends. We have them still, I hope, +but I cannot lay this on them. Our cousin Tom Underwood does not seem +disposed to notice us, and his care might not be of the right kind. Our +only other relation is Fulbert Underwood.'</p> + +<p>'Who drove you from Vale Leston?'</p> + +<p>'Who did what he had every right to do with his own,' said Mr. +Underwood. 'But he is not the style of man to be asked, even if I could +saddle him with the charge. Probably twelve children to bring up on +seven thousand pounds—a problem never put before us at Cambridge.'</p> + +<p>'Do you honour me by—' asked the younger man, much agitated.</p> + +<p>'Not by asking you to solve that problem! But let me add your name. +What I want is a guardian, who will not violently break up the home and +disperse the children. I believe Felix will be a competent young head +if he is allowed, and I want you to be an elder brother to him, and let +him act.'</p> + +<p>'You cannot give me greater comfort.'</p> + +<p>'Only, Audley, this must be on one condition. Never let this +guardianship interfere with any higher work that you may be called to. +If I thought it would bind you down to Bexley, or even to England, I +should refrain from this request as a temptation. Mind, you are only +asked to act in case the children should lose their mother, and then +only to enable Felix to be what I believe he can and will be. Or, as it +may be right to add, if he should fail them, you will know what to do.'</p> + +<p>'I do not think he will.'</p> + +<p>'Nor I. But there are ways of failing besides the worst. However, I do +not greatly fear this illness of mine taking root in them. It has not +been in the family before; and I am nearly sure that I know when I took +the infection, four or five years ago, from a poor man in Smoke-jack +Alley, who would let no one lift him but me. They are healthy young +things, all but dear little Cherry, and I hope they have spirits to +keep care from making them otherwise. You will say a kind word to my +little Cherry sometimes, Audley. Poor little woman, I am afraid it may +fall sorely on her, she is of rather too highly strung a composition, +and perhaps I have not acted so much for her good as my own pleasure, +in the companionship we have had together.'</p> + +<p>So the will was altered, though without the knowledge of anyone but +Mrs. Underwood and the witnesses; and Mr. Audley felt himself bound +to remonstrate no further against Felix's fate, however much he might +deplore it.</p> + +<p>Nobody was so unhappy about it as Edgar. The boy was incredulous at +first, then hotly indignant. Then he got a burnt stick, and after +shutting himself up in his attic for an hour, was found lying on the +floor, before an awful outline on the whitewash.</p> + +<p>'What is it, old fellow?' asked Felix. 'What a horrid mess!'</p> + +<p>'I see,' said Lance. 'It is Friday grinning at the savages.'</p> + +<p>'Or a scarecrow on the back of a ditch,' said Felix. 'Come, Ed, tell us +what it is meant for.'</p> + +<p>Edgar was impenetrable; but having watched the others out of the house, +he dragged Geraldine up to see—something—</p> + +<p>'Oh!' she cried. 'You've done it!'</p> + +<p>'To be sure! You know it?'</p> + +<p>'It is Achilles on the rampart, shouting at the Trojans! O Edgar—how +brave he looks—how his hair flies! Some day you will get him in his +god-like beauty!'</p> + +<p>'Do you think he has not got any of it, Cherry?' said Edgar, gazing +wistfully. 'I did see it all, but it didn't come out—and now—'</p> + +<p>'I see what you mean,' said Cherry, screwing up her eyes; 'it is in him +to be glorious—a kind of lightning look.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes; that's what I meant. All majesty and wrath, but no strain. O +Cherry—to have such things in my head, and not get them out! Don't you +know what it is?' as he rolled and flung himself about.</p> + +<p>'Oh, yes!' said Cherry from her heart. 'Oh! I should so like to do one +touch to his face, but he's so big! You did him on a chair, and I could +not stand on one.'</p> + +<p>'I'll lift you up. I'll hold you,' cried Edgar.</p> + +<p>The passion for drawing must have been very strong in the two children; +for Geraldine was most perilously, and not without pain, raised to a +chair, where, with Edgar's arms round her waist, she actually worked +for ten minutes at Achilles' face, but his arm she declined. 'It is not +right, Eddy! look—that muscle in his elbow can never be so!'</p> + +<p>'I can't see the back of mine, but you can,' said Edgar, lifting her +down, and proceeding to take off his coat and roll up his shirt-sleeve.</p> + +<p>'That's the way. Oh! but it is not such an angle as that.'</p> + +<p>'Achilles' muscles must have stood out more than mine, you know. I'll +get a look at Blunderbore's. O Cherry, if I were but older—I know I +could—I'd save Felix from this horrible thing! I feel to want to roar +at old Froggy, like this fellow at the Trojans.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps some day you will save him.'</p> + +<p>'Yes; but then he will have done it. Just fancy, Gerald, if <i>that</i> +picture was as it ought to be—as you and I see it!'</p> + +<p>'It would be as grand as the world ever saw,' said the little girl, +gazing through her eye-lashes at the dim strokes in the twilight. 'O +Edgar, many a great man has begun in a garret!'</p> + +<p>'If it would not be so long hence! Oh! must you go down?'</p> + +<p>'I heard some one calling. You will be a great artist, I know, Edgar!'</p> + +<p>It was pleasanter than the other criticism, at bed-time.</p> + +<p>'Hollo! Man Friday does not look quite so frightful!' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'I'm sure I won't have him over my bed,' said Fulbert, proceeding to +rub him out; and though, for the moment, Achilles was saved by violent +measures of Edgar's, yet before the end of the next day, Fulbert and +Lance had made him black from head to foot, all but the whites of his +eyes and his teeth; Robina and Angela had peeped in, and emulated the +terror of the Trojans, or the savages; and Sibby had fallen on the +young gentleman for being 'so bold' as to draw a frightful phooka +upon their walls, just to frighten the darlints. Indeed, it was long +before Angela could be got past the door at night without shuddering, +although Achilles had been obliterated by every possible method that +Felix, Clement, or Sibby could devise, and some silent tears of Cherry +had bewailed the conclusion of this effort of high art, the outline of +which, in more moderate proportions, was cherished in that portfolio of +hers.</p> + +<p>Another work of art—the photograph—was safely accomplished. The +photographer caught at the idea, declaring that he had been so often +asked for Mr. Underwood's carte, that he had often thought of begging +to take it gratis. And he not only insisted on so doing, but he came +down from his studio, and took Mr. Underwood in his own chair, under +his own window—producing a likeness which, at first sight, shocked +every one by its faithful record of the ravages of disease, unlightened +by the fair colouring and lustrous beaming eyes, but which, by-and-by, +grew upon the gazer, as full of a certain majesty of unearthly beauty +of countenance.</p> + +<p>The autumn was mild, and Mr. Underwood rallied in some measure, so as +sometimes even to get to church at mid-day services on warm days.</p> + +<p>It was on St. Andrew's Day that he was slowly walking home, leaning +on Felix's arm, with the two elder girls close behind him, when Alda +suddenly touched Wilmet's arm, exclaiming, 'There's Marilda Underwood!'</p> + +<p>There indeed was the apparition of Centry Park, riding a pretty pony, +beside a large and heavily-bearded personage. The recognition was +instantaneous; Marilda was speaking to her companion, and at the same +moment he drew up, and exclaiming, 'Edward! bless me!' was off his +horse in a moment, and was wringing those unsubstantial fingers in a +crushing grasp. There was not much to be seen of Mr. Underwood, for +he was muffled up in a scarf to the very eyes, but they looked out of +their hollow caves, clear, blue, and bright, and smiling as ever, and +something like an answer came out of the middle of the folds.</p> + +<p>'These yours? How d'ye do!—How d'ye do!—Mary, you don't get off till +we come to the door!—Yes, I'll come in with you! Bless me! bless me! +Mary has been at me ever so many times about you, but we've been had +abroad for masters and trash, and I left it till we were settled here.'</p> + +<p>It was not many steps to the door, and there Wilmet flew on to prepare +her mother and the room, while Alda stood by as her cousin was assisted +from her horse by the groom, and the new-comer followed in silence, +while Felix helped his father up the steps, and unwound his wraps, +after which he turned round, and with his own sunny look held out his +hand, saying, 'How are you, Tom? I'm glad to see you—How d'ye do, Mary +Alda? we are old friends.—Call your mother, one of you.'</p> + +<p>The mother was at hand, and they entered the drawing-room, where, as +the clergyman sank back into his arm-chair, the merchant gazed with +increasing consternation at his wasted figure and features.</p> + +<p>'How long has this been going on?' he asked, pointing to him and +turning to Mrs. Underwood, but as usual her husband answered for her.</p> + +<p>'How long have I been on the sick list? Only since the end of +September, and I am better now than a month ago.'</p> + +<p>'Better! Have you had advice?'</p> + +<p>'Enough to know how useless it is.'</p> + +<p>'Some trumpery Union doctor. I'll have Williams down before you are a +day older.'</p> + +<p>'Stay, Tom. Thank you, most warmly, but you see yourself the best +advice in the world could tell us no more than we know already. Are you +really master of old Centry Underwood? I congratulate you.'</p> + +<p>'Ay. I'm glad the place should come back to the old name. Mrs. +Underwood and myself both felt it a kind of duty, otherwise it went +against the grain with her, and I'm afraid she'll never take to the +place. 'Twas that kept us abroad so long, though not from want of +wishes from Mary and myself. The girl fell in love with yours at first +sight.'</p> + +<p>'To be sure I did,' said the young lady. 'Do let me see the little +ones, and your baby.'</p> + +<p>'Take your cousin to see them in the dining-room, Alda,' said the +mother; the order that Alda had been apprehending, for the dining-room +was by many degrees more shabby than the drawing-room; however, she +could only obey, explaining by the way that little Bernard, being +nearly two years old, was hardly regarded as a baby now.</p> + +<p>Wilmet was in effect making him and Angela presentable as to the hands, +face, hair, and pinafore, and appeared carrying the one and leading the +other, who never having closely inspected any one in a riding-habit +before, hung back, whispering to know whether 'that man was a woman.'</p> + +<p>Marilda was in raptures, loving nothing so well as small children, and +very seldom enjoying such an opportunity as the present; and the two +babies had almost the whole of the conversation adapted to them, till +Alda made an effort.</p> + +<p>'So you have been on the Continent?'</p> + +<p>'Oh yes; it was such a horrid bore. Mamma would go. She said I must +have French masters, and more polish, but I don't like French polish. I +hope I'm just as English as I was before.'</p> + +<p>'That is undeniable,' said Felix, laughing.</p> + +<p>'Didn't you care for it? Oh! I should like it so much!' cried Alda.</p> + +<p>'Like it? What, to hear French people chattering and gabbling all round +one, and be always scolded for not being like them! There was a poor +dog at the hotel that had been left behind by some English people, and +could not bear the French voices, always snarled at them. I was just +like him, and I got Papa to buy him and bring him home, and I always +call him John Bull.'</p> + +<p>'But wasn't it nice seeing places, and churches, and pictures?' asked +Geraldine.</p> + +<p>'That was the most disgusting of all, to be bothered with staring at +the stupid things. Mamma with her Murray standing still at them all, +and making me read it out just like a lesson, and write it after, which +was worse! And then the great bare shiny rooms with nothing to do. The +only thing I liked was looking at a jolly little old woman that sold +hot chestnuts out in the street below. Such dear little children in +round caps came to her! Just like that,'—endeavouring to convert her +pocket-handkerchief into the like head-gear for Robina.</p> + +<p>'I have always so wanted to come here,' she continued, 'only I am +afraid Mamma won't like the place. She says it's dull, and there's no +good society. Is there?'</p> + +<p>'I am sure we don't know,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Lots of people are coming to stay with us for Christmas,' added +Marilda, 'and you must all of you come and have all the fun with us.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, thank you! how charming!' cried Alda. 'If Papa will but be well +enough; he is so much better now.'</p> + +<p>'He must come for change of air,' said Marilda. 'You can't think how +pleased my father was to hear I had met you. He talked all the way home +of how clever your father was, and how wickedly Cousin Fulbert at Vale +Leston had served him, and he promised me when I came here I should +have you with me very often. I would have written to tell you, only I +do so hate writing. This is much better.'</p> + +<p>Marilda seemed to have perfectly established herself among them before +the summons came to her; and as the children herded to the door, her +father turned round and looked at the boys inquiringly. 'There,' said +Mr. Underwood, 'this is Felix, and this is Edgar, sixteen and fourteen.'</p> + +<p>'Bless me, what a number, and as much alike as a flock of sheep,' +again exclaimed the cousin. 'One or two more or less would not make +much odds—eh, Edward?—Mary, what kissing all round?—D'ye know them +all?—I'll look in to-morrow or next day, and you'll give me your +answer, Edward.'</p> + +<p>They were off, and at Mr. Underwood's sign Felix followed him into +the sitting-room, to the great excitement of the exterior population, +who unanimously accepted Alda's view, that one of them was going to +be adopted. Their notion was not so much out as such speculations +generally are, for Mr. Underwood was no sooner alone with Felix and +his mother, than he said, 'You are in request, Felix; here's another +offer for one of you—the very thing I once missed. What say you to a +clerkship at Kedge Brothers?'</p> + +<p>'For one of us, did you say, Father?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; the answer I am to give to-morrow is as to which. You have the +first choice.'</p> + +<p>'Do you wish me to take it, Father?'</p> + +<p>'I wish you to think. Perhaps this is the last time I shall have any +decision to make for you, and I had rather you should make your own +choice; nor, indeed, am I sure of my own wishes.'</p> + +<p>'Then,' said Felix decidedly, 'I am sure I had better not. Edgar would +not, and must not, go to my work; there would be nothing coming in for +ever so long, and it would be a shame to throw old Froggy over.'</p> + +<p>'I rather expected this, Felix. I told Tom you were in a manner +provided for, but when he found you had a turn for business, he was the +more anxious to get you.'</p> + +<p>'I've got no turn that I know of,' said Felix, rather gloomily; 'but we +can't all of us set up for gentlemen, and Edgar is the one of us all +that ought to have the very best! Such a fellow as he is! He is sure +of the prize this time, you know! I only don't think this good enough +for him! He ought to go to the University. And maybe when Mr. Underwood +sees—'</p> + +<p>'Not impossible,' said the sanguine father, smiling; 'and, at any +rate, to get put in the way of prosperity early may make his talents +available. It is odd that his first name should be Thomas. Besides, +I do not think your mother could get on without you. And, Felix,' he +lowered his voice, 'I believe that this is providential. Not only as +securing his maintenance, but as taking him from Ryder. Some things +have turned up lately when he has been reading with me, that have +dismayed me. Do you know what I mean?'</p> + +<p>'A little,' said Felix gravely.</p> + +<p>'I know Ryder would be too honourable consciously to meddle with a +boy's faith; but the worst of it is, he does not know what is meddling, +and he likes Edgar, and talks eagerly to him. And the boy enjoys it.'</p> + +<p>'He does,' said Felix, 'but he knows enough to be on his guard. There +can't be any harm done.'</p> + +<p>'Not yet! Not but what can be counteracted, if—Felix, you cannot +guess how much easier it makes it to me to go, that Edgar will not be +left in Ryder's hands. As to the younger ones, such things do not come +down to the lower forms. And they will be eligible for clergy orphans. +Audley spoke of a choristership for Clement in the clergy-house at +Whittingtonia. Was there ever such a raising up of friends and helpers? +I am glad to have seen Tom Underwood, hearty, kindly—sure to be always +a good friend to you all. What did you think of the girl, Felix?'</p> + +<p>'She is a jolly sort of girl,' said Felix; 'not like ours, you know, +Father, but not half a bad fellow.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood smiled thoughtfully, and asked, 'Have you seen enough of +her to judge how she is brought up?'</p> + +<p>It was treating his son so much more as a friend than as a boy, that +Felix looked up surprised. 'I should think her mother wanted to make +her no end of a swell,' he said, 'and that it would not take.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood lent back thoughtfully. In truth, his cousin had, in his +outburst of affection and remorse at long unconscious neglect, declared +his intention of taking home one of the girls to be as a sister to his +Mary, and then, evidently bethinking himself of some influence at home, +had half taken back his words, and talked of doing something, bringing +his wife to see about it, &c.</p> + +<p>And when Mr. and Mrs. Underwood were again alone, they discussed the +probabilities, and considered whether if the offer were made they would +accept it. Mr. Underwood had only seen his cousin's wife once, in his +prosperous days, when he had been at the wedding, and his impression +was not that of perfect refinement. There was reason to think from the +words of her husband and daughter that there was a good deal of the +<i>nouveau riche</i> about her, and Mrs. Underwood did not know how to think +of trusting a daughter in a worldly, perhaps irreligious, household. +But Mr. Underwood was a good deal touched by his cousin's warmth and +regret; he believed that the family kept up religious habits; he +thought that Providence had brought him friends in this last hour, and +his affectionate sanguine spirit would not hesitate in accepting the +kindness that provided for another of the children he was leaving. She +trusted him as sure to know best; and, after her usual mode, said no +more, except 'Wilmet would be safest there.'</p> + +<p>'You could spare her least.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, indeed, it would be losing my right hand; but poor Alda—'</p> + +<p>'Poor Alda! but consider if there is not worse evil in keeping her +among girls who hurt her, if they do not Wilmet. Beauty and wounded +vanity are dangerous in a place like this.'</p> + +<p>'Dangerous anywhere!'</p> + +<p>'Less so in a great house, with that good honest Mary Alda, and Tom, +who will look after her in the main, than here, or as a governess, with +an inferior education.'</p> + +<p>'It may be so. I know I can spare her better than her sister.'</p> + +<p>'Wilmet is doing something for herself too—as Alda cannot, it seems. +Justice settles the point, dearest, as it did between the boys—that +is, if we have the offer.'</p> + +<p>Perhaps the mother still had a lurking hope that the offer would not be +made. Her instinct was to keep all her brood round her; but, silent and +deferential woman that she was, she said nothing, and resolved to be +thankful for what so eased her husband's mind.</p> + +<p>The handsome carriage tore up to the door, and violet velvet and +feathers descended, Mary Alda sprang after, and then came her father, +and hampers on hampers of game, wine, and fruits ensued; while Marilda +seized on Alda, and turned of herself into the dining-room, bearing a +box of sweets. 'Where are the little ones? Little Bobbie, here; and all +the rest.'</p> + +<p>Not many calls were needful to bring a flock to share the feast, with +cries of joy; but Marilda was not yet satisfied.</p> + +<p>'Where's the other of you?' she said to Alda. 'I don't know you well +apart yet.'</p> + +<p>'Wilmet's in the kitchen,' thrust in Lancelot, 'ironing the collars for +Sunday.'</p> + +<p>'Lance!' uttered Alda indignantly.</p> + +<p>'Oh! what fun! do let me go down and see! I should so like to iron.'</p> + +<p>'But, Marilda—your Mamma—'</p> + +<p>'Oh nonsense, come along, show me the way. That's right, Robins, only +your hands are so sticky. What, down here!—Oh, Wilmet, how d'ye do? +what delicious work! do you always do it?'</p> + +<p>'Generally, if Sibby is busy.'</p> + +<p>'Do let me try.'</p> + +<p>And she did try for ten minutes, at the end of which the mother's voice +was heard calling for Edgar, who, turning crimson, went upstairs, +leaving the others standing about the tidy kitchen, fresh sanded for +Saturday.</p> + +<p>'What, not you!' said Marilda, pausing in her smoothing operations, and +looking at Felix.</p> + +<p>'No,' said he. 'I have got my work.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! don't talk of it,' said Alda. 'I can't bear it. I didn't think he +was in earnest, or that Papa would let him.'</p> + +<p>Marilda turned full round. 'What, you won't go and be my father's +clerk, and be one of Kedge and Underwood, and make a fortune?'</p> + +<p>Felix shook his head.</p> + +<p>'And what is your work instead?'</p> + +<p>'Printing,' said Felix stoutly. 'It gives present payment, and we can't +do without it.'</p> + +<p>Both Marilda's hands seized on his. 'I like you!' she said. 'I wish I +were you.'</p> + +<p>They all laughed, and Felix coloured, more abashed than pleased. +Lance—to make up for his ignominious rescue at their last +meeting—performed a wonderful progress, holding on by his fingers and +toes along the ledge of the dresser; and Marilda, setting her back (a +broad one) against the ironing-board, went on talking.</p> + +<p>'And do you know what besides?' looking round, and seeing they did +not. 'One of you girls is to come and live with me, and be my sister. +I wanted to have this little darling Angela to pet, but Mamma wouldn't +have her, and I did so beg for Geraldine, to let her have a sofa and a +pony-carriage! I do want something to nurse! But Mamma won't hear of +anybody but one of you two great ones, to learn and do everything with +me; and that's not half the use.'</p> + +<p>'But is it really?' cried Alda.</p> + +<p>'Yes, indeed! You'll be had up for her to choose from—that is, if she +can. How exactly alike you are!'</p> + +<p>'She won't choose me,' said Wilmet. 'Hark, there's Edgar coming down.'</p> + +<p>Edgar ran in, with orders to the twins to go into the drawing-room. +Wilmet hung back. 'I will not be the one,' she said resolutely. 'Let +Alda go alone.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Felix, 'it is what you are told that you've got to do now. +Never mind about the rest! Let us all come out of this place.' And it +was he who took off his sister's ironing apron as they went up to the +dining-room together, while Marilda cried eagerly, 'Well, Edgar?'</p> + +<p>'Well,' said Edgar, not in the enchanted voice she expected; 'it is +very good of your father, and what must be must.'</p> + +<p>'Don't you like it?' said Marilda, half hurt; and Edgar, always a boy +of ready courtesy, answered, 'Yes, yes, I'm no end of grateful. I'll +get rich, and go abroad, and buy pictures. Only I did hope to paint +them.'</p> + +<p>'Paint pictures!' cried Marilda. 'What, rather than be a merchant! Do +such stupid useless things, only to bother people with having to stare +at them, when you could be making money?'</p> + +<p>'There's no reason one should not make money with pictures,' said +Edgar; 'but I'd rather make delight! But it can't be helped, and I am +very glad to have done with this horrid place.'</p> + +<p>Meantime Wilmet and Alda found themselves before a large, florid, +much-dressed lady, with a most good-natured face, who greeted them with +'Good morning, my dears! Just as Marilda told me, so much alike as to +be quite romantic. Well, no doubt it is a pity to separate between you, +but my Marilda will be a true sister. She has spoken of nothing else. +Are you willing, either of you, my dears?'</p> + +<p>'Ay!' chimed in Mr. Thomas Underwood; 'we'll make you happy whichever +it is! You shall be in all respects like our own child; Mary would see +to that, if we didn't.'</p> + +<p>'As to choice,' said the lady, 'there's none that I can see—pretty +genteel girls both, that will do us credit, unless it is their own +fault. Excellent governess, London masters—you may be assured +everything shall be done for her.'</p> + +<p>'Shall we toss up which it shall be?' laughed her husband.</p> + +<p>'No,' said Mr. Underwood gently. 'We think that this one,' laying his +hand on Alda's arm, 'will value these advantages, and is not quite such +a home-bird as her sister. I hope you will find a grateful good child +in Alda Mary, and a kind sister to Mary Alda.'</p> + +<p>The tears came into Alda's eyes, as her father seemed thus making her +over; a great rush of affection for all at home, and contempt for Mary +Alda in comparison with her own twin, seemed to take away any elation, +as Mr. and Mrs. Tom Underwood kissed her, and welcomed her, and +declared they should like to take her home at once.</p> + +<p>'You shall have her soon,' said Mr. Underwood. 'Let me keep her for +Christmas Day.'</p> + +<p>And for Christmas Day he did keep her, though at the bottom of Alda's +heart there were strong hopes of invitations to join the festivities +at Centry Underwood. Indeed, such a party was insisted on by Marilda, +one that was to include all the little ones, and make them happier than +ever they had been in their lives. It was to be on Twelfth Day, but +Mrs. Underwood hinted to the twins that they had better not talk to the +younger ones about it, for she scarcely believed they would go. She +had never before spoken out that conviction which had long crushed her +down, and Wilmet's whole soul seemed for the moment scared away by this +fresh intimation of the condition in which their father stood; while +Alda vehemently repeated the old declaration that he was better. He +said he was better. Alas! such a better as it always was.</p> + +<p>'How well you ought to be!' said Mr. Audley one day at the reiteration, +'better every day!'</p> + +<p>'Yes, and best of all at last!' was the reply, with a sweet smile.</p> + +<p>For he was very happy. The partial provision for the four eldest +children, two by their own exertions, two through friends, had +evidently been received by him as an earnest of protection and aid +for the rest, even to the babe whom he scarcely expected ever to +see in this world. He said it would be ungrateful not to trust, and +he did trust with all his heart, cheered as it was by the tardy +cordiality of his cousin, and the indefinable love of kindred that +was thus gratified. Thomas Underwood poured in good things of +all kinds on the invalid and his house, fulfilled his promise of +calling in further advice, and would have franked half the family +to Torquay—Nice—Madeira—if the doctors had given the slightest +encouragement. It could be of little ultimate avail; but the wine +and soup did give support and refreshment bodily, and produced much +gratitude and thankfulness mentally, besides lightening some of Mrs. +Underwood's present cares.</p> + +<p>No one was more anxious to help than Mr. Ryder; he had been assiduous +in his inquiries and offers of service ever since the attack at +Michaelmas; and it was evident that he really venerated the Curate, +while he was a severe and contemptuous judge of the Rector. But when, +after a brilliant examination, he became aware that he was to lose +both the elder Underwoods at once, his mortification was great; he +came to call, and Mr. Underwood had again to undergo an expostulation +on Felix's prospects, and an offer of keeping him free of expense. +The school-fee was a mere trifle, but Mr. Ryder would willingly have +boarded and lodged the boy himself—for the benefit of his authority, +as he said, over younger boarders.</p> + +<p>'I am afraid,' said Mr. Underwood, kind and grateful as usual, 'that +there are too many younger boarders here for Felix to be spared. No, +thank you; I am sincerely obliged to you, but the hard cash is a +necessary consideration.'</p> + +<p>'And you can sacrifice such a boy's prospects—'</p> + +<p>'Bread and cheese <i>must</i> be earned, even at the cost of prospects. He +cannot afford to wait to make his labour skilled.'</p> + +<p>'Forgive me, Mr. Underwood, but I cannot think it is right to throw +away his abilities.'</p> + +<p>'You can allow that it is a less wrong than to leave the rest to debt +or starvation.'</p> + +<p>'You should trust—'</p> + +<p>'I do trust; but I can do so better when I humble what is nothing +but pride and vanity in me, after all. I was foolish enough about it +at first, but I am quite content now that my boy should do his duty, +without being curious as to where it is to be done.'</p> + +<p>'You will tell me a schoolmaster's vanity is concerned; and I allow it +is, for I looked to your sons to raise the reputation of the school; +but perhaps it is only put off a little longer. Will you let me have +Clement or Fulbert, on the terms I proposed for Felix?'</p> + +<p>'No, Ryder; with many, many thanks, much feeling of your generous +kindness—it cannot be.'</p> + +<p>'You do not trust me.' This was said with as much indignation as could +be shown to a man in Mr. Underwood's condition.</p> + +<p>'No. Your very kindness would make the tone I regret in you more +perilous. Do not think Felix ungrateful, Ryder; the desire is mine—and +remember, it is that of a man who is dying, and who really loves and +values you greatly. It is that the younger boys should, as soon as may +be, go to schools where older systems prevail.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Ryder was exceedingly mortified, and though he tried hard to +conceal the full extent of his annoyance, he could not help saying, +'You know how I respect your motives; but let me say that I doubt your +finding any place where the ideas you deprecate are not to be found. +And—pardon me—may not the finding their progress obstructed by your +scruples, the more indispose your sons to them?'</p> + +<p>'I hope not,' said Mr. Underwood, calmly. 'I hope it may show them +how strong the approach of death makes that faith—nay, rather +assurance—with which your party are tampering.'</p> + +<p>'You are not doing me justice, Mr. Underwood. You know that my faith +and hope are at the core the same as your own. All our question is what +outworks are untenable.' Again he spoke hotly, but Mr. Underwood's +gentleness seemed to silence him.</p> + +<p>'And that there should be any such question proves—alas!—the utter +difference between our belief. Ryder, you are a young man, and as I +believe and trust verily in earnest; and some day, I think, you will +understand what faith is. Meantime, your uncertainties are doing more +mischief than you understand—they pervade all your teaching more than +you know. I dread what they may do to such as have not your moral +sense to restrain them and bring them back, as I pray—I hope ever to +pray—it may be with you. Thank you for all your kindness, actual and +intended, to my boys.'</p> + +<p>Then rising from his chair, while Mr. Ryder remained uncertain how +to speak, he signed to him to remain still while he sought in his +book-case and returned with a small old copy of Jeremy Taylor's 'Holy +Living and Dying;' then sitting down again, wrote the schoolmaster's +name in it, above his own 'Under-wode, Under-rode' stamp. 'Keep it, +Ryder! I do not say that you will care for it now, but some day I think +you will, and if I am allowed to know of it, it will be joy.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Ryder could only wring the hand that held it out to him, and with a +great effort say, 'Thank you.' He saw that Mr. Underwood was too much +tired to prolong the conversation; but he wrote a note of warm thanks +that evening, promising to do whatever lay in his power for the boys, +that their father would not think dangerous for them; and he added, +that whatever he should for the future think or say, such an example +as he had now seen was a strong weight on its own side. It was warmly +and tenderly put, and like everything that befell him, gratified Mr. +Underwood.</p> + +<p>A very happy man he had been, as he sincerely told those who would have +grieved over him, and not without some remorse.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' as he said to Mr. Audley, who watched him like a son, 'it is +indeed the Lord who hath led me all my life through. I never had a want +or a care unfulfilled till nine years ago. Then, just as I had become +sluggish and mechanical in fixed habits of easy country work, came +this thorough change, break, and rousing. I tell you, I can never be +thankful enough for the mercy. Not to leave them all provided for, as +the saying is, would I go back to be such a priest as I was becoming. +Happy—yes, I have been much happier here, since no choice was left me +but working up to my strength.'</p> + +<p>'And beyond it,' said Mr. Audley, sadly.</p> + +<p>'If so—well; so much the better!' he said. 'It is a blessing to be +allowed to be spent in that service. And for the children, I wish only +for work and goodness for them—and for that I may well trust my good +Master.'</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h4> + +<h3>TWILIGHT AND DAWN.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 35%;"> +'Two Angels, one of Life and one of Death,<br /> +Passed o'er the village as the morning broke;<br /> +The dawn was on their faces; and beneath<br /> +The sombre houses capped with plumes of smoke.'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 40%;"><i>Longfellow.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>'Don't, Ful!'</p> + +<p>'That's nothing to you, Clem.'</p> + +<p>'I say, this won't do. I must have some light.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed, Ed, we must not light a candle before five o'clock.'</p> + +<p>'Pish!'</p> + +<p>'Oh please, Edgar, don't stir the fire. If you knew how few coals there +are!'</p> + +<p>'Stuff!'</p> + +<p>'No, I won't have it done if Wilmet says not;' and Felix reared up in +the gloom, and struggled with his brother.</p> + +<p>'Felix—Edgar—Oh, don't.'</p> + +<p>'Hsh—sh— Now you girls are worse than all, screaming in that way.' +A few moments' silence of shame. It had been a weary, long, wet day, +a trial under any circumstances to eleven people under seventeen, on +the 4th of January, and the more oppressive in St. Oswald's Buildings, +because not only had their father been in a much more suffering state +for some days past, but their mother, who had hoped to keep up for some +weeks longer, had for the last two days been quite unlike herself. In +the sick-room she was as tender and vigilant as ever in her silent +way, but towards her children a strange fretful impatience had set in, +almost a jealousy of their coming near their father, and an intolerance +of the least interruption from them even for the most necessary cause. +Moreover, the one friend and helper who had never failed them before, +Mr. Audley, had not been seen since he had looked in before early +service; and altogether the wretchedness and perplexity of that day +had been such, that it was no wonder that even Felix and Wilmet had +scarcely spirits or temper for the only task that seemed at present +left them, the hindering their juniors from making themselves obnoxious.</p> + +<p>'Wilmet, do you think we shall go to the party at Centry Park?' +reiterated Fulbert.</p> + +<p>'Do hold your tongue about that. I don't believe there's the least +chance,' said Alda fretfully.</p> + +<p>'And I don't know how you can think of such a thing,' added Cherry.</p> + +<p>'I want to see Cousin Marilda's Christmas tree,' whined Robina.</p> + +<p>'Do ask Mamma again,' entreated another voice.</p> + +<p>'I shall do no such thing,' said Wilmet, with absolute crossness in her +tone.</p> + +<p>Robina began to cry.</p> + +<p>'Come here, Bobbie,' said Cherry's voice in the dark end of the room; +'I'll tell you a story.'</p> + +<p>'I know all Cherry's stories, and they're rubbish,' said Fulbert.</p> + +<p>'This is quite a new one. There was once a little match-girl—'</p> + +<p>'Bosh! I know that little brute, and I hate her,' broke in Fulbert.</p> + +<p>'Hold your tongue,' said Clement; 'but—'</p> + +<p>'Oh no, don't let us have the match-girl,' cried several voices.</p> + +<p>'Why can't you be good? There was once an old giant that lived in a +cave—'</p> + +<p>'I hate old giants,' said Cherry's critical public; and her voice grew +melancholy.</p> + +<p>'But this one had but one eye. Come, <i>do</i> listen; papa told me. He was +in an island—' but the voice grew mournful, and was broken by a cry.</p> + +<p>'Oh! Fulbert hurt me!'</p> + +<p>'Fulbert, for shame! What is it, Angel dear?'</p> + +<p>'I only laid hold of her pudding arm,' growled Fulbert. 'Oh! I say, +Felix, that's too bad!'</p> + +<p>'Hold your row, I say,' said Felix, after his application of fist law. +'Hollo! what's that?' and he sprang to his feet with Angela in his +arms, as the door was opened by a hand groping, and Mr. Audley's voice +said, 'Darkness visible.'</p> + +<p>There was a general scrambling up all over the floor, and Edgar rushed +across to light a candle. Wilmet alone had not stirred, as Bernard lay +asleep across her lap. The flash of the match revealed a mass of light +disordered heads, and likewise a black figure in the door-way.</p> + +<p>'Here is a kind helper for you, Wilmet,' said Mr. Audley, 'from St. +Faith's, at Dearport. You must call her Sister Constance.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet did rise now, in some consternation, lifting her little brother, +whose hand was still in the locks, the tangling of which had been his +solace. There was a sweet warm kiss on her brow, and her lost net was +picked up, her hair coiled into it by a pair of ready tender hands, but +she faltered, 'Oh, thank you. Does Mamma know?'</p> + +<p>'She was there when I got a sort of consent from your father,' said Mr. +Audley.</p> + +<p>'She has not said a word,' said Alda, half resentfully. 'We have hardly +been in all day except just to fetch and carry.'</p> + +<p>'Never mind,' said the Sister, 'it is much better that she did not +think about it. Now, my dear, don't! I won't have anything done for me. +You don't know how we Sisters sleep on nothing when we do sleep.'</p> + +<p>'But you'll have some tea,' said Alda, the only smooth-haired one of +the party.</p> + +<p>'When you do, perhaps, thank you. Will you come to me, my dear?' +relieving Felix from Angela. 'What is your name?' and the child, though +ordinarily very shy, clung to her at once; while she, moving over to +Cherry, found her in tears, shook up her cushion, arranged her rug, +and made her comfortable in a moment. A sense came over them all that +they had among them a head on whom they might rest their cares; and as +the black bonnet and veil were taken off, and they saw a sweet fair +motherly face beaming on them from the white plain-bordered cap, they +gathered round with an outpouring of confidence, small and great, while +Mr. Audley went upstairs to announce what he had done. He presently +returned, saying, 'All right! Perhaps you had better come up at once.'</p> + +<p>There they sat, on either side of the hearth, he pillowed up and in a +dressing-gown, more entirely the sick man than he had ever before given +up himself to be. Mrs. Underwood rose, and with tears in her eyes, +mutely held out her hand, while her husband at once recognised Sister +Constance as Lady Herbert Somerville, the wife of the late rector of +Dearport. He had last met her when, some six or seven years before, +he had been invited to preach at festivals at Dearport, and had seen +her the sunbeam of her house. He knew that her husband, who was a +connection of Mr. Audley's, had since died of the same malady as his +own, and had left her, a childless widow, together with all else he had +to leave, to the Sisterhood they had already founded in the seaport +town. But his greeting was, 'This is <i>very</i> good in you; but surely it +must be too painful for you.'</p> + +<p>'The Superior saw how much I wished it,' she said.</p> + +<p>'You are like Alexandrine de la Ferronays,' he said, remembering her +love for tending a consumptive priest for her husband's sake.</p> + +<p>'I am always wishing that I were!' she said.</p> + +<p>So they perfectly understood each other; and poor Mrs. Underwood, who +had, in her new and extraordinary petulance, fiercely resisted the +doctor's recommendation of a nurse, found herself implicitly relying +on and trusting Sister Constance with a wonderful sense of relief—a +relief perhaps still greater to the patient himself, who had silently +endured more discomforts, and made more exertions than she knew, rather +than tire her or vex her by employing even son or daughter, and who was +besides set free from some amount of anxiety.</p> + +<p>Indeed the widow had too perfect a sympathy to interfere with the +wife's only comfort. When it could safely be done, she left the two +alone together, and applied herself to winning the hearts and soothing +the spirits of the poor children downstairs, and suggesting and +compounding new nourishing delicacies.</p> + +<p>She even persuaded Mrs. Underwood to go to the next room for a night's +rest while she sat up, and learnt—what the silent wife had never told +any one—how trying the nights were even to that spirit! At first the +patient liked to talk, and drew out much of the hidden treasure of +her spirit respecting her husband, who, though ailing for years, had +finally passed away with only the immediate warning of a week—the +final cause being harass from the difficulties from those above and +below him that beset an earnest clergyman of his way of thinking.</p> + +<p>What struck her, as it did all, was Mr. Underwood's perfect absence of +all care, and conviction that all the burthen was taken off his hands. +Her own husband had, as she could not help telling him, found it hard +to resign himself to leaving his plans half carried out to instruments +which he had but half formed. He had wished with all his might to +live, and though he had resigned himself dutifully, it had been with a +real struggle, and a longing for continued service rather than rest, +a hope that he should more efficiently serve, and much difficulty in +refraining from laying all about him under injunctions for the future.</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood half smiled. 'I am neither head nor principal,' he said. +'Plans have been over long ago. I am only tired out, too tired to think +about what is to follow. If I live three days longer I shall have just +had my forty years in the wilderness, and though it has blossomed like +a rose, I am glad to be near the rest.'</p> + +<p>And then he asked for the Midnight Office; and afterwards came +fitful sleep, half dreamy, half broken by the wanderings of slight +feverishness and great weakness; but she thought her attendance would +not be very brief, and agreed mentally with what Mr. Audley had +told her, that the doctor said that the end might yet be many weeks +away. When in the dark winter's morning the wife crept back again to +her post, and all that could be done in those early hours had been +effected, Sister Constance went to the half-past seven o'clock service +with Felix and Clement, imparting to them on the road that the Superior +of St. Faith's was expecting to receive some of the least of the +children in the course of the day, to remain there for the present.</p> + +<p>Both boys declared it would be an infinite relief, but they doubted +exceedingly whether either father or mother would consent to lose sight +of them, since the former never failed to see each child, and give it +a smile and kiss, if no more. If they were to be sent, Felix supposed +there was no one but himself to take them; nobody with whom they would +be happy could be spared, nor did he show any repugnance to the notion +of acting <i>pčre de famille</i> to three babies on the railway.</p> + +<p>It was quickly settled. Mr. Underwood at once confessed the exceeding +kindness, and declared it to be much better for everybody. 'Do you not +feel it so, Mother?'</p> + +<p>She bent her head in assent, as she did to all he said.</p> + +<p>'Having them back will be good for you,' he added persuasively; +and again she tried to give a look of response. So they were +brought—Robina, Angela, and Bernard—and each stood for a moment on +a chair at his bed-side. The two little ones he merely kissed and +blessed; but to Robina he said a few more words about being good, and +minding Mamma and Felix.</p> + +<p>'Oh yes, papa! And they'll have a Christmas tree! and I'll save all my +bon-bons to make your cough well.'</p> + +<p>He watched wistfully as the bright heads passed out of sight, and the +long struggling cough and gasping that followed had all the pangs of +parting to add to their burthen. Half the family escorted Felix and his +charge to the station; and in the quiet that followed, Sister Constance +had a good sleep on Wilmet's bed, as much, she said, as she ever +required; and she came from it all freshness and brightness, making the +dinner-time very charming to all the diminished party, though Wilmet +felt greatly lost without the little ones; and afterwards she earned +the warmest gratitude from Edgar and Geraldine by looking over their +drawings and giving them some valuable hints—nay, she even devised +the new and delightful occupation of ship-building for those three +inconvenient subjects, Clement, Fulbert, and Lancelot. Upstairs or +down, all was gentle cheerfulness and patience wherever she went.</p> + +<p>Felix came home about five o'clock, and his mother was persuaded +to go to lie down while he amused his father with the account of +the children's exemplary behaviour, and of their kind welcome at +St. Faith's, where he had been kept to dine, feeling, as he said, +'uncommonly queer' at first, but at last deciding, to the great +diversion of his father, that the sisters were a set of jolly old +girls, but not one equal to '<i>our</i> Sister Constance.' Then he had +seen the church, and was almost bewildered with the beauty of the +decorations; and Mr. Underwood, though saying little, evidently much +enjoyed his boy's refreshment and pleasure. He certainly seemed no +worse, and Mr. Audley was allowed, what he had often asked before, to +sit up with him.</p> + +<p>But there was much to render it a long, anxious, restless night of +a sort of semi-consciousness, and murmuring talk, as if he fancied +himself at Vale Leston again. However, when Felix crept in, about four +o'clock in the morning, anxious at the sounds he heard, he found him +asleep, and this lasted for two or three hours; he woke refreshed, and +presently said, 'Epiphany! put back the curtain, that I may see the +bright and morning star.'</p> + +<p>The morning star was shining in the delicate dawn full in view, and he +looked at it with quiet pleasure. 'Mother,' he said, then recollecting +himself; 'ah, she is resting! Thank you, Audley.'</p> + +<p>At that moment a little cry through the thin wall made him start and +flush.</p> + +<p>'Is it so?' he murmured; 'thank God! That is well!' But his chest +heaved grievously as he panted with anxiety, and his two watchers +hesitated what to do, until the door was slightly opened, and before +the intended sign could be made to Felix, the breathless exclamation, +'How? what?' brought Sibby's half-scared mournful countenance forward.</p> + +<p>'How is she, Sibby? don't fear to say,' he said, more collectedly.</p> + +<p>'Nicely, sir, as well as can be expected; but—'</p> + +<p>'The baby? Alive—I heard—'</p> + +<p>'Yes, sir; that is—O Sir, it is two; and it would be a mere mercy if +they are taken, as they look like to be—twins, and coming like this!' +Perhaps Sibby was a little more lamentable, because, instead of looking +shocked, he clasped his hands in eager thanksgiving, as he looked +upwards.</p> + +<p>Sister Constance followed at the same moment, saying in a far more +encouraging voice, 'She is doing very well.'</p> + +<p>'It is another great mercy,' he said. 'Much better than longer waiting +on me. Will these Twelfth-day gifts live? Or do I take them with me? At +least, let me baptize them—now at once,' he spoke earnestly. 'My full +twelve, and one over, and on Twelfth-day.'</p> + +<p>Sister Constance had better hopes of the babes than Sibby, but this +wish of his was one not to be withstood for a moment; and she went to +make ready, while Mr. Audley went down for the little Parian font, +and Felix and Sibby arranged the pillows and coverings. Mr. Underwood +looked very bright and thankful. 'Birth-day gifts,' he said, 'what are +they? You have not told me, Sibby.'</p> + +<p>'Boy and girl, sir,' she said, 'poor little dears!'</p> + +<p>'Jealous for your old twins, Sibby?' he said, smiling.</p> + +<p>'Ah! sir, they came in a better time.'</p> + +<p>'Better for them, no doubt; but this is the best for these,' he +answered brightly. 'See, Sibby, can't you be thankful, like me, that +your mistress is sheltered from what would try her? I can bear it all +better without her to see.'</p> + +<p>Sibby's only reply was a gush of tears, and presently all was made +ready; Geraldine was quietly helped into the room by Edgar, and placed +in her usual station by the pillow, and the boys stood against the +wall, while the two babes, tiny and scarcely animate things, were +carried, each by one of the elder pair; and the father, as whitely +robed as if he had been in his surplice, held out his hands, and smiled +with his kindly lips and clear shining blue eyes full of welcome.</p> + +<p>'Has your mother any wishes about names?' he asked. 'Wilmet—what—?'</p> + +<p>'No, Papa, I think not;' but her eyes were brimming over with tears, +and it was plain that something was suppressed.</p> + +<p>'My dear, let me hear; I am not to be hurt by such things.'</p> + +<p>'It is—it is only—she did say, when we came for them, that we were +the children of joy—these are the children of sorrow,' murmured +Wilmet, uttering the words with difficulty.</p> + +<p>'I thought so,' he said; then after a brief pause, 'Now, Audley—'</p> + +<p>For Mr. Audley said all the previous prayers, though with a voice as +hard to control as Wilmet's had been. Then Wilmet held her charge close +to her father, for, almost inappreciable as the weight was, he could +only venture to lay one arm round that grasshopper burthen, as with his +long thin fingers he dashed the water. 'Theodore Benjamin, I baptize +thee.' Alda brought the other. 'Stella Eudora.' Then the two hands were +folded over his face, and they all knelt round till he moved and smiled.</p> + +<p>'Give them to me again,' he said.</p> + +<p>It was for the father's kiss and blessing now.</p> + +<p>'They look life-like,' he said. 'You will keep them. Now mind me. +Charge <i>her</i> never to think of them as children of sorrow, but of joy. +She will remember how nearly you were called Theodore, Felix. Take him +as God's gift and mine—may he be a son of your right hand to you.'</p> + +<p>The boy did take the babe, and with a deep resolve in his heart, that +his duty to these helpless ones should be his first thought on earth. +He did not speak it, but his father saw the steadfast wistful gaze, and +it was enough.</p> + +<p>Alda ventured to ask, 'Is Eudora a gift too, Papa?'</p> + +<p>'Yes. A happy gift. For so she is! Let her be a little Epiphany Star to +you all! Tell Mother that I call them a double joy, a double comfort! +Poor little maid!' and he kissed her again, 'will no one welcome her, +but the father who is leaving her?'</p> + +<p>'O Papa! You know how we will love them,' sobbed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'I think I do, my dear;' and he smoothed the glossy hair; 'but with +love comes joy, you know.'</p> + +<p>'It is very hard now,' broke from the poor girl.</p> + +<p>'Very,' he said tenderly; 'but it will if you make the burthen a +blessing—the cross a crutch—eh, my Cherry? Now, a kiss each, and go, +I am tired.'</p> + +<p>He was tired, but not apparently worse.</p> + +<p>Edgar and his three juniors started off directly after church in quest +of ice where they might behold skating, and practise sliding; and +Wilmet, with a view to quiet, actually ventured on the extravagance of +providing them with a shilling, that they might forage for themselves, +instead of coming home to dinner.</p> + +<p>She regretted Edgar's absence, however, for when Mr. Bevan came in to +hold the Epiphany Feast in the sick chamber, her father asked for Edgar +and Geraldine, and looked disappointed that the boy was gone. But he +murmured, 'Maybe it is best!' and when the little girl came in, flushed +and awe-struck, he took her hand, and said, 'May not I have this little +one—my last pupil—to share the feast with me? Willing and desirous,' +he smiled as he held her, and she coloured intensely, with tears in her +eyes.</p> + +<p>There could be no denial, and his judgment at such a moment could only +be accepted by the Rector; and the child herself durst not say one word +of her alarm and awe. Papa knew. And never could she forget that he +held her hand all the time that she leant—for she could not kneel—by +his bed. Her elder brother and sisters were there too, and he kissed +and blessed each tenderly afterwards, and Sister Constance too knelt +and asked his blessing. Then he thanked Mr. Bevan warmly, and called it +a most true day of brightness. They heard him whispering to himself, +'Arise, shine, for thy Light is come;' and the peaceful enjoyment +seemed so to soothe him, that he was not, as usual, eager to get up.</p> + +<p>It was only towards the early dusk that a restlessness came on, and an +increase of the distress and oppression of breath, which he thought +might be more bearable in his chair; and Mr. Audley, who had just come +in, began with Felix to dress him, and prepare to move him. But just as +they were helping him towards the chair, there was a sort of choke, a +gasping struggle, his head fell on Felix's shoulder, the boy in terror +managed to stretch out a hand and rang the bell; but in that second +felt that there was a strange convulsive shudder, and—</p> + +<p>'Felix!' Mr. Audley's low voice sounded strange and far away. 'I do +believe—'</p> + +<p>The figure was entirely prone as they lifted it back to the bed. They +needed not the exclamation of Sibby to reveal the truth. It <i>was</i> only +an exclamation, it would have been a shriek if Felix had not grasped +her wrist with a peremptory grasp. But that bell had been enough; there +had been a sound of dismay in the very tinkle, and Sister Constance was +in the doorway.</p> + +<p>'Felix,' she said, understanding all, 'you must go to her. She +heard—she is calling you. You cannot conceal it; be as quick and quiet +as you can,' she added, as the stunned boy went past her, only hearing, +and that as through a tempest, the feeble voice calling his name. He +stood by the bed-side; his mother looked into his white face, and held +out her hands; then as he bent down, clasped both round his neck. 'He +trusted you,' she said.</p> + +<p>He sank on his knees as she relaxed her grasp, and hid her head beneath +the clothes. A few holy words of commendation of the soul departed +sounded from the other room; then at Sister Constance's touch of his +hand, he quitted the room.</p> + +<p>Presently after, Felix was sitting in the large arm-chair in the +dining-room, with his sister Geraldine on his lap, his arms round her, +her arms tightly clasped round his neck, her hair hanging loosely +down over his shoulder, her head against him, his face over her, as +he rocked himself backwards and forwards with her, each straining the +other closer, as though the mechanical action and motion could allay +the pain. The table was all over baby-things, which numerous neighbours +had sent in on the first news of the twins that morning, and which +the girls had been inspecting; but no one—nothing else was to be +seen—when Mr. Thomas Underwood, on his way from the station, finding +his knock unheard, and the door ajar, found his way to the room.</p> + +<p>'What is this? How is your father?'</p> + +<p>Felix raised his face, still deeply flushed, and rising, placed his +sister in the chair.</p> + +<p>'What, worse! You don't say so,' said Mr. Underwood, advancing.</p> + +<p>'He is gone!' said Felix, steadily, but in an unnatural voice. 'Quite +suddenly. Not very long ago,' he began, but he felt unable to guess for +what space of time he had been rocking Cherry there.</p> + +<p>'Dead! Edward Underwood! Bless me!' said Mr. Underwood, taking off his +hat, passing his hand over his forehead, and standing horror-struck. 'I +had no idea! You never sent over to say he was worse.'</p> + +<p>'He was not; it came on just now,' said Felix, holding by the +mantelpiece.</p> + +<p>He groaned. 'Poor Edward! Well,' and he was forced to put his +handkerchief to his eyes. He spoke more gently after that. 'Well, this +is a sudden thing, but better than lingering on. Your poor mother, +would she like to see me?'</p> + +<p>'She was confined last night.'</p> + +<p>'Bless me! bless me! What a state of things! Have you got any one to be +with you?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; a lady from Dearport,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'Humph. Which are you? not <i>my</i> boy?'</p> + +<p>'No, I am Felix. Oh, poor Edgar!' he added, still bewildered.</p> + +<p>And it was at this moment that trampling steps were heard, making Felix +spring forward with an instinct to silence them; but at the threshold +the sight of his face brought conviction to Edgar; and with a loud +uncontrollable cry, tired and hungry as he was, he seemed to collapse +into his brother's arms, and fainted away.</p> + +<p>'<i>My</i> poor boy!' exclaimed his cousin, coming to Felix's help, and +himself lifting Edgar to the sofa. Of the other boys, Clement ran for +water, Fulbert rushed out of sight, and Lancelot laid his head on a +chair choking with tears.</p> + +<p>Felix and Clement were, poor children! used enough to illness to +attend to their brother with a collectedness that amazed their cousin; +and without calling for help, Edgar came shuddering and trembling +to himself, and then burst into silent but agonising sobs, very +painful to witness. He was always—boy as he was—the most easily +and entirely overthrown by anything that affected him strongly; and +Mr. Thomas Underwood was so much struck and touched by his exceeding +grief, especially now that he looked on him as his own property, that +after putting in some disjointed sentences of 'There—there—You'll +always have a father in me—Don't, my boy—I tell you, you are my son +now,'—which to Felix's mind made it more intolerable, he said, 'I'll +take him home now—it will be all the better for him and for every one, +poor lad! So many—'</p> + +<p>'The three younger ones were sent to Dearport yesterday,' said Felix; +'but Edgar—'</p> + +<p>'To Dearport! Eh! To whom?'</p> + +<p>'The Sisters,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>A gruff sound followed. 'Come, come, my dear lad, 'tis bad enough, but +I'll do my best to make up to you. It will be much the best way for +you to come out of this,' he added, glancing round the dreary fireless +room, which his entrance had reminded Felix to darken.</p> + +<p>'Thank you,' began Felix, not in the least supposing Edgar could go; +'but now—'</p> + +<p>'It is not like a stranger,' added his relation. 'Be a sensible lad. +One out of the way is something under the circumstances. Stay—whom can +I see? I will give orders for you,' he added.</p> + +<p>'Mr. Audley and Sister Constance are seeing about things, thank you,' +said Felix. 'I'll fetch Mr. Audley,' he added, as another trying grunt +at the other name fell on his ear, and he put his arm round Geraldine, +and helped her away.</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley came, having just parted with the doctor, who had explained +the sudden termination as what he had of late not thought improbable, +and further shown that it had been most merciful, since there might +otherwise have been weeks, if not months, of much severer suffering. He +had just looked in at the wife, but she had hardly noticed him, and he +saw no dangerous symptoms about her, except an almost torpid calmness.</p> + +<p>Mr. Thomas Underwood saw Mr. Bevan, and made it clearly understood that +he made himself responsible for all expenses, including mourning for +the whole family. He even offered to have the funeral at Vale Leston, +'if it were only to shame Fulbert Underwood;' but the wife was in no +state to be asked, and the children shrank from the removal, so it was +decided that Edward Underwood should sleep among those for whom he had +spent his life, and where his children's lot for the present would be +cast.</p> + +<p>The cousin carried Edgar back to Centry with him; the boy seemed too +unhappy not to be restless, and as if he were ready to do anything to +leave his misery behind him.</p> + +<p>The others remained with their preparations, and with such consolation +as the exceeding sympathy and kindness of the whole town could afford +them. Their mother remained in the same state, except when roused by +an effort; and then there was an attention and presence of mind about +her that gave anxiety lest excitement should be bringing feverishness; +but she always fell back into her usual state of silence, such that it +could be hardly told whether it were torpid or not.</p> + +<p>They looked out that half-finished comment on the Epistle to the +Philippians. It stopped at the words—'Yea, and if I be offered upon +the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you +all.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley took those words for his text on the Sunday, and, not +without breaking down more than once, read as much of the comment as +there was time for, as the happy-hearted message of the late pastor, +for whom indeed there were many tears shed. It seemed to suit with +that solemn peace and nobleness that seemed like the 'likeness of the +Resurrection face,' bringing back all the beauty of his countenance as +he lay robed in his surplice, with a thorny but bright-fruited cross of +holly on his breast, when his children looked their last, ere parting +with what remained of that loved and loving father.</p> + +<p>Poor little Geraldine spent that worst hour of her life sitting by her +mother's bed. She had been helped by Felix to that Feast which had been +spread for the mourners in the church in early morning; but afterwards +she was forced to remain at home, while the white-robed choir, the +brother clergy of all the neighbourhood, and the greater part of the +parish met their pastor for the last time in the church.</p> + +<p>There the first part of the service took place; and then—Cherry could +just fancy she could hear the dim echo of the <i>Dies Irć</i>, as it was +sung on the way to the cemetery. It was a very aching heart, poor +child! full of the dull agony of a longing that she knew could never be +satisfied again, the intense craving for her father.</p> + +<p>She missed him more really than any of them, she had been so much his +companion; and she was the more solitary from the absence of Edgar, +who had always been her chief partner in her pursuits. His departure +had seemed like a defection; and yet she had reproached herself for so +feeling it when he had run upstairs, on arriving with Mr. Underwood, +looking paler, more scared and miserable, than any of them; and he +was sobbing so much when he took his place in the procession, that +Wilmet had made Felix take Alda, that she might support him. None of +his mother's steady reserve and resolute stillness had descended to +him, he was all sensibility and nervousness; and Geraldine, though +without saying this to herself, felt as if 'poor Edgar' might really +have been nearly killed by the last few days of sadness, he could bear +depression so little. She could hardly have gone through them but for +Sister Constance's kindness, and that rocking process from Felix, +which she and he called 'being his great baby.' And now, when her +mother looked up at her, held out a hand, and called her Papa's dear +little Cherry, drawing her to lay her cheek by hers on the pillow, +there was much soothing in it, though therewith the little girl felt +a painful doubt and longing to know whether her mother knew what was +passing; and even while perfectly aware that she must not be talked to +nor disturbed, was half grieved, half angry, at her dropping off into +a slumber, and awakening only upon little Stella's behalf. Those few +words to Geraldine had been the only sign that day of perception of any +existence in the world save that of the twins.</p> + +<p>So the time went by, and the little bustle of return was heard; Sister +Constance came in, kissed Geraldine, and helped her down that she might +be with Edgar, who was to return with the cousin, whispering to her +by the way that it had been very beautiful. It was a day of bright +sunshine, high wind, and scant sparkling feathery stars of snow, that +sat for a moment shining in their pure perfectness of regularity on the +black, and then vanished. 'So like himself,' Sister Constance said.</p> + +<p>Geraldine found her four elders and the three little boys all together +in the dining-room; and while Wilmet anxiously asked after Mother, +the others, in a sort of sad elation, told of the crowds present, +the number of clergy—Mr. Ryder, too, came home from his holiday on +purpose—the sobbing people, and the wreaths of camellias and of holly, +that loving hands had made, and laid upon the coffin. And then the last +hymn had been so sweet and beautiful, they all seemed refreshed and +comforted except Edgar, who, coming fresh back to the desolation of the +house, was in another paroxysm of grief.</p> + +<p>'But, Edgar,' said Alda timidly, 'you like being there, don't you?'</p> + +<p>'As if one could like anything now!'</p> + +<p>'Well! but, Eddy dear, you know what I mean. It is not bad being there.'</p> + +<p>'Not so bad as being at home. Oh!' and a terrible fit of sobbing came +on, which made the other children stand round rather appalled; while +Felix, hesitating, said,</p> + +<p>'It is no good going on in this way, Edgar. Father would say it was not +right; and you are upsetting poor little Cherry.'</p> + +<p>'It is worse for him, because he has been away,' said Cherry, fondling +him.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Edgar between his sobs 'It did not seem <i>so</i> there.'</p> + +<p>'And are they kind?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, yes. Marilda let me sit in the school-room, and I had books, +and things to copy; such an angel, Cherry, I'll bring it to you next +time—my copy, I mean.'</p> + +<p>Here there was a summons from the other room for Felix.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Edgar, a good deal re-invigorated by having something +to tell; 'I suppose they are going to tell him what is settled. Mr. +Underwood wrote to the man at Vale Leston, and he won't do anything for +us; but they are going to try for the Clergy Orphan for one of you two +little boys.'</p> + +<p>'Oh!' there was a great gasp.</p> + +<p>'And about me?' asked Alda.</p> + +<p>'You are to come when we all go to London—to meet us at the station. +There's a new governess coming, and you will start both together with +her; and I think you'll beat Marilda, for she knows nothing, and won't +learn.'</p> + +<p>'I hope she won't be jealous.'</p> + +<p>'I don't think it is in her! She's very jolly.'</p> + +<p>'But I can't go till Mamma is better.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet felt they were falling into a gossiping kind of way that jarred +on her, and was glad of a summons upstairs.</p> + +<p>Mr. Thomas Underwood saw Alda before he returned home, told her she was +his other daughter, and should join them on their way to London; and he +further made arrangements about the christening, contingent, of course, +on the mother's consent, and on the possibility of taking the very +small delicate babies to the church. He made very extensive promises of +patronage for the future, with a full and open heart, and looked as if +he should like to adopt the whole family on the spot.</p> + +<p>For the convenience of our readers we subjoin the first page of +the family Bible.</p> +<hr class="tb" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/fam_bible.jpg" width="550" alt="family bible" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h4> + +<h3>WORKING FOR BREAD.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 25%;"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">'Parson's lass 'ant nowt, an' she weant 'a nowt when 'e's dead;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Mun be a guvness, lad, or summut, an' addle her bread.'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 40%;"><i>Tennyson</i>.</span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>'Tell, little one,' said Mr. Rugg, the doctor, as he found Geraldine +on the landing-place outside her mother's room, and spoke to her in +a voice that to her reluctant ears, as well as to those of Sister +Constance, who followed him, sounded all the more vulgar because it was +low, wheedling, and confidential; 'you are always about the house, you +know everything—what accident has your mamma met with?'</p> + +<p>Cherry's face grew set.</p> + +<p>'She has, then,' said the doctor, looking at Sister Constance. 'I +thought so. Now, be a good child, and tell us all about it.'</p> + +<p>'I cannot,' she said.</p> + +<p>'Come, don't be silly and sulk. No one will punish you; we know it was +an accident; out with it.'</p> + +<p>'My dear,' said Sister Constance, 'this is a pity. Much may depend on +your speaking.'</p> + +<p>Cherry began to cry very piteously, though still silently.</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes, we see you are sorry,' said Mr. Rugg, 'but there's nothing +for it now but to let us hear the truth.'</p> + +<p>She shook her head violently, and brow and neck turned crimson.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rugg grew angered, and tried a sharper tone. 'Miss Geraldine, this +is regular naughtiness. Let me hear directly.'</p> + +<p>The flush became purple, and something like 'I won't' came from behind +the handkerchief.</p> + +<p>'Leave her to me, if you please,' said Sister Constance gently; 'I +think she will tell me what is right to be told.'</p> + +<p>'As you please, Lady Somerville,' said Mr. Rugg, who, since he had +discovered her title, was always barbarously misusing it; 'but the +thing must be told. It is doing Mrs. Underwood a serious injury to let +childish naughtiness conceal the truth.'</p> + +<p>Constance put her arm round the little girl, a tiny weight for thirteen +years old, and took her into the room where she had last seen her +father. She was sobbing violently, not without passion, and the more +distressingly because she carefully stifled every sound, and the poor +little frame seemed as if it would be rent to pieces. 'Cherry, dear +child, don't,' said Constance, sitting down and gathering her into her +arms; 'do try and calm yourself, and think—'</p> + +<p>'He—he—I won't tell him!' sobbed the child. 'He's a bad man—he tells +stories. He said he would not hurt me—when he knew he should most +terribly. Papa said it was very wrong. Papa was quite angry—he called +it deceiving, he did! I won't tell him!'</p> + +<p>'My dear child, is there anything to tell? Don't think about him, think +about what is good for your mother.'</p> + +<p>'She told me not,' sobbed Cherry, but not with the anger there had been +before. 'No, no, don't ask me; she told me not.'</p> + +<p>'Your mother? My dear little girl, whatever it is, you ought to say +it. Your dear mother seems to be too ill and confused to recollect +everything herself, and if it is not known whether she has been hurt, +how can anything be done for her?'</p> + +<p>Cherry sat upon her friend's lap, and with a very heaving chest said, +'If Felix says I ought—then I will. Papa said we should mind Felix— +like him.'</p> + +<p>'I will call Felix,' said Sister Constance.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rugg looked very impatient of the delay; but Felix, who had just +come in to dinner, was summoned. He came at once, and was soon standing +by Geraldine's chair.</p> + +<p>'Yes, Geraldine, I think you ought to tell,' he said, as the loyal +little thing gazed up at her new monarch. 'What did happen?'</p> + +<p>'It was on the day after New Year's Day,' said Geraldine, now speaking +very fast. 'You were all at church, and she came out of—this room +with Bernard in her arms—and called to me that I might come and sit +with—him, because she was going down to the kitchen to make some +beef-tea. And just then she put her foot into a loop of whip-cord, and +fell. She could not save herself at all, because of Bernard; but she +went backwards—against the steps.'</p> + +<p>'Did she seem hurt at the time?'</p> + +<p>'I did not think so. She pulled herself up by the baluster before I +could get up to help her, and she never let Bernard go all the time—he +did not even scream. She only said, "Now mind, Cherry, do not say one +word of this to Papa or anybody else," and she told me she wasn't hurt. +Oh! was she really?' as the Sister left the room.</p> + +<p>'I wonder whose the string was,' said Felix vindictively.</p> + +<p>'Oh, never mind! He'll be so sorry! Oh! I hope she won't be very much +vexed at my telling!'</p> + +<p>'She will not mind now!' said Felix; 'it was only not to frighten Papa.'</p> + +<p>And Felix had his little sister in that one position where she felt +a sort of comfort—like a baby in his arms to be rocked—when Sister +Constance returned with the doctor. He spoke without either the anger +or the persuasive tone now, and Cherry could bear it better, though she +slipped off her brother's lap instantly, and stood up in dignity.</p> + +<p>'So your Mamma told you to conceal this mishap. That is some excuse. +Now, tell me, how far did she fall?'</p> + +<p>'Not more than four steps, I am sure—I think three.'</p> + +<p>'And backwards?'</p> + +<p>'Yes.'</p> + +<p>'Do you think she struck her head?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, the back of it.'</p> + +<p>'Ah! And she spoke and moved at once, not like one stunned?'</p> + +<p>'Oh no, not at all. She got up and made the beef-tea.'</p> + +<p>'The 2nd of January! That must have been about the time you began to +observe that change of manner—the irritability your sister remarked,' +said the doctor, turning to Felix.</p> + +<p>He nodded, angry as he had been with Alda for remarking it.</p> + +<p>All that the doctor further said was, that he must have another +examination now that he knew a little more about the case; and he went +away with Sister Constance, saying to her, 'Mrs. Underwood is a lady of +wonderful fortitude and resolution, and really they are the worst kind +of patients.'</p> + +<p>It was now more than a fortnight since that 6th of January which +saw the birth of the twins and the death of their father, and Mrs. +Underwood still lay quiet and almost torpid in her bed, seldom +speaking, hardly ever originating anything, and apparently taking no +interest whatsoever in anything outside her room; and yet there was no +symptom unfavourable to her recovery to be detected. Within the last +day or two they had tried to rouse her; papers had been brought to her +to sign, and she did so obediently, but she did not follow the subject: +she did not refuse, but did not second, any proposal for her beginning +to sit up; and this was the more remarkable, as, being a woman of much +health and energy in her quiet way, she had always recovered rapidly, +and filled her place in the family alarmingly soon. The nurse had begun +to suspect that besides the torpor of mind there was some weakness of +limb; and with the new lights acquired, Mr. Rugg had no difficulty in +coming to the conclusion that there was a slight concussion of the +spine, causing excitement at first, and now more serious consequences; +and though he did not apprehend present danger, he thought complete +recovery very doubtful.</p> + +<p>'So they are almost worse than orphans,' said Sister Constance, when +the Curate went down from reading to the invalid, and she could tell +him the verdict.</p> + +<p>'Do they know?'</p> + +<p>'The fact? There is no need to lay the future on the shoulders of the +present.'</p> + +<p>'A very dark present. I feel as if a great bright sun, warming and +invigorating, had gone out of my life. Yet I knew him but two years.'</p> + +<p>'I can understand it, though I knew him but two days.'</p> + +<p>'I hope he may have been the making of me,' sighed Mr. Audley. 'He +ought to be.'</p> + +<p>'I think he has been,' said she, smiling. 'There is some difference +between you and the boyish young deacon that came here two years ago.'</p> + +<p>'Who thought life without shooting barely endurable by the help of +croquet! I trust so! He was very patient and tolerant—made holidays +for me that first summer which it cuts me to recollect.'</p> + +<p>'To live and share in a great sorrow does make a great step in life,' +said Constance, thoughtfully looking at the much graver and more +earnest brow of her husband's young cousin; 'and you were a comfort to +them all as no one else could be.'</p> + +<p>'Must you go?' he said. 'I wanted to consult you. I am thinking of +giving up my present lodgings to this Mowbray Smith, who is coming as +curate, and coming here.'</p> + +<p>'Here! My dear Charles!'</p> + +<p>'I thought I had heard legends of twelve foot square?'</p> + +<p>'Not with thirteen children. Besides, we were seasoned!'</p> + +<p>'Stay; you don't understand. There are three rooms on this floor. Poor +Mrs. Underwood will hardly want to occupy these two just yet. I take +them, and put in some furniture—live to myself, but let them board and +lodge me. They may as well have what is to be made by it as any one +else.'</p> + +<p>'But can they? And, forgive me, Charles, are you prepared for the +cookery here? Really, some of those children have appetites so small, +that I can't bear to see them at dinner.'</p> + +<p>'That's the very point. They all say the invaluable Sibby is as good a +nurse as she is bad as a cook. Now, if they have no help, Wilmet <i>must</i> +stay at home to look after her mother and the twins; and that is not +fit for such a young girl. Now, my coming might enable them to get some +one who knows the use of meat and fires, and would send upstairs the +only woman who would undertake such a charge as that must be.'</p> + +<p>'I don't like to say a word against it. It seems excellent for them.'</p> + +<p>'I would not live with them, but I should be there to help. I could +keep Felix up in his Latin, and—'</p> + +<p>'Only one suggestion more, Charles. If you do not stay here long?'</p> + +<p>'Well—if not, every week I am here is so much tided over; and just at +this time the charge must be heaviest. Those boys may be disposed of +after a time.'</p> + +<p>'I wish we could keep those two little girls at St. Faith's, but there +is no place yet for children of their class. I am wanted there this +day week, and I cannot say but that I shall be glad to leave you here. +Only, I recollect your mother's feelings.'</p> + +<p>'Mothers must draw in the horns of their feelings when their sons are +ordained,' he said, laughing. 'I shall consult that notable person, +Wilmet.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet started and blushed with pleasure. It would be so much less +dreary; and, poor girl! she was feeling as if she were half rent +asunder at the thought of Alda's going. So good for Felix, too. Only +she must ask Mamma. And she did ask Mamma, and, to her great pleasure, +Mrs. Underwood listened, and said, 'It is very kind.'</p> + +<p>'And shall it be, Mamma?'</p> + +<p>'I shall like for you to have some one in the house. Yes, my dear, I +think—' then she paused. 'My dear, you and Sibby and Sister Constance +had better talk it over. I do not seem able to consider it. But Sister +Constance will tell you. My dear Wilmet, I am afraid you must have a +great deal laid on you.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, never mind, Mamma; I like doing things. Besides, you are so much +better.'</p> + +<p>'I'll try to help you more,' added Mrs. Underwood wistfully. 'Which +room did you say?'</p> + +<p>And she listened, and even made a few suggestions, as Wilmet explained +how she thought of making a sitting-room upstairs, and giving the two +downstairs front ones to Mr. Audley, using the back room for the boys +and children; she was altogether so much more open to comprehension, +and ready to speak, that Wilmet was full of hope and assurance that she +was really mending.</p> + +<p>When Sister Constance came in, the readiness to converse continued. +She consulted her friend on the scheme, and its expedience for Mr. +Audley, saying that she feared he would be uncomfortable; but she could +not reject so great a help for her children. She had even thought of +the advantage of keeping Sibby upstairs to attend on the babies and +herself—work not fit to rest entirely on Wilmet, though the good girl +had fully counted on giving up her work at school.</p> + +<p>It was evident that the examination by the doctor and Wilmet's +consultation had thoroughly roused her, and she was as clear-headed +as ever. Indeed, it seemed to Sister Constance that she was a little +excited, and in that mood in which the most silent and reserved people +suddenly become the most unreserved.</p> + +<p>She was asked at last what Mr. Rugg thought of her, and Sister +Constance in reply asked whether she remembered her accident. She +thought a little. 'Why—yes—I believe I did slip on the stairs; but it +did not hurt me, and I forgot it. Does he think anything of it?'</p> + +<p>'I think he fears you gave yourself a shock.'</p> + +<p>'Not unlikely,' she said in an indifferent tone, and did not speak +again for some minutes; then said, 'Yes, I see! I am thankful it did +not tell on me sooner,' and her look brought the tears into Constance's +eyes.</p> + +<p>'It told more than you did,' said Constance, endeavouring at a smile.</p> + +<p>'Not on the babies,' she said; 'and he never knew it, so there is no +harm done! Thank God!'</p> + +<p>She lay a little longer, and Constance thought her going into her usual +state of torpor; but she roused herself to say, 'Would you kindly look +into that desk? You will find a green book.'</p> + +<p>'Yes.'</p> + +<p>'Please tear out the leaves, and burn it for me. I would not have one +of the children see it on any account.'</p> + +<p>Constance began to obey, and saw that it was a diary. 'Are you sure it +ought to be done?' she asked. 'Might it not be better to wait till you +are better?'</p> + +<p>'I cannot tell that I shall be much less helpless. I know how things +like this go,' she said.</p> + +<p>Constance was still reluctant, and Mrs. Underwood added, 'I will tell +you. It is nothing good, I assure you. When we drove from the door at +Vale Leston, the home of all our lives, <i>he</i> turned to me and said, +"Now, Mary, that page is shut for ever. Let us never speak a word to +make the children or ourselves feel turned out of paradise." And I +never did; but, oh! I wrote it. There are pages on pages of repinings +there—I could not let them see it!'</p> + +<p>'Nay, but you were resigned.'</p> + +<p>'Resigned! What of that? I held my tongue! It was all I could do! I +never knew things could be worse till I saw it was killing him, and +then all I could do was still to keep silence.'</p> + +<p>There was an agony in her voice that Constance had never heard there +before.</p> + +<p>'Silence was, no doubt—as things were—an exceeding kindness to him,' +said Constance, 'and one that must have cost you much.'</p> + +<p>'Once—once, so tenderly, with tears in his eyes, he did beg me as a +favour not to complain, or talk of Fulbert Underwood! I did not; but +I never <i>could</i> be the companion I was before to him. He was always +happy, he did believe me so; but I could often only smile. If I talked, +it could only have been of his health and our cares.'</p> + +<p>'You kept him happy by taking the weight so entirely to yourself.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps; if he had only known how miserable it made me, we might have +moved to a healthier place; but after that one time, I never could vex +him or trust myself. To hear him console me and grieve for me, was +worst of all.'</p> + +<p>Constance began to see how the whole woman, brought up to affluence, +had been suddenly crushed by the change; and almost the more so for +her husband's high and cheerful resolution, which had forced back +her feelings into herself. Her powers had barely sufficed for the +cares of her household and her numerous family, and her endurance had +consisted in 'suffering, and being still.' No murmur had escaped, but +only by force of silence. She had not weakened his energies by word +or look of repining; but while his physical life was worn out by toil +and hardship, her mental life had almost been extinguished in care, +drudgery, and self-control; and all his sweetness, tenderness, and +cheerfulness had not been able to do more than just to enable her to +hold out, without manifesting her suffering. Enid had been a very +suitable name for her; though without a Geraint in any respect to blame +for what she underwent, she had borne all in the same silent and almost +hopeless spirit, and with the same unfailing calm temper: but outside +her own house, she had never loved nor taken real interest in anything +since the day she drove from the door of Vale Leston; she had merely +forced herself to seem to do so, rather than disappoint her eager +husband and children.</p> + +<p>And now, how much of her torpor had been collapse, how much the effect +of the accident, could not be guessed. She herself was greatly roused +for the present, dwelt on the necessity of trying to get up the next +day, and was altogether in a state excitable enough to make the Sister +anxious.</p> + +<p>Other troubles too there were that evening, which made all feel that +even though Mr. Audley was to live to himself, his presence in the +house would be no small comfort.</p> + +<p>Fulbert, never the most manageable of the party, had procured a piece +of wood from the good-natured carpenter, and was making a sparrow-trap +on an improved plan, when Wilmet, impatient to have the room clear +for Mr. Audley to come for the final decision—as he was to do in the +evening—anxious to clear away the intolerable litter, and with more +anxiety for Fulbert's holiday task than for the sparrows, ordered him +to bed—ten minutes too early, and in too peremptory a tone.</p> + +<p>Fulbert did not stir.</p> + +<p>'Fulbert, I say, clear up that litter, and go to bed.'</p> + +<p>'Don't you hear, Fulbert?' said Felix, looking up from his book.</p> + +<p>Fulbert gave a pull to the newspaper that was spread under his works on +the table, and sent all his chips and saw-dust on the ground.</p> + +<p>'O Fulbert! how naughty!' broke out Alda.</p> + +<p>'Fulbert, are you going to mind?' asked Wilmet. 'Please remember.'</p> + +<p>'I shall go in proper time,' growled Fulbert.</p> + +<p>'That is not the way to speak to your sister,' interposed Felix, with +authority.</p> + +<p>Fulbert eyed him defiantly all over.</p> + +<p>Felix rose up from his chair, full of wrath and indignation. There +was quite difference enough in their size and strength to give him +the complete mastery, for Fulbert was only ten years old; but Wilmet, +dreading nothing so much as a scuffle and outcry, sprang up, imploring, +'O Felix! remember, Mamma is wide awake to-night. Let him alone—pray, +let him alone.'</p> + +<p>Felix was thoroughly angry, and kept his hands off with exceeding +difficulty. 'Little sneak,' he said; 'he chooses to take advantage.'</p> + +<p>'He always was a sneak; his nose is the shape of it,' said Edgar.</p> + +<p>As Felix and Wilmet had the sense to let this amiable observation drop, +Edgar contented himself with making some physiognomical outlines of +sneaks' noses on a slate; and silence prevailed till the church clock +struck the half-hour, when Clement got up, and taking the slate, where +he had been solacing himself with imitating Edgar's caricatures, he was +about to make it an impromptu dust-pan, and went down on his knees to +sweep up Fulbert's malicious litter, but was rewarded with a vicious +kick on the cheek. It was under the table, out of sight; and Clement, +like a true son of his mother, made no sign, but went off to bed like a +Spartan.</p> + +<p>'Fulbert,' said Lance, rising to follow his example, 'it is time now.'</p> + +<p>He still sat on; and Felix, in intolerable wrath and vexation, found +himself making such deep bites into a pencil, that he threw it from him +with shame, just as Mr. Audley's bell sounded, and he ran down to let +him in.</p> + +<p>'Now, Ful,' said Wilmet coaxingly, 'please go—or Mr. Audley will see.'</p> + +<p>'Let him.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley was there in a moment, and the next, Alda, in all the ruffle +of offended dignity, was telling him that Fulbert was in one of his +tempers, and would attend to nobody. Fulbert's back looked it. It +evidently intended to remain in that obstinate curve till midnight.</p> + +<p>'I am sorry,' said Mr. Audley, 'I thought no one would have added to +the distress of the house! What is it, Fulbert?' he added, laying his +hand on his shoulder, and signing to Alda to hold her peace.</p> + +<p>'They bother,' said Fulbert, in the sulky tone; but still, as he +regarded the new-comer as less of an enemy than the rest—'I'd have +gone at half-past eight if they would let a fellow alone.'</p> + +<p>'Then the fellow had better give them no right to bother,' said +Mr. Audley. 'Come, Fulbert, no ship can sail unless the crew obey. +No mutiny. Here's your captain ready to shake hands and wish you +good-night.'</p> + +<p>Fulbert could not face Mr. Audley's determined look, but he was not +conquered. He took up his tools and his trap, gave a final puff to +spread his sawdust farther, and marched off without a single good-night.</p> + +<p>'He has the worst temper of us all,' cried Alda.</p> + +<p>'You should be very cautious of provoking him,' said Mr. Audley.</p> + +<p>'I am afraid it was my fault,' sighed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Nonsense,' said Felix; 'he is an obstinate little dog. I wish I was +licking him. I hope he is not pitching into Clem!'</p> + +<p>'Clem is the biggest,' said Alda.</p> + +<p>'Yes, but he is much the meekest,' added Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Tina's meek sauce is aggravation, itself,' observed Edgar. 'I should +hope he was catching it!'</p> + +<p>'He is certainly not slow to put in his oar,' said Mr. Audley; 'did you +hear of his performance in the vestry the other day?'</p> + +<p>'No. I hope he did not make an unusual ass of himself,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'He and Mowbray Smith had last Tuesday's Evensong nearly to themselves, +when Master Clem not only assisted Smith in putting on his hood, but +expressed his doubts as to the correctness of it (never, of course, +having seen any bachelor's but Oxford or Cambridge), and further gave +him some good advice as to his manner of intoning.'</p> + +<p>'I hope he won't go on in that way at St. Matthew's!' exclaimed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'It is lucky he is going so soon,' said Mr. Audley. 'I doubt if Mowbray +Smith will ever get over it!'</p> + +<p>'Regular snob that he is,' said Edgar; 'just one of my Lady's sort! +What did he do? Go crying to her?'</p> + +<p>'O Edgar!' remonstrated Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Well, Mettie, if even our spiritual pastors will be snobs, one must +have the relief of expressing one's opinion now and then.'</p> + +<p>'I should say it was better to keep any such fact out of one's mind as +much as might be,' said Mr. Audley, feeling himself unable to deny what +had been so broadly expressed.</p> + +<p>'And we, at any rate, had better drop talking of snobs,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'Hollo, Felix! I am sure you for one would not be a snob if you had +turned chimney-sweeper, and let Tom Underwood nail me to his office; +he'll never make one of me!'</p> + +<p>'I trust so,' said Felix; 'but it is not the way to keep from it to +throw about the word at other folks.'</p> + +<p>'What's that?' cried Alda. 'Really, that boy must be falling upon some +of them.'</p> + +<p>It was Lance, in great deshabille, who, opening a crack of the door, +called cautiously, 'Wilmet, please come here.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet hastily obeyed, saying anxiously, as the door was shut, 'Never +mind, dear Lance, he's in a horrid mood; but do bear it, and not make +Felix more in a rage.'</p> + +<p>'Bosh about Ful,' said Lance unceremoniously. 'It is Cherry; she is +crying so upstairs, and Clem and I can't get a word out of her.'</p> + +<p>Cherry, though older than the boys, had to precede them in vanishing +for the night, as her undressing was a long operation dependent +upon Sibby. Wilmet ran up in haste, and did indeed find poor little +Geraldine with her face smothered under the clothes in an agony of +weeping, very serious for so frail a little creature.</p> + +<p>'Cherry! Cherry, dear, don't! Are you feeling solitary? Are you missing +<i>him?</i> Oh, don't! Yes, dear, 'tis so sad; but we all do love you so.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet would have kissed and fondled her, but the child almost thrust +her away.</p> + +<p>'Not that. Oh, not that! I wish it was.'</p> + +<p>'My dear Cherry, you can't have been naughty!'</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes! indeed I have. And now—'</p> + +<p>'I can't think—O Cherry, if you would only tell me what you mean!' +cried Wilmet, aghast.</p> + +<p>And with agonised sobs, Cherry whispered, 'Mr. Rugg—O Mettie—such +things as I said about him to Sister Constance—I made sure I had +forgiven—long ago—and now—now, after <i>that</i>.'</p> + +<p>If Wilmet had not known how deeply both Geraldine and her father had +resented what Mr. Rugg had meant as a little friendly gloss to save +terror before a painful operation, she would have been utterly at a +loss. And now, she found herself incapable by any argument or caress of +soothing her sister's sense of heinous offence; for that rite, of which +she had partaken with her father, had required charity with all men, +and now she found she had been deceitful—she hated Mr. Rugg all the +time. Oh, what should she do! how could she be so wicked!</p> + +<p>Wilmet tried to tell her that she had not known how it was at the time, +but this seemed no comfort; and it was plain that that day's solemnity +had lessened the inequality between the two girls so much, that for +Wilmet to console her as a child was vain; and indeed, her invalid +state and constant companionship with her father had rendered her +religious feeling much more excitable, and more developed, than were as +yet Wilmet's; and meantime, this piteous sobbing and weeping was doing +great bodily harm.</p> + +<p>Wilmet at last, hearing a door open as if the nurse were taking Sister +Constance's place, ran down to take counsel with that kind friend on +the way. She whispered her trouble on the stairs, and the Sister was +soon kneeling over the little bed; but her comfort was not persuading +the child to think less of the fault, but promising that she should +tell all to Mr. Audley to-morrow.</p> + +<p>Nay, seeing that even this was too long hence for the 'weary soul, and +burdened sore,' to look forward to—indeed, that the preparation for +the interview would be sleep-destroying—she said, 'Then you shall see +him at once, my dear.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet opened her eyes in dismay. That little attic, bare of all but +beds, was her thought; but Sister Constance, ever an effective woman, +had the little black frock, the shoes and stockings, on in no time, and +throwing a shawl over all, actually gathered the small light frame up +into her arms, and carried her down to the fire in the room now vacated +by the nurses and babies. And there she fetched Mr. Audley to her. 'It +will not do,' she whispered on the way to Wilmet, 'to treat her as a +child <i>now</i>.'</p> + +<p>'He always made so much of her,' sighed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Yes; and now she is a Communicant.'</p> + +<p>They left her to Mr. Audley, and presently, when the door opened +again, it was he who was carrying her upstairs again; and when Sister +Constance had taken possession of her, she whispered, 'Yes, thank you. +He says I may come on Sunday, and I think it is forgiven. I shall say +a prayer about charity always now!' And with a deep sigh, the worn-out +little penitent lay down to her sleep.</p> + +<p>'O Mr. Audley, it is plain we cannot do without you,' sighed Wilmet, as +she came down, not without tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>And then came the conference upon ways and means, rooms and attendance. +Mr. Audley had parted with his horse and groom in the autumn, observing +that they ate their heads off; and the terms he now proposed for +lodging, board, and attendance were what Felix and Wilmet would have +known to be wondrously liberal but for their inexperience, especially +as he meant to send in some, at least, of the furniture. He was to have +his meals, at his own times, in his sitting-room; and Sister Constance +had a person in her eye at Dearport, who was likely to do well in the +kitchen, and not quarrel with Sibby.</p> + +<p>Wilmet had made up her mind that she must remain at home all day, and +had even told Miss Pearson so; but that good lady had refused to accept +her resignation, and had come to Mr. Bevan about it; and now both the +Sister and the Curate united in telling her that she ought not, as long +as it was possible, to give up this means of improving herself, as well +as lessening the family burthen. To give up her education now would be +to sink into a housewifely drudge, who would hardly be able to maintain +herself when the younger ones would be getting out into the world; and +as Geraldine must stay at home to be a companion to her mother, there +was no need for her being also always in attendance, while Sibby was +equal to the charge. Indeed, Mrs. Underwood herself had said something +that showed her to contemplate Wilmet's remaining at school.</p> + +<p>'You must,' said Felix decidedly. 'Why, you might as well turn +nursery-girl at once.'</p> + +<p>'I should like it,' said Wilmet. 'I shall be miserable at +school—always thinking something is going wrong. And Cherry can never +bear with the babies! Oh! please don't tell me I must.'</p> + +<p>'I tell you to begin,' said Sister Constance. 'You can always give it +up if you feel that the need lies at home; but I think the few hours' +change every day—for duty's sake, mind—will give you vigour not to be +worn down by the home cares.'</p> + +<p>'But Cherry will have them always! She who cares for books and drawing +so much more than I!'</p> + +<p>'Yes; but if you go on learning, you can teach her,' said Sister +Constance.</p> + +<p>'Oh!' cried Wilmet; 'Cherry knows more than I do.'</p> + +<p>'Little Cherry is the cleverest of us all,' added Felix.</p> + +<p>'Still,' said the Sister, 'the mere going over your work with you +will give her change and interest. I do feel strongly convinced, dear +Wilmet, that to shut yourself up with her, without gathering anything +from elsewhere, would be very bad for both.'</p> + +<p>'We must see how Mamma is, and how Cherry gets on,' was all that Wilmet +would say, but the arrangement was made, and was to take effect in ten +days' time, when Mr. Mowbray Smith was coming to be second curate, and +Sister Constance must change places with the three absent children, and +Alda would be gone to her adopted home.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Audley took leave; and as Felix went to the front door with +him, he said, 'Forgive me, Felix; but I am a younger brother myself, +and I do hope you do not mean to assert your authority by licking.'</p> + +<p>Felix coloured a little; and though he spoke respectfully, it was with +some little annoyance. 'There is nothing else that does with Fulbert.'</p> + +<p>'Stay, Felix; I am not questioning that he may be the sort of boy for +whom flogging may be good from some one.'</p> + +<p>'He is!' said Felix. 'He never will behave himself till he has felt his +master! It has been so at school; and once, even my father made himself +quite ill for a week with having to flog Fulbert for disobedience. It +settled him; but he is not like the others—Clem and Lance are not any +trouble; but—I know it will come to it sooner or later; Ful will never +mind me or Wilmet till I have done it once.'</p> + +<p>'And when his strength is equal to yours?'</p> + +<p>'Then I hope he will have more sense.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Felix; but what if by forcing him into dogged submission by your +bodily strength you have lost his confidence, and have no moral power +over him? Things that can be borne from a father come very differently +from a brother.'</p> + +<p>Felix was quite crimson now. 'But what shall I do, Mr. Audley, when he +defies Wilmet, and teases Cherry and the little ones?'</p> + +<p>'Try all you can with his better sense, but don't anger him by tones of +authority. What you think needful rule may seem to him domineering. And +if necessary, call me. My blows will not leave the after rankling that +yours will, even if they are necessary.'</p> + +<p>Felix sighed. He was not desirous of beating his brother in the main; +but being unhappily master of the house, he was unwilling not to be so +entirely. He wished Mr. Audley good-night, not in his most perfectly +cordial tone.</p> + +<p>However, the next morning he had brought himself to thank Mr. Audley.</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Felix,' said the Curate; 'it is a great relief to me. I was +afraid you thought you were going to bring a meddling fellow in upon +you.'</p> + +<p>Felix coloured, and with an effort—for which Mr. Audley liked him the +better—said, 'I know I shall always deserve what advice you give me, +and I hope another time I may take it better than the last.'</p> + +<p>Soon after, one train carried away four of the young Underwoods to +begin life elsewhere. The Thomas Underwoods had desired that Alda and +Edgar should meet them at the station, and at Felix's entreaty had +also undertaken to convoy Clement, who, thanks to Mr. Audley, was +to be a chorister, and live in the clergy-house at St. Matthew's, +Whittingtonia. It would have been Fulbert, only unluckily he had +no ear, and so he was left at home, while Lady Price, Mrs. Thomas +Underwood, and all the ladies they could enlist in their service, +canvassed desperately, and made the cards of 'Fulbert James and +Lancelot Oswald, sons of the Rev. Edward Fulbert Underwood, THIRTEEN +children,' a weariness to every friend of a subscriber to clergy-orphan +schools. Robina was not quite old enough to stand for the like +election; but Sister Constance had negotiated with a lady who had +devoted herself to educating children of better birth than means, and +the little girl was to be dropped at the nearest station to her school +at Catsacre. It had all been settled in a wonderfully short time, by +Sister Constance and Mr. Audley, with full though helpless acquiescence +from Mrs. Underwood. They felt it well to lessen the crowd of children +in the house, and the responsibilities of the elder ones, and acted at +once.</p> + +<p>As to Alda, she was too miserable at home not to be ready to follow +Edgar, though she had at first implored to stay and help Wilmet till +their mother was about again; but the Thomas Underwoods were unwilling +to consent to this—and after all, Alda was more apt to cry than to +be of much real use. Sister Constance saw that she was only another +weight on her sister's hands, and that, terrible as the wrench would be +between the twins, Wilmet would be freer when it was once over. Poor +Wilmet! she had felt as if she could hardly have lived over these weeks +save for fondling the younger twins, and waiting on her mother. She was +almost passive, and ran up and downstairs, or prepared the wardrobes +of the departing children, just as she was bidden, all in one quiet +maze of grief. The tears seemed to be always in her eyes, very often +dropping, and yet they never hindered her, and she never uttered a word +of deprecation or complaint; only she could not eat, and a kiss would +bring down a whole shower; and at night, the two sisters would hold +each other tight, and cry and kiss themselves to sleep.</p> + +<p>So had come the last day—the last for all four. Robina, who had only +just come back from St. Faith's, was grave, puzzled, and awestruck, +clinging chiefly to Lancelot, and exchanging confidences in corners +with him, in which they were probably much less childish than they +showed themselves to the outer world. Clement was very grave and +unhappy; but seemed to be most distressed at parting with Harry Lamb, +a favourite school-fellow of his own quiet stamp, with whom he spent +all available time. Alda and Wilmet were hand in hand at every possible +moment, and if possible cheek to cheek—each felt as if herself was cut +in two.</p> + +<p>Then Edgar, who had only come home for that farewell Sunday, had +another of his paroxysms of sorrow at the changes at home, which he +contrived to forget when at Centry. All that was becoming in a manner +usual to the others was a shock to him, and he was so very miserable +the whole day, that he treated every attempt of the others to cheer +him as a mere token of their hardness of heart. He went in to see his +mother, and was so overcome at finding her no better, that he rushed +away, and threw himself on a sofa as if he was going to faint; and when +at church he saw his father's place filled up he fell into such a fit +of sobbing, that half-a-dozen smelling-bottles were handed across the +seats.</p> + +<p>However, he had recovered himself on Monday morning, and made it his +particular request that nobody would come bothering to the station, +to make them look like Fulbert's canvassing-card of the thirteen +children—and as the mention of it always affronted Fulbert deeply, it +was plain that <i>he</i> would be no good company. However, Felix had been +allowed an hour from his business for that very purpose, and he simply +said, 'Nonsense, Edgar, I shall take Robin down.' Wilmet submitted, +though with a great pang. She had no assurance that she should not +break down, and a crying match at the station—oh no! It might make +Bobbie roar all the way.</p> + +<p>So Alda clung round her neck and Geraldine's in their own little +parlour, and wished her mother good-bye, scarcely knowing whether it +were with a full understanding how many were parted from the wing that +now seemed unable to shelter them; and then Wilmet went up and quietly +lay down by her mother on her bed, feeling as if there was nothing she +cared for in all life, and as if youth, hope, and happiness were gone +away from her for ever, and she were as much widowed as her mother. She +was even past crying—she could do nothing but lie still. But then her +mother's hand came out and stroked her; and presently one of the babies +cried, and Wilmet was walking up and down the room with it, and all +activity with her outward senses, though her heart felt dead. Meantime, +the luggage went in the omnibus, the four children walked up together +only escorted by Felix, and were passed on their way by the prancing +and thundering carriage from Centry.</p> + +<p>But the sense of usefulness that came gave strength and energy to Felix +and Wilmet Underwood as the first excitement passed away, and they +better understood their tasks.</p> + +<p>Of the absent ones they heard good accounts. Alda was altogether one +with her cousin's family, and seemed to be completely on an equality +with Marilda; and Edgar had been sent by Thomas Underwood to acquire +modern languages under the care of an Englishman who took private +pupils at Louvaine, whence Edgar despatched most amusing letters and +clever sketches. Clement was in great favour, both musically and +morally, at St. Matthew's; and little Robina was reported to have +bewailed her home with floods of nightly tears, but to have soon +settled down into the bonnie little pet of the elder girls.</p> + +<p>Except for the separation, the cloud had hardly fallen on these, but +their departure had made a great hole in the hitherto unbroken family; +and while Felix and Wilmet, by the loss of their contemporaries, seemed +placed at a point far away from the others, Geraldine was conscious of +much loneliness. The twins had always consorted together, and regarded +her as a mere child, and her chief companions had been her father and +Edgar, so that she seemed left at an equal distance both from the elder +and younger party.</p> + +<p>Then the world around her was so busy, and she could do so little. She +slept in a little inner room beyond the large nursery, where Wilmet +kept guard over Angela and Bernard; and long before six o'clock, she +always heard the call pass between the eldest brother and sister; and +knew that as soon as he was dressed, Felix—it must out—was cleaning +the family boots, including those of the lodger, who probably supposed +that nature did it, and never knew how much his young landlord had done +before joining him in his early walk to St. Oswald's.</p> + +<p>Meantime Wilmet conducted the toilette of the two little children, and +gave the assistance that Cherry needed, as well as discharging some of +the lighter tasks of the housemaid; leaving the heavier ones to Sibby +and Martha, a stout, willing, strong young woman, whom Sister Constance +had happily found for them, and who was disqualified, by a loutish +manner and horrible squint, from the places to which her capabilities +might have raised her.</p> + +<p>Then Wilmet helped her sister downstairs, and a visit was paid to the +mother and the twins, who were Sibby's charge for the night. Mrs. +Underwood was still in the same state. It was indeed possible to +rouse her, but at the expense of much suffering and excitement; and +in general, she was merely tender, placid, and content, mechanically +busied about her babies, and responding to what was said, but entirely +incapable of any exertion of body, and as inactive in mind as in limb. +Wilmet attended to her while Sibby went to her breakfast, returning +with that of her mistress in time to send Wilmet down to preside at +the family meal, a genuine Irish dish of stir-about—for which all had +inherited a taste from their father's Irish mother. Only Cherry was too +delicate for such food, and was rather ashamed of her cup of tea and +slice of bread.</p> + +<p>However, this was one of the few times when she could hope she was +useful; for when Felix was gone to the printing-office, the boys to +the grammar-school, and Wilmet, first to the kitchen, and then to Miss +Pearson's, she remained with bowl and cloth to wash up in her own +peculiarly slow and dainty way, never breaking but always dreaming, +while Angela carried them one by one, first to her, then to the kitchen.</p> + +<p>'Now Cherry.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley's door opened, he would step forward and take the well-worn +books in one hand, and hold the doors open with the other as Cherry +tardily hopped in, and perched herself by the table. Her confirmation +studies had been left in his charge; and then followed a little Greek, +some Latin, a page or two of French, the revision of an exercise, and +some help in Euclid and fractions—all studies begun with her father, +and both congenial and useful to her, as the occupation that (next +to drawing) best prevented her from feeling the dreary loneliness of +her days; for though he could seldom give her more than an hour, the +preparation—after he had helped her upstairs—occupied her during the +whole period of tranquillity while the younger children slept. Angela +appeared first, and did some small lessons, cat-and-dog readings, and +easy hymns, then was generally content to sit on the floor in Mamma's +room, admiring or amusing the twins. Then Cherry, according to her +sense of duty, drew or worked. There was a horrible never-ending +still-beginning basket of mending in the family, which Wilmet +replenished every Saturday; and though Mrs. Underwood's instinct for +piecing and darning had revived as soon as she was taken out of bed, +her work now always needed a certain revision to secure the boys from +the catastrophe of which Wilmet often dreamt—appearing in public in +ragged shirt-sleeves! Geraldine knew that every stitch she left undone +would have to be put in by her sister in late evening or early morning, +and therefore often wrenched herself from the pencil and paints that +best beguiled her thoughts from the heart-ache for her father, and the +craving for Edgar, or the mere craving for light, air, liberty, and +usefulness. Her only excuse to her own conscience for allowing herself +her chief pleasure was, that it was her way of helping an old woman +who kept a stall of small wares on market days, and could sometimes +dispose of little pictures on domestic and Scriptural subjects, if +highly coloured, glazed with gum, and bound with bright paper—pickings +and stealings, as Felix called them, gleaned from advertisements and +packing-boxes at Mr. Froggatt's; but these did not allow much scope for +the dreams of her fancy.</p> + +<p>Nor had she much choice when Bernard once awoke and came down, in all +the unreasoning tyranny of two years old, when it was an even chance +whether he would peaceably look at the old scrap-book, play with +Angela, or visit Mamma; or be uproarious, and either coalesce with +Angela in daring mischief, fight a battle-royal with her, or be violent +with and jealous of the twins. The urchin had found out that when once +Cherry's crutch was out of her reach she could not get at him; and he +had ridden off upon it so often, before committing any of his worst +misdemeanours, that Cherry always lay down on it to secure it. After +all, he was a fine, affectionate, impetuous little fellow, but with a +very high, proud, unmanageable will; and she was very fond and proud of +him; but never more so than when he slept till dinner-time.</p> + +<p>That was the hour which brought Felix home to help Sibby to carry his +mother into the sitting-room, pay a little court to the babies, and +enliven Cherry with any chance scrap of news or occupation. Best of all +were the proofs of that unfinished comment on the Epistle to Philippi, +which was being printed by subscription of the congregation, and the +clergy of the diocese. It always did Mrs. Underwood good to have these +read aloud to her by her little daughter, and <i>she</i> could sometimes +find a clue to the understanding of sentences that had puzzled even Mr. +Audley.</p> + +<p>The two school-boys never appeared till dinner was imminent; and +then—one unuttered wish of poor Cherry was that Mr. Audley could have +dined with them; but he kept to his own hours, and they were late.</p> + +<p>Whereby dinners on five days of the week were apt to be something on +this fashion. Bell-ringing—Felix helping Geraldine to her seat, Angela +trotting after; a large dish of broth, with meat and rice, and another +of mashed potato; no sign of the boys; Angela lisping Grace; Sibby +waiting with a tray.</p> + +<p>Felix filled a soup-plate for his mother, and a basin for Bernard. 'We +must begin, I suppose,' and he helped his sisters and himself.</p> + +<p>'Here, Angel, push over your plate; I'll cut that.—How did you get on +to-day?'</p> + +<p>'Very well; the only mistake I made I found out before Smith saw it. I +know all the stationery and steel pens apart now, and haven't made a +mistake for a week. Yesterday Bartlett junior came in, he stood like +a post before Mr. Froggatt till he caught sight of me, and then he +shouted out, "O Blunderbore, you know! What is it that Collis wants?"'</p> + +<p>'And did you?'</p> + +<p>'When he said it was a horrid sum-book all little a's and b's.—What +have you been doing, Cherry?'</p> + +<p>'I have begun an abstract of the first Punic—'</p> + +<p>The door flew open with a bounce, and two hot, wild-locked boys, dust +everywhere except in their merry blue eyes, burst in, and tumbled +on their chairs. 'I say—isn't it a horrid sell? we ain't to have a +holiday for Squire's wedding.—Come, Fee, give us some grub.'</p> + +<p>'You have not said Grace,' said Cherry.</p> + +<p>Lance, abashed, stood up and bowed; Fulbert looked grim, and mumbled +something.</p> + +<p>'You have not washed your hands,' added Felix.</p> + +<p>'Bosh! What's the good?' said Fulbert.</p> + +<p>'They'll be as jolly dirty again directly,' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'But you would be more decent company in the meantime,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>At that moment there was a splash in his plate, a skip-jack made of the +breast-bone of a chicken had alighted there with a leap.</p> + +<p>'There's Felix's master come after him,' cried Fulbert, and Lance went +off into choking laughter.</p> + +<p>'Boys, how can you?' broke out Cherry.</p> + +<p>'Look at Blunderbore fishing out his master!' was Fulbert's answer.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 5em;"> +'The frog is in the bog,<br /> +And Felix is squeamish,'<br /> +</p> + +<p>chanted Lance.</p> + +<p>'Bad rhyme, Lance,' said Felix, who could bear these things much better +from the younger than the elder. Indeed, he scarcely durst notice them +in Fulbert, lest he should be betrayed into violence by letting out his +temper.</p> + +<p>'I say!' cried Lance, struck by a new idea, 'what prime stuff it is +for making a fort!' and he began to scrape the more solid parts of his +plateful to one side.</p> + +<p>'Oh, I say, isn't it?' echoed Fulbert: 'but I've eaten up the best part +of my castle;' and he grasped at the ladle.</p> + +<p>'No, I thank you,' said Felix, putting it on the other side. 'While I +am here, you don't play tricks with that.'</p> + +<p>Fulbert swallowed a spoonful in a passion, but a bright thought struck +Lance, who always cared much more for fun than for food. '<i>I say</i>, +we'll empty it all into one, and eat it down.'</p> + +<p>'You horrid boys!' plaintively exclaimed Cherry, almost crying—for +this return to savage life was perfect misery to her. 'I can't bear it.'</p> + +<p>'I will not have Cherry tormented,' said Felix, beginning to be very +irate.</p> + +<p>'We ain't doing anything to Cherry,' said Lance, amazed.</p> + +<p>'Don't you know it spoils Cherry's appetite to see you so disgusting?'</p> + +<p>'Then she'll have the more next time,' said Fulbert. 'Get along, +Captain—you've splashed my face!'</p> + +<p>'Hurrah! the red-hot shot! The rice is the cannon-balls! Where's some +bread?'</p> + +<p>'O Lance!' entreated Cherry; 'no waste—think of Wilmet and the bills.'</p> + +<p>'We'll eat it every bit up,' asseverated Lance; but Fulbert growled, +'If you bother any more, I shall crumble the whole lot out at window.'</p> + +<p>'It is wicked to waste bread,' lisped Angela, and Martha at that moment +appeared to fetch the tureen for the kitchen dinner.</p> + +<p>'Can't you eat any more, Cherry?' asked Felix gloomily.</p> + +<p>'Not a bit, thank you,' she said.</p> + +<p>'We've not done!' shouted the boys, seizing on her scarcely-tasted and +half-cold plate.</p> + +<p>'You must finish after. Come, Cherry!' Then, as they left the room, and +she laid her head on his shoulder—'Little ruffians!' he said under his +breath.</p> + +<p>'Oh, never mind, Felix. I don't—at least I ought not to mind—they +don't mean it.'</p> + +<p>'Lance does not, but I think Fulbert does. He'll make me thrash him +within two inches of his life, before he has done. And then there's no +one to take me in hand for it. It is horridly bad for them, too, to +live just like young bears.'</p> + +<p>But he smoothed his brow as he came into the room where his mother was, +and amused her till his time was up.</p> + +<p>Mr. Froggatt had explained to his father long ago, that Felix's work +would not be that of a clerk in a great publishing house, but veritably +that belonging to the country bookseller and printer, and that he must +go through all the details, so as to be thoroughly conversant with +them. The morning's work was at the printing-house, the afternoon's +at the shop. The mechanical drudgery and intense accuracy needed in +the first were wearisome enough; and moreover, he had to make his way +with a crusty old foreman who was incredulous of any young gentleman's +capabilities, and hard of being convinced that he would or could be +useful; but old Smith's contempt was far less disagreeable to him +than the subdued dislike he met with from Redstone, the assistant in +the shop, a sharp, half-educated young man, who had aspired to the +very post of confidence for which Felix was training—and being far +less aware of his own utter unfitness for it than was Mr. Froggatt, +regarded the lad as an interloper; and though he durst not treat him +with incivility, was anxious to expose any deficiency or failure on +his part. Having a good deal of quickness and dexterity, he could +act as a reporter, draw up articles of a certain description for the +newspaper, and had, since the death of Mr. Froggatt's eldest son, been +absolutely necessary to him in carrying on the business; and now, it +was a matter of delicate discretion on the master's part to avoid +hurting the feelings of the assistant, whom a little more would have +made his tyrant, and a dread of the appearance of favouritism made +it needful to keep Felix thoroughly in a subordinate post, till real +superiority of mind and education should assert itself over elder years +and mere familiarity with detail. This reserved ill-will of Redstone's +had much increased the natural discomfort of appearing behind the +counter to former acquaintance, and had rendered the learning the +duties there doubly troublesome and confusing; though, in recalling the +day's doings, there was some amusement in contrasting the behaviour of +different people, some—of whom Mr. Ryder was the type—speaking to +him freely in his own person, others leaving him as an unrecognized +shop-boy; and a third favouring him with a horrid little furtive nod, +which he liked least of all. But though awkward and embarrassed at +first, use soon hardened him, and made the customers indifferent, so +that by the spring he had begun to be useful, and to feel no particular +excitement about it.</p> + +<p>The worst of his business was that it kept him so late, that he had +but a very short evening, and no time for exercise. He was on his feet +most of the day, but indoors, and his recreation chiefly consisted +in choir-practice twice a week. Not that he missed more positive +amusement; the cares of life and Edgar's departure seemed to have taken +the boyish element of frolic out of him; and left him gravely cheerful +indeed, but with no greater desire of entertainment than could find +vent in home conversation, or playing with the little ones.</p> + +<p>Wilmet and the two boys were at liberty full two hours before him. The +latter generally stayed out as long as light and hunger permitted. +Mr. Audley continually stumbled on them playing at marbles, racing +headlong in teams of pack-thread harness with their fellows, upsetting +the nerves of quiet folk—staring contentedly at such shows as required +no outlay, or discontentedly at the outside of those that demanded the +pennies they never had. They were thorough little street-boys; and all +that he could do for them was to enforce their coming in at reasonable +hours, and, much to their sister's relief, cause their daily lessons to +be prepared in his room. Otherwise their places in their classes would +have been much less creditable.</p> + +<p>Wilmet's return was always Geraldine's great relief, for the afternoon +of trying to amuse her mother, and keep the peace between the children, +was almost more than she was equal to; though, on fine days, Sibby +always took out the two elder babies, with an alternate twin, for an +hour's air, and Mr. Audley daily visited the invalid. Mr. Bevan did so +twice a week, with a gentle sympathising tone and manner that was more +beneficial than Lady Price's occasional endeavours to make her 'rouse +herself.' Miss Pearson and a few humbler friends now and then looked +in, but Mrs. Underwood had been little known. With so large a family, +and such straitened means, the part of the active clergyman's wife was +impossible to her; she had shrunk from society, and most people knew +nothing more of her than that the faded lady-like figure they used to +see among her little flock at church, was Mrs. Underwood.</p> + +<p>Wilmet's coming home was always a comfort; and though to her it was +running from toil to care, the change was life to her. To have been +either only the teacher or only the housewife might have weighed over +heavily on her; but the two tasks together seemed to lighten each +other. She had a real taste and talent for teaching, and she and +her little class were devoted to one another, while the elder girls +loved her much better since Alda had been away. The being with them, +and sharing their recreation in the middle of the day, was no doubt +the best thing to hinder her from becoming worn by the depressing +atmosphere around her mother. She always brought home spirits and +vigour for whatever lay before her, brightening her mother's face, +dispelling squabbles between Angela and Bernard, and taking a load of +care from Geraldine.</p> + +<p>There was sure to be some anecdote to enliven the home-keepers, or some +question to ask Cherry, whose grammar and arithmetic stood on firmer +foundations than any at Miss Pearson's, and who was always pleased to +help Wilmet. The evening hours were the happiest of the day, only they +always ended too soon for Cherry, who was ordered up by Sibby as soon +as her mother was put to bed, and had, in consequence, a weary length +of wakeful solitude and darkness—only enlivened by the reflection from +the gas below—while Felix and Wilmet sat downstairs, she with her +mending, and he either reading, or talking to her.</p> + +<p>On Saturday, which she always spent at home, and in very active +employment in the capacities of nurse, housemaid, or even a slight +taste of the cook and laundress, the evening topic was always the +accounts—the two young heads anxiously casting the balance—proud and +pleased if there were even a shilling below the mark, but serious and +sad under such a communication as, 'There's mutton gone up another +half-penny;' or, 'Wilmet, I really am afraid those boots of mine cannot +be mended again;' or again, 'See what Lance has managed to do to this +jacket. If one only could send boys to school in sacking!'</p> + +<p>'Are not there a few pence to spare for the chair for Cherry? She will +certainly get ill, if she never goes out now spring is coming on.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed, Felix, I don't know how! If there is a penny over, it is +wanted towards shoes for Bernard; and Cherry begs me, with tears in her +eyes, not to let her be an expense!'</p> + +<p>Poor Geraldine! the costing anything, and the sense of uselessness, +were becoming, by the help of her nightly wakefulness, a most terrible +oppression on her spirits. Her father was right. His room had been a +hot-bed to a naturally sensitive and precocious character, and the +change that had come over her as time carried her farther and farther +away from him, affected her more and more.</p> + +<p>Her brother and sister, busy all day, and scarcely ever at home, hardly +knew what was becoming a sore perplexity to Mr. Audley.</p> + +<p>A young tutor, not yet twenty-six, could not exactly tell what to do +with a girl not fourteen, who fell into floods of tears on the smallest +excuse.</p> + +<p>'No, no, Cherry—that is not the nominative.'</p> + +<p>The voice faltered, struggled to go on, and melted away behind the +handkerchief. Then—'O Mr. Audley, I am so sorry—'</p> + +<p>'That's exactly what I don't want you to be, Cherry.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, but it was so careless,' and there was another flood.</p> + +<p>Or, 'Don't you see, Cherry, you should not have put the negative sign +to that equation. My dear Cherry, what have I said?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, oh—nothing. Only I did think—'</p> + +<p>'We shall have you a perfect Niobe, if you go on at this rate, Cherry. +Really, we must not have these lessons, if they excite you so much.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! that would be the worst punishment of all!' and the weeping +became so piteously violent, that the Curate looked on in distressed +helplessness.</p> + +<p>'I know it is very tiresome of me; I would help it, if I could—indeed +I would.' And she cried the more because she <i>had</i> cried.</p> + +<p>Or, as he came in from the town, he would hear ominous sounds, that his +kind heart would not let him neglect, and would find Cherry sitting on +the landing-place in a paroxysm of weeping. She always crept out of her +mother's room on these occasions, for the sight of tears distressed +and excited Mrs. Underwood; and the poor child, quite unable, in her +hysterical condition, to drag herself alone up that steep stair, +had no alternative but to sit, on what Mr. Audley called her stool +of repentance, outside the door, till she had sobbed herself into +exhaustion and calm—or till either Sibby scolded her, or he heard her +confession.</p> + +<p>She had been 'so cross' to Bernard, or to Angel—or, once or twice, +even to Mamma. She had made an impatient answer when interrupted in her +lessons or in a dream over a drawing; she had been reluctant to exert +herself when wanted. She had scolded fretfully—or snatched things away +angrily, when the little ones were troublesome; and every offence of +this sort was bewailed with an anguish of tears; that, by weakening her +spirits and temper, really rendered the recurrence more frequent. 'The +one thing they trust to me, I fail in!'</p> + +<p>He was very kind to her. He did not yield to the mannish loathing +for girlish tears that began to seize on him, after the first two or +three occasions. He thought and studied—tried comfort, and fancied it +relaxed her—tried rebuke, and that made it worse; tried the showing +her François de Sales' admirable counsel to Philothée, to be '<i>doux +envers soi</i>,' and saw she appreciated and admired it; but she was not +an atom more <i>douce envers soi</i> when she had next spoken peevishly.</p> + +<p>At last he fairly set off by the train, to lay the case before Sister +Constance.</p> + +<p>'What is to be done, when a child never does anything but cry?'</p> + +<p>Sister Constance listened to the symptoms, and promptly answered, 'Give +her a glass of port wine every day, before you let her out of your +room.'</p> + +<p>'If I can!'</p> + +<p>'Tell her they are <i>my</i> orders. Does she eat?'</p> + +<p>'I imagine not. I heard Felix reproaching her with a ghoul's dinner of +a grain of rice.'</p> + +<p>'Does she sleep?'</p> + +<p>'She has told me a great deal of midnight meditation on her own +deficiencies.'</p> + +<p>'She must be taken out of doors somehow or other! It is of no use to +reason with her; the tears are not temper, or anything else! Poor +Charlie! it is an odd capacity for you to come out in, but I suppose no +one else can attend to her.'</p> + +<p>'No, poor child, she is rather worse than motherless! Well—I will find +some excuse for taking her out for a drive now and then; I don't know +how to speak to the others about having the chair for her, for they are +barely scraping on.'</p> + +<p>'Poor children! Well, this year is probably the worst. Either they will +get their heads above water, or there will be a crisis. But they <i>do</i> +scrape?'</p> + +<p>'Yes. At Lady-day there was great jubilation, for the rent was paid, +the taxes were ready, there was not a debt; and there was seven-pence +over, with which Felix wanted to give Cherry a drive; but Wilmet, who +is horribly prudent, insisted that it must go to mend Fulbert's broken +window.'</p> + +<p>'Well—poor Wilmet! one can't blame her. How does she treat Cherry's +tears?'</p> + +<p>'I don't think she has much pity for them. Felix does much better +with Cherry; he rocks her and pets her; though, indeed, she hardly +ever breaks down when he is there; but even his Sundays are a good +deal taken up—and I always hunt him out for a walk on the Sunday +afternoons.'</p> + +<p>'Is he still in the choir and teaching at the Sunday school?'</p> + +<p>'Yes—though it is not Mowbray Smith's fault.'</p> + +<p>'What, is your colleague what you apprehended?'</p> + +<p>'My Lady could not have found a curate more to her mind, or more imbued +with her dislike to all that bears the name of Underwood. I own it +is hard to have one's predecessor flung constantly in one's teeth, +and by the very people who were the greatest thorns to dear Underwood +himself. Then Clem, who <i>is</i> a born prig, though a very good boy, gave +some of his little interfering bits of advice before he went away, and +it has all been set down to Felix's account! One Sunday, Smith made a +complaint of Felix having the biggest boys in the school. It was the +consequence of his having taken them whenever his father could not, +till it came to his having them entirely. He always took great pains +with them, and there was a fellow-feeling between him and them that +could hardly be with an older person. I said all this—too strongly, +most likely—and the Rector put in a mild word, as to his goodness in +coming at all. Smith thought there was nothing wonderful in liking what +ministered to his conceit; and at last it came out that a baker's boy +had met Felix and Smith consecutively in the street, and only touched +his hat to one, and that the wrong one.'</p> + +<p>'I should have been only thankful that he touched his hat to anybody.'</p> + +<p>'That is the very remark by which I put my foot in it; but my Lady was +horrified, and the consequence was, that it fell to me to advise Felix +to resign the class. I never hated a piece of work so much in my life, +for he had worked the lads well, and we both knew that there would be +an end of them. Moreover, Felix has some of the true Briton about him, +and he stood out—would give up the class if the Rector ordered him, +but would relinquish Sunday-school altogether in that case; and the two +girls were furious; but, after one Sunday, he came to me, said that +he found hostility poisoned his teaching, gave up, and accepted the +younger ones.'</p> + +<p>'Of course the boys deserted.'</p> + +<p>'Which has not softened Smith, though it has made him tolerate Felix +in the choir. His voice is of very little use at present; but he is +such an influence, that we should be glad of him if he could not sing a +note, and he clings to it with all his heart. I believe music is about +the only pleasure he has, and it excites his mother too much to have +any at home. We have little Lance in the choir now, with a voice like a +thrush in a dewy morning.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley acted on the port-wine prescription, to the horror and +dismay of Cherry, who only submitted with any shadow of philosophy on +being told that the more she cried the more necessary she rendered it; +but on the Saturday, Sister Constance suddenly knocked at Mr. Audley's +door. She had been talking the matter over with the Superior; and the +result was, that she had set off on a mission to see for herself, and +if she thought it expedient, to bring Geraldine back with her. She +had chosen Saturday as the time for seeing Wilmet, and was prepared +to overlook that the stairs were a Lodore of soap, this being Sibby's +cleaning day, while Wilmet kept guard over the mother and the twins.</p> + +<p>Geraldine was in the sitting-room, writing a Latin exercise, with a +great pucker in her forehead whenever Angela looked up from her wooden +bricks to speak to her. And though the sharp little pinched face was +all one beam of joy as the visitor came in, Sister Constance saw at +once that the child's health had deteriorated in these last months. +She sat down, and with Angela on her lap, questioned anxiously. Cherry +had no complaints—she always was like this in the spring. How was her +foot? As usual, a falter. Was it <i>really?</i> Well, yes, she thought so. +And then, as the motherly eyes looked into hers, there came a burst of +the ready tears; and 'Oh, <i>please</i> don't talk about it—<i>please</i> don't +ask.'</p> + +<p>'I know what you are afraid of,' said Sister Constance, remembering her +horror of the Bexley medical attendant, 'but is it right to conceal +this, my dear child?'</p> + +<p>'I don't think I do,' said Cherry pitifully. 'You know Sibby <i>does</i> it +every night, and it only aches a little more now. And if they did find +it out, then they would have <i>him</i>, and there would be a doctor's bill, +and, oh! that would be dreadful!'</p> + +<p>Sister Constance saw that the question of right or wrong would be +infinitely too much for Geraldine, and drew off her mind from it to +tell of the good accounts of Robina from Catsacre, and Clement from +Whittingtonia; but when presently Wilmet was so far free as to come in +with <i>only</i> the boy-baby in her arms, and take the guest up to take off +her bonnet, it was the time for entering on the subject.</p> + +<p>'Cherry? do you think her looking ill? She always is poorly in the +spring, you know.'</p> + +<p>'I do not like what I hear of her appetite, or her sleep, or her +spirits.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! but Cherry is always fanciful, you know. Please, please don't put +things in her head.'</p> + +<p>'What kind of things do you mean?'</p> + +<p>'Fancying herself worse, I mean, or wanting things. You know we must be +so careful, and Mamma and the babies—'</p> + +<p>'My dear, I know you have many to care for, and it is hard to strike +the balance; but somehow your voice sounds to me as if Geraldine were +the one you most willingly set aside.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet did not like this, and said, a little bit hastily, 'I am sure +Geraldine has everything we can give her. If she complains, it is very +wrong of her.'</p> + +<p>'She has not said one word of complaint. Her grief and fear is only of +being a burden on you. What brought me here was, that Mr. Audley was +anxious about her.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet was silent, a little abashed.</p> + +<p>'Did you know that her ankle is painful again?'</p> + +<p>'Sister Constance,' said Wilmet, 'I don't think you or Mr. Audley know +how soon Cherry fancies all sorts of things. She does get into whiny +states, and is regularly tiresome; and the more you notice her, the +worse she is. I know Mamma thought so.'</p> + +<p>'My dear, a mother can venture on wholesome neglect when a sister's +neglect is not wholesome. I am not accusing you of neglect, mind; only +you want experience and sympathy to judge of a thing with a frame like +Cherry's. Now, I will tell you what I want to do. I am come to take her +back with me, and get her treated by our kind doctor for a month or so, +and the sea air and rest will send her back, most likely, in a much +more cheery state.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed!' cried Wilmet, startled; 'it is very good, but how could we do +without her? Mamma and the children! If she could only wait till the +holidays.'</p> + +<p>'Let her only hear you say that, Wilmet, and it will do her more good +than anything.'</p> + +<p>'What—that she is of use? Poor little thing, she tries to be; but if +Marilda could have had her way, and taken her instead of Alda, it would +have been much better for her and all. Ah! there's Felix. May I call +him in?'</p> + +<p>Felix, dashing up to wash his hands, smooth his hair, and dress himself +for the reading-room work instead of the printing-office, had much +rather these operations had been performed before he was called to the +consultation in the nursery; but he agreed instantly and solicitously, +knowing much better than Wilmet what the dinners were to Cherry, and +talking of her much more tenderly.</p> + +<p>'Yes, poor little dear, she always breaks down more or less in the +spring; but I thought she would mend when we could get her out more,' +he said. 'Do you think her really so unwell, Sister Constance?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, no, no!' cried Wilmet, fearfully.</p> + +<p>'Not very unwell, but only so that I long to put her under our good +doctor, who comes to any one in our house, and who is such a fatherly +old gentleman, that she would not go through the misery the thought of +Mr. Rugg seems to cause her.'</p> + +<p>'Dr. Lee?' asked Felix. 'Tom Underwood sent him to see my father once. +I remember my father liked him, but called it waste for himself, only +longed for his opinion on Cherry. Thank you, I am sure it is the +greatest kindness.'</p> + +<p>'But, Felix, how can she before the holidays?' cried Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Well, Mamma does not want her before dinner; and as to the kids, why +can't you take Angel to school with you? Oh, yes, Miss Pearson will let +you. Then Mr. Audley, or Mr. Bevan, is always up in the afternoon, and +you come home by four.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps I could earlier on days when the girls go out walking,' said +Wilmet. 'If it is to do Cherry good, I don't like to prevent it.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet had evidently got all her household into their niches, and the +disarrangement puzzled her. A wonderful girl she was to contrive as she +did, and carry out her rule; but Sister Constance feared that a little +dryness might be growing on her in consequence, and that, like many +maidens of fifteen or sixteen, while she was devoted to the little, she +was impatient of the intermediate.</p> + +<p>So when they went down, and Cherry heard of the scheme, and implored +against it in nervous fear of leaving home and dread of new faces, +Wilmet, having made up her practical mind that the going was necessary, +only made light of that value at home which was Cherry's one comfort, +and which made herself feel it so hard to part with her, that this very +want of tact was all unselfishness.</p> + +<p>Felix was much more comfortable to Cherry when he made playful faces +at the bear-garden that the dining-room would become without her, +and showed plainly that he at least would miss her dreadfully. Still +she nourished a hope that Mamma would say she should not go; but +Mamma always submitted to the decrees of authority, and Wilmet and +Felix were her authorities now. Sister Constance felt no misgiving +lest Wilmet were hardening, when she heard the sweet discretion and +cheerful tenderness with which she propounded the arrangement to the +sick mother, without giving her the worry of decision, yet still +deferentially enough to keep her in her place as the head of the family.</p> + +<p>Yet it was with unnecessarily bracing severity that Wilmet observed +to Geraldine, 'Now, don't you go crying, and asking questions, and +worrying Mamma.'</p> + +<p>'I suppose no person can be everything at once, far less a girl of +fifteen,' thought Sister Constance, as she drove up to the station in +the omnibus with Cherry, who was too miserable and bewildered to cry +now; not that she was afraid of either the Sister or the Sisterhood, +but only because she had never left home in her life, and felt exactly +like a callow nestling shoved out on the ground with a broken wing.</p> + +<p>In two months more the omnibus was setting her down again, much nearer +plumpness, with a brighter face and stronger spirits. She had been very +full of enjoyment at St. Faith's. She had the visitor's room, with +delightful sacred prints and photographs, and a window looking out on +the sea—a sight enough to fascinate her for hours. She had been out +every fine day on the shore; she had sat in the pleasant community-room +with the kind Sisters, who talked to her as a woman, not a baby; she +had plenty of books; one of the Sisters had given her daily drawing +lessons, and another had read Tasso with her; she had been to the +lovely oratory constantly, and to the beautiful church on Sunday, and +had helped to make the wreaths for the great May holidays; she had made +many new friends, and among them the doctor, who, if he had hurt her, +had never deceived her, and had really made her more comfortable than +she had ever been for the last five years, putting her in the way of +such self-management as might very possibly avert some of that dreadful +liability to be cross.</p> + +<p>But with all this, and all her gratitude, Geraldine's longing had been +for home. She was very happy, and it was doing her a great deal of +good; but Mamma, and Felix, and Wilmet, and Sibby, and the babies, were +tugging at her heart, and would not let it go out from them. She was +always dreaming that Felix's heels were coming through his stockings, +that Mamma was calling and nobody coming, or that Bernard was cutting +off the heads of the twins with the blunt scissors. And when Dr. Lee's +course of treatment was over, and Felix had a holiday to come and fetch +her home, it is not easy to say which was happiest. For she was so glad +to be at home amid the dear faces, troubling and troublous as they +often were, and so comfortable in the old wheel-ruts of care and toil, +that it really seemed as if a new epoch of joy had begun. Felix openly +professed how sorely he had missed her, and she clung to his arm with +exulting mutual delight; but it was almost more triumphant pleasure to +be embraced by Wilmet with the words: 'Dear, dear Cherry, there you are +at last. You can't think how we have all wanted you! I never knew how +useful you are.'</p> + +<p>'I suppose,' said Felix quaintly, 'the world would rather miss its +axis, and yet that does not move.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, it does,' said Cherry, 'it wobbles. I suppose Wilmet says +rotates, just about as much as I am going to do now I have got back +into my own dear sphere again.'</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE CACIQUE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +'Devouring flames resistless glow,<br /> +And blazing rafters downward go,<br /> +And never halloo, "Heads below!"<br /> +Nor notice give at all.'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 30%;"><i>Rejected Addresses.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>It was a warm night in September, and Wilmet had laid herself down in +bed in her nursery with a careful, but not an oppressed heart. About +many matters she was happier than before. Her mother had revived in +some degree, could walk from her bed-room to the sitting-room, and +took more interest in what was passing; and this the hopeful spirits +of the children interpreted into signs of recovery. Geraldine's health +and spirits had evidently taken a start for the better. Fulbert, +too, was off her mind—safe gone to a clergy orphan foundation; and +though Lancelot had not yet been elected, owing, Mr. Audley imagined, +to Lady Price's talk about their fine friends, Wilmet could not be +sorry, he was such a little fellow, and the house would be so dull +without his unfailing merriment and oddities. And though there had +been sore disappointment that Mrs. Thomas Underwood had chosen to go +to Brighton instead of coming home, there was the promise of a visit +from Alda before Christmas to feed upon. Little Robina had come home +for the summer holidays, well, happy, and improved, and crying only in +a satisfactory way on returning to school. Moreover, Wilmet's finances +had been pleasantly increased by an unexpected present of five pounds +at the end of the half year from Miss Pearson, and the promise of the +like for the next; increasing as her usefulness increased; and she +was also allowed to bring Angela to school with her. The balance of +accounts at Midsummer had been satisfactory, and Felix had proudly +pronounced her to be a brick of a housekeeper. And thus altogether +Wilmet did not feel that the weight of care was so heavy and hopeless +as when it first descended upon her; and she went to bed as usual, +feeling how true her father's words of encouragement and hope had been, +how kind friends were, how dear a brother Felix was, and above all, +how there is verily a Father of the fatherless. And so she fell fast +asleep, but was ere long waked by a voice from the inner room where +Cherry slept with the door open.</p> + +<p>'Wilmet, Wilmet, what is it?'</p> + +<p>Then she saw that the room was aglow with red light from the window, +and heard a loud distant hubbub. Hurrying out of bed, she flew to the +window of Cherry's room, and drew up the blind. 'O Wilmet, is it fire?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' low and awe-struck, said Wilmet. 'Not here. No. There's nothing +to be frightened at Cherry. It is out—out there. I think it must be +the Fortinbras Arms. Oh, what a sight!'</p> + +<p>'It is dreadful!' said Cherry, shrinking trembling to the foot of her +little bed, whence she could see the window. 'How plain one can see +everything in the room! Oh! the terrible red glow in the windows! I +wonder if all the people are safe. Wilmet, do call Felix.'</p> + +<p>'I will,' said Wilmet, proceeding in search of her clothes; but her +hands shook so that she could hardly put them on. They longed for Felix +as a protection, and yet Cherry could hardly bear to let her sister go +out of sight.</p> + +<p>'I only hope Mamma does not hear,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'How lucky her room looks out the other way! but, oh! Wilmet, don't +fires spread?'</p> + +<p>'Felix and Mr. Audley will see about us in time, if there is any fear +of that,' said Wilmet, trembling a good deal as she wrapped a shawl +round Cherry, who sat in a heap on her bed, gazing fascinated at the +red sky and roofs. Felix slept at the back of the house; her knock did +not waken him, but her entrance startled both him and Lance.</p> + +<p>'Felix, the Fortinbras Arms is on fire.—Hush, Lance; take care; the +little ones and Mamma! O Felix, do come to our room.'</p> + +<p>They followed her there in a few seconds, but they had only glanced +from the window before they simultaneously rushed away, to the +increased dismay of their sisters, to whom their manly instinct of +rushing into the fray had not occurred.</p> + +<p>'I'll go down. I'll try to catch them,' said Wilmet; and she too was +gone before Cherry could call to her. She found that Felix and Mr. +Audley were in the act of undoing the front door, and this gave her +just time to fly down with the entreaty that Felix would not leave +them. It was a great deal more to ask of him than she knew.</p> + +<p>'To the end of the street I must go, Wilmet,' he said.</p> + +<p>'Oh! but Cherry is so frightened! and if Mamma wakes,' she said, +gasping.</p> + +<p>'It is all quiet in her room,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'Tell Cherry there is no danger at all here <i>now</i>,' said Mr. Audley; +'but if it makes her happier you may dress her. Don't disturb your +mother. If needful, we will carry her out in her bed; but I do not +think it will be.'</p> + +<p>'We can only see out in the street,' added Felix, opening the door as +he spoke; and that moment out flew Lance, before anybody had thought of +stopping him, and the necessity of pursuing the little fellow into the +throng, and keeping him out of danger, made both Felix and Mr. Audley +dash after him; while Wilmet, abashed at the men hurrying by, could +not even gaze from the door, but fled upstairs in terror lest the two +little ones should be awake and crying at the appalling red light and +the din, which seemed to her one continuous roar of 'Fire! fire!'</p> + +<p>To her great relief, they were still asleep, but Cherry was in a +chilled agony of trembling prayer for the 'poor people,' and the +sisters crouched up together shivering in each other's arms as +they watched the rush of flames streaming up into the sky over the +brew-house opposite to them.</p> + +<p>Presently Wilmet heard feet again downstairs. 'Cherry dear, I must go +down, they may want me. Indeed, I don't think there is real danger as +long as that brew-house is safe.'</p> + +<p>There was a scuffle of feet that frightened her very much. She +remembered it last Michaelmas when her father was brought home from +church, and as she stood on the stairs—one choking petition in her +heart, 'Let it not be Felix!' she saw that the figure, whatever it was, +was carried by Mr. Audley and a strange man. And so great a horror +came over her, that, regardless of her toilette, and the hair that had +fallen over the jacket on her shoulders, she dropped at once among them +as they were bearing the senseless form into Mr. Audley's bed-room, +with a low but piteous cry, 'Felix! Felix! oh, what has happened?'</p> + +<p>'It is not Felix, my dear,' said Mr. Audley; 'he is safe—he is gone +for the doctor. This poor boy has fallen from a window. You can help +us, Wilmet; call Martha, and get some water made hot. The fire is +getting under.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet needed no second hint. She was up, reassuring Cherry at one +moment; then breaking into Martha's heavy slumbers, impressing upon her +the necessity of not shrieking; then downstairs again, reviving the +dying kitchen fire, and finding that, as usual, there was some water +not yet cold. For, as she now saw, it was not yet one o'clock. She +durst not go to her mother's room, where ready means of heating food +were always to be found. As she brought the jug to the door, Felix came +in with Mr. Rugg, who, living in a street out of sight, and having ears +for no sound but his own night-bell, had been ready at once to obey the +call. Felix told his sister the little he knew.</p> + +<p>'It was a terrible sight. Just as we got to that one big window—a +passage one, I believe, which looks out into this street—we saw this +poor boy and a black man up on the sill, with all the glare of light +behind them, screaming out for help.'</p> + +<p>'But where was everybody?'</p> + +<p>'In the High Street, round the corner. Crowds there; and here in our +street only ourselves and a few men that hurried up after us. Mr. +Audley shouted to them that we would get a ladder, but whether they +could not hold on any more, or they thought we were going quite away—O +Wilmet! I didn't see; but there was the most horrible thump and crash +on the pavement.'</p> + +<p>'What! down from that window?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Felix, leaning against the wall, and looking very pale. +'And there was that good black man, he had got the boy in his arms, as +if he had wound himself round to keep him from harm.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! And he?'</p> + +<p>'Killed—quite killed. Don't ask me about it, Wilmet. It is much too +dreadful to hear of;' and he shuddered all over. 'But this boy's head +was safe at least, and as there seemed no one to attend to anything, +Mr. Audley said he would bring him here, and I went for Mr. Rugg.'</p> + +<p>'And where's Lance? Did he go with you?'</p> + +<p>'Lance! Is not he in? I never saw or thought of him, I must go and +seek for him,' exclaimed Felix, darting off in haste and alarm at the +thought of little nine-year-old Lance alone among the midnight crowd, +just as Mr. Audley opened the door to try to find a messenger to Mr. +Rugg's surgery. He paused to tell Wilmet that it was a lad about +Felix's age, moaning some word that sounded like Diego, and with a +broken leg and ribs; and then, as Martha was in attendance, she felt +herself obliged to return to Cherry, whom indeed she could not leave +again, for though the fire had sunk, and only thick clouds of smoke +showed the play of the engines, the effects of the terror were not +so quickly over in the tender little frame, which was in a quivering +hysterical state, so deadly cold, that Wilmet was frightened, and went +once more down to warm some flannel, and get some hot drink for her. +She intended tea, but meeting Mr. Audley again, he sent up a glass of +wine. Even with this in hot water, Cherry could hardly be warmed again, +and Wilmet lay down, clasping her round, and not daring to let her know +of her own continued anxiety about the two brothers. At last, however, +when the red light had almost faded quite away, the cautious steps were +heard coming up the stairs, and Felix called into the room in a low +voice—</p> + +<p>'All right, Wilmet.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! come in,' the sisters called. 'Where did you find him, Fee? Is he +safe?'</p> + +<p>'O Cherry, you never saw such a lark!' cried Lance in a gusty whisper. +'Wouldn't Fulbert have given his ears to have seen it? To see the +engines pouring down, and the great hose twining about like jolly old +sea-serpents spouting.'</p> + +<p>'Hush, Lance; how can you? How could you! Does Mr. Audley know he is +safe?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Felix, 'he opened the door, and said he might have known +Lance was too much of a <i>gamin</i> to come to grief.'</p> + +<p>'What's a <i>gamin?</i>' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'A street ragamuffin at Paris,' said Wilmet. 'But really, Lance, it was +a terrible thing to do.'</p> + +<p>'And where do you think I found him?' said Felix. 'In between little +Jacky Brown and that big old coal-heaver who was so impudent about the +blanket-club, hanging like a monkey upon the rails of the terrace, and +hallooing as loud as they.'</p> + +<p>''Twas the coal-heaver that helped me up,' said Lance. 'He's a jolly +good fellow, I can tell you. He said, "You be one of Parson Underwood's +little chaps, baint you? A rare honest gentleman of the right sort war +he—he war!" and he pulled down another boy and put me up instead, and +told me all about the great fire at Stubbs's factory. You can't think +what fun it was. Roar, roar, up went the flame. Swish, wish, went the +water—such a bellowing—such great clouds of smoke!'</p> + +<p>'Was everybody saved?' whispered Cherry's tremulous murmur.</p> + +<p>There was a silence; then Lance said, 'Weren't they?' and Cherry had +another shuddering fit.</p> + +<p>'Who?' Wilmet asked.</p> + +<p>'Poor Mr. Jones's youngest child and his nursemaid were in an attic +room where nobody could get at them,' said Felix in a hurried and +awe-struck voice, causing Cherry to renew that agony of trembling +and sobbing so convulsive and painful that her elder brother and +sister could only devote themselves to soothing her, till at last +she lay still again in Wilmet's arms, with only a few long gasps +coming quivering up through her frame. Then Wilmet implored Felix to +go away and make Lance go to bed, and finding this the only means of +reducing the little excited fellow to quiet, he went. And though all +were sure they should not sleep, they overslept themselves far into +Sunday morning, except Wilmet, who was wakened by the clamours of the +undisturbed Angela and Bernard, and succeeded in dressing them without +disturbing the other three.</p> + +<p>Very tired and stiff, and very anxious she felt, but she was obliged to +go down as soon as she was dressed, since she always took charge of her +mother before breakfast on Sunday while Sibby went to mass. It was so +late that she could only listen in vain at the top of the stairs before +she went into the room, where she found Sibby very indignant at having +missed all the excitement of the night past. 'As if she could not have +been trusted not to have wakened the mistress. She believed they would +have let her alone till they all were burnt in their beds!'</p> + +<p>It was not till breakfast, which took place unusually late, that Wilmet +heard much. Felix and Lance had just come downstairs, rather ashamed of +having overslept themselves, and Mr. Audley came in and begged for a +cup of tea.</p> + +<p>He told them that the father and uncle of the boy had arrived. They +were American merchants or speculators of some kind, he thought, named +Travis, and they had gone on business to Dearport the day before, +meaning to dine there, and return by the mail train in the night, and +leaving the boy with the black servant in the unfortunate hotel.</p> + +<p>On arriving, at about three o'clock, not long after Felix had brought +Lance home, they had telegraphed to Dearport for a doctor and nurse, +who were momentarily expected to arrive. The patient was only half +conscious, and though he knew his father, continued to murmur for +Diego. Martha was sitting with him whenever she could, for his father +did not seem to understand nursing, and it would be a great relief when +a properly-trained person arrived.</p> + +<p>She came, and so did the doctor, but not till close upon church-time, +and little but stray reports from the sick-room reached the population +upstairs all that day, as Mr. Audley, whenever he was not at church, +was obliged to be in attendance on his strange guests. All that reached +the anxious and excited young people was the tidings of the patient +being not unlikely to do well, though he was in great pain and high +fever, and continually calling for the poor negro who had saved his +life at the expense of his own.</p> + +<p>This was the last bulletin when the household parted to go their +several ways on Monday morning, not to be all collected again and free +to speak till seven o'clock in the evening, when they met round the +table for tea.</p> + +<p>'Mamma looks cheery,' said Felix, coming into the little back room +where Wilmet was spreading bread and butter.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Wilmet, 'I think she has cared to hear about the fire. So +many people have come in and talked, that it has enlivened her.'</p> + +<p>'And how is the boy?'</p> + +<p>'A little better, Martha heard; but he keeps on talking of Diego, and +seems not to care about any one else.'</p> + +<p>'No wonder. His father must be an unmitigated brute,' said Felix. +'He came to the inquest, and talked just as if it had been an old +Newfoundland dog; I really think he cared rather less than if it had +been.'</p> + +<p>'Tell us about the inquest, Felix,' said Lance. 'I wish they'd have +wanted me there.'</p> + +<p>'I don't see why, Lance,' said Felix gravely; 'it was a terrible thing +to see poor Mr. Jones hardly able to speak for grief, and the mother of +that poor young nurse went on sobbing as if her heart was breaking.'</p> + +<p>'Nobody knows the cause of the fire, do they?' asked Cherry. 'Lady +Price said it was the gas.'</p> + +<p>'No; no one knows. Way, the waiter, saw a glare under the door of +the great assembly-room as he was going up very late to bed, and +the instant he opened the door the flame seemed to rush out at him. +I suppose a draught was all it wanted. He saw this poor Diego safe +downstairs once, but he must have gone back to save his young master, +and got cut off in coming back. Poor fellow! he is a Mexican negro, +belonging to an estate that came to Mr. Travis's wife, and he has +always clung to her and her son just like a faithful dog.'</p> + +<p>'But he could not be a slave in England,' said Cherry eagerly.</p> + +<p>'No; but as this Travis said, his one instinct was the boy: he did not +know how to get rid of him, he said, and I do believe he thinks it a +lucky chance.'</p> + +<p>'I wish it had been he!' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'Sibby has asked leave to go to the burial,' added Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'I hope you gave it,' said Felix. 'Mr. Macnamara came and asked if he +were not a Roman Catholic, and those two Travises laughed a little +offensively, and said they guessed he was so, as much as a nigger was +anything; and the Papists were welcome to his black carcase, only they +would not be charged for any flummery. "I won't be made a fool of about +a nigger," one said. And then, I was so glad, Mr. Audley begged to know +when the funeral would be, and said he would go anywhere to do honour +to faithfulness unto death.'</p> + +<p>'Well done, Mr. Audley!' cried Lance. 'Won't we go too, Fee?'</p> + +<p>'It will be at nine to-morrow,' said Felix; at which Lance made a face, +since of course he would be in school at the time.</p> + +<p>'Maybe I shall have to go,' added Felix; 'for only think, as my good +luck would have it, Redstone went on Saturday night to see his mother +or somebody, and only came back this morning; and Mr. Froggatt himself +was "out at his box," as he calls it, so he told me this morning to +write the account of the fire for the paper, and he would pay me for it +extra, as he does Redstone.'</p> + +<p>'Well, and have you done it?'</p> + +<p>'I was pretty much at sea at first, till I recollected the letter I +began to Edgar yesterday night, and by following that, I made what I +thought was a decent piece of business of it.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, did you put in the way they threw the things out at window at +Jessop's without looking what they were?' cried Lance; 'and the jolly +smash the jugs and basins made, and when their house was never on fire +at all: and how the coal-heaver said "Hold hard, frail trade there!"'</p> + +<p>'Well,' said Felix quaintly, 'I put it in a different form, you see. I +said the inhabitants of the adjacent houses hurled their furniture from +the windows with more precipitation than attention to the fragility +of the articles. And, after all, that intolerable ass, Redstone, has +corrected fire every time into "the devouring element," and made "the +faithful black" into "the African of sable integument, but heart of +precious ore."'</p> + +<p>'Now, Felix!'</p> + +<p>'Bald, sir, bald,' he said, with such a face. '"Yes, Mr. Underwood," +even good old Froggy said, when he saw me looking rather blue, "you and +I may know what good taste and simplicity is, but if we sent out the +Pursuivant with no mouth-filling words in it, we should be cut out with +some low paper in no time among the farmers and mechanics."'</p> + +<p>'Is he so led by Mr. Redstone?' asked Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Not exactly; but I believe there's nothing he dreads more than +Redstone's getting offended and saying that I am no use, as he would +any day if he could. O, Mr. Audley, are you coming to stay?'</p> + +<p>'Will you have a cup of tea?' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Thank you, yes; I've got to dine with these fellows at the Railway +Hotel at eight, but I wanted to speak to you first, Wilmet,' said Mr. +Audley, sitting down as if he were weary of his day.</p> + +<p>'How is the boy?'</p> + +<p>'Better. He has been quite sensible ever since he woke at twelve +o'clock to-day, only he was dreadfully upset about poor Diego—about +whom his father told him very abruptly—without the least notion he +would feel it so much.'</p> + +<p>'I wish I had the kicking of that father,' observed Felix, driving the +knife hard into the loaf.</p> + +<p>'He is not altogether such a bad fellow,' said Mr. Audley thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>'Not for an American, perhaps.'</p> + +<p>'He is not an American at all. He was born and bred in my own country, +and took me by surprise by calculating that I was one of the Audleys +of Wrightstone Court, and wanting to know whether my father were Sir +Robert or Sir Robert's son. Then he guessed that I might have heard +of his father, if I was not too young, and by-and-by it dawned on me +that whenever there is any complication about business matters, or any +one is in bad circumstances, my father always vituperates one Travis, +who, it seems, was a solicitor greatly trusted by all the country +round, till he died, some twenty years ago, and it appeared that he +had ruined everybody, himself included. These men are his sons. They +went out to America, and got up in the world. They told me the whole +story of how they had knocked about everywhere, last evening, but I +was too sleepy to enter into it much, though I daresay it was curious +enough; successful speculations and hair's-breadth escapes seemed to +come very thick one upon another, but all I am clear about is that +this poor boy, Fernando's mother was a Mexican heiress, they—one of +them, I mean—managed to marry; her father English, but her mother old +Spanish blood allied to the old Caciques, he says; whether it is a +boast I don't know, but the boy looks like it—such a handsome fellow; +delicate straight profile, slender limbs, beautifully made, inky-black +hair and brows, pure olive skin—the two doctors were both in raptures. +Well, they thought affairs in Mexico insecure, so they sold the poor +woman's estate and carried her off to Texas. No; was it? I really can't +remember where; but, at any rate, Diego stuck to her wherever she went, +and when she died, to her child; nursed him like an old woman, and— In +short, it was that touching negro love that one sometimes hears of. Now +they seem to have grown very rich—the American Vice-Consul, who came +over this morning from Dearport, knew all about them—and they came +home partly on business, and partly to leave Fernando to be made into +an English gentleman, who, Mr. Travis says, if he has money to spend, +does whip creation. He's English enough for that still. Well, they have +got a telegram that makes them both want to sail by the next steamer.'</p> + +<p>'That's a blessing. But the boy?'</p> + +<p>'He cannot be moved for weeks. It is not only the fractures, but the +jar of the fall. He may get quite over it, but must lie quite still on +his back. So here he is, a fixture, by your leave, my lady housekeeper.'</p> + +<p>'It is your room, Mr. Audley,' said Wilmet. 'But can his father really +mean to leave him alone so very ill, poor boy?'</p> + +<p>'Well, as his father truly says, he is no good to him, but rather the +reverse; and as the Travis mind seems rather impressed by finding an +Audley here, I am to be left in charge of him now, and to find a tutor +for him when he gets better. So we are in for that!'</p> + +<p>'But what is to become of you?' asked Wilmet. 'The nurse has got the +little back study.'</p> + +<p>'I have got a room at Bolland's to sleep in, thank you,' he answered; +'and I have been representing the inconvenience to the house of this +long illness, so that the Travises, who are liberal enough—'</p> + +<p>'I thought them horrid misers,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'That was only the American conscience as to negroes. In other matters +they are ready to throw money about with both hands; so I hope I have +made a good bargain for you, Wilmet. You are to have five guineas a +week, and provide for boy and nurse, all but wine and beer, ice and +fruit.'</p> + +<p>'Five guineas!' murmured Wilmet, quite overpowered at the munificent +sum.</p> + +<p>'I am afraid you will not find it go as far as you expect, for he will +want a good deal of dainty catering.'</p> + +<p>'And your room should be deducted,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Not at all. Mrs. Bolland said she did not take lodgers, but should +esteem it a favour if I would sleep there while her son is away. It is +all safe, I think. He has given me orders on his London banker, and +they say here at the bank that they are all right. It is a strange +charge,' he added thoughtfully; 'we little thought what we were taking +on ourselves when we picked up that poor fellow, Felix; and I cannot +help thinking it will turn out well, there was something so noble about +the poor lad's face as he lay insensible.'</p> + +<p>It was about three weeks later, that one Sunday evening, when Mr. +Audley came in from church, Felix followed him to his sitting-room, and +began with unusual formality. 'I think I ought to speak to you, sir.'</p> + +<p>'What's the matter?'</p> + +<p>'About Lance, and him in there. I have had such a queer talk with +<i>him!</i>'</p> + +<p>'As how?'</p> + +<p>'Why he wanted us to stop from church, asked me to let off the poor +little coon; and when I said we couldn't, because we were in the +choir, wanted to know what we were paid, then why we did it at all; +and so it turned out that he thinks churches only meant for women and +psalm-singing niggers and Methodists, and has never been inside one in +his life, never saw the sense of it, wanted to know why I went.'</p> + +<p>'What did you tell him?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know; I was so taken aback. I said something about our duty +to God, and it's being all we had to get us through life; but I know I +made a dreadful mess of it, and the bell rang, and I got away. But he +seems a sheer heathen, and there's Lance in and out all day.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Felix, I am afraid it is true that the poor lad has been brought +up with no religion at all—a blank sheet, as his father called him.'</p> + +<p>'Wasn't his father English?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; but he had lived a roving, godless life. I began, when I found +the boy must stay here, by asking whether he were of his father's or +his mother's communion, and in return heard a burst of exultation that +he had never let a priest into his house. His father-in-law had warned +him against it, and he had carried his wife out of their reach long +before the child's birth; he has not even been baptized, but you see, +Felix, I could not act like Abraham to the idolater in the Talmud.'</p> + +<p>Felix did not speak, but knocked one foot against the other in +vexation, feeling that it was his house after all, and that Mr. Audley +should not have turned this young heathen loose into it to corrupt his +brother, without consulting him.</p> + +<p>'I told Travis,' continued the Curate, 'that if I undertook the charge +as he wished, it must be as a priest myself, and I must try to put +some religion into him. And, to my surprise, he said he left it to +me. Fernando was old enough to judge, and if he were to be an English +squire, he must conform to old-country ways; besides, I was another +sort of parson from Yankee Methodists and Shakers or Popish priests—he +knew the English clergy well enough, of the right sort.'</p> + +<p>'So he is to learn religion to make him a squire?'</p> + +<p>'I was thankful enough to find no obstruction.'</p> + +<p>'And have you begun?' asked Felix moodily.</p> + +<p>'Why—no. He has been too ill and too reserved. I have attempted +nothing but daily saying a short prayer for him in his hearing, hoping +he would remark on it. But you know the pain is still very absorbing at +times, and it leaves him exhausted; and besides, I fancy he has a good +deal of tropical languor about him, and does not notice much. Nothing +but Lance has roused him at all.'</p> + +<p>'I would never have let Lance in there by himself, if I had known,' +said Felix. 'He is quite bewitched.'</p> + +<p>'It would have been difficult to prevent it. Nor do I think that much +harm can be done. I believe I ought to have told you, Felix; but I +did not like denouncing my poor sick guest among the children, or its +getting round all the town and to my Lady. After all, Lance is a very +little fellow; it is not as if Edgar or Clem were at home.'</p> + +<p>'I suppose it cannot be helped,' sighed Felix; 'but my father—' and as +he recollected the desire to take his brothers away from Mr. Ryder, he +felt as if his chosen guardian had been false to his trust, out of pity +and enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>'Your father would have known how to treat him,' sighed Mr. Audley. +'At any rate, Felix, we must not forget the duties of hospitality and +kindness; and I hope you will not roughly forbid Lance to go near him, +without seeing whether the poor fellow is not really inoffensive.'</p> + +<p>'I'll see about it,' was all that Felix could get himself to say; for +much as he loved Mr. Audley, he could not easily brook interference +with his brothers, and little Lance, so loyal to himself, and so droll +without a grain of malice, was very near to his heart. 'A young Pagan,' +as he thought to himself, 'teaching him all the blackguard tricks and +words he has learnt at all the low schools in north or south!' and all +the most objectionable scenes he had met with in American stories, from +'Uncle Tom' onwards, began to rise before his eyes. 'A pretty thing to +do in a fit of beneficence! I'll order Lance to keep away, and if he +dares disobey, I'll lick him well to show him who is master.'</p> + +<p>So he felt, as he swung himself upstairs, and halted with some +intention of pouring out his vexed spirit to Wilmet, because Mr. Audley +had no business to make it a secret; but Wilmet was putting her mother +to bed, and he went on upstairs. There he found all the doors open, and +heard a murmuring sound of voices in Geraldine's room. In a mood to be +glad of any excuse for finding fault, he strode across the nursery, +where Angela and Bernard slept, and saw that Lance, who ought to have +gone at once to bed on coming in, was standing in his sister's window, +trying to read in the ray of gas-light that came up from a lamp at the +brewhouse door.</p> + +<p>'Go to bed, Lance,' he said; 'if you have not learnt your lessons in +proper time, you must wake early, or take the consequences. I won't +have it done on Sunday night.'</p> + +<p>Lance started round angrily, and Cherry cried, 'O Felix, it is no such +thing! Only would you tell us where to find about the king and his +priests that defeated the enemy by singing the "mercy endureth for +ever" psalm?'</p> + +<p>'In the Bible!' said Felix, as if sure it was a blunder. 'There's no +such story.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed there is,' cried Lance, 'for Papa (the word low and reverently) +took out his blue poly-something Bible and read it out in the sermon. +Don't you remember, Fee, a hot day in the summer, when he preached all +about those wild robbers—horrid fellows with long spears—coming up in +the desert to make a regular smash of the Jews?'</p> + +<p>'Lance!' cried Cherry.</p> + +<p>'Well, he did not say that, of course, but they wanted to; and how +the king sent out the priests without a fighting man, only all in +white, praising God in the beauty of holiness, and singing, "His mercy +endureth for ever." I saw him read that, though he told us all the rest +without book; how all the enemy began to quarrel, and all killed one +another, and the Jews had nothing to do but to pick up the spoil, and +sing another psalm coming back.'</p> + +<p>'I remember now,' said Felix, in a very different tone. 'It was +Jehoshaphat, Lancey boy. I'll find it for you in the book of +Chronicles. Did you want it for anything?'</p> + +<p>Lance made an uneasy movement.</p> + +<p>'It was to show poor Fernando Travis, wasn't it?' said Cherry; and as +Lance wriggled again, she added, 'He seems to have been taught nothing +good.'</p> + +<p>'Now, Cherry,' broke out Lance, 'I told you to say not a word.'</p> + +<p>'I know a little about it, Lance,' said Felix, sitting down on the +window-seat and lifting Lance on his knee, as he said, in a tone very +unlike his intended expostulation, 'You must not let him do you harm, +Lance.'</p> + +<p>'He wouldn't; but he does not know anything about anything,' said the +little boy. 'They never taught him to say his prayers, nor sing hymns, +nor chant, and he thinks it is only good for niggers. So I told him +that singing psalms once beat an army, and he laughed; and I thought +Cherry was sure to know where it was—but girls will always tell.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed you never told me not,' said Cherry, humbly.</p> + +<p>'She has done no harm,' said Felix. 'Mr. Audley has just been talking +to me about that poor boy. He really is as untaught as that little +scamp at the potteries that we tried to teach.'</p> + +<p>'He's a stunning good fellow,' broke in Lance; 'he has seen an +alligator, and ridden mustangs.'</p> + +<p>'Never mind that now, Lance; I dare say he is very amusing, but—'</p> + +<p>'Don't hinder me from going to him,' broke in the younger boy +vehemently.</p> + +<p>'If,' said Felix gravely, 'you can be quite sure my father would not +mind it.'</p> + +<p>Lance was nestling close up to him in the dark, and he was surprised to +find that round face wet with tears. 'Papa would not let him lie dull +and moped all day long,' he said. 'O Fee, I can't keep away; I am so +sorry for him. When that terrible cramp comes, it is of no use to say +those sort of things to him.'</p> + +<p>'What sort of things?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, you know; verses such as Papa used to have said to him. They +weren't a bit of good. No, not though I did get the book Papa marked +for Cherry.'</p> + +<p>'You did!' gasped Cherry, who little thought that sacred possession of +hers was even known to Master Lance.</p> + +<p>'You'd have done it yourself, Cherry,' said the little boy, 'if you +had only seen how bad he was; he got quite white, and had great drops +on his forehead, and panted so, and would not let out a bit of a cry, +only now and then a groan; and so I ran to get the verse Papa used to +say over and over to you when your foot was bad. And I'm sure it was +the right one, but—but—it did him no good, for, oh! he didn't know +who our Saviour is;' and the little fellow clung to his brother in a +passion of tears, while Felix felt a pang at the contrast.</p> + +<p>'Have you been telling him, Lancey?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'I wanted him to ask Mr. Audley, but he said he was a parson, and his +father said that there would be no parsons if men were not fools. Now, +Fee, I've told you, but don't keep me away.'</p> + +<p>'It would be hard on a poor sick fellow,' said Felix, thoroughly +softened. 'Only, Lance, you know I can't be with you; will you promise +to go away if ever you think Papa would wish it?'</p> + +<p>'Oh yes; one has to do that, you know, when our own fellows get +blackguardly,' said little Lance, freely; whereat Cherry shuddered +somewhat. 'And, Fee,' he added, 'if you would only come and make him +understand about things.'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Audley must do that,' said Felix; 'I can't.'</p> + +<p>'You teach the boys in the Sunday-school,' said Lance. 'And he'd mind +you, Blunderbore. He says you are the grandest and most splendiferous +fellow he ever did set eyes on, and that he feels something like, when +you've just looked in and spoken to him.'</p> + +<p>'You little ass, he was chaffing you.'</p> + +<p>'No, no, <i>indeed</i> he wasn't. I told him all about it, because he liked +your face so much. And he <i>does</i> care so very much when you look in. +Oh! <i>do, do</i>, Fee; he is so jolly, and it is so lonely and horrid for +him, and I do so want Papa for him;' and the child cried silently, but +Felix felt the long deep sobs, and as Geraldine, much moved, said, +'Dear little Lancey,' he carried him over to her as she sat up in bed, +and she kissed and fondled him, and murmured in his ear, 'Dear Lance, +I'm sure he'll get good. We will get Mr. Audley to talk to him, you +know, and we will say a prayer every day for him.'</p> + +<p>Lance, beginning to recover, put his arms round Cherry's neck, gave her +a tremendous hug, released himself from his brother's arms, and ran off +to bed. Felix remained a few moments, while Cherry exclaimed, 'Oh! the +dear good little fellow!'</p> + +<p>'Better than any of us,' said Felix. 'I was quite savage with Mr. +Audley when I found out about it. I must go down and tell him. I never +thought all that was in the little chap! I'm glad he came to you, +Cherry. Good-night.'</p> + +<p>'And you will try to teach this poor boy, Felix?'</p> + +<p>'I don't say that. I don't in the least know how; but I shall not dare +to hinder Lance, now I see how he goes on.'</p> + +<p>On his way down he heard voices in the sitting-room, where, in fact, +Mr. Audley had joined Wilmet, to explain to her how vexed he was to +have so much annoyed Felix, and perhaps also something of his own +annoyance at the manner in which Felix took it. Wilmet, partly from +her 'growing on the sunny side of the wall,' partly from her early +authority, was in some ways older than her brother, and could see that +there was in him a shade of boyish jealousy of his prerogative; and +as she sat, in her pretty modest gravity, with her fair hair and her +Sunday frock, she was softly but earnestly telling Mr. Audley that she +was sure Felix would not mind long, and that he was very sorry for +the poor boy <i>really</i>, only he was so anxious about Lance, and he did +like to be consulted. Both looked up, startled, as Felix opened the +door, and they saw that his eyes were full of tears. He came up to Mr. +Audley, and said, 'I beg your pardon, sir; I'd no business to grumble, +and that little fellow has been—'</p> + +<p>'Beforehand with us?' asked Mr. Audley, as Felix broke down. 'The nurse +has been just telling me how he sat on his bed saying bits of psalms +and verses to him when he had that bad fit of cramp, "so pretty," she +said; but I was afraid it must have been rather like a spell.'</p> + +<p>Felix told his story, feeling it too much not to make it lame, and with +the tearfulness trembling in his voice and eyes all the time.</p> + +<p>'Our little <i>gamin</i> has the most of the good Samaritan in him,' said +Mr. Audley. ''Tis not quite the end I should have begun at, but perhaps +it may work the better.'</p> + +<p>'Dear little boy, that he should have remembered that sermon!' +exclaimed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'I am afraid it is more than I do,' said Felix; 'all last summer the +more I tried to listen, the more I saw how he was changing. Do you +remember it, Wilmet?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; the text was, "The joy of the Lord is your strength," and he +said how praising God, and going on thinking about His goodness and +thankfulness, was the way to make our adversaries dissolve before us, +and never trouble us at all, just like the bands of the Moabites and +Ammonites before Jehoshaphat.'</p> + +<p>'I recollect it well, and how I thought it such a likeness of himself,' +said Mr. Audley; 'he was walking over his troubles, scarcely seeing +them, as if they could not dim the shine of his armour while he went on +looking up and being thankful. I fancy little Lance has a good deal of +that kind of bright fearless way.'</p> + +<p>'He has,' said Felix in a grave thoughtful tone that made the Curate +look at him and sigh to think how early care and grief had come to make +that joyous buoyancy scarce possible to the elder boy, little more than +seventeen though he was.</p> + +<p>'He is <i>very</i> idle, though,' added Wilmet; 'such caricatures as there +are all over his books! Edgar's were bad enough, but Lance puts +pig-tails and cocked hats to all Edgar's.'</p> + +<p>So Lance's visits to the sick stranger remained unobstructed. He had +no notion of teaching him; but the foreign boy in his languor and +helplessness curiously fascinated him, perhaps from the very contrast +of the passive, indolent, tropical nature with his own mercurial +temperament. The Spaniard, or perhaps the old Mexican, seemed to +predominate in Fernando, as far as could be guessed in one so weak and +helpless. He seemed very quiet and inanimate, seldom wanting or seeking +diversion, but content to lie still, with half-closed eyes; his manner +was reserved, and with something of courteous dignity, especially when +Lady Price came to visit him; and the Yankeeisms that sometimes dropped +from his tongue did not agree with the polish of the tone, and still +less with the imperious manner in which he sometimes addressed the +nurse. He seemed, though not clever, to be tolerably well cultivated; +he had been at the schools of whatever cities his father had resided +in, and his knowledge of languages was of course extensive.</p> + +<p>However, he never talked freely to Mr. Audley. He had bitterly resented +that gentleman's interference, one day when he was peremptorily +commanding the nurse to place him in a position that had been +forbidden, and the endeavour to control him had made him fearfully +angry. There was a stormy outbreak of violent language, only checked +by a severe rebuke, for which he did not forgive the Curate; he was +coldly civil, and accepted the attentions he could not dispense with in +a grave formal manner that would have been sulky in an English lad, but +had something of the dreary grandeur of the Spanish Don from that dark +lordly visage, and made Mr. Audley half provoked, half pitying, speak +of him always as his Cacique. He only expanded a little even to Lance, +though the little boy waited on him assiduously, chattering about +school doings, illustrating them on a slate, singing to him, acting +Blondin, exhibiting whatever he could lay his hands on, including the +twins, whom he bore down one after the other, to the great wrath of +Sibby, not to say of little Stella herself, while Theodore took the +exhibition with perfect serenity.</p> + +<p>As to Felix, he was, as Lance said, the subject of the sick lad's +fervent admiration. Perhaps the open, fair, cheerful, though grave +countenance, fresh complexion, and strong, steadfast, upright bearing +had something to do with the strange adoration that in his silent way +Fernando paid to the youth, who looked in from time to time, bringing +a sort of air of refreshment with his good-natured shy smile, even +when he least knew what to say. Or else it was little Lance's fervent +affection for Felix which had conduced to the erection of the elder +brother into the idol of Fernando's fancy; and his briefest visit was +the event of the long autumnal days spent in the uncurtained iron bed +in the corner of the low room. The worship, silent though it was, was +manifest enough to become embarrassing and ridiculous to the subject +of it, whose sense of duty and compassion was always at war with his +reluctance to expose himself to it. Not another word passed on any +religious subject. Mr. Audley was not forgiven enough to venture on the +attempt; the Rector was shy and frightened about it, and could make no +beginning; and Mr. Mowbray Smith, who found great fault with them for +their neglect, had been fairly stared down by the great black eyes, +which, when the heavy lids were uplifted, proved to be of an immense +size and force; and Felix was so sure that it could not be his business +while three clergymen were going in and out that he had never done more +than describe the weather, or retail any fresh bit of London news that +had come down to the office.</p> + +<p>At last, however, one November day, he found Fernando sitting up in +bed, and Lance, perched on the table, talking so earnestly as not to +perceive his entrance, until Fernando broke upon his words: 'There! +it's no use!'</p> + +<p>'Yes, it is,' cried Lance, jumping down. 'O Fee, I am glad you are +come; I want you to tell him the rights of it.'</p> + +<p>'The rights of what, Lance?'</p> + +<p>'Tell him that it is all the devil's doing, and the men he has got on +his side; and that it was the very thing our Saviour came for to set us +free, only everybody won't,' said Lance clinging to his brother's hand, +and looking up in his face.</p> + +<p>'That's about right, Lance,' said Felix; 'but I don't quite know what +you are talking about.'</p> + +<p>'Just this,' said Fernando. 'Lance goes on about God being merciful and +good and powerful—Almighty, as he says; but whatever women may tell a +little chap like that, nobody can think so that has seen the things I +have, down in the West, with my own eyes.'</p> + +<p>'Felix!' cried Lance, 'say it. You know and believe just as I do, as +everybody good does, men and all.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, indeed!' said Felix with all his heart.</p> + +<p>'Then tell me how it can be,' said Fernando.</p> + +<p>Felix stood startled and perplexed, feeling the awful magnitude and +importance of the question, but also feeling his own incompetence to +deal with it; and likewise that Wilmet was keeping the tea waiting for +him. He much wished to say, 'Keep it for Mr. Audley,' but he feared to +choke the dawning of faith, and he likewise feared the appearance of +hesitation.</p> + +<p>'Nobody can really explain it,' he said, 'but that's no wonder. One +cannot explain a thunderstorm, but one knows that it is.'</p> + +<p>'That's electricity,' said Fernando.</p> + +<p>'And what's electricity?'</p> + +<p>'A fluid that—'</p> + +<p>'Yes; that's another word. But you can't get any further. God made +electricity, or whatever it is, and when you talk about explaining it, +you only get to something that <i>is</i>. You know it <i>is</i>, and you can't +get any further,' he repeated.</p> + +<p>'Well, that's true; though science goes beyond you in America.'</p> + +<p>'But no searching finds out <i>all</i> about God!' said Felix reverently. +'All we know is that He is so infinitely great and wise, that of course +we cannot understand why all He does is right, any more than a private +soldier understands his general's orders.'</p> + +<p>'And <i>you—you</i>,' said Fernando, 'are content to say you don't +understand.'</p> + +<p>'Why not?' said Felix.</p> + +<p>There was a silence. Fernando seemed to be thinking; Lance gazed from +one to the other, as if disappointed that his brother was not more +explicit.</p> + +<p>'And how do you know it is true?' added Fernando. 'I mean, what Lance +has been telling me! What makes you sure of it, if you are?'</p> + +<p>'<i>If</i> I am?' cried Felix, startled into indignation. 'To be sure I am!'</p> + +<p>'But how?'</p> + +<p>'I <i>know</i> it!' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'How?'</p> + +<p>'The Bible!' gasped Lance impatiently.</p> + +<p>'Ay; so you have said for ever,' broke in Fernando; 'but what +authenticates that?'</p> + +<p>'The whole course of history,' said Felix. 'There is a great chain of +evidence, I know, but I never got it up. I can't tell it you, Fernando; +I never wanted it, never even tried to think about the proofs. It is +all too sure.'</p> + +<p>'But wouldn't a Mahometan say that?' said Fernando.</p> + +<p>'If he did, look at the Life of our Lord and of Mahomet together, and +see which must be the true Prophet—the Way, the Life, the Truth.'</p> + +<p>'That one could do,' said Fernando thoughtfully. 'I say,' as Felix made +a movement as if he thought the subject concluded, 'I want to know one +thing more. Lance says it is believing all this that makes you—any one +I mean—good.'</p> + +<p>'I don't know what else should,' said Felix, smiling a little; the +question seemed to him so absurd.</p> + +<p>'Is it really what makes you go and slave away at that old boss's of +yours?'</p> + +<p>'Why, that's necessity and my duty,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'And is it what makes this little coon come and spend all his +play-hours on a poor fellow with a broken leg? I've been at many +schools, and never saw the fellow who would do that.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! you are such fun!' cried Lance.</p> + +<p>'All that is right comes from God first and last,' said Felix gravely.</p> + +<p>'And you—you that are no child—you believe all that Lance tells me +you do, and think it makes you what you are!'</p> + +<p>'I believe it; yes, of course. And believing it should make me much +better than I am! I hope it will in time.'</p> + +<p>'Ah!' sighed Fernando. 'I never heard anything like it since my father +said he'd take the cow-hide to poor old Diego, if he caught him +teaching me nigger-cant.'</p> + +<p>They left him.</p> + +<p>'Poor fellow!' sighed Felix; 'what have you been telling him, Lance?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I don't know; only why things were good and bad,' was Lance's +lucid answer; and he was then intent on detailing the stories he had +heard from Fernando. He had been in the worst days of Southern slavery +ere its extinction, on the skirts of the deadly warfare with the Red +Indians; and the poor lad had really known of horrors that curdled the +blood of Wilmet and Geraldine, and made the latter lie awake or dream +dreadful dreams all night.</p> + +<p>But the next day, Mr. Audley was startled to hear the two friends in +the midst of an altercation. When Lance had come in for his mid-day +recreation, Fernando had produced five shillings, desiring him to go +and purchase a Bible for him; but Lance, who had conceived the idea +that the Scriptures ought not to be touched by an unchristened hand, +flatly refused, offering, however, to read from his own. Now Lance's +reading was at that peculiar school-boy stage which seems calculated to +combine the utmost possible noise with the least possible distinctness; +and though he had good gifts of ear and voice, and his reciting and +singing were both above the average, the moment a book was before him, +he roared his sentences between his teeth in horrible monotony. And as +he began with the first chapter of St. Matthew, and was not perfectly +able to cope with all the names, Fernando could bear it no longer, and +insisted on having the book itself. Lance shook his head and refused; +and matters were in this stage when Mr. Audley, not liking the echoes +of the voices, opened the door. 'What is it?' he asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>'Nothing,' replied Fernando, proudly trying to swallow his vexation.</p> + +<p>'Lance!' said Mr. Audley rather severely; but just then, seeing what +book the child was holding tight under his arm, he decided to follow +him out of the room and interrogate.</p> + +<p>'What was it, Lance?'</p> + +<p>'He ought not to touch a Bible—he sha'n't have mine,' said Lance +resentfully.</p> + +<p>'Was he doing anything wrong with it?'</p> + +<p>'Oh no! But he ought not to have it before he is christened, and I +would have read to him.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley knew what Lance's reading was, and smiled. 'Was that all, +Lance? I like your guardianship of the Bible, my boy; but it was not +given only to those who are Christians already, or how could any one +learn?'</p> + +<p>'He sha'n't touch mine, though,' said Lance, with an odd sturdiness; +stumping upstairs with his treasure, a little brown sixpenny S. P. C. K. +book, but in which his father had written his name on his last +birth-day but one.</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley only waited to take down a New Testament, and present +himself at Fernando's bedside, observing gladly that there was much +more wistfulness than offence about his expression.</p> + +<p>'It was a scruple on the young man's part,' said Mr. Audley, smiling, +though full of anxiety; 'he meant no unkindness.'</p> + +<p>'I know he did not,' said Fernando quietly, but gazing at the purple +book in the clergyman's hands.</p> + +<p>'Did you want this?' said Mr. Audley; 'or can I find anything in it for +you?'</p> + +<p>'Thank you;' and there was a pause. The offended manner towards Mr. +Audley had been subsiding of late into friendliness under his constant +attentions, and Fernando's desire for an answer prevailed at last. +'Felix told me to read the Life of Christ,' he said, not irreverently, +'and that it would show me He must be True.'</p> + +<p>'I hope and trust that so it may be,' said Mr. Audley, more moved than +he could bear to show, but with fervour in his voice far beyond his +words.</p> + +<p>'Felix,' said Fernando, resting on the name, 'Felix does seem as if he +must be right, Mr. Audley; can it be really as he says—and Lance—that +their belief makes them like what they are?'</p> + +<p>'Most assuredly.'</p> + +<p>'And you don't say so only because you are a minister?' asked the boy +distrustfully.</p> + +<p>'I say so because I know it. I knew that it is the Christian faith that +makes all goodness, long before I was a minister.'</p> + +<p>'But I have seen plenty of Christians that were not in the least like +Felix Underwood.'</p> + +<p>'So have I; but in proportion as they live up to their faith, they have +what is best in him.'</p> + +<p>'I should like to be like him,' mused Fernando; 'I never saw such a +fellow. He, and little Lance too, seem to belong to something bright +and strong, that seems inside and outside, and I can't lay hold of what +it is.'</p> + +<p>'One day you will, my dear boy,' said Mr. Audley. 'Let me try to help +you.'</p> + +<p>Fernando scarcely answered, save by half a smile, and a long sigh of +relief: but when Mr. Audley put his hand over the long brown fingers, +they closed upon it.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE CHESS-PLAYER'S BATTLE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 35%;"> +'Dost thou believe, he said, that Grace<br /> +<span style="margin-left:2em;">Itself can reach this grief?</span><br /> +With a feeble voice and a woeful eye—<br /> +"Lord, I believe," was the sinner's reply,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Help Thou mine unbelief."'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 40%;"><i>Southey.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>By the beginning of the Christmas holidays, Fernando Travis was able +to lie on a couch in Mr. Audley's sitting-room. His recovery was even +tardier than had been expected, partly from the shock, and partly from +the want of vigour of the tropical constitution: and he still seemed to +be a great way from walking, though there was no reason to fear that +the power would not return. His father wrote, preparing for a journey +to Oregon, and seemed perfectly satisfied, and he was becoming very +much at home with his host.</p> + +<p>He was much interested in that which he was learning from Mr. Audley, +and imbibing from the young Underwoods. The wandering life he had +hitherto led, without any tenderness save from the poor old negro, +without time to make friends, and often exposed to the perception of +some of the darkest sides of human life, in the terrible lawlessness +of the Mexican frontier, had hitherto made him dull, dreary, and +indifferent, with little perception that there could be anything +better; but first the kindness and then the faith he saw at Bexley, had +awakened new perceptions and sensations. His whole soul was opening +to perceive what the love of God and man might be; and the sense of +a great void, and longing to have it satisfied, seemed to fill him +with a constant craving for the revelation of that inner world, whose +existence had just dawned upon him.</p> + +<p>After a little hesitation, Mr. Audley decided on reading with Geraldine +in his presence after he had come into the sitting-room, explaining +to her how he thought it might be helpful. She did not much like it, +but acquiesced: she used to hop in with her sweet smile, shy greeting, +and hand extended to the invalid, who used to lie looking at her +through his long eyelashes, and listening to her low voice reading or +answering, as if she were no earthly creature; but the two were far too +much in awe of one another to go any further; and he got on much better +with Wilmet, when she looked in on him now and then with cheery voice +and good-natured care.</p> + +<p>Then Fulbert and Robina came home; and the former was half suspicious, +half jealous, of Lance's preoccupation with what he chose to denominate +'a black Yankee nigger.' He avoided the room himself, and kept Lance +from it as much as was in his power; and one day Lance appeared with +a black eye, of which he concealed the cause so entirely, that Felix, +always afraid of his <i>gamin</i> tendencies, entreated Fulbert, as a +friend, to ease his mind by telling him it was not given in a street +row.</p> + +<p>'I did it,' said Fulbert; 'he was so cocky about his Yankee that I +could not stand it.'</p> + +<p>'Why shouldn't he be kind to a poor sick fellow?'</p> + +<p>'He has no business to be always bothering about Fernando +here—Fernando there—Fernando for ever. I shall have him coming up to +school a regular spoon, and just not know what to do with him.'</p> + +<p>'Well, Fulbert, I think if you had a broken leg you'd wish some one +to speak to you. At any rate, I can't have Lance bullied for his good +nature; I was very near doing it myself once, but I was shamed out of +it.'</p> + +<p>'Were you—were you, indeed?' cried Fulbert, delighted at this +confession of human nature; and Felix could not help laughing. And that +laugh did much to bring him down from the don to the brother. At any +rate, Fulbert ceased his persecution in aught but word.</p> + +<p>Robina, always Lance's companion, followed him devotedly, and only hung +about the stairs forlorn when he went to Fernando without her; or if +admitted, she was quite content to sit serenely happy in her beloved +Lance's presence, expecting neither notice nor amusement, only watching +their occupation of playing at draughts. Sometimes, however, Lance +would fall to playing with her, and they would roll on the floor, a +tumbling mass of legs, arms, and laughter, to the intense diversion of +Fernando, to whom little girls were beings of an unknown order.</p> + +<p>So came on Christmas, with the anniversaries so sweet and so sad, and +the eve of holly-dressing, when a bundle of bright sprays was left +by some kind friend at No. 8, and Lance and Bobbie were vehement to +introduce Fernando to English holly and English decking.</p> + +<p>Geraldine suggested that they had better wait for either Mr. Audley +or Wilmet to come in, but for this they had no patience, and ran down +with their arms full of the branches, and their tongues going with the +description of the night's carols, singing them with their sweet young +voices as they moved about the room. Fernando knew now what Christmas +meant, but the joy and exhilaration of the two children seemed to him +strange for such a bygone event. He asked them if they would have any +treat.</p> + +<p>'Oh no! except, perhaps, Mr. Audley said he should drink tea one day,' +said Robina. And then she broke out again, 'Hark! the herald angels,' +like a little silver bell.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was a cry of dismay. She had been standing on a chair +over the mantelpiece, sticking holly into the ornaments, behind and +under which, in true man's fashion, a good many papers and letters had +accumulated. One of these papers—by some unlucky movement—fell, and +by a sudden waft of air floated irrevocably into the hottest place in +the fire.</p> + +<p>'O dear! oh dear!' wailed Robina.</p> + +<p>'That's a pretty go,' cried Lancelot.</p> + +<p>'That comes of your open fires,' observed Fernando.</p> + +<p>'What was it?' asked Lance.</p> + +<p>'I don't know. I think it was a list of names! Oh! how vexed he'll be, +and Wilmet; for she told me never to get on a chair over the fender, +and I forgot.' Bobbie's round face was puckering for a cry.</p> + +<p>'No, no, don't cry, Bob; I told you to get up, and I'll say so,' said +Lance, smothering her in his arms after the wont of consoling brothers.</p> + +<p>'I dare say he'll not miss it,' said Fernando good-naturedly; 'he very +seldom meddles with those things.'</p> + +<p>Bobbie's great round grey eyes came out over Lance's shoulder, and +flashed amazement and wrath at him. 'I'm not going to tell stories,' +she said stoutly.</p> + +<p>'No,' said Lance, equally scandalized; 'I thought you had learnt +better, Fernando.'</p> + +<p>Robina, be it observed, was ignorant of Fernando's untaught state.</p> + +<p>'I only said you could hold your tongue,' was of course Fernando's +rejoinder.</p> + +<p>'That's just as bad,' was the little girl's response.</p> + +<p>'But, Lance, you held your tongue about your black eye.'</p> + +<p>'That's my affair, and <i>nobody else's</i>,' said Lance, flushing up and +looking cross at the allusion.</p> + +<p>'And Fulbert told!' added Robina.</p> + +<p>'Will they punish you?' asked Fernando.</p> + +<p>'I think Wilmet will, because it was disobedience! I don't think she'll +let me have any butter at tea,' Bobbie nearly sobbed. 'Mr. Audley won't +punish! But he'll look—' and she quite cried now.</p> + +<p>'And do you like that better than not telling?' said Fernando, still +curious.</p> + +<p>She looked up, amazed again. 'I must! I don't like it! But I couldn't +ever have a happy Christmas if I didn't tell! I wish they would come +that I might have it over.'</p> + +<p>The street door opened at the moment, and Mr. Audley and Wilmet came in +together from Lady Price's convocation of the parish staff. Fernando +heard the sobbing confession in the passage, and Lance's assurance +that he had been art and part in the disobedience, and Wilmet gravely +blaming the child, and Mr. Audley telling her not to think so much +about the loss as the transgression; and then the door was shut, and he +heard no more, till Mr. Audley came in, examined the chimney-piece, and +performed the elegy of the list in a long low whistle.</p> + +<p>'Is much harm done?' Fernando asked.</p> + +<p>'Not much; only I must go and get another list made out, and I am +afraid I shall not be able to come in again before church.'</p> + +<p>'I hope they have not punished her.'</p> + +<p>'Wilmet recommended not taking the prize prayer-book to church, and +she acquiesced with tears in her eyes. A good child's repentance is a +beautiful thing—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">"O happy in repentance' school</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">So early taught and tried."'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>These last words were said to himself as he picked up his various +goods, and added, 'I must get some tea at the Rectory. I am sorry to +leave you, but I hope one of them will come down.'</p> + +<p>They did not, except that they peeped in for a moment to wish him +good-night, and regretted that they had not known him to be alone.</p> + +<p>As Felix was going out to begin the Christmas Feast in the darkness of +morning, he looked in as he usually did, since Mr. Audley, sleeping out +of the house, never came in till after early church. The nurse, who +still slept in the room, was gone to dress; there was only a flickering +night-light, and the room looked very desolate and forlorn, still more +so the voice that called out to him, 'Felix! oh, Felix! is that you?'</p> + +<p>'Yes. A happy Christmas to you,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'Happy—!' there was a sort of groan.</p> + +<p>'Why, what's the matter? have you had a bad night? Aren't you so well?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know. Come here; I must speak to you.'</p> + +<p>Felix was, as usual, in a great haste, but the tone startled him.</p> + +<p>'Felix, I can't stand this any longer. I must let you know what a +frightful, intolerable wretch I've been. I tried to teach Lance to bet.'</p> + +<p>'Fernando!' He was so choked with indignation, he could not say more.</p> + +<p>'He wouldn't do it. Not after he understood it. It seems he tried it +with another little boy at school, and one of the bigger ones boxed his +ears and rowed him.'</p> + +<p>'Ay; Bruce promised me to look after him.'</p> + +<p>'So he refused. He told me he was on his honour to you not to stay if I +did anything your father would have disapproved. He did leave me once, +when I would not leave off.'</p> + +<p>'But how could you?'</p> + +<p>'I was so bored—so intolerably dull—and it is the only thing on earth +that one cares to do.'</p> + +<p>'But Lance had nothing to stake.'</p> + +<p>'I could lend him! Ah! you don't know what betting is; why, we all +do it—women, boys and all!' His voice became excited, and Felix in +consternation broke in—</p> + +<p>'When did you do this?'</p> + +<p>'Oh! weeks ago. Before I was out of bed. When I found my dice in my +purse; but I have not tried it since, with him!'</p> + +<p>'With whom, then?'</p> + +<p>'Why—don't fall on him—with Fulbert. He knew what it meant. Now, +Felix, don't come on him for it. Come on me as much as you please. I've +been a traitor to you. I see it now.'</p> + +<p>'Anything but that!' sighed Felix, too much appalled for immediate +forgiving, dejected as was the voice that spoke to him.</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes, I know! I see. The worst thing I could do,' said Fernando, +turning his face in on the pillow, in so broken-hearted a manner that +Felix's kindness and generosity were roused.</p> + +<p>'Stay, don't be so downcast,' he said. 'There's no harm done with +Lance, and you being so sorry will undo it with Fulbert! I do thank you +for telling me, <i>really</i>, only it upset me at first.'</p> + +<p>'Upset! Yes, you'll be more so when you hear the rest,' said Fernando, +raising his head again. 'Do you know who set that inn on fire?'</p> + +<p>'Nobody does.'</p> + +<p>'Well, I did.'</p> + +<p>'Nonsense! You've had a bad night! You don't know what you are +talking about,' said Felix, anxiously laying hold of one of the hot +hands—perceiving that his own Christmas Day must begin with mercy, not +sacrifice, and beginning to hope the first self-accusation was also +delirious.</p> + +<p>'Tell me. Didn't the fire begin in the ball-room? Somebody told me so.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, the waiter saw it there.'</p> + +<p>'Then I did it; I threw the end of a cigar among the flummery in the +grate,' cried Fernando, falling back from the attitude into which he +had raised himself, with a gesture of despair.</p> + +<p>'Nobody can blame you.'</p> + +<p>'Stay. It was after father and uncle had gone! I was smoking at the +window of our room, and the landlord came in and ordered me not, +because some ladies in the next room objected. He told me I might come +down to the coffee-room; but I had never heard of such meddling, and I +jawed him well; but he made me give in somehow. Only when I saw that +big ball-room all along the side of the building, I just took a turn in +it with my cigar to spite him. Poor Diego came up and begged me not, +but you know the way one does with a nigger. Oh!'</p> + +<p>Felix did not know; but the voice broke down in such misery and horror, +that his soul seemed to sink within him. 'Have you had this on your +mind all this time?' he asked kindly.</p> + +<p>'No, no. It didn't come to me. I think I've been a block or a stone. +The dear faithful fellow, that loved me as no one ever did. I've been +feeling the kiss he gave me at the window all to-night. And then I've +been falling—falling—falling in his black arms—down—down to hell +itself. Not that he is there; but I murdered him, you know—and some +one else besides, wasn't there?'</p> + +<p>'This is like delirium, really, Fernando,' said Felix, putting his arms +round him to lay him down, as he raised himself on his elbow. 'I must +call some one if you seem so ill.'</p> + +<p>'I wish it was illness,' said Fernando with a shudder. 'Oh! don't +go—don't let me go—if you can bear to touch me—when you know all!'</p> + +<p>'There can't be any worse to know. You had better not talk.'</p> + +<p>'I must! I must tell you all I really am; though you will never let +your brothers come near me, or the little angels—your sisters. I'd +not have dared look at them myself if I had known it, but things never +seemed so to me before.'</p> + +<p>Felix shivered at the thought of what he was to hear, but he gave +himself up to listen kindly, and to his relief he gathered from the +incoherent words that there was no great stain of crime, as he had +feared; but that the boy had come to open his eyes to the evils of the +life in which he had shared according to his age, and saw them in their +foulness, and with an agonised sense of shame and pollution. Felix +could not help asking whether this had long dwelt on his thoughts.</p> + +<p>'No,' he said, 'that's the wonder! I thought myself a nice, +gentlemanly, honourable fellow. Oh!' with a groan. 'Fancy that! I never +thought of recollecting these things, or what they have made me. Only, +somehow, when those children seemed so shocked at my advising them +to hold their tongues about their bit of mischief—I thought first +what fools you all were to be so scrupulous; and then I recollected +the lots of things I have concealed, till I began to think, Is this +honour—would it seem so to Lance—or Felix? And then came down on me +the thought of what you believe, of God seeing it all, and laying it up +against one for judgment; and I <i>know</i>—I <i>know</i> it is true!' and there +came another heavy groan, and the great eyes shone in the twilight in +terror.</p> + +<p>'If you know that is true,' said Felix, steadfastly and tenderly, 'you +know something else too. You know Whom He sent into the world for our +pardon for these things.'</p> + +<p>There was a tightening of the grasp as if in acquiescence and comfort; +but the nurse came back to tidy the room, and still Fernando clung to +Felix, and would not let him go. She opened the shutters, and then +both she and Felix were dismayed to see how ill and spent her patient +looked; for she had slept soundly through his night of silent anguish +and remorse—misery that, as Felix saw by his face, was pressing on him +still with intolerable weight.</p> + +<p>By the time the woman had finished Mr. Audley came in, and seeing at +once that Felix's absence was accounted for by Fernando's appearance, +he stepped up at once to the bed, full of solicitude. Felix hardly knew +whether to reply or escape; but Fernando's heart was too full for his +words not to come at once.</p> + +<p>'No, I am not worse, but I see it all now.—Tell him, Felix; I cannot +say it again.'</p> + +<p>'Fernando thinks—' Felix found he could hardly speak the words +either—'Fernando is afraid that it was an accident of his own—'</p> + +<p>'Don't say an accident. It was passion and spite,' broke in Fernando.</p> + +<p>'That caused the fire at the Fortinbras Arms,' Felix was obliged to +finish.</p> + +<p>'Not on purpose!' exclaimed Mr. Audley.</p> + +<p>'Almost as much as if it had been,' said Fernando. 'I smoked to spite +the landlord for interfering, and threw away the end too angry to +heed where. There!' he added grimly; 'Felix won't tell me how many I +murdered besides my poor old black. How many?'</p> + +<p>'Do not speak in that way, my poor boy,' said Mr. Audley. 'At least, +this is better than the weight you have had on your mind so long.'</p> + +<p>'How many?' repeated Fernando.</p> + +<p>'Two more lives were lost,' said Mr. Audley gently, 'Mr. Jones's +baby and its nurse. But you must not use harder words than are just, +Fernando. It was a terrible result, but consequences do not make the +evil.'</p> + +<p>He made a kind of murmur; then turning round, uneasily said, 'That is +not all; I have seen myself, Mr. Audley.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley looked at Felix, who spoke with some difficulty and +perplexity. 'He has been very unhappy all night. He thinks things wrong +that he never thought about before.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley felt exceedingly hopeful at those words; but he was alarmed +at the physical effect on his patient, and felt that the present +excitement was mischievous. 'I understand in part,' he said. 'But it +seems to me that he is too restless and uncomfortable to think or +understand now. It may be that he may yet see the joy of to-day; but no +more talk now. Have you had your breakfast?'</p> + +<p>He shook his head, but Felix had to go away, and breakfast and dressing +restored Fernando to a more tranquil state. He slept, too, wearied out, +when he was placed on his couch; while Felix was at Christmas service, +singing, as he had never sung before,—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'Peace on earth, and mercy mild,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">God and sinners reconciled.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Oh! was the poor young stranger seeing the way to that reconciliation? +and when Lancelot's sweet clear young notes rose up in all their +purity, and the rosy honest face looked upwards with an expression +elevated by the music, Felix could not help thinking that the boy had +verily sung those words of truth and hope into the poor dark lonely +heart. Kindness, steadfastness, truth, in that merry-hearted child +had been doing their work; and when Lance marched away with the other +lesser choristers, the elder brother felt as if the younger had been +the more worthy to 'draw near in faith.'</p> + +<p>Fernando was more like himself when Felix came in, but he was a good +deal shaken, and listened to the conventional Christmas greeting like +mockery, shrinking from the sisters, when they looked in on him, with +what they thought a fresh access of shyness, but which was a feeling of +terrible shame beside the innocence he ascribed to them.</p> + +<p>'I wish I could help that poor boy,' sighed Wilmet. 'He does look so +very miserable!'</p> + +<p>And Geraldine's eyes swam in tears as she thought of the loneliness +of his Christmas, and without that Christmas joy that even her +mother's dulled spirit could feel—the joy that bore them through the +recollections of this time last year.</p> + +<p>Lance's desire to cheer took the more material form of acting as +Fernando's special waiter at the consumption of the turkey, which Mr. +Audley had insisted on having from home, and eating in company with the +rest, to whom it was a 'new experience,' being only a faint remembrance +even to Felix and Wilmet; but Fernando had no appetite, and even the +sight of his little friend gave him a pang.</p> + +<p>'Do you want any one to stay with you?' asked Lance. 'If Cherry <i>would</i> +do—for Felix said he would take Fulbert and me out for a jolly long +walk, to see the icicles at Bold's Hatch.'</p> + +<p>'No, I want no one. You are better without me.'</p> + +<p>'I'll stay if you <i>do</i> want it,' said Lance, very reluctantly. 'I +don't like your not having one bit of Christmas. Shall I sing you one +Christmas hymn before I go?' And Lance broke into the 'Herald Angels' +again.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'Mild He lays His glory by,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Born that man no more may die;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Born to raise the sons of earth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Born to give them second birth.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Fernando's face was bathed in tears; he held out his arms, and to +little Lance's great amazement, somewhat to his vexation, he held him +fast and kissed him.</p> + +<p>'What did you do that for?' he asked in a gruff astonished voice.</p> + +<p>'Never mind!' said Fernando. 'Only I think I see what this day can be! +Now go.'</p> + +<p>Presently Mr. Audley came softly in. The lad's face was turned in to +his cushion, his handkerchief over it; and as the young priest stood +watching him, what could be done but pray for the poor struggling soul? +At last he turned round, and looked up.</p> + +<p>'I saw it again,' he said with a sigh.</p> + +<p>'Saw what?'</p> + +<p>'What you all mean. It touched me, and seemed true and real when Lance +was singing. What was it—"Born to save the sons of earth"? Oh! but +such as I am, and at my age, too!'</p> + +<p>And with a few words from Mr. Audley, there came such a disburthening +of self-accusation as before to Felix. It seemed as if the terrible +effects of his wilfulness at the inn—horrified as he was at them—were +less oppressive to his conscience than his treachery to his host in his +endeavour to gamble with the little boys. He had found a pair of dice +in his purse when looking for the price of a Bible, and the sight had +awakened the vehement hereditary Mexican passion for betting, the bane +of his mother's race. His father, as a clever man of the world, hated +and prohibited the practice; but Fernando had what could easily become +a frenzy for that excitement of the lazy south, and even while he had +seen it in its consequences, the intense craving for the amusement had +mastered him more than once, when loathing the dulness and weariness +of his confinement, and shrinking from the doctrines he feared to +accept. He knew it was dishonourable—yet he had given way; and he +felt like one utterly stained, unpardonable, hopeless: but there was +less exaggeration in his state of mind than in the early morning; and +when Mr. Audley dwelt on the Hope of sinners, his eyes glistened and +brightened; and at the further words that held out to him the assurance +that all these sins might be washed away, and he himself enabled to +begin a new life, his looks shone responsively; but he shook his head +soon—'It went away from him,' he said; poor boy! 'it was too great and +good to be true.'</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Audley put prayer before him as a means of clinging even +blindly to the Cross that he was barely beginning to grasp, and the +boy promised. He would do anything they would, could he but hope to be +freed from the horrible weight of sense of hopeless pollution that had +come upon him.</p> + +<p>For some days he did not seem able to read anything but the Gospels and +the Baptismal Service; and at length, after a long silence, he said, +'Mr. Audley, if your sermon is finished, can you listen to me? May I be +baptized?'</p> + +<p>Then indeed the Curate's heart bounded, but he had to keep himself +restrained. The father's consent he had secured beforehand, but he +thought Fernando ought to write to him; and it was also needful to +consult the Rector as to the length of actual preparation and probation.</p> + +<p>Then, when the question came, 'Can I indeed be like Felix and Lancelot' +the reply had to be cautious. 'You will be as entirely pardoned, as +entirely belonging to the holiness within and without, as they; but +how far you will have the consciousness, I cannot tell; and it is very +probable that your temptations may be harder. Guilt may be forgiven, +while habits retain their power; and they have been guarded, taught +self-restraint, and had an example before them in their father, such as +very few have been blessed with.'</p> + +<p>Fernando sighed long and sadly, and said, 'Then you do not think it +will make much difference.'</p> + +<p>'The difference between life and death! But you must expect to have to +believe rather than <i>feel</i>. But go on, and it will all be clear.'</p> + +<p>The Rector was at first anxious to wait for definite sanction from +the father; but as Mr. Audley was sure of the permission he had +received, and no letter could be had for several months, he agreed to +examine the lad, and write to the Bishop—a new Bishop, who had been +appointed within the last year, and who was coming in the spring for a +Confirmation.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bevan was really delighted with the catechumen, and wrote warmly of +him. The reply was, that if the Baptism could take place the day before +the Confirmation, which was to be in a month's time, the Bishop himself +would like to be present, and the youth could be confirmed the next +day. There was much that was convenient in this, for it gave time for +Fernando to make progress in moving about. He had made a start within +the last week or two, was trying to use crutches, and had been out on +fine days in a chair; and once or twice Lady Price had taken him for +a drive, though she had never thought of doing so by Geraldine. The +doctor said that change of air would probably quite restore his health; +and he had only to wait to be a little less dependent before he was to +go to a tutor, an old friend of the Audley family.</p> + +<p>Everything promised well; but one wet afternoon, in the interim between +the end of Lance's and that of Fulbert's holidays, Mr. Audley, while +coming down from a visit to Mrs. Underwood, fancied he heard an ominous +rattle, and opening the door suddenly, found Fernando and Fulbert +eagerly throwing the dice and with several shillings before them.</p> + +<p>Both started violently as he entered, and Fulbert put his arm and hand +round as if to hide the whole affair; while Fernando tried to look +composed.</p> + +<p>All that the Curate said in his surprise was one sharp sentence. +'Fernando Travis, if you are to renounce the devil, you will have to +begin by throwing those dice into the fire.'</p> + +<p>Fernando's eyes looked furious, and he swept the dice and the money +into his pocket—all but three shillings. Fulbert stole out of the room +quietly. No doubt these were his winnings, which he did not dare to +touch.</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley took up a book and waited, fully expecting that sorrow would +follow; but Fernando did not speak; and when at length he did on some +indifferent matter, it was in his ordinary tone. Well, there must be +patience. No doubt repentance would come at night! No; the evening +passed on, and Fernando was ready for all their usual occupations. +Perhaps it would come with Felix, or in the dawn after a troubled +night. Alas! no. And moreover, Felix, to whom it was necessary to +speak, was exceedingly angry and vexed, and utterly incredulous of +there being any good in the character that could be so fickle, if not +deceitful and hypocritical. His own resolute temper had no power of +comprehending the unmanliness of erring against the better will; he +was absolutely incapable of understanding the horrible lassitude and +craving for excitement that must have tempted Fernando, and he was +hard and even ashamed of himself for having ever believed in the lad's +sincerity.</p> + +<p>This anger too made him speak with such a threatening tone to Fulbert, +as to rouse the doggedness of the boy's nature. All that could be got +out of Fulbert was that 'his going there was all Felix's doing,' and he +would not manifest any sign of regret, such as would be any security +against his introducing the practice among the clergy orphans, or +continuing it all his life. He was not a boy given to confidences, and +neither Wilmet nor Cherry could get him beyond his glum declaration +that it was Felix's fault, he only wanted to keep out of the fellow's +way. They could only take comfort in believing that he was really +ashamed, and that he suffered enough within to be a warning against the +vice itself.</p> + +<p>As to Fernando, he made no sign, he went on as if nothing had happened; +and nothing was observable about him, but that he showed himself +intensely weary of his present mode of life, put on at times the +manners that were either those of the Spanish Don or of the Indian +Cacique, and seemed to shrink from the prospect of the English tutor. +Yet he continued his preparation for baptism, and Mr. Bevan was +satisfied with him; but Mr. Audley was perplexed and unhappy over the +reserve that had sprung up between them, and could not decide whether +to make another attempt or leave the lad to himself.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, only ten days from the time fixed for the Bishop's +visit, Mr. Audley returned from a clerical meeting to find an +unexpected visitor in the room—namely, Alfred Travis, Fernando's +uncle, a more Americanized and rougher person than his brother. He rose +as he entered. 'Good morning, Mr. Audley; you have taken good care of +your charge. He is fit to start with me to-morrow. See a surgeon in +town—then to Liverpool—'</p> + +<p>'Indeed!' Mr. Audley caught a deprecating look from Fernando. 'Do you +come from his father?'</p> + +<p>'Well—yes and no. His father is still in the Oregon; but he and I have +always been one—and opening the boy's letters, and finding him ready +to move, I thought, as I had business in England, I'd come and fetch +him, and just settle any claim the fellow at yonder hotel may have +cheek enough to set up, since Fernan was green enough to let it out.'</p> + +<p>'May I ask if you have any authority from his father?'</p> + +<p>'Authority! Bless you! William will be glad to see his boy; we don't go +by authority between brothers.'</p> + +<p>'Because,' continued Mr. Audley, 'I heard from your brother that he +wished Fernando to remain with me to receive an English education.'</p> + +<p>'All sentiment and stuff! He knew better before we had sailed! An +English squire in this wretched old country, forsooth! when the new +republic is before him! No, no, Mr. Audley, I'll be open with you. I +saw what you were up to when I got your letter, and Fernan—Got his +lesson very well, he had. And when I came down, a friend in London gave +me another hint. It won't do, I can assure you. That style of thing is +all very well for you spruce parsons of good family, as you call it in +the old country; but we are not going to have a rising young fellow +like this, with a prospect of what would buy out all your squires and +baronets in the old country, beslobbered and befooled with a lot of +Puseyite cant. You've had your turn of him; it is time he should come +and be a man again.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley was dizzy with consternation. Fernando was no child. He was +full sixteen, and he was so far recovered that his health formed no +reason for detaining him. If he chose to go with his uncle, he <i>must</i>. +If not—what then? He looked at Fernando, who sat uneasily.</p> + +<p>'You hear what your uncle says?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'I told him,' said Fernando, 'I must wait for a fortnight.' He spoke +with eyes cast down, but not irresolutely.</p> + +<p>His uncle broke out—He knew what that meant; it was only that he might +be flattered by the Bishop and all the ladies, and made a greater fool +of than ever. No, no, he must be out again by May, and he should just +have time to take Fernan to one of the gay boarding-houses at Saratoga, +and leave him there to enjoy himself.</p> + +<p>'I have letters from my father,' said Fernando, looking up to Mr. +Audley, 'before he went to Oregon. He said nothing.'</p> + +<p>'Do you wish to stay?' said Mr. Audley, feeling that all depended on +that, and trying to hide the whirl of anxiety and disappointment he +felt.</p> + +<p>The answer was not what he expected. Fernando sat upright in his chair, +looked up to him and then at his uncle, and said low but resolutely, 'I +will stay.'</p> + +<p>'Then you shall stay,' said Mr. Audley.</p> + +<p>'You have worked upon him, I see, Sir, with your old-world prejudiced +superstition,' said Alfred Travis, evidently under the delusion that he +was keeping his temper. 'A proper fool my brother was to leave him to +you. But you do it at your peril. I shall see if there's power even in +this old country to keep a boy from his own relations. You'll see me +again, Fernan. You had better make ready.'</p> + +<p>The words were not unaccompanied with expletives such as had never been +personally uttered to Charles Audley before, and that brought the hot +colour to his cheek. When he looked round, Fernando's face was covered +with his hands. 'Oh! Mr. Audley,' he cried, as his uncle hastily shut +the door, 'is he going to send for the police?'</p> + +<p>'I do not believe he can do any such thing,' said Mr. Audley, seeing +that Fernando was in great nervous agitation. 'I have authority from +your father, he has none; and you are old enough to make your own +decision. You really mean and wish to stay?' he added.</p> + +<p>'I told him so from the first,' said Fernando.</p> + +<p>'Then he has no power to force you away.'</p> + +<p>Fernando was silent. Then he said, 'If I could have gone after my +Baptism.'</p> + +<p>'Would you have wished that?' said Mr. Audley, somewhat disappointed.</p> + +<p>The tears were now on the long black lashes.</p> + +<p>'Oh, don't think me ungrateful, or— But this English life does come +over me as intolerably dull and slow. No life nor go in it. Sometimes +I feel sick of it; and going back to books and all, after what I +have been used to. If my uncle could wait for my Baptism, or,' more +hesitating, 'if I could be baptized at once. Men do lead Christian +lives out there. I would try to keep from evil, Mr. Audley. I see your +face! Is this another temptation of the devil?'</p> + +<p>'I think it is an attempt of his,' said Mr. Audley, sadly. 'Even here +you have not been able to abstain entirely from giving way to your old +passion, when you had little temptation, and felt your honour bound. +What will it be when you have comparatively no restraint?'</p> + +<p>'I am resolved not to go unbaptized,' said Fernando. 'I said so from +the first, but he will not wait! Yet if my father sends for me, I must +go.'</p> + +<p>'Then it will be your duty, and you will have more right to look for +help. Besides, a summons from your father could not come for three or +four months, and in that time you would have had time to gain something +in Christian practice and training.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, there is the bell! Must you go, Mr. Audley? He will come back!'</p> + +<p>'I wish I could stay, but Smith is gone to Dearport, and I do not know +whether the Rector is in. Besides, this must be your own doing, Fernan, +not mine. I shall pray for you, that you well know. Pray for yourself, +for this is a real crisis of life. God bless you, my dear boy.' He laid +his hand on the head, and Fernando looked up gratefully, then said, +'You never did that before. May Lance come to me, if he has not gone?'</p> + +<p>'I will call him,' said Mr. Audley, seeing that he really dreaded being +alone. The little boy was on the stairs with something in his hand. 'Go +in to Fernan,' he was told; 'he wants you. What have you got there?'</p> + +<p>'This queer drawing. Cherry found it in an old portfolio, and has been +copying it.'</p> + +<p>It was Retzsch's outline of the chess-player, and it almost startled +Mr. Audley by its appropriateness. He went out to Evensong, and never +was more glad to get back to reinforce the feeble garrison.</p> + +<p>Lance opened the front door to him. 'I'm so glad you are come!' he +said. 'Mr. Bruce is there.'</p> + +<p>'Not the uncle?'</p> + +<p>'No, only Mr. Bruce.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Bruce was a lawyer, and a very respectable man, in whom Mr. Audley +felt confidence. He rose at the clergyman's entrance, and asked to +speak to him in another room, so he was taken into the little back +dining-room, and began—'This is a very unpleasant business, Mr. +Audley; this gentleman is very much annoyed, and persuaded that he has +a right to carry off his nephew; but as I told him, it all turns upon +the father's expressions. Have you any written authority from him?'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley had more than one letter, thanking him, and expressing full +satisfaction in the proposed arrangements for Fernando; and this Mr. +Bruce thought was full justification, together with the youth's own +decided wishes. The words were likewise clear, by which William Travis +had given consent to his son's Baptism, but there was no witness of +them. Mr. Bruce explained that Alfred Travis, who seemed to regard +Fernando as the common property of the brothers, had come to him in +what he gently termed 'a great state of excitement,' complaining of +a Puseyite plot. He had evidently taken umbrage at the tone of the +letters he had opened for his brother, and had been further prejudiced +by some Dearport timber-merchant he had met at Liverpool, who had told +him how the parson had got hold of his nephew, and related a farrago of +gossip about St. Oswald's. He was furious at the opposition, and could +not understand that law in the old country was powerless in this case, +because he was neither father nor guardian. In fact he seemed to be +master of his brother; and Mr. Bruce told Mr. Audley that it was quite +to be considered whether though law was on his side now, the father +might not be brought over to the brother's side, be very angry at the +detention of the boy, and refuse the payment, which, while he was in +America, could not be forced from him. Of that Mr. Audley could happily +afford to run the risk; and Mr. Bruce said he had also set before the +young gentleman that he might have to suffer much displeasure from +his father for his present refusal, although his right to make it was +incontestable. To this Fernando had likewise made up his mind; and Mr. +Bruce, who had never seen him before, thought he looked utterly unfit +for a long journey and sea voyage, so that the uncle had taken nothing +by his application to the law.</p> + +<p>Fernando was flushed and panting, but more resolute, for resentment at +the attempt at force had come to back him up, and rouse the spirit of +resistance. Not half an hour had elapsed before there was another ring +at the door. The uncle and lawyer were come together now. It was to +make a last offer to Fernando; Mr. Alfred Travis offered to take him up +to London the next day, and there to have advice as to the safety of +the voyage, in the meantime letting him be baptized, if nothing else +would satisfy him, but by some London clergyman—not one of the Bexley +set whom the uncle regarded with such aversion.</p> + +<p>Fernando drew himself up, and stood, leaning on the end of the sofa. +'Thank you, uncle,' he said, 'I cannot. I am obeying my father now, and +I will not leave those to whom he trusted me.'</p> + +<p>There followed a volley of abuse of his English obstinacy and Spanish +pride and canting conceit, which made Mr. Bruce stand aghast, and +Fernando look up with burning cheeks and eyes glowing like hot coals; +but with the Indian impassibility he did not speak till Alfred Travis +had threatened him not only with his father's displeasure, but with +being cast off by both, and left to his English friends' charity.</p> + +<p>'My father will not!' said Fernando. 'If he sends for me I will come.' +But there his strength suddenly collapsed, and he was forced to sit +down and lean back.</p> + +<p>'Well, Fernan,' said his uncle, suddenly withdrawing his attempt when +he found it vain, 'you seem hardly in marching order, so I'm off by the +night train; but if you change your mind in the next week, write to +me at Peter Brown's—you know—and I'll run down. I will save you the +coming out by yourself. Good-bye.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Bruce tarried one moment to aver that he was unprepared for his +client's violence, and that he thought the nephew had done quite right.</p> + +<p>The door was shut, and Mr. Audley came back holding out his hand, but +Fernando did not take it. He was occupied in supporting himself by +the furniture from the sofa to the fire-place, where, holding by the +mantelpiece with one hand, he took his dice from his pocket with the +other, and threw them into the reddest depth. Then he held the hand to +Mr. Audley, who wrung it, and said, 'It has been a hard fight, my boy.'</p> + +<p>Fernando laid his weary head on his shoulder, and said, 'If my father +is not poisoned against me!'</p> + +<p>'Do not fear that, Fernando. You are where he left you. You have given +up something for the sake of your new Lord and Master; you will have +his armour another time.'</p> + +<p>Fernando let himself be helped to sit down, and sighed. He was +thoroughly worn out, and his victory was not such as to enliven his +spirits. He took up the drawing that lay on the table, and gazed on it +in a sort of dreamy fascination.</p> + +<p>'You have checked him this time,' said Mr. Audley.</p> + +<p>'Here or there, I will never bet again,' said Fernan solemnly. 'God +help me to keep the resolution! It is the one thing that I care for, +and I know I should have begun the first day I was away from you.'</p> + +<p>'I think that with those tastes you cannot make too strong a resolution +against it,' said Mr. Audley.</p> + +<p>Their dinner was brought in, but Fernando had no appetite. He soon +returned to his chess-player, and seemed to be playing over the game, +but he was too much tired for talk, and soon went to bed; where after +a short sleep feverishness set in, bringing something approaching to +delirium. The nurse had gone a fortnight previously; but as he was +still too helpless to have no one within call, Felix slept on the bed +in the corner of the room.</p> + +<p>When he came down the opening of the door was greeted by 'Don't let him +come! Is Mr. Audley there?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, he is not gone.'</p> + +<p>Then he knew Felix, but soon began again to talk of the game at chess, +evidently mixing up his uncle with the personage with the long feather.</p> + +<p>'He has been checked once. I've taken one piece of his. He is gone now. +Will he come back after my Baptism? No; I shall go to him.'</p> + +<p>This lasted till past midnight, when, as they were deliberating +whether to send for Mr. Rugg, he fell soundly asleep, and awoke in the +morning depressed, but composed and peaceful; and this state of things +continued. The encounter with his uncle, and the deliberate choice, had +apparently given some shock to his nerves; and whenever night recurred, +there came two or three hours of misery, and apparently of temptation +and terror. It took different forms. Sometimes it was half in +sleep—the acting over again of one or two horrible scenes that he had +partly witnessed in the Southern States, when an emancipator had been +hunted down, and the slaves who had listened to him savagely punished. +In spite of his Spanish blood, the horror had been ineffaceable; +and his imagination connected it with the crowd of terrors that had +revealed themselves to his awakened conscience. He seemed to think that +if he lost in the awful game of life, he should be handed over to that +terrible slave-master; and there were times when Diego's fate, and his +own lapses, so fastened on his mind, as to make him despair of ever +being allowed to quit that slave-master's dominions; and that again +joined with alarm lest his uncle should return and claim him.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, likewise, the old wandering life, with the flashes of +rollicking mirth and excitement, rather glimpsed at and looked forward +to than really tasted, would become so alluring a contrast to the flat +and tasteless—nay, as it seemed to him, tedious and toilsome—future +sketched out for him; and the restraints and constant watchfulness of +a Christian's life appeared so distressing a bondage, that his soul +seemed to revolt against it, and he would talk of following his uncle +at once to London while yet it was time, and writing to him the next +morning. This state was sure to be followed by a passion of remorse, +and sheer delirious terror lest he should be given up to the enemy, +who seemed now to assume to his fancy the form of his uncle. A great +deal was no doubt delirious, and this betrayed the struggles which he +had been for weeks fighting out in silence and apparent impassiveness; +but it was impossible not to feel that therewith was manifested the +wrestling with the Prince of Darkness, ere his subject should escape +from his territory, and claim the ransom of his manumission. Mr. +Audley—after the second night—would not let Felix remain, but took +the watch entirely on himself, and fought the battle with the foe +by prayer and psalm. Sleep used to come before morning; and by day +Fernando was himself again, very subdued and quiet, and, in fact, +having lost a good deal of ground as to health.</p> + +<p>Strange to say, the greatest pleasure he had at this time was sitting +in the upstairs parlour. The custom had begun in consequence of his +nervous shuddering at being left alone lest his uncle should return, +and Felix and Geraldine had then proposed taking him to their mother, +who was rather interested than annoyed by his presence, and indeed +all her gentle motherly instinct was drawn out by his feebleness and +lameness; she talked to him kindly and quite rationally, and he was +wonderfully impressed and soothed by her tenderness. It was so utterly +unlike anything he had ever even seen, that he watched her with a sort +of awe; while Cherry worked, read aloud, or drew, and felt proud of +being able to fetch what was beyond the capacity of her little errand +boy, Bernard.</p> + +<p>The children, too, entertained him; he was a little afraid of Bernard's +roughness, but delighted in watching him, and he and little Stella +were intensely admiring friends. She always knew him, cooed at him, +and preferred the gold of his watch-chain to all things in nature or +art. Then when Wilmet, Angela, and Lance came home, and family chatter +began, the weary anxious brain rested; and even in that room, so sad +to most eyes, Fernando began to realise what Christian peace and +cheerfulness could be.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE HOME.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 35%;"> +'Within those walls each fluttering guest<br /> +Is gently lured to one safe nest;<br /> +Without, 'tis moaning and unrest.'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 40%;"><i>Keble.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>A great delight came to Wilmet and Geraldine the day of the Bishop's +visit, no other than Alda's being able to spend a week with them. Miss +Pearson spared Wilmet that whole afternoon, that she might go up to +meet her at the station, whither she was escorted by a maid going down +to Centry.</p> + +<p>There she was, in her pretty black silk, with violet trimmings, looking +thoroughly the grown young lady, but clinging tight to her twin in an +overflow of confused happiness, even while they stood together to get +their first glance of the Bishop, who came down by the same train, and +was met by Mr. Bevan with the carriage.</p> + +<p>'I'm glad it is so nice and warm; it is better for Fernan, and Cherry +can go!' said Wilmet, ready for joy about everything.</p> + +<p>'Nice and warm! 'Tis much colder than in London,' said Alda, with a +shiver. 'Has Cherry kept well this winter?'</p> + +<p>'Quite well. She walks much better. And Marilda?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Marilda is always well. Rude health, her mother calls it. What do +you think she has sent you, Wilmet? A darling little watch! just like +this of mine!'</p> + +<p>'O Alda, you should not have let her. It is too much. Fernan wanted to +give Lance a watch, but Felix would not let him.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, but he is not like Uncle Thomas, and it makes you like me.'</p> + +<p>'That we shall never be quite again,' sighed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Oh! a little setting off, and trimming up! I've brought down lots of +things. Aunt Mary said I might. What is this youth like, Wilmet—is he +a boy or a young man?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know,' said Wilmet; 'he is younger than Felix, if that helps +you.'</p> + +<p>'Well, Americans are old of their age. I have met some at Mr. Roper's. +Oh, and do you know, Mrs. Roper told Aunt Mary that these Travises +are quite millionaires, and that this youth's mother was a prodigious +Mexican heiress. Aunt Mary wants to ask him to Kensington Palace +Gardens, when he comes up to town! I'm glad I am in time for the +christening. Doesn't he have godfathers and godmothers?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; he would have nobody but Felix and Mr. Audley, and Lady Price +chose to be his godmother; indeed, there was nobody else.'</p> + +<p>'You could not well be, certainly,' laughed Alda. 'Oh! and I've brought +a dress down. I thought some of us might be asked to the Rectory in the +evening.'</p> + +<p>'My dear Alda, as if such a thing ever happened!'</p> + +<p>'Ah! you see I have been so long away as to forget my Lady's manners.'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Audley is going, and Fernan was asked, but he is not anything like +well enough. So when Mamma and the little ones go to bed, we are to +come down and spend the evening with him.'</p> + +<p>'Fancy, Wilmet, I have quite been preparing Marilda for her +Confirmation. She had hardly been taught anything, and never could have +answered the questions if she had not come to me. She is always asking +me what Papa said about this and that; and it is quite awkward, she +will carry out everything so literally, poor dear girl.'</p> + +<p>'She must be very good.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! to be sure she is! But just fancy, she keeps a tithe of her +pocket-money to give to the Offertory so scrupulously; she would really +not buy something she wanted because it would have been just a shilling +into her tenth. I'm so glad she is confirmed. I never knew what to +do at church before. I couldn't go home by myself, and now a servant +always waits for us. Oh! how fast the poor hotel is building again! It +will brighten our street a little! Dear me, I did not know how dingy it +was!'</p> + +<p>Nothing could look dingy where two such fair bright faces were; but +Alda's became awe-struck and anxious as she went up to her mother's +room. Indeed Mrs. Underwood looked up at her rather confused, and +scarcely knowing the fashionable young lady, and it was only when the +plumed hat was laid aside, and the two heads laid together, their +fair locks mingling, that she knew she had her elder twins again, and +stroked their faces with quiet delight.</p> + +<p>There was scarcely more than time to kiss the little ones, and contend +with Stella's shyness, before first Lance hurried in and then Felix, +excused from his work two hours earlier. He could only just run up and +dress before he convoyed Geraldine to church, she having the first turn +of the chair, helped her to her seat near the Font, and then came back +for Fernando, who was under his special charge.</p> + +<p>Fernando sat looking very pale, and with the set expression of the +mouth that always made Cherry think of Indians at the stake. His little +new prayer-book was in his hand, and he was grasping it nervously, +but he said nothing, as Felix helped him up and Lance held his crutch +for him. It was his first entrance into a place of worship. They had +intended to have accustomed him a little to the sights and sounds, but +the weather and his ailment had prevented them. He was drawn to the +porch, and there Felix partly lifted him out and up the step, while +Lance took his hat for him, and as they were both wanted for the choir +procession that was to usher the Bishop into church, they had to leave +him in his place under Geraldine's protection.</p> + +<p>He had not in the least realised the effect of the interior of a +church. St. Oswald's was a very grand old building, with a deep +chancel a good deal raised, seen along a vista of heavy columns and +arched vaults, lighted from the clerestory, and with a magnificent +chancel-arch. The season was Lent, and the colouring of the decorations +was therefore grave, but all the richer, and the light coming strongly +in from the west window immediately over the children's heads, made +the contrast of the bright sunlight and of the soft depths of mystery +more striking, and, to an eye to which everything ecclesiastical was +absolutely new, the effect was almost overwhelming. That solemnity and +sanctity of long centuries, the peaceful hush, the grave beauty and +grandeur, almost made him afraid to breathe, and Cherry sat by his side +with her expressive face composed into the serious but happy look that +accorded with the whole scene.</p> + +<p>He durst not move or speak. His was a silent passive nature, except +when under strong stimulus, and Cherry respected his silence a great +deal too much to break upon it by any information. She was half sorry +when the noise of steps showed that the congregation were beginning +to drop in, chiefly of the other young Confirmation candidates. Then +presently Alda came, and whispered to her that Wilmet could not leave +Mamma; and presently after, Lady Price bustled in with her daughter, +looked severely at Alda under the impression that she was Wilmet +very improperly tricked out, and pressed Fernando's hand before +going on to her own place. Then came the low swell of the organ, +another new sensation to one who had only heard opera music; then the +approaching sound of the voices. Geraldine gave him the book open at +the processional psalm, and the white-clad choir passed by, one of the +first pair of choristers being Lance, singing with all his might, and +that merry monkey-face full of a child's beautiful happy reverence. And +again could be recognised Felix, Mr. Audley, Mr. Bevan, all whom the +poor sick stranger had come to love best, all to his present perception +glorified and beautiful. They had told him it would be all faith and no +sight, but he seemed to find himself absolutely within that brighter +better sphere to which they belonged, to see them walking in it in +their white robes, to hear their songs of praise, and to know whence +came that atmosphere that they carried about with them, and that he had +felt when it was a riddle to him.</p> + +<p>And so the early parts of the service passed by him, not so much +attended to or understood as filling him with a kind of dreamy +rapturous trance, as the echoes of the new home, to which he, with all +his heavy sense of past stain and present evil propensity, was gaining +admission and adoption. For the first time he was really sensible of +the <i>happiness</i> of his choice, and felt the compensation for what he +gave up.</p> + +<p>When the Second Lesson was ended, and the clergy and the choir, in +their surplices, moved down to encircle the Font, it was as if they +came to gather him in among them. Felix came and helped him up. He +could stand now with one support, and this was his young godfather's +right arm, to which he held tightly, but without any nervous +convulsiveness—he was too happy for that now—during the prayers that +entreated for his being safely gathered into the Ark, and the Gospel of +admission into the Kingdom. He had an impulse to loose his clasp and +stand alone at the beginning of the vows, but he could not; he had not +withdrawn his hand before he was forced again to lean his weight upon +the steady arm beside him.</p> + +<p>Nothing had been able to persuade Lady Price that she was not to make +all the vows as for an infant, but luckily nobody heard her except her +husband and the other sponsors, for it was a full, clear, steadfast +voice that made reply, 'I renounce them all!' and as the dark deep +eyes gazed far away into the west window, and Felix felt the shudder +through the whole frame, he knew the force of that renunciation; and +how it gave up that one excitement that the lad really cared for. And +when that final and carefully-guarded vow of obedience was uttered, +the pressure on his arm seemed to show that the moral was felt of that +moment's endeavour to stand alone.</p> + +<p>The sound of prayer, save in his own chamber, was so entirely new, +that no doubt the force of the petitions was infinitely enhanced, and +the entreaty for the death of the old Adam had a definite application +to those old habits and tastes that at times exerted their force. The +right hand was ready and untrembling when the Rector took it; the +stream of water glittered as it fell on the awe-struck brow and jetty +hair, and the eyes shone out with a deep resolute lustre as 'Ferdinand +Audley' was baptized into the Holy Name, and sworn a faithful soldier +and servant.</p> + +<p>He had begged to be baptized by the English version of his name; the +Spanish one had grown up by a sort of accident, and had always been +regretted by his father. He had wished much to take the name of Felix, +but they were so certain that this would not be approved, that they +had persuaded him out of it. He was soon set down again by Geraldine's +side; and she put out her hand and squeezed his hard, looking up into +his face with tearful eyes of welcome.</p> + +<p>When the last sounds of the voluntary had died away, and the +congregation had gone, she ventured again to look up at him and say, 'I +am so glad!'</p> + +<p>'Why did you never tell me it was like this?' he said. 'I should never +have hung back one moment. Now nothing can touch me, since I belong to +<i>this</i>.'</p> + +<p>'Nothing can <i>really</i>,' said Geraldine softly. 'Above all, when it is +sealed to us to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>Then there came a movement from the vestry, and the Rector and Mr. +Audley were seen following the Bishop, who came down to where the two +lame children still sat together, and putting his hand upon Ferdinand's +head with the hair still wet, gave him his blessing before he spoke +further. It was only a word or two of congratulation, but such as to go +very deep; and then, seeing that the boy looked not excited, but worn +and wearied, he added, 'You are going home to rest. I shall see you +to-morrow after the confirmation;' and then he shook hands with him and +with Geraldine, asking if she were the little girl of whom he had been +told.</p> + +<p>'She is very young,' said Mr. Bevan, strongly impressed with the +littleness of the figure; 'but she has been a Communicant for more than +a year, and she is—a very good child.'</p> + +<p>'I can believe so,' said the Bishop, smiling to her. 'I have heard of +your father, my dear, and of your brother.'</p> + +<p>Cherry coloured rosy red, but was much too shy to speak; and the Rector +and Bishop went away, leaving only Mr. Audley.</p> + +<p>'Are you very much tired, Fernan?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know,' he half smiled.</p> + +<p>'I think he is; he is too happy to know it,' said Geraldine. 'Please +let him go home first.'</p> + +<p>So Mr. Audley helped him out to the chair, where Felix, Alda, and Lance +were waiting; and he said, 'Thank you,' and held out his hand, while +Lance eagerly shook it, saying, 'Now it is right at last; and here's +Alda—isn't she a stunner?'</p> + +<p>'I thought it was Wilmet,' said Fernan; and Alda went into church to +keep Cherry company, thinking how curiously blind the male sex were not +to distinguish between her dress and poor dear Wilmet's.</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley was more than satisfied, he was surprised and comforted. He +had prepared to meet either disappointment or excitement in his charge; +he found neither—only a perfect placid content, as of one who had +found his home and was at rest. The boy was too much tired, after his +many bad nights and the day's exertion, to say or think much; all he +did say was, 'I shall mind nothing now that I know what it is to be one +of you.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley tried to remember that there must be a reaction, but he +could not bring himself to fear or to warn, or do anything but enjoy +the happiest day of his three years' ministry.</p> + +<p>He had to go to the Rectory dinner-party, and leave his neophyte to +the tendance of the Underwoods. Felix sat with his friend in a great +calm silence, while the rest were taken up by the counter-attraction +upstairs, where Alda was unpacking an unrivalled store of presents from +herself and Marilda, useful and ornamental, such as seemed a perfect +<i>embarras de richesses</i> to the homely, scantily-endowed children. That +little gold watch was the prize and wonder of all. It was the first +in the family, except that Felix wore his father's, and Alda knew +how an elder girl was scorned at school if she had none; but Wilmet, +though very happy with hers, smiled, and would not agree to having +met with disrespect for want of it. Then there were drawing-books +for Cherry, and a knife of endless blades for Lance, and toys for +the little ones; and dresses—a suit for Wilmet like Alda's plainest +Sunday one, and Alda's last year's silk for Geraldine, and some +charming little cashmere pelisses—Aunt Mary's special present to the +two babies—things that would lengthen Wilmet's purse for many a day +to come; and a writing-case for Felix; and all the absent remembered, +too. Uncle Thomas had given Alda a five-pound note to buy presents, +and Marilda had sent every one something besides, mostly of such a +matter-of-fact useful type that Alda stood and laughed at them. And +Mrs. Underwood was pleased with the exhibition, and smiled and admired, +only her attention was tired out at last, and she was taken early to +her own room.</p> + +<p>The elder ones went down to sit round the fire in Mr. Audley's room, +where Ferdinand insisted on leaving his sofa to Geraldine, and betaking +himself to the easy-chair, where he leant back, content and happy to +watch the others through his eye-lashes. Alda was a little on her +company manners at the first, but all the others were at perfect +ease, as they sat in the dim light. Felix on the floor by Cherry, who +delighted in a chance of playing fondling tricks with his hair and +fingers; the twins in Mr. Audley's big chair, where they could lean +against each other; and Lance cross-legged on the hearth-rug roasting +chestnuts, of which a fellow chorister had given him a pocketful, and +feeding every one in turn.</p> + +<p>Geraldine gave a sigh to the wish that poor dear Edgar were there.</p> + +<p>'He is very happy!' said Alda.</p> + +<p>'Oh yes, but I wish he had not missed being here to-morrow. I wonder +when he will come home.'</p> + +<p>'I cannot guess; Aunt Mary wants to go down the Rhine next summer (only +she is not quite sure it is not the Rhone), and if so, I suppose he +would join us there.'</p> + +<p>'It is a whole year since we have set eyes on him,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'But I believe he writes more to Cherry than anybody, does not he?'</p> + +<p>'Oh yes, and sends me lovely photographs to copy. Such a beauty of +himself! Have you seen it?'</p> + +<p>'I should think I had! They have set it up in a little gold frame on +the drawing-room table, and everybody stands and says how handsome it +is; and Aunt Mary explains all about him till I am tired of hearing it.'</p> + +<p>'And Clem?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Clem came to luncheon yesterday. He is very much grown, and looks +uncommonly demure, and as much disposed to set everybody to rights as +ever.'</p> + +<p>But Alda did not enter much more into particulars; she led away the +conversation to the sights she had seen in their summer tour; and as +she had a good deal of descriptive power, she made her narratives so +interesting that time slipped quickly past, and the young company was +as much surprised as Mr. Audley was when he came home and found them +all there, not yet gone to bed. They were greatly ashamed, and afraid +they had done Ferdinand harm, and all were secretly very anxious about +the night; but, though the wakeful habit and night feverishness were +not at once to be broken through, yet the last impression was the +strongest, and the long-drawn aisle, the 'dim religious light,' and +the white procession, were now the recurring images, all joyful, all +restful, truly as if the bird had escaped out of the snare of the +fowler. Real sleep came sooner than usual, and Fernan rose quite equal +to the fatigue of the coming day, the Confirmation day, when again +Geraldine had to sit beside him—this newly admitted to the universal +brotherhood, instead of being beside that dear Edgar of her own, for +whom her whole heart craved, as she thought how their preparation had +begun together beside her father's chair.</p> + +<p>Their place was now as near the choir as possible, and they were +brought in as before, very early, so that Fernan gazed with the same +eager, unsated eyes into the chancel and at the altar, admitted as he +was farther into his true home.</p> + +<p>The church was filled with candidates from the villages round as +well as from the town, and the Litany preceded the rite which was to +seal the young champions ere the strife. The Bishop came down to the +two lame children, and laid his hands on the two bent heads, ere he +gave his final brief address, exhorting the young people to guard +preciously, and preserve by many a faithful Eucharist, that mark which +had sealed them to the Day of Redemption, through all this world's long +hot trial and conflict.</p> + +<p>There was holiday at both schools, and Felix had been spared to take +his place in the choir, but Mr. Froggatt could not do without him +afterwards, as the presence of so many of the country clergy in the +town was sure to fill the reading-room and shop; and he was obliged +to hurry off as soon as he came out of church. Now, the Bishop had +the evening before asked Lady Price 'whether that son of poor Mr. +Underwood's' were present among the numerous smart folk who thronged +her drawing-room, to which my lady had replied, 'No; he was a nice, +gentlemanly youth certainly, but, considering all things, and how sadly +he had lowered himself, she thought it better not. In fact, some might +not be so well pleased to meet him.'</p> + +<p>The Bishop took the opportunity of trying to learn from the next person +he fell in with, namely, Mr. Ryder, how Felix had lowered himself; +and received an answer that showed a good deal of the schoolmaster's +disappointment, but certainly did not show any sense of Felix's +degradation. And what he said was afterwards amplified by Mr. Audley, +whom the Bishop took apart, and questioned with much interest upon +both Ferdinand Travis and the Underwood family, of whom he had only +heard, when, immediately after his appointment, his vote for the orphan +school had been solicited for the two boys, and he had been asked to +subscribe to the Comment on the Philippians. Mr. Audley felt that he +had a sympathizing listener, and was not slow to tell the whole story +of the family—what the father had been, what Felix now was, and how +his influence and that of little Lancelot had told upon their young +inmate. The Bishop listened with emotion, and said, 'I must see that +boy! Is the mother in a state in which she would like a call from me?' +but there an interruption had come; and when the country clergy came in +the morning, Mr. Audley had thought it fittest not to swell the numbers +unnecessarily, and had kept himself out of the way, and tried to keep +his fellow-curate.</p> + +<p>So he had seen no more of the Bishop, until, some little time after he +and Fernan had lunched, and were, it must be confessed, making up for +their unrestful nights by having both dropped asleep, one on his chair, +the other on the sofa, there came a ring to the door, and Lance, who +had a strong turn for opening it, found himself face to face with the +same tall grey-haired gentleman at whom he had gazed in the rochet and +lawn-sleeves. He stood gazing up open-mouthed.</p> + +<p>'I think I have seen you in the choir, and heard you too,' said the +Bishop, kindly taking Lance's paw, which might have been cleaner had he +known what awaited it. 'Mr. Audley lives here, I think.'</p> + +<p>Lance was for once without a word to say for himself, though his +mouth remained open. All he did was unceremoniously to throw wide Mr. +Audley's door, and bolt upstairs, leaving his Lordship to usher himself +in, while Mr. Audley started up, and Ferdinand would have done the +same, had he been able, before he was forbidden.</p> + +<p>There was a kindly talk upon his health and plans, how he was to +remain at Bexley till after Easter and his first Communion, and then +Mr. Audley would take him up to London to be inspected by a first-rate +surgeon before going down to the tutor's. The tutor proved to be an +old school-fellow and great friend of the Bishop; and what Fernan +heard of him from both the friend and pupil would have much diminished +his dread, even if he had not been in full force of the feeling that +whatever served to bind him more closely to the new world of blessing +within the Church must be good and comfortable.</p> + +<p>This visit over, the Bishop asked whether Mrs. Underwood would like +to be visited, and Mr. Audley went up to ascertain. She was a woman +who never was happy or at rest in an untidy room, or in disordered +garments, and all was in as fair order as it could be with the old +furniture, that all Wilmet's mending could not preserve from the verge +of rags. Her widow's cap and soft shawl were as neat as possible, and +so were the little ones in their brown-holland, Theodore sitting at her +feet, and Stella on Wilmet's lap, where she was being kept out of the +way of the more advanced amusement of a feast of wooden tea-things, +carried on in a corner between Angela and Bernard, under Lance's +somewhat embarrassing patronage.</p> + +<p>Alda sprang up, stared about in consternation at the utter unlikeness +to the drawing-room in Kensington Palace Gardens, and exclaimed, 'Oh! +if Sibby had only come to take the children out! Take them away, Lance.'</p> + +<p>'Sibby will come presently, or I will take them to her,' whispered +Wilmet. 'I should like them just to have his blessing.'</p> + +<p>'So many,' sighed Alda; but meantime Mr. Audley had seen that all was +right at the first <i>coup d'oeil</i>, had bent over Mrs. Underwood, told +her that the Bishop wished to call upon her, and asked her leave to +bring him up; and she smiled, looked pleased, and said, 'He is very +kind. That is for your Papa, my dears. You must talk to him, you know.'</p> + +<p>The Bishop came up almost immediately, and the perfect tranquillity and +absence of flutter fully showed poor Mrs. Underwood's old high-bred +instinct. She was really gratified when he sat down by her, after +greeting the three girls, and held out his hands to make friends with +the lesser ones, whom their sisters led up, Angela submissive and +pretty behaved, Bernard trying to hide his face, and Stella in Wilmet's +arms staring to the widest extent of eyes. The sisters had their +wish—the fatherless babes received the pastoral blessing; and the +Bishop said a few kind words of real sympathy that made Mrs. Underwood +look up at him affectionately and say, 'Indeed I have much to be +thankful for. My children are very good to me.'</p> + +<p>'I am sure they are,' said the Bishop. 'I cannot tell you how much I +respect your eldest son.'</p> + +<p>The colour rose in the pale face. 'He is a very dear boy,' she said.</p> + +<p>'I should like to see him before I go. Is he at home?'</p> + +<p>'Lance shall run and call him,' said Alda; but the Bishop had asked +where he was, and Wilmet had, not unblushingly, for she was red with +pleasure, but shamelessly, answered that he was at Mr. Froggatt's, +offering to send Lance in search of him.</p> + +<p>'I had rather he would show me the way,' said the Bishop. 'Will you, my +boy?'</p> + +<p>The way to Mr. Froggatt's was not very long, but it was long enough to +overcome Lance's never very large amount of bashfulness; and he had +made reply that he went to the Grammar School, and was in the second +form, that he liked singing in the choir better than—no, not than +<i>anything</i>—anything except—except what? Oh a jolly good snow-balling, +or a game at hockey. Did he like the school? Pretty well, on the whole; +but he did not suppose he should stay there long, his brother at the +Clergy Orphan said there was such a lot of cads, and that he was always +grubbing his nose among them; but now, 'do you really think now that +cads are always such bad fellows?'</p> + +<p>His Lordship was too much diverted to be easily able to speak, but he +observed that it depended on what was meant by a cad.</p> + +<p>'That's just it!' exclaimed Lance. 'I'm sure some that he calls cads +are as good fellows as any going.'</p> + +<p>'And what does your eldest brother say?'</p> + +<p>'Felix! Oh! he does not mind, as long as one does not get into a real +scrape.'</p> + +<p>'And then?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, then he minds so much that one can't do it, you know.'</p> + +<p>'What, does he punish you?'</p> + +<p>'N—no—he never licks any of us now—but he is so horridly sorry—and +it bothers him so,' said Lance. 'Here's old Froggatt's,' he concluded, +stopping at the glass door. 'My eyes! what a sight of parsons!' (Lance +had pretty well forgotten whom he was talking to.) 'There, that's +Felix—no, no, not that one serving Mr. Burrowes, that's Redstone; +Felix is out there, getting out the sermon paper for that fat one, and +that's old Froggy himself, bowing away. Shall I go and call Felix? I +suppose he will not mind this time.'</p> + +<p>'No, thank you, I will go in myself. Good-bye, my little guide, and +thank you.'</p> + +<p>And Lance, when his hand came out of the Bishop's, found something +in it, which proved to be a tiny Prayer-book, and moreover a +half-sovereign. He would have looked up and thanked, but the Bishop and +that 'fat one' were absorbed in conversation on the step; and when he +turned over the leaves of the little blue morocco book, with its inlaid +red cross, he found full in his face, in the first page, the words, +'Lancelot Underwood, March 15th, 1855,' and then followed an initial, +and a name that utterly defeated Lance's powers, so that perceiving the +shop to be far too densely full of parsons for him to have a chance +there, he galloped off at full speed to Cherry, who happily could +interpret the contracted Latin by the name of the See, and was not +<i>quite</i> so much astonished as Lance, though even more gratified.</p> + +<p>Meantime, the Bishop had made his way to the bowing Mr. Froggatt, and +asked to speak with him in his private room, where he mentioned his +kindness to young Underwood, and was answered by a gratified disclaimer +of having done anything that was not of great advantage to himself. +The good man seemed divided between desire to do justice to Felix and +not to stand in his light, and alarm lest he should have to lose an +assistant whom he had always known to be above his mark, and who was +growing more valuable every month; and he was greatly relieved and +delighted when the Bishop only rejoiced at his character of Felix, and +complimented the Pursuivant by being glad that a paper of such good +principles should be likely to have such a youth on its staff; it had +been well for the lad to meet with so good a friend. Mr. Froggatt could +not be denied an eulogium on the father, for whose sake he had first +noticed the son; and when the Bishop had expressed his sorrow at never +having known so bright a light as all described the late Curate to have +been, he courteously regretted the interruption on a busy day, but he +begged just to see the young man. He had little time himself, 'but if +he could be spared to walk up to the station—'</p> + +<p>Mr. Froggatt bustled out with great alacrity, and taking the charge of +the customer on himself, announced, for the benefit of all who might be +within earshot: 'Mr. Underwood, his Lordship wishes to speak with you. +He wishes you to walk up to the station with him. You had better go out +by the private door.'</p> + +<p>Felix was red up to the ears. His eight years' seniority to Lance were +eight times eight more shyness and embarrassment, but he could only +obey; and at his first greeting his hand was taken—'hoped to have seen +you sooner,' the Bishop said; 'but you had always escaped me in the +vestry.'</p> + +<p>'I had to go to help my sister, my Lord,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'And your friend,' said the Bishop. 'That is a good work that has been +done in your house.'</p> + +<p>Felix coloured more, not knowing what to say.</p> + +<p>'I wish to see you,' continued the Bishop, 'partly to tell you how much +I honour you for the step you have taken. I wish there were more who +would understand the true uprightness and dutifulness of thinking no +shame of any honest employment. I am afraid you do sometimes meet with +what may be trying,' he added, no doubt remembering Lady Price's tone.</p> + +<p>'I do not care now, not much. I did at first,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'No one whose approval is worth having can consider yours really a loss +of position. You are in a profession every one respects, and you seem +to have great means of influence likely to be open to you.'</p> + +<p>'So my father said, when he consented,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'I shall always regret having just missed knowing your father. Some +passages in that book of his struck me greatly. But what I wished to +say was to ask whether there is any way in which I can be useful to you +in the education of any of the younger ones, or—'</p> + +<p>'Thank you, my Lord,' said Felix. 'I think you kindly voted for my +brothers last year for the Clergy Orphan school. Only one got in, and +if you would vote again for little Lancelot—'</p> + +<p>'My droll little companion, who Mr. Audley tells me did so much for +that poor young American.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed he did,' said Felix. 'I doubt if any of us would have got at +him but for Lance, who did not mean anything but good-nature all the +time.'</p> + +<p>'He is just the boy I want for our Cathedral school.' And then he +went on to explain that a great reformation was going on. There was +a foundation-school attached to the Cathedral, with exhibitions at +the University, to which the Cathedral choristers had the first +claim. There had been, of course, a period of decay, but an excellent +Precentor had been just appointed, who would act as head master; and +the singing-boys would be kept on free of expense after their voices +became unavailable, provided that by such time they had passed a +certain examination. Such a voice as Lance's was sure to recommend +him; and besides, the Bishop said with a smile, he wanted to raise the +character of the school, and he thought there was the stuff <i>here</i> that +would do so.</p> + +<p>Felix could only be thankful and rejoiced; but it was a pang to think +of Lance being as entirely separated from home as was Clement; with +no regular holidays, and always most needed at his post at the great +festivals. There was something in his tone that made the Bishop say, +'You do not like to part with him?'</p> + +<p>'No, my Lord; but I am glad it should be so. My father was not happy +about—things here, and charged me to get my brothers away when I +could.'</p> + +<p>'And as to holidays, you are near at hand, and most of the choir are +of our own town. I think he may generally be spared for a good term at +each holiday time. The organist is very considerate in giving leave of +absence, even if he should turn out to have a dangerously good voice +for solos. I will let you know when to send him up for examination, +which he will pass easily. Good-bye. You must write to me if there is +anything for me to do for you. One month more, and your father would +have been one of my clergy, remember.'</p> + +<p>Felix went back, flushed with gratification, and yet, to a certain +degree, with confusion, and not exactly liking the prospect of being +interrogated as to what the Bishop had said to him: indeed, he never +told the whole of it to any one but Cherry. Somehow, though Wilmet was +his counsellor and mainstay, Geraldine was the sharer of all those +confidences that came spontaneously out of the full but reserved heart.</p> + +<p>Besides, Wilmet was at present in such a trance of enjoyment of her +twin sister, that she seemed scarcely able to enter into anything else. +She went through her duties as usual, but with an effort to shake off +her absorption in the thought of having Alda at home; and every moment +she was not in sight of her darling seemed a cruel diminution of her +one poor fortnight. Indeed it was <i>tęte-ŕ-tętes</i> that her exclusive +tenderness craved above all; and she was often disappointed that Alda +should be willing to go and visit Fernan Travis when they might have +had a quarter of an hour together alone. How much more selfish she must +have grown than Alda in this last half year!</p> + +<p>Alda's talk was indeed full of interest, and gave a much better notion +of her way of life than her letters did. She seemed to have been +fully adopted as a daughter of the house, and to enjoy all the same +privileges as Marilda; indeed, she had a good deal more credit with +all varieties of teachers, since she learnt rapidly and eagerly; and +Marilda, while encouraging her successes, without a shade of jealousy, +made no attempt to conquer her own clumsiness and tardiness. Even 'Aunt +Mary,' as Alda called Mrs. Thomas Underwood, often had recourse to Alda +for sympathy in her endeavours to be tasteful, and continually held her +up as an example to Marilda.</p> + +<p>'And poor dear good woman,' said Alda, 'she has such a respect for +Underwood breeding and our education, that I believe I could persuade +her into anything by telling her it was what she calls "<i>comifo</i>." +Even when she was going to get the boudoir done with apple-green +picked out with mauve, enough to set one's teeth on edge, and Marilda +would do nothing but laugh, she let me persuade her into a lovely pale +sea-green.'</p> + +<p>'Is not sea-green too delicate for her?' asked Cherry.</p> + +<p>'Why, it was very wicked of Edgar, to be sure, but he said that it +was to suit the nymph reining in the porpoises. He made a sketch, and +Marilda was delighted with it; she really is the most good-natured +creature in the world.'</p> + +<p>'She must be!' ejaculated Wilmet; 'but surely she ought not to like +laughing at her mother.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, everybody laughs at Aunt Mary, and she hardly ever finds it out, +and when she does, she does not mind! Even old Mrs. Kedge, her mother, +does nothing but laugh at her for trying to be fine. Old Granny is not +a bit by way of being a lady, you know; she lives in a little house in +the city with one maid, and I believe she rubs her own tables. I am +sure she goes about in omnibuses, though she has lots of money; and +Marilda is so fond of her, and so like her, only not so clever and +shrewd.'</p> + +<p>'But why does she live in such a small way?'</p> + +<p>'Because she never was used to anything else, and does not like it. She +hates grand servants, and never will come to Kensington Palace Gardens; +but she really is good-natured. She told Clement to drop in on her +whenever he likes, and bring any of his friends; and she always gives +them a superb piece of plum-cake, and once she took them to the Tower, +and once to the Zoological Gardens, for she thinks that she cannot do +enough to make up to them for being bred up to be little monks, with +cords and sandals, and everything popish.'</p> + +<p>'You don't let her think so?'</p> + +<p>'Well, really when she has got a thing into her head nothing will +uproot it; and, after all, they do carry things very far there, and +Clement goes on so that I don't wonder.'</p> + +<p>'Goes on how?'</p> + +<p>'Why, just fancy, the other day when Uncle Thomas fetched him in his +brougham because I was coming home, there he sat at luncheon and would +not eat a scrap of meat.'</p> + +<p>'Ah! it was a Wednesday in Lent,' said Cherry.</p> + +<p>'Only a Wednesday, you know; and <i>there</i>, with four or five strange +people, too. One of them asked if he was a Catholic, and of course +Clement looked very wise, and greatly pleased, and said, "Yes, he +was;" and that brought down Aunt Mary with her heavy artillery. "Bless +me, Clement, you don't say so. Is Mr. Fulmort really gone over?" +"Yes," said Clem. (I know he did it on purpose.) "He is gone over to +preach at St. Peter's." And then one of the gentlemen asked if Clem +meant Mr. Fulmort of St. Matthew's, Whittingtonia, and when he said +"Yes, he lived in the clergy house," he began regularly to play him +off, asking the most absurd questions about fasts and feasts and +vigils and decorations, and Clem answered them all in his prim little +self-sufficient way, just as if he thought he was on the high-road to +be St. Clement the Martyr, till I was ready to run away.'</p> + +<p>'Couldn't you have given him a hint?' asked Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'My dear, have you lived twelve years with Clem without knowing that +hints are lost on him?'</p> + +<p>'Dear Clem, he is a very good steady-hearted little fellow,' said +Cherry. 'It was very nice of him.'</p> + +<p>'Well, I only hope he'll never come to luncheon again in Lent. There +are times and seasons for everything, and certainly not for display! +And to make it worse, Marilda is the most literal-minded girl. Fasting +was quite a new mind to her, for she never realises what she does +not see; and she got Clem into a corner, where I heard him going on, +nothing loth, about days of abstinence, out of Mr. Fulmort's last +catechizing, I should think; and ended by asking what Cousin Edward +did, so that I fully expected that I should find her eating nothing, +and that I should be called to account.'</p> + +<p>'And what did you tell her then?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, you know I could say quite truly that he did not.'</p> + +<p>'I don't think that was quite fair,' said Wilmet gravely. 'You know it +was only because he really could not.'</p> + +<p>'You don't know how glad I was to have an answer that would hinder the +horrid commotion we should have had if Marilda had taken to fasting. +And, after all, you <i>know</i>, Papa would have said minding her mother was +her first duty.'</p> + +<p>'Why did not you tell her that?'</p> + +<p>'I have, dozens of times; but you know there are mothers and mothers, +and nobody can always mind Aunt Mary, good soul! Marilda has just made +herself, with her own good rough plain sense. I wish she was a man, +she would be a capital merchant like her father; but it is hard to be +a great heiress, with nothing she really likes to do. She is always +longing to come down to Centry, and tramp about the lanes among the +cottages.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! I wish they would!'</p> + +<p>'I don't think Aunt Mary will ever let them, she hates the country; and +though she likes to have a place for the name of the thing, she does +not want to live there, especially where there are so many of us; and +then, Felix's situation!'</p> + +<p>'For shame, Alda!'</p> + +<p>'Well, I did not say anything myself. It is only Aunt Mary—it is very +foolish of people, but, you see, they <i>will</i>. As to Marilda, I believe +she would like to stand behind the counter with him this minute.'</p> + +<p>'Marilda is the oddest and best girl I ever heard of!'</p> + +<p>'You may say that. And so ignorant she was! She had a great +velvet-and-gold Church Service, and hardly guessed there was any Bible +or Prayer-Book besides. I am sure Felix cannot have had more work to +teach that youth than I have had with Marilda. Such a jumble as she had +picked up! She really had only little baby prayers to say, till she saw +my book.'</p> + +<p>'What a blessing you must be to her!' said Wilmet, fondly looking at +her sister.</p> + +<p>'Well, I do hope so. You must know she was regularly struck with dear +Papa. I am sure he is the first saint in her calendar, and everything +is—"What did Cousin Edward say?" And when once she has made up her +mind that a thing is right, she will blunder on through fire and water, +but she will do it.'</p> + +<p>'Then,' said Cherry, 'she ought to try and learn, and not to be awkward +because of obedience.'</p> + +<p>Alda burst out laughing. 'People can only do what they can. Marilda +trying to be graceful would be worse than Marilda floundering her own +way. But she really is the best and kindest girl living, and she gets +on much better for having me to keep her out of scrapes.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet went to bed that night thankful to have Alda's head on the +pillow beside her, and most thankful for the tokens that she watched +among her brothers and sisters, which showed how much her father's +influence was extending beyond his short life.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE THIRTEEN.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'They closed around the fire,</span><br /> +And all in turn essayed to paint<br /> +The rival merits of their saint;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A theme that ne'er can tire</span><br /> +A holy maid, for be it known<br /> +That their saint's honour is their own.'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 40%;"><i>Scott.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>The thirteen Underwoods did not meet again in the same house for many +a long day, and when they did, it was on a grey misty morning in the +Christmas week of the year following; and the blinds were down, and +the notes of the knell clashing out overhead, as the door was opened +to Edgar, Alda, and Clement, as they arrived together, having been +summoned late on the previous night by a telegram with tidings that +their mother had been struck by a paralysis. They knew what to expect +when Felix, with one of the little ones on his arm, came quietly down +the stairs and admitted them. All they had to ask, was 'when,' and +'how;' and to hear, that the long living death had ended in peaceful +insensibility at last. Then they followed him upstairs to the room +where the others sat, hushed, over their pen or their books, where +Wilmet, her eyes gushing with quiet tears, held Alda in her embrace, +and Geraldine, after her first eager kiss, gazed wistfully at Edgar as +though there must be comfort in the very sight of him, if she could +only feel it; while the very little ones opened their puzzled eyes on +the new-comers as strangers.</p> + +<p>And so they were: Clement had indeed been at home in September, but +Alda not for a year and three-quarters, nor Edgar since he first left +it three years before. The absence of the two latter was not by their +own choice; a doctor who had ordered Mrs. Thomas Underwood to spend +the summer months, year after year, at Spa was partly the cause; and +moreover, during the autumn and winter of 1856 Bexley had been a +perfect field of epidemics. Measles and whooping-cough had run riot in +the schools, and lingered in the streets and alleys of the potteries, +fastening on many who thought themselves secured by former attacks; +and there had been a good many deaths, in especial Clement's chief +friend, Harry Lamb. Nobody, excepting the invalid mother, throughout +the Underwood household, had escaped one or other disorder; and both +fell to the lot of the four little ones, and likewise of Mr. Audley, +who was infinitely disgusted at himself, and at the guarded childhood +for which he thus paid the penalty pretty severely. When matters +were at the worst, and Felix was laid up, and Wilmet found herself +succumbing, she had written in desperation to Sister Constance, whose +presence in the house had made the next three weeks a time of very +pleasant recollections. Finally she had carried off Geraldine, Angela, +and Bernard, to the convalescent rooms at St. Faith's, where their +happiness had been such that the favourite sport of the little ones +had ever since been the acting of Sisters of Mercy nursing sick dolls. +The quarantine had been indefinitely prolonged for the protégés of +Kensington Palace Gardens; for the three at school, though kept away +till all infection was thought to be over, had perversely caught the +maladies as soon as they came home for the summer holidays; and indeed +the whole town and neighbouring villages were so full of contagion, +that Mrs. Thomas Underwood had not far to seek for a plea for avoiding +Centry.</p> + +<p>All this time, from day to day, the poor mother had been growing more +feeble, and it had been fully purposed that on Edgar's return at +Christmas, on the completion of his studies at Louvaine, he and Alda +should make some stay at home; but the brother and sister were both +so useful and ornamental that their adopted home could not spare them +until after a series of Christmas entertainments; and Clement had been +in like manner detained until the festival services at St. Matthew's no +longer required him. Indeed, when he had been at home in the autumn, he +had been scarcely recognized.</p> + +<p>For the last week, however, Mrs. Underwood had been much clearer in +mind, had enjoyed the presence of her holiday children, and had for a +short time even given hopes that her constitution might yet rally, and +her dormant faculties revive. She had even talked to Mr. Audley and +Geraldine at different times as though she had some such presentiment +herself, and had made some exertions which proved much increased +activity of brain. Alas! though their coming had thus been rendered +very happy, the brightening had been but the symptom and precursor of +a sudden attack of paralysis, whence there was no symptom of recovery, +and which in a few hours ended in death.</p> + +<p>For the present, the hopes that had been entertained gave poignancy +to the sudden disappointment and grief, and the home children could +not acquiesce in the dispensation with the same quiet reasonableness +as those who had been so long separated from them as not to miss +the gentle countenance, or the 'sweet toils, sweet cares, for ever +gone.' Indeed Wilmet was physically much exhausted by her long hours +of anxiety, and went about pale-cheeked and tear-stained, quietly +attending to all that was needful, but with the tears continually +dropping; while Geraldine was fit for nothing but to lie still, unable +to think, but feeling soothed as long as she could lay her hand upon +Edgar and feel that he was near.</p> + +<p>So the whole thirteen were together again; and in the hush of the +orphaned house there was a certain wonder and curiosity in their mutual +examination and comparison with one another and with the beings with +whom they had parted three years ago, at the period of their first +separation. All were at a time of life when such an interval could +not fail to make a vast alteration in externals. Even Geraldine had +gained in strength, and though still white, and with features too +large for her face, startlingly searching grey eyes, and brows that +looked strangely thick, dark, and straight, in contrast with the +pencilled arches belonging to all the rest, she was less weird and +elfin-like than when she had been three inches shorter, and dressed +more childishly. As Edgar said, she was less Riquet with a tuft than +the good fairy godmother, and her twin sisters might have been her +princess-wards, so far did they tower above her—straight as fir-trees, +oval faced, regular featured, fair skinned, blue eyed, and bright +haired. During those long dreary hours, Edgar often beguiled the +time with sketches of them, and the outlines—whether of chiselled +profiles, shapely heads, or Cupid's-bow lips—were still almost exactly +similar; yet it had become impossible to mistake one twin for the +other, even when Alda had dressed the tresses on Wilmet's passive head +in perfect conformity with her own. Looking at their figures, Alda's +air of fashion made her appear the eldest, and Wilmet might have been +a girl in the school-room; but comparing their faces, Wilmet's placid +recollected countenance, and the soberness that sat so well on her +white smooth forehead and steady blue eyes, might have befitted many +more years than eighteen. There were not nearly so many lights and +shades in her looks as in those of Alda and Geraldine. The one had both +more smiles and more frowns, the other more gleams of joy and of pain; +each was more animated and sensitive, but neither gave the same sense +of confidence and repose.</p> + +<p>As usually happens when the parents are of the same family, the +inventory of the features of one of the progeny served for almost all +the rest. The differences were only in degree, and the prime specimens +were without doubt the two elder twins and Edgar, with like promise of +little Bernard and Stella.</p> + +<p>Edgar had grown very tall, and had inherited his father's advantages +of grace and elegance of figure, to which was added a certain +distinguished ease of carriage, and ready graciousness, too simple +to be called either conceit or presumption, but which looked as if +he were used to be admired and to confer favours. Athletics had been +the fashion with him and his English companions, and his complexion +was embrowned by sun and wind, his form upright and vigorous; and +by force of contrast it was now perceived that Felix seemed to have +almost ceased growing for the last three years, and that his in-door +occupations had given his broad square shoulders a kind of slouch, +and kept his colouring as pink and white as that of his sisters. Like +Wilmet, he had something staid and responsible about him, that, even +more than his fringe of light brown whiskers, gave the appearance of +full-grown manhood; so that the first impression of all the new-comers +was how completely he had left the boy behind him, making it an effort +of memory to believe him only nineteen and a half. But they all knew +him for their head, and leant themselves against him. And in the +meantime, Edgar's appearance was a perfect feast of enjoyment, not +only to little loving Geraldine, but to sage Felix. They recreated +themselves with gazing at him, and when left alone together would +discuss his charms in low confidential murmurs, quite aware that Wilmet +would think them very silly; but Edgar was the great romance of both.</p> + +<p>Edgar observed that Clement had done all the growth for both himself +and Felix, and was doing his best to be a light of the Church by +resembling nothing but an altar-taper. When they all repaired to the +back of the cupboard door in Mr. Audley's room to be measured, his head +was found far above Edgar's mark at fourteen, and therewith he was lank +and thin, not yet accustomed to the length of his own legs and arms, +and seeming as if he was not meant to be seen undraped by his surplice. +His features and face were of the family type, but a little smaller, +and with much less of the bright rosy tinting; indeed, when not excited +he was decidedly pale, and his eyes and hair were a little lighter than +those of the rest. It was a refined, delicate, thoughtful face, pretty +rather than handsome, and its only fault was a certain melancholy +superciliousness or benignant pity for every one who did not belong to +the flock of St. Matthew's.</p> + +<p>Regular features are always what most easily lose individuality, and +become those of the owner's class; and if Clement was all chorister, +Fulbert and Lancelot were all school-boy. The two little fellows were +a long way apart in height, though there were only two years between +them; for Lance was on a much smaller scale, but equally full of ruddy +health and superabundant vigour; and while Fulbert was the more rough +and independent, his countenance had not the fun and sweetness that +rendered Lance's so winning. Their looks were repeated in Robina, who +was much too square and sturdy for any attempt at beauty, and was +comically like a boy and like her brothers, but with much frank honesty +and determination in her big grey darkly-lashed eyes. Angela was one of +the most altered of all; for her plump cherub cheeks had melted away +under the glow of measles, and the whooping process had lengthened +and narrowed her small person into a demure little thread-paper of +six years old, omnivorous of books, a pet and pickle at school, and +a romp at home—the sworn ally, offensive and defensive, of stout, +rough-pated, unruly Bernard. Stella was the loveliest little bit of +painted porcelain imaginable, quite capable of being his companion, and +a perfect little fairy, for beauty, gracefulness, and quickness of all +kinds. Alda was delighted with her pretty caressing ways and admiration +of the wonderful new sister. She was of quieter, more docile mood than +these two, though aspiring to their companionship; for it was startling +to see how far she had left Theodore behind. He was still in arms, +and speechless, a little pale inanimate creature, taking very little +notice, and making no sound except a sort of low musical cooing of +pleasure, and a sad whining moan of unhappiness, which always recurred +when he was not in the arms of Sibby, Wilmet, or Felix. It was only +when Felix held out his arms to take him that the sound of pleasure was +heard; and once on that firm knee, with his shining head against that +kind heart, he was satisfied, and Felix had accustomed himself to all +sorts of occupations with his little brother in his left arm. Even at +night, there was no rest for Theodore, unless Felix took him into his +room. So often did the little fretting moan summon him, that soon the +crib took up his regular abode beside his bed.</p> + +<p>But Felix, though of course spared from the shop, could not be +dispensed with from the printing-house, where he was sub-editor; and in +his absence Theodore was always less contented; and his tearless moan +went to his sister's heart, for the poor little fellow had been wont +to lie day and night in his mother's bosom, and she had been as uneasy +without him as he now was without her. All her other babes had grown +past her helpless instinctive tenderness, and Theodore's continued +passiveness had been hitherto an advantage, which had always been +called his 'goodness and affection.'</p> + +<p>Alda was the first to comment on the wonderful interval between the +twins, when Wilmet accounted for it by Theodore's having been quite +kept back for his mother's sake, and likewise by his having been more +reduced by measles and whooping-cough than Stella had been; but to +fresh observers it was impossible to think that all was thus explained, +and Edgar and Alda discussed it in a low voice when they found +themselves alone.</p> + +<p>'The fact is plain,' said Edgar; 'but I suppose nothing can be done, +and I see no use in forcing it on poor Wilmet.'</p> + +<p>'I don't understand such blindness.'</p> + +<p>'Not real blindness—certainly not on Felix's part. He knows that +load is on his back for life. Heigh-ho! a stout old Atlas we have +in Blunderbore; I wonder how long I shall be in plucking the golden +apples, and taking a share.'</p> + +<p>'I thought it was Atlas that gathered the apples.'</p> + +<p>'Don't spoil a good simile with superfluous exactness, Alda! It is base +enough to compare the gardens of the Hesperides to a merchant's office! +I wonder how many years it will take to get out of the drudgery, and +have some power of enjoying life and relieving Felix. One could tear +one's hair to see him tied down by this large family till all his best +days are gone.'</p> + +<p>'Some of the others may get off his hands, and help.'</p> + +<p>'Not they! Clem is too highly spiritualized to care for anything so +material as his own flesh and blood; and it is not their fault if +little Lance does not follow in his wake. Then if Ful has any brains, +he is not come to the use of them; he is only less obnoxious than Tina +in that he <i>is</i> a boy and not a church candle, but boys are certainly a +mistake.'</p> + +<p>If ever the mature age of seventeen could be excused for so regarding +boyhood, it was under such circumstances. All were too old for any +outbreaks, such as brought Angela and Bernard to disgrace, and +disturbed the hush of those four sad days; but the actual loss had +been so long previous, that the pressure of present grief was not so +crushing as to prevent want of employment and confinement in that small +silent house from being other than most irksome and tedious.</p> + +<p>Clement would have done very well alone; he went to church, read, told +Angela stories, and discoursed to Cherry on the ways of St. Matthew's; +but, unfortunately, there was something about him that always incited +the other boys to sparring, nor was he always guiltless of being the +aggressor, for there was no keeping him in mind that comparisons are +odious.</p> + +<p>Church music might seem a suitable subject, but the London chorister +could not abstain from criticising St. Oswald's and contemning the +old-fashioned practices of the Cathedral, which of course Lance +considered himself bound to defend, till the very names of Gregorians +and Anglicans became terrible to Cherry as the watchwords of a +wrangling match. Fulbert, meantime, made no secret of his contempt for +both brothers as mere choristers instead of school-boys, and exalted +himself whenever he detected their ignorance of any choice <i>morceau</i> of +slang; while their superior knowledge on any other point was viewed as +showing the new-fangled girlish nonsense of their education.</p> + +<p>This Lance did not mind; but he was very sensitive as to the dignity +of his Cathedral, and the perfections of his chosen friend, one Bill +Harewood; and Fulbert was not slow to use the latter engine for +'getting a rise' out of him, while Clement as often, though with less +design, offended by disparagement of his choir; nor could Edgar refuse +himself the diversion of tormenting Clement by ironical questions and +remarks on his standard of perfection, which mode of torture enchanted +Fulbert, whenever he understood it. Thus these four brothers contrived +to inflict a good amount of teasing on one another, all the more +wearing and worrying because deprived of its only tolerable seasoning, +mirth.</p> + +<p>Clement had indeed a refuge in Mr. Audley's room, where he could find +books, and willing ears for Mr. Fulmort's doings; but he availed +himself of it less than might have been expected. Whether from +inclination to his brothers' society, desire to do them good, or innate +pugnacity, he was generally in the thick of the conflict; and before +long he confided to Felix that he was seriously uneasy about Edgar's +opinions.</p> + +<p>'He is only chaffing you,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'Chaff, <i>now!</i>' said Clement.</p> + +<p>'Well, Clem, you know you are enough to provoke a saint, you bore so +intolerably about St. Matthew's.'</p> + +<p>The much disgusted Clement retired into himself, but Felix was not +satisfied at heart.</p> + +<p><i>One</i> was lacking on the cold misty New Year's morning, when even +Geraldine could not be withheld from the Communion Feast of the living +and departed. Each felt the disappointment when they found themselves +only six instead of seven; but it was Clement who, as the boys were +waiting for breakfast afterwards, began—</p> + +<p>'Have not you been confirmed, Edgar?'</p> + +<p>'How should I?'</p> + +<p>'I am sure there are plenty of foreign Confirmations. I see them in the +"British Catholic."'</p> + +<p>'Foreign parts isn't all one,' said Edgar; and the younger boys +sniggled.</p> + +<p>'If one took any trouble,' persisted Clement.</p> + +<p>'Yes, but <i>one</i>,' dwelling with emphasis on the awkward impersonal, +'<i>one</i> may have scruples about committing an act of schism by +encouraging an intruding bishop performing episcopal functions in +another man's diocese. Has not your spiritual father taught you that +much, Tina?'</p> + +<p>'I—I must find out about that,' said Clement thoughtfully; 'but, at +any rate, the Lent Confirmations are coming on in London, and if I were +to speak to the Vicar, I have no doubt he would gladly prepare you.'</p> + +<p>'Nor I,' answered Edgar.</p> + +<p>'Then shall I?' eagerly asked Clement.</p> + +<p>'Not at present, thank you.'</p> + +<p>Clement stood blank and open mouthed, and Fulbert laughed, secure that +the joke, whatever it might be, was against him.</p> + +<p>'Of course,' burst out Lance, 'Edgar does not want you to speak for +him, Clem; he has got a tongue of his own, and a clergyman too, I +suppose.'</p> + +<p>Clement proceeded to a disquisition, topographical and censorial, upon +the parish and district to which Edgar might be relegated, and finally +exclaimed, 'Yes, he is not much amiss. He has some notions. He dines +with us sometimes. You can go to him, Edgar, and I'll get the Vicar to +speak to him.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you, I had rather be excused.'</p> + +<p>'You cannot miss another Confirmation.'</p> + +<p>'I can't say I am fond of pledges, especially when no one can tell how +much or how little they mean.'</p> + +<p>Whether this were in earnest, or a mere thrust in return for Clement's +pertinacity, was undecided, for Wilmet came in, looking so sad and +depressed that the brothers felt rebuked for the tone in which they had +been speaking.</p> + +<p>Mr. Thomas Underwood soon arrived, having come to Centry the night +before; and after a few words had passed between him and Edgar, the +latter announced his intention of returning with him to London that +evening.</p> + +<p>'Very well,' said Felix, much disappointed at this repetition of +Edgar's willingness to hurry from the house of mourning, 'but we have +had very little of you; Clement must go on the day after Twelfth Day, +and we shall have more room. It will be a great blow to Cherry.'</p> + +<p>'Poor little Cherry! I'll come when I can see her in greater peace, but +I must buckle to with the beginning of the year, Fee.'</p> + +<p>There was no further disputing the point, but Edgar was always a great +loss. To every one except Clement he was so gentle and considerate that +it was impossible not to think that the strange things reported of him +were not first evoked and then exaggerated by the zeal of the model +chorister: and indeed he led Geraldine to that inference when he went +to her in the sitting-room, where, as before, she had to remain at home.</p> + +<p>'My Cherry, I find I must go back with old Tom. Don't be vexed, my +White-heart, I am not going back to Belgium, you know: I can often run +down, but my work ought to begin with the year.'</p> + +<p>'You cannot even stay over the Epiphany!'</p> + +<p>'Well, I would have made an effort, but I am really wanted; and then +if I am long with that light of the church, Tina, he will get me into +everybody's black books. Never mind, old girl. I'll be for ever running +down. Is any one going to stay with you?'</p> + +<p>'Bernard is coming presently; I must try to make him recollect +something about it.'</p> + +<p>'You don't mean that child Angel is going.'</p> + +<p>'She wishes it, and it seems right.'</p> + +<p>'Right to leave a black spot in her memory! If children could but +believe people were sublimated away!'</p> + +<p>'Children can believe in the Resurrection of the body as well as we,' +said Cherry reverently.</p> + +<p>'Better, too, by a long chalk,' he muttered; then perceiving her +dismayed expression, he added, 'No, no—I'm not talking to Tina, only +he has put me in the humour in which there is nothing he could not make +me dispute—even my Cherry being the sweetest morsel in the world. +There, good-bye for the present, only don't afflict that poor little +Bernard and yourself into <i>too</i> great wretchedness, out of a sense of +duty.'</p> + +<p>'No, I do not really grieve,' said Cherry. 'Tears come for +thankfulness. The real sorrow came long ago; we grew up in it, and it +is over now.'</p> + +<p>'Right, little one. The mortal coil was very heavy and painful these +last years, and no one can help being relieved that the end has come. +It is the conventionalities that are needlessly distressing. What +earthly purpose can it serve, save the amusement of the maids and +children of Bexley, that nine of us should present ourselves a pitiful +spectacle all the way up to the cemetery in veils and hat-bands?'</p> + +<p>'Don't talk so, Edgar; you do not know how it jars, though I know you +mean no disrespect.'</p> + +<p>'Well, it must be a blessed thing to end by drowning or blowing up, to +save one's friends trouble.'</p> + +<p>'Edgar, indeed I cannot bear this! Recollect what a treasure that dear +shattered earthen vessel has held. What a wonderful life of patient +silent resignation it was!'</p> + +<p>'Indeed it was,' said Edgar, suddenly softened. 'No lips could tell +what the resolution must have been that carried her through those +years, never murmuring. What must she not have spared my father! Such +devotion is the true woman's heritage.'</p> + +<p>Cherry was soothed as she saw the dew on his eye-lashes, but just then +Felix came in to fetch him, and, stooping down, kissed her, and said +in his low and tender but strong voice, 'We leave her with <i>him</i>, dear +child. Recollect—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'"The heart may ache, but may not burst;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Heaven will not leave thee, nor forsake."'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Much as Geraldine had longed for Edgar, his words brought vague +yearning and distress, while Felix's very tone gave support. How could +Edgar say patient silent self-devotion was not to be found except in +woman?</p> + +<p>So the worn-out body that once had been bright smiling Mary Underwood +was borne to the church she had not entered since she had knelt there +with her husband; and then she was laid beside him in the hill-side +cemetery, the graves marked by the simple cross, for which there had +been long anxious saving, the last contribution having been a quarter +of the Bishop's gift to Lancelot. The inscription was on the edges of +the steps, from which the cross rose—</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>UNDER WODE, UNDER RODE.</i><br /> +<br /> +EDWARD FULBERT UNDERWOOD,<br /> +<br /> +Nine Years Curate of this Parish,<br /> +<br /> +Epiphany, 1855,<br /> +<br /> +AGED 40.<br /> +<br /> +'Thy Rod and Thy Staff comfort me.'<br /> +</p> + +<p>There was room enough for the name of Mary Wilmet, his wife, to be +added at the base of the Rood, that Cross which they had borne, the one +so valiantly, the other so meekly, during their 'forty years in the +wilderness.'</p> + +<p>Many persons were present out of respect not only to the former Curate, +but to his hard-working son and daughter, and not only the daughter's +holly-wreath, but one of camellias sent by Sister Constance, lay upon +the pall. When the mourners had turned away, Mr. Audley saw a slender +lad standing by, waiting till the grave was smoothed to lay on it +a wreath of delicate white roses and ferns. There was no mistaking +the clear olive face; and indeed Mr. Audley had kept up a regular +correspondence with Ferdinand Travis, and knew that the vows made two +years ago had been so far persevered in, and without molestation from +father or uncle. He had written an account of Mrs. Underwood's death, +but had received no answer.</p> + +<p>'This is kind, Ferdinand,' he said; 'it will gratify them.'</p> + +<p>'May I see any of them?' the youth asked.</p> + +<p>'Felix and Lance will be most glad.'</p> + +<p>'I only received your letter yesterday evening. Dr. White forwarded it +to me in London, and I persuaded my father to let me come down.'</p> + +<p>'You are with your father?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; he came home about a fortnight ago. I was going to write to you. +O Mr. Audley, if you are not in haste, can you tell me whether I can +see my dear Diego's grave?'</p> + +<p>'The Roman Catholic burial-ground is on the other side of the town. I +think you will have to go to Mr. Macnamara for admittance. Come home +with me first, Fernan.'</p> + +<p>'Home!' he said warmly. 'Yes, it has always seemed so to me! I have +dreamt so often of her gentle loving face and tender weak voice. She +was very kind to me;' and he raised his hat reverently, as he placed +the flowers upon the now completed grave. 'I saw that all were here +except the little ones and Geraldine,' he added. 'How is she?'</p> + +<p>'As well as usual. Wilmet is a good deal worn and downcast, but all are +calm and cheerful. The loss cannot be like what that of their father +was.'</p> + +<p>'Will they go on as they are doing now?'</p> + +<p>'I trust so. I am going down to the family consultation. The London +cousin is there.'</p> + +<p>'Then perhaps I had better not come in,' said Ferdinand, looking rather +blank. 'Shall I go down to Mr. Macnamara first?'</p> + +<p>'Had you rather go alone, or shall I send Lance to show you the way?'</p> + +<p>'Dear little Lance, pray let me have him!'</p> + +<p>'It is a longish walk. Is your lameness quite gone?'</p> + +<p>'Oh yes, I can walk a couple of miles very well, and when I give out it +is not my leg, but my back. They say it is the old jar to the spine, +and that it will wear off when I have done growing, if I get plenty of +air and riding. This will not be too much for me, but I must be in time +for the 3.30 train, I promised my father.'</p> + +<p>'Is he here alone?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, my uncle is in Brazil. My father is here for a month, and is very +kind; he seems very fairly satisfied with me; and he wants me to get +prepared for the commission in the Life Guards.'</p> + +<p>'The Life Guards!'</p> + +<p>'You see he is bent on my being an English gentleman, but he has some +dislike to the University, fancies it too old-world or something; and, +honestly, I cannot wish it myself. I can't take much to books, and Dr. +White says I have begun too late, and shall never make much of them.'</p> + +<p>'If you went into the Guards, my brother might be a friend to you.'</p> + +<p>'My back is not fit for the infantry,' said Ferdinand, 'but I can ride +anything; I always could. I care for nothing so much as horses.'</p> + +<p>'Then why not some other cavalry regiment?'</p> + +<p>'Well, my father knows a man with a son in the Life Guards, who has +persuaded him that it is the thing, and I don't greatly care.'</p> + +<p>'Is he prepared for the expensiveness?'</p> + +<p>'I fancy it is the recommendation,' said Ferdinand, smiling with a +little shame; 'but if you really see reason for some other choice +perhaps you would represent it to him. I think he would attend to you +in person.'</p> + +<p>'Have you positively no choice, Fernan?'</p> + +<p>'I never like the bother of consideration,' said Ferdinand; 'and +in London I might have more chance of seeing you and other friends +sometimes. I do know that it is not all my father supposes, but +he thinks it is all my ignorance, and I have not much right to be +particular.'</p> + +<p>'Only take care that horses do not become your temptation,' said Mr. +Audley.</p> + +<p>'I know,' gravely replied Ferdinand. 'The fact is,' he added, as they +turned down the street, 'that I do not want to go counter to my father +if I can help it. I have not been able to avoid vexing him, and this is +of no great consequence. I can exchange, if it should not suit me.'</p> + +<p>'I believe you are right,' said the Curate; 'but I will inquire and +write to you before the application is made. Wait, and I will send out +Lance. But ought you not to call at the Rectory?'</p> + +<p>'I will do so as I return,' said Ferdinand; and as Mr. Audley entered +the house, he thought that the making the Cacique into an English +gentleman seemed to have been attained as far as accent, mind, and +manner went, and the air and gesture had always been natural in him. +His tone rather than his words were conclusive to the Curate that his +heart had never swerved from the purpose with which he had stood at the +Font; but the languor and indolence of the voice indicated that the +tropical indifference was far from conquered, and it was an anxious +question whether the life destined for him might not be exceptionally +perilous to his peculiar temperament of nonchalance and excitability.</p> + +<p>Consideration was not possible just then, for when Mr. Audley opened +the door, he found that he had been impatiently waited for, and barely +time was allowed to him to send Lance to Ferdinand Travis, before he +was summoned to immediate conference with Thomas Underwood, who, on +coming in, had assumed the management of affairs, and on calling for +the will, was rather displeased with Felix's protest against doing +anything without Mr. Audley, whom he knew to have been named guardian +by his father. The cousin seemed unable to credit the statement; and +Wilmet had just found the long envelope with the black seal, exactly +as it had lain in the desk, which had never been disturbed since the +business on their father's death had been finished.</p> + +<p>There was the old will made long before, leaving whatever there was +to leave unconditionally to the wife, with the sole guardianship of +the children; and there was the codicil dated the 16th of October, +1854, appointing Charles Somerville Audley, clerk, to the guardianship +in case of the death of the mother, while they should all, or any of +them, be under twenty-one, and directing that in that contingency the +property should be placed in his hands as trustee, the interest to be +employed for their maintenance, and the capital to be divided equally +among them, each receiving his or her share on coming of age. All +this was in Edward Underwood's own handwriting, and his signature was +attested by the Rector and the doctor.</p> + +<p>Thomas Underwood was more 'put out,' than the management of such an +insignificant sum seemed to warrant. He was no doubt disappointed of +his cousin's confidence, as well as of some liberal (if domineering) +intentions; and he was only half appeased when Edgar pointed to +the date, and showed that the arrangement had been made before the +renewal of intercourse. 'It was hardly fair to thrust a charge upon a +stranger when there was a relation to act. Poor Edward, he ought to +have trusted,' he said. There was genuine kindness of heart in the +desire to confer benefits, though perhaps in rather an overbearing +spirit, as well as disappointment and hurt feeling that his cousin had +acquiesced in his neglect without an appeal. However, after asking +whether Mr. Audley meant to act, and hearing of his decided intention +of doing so, he proceeded to state his own plans for them. The present +state of things could not continue, and he proposed that Wilmet and +Geraldine should go as half boarders to some school, to be prepared for +governesses. Felix—could he write short-hand? 'Oh yes; but—' Then +he knew of a capital opening for him; a few years, and he would be on +the way to prosperity: the little ones might be boarded with their old +nurse till fit for some clergy orphan schools; if the means would not +provide for all, there need be no difficulty made on that score.</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley saw Felix's start of dismay and glance at him, but knowing +as he did that the lad was always more himself when not interfered +with, and allowed to act for himself, he only said, 'It is very kind in +you, sir, but I think Felix should be consulted.'</p> + +<p>'It is impossible!' began Felix hastily.</p> + +<p>'Impossible! It is quite impossible, I would have you to understand, +that a lot of children like you should keep house together, and on such +an income as that. Quite preposterous.'</p> + +<p>'As for that,' said Felix, still unsubmissively, 'it is only what we +have been doing, except for the name of the thing, for the last three +years on the same means.'</p> + +<p>'You don't mean to tell me that you have kept things going on such +means without a debt?'</p> + +<p>'Of course we have! We never let a bill run,' said Felix, slightly +indignant.</p> + +<p>'Now mind, I'm not insulting you, Felix, but I know what the women are +and what they tell us. Are you sure of that? No debts—honour bright?'</p> + +<p>'None at all!' said Felix, with an endeavour at calmness, but glowing +hotly. 'I help my sister make up her books every Saturday night. We +always pay ready money.'</p> + +<p>'Humph,' said Mr. Underwood, still only half convinced. 'Living must be +cheap at Bexley.'</p> + +<p>'You had better explain a little, Felix,' said Mr. Audley.</p> + +<p>Felix did bring himself to say, 'I am sub-editor now, and get Ł100 a +year, besides being paid for any article I write. Wilmet has Ł25 a year +and her dinner, and Angela's at school, so there are only five of us +constantly dining at home, and with Mr. Audley's two guineas a week we +can do very well.'</p> + +<p>'What, you lodge here?'</p> + +<p>'Did not you know that?' said Felix, surprised.</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood gave a whistle, and the Curate felt his cheeks growing +redder and redder, as he perceived that seven-and-twenty was not +considered as so <i>very</i> much older than eighteen. Edgar understood and +smiled, but Felix only thought he was suspected of making a good thing +of his lodger, and was beginning something awkward about, 'It is all +kindness,' when Mr. Audley broke in—</p> + +<p>'Of course nothing is settled yet, but—but I believe I shall change +my quarters. A smaller house would be better for them; but I think the +children should keep together. Indeed, my dear friend said he chiefly +appointed me that Felix might be kept at their head.'</p> + +<p>Thereupon Mr. Underwood began to expostulate against the sacrifice of +position and talent that Felix was making for the sake of bearing the +burthen of a family that would have pressed heavily on a man double his +age. It was what Felix already knew, much better than when at sixteen +he had made his first venture. He had experienced the effects of change +of station, as well as of exertion, drudgery, and of the home hardship +that no one except Mr. Audley had tried to sweeten. He saw how Edgar +had acquired the nameless air and style that he was losing, how even +Clement viewed him as left behind; and, on the other hand, he knew +that with his own trained and tested ability and application, and his +kinsman's patronage, there was every reasonable chance of his regaining +a gentleman's position, away from that half-jealous, half-conceited +foreman, who made every day a trial to him, and looked at him with an +evil eye as a supplanter in the post of confidence. But therewith he +thought of his father's words, that to him he left this heavy burthen; +and he thought what it would be to have no central home, no place of +holiday-meeting, no rallying-point for the boys and girls, and to cast +off the little ones to hired service. This alternative never seriously +occurred to him, for were they not all bound to him by the cords of +love, and most closely the weakest and most helpless? Yet his first +reply did not convey the weight of his determination. It was only +'Geraldine is too delicate.'</p> + +<p>'Well, well, good advice and treatment might make a change. Or, if she +be fit for nothing else, would not that Sisterhood at Dearport take her +on reasonable terms? Not that I can away with such nonsense, but your +father had his fancies.'</p> + +<p>'My father wished us not to break up the home.'</p> + +<p>'That was all very well when your poor mother was alive. You have been +a good son to her, but it is impossible that you and your sister, mere +children as you are, should set up housekeeping by yourselves. Mr. +Audley must see it cannot be suffered; it is the bounden duty of your +friends to interfere.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley did not speak. He knew that Felix could reckon on his +support; and, moreover, that the youth would show himself to greater +advantage when not interfered with. So after pausing to see whether his +guardian would speak, Felix said, 'Of course we are in Mr. Audley's +power, but he knows that we have made some trial, and except in name, +we have really stood alone for these three years. Wilmet can quite +manage the house, and it would be misery for ever to us all to have no +home. In short—' and Felix's face burnt, his voice choked, and his +eyes brimmed over with hot indignant tears, as he concluded, 'it shall +never be done with my good will.'</p> + +<p>'And under the circumstances,' said Mr. Audley, 'I think Felix is +right.'</p> + +<p>'Very well,' said Thomas Underwood, much displeased. 'I have no power +here, and if you and that lad think he can take charge of a house and a +dozen children, you must have it your own way. Only, when they have all +gone to rack and ruin, and he is sick of being a little tradesman in a +country town, he will remember what I said.'</p> + +<p>Felix forced back his resentful feelings, and contrived to say, 'Yes, +sir, I know it is a great disadvantage, and that you only wish for our +good; but I do not think anything would be so bad for the children as +to be all cast about the world, with no place to go to, and becoming +strangers to one another; and since there is this way of keeping them +together, it seems right.'</p> + +<p>The steadiness of his manner struck Mr. Underwood, and the reply was +not unkind.</p> + +<p>'You are a good boy at bottom, Felix, and mean well, and I am only +sorry not to be able to hinder you from throwing yourself away for life +by trying to do what is morally impossible, in a foolish spirit of +independence. Do not interrupt. I warn you that I am not to be appealed +to for getting you out of the difficulties you are plunging into; but +of course your brother and sister will be mine, as before; and as I +promised myself to do the same by your mother as by your father—my +near cousins both—here is to cover necessary expenses.'</p> + +<p>It was a cheque for Ł150, the same as he had given on the former +occasion; and though Felix had rather not have taken it, he had +little choice, and he brought himself to return cold but respectful +thanks; and Mr. Underwood did not manifest any more displeasure, but +showed himself very kind at the meal that was spread in Mr. Audley's +sitting-room, and even invited Wilmet to accompany Alda, when she +joined the family in a week's time at Brighton, so as to have sea air +for the remainder of her holidays.</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more reluctant than was Wilmet at first, but there was +a chorus of persuasions and promises; and the thought of being a little +longer in Alda's presence made her waver and almost consent.</p> + +<p>Ferdinand Travis came in, but had only time for a greeting and a hasty +meal, before Mr. Underwood's carriage came round; and, nothing loth, +he gave a lift to the Mexican millionaire to the station with him +and Edgar. So, for the last time, had all the thirteen been at home +together.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE FAMILY COBWEB ON THE MOVE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 35%;"> +'Oh! the auld house, the auld house,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">What though the rooms were wee;</span><br /> +Oh! kind hearts were dwelling there,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And bairnies full of glee.'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 40%;"><i>Lady Nairn.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Every one except Edgar would, it was hoped, stay at home till after the +Epiphany, that most marked anniversary of birth and death.</p> + +<p>Clement at first declared it impossible, for St. Matthew's could not +dispense with him on the great day; and Fulbert grinned, and nudged +Lance at his crest-fallen looks, when he received full leave of absence +for the next three weeks.</p> + +<p>But Lance was bursting with reverse troubles. The same post had +brought him a note from his organist; and that 'stupid old Dean,' as +he irreverently called him, had maliciously demanded 'How beautiful +are the feet,' with the chorus following, and nobody in the choir was +available to execute the solo but Lance. He had sung it once or twice +before; and if he had the music, and would practise at home, he need +only come up by the earliest train on the Epiphany morning; if not, he +must arrive in time for a practice on the 5th; he would be wanted at +both the festival and Sunday services, but might return as early as he +pleased on Monday the 9th.</p> + +<p>Lance did not receive the summons in an exemplary spirit. It is not +certain that he did not bite it. He rolled on the floor, and contorted +himself in convulsions of vexation; he 'bothered' the Dean, he +'bothered' the Precentor, he 'bothered' the Organist, he 'bothered' +Shapcote's sore throat, he 'bothered' Harewood's wool-gathering wits, +he 'bothered' his own voice, and thereby caused Clement to rebuke him +for foolish murmurs instead of joy in his gift.</p> + +<p>'A fine gift to rejoice in, to make one be whipped off by an old fogey, +when one most wants to be at home! I thank my stars I can't sing!' said +Fulbert.</p> + +<p>'I should thank mine if Bill Harewood had any sense,' said Lance, +sitting up in a heap on the floor. 'He can go quite high enough when he +pleases; only, unluckily, a goose of a jackdaw must needs get into the +cathedral just as Bill had got to sing the solo in "As pants the hart;" +and there he stood staring with his mouth wide open—and no wonder, for +it was sitting on the old stone-king's head! Wasn't Miles in a rage; +and didn't he vow he'd never trust a solo to Harewood again if he knew +it! Oh, I say, Wilmet—Fee, I know! Do let me bring Bill back with me +on Monday morning; and he could go by the six o'clock train. Oh, jolly!'</p> + +<p>'But is he really a nice boy, Lance?' asked Wilmet, doubtfully.</p> + +<p>'Oh, isn't he just? You'll see! His father is a Vicar-choral, you know, +lives in our precincts; his private door just opposite ours, and 'tis +the most delicious house you ever saw! You may make as much row as you +please, and nobody minds!'</p> + +<p>'I know who Mr. Harewood is. Librarian too, is he not?' said Felix. 'I +have heard people laughing about his good-natured wife.'</p> + +<p>'Aren't they the people who were so kind to you last year, Lance,' +asked Cherry, 'when you could not come home because of the measles?'</p> + +<p>'Of course. Do let me bring him, Fee,' entreated Lance; 'he is no end +of a chap—captain of our form almost always—and such a brick at +cricket! I told him I'd show him the potteries, and your press, and our +organ, and everything—and it is such a chance when we are all at home! +I shall get the fellows to believe now that my sisters beat all theirs +to shivers.'</p> + +<p>'Can you withstand that flattering compliment, Wilmet?' said Felix, +laughing. 'I can't!'</p> + +<p>'He is very welcome,' said Wilmet; 'only, Lance, he must not stay the +night, for there really is not room for another mouse.'</p> + +<p>The little girls had heard so much about Bill Harewood, that +they were much excited; but their sympathy kindly compensated +for the lack of that of the elder brothers. Fulbert pronounced +that a cathedral chorister could never be any great shakes; and +Clement could not forgive one who had been frivolous enough to be +distracted by a jackdaw; but Lance, trusting to his friend's personal +attractions to overcome all prejudice, trotted blithely off to the +organist-schoolmaster, to beg the loan of the music, and received a +promise of a practice in church in the evening. Meantime, he begged +Clement to play the accompaniment for him on the old piano. Neither +boy knew that it had been scarcely opened since their father's hand +had last lingered fondly upon it. Music had been found to excite their +mother to tears; Geraldine resembled Fulbert in unmusicalness, and +Wilmet had depended on school, the brothers on their choir-practice, +so that the sound was like a new thing in the house; nor was any one +prepared either for the superiority of Clement's playing, or for +the exceeding beauty and sweetness of Lance's singing. No one who +appreciated the rare quality of his high notes wondered that he was +indispensable; Geraldine could hardly believe that the clear exquisite +proclamation, that came floating as from an angel voice, could really +come from the little, slight, grubby, dusty urchin, who stood with +clasped hands and uplifted face; and Clement himself—though deferring +the communication till Lance was absent, lest it should make him +vain—confided to Wilmet that they had no such voice at St Matthew's, +and it was a shame to waste him on Anglicans.</p> + +<p>Wilmet hardly entered into this enormity. She had made a discovery +which interested her infinitely more. Little Theodore, hitherto so +inanimate, had sat up, listened, looked with a dawning of expression +in the eyes that had hitherto been clear and meaningless as blue +porcelain, and as the music ceased, his inarticulate hummings continued +the same tune. Could it be that the key to the dormant senses was +found? His eyes turned to the piano, and his finger pointed to it +as soon as he found himself in the room with it, and the airs he +heard were continually reproduced in his murmuring sounds; that 'How +beautiful!' which had first awakened the gleam—his own birth-day +anthem—being sure to recur at sight of Lance; while a doleful Irish +croon, Sibby's regular lullaby, always served for her, and the 'Hardy +Norseman' for Felix, who had sometimes whistled it to him. Wilmet spent +every available moment in awaking the smile on the little waxen face +that had never responded before; it seemed to be just the cheering hope +she needed to revive her spirits, only she was almost ready to renounce +her journey with Alda for the sake of cultivating the new-found faculty.</p> + +<p>No one would permit this; and indeed, so far from waiting to be +exhibited to Lance's friend, the two sisters received their <i>billet de +route</i> on the very day he was expected; and there was no appeal, since +a housekeeper was to travel from Centry, who would take charge of them +to London, whence they would go down with Mr. Underwood. Poor Wilmet +was much dismayed at leaving Geraldine to what they both regarded as +the unprecedented invasion of a strange boy; indeed, the whole charge +made Cherry's heart quail, though she said little of her fears, knowing +the importance of Wilmet's having and enjoying her holiday; and Mr. +Audley promised extra aid in keeping order among the boys.</p> + +<p>But as they came in that evening from the practice at the church, to +which Clement had insisted on their coming to hear Lance, Mr. Audley +beckoned Felix to his room with the words, 'There's a thing I want to +talk over with you.'</p> + +<p>Felix recollected those ominous words to Mr. Underwood, and stood +warming his hands in dread of what might be coming. It was all he +feared.</p> + +<p>'I wanted to say—I wanted to tell you—' began Mr. Audley. 'I would +not have chosen this time, but that I think it may save Wilmet +something to be able to tell her friends that the present arrangement +is to cease.'</p> + +<p>'Wilmet!' exclaimed Felix; then bethinking himself. 'Was <i>that</i> what +Tom Underwood meant? But you will not trouble yourself about such +rubbish.'</p> + +<p>'Well, you see,' began the Curate, with heightening colour, 'it can't +be denied that your sister <i>has</i> grown up, and that things are changed.'</p> + +<p>'Mrs. Froggatt <i>did</i> ask me if you were going on here,' said Felix, +still unconvinced; 'but can't we leave people to be <i>stoopid</i> without +interfering with us?'</p> + +<p>'Felix, you ought to be a better protector to your sisters. You would +not like to have my Lady remonstrating—nay, maybe writing to my +mother: she is quite capable of it.'</p> + +<p>Felix's cheeks were in a flame. 'If people would mind their own +business,' he said; 'but if they <i>will</i> have it so—'</p> + +<p>'They are right, Felix,' said the Curate quietly; 'appearances must be +carefully heeded, and by you almost more than by any one. Your slowness +to understand me makes me almost doubtful about my further design.'</p> + +<p>'Not going away altogether!'</p> + +<p>'Not immediately; but things stand thus—Dr. White, my old tutor, you +know, and Fernan's, is nearly sure of the new Bishopric in Australia, +and he wants me.'</p> + +<p>Felix hardly repressed a groan.</p> + +<p>'Any way I should not go immediately; but when your father spoke to me +about the guardianship, he made me promise not to let it stand in the +way of any other call. I fancied he had mission work in his mind, and +it disposes me the more to think I ought not to hold back; but while +your dear mother lived, I would not have gone.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, you have been very good to us,' was all Felix could say. 'But +when?'</p> + +<p>'Not for some time; but I am not going this moment. Three months' +notice Mr. Bevan must have, and if he requires it, six; I must spend +some time at home, and very like shall not be off till you are of +age—certainly not if I find there is any difficulty in handing the +management of things over to you. How long I remain with you must +depend on circumstances. How much notice must you give before leaving +this house?'</p> + +<p>'I do not know—half a year, I fancy. You think we ought to give it up? +I suppose it is too large for us now.'</p> + +<p>'And you could take no lodger but one of the old-lady type.'</p> + +<p>'Horrid!' said Felix. 'Well, we will see; but it will be a great stroke +on poor Cherry—she can remember nothing before this house.'</p> + +<p>'It will be very good for her to have no old associations to sit +brooding over.'</p> + +<p>'My poor little Cherry! If I saw how to cheer up her life; but without +your lessons it will be more dreary for her than ever!'</p> + +<p>'Give her all you can to do, and do not be over-careful to keep your +anxieties from her knowledge. She is very much of a woman, and if you +leave her too much to herself, she will grow more introspective.'</p> + +<p>'Wilmet and I have always wanted to shelter her; she never seems fit +for trouble, and she is so young!'</p> + +<p>'Compared with you two venerable people!' said Mr. Audley, smiling. +'But her mind is not young, and to treat her as a child is the way to +make her prey upon herself. I wish her talent could be more cultivated; +but meantime nothing is better for her than the care of Bernard and +Stella. I hope you will not be in a hurry to promote them out of her +hands.'</p> + +<p>'Very well; but she will miss you sorely.'</p> + +<p>'I hope to see her brightened before I am really gone, and I am not +going to decamp from this house till some natural break comes. To do +that would be absurd!'</p> + +<p>There was a silence; and then Felix said with a sigh, 'Yes, a smaller +house, and one servant. I will speak to Wilmet.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps you had better, so that she may have an answer in case she is +attacked.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet was aghast at first, but a hint from Alda made her acquiesce, +not with blushing consciousness, but with the perception that the way +of the world was against the retention of the lodger; and sorry as she +was to lose Mr. Audley, her housewifely mind was not consoled, but +distracted, by calculations on the difference of expenditure. Again she +tried to beg herself off from her visit, in the dread that Felix would +go and take some impracticable house in her absence—some place with +thin walls, no cupboards, and no coal-hole; and she was only pacified +by his solemn promise to decide on no house without her. She went away +in an avalanche of kisses and tears, leaving Geraldine with a basketful +of written instructions for every possible contingency, at which the +anxious maiden sat gazing anxiously, trying to store her mind with its +onerous directions.</p> + +<p>'Shall I give you a piece of advice, Cherry?' said the Curate, as he +saw the dark eye-brows drawn together.</p> + +<p>'Oh, do!' she earnestly said.</p> + +<p>'Put all that in the fire!'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Audley!'</p> + +<p>'And go by the light of nature! You have just as many senses as Wilmet, +and almost as much experience; and as to oppressing yourself with the +determination to do the <i>very</i> thing she would have done under all +circumstances, it is a delusion. People must act according to their own +nature, not some one else's.'</p> + +<p>'Certainly,' said Geraldine, smiling. 'I could never walk stately in +and say, "Now, boys!"—and much they would care for it if I did.'</p> + +<p>'It seems to be a case for "Now, boys!" at this moment,' said Mr. +Audley; 'what can all that row be?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, it must be that dreadful strange boy, Lance's friend,' sighed +Geraldine, almost turning pale. Then, trying to cheer up, 'But it is +only for the day, and Lance wished it so much.'</p> + +<p>As she spoke, the shout of 'Cherry, here's Bill!' came nearer, and the +whole of the younger half of the family tumbled promiscuously into the +room, introducing the visitor in the midst of them. To the elders, +'no end of a chap' appeared, as Mr. Audley said, to mean all ends of +shock hair, and freckles up to the eyes; but when Fulbert and Lance had +whirled him out again to see the lions of Bexley, Robina and Angela +were overheard respectfully pronouncing that he was nice and spotty +like the dear little frogs in the strawberry-beds at Catsacre, and that +his hair was just the colour Cherry painted that of all the very best +people in her 'holy pictures.'</p> + +<p>The object of their admiration was seen no more till the middle of +dinner, when all three appeared, immoderately dusty; and no wonder, +for the organist had employed them to climb, sweep fashion, into the +biggest organ-pipe to investigate the cause of a bronchial affection of +long standing, which turned out to be a dead bat caught in a tenacious +cobweb.</p> + +<p>Shortly after, the guest was found assisting Angela in a tableau, where +a pen-wiper doll in nun's costume was enacting the exorcism of the said +bat, in a cave built of wooden bricks.</p> + +<p>Clement was undecided whether to condemn or admire; and Geraldine, to +whom Edgar had lent some volumes of Ruskin, meditated on the grotesque.</p> + +<p>Before there had been time for the fanciful sport to become rough +comedy, Lance had called off his friend to see the potteries; and to +poor Cherry's horror, she found that Robina had been swept off in the +torrent of boyhood. Clement, pitying her despair and self-reproach, +magnanimously offered to follow, and either bring the little maid back, +or keep her out of harm's way; and for some time Cherry reposed in the +conviction that 'Tina was as good as a girl any day.'</p> + +<p>But at about a quarter to six, a little tap came to Mr. Audley's door, +and Angela stood there, saying, with a most serious face, 'Please, Mr. +Audley, Cherry wants to know whether you don't think something must +have happened.' And going upstairs, he found the poor young deputy in a +nervous agony of despair at the non-return of any of the party, quite +certain that some catastrophe had befallen them, and divided between +self-reproach and dread of the consequences.</p> + +<p>'The very first day Wilmet had gone!' as she said.</p> + +<p>It was almost time for Harewood's train, which made it all the more +strange. Mr. Audley tried to reassure her by the probability that the +whole party were convoying him to the station, and would appear when +he was gone; but time confuted this pleasing hypothesis, and Cherry's +misery was renewed. She even almost hinted a wish that Mr. Audley would +go out and look for them.</p> + +<p>'And then,' he said, smiling, 'in an hour's time you would be sending +Felix to look for me. No, no, Cherry, these waiting times are often +hard, no doubt; but, as I fear you are one of those destined to "abide +by the tents" instead of going out to battle, you had better learn to +do your watching composedly.'</p> + +<p>'O Mr. Audley! how can I? I know it must be very wrong, but how can I +not care?' And verily the nervous sensitive girl was quivering with +suspense.</p> + +<p>'"He will not be afraid of any evil tidings, for his heart standeth +fast and believeth in the Lord,"' answered Mr. Audley. 'I see that does +not tell you <i>how</i> not to be afraid; but I imagine that a few trusting +ejaculations in the heart, and then resolute attention to something +else, may be found a help.'</p> + +<p>Cherry would have sighed that attention was the most impossible thing +in the world; but before she had time to do so, Mr. Audley had begun to +expound to her his Australian scheme. It excited her extremely; and as +a year and a half seemed an immense period of time to her imagination, +the dread of losing him was not so immediate as to damp her enthusiasm. +They had discussed his plans for nearly an hour before Cherry started +at the sound of the door, and then it was only Felix who entered. He +was irate, but not at all alarmed; and presently the welcome clatter of +steps approached, and in dashed the whole crew, mired up to the eyes, +but in as towering spirits as ever.</p> + +<p>Their delay had, it appeared, been caused by a long walk that ensued +upon the visit to the potteries, and a wild venture of Will Harewood +upon impracticable ice, which had made him acquainted with the depths +of a horse-pond. There was none of the dignity of danger, for the +depths were shallows and the water only rose to his waist; but the mud +was above his ankles, and he had floundered out with some difficulty. +He wanted to walk back with no more ceremony than a water-dog; but +the Underwoods had made common cause against him, and had dragged him +to a cottage, where he had the pleasing alternative of an old woman's +blankets and petticoats while his garments were drying. He was as +nearly angry as a Harewood could be, Lance observed, declaring that +they should never have got him into the cottage without fighting him, +if Tina had not been so tall, and if Robin had not nearly cried; while +he, throwing off all responsibility, ascribed all his lateness to +his friend's 'maggots.' No more trains stopped at Bexley till after +midnight; but as to his absence causing any uneasiness at home, he +laughed at the notion, and was corroborated by Lance in averring that +they had too much sense; listening with undisguised amazement to the +elaborate explanations and apologies about Robina, which Clement was +scrupulously pouring forth to his brother and sister, saying that he +would have brought her home at once, but that he really did not like to +trust those boys alone.</p> + +<p>Whereat Lance held up his hands with a dumb show of amazement that +convulsed Fulbert, Bill Harewood, and Robina herself, with agonies of +half-suppressed merriment. The boy had come in, prepared to be grave +and quiet, as knowing how lately affliction had come to the family, +and having been warned by Lance, that 'as to going on as we do in the +precincts, why it would make Cherry jump out of her skin.'</p> + +<p>But by some extraordinary influence—whether it were the oddity of +William Harewood's face, or the novelty of his perfect <i>insouciance</i> +in the household whither care had come only too early—some infection +seized on the young Underwoods, and before the end of the evening meal, +if the 'goings on' were not equal to those in the precincts, they were, +at any rate, not far short of it.</p> + +<p>Lance presently incited his friend to show 'how he had mesmerized +Lucy.' Clement made a horrified protest; and Geraldine looked alarmed +at her eldest brother, who began, 'Indeed, Lance, we can have nothing +of that sort here.'</p> + +<p>'But, Felix, I do assure you there is no harm.'</p> + +<p>'Upon my word and honour, there's not a spice of anything the +Archbishop of Canterbury could stick at,' added Will Harewood.</p> + +<p>'It is impossible there should not be harm,' interposed Clement; but +the boys, including Fulbert, were in such fits of laughter, that Felix +began to suspect the seriousness of the performance; and when Lance +sprang at him, exclaiming, 'I'll go to Mr. Audley! Fee—Cherry—will +you be satisfied if Mr. Audley says we may?' Felix and Cherry both +consented; and Lance rushed off to make the appeal, and returned not +only with full sanction, but with Mr. Audley himself, come to see +the operation. This perfectly satisfied Felix, who even consented, +on the entreaty of his brothers, to become the first subject; and +Cherry knew that where the Curate and Felix had no scruples, she need +have none; but, for all that, she was more than half frightened and +uncomfortable—above all, when Clement, amid shouts of mirth from the +three schoolboys, indignantly marched away to shut himself up in his +cold bedroom.</p> + +<p>By-and-by, after some unseen preparation—all the more mystifying +because carried on in the kitchen, where Sibby always used to keep +Theodore in a cradle till Felix was ready for him—Will Harewood caused +Felix to stand exactly opposite to him and to the spectators, with a +dinner-plate in his hand, and under injunctions to imitate the operator +exactly. Armed with another plate, William rubbed his own finger +first on the under side of the plate, and then, after some passes and +flourishes, on his own forehead, entirely without effect so far as he +himself was concerned; but his victim, standing meekly good-natured +and unconscious, was seen by the ecstatic audience to be, at each +pass, painting his own face with the soot from a flame over which his +plate had been previously held. The shrieks of amusement redoubled at +the perplexity they occasioned him, till they penetrated the upper +rooms; and suddenly a cry of horror made all turn to the door and see a +little white bare-footed figure standing there, transfixed with fright, +which increased tenfold when Felix hurried towards it, not yet aware +of the condition of his visage, until a universal shout warned him of +it; while Lance, darting in pursuit, picked up Bernard, and by his +wonderful caressing arts, and partly by his special gift of coaxing, +partly as the object of the little fellow's most fervent adoration, +made the scattered senses take in that it was 'all play,' and even +carried back the little white bundle, heart throbbing and eyes staring, +but still secure in his arms, to admire Felix all black, and then to be +further relieved by beholding the restoration of the natural hue at the +pump below stairs.</p> + +<p>Then amid Sibby's scoldings and assurances that the child would catch +his death of cold, Bernard was borne upstairs again by Felix, who found +Clement in the nursery comforting the little girls, and preventing +them from following the example of their valiant pioneer. Felix, now +thoroughly entering into the spirit of the joke, entertained for a +moment the hope of entrapping Clement; but of course Bernard could not +be silenced from his bold and rather doubtful proclamation, that 'The +funny boy made Felix black his own face, and I wasn't afraid.'</p> + +<p>'Naughty boy!' commented Stella. 'Poor Fee!'—and she reared up to kiss +him, and stroke the cheeks that had suffered such an indignity.</p> + +<p>'What! It was only a trick?' said Clement slowly, as if half mystified.</p> + +<p>'Of course,' said Felix; 'could not you trust to that?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know. Cathedrals are very lax, and it had a questionable name.'</p> + +<p>'O Clem! if it had not been in you before, I should wish you had never +gone to St. Matthew's. Come down now, don't let us disturb the little +ones any longer.—Good-night, Angel; good-night, little Star; we'll not +make a row to wake you again.'</p> + +<p>Clement, in a severe mood, followed Felix downstairs; but some +wonderful spirit of frolic was on all the young people that night—a +reaction, perhaps, from the melancholy that had so long necessarily +reigned in that house, for though the fun was less loud, it was quite +as merry: a course of riddles was going on; and Clement, who really +was used to a great deal of mirth among the staff of St. Matthew's, +absolutely unbent, and gloried in showing that even more conundrums +were known there than by the house of Harewood. He was not strong +in guessing them; but then Will Harewood made such undaunted and +extraordinary shots at everything proposed, that the spirit of repartee +was fairly awakened, and Cherry's bright delicate wit began to play, +so that no one knew how to believe in the lateness of the hour, and +still less that this was the same house that grave Wilmet had left that +morning.</p> + +<p>'Poor dear little Cherry!' said Felix to Mr. Audley, after helping her +upstairs, 'she is quite spent with laughing; indeed my jaws ache, and +she is ready to cry, as if it had been unfeeling.'</p> + +<p>'Don't let her fancy that. We certainly were surprised into it +to-night; but I only wish for her sake—for all your sakes—that you +could keep the house merrier.'</p> + +<p>Felix sighed. He too felt as if he had been betrayed into unbecoming +levity; and though he would not dispute, his heart had only become the +heavier. However, he did not forget; and when Cherry again breathed +a little sigh as to what Wilmet would think of their first day, he +stoutly averred that there was no use in drooping, and no harm in +liveliness, and that no one had ever been so full of joyousness as +their father.</p> + +<p>She owned it. 'But—'</p> + +<p>And that <i>but</i> meant the effects of the three years that she had spent +as the companion of her mother's mournful widowhood, and of the cares +of life on her elder brother and sister.</p> + +<p>It was true, as Mr. Audley said, that the associations of the rooms +were not good for her spirits in her many lonely hours and confined +life; and this reconciled Felix more than anything else to the proposed +change. He was keeping his promise to Wilmet of not seeking a house +till her return, when Mr. and Mrs. Froggatt, whose minds had been much +relieved by hearing that the lodger would consult the proprieties, +communicated to him their own scheme of taking up their residence at +a village named Marshlands, about two miles from Bexley, where they +already spent great part of the summer in a pleasant cottage and +garden which they had bought and adorned. Mr. Froggatt would drive +in to attend to the business every day, but the charge of the house +was the difficulty, as they did not wish to let the rooms; and they +now proposed that the young Underwoods should inhabit them rent-free, +merely keeping a bedroom and little parlour behind the shop for Mr. +Froggatt, and providing firing in them. With much more diffidence, at +his wife's earnest suggestion, the kindly modest old man asked whether +Miss Underwood would object to his coming in to take a piece of bread +and cheese when he was there in the middle of the day.</p> + +<p>It was an excellent offer, and Felix had no hesitation in gratefully +closing with it, even without consulting Wilmet. Her reply showed that +a great weight was taken off her mind; and she was only longing to be +at home again, contriving for the move, which was to take place at +Lady Day. She was burning to study the new rooms; nevertheless, as by +kind Marilda's contrivance, she was taking lessons in German every day +from a superior Fraulein who had once been her cousin's governess, and +was further allowed to inspect the working of a good school, her stay +was extended, by Miss Pearson's entreaty, a full fortnight beyond what +had been intended. Nor had anything gone wrong in her absence. Even +the overlooking of the boys' linen, which she had believed impossible +without her, was safely carried on by Cherry, and all were sent off in +sound condition. No catastrophe occurred; and the continual occupation +and responsibility drove away all the low spirits that so often had +tried the home-keeping girl. She <i>did</i> enjoy those <i>tęte-ŕ-tęte</i> +evenings, when Felix opened to her more than he had ever done before; +and yet it was an immense relief to have the day fixed for Wilmet's +return, and how much more to have her walking into the room with all +the children clinging about her in incoherent ecstacy, which had not +subsided enough for much comprehension when Felix came joyously in. +'Hurrah, Wilmet! Mr. Froggatt sent me home a couple of hours before +time!'</p> + +<p>'How very good! I met him in the street just now. Really, he is the +kindest old gentleman in the world!'</p> + +<p>'I believe you dazzled him, Mettie; he says he did not know you till +you spoke to him, and if he had realised what a beautiful and majestic +young lady you were, he should hardly have ventured to propose your +taking up your abode under his humble roof.'</p> + +<p>'That must be the effect of living with Alda,' said Wilmet merrily; +'but, oh! I am glad to be at home again!'</p> + +<p>'And I never was so glad of anything in my life,' said Geraldine +eagerly.</p> + +<p>'I am longing to go over the house, and know what to do about +furniture,' continued Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'There! now W. W. is herself again!' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'Mrs. Froggatt came and called on me,' said Geraldine. 'She talked of +leaving us the larger things that will not go into the cottage.'</p> + +<p>'Which is well,' said Felix; 'for how much of ours will survive the +shock of removing is doubtful.'</p> + +<p>'All the things that came from Vale Leston are quite solid,' said +Wilmet, bristling up.</p> + +<p>'That carpet is solid darn,' said Felix. 'We tried one evening, and +found that though the pattern of rose-leaves is a tradition, no one +younger than Clem could remember having seen either design or colour.'</p> + +<p>'You should not laugh at it, Felix,' said Wilmet, a little hurt; for +indeed her mother's needle and her own were too well acquainted with +the carpet for her to like to hear it contemned.</p> + +<p>Felix and Cherry both felt somewhat called to order, as if their +mistress had come home again; and Cherry was the first to break silence +by inquiring after Wilmet's studies at Brighton.</p> + +<p>'Oh yes,' said Wilmet, 'I do hope I am improved. That was all Marilda's +kindness. She quite understood how I missed everybody and everything; +and at last, one day, when I was wishing I could pronounce German like +Alda, and that Alda had time to give me some lessons—'</p> + +<p>'Alda hasn't time?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, you don't know how useful she is! She writes all the notes. +Marilda devised getting this Fraulein—such a good-natured woman! and +when she heard what I wanted, she got leave for me to come every day to +study the working of the school. I do believe I shall teach much better +now, if only I were not so ignorant. I never had any notion before how +little I knew!'</p> + +<p>However, Wilmet's value had really risen so much in consequence of +these instructions, that Miss Pearson arranged that she should lay the +French and German foundations, and prepare the scholars, and should +receive half a sovereign a half year from each girl whom she thus +instructed, being the moiety of 'extra.' Moreover, the head teacher +talked of retiring, and her succession was promised to Wilmet—a +brilliant prospect, that the sight of Alda's grandeur did not make her +contemn.</p> + +<p>Wilmet's anxious mind was well satisfied by her inspection of the new +quarters, which, among other conveniences, had that of shortening +by ten minutes her walk to school. The family apartments were all +upstairs, the space below being entirely taken up by the business, and +the kitchens were under ground. The chief sitting-room upstairs was +unfortunately towards the street, and had a northern aspect; it was a +spacious room, with three large windows filled with boxes of flowers, +and contained a big table and two sofas, which, with the carpet and +curtains, would remain well covered up. Folding-doors led into a +smaller room, with a south window towards the little garden, where Mrs. +Froggatt generally sat, and which had been used for the dining-room. +There were two bedrooms besides on the same floor, one of which would +remain untouched for Mr. Froggatt; and above these, there was a large +nursery, and more rooms than had been ever furnished. Rent, rates, +taxes, and repairs, all off her mind! Wilmet felt as if prosperity +were setting in; and she was the first to make the audacious statement +that they need not part with Martha, and indeed, that the house could +not be kept in order, nor dinners cooked fit for Mr. Froggatt, by +Sibby single-handed. And Cherry made up her mind that they were like a +family of caterpillars moving their cobweb tent; Angela, seeing such an +establishment of young tortoise-shells, in their polished black, under +their family web, had asked, 'Which was their brother Felix?' and the +name was adopted.</p> + +<p>So a time of much business and excitement set in; and the lengthening +spring evenings were no sinecure to Wilmet, as the flitting day +approached, being rather hurried on by the old bookseller, who wanted +to be at Marshlands in time to admire his hyacinths and sow his +annuals. Mr. Audley would take rooms at the Fortinbras Arms for the +remainder of his stay at Bexley; and indeed, there was a good deal to +break the old habit of constantly depending on him, for his brother's +young wife was slowly dying in London, and the whole family seemed +instinctively to turn to him for comfort and advice, so that he was +obliged to be continually going backwards and forwards.</p> + +<p>On the 24th of March, when he came down by an afternoon train, he found +the house door open, the steps scattered with straw; and after looking +in and seeing his own parlour intact, and with a cheerful fire, he +pursued his way upstairs, and there found the sitting-room bare except +for a sort of island consisting of the sofa, on which Geraldine lay +rolled in cloaks and shawls, trying to amuse the twins by a feeble +attempt to sing</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'Weel may the boatie row,'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>while making paper boats for Stella to drag by strings upon the smooth +boards.</p> + +<p>'Eh, Cherry, are you the Last Man, or the Last Rose of Summer?'</p> + +<p>'The last of the caterpillars,' said Cherry, smiling, but with effort. +'Do you see Stella's fleet—just thirteen?'</p> + +<p>'Making omens, foolish child!' but though Stella was eagerly pointing +and explaining, 'Tat Tella's boat—tat Tedo's—tat brother's—tat +Angel,' and so on, the word <i>foolish</i> was not directed to the little +one, but to the grey eyes heavy with unshed tears, that rested +wistfully upon a wreck that had caught upon a nail and lay rent and +ragged.</p> + +<p>'Pray don't look which it is,' said she.</p> + +<p>'Certainly not; I hate auguries.'</p> + +<p>'Do you think there is nothing in them?'</p> + +<p>'I think there is nothing in this room but what ought to be in mine. +Do you expect me to stand discussing superstition in this horrible raw +emptiness? Here,' picking up Theodore, 'I'll come back for you.'</p> + +<p>'Oh no, thank you, let me get down by myself; he cannot be left alone +in a room.'</p> + +<p>'Come, Stella, and take care of him.'</p> + +<p>'That's worse; she leads him into mischief. We are fox, goose, and +cabbage. Please give me my crutch; Wilmet put it out of reach because +she said I was destroying myself.'</p> + +<p>'You are tired to death.'</p> + +<p>'Oh no; but one can't sit still when so much is going on. Oh, how +delicious!' as after an interval she arrived, and found Mr. Audley +winding up a musical-box, which Theodore was greeting with its own +tunes, and Stella with a dance and chant of 'Sing box—sing box;' and +then the two sat listening to the long cycle of tunes which would hold +Theodore entranced for any length of time.</p> + +<p>After a short inquiry and a reply as to the sister-in-law's state, +and a few words on the progress of the flitting, there was a silence +while Mr. Audley read the letters that had come for him in his absence, +and Cherry's face became more and more pensive. At last, when Mr. +Audley laid down his letters, and leant against the chimney-piece, she +ventured to say, 'Is it wrong?'</p> + +<p>'Is what wrong?' said the Curate, who had quite forgotten the subject.</p> + +<p>'To care about omens.'</p> + +<p>'That depends. To accept them is sometimes necessary; to look out for +them is generally foolish and often wrong.'</p> + +<p>'Sometimes necessary?' said Cherry eagerly.</p> + +<p>'Sometimes experience seems to show that in good Providence a merciful +preparation is sent not so much to lead to anticipations, as to bring +the mind into keeping with what is coming, and, as it were, attune it.'</p> + +<p>'So that little things may be constantly types of great future ones?'</p> + +<p>'My dear Cherry, I said <i>not</i> constantly.'</p> + +<p>'Just let me tell you. Sibby says that the very day we all came into +this poor old house, just as the omnibus stopped, there was the knell +ringing overhead, and a funeral coming up the street. She knew it was +a token, and burst out crying; and dear Mamma, who you know never shed +tears, turned as white as a corpse, as if she was struck to the heart.'</p> + +<p>'And your father?'</p> + +<p>'Oh! Sibby said he just stood in the doorway, lifted his hat as the +funeral passed, and then well-nigh carried Mamma, with the baby (that +was Fulbert) in her arms, over the threshold, and smiled at her, +saying, "Well, mother, what better than to have found our home till +death!" So you see he did believe in it.'</p> + +<p>'I see he wanted to cheer her spirits, not by saying "stuff and +nonsense," but reminding her that there are worse things than death. +Have you an omen on your mind, Cherry? Have it out; don't let it sink +in.'</p> + +<p>'Only <i>please</i> don't laugh at me. Indeed, it was not my own doing, but +Stella's fancy to have a boat for each of us, when she was launching +them; and I could not help recollecting how we are all starting out and +away from our first home.'</p> + +<p>'Stella's was not a <i>very</i> perilous ocean.'</p> + +<p>'That was a comfort at first; and Stella tried to draw all the thirteen +lines together, but they tangled, and one thread broke, and that boat +was left behind; and one poor crooked ill-made thing fell over, and was +left at home because hindering all the rest, and even Stella knew that +was me, and—' her voice quivered, 'one was caught on a nail, and torn +into a wreck! Now, can I help thinking, though you'll just call them +newspaper-boats, dragged by a baby on a dry dusty floor?'</p> + +<p>'Watched by a weary fanciful damsel,' said Mr. Audley, sitting down +by her, 'who does not know a bit more than she did before, that all +are launching on a sea, and if it <i>is</i> a rougher one, there's a better +Guiding Star than Stella Eudora to lead them, and they have compasses +of their own—ay, and a Pilot. And if there are times when He seems to +be asleep in the ship—why, even the owner of the unseaworthy boat left +at home can show the Light, and pray on till the others are roused to +awaken Him.'</p> + +<p>'I wish there had not been that wreck,' she sighed.</p> + +<p>'What seems a wreck need not be really one,' said Mr. Audley. 'It may +be the very way of returning to the right course. And by and by we +shall see our Master standing on the shore in the morning light.'</p> + +<p>At that moment there was a sound at the door—Felix had accompanied +Cherry's chair, to bring her and Theodore to the new home. There +was too much haste for the wistful last looks she intended: she +was deposited in the chair with Theodore on her knee, Stella +trotting after, with Felix and Mr. Audley, who was coming to see the +inauguration. St. Oswald's Buildings were left behind, and she was +drawn up to the green private door, beside the shop window; Wilmet +hurried down and took Theodore from her; Felix helped her out, and +up the narrow steep staircase, which certainly was <i>not</i> a gain, but +when landed in the drawing-room, the space seemed to her magnificent. +And their own furniture, the two or three cherished portraits brought +from Vale Leston, their father's chair, their mother's sofa, the silk +patchwork table-cover that had been the girl's birth-day present to +Mamma, the bookcase with Papa's precious books, made it seem home-like.</p> + +<p>'The mantelpiece is just the same!' cried Cherry, delighted, as she +recognised all the old ornaments.</p> + +<p>The next moment her delight was great at the flower-stands, which Mr. +Froggatt had kindly left full of primulas, squills, and crocuses; +and when she looked out from the back room into the little garden, +where Mr. Froggatt's horticultural tastes had long found their sole +occupation, and saw turf, green laurels, and bunches of snowdrops and +crocuses, she forgot all Stella's launch!</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE CHORAL FESTIVAL.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 30%;"> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">'And with ornaments and banners,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">As becomes gintale good manners,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">We made the loveliest Tay room upon Shannon shore.'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 45%;"><i>Thackeray.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>'Of course, after <i>this</i>,' said Lady Price, 'Miss Underwood did not +expect to be visited.'</p> + +<p>Otherwise the gain was great. The amusement of looking out of window +into the High Street was alone a perpetual feast to the little ones, +and saved Geraldine worlds of anxiety; and the garden where they +could be turned out to play was prized as it only could be by those +who had never had any outlet before. It was a pleasant little long +narrow nook, between the printing-house on the west, and such another +garden on the east, a like slip, with a wall masked by ivy and lilacs, +and overshadowed by a horse-chestnut meeting it on the south. It was +not smoky, and was quite quiet, save for the drone and stamp of the +steam-press; there was grass, a gum-cistus and some flower-beds in the +centre, and a gravel-walk all round, bordered by narrow edgings of +flowers, and with fruit trees against the printing-house wall, and a +Banksia and Wisteria against that of the house. Mr. Froggatt was quite +touched at the reverence with which Angela and Stella regarded even +the daisies that had eluded his perpetual spud; and when he found out +the delight it was to Cherry to live with flowers for the first time +in her life, he seldom failed to send her a bunch of violets or some +other spring beauty as soon as he arrived in the morning, and kept the +windows constantly supplied with plants.</p> + +<p>The old bookseller was at first very much afraid of his new inmates. +To Felix he was used, but he looked on the sisters as ladies, and to +ladies except on business-terms he was much less accustomed than to +gentlemen. Besides, being a thorough gentleman himself at heart, he had +so much delicacy as to be afraid of hurting their feelings by seeming +at home in his own house; and he avoided being there at luncheon for a +whole week, until one afternoon Felix ran up to say that he was sure +Mr. Froggatt had a cold, and would be glad if a cup of tea appeared +in his parlour. Gratitude brought him in to face the enemy; and after +he had been kept at home for a day or two by the cold, his wife's +injunctions and Felix's entreaties brought him to the dinner.</p> + +<p>It happened to be one of Wilmet's favourite economical stews; but +these were always popular in the family, though chiefly composed of +scraps, pot-liquor, rice, and vegetables; and both for its excellence +and prudence it commanded Mr. Froggatt's unqualified approbation. All +that distressed his kind heart was to see no liquor but water, except +Cherry's thimbleful of port; he could <i>not</i> enjoy his glass of porter, +and shook his head—perhaps not without reason—when he found that +his young assistant's diet was on no more generous scale, and was not +satisfied by Felix's laughing argument that it was impossible to be +<i>more</i> than perfectly healthy and strong. 'False economy,' said the old +man in private; but Felix was not to be persuaded into what he believed +to be an unnecessary drain on the family-finances, and was still more +stout against the hint that if Redstone discovered this prudential +abstinence, it might make him 'disagreeable.' Felix had gone his way +regardless of far too many sneers for poverty and so-called meanness to +make any concession on their account, though the veiled jealousy and +guarded insolence of that smart 'gent' the foreman had been for the +last three years the greatest thorn in his side. And at least he made +this advance, that the errand-boy cleaned the shoes!</p> + +<p>Geraldine, though shy at first from the utter seclusion in which she +had lived, put forth a pretty bashful graciousness that perfectly +enchanted Mr. Froggatt, who was besides much touched by her patient +helplessness. He became something between her grandfather and her +knight, loading her with flowers, giving her the run of the circulating +library, and whenever it was fine enough, taking her for a mile or two +in his low basket-carriage either before or after his day's business +in the shop. It was not exactly like being with her only other friend, +Mr. Audley; but he was a thoroughly kind, polite, and by no means +unlettered old man; and Geraldine enjoyed and was grateful, while the +children were his darlings, and were encouraged to take all manner of +liberties with him.</p> + +<p>Among the advantages of the change was the having Felix always at hand; +and though she really did not see him oftener in the course of the day +than at St. Oswald's Buildings, still the knowing him to be within +reach gave great contentment to Cherry. The only disadvantage was that +he lost his four daily walks to and fro, and hardly ever had sufficient +fresh air and exercise. He was indeed on his feet for the most of the +day, but not exerting his muscles; and all taste for the active sports +in which his kind old master begged him to join seemed to have passed +away from him when care fell upon him. He tried not to hold his head +above the young men of his adopted rank, many of whom had been his +school-fellows; but, except with the members of the choir and choral +society, he had no common ground, and there were none with whom he +could form a friendship. Thus he never had any real relaxation, except +music, and his Sunday walks, besides his evenings with his sisters +and of play with the children. It was not a natural life for a youth, +but it seemed to suit with his disposition; for though not given to +outbursts of animal spirits, he was always full of a certain strong and +supporting cheerfulness.</p> + +<p>Indeed, though they did not like to own it to themselves, the young +people had left behind them much of the mournfulness of the widowed +household, which had borne down their youthful spirits; and though the +three elders could never be as those who had grown up without care +or grief, yet their sunshine could beam forth once more, and helped +them through the parting with their best friend. For Mr. Audley's +sister-in-law died in the beginning of June, and his father entreated +him to go abroad with his brother, so that he was hurried away directly +after midsummer, after having left his books in Felix's charge, and +provided for the reception of the dividends in his absence.</p> + +<p>His successor was a quiet amiable young Mr. Bisset, not at all +disinclined to cultivate Felix as a link with the tradesfolk; only he +had brought with him a mother, a very nice, prim, gentle-mannered, +black-eyed lady, who viewed all damsels of small means as perilous to +her son. Had she been aware that Bexley contained anything so white +and carnation, so blue-eyed and straight-featured, so stately, and so +penniless as Wilmet Underwood, he would never have taken the Curacy. +She was a kind woman, who would have taken infinite pains to serve the +orphan girls; and she often called on them; but when the Rector's wife +had told her that such a set had been made at Mr. Audley that he could +bear it no longer, it was but a natural instinct to cherish her son's +bashfulness.</p> + +<p>That autumn Wilmet came home elevated by the news that the head teacher +was going to retire at Christmas, and that she was to be promoted to +her place of forty pounds a year. Her successor was coming immediately +to be trained, being in fact the daughter of Miss Pearson's sister, +who had married an officer in the army. She had been dead about three +years, and the girl had been living in London with her father, now on +half pay, and had attended a day-school until he married again, and +finding his means inadequate to his expenses, and his wife and daughter +by no means comfortable together, he suddenly flitted to Jersey to +retrench, and made over his daughter of seventeen to her aunts to be +prepared for governess-ship.</p> + +<p>This was the account Miss Pearson and Miss Maria gave to Wilmet, and +Wilmet repeated to Geraldine, who watched with some interest for the +first report of the new-comer.</p> + +<p>'She is rather a nice-looking little thing,' was the first report, 'but +I don't know whether we shall get on together.'</p> + +<p>The next was, 'Miss Maria has been begging me to try to draw her out. +They are quite distressed about her, she is so stiff and cold in her +ways with them, and they think she cries in her own room.'</p> + +<p>'Poor thing, how forlorn she must be! Cannot <i>you</i> comfort her, Mettie?'</p> + +<p>'She will have nothing to say to me! She is civil and dry, just as she +is to them.'</p> + +<p>'I think she can talk,' said Angela.</p> + +<p>'How do you know anything about it, little one?' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'I heard her talking away to Lizzie Bruce in the arbour at dinner-time. +Her face looked quite different then from what it does in school.'</p> + +<p>'Then I hope she is settling down to be happier,' said Wilmet +thoughtfully; but, having watched Angela out of hearing, she added, +'Not that I think Lizzie Bruce a good friend; she is rather a weak +girl, and is flattered by Carry Price making a distinction between her +and some of the others.'</p> + +<p>'When is Carry Price ever going to leave school?'</p> + +<p>'When she can play Mendelssohn well enough to satisfy Mr. Bevan. I +wonder Lady Price does keep her on here; but in the meantime we can +only make the best of her.'</p> + +<p>A day or two later, Wilmet and Angela came in from school eager, +indignant, and victorious.</p> + +<p>'You <i>did</i> manage it well!' the younger was saying. 'I was so glad +you saw for yourself.—Just fancy, Cherry, there were Carry Price and +Lizzie Bruce turning out all the most secret corners of Miss Knevett's +work-box, laughing at them, and asking horrid impertinent questions, +and she was almost crying.'</p> + +<p>'And you fetched Wilmet?'</p> + +<p>'She was sitting out in the garden, showing some of the little ones how +to do their crochet—it was the play-time after dinner—and I just went +to her and whispered in her ear, so she strolled quietly by the window.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' added Wilmet, 'and before I came to it, Edith was saying to Jane +Martin, on purpose for me to hear, that she thought it would be a good +thing if Miss Underwood would look into the school-room. So Angel was +not getting into a scrape.'</p> + +<p>'I should not have minded if I had,' said Angel; 'it was such a shame, +and she looks such a dear—'</p> + +<p>'There she was,' said Wilmet, 'her fingers shaking, and her eyes full +of tears, trying to do some work, while Carry Price went on in her +scoffing voice, laughing over all the little treasures and jewels, and +asking who gave them to her, and what they cost. All I could do was to +put my hand on her shoulder and say I saw she did not like it; and then +Lizzie Bruce looked ashamed, but Miss Price bristled up, and declared +that Miss Knevett had unlocked the box herself. Then the poor child +burst out that she had only said she would show her Maltese cross; she +had never asked them to turn everything out, and meddle with it; and +Carry tossed her head, just like my Lady, and said, "Oh, very well, +they did not want to see her trumpery, since she was so cross about +it. I suppose you mean to show the things one by one to the little +girls! A fine exhibition!" She cried out, "Exhibit! I don't mean to +exhibit at all; I only showed it to you as my friend!" Whereupon Carry +Price flounced off with, "As if I were going to make a friend of an +underteacher!" and she went into a tremendous fit of crying, like what +you used to have, Cherry, except that it was more passionate!'</p> + +<p>'I'm sure I never had anything like that to cry for. What did you do +with her? How lucky she had you!'</p> + +<p>'Why, when she went on sobbing, "I'll not stay here," "I won't be +insulted." "I'll tell my aunts," my great object was to get her +upstairs, and to silence her, for I was sure Miss Pearson would +dislike nothing so much as having a regular complaint from her about +Carry; and, besides that, all the girls, who pity her now, would be +turned against her, and think her a mischief-maker. I did get her up +at last, and, oh dear! what a scene we had! Poor thing, I suppose she +has been a spoilt child, going to a lady's fashionable institute, as +she calls it, where she was a great girl, and rather looked up to, for +the indulgences she got from her father—very proud, too, of being +a major's daughter. Then came the step-mother; what things she said +about her, to be sure! No end of misery, and disputes—whose fault, +I am sure I don't know; then a crisis of debts. She says it was all +Mrs. Knevett's extravagance; but Miss Pearson told me before that she +thought it had been going on a long time; and at last, when the father +and his wife and her child go off to Jersey, this poor girl is turned +over to the aunts she never saw since her mother died, twelve years +ago.'</p> + +<p>'I dare say it is the best thing for her.'</p> + +<p>'If she can only think so; but she fancies the being a teacher the most +horrid thing in the world.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Wilmet!' interrupted Angela; 'why, you like teaching: and Robin +means to be a real governess, and so do I, if I am not a Sister!'</p> + +<p>'Me too,' called out Stella.</p> + +<p>'But you see this unlucky girl can't understand that teaching may be +a real way of doing good; she fancies it a degradation. She says she +and her friends at her institute hated and despised the teachers, and +played all manner of tricks upon them.'</p> + +<p>'How foolish the teachers must have been!'</p> + +<p>'She did say something about their being low and mean. She did me the +favour to say not like me, and that she was quite shocked to find I was +one of this dreadful race. It was quite amazing to her when I told her +how Robina's dear Miss Lyveson keeps school without necessity, only +to be useful. You may imagine what it is to her to be plunged all on +a sudden into this unhappy class. She began by trying to take her old +place as an officer's daughter, and to consort with the girls; but I +think if she and Carry Price were left to one another, she would very +soon sink as low as any of the poor hounded teachers she describes.'</p> + +<p>'She must be very silly and conceited.'</p> + +<p>'No, I think she is sensible, and loving too, at the bottom,' said +Wilmet, 'only every one is strange here: I think she will understand +better soon; and in the meantime, she has quite forgiven me for being +a teacher. She clung about me, and called me all sorts of pretty +names—her only friend, and so forth.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps she can forgive you for being a teacher, in consideration of +your being a twin,' said Cherry.</p> + +<p>'There, Cherry, you understand her better already than I do! I'll bring +her to you, I have not time for such a friendship.'</p> + +<p>'Poor thing! I should like to try to comfort her, if she is strange and +dreary; but I think she must be rather a goose. What's her name?'</p> + +<p>'Alice; but in school Miss Pearson is very particular about having her +called Miss Knevett. We have exchanged Christian names in private, of +course.'</p> + +<p>'You horrid old prosy thing of four U's,' said Geraldine. 'You are +sitting up there, you great fair creature, you, for the poor child to +worship and adore, and not reciprocating a bit!'</p> + +<p>'Of course,' said Wilmet, 'if she can't be happy without being petted, +I must pet her, and let her be nonsensical about me; but I think it is +all great stuff, and that you will suit her much better than I ever +shall.'</p> + +<p>'Do you never mean to have a friend, Mettie?'</p> + +<p>'Oh no, I haven't time; besides, I've got Alda.'</p> + +<p>Geraldine had, however, many dreams about the charms of friendship. She +read of it in the books that Felix selected for her; and Robina had +a vehement affection for a schoolfellow whose hair and whose <i>carte</i> +she treasured, and to whom she would have written daily during the +holidays but for the cost of stamps. The equality and freedom of the +letters she received always made Cherry long for the like. Since Edgar +had left her, she had never been on those equal terms with any one; +Wilmet was more like mother or aunt than sister; and though Felix had +a certain air of confidence and ease when with her, and made her his +chief playfellow, he could not meet all her tastes or all her needs; +and there was a sort of craving within her for intimacy with a creature +of her own species.</p> + +<p>And though Wilmet's description of Alice Knevett did not sound +particularly wise, Cherry, in her humility, deemed her the more secure +of being on her own level, not so sensible and intolerant of little +dreams, fancies, and delusions as those two sensible people, the twin +sisters. So she watched impatiently for the introduction; and at last +Wilmet said, 'Well, she is coming to tea to-morrow evening. Little +ridiculous chit, she bridled and doubted, but as you were an invalid, +she supposed she might, only it was not what she had been used to, and +Papa "might object."'</p> + +<p>'What? To the shop? Well, I really think she had better not come! I'll +have nobody here that thinks it a favour, and looks down on Felix.'</p> + +<p>'My dear, if she contrives to look down on Felix after she has seen +him, she will deserve anything you please. Just now, I believe the +foolishness is in her school, and not in herself.'</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Geraldine's eagerness underwent a great revulsion. +Instead of looking forward to the visit, she expected it with dread, +and dislike to the pert, conceited, flippant Londoner, who despised her +noble brother, and aspired to the notice of Carry Price. Her nervous +shrinking from strangers—the effect of her secluded life—increased on +her every moment of that dull wet afternoon; her feet grew cold, her +cheeks hot, and she could hardly find temper or patience for the many +appeals of Bernard and Stella for her attention.</p> + +<p>Her foolish little heart was palpitating as if a house-breaker were +entering instead of Wilmet, conducting a dainty cloud of fresh lilac +muslin, out of which appeared a shining black head, and a smiling +sparkling face, with so much life and play about the mouth and eyes +that there was no studying their form or colour, and it was only after +a certain effort that it could be realised that Alice Knevett was a +glowing brunette, with a saucy little nose, <i>retroussé</i>, though very +pretty, a tiny mouth full of small pearls, and eyes of black diamond.</p> + +<p>In spite of her gracious manner, and evident consciousness of her own +condescension, the winsomeness of the dancing eyes fascinated Cherry at +once. Indeed, the simplicity and transparency of her little dignities +disarmed all displeasure, they were so childish; and they vanished in a +moment in a game at play with Bernard and Stella. When Wilmet brought +out Geraldine's portfolio, her admiration was enthusiastic if not +critical.</p> + +<p>A sketch of Wilmet and Alda enchanted her; she had never seen anything +so lovely or so well done.</p> + +<p>'No, no,' said Cherry, rather shocked, 'you must have seen the Royal +Academy.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, but I am sure this ought to be in the Royal Academy; I never saw +anything there that I liked half so much. How clever you must be!'</p> + +<p>Cherry could not but laugh at the extravagant compliment. 'My brother +Edgar draws much better than that,' she said, producing a capital +water-colour of a group of Flemish market-women.</p> + +<p>'I shall always like yours best. Oh! and what is this?'</p> + +<p>'I did not know it was there,' said Cherry, colouring, and trying to +take it away.</p> + +<p>'Oh, let me look. What! Is it a storm, or a regatta, or fishing boats? +What is that odd light? What is written under? "The waves of this +troublesome world." Why, that is in the Bible, is not it?'</p> + +<p>'Thirteen boats, Cherry,' said Wilmet; 'is that a device of your own?'</p> + +<p>'What, not copied? Oh dear! I wish I was so clever!'</p> + +<p>'It is the sea of this life, isn't it?' said Angela, coming up. 'Is it +ourselves, Cherry, all making for the golden light of Heaven, and the +star of faith guiding them?'</p> + +<p>'She reads it like a book,' exclaimed Alice. 'And those two close +together—that means love, I suppose!'</p> + +<p>'Love and help, the weak and the strong,' said Geraldine, in her +earnest dreamy voice.</p> + +<p>'Do pray make a picture of my boat on a nice smooth sea of light; I +don't like rocks and breakers, such as you have done there.'</p> + +<p>'There always must be a last long wave,' said Cherry.</p> + +<p>'Oh, but don't let us think about horrid things. I like the summer sea. +Aren't there some verses—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'"Youth at the prow, and pleasure at the helm?"'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>'That would not be a pleasant augury,' said Cherry. 'Do you know what +this is meant for, bad as it is? Longfellow's verses—'</p> + +<p>'The phantom host that beleaguered the walls of Prague? How can you +draw such things?'</p> + +<p>'So I say,' observed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'They come and haunt me, and I feel as if I must.'</p> + +<p>'Who is this kneeling on the wall? He looks like a knight watching his +armour.'</p> + +<p>'So he is,' said Cherry.</p> + +<p>'But there is nothing about him in the poem. Did you make him for +yourself?'</p> + +<p>'Why, he is Ferdinand Travis!' exclaimed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'What, is it a real man? I thought it was somebody in a story.'</p> + +<p>'I see!' said Angela quietly. 'He is watching his armour the night +before he was baptized.'</p> + +<p>For the child had never forgotten the adult baptism, though she had +been little more than four years old at the time; but she was one of +those little ones to whom allegory seems a natural element, with which +they have more affinity than with the material world.</p> + +<p>However, the mention of Ferdinand Travis led to the history of the fire +at the hotel, and of his recovery; Alice declared that 'everything +nice' seemed to happen at Bexley, and was laughed at for her peculiar +ideas of niceness; but there was something in the feminine prattle +that was wonderfully new and charming to Geraldine, while, on the +other hand, the visitor was conscious of a stimulus and charm that she +had never previously experienced; and the eager tongues never flagged +till Felix came in. He had evidently taken pains with his toilette, +in honour of the unusual event; and the measured grave politeness of +his manners renewed Alice's scared punctilious dignity of demeanour, +and entire consciousness that she was a major's daughter and he a +bookseller.</p> + +<p>But Felix had brought in some exciting Eastern news; and Alice put on +an <i>air capable</i>, as one connected with India and the army, but she +soon found out the deficiency of her geography, and was grateful for +the full clear explanations, while her <i>amour propre</i> was gratified +by finding that her familiarity with a few Indian terms was valuable. +Before the end of the evening all were at ease, and she was singing +with Felix and Wilmet at the old piano.</p> + +<p>No sooner had the door shut on her when the maid came to fetch her, +than a storm fell on Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'So that's what you call rather nice-looking?'</p> + +<p>'Well, she is under-sized and very brown, but I did think you would +have allowed that she was rather pretty.'</p> + +<p>'Rather!' exclaimed Cherry indignantly.</p> + +<p>'That's what it is to be a handsome woman!' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'Do you mean to say that you think her anything remarkable?' said +Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Say no more, my dear W. W.,' laughed Felix. 'I never understood before +why negroes don't admire white people.'</p> + +<p>'I am sure I don't know what you are talking about,' said Wilmet, +betaking herself to her darning with great good-humour. 'Alice Knevett +is prettier than I thought she was when she was all tears and airs; but +I can't see any remarkable beauty to rave about.'</p> + +<p>'No, <i>you</i> can't,' said Geraldine merrily. 'You look much too high over +her head, but you see I don't; and such a little sparkling diamond +beetle is a real treat to me.'</p> + +<p>And Geraldine often enjoyed the treat.</p> + +<p>In a very short time the green door and steep stairs were as familiar +to Alice as to the Underwoods themselves; for her aunts were thankful +to have her happy and safe, and she was rapturously fond of Geraldine, +reflecting and responding to most of her sentiments. Most of the +Underwoods had the faculty of imprinting themselves upon the characters +of their friends, by taking it for granted that they felt alike; and +Alice Knevett had not spent six weeks at Bexley before she had come +to think it incredible that she had thought either teaching or the +Underwoods beneath her. She was taking pains to do her work well, +and enjoying it, and was being moulded into a capital subordinate +to Wilmet; while with Geraldine she read and talked over her books, +obtained illustrations for the poetry she wrote out in her album, +and brought in a wholesome air of chatter, which made Cherry much +more girl-like than she had ever been before. It was an importation +of something external, something lively and interesting, which was +very refreshing to all; and even Felix, in his grave politeness and +attention to his sister's friend, manifested that so far from being in +his way, as they had feared, he found her a very agreeable element when +she joined the home party or the Sunday walk.</p> + +<p>Indeed, there was a certain tendency to expansion about the life of the +young people; the pinch of poverty was less griping than previously, +and their natural spirits rose. In January Lance was allowed to bring +his friend Harewood to a concert of the choral society; and on the +following evening Alice Knevett came to tea, and there was a series of +wonderful charades, chiefly got up by Clement and Robina, and of comic +songs by Lance and Bill Harewood—all with such success, that Alice +declared that she had never seen anything so delightful in all her +experience of London Christmases!</p> + +<p>The young people really seemed to have recovered elasticity enough that +year to think of modest treats and holidays as they had never ventured +to do since that memorable sixteenth birth-day of Felix's. Here was +his twenty-first not very far off; and when it was announced that this +identical 3rd of July had been fixed on for a grand choral meeting +at the Cathedral, at which the choir of Bexley was to assist, there +was such a spirit of enterprise abroad in the family, that Geraldine +suggested that Wilmet might take Robina to see the Cathedral and hear +Lance.</p> + +<p>'Lance will be just what will not be heard,' said Felix. 'They will +not show off their solos; but the Robin ought to have the pleasure, if +possible; and as I go in two capacities, press and choir, I hope we can +manage it for her.'</p> + +<p>He came in full early for the evening. 'All right,' he said. 'Two +tickets are come for the Pursuivant, and Mr. Froggatt says he would not +go at any price; and besides, each of the choir may take a friend—so +that's three.'</p> + +<p>'Am I to be reporter or friend?' asked Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Reporter, I think, for you will have to do audience.'</p> + +<p>'Nay, Cherry ought to be the gentleman connected with the press,' said +Wilmet, for in fact Geraldine did sometimes do copying and correcting +work for her brother; 'and, indeed, I do not see why she should not. We +could go home directly after morning service, and leave you there.'</p> + +<p>'Oh no, impossible,' said Geraldine, 'it would never do; it would only +spoil everybody's pleasure, and be too much for me.'</p> + +<p>'I think you are wise,' said Felix; and somehow it struck her with a +prick that he had rather the proposal had not been made. 'There is sure +to be a great crush, and I may be obliged to be with the choir.'</p> + +<p>'I am quite able to take care of her, I can always lift her,' said +Wilmet, surprised.</p> + +<p>'I would not go on any account,' protested Cherry. 'I should be like +the old woman in that Servian proverb, who paid five dollars to go to +the fair, and would have paid ten to be safe at home again.'</p> + +<p>'There might be no getting a bench fit for you to sit upon,' added +Felix, who, as a gentleman of the press, was not devoid of experience. +'I could not be easy about you, my dear; it is much safer not.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps so,' owned Wilmet, disappointed; 'but Angel is too little for +such a long day, and Cherry is so much stronger, that I thought—'</p> + +<p>'Oh, but could not Alice Knevett go?' put in Cherry.</p> + +<p>'A very good suggestion,' said Felix. 'She hardly ever has any +amusements. Well thought of, White-heart!'</p> + +<p>I believe he thought of it from the first, felt Geraldine, angry with +herself that this conviction gave a prick like the point of a needle. +She threw her energies into the scheme, and was begging Wilmet to go +and make the proposal, when there was a sudden peal of the bell, a +headlong trampling rush, a dash open of the door—Theodore began to hum +the anthem 'How beautiful,' the other three small ones hailed 'Lance' +at the top of their voices, and his arms were round the neck of the +first sister who came in his way.</p> + +<p>'What, Lance! how came you here?'</p> + +<p>'Our organ is tuning up its pipes—man comes to-morrow—Prayers in the +Lady Chapel and not choral, and it's a holiday at school, so I got +off by the 5.20, and need not go back till the 6.10 to-morrow. We are +practising our throats out to lead you all on the 3rd. You know you are +coming, the whole kit of you.'</p> + +<p>'Do we?' said Wilmet. 'It is only for the last ten minutes that we have +known that any of us were coming.'</p> + +<p>'All right; that's what I'm come about. Robina must be got home.'</p> + +<p>'She will be come. She comes on the 1st.'</p> + +<p>'That's right; then there's to be a great spread in Bishop's Meads +between services. Everybody sends provisions, and asks their friends; +but Cherry is to go and rest at the Harewoods'. The governor will get +her in through the library into the north transept as quiet as a lamb, +no squash at all. It is only along the cloister—a hop, step, and jump; +and Miles has promised me the snuggest little seat for her. Then the +Harewood sofa—'</p> + +<p>'It is too much, Lance,' began Cherry. 'Mrs. Harewood—'</p> + +<p>'Don't be absurd; she wishes it with all her heart. She won't want a +ticket if Mr. Harewood smuggles her in, but I can get as many as you +want. How many—Wilmet, Cherry, Robin, Angel, and Miss Knevett. She'll +come, won't she?'</p> + +<p>'We were thinking of going to ask her.'</p> + +<p>'I'll do it; I've brought my own ticket for a friend for her; here it +is, with L. O. U. in the corner. I'll run down with it before any one +else cuts in.'</p> + +<p>'Hold hard,' said Felix; 'we shall not get her if you set about it in +that wild way!'</p> + +<p>'Oh, but I'll promise Wilmet shall take her in tow, and if anything +will pacify the old girls, that will.'</p> + +<p>'You had better let me come with you,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Look sharp then. Is it a practising night? Yes, that's well; Miles is +in a state of mind at the short notice, and has crammed me choke-full +of messages; he says it will save his coming down; come along, then, W. +W., and soft-sawder the venerable aunts.'</p> + +<p>No more of this operation was necessary than the assurance that +Miss Underwood was going, and that Mrs. Harewood would be a sort of +chaperon. Alice Knevett was happy and grateful; and if anything were +wanting to the universal enthusiasm of anticipation, it was supplied +by Lance. The boy, with his musical talent, thorough trustworthiness +and frank joyous manners, was a favourite with the organist, and was +well versed in the programme; and his eagerness, and fulness of detail, +were enough to infect every one. Geraldine thought it was great proof +of his unspoilableness, that he took quite as much pleasure in bringing +them to these services, where he would be but a unit in the hundreds, +as if it had been one of the anthems, of which every one said, 'Have +you heard little Underwood?' In the charm of the general welcome +and the congratulation on Lance's arrangement, Geraldine had quite +forgotten both her alarms and her tiny pang of surprise at not having +been Felix's prime thought. Lance, by dint of a judicious mixture of +hectoring and coaxing, obtained leave for Angela to be of the party, +though against Wilmet's judgment; and Bernard and Stella were to spend +the day with Mrs. Froggatt, which they regarded as an expedition quite +as magnificent as that to St. Mary's Minster.</p> + +<p>Mr. Froggatt was almost as eager about this pleasure for 'his young +people,' as he called them, as they could be. He came in early to drive +Geraldine to the station, and looked with grandfatherly complacency at +the four sisters, who had ventured on the extravagance of white piqué +and black ribbons, and in their freshness looked as well-dressed as any +lady in the land.</p> + +<p>He entertained Cherry all the way with his admiration of Wilmet's +beauty and industry, and when arrived at the station, waited there with +her till first the three girls came up with Alice Knevett, white with +pink ribbons, and then the choir arrived, marching with the banner +with the rood of St. Oswald before them, each with a blue satin bow +in his button-hole, and the bag with his surplice under his arm, the +organist, the schoolmaster, and the two curates, bringing up the rear. +Mr. Bevan, my Lady, and Miss Price, whirled up in the carriage, the +omnibus discharged the friends of the choir, and two waggon loads of +musical talent from the villages came lumbering and cheering in! The +very train roared and shrieked in with a sound of cheering from its +vertebrć, and banners were projecting from the windows, amid nodding +heads and waving handkerchiefs of all colours; the porters ran about +distracted; and Geraldine began to be alarmed, and to think of the old +woman of Servia, but behold, Felix had her on one side, Mr. Froggatt on +the other, a solid guard held open the door, and protected her from the +rush, and before she well knew what they were doing with her, she was +lying on the seat of the carriage, with her sisters and Alice all in a +row in front of her; the recently crowded platform was empty of all but +a stray porter, the stationmaster, and Mr. Froggatt kissing his hand, +and promising to come and fetch her on her return.</p> + +<p>The train seemed hardly to have attained its full speed before it +slackened again, and another merry load was disposed of within its +joints. Another start, another arrival; and before the motion was over, +a flash of sunny looks had glanced before the sisters' eyes. There was +Lance, perfectly radiant, under his square trencher cap—hair, eyes, +cheeks, blue bow, boots, and all, seeming to sparkle with delight as he +snatched open the door. 'Hurrah! there they are. Give her out to me, +Wilmet!' (as if she had been a parcel).</p> + +<p>'Stay, wait for Felix. You can't—-'</p> + +<p>Felix rushed up from his colleagues of the choir, and Geraldine was set +on her foot and crutch. 'Come along! I've got Ball's chair for you, and +Bill Harewood is sitting in it for fear any one should bone it. Where's +your ticket?'</p> + +<p>'Lance, take care! Don't take her faster than she can go!' as he +whisked her over the platform; and Wilmet was impeded by the seeking +for Alice's parasol and Angela's cloak. They were quite out of sight +when Lance had dragged Cherry through the crowd at the door, and +brought her to the wheeled chair just in time to find Bill Harewood +glaring out of it like the red planet Mars, and asseverating that he +<i>was</i> the lame young lady it was hired for.</p> + +<p>In went Geraldine, imploring to wait for Wilmet, but all in vain; off +went the chair, owner and escort alike in haste, and she was swept +along, with Lance and Will with a hand holding either side of the +chair, imparting breathless scraps of information, and exchanging +remarks: 'There goes the Archdeacon.' 'The Thorpe choir is not come, +and Miles is mad about it.' 'That's the Town Hall.' 'There's where Jack +licked a cad for bullying.' 'There's a cannon-ball of Oliver Cromwell's +sticking out of that wall.' 'That's the only shop fit to get gingerbeer +at!' 'That old horse in that cab was in the Crimea.' 'We come last in +the procession, and if you see a fellow like a sheep in spectacles, +that's Shapcote.' 'Hurrah! what a stunning lot! where is it from?' +'Bembury? My eyes, if that big fellow doesn't mean to bawl us all down. +Down that way—that's the palace. Whose carriage is it stopping there? +Now, here's the Close.'</p> + +<p>'Is that the Cathedral? Oh!'</p> + +<p>'You may well say so! No, not that way.' And on rattled poor amazed +Geraldine through an archway, under some lime trees, round a corner, +round another corner, to another arched doorway, with big doors studded +with nails, with a little door for use cut out of one of the big ones.</p> + +<p>'You must get out here,' said Lance, 'we are close by,' and he helped +her out, and paid and thanked the man with the chair. 'Here's our +domain,' he continued, as he introduced Cherry through the open doorway +into a small flagged court, with two houses, grey and old-fashioned, +forming one side, and on the other an equally old long low building +with narrow latticed arched windows. Opposite to the entrance was a +handsome buttressed Gothic-looking edifice, behind which rose the gable +of the north transept of the Cathedral, beautiful with a rose window, +and farther back, far, far above, the noble tower.</p> + +<p>Already everything was very wonderful to Geraldine. 'That's our +kennel,' said Lance, pointing to the low buildings to the right. +'School's behind; but we boarders are put up in one of the old monks' +dormitories, between court and cloister.'</p> + +<p>'Is it really?' exclaimed Geraldine.</p> + +<p>'So my father says,' said Will. 'Here's our door.' Another stone-arched +passage, almost dark, with doors opening on either side, seemed common +to both houses; and Will was inviting them to enter, but Lance held +back. 'No time,' he said; 'better call your father.'</p> + +<p>'The others,' sighed Geraldine.</p> + +<p>'Bother the others! That's right: here he is!'</p> + +<p>'Halloo, Father!' cried Will; 'we've got Cherry.'</p> + +<p>'By which unceremonious designation I imagine you to mean to introduce +Miss Underwood,' said a figure, appearing from beneath the archway, +in trencher cap, surplice, and hood, with white hair, and a sort +of precision and blandness that did not at all agree with Cherry's +preconceived notions of the Harewood household. 'I am very glad to +see you. My ladies, as usual, are unready. Will you have a glass of +wine? No?—What do you say, Lancelot?—Very well, we will take you in +at once. You will not object to waiting there, and this is the quiet +time.—Boys, you ought to be with the choir.'</p> + +<p>'Oceans of time, Dad,' coolly answered Will; 'none of the fellows up +there are under weigh.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Harewood offered his arm, but perceived that Cherry preferred Lance +and her crutch; advancing to the door opposite that by which they had +entered, he unlocked it, and Geraldine found herself passing through a +beauteous old lofty chamber, with a groined Tudor roof, all fans, and +pendants, and shields; tall windows stained with armorial bearings, +parchment charters and blazoned genealogies against the walls, and +screens upon screens loaded with tomes of all ages, writing-tables and +chairs here and there, and glass-topped tables containing illuminations +and seals. 'Here is my paradise,' said the librarian, smiling.</p> + +<p>'I think it must be,' said Geraldine, with a long breath of wonder and +admiration.</p> + +<p>'Ah! would you not like to have a good look, Cherry?' said Lance. +'That's Richard Coeur de Lion's seal in there.'</p> + +<p>'Don't begin about it—don't set him on,' whispered Willie, with a +sign of his head towards his father, who was fitting the key into the +opposite door, 'or we shall all stay here for the rest of the day.'</p> + +<p>This low door open, Mr. Harewood and the boys bared their heads as they +entered, and Geraldine felt the strange solemn sensation of finding +herself in a building of vast height and majesty, full of a wonderful +stillness, as though the confusion of sounds she had been in so +recently were far, far off.</p> + +<p>'Where now, Lancelot?' asked Mr. Harewood, in a hushed voice; 'do you +want me any further?'</p> + +<p>'No, thank you, sir; I'll just take her across the choir to Mr. Miles, +and then join the rest of us at the vestry.'</p> + +<p>'Good-bye for the present, then,' said Mr. Harewood kindly. 'You are in +safe hands. Your brother comes round every one. <i>I</i> could not do this.'</p> + +<p>Through the side-screen, into the grandly beautiful choir, arching high +above, with stall-work and graceful canopies below, and rich glass +casting down beams of coloured light—all for 'glory and for beauty,' +thought Geraldine.</p> + +<p>'You must not stop; you must look when you are settled. That's my +side,' pointing to one of the choristers' desks. 'It will be only we +that sing in here; the congregation is in the nave—a perfect sea +of chairs. I'll come for you when it is over. Here is Mr. Miles. My +sister, sir.'</p> + +<p>A pale gentleman in spectacles, with a surplice and beautiful blue +hood, was here addressed. He too greeted Geraldine, very shyly but +kindly, and she found herself expected to ascend some alarming-looking +stone steps. The organ was on the choir-screen, and to the organist's +little private gallery was she to ascend. It was a difficult matter, +and she had in her trepidation despairingly recognised the difference +between Lance's good will and Felix's practised strength; but at last +she was landed in an admirable little cushioned nook, hidden by two +tall painted carved canopies—exactly over the Dean's head, her brother +told her—and where, as she sat sideways, she could see through the +quatrefoils into the choir on the right hand, and the nave on the left. +'Delightful! Oh, thank you; how kind! If I am only not keeping any one +out.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Lance, smiling, and whispering lower than ever, 'he has no +one belonging to him. He hates women. Never a petticoat was here before +in his reign. Have you a book?'</p> + +<p>'They are robing, Underwood,' said the misogynist in the organ-loft; +and Lance hurried away, leaving Geraldine alone, palpitating a good +deal, but almost enjoying the solitude, in the vast structure, where +the sanctity of a thousand years of worship seemed to fill the very +air, as she gazed at the white vaultings and bosses carved with emblems +above, at the vista of clustered columns terminating in the great +jewelled west window, or at the crown-like loveliness that encompassed +the sanctuary. All was still, except a deep low tone of the organ now +and then. Mr. Miles looked in after the first, to hope she did not +<i>feel</i> it uncomfortably, and to assure her that though she was too near +his organ, she need not fear its putting forth its full powers; it +was to be kept in subordination, and only guide the voices. This was +great attention from a woman-hater, and Geraldine ventured to reiterate +her thanks; at which he smiled, and said, 'When one has such a boy as +your brother, there is pleasure in doing anything he wishes. You are +musical?'</p> + +<p>'I never was able to learn to play.'</p> + +<p>'But you can read music?'</p> + +<p>'Oh yes,' for she had often copied it.</p> + +<p>So he brought her whole sheets of music, and put her in the way of +following and understanding, perceiving, as he went, that she was full +of intelligence and perception.</p> + +<p>When he went back to his post, a few groups, looking very small, were +creeping in by transept doors—by favour, like herself: then a little +white figure flitted across to the desks, opened and marked the books, +took up something, and disappeared; and in another moment Lance, in his +broad white folds, was at her side. 'Here's the music. Oh, you have it! +I've seen Fee,' he whispered; 'they are at Mrs. Harewood's, all right!' +and he was gone.</p> + +<p>Here she sat, her attention divided between the sacred impressions of +the place, its exceeding beauty, and the advance of the multitude into +the nave, as the doors were open, and they surged up the space left in +the central aisle, and occupied the ranks of chairs prepared for them. +Then came a long pause; she scanned each row in search of her sisters, +and only was confused by the host of heads; felt lost and lonely, and +turned her eyes and mind to the silent grandeur to the east, rather +than the throng to the west.</p> + +<p>At last there came the sweet floating sound of the chant, growing in +power like the ocean swell as it approached, and the first bright +banner appeared beneath the lofty pointed archway; and the double white +file came flowing on like a snowy glacier, the chant becoming clear +and high as the singers of each parish marched along to their places, +each ranked under a bright banner with the symbol of their church's +dedication. St. Oswald's rood helped Geraldine to make out that of +Bexley better than their faces, though she did make out her eldest +brother's fair face, and trace him to his seat. The cathedral singers +came at last, and that kenspeckle red head of Will Harewood's directed +her to the less conspicuous locks belonging to Lance, whose own clear +thrush-like note she could catch as he passed beneath the screen. Then +came the long train of parish clergy, the canons, the Dean, and lastly +the Bishop, the sight of whom recalled so much.</p> + +<p>The unsurpliced contribution had meantime been ushered in by the side +doors, and filled seats in the rear of the others, so as to add their +voices without marring the general effect—the perfection of which +Geraldine enjoyed—of the white-robed multitude that seemed to fill the +whole chancel.</p> + +<p>The sight seemed to inspire her whole soul with a strange yearning joy, +as though she were beholding a faint earthly reflex of the great vision +of the Beloved Disciple; and far more was it so at the sound, which +realised in a measure the words, 'As the voice of mighty waters, and as +the voice of thunder.'</p> + +<p>These were the very words that had been selected for the Second Lesson, +and the First consisted of those verses in which we hear of David's +commencement of the continual chant of psalms at the sanctuary; and +both, unwonted as they were, gave a wonderful thrill to the audience, +as though opening to them a new comprehension of their office as +singers of the sanctuary.</p> + +<p>There is no need to dwell on the wonderful and touching exhilaration +derived from the harmony of vast numbers with one voice attuned to +praise. It is a sensation which is so nearly a foretaste of eternity, +that participation alone can give the most distant perception thereof. +To the entirely unprepared and highly sensitive Geraldine it was most +overpowering, all the more because she was entirely out of sight, and +without power of taking part by either gesture or posture—she was +passive and had no vent for her emotion.</p> + +<p>Lance, who made his way to her round through the transept the moment +he had disrobed, found her pale, panting, tearful, and trembling, with +burning cheeks, so that his exaltation turned to alarm. 'Are you done +up, Cherry? It is too hot up here? I'll try to find Felix or Wilmet, +which?'</p> + +<p>'Neither! I am quite well, only—O Lance, I did not know anything could +be so heavenly. There seemed to be the sweeping of angels' wings all +round and over me, and Papa's voice quite clear.'</p> + +<p>'I know,' said Lance; 'it always does come in that Te Deum.'</p> + +<p>The sister and brother were silent, not yet able for the critical +discussion of single points; only, as he put his arm round her to help +her to rise, she said, with a sigh, 'O Lance, it is a great thing to +be one of them! Thank you. I think this is the greatest day of all my +life.'</p> + +<p>The getting her down, what with Lance's inexperience and want of +height and strength, was anxious work; and just as it had been safely +accomplished, the rest of their party were seen roaming the aisle in +distress and perplexity. Geraldine was very glad of Felix's substantial +arm, but she had rather he had omitted that rebuke for venturesomeness +in dealing with her, which would have affronted Fulbert, but never +seemed to trouble Lance, who was only triumphant in his success; and +her perfect contentment charmed away the vexation which really arose +from a slight sense of having neglected her.</p> + +<p>The others had been perfectly happy in their several ways, and made +eager comments on their way to the house of Harewood, whither Lance +piloted them—this time by the front way, through the garden, which +lay behind the close—entering, in spite of the mannerly demurs of the +elder ones, through the open door, into a hall whence a voice of hearty +greeting at once ensued. 'Here you are at last; and how's the poor +darling your sister? not over-tired?'</p> + +<p>And Cherry, before she was aware, found herself kissed, and almost +snatched away from Felix, to be deposited on a sofa; and while the like +kisses were bestowed on the two little girls, and hospitable offers +showered on all, she was amused by perceiving that good Mrs. Harewood +was endowed with exactly the same grotesque order of ugliness as her +son William; but she was even more engaging, from an indescribably +droll mixture of heedlessness, blundering, and tender motherliness.</p> + +<p>'There, now, you'll just leave her to me, the poor dear; and Lance will +take you down to the Mead, and find Papa and the girls for you.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, thank you, I could not think of your staying. Now pray—'</p> + +<p>'Now prays' were to no purpose; Mrs. Harewood professed only to want an +excuse for staying at home—she did not want to be done up with running +after her girls to the four ends of the Mead, when it was a long step +for her to begin with. Off with them.</p> + +<p>So when Wilmet was satisfied that Geraldine was comfortable, the five +moved off—Felix and Alice, Angel in Wilmet's hand, and Lance's and +Robina's tongues wagging so fast that the wonder was how either caught +a word of what the other was saying.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Mrs. Harewood, tossing her bonnet and gloves aside, in +perfect indifference to the exposure of the curious structure of +red and grey hair she thus revealed, lavished meats and drinks upon +her guest, waiting on her with such kindness, that in spite of all +weariness and craving for quiet after these deep and wonderful +impressions, it was impossible not to enjoy that warmth of heart. +There was exactly the tender motherliness that even Wilmet and Sister +Constance could not give.</p> + +<p>It was charming to hear how fond Mrs. Harewood was of Lance, and how +the having such a companion had made it possible to keep her Willie +at the cathedral school, where the mixture of lads was great, but the +master first-rate. He thought highly of the promise of both; 'but, to +tell the truth,' said Mrs. Harewood, as she sat and fanned herself with +her husband's trencher cap, looking more than ever like a frog in a +strawberry bed, 'though my Willie is the cleverest boy in the school, +little good his cleverness would have done him, and he would have been +harum-scarum Bill more than ever, if it were not for Lance. So say his +father and brother Jack; so that they will not be for his going to a +public school unless Lance were sure of it too.'</p> + +<p>'Will not they be able to stay on here?'</p> + +<p>Mrs. Harewood explained that the year that the barristers—choristers +she meant—were sixteen, when their voices were usually unserviceable, +they, together with those of like age in the school, were subjected to +an examination, and the foremost scholar obtained an exhibition, in +virtue of which he could remain free of expense for another two years, +and then could try for one of the Minsterham scholarships at one of the +colleges at Cambridge. Those who failed, either had to pay like the +ordinary schoolboys, or left the school.</p> + +<p>Dear Mrs. Harewood was a perfect Malaprop, and puzzled Geraldine by +continually calling the present occasion the rural meeting, and other +like slips, uncommonly comical in a well-educated woman with the words +she knew best.</p> + +<p>All this, and a great deal more—about the shy woman-hating organist, +and the unluckiness of the dissenter—no, precentor—having a sick +wife, and the legal difficulties that prevented building a better house +for the boarders than the queer long room where they lodged, between +the cloister and the Bailey—the proper name of the little court by +which Geraldine had come—was poured out; and kind as it was, there was +a certain sense of having been talked to death.</p> + +<p>A whole flood of Harewoods, Underwoods, and untold numbers besides, +swept into the room as the bell began to ring for Evensong. Most +sincere were Cherry's entreaties that she might be left alone. She +could not go back to her coign of vantage, 'it had been too beautiful +for her to bear more,' she said; and she severally declined offers of +companionship from three female Harewoods and two sisters, telling +Wilmet at last that all she wanted was to be still and alone.</p> + +<p>Alone she was, but not still, for there was nothing to hinder the +magnificent volume of sound that surged around the Cathedral from +coming to her; and she could trace the service all along—in chant, +pealing mighty Amens, with the hush between, in anthem, and in jubilant +hymn. She was more calmly happy than in the oppressive grandeur of the +morning, as she lay there, in the cool drawing-room, with the open +window veiled by loose sprays of untrimmed roses, and sacred prints +looking down from the walls.</p> + +<p>The solitude lasted rather too long, when she had heard the hum and +buzz of the host pouring out of the Cathedral, and still no one came. +They were to go home by the 5.10 train, and every time she counted the +chimes she became more alarmed lest they should be too late. Minutes +dragged on. Five! It was five! Was she forgotten? Should she be only +missed and remembered at the station, too late? Tired, nervous, unused +to oblivion, she found tears in her eyes, and was too sorrowful and +angry with her own impatience even to think of the old woman of Servia. +Hark! a trampling? Had they remembered her? But oh, it would be late +for the train!</p> + +<p>In burst Lance, in his cap and little short quaint black gown.</p> + +<p>'O Lance, I shall be too late!'</p> + +<p>'You don't go by this train.'</p> + +<p>'Oh dear! oh dear! Mr. Froggatt was to meet me;' and the tears started +from her eyes. 'How could Felix forget?'</p> + +<p>'Never mind, there's sure to be a fly or something.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, but Mr. Froggatt waiting!'</p> + +<p>'Never mind,' repeated Lance, ''tis a fine evening to air the old boss.'</p> + +<p>'Don't, Lance; you none of you have any proper regard for Mr. +Froggatt;' which, as far as Lance was concerned, was unjust, and it was +well for Cherry that it was not addressed to either of the brothers who +better deserved it.</p> + +<p>What Lance did was to execute one of his peculiar summersaults, and +then, making up a dismal face, to say, 'Alas! I commiserate the +venerable citizen disappointed of the pleasure of driving my Lady +Geraldine home from the wash as well as hisself.'</p> + +<p>She was past even appreciating the bathos. 'It is no laughing matter,' +she said; 'it is so uncivil, when he is so kind. I can't imagine what +Felix is thinking of?'</p> + +<p>'Croquet,' said Lance briefly; then seeing the flushed, quivering, +mortified face, he added, 'Wilmet has not forgotten you one bit, +Cherry; but Alice Knevett and Robin did so want to see the fun in the +mead—there's running in sacks, and all sorts of games—that there's no +getting any one away; and the W's are in charge, and can't leave them +to their own devices, so she said perhaps you would be more rested by +lying still than rattling home.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I dare say Wilmet is as sorry as anybody,' said Cherry rather +querulously, for the needle point was pricking her again.</p> + +<p>'And as to your dear old Froggy,' continued Lance, 'she says he told +her he did not in the least expect you back by this train, and if you +did not come by it, he'll stay in town for the 8.50.'</p> + +<p>'How very good of him!' said Cherry, beginning to be consoled. 'And +Felix at croquet!'</p> + +<p>'Alice is teaching him. You never did see such a joke as old +Blunderbore screwing up his eyes at the balls, and making at them with +his mallet like a sledge-hammer. He and Alice and Robin and that Bisset +curate are playing against Bill, two of the girls, and Shapcote—Bexley +against Minsterham; and little Bobbie's a real out-and-outer. She'll +make her side win by sheer cool generalship.'</p> + +<p>'And poor little Angel?' The needle point was a pang now.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Angel is happier than ever she was in her life. The Bishop's +daughter has a turn for little kids, and has got all the small ones +together in the pleached alley, playing at all manner of things.'</p> + +<p>'Run back, Lance, to the fun. I shall do very well,' said poor +Geraldine.</p> + +<p>'I should think so, when I get you so often!' scornfully ejaculated +Lancelot, drawing a dilapidated brioche from under the sofa, and +squatting on it, with his dancing eyes close to her sad ones.</p> + +<p>An effusion of spirits prompted her to lay her hands on his shoulders, +kiss him on each cheek, and cry, 'O Lance, you are the very sweetest +boy!'</p> + +<p>'Sweetest treble, you mean,' said Lance quaintly; 'if you had only +heard me! You should see how the old ladies in the stalls peep and +whisper, and how Bill Harewood opens his mouth rather wider than it +will go, and they think it is he.'</p> + +<p>'Not for fun, Lance?'</p> + +<p>'Well, I believe all their jaws are hung on looser than other people's. +But I say, ain't you dying of thirst?'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps Mrs. Harewood will give us some tea when she comes in.'</p> + +<p>'If you trust to that—'</p> + +<p>'O Lance!' she cried, alarmed at seeing him coolly ring the bell.</p> + +<p>'Bless you, she's forgotten all about you and tea and everything! They +are drinking it by the gallon in the tents; and by and by she'll roll +in, ready to cry that you've had none, and mad with herself and me for +giving you none; and the fire will be out, and the kettle will boil +about ten minutes after you are off by the train. We'll have some this +minute.'</p> + +<p>'But, Lance—'</p> + +<p>'But, Cherry, ain't I a walking Sahara with roaring at the tip-top of +my voice to lead the clod-hoppers? How they did bellow! I owe it as a +duty to the Chapter to wet my whistle.'</p> + +<p>'One comfort is, nobody knows your coolness. Nobody comes for all your +ringing.'</p> + +<p>'Reason good! Every living soul in the house is in the Bishop's meadow, +barring the old cat; I <i>seen</i> 'em with their cap-strings flying. But +that's nothing. I know where Mother Harewood keeps her tea and sugar;' +and he pounced on a tea-caddy of Indian aspect.</p> + +<p>'Lance, if you did that to Mettie—'</p> + +<p>'Exactly so. I don't;' and he ran out of the room, while Cherry sat +up on her sofa, her petulance quite banished between amusement and +desperation at such proceedings in a strange house. He came back +presently, with two cups, saucers, and plates, apparently picked up at +hap-hazard, as no two were alike. 'My dear Lance, where have you been?'</p> + +<p>'In the kitchen. Such a jolly arched old hole. Bill and I have done no +end of Welsh rabbits there. Once when we were melting some lead, Bill +let it drop into the pudding, and the Pater got it at dinner, and said +it was the heaviest morsel he ever had to digest.'</p> + +<p>'But wasn't it poison?'</p> + +<p>'I suppose not, for you see he isn't dead. Another time, when we were +melting glue, we upset a whole lot of fat, and the chimney caught fire; +and wasn't that a go? Bill got a pistol out of Jack's room, and fired +it up the chimney to bring the soot down; and down it came with a +vengeance! He was regularly singed, and I do think the place would have +been burned if it had not been too old! All the Shapcotes ran out into +the court, hallooing Fire! and the engine came, but there was nothing +for it to do. Oh, the face Wilmet would make to see that kitchen. +Kettle's biling—I must run.'</p> + +<p>He came back with an enormous metal tea-pot in one hand, and a boiling +kettle in the other, a cloud of vapour about his head.</p> + +<p>'You appear in a cloud, like a Greek divinity,' said Cherry, beginning +to enter into the humour of the thing.</p> + +<p>'Bringing nectar and ambrosia,' said Lance, depositing the kettle amid +the furbelows of paper in the grate, and proceeding to brew the tea. +'Excuse the small trifles of milk and cream; and as to bread, I can't +find it, but here are the cakes you had for luncheon, shunted off into +the passage window. Sugar, Cherry? Fingers were made before tongs. Now +I call this jolly.'</p> + +<p>'I only hope this isn't a great liberty.'</p> + +<p>'If you fired off a cannon under Mrs. Harewood's nose, she would not +call it a liberty.'</p> + +<p>'So it appears. But Mr. Harewood does not look—like that.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, he's well broken in. He is the pink of orderliness in his own +study and the library, but as long as no one meddles there, he minds +nothing. It just keeps him alive; but I believe the Shapcotes think +this house a mild lunatic asylum.'</p> + +<p>'Who are the Shapcotes?'</p> + +<p>'He's registrar. They live in the other half of this place—the old +infirmary, Mr. Harewood calls it. Such a contrast! He is a tremendous +old Turk in his house, and she is a little mincing woman; and they've +made Gus—he's one of us, you know—a horrid sneak, and think it's all +my bad company and Bill's. By-the-by, Cherry, Gus Shapcote asked me if +my senior wasn't spoony about—'</p> + +<p>'I hope you told him to mind his own business!' cried Geraldine, with a +great start of indignation.</p> + +<p>'I told him he was a sheep,' said Lance. 'But, I say, Cherry, I want to +know what you think of it.'</p> + +<p>'Think? I'm not so ready to think nonsense!'</p> + +<p>'Well, when the old giant was getting some tea for <i>her</i>, I saw two +ladies look at one another and wink.'</p> + +<p>'Abominably ill-mannered,' she cried, growing ruddier than the cherry.</p> + +<p>'But had you any notion of it?'</p> + +<p>'Impossible!' she said breathlessly. 'He is only kind and civil to her, +as he is to everybody. Think how young he is!'</p> + +<p>'I'm sure I never thought old Blunderbore much younger than Methuselah. +Twenty-one! Isn't it about the age one does such things?'</p> + +<p>'Not when one has twelve brothers and sisters on one's back,' sighed +Geraldine. 'Poor Felix! No, there can't be anything in it. Don't let us +think of foolish nonsense this wonderful day. What a glorious hymn that +was!'</p> + +<p>Lance laid his head lovingly on the sofa-cushion, and discussed +the enjoyment of the day with his skilled appreciation of music. +Geraldine's receptive power was not inferior to his own, though she had +none of that of expression, nor of the science in which he was trained. +He was like another being from the merry rattle he was at other times; +and she had more glimpses than she ever had before of the high nature +and deep enthusiasm that were growing in him.</p> + +<p>'Hark! there's somebody coming,' she cried, starting.</p> + +<p>'Let him come. Oh, it is the Pater.—Here is some capital tea, Mr. +Harewood. Have some? I'll get a cup.'</p> + +<p>'You are taking care of your sister. That is right. A good colonist +you would make.—Come in, Lee,' said Mr. Harewood, who, to Cherry's +increased consternation, was followed by another clergyman. 'We are +better off than I dared to expect, thanks to this young gentleman. Miss +Geraldine Underwood—Mr. Lee.—You knew her father, I think.'</p> + +<p>'Not poor Underwood of Bexley? Indeed! I knew him. I always wished I +could have seen more of him,' said Mr. Lee, coming up and heartily +shaking hands with Cherry, and asking whether she was staying there, &c.</p> + +<p>Meantime Lance had fetched a blue china soup-plate, a white cup and +pink spotted saucer; another plate labelled 'Nursery,' and a coffee-cup +and saucer, one brown and the other blue; and as tidily as if he had +been lady of the house or parlour-maid, presented his provisions, Mr. +Harewood accepting with a certain quiet amusement. His remarkable +trim neatness of appearance, and old-school precision of manner, made +his quiet humorous acquiescence in the wild ways of his household all +the more droll. After a little clerical talk, that reminded Cherry +of the old times when she used to lie on her couch, supposed not to +understand, but dreamily taking in much more than any one knew—it +appeared that Mr. Lee wanted to see something in the Library, and Mr. +Harewood asked her whether she would like to come and see Coeur de +Lion's seal.</p> + +<p>She was fully rested, and greatly pleased. Lance's arm was quite +sufficient now, and she studied the Cathedral and its precincts in a +superexcellent manner. Mr. Harewood, who had spent almost his whole +life under its shadow, and knew the history of almost every stone or +quarry of glass, was the best of lionizers, and gave her much attention +when he perceived how intelligent and appreciative she was. He showed +her the plan of the old conventual buildings, and she began to unravel +the labyrinth through which she had been hurried. The Close and Deanery +were modernized, but he valued the quaint old corner where he lived +for its genuine age. The old house now divided between him and Mr. +Shapcote had been the infirmary; and the long narrow building opposite, +between the Bailey and the cloister, had been the lodgings either of +lay-brothers or servants. There being few boarders at the Cathedral +school, they had always been lodged in the long narrow room, with +the second master in a little closet shut off from them. Cherry was +favoured with a glance at Lance's little corner, with the old-fashioned +black oak bedstead, solid but unsteady table and stool, the equally +old press, and the book-case he had made himself with boards begged +from his friend the carpenter. A photograph and drawing or two, and a +bat, completed the plenishing. She thought it very uncomfortable, but +Lance called it his castle; and Mr. Harewood, pointing to the washing +apparatus, related that in his day the cock in the Bailey was the only +provision for such purposes. The boys were safely locked in at eight +every night when the curfew rang, and the Bailey door was shut, there +being no other access to their rooms, except by the Cathedral, through +the Library, and the private door that led into the passage common to +the Harewoods and Shapcotes.</p> + +<p>The loveliness of the Cloister, the noble vault of the Chapter-house, +the various beauties and wonders of the Cathedral, and lastly the +curiosities of the Library—where Mr. Harewood enthroned her in his own +chair, unlocked the cases, brought her the treasures, and turned over +the illuminated manuscripts for her as if she had been a princess—made +Geraldine forget time, weariness, and anxiety, until, as the summer sun +was at last taking leave, a voice called at the window, 'Here she is! +I thought Papa would have her here!' and the freckled face of a Miss +Harewood was seen peering in.</p> + +<p>There the truants were, eager, hurried, afraid for the train, full of +compunction for the long abandonment: Alice, most apologetic; Wilmet, +most quiet; Felix, most attentive; Robina, still ecstatic; and Angela, +tired out—there they all were. It was all one hasty scramble to the +crowded station, and then one merry discussion and comparison of notes +all the way home; Geraldine maintaining that she had enjoyed herself +the best of all; and Alice incredulous of the pleasure of sitting in +a musty old library with an old gentleman of at least sixty; while +Felix was so much delighted to find that she had been so happy, that he +almost believed that the delay had been solely out of consideration for +her.</p> + +<p>Mr. Froggatt was safe at the station in his basket, full of delight +at the enjoyment of his young people, and of anecdotes of Bernard and +Stella; and Geraldine found herself safely deposited at home, but with +one last private apology from Wilmet as she was putting her to bed. +'I did not know how to help it,' she said; 'Alice was so wild with +delight, that I could not get her away; and Felix was enjoying his +holiday so thoroughly, I knew that you would be sorry it should be +shortened.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed I am very glad you stayed. It would be too bad to encumber you.'</p> + +<p>'I wanted to come and see after you, but I had promised Miss Pearson +not to lose sight of Alice. And then Lance offered to take care of you.'</p> + +<p>'O Wilmet, I never half knew what a dear boy Lance is! What boy would +have come, when all that was going on, to stay with a lame cross +thing like me? And how nice for him to have such kind friends as the +Harewoods!'</p> + +<p>'They seem very fond of him,' said Wilmet; 'but I wish he had taken up +with the Shapcotes. I never saw such a house. It is enough to ruin all +sense of order! But they were very kind to us; and if you were well +off, it was all right. I never saw Felix look so like his bright old +self as to-day; and it is his birth-day, after all.'</p> + +<p>So Wilmet was innocent of all suspicions—wise experienced Wilmet! +That was enough to make Cherry forget that little thorn of jealousy, +especially as things subsided into their usual course, and she had no +more food for conjecture.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h4> + +<h3>GIANT DESPAIR'S CASTLE.</h3> + +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 35%;"> +'Who haplesse and eke hopelesse all in vaine,<br /> +Did to him pace sad battle to darrayne;<br /> +Disarmd, disgraste, and inwardly dismayde,<br /> +And eke so faint in every ioynt and vayne,<br /> +Through that fraile fountaine which him feeble made.'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 45%;"><i>Spenser.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Felix's majority made no immediate difference. His thirteenth part of +his father's small property remained with the rest, at any rate until +his guardian should return from his travels in the East; but in the +course of the winter his kind old godfather, Admiral Chester, died, and +having no nearer relation, left him the result of his small savings out +of his pay, which would, the lawyer wrote, amount to about a thousand +pounds; but there was a good deal of business to be transacted, and it +would be long before the sum was made over to him.</p> + +<p>Wilmet and Geraldine thought it a perfect fortune, leading to the +University, and release from trade; and they looked rather crestfallen +when they heard that it only meant Ł30 per annum in the funds, or +Ł50 in some risky investment. Mr. Froggatt's wish was that he should +purchase such a share in the business as would really give him standing +there; but Wilmet heard this with regret; she did not like his thus +binding himself absolutely down to trade.</p> + +<p>'You are thinking for Alda,' said Felix, smiling. 'You are considering +how Froggatt and Underwood will sound in her ears.'</p> + +<p>'In mine, too, Felix; I <i>do</i> not like it.'</p> + +<p>'I would willingly endure it to become Redstone's master,' said Felix, +quietly.</p> + +<p>'Is he still so vexatious?' asked Geraldine; for not above once in six +months did Felix speak of any trials from his companions in business.</p> + +<p>'Not actively so; but things might be better done, and much ill blood +saved. I cannot share W. W.'s peculiar pride in preferring to be an +assistant instead of a partner.'</p> + +<p>'Then this is what you mean to do with it?'</p> + +<p>'Wait till it comes,' he said, oracularly. 'Seriously, though, I don't +want to tie it all up. The boys may want a start in life.'</p> + +<p>Neither sister thought of observing that the legacy was to one, not +to all. Everybody regarded what belonged to Felix as common property; +and the 'boys' were far enough into their teens to begin to make their +future an anxious consideration. Clement was just seventeen, and though +he had outgrown his voice, was lingering on as a sort of adopted child +at St. Matthew's, helping in the parish school, and reading under one +of the clergy in preparation for standing for a scholarship. He tried +for one in the autumn, but failed, so much to his surprise and disgust, +that he thought hostility to St. Matthew's must be at the bottom of his +rejection; and came home with somewhat of his martyr-like complacency +at Christmas, meaning to read so hard as to force his way in spite +of prejudice. He was very tall, fair, and slight; and his features +were the more infantine from a certain melancholy baby-like gravity, +which music alone dispersed. He really played beautifully, and being +entrusted with the organ during the schoolmaster's Christmas holidays, +made practising his chief recreation. That Lance would often follow him +into church for a study, and always made one of the group round the +piano when Alice Knevett came to sing with them, was a great grievance +to Fulbert, who never loved music, and hated it as a rival for Lance's +attention.</p> + +<p>These two were generally the closest companions, and were alike in +having more boyishness, restlessness, and enterprise than their +brothers. This winter their ambition was to be at all the meets within +five miles, follow up the hunt, and be able to report the fox's death +at the end of the day. Indeed, their appetite for whatever bore the +name of sport was as ravenous as it was indiscriminate; and their +rapturous communications could not be checked by Clement's manifest +contempt, or the discouraging indifference of the rest—all but Robina, +who loved whatever Lance loved, and was ready to go to a meet, if +Wilmet had not interfered with a high hand.</p> + +<p>Before long Felix wished that his authority over the male part of the +family were as well established as that in her department.</p> + +<p>One hunting day the two brothers came in splashed up to the eyes, +recounting how they had found a boy of about their own age in a ditch, +bruised and stunned, but not seriously hurt; how with consolation and +schoolboy surgery they had cheered him, and found he was Harry Collis, +whom they had known as a school-fellow at Bexley; how they had helped +him home to Marshlands Hall, and had been amazed at the dreariness and +want of all home comfort at the place, so that they did not like to +leave him till his father came home; and how Captain Collis had not +only thanked them warmly, but had asked them over to come and shoot +rabbits the next day.</p> + +<p>There was nothing to blame them for, but Felix had much rather it had +never happened. Captain Collis was one of a race of squires who had +never been very reputable, and had not risen greatly above the farmer. +He had been in the army, and had the bearing of a gentleman; but ever +since his wife's death, he had lived an unsatisfactory sort of life +at the Hall, always forward in sport, but not well thought of, and +believed to be a good deal in debt. His only child, this Harry Collis, +had been sent somewhat fitfully to the St. Oswald's Grammar School, +and had been rather a favourite companion of Lance's; but separation +had put an end to the intimacy, and this renewal was not at all to the +taste of their eldest brother.</p> + +<p>'It can't be helped this time,' he said, when he heard of the +invitation; 'I suppose you must go to-morrow, but I don't fancy the +concern.'</p> + +<p>Fulbert's bristles began to rise, but Lance chatted gaily on. 'But, +Fee, you never saw such a place! Stables for nine hunters. Only think! +And a horse entered for the Derby! We are to see him to-morrow. It is +the jolliest place.'</p> + +<p>'Nine hunters!' moralized Clement; 'they cost as much as three times +nine orphans.'</p> + +<p>'And they are worth a dozen times as much as the nasty little beggars!' +said Fulbert.</p> + +<p>On which Angela put in the trite remark that the orphans had souls.</p> + +<p>'Precious rum ones,' muttered Fulbert; and in the clamour thus raised +the subject dropped; but when next morning, in the openness of his +heart, Lance invited Clement to go with them to share the untold joys +of rabbit-shooting, he met with a decisive reply. 'Certainly not! I +should think your Dean would be surprised at you.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, the Dean is a kind old chap,' answered Lance, off-hand; 'whenever +he has us to sing at a party, he tips us all round, thanks us, and +tells us to enjoy ourselves in the supper-room, like a gentleman, as he +is.'</p> + +<p>'Do you know what this Collis's character is?'</p> + +<p>'Hang his character! I want his rabbits.'</p> + +<p>And Lance was off with Fulbert; while Clement remained, to make +Geraldine unhappy with his opinion of the temptations of Marshlands +Hall, returning to the charge when Felix came in before dinner.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Felix briefly, 'Mr. Froggatt has been telling me. It must +be stopped.'</p> + +<p>'Have you heard of the mischief that—'</p> + +<p>'Don't be such a girl, Tina. I am going to do the thing, and there is +no use in keeping on about it.'</p> + +<p>Felix had not called Clement Tina since he had been head of the family, +and irritability in him was a token of great perplexity; for indeed his +hardest task always was the dealing with Fulbert; and he was besides +very sorry to balk the poor boys of one of their few chances of manly +amusement.</p> + +<p>He would have waited to utter his prohibition till the excitement +should have worked off, but he knew that Clement would never hold +his peace through the narrative of their adventures; so, as they had +not come in when his work was over, he took Theodore on his arm, and +retreated to the little parlour behind the shop, where he lay in wait, +reading, and mechanically whistling tunes to Theodore, till he heard +the bell, and went to open the door.</p> + +<p>The gas showed them rosy, merry, glorious, and bespattered, one +waving a couple of rabbits, and the other of pheasants, and trying to +tickle Theodore's cheeks with the long tails of the latter, of course +frightening him into a fretful wail.</p> + +<p>'Take Theodore upstairs, if you please, Lance,' said Felix, 'and then +come down; I want you.'</p> + +<p>'The Captain was going to dine at Bowstead's,' said Fulbert, 'so he +drove us in his dog-cart. If the frost holds, we are to go out and +skate on Monday.'</p> + +<p>Felix employed himself in putting away his papers, without answering.</p> + +<p>'I had very good luck,' continued Fulbert, 'four out of six; wonderful +for so new a hand, the Captain said.'</p> + +<p>'Such a lovely animal you never saw,' said Lance, swinging himself +downstairs. 'You must walk out and see it, Fee, for you'll have it in +the Pursuivant some Saturday.'</p> + +<p>'Lance, I am very sorry,' said Felix, standing upright, with his back +to the exhausted grate. 'Just attend to me, both of you.'</p> + +<p>'Oh!' said Lance, hastily, 'I know there's a lot of old women's gossip +about Collis; but nobody minds such stuff. Harry is as good a lad as +ever stepped; and there was no harm to be seen about the place;—was +there, Ful?'</p> + +<p>'The old Frog has been croaking,' hoarsely muttered Fulbert.</p> + +<p>Boys of sixteen and fourteen were incapable of coercion by a youth +of one-and-twenty, and the only appeal must be to conscience and +reason; so Felix went on speaking, though he had seen from the first +that Fulbert's antagonism rendered him stolid, deaf, and blind; and +Lancelot's flushed cheeks, angry eyes, impatient attempts to interrupt, +and scornful gestures told of scarcely-repressed passion.</p> + +<p>'You may have seen no harm, I find no fault' (Fulbert scowled); 'but +if I had known what I do now I should not have let you go to-day. My +father would rather have cut off his right hand than have allowed you +to begin an acquaintance which has been ruinous to almost all the young +men who have been in that set.'</p> + +<p>'But we are not young men,' cried Lance; 'it is only for the holidays; +and we only want a little fun with poor Harry, he is so lonely—and +just to go out rabbiting and skating. It is very hard we can't be +let alone the first time anything worth doing has turned up in this +abominable slow place.'</p> + +<p>'It is very hard, Lance. No one is more concerned than I; but if this +intimacy once begins, there is no guessing where it will lead; and I do +not speak without grounds. Listen—'</p> + +<p>'If it comes from old Frog, you may as well shut up,' said Lance. +'There's been no peace at Marshlands since he took that cottage—a +regular old nuisance and mischief-maker, spiting the Captain because +one of the dogs killed his old cock, and bothering Charlie to no end +about him.'</p> + +<p>'I have heard from others as well,' said Felix; and he briefly +mentioned some facts as to the scandals of the dissipated household, +some of the imputations under which Captain Collis lay, and named two +or three of the young men whose unsatisfactory conduct was ascribed to +his influence.</p> + +<p>He saw that both lads were startled, and wound up with saying, +'Therefore it is not without reason that I desire that you do not go +there again.'</p> + +<p>With which words, he opened the door, turned off the gas, and walked +upstairs, hearing on the way a growl of Fulbert's—'That's what comes +of being cad to a stupid brute of an old tradesman;' and likewise a +bouncing, rolling, and tumbling, and a very unchorister-like expletive +from Lance; but he hurried up, like the conclave from the vault at +Lindisfarn, only with a sinking heart, and looks that made his sisters +say how tired he must be. The boys were seen no more, but sent word by +Bernard that they were wet through, they should not dress, but should +get some supper in the kitchen, and go to bed.</p> + +<p>On Sunday Lance had recovered himself and his temper, but in the +evening he made another attempt upon Felix in private. His heart was +greatly set upon Marshlands, and he argued that there was no evil at +all in what they had been doing, and entreated Felix to be content with +the promise both were willing to make, to take no share in anything +doubtful—not even to play at billiards, or cards—if that would +satisfy him, said Lance, 'but we will promise anything you please +against playing, or betting, or—'</p> + +<p>'I know, Lance, you once made such a promise, and kept it. I trust you +entirely. But before, it would have been cruel to keep you from that +sick boy; now this would be mere running into temptation for your own +amusement.'</p> + +<p>'Harry is not much better off than Fernan was,' said Lancelot, +wistfully.</p> + +<p>'Poor fellow! very likely not; but it would be more certain harm to +yourself than good to him. Any way, no respectable person would choose +to be intimate there, or to let their boys resort there; and it is my +duty not to consent.'</p> + +<p>'Ful is in such an awful way,' said Lance, disconsolately. 'Fee, you +don't know how hard it is, you always were such a muff.'</p> + +<p>'That is true,' said Felix, not at all offended; 'and I had my father +and Edgar; but indeed, Lance, nothing ever was so hard to me to do as +this. I cannot say how sorry I am.'</p> + +<p>'You do really order me not?' said Lance, looking straight up at him.</p> + +<p>'I do. I forbid you to go into Captain Collis's grounds, or to do more +than exchange a greeting, if you meet him.'</p> + +<p>'I will not. There's my word and honour for it, since—since you are so +intolerably led by the nose by old Frog;' and Lance flung away, with +the remains of his passion worked up afresh, and was as glum as his +nature allowed the rest of the evening; but Felix, though much annoyed, +saw that the boy had set up voluntarily two barriers between himself +and his tempted will—in the command and the promise.</p> + +<p>But the command that was a guard to the one, was a goad to the other; +for Fulbert had never accepted his eldest brother's authority, and +could not brook interference. Still his school character was good, and +there was a certain worth about him, which made him sometimes withdraw +his resistance, though never submit; and Felix had some hope that it +would be so in the present case, when, while speeding to church in the +dark winter Monday morning, he overheard Lance say to Clement, 'I say, +Clem, 'tis a jolly stinging frost. If you'll take your skates and give +us a lesson, we'll be off for the lake at Centry.'</p> + +<p>One of the Whittingtonian curates had taken the boys to the ice in the +parks, and taught them so effectively, that Clement was one of the best +skaters in Bexley; but he was too much inclined to the nayward not to +reply, 'I have to practise that anthem for Wednesday.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, bother the practice!'</p> + +<p>(Which Felix mentally echoed.)</p> + +<p>'I can play that anthem, if that's all,' said Lance; 'and I believe you +know it perfectly well. Now, Clem, don't be savage; I think, if you +will come, we <i>might</i> put that other thing out of Ful's head.'</p> + +<p>'Well, if you think it is to be of use—'</p> + +<p>'That's right! Thank you,' cried Lance. 'And you won't jaw us all the +way? He can't stand that, you know.'</p> + +<p>Clement winced; but in compensation, apparently, for this forbidden +lecture, he observed, 'I am glad you at least take it properly, Lance, +though it would be worse in you than in him, considering your—'</p> + +<p>'Bother it!' unceremoniously broke in Lance; and the words of wisdom +were silenced.</p> + +<p>Lance did his best to organise his party, but it was a failure; Fulbert +said he had made an engagement, and would not break it; he was not +bound to toady old Froggy, nor in bondage to any old fogeys of a dean +and chapter; and he walked off the faster for Clement's protest, +leaving Lance to roll on the floor and climb the balusters backwards +to exhale his desire to follow. He was too much upset even to follow +Clement to the organ, or to settle to the drawing which Cherry was +teaching him, and was a great torment to himself and his sisters till +dinner-time, when Clement had done his organ and his Greek, and was +ready for a rush for the ice; and Robina went joyously with them. +'Between two young ladies one can't well run into harm's way,' said +Lance.</p> + +<p>So things went on for a fortnight. Fulbert never shuffled, he went +openly to Marshlands Hall; and though not boasting of his expeditions, +did not treat them as a secret. Wilmet and Geraldine each tried +persuasion, but were silenced rudely; and Felix, unable to enforce his +authority, held his tongue, but was very unhappy, both for the present +and for the future. He did not believe much harm was doing now, but the +temptation would increase with every vacation as the boys came nearer +to manhood; and he seemed to have lost all influence and moral power +over Fulbert.</p> + +<p>Good old Mrs. Froggatt gave a small children's party, to which, with +many apologies, she invited the lesser Underwoods, under charge of +Wilmet. They were to sleep at the cottage, and Wilmet having offered to +help in dressing the Christmas-tree, they set out early in the day to +walk, escorted by the three brothers. That the trio did not return to +tea did not alarm Felix and Geraldine, who suspected that the dislike +the two elder expressed to the whole house of Froggatt had melted +before the pleasure of working at the tree.</p> + +<p>The evening was taken up in the discussion of a letter of Edgar's, more +than usually discontented with his employment; and another of Alda's, +who had been laid under orders to write to her eldest brother, and +desire him to remonstrate with Edgar on his inattention, laziness, and +pleasure-seeking. The anxiety had long been growing up; Felix had come +to write his difficult letter by the light of Geraldine's sympathy, +and they were weighing what should be said, when the door-bell rang, +some sounds puzzled them, and just as Felix was getting up to see what +was the matter, Fulbert put his head in at the door, and said, low but +earnestly, 'Step here, Felix, please.'</p> + +<p>He thought there must have been some terrible accident; but when from +the top of the stairs he beheld Clement's aspect under the gas in +the passage, and heard the thick tones in which he was holding forth +according to instinct, his consternation was almost greater than at any +injury. Fulbert looked pale and astounded. 'I can't get him upstairs,' +he said.</p> + +<p>However, sense enough remained to Clement to give effect to his eldest +brother's stern words, 'Be quiet, and come up;' and they dragged him +stumbling upstairs without more words.</p> + +<p>'Where's Lance?' then asked Felix.</p> + +<p>'Stayed at the Froggatts'. I wish he hadn't. He will walk home +by-and-by.'</p> + +<p>'Now, Ful, run and tell Cherry that nobody is hurt. Do not let her get +frightened.'</p> + +<p>Felix spoke resolutely, but he felt so full of dismay and horror, +that he hardly knew what he was doing till Fulbert had returned, and +repressing all poor Clement's broken moralities, they had deposited him +safely in bed, and shut the door on him. Then Fulbert gazed up at Felix +with eyes full of regret and consternation, and he gathered breath to +enter his own room, and say, 'What is the meaning of this?'</p> + +<p>'His head must be ridiculously weak; or there was some beastly trick. +Nobody else was the least queer!'</p> + +<p>'Marshlands Hall?'</p> + +<p>'Well, he had gone on at me so, that when Lance let himself be +persuaded into staying to hang up the lamps, it struck me what a lark +it would be to take Tina across the Hall lands, and then tell him he +had been on the enemy's ground. So I told him of the old chantry that +is turned into a barn, and of course he must go and see it, and take +sketches of the windows for his clergy. While he was doing it, up comes +young Jackman. You know young Jackman at the Potteries—a regular +clever fellow that knows everything?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I know him.'</p> + +<p>'Well, they got into early pointed, and late pointed, and billets and +dog-tooths, and all the rest, and Clem went on like a house on fire; +and by that time we had got to the big pond, where Collis and half +a dozen more were, and he had got his skates, and I believe he did +surprise them; they called it first rate.'</p> + +<p>'Did he know where he was?'</p> + +<p>'Not at the beginning of the skating. I only wanted to get him down +from his altitudes, and never thought it would come to this. You +believe that, Felix?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I do. Go on.'</p> + +<p>'It was fine moonlight, and we stayed on ever so long, while Jackman +and Clem and two more danced a quadrille on the ice; and when it was +over everybody was horribly cold, and Captain Collis said we must all +come in and have something hot; and Jackman said he was going to drive +home to dinner at eight, and would take us, but every one got talking, +and it was half-past eight before we started. It was all in such a +scramble, that I had no notion there was anything amiss till Clem began +to talk on the way home.'</p> + +<p>'What were they drinking?'</p> + +<p>'Various things—brandy-and-water chiefly. I don't like it, and had +some ale; but I was playing with Harry's puppies, and not much noticing +Clem.'</p> + +<p>'Do you think it was a trick?'</p> + +<p>'I can't tell. He is so innocent, he would have no notion how stiff to +make it. If any one meant mischief, it was Jackman; and I did think +once or twice he had found out Tina, and was playing him off. On the +way home, when I was trying to hinder poor Clem from falling off, he +went on chaffing so, that I longed to jump off, and lay the whip about +his ears.'</p> + +<p>'Poor Clem!' said Felix, more grieved and shocked than angry, and not +insensible to Fulbert's being even more appalled, and quite frightened +out of his sulkiness.</p> + +<p>'It is a bad business,' he sighed. 'It was all Lance's fault for +letting himself be lugged into that baby party.'</p> + +<p>Even this was a great admission, and Felix would not blight it by a +word.</p> + +<p>'It is well the girls are not at home,' was all he said.</p> + +<p>'I only told Cherry that Clem wasn't well. I can't face her; I shall go +to bed. I would not have had this happen for the world.'</p> + +<p>'I shall say nothing to her,' said Felix, dejectedly, turning to leave +the room, under a horrible sense of disgrace and stain on the whole +family; but at the door he was caught hold of by Fulbert, who looked up +at him with a face quite unlike anything he had ever seen in the lad.</p> + +<p>'Felix, I never was so sorry in my life. I wish you would give me a +good rowing.'</p> + +<p>Felix half smiled. 'I could not,' he said. 'You did not know what you +were doing. Good-night.'</p> + +<p>Fulbert gazed after him as he went downstairs, and went back, with a +groan, to his own room.</p> + +<p>Felix had never before felt so hopeful about Fulbert; but still he was +too much overset to talk to Cherry, and hurried her off to bed, soon +following her example, for he had not the heart to see Lance that night.</p> + +<p>Of course, the first hours of the morning had to be spent in attending +on the victim, whose misery, mental and bodily, was extreme, and was +aggravated by his engagement to the organ. Lance could supply his place +there, and was sent off to do so, but looking as subdued and guilty as +if he had been making Fulbert's confession instead of hearing it, and +stumbling uncomfortably over the explanation that Clement was not well, +and that Felix could not leave him.</p> + +<p>For there was a fragility about Clement's long lank frame that made any +shock to it very severe, and he was ill enough to alarm his happily +inexperienced brothers, and greatly increase Fulbert's penitence; but +by the time Mr. Froggatt drove the sisters home, and Wilmet wondered +that she could not go out for a night without some one being ill, he +had arrived at a state which she could be left to attribute to Mrs. +Froggatt's innocent mince-pies.</p> + +<p>He burrowed under his blankets, and feigned sleep and discomfort beyond +speech, whenever she came into the room, begging only that the light +might be kept out, and that nobody would speak to him. He was too +utterly miserable for anger with Fulbert, but only showed a sort of +broken-hearted forgiveness, which made Fulbert say in desperation to +Lance, 'I wish you would just fall upon me. I shall not be myself again +till I've been blown up!'</p> + +<p>'I suppose you are doing it for yourself, and that is worse,' said +Lance.</p> + +<p>'And you know it was all your doing, for going to that disgusting old +Philistine's tea and cake.'</p> + +<p>'What, you and Clem wanted me to lead you about, like two dogs in a +string?' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'No; Tina would have kept the baby-bunting out of harm's way.'</p> + +<p>'More likely he would have bored me into going. Poor Tina! I should +almost like to hear him jaw again! After all, you and he never +promised, and I did.'</p> + +<p>'I wish I had,' said Fulbert; 'I am awfully afraid they are getting +hold of it in the town.'</p> + +<p>'So am I. Mowbray Smith looked me all over, and asked me after Clement, +when I met him just now in the street, as if he had some malice in his +head.'</p> + +<p>'What did you tell him?'</p> + +<p>'I said he was in a state of collapse, and that serious fears were +entertained for his life and reason; and then he warned me against the +nineteenth-century manners, and I thanked him and made a bow, and now I +suppose he is gone to tell my Lady.'</p> + +<p>When Felix was free in the evening, he found Clement dressed, and +sitting over the fire in his room—so well indeed, that he might have +been downstairs, but that he shrank from every one; and that fire had +been the fruit of such persevering battles of Wilmet and Sibby with the +smoke and soot, that it would have been a waste of good labour to have +deserted it.</p> + +<p>'Well, Clem, you are better?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, thank you.'</p> + +<p>'Head-ache gone?'</p> + +<p>'Nearly,' with a heavy sigh.</p> + +<p>Felix drew an ancient straw-bottomed chair in front of the fire +backwards, placed himself astride on it, laid his arms on the top +and his forehead on them, and in this imposing Mentorial attitude +began, 'After all, Clem, I don't see that you need be so desperately +broken-hearted. It was mere innocence and ignorance. Water-drinkers at +home are really not on a level with other people. I always have to be +very guarded when I have to dine with the other reporters.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Clement, sadly; 'I do not regard the disgrace as the sin so +much as the punishment.'</p> + +<p>It was more sensible than Felix had expected. He was conscious of not +understanding Clement, who always seemed to him like a girl, but if +treated like one, was sure to show himself in an unexpected light.</p> + +<p>'You did not know where you were going?'</p> + +<p>'Not at first. I found out long before I came off the ice; and then, +like an absurd fool as I was, I thought myself showing how to deal +courteously and hold one's own with such people.'</p> + +<p>'You are getting to the bottom of it,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'I have been thinking it over all day,' said Clement, mournfully. 'I +see that such a fall could only be the consequence of long-continued +error. Have I not been very conceited and uncharitable of late, Felix?'</p> + +<p>'Not more than usual,' said Felix, intending to speak kindly.</p> + +<p>'I see. I have been treating my advantages as if they were merits, +condemning others, and lording it over them. Long ago I was warned that +my danger was spiritual pride, but self-complacency blinded me.' And he +hid his face and groaned.</p> + +<p>Felix was surprised. He could not thus have discussed himself, even +with his father; but he perceived that if Clement had no one else +to preach to he would preach to himself, and that this anatomical +examination was done in genuine sorrow.</p> + +<p>'No humility!' continued Clement. 'That is what has brought me to this. +If I had distrusted and watched myself, I should have perceived when +I grew inflated by their flattery, and never—egregious fool that I +was—have thought I was showing that one of our St. Matthew's choir +could meet worldly men on their own ground.'</p> + +<p>Felix was glad that his posture enabled him to conceal a smile; but +perhaps Clement guessed at it, for he exclaimed, 'A fit consequence, to +have made myself contemptible to everybody!'</p> + +<p>'Come, Clem, that is too strong. Your censorious way was bad for +yourself, and obnoxious to us all, and it was very silly to go to that +place after what you had heard.'</p> + +<p>'After telling Lance it was unworthy of a servant of the sanctuary,' +moaned Clement.</p> + +<p>'Very silly indeed,' continued the elder brother, 'very wrong; but as +to what happened there, it is not reasonable to look at it as more than +an accident. It will be forgotten in a week by all but Fulbert and +yourself, and you will most likely be the wiser for it all your lives. +I never got on so well with Ful before, or saw him really sorry.'</p> + +<p>Clement only answered by a disconsolate noise; and Felix was becoming +a little impatient, thinking the penitence overstrained, when he broke +silence with, 'You must let me go up to St. Matthew's!'</p> + +<p>'Really, Clement, it is hardly right to let you be always living upon +Mr. Fulmort now your occupation is ended, and it would be braver not to +run away.'</p> + +<p>'I do not mean <i>that!</i>' cried Clement. 'I will not stay there. I would +not burthen them; but see the Vicar I <i>must!</i> I will go third class, +and walk from the station.'</p> + +<p>'The fare of an omnibus will not quite break our backs,' said Felix, +smiling. 'If this is needful to settle your mind, you had better go.'</p> + +<p>'You do not know what this is to me,' said Clement, earnestly; 'I +wish you did.' Then perceiving the recurrence to his old propensity, +he sighed pitifully and hung his head, adding, 'It is of no use till +Saturday, the Vicar is gone to his sisters.'</p> + +<p>'Very well, you can get a return ticket on Saturday—that is, if the +organist is come back.'</p> + +<p>'Lance must play; I am not worthy.'</p> + +<p>'You have no right to break an engagement for fancies about your own +worthiness,' said Felix. 'Rouse yourself up, and don't exaggerate the +thing, to alarm all the girls, and make them suspicious.'</p> + +<p>'They ought to know. I felt myself a wicked hypocrite when Wilmet +<i>would</i> come and read me the Psalms, and yet I could not tell her. Tell +them, Felix; I cannot bear it without.'</p> + +<p>'No, I shall not. You have no right to grieve and disgust them just +because you "cannot bear it without." Cannot you bear up, instead of +drooping and bemoaning in this way? It is not manly.'</p> + +<p>'Manliness is the great temptation of this world.'</p> + +<p>'You idiot!' Felix, in his provocation, broke out; then getting himself +in hand again, 'Don't you know the difference between true and false +manliness?'</p> + +<p>'I know men of the world make the distinction,' said Clement; 'I am not +meaning any censure, Felix. Circumstances have given you a different +standard.'</p> + +<p>Felix interrupted rather hotly: 'Only my father's. I have heard him +say, that if one is not a man before one is a parson, one brings the +ministry into contempt. The things the boys call you Tina for are not +what make a good clergyman.'</p> + +<p>'I don't feel as if I could presume to seek the priesthood after that.'</p> + +<p>'Stuff and nonsense!' cried Felix. 'If no one was ordained who had ever +made a fool of himself and repented, we should be badly off for clergy. +You were conceited and provoking, and have let yourself be led into a +nasty scrape—that's the long and short of the matter; but it is only +hugging your own self-importance to sit honing and moaning up here. +Come down, and behave like a reasonable being.'</p> + +<p>'Let me stay here to-night, Felix, I <i>do</i> need it,' said Clement, with +tears in his eyes; 'if I am alone now, I think I can bring myself to +bear up outwardly as you wish.'</p> + +<p>The affected tone had vanished, and Felix rose, and kindly put his +hand on his shoulder, and said, 'Do, Clem. You know it is not only my +worldliness—mere man of business as I am—that bids us to hide grief +within, and "anoint the head and wash the face."'</p> + +<p>Just then an exulting shout rang through the house, many feet scuttled +upstairs, knocks hailed upon the door, and many voices shouted, 'Mr. +Audley! Felix, Clem, Mr. Audley!'</p> + +<p>'Won't you come, Clem?'</p> + +<p>'Not to-night; I could not.'</p> + +<p>Clement shut the door, and Felix hastened down among the dancing +exulting little ones. 'I thought you were at Rome!' he said, as the +hands met in an eager grasp.</p> + +<p>'I was there on Christmas Day; but Dr. White's appointment is settled, +and he wants me to go out with him in June. My brother is gone on to +London, and I must join him there on Saturday.'</p> + +<p>'I am glad it is to-day instead of yesterday,' said Wilmet. 'We were +all out but Felix and Cherry, and poor Clement was so ill.'</p> + +<p>'Clement ill? Is he better?'</p> + +<p>'He will be all right to-morrow,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley detected a desire to elude inquiry, as well as a meaning +look between the two younger boys, and he thought care sat heavier on +the brow of the young master of the house than when they had parted +eighteen months before.</p> + +<p>His travels were related, his photographs admired, his lodging arranged +in Mr. Froggatt's room, and after the general good-night, he drew his +chair in to the fire, and prepared for a talk with his ex-ward.</p> + +<p>'You look anxious, Felix. Have things gone on pretty well?'</p> + +<p>'Pretty fairly, thank you, till just now, when there is rather an ugly +scrape,'—and he proceeded to disburthen his mind of last night's +misadventure; when it must be confessed that the narrative of Clement's +overweening security having had a fall provoked a smile from his +guardian, and an observation that it might do him a great deal of good.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Felix, 'if his friends do not let him make much of his +penitence, and think it very fine to have so important a thing to +repent of.'</p> + +<p>'I don't think they will do that. You must not take Clement as exactly +the fruit of their teaching.'</p> + +<p>'There's no humbug about him, at least,' said Felix. 'He is really cut +up exceedingly. Indeed all I have been doing was to get him to moderate +his dolefulness. I believe he thinks me a sort of heathen.'</p> + +<p>'Well,' said Mr. Audley, laughing, 'you don't seem to have taken the +line of the model head of the family.'</p> + +<p>'The poor boys were both so wretched, that one could not say a word +to make it worse,' said Felix. 'This satisfies me that Fulbert is all +right in that way. He would not have been so shocked if he had ever +seen anything like it before; but though he is very sorry now, I am +afraid it will not cut the connection with those Collises.'</p> + +<p>'You do not find him easier to manage?'</p> + +<p>'No; that is the worst. He is not half a bad boy—nay, what is called a +well-principled boy—only it is his principle not to mind me. I do not +know whether I am donnish with him, or if I bullied him too much when +he was little; but he is always counter to me. Then he is one of those +boys who want an out-of-door life, and on whom the being shut up in a +town falls hard. The giving up sporting is real privation to him and to +Lance, and much the hardest on him, for he does not care for music or +drawing, or anything of that sort.'</p> + +<p>'How old is he?'</p> + +<p>'Just sixteen.'</p> + +<p>'Suppose I were to take him out to Australia?'</p> + +<p>'Fulbert!'</p> + +<p>'Yes; I always intended to take one if I went, but I waited till +my return to see about it, and I thought Clement was of a more +inconvenient age; but you must judge.'</p> + +<p>'Poor Tina!' said Felix, smiling, 'he would hardly do in a colony. He +is heart and soul a clergyman, and whether he will ever be more of a +man I don't know; but I don't think he could rough it as a missionary.'</p> + +<p>'Is he going to get a scholarship?'</p> + +<p>'He has tried at Corpus, and failed. He is full young, and I suppose he +ought to go to a tutor. I am afraid he learnt more music than classics +up at that place.'</p> + +<p>'Can the tutoring be managed?'</p> + +<p>'I suppose a hundred out of that thousand will do it.'</p> + +<p>'Is that thousand to go like the famous birth-day five?'</p> + +<p>'Five hundred is to be put into the business; but the rest I meant to +keep in reserve for such things as this.'</p> + +<p>'If all are to be helped at this rate, your reserve will soon come to +an end.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps so; but I have always looked on Clement as my own substitute. +Indeed, I held that hope out to my father, when it distressed him that +I should give it up. So Clem is pretty well settled, thank you. Besides +I am not afraid of his not going on well here; but I do believe Fulbert +will do the better for being more independent, only it seems to me too +much to let you undertake for us.'</p> + +<p>'They are all my charge,' said Mr. Audley; 'and as I am leaving you +the whole burthen of the rest, and my poor little godson is not likely +to want such care, you need have no scruple. One of the Somervilles is +going out to a Government office at Albertstown, and perhaps may put me +in the way of doing something for him.'</p> + +<p>Felix mused a moment, then said, 'The only doubt in my mind would be +whether, if it suited you equally, it might not be an opening for +Edgar.'</p> + +<p>'Edgar! Surely he is off your hands?'</p> + +<p>'I am greatly afraid his present work will not last. He always hated +it, and I believe he always had some fancy that he could persuade Tom +Underwood into making a gentleman of him at once, sending him to the +University or the like, and they petted and admired him enough to +confirm the notion. Mrs. Underwood makes him escort her to all her +parties; and you know what a brilliant fellow he is—sure to be wanted +for all manner of diversions, concerts, private theatricals, and what +not; and you can fancy how the counting-house looks to him after. Tom +Underwood declares he requires nothing of him but what he would of his +own son; and I believe it is true; but work is work with him, and he +will not be trifled with. Here is a letter about it, one of many, I +was trying to answer last night; only this affair of poor Clem's upset +everything.'</p> + +<p>'Six brothers are no sinecure, Felix.'</p> + +<p>'They are wonderfully little trouble,' said Felix, standing on their +defence. 'They are all good sound-hearted boys; and as to Lance, +there's no saying the comfort that little fellow always is. He has that +peculiar pleasantness about him—like my father and Edgar—that one +feels the moment he is in the house; and he is so steady, with all his +spirits. The other two both say all this could not have happened with +him.'</p> + +<p>'High testimony.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, as both are inclined to look down on him. But think of that boy's +consideration. He has never once asked me for pocket-money since he +went to the Cathedral. He gets something when the Dean and Canons have +the boys to sing, and makes that cover all little expenses.'</p> + +<p>'What do you mean to do with him?'</p> + +<p>'If he gets the scholarship, a year and a half hence, he will stay on +two years free of expense. Unluckily, he says that young Harewood is +cleverer than he, and always just before him: but I have some hope in +the hare-brains of Master Bill. If he do not get it—well, we must see, +but it will go hard if Lance cannot be kept on to be educated properly.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley took the letters, and presently broke into an indignant +exclamation; to which Felix replied—</p> + +<p>'The work is not good enough for him, that is the fact.'</p> + +<p>'If you are weak about any one, Felix, it is Edgar. I have no patience +with him. His work not <i>good</i> enough, forsooth, considering what yours +is!'</p> + +<p>'Mine has much more interest and variety; and he is capable of much +more than I am.'</p> + +<p>'Then let him show it, instead of living in the lap of luxury, and +murmuring at a few hours at the desk.'</p> + +<p>'I ascribe that to his temperament, which certainly has a good deal of +the artist; that desk-work is peculiarly irksome.'</p> + +<p>'Very likely; but it is his plain duty to conquer his dislike. No, +Felix; I wish I could take him away with me, for I am afraid he will be +a source of trouble.'</p> + +<p>'Never! Edgar is too considerate.'</p> + +<p>'But he is exactly what Australia is over-stocked with already—a +discontented clerk. If he be spoilt by luxury here, do you think he +would bear with a rude colony? No. Fulbert is a gruff, obstinate boy, +but not idle and self-indulgent; and I am not afraid to undertake him, +but I should be of Edgar.'</p> + +<p>Felix had flushed up a good deal, for his love for Edgar was less +paternal and more sensitively keen than that for any of the others; but +he was more reasonable, and had more control of temper now, than when +Mr. Audley had last crossed him; and he made answer, 'I believe you are +right, and that Edgar could not be happy in a colony. Any way, you are +most kind to Fulbert. But I am afraid I must go now, or Theodore will +wake.'</p> + +<p>'Do you still have him at night?'</p> + +<p>'He is not happy with any one else. You have not seen him yet? I am +sure he is improving! There's his voice! Good-night.' And Felix hurried +away, leaving Mr. Audley feeling that though here and there the young +pillar of the house might be mistaken, the daily unselfishness of his +life was a beautiful thing, and likewise impressed by his grave air of +manly resolution and deliberation.</p> + +<p>By the morning, Clement had recovered his tone, so as not to obtrude +his penitence or to be much more subdued in manner than usual. Mr. +Audley made him bring his books to the dining-room after breakfast, and +the examination quite exonerated the authorities at Oxford from any +prejudice except against inaccuracy, and showed that a thorough course +of study was needful before he could even matriculate; and Clement in +his present lowliness was not incredulous of any deficiency at St. +Matthew's, but was only meek and mournful.</p> + +<p>'What shall I do?' he asked. 'Perhaps some school would take me to +teach and study at the same time. Or I might get an organist's place, +and read so that I might be ordained as a literate at last. It would +come when I was fit, I suppose.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley only said he would inquire, and talk to Felix; and Clement +pleased him by answering that he could not bear to be an expense to +Felix. The good principle in the boys was quite to be traced, when +presently after it was necessary to put Fulbert to a severe trial. On +going to pay his respects at the Rectory, Mr. Audley found Mr. Mowbray +Smith there, and after some preliminaries, he was asked whether he knew +how the young Underwoods had been going on of late; of course, though, +it would be concealed from him: but it was right, &c. Then Mr. Bevan +feebly suggested that he did not believe there was any truth in it, and +was sharply silenced; and Miss Caroline observed that she was always +sure that Clement Underwood was a great humbug; whereupon, between the +mother, daughter and curate, the popular version of the Marshlands +Hall affair was narrated—or rather versions, for all were beautifully +entangled and contradictory.</p> + +<p>Some one had been in the street, and had seen poor Clement's exit from +young Jackman's dog-cart, and reported indiscriminately that it was +'young Underwood.' Lance had not been able to put a sufficiently bold +face on his morning's report of Clement's indisposition and Felix's +absence; and this, together with the boys' hunting propensities, and +Fulbert's visits to Marshlands, had all been concocted into a very +serious accusation of the whole of the brothers, including Felix, of +having entered into a dangerous friendship with Captain Collis, and +underhand enjoying the dissipations of the Hall, which had been the +bane of many a young man of Bexley.</p> + +<p>There were different measures of indignation. Miss Price expected a +grand series of denunciations—to Mr. Froggatt—to Miss Pearson, 'whose +niece was always there—most imprudent;'—nay, perhaps to the Dean, and +to the Vicar of St. Matthew's. The least excitement she expected, was +Felix Underwood's expulsion from the choir.</p> + +<p>Lady Price merely believed it all, and thought the friends ought to +interfere, and save the poor young things while there was time for any +of them. She would never mention it so as to injure them, but nothing +else could be expected.</p> + +<p>Mr. Mowbray Smith supposed there must be some exaggeration, but he +had been surprised at Lancelot's manner, and he did not think Felix's +absence accounted for; he did seem steady—but— And there was something +unnatural in the way of life at St. Matthew's, that would make him +never trust a lad from thence.</p> + +<p>Yes; and even Mr. Bevan did not like St. Matthew's (because it was not +slack or easy), and he too could believe anything of Clement. No doubt +poor Felix found those great brothers getting too much for him.</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley was standing by the window. He saw Fulbert with Lance and +little Bernard going down the street, and by one of the sudden dashes +that had often puzzled the Rectory, he flew out at the door, and the +next moment had his hand on Fulbert's shoulder.</p> + +<p>'Fulbert, they have made a terrible scandal of this affair at +Marshlands Hall. They fancy Felix had something to do with it.'</p> + +<p>'Felix! I should like to punch their heads.'</p> + +<p>'You can do better. You can contradict it.'</p> + +<p>'But, Sir—'</p> + +<p>However, Fulbert, while still following to plead with Mr. Audley, found +himself where he never recollected to have been in his life before, +among the cushions, arm-chairs, and tables covered with knick-knacks, +of the Rectory drawing-room. Mr. Bevan in an easy-chair; Mr. Smith +standing before the fire; Lady Price at work, looking supercilious; and +her daughter writing notes at a davenport.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bevan half rose and held out his hand, the others contented +themselves with a nod, while the big, stout lad stood rather like a +great dog under the same circumstances, very angry with everybody, and +chiefly with Mr. Audley—to whom, nevertheless, he trusted for getting +him safe out again.</p> + +<p>'Fulbert,' said Mr. Audley, 'Mr. Bevan would be better satisfied if he +could hear what intimacy there has been between your brothers and the +Collises.'</p> + +<p>'None at all,' said Fulbert, bluntly.</p> + +<p>'My boy,' said the gentle Rector, deprecatingly, 'nobody ever suspected +your eldest brother.'</p> + +<p>'I should think not!' exclaimed Fulbert, with angry eyes. 'All he ever +did was to warn us against going. More fools not to mind him!'</p> + +<p>'Then,' said my Lady, 'it has been the insubordination and wilfulness +of you younger boys that has nearly involved him in so grave an +imputation.'</p> + +<p>'Of nobody's but mine,' returned Fulbert. 'The others would have +nothing to do with it.'</p> + +<p>'That cannot be the literal fact,' said Mr. Smith, in a low voice, to +Lady Price. 'There were certainly two of them.'</p> + +<p>Fulbert heard, and turning to the Rector, as if he thought every one +else beneath his notice, said, 'The long and short of it is this: +Lance and I picked young Collis out of a ditch, and took him home. +Then Captain Collis asked us rabbit-shooting. Lance never went again, +because Felix did not choose it. I did; and, just by way of a joke, I +took Clement there without his knowing what place it was. We fell in +with them skating, and went into the house, the day before yesterday. +That is,' said Fulbert, concluding as he had begun, 'the long and short +of it. Whatever happened was my fault, and no one else's.'</p> + +<p>'A very honest confession!' said kind Mr. Bevan, pleased to have +something to praise.</p> + +<p>'And I hope it will act as a warning,' said Lady Price.</p> + +<p>'But,' said Mr. Smith, partly incited by Carry's looks, 'it was true +that you—two of you were brought home by young Jackman.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Fulbert, growing crimson, 'he drove Clement and me home!'</p> + +<p>'And,' said Mr. Audley, 'it was Clement's great distress that kept +Felix at home the next morning.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Fulbert, 'there was nobody else but me, and Clem could +hardly bear the sight of me, because I had led him into it. We thought +no one in the house would know it—and I don't believe they do.'</p> + +<p>'Ah!' said Lady Price, 'it is false kindness to attempt concealment.'</p> + +<p>'From lawful authority it is,' said Mr. Audley; 'but in this case it +was only from children and servants. However, Fulbert, I think you have +fully satisfied Mr. Bevan as to the amount of intercourse between your +brothers and Marshlands.'</p> + +<p>'Entirely,' said Mr. Bevan; 'in fact, you may assure your brother that +I never believed anything to his discredit.'</p> + +<p>'I shall say nothing about it,' said Fulbert, not choosing to see the +hand held out to him. 'I should be ashamed!—May I go now, Sir?' to Mr. +Audley; and with an odd sort of circular bow, he made his escape; and +Mr. Audley, having remained long enough to ascertain that the worst +that could be said of him was that he was a cub, and that it was a +terrible thing to see so many great hulking lads growing up under no +control, took his leave, and presently came on the three boys again, +consulting at the ironmonger's window over the knife on which Bernard +was to spend a half-crown that Mrs. Froggatt had given him.</p> + +<p>'Can Lance and Bernard settle that? I want you a moment, Fulbert. Not +to confront the Rectory again,' he added, smiling. 'It was a horrid +bore for you, but there was no helping it.'</p> + +<p>'I suppose not,' said Fulbert, gloomily, as if he did not forgive the +unpleasant moments.</p> + +<p>'It was not about that I wanted to speak to you, though,' said Mr. +Audley. 'I wanted to know whether you have any plans or wishes for the +future.'</p> + +<p>'I?' said Fulbert, looking up blank.</p> + +<p>'Yes, you. You are growing up, Fulbert.'</p> + +<p>'I suppose I must take what I can get,' said Fulbert, in the same +sulky, passive voice.</p> + +<p>'That may be a wise determination; but have you really no choice?'</p> + +<p>'Well, when I was a little chap, and knew no better, I used to think I +would be a soldier or a farmer—but that's all nonsense; and I suppose +I must have some abominable little clerkship,' said Fulbert, with a +certain steadiness for all the growl of his tone.</p> + +<p>'Well, Fulbert, have you a mind to try whether the other side of the +world would suit you better?'</p> + +<p>Fulbert looked up. 'You don't mean that you would take me out?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I do, if you are inclined to come and try for work at +Albertstown.'</p> + +<p>Fulbert, instead of answering, quickened his pace to a walking run, +dashed on, nearly upsetting half a dozen people, and was only checked +by a collision with a perambulator. Then he stood still till Mr. Audley +came up to him, and then again muttered under his breath, 'Go out to +Albertstown!'</p> + +<p>They walked on a little way, and then the boy said, 'Say it again, +please.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley did say it again, in more detail; and Fulbert this time +exclaimed, 'It is the very thing! Thank you, Mr. Audley;' and his face +clearing into a frank, open look, he added, 'I'll try to do my best +there. I wonder I never thought of it before. I would have worked my +way out as a cabin-boy if I had. Where is Lance? Does Felix know?'</p> + +<p>There was no sentiment about Fulbert. He jumped at the offer as +instinctively as a young swallow would prepare to migrate, seemed to +brighten all over, and shake off his dull, defiant mood, and gave +no sign of feeling about brother or sister—except that he said he +believed Felix would get on better without him; and that he told Lance +that they would have splendid fun together when he was big enough to +come out and ride a buck-jumper.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h4> + +<h3>PEGASUS IN HARNESS.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 37%;"> +'Fear not on that rugged high-way<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Life may want its lawful zest,</span><br /> +Sunny glens are on the mountain,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where the weary heart may rest.'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 30%;"><i>Charles Gavan Duffy.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>There was much relief and comfort in that visit of Mr. Audley's. For +one thing, Geraldine was able to pour out all her troubles, as she had +been used to do ever since her father had left her in his charge—her +repentance for the stirrings of her naturally fretful, plaintive +temper, for her fits of impatience and her hard judgments, and, what +surprised him chiefly, for jealousy.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' she repeated, at his word of surprise, 'I am jealous!'</p> + +<p>'Indeed!'</p> + +<p>'I never knew it till the choral festival. I used to be very fond of +her, but—I'm sure it is jealousy; I don't like to see her more eagerly +attended to than myself. Not that there is anything to complain of. He +never neglected me in his life.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley smiled. 'People would tell you it is the natural lot of +sisters.'</p> + +<p>Then she saw that he knew all about it; for, in fact, Felix had, rather +to the general surprise, observed that the Miss Pearsons would like +to meet Mr. Audley, and the trio had spent a musical evening with the +Underwood party.</p> + +<p>'Oh,' she cried, 'is it all my own horridness? Or is it really—'</p> + +<p>'My own horridness or my own discernment?' said he, taking the words +out of her mouth. 'My dear, such an affair as this would be generally +the family jest.'</p> + +<p>'Oh!'</p> + +<p>'It is just as well it should not be so here,' continued Mr. Audley, +'for nonsense is not always a cure, and the talk would be mischievous; +besides, I think both are unconscious.'</p> + +<p>'He is, I believe,' said Cherry.</p> + +<p>'At any rate, he is more than ordinarily full of sense and +self-control, and may safely be trusted to do nothing imprudent. She +is pretty and attractive, and of course he likes to be with her; but +I should think it very unlikely it would go farther. Has any one else +observed it?'</p> + +<p>'Not Wilmet, only Lance.'</p> + +<p>'And has not made fun of it? That speaks well for Master Lance's +discretion. Yet you all feel the weight of life too heavily. I had +rather have found you amused by these little prepossessions, than +weighing them seriously, and wearing yourself to fritters.'</p> + +<p>'I <i>will</i> try not to mind, but I can't help being afraid for him! It +must be very wrong to be almost turned against her because he likes +her; and yet, what is all very well as my friend does not seem enough +for Felix.'</p> + +<p>'Nor will it be. My dear Cherry, such things come on and go off twenty +times in a man's life. You will treat the symptoms more lightly before +you have done with your seven brothers. Meantime, don't fret your +conscience over fancies, unless you have spoken or acted unkindly or +fretfully.'</p> + +<p>'O Mr. Audley, what shall I do when you are quite gone? All this time I +have felt as if I were without my pilot.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley, too, had been thinking this over, and wished to put her +more formally under the spiritual charge of Mr. Willoughby of St. +Faith's, feeling that the morbid and sensitive nature needed external +support, and that it was not right to deprive it of what the Church +sanctions.</p> + +<p>Her only doubt was Felix's approval. His nature did not readily accept +progress beyond that to which he had been bred up; and in border +lands like these, an unfavourable medium made much difference to the +clearness of the sight. Clement's contempt for what had satisfied his +father annoyed him; and his mind was self-reliant, his soul accustomed +to find its requirements met by the system around him, and his +character averse to intermeddling; so that it was against the grain +with him that spiritual guidance should be sought outside the family, +or, at any rate, outside the parish. He thought such direction weakened +the nature; and Mr. Audley, after warning him against taking the +disease for the effect of the remedy, had to laugh at him as a British +householder. After all, he yielded, because he thought Mr. Audley had +a certain right over Geraldine, and that it was proper to defer to his +judgment; while his guardian trusted to a sight of St. Matthew's for +the overthrowal of the prejudices that Clement had managed to excite.</p> + +<p>Before leaving England, Mr. Audley was resolved that little Theodore +should be shown to some London physician. The child was five years +old, but looked no more than three. He could totter in an uncertain +run, and understood a few simple sentences, but came no nearer to +language than the appropriation of a musical sound to every one whom +he knew. There was nothing unpleasant about him, except his constant +purring and humming; he was perfectly docile, loved music, and could +be amused by simple recurring games. His affections seemed to have +gone out chiefly to Felix and to Sibby; and as to his twin-sister, he +seemed lost without her, and she seemed to view him as the complement +of herself—like a sort of left hand, giving him things to hold in his +feeble grasp, saying her lessons to him, and talking as if to a doll. +There was something sad in the very resemblance; for their eyes were of +the same shade of deep blue, their long soft hair of the same flaxen +tint, their faces equally fair; but while hers was all colour, light, +and life, his was pale and vacant, and scarcely ever stirred into +expression.</p> + +<p>Mr. Audley thought it right to ascertain whether treatment could be of +any use; and finding that his father's London house was only occupied +by his brother the Captain, he arranged that Felix should come up to +town with the child and Sibby, when the law business could be arranged, +and there would be an opportunity of his seeing something of the world.</p> + +<p>He had never had a holiday before, and Mr. Froggatt rivalled his +guardian in his desire that it should not be too short. The first call +was by appointment on the doctor. He was not used to have patients like +Theodore brought by youths of Felix's age, and was touched by the care +and tenderness of the young man, as he tried to overcome the alarm that +was rendering the little one impracticable, when it was desirable to +exhibit his slender store of accomplishments. His nearest approach to +his natural state was when perched on his brother's knee, with his back +to the strange faces, listening as Felix whistled the tunes he loved +best.</p> + +<p>After all, little was gained by the consultation, except the assurance +that the poor little fellow was as well situated as was possible. A few +directions for treatment and discipline were given, but very little +hope was held out of any important change for the better.</p> + +<p>The verdict disappointed Felix to an extent that surprised Mr. +Audley, who had better understood the hopelessness of the case. Of +all the family, Felix had the most of the parental instinct for the +most helpless; and while he warmly thanked his friend, he looked so +mournfully at the child who clung to him, that Mr. Audley said in a +voice of sympathy, 'It is a burthen, but one that will never bring the +sting of sin.'</p> + +<p>'Not a burthen,' said Felix. 'No; as my father said when he gave him to +me, he is the Gift of God, the son of my right hand. May it always be +able to work for you!' he murmured, as he bent his head over the little +one.</p> + +<p>'And I think the gift will bring a blessing!' said Mr. Audley.</p> + +<p>Theodore was sent home with Sibby, thus restoring Stella to herself, +for she had been greatly lost without her speechless companion; but +Felix remained in London for a week of business and pleasure. Captain +Audley was very good-natured and friendly, and abetted his brother +in all his arrangements for showing Felix as much of life as was +possible in a week, assuring him that every new experience was a duty +to the Pursuivant—a plea that Felix, with his lover-like devotion +to every detail of his paper, admitted with a smile. Edgar was of +almost all their expeditions, and dined with them nearly every day. +That young gentleman's peculiar pleasantness had very nearly averted +the remonstrances with which his brother and his guardian had come up +armed. There he was, finding his work real, and not a royal road to +immediate wealth, idling, lounging, and gratifying his taste for art +and music; and when his employer stormed and threatened, listening +with aggravating coolness, and even sweetness, merely hinting that +his occupation was a mistake; and living all the time as a son of +the house, with a handsome allowance, and free access to society +and amusement. Thus, when Mr. Audley talked to him, he smiled with +a certain resignation, and observed that he was concerned for poor +old Tom, to have been unlucky enough to have drawn such a fellow as +himself. Probably it was a judgment on him for not having come forward +sooner, when he <i>might</i> have had Felix! And when Mr. Audley upheld +Felix as an example of hearty sacrifice of taste and inclination, it +was to obtain an enthusiastic response. Nobody breathed equal to dear +old Fee, and it was the most ardent desire of Edgar's heart to take +some of the burthen from his shoulders! When it was hinted that such an +allowance as Tom Underwood gave afforded the opportunity, Edgar smiled +between melancholy and scorn, saying, 'Times must have altered since +your time, Mr. Audley.—No, I forgot. Expense is the rule in our line. +Swells can do as they please.'</p> + +<p>However, there things rested; Mr. Underwood treated him exactly like an +idle son, storming at him sometimes, but really both fond and proud of +him, and very gracious to Felix, whom he invited once to a very dull +and dazzling dinner, and once sent to the opera with his ladies.</p> + +<p>Felix's Sunday was chiefly spent at St. Matthew's, which he was +very glad to see without Tina's spectacles. He was amazed to find +so much more good sense and reality than the effect on Clement had +led him to expect; and Mr. Fulmort, who struck him as one of the +most practical-looking men he had ever seen, spoke in high terms of +Clement's steadiness and wish to do right; but added, 'I am afraid we +have rather spoilt him. He came up to us so unlike the kind of boy we +generally get, that we may have made rather too much of him at first.'</p> + +<p>Felix smiled. 'Perhaps we had knocked him about, and made too little of +him at home,' he said.</p> + +<p>'Besides, <i>esprit de corps</i> in so small a place as this is apt to +become so concentrated as not to be many removes from egotism. I +daresay we have been a terrible bore to you.'</p> + +<p>Felix laughed. 'We have always been very grateful to you, Sir.'</p> + +<p>'I understand. I am glad he is going farther a-field. He will be much +improved by seeing other places, and having his exclusiveness and +conceit shaken out of him; but we shall always regard him as the child +of the house, and I only hope he may end by working among us.'</p> + +<p>'Poor fellow! Conceit has been pretty well shaken out for the present,' +said Felix.</p> + +<p>'I hope it may last. He was rather hurt at my not making his misfortune +of more importance: but it seems to have been accident, all except the +priggish self-confidence that led to it.'</p> + +<p>Felix increased much in cordiality towards Mr. Fulmort, and at the same +time mounted many stages in Clement's estimation on the discovery that, +however behindhand his ecclesiastical advantages might be, the Vicar +was exceedingly impressed by his excellence.</p> + +<p>A day or two after Felix's arrival, Ferdinand Travis was first +encountered riding a spirited horse in the park, looking remarkably +handsome, though still of the small-limbed slender make that recalled +his Indian blood. His delight in the meeting was extreme, and he seemed +to be as simple and good as ever. He was in deep mourning, having newly +heard of his father having been killed in an American railway accident; +and though his uncle seemed proud of him, and continued his liberal +allowance, the loss and blank were greatly felt—all the more that +he had not found it easy to make friends among his brother officers +in the Life Guards. His foreign air was somehow uncongenial; he had +no vivacity or cleverness, and being little inclined to some of the +amusements of his contemporaries, and on his guard against others, he +seemed to find his life rather dull and weary. He did not seem to have +anything to love except his horses, especially the creature he was +then riding, Brown Murad. He had obtained it after such competition, +that he viewed the purchase as an achievement; while Felix heard the +amount with an incredulous shudder, and marvelled at Mr. Audley's not +regarding it as wildly preposterous. It was a dangerous position; and +though Mr. Audley certified himself, through his soldier brother, that +Travis was steadiness itself—neither betted, gamed, nor ran into +debt—yet while he seemed personally acquainted with all the horses +that ran, and apparently entered into no literature but the 'Racing +Calendar,' it was impossible not to be anxious about him, even though +he seemed perfectly happy to be allowed to be with his two godfathers, +and followed them everywhere, from the Houses of Parliament to St. +Matthew's.</p> + +<p>This was not the last expedition Felix had to make to London that +spring. After many appointments of the time, and as many delays, a +telegram suddenly summoned him in the beginning of May to bring Fulbert +up to London, when the business would be wound up, and Captain Audley +would take his brother and the boy in his yacht to Alexandria, there to +join the overland passengers.</p> + +<p>So Fulbert's farewells were made in the utmost haste, and mixed up +with Wilmet's solicitous directions for his proper use of all her +preparations for his comfort on the voyage; and Lance could only be +seen for the brief moments of halt at the Minsterham Station, during +which neither spoke three words, but Lance hung on the step till the +train was in motion, and then was snatched back, and well shaken and +reprimanded, by a guard; while Fulbert leant out after him at even +greater peril of his life, long after the last wave of the trencher cap +had ceased to be visible.</p> + +<p>Felix believed that this parting was more felt than that with all the +other eleven; and while Fulbert subsided into his corner, the elder +brother felt much oppressed by the sense that it was his duty to give +some good advice, together with great perplexity what it should be, +how it should be expressed, and whether it would be endured. He would +have been thankful for some of Clement's propensity for preaching when +he found himself <i>tęte-ŕ-tęte</i> with Fulbert in a cab; but while he was +still considering of the right end by which to take this difficult +subject, he was startled by his beginning, 'Felix, I say, I'm glad you +are going to get shut of me.'</p> + +<p>'I believe it is for your good,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'You'll get on better without me,' repeated Fulbert; then, with an +effort, 'Look here. It isn't that I don't know you're a brick and all +that, but somehow nothing riles me like your meddling with me.'</p> + +<p>'I know it,' answered Felix. 'I wish I could have helped it; but what +could be done, when there was nobody else?'</p> + +<p>'Ay,' responded Fulbert, 'I know I have been a sulky, nasty brute to +you, and I should do it again; and yet I wish I hadn't.'</p> + +<p>'I should be as bad myself if I were a junior,' was the moral +reflection Felix produced for his brother's benefit. 'Only, Ful, if you +try that on with Mr. Audley out there, you'll come to grief.'</p> + +<p>'I don't mean to,' said Fulbert.</p> + +<p>'And you'll keep in mind what my father meant us to be, Ful—that we +have got to live so as to meet him again.'</p> + +<p>Fulbert nodded his head emphatically.</p> + +<p>'It is his name you have to keep unstained in the new country,' added +Felix, the fresh thought rising to his lips; but it was met by a gush +of feeling that quite astonished him.</p> + +<p>'Ay, and yours, Felix! I do—I do want to be a help, and not a drag to +you. I <i>really</i> don't think so much of any of them—not even Lance—as +of you. I <i>hope</i> I shouldn't have been better to my father than I have +been to you; and when—when I'm out there, I do hope to show—that I do +care.'</p> + +<p>The boy was fighting with very hard sobs, and for all the frightful +faces he made the tears were running down his cheeks. Felix's eyes were +overflowing too, but with much of sudden comfort and thankfulness.</p> + +<p>'I always knew you were a good fellow, Ful,' he said, with his hand on +his brother's knee; 'and I think you'll keep so, with Mr. Audley to +keep you up to things, and show you how to be helped.'</p> + +<p>All after this was bustle and hurry. Fulbert had to be sent alone to +take leave of Alda, while his brother and Mr. Audley transacted their +business. Edgar came back with him; and after some hurried rushings out +in search of necessaries forgotten, the last farewells were spoken, and +Fulbert, with the two Audley brothers, was out of sight; while Felix, +after drawing a long, deep sigh, looked at his watch, and spoke of +going to see Alda.</p> + +<p>'Don't run your head into a hornet's nest,' said Edgar; 'it's all up +with me there. Come this way, and I'll tell you all about it.'</p> + +<p>'All up with you!'</p> + +<p>'There are limits to human endurance, and Tom and I have over-passed +each other's. I don't blame him, poor man; he wanted raw material to +serve as an importer of hides and tallow, but you, the genuine article, +were bespoken, and my father was not in a state for the pleading of +personal predilections.'</p> + +<p>'What is it now?'</p> + +<p>'Only a set of etchings from Atalanta in Caledon. That was the straw +that broke the camel's back,' said Edgar, so coolly as to make Felix +exclaim—</p> + +<p>'How much or how little do you mean?'</p> + +<p>'Separated on account of irreconcilable incompatibility.'</p> + +<p>'Impossible!'</p> + +<p>'Possible, because true.'</p> + +<p>'Why did you not tell before Mr. Audley was gone?'</p> + +<p>'It would have been bad taste to obtrude one's own little affairs, and +leave him with vexatious intelligence to ruminate on his voyage. Nay, +who knows but that he might have thought it his duty to wait to compose +matters, and so a bright light might have been lost to the Antipodes.'</p> + +<p>'You actually mean me to understand that you have broken with Tom +Underwood!'</p> + +<p>'The etchings were the text of an awful row, in which the old gentleman +exposed himself more than I am willing to repeat, and called on me to +choose between his hides and tallow and what he was pleased to call my +tomfoolery.'</p> + +<p>Felix groaned.</p> + +<p>'Exactly so. You are conscious that his demand was not only tyrannical +but impracticable. One can't change the conditions of one's nature.'</p> + +<p>'Are you absolutely dismissed?'</p> + +<p>'Nothing can be more so.'</p> + +<p>'And what do you mean to do?' demanded Felix, stung, though to a +certain degree reassured, by his tranquillity.</p> + +<p>'Study art.'</p> + +<p>'And live—?'</p> + +<p>'On my own two hundred. You will advance it? I only want sixteen months +of years of discretion, and then I'll pay it back with more than +interest.'</p> + +<p>'I must know more first,' said Felix. 'I must understand what terms +you are on with Tom Underwood, and whether you have any reasonable or +definite plans.'</p> + +<p>'Spoken like an acting partner! Well, come to Renville, he will satisfy +you as to my plans. I am to be his pupil; he teaches at the South +Kensington Museum, and is respectability itself. In fact, he requires +my responsible brother to be presented to him. Come along.'</p> + +<p>'Stay, Edgar. I do not think it right by Tom Underwood to see any one +before him. I shall go to him before anything else is done.'</p> + +<p>'Do not delude yourself with the hope of patching up matters like +Audley last winter, losing me five months of time and old Tom of +temper.'</p> + +<p>'How long ago was this?'</p> + +<p>'The crisis was yesterday. I was just packing to come home when Fulbert +burst upon the scene.'</p> + +<p>Nothing could be worse news, yet Edgar's perfect self-possession +greatly disarmed Felix. Never having thought his brother and the work +well suited, he was the less disposed to anger, especially as the +yoke of patronage was trying to his character; but he persisted in +seeing Thomas Underwood before taking any steps for Edgar's future +career, feeling that this was only due to the cousin to whom his +father had entrusted the lad. So Edgar, with a shrug, piloted him to +the Metropolitan Railway, and then to the counting-house where, in the +depths of the City, Kedge and Underwood dealt for the produce of the +corrals of South America.</p> + +<p>Edgar, as he entered the office full of clerks, nodded to their +bald-headed middle-aged senior in a half-patronizing manner. 'Don't be +afraid, Mr. Spooner; I'm not coming back on your hands, whatever this +good brother of mine may intend. Is the Governor in?'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Underwood is in his room, Mr. Edgar,' was the very severe answer; +'but after this most serious annoyance, I would not answer for the +consequences.'</p> + +<p>'Wouldn't you indeed?' said Edgar quietly, in a nonchalant tone that +made the younger lads bend down to sniggle behind their desks, while he +moved on to the staircase.</p> + +<p>Mr. Spooner and he were visibly old foes; but the senior devoured his +wrath so far as to come forward and offer a chair to Felix, repeating, +however, 'Mr. Underwood is very seriously annoyed.'</p> + +<p>Before Felix could attempt an answer, Edgar had re-descended, newspaper +in hand. 'Go up, Felix,' he said, threw himself into the chair, +and proceeded to read the paper; while Felix obeyed, and found the +principal standing at his door, ready to meet him.</p> + +<p>'What, Felix Underwood! Glad to see you. This intolerable affair can't +have brought you up already, though?'</p> + +<p>'No, Sir; I was telegraphed for late last night, to bring up my brother +Fulbert to start with Mr. Audley.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, ay. Well, I hope he'll have a better bargain of him than I've had +in Edgar. You've heard his impudence?'</p> + +<p>'I am exceedingly sorry—'</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Underwood broke out with his account of Edgar's folly and +ingratitude, after all the care and expense of his education. He had +taken up with a set of geniuses for friends, was always rehearsing for +amateur performances with them, keeping untimely hours; and coming +late to the office, to cast up accounts, or copy invoices in his +sleep, make caricatures on his blotting-paper, or still worse, become +'besotted' with some design for a drawing or series of drawings, and +in the frenzy of execution know no more what was said to him than a +post. Finally, 'the ladies' being as mad as himself, as Mr. Underwood +said, had asked him to draw for a bazaar, and in his frenzy of genius +over the etchings he had entirely forgotten an important message, and +then said he could not help it. On being told that if so he was not fit +for his profession, he merely replied, 'Exactly so, the experiment had +been unsuccessful;' and when his meekness had brought down a furious +tempest of wrath, and threats of dismissal, he had responded, 'with his +intolerable cool insolence,' that 'this would be best for all parties.'</p> + +<p>'This is the offence?' anxiously asked Felix.</p> + +<p>'Offence? What greater offence would you have?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly nothing can be much worse as to business,' said Felix. +'But when he told me what had happened, I was afraid that he might be +running into temptation.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! as to that, there's no harm in the lad—Spooner allows that— +nothing low about him.'</p> + +<p>'And his friends?'</p> + +<p>'How should I know? Raffs those fellows always are, sure to bring him +to the dogs!'</p> + +<p>'Did you ever hear of an artist named Renville?'</p> + +<p>'Ay?' meditatively. 'He was the master the girls had at one time, +wasn't he?'</p> + +<p>'Then he is respectable? I ask because Edgar wants to study under him.'</p> + +<p>'Eh! what?' demanded Mr. Underwood, in manifest astonishment. 'Is the +lad gone crazy?'</p> + +<p>'I thought you had dismissed him, Sir.'</p> + +<p>'Well, well,' said Mr. Underwood, taken aback, 'I told him only what he +deserved, and he chose to take it as final. I thought you were come to +speak for him.'</p> + +<p>'You are very kind, Sir, but I doubt whether he would resume his work +here, or indeed if it would not be an abuse of your kindness to induce +him.'</p> + +<p>'Eh! what?' again exclaimed Thomas. 'You give in to his ungrateful +folly! Felix Underwood, I thought you at least were reasonable!'</p> + +<p>The imperious passionate manner, rather than the actual words, +made Felix side the more with the wayward genius, and feel that +having sacrificed himself for the good of the family, he might save +his brother from the gloomy office and piles of ledgers and bills +below-stairs. 'Sir,' he said, 'I am sorry Edgar has not been better +fitted to return the timely help you have given us, but I am afraid +that such unwilling work as his could never be of service to you.'</p> + +<p>'Why on earth should it be unwilling? Better men than he have sat +at a desk before now! I've no patience with young men's intolerable +conceit. There have I done everything for this young fellow, and he +is unwilling, <i>unwilling</i> indeed, to give his mind to the simplest +business for six hours a day.'</p> + +<p>'It is wrong,' said Felix, 'but his powers lie in such a different +line.'</p> + +<p>'Fiddling and daubing! Pah! If anything could be more incomprehensible +than his not being able to cast up an account or take a message; it is +your backing him up!'</p> + +<p>'I am afraid he is too old for coercion.'</p> + +<p>'No coercion like having not a penny in the world. Pray, how is he to +live?'</p> + +<p>'His own means will help him through his studies.'</p> + +<p>'His own—Ł200! About as much as he has made ducks and drakes of in a +year. Besides, he is not of age.'</p> + +<p>'No; but I have something of my own to advance for him.'</p> + +<p>Wherewith there began a fresh storm. Thomas Underwood was greatly +mortified at the desertion of one brother, and still more at the +acquiescence of the other. He would no doubt have been ready to +retain the handsome engaging youth, grumbling and enduring, as a sort +of expensive luxury; and in his wrath, disappointment, and sense of +ingratitude at finding that his restive protégé was not to be driven +back to him, he became so abusive, that Felix could hardly keep his +tongue or temper in check; but when he declared that if any support +were given to Edgar's lunatic project, the whole family except Alda +should be left to their own resources for the rest of their lives, it +was with quiet determination that the reply was made, with studied, +though difficult, respectfulness:—</p> + +<p>'Sir, we are much obliged for what you have done for us, but we hope +to be able to work for ourselves and for one another without becoming +dependent. You cannot suppose that such a consideration would affect +my opinion respecting Edgar.' (N.B.—If Mr. Underwood <i>had</i> supposed +it, he felt as if it were impossible, as all his cousin Edward's +high spirit glowed in that young man's eyes, and strengthened the +studiously calm voice.) 'I think,' continued Felix, 'that no one can +be doing right whose work is not thorough. If Edgar cannot or will not +apply himself in earnest to your business, he will be doing better by +studying art with a will than in pretending to work here, and abusing +your forbearance. That would be so improper towards you, and so wrong +in him, that it would be simply unjustifiable in me to try to persuade +you into allowing it.'</p> + +<p>Somehow, Mr. Underwood had not at all expected such a reply; and as +luckily want of breath had forced him to wait and really hear it, a +sensation came over him of old times when Edward Underwood had argued +with him; and it was with much less heat that he returned, with an +effort at irony, 'And so you take the bread out of the mouths of the +others to support my fine gentleman in his absurd nonsense?'</p> + +<p>'No, Sir; what I advance is entirely my own.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, ay; didn't I hear something about a legacy?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, from Admiral Chester. A thousand pounds. It has only just been +paid to me.'</p> + +<p>'That you may throw it away on this young scamp's fancies?'</p> + +<p>'No, Sir, I hope not. Half of it goes into the business at Bexley. We +sign the deed of partnership next week. It will make a great difference +to me. The rest is ready for emergencies.'</p> + +<p>'Tomfooleries,' muttered Mr. Underwood. 'Pray, what are the plans for +this making a new Michael Angelo? Am I expected to give him the run of +my house? I shall do no such thing!'</p> + +<p>'No, Sir, it would not be proper to ask it. This Renville takes pupils +for the Royal Academy, and Edgar would board and lodge there; but I +hope you will still be good enough to allow him to call on Alda, and +not let him be entirely left to himself. He is much to blame, but it is +not as if he had run into bad dissipation.'</p> + +<p>'That's true,' said Mr. Underwood. 'A terrible disappointment that +young dog has been to me, Felix Underwood; but as you put it, there's +an honesty in the thing! Where is my fine gentleman?'</p> + +<p>'Downstairs, Sir.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood breathed through a mysterious tube, and Edgar appeared, +with his usual easy grace, and with a sharp glance at Felix as if to +inquire whether there were to be any attack on his newly-found liberty.</p> + +<p>'Look here, Edgar,' was the address. 'Your brother—a much better one +than you deserve—'</p> + +<p>'Thrue for you,' muttered Edgar between his teeth.</p> + +<p>'—Says what has some sense in it, that "nothing is so ruinous as doing +things by halves," and that you ought to be ashamed of hanging about +here doing nothing—'</p> + +<p>A quick glance passed between the brothers.</p> + +<p>'—So he is for letting you have your way; and if he chooses to +support you, and you choose to rob him—for I think it nothing less +than robbery—why there—I can't help it. So I put it to you for the +last time: will you buckle steadily to your work here like a rational +being, or cast yourself loose to live as a beggarly artist on what your +brother can give you by pinching the rest?'</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Sir; I hope the sooner to help him to feed the rest, by +taking the plunge you think so desperate,' said Edgar, with more +gravity than usual.</p> + +<p>'Oh, indeed!' sneered Mr. Underwood. 'Remember, not a farthing of mine +goes to such folly! I don't understand it! I thought once you'd have +been as good as a son to me,' he added in a very different tone, as he +looked at the fine young man in whom he yearned to take pride.</p> + +<p>'I wish I could, Sir,' said Edgar, with real feeling. 'I wish you had +hit upon any one of us but my unlucky self. You've been very good to +me, but what a man can't do, he can't; and if I gave in now, it would +only be the same over again. But we don't part in anger, Uncle,' he +continued, with a trembling of voice.</p> + +<p>'Anger?! No, my boy. I'm only vexed at the whole thing; but I don't +want to lose sight of you altogether. You'll stay with us till you've +found decent lodgings, and you'll be welcome to look in on a Sunday.' +Mr. Underwood spoke in a tone between asking and granting a favour.</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Sir, with all my heart,' said Edgar.</p> + +<p>'And you'll come to dine and sleep?' he added to Felix. 'You've not +seen your sister.'</p> + +<p>'No, thank you, Sir, I cannot to-day; I must be at home tonight.'</p> + +<p>They shook hands cordially; but as Edgar crossed the counting-house, +he paused to open his own desk and pocket some of the contents, saying +lightly as he did so, 'There's promotion in store for some of you +youngsters—I congratulate you, Mr. Spooner; you're free of a burthen +to your spirit.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed, Mr. Edgar, I'm very sorry if—'</p> + +<p>'Don't throw away your sorrow, Mr. Spooner; I was foredoomed your soul +to cross, and I bear no malice to you for having been crossed. Shake +hands, and wish me success as a painter.'</p> + +<p>'I wish you success, Mr. Edgar; but it will not be met with in any +profession without application and regularity.'</p> + +<p>Edgar forbore from any reply but a low and deferential bow, such as to +provoke another smothered laugh from the other young clerks, to whom +Felix suspected, as he looked round, the favoured kinsman was subject +of jealousy, admiration, or imitation, according to character. However, +Edgar shook hands with each, with some little word of infinite but +gracious superiority, and on coming out exclaimed, 'Ban, ban, Caliban! +You who are emancipated from a Redstone, congratulate me!'</p> + +<p>Felix neither observed on the vast difference between the excellent +confidential Spooner and pettily jealous Redstone, nor on the extremely +dissimilar mode of emancipation. He was more occupied with the +momentous responsibility of having assisted to cut his brother loose +from the protection to which his father had confided him. Mr. Audley's +warning that he was inclined to be weak where Edgar was concerned, +came before him. Yet the life of luxury and unfulfilled duties was +in his eyes such a wrongful course, that he felt justified in having +put an end to it; and his heart warmed with hope and exultation as +he recollected how Etty's success had been owing to his brother's +aid, and felt himself putting Edgar's foot on the first round of the +ladder, and freeing his ascent from all that had hitherto trammelled +it. Such bright visions haunted him when talking was impossible on +the omnibus, outside which Edgar had exalted him—he did not well +know why till on descending at Charing Cross, he found he was to have +an interview with Mr. Renville, who was copying a picture in the +National Gallery, and whom he found, to his great relief, to be no wild +Bohemian, but a simple painstaking business-like man, who had married +a German hausfrau, and lodged a few art students with unexceptionable +references. Knowing Edgar already, he had measured his powers, and +assured Felix that his talent was undoubted, though whether that talent +amounted to genius could only be decided when the preliminary studies +were accomplished; but even if it were not of the very highest order, +(a supposition that rather hurt Felix's feelings,) the less aspiring +walks of the profession would afford sufficient security of maintenance +to justify the expense of the study. He talked with sense and coolness; +and his charges, though falling severely on such funds as were at the +disposal of the young pillar of the house, were, Edgar declared, and +Felix could well believe, very moderate. The time was to be further +decided after reference to Mrs. Renville.</p> + +<p>'Will you not come home first?' asked Felix, as they descended the +steps.</p> + +<p>'Not in the character of the discarded! Who knows the effect it might +have on old Froggy? By-the-by, I hope this advance does not make any +difference to the terms of your bondage.'</p> + +<p>'Nothing important.'</p> + +<p>'Draw bills to any amount on the R.A. of the future!'</p> + +<p>The light hopeful tone contrasted with Clement's grave thankfulness, +and sorrow at being an expense; but Felix really preferred it, as far +less embarrassing.</p> + +<p>'Could you come down in a month's time?' he continued. 'Lance is to be +confirmed at the Cathedral, and it might be an opportunity for you.'</p> + +<p>'I cannot lose this month's work at the Academy, it is the most +important in the year.'</p> + +<p>'It might be arranged for you to come down for the day. You could see +any one you pleased here.'</p> + +<p>'Has Tina excited you to consign me to the Whittingtonian Fathers?'</p> + +<p>'No.' Felix had almost rested there, but presently added, gravely, 'I +constantly feel the impossibility of getting through this world and +keeping straight without help—the help that is provided for us,' he +added, lamely enough.</p> + +<p>'Dear old Blunderbore,' said Edgar, affectionately; 'what comes +naturally to you, No. 1, letter A, in a flock of girls and boys, can't +be the same when one has got out into this wicked world. Go on in your +own groove, and leave me to my aberrations. Don't vex yourself, old +fellow. A popular journalist must have got far enough to know that men +don't concern themselves about these little affairs in one another.'</p> + +<p>'Brothers do.'</p> + +<p>'Not unless they partake of the sister. Come! You have had no +sustenance since breakfast at six o'clock, have you? Come in here, and +learn what soup means.'</p> + +<p>'There's no time. The train is at five.'</p> + +<p>'Time! You don't mean to walk?'</p> + +<p>'I do; and get something to eat at the station.'</p> + +<p>'I declare, Fee, your unsophistication would be refreshing if it were +not a disgrace to your profession. Why are you not reporter to the +"Teetotal Times?" No wonder if the Pursuivant has a flavour of weak +tea!'</p> + +<p>Felix smiled rather sadly, aware that this was meant to lead him +away from the last subject. He perceived that the door between his +favourite brother's soul and his own was closed, and that knocking +would only cause it to be bolted and barred. It might be true, as Mr. +Audley had told him, that Edgar's was not so much real scepticism as +the talk of the day, and the regarding the doubts of deeper thinkers +as a dispensation from all irksome claims; but this was poor solace, +while his brother rattled on: 'My dear Blunderbore, the hasty-pudding +on which you characteristically breakfast is a delusion as to economy. +Renville's little Frau will keep us better and at less expense than +ever Wilmet conceived. You wrap yourself in your virtue, and refuse to +spend a couple of shillings, as deeming it robbery of the fry at home. +You wear out at least a shilling's worth of boot leather, pay twopence +for a roll and fourpence for a more villainous compound called coffee; +come home in a state of inanition, cram down a quartern loaf and a +quarter of a pound of rancid butter, washed down with weak tea; and if +self-satisfaction and exhaustion combined are soporific, it is only +to leave you a prey to night-mare. Then, to say nothing of poorness +of blood producing paucity of ideas, it is fearful to think of the +doctor's bill you are laying up!'</p> + +<p>'Nonsense, Edgar; I am in perfect health.'</p> + +<p>Edgar went off into a learned dissertation on the qualities of food and +liquor, and the expedience of enriching the blood, and giving substance +to the constitution. He was, in fact, much more robust and athletic, as +well as much taller, than his brother, who looked like one who led an +indoor life without cultivating his strength, but had no token of lack +of health or activity. Always of small appetite, he did not care how +long he fasted, and was so much used to be on his feet, that the long +walk through the streets seemed to fatigue him less than Edgar, who +nevertheless kept with him, as finding real pleasure in his company.</p> + +<p>The only pauses were at the sight of an accordion in a shop window +labelled at so low a price, that Felix ventured on it for Theodore; and +again when Edgar insisted on stuffing his pockets with bon-bons for the +babes, as antidotes, he said, to the Blunderbore diet.</p> + +<p>'I beg to observe, it was not Blunderbore that lived on hasty-pudding. +That was the Welsh giant,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'Ay! Blunderbore had three heads, and was buried up to the neck, +completing the resemblance! Well, some day I'll give you all a hoist, +old fellow, and then you'll be immortalized for having developed the +President of the Royal Academy out of his slough of hides and tallow.'</p> + +<p>Felix went home through the summer twilight, tired and heavy-hearted, +to find Wilmet sitting up over a supper not much less rigorously frugal +than Edgar had foretold. Telling Wilmet was perhaps the worst of it +to Felix. True, she forbore to reprove or lament when she understood +that the deed was actually accomplished, and saw that he was fatigued +and out of spirits; but her 'Indeed! Oh! Felix!' and her involuntary +gesture and attitude of dismay, went as far as a volume of reproach and +evil augury. He was weary beyond vindicating himself or Edgar; but the +next morning, when Wilmet and Angela had started for school, there was +a sense that the cat was away, and Geraldine looking up under her long +black eyelashes, whispered, 'Oh! it is so nice in you to have let him +loose, dear Fee! It was such cruel waste to pin him down there!'</p> + +<p>'It was mockery for him to pretend to work there against the grain, and +live in all that ease and luxury,' said Felix, greatly appreciating +her sympathy. 'That must be so clearly wrong, that the more I think it +over, the more I trust I did right in not trying to make it up again, +as Mr. Audley did.'</p> + +<p>'It was only a pity he did!' said Cherry; 'but of course it was for +your sake, that you might not have him thrown back on your hands.'</p> + +<p>'And for Edgar's own protection too,' said Felix; 'but I cannot think +lazy insufficient work, and constant amusement, otherwise than so +unworthy, that I am sure Mr. Audley would think it more honest and +right to put an end to them, even at some risk.'</p> + +<p>'Risk!' said the little sister, ruffling up her feathers; 'he is sure +to succeed, and you know it.'</p> + +<p>'I did only mean risk in that sense,' said Felix, gravely; 'but I hope +he is safely and satisfactorily placed. Renville seems an excellent +person, and more trustworthy perhaps because he only commits himself to +Edgar's capability.</p> + +<p>'Capability!' contemptuously repeated Cherry. 'No one but you and I +really understand what Edgar can do!'</p> + +<p>'I could have shaken the fellow for his coldness,' said Felix, smiling; +'but no doubt it was right of him, and Edgar will soon show—'</p> + +<p>'That he will! Only look at the beauty and freedom of this outline,' as +she opened her portfolio.</p> + +<p>'Don't beguile me, Cherry; I can't stay. I've all yesterday's work to +make up.'</p> + +<p>'Here are all the proofs, ready. Only just look at the sentence I +marked for you. O Felix, how lucky Edgar has you for a brother, to save +him from being blighted and crushed!'</p> + +<p>'Is that head yours or his? Yours! I should say he was lucky to have +such an unenvious sister. You would draw as well as he if you only had +the teaching.'</p> + +<p>'Oh no, don't say that! It spoils his! Though I do wish my drawing +could be of some use.'</p> + +<p>'Never mind about use. You are our pleasure,' as he saw her +dissatisfied; 'besides, what would <i>Pur</i> (the household abbreviation of +Pursuivant) do without the sub?'</p> + +<p>This was much pleasanter! Cherry smiled at his kiss, and he ran +downstairs, exulting—like herself—in their artist brother's future +fame.</p> + +<p>When he returned to the sitting-room in the evening twilight, the +first voice he heard, through Theodore's humming, was Wilmet's, as in +mitigation—'I daresay he is well educated, and not vulgar.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! but the sound of it!' cried Alice Knevett's voice. 'A mere +tradesman!'</p> + +<p>'Who is the unfortunate?' asked Felix, coming forward.</p> + +<p>'O Mr. Underwood, how you do steal upon one! Yes, I'm furious! Here's +my old friend Florence Spelman—the dearest girl in the world, and so +pretty—gone and engaged herself to young Schneider, of Schneider and +Co., on the tailor's advertisements, you know! It is one of the first +houses in London, and he's very rich and handsome and all that; but +isn't it dreadful? All her friends will have to drop her! And I was so +fond of her.'</p> + +<p>'Is it trade itself, or the kind of trade, that outrages your +feelings?' asked Felix, in a tone of raillery.</p> + +<p>'Oh, a tailor is too horrible! As if all trade wasn't bad enough,' said +Alice, laughing; then recollecting herself she turned, blushing and +confused, to Cherry—'At least—I mean—your brother makes one forget. +He isn't in the least like <i>that!</i>'</p> + +<p>'I never wish to forget anything he is!' said Cherry, proudly looking +up to him.</p> + +<p>'Ah! you don't know what is in my pocket!' said Felix, leaning his back +against the mantleshelf.</p> + +<p>'Oh! what!' cried Alice and Geraldine both together; while Wilmet +looked at him as if she wished to put him in mind of the presence of a +stranger.</p> + +<p>'Guess!' he said.</p> + +<p>'Somebody has left you a fortune! Oh! delightful!' cried Alice, +clasping her hands.</p> + +<p>'Mr. Thomas Underwood will take Edgar's art study on himself,' +exclaimed the more moderate Geraldine.</p> + +<p>'You burn, Cherry. It comes from that quarter. Here's a letter by the +evening's post to offer me, if I have not closed with Mr. Froggatt, to +invest in Kedge and Underwood's concern, and begin with Ł300 a year as +clerk.'</p> + +<p>'It can't be possible,' said Wilmet, the only one to speak, as the +other two girls looked rather blank.</p> + +<p>'Just so far that the deed of partnership here is not signed.'</p> + +<p>'What is the business?' asked Alice.</p> + +<p>'He is a South American merchant, and deals with Rio for hides and +tallow, if you prefer that to books and stationery,' said Felix, in a +would-be light tone.</p> + +<p>'Oh, but a South American merchant! That sounds quite delightful!' +cried Alice. 'And you'll have to live in dear, dear London! How I envy +you!'</p> + +<p>'That must be the effect you had upon him, Felix!' said Cherry, proudly.</p> + +<p>'Well, I thought I had been a specimen of the obstinate,' observed +Felix. 'Here is his letter.'</p> + +<p>He gave it as of right to Wilmet; but other eyes remarked the address +to F. C. Underwood, Esquire, an unusual thing, since, as Mr. Froggatt +had never aspired to the squirehood, Felix made all his brothers and +sisters write only the Mister, and thus entirely deprived himself of +the pleasure of Alda's correspondence.</p> + +<p>'Where will you live? Oh! you'll let me come and stay with you +sometimes!' cried Alice.</p> + +<p>Felix smiled as he answered, 'I'm afraid our house is not built yet.'</p> + +<p>'Miss Pearson's maid for Miss Alice,' said Martha, at the door.</p> + +<p>'Oh dear, how tiresome! but you'll tell me all about it to-morrow. How +horrid it will be here when you are all gone!'</p> + +<p>'We are not gone yet,' said Wilmet, repressively. 'And if you please, +Alice, do not talk of this.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Felix, 'it must be entirely a family matter. I know we can +trust to you.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you! I'm so glad I was there! It is so nice to have a secret of +yours—and this is a beauty! Why, you'll be a great man with a house in +London, just like Mr. Underwood of Centry.'</p> + +<p>'Pleasing ambition,' Cherry could not help muttering, with an ironical +smile, as Alice laughed and nodded herself away.</p> + +<p>'Ready sympathy is a pleasant thing,' returned Felix.</p> + +<p>'You don't mean that you think this feasible?' said Wilmet, with a +negative inflection in her voice.</p> + +<p>'I think it ought to be considered before it is absolutely too late.'</p> + +<p>Both were surprised, having always thought that he considered his +destiny as fixed; and as Geraldine looked on while the other two +discussed pounds, shillings, and pence, it was plain to her that he had +an inclination to the change. The probability of rising, the benefit +of lodging Edgar, the nearness to Alda, the probable openings for the +younger lads, were advantages; but against these Wilmet set the heavy +London house-rent, rates and taxes—from which they were free—the +expense of living, the loss of her present situation, the dangers of +deterioration of health. As to Edgar, his habits must be formed, he +was already in a respectable family, and Lance and Bernard ought not +to be risked for his sake. In fact Wilmet looked on London with a sage +country girl's prudent horror of the great and wicked capital; and +when that experienced man of the world, Felix, tried to prove that she +did it injustice, he was met with a volley of alarming anecdotes. He +hinted that ladies' schools might need teachers there, but was met by +the difficulty of forming a new connection; and when he suggested that +Cherry's talent might be cultivated, Wilmet hotly exclaimed, 'She could +never go about to classes and schools of art!'</p> + +<p>'Not alone, certainly,' said Cherry, wistfully.</p> + +<p>'Edgar is as good as nobody, and I should be of no use in places like +that,' added Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'I'm afraid you don't look very chaperonish,' said Felix, contemplating +the fair exquisitely-moulded face, the more Grecian for the youthful +severity that curved the lip and fixed the eye. 'If we could only turn +her inside out, Cherry, she would be a dozen duennas in one!'</p> + +<p>'And then the Pursuivant. You would not like to desert poor Pur,' added +Cherry.</p> + +<p>'I could do that better in town in some ways.'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Underwood would think that as bad as Edgar's drawing,' said +Wilmet. 'No, no, Felix, you have learnt one business thoroughly, and +it would be foolish to begin a fresh one now. Besides, how about Mr. +Froggatt?'</p> + +<p>'Of course I should do nothing in such haste as to inconvenience +Mr. Froggatt,' said Felix; 'and no one is more anxious for our real +benefit, if this were possible.'</p> + +<p>'But you see it won't do,' reiterated Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Perhaps not,' he answered, with more of a sigh than his sisters +expected.</p> + +<p>Rather nettled, Wilmet set to work with pencil and paper to calculate +expenses; Geraldine looked up at Felix, who had taken up a book, and +began to whistle, 'For a' that, an' a' that.'</p> + +<p>Presently Wilmet, by way of making assurance sure, went off for her +account-book; when he looked up and said,' How should you have liked +this, Cherry?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know. I've not thought. Did you?'</p> + +<p>'I hadn't time before our Pallas Athene settled it; and I believe she +is right, if she would not lay it in quite so hard. It only seemed +a pity to lose our last chance of a lift in life without at least +considering it.'</p> + +<p>'I thought you did not care about lifts in life.'</p> + +<p>'I ought not. But when it is brought home that we have slipped down +two degrees in the social scale, it is tempting to step up one again! +However, it plainly cannot be.'</p> + +<p>Yet when Wilmet mustered her irrefragable figures to prove how much +poorer they would be in London than on their present income at Bexley, +he would not go into details, saying that he wanted to hear no more +about it, in a tone that a little hurt her. He was so uniformly gentle +and gracious, that what would have passed unnoticed in most brothers, +was noticed anxiously in him; and as Wilmet darned his shirt sleeve, +a glistening came between her eyes and her needle, as she felt the +requital of her prudence rather hard. Must all men pant to be out in +the world, and be angry with women for withholding them?</p> + +<p>Nor was Geraldine devoid of the old prick, when she thought of the +degrees in the social scale in connection with the words about +tradesmen and merchants.</p> + +<p>Wilmet was not quite happy without knowing that the letter of refusal +was written, and was more vexed than she liked to show when Felix +laughed at her for supposing he could have made time to write it on a +busy Saturday, even if there had been any London post to send it by. +Poor Alice Knevett got a considerable snubbing for bursting in to ask +the decision, and lamenting over it when she had heard it; but she +stood her ground with a certain pertinacity of her own: and so late in +the evening, that Wilmet had gone up to put Stella to bed, Felix came +up with the letter in his hand. It was so carefully expressed, that +Cherry could not help saying saucily that it was worthy of the editor +of the Pursuivant; while Alice, much impressed by the long words, +enthusiastically broke out, 'It is a most beautiful letter, only it +ought to have said just the other thing!'</p> + +<p>'Why, what would you have done without Cherry?' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'I'd have come to stay with her! And it is such a pity! A merchant is +a gentleman, and I am sure you could get to be anything—a member of +parliament, or a baronet, or—' as if her imagination could not go +farther; but she looked up at him with a dew of eagerness glistening +in her bright hazel eyes. 'I was telling Cherry it does seem such a +dreadful horrible pity that you should be nailed down in this little +hole of a place for life.'</p> + +<p>Felix smiled—a man's superior, gratified, but half melancholy +smile—as he answered, 'At any rate, you won't lose the pleasures of +imagination or of pity.'</p> + +<p>'But I want to see you have the spirit to try,' cried Alice, eagerly. +'I know you could.'</p> + +<p>'It would not be right,' said Felix, sitting down by her, and in full +earnest gentleness and gravity setting before her the reasons that +Cherry had hardly thought it worth while really to explain—namely, the +impossibility of their being able to pay their way and meet the needful +expenses, and the evils of the young, inexperienced household residing +in London, resigning security for dependence.</p> + +<p>Alice, flattered by being treated as a sensible person, said, 'Yes,' +and 'I see,' at all the proper places; then drew a sigh, saying, 'It is +very good in you.'</p> + +<p>'I knew you would see it in the right light,' replied Felix.</p> + +<p>'Oh!' but the sigh recurred. 'I can't help being sorry, you know.'</p> + +<p>'There is nothing to be sorry for,' he said gratefully. 'I was +disappointed at first myself; but for sheer usefulness to one's +neighbour, I believe that this present position, if I have sense +to make use of it rightly, is as good as any; and the mere +desire of station and promotion is—when one comes to look at it +properly—nonsense after all.'</p> + +<p>She opened her eyes in amazement, and made a little exclamation.</p> + +<p>'They may be well when they come,' said Felix in answer; 'but I have +thought it over well to-night, and I see that to do anything doubtfully +right for their sake would be a risk for all that I have no right to +run.'</p> + +<p>Alice hung her head, overcome by the pure air of the region where he +was lifting her; and in a sort of shyness at the serious tone in which +he had spoken, he added, smiling,</p> + +<p>'Then you'll forgive the "sound of it."'</p> + +<p>'O Mr. Underwood,' she said, in the simplest and most earnest voice +that Cherry had ever heard from her, 'I'm ashamed to recollect that +nonsense!'</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h4> + +<h3>WHAT IT MAY LEAD TO.</h3> + +<hr class="r5" /> +<p class="center">'I never was so berhymed since I was an Irish rat, which I can +scarcely remember.'—<i>As You Like It</i>.</p> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +'Dim memories haunt the child,<br /> +Of lives in other beings led—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Other, and yet the same.'—<i>Keble</i>.</span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>In the autumn Alda made a visit at home. She had, as usual, gone with +Mr. and Mrs. Underwood to their German baths, and had there fallen in +with a merry set of her intimates in London, who had persuaded her to +join them in an expedition to the Tyrol, which lasted till the end of +September. On her return, she was dropped at Bexley, where her sisters +were greatly edified by her sketch-book, a perfect journal in clever +scenes and groups, like the 'Voyage en zig-zag.' Two of the gentlemen +seemed always in waiting on the graceful outline that did duty for +Alda; and indeed, she gave Wilmet to understand that only the skill +that played them off one against the other had averted an offer from +each, hundreds of miles from home, when it would have been so very +inconvenient! Every morning Wilmet considered how her dinner would +appear if one or both should suddenly drop in to pursue his courtship.</p> + +<p>Even Felix, though he had pooh-poohed the mysterious whisper from +his sisters, was startled at the apparition of a picturesque figure; +in Tyrolese hat, green knickerbockers, belt, knapsack, loose velvet +coat, and fair moustache, marching full into the shop; and while the +customers who were making it a rendezvous gazed in doubt between +gamekeepers and stage banditti, holding out a hand too fair and dainty +for either character, and exclaiming, 'How are you, Mr. Froggatt! +Hollo, Felix!'</p> + +<p>Mr. Froggatt was amazed beyond measure, and it was only on hearing the +ring of the mirthful laugh that he exclaimed, 'Mr. Edgar! This is an +alteration! You will find the young ladies up-stairs.'</p> + +<p>Felix was disengaged at the moment, and could take him through the +parlour, too glad to have him there at all to utter the faintest wish +that he would have rung at the private door; and he ushered him into +the drawing-room with the words, 'Here's the artist who has begun with +himself;' and then retreated.</p> + +<p>'Edgar! oh, you wonderful boy!' cried happy Geraldine, as he threw his +arms round her; while Alda asked:</p> + +<p>'Is that the <i>thing</i> now, Edgar?'</p> + +<p>'Quite <i>comifo</i>,' he answered. 'Ha, little ones, have you forgotten me?'</p> + +<p>'Stella says you're the clarionet in the brass band,' said Bernard. +'What have you got in that pack?'</p> + +<p>'Munitions of war!' he answered, unstrapping his bag, and producing +packets of French bon-bons, bought on his way home, from the sketching +tour Mr. Renville always made with sundry of his pupils in early +autumn. 'Gobble them up, little mice, before the cat comes home.'</p> + +<p>Stella paused with a dutiful 'May I?' and Cherry had to interfere +between the little maiden's scruples, Bernard's omnivorous inclination, +and Theodore's terror at any new article of food; while Alda and Edgar +exchanged eager question and answer:</p> + +<p>'You've been at home. You've seen them all?'</p> + +<p>'I dined there on Sunday—might do so any day; they can't do without +me, that's a fact.'</p> + +<p>'Nor me, I imagine,' said Alda. 'I suppose I am to go back with you?'</p> + +<p>'So Madam proposed; but the fact is, that Molly has done uncommonly +well without you this time.'</p> + +<p>'What do you mean?' asked Alda, sharply.</p> + +<p>'What think you of a friend of Cherry?'</p> + +<p>'I haven't got any friends.'</p> + +<p>'Think again! Not the great convert, the Cacique of all the Mexicos?'</p> + +<p>'Ferdinand Travis! You don't mean it?'</p> + +<p>'<i>I</i> don't; but the elders mean it, and the youngers will do it.'</p> + +<p>'Do tell me! I can't understand,' cried Alda, much excited. 'We have +never met him.'</p> + +<p>'The uncle or father—which?'</p> + +<p>'The uncle.'</p> + +<p>'Well, the uncle has been in England, and fraternized with our governor +at Peter Brown's; there was a banqueting all round, and his nephew was +carried at his chariot wheels. If I am not much mistaken, gold and +timber jingled to silver and bullock-hide, and concluded a prospective +union in the persons of my nephew and my daughter. I'm sorry. I have +long been persuaded that a very small effort on the part of our +respected Blunderbore might have redeemed the family fortunes in the +person of Polly.'</p> + +<p>'How could you think of anything so absurd?' said Alda. 'As if my uncle +would consent!'</p> + +<p>'If Tom has any sentiment, it is for my father and the name of +Underwood,' said Edgar. 'You remember he was sorely disappointed that +Felix would not step into my shoes.'</p> + +<p>'And very angry and hurt,' said Alda, 'as well he might be.'</p> + +<p>'Yes; but that anger proved the vastness of his good intentions. +Besides there's something about our old giant—steadiness and breeding, +I believe—that uniformly makes Tom knock under to him; and there's a +peculiar affinity of good sense between him and Marilda, that ought to +have ripened under favourable circumstances.'</p> + +<p>'And is he really cut out?' said Alda. 'I don't know how to believe +this! How far has it gone?'</p> + +<p>'Hanger on and oyster in love,' promptly answered Edgar. 'Honest +Polly has the most comical look of anxious coyness on her jolly face, +and holds her elbows squarer than ever; and a few paces off stands +Montezuma, magnificent and melancholic;' and Edgar assumed the posture.</p> + +<p>'Melancholy, no wonder,' said the conscious beauty; 'Edgar, he must be +over head and ears in debt.'</p> + +<p>'So it struck me; but he must have managed it uncommon quietly, for +they call him the Mexican Muff; he's hand and glove with all their +holinesses up at Clement's shop, and the wildest orgie he has been +detected at was their magic-lantern.'</p> + +<p>'Then it is real goodness that draws them together!' exclaimed Cherry, +looking up from her presidency over the comfits.</p> + +<p>'Goodness and a balance,' said Edgar.</p> + +<p>'Did you know,' said Cherry, 'that as soon as he came of age, he paid +the Insurance all the money for the Fortinbras Arms? The agents were +quite overwhelmed, and wanted to put it in the Pursuivant.'</p> + +<p>She was cut short by the return of Wilmet and Angela, accompanied by +Miss Knevett. The effect of Edgar's appearance was startling. Alice +gave a little scream of surprise, Angela crept behind her sisters, and +Wilmet stood for a moment like a stag at gaze; then, as he said, 'Well, +Mettie, are you going to send for the police?' exclaimed, 'You, Edgar! +What a figure you have made of yourself!'</p> + +<p>'See how our eldest crushes me!' said Edgar. 'Such a face as yours, +Mettie, ought not to be wedded to the commonplace.'</p> + +<p>'I suppose it is like German artists,' said Wilmet, trying to resign +herself.</p> + +<p>'It is such a beautiful becoming dress,' whispered Alice to Geraldine; +while Edgar rattled on—'No wonder there is a deterioration in taste +from living in the very tents of the Philistines. Why, Cherry, how do +you bear existence surrounded by such colours as these?'</p> + +<p>'The paper?' asked Wilmet, surprised. 'It is rather a large pattern, to +be sure.'</p> + +<p>'I call it cruelty to animals to shut Cherry up among the eternal +abortive efforts of that gilded trellis to close upon those blue +dahlias, crimson lilacs, and laburnums growing upwards, tied with huge +ragged magenta ribbons. They would wear out my brain.'</p> + +<p>'Well, I think when you remember our old paper, you might be thankful!' +said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Precisely what I do, and am not thankful. What our paper may have been +in its earlier stages of existence, I am not prepared to say; but since +I can remember, that hateful thing, the pattern, could only be traced +by curious researches in dark corners, and the wall presented every +<i>nuance</i> of purplish salmon or warm apricot.'</p> + +<p>'Dear old paper!' cried Cherry. 'Yes; wasn't it soft, deepening off in +clouds and bars, sunsets and storm-clouds, to make stories about?'</p> + +<p>'Where it was most faded and grimy,' said Wilmet. 'It is all +affectation not to be glad to have clean walls.'</p> + +<p>'Clean!' cried Edgar, in horror. 'Defend me from the clean! Bare, bald, +and frigid, with hard lines breaking up and frittering your background. +If walls are ornamented at all, it should not be in a poor material +like paper, but rich silk or woollen tapestry hangings.'</p> + +<p>'We couldn't have tapestry now,' said Alice, in a puzzled voice.</p> + +<p>'Then,</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'"Comrades, take warning by my fall,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And have it strong or not at all."'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>'Not walls,' laughed Cherry.</p> + +<p>'Let them be of natural, or, at any rate, uniform tint; and cover them +with your own designs of some character and purpose, not patterns +bought by the yard.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! I see what you would be at,' said Wilmet quaintly. 'You are +bewailing the loss of your great Man Friday.'</p> + +<p>'Achilles, I beg your pardon.'</p> + +<p>'He never would come out,' said Angela; 'he came through the whitewash +after the measles.'</p> + +<p>'I wonder what the present inhabitants think of him,' said Cherry. 'One +comfort is, if he is a bogy now, they may show him some day as an early +effort of Sir Edgar Underwood, President of the Royal Academy.'</p> + +<p>'Oh dear! I must go!' cried Alice. 'I only came to fetch a pattern for +Aunt Maria, and she is waiting for it; but you are all so delightful +here.'</p> + +<p>'What pretty little thing have you picked up there?' asked Edgar, as +she went.</p> + +<p>'Have we not told you of Miss Pearson's niece?'</p> + +<p>'You should take her likeness, Cherry, as a relief from the classically +severe.'</p> + +<p>Cherry opened her portfolio, and showed two or three water-coloured +drawings of the graceful little head and piquant features. Edgar +criticised, and promised a lesson; and the sitter, nothing loth, though +rather coy, was caught. She blushed and smiled, and took exception at +little personalities, and laughed her forgiveness, going through a play +of countenance very perplexing to the pupil, but much relished by the +master, as he called up the pout and smile by turns, and played with +her little airs.</p> + +<p>He took Alda back on Monday, but promised to come home for Christmas, +and kept his word. Perhaps the Renville <i>wirthschaft</i> afforded less +contrast with home than did the Underwood <i>ménage</i>; and, in spite of +the Philistine furniture, the rooms in the High Street agreed better +with his tastes than the old house in St. Oswald's Buildings. He was +above objecting to the shop; and whereas Clement carefully avoided +the public precincts, he was often there, hunting up books, reading +newspapers, gossiping with Mr. Froggatt or with Redstone, and always +ensuring himself a welcome by the free bright sweetness of his manner +and his amusing talk.</p> + +<p>It was a prosperous winter; Felix, as partner and acknowledged editor, +was in a more comfortable position both as to income and authority. +Other matters were going well. Fulbert, to the general surprise, +turned out a capital letter-writer, and sent home excellent accounts +of himself, working heartily in a situation in the post-office, which +Mr. Audley's Somerville interest had managed to secure for him. +Moreover, all close scholarships had not been abolished, and Felix's +opportunities in the newspaper line had enabled him to discover one at +St. Cadoc's, a small college at Cambridge, to be competed for by the +natives of the county where Clement had fortunately been born. A letter +to the parish clerk of Vale Leston, to ask for the baptismal register +of Edward Clement Underwood, produced a reply from a well-remembered +old Abednego Tripp, who declared himself 'horned and rejoiced' at +hearing from Master Felix, and at being able to do anything for one of +the Reverend Mr. Edward's sons. The competition was not very severe; +Clement obtained the scholarship, and therewith his maintenance for +three years to come; and he was at the same time able to exercise a +bit of patronage on his sisters' behalf, more gratifying to his own +feelings than theirs. Mr. Fulmort's unmarried sisters had lived in +the country with a former governess, until on the death of the elder, +the survivor decided on employing her very considerable fortune in +establishing a school where girls of small means might be prepared +for becoming first-rate governesses, with special openings for the +daughters of poor clergy and of missionaries.</p> + +<p>One of the first families thought of was that of the favourite +chorister; so Angela, now ten years old, was nominated at once, +to the relief of Wilmet, who did not think her romping intimacies +with the girls at Miss Pearson's very desirable. Moreover, after a +correspondence between Miss Fulmort and Miss Lyveson, it was decided +that Robina should be transferred to the new school at Brompton with +her sister, partly by way of infusing a trustworthy element, and partly +that her studies might be perfected by London masters. Robina, whose +allegiance to Miss Lyveson was most devoted, was greatly grieved, but +she was a reasonable, womanly little being, aware that governess-ship +was her profession, and resolute to qualify herself; so though she +came home with tell-tale spots under her eyes, she replied to all +condolences with, 'I know it's right, what must be must;' and her +spirits rose when Lance came home, bound only to return during the +holidays on two or three special days when his voice was indispensable +at the cathedral.</p> + +<p>Edgar and he together kept the house in continual merriment, so that +the sober pillars of the house found themselves carried along, they +knew not whither.</p> + +<p>'I have had a serious application,' said Felix one evening. 'A solemn +knock came to the office door, and an anxious voice came in—"Please, +brother, I want to speak to you." There stood the little Star! I +thought at least she had broken the chandelier, but no such thing. It +was, "Please, brother, mayn't I have a birth-day?"'</p> + +<p>'Poor little darling!' cried some voices.</p> + +<p>'What could have put it into her head?' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'She said all little girls had birth-days, and Ellen Bruce had told +Angel all about the dance in honour of hers.'</p> + +<p>'Ah!' said Wilmet, 'we'll have Angel out of the way of that kind of +chatter.'</p> + +<p>'Poor little maid! of course I had to quench her,' said Felix, 'as far +as her own day was concerned. I told her more about it than she had +ever heard, but then she took me aback by saying Father was happy, and +she thought he would like her to be happy.'</p> + +<p>'You didn't consent!' exclaimed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'I represented that it was Theodore's birth-day as well, and that +strangers would make him miserable. She was really very good, and I +want you just to consider whether we could not do something—of course +on a different day—but in the course of the holidays, by way of treat. +Surely you could invite some of Miss Pearson's pupils.'</p> + +<p>'I don't like to begin, Felix,' said Wilmet; 'there would be +reciprocity, and no one knows where it might lead to.'</p> + +<p>'A few white muslin frocks—eh, W. W.? I think we could stand them.'</p> + +<p>'That is not all I mean,' said Wilmet; 'it is the sort of style of +thing. It would be all very well to have a few little girls here, but +they would all ask us again, and I could not answer for what might +happen at their homes.'</p> + +<p>'It is out!' said Edgar. 'Now we know the sort of style of thing it +might lead to. Minerva under a mistletoe bough.'</p> + +<p>'Hurrah!' burst out Lance, in convulsions of mirth, which infected +Felix and Cherry; while Wilmet, as simple as she was discreet, blushed +up to the tips of her ears, and tried to defend herself.</p> + +<p>'They tell me of doings at their parties that are what I should not +like for our little girls, and I don't think you would, Felix.'</p> + +<p>'Forfeits, to wit?' asked Edgar. 'Or cards, or waltzing. You may as +well be explicit, Mettie.'</p> + +<p>'No, no,' said Felix, 'Mettie shall not be teased: she is right in the +main.' But his <i>tone</i> was that he always used when her prudence was too +much for him.</p> + +<p>'And the family refinement is to be secured by sitting in ashes all +Christmas,' said Edgar. 'Slightly unchristian, it strikes me.'</p> + +<p>'But,' continued Felix, 'out of these domestic ashes, we <i>must</i> get up +some sport for the children. I stand committed to Stella.'</p> + +<p>'Shall I get Bill Harewood, and do Box and Cox?' suggested Lance.</p> + +<p>'Might we not get up something they could take part in themselves?' +said Cherry; 'Cinderella, or some such little play?—Edgar, you know +how to manage such things.'</p> + +<p>'Wilmet doesn't know where they would lead to,' gravely responded Edgar.</p> + +<p>'To Lance's going off with a circus,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'I always had a great mind to do so,' responded Lance. 'To sing comic +songs on one leg on a spotted horse's back, and go about day and night +in a yellow van drawn by elephants—I call that life!'</p> + +<p>'Secure a berth for me as scene-painter!' cried Edgar. 'See how I'd +draw a house by the very outline of Mazeppa outside!'</p> + +<p>'And Felix will print all our advertisements gratis!'</p> + +<p>'Oh!' broke in Cherry; 'I have a notion. Couldn't we make a play of the +conjuror in disguise? It is Dr. Knowall in German popular tales, Robin +the Conjuror in English.'</p> + +<p>'Nothing foolish, I hope?' seriously asked Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Oh no. Don't you recollect? The story is, that a set of thieves steal +a jewel, a man comes shamming conjuror and offering to find it for the +owner, intending to trust to chance, and feast at her expense as long +as he is not found out.'</p> + +<p>'I remember!' exclaimed Lance; 'you used to tell us the story. Somebody +suspects him, and brings a creature shut up in a covered dish to ask +him to tell what it was—and it happens to be a robin; so when he cries +out, "Oh, poor Robin!" thinking himself done for, out hops the bird, +and the enemy is sold.'</p> + +<p>'Yes; and then he counts his dinners every day, and the thieves who +have come to look on think he is counting them, and throw themselves on +his mercy.'</p> + +<p>'It has capabilities,' said Edgar.</p> + +<p>'But the moral!' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'What! Not the lesson against dealing with conjurors?' demanded Edgar. +'I'll undertake to arm your pupils against spirit-rapping for ever.'</p> + +<p>'In that point of view—' said Wilmet doubtfully.</p> + +<p>'In that point of view,' said Felix, laughing, 'it has my vote.'</p> + +<p>'I don't like deception to succeed,' said Wilmet; 'but at least there's +none of the worst sort of nonsense.'</p> + +<p>Lance leapt up and performed a <i>pas seul</i>, insisting that Bill Harewood +must come and be a robber; and Edgar and Cherry instantly had their +heads together as playwrights and managers.</p> + +<p>'Never mind, Wilmet,' said Felix at their bed-room doors that night. +'Remember, Father never was a man for all work and no play.'</p> + +<p>'I don't mind play, but I don't know what this may lead to;' then, +as Felix laughed merrily at the repetition, she followed him into +his room, saying, 'I mean, I have no trust in Edgar's discretion, or +Lance's either, and all sorts of things may be put into the children's +heads.'</p> + +<p>'You can't keep children's heads a blank,' said Felix; 'and Edgar's +good taste ought to be trusted in his own home, for his own sisters. +Even you might stretch a few points to keep him happy and occupied with +Cherry. Besides, I believe we do live a duller life than can be really +good for any one. It can't be right to shut up all these young things +all their holidays without any pleasure.'</p> + +<p>'I thought,' said Wilmet, her eyes growing moist, 'it was pleasure +enough to be all at home together.'</p> + +<p>'So it is, to staid old fogies like you and me,' said Felix, kissing +her; 'but the young ones want a lark now and then, and I confess I +should be immensely disappointed if this fun didn't come off. No, no, +W. W., I can't have you an old cat; you are much too young and pretty.'</p> + +<p>The levity of this conclusion shocked Wilmet beyond remonstrance. Was +Felix falling from his height of superiority, or was her strictness +wearisome?</p> + +<p>Meantime, Geraldine's brain was ringing with doggrel rhymes, and +whirling with stage contrivances, in the delight of doing something +with Edgar, whether versifying or drawing; and as Felix said, to keep +him happy at home for Christmas was no small gain, even though it +brought a painful realisation that their feast was not his feast.</p> + +<p>Geraldine suffered in silence, for a word from her was always put +down by some tender jest, avowing as much inferiority in goodness as +superiority in intellect. As to Clement, Edgar's sport was to startle +him with jokes, dilemmas, and irreverences, and then to decline +discussion on the ground that he never argued with <i>sisters</i>, and that +Clement would understand when he went to Cambridge. Otherwise, the +subject was avoided at home; but Edgar consorted a good deal with Mr. +Ryder, calling him the only person in the town, except Cherry, who +knew the use of a tongue; and one day, when Felix was assisting his +old master in a search through old newspapers in the reading-room, Mr. +Ryder said, 'By-the-by, your brother Edgar has a good deal more of the +talk of the day than you can be prepared for.'</p> + +<p>'I am afraid so, sir,' said Felix; 'but he does not put it forth much +at home.'</p> + +<p>'So I hoped. It would have startled your father a good deal; but I +believe myself acting in the spirit of his wishes in letting him talk +out his crudities.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you, sir,' said Felix, not quite knowing how to take this.</p> + +<p>'It is a phase to be passed through,' said Mr. Ryder. 'Indeed, a good +deal of it is fashion and vanity.'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Audley thinks so,' replied Felix. 'He said he thought poor Edgar +did not think enough to have real doubt, but that he considered other +people's a dispensation from attending to the subject at all.'</p> + +<p>'Exactly,' said Mr. Ryder, 'except so far as repeating what he has +caught up seems to him knowing, and according to the spirit of the +time, fit to dazzle us down here. Whatever may deepen him will probably +change all that—I do not say into what you or your father would wish; +but what is jargon now will pass away into something more real, for +better or—'</p> + +<p>'For worse?' asked Felix anxiously, as he paused.</p> + +<p>'I do not say so,' returned Mr. Ryder. 'Perhaps what I chiefly wished +at this moment was to clear myself in your eyes of treachery to your +father.'</p> + +<p>'No, sir, that I never could suspect.'</p> + +<p>But the conversation might well leave heaviness behind it. Was it come +to Edgar's views being such as to startle Mr. Ryder! who, for that +matter, had of late shown much less laxity of opinion than in his +younger and more argumentative days; and there was little comfort in +supposing that these were not real honest doubts at all, only apologies +for general carelessness and irreligion.</p> + +<p>Yet with even this trouble in the recess of the heart, this was the +merriest winter the Underwood household had known since their father's +time.</p> + +<p>Edgar chose to frame the play upon the Italian form of the story, where +the impostor is a starveling poet, nicknamed Signor Topo, or Master +Ratton, because his poverty had brought him to live in a hay-loft. This +character he assumed, and no doubt it fitted him better than either the +English cobbler or the German doctor; besides, as he said, sham court +costume is always the easiest to contrive: but Cherry was by no means +prepared to find the Rat-like poet the secret admirer of a daughter of +the Serene Highness who owned the jewel.</p> + +<p>'Such a monstrous interpolation,' quoth Geraldine.</p> + +<p>'Interpolations are the beauty of the thing. It would be as flat as a +pancake without.'</p> + +<p>'And Wilmet won't like it.'</p> + +<p>'Wilmet must be brought to the level of ordinary human nature.'</p> + +<p>'I don't feel as if this were using her well. You know she expressly +consented to this "because there was no nonsense in it."'</p> + +<p>'<i>I.e.</i> if it had been Cinderella, it would have been improper; if the +Sleeping Beauty, highly scandalous. Eh, Chérie?'</p> + +<p>'You know I think Mettie <i>does</i> carry her scruples pretty far,' said +Geraldine, trying not to laugh, 'but I won't be a party to cheating +her; and if this young princess is to come in, she must be told of it.'</p> + +<p>'Or she will take out her Gorgon's head in the midst, and petrify +her subjects! Maybe it will be safest to prepare her. You see, such +discipline reigns here, that a poor Bohemian like me doesn't know where +to be.'</p> + +<p>Accordingly, Edgar said in his airy way, 'O Mettie, by-the-by, we have +put in a part for little Miss Knevett.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed! I thought it was to be all among ourselves. Have you spoken to +her?'</p> + +<p>'Of course; and she is in the ecstatic state of preparation of spangles +and coronets.'</p> + +<p>'I wish you had spoken before. It would be hard to disappoint her now. +What is she to be?'</p> + +<p>'Nothing less than heroine. There must be some sort of conventional +catastrophe, or the whole concern falls flat.'</p> + +<p>'I don't see why it should not fall flat,' said Wilmet, with a sober +air that drove Cherry into an uncontrollable convulsion of laughter; +'it would amuse the children just as well.'</p> + +<p>'The children of six, maybe,' said Edgar gravely, 'but hardly the +children of sixteen. Have you no mercy on them, my venerable sister?'</p> + +<p>Wilmet had arrived at such a pass of resignation as to perceive that +'a fuss' on her part might be more mischievous than any 'nonsense' in +which Edgar was likely to indulge in public, especially with Geraldine +as his coadjutor. She tried to obtain some reassurance that there was +'nothing more silly than needful in this play of yours.'</p> + +<p>'No, indeed. There is just a little mock courtship; but as that is the +case with nine-tenths of the stories in the world, I don't think you +gain much by turning it out.'</p> + +<p>'I did hope for once in a way we ourselves might be quit of it.'</p> + +<p>'It is hard on you,' said Cherry, smiling; 'but it would make a great +uproar to disturb all now.'</p> + +<p>'At any rate, I have found the old receipt for tea-cakes,' responded +Wilmet, whose mind was almost as much preoccupied with the +entertainment of the body as her sister's with that of the mind.</p> + +<p>She had relented so far as to invite two little girls and their widowed +mother, from whom there was no danger of reciprocities; Lance had +prevailed to have Will Harewood as one of the robbers; and the Miss +Pearsons were coming to behold their niece; besides which, Stella +having imparted the great secret to Mr. Froggatt, Felix found the +good old gentleman and his wife burning to have an invitation. Thus +the party would be the largest Wilmet had ever contemplated; and the +mysteries of tea and supper were so congenial to her housewifely soul, +that she did not distress herself about the frequent rehearsals in Miss +Pearson's empty school-room, the transformations of garments under the +needles of Cherry and Robina, nor even the wildness and ecstacy of +all the children from Lance downwards, all bursting with secrets, and +letting them out at every corner of their grinning mouths.</p> + +<p>It must soon be over, and Felix seemed to be enjoying it thoroughly; +and Wilmet could tolerate a great deal when either Felix or Alda +enjoyed. He was much too busy with Christmas accounts to undertake any +part that needed learning; but he was pressed into the service as a +courtier, only with a dispensation from either speaking or rehearsing; +while Wilmet utterly scouted any idea of taking any share in the drama, +having enough to do in her own character.</p> + +<p>And in that character she was left alone to entertain the guests, for +even Cherry was in request as prompter and assistant dresser—nay, +with the assistance of Theodore's accordion, formed the whole band of +musicians at the ball which opened the performance, and which required +the entire <i>corps dramatique</i>. Robina, as the Elderly Princess, +demonstratively dropped her bracelet, with a ruby about as big as a +pigeon's egg (being the stopper of a scent-bottle), and after the +dancers had taken some trouble not to step on it, they retired, and it +was stolen by the gang of robbers, cloaked up to their corked eyebrows +and moustaches.</p> + +<p>Then appeared in his loft—supplied with straw culled from packages at +the printing-house—the poet, well got up in his knickerbockers and +velvet smoking-cap, scarf and guitar, soliloquising in burlesque rhyme +on his fallen state and hopeless admiration, and looking very handsome +and disconsolate, until startled by the cry behind the scenes—</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 10%;"> +'O yes! O yes! O yes!<br /> +By command of her Highness!<br /> +Lost, stolen, or strayed,<br /> +Gone to the dogs or mislaid,<br /> +Her Highness's splendid ruby.<br /> +Whoso finds it—wit or booby,<br /> +Tinker, tailor, soldier, lord—<br /> +Let him ask what he will, he shall have his reward.'<br /> +</p> + +<p>Thereupon the poet, communicating his designs in a stage soliloquy, +disguised himself in a tow wig and beard, and a railway rug turned up +with yellow calico; and the scene shifting to the palace, he introduced +himself to the Elderly Princess as the greatest of spiritualists—so +great, that—</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 10%;"> +'Detective police are an ignorant fable;<br /> +No detective can equal a walnut-wood table.'<br /> +</p> + +<p>But he required as a medium a maiden fair and lovely, but with a +heart as yet untouched, otherwise the spirits might be offended. The +only lady who was available was, of course, the youthful princess +Fiordespina, whose alarm and reluctance had been contrived so as to be +highly flattering to the disguised poet.</p> + +<p>The dinner scenes, at which the robbers presented themselves in turn, +and imagined that they heard themselves counted, went off in due order; +also the test, when the courtiers tried to pose the spiritualist with +making him divine what they brought him in a covered dish, and were +disconcerted by his sighing out,</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 10%;"> +'Alas! alas! see envy batten<br /> +On the unhappy Master Ratton!'<br /> +</p> + +<p>while the rat leaped out from beneath the lid!</p> + +<p>Then came the avowal by the robber: but the conclusion was so far +varied, that the jewel having been judiciously hidden, the poet made +use of his voice and his guitar to throw the Lady Fiordespina into a +mesmeric sleep before the court, and then to cause a table to rap out +the letters, which she interpreted so as to lead to the spot.</p> + +<p>It was the prettiest scene of all, his music and song were so graceful; +and in spite of some suppressed giggling, the attitude and countenance +of Fiordespina were so very pretty in her trance. Nothing more was left +save the restoration of the ruby, the claiming of the reward, and the +final tableau, in which Ratton and Fiordespina, in their native good +mien, had their hands joined by the benignant Elderly Princess; while, +to the equal amusement and confusion of all, good old Mrs. Froggatt +fairly burst out crying with excitement and admiration!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Vincent, the young widow, was likewise enchanted, and so was Miss +Maria Pearson; but Wilmet could not quite fathom the tone of the elder +and graver sister, or decide whether it were her own dissatisfaction +that made her think Miss Pearson had not expected to see such a <i>role</i> +bestowed upon her niece.</p> + +<p>The doors between the drawing-room and the theatre were opened again; +the boys handed round negus and lemonade; and Felix, standing over +Cherry, said, 'Lance's circus speculation would not be a bad one. +There's plenty of dramatic talent in the family.'</p> + +<p>'Did you like it, Felix?'</p> + +<p>'I could tell exactly which parts were yours and which Edgar's,' was +the ambiguous answer, as he turned to secure the Princess Fiordespina +for the dance that was to crown the performance.</p> + +<p>'O Mr. Underwood! Oh yes, thank you! but—'</p> + +<p>'Is it part of the programme that wizard and medium should dance +together?'</p> + +<p>'Oh no! Only it seems so funny to think of your dancing.'</p> + +<p>'What, you thought a stationer must be stationary?'</p> + +<p>'O Mr. Underwood, what a shocking pun!' and she was led off sparkling +with pretty laughter; while the Conjuror, muttering,</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'The gouty oak began to move</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And flounder into hornpipes,'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>turned graciously on little Susie Vincent, and scared as much as he +elevated her, by claiming her as his partner.</p> + +<p>Will Harewood, dashing across the room, and looking earnestly with his +bold and now flushed face up to Wilmet, blurted out, 'Miss Underwood, +now please, let me dance with you.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you,' she said graciously; 'but I believe I must play for them.'</p> + +<p>'I'll do that,' said Clement, over her head.</p> + +<p>'The Dead March in Saul?' murmured Edgar.</p> + +<p>'Nonsense!' broke out Mrs. Vincent, starting up; 'what am I good for +but to play?'</p> + +<p>So Clement, who thought he had found an escape, was reduced to the +necessity of asking the other little Vincent; and Wilmet's smile of +consent so elated Bill Harewood, that he could not help flying across +to that very happy and well-matched pair, the Elderly Princess and +First Robber, to tell them, 'I've got her.'</p> + +<p>'Who?'</p> + +<p>'Why, your sister.'</p> + +<p>'You've never been and made up to Wilmet!' said Lance, as if this +instance of valour crowned his merits.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I have; and she will. You see there ain't another gentleman out +of the family except the old Froggy, and the little one has got him. +Well, I always wished beyond anything to dance with Miss Underwood!'</p> + +<p>'Did you?' said Robina. 'I never should have thought of that.'</p> + +<p>'Most likely not,' said Bill; 'but she is the most beautiful woman I +ever did or shall see in all my life;' and he flew back to her side.</p> + +<p>'Is she?' said Robina, altogether amazed.</p> + +<p>'Well, perhaps,' said Lance; 'you know one might go a long way without +finding any one so handsome.'</p> + +<p>'Then I wish people wouldn't say so. It seems making our Wilmet common, +like any other girl, to care for her being pretty.'</p> + +<p>'So Froggy's dancing with Stella,' observed Lance. 'I declare I'll try +if Mrs. Frog won't stand up with me. Some one ought. You'll not mind +waiting, Bobbie. It is not often one has the chance to dance with a cap +like that.'</p> + +<p>Bobbie resigned herself amicably; and Lance, with his bright arch face, +made his bow and half polite, half saucy addresses to Mrs. Froggatt in +her magnificent head-gear, making her laugh herself almost to tears +again as she declined. He held the Miss Pearsons in greater awe, and +ventured on neither; so that Robina had him for Sir Roger de Coverley, +where the sole contretemps arose from Angel and Bear being in such +boisterous spirits that Wilmet decreed that they must not be partners +again. Of the rest, some had a good deal of dancing-master experience; +Mrs. Harewood's impromptu merry-makings had afforded plenty of practice +to the two choristers; even Clement had had a certain school-feast +training; and Felix, with a good ear, ready eye, and natural ease +of movement, acquitted himself to Miss Knevett's eagerly expressed +admiration.</p> + +<p>'Take care, Master Ratton will be jealous,' said Edgar, as he claimed +her for the next dance, a quadrille.</p> + +<p>'Jealous! oh no! Some people one never thinks of complimenting.'</p> + +<p>Cherry caught the words, and wondered what they meant.</p> + +<p>A few more dances, and then came Wilmet's anxiously contrived supper.</p> + +<p>'I say,' observed Will Harewood to Lance, 'why can't we have things +like this at home?'</p> + +<p>''Tisn't their nature to,' judiciously responded Lance.</p> + +<p>'This cream is quite up to the grub we get after a crack let-off in +the Close,' added Will; for requisitions for their voices at private +concerts had made the choir connoisseurs in the relics of feasts.</p> + +<p>'Better, I should say,' returned Lance. 'Mettie doesn't make it of +soap, or arsenic, or verdigris, like old Twopenny.'</p> + +<p>'What! you don't mean that she made it herself?'</p> + +<p>'Of course! who else should?'</p> + +<p>'My eyes! And to see her looking like that!' Then, with a deep sigh, +'If I could only book her for my wife on the spot!'</p> + +<p>Whence it may be inferred, that Stella's birth-day party was not only a +brilliant success, but might, in Wilmet's phrase, 'lead to something.' +All it seemed to have led to at present was a discovery on the part of +the good Miss Pearsons, that the household they had been wont to pity +as small orphan children, now contained three fine young men.</p> + +<p>At least Geraldine connected this with the desire they expressed that +Alice might enjoy the same opportunities as Robina of giving her +acquirements a final polish, up to diploma pitch. A correspondence +commenced, resulting in Miss Knevett being engaged as teacher, +being remunerated by lessons in languages and accomplishments. The +arrangement gave universal satisfaction; Cherry could not detect any +regret on the part of Felix; Alice would still spend her holidays +with her aunts; and the sense that her departure was near made the +intercourse between the two houses more frequent and familiar than it +had ever yet been.</p> + +<p>One evening Cherry, while looking up a quotation for Felix in +Southey's '<i>Doctor</i>,' lit on his quaint theory of the human soul +having previously migrated through successive stages of vegetable and +animal life, and still retaining something characteristic from each +transmigration. Her brothers were a good deal tickled with the idea; +and Lance exclaimed, 'I know who must have been rhubarb, queen-wasp, +and a hen-harrier.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, that's too bad!' cried Robina.</p> + +<p>'Why a hen-harrier?' asked Felix, recognising, like almost all the +others.</p> + +<p>'One of the birds of prey where the female is bigger than her mate,' +drily observed Edgar.</p> + +<p>'Besides,' said Cherry, 'recollect the hen-harrier's countenance in +pictures, with beady eyes, and a puffed supercilious smile about the +beak.'</p> + +<p>'Why, that's Lady Price!' chimed in Alice, making the discovery at last.</p> + +<p>Lengthily and gravely Edgar uttered the words, 'Puzzle-monkey, praying +mantis, sacred stork, howler.'</p> + +<p>Lance and Robin roared with merriment, and after one glance at +Clement's half virtuous, half offended countenance, Felix and Cherry +fell into like convulsions; while Alice exclaimed, 'But who is it?' +and Angel shouted the sufficiently evident answer, 'Clement, oh! the +howler, the black preaching monkey in a natural surplice!'</p> + +<p>'I can't think how you do it!' exclaimed Alice.</p> + +<p>'I object to the mantis,' Cherry struggled to say. 'Nasty hypocritical +creature that eats things up.'</p> + +<p>'Praying for its living, eh, Cherry?' said wicked Edgar. 'If you had +ever seen the long thin animal, with head back, hands joined, and pious +attitude, you couldn't doubt.'</p> + +<p>And as he spoke he sketched his mischievous likeness, at which +the mirth grew more furious; while Cherry, always the most easily +excited, uttered in a strangled voice, 'A parsnip, a barn-door hen, a +dilapidated Guernsey cow, an old mother whale.'</p> + +<p>'O Cherry, Cherry, you've immortalized yourself!' shouted Lance. 'How +did you hit off the parsnip? the very thing that had stumped me.'</p> + +<p>'The colour, and the odd sort of sweetness,' said Cherry.</p> + +<p>'Won't we have fun with it when I go back!' cried Lance.—'Not tell? +Nonsense! Why, no one will enjoy it like Mother Harewood herself.'</p> + +<p>'Only don't say I made it. There, Edgar has got one.'</p> + +<p>'Touch-me-not balsam, blister-fly, bantam-cock (full strut), black +terrier.'</p> + +<p>He did not caricature this time except with the muscles of his face, +and with these he contrived to put on four different aspects, each +so exactly like Mr. Mowbray Smith that not even Alice required the +proclamation of the name; and Wilmet gravely said, 'I do not think this +is a proper sort of game. It must be ill-natured or irreverent.'</p> + +<p>'That depends,' said Geraldine, now thoroughly in the swing.—'Here! +Hawthornden apple-tree, stickleback, goldfinch, beaver.'</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'The hardy Norseman's house of yore</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Was on the foaming wave,'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>sang out Lance, recalling Theodore's substitute for Felix's name.</p> + +<p>'Exactly like—figures, tastes, and all,' said Edgar, scanning Felix's +clear, bright, fresh face, glossy hair, and rather short figure, at +once trim and sturdy. 'The goldfinch hit him off exactly, but I don't +see the force of the apple-tree.'</p> + +<p>'You would,' said Cherry, 'if you were properly acquainted with our +three trees and their individualities. The Hawthornden is a resolute +looking fellow, but it indulges in the loveliest pink and white +blossoms, and waxen, delicate, peachy fruit.'</p> + +<p>'Uncommonly sour! Thank you, Cherry,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'Not in a pie,' suggested Alice.</p> + +<p>'Properly treated and sweetened, eh?' asked he, smiling on her.</p> + +<p>'But why is Felix like a stickleback?' said Angela.</p> + +<p>'Don't you know?' said Cherry; 'a beautiful bright little fish, and the +good male one swims up and down taking care of the nest.'</p> + +<p>'I do like the beaver,' allowed Wilmet. 'It always was my favourite +beast.'</p> + +<p>'It hits off the respectable householder element,' added Edgar. 'Three +flaps of his broad tail rule beaverdom like Jupiter's nod.'</p> + +<p>'I have one,' interposed Robina.—'Bella-donna lily, working bee, +menura—'</p> + +<p>'Hold hard!' called Lance; 'is a menura fish, flesh, or fowl?'</p> + +<p>'Fowl: the lyre-tailed pheasant, that makes a shelter for its nest with +its own tail.'</p> + +<p>'Decided liar tale,' muttered Edgar.</p> + +<p>'Go on, Bobbie,' Felix encouraged her. 'The pheasant suits both the +twins as well as the bella-donna. Any more?'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps the leading stag of the herd.'</p> + +<p>'Don't make us like that proud, cowardly, tyrannical beast,' exclaimed +Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'I have seen you look exactly like one,' said Geraldine. 'That and the +pheasant both give the notion of your neck.'</p> + +<p>'Such a set of trumpery gaudy things!' grumbled Wilmet. 'Nothing but +the bee is tolerable.'</p> + +<p>'I did think of a speckled Hamburg hen, and a nice quiet she-goat,' +said Robina; 'but they are all dowdy, and would not suit Alda.'</p> + +<p>'There's something in the theory,' said Edgar. 'That bella-donna +approves itself perfectly—so delicate and stately, and yet so +essentially unpoetical.'</p> + +<p>'That Mettie takes as a compliment,' said Felix, 'only she would rather +have been a potato, or a cabbage.'</p> + +<p>'Now,' said Cherry, 'you will all know—bell-heather, the grasshopper, +the lark, and the squirrel.'</p> + +<p>'Is this the lark's crest, or the squirrel's tail?' said Felix, giving +an elder brother's pull to the boy's highest wave of hair.</p> + +<p>'Or the grasshopper's leap?' cried Lance, springing on him for a bout +of buffeting and skirmishing; in the midst of which Alice was heard +wondering how the riddles, as she thought them, were either made or +guessed.</p> + +<p>'They come,' said Geraldine. 'I am only afraid we shall fall into a +trick of making them for everybody.'</p> + +<p>'I wonder what you would make for me.'</p> + +<p>Geraldine had it on her tongue's end that Alice would be difficult, for +want of anything distinctive; but Felix and Edgar were both jotting +something down, and Robina was beforehand with either—'Scarlet +pimpernel, tortoiseshell butterfly, budgerigar, marmoset.'</p> + +<p>No one answered, for Felix had pushed a slip of paper over to Alice, +on which she read—'"Forget-me-not, ladybird, linnet, kitten." I don't +think I ever saw a linnet. Isn't it a little brown bird?'</p> + +<p>'With a rich glow of red, and a beautiful song,' said Felix, smiling; +and the red glowed redder on her cheek, as she said, laughing, 'Kitten +for mischief, eh? For shame, Mr. Underwood!—What, another! Dear me, I +shall not know myself!'</p> + +<p>This had been slipped into her hand; and Cherry suspected that her +exclamation had been a mistake of which she was conscious, as the +colour deepened on her already blushing cheeks, and her eyes were +cast down, while a demure smile played on her lips. The incautious +exclamation had betrayed her, and the young ones clamoured to hear +Edgar's view of her transmigration; but there was a little coy struggle +of 'Oh no, she wouldn't, and she couldn't.'</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'She smiled and blushed, and oft did say</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Her pretty oath by yea or nay.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>And in the midst came the message that the maid was arrived to take +her home; and this being a cross stiff personage, who might never be +kept waiting, she had to hurry away; and had no sooner gone than Angela +burst out with, 'Here it is! I've got it! Listen to it: "Say, Lady—"'</p> + +<p>'Stay, Angela,' interrupted Felix. 'You have no business with that.'</p> + +<p>'Not Edgar's fun!' she exclaimed. 'Why, where is he?'</p> + +<p>'Surely he is not going home with her!' said Wilmet in some dismay.</p> + +<p>'Oh, but it is such fun,' went on Angela, 'only I can't make it out. +You read it, Lance.'</p> + +<p>'Did she give it you?' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'No, I whipped it up when she dropped it. There's something about +Ratton in it.'</p> + +<p>Felix quietly took the paper out of her hand, folded it, and put it +into an envelope. 'You take it back to her the first thing to-morrow,' +he said. 'Now go to bed.'</p> + +<p>Angela durst not oppose that tone, so unusually serious and +authoritative; but she contrived to prolong her good-nights, and the +putting away of her goods, with a kind of half droll, half sullen +resignation; and just as Wilmet was hurrying her off, Edgar returned. +He always spoilt Angela a little, and she sprang to him with a kind of +droll pout. 'You'll not be cross, Edgar. You'll let us hear Alice's +transmigrations. Look! here's Felix bottled them up in an envelope, and +won't let us peep at them! But you'll let me hear. You won't order me +off to bed.'</p> + +<p>Cherry fancied she saw a disconcerted look on his face when he saw the +envelope held up to him; but if so, it instantly gave place to the +mischievous entertainment of defeating a lesson on discretion.—'The +heads of the family must assert themselves sometimes, my dear, even +about nothing,' he said consolingly.</p> + +<p>'Indeed,' said Wilmet, bristling in defence of Felix, 'of course we +knew it was nothing. It was only very ill-mannered and wrong of Angela +to go prying into what was not meant to be shown.'</p> + +<p>'I'm sure,' said Edgar most ungratefully, 'it might be posted on the +church door for what I care, except for its intrinsic vileness.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, let's have it! let's have it!' burst out Lance and Robina, who had +been burning with curiosity all the time.</p> + +<p>'Don't let us have them murdered, whatever they are,' said Edgar, +taking them into his own hand. 'Pity the sorrows of a poor wretch +seduced into one of your horrid <i>jeux d'esprit</i>—a lady's excuse for +fishing for compliments that sound more than they mean. Here goes, +then:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'Say, Lady, what existence past</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Thine essence hath enfolded;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">What humble antecedent cast</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Thy present self hath moulded.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'The hawthorn bush, with blossom white</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Veiling her branches pricking;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The painted lady, fluttering light,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">The rash pursuer tricking.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'Grass paraquit, who loves to sit</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">In clustering rows and chat on;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Caressing, purring, traitor kit,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Fatal to Master Ratton.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>'There, ladies and gentlemen, I hope you are satisfied,' he concluded, +letting his performance float into the fire; 'the metaphors, to say the +least, are startling, but that is the fault of the game.'</p> + +<p>'I don't enter into it all,' said Cherry.</p> + +<p>'Not likely another of the grass paraquits would, my dear,' said Edgar.</p> + +<p>'And it is exactly what Robin made her,' said Angela; 'both that and +the butterfly; and Felix, the kitten. You didn't borrow of course. How +funny!'</p> + +<p>'But I didn't make her inconstant,' said Robin; 'that is not fair.'</p> + +<p>'Not when you made her a butterfly, and the shepherd's weather-glass +too!'</p> + +<p>'I never thought of that, only their being both bright, dark, sparkling +things; and Felix has the forget-me-not, by way of antidote.'</p> + +<p>'I do not think such things are wise,' pronounced Wilmet. 'And, +by-the-by, Edgar, it has always been the custom that nobody should walk +home with Alice. Miss Pearson would not like it, and it would make a +talk.'</p> + +<p>Edgar laughed. 'Dear W. W., let it not trouble you! What it may lead +to is a bugbear to you. You can't think how much younger and more +agreeable you will be when you have learnt that there can be passages +that lead to nothing.'</p> + +<p>Geraldine went to bed uncomfortable and perplexed. Before she was +dressed in the morning, Alice darted in. 'Cherry, I'm so vexed; I +dropped that paper. Do you think it is here?'</p> + +<p>'No; Angel picked it up, and Edgar read us the verses, and then threw +them into the fire.'</p> + +<p>'Burnt them!'</p> + +<p>'Yes; he said the worst of such games was that they force one to pay +compliments that may be taken to mean more than they do.'</p> + +<p>Cherry spoke under a stern sense of virtue doing a service to Alice; +and when the quick answer came, 'He didn't say that, I'm sure it was +Wilmet,' she asseverated, 'Indeed he did. I don't confuse in that way. +It is a very good warning not to dwell on what gentlemen may say in +mere play.'</p> + +<p>'Who told you I did?' said Alice sharply. 'You've no business to say +such things!'</p> + +<p>Happily there was an interruption. Cherry felt as if she had had a +taste of the claws; but she feared she had been malicious, and she was +penitent.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></h4> + +<h3>WHAT IT LED TO.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +'Then out and spak the popinjay.'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 30%;"><i>Old Ballad.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Geraldine was hard at work on a drawing. Edgar's teaching had improved +her so much that, under a sore longing to obtain some good studies, she +had ventured to place in the shop one of her best imaginary groups, and +to her surprise and delight, it had brought her in fifteen shillings, +and an order for a companion.</p> + +<p>Vistas of hope began to rise before her, only obscured by her +consciousness of the want of knowledge and skill. It took some +resolution not to attend exclusively to her art, and she was forced to +make it a rule never to touch a pencil till the lessons of Bernard and +Stella were both over for the day.</p> + +<p>They were finished, the children in the garden, and Cherry was in that +world of joy and something like inspiration known to spirits imbued +with any of the constructive poetry of art, always endeavouring to +fulfil an ideal, never indeed satisfying themselves, but never so at +rest as in the effort.</p> + +<p>Presently she was startled by a step on the stairs. Nothing short +of the Fall of Delhi had ever been known to bring Felix upstairs in +business hours; and he was especially bound to his work at present, +since Mr. Froggatt was detained at home by a serious attack of +rheumatism. She looked up amazed at the eager question, 'Is there a +letter from Alda?'</p> + +<p>'I believe there is, waiting for Wilmet. What is the matter?'</p> + +<p>'The most astonishing thing. Here is Ferdinand Travis writing to tell +me of his engagement to Alda.'</p> + +<p>'To Alda?'</p> + +<p>'To Alda! I looked twice to be sure that there was no confusion between +the names, but it is my sister Alda beyond a doubt. He would not ask +my consent if it were Marilda. Here's the letter, as good and nice as +possible, dear good fellow.'</p> + +<p>'Then what Edgar told us must have been pure imagination.'</p> + +<p>'Not the old folks' wishes, most likely. For the rest, Edgar can make a +good story. One can't wonder at the preference, and there's no denying +that it is a brilliant chance for Alda.'</p> + +<p>'And what a blessing that he should be so good!'</p> + +<p>'Infinite! No one could be so welcome! How pleased Mr. Audley will be! +But I must go, and try not to look too much disposed to stand on the +counter and crow.'</p> + +<p>Whatever Felix did below, upstairs Cherry found drawing impossible. +Ferdinand a brother! The pleasure was enhanced by the affectionate +simplicity of his letter, the outcome of so good a heart, greatly in +love, but very conscientious, and utterly unpresuming on his wealth, +but showing all his old affection and reverence for Felix. What a +delightful wonder that Alda should bring in a connection so faithful to +Felix!</p> + +<p>Yet, what would not Cherry have given to be as unsuspicious as Felix +or Wilmet? Why would misgivings come into her head such as never +troubled theirs? Why must she be haunted by Alda's intimations about +her travelling companions, and her manner, half scornful, half nettled, +when Edgar described the terms on which Mr. Travis stood?</p> + +<p>She read Ferdinand's letter a second time, and was convinced that he +looked at the whole with such artless seriousness as to preclude all +notion of his having been consciously playing fast and loose; but she +was ready to torture herself for the involuntary doubt whether her own +sister were equally to be trusted.</p> + +<p>However, when Wilmet came home, her genuine wholesome overflow of +undoubting rapture could not but sweep Cherry along in the tide. +Ferdinand combined the apparently impossible advantages of being +thoroughly one of themselves, and yet of being able to give Alda +the luxuries to which she had become accustomed; and Wilmet's joy +was beyond expression. The contrast between the twins—one admired, +praised, followed, esteemed, as one of the brightest ornaments of +London society; the other toiling in an obscure poverty-stricken home, +a teacher in a small third-class school, her beauty unheeded or viewed +as a real disadvantage—all this never occurred for one moment to +Wilmet, she only felt elevated in her sister.</p> + +<p>Two days passed before more letters were received, and these came +by the first instead of the second post, before breakfast was +over. Four—besides one unheeded, being only in Robina's childish +handwriting—Alda to Wilmet, Thomas Underwood and Ferdinand both to +Felix, Edgar to Geraldine. There was a simultaneous opening of the +letters, then a general starting and looking into one another's eyes, +and Geraldine faintly murmured,</p> + +<p>'Then it was really <i>so!</i>'</p> + +<p>'So? what do you mean?' broke forth Wilmet. 'These selfish people are +treating my poor Alda most cruelly among them; and Felix must go and +fetch her home to be married from her own brother's house as she ought +to be.'</p> + +<p>'I shall have to fetch her home,' said Felix thoughtfully; 'but I wish +I were quite clear that she has been dealing kindly by Marilda.'</p> + +<p>'You are not believing that man Thomas rather than your own sister!' +cried Wilmet. 'If Alda does happen to be prettier than his daughter, +she can't help it. I'm sure I should be glad enough not to be pretty, +but it is a trial, and one must do the best one can.'</p> + +<p>'That is just what I fear Alda has been doing,' said Felix between his +teeth, as he frowned over his letter.</p> + +<p>'Read her letter, poor dear girl,' cried Wilmet, 'and see if you +aren't ashamed of such a judgment! No. Some is only meant for me; but +listen—"Your letter of sisterly joy has come on troubled waters. I +always knew I was the poor relation upon sufferance, but I have been +taught to feel it now." She does not know how she could bear it, but +for the security of Ferdinand's strength; and they will not let her +see him—say she must give him up or them—Mrs. Underwood's violence +inconceivable, and all because of a chimerical fancy.'</p> + +<p>'What does Ferdinand himself say?' asked Cherry, as Wilmet looked on +for further selections.</p> + +<p>'He says,' said Felix, reading, 'that our greeting was especially +welcome, from the contrast to what he met with from Mr. Underwood. +The angry opposition took him by surprise, having always thought they +regarded Alda as a daughter; but of course nothing makes any difference +to him, and he would much rather come to us for her than to a stranger. +His uncle is at New Orleans, and he is writing to him; he is afraid +they ought to wait for the answer, though there can be no doubt about +it, and he owes him no obedience.—Now, Cherry, there is just time for +Edgar's account before we go our several ways.'</p> + +<p>'O Felix,' cried Wilmet, 'aren't you going to fetch her home, poor +dear?'</p> + +<p>'Not possible to-day, Mettie. I shall have much ado to get away +to-morrow. Don't be so unhappy, you know she <i>could</i> come alone or with +Edgar, if it were so very dreadful; or if you are so fierce, you had +better go yourself and encounter "Man Thomas."'</p> + +<p>Wilmet looked so much hurt, that Geraldine thought to defend Felix by +reading aloud at once.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>'Ma Chérie</p> + +<p>'Such a bear-garden never was seen! Madame furious, Tom +abusive, Alda injured innocence, Montezuma heroism, and poor +Polly magnanimous—though the less said about her, the soonest +mended. I saw when I went back that the crisis could not be +far off. The fact is, that our dear sister cannot see any one +else treated as "an object," and has so persuaded herself that +she is the proverbial maltreated poor relation, as to think +everything fair.'</p></blockquote> + +<p>'Geraldine!' exclaimed Wilmet, 'how can you read? Felix, how can you +listen to such things about your own sister?'</p> + +<p>'It is only what she said herself,' said Felix drily. 'Go on, Cherry.'</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>'It must be owned that it was hard, when for once Polly had +fallen in with something alike palatable to self and parents, +and able to swallow her broad visage! If Madame had had any +wit, she would have kept Alda away till the fish was hooked, +when, it is my belief, he would have had no eyes for aught +beyond; but the good creature is too sure of the charms of +her own goose, to dread the admission of any swan whatsoever +to her pond. While the Cacique being yet uncommitted, small +blame to him if he saw the differ, especially as he attaches +to Alda all the sanctity of Bexley, which is to him at the +least what St. Matthew's is to Clem. To have been reared on +the other—or indeed any side of the Atlantic, our intended +brother-in-law is curiously simple. He accepted the intimation +that Alda's face is her fortune with superb indifference; +whether it will be the same with his uncle, remains to be +seen; and I am afraid he is a good deal dependent on him, his +mother's Mexican property having been speculated away. I don't +like the look of the business; but if any one can do any good +it is Marilda herself. Tom is in a towering rage, and his wife +worse—neither perceiving that the noise they make is small +mercy to their daughter. She looks all manner of colours, but +stands out gallantly that she is glad, and that all is as it +should be; and I believe that, left to herself, she will set +things straight. Felix had better keep out of the fray except +upon compulsion.'</p></blockquote> + +<p>'Here is compulsion,' said Felix. 'Tom Underwood summons me; I can't +say I like the errand.'</p> + +<p>'You ought not to let yourself be led by Edgar's unkind joking way!'</p> + +<p>'We ought to be off now, at any rate,' said Felix, glad to close +the discussion. 'I'll write to get Fernan to meet me at the station +to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>Accordingly, when he arrived, there was Ferdinand Travis driving a +magnificent horse, the whole turn-out very far from looking like a +connection of Froggatt and Underwood. He had certainly developed into a +splendidly handsome fellow, though still lithe and slight rather than +robust, and his dignified bearing giving the idea of greater height +than his inches testified to. His greeting was warmly affectionate, +with all his old wishful reverence towards his young godfather, and +even with a sort of doubt of his thinking him worthy of his sister. +As to the disturbance created by the avowal of the object of his +attentions, he seemed amazed at it, and entirely unconscious of any +supposed change on his part.</p> + +<p>'I knew my uncle wished me to be an intimate with the family,' he said, +'and I was rejoiced to fall in with any one who bore your name, and +knew how to appreciate you; but I had reason to think that—that there +were other views—for—' and here the olive cheeks grew crimson, and he +stammered himself into a hopeless entanglement, whence Felix recalled +him charitably to an account of the explosion as it had affected +himself.</p> + +<p>It appeared that his proposal had not been mentioned to the family till +Felix's answer had been received, Ferdinand feeling that no one ought +to hear of it before the eldest brother. The lovers had met that night +at a ball, and their consultation over the letters had taken place in +the conservatory, where they had been surprised, and partly overheard, +by Mrs. Underwood. When Ferdinand arrived the next morning, he was +received with denunciations of underhand ways, and his explanation only +made matters worse. A thunderstorm about ingratitude and treachery was +launched forth, and he was told that the connection was so contrary to +any intentions of his uncle, that Mr. Underwood could not hear of it, +and that Alda must renounce it entirely, on peril of being cast off by +the family. That Ferdinand regarded her brother as the true head of her +house, was only additionally provoking; and Mr. Underwood had given him +warning, which he only hinted at to Felix, that the engagement could +not be carried on with impunity.</p> + +<p>Therewith they reached Kensington Palace Gardens, and being in a +measure forbidden the house, Ferdinand drove about waiting for Felix, +who on giving his name, found himself ushered into the room where the +whole party were finishing breakfast.</p> + +<p>Alda, looking meek and pensive, but very lovely, exquisitely dressed +in white and blue ribbons, flew into his arms as if her protector +were come; Mr. Underwood, without getting up, acknowledged him by a +grunt, and hand held out; Marilda came round, and put a cold hand into +his, clasping it tight; and her mother greeted him with, 'So, Felix +Underwood, you are come up about this unlucky business?'</p> + +<p>'There is no reason it should be anything but a very happy one,' said +Marilda stoutly. 'Come, Mamma, we had better leave Papa and Felix;' and +she set the example, but Mrs. Underwood did not stir.</p> + +<p>'You hear the dear girl!' she said. 'It ought to go to Alda's heart!'</p> + +<p>'It is of no use talking before the ladies,' said Mr. Underwood, +getting up. 'That is, unless you have the good sense to join with me +in telling Alda that she must give up this wild affair. The fellow has +next to nothing of his own, and his uncle would see him at Jericho +before he consented to a match like this!'</p> + +<p>'I am hardly prepared to do that, Sir,' said Felix, as Alda clung to +his arm, and looked appealingly in his face, 'unless the objection were +more personal.'</p> + +<p>'Objection!' burst forth the lady of the house, 'when he has been +making his way underhand—deceiving us all along.'</p> + +<p>'Alda, my dear,' said Felix in her ear, 'don't you think you had better +go upstairs?'</p> + +<p>But Alda seemed as little disposed as Mrs. Underwood to quit the scene +of conflict. 'O Felix, I don't know what she means, nor what we have +been doing, for them all to turn against me.'</p> + +<p>'Don't tell me, Miss Innocence,' retorted Mrs. Underwood, the +artificial polish giving way, and the native scolding Polly Kedge +breaking out in a storm of words. 'Wasn't the young man doing just as +his uncle meant him, and my poor dear girl fancying him as I never +saw her do any one before, till you came home with your sly, artful +ways—you that owed us the very clothes on your back?'</p> + +<p>'Hush, Mary!' ejaculated her husband; but he might as well have tried +to stop a torrent.</p> + +<p>'Ay, I know. She comes round every man of you with her smooth tongue +and pretty face, till you—you are ready to take her part against your +own child, Underwood. When my poor girl's laid in her coffin, then you +will know what a serpent you've been fostering.'</p> + +<p>To Felix's surprise and annoyance, Alda must needs answer: 'I'm sure +it's very hard! If people will look at me, I can't help it; and I've as +much right to be spoken to as Marilda. She that has got everything, and +poor me—'</p> + +<p>Luckily her tears stopped her voice.</p> + +<p>'Come along, Felix,' said the master of the house, opening the door; +and he, perceiving that escape alone could put an end to this most +humiliating scene, whispered again his recommendation to Alda to go to +her room, and saw her hurrying up the stairs before his kinsman shut +the door of his private room with a bounce, exclaiming, 'There! Now we +are out of the way of the women's tongues, we can hear ourselves speak. +I am afraid it is an awkward business, Felix Underwood.'</p> + +<p>'I am afraid it is, Sir.'</p> + +<p>'And the ladies make it worse by making such a din about it,' said Tom, +who after all was an Underwood, and whose better breeding had come to +the perception how these ravings compromised his daughter's dignity. +'How far any one is to blame, I can't tell. The truth is, that it +would have been very satisfactory to Alfred Travis and to me both if +the lad and my girl could have made it up together, and they seemed +ready enough to like each other. My girl has got rather a turn for your +new-fashioned sort of saints, and he seemed just her style. Everything +does go contrary at times; and when your sister came home, with her +pretty face and way, my wife declares now she saw a change from the +first, but to tell the truth I never did, and I doubt her doing so; +but you may guess how amazed we were when she came on them whispering +together, and it came out that he had been writing to you to sanction +his proposing for Alda, as if he were ashamed to come to me, who had +always been a father to her.'</p> + +<p>'He meant no slight to you, Sir,' said Felix, eagerly; 'but you know we +were his first acquaintance, and he had a feeling that an elder brother +came nearest. I am sure he felt no shame; he was conscious of no change +of intention.'</p> + +<p>'Well, well, he is a little bit of an ass. Between ourselves, Felix, +I don't blame him half as much as Alda. The girl is sharp enough; she +has swarms of lovers; men come about her like wasps to a lump of sugar; +and there's Ł5,000 ready for her the day she marries; but when there +was one my poor Mary liked for once, we liked for her, and was in the +way of liking her—Mary, who has shared everything with her like a +sister—she might have let him alone. Indeed, her aunt gave her a hint, +but it only served to make her carry it on on the sly.'</p> + +<p>Felix wished he had not known of Alda's hearing Edgar's report. He +could only say sadly, 'If so, she is quite indefensible.'</p> + +<p>What would Wilmet have thought of his fight with 'Man Thomas?'</p> + +<p>'Of course,' proceeded that gentleman, 'we know the less we say of +that part of the story the better. Some day, Mary will know she's well +rid of a coxcombical foreign-looking fellow. She can afford to look +farther; but for your sister, this is the maddest thing in the world. +William Travis made a regular mull with his wife's fortune, and depend +on it, the young man has next to nothing, and would come to beggary if +he offended his uncle. There is nothing for it but for them to give one +another up!'</p> + +<p>'I do not think there is much chance of their doing so,' replied Felix.</p> + +<p>'Not as they are now, in the height and fury of the thing; but you are +a sensible lad, Felix; you will do your best to show them the utter +folly of the thing.'</p> + +<p>'We do not know whether Ferdinand can afford it yet,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'Don't delude yourself with fancying Alfred Travis will swallow +this! Not he! Why, he's set on that young Spanish don making a great +match—hardly thought my Mary's hundred thousand good enough.'</p> + +<p>'Very likely he will refuse consent,' returned Felix; 'but, in the +meantime, I see nothing to be done but for Alda to go home with me and +wait.'</p> + +<p>'To very little purpose,' ejaculated Mr. Underwood, 'except that maybe +a taste of your way of life may bring her to her senses, and serve her +right. I must say,' he added, 'it is hard that both this boy and girl +should be thrown back on your hands for no fault of yours. I wish I +could help it, but you see there wouldn't be a moment's peace if Alda +stayed here without giving him up.'</p> + +<p>'It is not fit that she should,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'I like the girl, too; indeed, she's almost like my own,' continued Mr. +Underwood; 'the house will be dull without her, and I believe those +pretty young women can't help flirting, and think one another's beaux +fair game. Eh? Well, we'll send for her and put it to her—will she +give up Travis and stay here, or hold him to it and go home with you?'</p> + +<p>Felix could make no objection, though he had no question what the +decision would be; so the bell was rung, Alda was summoned, and soon +appeared with burning cheeks and moist eyes.</p> + +<p>'Now, Alda,' said her adopted uncle, 'your brother and I have talked +it over, and I am ready to overlook what has gone by—that is, if your +aunt will—and to let all be as it was before, on this one condition, +that you break off this foolish concern. Listen to me. You will find +that he has little enough to call his own, and his uncle can cut off +his allowance any day. It is mere insanity to think he will consent to +such a match as you would be; and you would be doing the best thing for +the young man and yourself to tell him it is all nonsense, and you've +thought better of it.'</p> + +<p>'O Uncle, I couldn't do that!'</p> + +<p>'If not—you have the choice—I can't abet what Travis never intended, +your aunt couldn't stand it either. There's nothing for it but that you +should leave this house. Choose between us and him!'</p> + +<p>'That can't help being done, Uncle,' said Alda, with streaming eyes +and a choked voice. 'You have been very good to me, but he must come +first;' and she moved towards Felix, who put his arm round her kindly, +and kissed her, saying,</p> + +<p>'Then, Alda, I will leave you to prepare; I must go and see the +children and Edgar. I will come back for you in time for the half-past +five train.'</p> + +<p>Alda's tears flowed too fast again for words, and she turned to leave +the room.</p> + +<p>'I shall see you again,' said Mr. Underwood. 'Can I give you a lift +anywhere, Felix?'</p> + +<p>'No, thank you, Sir; Travis is waiting for me.'</p> + +<p>'Ay, ay, very fine with his thorough-bred; but when his allowance is +docked, how is he to live on his pay?'</p> + +<p>The brougham had long been waiting for Tom Underwood, and he left them +together. Alda hung on her brother. 'O Felix, is it not dreadful?'</p> + +<p>'I thought him very kind and forgiving,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'Is that what you call forgiving? And oh! if you could hear Aunt Mary! +You little think what I have gone through!'</p> + +<p>'It will be over soon,' said Felix, kindly. 'You are going home, you +know, and Wilmet is wild to have you.'</p> + +<p>'But, Felix, you don't think they mean to do more than frighten me? +Ferdinand must have a real right to his own father's money; and +besides, he can't properly object to me; Uncle Tom promised me my +Ł5,000 whatever happened!'</p> + +<p>'I cannot stay to discuss that now, Alda,' said Felix. 'I have a great +deal to do, and Fernan is waiting for me. I shall come back in time.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I wish I could come with you now! Dear Fernan! Tell him I have +borne it all for his sake, but it is such an age since I saw him!'</p> + +<p>'No doubt he will meet us at the station,' said Felix, escaping at +last, and finding Ferdinand not many yards off in the road outside.</p> + +<p>'Well, Fernan, to Brompton, if you please. Mr. Underwood is really much +kinder than I expected; but as things stand, you can't carry it on in +their house, so Alda comes home with me to-night.'</p> + +<p>'Then the dear girl is really banished for my sake! I mean, no place is +like Bexley to me. But it is very noble of her!' exclaimed Ferdinand, +curiously divided between regard for Felix and sense of Alda's +sacrifice.</p> + +<p>'It is the proper place in which for her to wait for your uncle's +answer,' said Felix; 'but indeed, Fernan, it is a question whether we +ought to let you risk all your prospects.'</p> + +<p>Ferdinand's vehement demand what Felix took him for, and equally eager +protest that his uncle must know he had no right to withhold the means +that were in all equity due to him, lasted through all the brief +transit to the farther end of Brompton, where a great old house and +grounds, once quite in the country, had been adapted and revivified by +Miss Fulmort.</p> + +<p>'Might I not come in and see the little girls?' asked Ferdinand, +wistfully.</p> + +<p>'I should <i>rather suppose</i> not,' said Felix, smiling. 'Life-Guardsmen +are not exactly the visitors expected in establishments for young +ladies. You had better not wait for me; I cannot give the children less +than an hour.'</p> + +<p>'I would wait if it were ten hours.'</p> + +<p>'But how about your horse? He isn't in love!'</p> + +<p>Ferdinand would not, however, be denied; and when at length a +rendezvous was agreed on, Felix, free of the dashing equipage, of which +he was, to tell the truth, slightly ashamed, rang at the gates, arrived +at the house door, announced himself as Mr. Underwood, asked to see his +sisters; and after a long labyrinth of matted passages, found himself +in a pretty countrified room, where a wiry, elderly, sensible lady, +with grey hair and a keen face, gave him a friendly reception, drew a +favourable, but not enthusiastic, picture of Robina's steadiness and +industry, and said that Angela was a more difficult character. By this +time Robina came into the room with her hat on, eagerly, but with her +face flushed and her eyes rather frightened, and as she received her +brother's kiss, she said, 'The little ones are not come in yet.—May I +take my brother into the garden, Miss Fennimore?'</p> + +<p>Permission was given, and Robina held his hand with an unusually tight +grasp as she led him to the wide, square, walled garden, with a broad +gravel-walk around an old-fashioned bowling-green. He thought the round +face looked anxious and perplexed, and was rather uneasy as he began by +saying, 'I hope not to lose Angel. Do you always walk so early in the +day?'</p> + +<p>'On Herr Müller's days, because he only comes in the afternoon,' said +Robina; 'but I am rather glad; I wanted to speak to you, Felix.'</p> + +<p>'Is anything wrong?' said Felix, seeing that the child's face had +become crimson, and hearing effort in her voice. 'You are happy here? +Don't be afraid to tell me anything, my dear. Remember, there is no one +so bound to watch over you.'</p> + +<p>'I know,' said Robina, looking up into those kind eyes. 'I want to tell +you—' but she panted, and he encouraged her by putting his other hand +over hers caressingly. 'Edgar comes every Sunday,' came out at last.</p> + +<p>'And what of that? Isn't it a pleasure?'</p> + +<p>'It—it would be—but he and Alice ought not to send each other notes +and messages.'</p> + +<p>'What?' very low.</p> + +<p>'Indeed they do; and I can't tell what to do.'</p> + +<p>'What sort of notes and messages?' asked Felix, in a half reproving +voice, as though he thought the solemnity of thirteen was taking alarm +needlessly.</p> + +<p>'O Felix, love notes,' half whispered the girl, hanging her burning +head.</p> + +<p>'Nonsense, child; you have misunderstood some joke.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Robina, looking full in his face with sturdy offended +dignity. 'They both were in earnest when they told me about it.'</p> + +<p>'About what?' said he, still severely, as he sat down on a bench, +unheeding February damp.</p> + +<p>'About—' she was not far from tears, as she faltered out, 'their +engagement.'</p> + +<p>'Theirs!' he wrung the hand that he still retained; 'Edgar and—'</p> + +<p>'And Alice Knevett,' said Robin. 'I would not promise not to tell. I +hope it is not treachery!'</p> + +<p>'How long?' asked Felix, hoarsely.</p> + +<p>'Ever since the holidays. They used to walk together when Miss Pearson +thought she was with us, but none of us ever knew it then.'</p> + +<p>'You are certain? Remember, this is a graver matter than perhaps you +understand.'</p> + +<p>'I think I do understand, and it is that which makes me so unhappy; +but, <i>indeed</i>, it can't be fancy. I have seen her ring, emerald and +amethyst, for Edgar and Alice, and the locket with their hairs twisted +together. The very first Sunday we were here, he gave me a note for +her, and when I told him it was not allowed, he tried quizzing me at +first, and at last told me I was a silly child who did not know what +was proper between engaged people. So I said,' continued Robina, with +dignity, 'that I could allow much to be proper in that case, but I +wanted to know whether this was only kept from me because I was a baby, +and was known to you and the grown-up people.'</p> + +<p>'Right, Robin,' muttered Felix, feeling that she needed encouragement.</p> + +<p>'Then he laughed at me more than ever about expecting things to be +proclaimed on the market-cross, and tried to puzzle me out of my +senses, till I could only stick to one thing, that I couldn't take +his notes unless somebody knew. And after all I found the thing in my +jacket pocket. He must have put it in when I was not looking.'</p> + +<p>'And what did you do with it?'</p> + +<p>'Oh! the dreadful thing! I felt as if it would bite me all the week +long, but I didn't think it would be honourable to tear it or burn it, +and I kept it. Luckily Alice didn't ask if I had a note, only whether +he had said anything; and when she found I knew, she told me all about +it, and said all sorts of things about my being unkind and mean to +stand out, but I never promised to keep the secret.'</p> + +<p>'Are you still keeping this note?'</p> + +<p>'No. I gave it back to Edgar on Sunday, and told him to play no such +tricks. I thought he would have been in a rage, but he was—oh! so +provoking! just as if he didn't care for a little spite in a naughty +child.'</p> + +<p>'Then is this intercourse checked?'</p> + +<p>'No, that's the worst of it. When I would not, they took to Angel. +You know she got very fond of Edgar in the winter, and was always +running after him and waiting on him. So she did what he told her quite +innocently at first, till I found out what was going on, and tried +to stop her; but she doesn't care for me as she does for Edgar, and +thinks it grand to be in all their secrets, when I am too cross. And +then there's a class that goes to the South Kensington Museum, and +Alice is one of them, and Edgar is about there. I'm sure Miss Fulmort +ought not to be deceived as they are doing; it's all nonsense about +schoolmistresses being designed by nature to be hoodwinked. It makes me +so miserable, I don't know what to do; and when I heard you were come, +it was as if you had been sent on purpose to help me.'</p> + +<p>'Poor child!' said Felix, with a heavy sigh. 'You have kept this all to +yourself.'</p> + +<p>'I could not tell any one. I could have told Miss Lyveson, because she +is one's friend; but it would only be being a tell-tale and informer +here. And one's own brother, too! And I could not write, for they look +over all the letters that are not to fathers and mothers.'</p> + +<p>'They must make an exception for me!' said Felix, in an indignant tone.</p> + +<p>'I knew you would say so. O Felix, tell them so! I do feel like having +Papa now I have you.'</p> + +<p>'If you only had!' sighed Felix. 'My poor Bob, it is a grievous +business, but you have been very upright and considerate, as far as I +can see.'</p> + +<p>'I'm so glad you don't want me to have told!' she said, with a sigh of +relief, as unlike his as that of one who throws off a burden is to that +of him who takes it up.</p> + +<p>'Not if it can be helped. It would be a mischievous and cruel exposure, +and would be hard on one who has been led into it,' he said, with +breaks and pauses, half for breath, half for considering. 'It is most +reckless, most unjustifiable, in Edgar!' He knit his brows, so that she +gazed at him in awe and wonder, as having something in his countenance +that she did not comprehend. Then, after a silence, he said, 'Robin, I +will speak to Edgar, and if you do not find that this is stopped after +<i>one</i> communication, which of course there must be, write to me. These +ladies must make an exception in favour of such as we are!'</p> + +<p>'O Felix, it is so nice to hold you and feel you! Only I wish I had not +had to grieve you so much!'</p> + +<p>'Dishonourable conduct is not what I was prepared for!' he said, +setting his teeth.</p> + +<p>'And will you speak to Angel? I hear them coming in,' said Robina.</p> + +<p>'Yes. Let me have her alone at first. Come back in ten minutes' time.'</p> + +<p>He was still sitting on the bench, with his elbows on his knees, and +his hands over his brow, when Angela came towards him. She was of the +same long-limbed make as Clement, was nearly as tall as the square +sturdy Robina nearly three years older, and had Clement's small, almost +baby mould of features, relieved only by such arch deep blue eyes as +shone in Edgar's face. She looked such a mere child, that when her +step and exclamation caused Felix to raise his head, it seemed absurd +to imagine her to be knowingly engaged as go-between in a clandestine +correspondence; and with a sort of pity and compunction for the blame +he had intended, he held out his arms to her.</p> + +<p>'O Felix, how cold you are! Your face is like marble. Now if I was to +sit there, in this weather, wouldn't they be at me like wild cats?'</p> + +<p>Thus reminded, Felix rose, and certainly shivered after the exercise of +his privilege. 'Are you happy here, Angel?' he asked in a constrained +tone.</p> + +<p>'Yes, it is jollier than Miss Pearson's. There are more girls, and we +do have such fun!'</p> + +<p>'I hope you are good and steady, and very careful of all the rules.'</p> + +<p>Angela fidgeted, as if she didn't like the style of the conversation.</p> + +<p>'You know,' he continued, 'there may be rules that you may not see the +use of, but that must be obeyed for all that.'</p> + +<p>'What a tiresome dry old Blunderbore you are!' broke out Angela, with +ill-assured sauciness; 'this isn't the way Edgar goes on when he comes +to see us.'</p> + +<p>Felix could not check a sort of groan or grunt; and Angela, whose +pertness was defensive, quailed a little. She had driven him out of the +due sequence of his discourse, but he resumed it. 'Angel, I must tell +you; if anybody asks you to break rules—by giving letters—you must +not.'</p> + +<p>Angela kicked pebbles about.</p> + +<p>'Have you ever been asked to do so?'</p> + +<p>She hung her head, and a pout came over her face.</p> + +<p>'Angel,' he said, in a voice from the sadness of his heart, 'I will +not ask any questions, in case you have made promises not to betray +secrets; but you must never make such promises again. Tell me you will +never do—this thing again.'</p> + +<p>She was silent.</p> + +<p>'Angela!' he said, reprovingly.</p> + +<p>'I don't know why I should promise you more than Edgar,' broke out +Angela, petulantly. 'He is my brother too, and he isn't cross; and I +love him, and <i>will</i> keep his secret.'</p> + +<p>Between this flat defiance of his authority, and his scruple about +interfering with the child's sense of honour, Felix was in no slight +perplexity even as to this interview with his little sister. His +disclaimer came first. 'I ask about no one's secret,' he said; 'but, +Angel, I must have you understand this. If you break the rules that +forbid the giving of notes from any person outside the school, it will +be doing more harm than you can understand. I shall put a stop to it at +once, and most likely you will be sent away in disgrace.'</p> + +<p>She was somewhat awed, but she did not speak.</p> + +<p>'Whatever any one may say to you,' said Felix, 'recollect that it is +dishonesty and treachery to do anything underhand, and the greatest +possible mischief to those you wish to be kind to. Don't you see, it is +no kindness to help any one to do wrong?'</p> + +<p>She began to cry. 'They don't want to do wrong. It is very nasty and +mean of Bobbie to have told.'</p> + +<p>'You will know some day how good and trustworthy it is in Bobbie,' said +her elder brother. 'You cannot understand the rights and wrongs in such +a manner as this, at your age, Angel.' (To tell the child this was a +mistake, if he had but known it.) 'You must be satisfied with knowing +that whatever breaks rules and must be kept secret is necessarily +disobedient and deceitful, and may have terrible consequences. Do you +believe me? Then give me your word to have no more to do with it.'</p> + +<p>She muttered something among her tears like 'I won't,' and Felix was +satisfied, for the exaction of promises had necessarily been the +chief mode of government with the two youthful pillars of the house, +who spent so much time apart from their dominions; and it was almost +unprecedented that such a promise was not observed.</p> + +<p>Robina was lingering near, and as they joined her Felix found that his +time was up. He was taken back to the drawing-room, where he found +himself in presence of the lady he had seen, and of a much younger +smaller person, with a slight cast in her eye, and a peculiar jerking +manner such as he could well believe would frighten away a young girl's +confidence. When he made his request for free correspondence from his +little sisters, there was no demur; only Miss Fulmort said, half vexed, +'It ought to have been mentioned before; she did not know why the +children had not told her.' And then she made a point of ascertaining +Felix's individual address; for she said, 'A great deal of undesirable +stuff may be scribbled to brothers and sisters.'</p> + +<p>Felix possessed no card, unless such might be reckoned the announcement +of photographs and stationery, &c., which was wont to be put up +with parcels for strangers; and when he tried to write 'Mr. F. C. +Underwood,' the shivering chill so affected his fingers that he could +hardly guide the pencil. He took leave, and soon found the assiduous +Ferdinand, who presently asked, shyly, 'What the little ones thought of +it?'</p> + +<p>Felix bethought himself. 'Really, Fernan, it was put out of my head; +and, moreover, perhaps it had better not be known more widely than +needful.'</p> + +<p>'You do not doubt—'</p> + +<p>All the ground that had been gone over before was argued out once again +by the eager Mexican before they reached the National Gallery, the +appointed place of meeting with Edgar. He was not within, but without, +and, throwing away his cigar, hailed them as Fernan drew up his horse.</p> + +<p>'At last! The storm must have been pitiless, to judge by the effects! +You are blue with cold, Felix.'</p> + +<p>'Ferdinand, thank you,' said Felix, getting out. 'I am sorry, but I +must have Edgar alone a little while.'</p> + +<p>'Look here, Travis,' said Edgar, seeing his blank look, 'we'll give you +the honour of giving us a spread. You go on and order it at ——'s, and +I'll walk this fellow there. Curry soup that will astonish him, and +warm the cockles of his heart, mind.'</p> + +<p>Ferdinand nodded, and drove off, perfectly satisfied with this +compensation.</p> + +<p>'Let's see if we can walk a little life into you,' said Edgar, taking +his brother's arm. 'Bless thy five wits, Tom's a cold! Was it Madame! I +always thought she could not be many generations from Billingsgate.'</p> + +<p>'I have been to Brompton.'</p> + +<p>'That tragical hoarseness would lead me to conclude something. Eh! +has that Robin been chirping out her fancies? And do you mean to +say that you are struck all of a heap by the awful discovery of a +boarding-school mystery?'</p> + +<p>'It is naturally distressing to find you acting such a part.'</p> + +<p>'Then I am afraid you have a good deal to go through in the course +of your life. If every little flirtation on the part of your +"<i>Geschwister</i>" is to produce this effect, there won't be much left of +you by the time it comes to Stella.'</p> + +<p>'What meaning do you attach to the words "little flirtation?"'</p> + +<p>'When the head of the family puts the question in that solemn tone, how +is it to be answered? Bless me, Blunderbore, such a countenance can +only proceed from being smitten yourself! To be sure, when there was +only one girl you ever spoke to, it was no wonder. Poor old fellow! I'd +never have poached on your manor, but how was I to imagine a pillar of +the house giving way to such levities?'</p> + +<p>'This is mere bravado, Edgar,' was the grave answer, in a tone not +disconcerted, but full of repression, and with a pale but steady +countenance. 'Gloss it over as you will, a correspondence such as you +have begun is unjustifiable. It risks damaging for ever the prospects, +at once not only of—of the object—but those of your little sisters.'</p> + +<p>'O Felicissimo mio, how green a spot is Bexley! As though secrets and +mysteries were not the elixir of life to the boarding-school.'</p> + +<p>'Have you ever considered what a discovery must involve?'</p> + +<p>'I need not, it seems, since you had not the sense to box that +child's ears for a meddlesome tell-tale. Did the scene equal Madame's +performance?'</p> + +<p>'You do not imagine that I mentioned it.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! The revered prop of the state soars so far above my head that I +did not know what he might regard as his duty.'</p> + +<p>'You shall know it now, Edgar. There are two choices. If you are really +engaged to this young lady' (Edgar made a nod of impatient scornful +acquiescence, but certainly of acquiescence), 'then ask her honourably +from her friends, and let whatever you do be open! Otherwise, give +it up as an impossible imprudence, but drop all attempt at what is +clandestine. Unless you do one or other of these, I warn you that I +shall speak to Miss Pearson.'</p> + +<p>'If you were a reasonable and experienced paterfamilias, instead of +only a poor conscientious over-harassed prig of a boy, with more +brothers and sisters than he knows what to do with, I'll tell you, in +candid unprejudice, what you would do. Just let it alone! There are as +many of such little affairs going as there are midges in a sunbeam; +and they never do any one any harm, unless the higher powers make an +unadvised hubbub.'</p> + +<p>'Am I to understand that as an avowal that you know yourself to be +trifling?'</p> + +<p>'I know nothing about it. I don't live in the heroics, like some of my +friends. In the rural seclusion of Bexley I saw a pretty lively girl, +who, not to put too fine a point upon it, made quite as much up to the +romantic young artist as ever the young artist did to her. Of course, +there was an exchange of prettinesses, and life on either side became +a blank when she was immured at Brompton, and the only solace left was +the notes that so outrage your and Bobbie's united sense of propriety.'</p> + +<p>'And what is to follow?'</p> + +<p>'Is it to lead to?' he corrected, with a mimicry of Wilmet's tone. +'That depends. If you make the explosion, I shall have to rise to the +occasion—keep the slip-knot ready and patent, and as soon as I get my +head above water, have a wife and family on my back to keep me down, +and hinder me from coming to your rescue. If not—why, it will take +its chance, and we shall have a reasonable chance of trying whether +we get tired of one another—the best thing that could happen to +us, by-the-by—though she is such a saucy little darling, that were +that picture of mine painted, I should be fool enough to marry her +to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>'And why—may I ask—seeing these things so clearly, did you draw the +poor child into an engagement?'</p> + +<p>Edgar shrugged his shoulders. 'You had better ask why she drew me. +If you didn't know it before, my dear Felix, "'Tis human natur to be +fools."'</p> + +<p>'Allowing it to be folly, you do not mean to persist?'</p> + +<p>'As if a poor fellow must always have a meaning! Life is not worth +having if one is to be always so awfully in earnest.'</p> + +<p>'I have the misfortune to be in earnest,' said Felix, with the +formality of one past patience, but resolved to keep his temper in +hand, 'when I warn you, that if I find that this intercourse is +continued, unless you choose to ask her properly of her father, it will +be my duty to let Miss Pearson know.'</p> + +<p>'So be it,' was the answer, in a tone of half mocking, half +compassionate submission, that was more provoking than all, except +for the sudden change to the gay kindliness that followed, as Edgar +threw aside his own affairs, to laugh over Ferdinand Travis's honest +simplicity of adoration of Alda and all her household, declaring that +it had been as much for his delight, as to be rid of him, that he +himself had devised that commission of the luncheon. 'What a spread it +will be!' Edgar chuckled to himself; 'and how it will be thrown away on +the present company! not that there ever was a man who wanted it more!' +he added, as he saw how white his brother's face was. 'You've been and +got a chill!'</p> + +<p>Felix did not deny it; and if his unsophisticated palate did not +appreciate all that Ferdinand had ordered on the principle that +nothing could be too good for him either in his individual capacity or +as Alda's brother, he at least submitted to what his two companions +required of him in the way of hot soup, and <i>even</i> of one glass of +wine, before he grew restive, and insisted on carrying the head that +their solicitude had succeeded in rendering heated and flushed to +burning pitch, to do the business in the City that always sprang up +whenever any one had to go to town.</p> + +<p>Edgar bade him adieu; and the faithful Ferdinand drove him wherever +he had to go, and finally to Kensington Palace Gardens, where he +was ushered into the drawing-room, to find Marilda, resolved upon +unconsciousness, but only succeeding in a kind of obstreperous +cordiality and good will, which, together with the hot room, made +him quite dizzy; and his answers were so much at random, that he +sent Fulbert to an examination at Cambridge, and Clement prospecting +in Australia. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Underwood made their appearance; +but when Felix spoke of getting a cab, Marilda said the carriage was +ordered. Then Alda was explicit about the boxes that were to follow, +but on the whole she was behaving very prettily and unobtrusively. +Marilda kissed her warmly, and detained Felix a moment to say, 'This +will blow over, and then she will come back, unless things have settled +themselves better. If I can do any good, write to me.'</p> + +<p>So Alda quitted her adopted home; but the change might be lightened +to her by being handed out of the carriage at the station by a +military-looking figure, who announced that he wanted to see a fellow +at Aldershot, and meant to dine there. It was not his fault that he got +out at Farnborough.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE WINTER OF DISCONTENT.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 35%;"> +'Peace, brother, be not exquisite,<br /> +To cast the fashion of uncertain evils;<br /> +For, grant they be so, while they rest unknown,<br /> +What need a man forestall his date of grief?'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 45%;"><i>Milton.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Wilmet was so devoted to Alda and her hopes and fears, that she let +Felix escape with less reproof than usual, for the cold that sat +heavily upon him after the last day's chill. He did not give way to it. +There might have been some temptation to sit over the fire if Geraldine +had been alone there; but Alda, when Wilmet was out of reach, engrossed +Cherry's ears with descriptions of her feelings, and cravings for +sympathy in her suspense, treating every other subject as futile, and +the interruption of the children's lessons as an insult. No one might +talk of anybody but Ferdinand; and Cherry did not wonder that Felix +looked wearied and harassed, and always betrayed some anxiety to come +first into possession of the morning post. One day, nearly a fortnight +after his visit to London, he called Wilmet away from the breakfast +table into the sitting-room: 'Wilmet,' he said, 'I must go and see Miss +Pearson before school hours.'</p> + +<p>'You! Is there anything the matter with Alice?' asked Wilmet, startled +at his tone.</p> + +<p>'Had they—had you—any notion of anything between her and Edgar?'</p> + +<p>'No! Miss Pearson has taken to saying, "My dear, your brothers are +quite grown into young men," and I thought she did not like the play.'</p> + +<p>'Ah! that play! It threw them together!'</p> + +<p>'Is it really so? I suppose nothing is too foolish and provoking for +Edgar!'</p> + +<p>'The fact of admiration is not wonderful,' said Felix, rather in a +tone of defence; 'but the worst of it is, that he has been trying to +communicate with her through those poor girls at school.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet's horror was surpassing; and when she found that he had known +it all this fortnight, she was so indignant, that to his reply that it +was not fair to leave both parties the chance of acting honourably, she +replied with scorn for his weakness in expecting anything from Edgar, +and exposing the children to the chance of expulsion, which might be +a lasting blight, such as merely in thought put her into a perfect +agony. Nevertheless, angry and excited as she was, she flew at him +when he gave her the letters, and was off to Miss Pearson's—'Go there +without breakfast, in the sleet, sitting and still with that bad cold +not half gone!' and she dragged him back reluctantly to the other room, +where, ignominiously ordering off Bernard and Stella to finish their +stir-about elsewhere, she insisted on his breakfasting while she told +the story. She was far too loyal to blame him except <i>tęte-ŕ-tęte</i>, but +she burst on him now and then.</p> + +<p>'You are not eating, Felix!'</p> + +<p>'A cup of tea, then, please, Cherry. No one can swallow stir-about in +hot haste but Wilmet herself.' He spoke good-humouredly, but with a +force upon himself that Cherry detected; and she further saw that he +took nothing but that one cup and a fragment of bread, and then hurried +off, saying that he must catch Miss Pearson for the little girls' sake.</p> + +<p>The letters he had left were Robina's and another enfolding it +containing these words:</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>Dear Sir,</p> + +<p>According to my promise, I have refrained from opening this +letter, though I own that the discovery of the purpose for +which free correspondence was asked, has been no small +amazement to me. In the first shock, I will not trust myself +to say more, until after consultation with my brother; but you +shall hear from me again respecting your sisters.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 45%;">I remain, your obedient servant,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 70%; font-size: 0.8em;">B. M. FULMORT.</span><br /> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The letter within was—</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>My Dear Felix,</p> + +<p>It has all come out. There is a dreadful uproar, and nobody +will believe me. If only Miss Lyveson was here! This was the +way. Edgar came yesterday and took us for a long walk in +Kensington Gardens, and afterwards I saw Angela going towards +Alice Knevett's room; and as we are not allowed to run into +other people's bedrooms, I stopped her and put her in mind +of what you said; but she began to cry and struggle with me, +and Alice came out, and made a fuss to get the note Angel had +for her, till I got into a passion, and spoke so loud that +Miss Fennimore came out upon us. Angel did not know what she +was about by that time, and cried, saying that I was unkind, +and was hurting her; and Alice took her part, accusing me of +tyrannizing and being jealous, so that I faced round and told +all on the spot. Miss Fennimore took us all straight down +to Miss Fulmort, and it was a dreadful business. They are +frightfully angry with us all, and me the most, for having told +you instead of them. They cannot understand the difference +between you and any common brother. They think I have not told +the whole truth, and it is very hard. Nobody ever distrusted +me before. We are just living on sufferance till Mr. Fulmort +comes to see about it, and then I think we shall be sent away. +I hope so, for I know my own dear Miss Lyveson will believe +me and take me back to justice and confidence. Here the girls +are as angry with me for telling as the ladies are for not +telling; they have no idea of such loyalty and love as we had +at Catsacre. There is a report that Miss Pearson has been sent +for. If we are sent home with her, it will be a horrid shame +and injustice; but I shall not be able to be sorry one bit, for +I know you will stand by me.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 50%;">Dear, dear brother Felix,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 65%;">Your affectionate Sister,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 85%; font-size: 0.8em;">BOBBIE.</span><br /> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>When the three sisters had made out all that could be understood, +Geraldine owned herself less amazed than Wilmet; and Alda laughed +at both for not being aware that Edgar was a universal flirt. All +that surprised her was his having let it proceed to such dangerous +extremities; but of course that was the girl's own fault—he would give +it up when it came to the point.</p> + +<p>'Why should you expect Edgar to be more inconstant than Ferdinand?' +asked Cherry.</p> + +<p>Both twins turned on her, and told her she was a child and knew nothing +about it—their favourite way of annihilating her; and then Alda, in +her excitement, walked with Wilmet to the school, leaving Cherry, as +usual, to wash up the breakfast things. She felt a conviction that +all this accounted for the weary oppressed look, broken by occasional +starts of vivacity, which ever since Felix's day in London had been +laid to the score of the cold he had brought home.</p> + +<p>She was glad she was still alone, when Felix looked in for a moment +to say, 'Miss Maria goes up by the 11.30 train. I am going to send a +letter by her, and I think she will save Robin. Angel is so mere a +child, that it matters less.'</p> + +<p>'How can they all be so unjust?'</p> + +<p>'They have not had time to know the child.'</p> + +<p>'I did not mean Robina, but you.'</p> + +<p>'I don't mind that,' he said, with a smile, 'though I am glad there is +one lady who does not scold me;' and he bent down to kiss her.</p> + +<p>'Did the Miss Pearsons?'</p> + +<p>'They allowed that I meant to act for the best, and you know what that +means. However,' he added,' they are earnest to save the little girls, +which is more to the purpose. Wilmet or I would have gone up, but Miss +Maria thinks she can do better than either, and I believe they are +more likely to trust an old schoolmistress, who is the injured party +besides. I must write my letter. Shall I help you into the other room?'</p> + +<p>'No, thank you; I have the lessons here, for they tease Alda. If you +would only send Theodore to me as you go.'</p> + +<p>'Does Alda never help you?'</p> + +<p>'Only by criticising my French pronunciation. She is much too restless. +O Felix, what a cough! You have made your throat worse.'</p> + +<p>'It is only this black east wind.'</p> + +<p>'You ought to stay upstairs and be taken care of. Can't you, and let +Redstone call if you are wanted?'</p> + +<p>'I <i>am</i> wanted. It is quite as warm in the office as here, when the +door is shut. What I want is, only to be twenty years older. Good-bye.'</p> + +<p>Cherry's ponderings were divided between that sigh and the possible +sighs of the wind if that door were not shut, until her own door was +opened by Felix's hand, to admit a little figure still in petticoats, +with the loose flaxen curls, tottering feet, limp white fingers, +and vacant blue eyes, whom she daily put through a few exercises to +train his almost useless fingers and tongue. The sight of this, Alda +declared, made her ill, though the little boy was as docile as he was +helpless; but it was quite true that to nerves and ears not inured from +the first, Theodore's humming and his concertina were a trial from +their perpetuity.</p> + +<p>Late that evening came a message to beg Mr. and Miss Underwood would +step up; and they stepped, though the east wind was blacker than +ever. They found that in great tribulation Miss Maria had brought +Alice Knevett home, and sent her to bed all tears and exhaustion, but +that Robina and Angela were forgiven—a word so offensive to Felix as +relating to the former, that he sorely lamented that prudence forbade +their removal, but was somewhat consoled by a letter that Miss Maria +brought him from the Vicar of St. Matthew's, who had had a private +investigation of the whole subject. He wrote to Felix that his sister +was new to the management of the girls, and was a good deal annoyed at +the secrecy observed towards herself, not making full allowance for +Robina's exceptional circumstances; but that, for his own part, he was +convinced of the girl's genuine uprightness and unselfish forbearance; +and though he feared her position must be unpleasant just now, he +thought it would be for the good of all if she had the patience to +live it down, and earn the good opinion he was sure she deserved. +Miss Maria reported that Miss Fennimore had been brought round by his +opinion, though Miss Fulmort remained persuaded that Robina had 'come +over him' in some way; and while yielding to his stringent desire that, +as he said, 'one of the worthiest of her girls should not be unjustly +expelled,' only let the child herself know that she was tolerated in +consideration of her youth, her orphanhood, and her relationship to +Clement. Poor Robin! No one could help grieving for the tempest that +had fallen on her guiltless head, and hope that all would result in +her final good; but the sorrows of an absent school-girl could hardly +occupy even her dearest friends, in the full and present crisis of two +love affairs.</p> + +<p>For Edgar and Major Knevett both arrived, the lover as dispassionate as +the father was the reverse. Edgar did, however, as he had undertaken, +rise to the position. He joked at it a little in private, to the +annoyance and perplexity of Cherry, and even of Felix; but he was +perfectly steady in maintaining his perfect right to address Miss +Knevett, in avowing his engagement, and in standing by it.</p> + +<p>To Major Knevett, the affair appeared outrageous impudence on the +part of a beggarly young painter out of a country bookseller's shop, +encouraged by the egregious folly of the aunts. What was said of +clergyman's sons and good old family went for absolutely nothing; and +Edgar's quiet assurance of success in his profession was scoffed at +with incredulity not altogether unpardonable. In the encounter that +Felix had the misfortune to witness, since it took place in his own +office-parlour, he could not help thinking that Edgar, with his perfect +temper, unfailing courtesy, calm self-respect, and steady sense of +honour towards the young lady, showed himself the true gentleman in +contrast with the swaggering little Major, who seemed to expect that +he could bluster the young man out of his presumption, and was quite +unprepared for Edgar's cool analysis of his threats. But instead of, +like Tom Underwood, cooling down into moderation and kindness so soon +as his bolt was shot, the finding it fall short only chafed him the +more, and rendered him the more inveterate against all conciliation.</p> + +<p>There was an appeal all round to Felix, but he was not so practicable +as the universal compliments to his good sense showed to be expected. +He had expressed his opinion that it was a rash engagement, hitherto +improperly carried on; but he could not be brought to advise his +brother to break it off on his side while the lady held to it on hers. +It might be best to give it up by mutual consent; but as long as one +party was bound, so was the other; and he thoroughly sided with Edgar +in not being threatened out of it whilst Alice persisted. Still more +flatly did he refuse Miss Pearson's entreaty that he would see the +wilful girl, and persuade her how hopeless was her resistance, and +how little prospect of the attachment being prosperous. Nothing but +despair and perplexity could have prompted the good aunts to try such +a resource, but they were at their wits' end. They really loved their +niece, and they dreaded the tender mercies of her father, who had +indeed petted Alice as a young child, but had made her mother suffer +greatly from his temper. If she would yield, they hoped to procure for +her a home at York, with their brother's widow, and to save her from +a residence in Jersey with the step-mother; but Alice, upheld by a +secret commerce of notes ingeniously conveyed, felt herself a heroine +of constancy, and kept up her spirits by little irritations to whoever +tried to deal with her. She could deftly insinuate, on the one hand, +that her aunts had always preached up the Underwood perfections; and +on the other, hint to her father that if her home had still remained +what it was, she should never have looked out of it; and whenever he +flew into a rage, or used violent language, she would look up under her +eye-lids and whisper something about 'real gentlemen.' Those thorns and +claws that had figured in the scale of her transmigration were giving a +good many little scratches, which did her feelings some good, but her +cause none at all, by the vexation they produced. 'If she could only +be made to understand,' said poor Miss Pearson, 'how little she gains +by irritating her father, and that he is really a very dreadful person +when he is thoroughly offended! Poor child! my heart aches for her.'</p> + +<p>So Wilmet was turned in upon her, and before she could utter a word was +hugged and kissed all over because she was the very image of darling +Edgar, and his dear violet eyes were exactly the same colour.</p> + +<p>Unsentimental Wilmet extricated herself, saying, 'Eyes can't be violet +coloured. Don't let us go into that silly talk, Alice; things are too +serious now.'</p> + +<p>'You are come to help me and be a dear!' cried Alice, clasping her +hands. 'How does he look? the dear boy!'</p> + +<p>'The same as usual,' said Wilmet, coolly. 'But, Alice, if you think +that I am come to—'</p> + +<p>'Does he—really and truly? I saw him out of the little passage window, +and I thought he looked quite thin! And Lizzie Bruce said Mrs. Hartley +asked who that handsome young man was who looked so delicate.'</p> + +<p>'He is particularly strong and healthy. Alice, I want to set it all +before you as a reasonable being—'</p> + +<p>'Only do tell me; has he got his appetite? For you know he is used to +live where everything is <i>recherché</i>, and when one's out of spirits +<i>things</i> do make a difference—'</p> + +<p>Was that the claw in the velvet paw?</p> + +<p>'He eats three times as much as Felix any day,' said Wilmet, with a +certain remembrance of the startling nudity of the bone of yesterday's +leg of mutton. 'He is doing very well. You need not be afraid for him; +but it seems to me that you should consider whether it can be right—'</p> + +<p>'Come, Wilmet, you were my first friend; you can't help being kind to +me.'</p> + +<p>'I want to show you true kindness.'</p> + +<p>'True kindness means something horridly cross! Now don't, Wilmet. I get +ever so much kindness as it is! I know what you are going to say. It is +very naughty of people to like each other when neither of them has got +a sixpence; but if they can't help it, what then? Must they leave off +liking, eh?'</p> + +<p>'They ought to try to prevent their liking from leading to disobedience +and concealment.'</p> + +<p>'Ah! but if they can't?'</p> + +<p>'People always can.'</p> + +<p>'Were you ever tried?' asked Alice, slyly, for all the simplicity.</p> + +<p>'I hope never to be, if deceiving my friends and making others deceive +is to be the consequence.'</p> + +<p>'Well, luckily there isn't much chance,' crept out of the demure lips. +It was intended as the thorn beneath the may-flower, but it was no +such thing. Wilmet was quite ready to accept the improbability as very +fortunate.</p> + +<p>'That has nothing to do with it,' she said. 'The question is, what it +is right to do now. It seems hard for me to say so, being your friend +and his sister—'</p> + +<p>'Oh, never mind that. People's sisters never do like the girls they are +fond of.'</p> + +<p>Decidedly Wilmet could not get on. Her mouth was stopped either by +a little rapture about Edgar, or a little velvet-pawed scratch to +herself, whenever she tried in earnest to set the matter before Alice; +and when, being a determined person, she at last talked on through +all that Alice tried to thrust in, and delivered her mind of the +remonstrance she had carefully thought over, and balanced between +kindness, prudence, and duty, and all the time with the conviction that +not one word was heeded! If it was not English malice it was French +<i>malice</i> that pointed the replies and sent Wilmet away as much provoked +as pitying, and not at all inclined to be examined by Edgar on her +interview, and let him gather that she had not had the best of it. Poor +Alice! what were these little triumphs of a sharp tongue in comparison +with the harm she did herself by exacerbating whoever tried to argue +with her? There was one person she did profess to wish to see, namely, +Geraldine; but the flying rheumatic pains, excited by the black east +wind with sleet upon its blast, could not be trifled with; and Major +Knevett's wrath put an effectual stop to Alice's entering the house +during the Saturday and Sunday of his stay at Bexley. Perhaps Cherry +was not sorry. She could not have pleaded against Edgar, in spite of +her disapprobation of both; and moreover, the thought at the bottom of +her heart was, 'How could any one who had been the object of such tones +of the one brother's voice be won by the showy graces of the other? +Edgar could easily have thrown off a disappointment; but Felix came +first—and oh! can he shake it off in the same light way?'</p> + +<p>She had not the comfort of talking it over. Felix made no sign, and +Edgar's line was to treat the whole complication as a matter of +pleasantry, pretending that he had only gone into it to please Felix! +and yet, as came to their knowledge, privately exchanging billets and +catch-words with Alice, while he openly declared his engagement and +resolution to work his way up and lay his laurels at her feet.</p> + +<p>He went away the very same morning as Major Knevett carried off his +daughter to Jersey, audaciously following them to the station, where he +exchanged a grasp of the hand with her in the very sight of the 'grey +tyrant father,' who actually gnashed his teeth, in his inability either +to knock him down or give him in charge.</p> + +<p>There was no time to breathe between the departure of this pair of +lovers and the arrival of Alda's splendid Life-Guardsman, who, horses +and all, took up his abode at the Fortinbras Arms, and spent his +days in felicity with Alda. A very demonstrative pair they were. To +Geraldine, often unwillingly <i>en tiers</i>, they seemed to spend their +time chiefly in sitting hand in hand, playing with one another's rings +and dangles, of which each seemed to possess an inexhaustible variety. +Ferdinand's dressing-case and its contents were exquisite in their way, +and were something between an amusement and a horror to Wilmet, who +could not understand Felix's regard for so extravagant and wasteful +a person, who gave away sovereigns where half-crowns would have been +more wholesome, half-crowns instead of shillings, shillings instead of +pence, and who moreover was devoted to horse-flesh. His own favourite +steed, Brown Murad, had been secured at a fabulous price; and the +possession of him seemed to be the crowning triumph over a certain +millionaire baronet in the same corps, evidently his rival. What was +even more alarming was that every detail about races and horses in +training was at his fingers' ends, so that he put Felix up to a good +deal of knowledge useful to the racing articles in the Pursuivant; but +he declared that he never betted. His was a perilous position, homeless +and friendless as he stood; and this rendered him doubly grateful for +the brotherly welcome he received. Yet the days would have been long to +any but lovers, in spite of the rides and walks, one even to Minsterham +to see Lance. Ferdinand liked to recur to the old remembrances of his +convalescence; but in these Alda had no part, and they seemed to jar on +her. She might sometimes seem half fretted by his impetuous southern +love, but she could not bear a particle of his attention to be bestowed +on aught save herself; and when Geraldine would have utilised his fine +straight profile as an artistic study, the monopoly was so unpleasing +that the portrait had to be dropped. The odd thing was that Alda +should have a lover whose most congenial spirit was Clement. He was a +great frequenter of St. Matthew's, and had no interest save in kindred +subjects. Felix always found them alike difficult to converse with, +from a want of any breadth of sympathy with subjects past or present, +such as would have occupied him even without the exigencies of his +profession. They seemed to talk, not church, but shop, as if they did +not look beyond proximate ecclesiastical details, which they discussed +in technical terms startling to the uninitiated; and yet Felix trusted +that Clement's soul was a good deal deeper and wider than his tongue, +and that Ferdinand's, if narrow, was thoroughly resolute, finding in +his enthusiasm for these details a counterpoise for the temptations of +his position.</p> + +<p>His seemed to be a nature that would alternate between apathetic +indolence and strong craving for excitement. He could go on for +days with a patient, almost silent, round of mechanical occupations +performed well, nigh in his sleep, and then, when once stirred up +became possessed with a vehement restlessness, as if there were still a +little about him of the panther of the wilderness.</p> + +<p>At first he awaited his letter from his uncle much more philosophically +than did Alda, but when it tarried still, he became so eager that he +made two journeys to London to meet the mail, and pestered every one +with calculations as to time and space.</p> + +<p>The letter came, and was all that every one else had expected. Alfred +Travis had always detested the family into which his nephew had been +thrown by his accident, and the tidings that the heiress had been +rejected for the sake of one of these designing girls could not be +welcome. So he gave notice that nothing more could be expected from him +if his nephew stooped thus low. This, however, did not much concern +Ferdinand. He curled his black moustache, and quietly said his uncle +would not find that game answer. The affairs of the brothers had always +been mixed together, and Ferdinand had been content to leave the whole +in his uncle's hands, only drawing for his own handsome allowance; but +the foundation had been his mother's fortune, and he had only to claim +his own share of the capital, and disentangle it from the rest, either +to bring his uncle to terms at once, or to be able to dispense with +his consent. The delay was vexatious, but it could be but brief; and +in the meantime Bexley was felicity. Yes, in spite of the warning he +received at the Rectory, which my Lady followed up by a remonstrance +to Felix—over the counter, for in vain he tried to get her into +the office. He could only tell her that he much regretted Edgar's +conduct, but as to Alda, there was no disobedience, and the young man's +character was high. He was just as impracticably courteous as his +father, and Lady Price shrugged her shoulders and <i>hoped</i>. 'For, Felix +Underwood,' she said, 'I am convinced that <i>after all</i> you are a very +well-meaning young man.'</p> + +<p>This was her farewell, for Mr. Bevan had been more ailing than usual, +and had obtained permission to leave his parish for a year, to be spent +partly in the south of France, partly at the German baths.</p> + +<p>Well was it for those who could get away! Never had the spring been +sourer; Easter came so early as itself to seem untimely, and the +Wednesday of its week was bleakness itself, as Lance and Robina stood +on the top of the viaduct over the railway, looking over the parapet +at the long perspective of rails and electric wires, their faces +screwed up, and reddened in unnatural places by the bitter blast. Felix +had asked at breakfast if any one would be the bearer of a note to +Marshlands; Lance had not very willingly volunteered, because no one +else would; then Robina joined him, and they had proceeded through the +town without a syllable from either of the usually lively tongues, till +as they stood from force of habit watching for a train, the following +colloquy took place, Robina being the first speaker.</p> + +<p>'What is it?'</p> + +<p>'What is what?'</p> + +<p>'What is the matter?'</p> + +<p>'What is the matter with what?'</p> + +<p>'With it all?'</p> + +<p>There came a laugh, but Robina returned to the charge. 'Well, but what +is it? Is it east wind?'</p> + +<p>'Something detestable—whatever it is,' grunted Lance.</p> + +<p>'You've found it so too,' said Robina; for Lance had only come home +after evening cathedral the day before.</p> + +<p>'Haven't I, though!'</p> + +<p>He said no more, being a boy of much reserve as to his private +troubles; and Robina presently said,—</p> + +<p>'I say, Lance, did Alda use to be nice, or is it love?'</p> + +<p>'Never nice, like Wilmet or Cherry.'</p> + +<p>'I am sure,' proceeded the girl, 'I thought love was the most beautiful +and romantic thing—too nice to be talked about, for fear it should +turn one's head; but here it seems to be really nothing but plague and +bother and crossness.'</p> + +<p>'Poor Bob!' said Lance, 'you got the worst of it up at Brompton.'</p> + +<p>'I got it every way,' said Robina. 'There was Edgar treating me like a +little contemptible baby, and Alice sometimes coaxing me and sometimes +spiting me, and Angel poisoned against me; and when I thought I must +be acting for the best in telling Felix, somehow that turned out +altogether horrid.'</p> + +<p>'I suppose a girl must be telling some one,' said Lance; 'and if it was +to be done, Felix was the right one.'</p> + +<p>'So I made sure,' said poor Robin; 'but Miss Fulmort and Miss Fennimore +seemed to think it no better than if I had told you. They say I am +forgiven, but I hate their forgiveness. I've done nothing wrong, and +yet they don't like or trust me; and they seem to grudge me all my +marks and prizes. "For proficiency, not for conduct," they say, in that +hard cold voice. And then the girls nod and whisper. Angel and all, +think me a nasty spiteful marplot. Alice set half of them against me +before she went!'</p> + +<p>'Poor Bob. And you can't have a good set to, and punch their heads all +round! That's the way to have it out, and get comfortable and friendly.'</p> + +<p>'For choir boys? O Lance!'</p> + +<p>'Choir boys aint girls, I thank my stars.'</p> + +<p>'Well,' continued Robina, glad to pour out her troubles, even for such +counsel as this, 'when I came home last week, I <i>did</i> think it would be +made up.'</p> + +<p>'Well,' said Lance, as Robin grew rather choky, and drew the back of a +woolly glove across her eyes, not much to their benefit.</p> + +<p>'Clem looks black, because he says his sisters were meant to raise the +tone of the school.'</p> + +<p>'Confound the tone of the school! I know what <i>that</i> is! But who cares +for Tina?'</p> + +<p>'Then Wilmet says I ought to have asked leave to write to her, and she +could have managed it quietly, and kept everybody out of a scrape.'</p> + +<p>'Whew—w—w—' whistled Lance; but at the melancholy tone, he +absolutely took his red hand out of its comfortable nest in his pocket, +to draw his sister's arm into his. It was well, for her voice was far +more trembling now. 'I could bear it all if it were not for Felix +himself. I know he is angry with me, but he won't talk, nor tell me +how; he only said, "We both meant to act for the best; but it is a +painful affair, and we had better not discuss it," and then he began to +whistle to Theodore. If any one did know how I hate being told I meant +to act for the best!'</p> + +<p>'Something is come over Felix,' said Lance. 'I never knew him give such +a jaw as he has to me. To be sure, he was set on to it.'</p> + +<p>'Set on?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, by Wilmet for one! You should have seen the way she was in—as if +I hadn't a right to do what I please with my own money.'</p> + +<p>'What?'</p> + +<p>'My violin! Ferdinand Travis tipped me when he rode over to the +Cathedral, and by good luck it was the day before the auction at old +Spicer's. Bill and I went in to see the fun; and by all that is lucky, +there was a violin routed out of an old cupboard. Nobody bid against me +but Godwin, the broker, and it was knocked down to me for twenty-two +and six. Bill lent me the half-crown; and Poulter, our lay vicar, who +is at a music-shop, says 'tis a real bargain, he's mad to have missed +it himself; but he showed me how to put my fingers on it, and I can +play Mendelssohn's "Hirtenlied." You shall hear by-and-by, Robin. Well; +Wilmet comes on it when she was unpacking my shirts. I'm sure I wish +she'd let me unpack them myself, instead of poking her nose there; and +if she wasn't in a way! Wasting my money, when I ought to be saving it +up to buy a watch; and wasting my time and all the rest of it—till one +would think 'twas old Scratch himself I'd brought home!'</p> + +<p>'Oh don't, Lance. And did she set on Felix?'</p> + +<p>'Ay; and then, you know, our new Precentor, Beccles, isn't one quarter +the man Nixon was; and he has been and written a letter to Fee that any +schoolmaster in creation should be licked for writing, to go and pison +a poor chap's home—all about those cards.'</p> + +<p>'What cards?'</p> + +<p>'The pack Jones found in the middle of the north transept ten days ago.'</p> + +<p>'Of the Cathedral! How shocking! But why should he write to Felix?'</p> + +<p>'Because the big-wigs make sure some one out of the Bailey must have +dropped them, getting into the town through the Cathedral at night.'</p> + +<p>'But they don't suspect you?'</p> + +<p>'No; but Beccles got into an awful way, and swears—'</p> + +<p>'You don't mean really swears!'</p> + +<p>'No, no—stuff—vows—that unless he gets to the bottom of it, not one +of us shall have the good-conduct prize. Now I did think I might have +had that—though I'm not a church candle like Tina—for I never was +<i>had up</i> for anything; and it is precious hard lines! Such a beauty, +Robin, the Bishop gives it—all the Cathedral music, bound in red +morocco; and this beggar hinders us all this very last chance! And +then, he is dirty enough to write and tell Felix to get out of me who +has been getting out through the Cathedral, and dropping the cards.'</p> + +<p>'Do you know?'</p> + +<p>'Hold your tongue; I thought you had a little sense! Felix had that; he +saw I could not tell him, and said it must be as I pleased about that; +but then he rowed me, as he never did before, for wasting time, and not +mugging for the exhibition—as if that was any use.'</p> + +<p>'Why shouldn't you get the exhibition?'</p> + +<p>'Put that out of your head,' said Lance, angrily; 'Harewood is sure +of that! A fellow that construes by nature—looks at a sentence, and +spots the nominative in a moment—makes verses—rale, superior, iligant +articles.'</p> + +<p>'But I thought he wasn't always accurate. Can't you catch him out? O +Lance, don't look so fierce! I only said so because he can't want the +exhibition as much as you. He can go to some other school, or be paid +for.'</p> + +<p>'Not conveniently,' said Lance; 'they are not at all well off, and +Jack helps them. Besides, I wouldn't get the thing in a sneaking way; +and besides, Bill could no more make a mull in construing out of +carelessness than I could a false note—it's against nature. I can't +beat him, except in arithmetic. My birth-day comes at such an unlucky +time. I should get another year if I'd only been born in July instead +of June! I might be second, for Shapcote is only dogged by his father; +but that's no good for the exhibition: and then there's an end of +Cathedral and all!'</p> + +<p>'What should you do then, Lance?'</p> + +<p>'Whatever costs least! I'd as lief work my way out to Fulbert, if this +is to go on.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, don't! don't do that, whatever you do!' cried Robina, clinging to +his arm.</p> + +<p>'I don't see why not, if everybody is to be as savage as a bear when +one comes home. One always trusted to Felix to see sense, if nobody +else did; but what with his jawing one about the exhibition, and Wilmet +about the tin and every spot on one's clothes, and Alda growling at +whatever one does in the parlour, I'm sure I wish I'd stayed at Bexley.'</p> + +<p>The boy and girl had never before been tried by want of sympathy, +and what seemed to them injustice, when they had thus descended into +the perturbed atmosphere of what they were used to regard as a happy +home. There was a long mutual communication of grievances—irritable +speeches—inattention from their elders—fancies and complaints of +Alda's enforced peremptorily by Wilmet—appeals to Felix either quashed +or unheeded; the strange thing was, in how short a time so much had +managed to go wrong with them, except that they added the vexations of +the last quarter to the present discomfort, real or fancied; and though +they were both good children, each had the strong feeling that there +was not as much encouragement as usual to goodness, and that it could +not have been much worse if they had been seriously to blame. One had +expected to be caressed for her endurance in a good cause; the other +had not expected to be severely rebuked for what he scarcely viewed +as faults. It was the first time this younger half of the family had +ever suffered anything approaching to neglect or injustice from their +seniors, and the moment was perilous. The discussion was forming their +discontents into a dangerously avowed state, if it had the beneficial +effect of raising their spirits by force of sympathy. At any rate, they +were in no gloomy mood when they reached the tidy little villa, with +its beds of open-hearted crocuses defying the cold wind, and admitting +the sun to the utmost depths of their purple and golden bosoms, as they +laughed their cheery greeting.</p> + +<p>No less cheerful was the welcome from kind old Mrs. Froggatt, who +met them at the door. 'Master Lancelot, Miss Robina, this is an +unlooked-for pleasure, to be sure! My dear Miss Robina!' as the girl +gave her hearty embrace.</p> + +<p>They were the prime favourites next to Felix, and were the more gladly +hailed that Mr. Froggatt was anxious about the business on which they +came, and had been trying to get leave from his wife to peril his +rheumatics by coming in to Bexley about it. They must stay to luncheon; +and while Mr. Froggatt went off to answer his note, they were made much +of over the fire, in the way that had of late become so abhorrent to +Bernard, with difficulty avoiding a pre-luncheon or nooning of cake and +wine within an hour of the meal of the day.</p> + +<p>'And how is Mr. Underwood?' asked Mrs. Froggatt, when Robina had +been divested of her wraps, placed close to the fire, screened and +footstooled, and when Lance had transferred the big white cat from the +arm-chair to his own knee.</p> + +<p>'Oh, very well, thank you,' said Robina, rather surprised that the +lengthy catechism on the family health did not as usual start from +'poor dear Miss Geraldine.'</p> + +<p>'He was looking so thin, and had such a cough, I was quite concerned +when he walked out here on Good Friday afternoon,' continued Mrs. +Froggatt. 'I hope he is taking care.'</p> + +<p>'Wilmet is always at him about it,' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'That is right. And I hope he minds to keep the office-door shut. It is +such a draughty place! Does he wear flannel, do you know, my dear?'</p> + +<p>'I think so,' said Robina. 'Sister Constance told Wilmet he ought, when +he had that long cough after the measles.'</p> + +<p>'Ay. You know—you'll excuse me, my dears, a cough is not to be trifled +with in your dear family.'</p> + +<p>'You should write to the clerk of the weather-office, Mrs. Froggatt,' +said Lance, rather gruffly.</p> + +<p>And as Mrs. Froggatt was not good at understanding jokes, but was +always ready to accept Mr. Lance's, she thought he meant Admiral +Fitzroy; and much explanation and banter followed, which the children +made the louder from dread of the subject. Mrs. Froggatt was by no +means the cultivated person her husband was; but, being of a good old +plain farmer stock, she was quite as unassuming, and her manners with +the young Underwoods were a good deal like those of a superior old +housekeeper, only perhaps less authoritative and familiar; but she was +not to be kept away from the subject of her real anxiety. 'I wish I +could see your sister, and speak to her; he ought to have some advice +rather than let it run on in this way. I'm sure Mr. Froggatt would be +willing to do anything. It has been a great concern to him to have to +leave such a heavy charge to him this spring, and with all the family +cares on his head too, at his age. Miss Alda's wedding put off too—is +it? And is the young gentleman here still?'</p> + +<p>'No; his leave was over last Monday,' said Robina, 'a week after I came +home.'</p> + +<p>'I should like to have seen him! Your brother says he is grown up such +a fine-looking young man, and quite got over his lameness. A handsome +couple they will be! I did see them ride through the place, but Miss +Alda didn't see me.'</p> + +<p>'You saw his horse?' broke in Lance, who considered Brown Murad as a +superior specimen to either of the lovers; and Mrs. Froggatt, whose +father had bred horses, and whose son was much more addicted to them +than was for his good, was a much more intelligent auditor of the +perfections now dilated on than could have been expected.</p> + +<p>Yet nothing could keep off the dreaded subject, and even at table, +Lance's disappointing deficiency in schoolboy voracity became the cause +of a lamentation over his brother's small appetite, and an examination +of Robina, resulting in her allowing that Felix seldom gave himself +time to do more than snatch a crust of bread in the middle of the day, +and did not always make up for it at tea-time. Mr. Froggatt shook his +head and looked distressed, and his good lady went on discoursing about +the basin of soup she always used to keep prepared for him, evidently +longing, though not quite daring, to send a lecture to Wilmet on taking +care of her brother. But what made more impression on both the children +was, that after they had been into Mr. Froggatt's little conservatory +with him, and had received into their charge a basket of camellias, +violets, and calycanthus, with a pot of jonquils in the middle for +Geraldine, the old gentleman said, as he bade them good-bye, 'Tell your +sister, that if she thinks a day or two of laying by would be good +for your brother, I should be ready and glad to change places with +him. A little change might take away his cough; and I don't like his +looks—no, I don't. He ought to be careful;' this to himself, with a +long sigh.</p> + +<p>Then the children got out into the garden, and with the natural +impatience of the evil omen, exclaimed at the same moment—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'Croak, croak, croak, went the frogs,'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>and</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'Were there ever such a pair of good old coddles!'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>But then they walked on for a full quarter of a mile before either said +another word; and then it was, 'You don't think Felix looking ill, do +you, Lance?'</p> + +<p>'I never thought about his looks at all,' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'No more did I,' said Robina; 'but he does cough; I hear him through +the wall in the morning. Do you think there is anything in it, Lance?'</p> + +<p>'How long has it been going on?'</p> + +<p>'Ever since he came up to London. He got a chill in our garden when I +was telling him about—' said Robina, stopping short of what she hated +to mention.</p> + +<p>'Then that's it!' said Lance, turning round with a face of one who had +made a great discovery.</p> + +<p>'It? What is the matter with him?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Lance. 'Hold your tongue, Robina; but Cherry and I thought +long ago that he fancied that little Knevett himself. Then I made sure +it was all a mistake; but now, depend upon it, that's what he is so cut +up about!'</p> + +<p>It carried conviction to the hearer, perhaps because it fitted in with +a girl's love of romance. 'Then that's why he won't talk to me!'</p> + +<p>'Of course!'</p> + +<p>And then they began putting together all the tokens of inclination +which their small experience and large imagination could suggest, till +they had pretty well decided the point in their own belief, and had +amused themselves considerably; but the anxiety came back again.</p> + +<p>'Do people get over such things, Lance? There was Ophelia, and there +was Wilfred in "Rokeby"—only she was a woman, and he was pipy. Did you +ever know of anybody really and truly?'</p> + +<p>Lance meditated, but his experience reached no farther than the +surgeon's assistant at Minsterham, who was reported to be continually +in love, but who did not look greatly the worse for it.</p> + +<p>And then Robina suggested that she did not remember that either Wilfred +or Ophelia had a cough.</p> + +<p>'But my father had,' said Lance in the depths of his throat. 'Don't you +know, Robin, it was hard work and trouble and poverty that—<i>did it?</i>'</p> + +<p>'Was it?' awe-struck, for she had been so young as to have no clear +ideas.</p> + +<p>'I've heard it told often enough. My Lady cut off the third curate; and +that—and all the rest of it—helped to bring on the decline.'</p> + +<p>'But, Lance! At least, that wasn't—love.'</p> + +<p>'Nonsense, Robin! Don't you see, whatever takes the heart and spirit +out of a man, makes him ready for illness to get hold of?' Lance +plucked desperately at the hazels in the hedge, and his eyes were full +of tears.</p> + +<p>'O Lance, Lance, what can we do?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know! I'd let him pitch into me from morning till night if +that would do him any good!'</p> + +<p>'I'm sure I am very sorry I grumbled. We'll give Wilmet Mr. Froggatt's +message, and see what she thinks.'</p> + +<p>Poor children! their consternation was such, that they must judge by +their own eyes of Felix without loss of time; so they both marched into +the shop with Mr. Froggatt's note, and there felt half baffled to see +Felix looking much as usual, very busy trying to content a lady with +nursery literature, and casting a glance at Robin as if she had no +business there.</p> + +<p>Wilmet received Mr. Froggatt's message without excitement. She +thought it would be a very good thing, but she did not believe Felix +would consent; and Alda broke out, 'Then we should have Mr. Froggatt +inflicted on us all the evening!'</p> + +<p>Nor did Felix consent. He said it was very kind, but his cold was +almost gone, and he did not need it. Moreover he had his private +doubts whether Alda would be decently gracious to Mr. Froggatt; and +Wilmet, whose one object in life was to keep her sister contented and +happy at home, could press nothing so disagreeable to her. Altogether, +the reception of their hints at home was so prosaically placid, that +they were both rather ashamed of the alarm into which they had worked +themselves up. Even when Robina privately asked Cherry whether she +thought Felix looking well, the answer was eager.</p> + +<p>'Oh, very—very well! He looked pulled down when his cold was bad, but +he is quite well now.'</p> + +<p>'Mrs. Froggatt thought—'</p> + +<p>'Oh, you've been talking to Mrs. Froggatt! She thinks nothing so kind +as to say one is looking poorly. I said, "How well you are looking, +Mrs. Froggatt," one day, and I assure you she only swallowed it by an +act of Christian forgiveness. She is fondest of Felix, so of course he +looks the worst.'</p> + +<p>Robina got no more out of Geraldine, whose fears at that moment were +in the form of utterly denying themselves. Commonplace life greatly +reassured the two young things, and of the alarm there chiefly remained +a certain shame at their own former discontent, and doubly tender +feeling towards their fatherly elder brother. Now that they guessed +something to be amiss with him, they had no irritation for him—and +indeed he gave them no cause for any; the discomfort was partly indeed +occasioned by the lack of his usual quiet mirth, but far more by Alda's +fastidiousness, and Wilmet's vigilance lest she should be annoyed. This +caused restrictions that weighed more heavily on the younger ones than +on Lance and Robina, and had the effect of making Angela and Bernard +rebellious. They had neither the principle nor the consideration of +their two seniors; to them every one seemed simply 'cross,' and against +this crossness there was a constant struggle, either of disobedience or +of grumble.</p> + +<p>Both were at rather an insubordinate age. Angela, having begun school +life with getting into a scrape greater than she understood, had +acquired a naughty-girl reputation, of the kind that tempts the young +mind to live up to it; and her high spirits, boisterous nature, and +'don't care' system made her irrepressible by any one but Wilmet, +whose resolute hand might be murmured at, but was never relaxed. While +Bernard, hitherto very fairly amenable to Cherry, and a capital little +scholar, became infected with the spirit of riot and insubordination. +Whatever fastidiousness the children took for fine-ladyism in Alda they +treated unmercifully, and resented in their own fashion her complaints, +and Wilmet's enforcement of regard to her tastes; nor was Lance always +blameless in the tricks played upon her.</p> + +<p>It was strange to see the difference made by one incongruous element. A +few sneers at Cherry's pronunciation, an injudicious laugh when she was +rebuking, and a general habit of making light of her, on Alda's part, +upset all Bernard's habits of deference to the sister who had taught +him all he knew. His lessons grew into daily battles—miseries to +himself and far greater miseries to his teacher, and sufficient misery +to the spectator to induce her to do that which the other sisters could +scarcely have brought themselves to do on any provocation, namely +to complain to Felix, and by-and-by make a representation, for the +general good, she said, that it was a mere farce to leave the boy under +Cherry's management.</p> + +<p>Cherry, with bitter tears, was forced to own that she could no longer +keep him in order nor make him learn, and there was no alternative but +to send him to Mr. Ryder's. He had no voice nor ear, so that he could +not follow in Lance's steps; and for the present, Bexley was the only +resource.</p> + +<p>Of course Cherry charged the whole of this upon her poor little self; +and some amount of the trouble certainly was due to her incapacity +not to show in voice and manner when she was under fret, anxiety, or +depression; and now, poor child! all three at once had come upon her. +Whether Alda's conversation or the children's naughtiness fretted +her most, it would be hard to tell; she was in a continual state +of unuttered, vague, and therefore most wearing anxiety on Felix's +account, and the physical discomfort of the ungenial spring told on +her whole frame and spirits. Alda's talk, when good-humoured, opened +such vistas of brightness, amusement, conversation, and above all of +beautiful scenes, that they awoke longings and cravings that Cherry +had hardly known before. The weariness of the grinding monotony of +home seemed to have infected her. She knew it for discontent, and was +the more miserable over her want of power to control it, because of +the terror that hung over her lest repinings might bring on them all +the judicial punishment of a terrible break-up of the home she loved, +even while the tedium of the daily round oppressed her. Alternate +plaintiveness and weary sharpness of course aggravated both Alda and +Bernard, and they knew nothing of the repentant wretchedness that +rather weakened than strengthened her.</p> + +<p>Little Stella's unfailing docility and sweetness were her great solace. +Even Alda was exceedingly fond of Stella, and would have spoilt her +if the child had not been singularly firm in her intense love and +loyalty to the heads of the family. Angel and Bear were too rough for +her, and alarmed her sense of duty; but Lance was her hero; and the +happiest moments of those holidays were spent in a certain loft above +a warehouse in the court of the printing-office, only attainable by +a long ladder. Here, secure that none but favoured ears could hear, +Lance practised on his beloved violin, at every hour he could steal, +emulating too often Mother Hubbard's dog 'fiddling to mice,' but +his audience often including his three younger sisters. He had had +scarcely any hints, but his was the nature that could pick music out of +anything; and Angela, much more than Robin, was ecstatic in all that +concerned the sixth sense, and watched and criticised with rapture, +wanted to learn, and pouted at being told that it was not fit for a +woman. Among those stacks of paper in the dusty loft, with the stamp +and thud of the press close at hand, it was possible to forget, in +creating sounds and longing to fulfil the dream of the spirit, that +Alda was exacting and trying, Wilmet blind to the annoyances she +caused, Cherry striving hard, and not always successfully, with the +fretfulness of anxiety, and Felix—they durst not think in what state. +That loft and that violin made their fairy-land, and one that rendered +it most unusually hard for Lance to learn his holiday task.</p> + +<p>'I'll tell you what, Lance,' said Robina at last, when he had vainly +been trying to repeat it to her, with his eye on a sheet of music all +the time, 'you can't do two things at once. If I were you, I would lock +up that violin till the summer examination is over.'</p> + +<p>He turned on her quite angrily. 'Very fine talking! Lock up all the +pleasure I have in life! Thank you!'</p> + +<p>'I'm quite sure you'll never get the exhibition if you have your head +in this.'</p> + +<p>'I shan't get the exhibition any way.'</p> + +<p>'But if you do your utmost for it?'</p> + +<p>'I shall do my utmost!'</p> + +<p>'You can't if you have these tunes always running in your head, and are +always wild to be picking them out.'</p> + +<p>'Well, Robin, I sometimes think I should do more good with music than +anything else.'</p> + +<p>'Maybe,' said Robina, a sensible little woman; 'but you'll do no good +by half and half. If you don't do well in the examination, Felix will +be horribly vexed, and you'll always hate the thought of it.'</p> + +<p>'I tell you I shall be as dull as ditch-water, and as stupid as +Shapcote, if I don't have any pleasure.'</p> + +<p>'I only don't want you to be stupider.'</p> + +<p>Lance chucked up a pen-wiper and caught it.</p> + +<p>'The fact is,' said Robina, 'all we've got to do is our best. If we +don't, it is wrong in us, and it makes us more a weight on Felix; and +I think it is our real duty to keep everything out of the way that +hinders us, if it is ever so nice.'</p> + +<p>'Is that Cock Robin, or Parson Rook with his little book?' said Lance, +throwing the pen-wiper in her face.</p> + +<p>But the week after, when Robina was at school again, she was called to +receive a letter which had something hard in it.</p> + +<p>'Did you leave a key behind you?' she was asked a little suspiciously, +for there was nothing about it in the brief note.</p> + +<p>'No, Miss Fennimore; but my brother has sent it to me to keep for him. +It is the key of his violin-case, and he is not going to touch it till +he is past his examination.'</p> + +<p>From that time Miss Fennimore entertained a better opinion of Robina +Underwood; but little recked Robina. She only felt secure that after +this act of heroism Lance could not but gain the exhibition.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h4> + +<h3>MIDSUMMER SUN.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 30%;"> +'For Phœbus' awful self encountered him<br /> +Amid the battle throng invisible,<br /> +In thickest darkness shrouded all his face;<br /> +He stood behind, and with extended palm<br /> +Dealt on Patroclus' neck and shoulder broad<br /> +A mighty buffet.'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 35%;"><i>Iliad, Book</i> xvi. (<i>Earl of Derby.</i>)</span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Warmer weather came at last, and brought Mr. Froggatt back to his daily +work, lifting a weight of responsibility from his young partner's +shoulders.</p> + +<p>The cough mended too, but did not entirely cease; and when June came +in with an unusual access of summer heat, there were those who felt it +as trying as the sharp wind had been. One evening, when the home party +had been sitting in the garden, and the fall of the dew sent Cherry +indoors, Felix, as usual, gave her his arm, and lifted her step by +step up the stairs. She felt, all over her frame, that what used to be +almost nothing to the boy was a severe exertion to the man.</p> + +<p>'You should not do it!' she said, as they both stood resting at the +top, he leaning back against the wall, and wiping his forehead, where +the big blue V of the veins stood out prominently.</p> + +<p>'Having so often carried the calf—I should be able to carry—the cow,' +he said, the smile not disguising the panting of his voice.</p> + +<p>'You are to be at the agricultural meeting at Dearport to-morrow. I +wish you would just go and see Dr. Lee.'</p> + +<p>'I think I shall.' And there they were interrupted.</p> + +<p>Poor Geraldine! What worlds of apprehension were founded on that quiet +assent, his first intimation that he believed himself unwell! She +kept absolute silence. She could not have uttered her terrors for ten +thousand worlds.</p> + +<p>She was on her couch under the apple-tree, in the late afternoon, +trying to force her thoughts out of miserable possibilities, when she +saw Felix come out of the house, flushed, heated, dusty, tired; but +somehow she gathered hope from his air, as he threw himself down on the +grass by her side, saying, 'Mr. Froggatt sent me out to cool.'</p> + +<p>'Stella, dear,' to the little one, who had her story-book at hand, 'run +and ask Sibby to bring Felix out a cup of tea.' Then she tried to guess +at his face, but durst not look at him fully. 'Are you very tired?'</p> + +<p>'Rather! That place was a mere oven of roaring! Well, Cherry,' pulling +off his neck-tie, and settling himself, with an elbow on her couch, and +his back against the tree, 'there's nothing amiss with my lungs.'</p> + +<p>She shuddered all over, and almost bounded; then put her hand tenderly +on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>'Your doctor is a clever man, I can see,' he continued. 'He seemed to +guess about me directly. He sounded my chest, and says it is all right +now, but that there had been a little damage; he thought the long cough +I had after the measles had left traces that this winter has told upon.'</p> + +<p>'Ah!' A great gasp.</p> + +<p>'But there's no active disease—none at all; nor likely, if I can shake +off this remnant of cough, and get into condition before the winter.'</p> + +<p>Cherry sighed again at the white hand, and the net-work of blue veins +on both it and the temple that was propped against it. 'You must +<i>indeed!</i>' she wistfully said.</p> + +<p>'I <i>must</i>,' said Felix, sighing too, as with little mind for the +struggle. 'I've brought home a detestable bottle of cod-liver oil on +the spot, and am to take to all the good living I can swallow. Won't +that delight Mr. Froggatt's good old soul? Then the worst of it is that +I am to go away to some sea place for the hottest of the weather.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I'm so glad!'</p> + +<p>'He taxed me with not taking food enough; and when I allowed that I had +no turn for eating, insisted on this sea plan: but he laughed me to +scorn when I asked whether I might not get a room at Dearport, and run +backwards and forwards. "Ay," he said, "you have a good deal on your +mind;" and I fell into the trap, and told him my partner had been ill, +and we had a great deal to work up. And he went on to ask if I had not +the charge of the family, and was not apt to get anxious about them; +and he turned round on me, and ordered me to get a thorough holiday, +and turn my back on everybody and everything; for there's nothing the +matter with me but overwork and harass—' Something that did not amount +to <i>and</i> finished the sentence.</p> + +<p>'O Felix, I know, I have felt,' she said, the tears standing in her +eyes, and the colour rushing into her face at this first venture.</p> + +<p>'Have you—little foolish thing?' he answered, but shifting hand and +elbow so that nothing of his face could be seen but a bit of brow and +temple, and that was crimson to the roots of his hair. 'Don't take it +for more than it ever was,' he muttered.</p> + +<p>'It was enough to hurt you grievously,' whispered the sister.</p> + +<p>'It ought not,' he said. 'It was only the putting out of a vain foolish +hope I had no right to indulge. Eh, Cherry!' as she made a little +sound, 'tell me one thing; was it all imagination and folly that +she—she could have—liked me?' He bent his head with almost as much +suppressed emotion as if it had been a matter of present hope.</p> + +<p>'Certainly not,' said Cherry. 'She liked your—your attentions; and I +thought sometimes you were quite pulling her up to your level. If no +one else—'</p> + +<p>'I did not imagine it was visible,' he interrupted. 'I tried to be very +guarded, but one does not know—'</p> + +<p>'You were. Somehow one feels more than one sees.'</p> + +<p>'And you thought she did? Then at least I was not quite a fool! I +fancied that there was response enough to what seems to have shown in +spite of me to warrant the dream that if ever a time came—!'</p> + +<p>'If she had had depth enough!'</p> + +<p>'But, of course,' said Felix in a tone of defence, 'she never really +knew; he guessed still less.'</p> + +<p>'No, I am sure he never guessed. There is that comfort,' said Cherry.</p> + +<p>'It is the greatest I have had all along,' said Felix. 'For the rest, +it was no wonder.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Cherry; 'but it all managed to fall in the very hardest way +on you. No wonder it was too much for you!'</p> + +<p>'It is odd,' mused Felix, 'how this one dream has seemed to take all +the heart and soul out of one; there seemed no elasticity to meet other +things. I must say all this doctor's advice has been seeming an amazing +amount of trouble for what is not very well worth having in the end.'</p> + +<p>'O Felix, Felix you will—'</p> + +<p>'My Chérie, you don't think I'd drop off the coach while you are in it +if I can help it, to say nothing of the rest! I suppose every one has +something of the sort in his turn, and I'll take good care not to be +let in for it again. Thank you, Cherry,' he added presently, and now +looking at her, 'I am very glad to have had this out with you. I think +I can make a fresh start now. What, silly little thing! crying, when I +thought I had brought you good news!'</p> + +<p>'You are quite sure you have told me all Dr. Lee said?' she demanded, +holding his hands tight, and gazing into the face, which certainly, +with the still heightened colour, looked both delicate and weary. 'You +have been so much worse than you told!'</p> + +<p>'No, indeed, I have felt very little but weariness and want of energy; +but I am better now than I have felt for weeks. And what is more, +Cherry, I don't feel like getting worse. I mean to set myself to live +to get through the work my father left me.'</p> + +<p>'Taking care of all of us! Is that all you care to live for, Felix?'</p> + +<p>'All, just now. Don't look shocked, Cherry. You know it is all very +fresh' ('Five months—poor Felix!' thought she), 'and there is the +continual pain of knowing how wretched those people make the poor +child. When she is happier, perhaps the shade will lighten. Don't be +afraid, you dear little thing' (he was answering her piteous eyes), +'there's plenty of time to recover it. I suppose I am really very young +still.'</p> + +<p>'Not quite three and twenty! Oh, Felix! I am sure God will give you +back happiness, you are so good and patient! Where will you go, and +when?'</p> + +<p>'How I wish you could go with me! Dr. Lee said he should like to send +me to Switzerland; but as he might as well have said the moon, he said +any sea place would do. Rest and good air are all that signifies; so I +thought of Ewmouth, and then I might see Vale Leston again. I believe +you want it as much as I. You are a little washed-out rag.'</p> + +<p>'I shall be all right when I know you are better.' Then as Sibby +brought out the tea, and Stella the toast she had insisted on making, +he began to look at his short-hand notes. 'Never mind those. You are +to rest, you know.—Stella, little one, run to the office, and if Mr. +Froggatt is not busy, get him to come and have some tea.'</p> + +<p>This was always a mission to Stella's taste; and Mr. Froggatt was +soon installed in the only basket-chair that would hold him, and was +professing his relief and satisfaction that Mr. Underwood had been wise +enough to take advice at last. He had better go any day, the sooner the +better; and even his desire to take the newspaper work with him would +have been overruled, but for the simple fact that there was nobody else +capable of it, in the present state of Mr. Froggatt's eyes.</p> + +<p>Alda had been lying down in her own room. Her cup of tea—an +institution that for any one else Wilmet would have deemed sinful +waste—had been rung for, when she saw from the window that Mr. +Froggatt was one of the party in the garden; and whereas Sibby did not +choose to hear or attend to her whims, she came down full of wrath and +indignation, as soon as she saw that Cherry was left alone under her +tree, and Wilmet coming out to her with the step of one who was glad +her day's work was over.</p> + +<p>'Really, Sibby's inattention was shameful! Not choosing to bring the +tea upstairs when it was rung for!'</p> + +<p>'You forget how much Sibby has to do, Alda.'</p> + +<p>'You have quite spoilt Sibby. I would not have such a servant on any +account. I'm sure I don't know why the tea was so early, either. Cherry +ordered it, I believe.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Cherry, 'because Felix came in so hot and tired.'</p> + +<p>'He could have waited, I suppose,' began Alda; but Wilmet was asking +anxiously, 'Is he so very tired? Where is he? I was afraid he would be +knocked up, he looked so pale when he set off.'</p> + +<p>'He is gone to write out his notes,' said Cherry; 'I think he is rested +now. And, Mettie,' she added, knowing that he had rather not have to +begin the subject again, 'I am glad to say he has been to see Dr. Lee. +And he says that his lungs are all safe, only he must be careful, and +go away for a change.'</p> + +<p>'Just as I say,' exclaimed Alda; 'no one can be well, living in such a +hole! When are we to go?'</p> + +<p>'My dear Alda,' said Wilmet, 'you forget. No one can possibly go but +Felix; and it will be hard enough to manage for him.'</p> + +<p>'Then I do think it is very selfish in him,' said Alda, 'when every one +of us wants change! I'm as languid as possible; and look at Cherry.'</p> + +<p>Felix selfish! Even Wilmet could not stand that, and answered with her +most severely gentle manner, 'Nothing but necessity will induce Felix +to do so. I beg you will say nothing of the sort again.'</p> + +<p>Cherry was alarmed lest Wilmet might not be convinced of the necessity, +and might think more of present pounds than future health; but in fact, +Wilmet was as much relieved as Cherry herself by the medical opinion, +for she had charged the failure of health entirely to the constitution +instead of the heart, and moreover never was troubled with misgivings +and heart-sinkings for the future. So, as for a needful and infallible +cure, she set herself to arrange, writing again to Abednego Tripp, +the Vale Leston clerk, whose possession of a market boat kept him +conversant with Ewmouth, and who recommended rooms in the house of a +former servant at the Rectory who had married a sailor.</p> + +<p>Felix only waited to put his business in train, and make over Theodore +to the care of Clement, who had just come home from Cambridge. The +quantity of work and bustle had not been beneficial, and his sisters +did not feel at all happy in sending him off by himself; while Alda +was inclined to think the time a particularly cruel one, just as all +the most unquiet spirits of the household would be coming home for the +holidays, and his authority would be most wanted.</p> + +<p>However, Wilmet was free first of all, and she was a more efficient +guardian of the peace than ever Felix could be downstairs. Lance was +to come on the evening of the 26th of June, after the examination for +the exhibition, which, as he had told every one, he was quite sure not +to gain. And then what was to be done with him, small and boyish as he +still was?</p> + +<p>The question was sighed over on that day by the three sisters as +they sat endeavouring to be cool, and looking out at the glowing +street where the few passengers seemed to be crawling like flies on a +window-pane.</p> + +<p>Presently a rather hesitating knock at the door was followed by the +entrance of Mr. Froggatt, ushering in no other than Mr. Harewood.</p> + +<p>In the moment of shaking hands, Cherry had foreboded enough to set her +pulses throbbing so violently as to deafen her ears. Lance had failed, +had run away in despair, to go to Fulbert rather than be a burthen; +Felix would go in search of him—break a blood-vessel—and—</p> + +<p>Nay—what was it? Lance? It really was Lance! Was not Wilmet talking +of going? Mr. Harewood saying something about trains? She made a +great effort to clear her senses, and the first thing she really +distinguished was Wilmet saying, 'Thank you, I will put a few things +together.'</p> + +<p>Then she hurried away, and Cherry found Mr. Froggatt standing over her, +saying kindly, 'Dear Miss Geraldine, don't be alarmed. There is often +no bad result.'</p> + +<p>'How was it? I don't understand,' said Alda.</p> + +<p>Mr. Harewood owned himself not perfectly informed, but he feared the +trouble had been in great part occasioned by his own poor boy William's +carelessness. The two boys had strolled out the evening before, along +the bank of the river, and had compared the copies of verses which +were to be shown up at the examination. Afterwards they had bathed, +and Will had left his verses meantime in the hollow of a tree, never +remembering them till he found himself in his place in the Cathedral on +the very morning of the examination. When he came out, not only did his +duties as senior chorister chain him to the spot, but he had put off to +the last moment the fair copying of his algebraic exercises, and his +chance of the exhibition was as good as lost (the very loop-hole that +Robina had predicted his carelessness would make), had not Lance, whose +preparations were all made, as soon as he understood the difficulty, +dashed headlong off, bare-headed as he stood at the school door, +without waiting to fetch his cap, and laid the verses on his rival's +desk just in time for them to be shown up. He had been absent about +twenty minutes, and had scarcely been missed; but when his turn came, +a few moments later, to bring his papers to the examiners, as soon as +he stood up, he staggered, gazed round, cried out, and fell forward +on his desk insensible. A doctor, who like Mr. Harewood himself had +been present to hear a son's performance, had helped to raise him, +and pronounced it to be a case of sun-stroke; nor, when, half an hour +later, the librarian set off to fetch his sister, had there been any +sign of consciousness.</p> + +<p>Mr. Harewood tried to be calm, but he was evidently in great distress; +and Mr. Froggatt could not restrain large tears from dropping.</p> + +<p>As to Cherry, she could only tremble, unable to speak or cry; and Mr. +Froggatt called out to Alda to do something for her, when Alda said she +would call Wilmet, which made Cherry burst out with 'Don't, don't!' and +shudder the more with tearless sobs; but happily, Clement coming down, +fetched her remedies, and did more by whispering a few kind words of +hope and comfort.</p> + +<p>He was going with Wilmet, who was as usual the self-possessed one; and +while passively allowing Mr. Froggatt to give her biscuits and even +wine, she left her few parting directions. 'Alda, take care of them +all.—Stella, try to keep Tedo happy.—Cherry, don't give way and fancy +things.—Above all, don't write to Felix! He must not be hurried home +without necessity. I could telegraph if there was—' and there her +steady voice faltered, she drew down her veil and turned to walk to the +station, Clement carrying her bag, and Mr. Froggatt accompanying them +to the train.</p> + +<p>Very little was said on the way, before they reached the town whose +last associations were so joyous. Mr. Harewood would have given Wilmet +his arm, dreading the tidings that might meet her; but she was walking +straight on, with head erect, as though neither needing nor seeking +support.</p> + +<p>They reached the low wicket-door of the Bailey, and as they entered the +little court and passed the window, they saw that people were still +standing about the bed in the corner. Everything was open, to admit +such air as might stir that sultry heat. Some one came to the door, and +said, 'No change.'</p> + +<p>Then Wilmet and Clement advanced to the narrow old dark oak bed, +and Mrs. Harewood made way for them, fresh tears starting at their +presence. There he lay, their bright agile boy, with eyes half closed +and fixed, and circled half way down his cheeks with livid purple, like +bruises, the purple lips emitting a heavy breath, his crest of sunny +hair hanging dank with the melting of the ice on his head.</p> + +<p>Clement's lips trembled, and he dropped on his knees, hiding his +face and stifling his sobs in his hands. Wilmet, after looking for +permission to a gentleman at the foot of the bed, whom she took for the +doctor, laid her hand on the helpless fingers, and bent to kiss the +brow, saying softly and steadily, 'Lance, dear Lancey!'</p> + +<p>The eyelids moved, the hand closed, there was a struggling stifled +utterance: 'Wilmet, Wilmet, bring me back! Oh, bring me back!'</p> + +<p>She looked up, and read in the watchers' faces that they were glad. +'Yes, dear Lance,' she said, in her soft steady voice, 'I am here. You +will soon be better.'</p> + +<p>He clung to her, as if blindly struggling with some terrible +oppression, and the effort ended in violent sickness, exhausting him +into unconsciousness again; but just then the real doctor came in, +having been summoned by a message at the first symptom of change from +the state of stupor. At the same time the Cathedral bell began to +ring for evening prayer, and Lance at once was roused to endeavour to +obey it, and when he was gently held back, murmured on about finding +the places, and seeing Bill was not late. Mr. Harewood had to go, but +whispered that he would ask the prayers of the congregation. It was +comfortable to remember that Lance was thought of there, when, as the +deep roll of the organ vibrated round the building, psalm, chant, +anthem, and response came thronging thick and confusedly on those +unconscious lips.</p> + +<p>Dr. Manby, however, told Wilmet not to be too much alarmed at this +delirium, for the most immediate danger had passed when the lethargy +had given way, and that though fever was probably setting in, there +was fair hope that so healthy a boy would be able to struggle through +it without permanent harm. There was a gentleness and consideration in +his manner quite new to her after her dealings with Mr. Rugg, and she +felt at the same time that he was not concealing the truth from her. +She told how it was with her eldest brother, asking whether he ought to +be sent for; and it was a great lightening of present fear to be told +that there was now no need for haste, and that any change for the worse +would give full time to bring him; moreover, that new faces were to be +avoided. Should a nurse be sent from the hospital? Wilmet raised her +steady sensible eyes, and said she could manage, she was well used to +nursing.</p> + +<p>'I see you are,' he answered, well satisfied, since there were besides +the Precentor's housekeeper, who was used to act as matron to the +boarding choir-boys, and apparently an unlimited power of Harewoods.</p> + +<p>As to the place, Lance had at first been carried to his own bed, and +even if there had been a regular infirmary, he was in no state to bear +being moved. The other boys' goods had been removed, and they all were +going home that evening; so that it was as cool and as quiet a place +as could be had, since there was no doubt that the sounds from the +Cathedral would be hushed for so critical a case.</p> + +<p>Indeed, just as Dr. Manby had said this, both the Dean and the +Precentor were seen coming through the Bailey on the way out of church +to ask after the patient; and the former promised Wilmet that the bells +and organ should both be silenced, and that the daily service should be +in the Lady Chapel.</p> + +<p>It appeared there had been little but the instrumental music that +evening, and strangers who had heard the praises of the Minsterham +choir must have been disappointed; for the psalms so entirely overcame +the senior chorister that he could do nothing but sob, and at last was +fain to stuff half the sleeve of his surplice into his mouth to hinder +a howl such as the least of the boys actually burst out with. Most of +the other lads were far past singing, and even two or three of the +men; and such voices as did uplift themselves were none of the best or +clearest.</p> + +<p>That poor senior chorister—he crept back after his father into the +room. It was his first entrance, for he had been kept all day at the +examination, with what power of attention may be guessed; and when +some half-recognition of him set the sufferer off into wanderings +that showed habitual vigilance over his carelessness, he was so much +distressed that he rushed out, and was heard crying so piteously in +the court, that his mother went out to hush and comfort him. Never +strong, the shock, anxiety, and exertion had so worn her out, that her +family would not let her come back; but their attention to the nurses +did not relax—they were viewed as guests both by Mr. Beccles and +the Harewoods; and when it was found that neither would come away to +another house to dine, a little table was prepared in the court, close +to the door, and the sister and brother, coaxed one by one, and made to +eat and drink; while, as Clement could not bear to go home, a note was +written, the delivery of which to the sisters Mr. Beccles undertook to +secure. All the evening, Mr. Harewood or his eldest son, the engineer +captain, the same whom Wilmet had taken for the doctor, sat at the +other end of the room; while Lance lay, sometimes babbling school tasks +mixed with anthems and hymns, sometimes in something between sleep and +torpor, but always moaning and fevered.</p> + +<p>This strange temporary infirmary, of which Wilmet was made free, +consisted of two long narrow rooms, each with a row of quaint black oak +beds and presses, between the double row of narrow lattice windows, +looking into the court on one side, and the cloister on the other. +There was a smaller room dividing these two chambers, and opening +into both, which the under-master had vacated, and where the matron +installed Miss Underwood's little bag.</p> + +<p>Clement was a good deal impressed with the place, in the grand quiet +shadow of the old Cathedral; and the room itself told much of his +brother's daily life, in his own little section of it. The deep +window-seat and old oak chest were loaded with piles of 'Punch,' sheets +of music, school-books, and grotesque sketches; bat, hockey-stick, and +fishing-rod were in the corner; trencher cap and little black gown +hung on their peg on the white-washed walls, and pinned beside them +lists of the week's music, school-work, &c. In the corner by the press +was a little rough deal table, covered with an old white shawl that +Clement remembered as his mother's; and on it lay Lance's old brown +Bible, the Prayer-book given him by the Bishop, 'Steps to the Altar,' +and Ken's Manual; over it hung the photograph of his father, and next +above, an illumination of Cherry's, 'The joy of the Lord is your +strength;' while above was a little print of the Good Shepherd. Nor +was it a small testimony to the boy who had been senior in the room, +that Clement found one or two other such little tables, evidently for +private prayer. He had never believed such things could be out of St. +Matthew's, nor where the books were not more of his own exclusive type +than were Lance's; and perhaps there was some repentance for harsh +judgment in his spirit as he knelt on by that little table long after +Mr. Harewood, near midnight, had read a few prayers and gone to his +house.</p> + +<p>When Clement stood up, his sister made him lie down, as well as his +long legs would permit, on one of the other beds, where he soon fell +asleep; while she sat on, where she could see the spire rising aloft +into the pale blue of the summer night's sky, while the perfect +stillness was only broken by the quarterly chiming of the clock, +re-echoed from its fellow in the town-hall. Every window and door +was open, but the air was heated and oppressive till the early dewy +coolness before dawn crept in, making her bend over Lance to cover him +less slightly. Then she met his eyes, heavy and blood-shot, but with +himself in them.</p> + +<p>'Wilmet, is that you?' he said, in a wondering tone.</p> + +<p>'Yes, here I am, dear Lance.'</p> + +<p>'Is it night or morning?'</p> + +<p>'Morning. There, it is striking three-quarters past two.'</p> + +<p>'Oh!' a long sigh. 'I'm so thirsty!'</p> + +<p>She brought some drink; but as he tried to raise his head, the +distressing sickness returned in full force, and in the midst the +gasping cry, 'My head, my head!'</p> + +<p>'Some more ice, Clem,' said Wilmet; but Clement looked up from the +ice-pail in despair, for all was melted; and she could only steep +handkerchiefs in the water and in eau-de-cologne, and lay them on the +head, while Clement wondered if he could find a shop; but where was +the use at three in the morning? and poor Lance rolled round wearily, +sighing, 'Oh, I did not know one's head could ache so!'</p> + +<p>Just then a step crossed the court, and a low voice said, 'Is he awake? +I have brought some more ice.'</p> + +<p>'O Jack, thank you!' faintly breathed Lance.</p> + +<p>'Thank you!' fervently added Wilmet; 'we did not know what to do for +some more!'</p> + +<p>'I thought you must want some by this time. I have a little ice-machine +for Indian use,' he added, as Clement looked at him like a sort of +wizard.</p> + +<p>He was small, sandy, and freckled after the Harewood fashion, and +was besides dried up by Eastern suns; but one who brought such +succour could not fail to be half celestial in the sister's eyes; and +as he said, 'You are getting better,' her response was fervent in +its quietness, though poor Lance, conscious only of oppression and +suffering, merely replied with a groan, and seemed to be dozing again +into torpor in the relief the ice had given.</p> + +<p>Clement and Captain Harewood besought Wilmet to rest—the latter +declaring himself to be too much of an East Indian to sleep at dawn; +and she consented to lie down in the little room, where she had enough +of wakeful slumber to strengthen her for the heat of the day, when the +fever ran high, and all the most trying symptoms returned.</p> + +<p>The doctor continued to forbid despondency, building much on the +lucid interval in the cool of the morning, and ascribing much of the +excitement of brain to the excessive, almost despairing, study that +Lance had been attempting in the last weeks before the examination. +There had, too, been a concert given by one of the great ladies of the +Close, for which there had been a good deal of practice, harassed by +certain amateur humours; and the constant repetition of one poor little +shallow song in the delirious murmur greatly pained the Precentor, and +made him indulge in murmurs that boded ill to the ladies' chances with +the choir-boys. The sultry weather was likewise a great enemy, and +could hardly be mitigated by the continual fanning kept up chiefly by +poor Bill Harewood, who seemed to have no comfort except in working the +fan till he was ready to drop, and his brother or Clement took it from +him.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Harewood was quite knocked up, and her daughters were curiously +inefficient people. Their father came and went all day; but the +serviceable person was the engineer, with his experience of +sun-strokes, his devices for coolness, and his cheerful words, stilling +the torrent of rambling restlessness, so that Wilmet depended upon him +as much as on the doctor himself.</p> + +<p>On Saturday, the third day of the fever, which had rather increased +than diminished, Wilmet begged Clement to go home for the night, to +carry a report to the sisters, and fetch some things she wanted. He +lingered, grieving and reluctant; while the heated atmosphere was like +a solid weight on the sufferer, who lay, now and then murmuring some +distressed phrase, as though labouring with some forgotten task; and +Wilmet shunned touching the pulse again lest the reckoning should be +higher than the last, and strove to construct a message conveying the +hope that seemed to faint in the burthen of the day, insisting, above +all, that guarded accounts should be sent to Felix, keeping carefully +to Dr. Manby's report.</p> + +<p>'I can be here before nine,' said Clement; 'I wish I could help going. +I feel as if something must happen!'</p> + +<p>'A thunderstorm,' said Captain Harewood in a reproving voice, as he +plied the fan, with heat-drops on his brow; 'a thunderstorm, which will +prove the best doctor. Take care, you will miss the train.'</p> + +<p>Clement stooped to kiss the unconscious face, as though he had never +prized his little brother before, and as some association of the touch +of the lips awoke the murmur, 'Mamma, Mamma!' he sped away with eyes +full of tears.</p> + +<p>Before he could have reached the station, the storm was coming—great +rounded masses of cloud, with silver-foamed edges and red lurid +caverns, began to climb slowly up the sky, distant grumbles of thunder +came gradually nearer, a few fitful gusts of wind came like sirocco, +adding to the stifling heat, and were followed by exceeding stillness, +broken by the first few big drops of rain, the visible flashes, and the +nearer peals of thunder, till a sudden glare and boom overhead startled +Lance into a frightened bewildered state, that so occupied Wilmet that +she hardly heard the roaring, pattering hail-drops on the roofs and +pavements; but when a sweet fresh wind blew away the hail, the weary +head was more at rest, the slumber more tranquil, the breathing freer +and softer than it had been since that Wednesday.</p> + +<p>Some two hours later she saw him looking at her with a sort of +perplexed smile; and the first words upon his tongue were, 'Is Bill +first?'</p> + +<p>'Nothing is settled till the Bishop comes home,' Captain Harewood +answered.</p> + +<p>'What time is it?' then asked Lance.</p> + +<p>'Half-past eight.'</p> + +<p>'It seems always half dark, said the boy, dreamily, 'and yet there's no +curfew.'</p> + +<p>'They have been so kind as not to ring the bells,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Not ring the bells!' repeated Lance, in a feeble voice of amazement.</p> + +<p>'No, nor play the organ,' said Wilmet; 'you have had to be so quiet, +you know.'</p> + +<p>'No organ! and for me!' repeated Lance, impressed almost as if the +'unchanging sun his daily course' had 'refused to run;' but it rather +frightened him, for he added, 'Am I very ill, then?'</p> + +<p>'Not now, I hope,' said Wilmet, tenderly, and possessing herself of his +wrist; 'you are so much better to-night.'</p> + +<p>He looked wistfully into her face. 'What's the matter with me?' he +said. 'What does make my head go on in this dreadful way?'</p> + +<p>'Dear Lance! It was that running in the hot sun.'</p> + +<p>'Oh!' (a sort of sigh of discovery) 'I hope he had the verses.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, indeed you gave them.'</p> + +<p>'Then he must be first,' said Lance; and then, as his thankful nurses +were preparing to give him some nourishment, he spoke again. 'Mettie, +please come here;' and as she bent over him, 'is this being very +ill?—like dying, I mean.'</p> + +<p>'Not now, dearest,' said Wilmet, kissing him. 'You must be through with +the worst, thank God.'</p> + +<p>He asked no more, for his voice was low and faint, the pain and +dizziness still considerable; and the being fed without raising himself +occupied him till the doctor came for his evening visit, and confirmed +the sister's comfort in his improvement. She sat gazing as he fell +asleep again, till Captain Harewood reminded her that her letter to +Ewmouth must be sent before the mail closed. She turned to the window, +where still lay her anxiously-worded bulletin, not yet closed; but as +she took the pen, the blinding tears fell thick and soft as the summer +rain outside.</p> + +<p>'This will be a happy ending,' said John Harewood, as he saw her +silently striving to clear her sight.</p> + +<p>'Would you be so very kind as to write it for me?' she answered, +pointing to the paper, with a lovely smile through her tears. 'He will +believe it all the more.'</p> + +<p>And as he took the pen, she retreated in quiet swiftness to her little +room; but came back as he finished the few freshly hopeful lines; then +going to the door with him, looked up with the same sweet tremulous +smile. 'Thank you! What thankfulness it is! What a merciful rain this +is! If you knew the relief it is to send this report to Felix! You +cannot guess what this dear little fellow is to him.'</p> + +<p>'I think I can, a little,' said John Harewood, with his heart in his +voice; and Wilmet smiled again, her stately but usually rather severe +beauty wonderfully softened and sweetened by emotion.</p> + +<p>The improvement continued when Clement arrived on the Sunday morning; +and though fevered, confused, and beset by odd fancies, especially +about the silence of the Cathedral, Lance knew his brother, smiled at +him, and returned his greeting. Clement had a more cheerful task than +usual in what seemed to be his day's work—answering inquiries at the +door, and taking in presents of fruit. All the Chapter and half the +town seemed to call, or send, at least once a day; and little boys used +to hang about the court, too shy to come to the door, but waiting to +collect tidings from the attendants, and mutually using strong measures +upon one another when either was betrayed into noise.</p> + +<p>Clement called his sister aside to ask whether she could spare him, +since she had the help of the matron and the Harewoods. 'I should be +very glad to stay,' he averred, 'but somebody is really wanted at home.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet had not been so much accustomed to consider Clement in the light +of 'somebody,' as greatly to care whether he went or stayed, and only +said, 'I can get on very well. No one is of so much use as Captain +Harewood.'</p> + +<p>'Just so,' said Clement; 'and I think I am doing more good at home. +Imagine my finding all the windows open in that pouring rain, and +Cherry sitting shivering.'</p> + +<p>'Very foolish of Cherry,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Poor Cherry! she could not help herself, and was only thankful when I +had the courage to shut them in Alda's face. Then they don't know what +to do with Theodore.'</p> + +<p>'Poor Tedo—that's the worst of it!'</p> + +<p>'You see he is used to a man's hand and voice. He is very good with me, +but Sibby has had dreadful work with him every night till I came home. +And, Wilmet, couldn't you send a message who is to be mistress while +you are away?'</p> + +<p>'Alda, of course.'</p> + +<p>'Alda doesn't seem to understand, and she will not let Cherry tell her.'</p> + +<p>'Cherry always does bother Alda. I can't help it, Clem, they must rub +on somehow; and if you can make Theodore happy, the rest does not so +much signify.'</p> + +<p>Not signify! Clement did not know whether he was standing on his +head or his heels, and never guessed that not only was she too much +absorbed in the present thoroughly to realise the absent, but that she +would not venture to send orders based on his report, which in her +secret soul she qualified by his love of importance and interference. +However, he went away, and was not seen again all the ensuing week—the +early part of which was very trying, for the fever recurred regularly +about noon and midnight, and always brought rambling, which since +that conversation with Wilmet, had taken the turn of talking about +being buried in a surplice, and of continually recurring to the 134th +Psalm, which, it was now remembered, Lance had shortly before taken +part in, over the grave of an old lay-vicar, who, boy and man, had +served the Cathedral for nearly sixty years. Often, too, the poor +little fellow seemed struggling with some sense of demerit—whether +positive disgrace, or suspicion, or the general Christian feeling of +unworthiness, Wilmet and John Harewood could never make out; and they +did not choose to speak of these wanderings either to Will or to Mr. +Beccles. In the intervals of consciousness, the thought of danger and +death seemed to be lost in the weakness of exhaustion, and the dread of +whatever brought back the pain, from which there was no respite except +in cool air and perfect quiet. The least movement intensified it, and +brought on the sickness that showed the brain to be still affected; and +still worse was any endeavour to attend to the shortest and simplest +devotions, when Mr. Harewood attempted them. Yet all the time there was +amendment; the fever was every day less severe, the intervals longer, +the sleep calmer, the doctor more securely hopeful; and by the end of a +week from the time of the accident, recovery was beginning sensibly to +set in.</p> + +<p>Clement, meanwhile, did not appear; nor was he seen till the ensuing +Monday, when he stood on the threshold of the open door at the Bailey, +bewildered at the emptiness of the bed where he had last seen his +brother—till a weak voice said, 'Here, Clem,' and he saw on another of +the little old beds a small figure, in a loose soft white silk Indian +<i>robe de chambre</i>, the face shrunken into nothing but overhanging brow +and purple haloed eyes, though the eyes themselves were smiling welcome +in all their native blueness and clearness, and two thin white hands +were held out.</p> + +<p>'Out of bed, Lance! That is getting on!'</p> + +<p>'Yes. They thought I should be cooler, and sleep better for it.'</p> + +<p>'And are you all alone?' said Clement, hanging over him.</p> + +<p>'The maids are about somewhere. Wilmet is gone to the Cathedral, while +Jack got me up.'</p> + +<p>'Then you must be a great deal better.'</p> + +<p>'Oh yes; I haven't had any of that horrid fever since Friday.'</p> + +<p>'And the pain?'</p> + +<p>'Better, if I lie quite still and it is not hot, but I couldn't stand a +bit when I tried. I hardly know how Jack carried me here.'</p> + +<p>'You are little and light enough,' said Clement; 'but I'll help to +carry you back. I am sorry not to have been here more, Lance, but I was +so much wanted at home.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you, I didn't want any one. Jack is such a fellow; and +Wilmet—somehow, Clem, I never seem to have cared enough about W. W.'</p> + +<p>'Nor I, till I saw what home is like without her,' muttered Clement.</p> + +<p>'And isn't she beautiful, too?' added Lance; 'it is quite nice to lie +and look at her at work. Don't you think her much better looking than +Alda?'</p> + +<p>'If handsome is that handsome does,' said Clement. 'You wouldn't like +me to stay with you instead of Mettie, old chap?'</p> + +<p>The helplessly alarmed look of illness came into Lance's eyes. 'Oh no, +no; I couldn't spare Wilmet yet. She doesn't want to go?'</p> + +<p>'No; I have said nothing to her; but Cherry is not well, and everything +is at sixes and sevens; but there, never mind,' as the tears started +into the sick boy's eyes, 'we'll manage; I should not have said +anything about it.'</p> + +<p>'Please don't,' said Lance. 'If she ought to go, let her, and don't +tell me. I can't help it, Clem; I'm afraid to think if it ought to be, +or I should make my head rage, and I should begin to talk nonsense +again, and that's worst of all.'</p> + +<p>'Do you know when you are talking nonsense?' said Clement, surprised, +and eager to lead off from the subject he felt he ought not to have +broached.</p> + +<p>'Oh, yes, I know that it is not the right thing, and the right thing +won't come; and the worst of it is,' lowering his already feeble voice, +'saying one's prayers is hardest of all; I can't remember what I know +best. I couldn't so much as go through the Magnificat if you were to +shoot me.'</p> + +<p>'But holloa! They don't generally come out of the Cathedral this way, +do they?'</p> + +<p>'Who?'</p> + +<p>'The Bishop! Ay, and the Dean! Speaking to Wilmet. I believe they are +coming here. Lie still, Lance.'</p> + +<p>'I must,' he acquiesced, after half raising himself and falling back. +'Oh, can it be about the prize? Some of that stuff on my forehead, +please, Clem.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet came in first, ascertained that all was ready, put an arranging +touch to Lance's pillows, and ushered in the two dignitaries, who shook +his languid hand, and asked after him kindly.</p> + +<p>'You have put the Chapter into great difficulties by disabling yourself +and Harewood,' said the Bishop. 'What! did you not know that the poor +fellow entirely broke down?' as the eager eyes inquired.</p> + +<p>'Nobody would tell me anything about it,' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'It could not be helped,' continued the Bishop, 'but the examiners said +they felt it a great cruelty when they saw how utterly astray distress +rendered him. However, his papers and yours were both so good—his +verses especially, and your arithmetic—that it was impossible to +reject them, so the decision was put off till my return on Saturday.'</p> + +<p>'We think,' said the Dean, who was very old, very gentle, and very +slow of speech—'we think, my little fellow, that though there is no +doubt that Shapcote did best in the examination, and ought to have the +exhibition, yet under the peculiar circumstances, you and Harewood can +be retained as choir scholars for another year, so as to try again. +You don't look sixteen, I'm sure, and we should be sorry to lose your +voice.'</p> + +<p>'I'm only just turned sixteen,' said Lance, 'only on the 14th of June. +Thank you, sir;—thank you, my Lord;' and his face beamed joy, though +his words faltered.</p> + +<p>'Moreover,' proceeded the Bishop, 'I have the greatest pleasure in +giving the good-conduct prize where, so far as I am able to judge, it +has been well deserved.'</p> + +<p>A perilous flush of joy overspread the pale face; he started up on his +elbows, and his eyes danced rapture, as some one at the door handed +in the beautiful red morocco quarto of the Cathedral music; and the +Bishop, with a fatherly hand making him lie down again, laid the book +beside him, as he gasped out something like thanks.</p> + +<p>'We are quite convinced that you have deserved it,' repeated the Dean, +again shaking hands with him, and then taking leave; but the Bishop +remained, talking kindly to Clement about Cambridge, and inquiring for +Felix; while Wilmet helped Lance's feeble fingers to turn the thick +creamy pages on which he durst not fix his eyes.</p> + +<p>Presently the Bishop sat down again, and said, 'I have acted on my +own judgment in giving you this, my boy. I have seen enough of our +choir these six years to know that what caused so much displeasure was +certainly not to be laid to your charge.'</p> + +<p>Lance made an uneasy movement, became alarmingly red, and said in a +choked voice, 'I don't know but what it might, my Lord.'</p> + +<p>'You mean that you knew of this custom of getting out at night through +the Cathedral?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, my Lord; I found out the way.'</p> + +<p>There was a silence.</p> + +<p>Then the Bishop said, 'After this, I can only leave it to your own +conscience whether you ought to keep this book; but I think you would +do wisely to let me know, remembering that I have no authority in the +school.'</p> + +<p>Lance brightened, and he answered, 'My Lord, I did get out once, but +only once, and I don't think I did wrong. It was a long time ago—in +the autumn.'</p> + +<p>'Last autumn! Was it not then that there was a report of a chorister +in his shirt sleeves being seen at the Green Man at eleven o'clock at +night?'</p> + +<p>'That was I, my Lord.'</p> + +<p>Clement was ready to start forward, under the impression that Lance +was talking his 'nonsense;' but the Bishop said, 'You were named, but +nobody believed it for a moment.'</p> + +<p>'One of our little fellows was very ill, my Lord,' said Lance, +excitement restoring something of his natural briskness. 'We thought he +was going to have the cholera, and I went to get something for him. The +chemists' shops were shut, so I went in there.'</p> + +<p>'May I ask the question,' said the Bishop, rather as if taking a +liberty, 'why did you not call up Mr. Stokes?'</p> + +<p>'We couldn't, my Lord, for it was all Mr. Shapcote's swans' eggs. +He caught them—three of our least fellows, I mean—jumping at the +branches that hung over the river wall, and he blackguar—abused them +so that they got into a rage and vowed he shouldn't have a plum left +on the tree. We seniors knew nothing about it; but they got over the +wall at dark, and one ate eighty-five and the other eighty-one; but, +little Dick—one of them, I mean—could only get down nineteen, and +brought the rest in his pockets. It was the first time such a thing +had happened, and it put me in a proper rage. The little one was the +one I found out first; and I thought he was sulky, so I licked him +till he howled, so that I was afraid I'd done him some dreadful harm, +like a regular brute; and when I found it was his inside instead of +his outside, I was so glad, I could have done anything for him. But we +couldn't call Stokes, or the poor little chap would have suffered for +it three times over.'</p> + +<p>'That would have been hard measure! And did your remedy succeed?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; I think a good deal was fright. He went to sleep on the brandy, +and was all right next day.'</p> + +<p>'And the gentlemen with the eighty-five and eighty-one suffered no +inconvenience, of course?' said his Lordship, much amused. 'May I hear +how you got out?'</p> + +<p>'With Mr. Harewood's key,' said Lance. 'He used to keep it on a nail +inside the study door, which opens into the passage leading into this +court, and is never locked.'</p> + +<p>'That is the key of the Cathedral library.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, my lord; it unlocks the outer door, and the door into the north +transept.'</p> + +<p>'And after that—'</p> + +<p>'You can shoot the bolt on the inside of the little side-door at the +west front, and climb over the railing.'</p> + +<p>'Boys are animals not to be kept in, that is certain! So you were +pioneer! But you had nothing to do with those cards?'</p> + +<p>'No, my Lord. But I ought not to have told how I got out, for there +were some who would do it afterwards. However, those cards were none of +ours.'</p> + +<p>'Whose were they?'</p> + +<p>'Walter Shapcote's, my Lord. He is gone now, so it does not signify.'</p> + +<p>'That nephew Mr. Shapcote had in his office?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, my Lord; he had got the command of poor Gus, because he had lent +him money for some debt that Gus was afraid to let his father know of, +and made him get the key, and let him out and in.'</p> + +<p>'You all knew of this?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, my Lord; but poor Gus was sure that his father would be so +dreadful, that we durst not let out a word. Mr. Shapcote makes every +soul afraid of him.'</p> + +<p>'The young man is gone?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, my Lord, to London.'</p> + +<p>'And there is no danger of the like with Gus?'</p> + +<p>'Oh no, my Lord. He's too like a sheep! and now his debt is paid—after +the last concert—he's sure not to get into the same scrape again.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you very sincerely,' said the Bishop. 'It is a great relief to +me to know all this; and it is safe with me. I am only afraid I have +made you talk more than is good for you.'</p> + +<p>'And may I keep this, my Lord?' he wistfully asked.</p> + +<p>'Indeed you may, my dear boy. If you have transgressed the letter of +discipline, you have kept the spirit of charity. I am glad to keep +<i>you</i>, as well as your voice. But I have tired you out.'</p> + +<p>And laying a hand of blessing on his brow, the Bishop took leave, +Wilmet going to the door with him, to answer his fears that the +interview had been too much for her patient, with assurances that the +relief and gratification must do good in the end.</p> + +<p>He told her that the threat of the withholding of the prize had not +been made by his authority, and that he had much regretted it. Just as +the tidings of the sun-stroke and its cause had reached him, he had +been with Mr. Nixon, the former Precentor, who had spoken warmly of +Lance, saying that the whole tone of the boys had improved since his +coming, though he was too much of a pickle ever to get the credit. +Wilmet's pleasure was great; but before she could get back, Lance was +nervously calling for her. The excitement was still great, his head +was aching violently, and yet he could not leave off eager talking, +which, as feverishness came on, began to degenerate into such rambling +as terribly frightened Clement lest a relapse should be coming on. He +wanted to hurry off to the doctor at once; but Wilmet, well knowing +he would not be at home, repressed him, and quietly said she had some +draughts ready, and knew what to do. While she was out of sight, +preparing them, a great alarm came over the patient lest she should +have left him; and all the rest of those noonday hours were spent in +a continual restless desire to keep her in view, hold her hand, and +elicit her assurances that she was not going home, nor going to leave +him—no, not on any account. The very presence of his brother seemed to +increase the uneasiness; and in the deepest humiliation and despair, +Clement allowed himself to be invited away by Captain Harewood to see +the process of ice-making, and be so far comforted that the Bishop's +visit was probably far more likely to have done the mischief than his +own rash suggestion, and that there was no reason to fear it would +last many hours. In fact, Lance was recovering favourably, and had had +few drawbacks. 'So I tell everybody,' said John Harewood, 'especially +poor Bill, who is still ready to break his heart every time Lance has +a headache, and would chatter him to death when he is better. And +that's the way with them all! There seems no one that can be tender and +reasonable both at once, except your sister.'</p> + +<p>Clement did full justice to that tenderness, when, out of sight +himself, he had watched Wilmet's soothing firmness and patient +reassuring softness, at last calming the feverish agitation into +a sleep, which he was allowed to see for himself was gentle and +wholesome. Only then—towards four o'clock—could Captain Harewood +persuade her to let him keep guard, while she went to take the food +that had been long waiting for her, and over which she could hear +Clement's penitent explanation of his own unlucky proposal.</p> + +<p>'I thought he seemed so well—able to get up and all; and they <i>do</i> +think me a good nurse at St. Matthew's. I nursed Fred Somers almost +entirely when he had the scarlet fever.' (Wilmet looked as if she +pitied St. Matthew's.) 'But of course I see now that it is out of the +question.'</p> + +<p>'Entirely so,' said Wilmet, too kind to remind him of the +qualifications he had evinced.</p> + +<p>'And you cannot guess when he can come home?'</p> + +<p>'Not in the least. Even if he could be moved, think of the noisiness of +our house!'</p> + +<p>Clement groaned. 'It was very wrong in me to speak to him before you, +Wilmet,' he said; 'but I should be thankful if you could tell me what +is to be done! Cherry was thoroughly chilled that evening of the +thunderstorm, and has been very poorly ever since.'</p> + +<p>'She always feels changes of weather.'</p> + +<p>'That's what Alda tells you. She won't believe there is anything the +matter; but poor Cherry has had rheumatic pain all over her, and her +bad ankle seems to have a bit of bone coming out. Sibby thinks so. Now, +ought she not to have her doctor?'</p> + +<p>'Well! if—I wish I could be quite sure! It is such an unlucky thing +that she has that dislike to Mr. Rugg.'</p> + +<p>'Wilmet! You are as bad as Alda!'</p> + +<p>'Clement,' she answered gently, 'you do not know what it is to have to +reckon the expense. There is Felix's journey; and what this illness may +cost, I cannot guess; and now Cherry! It is not that I grudge it; but I +don't see what is to become of any of us if we spend unnecessarily—or +necessarily either, for that matter.'</p> + +<p>'I thought her doctor didn't charge.'</p> + +<p>'He did not when she was at St. Faith's, but at home it is a different +thing; but, of course, if it be really needful it cannot be helped.'</p> + +<p>'And you couldn't come home and see—even for one hour?'</p> + +<p>'Not yet, most certainly.'</p> + +<p>'I think I had better write to Sister Constance!'</p> + +<p>'If you really do find it impossible to get on, and Cherry is more +than just ailing, and—and fractious' (the word came out at last); 'I +don't like always calling for help, it seems presuming on kindness, and +Robina will be helpful when she comes home; but no doubt Alda does not +know what to do,' she added, in a deliberating tone.</p> + +<p>'Then you authorize me?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know what you mean by authorizing.'</p> + +<p>'Only that Alda will neither do anything herself, nor let any one else +do it.'</p> + +<p>'Poor Alda! It is a hard time for her, and she is not used to it. I am +afraid she is out of her element among you all. Don't be vexed, Clem; +you all ought to make allowances for her.'</p> + +<p>'I make allowances from morning to night,' said Clement. 'I wonder how +many Travis will have to make!'</p> + +<p>Wilmet had finished her hasty meal, and wanted to get back to her +patient, so she only protested by a reproving look and shake of the +head; while Clement stood disconcerted, but less surprised than if he +had not been familiar with the part of the family Cassandra.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h4> + +<h3>BY THE RIVER.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 30%;"> +'And Lancelot look'd, and was perplext in mind;<br /> +And being weak in body, said no more.'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 45%;"><i>Tennyson.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>It was a lovely afternoon, and the sun shone outside the green tracery +of a hornbeam alley in the Deanery garden, leading from the cloister +to the river. Here lay Lancelot, on the long cushion of a sofa, while +Wilmet sat stitching at the last of the set of collars that would +always bring so many recollections. For this was a Saturday afternoon, +and on the Monday Lance was to go to Ewmouth to join Felix, who was +to have his holiday extended another month on that account. Alda, who +had had a quarter's allowance from her uncle, had made this possible; +and Wilmet was doubly gratified by its having been her twin's gift and +thought.</p> + +<p>Wilmet would of course go home, and she found herself almost regretting +the close of a time that had of late been very pleasant. She had not +felt, as Geraldine would have done, the romance of living in the old +monastic buildings, in the calm shadow of the grand old minster; +yet something of the soothing of the great solemn quiet rested upon +the spirit that had—since six years old—never known freedom from +responsibility, and—since fifteen—had borne the burthen of household +economies and of school teaching. It was a strange novelty to have +meals provided without care of her own, no shortcomings of servants to +make up, no claimant for her attention save a solitary patient, and +that one with Lance's temper. Wilmet had undergone a good deal from +Alda's clashes with the rest, even Felix's was only a temper well in +hand, and alternate fretfulness and penitence were regarded by her +as part and parcel of Geraldine's ailments; so that it was almost a +surprise that her present convalescent never visited his discomforts +upon her, but was always patient and good-humoured, smiling whenever +he could, like his father before him, as if, according to the pretty +Spanish saying, the sun had shone on his cradle at his birth. His +unselfish nature had made him a little uneasy when with cooler senses +he remembered Clement's hint, while love and instinct alike made him +feel utterly unable to dispense with his motherly sister; but when she +had assured him that nothing could make him leave him as yet, and when +Sister Constance was known to be at Bexley, he threw it from his mind, +and was perfectly happy and contented.</p> + +<p>He could still exert no attention, could neither read nor be read to, +nor occupy himself in any way; but he was amused by talk around him, +and companionship was never lacking. Wilmet, whose forte had never been +conversation, found herself in a stream of small talk with inquiring +friends of all degrees in the hierarchy; but was most at her ease when +the female Harewoods were prattling good-humoured inconsequent chatter, +Willie lying on the grass murmuring with Lance, or John lured into +stories of Indian surveying adventures in the cause of the Ordnance +Map. And when she was carried off to have her meals with the family, +she had put herself so entirely at the mercy of circumstances, that she +never seemed scandalised by their crazy unpunctuality, their wonderful +free and easy ways, and customs of putting things to every use but +the right, did not censure Grace or Lucy for dawdling and gossiping +whole mornings away, and took it naturally when their mother inquired +after her eldest brother by the alternate names of Festus and Frank, +and when she mentioned Lance's disaster as his <i>coup d'état</i>. And here +was the last of these pleasant afternoons, full of still sweet sounds, +midsummer hum above, the soft ripple of the water close by, the cawing +of the rooks in the Close—all such peace, that her heart quailed as +she looked forward to the din of the High Street at Bexley, and she +strangled a sigh half way up her throat.</p> + +<p>The click of the cloister door was heard, and Lance awoke from a +doze, saying, 'Is that Bill?—You've not been here since morning, you +vagabone.'</p> + +<p>'See what I've got for you,' said Bill. 'What do you say for that, now?'</p> + +<p>For Lance, with sparkling eyes, was rising to his feet. 'Hurrah! Robin +herself! O Robin a Bobbin, isn't this jolly?' and Robina was entangled +in that wonderful embrace peculiar to their own two selves, too +ecstatic for a word between them, though as she received her sister's +kiss, she spoke rather pleadingly—'Cherry and Sister Constance said I +might, Wilmet; and Mrs. Harewood was so very kind as to send Willie to +fetch me to spend Sunday. Do you mind, Wilmet?'</p> + +<p>'Mind! Of course she doesn't,' said Lance. 'I was hungry to see you, +Bob.'</p> + +<p>'It was very kind in Mrs. Harewood,' said Wilmet. 'I must go and thank +her. Only, first, how is Cherry?'</p> + +<p>'Much better. She has been out for a drive with Mr. Froggatt. It will +be all right now you are coming home, Mettie! Oh! and Dr. Lee is +delighted to hear of Lance's going to Ewmouth to make Felix stay longer +there. Oh! if ever anything was so delightful as this place! only I +must see your prize, Lancey.'</p> + +<p>As the two children linked their arms round one another's waists to +walk along the alley, all-sufficient to one another, maybe there shot +a little pang across Wilmet's breast. No one had raptures for her. She +was Felix's housekeeper, and represented mother to all; but since Alda +had been taken from her, she had ceased to be any one's perfect equal +and delight. She might be valued, but only like air, or bread, or any +other necessary of life, but she was foremost with no one. Lance had +been everything to her, and she to Lance, for full four weeks; but +she should never awaken the look on his face she had seen for Robin. +Such thoughts as these had never troubled her before; it had been +quite enough to know herself indispensable to all, and there was no +time for sentiment; but this strange time of nursing had inspired a +new sensation of yearning, a softness and melancholy, that she strove +against vainly as weak and unnatural.</p> + +<p>The change had not been unperceived by Lance; for as his little sister, +looking at his sunken cheeks, and feeling his thin bony hand, poured +out her pity, he answered, 'I've had rather a jolly time of it of +late; Mettie is so delicious, you can't think how her very voice and +eyes seemed to do me good. I'm sure that the bella-donna lily, cold +hard painted thing, was a mistake; she must have been something much +sweeter. What do you think of a honeysuckle? That's bright red and +white, and its leaves come out when nothing else does.'</p> + +<p>'But it trails about, and doesn't stand alone.'</p> + +<p>'It has got a good stout hard stem, that can make a bush of its own +when it hasn't anything to twine upon. I say, Robin, that's just what +you women-folk should be, always ready to twine, and yet able to stick +up for yourselves when you've got nothing to hang upon.'</p> + +<p>'Well, if Wilmet was the honeysuckle, I'm sure Alda wasn't. O Lance, +it has been so horrid coming home without any one I wanted, and all +so queer and uncomfortable. I would as soon have been at school, or +sooner, for there I had home to think about.'</p> + +<p>'The last holidays weren't first-rate,' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'No; but then I'd got you!'</p> + +<p>'I wish Dr. Manby would prescribe you to come with me,' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'It's something to have this little sight! And here! I wanted to give +this back, Lance.'</p> + +<p>'Ah!' as he took the key of the violin-case, 'we'll take a look at her, +Robin, to see if she's quite well; but I couldn't make her speak, it +would be like sticking daggers through my head.'</p> + +<p>'Poor little key! I looked at it so often when you were so bad, and +grieved to think you had missed all that pleasure. Only it was a +comfort to know you had been so good about it.'</p> + +<p>'I am glad you took it, Robin; I know I should have grown idle if I had +had it. Depend on it, 'twas that gave me this year of grace and the +Bishop's prize.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! come and show me that! I hope it is not packed up.'</p> + +<p>'No; I wanted to take it to show Felix, but Mettie says it is too big, +and would come to grief. What prizes have you, Robin?'</p> + +<p>'Three. General good marks, catechism, and history—beautiful books.'</p> + +<p>'Then the avenging harpies have forgiven you?'</p> + +<p>'Pretty well; and they were very kind when you were ill, and the girls +are much nicer; I am glad we stayed on, except for Angel's sake. Do you +know, Lance, I really am afraid she is going in for naughtiness.'</p> + +<p>'Give a dog an ill name—' quoted Lance. 'Is that it?'</p> + +<p>'I do believe it is that! She is such a Tom-boy! Fancy! One afternoon, +there was an awful uproar, and her class were all found playing at +races, some riding astride with handkerchiefs round the forms, which +they had named after the real horses; and the others pretending to bet +on them, with their books in their hands, shouting out at the top of +their voices.'</p> + +<p>'Go it, Angel,' said Lance, laughing; 'that's the way Clem's sisters +improve the tone of the school.'</p> + +<p>Robina still looked distressed, but that was soon forgotten in visiting +Lance's quarters, and admiring his books, peeping respectfully at his +silent violin, and being lionised as far as his strength would permit. +They were hand in hand the whole evening, till he was sent to bed, and +his sisters were claimed by the Harewoods.</p> + +<p>The Cathedral was resuming its usual voices on the Sunday morning; and +when the early bell brought Wilmet from her room, she found Lance up +and dressed, his little black gown on, and his trencher cap in his hand.</p> + +<p>'That's nice!' he said in admiration, as she advanced in her fresh +white piqué and blue ribbons. 'O Mettie, I'm so glad this isn't my last +time here!' and he added, as she bent over him and kissed him, not +quite able to speak, 'Please, Mettie, I beg your pardon for all the +times I have been tiresome or cross.'</p> + +<p>'My dear little boy—' She broke down, and finished with another +kiss, for Robina was at hand, shy in her thankfulness, and clinging +to Lance's hand; but as Will Harewood followed, grave and subdued, +Lance went up to him, and put his arm into his. Mr. Harewood, the +Captain, and Lucy, were all likewise there; but the greetings were +silent, and then Mr. Harewood led them all through the library, and was +followed by the two boys to the sacristy; for though the celebration +was not choral, all those of the choir who were present were always +robed. Wilmet hardly liked not to keep her boy beside her, but she +could not be sorry when she saw the two friends once more heading the +little procession together; and with such happy grave faces, though so +different: one broad, ruddy, sandy; the other fair, wasted, delicate, +the hollow cheeks scarcely more coloured than the white linen, and yet +with a pure fresh air of bright hope and recovery.</p> + +<p>The Cathedral was nobly and calmly beautiful in the summer morning; +the sunbeams high up in the slender brilliant windows that crowned the +east, and the voice sounding low and solemn in the distance at the +Altar. To Wilmet and Robina it was a great deal more than the joyous +festival they had last shared in there, even though then they had +exulted in their brother's jubilant notes; and now he scarcely breathed +a faint response, left his book unopened, and knelt in the dreamy +passiveness of one incapable of actions of the mind, but too simply +happy and thankful to doubt of his welcome. In his place, Clement +would have distressed himself and his advisers over this inability +to perform his usual mental exercises of devotion; but Lance never +seemed to question but that he ought to lay himself before the Altar +in thankfulness as soon as he was able, as certain of being welcomed +there, as by the kind hands that shook his in the sacristy.</p> + +<p>He came to breakfast afterwards at the Harewoods', to put an end to his +invalid ways; but the clatter soon was too much for him; and he spent +the chief part of the day lying on his bed, able now to follow dreamily +the echoes from the minster, the full glories of which his sisters +were enjoying. There was afterwards a rush of his choir mates to shake +hands with him; and little Dick Graeme, a delicate, sallow, black-eyed +boy, in whom Wilmet believed she recognised the hero of the swans' +eggs, could not be got rid of the whole day. He lived at a farm three +miles off, and had been sent in to take his part on the Sunday; indeed, +he had often been at the door to inquire, but had only been allowed +momentary glimpses of Lance, whom he followed about like a little dog, +till at last, late in the evening, the proposal was started of walking +him down to the river, along which lay the path leading to his home.</p> + +<p>It was a charming summer evening when they set forth; the three +Underwoods, the two Harewood brothers, and little Graeme, slowly moving +along, Robina in ecstasies with the loose-strife and forget-me-nots, +and the boys absorbed in fish and water-rats, till Bill, holding Robin +a little back, pointed to a pollard, and told her in a low hoarse +voice, 'That was where I left those verses.'</p> + +<p>'There!' Robina tried to measure with her eye the distance, which +looked immense for such a run. She could not speak; but little Dick +turned—</p> + +<p>'Ay, 'twas a jolly run in the time. Spyers and I tried it, and both got +blown; but nobody runs like Underwood.'</p> + +<p>'Well, it does look a goodish distance,' said Lance. 'And Robin, do you +know, it all came of this fellow being too good a poet. He thought it +was the Tiber, you know.'</p> + +<p>'The subject was the Tiber, wasn't it?'</p> + +<p>'Ay; and Bill here got to spouting about Horace Cocles till he didn't +know, nor I either, whether we were heathen Romans or not. It was a +mercy he didn't go home in Cocles' costume.'</p> + +<p>Bill did not laugh. He seemed to forget everything, bystanders and all, +and threw his arm round his friend's neck. 'O Lancey, don't say a word +more. If you only could guess what—what this month has been like to +me! And now to see you standing here, like your dear old self again! +Oh! if I could only—' and he broke off and rushed away behind the +tree, where they heard him sobbing.</p> + +<p>Lance shrugged his shoulders. 'Poor old Bill! he <i>will</i> treat himself +as if he did it on purpose, but he'll be better now he's had it out. +But d'ye see, I can't go no farther now. So you, Dick, be off. Spare +the feelings of your dutiful parents, and get home in Christianable +time.'</p> + +<p>'I say, please Underwood, may I have the bed by yours next half?'</p> + +<p>'That's not as it pleases Underwood, but Mrs. Drake; but look here, +Graeme, there's a little brat of a new treble coming into our +dormitory. You stand his friend, and speak to Harewood if Bolt takes to +bullying him.'</p> + +<p>'But you'll be back?' said the child, his face all consternation.</p> + +<p>'I hope so; but for fear of accidents, you know. Good night, Dick, and +thank your mater for those stunning raspberries.'</p> + +<p>'That's a good dodge,' said Will Harewood, emerging, 'to keep the +little ape from bullying the little one himself. But you will be able +to come back, Lance; 'tis as dull as ditch-water without you.'</p> + +<p>'I shall be glad enough to come back,' said Lance, 'and make the most +of this year. I didn't know how I cared for this place. There's nothing +like it!' and he leant against a tree, looking back at the Cathedral, +where the sunbeams were 'weaving a parting crown' for the tall tower, +and the soft grey of the exquisite stone-work of the chapter-house +contrasted with the fresh green of the trees, rising up from the +sparkling river and emerald meadows. Presently he burst out, 'You +beautiful old thing, and did you hush your grand glorious old voice +only for me? I should like to be your own, and to serve you for ever!'</p> + +<p>The other two felt a little awed at the outburst, and possibly Lance a +little ashamed, for he suddenly started from his tree trunk, crying, +'I'm sure we ought to go home. However, there are Jack and Mettie on +beyond ever so far.' And he elevated his voice in a coo-ee, after what +he believed to be Australian fashion; but his weakness prevailed, and +he laughed at his own want of power to shout much above his breath. +'You do it, Bill.'</p> + +<p>'Not I! Coo-ee indeed? 'Tis coo-coo there, river and moonlight and all.'</p> + +<p>At one and the same moment, Lance exclaimed, 'Jack and Mettie! Thunder +and ages!' and Robina, 'For shame, Willie!' while that personage cut +a caper, at once expressive of affirmation and amusement at their +surprise.</p> + +<p>'After all,' sagaciously observed Lance, 'I'm not so much surprised. I +think I've made a pretty good Cupid.'</p> + +<p>'You believe it, then?' cried Robina.</p> + +<p>'Bless you,' affirmed Willie, 'we've been roasting Jack about it for +the last fortnight—only the pater was so awfully afraid of your +sister's hearing it, that he said any one who breathed the ghost of a +joke near her should be shipped off to old Aunt Grace that instant.'</p> + +<p>'Well, they have my consent and blessing,' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'Amen,' responded his friend.</p> + +<p>'Ho!' continued Lance, 'that's the meaning of old W. W. being so jolly. +I wondered whether it was only that I thought so because I had nothing +to do but to look at her.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, you know she is a real true beauty and no mistake,' said Bill, +beginning to feel a personal pride in her; 'there's Miles raving about +her, and every one runs about saying, "Have you seen little Underwood's +handsome sister?" Half the folks that came to ask after you did it to +get a look at her; and if she stayed a week longer, she might have a +dozen offers, only luckily Jack cut in first.'</p> + +<p>'Well, I'm glad she is even with Alda,' was Lance's next sentiment.</p> + +<p>'That's the one that is booked for the Red Indian you converted, ain't +it?' asked Bill. 'Fact, Robina; we heard a new fellow was coming who +had converted a Cherokee, and that the Bishop had christened him in +his war paint and feathers. Mrs. Shapcote sent out invitations to a +missionary tea in honour of him.'</p> + +<p>'What, of the Cherokee?'</p> + +<p>'No, no, of the little brute of a missionary chap, and we made up our +minds to tar and feather him before he converted us; but long before +we had found out which of the new trebles was the model Christian, old +Shapcote had caught us two pitching into one another, because I said +Bexley was a snobbish place full of pots and pans.'</p> + +<p>'And that founded your friendship?'</p> + +<p>'No, not quite, for we had a worse fight because I shut his Bible up in +his face when he tried to look over the Lessons in the Cathedral.'</p> + +<p>'Why, you all do,' said Robina.</p> + +<p>'Yes, now; but before Nixon came we were a horrid set of little +ruffians. Do you remember, Lance, how Roper offered you a bull's-eye in +the Cathedral, and thrashed you afterwards because you wouldn't have +it?'</p> + +<p>'O Lance! but that was persecution!' cried Robina. 'Who would have +thought you went through things like that?'</p> + +<p>'Ay,' said Bill, 'you believed in the little cherub chorister boys, +that sing and look out of their great violet eyes, till they die of +declines.'</p> + +<p>'Ah!' said Lance, who was leaning on his arm rather wearily, 'Jack will +do for himself if he tells Wilmet her eyes are violet; it is like a red +rag to a bull.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Robina, 'she says nobody ever had eyes the colour of +violets, and they would be hideous if they were.'</p> + +<p>'I have seen them,' said Willie, gravely.</p> + +<p>'Oh! where?' cried Robina. 'Darker blue than Edgar's?'</p> + +<p>'It's generally only one at a time.'</p> + +<p>'After a cricket match, eh?' suggested Lance.</p> + +<p>'But, depend upon it,' said Bill, while Robina was recovering her +laughing disgust, 'he may tell her her eyes are any colour he pleases +by this time.'</p> + +<p>'How do you know that?' sharply protested Robin; 'as if she would care +for him more than for all of us, who can't spare her either!'</p> + +<p>'I thought you were thick and plenty up the country?'</p> + +<p>'Not of that sort,' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'I don't believe it,' insisted Robina; 'why, she had never seen him a +few weeks ago; she can't have had time to get to like him.'</p> + +<p>'That's your simplicity,' said Bill. 'Now ain't that oracular—I mean +ocular—demonstration? There they are, very moral of people making +fools of themselves in books.'</p> + +<p>'I wish they'd have done with it, then,' sighed Lance; 'my legs won't +hold out much longer.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, you must go in,' said Robin, bringing her sturdy shoulders for +his other arm to rest on.</p> + +<p>'But those two?' said Lance. 'Some one must stay to make it +respectable. Don't laugh, you vagabond, you shake up the marrow of my +bones; I'm her brother, and bound to see to her.'</p> + +<p>'I'll stay out with Willie if that will make it right,' said Robina; +'only you must go to bed, and you have to be up so early too.'</p> + +<p>So they saw him to the Bailey door, beyond which he declined further +assistance, saying he could tumble into bed alone, and leaving them to +their pleasant task of making propriety.</p> + +<p>It was made after this sort. Bill delivered himself of a deep sigh, and +observed, 'Well! if she's done for, I suppose I must take up with you; +and after all, you're the jolliest.'</p> + +<p>'I shall never be <i>jolie</i>, like Wilmet, if that's what you mean,' said +Robina, not quite understanding whether it were jest or earnest.</p> + +<p>'Well, if you ain't a regular stunner like her, it doesn't much matter. +I never <i>did</i> see a face that I liked better than your round one, and I +know I shall like it more and more. Won't you have me, Robina, one of +these days?'</p> + +<p>'O Willie! oughtn't one to wait till we are old enough to think about +it?'</p> + +<p>'I don't see why. I shall always be thinking I'm working for you, and I +don't see why you shouldn't think the same of me. Won't you?' again he +repeated. 'At least, of course I shall do all the work for you.'</p> + +<p>'Oh no! I should not like that. I had rather be doing something for +you, Willie. Look here, I am learning all I can now, and when I go +out—'</p> + +<p>'Go out?'</p> + +<p>'For a governess.'</p> + +<p>'Murther! I'll hinder that!'</p> + +<p>'But, Willie, you can't make a fortune in five years, and I shall go +out at eighteen. I think I shall begin the fortune soonest;' and she +laughed merrily.</p> + +<p>'Mother didn't make a fortune.'</p> + +<p>'I didn't mean that exactly; but I'm learning all the superior +branches, and if I got a hundred a year! Think of that, Will! If I went +on with that till you are a clergyman and have a living, how nice it +would be! There would be plenty to give away; and if we were poor, I +would take girls to teach.'</p> + +<p>'Do you think I shall ever let you do all the work that way?' said +Will, strong in boyhood's infinite possibilities. 'I don't know how +it's to be, but I'll keep you out of slaving, though you're a dear girl +to think of it. Any way, Robin, you and I will hold together—always.'</p> + +<p>'I am sure I shall never like anybody half so much,' said Robin.</p> + +<p>'Shall we break a sixpence and keep the halves? That's the thing, ain't +it? I believe I've got one—or fourpence, which is all the same.'</p> + +<p>'No, no,' said Robina, backing; 'I don't think Mettie would like it. It +doesn't seem right.'</p> + +<p>'But aren't you in earnest, Robin?'</p> + +<p>'Oh yes, indeed, indeed I am;' from the depths of a very earnest +childish heart that little knew to what it pledged itself.</p> + +<p>'And so am I! I'll never care for any one else, Robina—never.'</p> + +<p>'Nor I, William. Here they come!'</p> + +<p>The other two had not got near so far, though Captain Harewood was +talking, and Wilmet listening, as would never have been the case +without the influence Willie asserted; but the special charm that +enchained Wilmet was entirely unapprehended by her, till just as the +first star brightened, and the hues faded from the landscape, she +bethought her of her patient, and perceived that he had gone in. 'How +late it must be! I must go and see after him. I hope he is equal to the +journey.'</p> + +<p>'I will come and bring you an account of him on my way home, if I may.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, thank you; but it is taxing your goodness too—too much.'</p> + +<p>'Cannot you believe how glad I am to have a good excuse?' and the +tone gave Wilmet a sudden thrill, so that she answered not; and he +continued, 'I am going to beg leave to be sometimes at Bexley.'</p> + +<p>'When Felix is at home,' faltered Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'I can hardly afford to wait. My time at home is so short. I shall, <i>I</i> +hope, make friends with him to-morrow, and perhaps you will neither of +you forbid me to come again. I am asking nothing now, only opportunity +to try to make you—'</p> + +<p>'Oh, don't!' hurriedly broke in Wilmet, standing still in consternation.</p> + +<p>'Nay,' he said in a pleading voice, 'I know it would be presumption to +think so short an acquaintance could suffice, but you see I have so +little time, and all I want is leave to use it in coming to see you.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, don't!' she repeated. 'Indeed you had better not. It would be +only pain. I couldn't! and I can't have Felix worried;' and there was +a startled sob in her voice; but he answered with the strength and +sweetness that had upheld her in Lance's most suffering moments.</p> + +<p>'I would not distress you or Felix for more than words can utter! I +would not have breathed a hint of this most earnest wish of my heart +till you had had some preparation, if it were not so impossible +otherwise to have any chance of being with you and striving—'</p> + +<p>'Please,' entreated Wilmet, 'that is just what should be avoided; it +can never come to anything, and the sooner it is stopped the better.'</p> + +<p>'Why should it never come to anything?' he asked, encouraged by +detecting tears in her voice.</p> + +<p>'Because you know—no, you don't know, or you never could think of such +a thing—how wrong and impossible it would be for me!'</p> + +<p>'No, I don't know. That is what I want to have the opportunity of +knowing.'</p> + +<p>'I can tell you before,' she answered, faintly. 'Oh, if you would but +take my word for it, it would save so much—'</p> + +<p>'No, that I cannot do,' he repeated. 'I must see for myself your +preciousness at home.'</p> + +<p>She broke in again. 'Please, please, I'm saying what I ought not; but +it is to hinder distress. Don't want to let us get to like each other +any better, for as yet it can't be more than what could be got over, +and it is only making pain to let it grow.'</p> + +<p>'That I deny. So far as I am concerned, the thing is done. If you +wanted to save me that pain, you should have turned me out the moment I +saw you call the boy back to life. A month like this is not so easily +got over.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet drooped her head, and made no answer.</p> + +<p>'So, since you see,' he continued, 'you will spare me nothing by +holding me aloof, will you not let me come and gladden myself while +I may in your presence? And then when my time is up it may be more +possible to judge—' (there was a faint 'Oh no,' but he heeded it not) +'—whether you can bear such an ugly fellow enough to let him look to +the time when home claims may be less pressing. I look for no answer. I +only want to be able to ask for one three months hence, and I shall beg +your brother to put it into my power so to do.'</p> + +<p>'Ah! but to have Felix disturbed and worried is just what must not be. +It has made him ill already; and if he thought—'</p> + +<p>'I promise not to harass him,' said Captain Harewood, gently. 'You may +trust me to take care that what I shall say will not cause him any very +trying perplexity.'</p> + +<p>'If you knew—' sighed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'I hope to know,' he replied. 'I do know enough already to be +aware that you stand in no common relation to the rest; and if you +have my heart, Wilmet, it must follow that somehow I share in your +self-devotion. Do not fear my trying to make you less yourself. I want +not to take you away from your burthens, but to share them.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, you—that is your goodness; but would it be right in us?' she +faltered.</p> + +<p>'Leave your brother and me to judge of that,' he said.</p> + +<p>They were already at the Bailey door, in the shadow of the buildings, +the flood of moonlight lying on the tower above, and one little +mysterious lamp under the deep brow of the archway of the passage. +No more passed but one 'good-night' from each; he had not even seen +her face, under her shady hat; while she hastened to her little room, +glad to ascertain that Lance was fast asleep, and with a rush of new +sensations bursting on her, against which she was strengthening all the +dykes of her resolute nature. 'He—he—that it should be he! how good! +how generous! how kind! Oh, it would be so happy! It <i>will</i> make me +happy that he only just thought of it; but it won't do, it is no use. +I'm not in love with him; I won't be, I'm not, I'm not!'</p> + +<p>And as ardently as Wilmet had ever prayed for Lance's life and reason +by that little bed, did she beseech not to be tempted to desert her +duties; and all night she lay between sleep and waking, ever repeating +to herself. 'I'm not in love, I'm not, I'm not!'</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE HOUSE WITHOUT PILLARS.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 35%;"> +'And who save she could soothe the boy,<br /> +Or turn his tears to tears of joy?'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 40%;"><i>Samuel Rogers.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>Lance's train was at six o'clock, and that by which the sisters were +to return to Bexley so little later, that they would await it at the +station, so the household was betimes more or less afoot. There was +a frenzied scramble of maids and young ladies in hasty toilette; yet +breakfast was only forthcoming by personal exertion on the part of the +Captain, who made the coffee, boiled the eggs, and sent his brother +foraging into the kitchen. Then a message came that mother must see +the sweet girl to bid her good-bye; and Wilmet was dragged up to find +the paddy good-natured face in bed, in an immense frilled nightcap, +whence two horn-like curl-papers protruded. She was kissed, cried over, +and told she was the dearest girl, and Jack the best boy, in the four +kingdoms; and while her head was turning round between dizziness at all +that this cordiality implied, and a governess's confusion whether these +were the four kingdoms of Ireland, or England, Ireland, Scotland, and +Wales, a demand followed for the darling boy; but when she had gravely +told the Captain that his mother wanted him, the result was to send him +down laughing. 'No, no, I'm not the only darling boy in the world! 'Tis +you, Lance. You know the way.'</p> + +<p>Between finding her in bed, and being powerfully embraced, Lance's +sense of decorum brought him down with his blanched cheeks so rosy red, +that the family were choking with suppressed mirth when the omnibus +called for the luggage, and the party set forth to walk to the station, +Lance in a grass hat, enfolded by the Captain's hands in an ample +puggery, and provided with a natty blue umbrella, presented by the +Librarian, 'as a shield against the far-darting Apollo.'</p> + +<p>'If this had been in my day,' he said, 'some wit would have produced +a neat epigram on Phoebus playing his old tricks out of jealousy of +Will's verses; but dainty feats of scholarship are gone out of date. +Well, Patroclus, when we have you back again, I think we shall none of +us mourn over the effects of your generous action.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet was near enough to hear, and colour. She had imagined the last +night's conversation unknown to all; but Underwood reticence was so +incapable of guessing at Harewood communicativeness, that it never +entered her brain to suspect the topic of conversation between the +three juniors as they walked up the drowsy street.</p> + +<p>Thanks to the difficulties of getting under weigh from the Harewood +house, there was barely time for John and Lance to take their places, +while Mr. Harewood got their tickets, and they were whirled off, +leaving the others to promenade the platform, just then a complete +solitude.</p> + +<p>Mr. Harewood, with the attention of the old school, backed by something +warmer, gave Wilmet his arm. He and his son John never seemed to belong +to so ramshackle a household as the rest, and he was so gentle and +fatherly, that when Wilmet found him aware of all, it was a relief to +tell her objections without being answered by a lover. After all, she +could only repeat that leaving home was so impossible for her, that, as +she murmured, 'He had better not get to like me any more, it would be +such a pity for him.'</p> + +<p>'That,' said Mr. Harewood, with his air of old-fashioned gallantry, +'depends on the esteem in which wealth or merit is held.'</p> + +<p>'And station,' said Wilmet, in an undertone.</p> + +<p>'For that, my dear, one would be a fool not to honour you and your +brother; besides, it may make you more at ease to hear that my father +was an apparitor, and I went to Oxford as a servitor, so that in birth +you have the advantage of us. Of course, I do not mean that every one +does not in the abstract prefer prosperous matches; but John has a fair +independent competence, and can afford to do as he pleases; and, for my +part, I should be very sorry if this were not what he pleased.'</p> + +<p>'You are so very kind, but surely if—even if—it must be such long +waiting, and you would not like that for him.'</p> + +<p>'Let us arrive at the <i>if</i> before we settle about the waiting,' said +Mr. Harewood. 'In truth, I have long looked on John as so much the most +sensible person in my house, that all I feel called on to do is to hope +for his success. I know both you and he will be wise enough not to be +either selfish or unselfish in the wrong place.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet did not quite understand, but she carried away the conviction +that she need have no scruple as to the parents' cordial approbation; +and she had had her cure from yesterday's sense of want of individual +affection. As to the future? Of course it swelled her heart to think +of such love and generous kindness; but she tried to believe that she +was as much touched by the goodness of the father as by that of the +son, and she would be on her guard against herself unless she saw some +reasonable hope that home would ever dispense with her. Dear Wilmet; +would she not at any other time have thought it an outrage to think of +such a possibility? At any rate, she thought, nobody but Felix need +ever know.</p> + +<p>Little guessed she, as Robina sat opposite, kept silent by the presence +of two stout old females, that the child was revolving the question +whether she might tell Cherry. She knew that Wilmet would not like +her affairs to be discussed without her own permission; but it seemed +unfair that when all the Harewoods were open-mouthed, her own sister +should know nothing. After all, much would depend on the chances of a +<i>tęte-ŕ-tęte</i>.</p> + +<p>At the station stood Clement: 'That's right! I thought you would come +by this train. What a comfort! How is Lance?'</p> + +<p>'Almost well. How are you getting on?'</p> + +<p>'You will soon see for yourself,' in an ominous tone.</p> + +<p>Just then she was accosted by Mr. Ryder, who was waiting for his own +train; and after courteous and anxious inquiries, said, 'I was thinking +of writing to your eldest brother, but perhaps a word from you would do +as well.'</p> + +<p>'About Bernard?'</p> + +<p>'Why, yes, I don't quite see my way about him. He is a sharp little +fellow, and very well taught; in fact, he can afford to do nothing but +waste time. Somehow, a boy will now and then seem to come into school +with the wrong foot foremost.'</p> + +<p>'Has he fallen in with idle boys?'</p> + +<p>'So I fear. I placed him in a form high for his age, but where the lags +have got hold of him, and make him think idleness the <i>thing</i>. So I +gather. I conclude he is not to remain here?'</p> + +<p>'Do you mean that you wish him to be taken away?' asked Wilmet, in +consternation.</p> + +<p>'No, no; don't understand it in that sense,' said Mr. Ryder, anxiously. +'I only meant that he is doing no good here, and that possibly a +change, or the stimulus of preparing for an examination, might rouse +him. Good-bye.'</p> + +<p>And there Mr. Ryder had to rush off to secure his seat.</p> + +<p>'Oh! good morning, Miss Underwood!' This was from Mr. Mowbray Smith, +a few steps beyond the station. 'I am glad to see you back. So your +patient is gone to join your eldest brother? But we shall have you here +on Sunday? Then there's the less occasion to name it; but some notice +should be taken of the behaviour yesterday evening.'</p> + +<p>'It was very sad,' interposed Clement; 'but when once set off by the +christening, they could not stop themselves.'</p> + +<p>'Scarcely a valid excuse,' said Mr. Smith, severely, as he made his +parting bow. 'You know this was not all.'</p> + +<p>Clement shrugged his shoulders, exclaiming, 'So he made that into a +personality! You must know there was an unusually squalling baby, +whose godmother went on giving its name as Huggeny; and there was a +five minutes' exchange of "What?" on Mr. Smith's side, and Huggeny +on hers, till a whisper came all along—forwarded from the mother, I +suppose—"Same as they does their 'air;" and then Mr. Smith looked more +mystified than ever; some one suggested, "Same as the Empress of the +French."'</p> + +<p>'Something might be excused on such provocation,' owned Wilmet, +laughing.</p> + +<p>'If that had been all,' said Clement; 'but Angel and Bernard choose to +go and sit by themselves, and I could see, from Felix's place in the +choir, that they were tittering long after. I shook my head, but Nares +must needs make up an odious imitation; and Bernard not only touches +Angel to make her look, but grins impudently at me. I found myself +growing burning hot with shame, and whenever they looked at me their +heads went down and their shoulders worked.'</p> + +<p>'Naughty children,' said Wilmet, but with more than usual lenience to +the combined effects of Huggeny and of Clement's severe countenance +in producing one of those paroxysms of giggle that seem invincible in +proportion to their unbecomingness. The door was reached and instantly +opened, Stella springing into her arms in ecstasy. 'Sister's come!—O +Sister, Sister, Sister, don't ever go away any more.'</p> + +<p>There was a great deal of confused kissing and embracing as she made +her way upstairs. 'But oh, my Tedo, what has happened?' for she beheld +a fine sample of Bill Harewood's violet eye.</p> + +<p>'It was Bernard's stick went into his eye when we were playing at +hockey,' said Stella. 'He did cry terribly, but Sister Constance put +such nice stuff—'</p> + +<p>'Sister Constance! oh, thank you! but hockey in the garden?'</p> + +<p>'I thought it rather a remarkable proceeding,' quietly observed the +Sister.</p> + +<p>'I must hear more about it,' said Wilmet. 'My poor dear little man, +can't he let Sister go for one instant?—Cherry dear, how are you?'</p> + +<p>'All right now you are come. But dear little Lance, how is he looking?'</p> + +<p>'Not much worse than you do, my Cherry,' said Wilmet, as she saw that +the wizened old fairy look was come back. 'You have been worse than I +knew.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I am all right now; and I have had such a treat of Sister +Constance.'</p> + +<p>'I want to take her back with me,' said the Sister. 'Dr. Lee would like +to have her under his eye; and if you can spare her, I would write +to-day, and she could go with me to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>'It is very kind; it might be better for her.'</p> + +<p>'Of course,' interrupted Alda, 'it is good for any one to be away from +this horrid smell of baked earth, and all these riotous children.'</p> + +<p>'Ah!' said Wilmet; 'didn't I see the shade of the lamp in the +landing-place broken? How was that?'</p> + +<p>'Oh! the children, of course,' said Alda.</p> + +<p>But neither child spoke; and Wilmet perceived that only the twins were +in the room, both hanging upon her, while she swallowed her hurried +second breakfast.</p> + +<p>'No one will tell,' said Clement. 'It was done the day I went over to +Minsterham. I did all I could to find out.'</p> + +<p>'Yes; and made them more obstinate than before,' said Alda.</p> + +<p>Another catastrophe here suddenly struck Wilmet, namely, a long and +very badly-mended rent in Stella's spotted pink frock, which, to say +the truth, did not look as if it were Monday morning.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Stella, 'I did try to mend it as well as I could, Sister, +but there wasn't another work-a-day frock clean.'</p> + +<p>'Your mending!' exclaimed Wilmet; 'but how did you tear it?'</p> + +<p>'When I tumbled into the brambles, and was lost.'</p> + +<p>'Lost, my dear? What does she mean?'</p> + +<p>'It is quite true,' said Cherry. 'Angela and Bernard took her out +fishing to Ball's hatch on Saturday, and lost her, only luckily we did +not know anything about it till she was safe at home again, dear little +darling!'</p> + +<p>'But, Stella, how was it?' cried the horrified Wilmet, clasping her the +closer.</p> + +<p>'I could not bear to see the poor worms,' said Stella. 'Bear would cut +them up to stick on his hook, so I got away out of sight of them, and +gathered the dear little wild roses and honeysuckles; and when I wanted +to find them again I couldn't, and nobody heard me when I called, and a +robin looked at me, and I thought he wanted to bury me, and I ran away, +and a great bush caught hold of me and scratched my legs, and tore out +a great piece of the rim of my hat; and just then a good lady came +by, and helped me up and to look for them, but we could not see them +anywhere; so she took me to her house—such a dear little house all +over roses—and she mended my hat, and I mended my frock, and she gave +me some tea and plum-cake, and two dear little ponies came to the door, +and a carriage, and she brought me home.'</p> + +<p>'Who was she?'</p> + +<p>'Miss Crabbe; she is new to the place,' said Cherry. 'Mr. Froggatt said +she had only been once in the shop before. Tell Sister how you told her +about yourself, Stella.'</p> + +<p>'She asked my name,' said the child, 'and she said it was a very funny +one, and she could not understand it; and then she wanted to know whose +little girl I was, and I said, "Brother Felix's;" and then she said, +"Have you no papa or mamma?" So I told her I hadn't a papa or mamma, +but a father and mother up in heaven; and she said, "I should think +so, poor little dear, if there is no one to take more care of you." +I really did think she wanted to take me and keep me for an adopted +child, so I told her that I had lots of dear good brothers and sisters +that wanted me very much indeed, and I must go home to H. Froggatt and +F. C. Underwood, High Street, Bexley.'</p> + +<p>'I fancy,' said Cherry, 'that she thought Mr. Froggatt was Stella's +grandfather, for she made him quite a speech about the neglect of the +child—"such a nice-mannered little girl," she said; but she would not +come in, nor let Alda be called.'</p> + +<p>'Nor should I have gone down if Mr. Froggatt had thought proper to call +me,' said Alda. 'Imagine me in his office!'</p> + +<p>'I can't imagine not going anywhere to thank the person that brought +home my little Star,' said Wilmet, holding her arm close round the +child, and kissing her repeatedly. 'But what became of the other two?'</p> + +<p>'I went out after them,' said Clement, 'and found them rushing wildly +about after her, afraid to come home. To do them justice, I believe +they were almost out of their minds, thinking she must have tumbled +into the river.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, indeed,' said Alda. 'That's your account of it.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Cherry eagerly, 'all that pretending not to care, and that +it was a trick of Stella's, was nothing but reaction. And then, you +know, Clem, you <i>did</i> improve the occasion.'</p> + +<p>'There!' exclaimed Alda,' you see how it is, Wilmet; nothing but +vindication of those two intolerable children! Now, just come, Wilmet, +and see if they are to be backed up in this.'</p> + +<p>But as Wilmet, perfectly bewildered, and feeling no hope of +comprehension among so many, followed Alda from the room and up the +stairs, Stella came plunging after, with a cry, 'Alda, Alda, don't hurt +them!' just as from a housemaid's closet half way up, Alda was bringing +to light a basin containing a dozen tadpoles twirling their shadowy +tails.</p> + +<p>'Now, Wilmet,' she solemnly said, 'do you approve of all those horrid +brutes swimming in my bath?'</p> + +<p>'They aren't in the well, I hope,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'How can you be so absurd, Wilmet? That's the way those children showed +their sorrow that Clement talks about. I'll never believe but he helped +them.'</p> + +<p>'To weep them?' said a voice above; and Angela's face was seen looking +out of her bush of hair over the balusters of the top storey. 'They +<i>are</i> just like black heraldic tears.'</p> + +<p>'You don't mean that they put them in?' asked Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'What else should I mean?'</p> + +<p>'And didn't she squall?' shouted Bernard; and then came a duet—</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 5%;"> +'Dame, dame, what makes your ducks to squall,<br /> +Duck to squall, duck to squall, duck to squall?<br /> +Meeting o' pollywogs! Meeting wi' pollywogs!'<br /> +</p> + +<p>'Hush, children, this is shocking,' said Wilmet, in the low impressive +voice by which she could always still a tumult. 'How could you take +advantage of my absence to do this?'</p> + +<p>'Because Alda deserved it,' cried Angela, bouncing downstairs. 'There, +Alda! I said I should tell of you if you told of us.'</p> + +<p>'Angela, that is not the way to speak to your elder sister.'</p> + +<p>'She isn't like an elder sister!' exclaimed Angel. 'Stella would be +ashamed to do like her, eating up the strawberries Mr. Froggatt brought +for poor Cherry when she was ill.'</p> + +<p>'I'm sure you had your share!' retorted Alda.</p> + +<p>'You <i>would</i> have them in for dessert, and you helped us; only Sister +Constance and Clem left all theirs for Cherry, and then you went by +yourself and ate them all up.'</p> + +<p>The very fact of shouting out such a charge showed a state of +insubordination such as might make Wilmet's hair stand on end, and she +simply disbelieved so childish an accusation against her own equal in +age. 'You should not say such things, Angela,' she answered, in her low +tone of reproof; 'there must be a mistake.'</p> + +<p>'I am afraid it is quite true,' said Clement's quiet voice, as he stood +arrested on his way by the block upon the landing-place.</p> + +<p>'The children make such an uproar,' said the exasperated Alda. 'I'm +sure I thought Geraldine's had been taken long before, and in this +parching weather fruit is quite a necessity to me.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet was too much aghast at the admission to speak. It was a strange +tangle: Clement standing straight and still on the landing-place; +Wilmet, with Theodore humming to himself, as innocent of the fray as +the tadpoles that Stella was cherishing in the cupboard door-way; Alda, +flushed and angry; and on the upper flight, Angela and Bernard dancing +and roaming in vehement excitement between anger and alarm. 'Well that +Lance was not in this hubbub!' thought deafened and amazed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'What has this to do with the tadpoles?' she asked, in an endeavour to +comprehend.</p> + +<p>'We said she should be served out,' sung Bernard, 'with a +polly—polly—polly-wog bath.'</p> + +<p>'But, Bernard, hush!—Angel! don't you see it was no business of yours +if Alda did forget?'</p> + +<p>She was unprepared for the outbreak this brought on her. 'You, too, +Wilmet! Every one backs up those children in their behaviour to me! +Lady Herbert Somerville, and Clement, and all! If only Ferdinand saw +it!'</p> + +<p>'Just step up, Wilmet,' said Clement gently, 'and see whether the +children are in league with me.'</p> + +<p>He followed Wilmet up to the door of the barrack, an attic that he +shared with Lance and Bernard, and showed the long beam that crossed it +pasted with a series of little figures cut out in paper, representing +a procession in elaborate vestments; and at the end a long-backed +individual kneeling before the chair of a confessor, who bore a painful +resemblance to the Vicar of St. Matthew's.</p> + +<p>'We only wanted to make Tina feel at home,' giggled Angela.</p> + +<p>'It would be no matter,' pursued Clement, 'if it were merely quizzing +myself. I am used to that; but this is trenching on sacred ground.'</p> + +<p>'Bless me, your old white beam!' exclaimed Angela, with an affected +start.</p> + +<p>'It is exceedingly improper and irreverent,' said Wilmet. 'I am ashamed +that such a thing should have been done in this house.'</p> + +<p>'Really,' said Alda, 'it seems to me very droll and clever, with no +harm in it at all; only people like Clement never can take a joke.'</p> + +<p>'You can't mean to justify such a one as this,' said Wilmet; but, to +her still greater astonishment, Alda broke out,</p> + +<p>'There! You are turning against me! You are taking Clement's part, +though you didn't care what they did to me—not if it had been snakes +and adders!'</p> + +<p>This, decidedly in Mrs. Thomas Underwood's style, elicited a peal of +laughter from the two naughty children, and the corners of Clement's +mouth relaxed, bringing Alda to a gush of tears. 'You never used to be +like this to me, Wilmet.'</p> + +<p>'I never saw you like this, dear Alda,' said Wilmet, low and gently, +but in decided repression. 'Come into our room, and let me try to +understand.'</p> + +<p>So began a morning of mutual complaints, as if everybody were against +everybody, agreeing in nothing but in appealing to the elder sister. +First, there was Alda's story. Never had there been such a miserable +time—with Geraldine interfering, fussy, fretful, fault-finding; +Clement intolerable in primness and conceit, only making the children +worse when he pretended to keep them in order, and making such a +fuss about Geraldine, when nothing ailed her but change of weather; +incurring the expense of the Dearport doctor, and bringing down the +Sister upon them; so awkward to have her in the drawing-room in that +dress, but Sisters always thrust themselves into families. She hoped +she had shown my Lady that she was not to be overawed by a title—such +affectation, not using it! No consideration for her; the servants +regularly spoilt, both of them; Martha a vulgar insolent creature, and +Sibby disgustingly familiar and slovenly, no good at all, not even +to keep Theodore out of the way. At which Theodore, knowing no more +than his own name and Alda's displeasure, set up a dismal howl; and as +Wilmet chose to coax and fondle him into silence instead of scolding +and turning him out, Alda went off in a huff, muttering about asylums +and proper places; and Wilmet descended to the kitchen, the little weak +hand clasped tight into hers.</p> + +<p>A sore sight awaited her below; the bills of this month for luxuries +of sinful extravagance in her economical eyes! Chicken and asparagus, +ducks and peas, even in the height of their season, were enormities +to such housekeeping as hers, and had raised the sum total to four +times the amount that her foreboding soul had dreaded. It exceeded her +present supplies, and was a grave addition to the expenses of the two +illnesses, that were serious enough already.</p> + +<p>Martha was eloquent, not to say defiant, in self-defence. 'You see, +Miss Underwood, if I'd been let alone, or Miss Cherry had been the +one to take my orders from, which we could have made it out to your +satisfaction; but with Miss Halder, which expects everything to be +just like what it was in the fammerly up in London, which it stands to +reason as it can't; which she hasn't got no more notion than a baby of +prices, nor seasons, nor nothink; which is very determined, too, which +won't suffer a word from nobody; which if you hadn't been coming home, +Miss Underwood, I'd have given warning, which have always given you +satisfaction.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet's satisfaction was not increased when she encountered Sibby. +'Ah, my darling Missie dear, ye're the jewel that's been longed for! +The whole house has been mad entirely, and lost widout you; the +children rampaging and playing pranks, and Miss Cherry dwining and +pining to a skeleton, so that but for Master Clem and that holy woman, +the Sisther, 'tis scarce alive ye'd have found her. Miss Alda, she's +the very wonder of the worruld for jealousy and unfeelingness. I up and +told her at last there was well-nigh as much differ between you and +she, as between Stella and this blessed lamb that she spites; for if +you have not carried off all the wit and understanding, sure 'tis you +that has got all the heart, and the head, and the hands.'</p> + +<p>'And the partial old nursey, Sibby! You see I had no time nor thought +but for poor Lance, and Alda was so new to it.'</p> + +<p>'Ah, Missie dear, you were always the one to vindicate her, but 'tis +no use! Newness! 'Twasn't newness that makes her turn the back of her +hand to this darling innocent, till he cries if he's left a moment with +her.—Ay, my precious, what would have become of you and me but for +Masther Clem?—I tell you, Miss Wilmet, I never thought that long boy +the aquil of his brothers till I saw him in time of need. Yer father +himself—Heaven be his bed!—couldn't have been tenderer with Theodore +nor Miss Cherry, by night or by day, an' never a cross word when he was +bothered past his life with Miss Alda's ugliness an' the children's +boldness.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, those children! What is come to them, Sibby?'</p> + +<p>'Only funning and merriment, Missie dear. They'd never have had to be +faulted if Miss Alda had let Miss Cherry deal with them; but she could +neither rule them herself, nor bear to see them ruled; and though she +was like a mad cow if they played their pranks on her, she backs them +up if Miss Cherry, or Master Clem, or even the Sisther, do but say a +word to them, so 'tis no wonder if the poor dears have been a bit off +their heads, but they'll be as quiet as doves now ye're back again. Oh, +Missie dear, my own child, but it's you that are the light of my eyes, +looking the blooming beauty that you are.'</p> + +<p>The foster-mother's genuine compliment could not lighten the load that +had grown every moment heavier, and more compunctious for the deaf ear +she had turned to Clement. Wilmet said a word or two of apology to +him when she met him on the stairs, loaded with books to study in the +garden.</p> + +<p>'Never mind,' he magnanimously answered, 'it is all right now you are +come, and it was impossible before. Only, please do say something warm +to Sister Constance, for Alda is barely civil to her.'</p> + +<p>'I am very sorry; I did not think Alda had that sort of prejudice,' +said Wilmet, whose instinct of defence of Alda had wonderfully +diminished.</p> + +<p>'The chief prejudice came of my sending for her,' said Clement.</p> + +<p>'Besides, Sister Constance spoke out very sharply about the +strawberries; and when we had a couple of chickens, and Alda scolded +me for helping her to a leg instead of a wing, Sister Constance said, +"Oh, I supposed you had them on Geraldine's account;" and she gives the +children leave to do anything Sister Constance objects to. These things +are hardly their fault. But, I say, Mettie, now you are come, and it +is all right, do you think I might go to St. Matthew's? The Vicar and +Mr. Sterling are alone, while the other curates are holiday-making, and +they say I could really be of some use to them, and they would give me +some help with this reading for my examination. Somers is there too, +and I have not seen him since Christmas.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed,' said Wilmet, 'no one has deserved a holiday more than you, +Clement! You have done your best.'</p> + +<p>This—almost the first home praise or thanks that had fallen to his +lot—elicited that real grace of humility for which poor self-conscious +Clement really strove. 'I have tried, Mettie,' he said, with tears in +his eyes; 'but it was not as if it had been one of the others. There +must be something very wrong about me, to make me so disagreeable.'</p> + +<p>'You have gained two hearts,' said Wilmet, 'Sibby's and this little +fellow's.'</p> + +<p>For Theodore had attached himself limpet fashion to Clement, who with +difficulty piled his books so as to leave a hand free for him.</p> + +<p>'He had better come with me,' said Wilmet; 'your reading must have been +dreadfully interrupted.'</p> + +<p>'It has, rather,' said Clement, whose examination was in alarming +proximity; 'but I don't mind him, I can work to his tunes as well as +Felix can; and all is right now you are come.'</p> + +<p>That was the burthen of every one's song. It came next from Cherry, +whom she found in her own room; 'There was so much bustle in the +sitting-room,' she said.</p> + +<p>'My dear, you have gone through a great deal!'</p> + +<p>'"There's nae luck about the house when our gude man's awa',"' said +Cherry. 'Clem played and whistled that so often, that Alda begged never +to hear it again; but unluckily Tedo had caught it, and I don't think +she quite believes he doesn't hum it on purpose! But now, how delicious +it is to have got at least our gude woman! And, oh dear! Wilmet, I beg +your pardon; but you do look so lovely, I can't help telling you so! or +is it the pleasure of seeing you?'</p> + +<p>'My poor Cherry! I did not think half enough about you.'</p> + +<p>'That would have done no good. Most of this rose out of my own +crossness and horridness. If I could only be anxious without being +peevish!'</p> + +<p>'Now, Cherry, don't waste time in telling me it was your own fault; I +know all about that! I really want to understand how it has all been +with Alda and Clement. I am afraid Alda has not been behaving nicely.'</p> + +<p>To hear Wilmet allow Alda to be other than impeccable so amazed Cherry, +that she could scarcely answer. 'O Mettie, I never knew what you and +Felix must be. I have so often thought of a house divided against +itself, one against two, and two against three. We have been all <i>to +wrongs</i>, and Clem and I have said we would not be a party; and yet we +could not help it, for we always had to stand up together! Then Angel +and Bear were against every one, and Alda set them against Clem, and +fancied he did against her, which was not true. I should have minded +nothing if Alda had not been so angry at Clement's sending for Sister +Constance. You did give him leave, though?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, and I should have done so much more decidedly if I had known.'</p> + +<p>At that moment Sister Constance knocked at the door, with her work in +her hand, and Wilmet inferred that this was the refuge from Alda and +the drawing-room. To Cherry's surprise, Wilmet, instead of ignoring +everything unsatisfactory, began at once, 'Please come in, Sister +Constance; I wanted to thank you, and tell you how sorry and ashamed I +am! I am afraid you have not been treated as—'</p> + +<p>'Don't say any more, my dear,' as the tears were in her eyes; 'don't +think about it.'</p> + +<p>'I ought to think!' said Wilmet. 'I have been trying to understand +things ever since I came home; but everybody except Cherry and Clem +blames everybody, and they only blame themselves! I can't understand +the rights of anything!'</p> + +<p>'My dear,' said Sister Constance, 'I think it would be impossible to +go into the details of all that has happened. Shall I tell you how it +seemed to me?'</p> + +<p>'Pray do!'</p> + +<p>'I thought that the authority of an elder reared in so different a +school necessarily was producing a few collisions. There was some +ignorance, and a good deal of dislike of interference, and the younger +ones would not have been human not to take advantage of it; but it +is over now you are come home, and I strongly recommend an act of +oblivion.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! I don't want to punish the poor children,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Oblivion, I said, not only amnesty;' and as she did not see perfect +comprehension in Wilmet's face, she added, 'I mean, not only that +the children should be forgiven, but that their elders should not go +hunting for causes, and thinking how this or that could have been +prevented.'</p> + +<p>'I suppose not,' said Wilmet. 'It is all plain enough;' and the sigh +that followed quite amazed Cherry, who smiled up in her face, saying, +'Plain enough that we can't do without you.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Wilmet, kissing Cherry's uplifted face ere leaving the room; +but it was with such an effort at a responding smile, that Cherry +exclaimed, 'Oh dear! how dreadfully we have vexed her!' And Sister +Constance thought the more.</p> + +<p>Yet again Wilmet had to hear another testimony to the anarchy in her +absence. Those formidable bills had obliged her to apply to Alda for an +advance of the sum she had offered for Lance's journey; and this, after +some petulance and faltering, elicited that some old forgotten London +bills had come down and swamped this Midsummer quarter's allowance, so +that the promise must stand over till—till Michaelmas; or it might +be that Ferdinand's matters were arranged, and then what would such +a paltry sum be? Wilmet turned away in shame and disgust at having +trusted for a moment to such offers. She could only do what she had +never done before—apply to Mr. Froggatt for an advance on Felix's +account: and she detained him after dinner for the purpose.</p> + +<p>He was as kind as possible, assuring her that he should have been hurt +if she had not come to him. And then, in his blandest way, he thought +it right to hint that 'Young people were sometimes a little unguarded.' +She was prepared for the story of the loss of Stella, but she was not +prepared to hear of a gossipping intercourse over the newly arrived +Punches, &c., carried on in the early morning with Redstone, not only +by Bernard but Angela. She was but eleven years old, so it was no worse +than the taste of childish underhand coquetry and giggling; there was +no fear of its continuance after Felix's return, and, indeed, good old +Mr. Froggatt had kept guard by coming in two hours earlier ever since +the discovery; but the propensity dismayed Wilmet more than all that +had yet happened, and on this head she thought it right to reprove +Angela seriously.</p> + +<p>'Dear me, Wilmet, you are always telling us not to think ourselves +above our station. Mr. Redstone is just as fit to speak to as Felix was +before he was a partner.'</p> + +<p>'Should you like Felix to have found you gossipping in the +reading-room?'</p> + +<p>'Well,' said audacious Angela, 'half the fun in things is the chance of +being caught.'</p> + +<p>'My dear, you don't know what you are saying,' replied Wilmet +dejectedly, as if exhausted beyond the power of working out her +reproof! and Angela had to fight hard against any softening, telling +Bernard that W. W. was a tremendous old maid, who had no notion of a +lark.</p> + +<p>Robina, who stood in the peculiar position of neither accusing nor +being accused, would not add her voice to the chorus of welcome, and +did not wonder that every hour wore off something from the radiance +of the beautiful bloom brought from the Bailey. Indeed, the unusual +gravity and reserve of the younger sister struck Cherry's observant +eyes, and made her think at first that she had been much pained by +having to part with Lance in his weak half-recovered state; but when at +tea-time the whole history of the illness was inquired into in detail +by the assembled family, the downcast eyes and cheeks with which Robin +encountered every mention of Captain Harewood's good offices led to the +inference that she had in her excitement forgotten the bounds where the +brook and river meet, and was in an anguish of shame; Wilmet meantime +looking flushed with the fag of her vexatious day, and speaking +plentifully of this same Captain, proving to herself all the while that +she was doing so with ordinary gratitude and composure.</p> + +<p>Robina was quartered upon Geraldine in the holiday crowding of the +house; and somewhere about four o'clock on the summer morning, Cherry, +wakening as usual, and reaching for her book, heard a voice from the +corner asking if she wanted anything. 'No, thank you, Bobbie. Go to +sleep again.'</p> + +<p>'I can't; I've been thinking about it all night. I think he's coming +to-day.'</p> + +<p>'Who?'</p> + +<p>'Captain Harewood. He promised to come and tell us how Lance and Felix +are.'</p> + +<p>'I am very glad; but Wilmet never said so.'</p> + +<p>'No, but—O Cherry, I wish we could contrive some nice quiet place, but +nothing is ever quiet in this house.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Geraldine, who was but too well aware of the fact, 'though I +can't imagine that any Harewood can be distressed on that score.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, but—' said Robina, to whom the communication began to feel so +momentous, that she could not help toying round it before coming +to the point—'I know; at least, I am sure he will want to see her +particularly.'</p> + +<p>'You Robin, what have you got into your head?' said Cherry, trying to +misunderstand, but feeling a foreboding throb of consternation.</p> + +<p>'It is not my head. Willie told me.' And as she detected a sigh of +relief, 'And it is no nonsense of his either. He did it on Sunday +evening by the river-side.'</p> + +<p>'He did it?' repeated Geraldine, willing to take a moment's refuge in +the confusion of antecedents, though too well aware what must be coming.</p> + +<p>'You know what I mean. He—Jack—John—Captain Harewood, had it out +with her when we were all walking together.'</p> + +<p>'My dear, impossible!'</p> + +<p>'I mean, we were out of hearing, but we saw them at it, and walked up +and down till Lance got tired out, and Willie and I stayed to make it +proper.'</p> + +<p>Geraldine relieved herself by a little laugh, and said, in a superior +tone of elderly wisdom, 'But, my dear, there might be a walk even +without what you call doing it.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' reiterated Robina; 'but I know, for the Captain shut himself up +with Mr. Harewood when we came in, and Bill heard his father telling +his mother about it at night through the wall.'</p> + +<p>'For shame, Robin!'</p> + +<p>'Oh! he told them long ago that he could hear, and they don't care; +besides, Mrs. Harewood told him <i>himself</i> when he went in to wish her +good morning, and she kissed me and Lance too about it, and said they +hadn't their equals. And poor Mettie thinks no one knows of it but +their two selves, and maybe Mr. Harewood!'</p> + +<p>'But, Robin, I don't know how to understand it. I think she would have +told Alda, at least.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps she has to-night,' said Robina; 'but, you see, she didn't +accept him.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! then it doesn't signify.'</p> + +<p>'Not out and out, I mean; and it is only because of us. At least, we +are sure she likes him.'</p> + +<p>'We! You and Willie!'</p> + +<p>'And Lance. He saw it all the time he was getting well. Besides, the +Captain told his father that she wouldn't listen to him, and would have +hindered his going to Felix if Lance had been fit to travel alone.'</p> + +<p>'Then it is not an engagement now?'</p> + +<p>'No, she won't let it be.'</p> + +<p>'And he is coming to-day?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, after he has seen Felix. O Cherry! he is so nice, kind and +bright, like all the Harewoods, and not ridiculous; and Lance does like +him so!'</p> + +<p>'Does Wilmet?'</p> + +<p>'We are almost sure. As Lance says, she has never looked so bright, or +so sweet, or so pretty. Do you think it is love, Cherry?'</p> + +<p>'We shall see,' said Cherry. 'If she tells us nothing, we can judge; +and if—if—'</p> + +<p>Her voice died away into contemplation; and after waiting in vain for +more, Robina somewhat resentfully decided that 'she had fallen asleep +in her very face.'</p> + +<p>No more was said till dressing-time, when there were a few speculations +whether Alda knew; and Cherry could not help auguring that something +had opened Wilmet's eyes to her twin's possible deficiencies. Sister +Constance came, and seeing her patient's paleness, accused the sisters +of untimely bedroom colloquies; and as they pleaded guilty, Robin was +struck by the air of fixed resolution on Cherry's thin white face.</p> + +<p>There was no sign of any confidence having been made to Alda. Wilmet +plunged into her long-deferred holiday task of inspecting the family +linen; and when she came back with a deep basket, an announcement that +every one must mend and adapt, and portions of darning and piecing +for Geraldine and Robina, they began to feel as if the morning's +conversation was a dream.</p> + +<p>But just as dinner was near its close, there were steps on the stairs; +the drawing-room door was opened and shut, and Sibby, unnecessarily +coming through the folding leaves, announced over the head of Clement, +'Captain Harewood.'</p> + +<p>'Come to tell about Lance!' cried Angela, leaping up, and followed +by Bernard, Alda, and even Mr. Froggatt; indeed, in the existing +connection of chairs, tables, and doors, a clearance of that side of +the table was needful before any one else could stir. Wilmet moved +after them, and Clement was heard exclaiming, 'You are pinning me down, +Bobbie!'</p> + +<p>'I know! Oh, shut the door! There are more than enough there already.'</p> + +<p>'True,' said Sister Constance, signing to Clement to obey. 'I meant to +go to my room, but Cherry wants to hear of her brothers.'</p> + +<p>'No, she doesn't!' cried Robina. 'At least— Oh! will nobody get the +others out, and leave them to themselves!'</p> + +<p>'Why, Bobbie, what nonsense is this?' said Clement. 'One would think +you took them for Ferdinand and Alda.'</p> + +<p>'It is all the same!—Stella, you run out to the garden—by that door, +you child!' And then it all came out to the two fresh auditors, who +listened with conviction. 'And now,' concluded Robina, 'there is not +a place where he can so much as speak to her! What shall we do to get +them away?'</p> + +<p>'You do not know yet that she wishes it,' said Sister Constance, who +had been a wife before she was a Sister, and saw that it was matronly +tact and tenderness that the crisis needed; 'but I'll tell you what you +can safely and naturally do. Go in and fetch Cherry's folding chair, +and call the children to carry her appurtenances down to the garden. +That will make a break, and Wilmet can take advantage of it if she sees +fit.'</p> + +<p>'Alda is worse than ten children,' said Clement; 'she has an inordinate +appetite for captains in the absence of her own.'</p> + +<p>'It can't be helped. Better do too little than too much.'</p> + +<p>And finding Robina shy and giggling, and Clement shy and irresolute, +Sister Constance herself made the diversion by opening the door, when +Wilmet's nervous look and manner was confirmation strong. 'Lady Herbert +Somerville—Captain Harewood,' was Alda's formal introduction in her +bad taste; while the Sister, after shaking hands, bade Bernard take +Geraldine's chair to the lawn.</p> + +<p>'Oh, are we to go out?' said Alda. 'A good move. Of all things I detest +in summer, a town house is the worst. I'll just fetch a hat, I want +to show my pet view.—Our brothers are always fighting about their +churches, Captain Harewood.'</p> + +<p>The thing was done; Mr. Froggatt was already gone, and as Alda's +trappings were never quickly adjusted, it needed very little +contrivance to leave a not unwilling pair on one side of the doors, and +cut off the rest. Robina, too much excited to stand still, flew about +the stairs till Alda appeared in a tiny hat fluttering with velvet +tails.</p> + +<p>'Are they gone out?'</p> + +<p>'Yes;' for quite enough to constitute a 'they' were gone; and when Alda +reached them, they sedulously set themselves to detain her, and thereby +betrayed the reason.</p> + +<p>'Nonsense! How absurd! That horrid little fright of a red-haired man! +No doubt poor dear Wilmet only wants me to go and put an end to it.'</p> + +<p>Strictly speaking, this was self-assertion. She had not the assurance +to intrude, and she contented herself with keeping Cherry on thorns +by threatening to go in, and declaring that the whole must be untrue, +since Wilmet had not told her.</p> + +<p>Time went on very slowly; and at last Wilmet, about four o'clock, was +seen advancing, with Theodore in one hand and her great basket of +mending in the other. And before Alda had time to rise from her chair, +Robina darted across the grass, with flaming cheeks and low, hurried, +frightened confession—'Wilmet, please, it is honest to tell you; +Willie Harewood knows, and told me, and I couldn't help it; I told them +to keep away.'</p> + +<p>'It always happens so,' said Wilmet, less discomposed than Robina +expected, though she had evidently been shedding tears. 'Not that there +is anything to tell.'</p> + +<p>'Nothing!' cried Robina, looking blank.</p> + +<p>'Of course not. He came to bring me a note from Felix. I hope no one +knows but those three.'</p> + +<p>'And Sister Constance.'</p> + +<p>'Then take care no one does.'</p> + +<p>'But, O Wilmet, please! You have not put an end to it all?'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Wilmet. 'They will not let me, though I think it would have +been wiser. I do not know how it is to be, except that it is utterly +impossible for the present.'</p> + +<p>With this much from the fountain-head, Robina was forced to content +herself; and she had tact enough not to join the trio under the tree, +but to betake herself to Clement, who had gone off with his books.</p> + +<p>'So,' said Alda lightly, 'you have cheated us of another view of your +conquest, Mettie.'</p> + +<p>'He wanted to catch the 3.45 train,' said Wilmet gravely.</p> + +<p>'You must have been very unmerciful to despatch him so soon. I thought +you must want me to come to your rescue, but those romantic children +wouldn't let me.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'My dear! You don't mean that you are smitten? Well! I can't flatter +you as to his beauty. And yet, after all, situated as you are, it is +a catch—that is, if he has anything but his pay; but of course he +hasn't.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Wilmet abstractedly, 'his father told me he had—what did +he call it?—"a fair independent competence of his own." Oh! they are +so kind!'</p> + +<p>'Then, O Wilmet, is it really so?' asked Geraldine, with eager eyes, +clasped hands, and quivering frame, infinitely fuller of visible +emotion than either of the handsome twins.</p> + +<p>'I—don't know.'</p> + +<p>'My dear Wilmet,' cried Alda, excited, 'you can't surely have anything +better in view!'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Wilmet, even now keeping herself blind to the offensiveness +of Alda's suggestion; 'but as it is utterly impossible for me to think +of—leaving home, I did think it would have been wiser to put a stop to +it while there wa—is time,' and the tears began to gather again.</p> + +<p>'And have you?</p> + +<p>'They won't let me.'</p> + +<p>'Who?'</p> + +<p>'<i>He</i>—and his father, and Felix,' said Wilmet, speaking steadily, but +the tears rolling down her cheeks.</p> + +<p>'Felix! Oh, what does he say?'</p> + +<p>'You may see;' and she held out a letter, which Alda and Cherry read +together, while she rested her elbow on her knee, her brow on her hand, +and let fall the tears, which with her were always soft, free, and +healthy outlets of emotion, not disabling, but rather relieving.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p style="margin-left: 20%;"> +<span style="margin-left: 45%;">Mrs. Pettigrew's Lodgings,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 50%;">North Beach, East Ewmouth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 65%;">20th July, 10 <span style="font-size: 0.7em;">P.M.</span></span> +</p> +<p style="font-size: 0.8em;">MY DEAREST WILMET,</p> + +<p>What I have heard to-day is a great satisfaction. I had hardly +hoped that you could have been brought within the reach of +any one so worthy of you. My only fear is that you are too +scrupulous and self-sacrificing to contemplate fairly, and +without prejudice, what is best for us all. You will imagine +yourself blinded by inclination, and not attend to common +sense. Harewood tells me he trusts you have no objection on +personal grounds. (I hope this does not sound as if he were +presuming; if so, it is my fault. Remember, I am more used +to writing 'summaries for the week' than letters on delicate +subjects.) But at any rate, my Mettie, I see there is much +worth and weight in his affection, and that you could not +manage to snub him as entirely as you wanted to do. (Didn't +you?) Now, it seems to me, that if you two are really drawn to +one another, both being such as you are, it is the call of a +Voice that you have no right to reject or stifle. I do not mean +by this that anything immediate need take place; but granting +your preference, I think it would be wrong not to avow it, or +to refuse, because you scruple to keep him waiting while you +may be necessary at home. If you imagine that by such rejection +you would be doing better for the children and me, I beg leave +to tell you it is a generous blunder. Remember that, as things +have turned out, I am quite as much the only dependence for the +others as I was seven years ago. I felt this painfully in the +spring, when I was doubtful what turn my health would take; and +the comfort of knowing you would all have such a man to look +to would be unspeakable—indeed, he has already lightened me +of much care and anxiety. Do not take this as pressing you. +Between this and the end of his leave, there will be time for +consideration. Nothing need be done in haste, least of all the +crushing your liking under the delusion of serving us. So do +not forbid him the house; and unless your objection be on any +other score, do not make up your mind till you have seen me. I +should of course have been with you instead of writing, if it +were not for Lance. Till I saw the dear little fellow, I had +no notion how very ill he has been. The five hours' journey +had quite knocked him up, and he was fit for nothing but his +bed when he came; but he revived in the evening. I only hope +I shall take as good care of him as the first-rate nurses he +describes so enthusiastically. That month must have been worth +years of common acquaintance. I wish I knew what more to say to +show you how glad I am of this day's work, and to persuade you +to see matters as I do.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 45%;">Ever your loving brother,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 70%; font-size: 0.8em;">F. C. UNDERWOOD.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>P.S.—Lance is quite himself this morning, and was up to watch +us bathing before six o'clock.</p></blockquote> + +<p>'Oh! what did Captain Harewood say of Felix?' was Cherry's cry, almost +with shame and pain at not having asked before.</p> + +<p>'You know, he had never seen him,' said Wilmet; 'but he said he did +not seem to him in the least unwell—and he watched carefully, as I +had begged him. He said he struck him as naturally delicate-looking; +but that those blue veins in his temples do not show, and he has no +cough at all, nor any difficulty in swimming, or walking up a steep +cliff. He made me laugh, for he said he hardly believed his eyes when +Lance tumbled himself out of the train on something so little bigger or +older than himself. He says the way we all talk of "my eldest brother" +made him expect something taller than Clement, and more imposing than +the senior verger; but he understood it all when he saw him and Lance +together. They have two very nice rooms; and Felix has put Lance into +the bedroom, which is luckily cool, and sleeps on a sofa bed in the +parlour; and the landlady will do anything for them.'</p> + +<p>'But how is it to be?' broke in Alda crossly. 'You and Felix seem to +be encouraging him to come dangling here, when we all agreed that +Ferdinand must keep away in Felix's absence, though matters are in such +a different state.'</p> + +<p>'So I told him, dear Alda,' gently said Wilmet; 'but he declared he +would bring his sisters, or poor Mrs. Harewood herself, if nothing else +would satisfy me: and what could I do, after all their kindness?'</p> + +<p>'Umph!' muttered Alda; 'they are a queer set.'</p> + +<p>'Now, Alda,' said Wilmet earnestly, 'you must not talk without knowing. +Till I went there, I never understood how much goodness and principle +there could be without my stiffness and particularity. I know I have +often been very unnecessarily disagreeable and disapproving, and I hope +I am shaken out of it in time.'</p> + +<p>'Dear Mettie, no one is like you,' cried Cherry, with a little +effusion, stretching out her hand, and laying it on her sister's +shoulder. 'Oh, if we had not all been so vile while you were away!'</p> + +<p>'It would not have made any difference, my dear! It would be impossible +to leave Felix without help. And think of Theodore!'</p> + +<p>Alda muttered something, that no one would hear, about asylums; and +the tell-tale tears coming again, Wilmet sprang up, and bending down +to kiss Cherry, declared in her most authoritative voice that nothing +should be said to the younger children, nor to any one out of the +house; then picked up the tea-cups, and carried them in.</p> + +<p>Excitements were, however, not yet over for the day. A telegram was put +into Alda's hands, containing the words—</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>'A.T. is an unmitigated brute. I sail for N.Y. to-night. All +will be right when I come back.'</p></blockquote> + +<p>The mysterious hint restored Alda at once to all the privileges of the +reigning heroine!</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a></h4> + +<h3>VALE LESTON.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 30%;"> +'The way to make thy son rich is to fill<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His mind with rest before his trunk with riches;</span><br /> +For wealth without contentment climbs a hill,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To feel those tempests that fly over ditches,</span><br /> +But if thy son can make ten pounds his measure,<br /> +Then all thou addest may be called his treasure.'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 50%;"><i>George Herbert.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>'I say, Felix, you've not told me about Vale Leston.'</p> + +<p>The two brothers were established under the lee of an old boat, beneath +the deep shadow of the red earth cliffs, festooned with ivy, wild +clematis, everlasting pea, thrift, and samphire. Not far off, niched +beneath the same cliff, were two or three cottage lodging-houses, +two-storied, with rough grey slate roofs, glaring white walls, and +green shutters to the windows that looked out over the shingly beach to +the lazily rippling summer sea.</p> + +<p>Ewmouth was a lazy place. Felix had felt half asleep through the +earlier days of his stay, and Lance seemed to be lulled into a +continual doze whenever he was unoccupied, and that was almost always. +It had grieved his elder brother to see this naturally vivacious +being so inert and content with inaction, only strolling about a +little in early morning and late evening, and languid and weary, if +not actually suffering, during the heat and glare of the day. He was +now, with his air-pillow and a railway rug, lying on the beach, beside +Felix, who with his safety ink-stand planted in the sand, was at work +condensing the parliamentary debates for the Pursuivant, and was glad +to perceive that he was so far alive as to be leaning on his elbow, +slowly shovelling the sand or smaller pebbles with the frail tenement +of a late crab; and it was another good sign to hear his voice in a +voluntary inquiry about Vale Leston.</p> + +<p>'I have not been there yet.'</p> + +<p>'Not there?'</p> + +<p>'No. Old Abednego Tripp comes over here every market day, and he's the +only person I wanted to see.'</p> + +<p>'I thought you came here because you wanted to see the place?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; but I was not up to the walk when I came here; and while you were +ill I never durst go out of reach of the telegraph, and latterly I +waited for you. After all, I have not much mind to it. I don't see the +good of setting oneself a coveting one's neighbour's house.'</p> + +<p>'It wouldn't be my house, any way,' said Lance quaintly. 'How far is +it?'</p> + +<p>'Rather more than three miles. We'll get a boat some day and do it.'</p> + +<p>'That will be jolly!' and after shovelling a little longer, Lance +added, 'How came we to be turned out?'</p> + +<p>'That's just what I can't tell. I was only seven, you know, and my +father never would talk of it. Sibby used to revile the mane nagur, +Misther Fulbert, till it was current in the nursery that he was a black +man who expelled us <i>vi et armis</i>. One day, my father found four or +five of us in a row slashing at an old black doll, by way of killing +Misther Fulbert, and prohibited such executions. I think, too, that he +quashed an attempt to call our own Fulbert by his other name.'</p> + +<p>'I wonder what the nagur did?'</p> + +<p>'By the light of maturer nature, I imagine that he may have succeeded +as heir-at-law, and that his <i>maneness</i> may have consisted in not +giving the living to my father; but I cannot tell. It always seemed my +father's great desire to put it out of our minds. I remember before we +left the place his catching me in a furious rage with some one who told +me my pony was to be sold. He carried me off, and told me it was all +true; and we were going away, and he trusted to me to be brave and make +it as little hard to Mamma and the little girls as could be. He said +the place had belonged to old Uncle Underwood, and that we had no right +to stay there after his death. That was all the explanation he gave me, +first or last; and I don't think we thought much about it after the +neck of the change was broken.'</p> + +<p>'You remember it, though.'</p> + +<p>'I believe I know every step of the house and garden. I have never +ceased to dream of them; and I am as much afraid of disturbing old +impressions as of reviving wishes.'</p> + +<p>'Holloa! what's up?' exclaimed Lance, as the landlady was seen coming +in quest of them. 'I thought I saw a tidy little tiger going in there +just now.'</p> + +<p>'A note from Mr. Staples, if you please, Sir, and they wait for an +answer.'</p> + +<p>'I didn't know you had any acquaintance here.'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Staples is the solicitor who did the business about Admiral +Chester's legacy. He is retired now, and only holds some county office. +He found me out last week, I believe, from some letters of mine going +wool-gathering to the other F. Underwood. He called and said he knew my +father, and was very civil and friendly. He sent to inquire after you +the day you came. This is what he says:—</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p style="font-size: 0.8em;">MY DEAR MR. FELIX UNDERWOOD,</p> + +<p>Your relative at Vale Leston wishes me to dine with him +to-morrow evening. If you and your brother would like to +accompany me on the drive, meet me at six o'clock on the top of +the cliff. If you would prefer to return earlier than I do, I +can direct you to a boatman to take you down by the river.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 55%;">Believe me, yours truly,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 75%; font-size: 0.8em;">C. STAPLES.</span><br /> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>'Hurrah! that's not half a bad fellow for an attorney,' cried Lance.</p> + +<p>'Shall not you be tired? Will it not be too hot for you?'</p> + +<p>'Not a bit of it. He,' indicating the sun, 'can only get at me asquint +by that time, and I'm a match for him with my blue umbrella. Come, fire +away, you tardy Norseman. Say we are good for it. Fancy boating back!'</p> + +<p>And Lance whistled a few bars of 'The Hardy Norseman,' the liveliest +thing he had done since his illness.</p> + +<p>At the appointed hour, the brothers were standing on the top of the +cliff, with a broad estuary before them; on the opposite side of which +lay the town of Ewmouth at the foot of the old castle, with fresh +modern fortifications towards the sea. The town, with its church towers +and gas chimneys, sloped away from it; vessels thronged the harbour; +and a long weird-looking thready suspension-bridge spanned the broad +tide-river to East Ewmouth, the village fast growing into a suburb. +There had not been more than time to point out the details to Lance +before a waggonet drove up from one of the roads that branched among +pleasant 'villa residences;' and in it appeared a white-haired but +hearty-looking gentleman, prepossessing and merry, very unlike Lance's +notion of attorneys, who shook hands with them warmly, and took care to +put the boy under the shade of the driving-seat.</p> + +<p>It was a pretty drive, through rich meadows, shut in by the sloping +wooded hills which gradually closed nearer; and by-and-by over the +shoulder of one looked a very tall church tower, whereat Felix started +with a thrill of responsive recognition, and suddenly faltered in the +political discussion Mr. Staples had started, but dropped at once, +looking at the young man's face with kindly interest.</p> + +<p>At the same time road and river both made a sudden turn into a much +narrower and wilder valley, the hills beyond more rough and rocky; but +the river still broad and smooth, and crossed by a handsome high-backed +five-arched bridge, the centre arch grandly high and broad, the other +two rapidly diminishing on either side. Over this the carriage turned; +and from the crown Lance beheld an almost collegiate-looking mass of +grey building, enclosing sunny lawns and flower-beds, and surrounded +by park-like grounds and trees, all sloping towards the river, and +backed by steep hills of wood and moorland, whence a little brook +danced with much impetus down to the calm steady main stream of Ewe. +The church and remnants of the old priory occupied the forefront of a +sort of peninsula, the sweep of the Ewe on the south and east, and the +little lively Leston on the north. There was slope enough to raise the +buildings beyond damp, and display the flower-beds beautifully as they +lay falling away from the house. The churchyard lay furthest north, +skirted by the two rivers, and the east end with the lovely floriated +window of the Lady Chapel rising some thirty yards from the bank of +the Ewe, the outline a little broken by an immense willow tree that +wept its fountain-like foliage into the river. The south transept was +cloistered, and joined to the building beyond, a long low grey house +with one row of windows above the sloping roof of the cloister, and +this again connected with a big family mansion, built of the same grey +stone with the rest, but in the style of the seventeenth century, and a +good deal modernized upon that. A great plate-glass window looked out +on the river in the east front, which projected nearly as far as did +the Lady Chapel, the space between being, as before said, laid out in a +formal parterre, with stone steps leading down to the river.</p> + +<p>'Oh, what a place! what a place!' shouted Lance, starting up in the +carriage. 'It's like the minster, and the jolly old river besides! Two +of them! Oh! what fishing there must be!'</p> + +<p>'I did not know it was really so beautiful,' said Felix in a low voice.</p> + +<p>'You remember it?' said Mr. Staples.—'I suppose you can't?' to Lance.</p> + +<p>'Oh no! I wasn't born! More's the pity! Do the salmon come up here, +Sir?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, since the fisheries have been protected; but young Mr. Underwood +is a great fisherman, and I fear it is not easy to get a card.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I wasn't thinking about leave, Sir, thank you. I've got no tackle +nor anything; but I <i>am</i> glad <i>we</i> have salmon,' said Lance, as though +he had acquired an accession of dignity.</p> + +<p>Descending from the bridge, they were in a road skirting the river, +and on which presently opened the lodge gates of the Rectory. Here Mr. +Staples got out, telling his servant to drive the young gentlemen round +to the village.</p> + +<p>'I say, Felix,' said Lance, as they were whirled on along the lane +which swept round the long wall overhung by trees, 'that old party must +know all about it.'</p> + +<p>'Most likely,' said Felix; 'but if there had been any good in my +hearing, my father could have told me himself. How well I remember his +giving me my first ride along this lane! Do you smell the bean field? I +don't believe I have thought of the scent since.'</p> + +<p>Felix seemed absorbed in the pleasures of recognition; and Lance, +amazed at the beauty and what seemed to him the splendour of the +place, looked up at his brother with a kind of romantic feeling for a +disinherited knight, as he contrasted the scene with the counter and +printing-office.</p> + +<p>The lane led to the village street, a very pretty one sloping upwards, +and lying on each side of the Leston, which rippled along as clear as +crystal, crossed every here and there by foot-bridges, some wooden, +some a single stone; while the cottages on the opposite side were +perched on a high shelf or terrace, and were approached by charming +irregular flights of stairs with low walls or balustrades. Over the +rail of one, smoking a pipe in summer evening enjoyment, was seen +Abednego Tripp, with long nose, brown parchment cheeks, and lank hair +not yet grey—one of the genuine almost extinct species of parish +clerk. As the carriage stopped, he began to descend, keys in hand, for +the church was a lion, and many carriages did stop there; but it was +not till Felix jumped out and hailed him that he knew who were his +visitors.</p> + +<p>'Bless me, if it is not Master Felix after all! I did think you was +never coming, Sir. And this is the young gentleman as has been so ill. +You're kindly welcome, Sir. I think he'd favour poor Master Eddard if +he didn't look so nesh.'</p> + +<p>'I shall get well here,' said Lance. 'If it is not my native air, it +ought to be.'</p> + +<p>'Will you come and rest a bit, Sir? or would you like to go to the +church?'</p> + +<p>'The church,' they said. Felix first explained what he knew would give +pleasure—that they had come depending on him for a cup of tea, and +a cast in his boat which was wont to convey the marketables of Vale +Leston twice a week to Ewmouth.</p> + +<p>Abednego sped up his stairs like a lamp-lighter, to cause his +grand-daughter to make preparations, and was speedily down again, +delighted to hear Felix prove his memory by inquiries after the +inhabitants of the old dwellings.</p> + +<p>'Ha! the Miss Hepburns!' said Felix, looking at a tall narrow house +completely embowered in trailing roses, and with the rails of the +bridge of entrance wreathed with clematis. 'Are they there still?'</p> + +<p>'Oh yes, Sir, all the four on 'em; and a sight of good they does to the +poor!'</p> + +<p>'I wonder whether I ought to call?' said Felix; 'they used to be very +kind to me.'</p> + +<p>'What, is that Rob's godmother, that never gave her anything but that +queer name?' asked Lance.</p> + +<p>'I shouldn't think they were rich,' said Felix. 'I fancy they used +to be very fond of my mother, and made her promise that the next +girl should be named for one of them. There was Miss Bridget, and +Miss Martha, and something else as bad, and Robina was the least +objectionable of the lot. I think they used to write to my mother; but +it is late in the day for calling.'</p> + +<p>'Here comes Miss Bridget,' said the clerk, as there appeared in sight +a tall, rigid, angular figure, with a big brown hat and long straight +cloak, and a decidedly charity-looking basket in her hand.</p> + +<p>Felix stepped forward with his hand to his hat. 'Miss Hepburn, I +believe. I must introduce myself—Felix Underwood.'</p> + +<p>The lady's first move had been a startled shy drawing herself up and +into herself, at being addressed by a stranger. Then she looked up with +an amazed 'Felix Underwood! Little Felix!' and as he smiled and bowed, +she fumbled and put out a hesitating hand.</p> + +<p>'Yes. Tripp did tell us something—something of your being at Ewmouth, +but we were not sure.'</p> + +<p>'We had not been able to come over before,' said Felix, thinking she +meant to imply that he ought to have called. 'We came for health and +have not been equal to the walk.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, indeed. Nothing infectious, I hope?'</p> + +<p>'Oh no,' he said, explaining in a few words the total want of +connection between his case and Lance's.</p> + +<p>'I am glad. I'll—I'll tell my sisters. I'm glad to have seen you.'</p> + +<p>There was something faltering and ill-assured in her manner, and in a +moment she turned back with 'Mr. Underwood, where are you stopping?'</p> + +<p>He answered; and with 'I'll tell my sisters,' she parted with them +again.</p> + +<p>'That's Miss Bridget,' commented old Tripp. 'She's the one as allys +says, "I'll tell my sisters." They do say as Miss Isabella, she be the +master on 'em all.'</p> + +<p>Felix and Lance smiled to one another the assurance that every family +had its Wilmet; but while the younger brother shrugged his shoulders, +the elder felt a certain chill in the contrast with those days of old, +when the sugar-plums and picture-books of the whole sisterhood were all +at his service, and bethought him that times were changed.</p> + +<p>They entered the churchyard by a little side-gate. The church was a +grand pile of every style of architecture that had prevailed since the +Cistercians had settled in Vale Leston, and of every defacement that +the alternate neglect and good-will of the Underwoods could perpetrate. +The grand tower at the west end was, however, past their power to +spoil, and they had not done much damage to the exterior, except in a +window or buttress here and there. But within! The brothers, used to +the heavy correctness of the St. Oswald's restoration, stood aghast +when Abednego admitted them by the door of excommunication, straight +into the chancel, magnificently deep, but with the meanest of rails, +a reredos where Moses and Aaron kept guard over the Commandments in +black and gold, and walls bristling with genii and angels of all +descriptions, weeping over Underwoods of different generations. Lance +stood open-mouthed before a namesake of his own, whose huge monumental +slab was upborne by the exertions of a kind of Tartarean cherub, solely +consisting of a skull and a pair of bats' wings!</p> + +<p>'My stars! where did that brute come from?' muttered Lance under his +breath. 'He's got no trifle of a piece of work!'</p> + +<p>However, Felix had taken in that the chancel had respectable +poppy-headed benches, though the lower part of the church was +completely 'emparoked in pues,' such as surprised Lance out of all +bounds when he withdrew his eyes from the white marble death's head.</p> + +<p>'My stars!' again he said, 'this is what I've heard of, but never saw.'</p> + +<p>'Ay, Sir,' said Mr. Tripp, 'every one that come here do be crying out +upon the pews; and to be sure, I see the folk sleepin' in them as is +shameful!'</p> + +<p>Well he might, for his place was the lowest in a lofty three-decker, +against one pier of the chancel arch, surmounted by a golden angel +blowing a trumpet, and with lettering round the sounding-board, +recording it to have been the gift of the Reverend Lancelot Underwood, +Rector and Vicar of this parish—the owner of the mural slab before +mentioned. That angel recalled to Felix that the sight of it had been +his great pleasure in going to church, only marred by the fact that he +was out of sight of it in the chancel.</p> + +<p>'Why, you weren't in the choir then?' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'Choir! no, Sir,' said the clerk. 'They sits in the gallery. The +chancel is for Mr. Underwood's family—the Rector, Sir. They seats was +just put up instead of the red baize pew before old Mr. Underwood as +was then died, and your poor papa went away. And that there font was +put, as 'tis there, just when the twin young ladies was christened.'</p> + +<p>'Where was I christened, then?'</p> + +<p>'In the bowl as we used to have on the Communion, Sir.'</p> + +<p>It was plain how far Edward Underwood had dared to work at renovation, +and that nothing had since been done. The Lady-chapel, with a wonderful +ceiling of Tudor fans and pendants, was full of benches and ragged +leaves of books for such Sunday schooling as took place there, the +national school having been built half a mile off, that the children +might not be obnoxious to the Rectory. The church was a good way behind +the ordinary churches of 1861, and struck the two brothers the more +from the system in which they had been brought up.</p> + +<p>'What a state Clem would be in!' uttered Lance, as they came out.</p> + +<p>'It is of no use to think about it,' said Felix. 'Let us enjoy the +beautiful exterior.'</p> + +<p>'Ay, Sir,' said old Tripp, 'parties do be saying as how it is a mortial +pity to see such a church go to wrack; and I do believe the Squire +wouldn't be so hard to move if it warn't for the Passon—that's young +Mr. Fulbert, the vicar.'</p> + +<p>'I don't understand all these rectors and vicars,' said Lance. 'I +thought they never hung out together.'</p> + +<p>'Why, you see, Master Lancelot, as how this is what they calls a lay +rectory, as goes like a landed estate from father to son, without there +being any call for 'em to be clergy; and the Vicar, he is just put in +to do Passon's work, only he gets his situation for life, like I do, +not like them curates.'</p> + +<p>'I see,' said Felix; 'and the rectors have generally taken Holy Orders, +and presented themselves to the vicarage.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Sir, that's how it ought to be; only this here Squire—not being +no Passon, though Rector he be—he puts in a gentleman to keep it warm +till his son, young Mr. Fulbert, our Vicar as is, was growed up, and +hard work they say it was to get him to bend his mind to 't; nor he'd +not have done it at last, but for his father's paying of his bills, +and giving consent to his marrying Miss Shaw. And since that, bless +you, Sir, the curates have done nothing but change, change, change, +till 'tis enough to ruin a good clerk. You knows what that is, Master +Felix, you that be one of the cloth.' (For Felix allowed himself no +unprofessional coats.)</p> + +<p>'It is only the cloth, Mr. Tripp; don't you see I sport a blue tie? I +am a bookseller.'</p> + +<p>'A bookseller!' The old man recoiled. 'You'll not be passing your jokes +on me, Sir. A book-writer—I understands.'</p> + +<p>'No, a bookseller in earnest. I have a share in a very good business at +Bexley; I've been at it ever since I was sixteen.'</p> + +<p>The old clerk was quite overcome; he leant upon a headstone and stared +at Felix without speaking, and then it was a sort of soliloquy. 'To +think of poor dear Master Eddard's son being come to that! and he +looking a dozen times more like a clergyman and a gentleman than ever +this young Mr. Fulbert will!'</p> + +<p>'Never mind, Mr. Tripp,' said Felix; 'there's one of us on the way to +be a clergyman—Edward Clement, you know, that I wrote to you about; +and maybe this fellow too. Don't look so angry with me. I was obliged +to do the best I could to bring in something for the thirteen of us.'</p> + +<p>'And we're as proud of him as can be!' added Lance, affectionately and +indignantly.</p> + +<p>'Ah, well,' said the old aristocrat, 'that may be, for you never +knew them he came of. There was my old Lady Geraldine, as was his +great-grandmother, who gave a new coat or new gown to every poor body +in the parish at Christmas, and as much roast beef as they could eat; +and wore a shawl as come from the Injies and cost two hundred pounds! +She <i>was</i> a lady! Bless me, what would she have said to see the day—'</p> + +<p>'That she was glad to have a great-grandson good for something,' +stoutly answered Lance. 'I declare, Mr. Tripp, you'd have liked him +better if he had come a begging!'</p> + +<p>'So I do,' said Felix; 'and what's more, Mr. Tripp is going to refuse +me because he is too fine to sit down to tea with a tradesman!'</p> + +<p>'No, no, sir,' said old Tripp, with tears in his eyes. 'You'll not go +for to say that. If it was the last morsel I had, I'd be proud to share +it with one of Master Eddard's sons; but I can't but think as how we +rung the bells and drunk your health when you was born, just as we did +for the Prince of Wales, and how proud poor Master Eddard looked. No +doubt he was spared the knowing of it.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Felix, 'it was settled with his full consent.'</p> + +<p>Abednego seemed more distressed than ever. 'Poor Master Eddard! he must +have been brought very low. Such a gentleman as he was! Never spoke a +proud or rude word, Sir, but used to hold up his head like the first +lord in the land, and fire and colour up and start like one of young +Mr. Fulbert's thoroughbreds if any one said an impudent word.'</p> + +<p>'That no one ever ventured,' said Felix. 'He was as much respected at +Bexley—yes, and is still—as ever he could be here. I wish you could +see my brother Edgar, he is more like him than either of us. Ah, here's +the old garden gate, I wish we could go into the shrubbery.'</p> + +<p>Tripp was rather for trying it. He said the gardeners would be gone +home, and the elder master at dinner—the younger, with his wife, +was absent; but Felix could not bear the sense of spying, though he +did not withhold Lance from a rush into the garden paths, where he +did not discover much. Then they looked into the eddy at the meeting +of the waters; and turning back to Tripp's neatest of kitchens, were +there regaled upon shrimps, rashers hissing from the fire, and the +peculiar native species of hot-buttered cake, which Felix recollected +as viewed in the nursery as the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of excellence, probably +because it was an almost prohibited dainty. Lance was in his element, +delighting himself and Miss Kerenhappuch Tripp by assisting her to +toast, to butter, and even to wash up, calling Felix to witness that he +always helped Cherry in the holidays; when just as they were rising to +seek the boat, Mr. Staples came climbing up the steps.</p> + +<p>'I thought I should find you here,' he said. 'Mr. Underwood very much +wishes you would come and spend the rest of the evening with him.'</p> + +<p>'The old humbug!' burst out Lance. 'You won't go, will you, Felix?'</p> + +<p>Felix thought a moment, then walked with Mr. Staples to the corner +of the narrow ledge in front of the cottage. 'Mr. Staples,' he said, +'I know nothing about it. I trust to you to tell me whether this man +treated my father so that I ought not to accept attention from him.'</p> + +<p>'Hm? ha? I should not say so. He treated him unkindly, ungenerously, +but he hardly knew how much so, and he had the letter of the law on his +side. I verily believe he regrets it, and that your father, being what +he was, would be the last to wish you to hold aloof.'</p> + +<p>'Most likely,' said Felix. 'I am sure he forgave whatever there was to +forgive.'</p> + +<p>'It is not my doing, I assure you. He spoke of your letters that had +gone astray, and that led to more, till when he found you were in the +village, he said he should like to see you. He is breaking up; his son +has given him a good deal of trouble, and I believe he is altogether +concerned for what has passed.'</p> + +<p>'And he will not suppose we want anything from him?' said Felix, with +something of the almost unavoidable pride of independent poverty.</p> + +<p>'Certainly not. I have guarded against that.'</p> + +<p>'Then I suppose we must.—That is, how is your head? are you too much +tired, Lance?'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Lance, almost sulkily; for he was much inclined to make +fatigue a plea for escaping the 'mane nagur' and enjoying the boat, and +was rather unreasonably disposed to think it all a plot on the part of +Mr. Staples for spoiling the evening. Felix might have been equally +glad of the excuse, but he believed his father would have thought +this act of conciliation a duty, and followed Mr. Staples across +the churchyard, where all the little boys in the place seemed to be +playing marbles on the flagged paths. Its neglected state was a painful +contrast to the exquisitely laid-out shrubbery, as trim as gardeners +could make it, and improved and altered beyond Felix's recognition.</p> + +<p>Entering the house, Mr. Staples led the way to the dining-room, +where there was a large empty table in the middle of the room, and +in the deep bay of the window a smaller one, laid out with wine and +dessert, where sat 'old Fulbert.' Having always heard him so called, +the brothers were surprised to find him no more than elderly. He must +have been originally a thorough florid handsome Underwood, and had the +remains of military bearing, though with an air of feebleness and want +of health, and a good deal of asthmatic oppression on his breath. He +did not rise, but held out his hand, saying, 'Good evening. Thank you +for coming to see a sick man.'</p> + +<p>'I am sorry to see you so unwell, Sir.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you, I'm on the mend. Sit down. Take a glass of wine—claret?'</p> + +<p>Felix accepted, wondering if his father would regard it as an act of +pardon.</p> + +<p>'And you?'</p> + +<p>'No thank you, Sir.'</p> + +<p>'No wine? You are the one that has been so ill? No objection to melon, +eh?'</p> + +<p>And Lancelot, whose illness had left a strong hankering for fruit, was +considerably appeased by the first cut into the cool buff flesh.</p> + +<p>'Is he the next brother to you?'</p> + +<p>'Oh no. There are three brothers and three sisters between us.'</p> + +<p>'And what are they doing? There were one or two with Tom Underwood. +Didn't the young fellow offend him and turn out idle?'</p> + +<p>'Not that, Sir,' said Felix, his colour rising: 'but he had no turn +for a clerkship, and a good deal for art. He is studying at the Royal +Academy; but there never was any quarrel; he is often at Thomas +Underwood's.'</p> + +<p>'And the rest?'</p> + +<p>'One has the Ewshire Scholarship at St. Cadoc's; and there's one in +Australia.'</p> + +<p>'And this lad—what's his name?'</p> + +<p>'Lancelot. He is in the choir school at Minsterham Cathedral, and hopes +to get a scholarship.'</p> + +<p>'Is that all of you?'</p> + +<p>'Two more boys, quite little, and the six girls.'</p> + +<p>'Any of them able to do anything for themselves?'</p> + +<p>'The eldest is a teacher in a school at Bexley,' said Felix, not +delighted with the cross-examination; 'and Alda, the one that lived +with the Tom Underwoods, is engaged to a man of good fortune. Then two +of the younger ones are at schools, where an allowance is made for poor +clergymen's daughters.'</p> + +<p>'How long has your mother been dead?'</p> + +<p>'Four years and a half.'</p> + +<p>'And you have managed all single-handed?'</p> + +<p>'With my eldest sister's help, Sir.'</p> + +<p>'Taken to the press, have you?' (Mr. Staples must have made the best of +his vocation.) 'What's your paper?'</p> + +<p>'The Bexley Pursuivant. Most likely you never heard of it. It is only +a little county paper;' and then feeling that to stop there was a +subterfuge, he added, 'Our main business is the retail trade.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Underwood was chiefly intent on the next question, the politics of +the paper, though he said he need hardly ask. 'All you young stuck-up +fellows run in one team—all destructives.'</p> + +<p>'No, no, Sir,' broke in Mr. Staples eagerly. 'Mr. Felix is staunch to +the back-bone.'</p> + +<p>Felix was never more tempted to deny his principles than when he found +them brought forward as a recommendation; but he could only explain +that the Pursuivant was an old established county gentleman's style +of paper, in the agricultural interest. Whereupon the Squire mounted +his political hobby in such sort and with such abusive violence, +especially as to the local representatives of the adverse party, that +Felix could not help feeling that if such were indeed the opinions of +his own side, he should certainly be on the other. One good effect was +the sparing him any more personal catechizing. Mr. Underwood shouted +himself weary, without requiring any reply save what Mr. Staple's local +knowledge supplied; and when the carriage was announced, the guests +were dismissed with a hearty shake of the hands, and invitation to call +again—'It was a comfort to talk of public matters to a young man of +sense;' and Lance found a sovereign in his hand. He was not sure that +he was obliged.</p> + +<p>'Well,' said Mr. Staples, rubbing his hands with satisfaction as they +drove off, 'what do you think of the Squire?'</p> + +<p>'He talks very loud,' said Felix, who had for some time been watching +the increase of Lance's head-ache, and now was trying to give him a +rest on shoulder and arm.</p> + +<p>Mr. Staples gave what help he could towards making the tired boy +comfortable, and then returned to the subject in all their minds. 'So +your father never told you those particulars?'</p> + +<p>'No; I think it was his great object not to dwell on them, nor let us +look back with regret or anger.'</p> + +<p>'Just like him. I never saw such a case, never! I'll show you a +remarkable letter of his. But, first, you ought to understand the way +the matter stood. To begin with the relationship.'</p> + +<p>'I know nothing about them, only that my father and mother were +second cousins; but I don't even know to which of them my great-uncle +Underwood was really uncle.'</p> + +<p>'To your mother. He had very strong feelings as to the duty of the head +of a family, and made his house a home for all that needed it. When +Miss Mary was sent home an orphan from India—James's, his favourite +brother's, child—he asked his cousin's widow, Mrs. Edward Underwood, +to bring her boy, superintend the house, and look after the little +girl; and she was glad enough, for the captain had died of his wounds +at Waterloo, and she had little but her widow's pension.'</p> + +<p>'I know,' said Felix. 'Then whose son is the Squire?'</p> + +<p>'The son of Lancelot, who was the second brother, between the Reverend +Fulbert (your great-uncle) and James, your mother's father. So he was +heir-at-law, but he was a wildish sort of lad, unfit to take Holy +Orders; and there came to be an understanding that if his uncle would +buy his commission and purchase his steps, he would not look for the +Rectory and the estate. On that understanding your father took Orders +and married; but on old Mr. Underwood's death there was only a draught +of a will, which he had not been in a state to execute, leaving a +handsome legacy to Fulbert, but the whole property to your father and +mother. It seemed a matter of course that, as the only compensation, +Fulbert should have presented his cousin Edward to the vicarage—Ł400 a +year; but as ill-luck would have it, he took offence at some sermon—a +Lent one about self-indulgence, I believe it was—swore he wouldn't +have a Puseyite parson preaching at him, and went into such a rage, +that it is thought to be partly by way of getting off giving him the +living, and getting it held for his son.'</p> + +<p>'I see,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'It was a dirty trick; and I was a younger man at the time, and it +struck me that if your father chose to try the case, the testator's +intentions being clear, and instructions in his own hand extant, it was +ten to one it might be given in his favour. I even took a counsel's +opinion, thinking that at any rate an intimation that the case was to +be tried before possession was given up, might bring Fulbert to terms +with regard to the living.'</p> + +<p>'And he would not?'</p> + +<p>'No. I should like to show you his letter. Would you do me the honour +of dining with me to-morrow?'</p> + +<p>Felix was obliged to mutter something about ladies and no dress-coats; +but this was silenced, and he made a promise contingent on Lance's +fitness. He was puzzled by the relations in which Mr. Staples seemed to +stand with the lay-rector; but he found that they were not of business, +only that elections, and county affairs, brought them together, and +that Mr. Underwood was regarded with a sort of compassion by the men +of his own standing, who used to go and visit him whenever they could +be secure of not encountering the cold welcome and ill-breeding of his +daughter-in-law—the grievance of his life.</p> + +<p>'Did you see any one you remembered?' further asked Mr. Staples.</p> + +<p>'One of the Miss Hepburns, who did not seem very well to know whether +to acknowledge me or not.'</p> + +<p>'Ha, ha!' chuckled Mr. Staples. 'Queer old girls they are. Very high. +Very good to the poor. All the good that is done in Vale Leston is by +them; but anything between a swell and a pauper don't exist for them. +They're as poor as Job, and their pride is all they have, so they make +the most of it.'</p> + +<p>So, after all, the day had not been quite without mortification, and +Felix felt it a little more than he thought it was worth.</p> + +<p>Lance was a good deal excited by the sight of his ancestral home. He +had an eye for scenery, and longed to bask in it again; boating seemed +delightful; and he was amazed, not to say elated, by the grandeur +of the house, which exceeded any—save Centry Park—in his limited +experience. His mind was set on explorations there, and on the whole +history; while Felix, to whom all was less new and more sorrowful, was +inclined to hang back from any unwise awakening of unsettling regrets; +but there was no declining Mr. Staples' kindness, and he had much +desire to see the letter. So the two youths put on their Sunday coats, +assisted one another's ties, and looked each other well over before +encountering the formidable mass of ladies Felix had seen in church, +and about whom he was far more shy than Lance, who had seen a good deal +more of the species at Minsterham.</p> + +<p>It turned out very pleasant; the frank good-natured mother and +daughters made themselves very agreeable; and though no one was as +pretty as Alice Knevett, they were all so far superior to her in manner +and cultivation that the mixing with them could not fail to soften +any sting of disappointment that might remain. Lance was made much of +as an invalid, and very much liked the privileges that did not hinder +an evening game of croquet, since Mr. Staples evidently intended his +conference with Felix to be <i>tęte-ŕ-tęte</i>.</p> + +<p>It took place in a pleasant little study, fitted with green morocco and +walnut, that spoke well for the solicitor's taste and prosperity, and +looking out on the pretty lawn, with the long shadows of the trees, the +croquet players flitting about, and the sea glittering in the distance.</p> + +<p>The letter was ready, folded up lengthwise and docketed, business +fashion; but when opened, the familiar handwriting seemed to bring back +the father, even to the sound of his voice.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p> + +<span style="margin-left: 65%;">Vale Leston Rectory,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 75%;">18th January.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p style="font-size: 0.8em;">MY DEAR STAPLES,</p> + +<p>My wife and I feel greatly obliged to you for your good-will +and zeal on our behalf, and have not for a moment justified +your dread of being thought officious. In other circumstances, +I might be tempted to fight the battle; but it is impossible +for several reasons. Were we the losers, we should be +totally unable to pay the costs, and a load either of debt +or obligation would be a burthen we have no right to assume. +Moreover, the uncertainty of our position pending the decision +would be as mischievous to myself as to the parishioners. It +would destroy any fitness to be their Vicar, whether we gained +or not. The holding the Rectory is in itself an abuse; and +now that the grapes are sour, I am glad not to encounter the +question of conscience, and so shall not adopt any means—to +my mind doubtful—for bringing it on myself. This being the +case, you will see that the idea of alarming Fulbert Underwood +falls to the ground. Supposing he were coerced into the +compromise, what a pleasing pair—squire and parson—would +be the result! No, my kind friend, be content to see things +remain as they are. We carry with us the certainty of our good +uncle's kindness, and the non-fulfilment of his intentions +is clearly providential. I have heard of a promising curacy, +where I shall get the training I need after feeling my wilful +way as I have done here. My wife, being the expectant heiress +and lay-rectoress, shall write to satisfy you that she is not +suffering from my coercion.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 55%;">Yours, most sincerely obliged,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 70%; font-size: 0.8em;">E. F. UNDERWOOD.</span><br /> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>And on another sheet followed:—</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p style="font-size: 0.8em;">DEAR MR. STAPLES,</p> + +<p>I think my husband is quite right, and that to go to law would +only make things much worse. It is very kind in you, but I +really do not care about anything so long as I have my husband +and children, and can feel that my dear uncle meant all that +was kind. Indeed, I really think my husband enjoys the prospect +of a new and more active kind of work. He is sure to be happy +anywhere, and as long as that is the case, all will be right; +and he says that it will be much better for the children not to +grow up in luxury.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 50%;">With many warm thanks,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 60%;">Yours very truly,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 70%; font-size: 0.8em;">M. W. UNDERWOOD.</span><br /> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>'May I copy them?' asked Felix, looking up with his eyes fuller of +tears than suited his reserved disposition.</p> + +<p>His father's letter, full of his constant brave cheerfulness in +self-abnegation, had not overcome him like the few words that brought +back the lovely young mamma he now remembered at Vale Leston, but +whom he had too soon known only as the patient, over-tasked, drudging +mother, and latterly in the faded helpless invalid. How little she had +guessed the life that was before her!</p> + +<p>Mr. Staples readily supplied him with the materials, adding, 'I will +take care you have the letters by-and-by. I value them too much to part +with them in my lifetime.' And presently he interrupted Felix's writing +by saying, 'I much wished to have seen Mr. and Mrs. Edward Underwood +again, but it seemed to me that they were unwilling to keep up a +correspondence.'</p> + +<p>'They were so busy,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'No doubt; and I thought they might feel a visit an intrusion. +Otherwise, I often thought of running down from Town.'</p> + +<p>'My father would have been very glad.'</p> + +<p>'I did wish to have seen him again—and your mother, almost a child as +she was even at that time, with her flock of pretty children. I shall +never forget her—the beauty and darling of all the neighbourhood, as +she used to be. All we young men used to rave about her long before +she was out.' Mr. Staples smiled at some recollection, and added, 'I +never spoke to her four times in my life; but I was as bad as any of +them—presumptuous as you may think it.'</p> + +<p>'I am glad you did not see her again,' burst from Felix, the tears +starting forth as he copied her hopeful words. 'She altered sadly.'</p> + +<p>'Ah! indeed.'</p> + +<p>The concerned tone forced Felix to add, 'It came so much more heavily +on her than on any of us, care and work and years of seeing my father's +health failing; and in the last week of his life she had a fall, that +brought on softening of the brain.'</p> + +<p>Somehow, the whole had never struck him as so piteous before as in the +contrast with her youthful brightness, and when he saw Mr. Staples +greatly affected. He could only write on through a mist of tears, +while the solicitor walked about the room, blowing his nose violently, +and muttering sentences never developed; till at last he came behind +Felix's chair, and laying his hand on his shoulder, said, 'After all, +it will come round. You are next heir.'</p> + +<p>'Heir? There's Fulbert Underwood!' exclaimed Felix.</p> + +<p>'True; but he's been some years married, and there's no sign of a +family. Depend upon it, we shall see Vale Leston come back yet.'</p> + +<p>'It would make no difference now,' muttered Felix, as he traced his +mother's fearless lines; nay, if he had a personal thought, it was of +what he might have ventured towards Alice Knevett.</p> + +<p>'Not to them,' said Mr. Staples, 'but a good deal to you, my young +friend.'</p> + +<p>'Now, Mr. Staples,' said Felix, smiling, 'aren't you doing our best to +unsettle a young man in business?'</p> + +<p>'Well, well, you are too reasonable. A contingency—only a contingency. +But I should like to show you.' And he hastily sketched a pedigree that +had at least the advantage of showing Felix his relationships.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/pedigree.jpg" width="550" alt="" /> +</div> + + +<p>'There! Through your mother you stand next in the line—are +heir-at-law, you see. May I live to see that day! That's all.'</p> + +<p>The thought did not affect Felix much at the moment. He was too full of +what might have been, and the 'contingency' was such a remote one! So +after answering to the best of his ability whether any of his sisters +were like his mother, he was glad to get out, and forget it all in +croquet. His musical capacities were discovered too; but the attempt +to profit by them proved quite too much for Lance, to whose brain the +notes of the piano were absolute and severe pain.</p> + +<p>A formal little note came on the ensuing morning, in which 'the Misses +Hepburn'—in the third person—requested the favour of the company of +Mr. Felix Underwood and his brother at luncheon. Felix felt a little +stung. He could recollect warm passages between the ladies and his +mother, and had been their pet long enough to wonder at this cold +reception, and question whether it were not more dignified to reject +advances made in such a manner; but his heart yearned towards those +who had been kind to him in his youth, and he believed that his mother +would have wished him to renew the intercourse, and therefore decided +upon going; but it was too hot and sunny a day for Lance to walk, and +Felix so entirely expected the visit to be wearisome and disagreeable, +if not mortifying, that he could only resolve on it as a duty, and +would not expose his brother to it.</p> + +<p>So he plodded off alone, and a curious visit he had. It was not easy +for him to guess at the sacredness of those traditions of gentility and +superiority that the 'Misses Hepburn' held—not so much for their own +sakes as in faithful loyalty to the parents many years dead, and to +the family duty that imposed a certain careful exclusiveness on them +in deference to the noble lineage they could reckon, and the head of +the house, whom none of them had ever seen. He could not have guessed +the warm feeling towards 'dear Mary' that had struggled so hard with +the sense of duty, and had gained the victory over the soreness at the +dropping of correspondence, and the idea that it was a dereliction to +bend to one 'who had lowered himself,' as Mrs. Fulbert Underwood said +he had.</p> + +<p>What he saw was a tiny drawing-room, full of flowers and gimcracks, and +fuller of four tall angular women, in dark dresses in the rear of the +fashion, and sandy hair. They had decided in council, or rather Miss +Isabella had decided for them, that since he was to be received, they +would remember only his gentle blood; and therefore they shook hands +with him, and the difference of the clasp alone could have shown the +difference of character—the patronising, the nervous, the tenderly +agitated, the hearty.</p> + +<p>He found them better informed than the Squire had been as to the +condition of the family—at least, so he presumed from the text of +their inquiries. Not a word did they say of his own employment—it +was to be treated as a thing not to be spoken of; but the welfare of +the others was inquired after, and especially of Robina—who was the +name-child of the eldest sister, the gentlest of the set, and the most +in the background, quiet and tearful—pleased to hear that her godchild +was at school, and as Felix emphatically said 'a very good girl,' +anxious that he should take charge of 'a little token' for her.</p> + +<p>The little token turned out to be 'Ministering Children'; and this gave +Felix a further hint, which prepared him for the tone in which some of +his information was received, when he had only mentioned Geraldine as +gone for health's sake to the St. Faith's Sisterhood.</p> + +<p>The ladies looked at one another, Miss Isabella cleared her throat, and +he knew a warning was coming; so he quickly said, 'One of the ladies, +a clergyman's widow, was very kind to my father in his illness, and is +really the best friend we have left in England.'</p> + +<p>'Your dear father was too much inclined to those specious doctrines +that are only too fascinating to youth. I hope you do not outrun him.'</p> + +<p>'I hope not,' said Felix, very sincerely; and he then succeeded in +interesting his monitor by speaking of Fulbert, and using him as a +bridge to lead to an account of Mr. Audley's Australian doings.</p> + +<p>It was altogether a stiff uncomfortable visit; the very politeness +of the good ladies made Felix feel that they viewed his position as +altered, and he could not but feel a strong hope that he should never +again have to make this offering at the shrine of ancient friendship.</p> + +<p>On coming home in the evening, Felix found a note on the table.</p> + +<p>'Croquet to wit?' asked Lance, as Felix tried to read it by the almost +vanished twilight.</p> + +<p>'What's this?'</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>'We hope you and your brother will join us in a pic-nic at +Kitt's Head on Saturday.</p> + +<p>'Having discharged my ladies' commission, I proceed to that +which I have authority from your relation for intimating +to you—namely, that failing heirs of his own son, he has +entailed the Vale Leston property upon you, thus rendering its +alienation by the Reverend Fulbert impossible. I believe the +arrangement was made within the last week. Congratulations +would hardly be suitable, but I cannot refuse myself the +pleasure of saying how sincerely I rejoice.'</p></blockquote> + +<p>'What—what?' cried Lance, jumping up. 'You to have that splendiferous +river, and the salmons, and all. Won't you get a magnificent organ for +that church?'</p> + +<p>'My dear Lance, don't you see that all this means is, that if young +Fulbert has no children, I shall come after him.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, he won't! I'm sure he won't. Things always do come right. Oh, what +a <i>coup d'état</i> mine was after all! Things always do come right. You, +that were born to it! Didn't old Tripp say how they had had the bells +rung for you? I should like to set them going this minute!'</p> + +<p>'They should be on your own cap, then!' said Felix, laughing and yet +sharing in a castle or two—how Cherry should have a pony-carriage! how +Clement should be turned loose upon the Church! how Lance should pursue +the salmon at home and the humanities at the University! how Bernard +should have a real good gentleman's education!—but Felix soon brought +himself back again. 'Remember, Lance, not a word of this at home or +anywhere else.'</p> + +<p>'Not tell any one?' cried the boy, crest-fallen.</p> + +<p>'Don't you see, Lance, besides the impropriety of talking of what +involves two deaths, it would be the most senseless thing in the world +to let this make the least difference. Old Fulbert may change his mind, +or young Fulbert have a son; at any rate, he is not five-and-thirty, +and just as likely as not to outlive me.'</p> + +<p>'Fee! Fee! you are quite well, you wretched Norseman!'</p> + +<p>'Oh! I didn't mean <i>that;</i> but anybody may outlive anybody for that +matter. Anyway, there's no chance of any of these schemes coming to +pass while we are young enough to care, even if they ever do; and if +they unsettle us now, it would be unmitigated damage.'</p> + +<p>'I see that,' said Lance; 'but as, by good luck, I'm No. 8, it can't do +me much harm to think about it, and I don't see why the others should +not.'</p> + +<p>'Do you think some of them would be content to go on as we are doing, +with this in their heads? And if any one in the town knew it, whatever +I might do, people would think I was getting above my business. I doubt +whether even Froggy himself would have the same reliance on me.'</p> + +<p>'Then shan't you even tell Wilmet and Cherry?'</p> + +<p>'I hope not. I don't think Wilmet could keep it from Alda, or Cherry +from Edgar; and just imagine what it would be to have it come round +through Kensington Palace Gardens that we were reckoning on it! +Besides, it will make no earthly difference to anybody, unless, maybe, +to Edgar's son.'</p> + +<p>The mention of such a being brought Felix somehow to a sudden silence; +and in the meantime supper and a candle were brought in, revealing a +thick letter from Geraldine, which had at first escaped notice. There +were two enclosures; but as Felix read her writing, he broke out with +an exclamation of consternation that startled Lance.</p> + +<p>'Hollo! What is it?' And as he received no answer—'Wilmet's not +given up Jack? Eh? Nor Cherry fallen in love next? Clem hasn't turned +bare-footed friar?' crowding together the wildest suggestions he could +think of to force answer.</p> + +<p>'Hush! That dear child—'</p> + +<p>'She doesn't want to be a sister? You'll tell her you'd see her at +Jericho first!'</p> + +<p>'No. It is about her foot.'</p> + +<p>'Not worse?'</p> + +<p>'No; but, dear little thing, she wants to have it taken off, because +she fancies if she was more effective, it might be one difficulty out +of Wilmet's way!'</p> + +<p>'She's a blessed little brick! But would it be so?'</p> + +<p>'Well, I remember in the time of the measles, the last time I ever let +that fellow Rugg come near her, he thought proper to tell somebody in +her hearing that if she was in a fit state of health, it would be the +only remedy. She wasn't, and it was quite uncalled for; and it put the +poor little thing in such an agony, that at last Sibby came and wrapped +me up in a blanket to sit by her, and talk very big about nobody being +able to do it without my leave, and my not intending to consent to any +such thing. I thought she had forgotten all about it, but it seems that +she has not; and she imagines that, as she says, "with a cork foot that +I could stand upon, instead of always keeping this one up in fear of +hurting it, I could get about the house with only a stick, and be of +some use, and then dear Mettie's happiness might not be so far off."'</p> + +<p>'And what does Mettie say?'</p> + +<p>'She knows nothing; Cherry implores me not to tell her, for she says +that it would be impossible for Mettie to come and nurse her, and she +would rather have Sister Constance than any one.'</p> + +<p>'Than Mettie! Deluded child!' cried Lance.</p> + +<p>'Her great wish is to have it done now at St. Faith's. She told Clement +before she left home, because she thought they would insist on some +one at home knowing; but "Don't think me very sly," she says; "I would +not tell Sister Constance what was in my head till I came here, for +fear she should think it her duty to speak to Wilmet; and now, they +will not hear of it without your knowing. I did wish to have surprised +you all! About the cost I have thought. You know Dr. Lee attends me +for nothing while I am here, and I told you that Sister Constance has +sent up all my book of illustrations of Queen Isabel, and some of the +water-coloured drawings, to her sister, Lady Liddesdale, and how much +she has been getting for them—quite enough to set me up with a foot +that will not be half such a nuisance as this old dead-alive one, which +has never let me have any peace these twelve years. I am trying to be +good; but indeed I feel as if it might be wrong to try to be rid of my +cross. So I abide by your decision, dear Felix. You are my king, and I +put myself in your hands; only you must not be anxious. You should have +known nothing if I could have helped it."'</p> + +<p>'Go on,' grunted Lance, with his face hidden, as Felix paused.</p> + +<p>'That's all; but here are notes from Sister Constance and Dr. Lee.'</p> + +<p>The Sister's explanation was, that it had been entirely Geraldine's own +thought, and that her willingness and eagerness made a great difference +in such a nature as hers. She told Felix not to think of coming—the +fewer the better; and he could come in a few hours in case of need. +It was advisable that the decision should be made quickly, since to +nervous sensitiveness like Cherry's the very effort to bear suspense +reacted on the bodily frame. 'If you know what I mean,' concluded +Sister Constance, 'heroism is likely to carry the little creature +through what would be far more trying if this were proposed to her for +her own sake.'</p> + +<p>And Dr. Lee's letter gave the medical view, decidedly inclining to the +opinion that the probabilities were in favour of the operation, and +that the conditions were never likely to be more promising than at +present.</p> + +<p>'Dear child! I wish I were there!'</p> + +<p>'Can't we go?'</p> + +<p>'What, you? Think of the train.'</p> + +<p>Lance shook his head. 'Couldn't I stay by myself, and you run up?'</p> + +<p>'I don't think I can help it.'</p> + +<p>But the excitement of the evening broke Lance's sleep, and the next day +he was quite ill; while Felix not only saw that he must not be left, +but perceived after the first that Sister Constance's warning ought to +be respected, and that an arrival would only agitate Cherry's nerves. +So he wrote his sanction with a very heavy heart, betraying as little +emotion as was consistent with the tenderness so essential to support +brave but fragile little Geraldine.</p> + +<p>The anxiety seemed to have swallowed up the recollection of Mr. +Staples' message; indeed, it was not willingly that Felix answered his +note, and made a half engagement to the pic-nic.</p> + +<p>Felix was struck by seeing how much, under the circumstances, Lance +missed the daily service to which he had been used all his life.</p> + +<p>'I didn't mind it at first,' said the chorister, 'it seemed a part of +the holiday; but somehow the day seems all stupid and astray without +it.'</p> + +<p>But there was no church with it to be heard of; and indeed one attempt +on Sunday at East Ewmouth resulted in Lance's collapsing into some +of his most distressing symptoms, caused, as he declared, by the +overpowering might and untuneableness of the singing, but quite bad +enough to make Felix resolve against permitting further experiments, +and thus walk off by himself on the next Wednesday forenoon when he +heard the bell.</p> + +<p>There was a long lecture that he had not bargained for; and when he +came out with a slightly impatient impulse, the first thing he saw was +a blue umbrella, a white hat, and a hand waving a paper. In silence +Felix read—</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>'Constance Somerville to Felix Underwood.—11.30. Favourably +over. No cause for anxiety.'</p></blockquote> + +<p>They were rather grave and awe-struck, and scarcely spoke all the way +home—indeed, Felix was chiefly thinking how to get Lance home out +of the sun without hurrying or over-heating him; but after dinner +came a reaction; the boy went frantic with admiration of a beautiful +yacht that was standing into the bay; and Felix, with his letter to +Sister Constance to write, one to Australia to finish, and his leading +articles to draw up, was forced to command peace in something of the +old rough-and-ready style; and even when Lance vanished, he was to be +heard singing scraps of comic songs in the distance.</p> + +<p>By-and-by he came in carrying a board taller than himself. 'Please your +Majesty, I'll be as mute as a mole; but I must do this here, for Mrs. +Pettigrew is baking.'</p> + +<p>'What in the name of wonder have you got there?' asked Felix, as +Lance proceeded to lay his board on the sofa (his day—and Felix's +night—bed) and place on it a white and soppy mass.</p> + +<p>'A little dab out, as Sibby calls it,' said Lance. 'It's my puggery. +Ever since it fell overboard it has been a disgrace to human nature, so +I have been washing it, and now I've got an iron heating.'</p> + +<p>'What a mess you will make of it!' observed Felix, with a grimace of +disgust, as Lance returned again from the kitchen, holding the iron +scientifically near his cheek.</p> + +<p>'That's all you know about it! Why, I've ironed dozens of +pocket-handkerchiefs—at least, not dozens, but my own, dozens of +times—in the Harewood tubs.'</p> + +<p>'I thought the Chapter washed you?'</p> + +<p>'So it does, in reason; but last spring there was a doom on my +pocket-handkerchiefs. The Harewood puppy ate up one; one dropped into +the canal; I tied up a fellow that had got a cut with one, and the +beggar never returned it; and two or three more went I don't know how. +I knew W. W. would be in a dreadful state if I asked for a fresh lot, +so I used to wash out the last two by turns, till I got some tip and +bought some fresh ones—such jolly ones, all over acrobats and British +flags; and after all, didn't I catch it? Wilmet was no end of disgusted +to miss her little stupid speckotty ones, vowed these weren't decent +for the Cathedral, and boned them all for Theodore! Now, hush! or I +shall come to grief!'</p> + +<p>Felix held his pen suspended to watch the dexterity that reduced the +crude mass to smooth muslin, which in its expanded state looked as +impracticable as before.</p> + +<p>'Now, do you mean to get Mrs. Pettigrew to put it on in those elegant +festoons?'</p> + +<p>'You just mind your leader, Blunderbore! A man who has had women to do +for him all his life is a pitiable being!'</p> + +<p>And Lance, according to instructions obtained from John Harewood, +wreathed his hat triumphantly in the white drapery, and completed +Felix's surprise and amusement by producing a needle and thread, and +setting to work on various needful repairs of his own buttons and his +brother's, over which he shook his head in amusement as he chuckled at +the decay which had befallen the garments of so neat a personage as +Felix, and which had been very distressing to himself.</p> + +<p>'Ah! thank you. I never knew what Robinson Crusoe felt like before!' +said Felix, as Lance came on a wrist-band minus button.</p> + +<p>'Robinson Crusoe! You'd soon have been like Man Friday before he caught +him.'</p> + +<p>'But doesn't the matron mend for you?'</p> + +<p>'She pretends; but I should like to see her face if one brought her +a chance thing to do. My eyes! if that isn't old Staples! I must +absquattilate.'</p> + +<p>Which after all he had no time to effect, with all his works, before +their friend came to ask whether they were relieved about their sister, +and was amused at the handy little schoolboy's ingenious preparations. +'After all, I find it is to be more of an affair than I expected; I +thought it was to be only ourselves and the Brandons, but they are the +kind of people who always pick up every one.'</p> + +<p>'Does that yacht belong here?' eagerly asked Lance.</p> + +<p>'That! It is the Kittiwake—Captain Audley's.'</p> + +<p>'Ha! That's what Fulbert went to Alexandria in! What fun!'</p> + +<p>'He is the son of Sir Robert Audley. Do you know him?'</p> + +<p>'His brother was my father's fellow-curate,' said Felix, 'and is our +guardian and kindest friend. I have seen this one in London. Will he be +at this pic-nic?'</p> + +<p>'Not likely. He is shy and uncertain, very hearty and friendly when +you do meet him, but reluctant to go into society, and often taking +no notice one day, when he has seemed like one's best friend the day +before. They say he has never got over the loss of his wife; but I +don't like such manners.'</p> + +<p>'Does he live here, then?'</p> + +<p>'He rents the little Tudor cottage under the cliff year by year, for +the sake of his yachting—for he won't go near the regular stations. +He's got his boy at school at Stoneborough, and stays here all the +winter.'</p> + +<p>When the brothers were walking part of the way back with their visitor, +they met the gentleman in question, with three boys after him, and +he was evidently in a cordial mood; for after shaking hands with Mr. +Staples, he exclaimed, 'I am sure I ought to know you!'</p> + +<p>'Felix Underwood,' said the owner of that name.</p> + +<p>'<i>Indeed!</i> Not staying with your worthy relations?'</p> + +<p>'No, I am down here with my brother, who has been laid up by a +sun-stroke, and wanted sea air.'</p> + +<p>'I wish I had been at home' said the Captain, who had taken a great +fancy to Felix when they had been together in London two years +before; 'but I've been giving my boy and his cousins, the two young +Somervilles, a trip to the Hebrides; and now, just as I am come home, I +fall upon Mrs. Brandon, hounding me out to an abominable pic-nic, and +my youngsters are wild to go. Are you in for it? I believe we shall go +round to the cove in the yacht. Can I take you two?'</p> + +<p>Felix gladly accepted, aware that their transport was a difficulty +to the Stapleses, and that the Kittiwake would be felicity to Lance, +who had fraternized with the boys, and went off with them to see the +vessel. He returned brimful of delight and fatigue, only just in time +to tumble into bed as fast as possible, and Felix was thus able to get +his work off his mind by midnight.</p> + +<p>The morning's letters set them quite at rest. Sister Constance and +Clement both wrote: Geraldine had been calm and resolute from the +time Felix's consent arrived, and doubt was over; and Clement, though +tender, and striving hard to be firm, had been chiefly useful in +calling out her words of encouragement. He had spent the time of the +operation in the oratory, and there had been so entirely overcome by +the tidings that all was safely over, that he was hardly fit to go to +Cherry when he was sent for; and that was not soon, for the effect of +chloroform on her had indeed been to annihilate pain, but only half +to make her unconscious, for she went on talking to Felix about the +expedience all the time, ever repeating the old motto, 'Under Wode, +Under Rode;' and the trance had lasted for a good while, though when +once over, she remembered nothing of it, and was only so rejoiced and +thankful, that it was difficult to keep her calm enough. She sent her +brothers her love, and entreated them not to say a word at home. Lady +Liddesdale had contrived the sale of the book of illustrations—a work +that had been Cherry's delight of many years; so that she could feel +that she herself had earned what would cover the expense incurred, all +but the medical attendance, freely given to an inmate of St. Faith's. +'Tell Felix I am as happy as a queen,' was the final message; 'tell him +to give thanks for me.'</p> + +<p>Felix's voice trembled, shook, and gave way, as he read; and at last he +sprang up, and walked about the room, saying that no one ever had such +brothers and sisters as himself. There was something almost oppressive +in the relief from so much anxiety, and it was some time before he +roused his ordinary senses to say, 'Well! we must finish breakfast, or +we shan't be ready for the Captain. How round the world is! Those boys +must be Sister Constance's nephews—Lady Liddesdale's sons.'</p> + +<p>'Those boys,' said Lance. 'What, Sum and Frank? Well, I did think it +queer that the sailors on board the Kittiwake called every one My Lord.'</p> + +<p>'Sum, I imagine, must mean Lord Somerville. What did you think of them?'</p> + +<p>'Nicish chaps of eleven and twelve. Nothing like such swells as Tom +Bruce! The little one wanted to know where I was at school, and his +senior snubbed him; so I supposed he saw by the looks of me that I +wasn't upper-crust public school; and when I said I was a choir-boy, +the other—Charlie Audley—said, "Oh, then you're one of the awful lot +my father always jaws about when he's out of sorts!" I told him I was +very sorry, and it wasn't my fault, but yours; and then we got on like +a house on fire.'</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.</a></h4> + +<h3>A KETTLE OF FISH.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 35%;"> +'Our Pursuivant at arms will show<br /> +Both why we came and when we go.'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 35%;"><i>Scott.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>The place of the pic-nic was a good way off, being the point of the +promontory that shut in the mouth of the river, a great crag, with +a long reef of rocks running out into the sea, playfully called the +Kitten's Tail; though the antiquarians always deposed that the head +had nothing to do with cats or kits, but with the disposition to erect +chapels to St. Christopher on the points of land where they might first +greet the mariners' eyes. Beneath this crag, sheltered by the first +and larger joints of the Kitten's Tail, was a delightful sandy nook, +where appeared a multitude of smart hats, male and female, a great many +strangers even to Captain Audley, who would fain have recognised none +of them. In a strong access of his almost morbid silence, he devoted +himself to Felix, and kept aloof from almost every one. Even at the +dinner, spread on a very sloping bit of beach, pic-nic exigencies +enabled him to be nearly <i>tęte-ŕ-tęte</i> with Felix, who found himself +almost back to back to a lady in a brilliant foreign pheasant's plume, +with glass dew-drops at the points.</p> + +<p>In a pause of their own conversation, they heard the inquiry, 'Do you +know who that boy is—that fair delicate-looking lad just opposite, +with the white muslin round his hat?'</p> + +<p>'Oh—that!' answered the pheasant lady; 'that is young Lord Somerville, +son to the Marquess of Liddesdale. He and his brother, Lord Francis, +have been out yachting with Captain Audley.'</p> + +<p>The Captain smiled as he looked at the boys. 'Ay,' he observed, with a +flash of his bright dark eyes,' he has the advantage over Sum.'</p> + +<p>For Lance had resumed his lark-like air, and it was perhaps the more +striking from the fragility and transparency that remained about his +looks; and he was full of animation, as he, with a reinforcement of +boys, clustered round a merry sunny-faced girl, full of joyous drollery.</p> + +<p>'Very queer and eccentric—quite a bear,' was the next thing they +heard; whereat Captain Audley nodded and smiled to Felix. After the +general turmoil caused by the change of courses had subsided, that +penetrating voice was heard again. 'Yes, we came home sooner than we +had intended. The fact was, we found that old Mr. Underwood was being +beset by some of those relations. You remember? Oh, yes; they have sunk +very low—got into trade, absolutely got into trade! One of them a mere +common singing-boy. Mr. Underwood is getting aged—quite past—and we +did not know what advantage might be taken of him.'</p> + +<p>'Your turn now,' murmured Captain Audley, with a look of diversion +calculated to allay the wounded flush on his neighbour's cheek.</p> + +<p>'Do you mean Mr. Edward Underwood's sons?' said a voice on the other +side. 'I always understood them to be very respectable and well +conducted.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, very likely! Only I do happen to know that one of them has been +a great trouble and vexation to Tom Underwood; and we didn't want the +same over again with the poor old Squire.'</p> + +<p>'Did I understand you that any of them were here?' added the other +voice; 'for I had just been struck by the likeness of that boy +opposite, talking to my sister, to poor Mr. Edward Underwood, as I +remember him.'</p> + +<p>'Oh no, Mrs. Rivers; I assure you that's young Lord Somerville!'</p> + +<p>Captain Audley made an effort, rather difficult in his Turkish +position, to crane his head beyond the interposing figures, recognised +and bowed to the speaker, who greeted him by name, and thus diminished +the flow of Mrs. Fulbert Underwood's conversation by her awe of the +high and mighty bear whom she scarcely knew by sight. He had no taste +for scenes, and did not put either her or Felix to pain by mentioning +his name; but when the last act of the meal was over, and people began +to move, he made his way in the direction of the inquiring voice. 'Mrs. +Rivers, let me introduce Mr. Felix Underwood.'</p> + +<p>'I am very happy—' and there was a cordial smile and a hand held out. +'Are you here for long? My father would be so much pleased to see you.'</p> + +<p>It was a rather worn pale face; but the ease and sweetness of manner, +and the perfect fitness of the dress, made a whole that gave Felix a +sense of the most perfect lady he had met with, except his mother and +Sister Constance.</p> + +<p>'I am at Ewmouth, with one of my brothers who has been ill.'</p> + +<p>'Lord Somerville?' and all three burst out laughing. 'My sister has +found him out, I see. She and your little boy are old friends, Captain +Audley.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, you have been very kind to him. But I am as much surprised to see +you here as you can be to see my friend. Are you from home?'</p> + +<p>'We go back this evening. We slept at the Crewes' last night. My +husband had business there; and when they asked us to this pic-nic, +it was a good opportunity for Gertrude to learn the beauties of her +county.'</p> + +<p>'Which she seems to be doing under full escort,' laughed Captain +Audley, as the young lady and the young boy flock were seen descending +to the rocks.</p> + +<p>'She has a strong taste for little boys,' said the elder sister. 'You +have the Somerville boys here, haven't you, though?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; there had been scarlatina or something or other in their school, +and their mother was afraid of them among their sisters, till I had +purified them by a sea voyage.'</p> + +<p>Probably Mrs. Fulbert never found out her mistake; for Lord Somerville +reported that he had never been so pitched into in his life as by an +old girl in a 'stunning tile,' who found him washing out an empty +pie-dish for the benefit of some maritime monsters that he wanted to +carry home to his sisters; but that when Lance came up, she was as meek +as a mouse. Certainly, the two boys were little sturdy fellows, burnt +lobster-like up to the roots of their bleached and rough hair; and +their costumes were more adapted to the deck of the Kittiwake in all +weathers, than to genteel society. Their sisters were in an aquarium +fever, and their sport all through their expedition had been researches +for what they had learnt in Scotland to call 'beasts;' and now the +collection was to be completed from the mouth of the Ewe, and the +scrambling and tumbling it involved were enchanting.</p> + +<p>Kate Staples, who usually considered Lance her charge, was not sorry +to see a croquet player disposed of among his own congeners; for the +game seemed such a necessary of life, that it was actually prepared for +on the sands, to the extreme contempt of the anemone hunters. 'Play at +croquet, forsooth, when rocks aren't to be had to scramble on every +day!' And scramble ecstatically they did, up and over slippery stone +and rock festooned with olive weed, peeping into pools of crystal +clearness, and admiring rosy fans of weed, and jewel-like actinias +embellished by the magic beauty of intense clear brightness. The boys +took off shoes and stockings, turned up trousers, and scrambled and +paddled like creatures to the manner born.</p> + +<p>'O dear! I wish I might!' sighed the young lady.</p> + +<p>'Why don't you?' said Charlie Audley. 'Kate and Em and Annie always +do—don't they, Frank?'</p> + +<p>'Of course they do, or how would they ever get on!'</p> + +<p>'Come along then, Miss Gertrude,' said Charlie. 'You can't think how +jolly it is!'</p> + +<p>And soon another pair of little white feet were dancing on the rocks. +'Oh dear! what a blunder of civilisation it is to wear shoes at all! +How delicious a hold one gets!'</p> + +<p>'I can't think why people do wear them! They never are anything but a +bother,' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'To play at foot-ball with,' suggested Somerville from the top of a +rock.</p> + +<p>'But women don't,' said Gertrude.</p> + +<p>'<i>I</i> think women do it, and make us, that they may have something to +worrit about,' said Frank. 'Damp stockings are the bother of creation +till one goes to school; and then, isn't it jolly!'</p> + +<p>'Except the chilblains,' called out Charlie.</p> + +<p>'I believe,' said Lance, 'chilblains come of shoes.'</p> + +<p>'No, they can't,' argued Charlie, 'for one has them on one's hands.'</p> + +<p>'Well,' said Gertrude, 'let's form ourselves into a society for the +suppression of shoes and stockings!'</p> + +<p>'Hurrah!' cried Lance. 'I know one person at least that it would be a +blessing to.'</p> + +<p>The question was, how the five bold reformers were to begin. Frank +suggested drowning all the present stock, and pretended to be about to +begin, but was of course prevented by a scream.</p> + +<p>'Public opinion must be prepared first,' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'And that,' said Gertrude, 'we'd better do by a great example! Here, +we'll show what can be done. Why shouldn't we get out to the end of the +Kitten's Tail?'</p> + +<p>'One can't to the end,' said Charlie; 'there's a place big enough for a +gig to go through, half way out.'</p> + +<p>'And about the tide?' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'Tide,' said Charlie, looking at his watch—'tide wouldn't think of +playing us such a dirty trick as turning for an hour and a half.'</p> + +<p>'And the jolliest beasts of all always live in places like that,' added +Somerville. 'Come on, President of the Society for the Suppression of +Shoeses—to the front!'</p> + +<p>On moved the august Society, now scrambling to a dry flat, now +threading a <i>mauvais pas</i>, clinging to festoons of sea-weed; the three +little boys climbed like monkeys or sailors; but Lance, agile as he +was, had not had the same amount of training, and felt besides that it +was requisite to be ready to give a helping hand to Miss Gertrude. She +got on very well, being full of lightness and springiness, only she was +a little inclined to be adventurous, and to chatter at critical moments.</p> + +<p>'We must have got out a quarter of a mile.'</p> + +<p>'Oh no, not that!'</p> + +<p>'No? I'm sure it is! How small they look on the beach! I wonder if they +can see us! Hark! they're singing—'</p> + +<p>'"Drink to me only with thine eyes;" that's Felix's crack glee,' said +Lance; 'what fun for him!'</p> + +<p>'This is much better fun!' cried the general voice. 'They'll never see +us if we wave now!'</p> + +<p>'No, no; don't let's wave now! Wait till we get to the farthest point.'</p> + +<p>'And there we'll plant our ensign!'</p> + +<p>'What shall we do for a flag? We haven't got the Britisher here!'</p> + +<p>'No; it must be the flag of the SSSS's.'</p> + +<p>'That ought to be a bit of bare skin.'</p> + +<p>'No, no—a pair of feet—motto, "Off, vile lendings!"'</p> + +<p>'I say, I don't think you can get any farther,' interposed Somerville. +'I've been on four rocks farther, and I'm sure you will never get back +again if you go on.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, that's base! I'm sure this one isn't so hard.'</p> + +<p>She was creeping along a ledge, holding the sea-weed with one hand and +Lance by the other.</p> + +<p>'I really don't think it passable,' he said; 'there's scarcely the +width of one's foot beyond.'</p> + +<p>'Hurrah!' shouted Frank. 'Here's the father of all the Daisianas!'</p> + +<p>'Oh! oh! he's my cousin. I must see him!' cried Gertrude, with a +scramble and a laugh, which ended in a sudden slip—luckily, not into +the open sea, but into a very steep-sided bath-like pool; and Lance, +whom of course she gripped hard, was pulled after her, both over head +and ears; and though they scrambled on their feet in a moment, there +they stood up to their shoulders in water.</p> + +<p>'Get the Daisiana now you are there!' shouted Frank.</p> + +<p>'How are we ever to get out?' said Gertrude, looking up the walls, six +feet at least on the lowest side.</p> + +<p>'If we had a rope,' said Charlie.</p> + +<p>'Make signals—call,' said Somerville, all suiting the action to the +word. 'No, they don't hear! they are all singing away. You, Franky, +you're too little to be any good, make the best of your way to call +somebody.'</p> + +<p>'The tide will come in!' said Frank. 'Mamma and Aunt Emmie were once +shut in by the tide, and Uncle Edwin. And there was a fellow who was +quite drowned—dead—and that was why I was named Francis.'</p> + +<p>'That's what you may call a cheering reminiscence at a happy moment,' +said Lance, recollecting that he was far more nearly a man than any one +present, and instinctively feeling the need of brightening all into +cheerful activity, for the girl looked thoroughly frightened. 'Yes, +Lord Frank, the best thing you can do is to go for somebody; but we'll +be out long first. Can't we make a rope? Have you a sash or anything, +Miss Gertrude? Don't fear, we'll soon be out.'</p> + +<p>Happily she had both a sash and a broad ribbon round her hat; and Lance +tore off his puggery.</p> + +<p>'I can do it best,' called Charlie. 'I know all the sailors' knots.'</p> + +<p>'It will never bear,' said Gertrude.</p> + +<p>'Oh yes, it will. You'll not trust your whole weight to it. Is it done?'</p> + +<p>'Besides, how can they draw me up?'</p> + +<p>'We'd best get behind that rock, Sum,' suggested Charlie, 'then she +won't pull us in.'</p> + +<p>Charlie's sailor experience was very useful; and he shouted advice to +Lance, who was tying the extemporary rope round Gertrude, not very +easily, owing to the material, and to its being done under water.</p> + +<p>'Now, then, you do your best at climbing—here,' he said. 'They'll pull +you; and look! There, first my knee—yes—now my shoulder—now—' And +standing for a moment on his shoulder, Gertrude was really able with a +desperate grapple to surmount the wall of her prison, and scramble out +beside the two cousins, whose pulls had been very helpful.</p> + +<p>Lance's clambering was a harder matter, for he did not venture to trust +much to the rope, though the girl's strength was added to that of the +two boys; and it was a severe climb up the scarcely indented, slippery, +moist, slimy rock, where his hands and feet could hardly find any hold; +and when at length he reached the top, he was so panting and dizzy, +that Somerville at first held him to hinder his slipping backward into +the sea. No one could get at King or Queen Daisiana, so it was left +in its glory; while the young people struggled back over rocks that +seemed much steeper, and pools far deeper, than in their advance; Lance +still trying to be helpful, but with a mazed sense of the same sort of +desperate effort with which he had run back with Bill's verses; for not +only had his small strength been overtaxed, but the immersion in water +was affecting his head.</p> + +<p>Lord Francis had made much quicker progress; and boy as he was, +showed his breeding by not rushing open-mouthed on the party with his +intelligence, but seeking the Captain, who was smoking the pipe of +solitude upon a rock apart. He at once sent Frank to the servants, who +were enjoying the relics of the feast, to fetch some wine, and tell +the boat's crew to make ready at once, and then went off himself to +seek Mrs. Rivers. Felix, who had spied the little messenger speeding +up to the Captain, was already on his way to the rocks, and reached +the party in good time; for draggled, drenched, and with clinging +garments, they were so slow in getting on, that it was no delusion +that the water was higher, and the rocks lower; and even Gertrude had +neither breath nor spirits to gabble when that grave anxious face met +her, and a strong careful hand lifted and helped, first her, then +Lance, up and down every difficulty; and when she perceived how the +new-comer avoided point-blank looking at the bare ankles that had +sometimes to make long stretches, a burning red came up into her face, +half of shame, half of indignation at being made ashamed. And after +all, when the place where her hose and shoon had been left was reached, +the niched shelf in the rock turned out to have been surrounded by the +tide, so that they were quite unattainable either by herself or the +little boys; and Felix, putting the arm by which Lance had held by +him over Somerville's shoulder told them to go on before, and himself +made two long strides and a scramble before he could reach the boots +and stockings, and give them to the young lady, unable to help looking +nearly as grave and vexed as if it had been Angela herself; indeed, he +was vexed, for he had an ideal of the young ladyhood of his mother's +old native region, and did not like it to be disturbed. He moved away +far enough for her to think he had left her to her fate, till she was +on her feet and coming on, and then there he was again, in a moment +the attentive squire. Revived by her short rest, and on less perilous +ground, she glanced at his face in readiness to disperse her discomfort +with something saucy, but somehow it would not do; and she was tamely +conducted to terra firma, where her sister saluted her with 'O Daisy! +what a child you are to have charge of!'</p> + +<p>That restored her enough to answer, 'I'm quite delighted something +should have happened under your keeping! No harm done. Salt water never +gives cold.'</p> + +<p>'I don't mind it for you,' said the elder sister; 'you have not been +ill.—But indeed, Mr. Underwood, I am very sorry,' she added. 'What +will be best for your brother?'</p> + +<p>'Here!' said Captain Audley, taking from Frank a flask of sherry, and +over-ruling the objection made by the brothers that stimulants were +forbidden. He further insisted on taking Lance at once to his own berth +on board the yacht while Mrs. Rivers meant to conduct her sister to the +preventive house.</p> + +<p>'So,' said Lance, rather ruefully, as he shook hands, 'there ends the +SSSS.'</p> + +<p>'Not at all! Its use is proved. We should have been cooked by this time +in the Daisiana cauldron, if we had had great cumbrous boots on.'</p> + +<p>It was a valiant effort, and she cast a glance out of the corner of +her eye at the elder brother, but it had not relaxed a muscle of his +grave anxious face, which was in truth chiefly bent on watching Lance's +involuntary shiverings; and she again turned crimson, perhaps from her +share of the chill, and was dragged off, muttering, 'What intolerable +folks guardian brothers are! Henry Ward was a mild specimen compared to +this one!'</p> + +<p>About noon on the following day, Mrs. Pettigrew's little girl abruptly +opened the parlour door, and with 'Please, ye're wanted,' turned in a +tall, thin, grey-haired, spectacled gentleman, who, as Lance started up +from the sofa, exclaimed, 'Don't disturb yourself; I came to thank you, +and inquire after you after the adventure my mad-cap daughter led you +into.'</p> + +<p>'I hope she is all right,' said Lance, solicitously.</p> + +<p>'As right as Daisiana himself; more so than I fear you are. Let me see +you comfortable. Lie down again, pray.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I don't care about lying down, thank you, Sir; I only sleep for +want of something to do;' but though he did not put his feet up, he was +feeling far too languid not to relax his bolt-upright attitude, and +lean back on his pillows.</p> + +<p>'That will do. Bad head-ache?'</p> + +<p>'It is nearly gone off now, thank you, Sir; it was bad all night, but +it is much better since I have been asleep.'</p> + +<p>'Let me see,' laying his left hand on the wrist that hung over the edge +of the sofa. 'Ay, I hope that wicked little siren has done no great +damage. Pulled you below, true mermaid fashion—eh?'</p> + +<p>'I meant to have pulled her out.'</p> + +<p>'Instead of which she made a lad into a ladder to climb out on.' Which +bad pun served the purpose of making the boy laugh enough to be at +his ease. 'She is much indebted, and so am I. I like to meet an old +friend's son. Are you alone?'</p> + +<p>'My brother is only gone to the post-office. He will be in before long; +but it saves a post to take the letters before twelve, and he ought to +be out as much as he can.'</p> + +<p>'Is he here on his own account, or yours?'</p> + +<p>'He came down first, before I was ill. It was bother and overwork and +a cough. Everything always does come to worry him, whenever he ought +to have rest or pleasure.' And Lance, who was thoroughly weary and +dispirited, was nearly ready to cry.</p> + +<p>'Even when he goes out for a pic-nic, young ladies must needs drown +themselves!'</p> + +<p>This made Lance smile; but he added, with a quivering lip, 'He would +not go to bed till I could go to sleep last night, and that was not +till past two, and he looks quite done up this morning.'</p> + +<p>'Is any one attending you?'</p> + +<p>'Dr. Manby did at Minsterham—nobody here.'</p> + +<p>'What's been amiss with you—fever?'</p> + +<p>'Plenty of fever, but it was from sun-stroke.'</p> + +<p>'Ah! you boys have thinner skulls than we used to have! How long ago?'</p> + +<p>'Seven weeks yesterday,' said Lance, wearily.</p> + +<p>'And you are sadly weary of weakness?'</p> + +<p>'I don't mind that so much;' and the kindness of face, voice, and +gesture, made the poor boy's eyes overflow; 'but I'm no good, and I +can't tell whether I ever shall be again!'</p> + +<p>'It is a great deal too soon to trouble yourself about that.'</p> + +<p>'That's what they all tell me!' cried Lance, impatiently, and the tears +rushed forth again. 'Manby only laughs, and tells me I shall be a Solon +yet if I don't vex myself; and how can I tell whether he means it?'</p> + +<p>'Well, dear boy, have it all out; I promise to mean whatever I say.'</p> + +<p>'You are a doctor then, Sir?'</p> + +<p>'What! the boy doesn't know me, as sure as my name's Dick May!'</p> + +<p>'Oh!' cried Lance, 'that was what I heard Felix saying to Captain +Audley—that he did so wish Dr. May could look at me!'</p> + +<p>'That's all right, then. Come, then, what is weighing on you—weakness?'</p> + +<p>'Just not weakness,' said Lance. 'I didn't care so much when I could +scarcely get about; but now I can walk any distance, and still I have +not a bit more sense!'</p> + +<p>'Is your memory gone?'</p> + +<p>'I don't think so; only, if I fix my mind to recollect, and it doesn't +come by chance, I'm all abroad, and perfectly senseless and idiotic!'</p> + +<p>'And it brings on pain?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, if I try five minutes together.'</p> + +<p>'You don't try to read or write?'</p> + +<p>'I can't—and—' then came the tears again—'music is just like red-hot +hammers to me.' There was a great fight with sobs, rather puzzling to +one who did not know what music was to the chorister. 'And what is to +be the end of it?'</p> + +<p>'That rest and patience will make you as well as ever.'</p> + +<p>'Do you really think so? But, Sir, I have a little brother seven and a +half years old, with no understanding at all—not able to speak; and if +there were two of us on Felix's hands like <i>that!</i> If I could only be +put away somewhere, so that Felix should not have the burthen of me!'</p> + +<p>'My poor little fellow! Is this what is preying on you all this time?'</p> + +<p>'Not always—only when I am doing nothing, and that is most times,' he +said, dejectedly; but the Doctor smiled.</p> + +<p>'Then you may take the very anxiety as a proof that your brain is +recovering. You cannot expect to shake off the effects quickly; but if +you are only patient with yourself, you will do perfectly well. Are you +a son of the clergy?'</p> + +<p>'No, I am a chorister at Minsterham. I have another year there, when I +can go back, if ever—'</p> + +<p>'Don't say <i>if</i> ever! You will, if you only will keep from fretting and +hurrying, and will accept that beautiful motto of the Underwoods.'</p> + +<p>Lance smiled responsively, and said more cheerfully, 'You are quite +sure, Sir?'</p> + +<p>'As sure as any man can be, that there is no reason to anticipate what +you dread. It is quite possible that you may be more or less liable +to bad head-aches, and find it needful to avoid exposure to summer +sunshine; but I should think you as likely to do your work in the world +as any one I ever saw.'</p> + +<p>The light on Lance's face did not wholly spring from this reply. With +'There's Felix!' he had bounded out of the room the next moment, and +his incautious voice could be heard through the window—'Fee, Fee, +here's her father! that brick of a Miss Gertrude's, I mean. He's +as jolly as he ought to be, and knew all our people. But just—I +say—how's Cherry?'</p> + +<p>'All well; here's a note from the dear little thing herself,' said +Felix; and in another moment, with his bag strapped over his shoulder, +he had brought the bright sedateness of his face into the little +parlour. 'Dr. May! how very kind in you!'</p> + +<p>'Not kindness, but common propriety, to come and see how much mischief +my naughty child had done.'</p> + +<p>'I don't think there's any real mischief,' said the elder brother, +looking at the much-refreshed face.</p> + +<p>'I think not, and so am free to be glad of the catastrophe that has +brought me in the way of an old friend. Yes, I may say so, for I must +have known you!'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Felix, 'we used to watch for you when you came to my uncle. +You always had some fun with us.'</p> + +<p>'I remember a pair of twins, who were an irresistible attraction. I +hope they have grown up accordingly. You look as if you ought to have +pretty sisters.'</p> + +<p>Felix laughed, and said the twins were reckoned as very pretty.</p> + +<p>'How many of you are there—was it not thirteen? Did not those boys get +the clergy-orphan?'</p> + +<p>'One did, thank you. He is on a farm in Australia now, and I am +thinking whether to try for little Bernard; but I am afraid his case +would be a stale one, being of seven years' standing.'</p> + +<p>'If you want it done, my daughter, Mrs. Rivers, is a dragon of +diplomacy in canvassing; but why not send him to Stoneborough? Cheviot +takes a selection of cleric's sons at Ł30, and we would have an eye to +him.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you, if we can only manage it; but I must see what my sister +says—our financier.'</p> + +<p>'One of those little apple-blossom twins? Let me look at you. Do you +mean to tell me that this fellow has been the whole stand-by of that +long family these seven years?' he added, turning to Lance.</p> + +<p>'To be sure he has!' cried Lance, eagerly.</p> + +<p>'Lance!' said Felix, rather indignantly. 'You forget Wilmet. And Thomas +Underwood entirely educated two of us.'</p> + +<p>'And,' said the Doctor, looking oddly but searchingly from one to the +other, 'you've been the bundle of sticks in the fable. Never gone +together by the ears? Ah!' as both brothers burst out laughing at the +question, 'I'd not have asked if I had not seen how you could answer. +I've seen what makes me so afraid of brothers in authority that it does +me good to look at you two.'</p> + +<p>Felix looked up. The Stoneborough murder case was about two years old, +and of course he had to study and condense the details, and had come on +the names of Dr. May and his son in the evidence.</p> + +<p>The further words met his sudden conjecture. 'Ay, boys, you little know +what you may be spared by home peace and confidence! Well, and what may +you be doing, Felix? Your bag looks as if you had turned postman to the +district.'</p> + +<p>'There's my chief business, Sir, coupled with bookselling and +stationery,' said Felix, as he pushed across a copy of the Pursuivant +that lay on the table. 'I have been well paid from the first, and am in +partnership now, so we have got along very well.'</p> + +<p>'Ay, ay! Very good trade, I should think? You must send me your paper, +Felix; I want one I can trust to lie about the house.'</p> + +<p>'You will find it very stupid and local, Sir.'</p> + +<p>It was curious how what from Mr. Staples was answered with an effort, +seemed from Dr. May to draw out confidence. One point was, that Mr. +Staples never seemed sure how to treat him, and often betrayed a fear +of hurting his feelings; while with Dr. May he was himself and nothing +else. The Doctor stayed to share their dinner, such as it was in +consideration of their being lodgers as didn't give trouble—<i>i.e.</i> +some plain boiled fish, fresh indeed, but of queer name and quality, +and without sauce, and some steak not distantly related to an old shoe; +but both seemed to think so little about it, that the Doctor, who was +always mourning over the daintiness of the present day, approved them +all the more.</p> + +<p>Just as they had finished, Captain Audley came in with his boys, on +their way to start off the Somervilles by the train, and it was agreed +that when he took his son back to school at Stoneborough, Felix and +Lance should come with him and spend the day.</p> + +<p>And a pleasant day it was, as pleasant as the unsettled wanderings of +a long day in a strange place could be, and memorable for one curious +fact—namely, that for the first time in her life Gertrude May was shy!</p> + +<p>Not with Lance. She had a good deal of pastime with him in the cool +garden, while Felix was being walked over the school-yards in the +sun; and they were excellent friends, though Ethel certainly had a +certain repugnance to the discovery of how big a boy it was with whom +Gertrude had danced bare-footed on the rocks. Of course Ethel was the +kindly mistress of the house as usual, but she was worn and strained +in spirits just then, and disinclined to exert herself beyond the +needful welcome to her father's guests. So she let them all go out, +and went on with her own occupations, thinking that it was well that +Daisy should take her part in entertaining guests, since 'that boy' was +evidently a thorough little gentleman; and then shrinking a little as +she heard their voices over Aubrey's museum, including the Coombe Hole +curiosities.</p> + +<p>No, it was not towards Lance that Daisy was shy; but when all sat +round the dinner-table, she was unusually silent, and listened to +the conversation far more than was her wont, though it was chiefly +political. When Felix spoke to her, she absolutely coloured rosy red +and faltered, unable to conquer the shamefacedness that their encounter +had left her; and when the party had taken leave, and she was standing +in the twilight, Ethel, to her great surprise, found the child quietly +crying.</p> + +<p>'Nothing!' she said, angry at being detected.</p> + +<p>'It can't be nothing.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, it is. Only I do so hate—hate myself for being a tom-boy!'</p> + +<p>'One often does go on with that a little too long; and then comes the +horrible feel.'</p> + +<p>'And that it should have happened with him of all people in the world!'</p> + +<p>'Ah, Daisy, I wish I had come out with you!'</p> + +<p>'Fudge, Ethel! Not to-day. Do you think I care about that boy? I should +think not! But—but—I wanted to think him a nasty prig, but I can't!'</p> + +<p>'Who?'</p> + +<p>'Why, that eldest brother. When he found me scrambling about with +my stockings off, he didn't speak, but he looked, as Richard might, +surprised and sorry. I thought it was impertinent—at least I wanted +to, but— And now he'll always think me—nasty!'</p> + +<p>'My dear, if one must have a lesson of that kind, it is as well it +should be from some one that one is never likely to see or hear of +again.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! but not from the very best and noblest of people one ever will +hear of. Yes, Ethel, I'm not gone mad! That boy has been telling me +all about his brother; and indeed I never did hear or know about any +one who was a real hero in a quiet way! No; whenever I hear of a hero, +I shall think of Mr. Underwood. And, oh dear, that I should have made +such a goose of myself!'</p> + +<p>It was quite unaffected—a spark of real reverence had lighted at last +on Gertrude's mind. 'To turn tradesman for the sake of one's brothers +and sisters, that I do call heroic!' she said; and maintained his +cause, even to putting down F.U. as her 'favourite hero' in lists of +likes and dislikes.</p> + +<p>But there was no great chance of Gertrude again encountering her hero; +for the morning after their day at Stoneborough, Lance was beginning +to experiment on his powers by skimming newspapers, especially the +Pursuivant, because he knew it before, all but the last local items, +that could only be added at the moment of going to press. Suddenly he +broke out, 'Holloa! you never told me this! Mowbray Smith <i>has</i> put his +foot in it this time.'</p> + +<p>'What?' said Felix, pausing in the act of opening an envelope from Mr. +Froggatt.</p> + +<p>'Pocketing the coal and school money—ay, and the alms.'</p> + +<p>'Eh? Impossible! Let me look.'</p> + +<p>'There. A letter signed "Scrutator." There's a great deal more than +I can read, all about under-paid curates and sycophants. My Lady is +catching it, I should say! It must be true, or Froggy would not have +put it in.'</p> + +<p>'He never admitted that!' said Felix, tearing open his letter. 'He is +in utter dismay, asks whether I could have seen the thing, tells me to +telegraph yes or no, that he may know whether to speak to Redstone. +What's this about tribute to my father?'</p> + +<p>'Here! "Once it was deemed well that the ecclesiastical staff should be +by birth and character, if not by pecuniary fortune, above suspicion; +but the universal application of the general screw system has warned +off all who had a predilection for an unfettered tongue, and we all +know what hands accompany one in chains."'</p> + +<p>'Libellous!' cried Felix, running his eye over the article. 'It looks +as if it had strayed out of the Dearport Hermes. I'd not have had this +happen for ten thousand pounds! Clap-trap about fat rectors and starved +curates! Jackman's writing, I'd lay any wager!'</p> + +<p>'You don't think he did it?'</p> + +<p>'Smith? Muddled his accounts! Nothing more likely; charges like this +are not got up without some grounds of some sort; but as to intentional +fraud, that's utter nonsense. Well, I'm off to the station, and I hope +in half an hour's time Master Redstone will be quaking.'</p> + +<p>Ten days of the holiday still remained; and Captain Audley, with boat +and yacht, greatly added to its pleasures, which both brothers were +able thoroughly to enjoy, living almost entirely out of doors, and +valuing each hour as they became fewer.</p> + +<p>This matter, however, made Felix very uneasy. He wrote to the curate, +offering all the amends in his power, and undertaking that if Mr. Smith +would send him an explanatory letter, he would back it up with a strong +leading-article; and he waited anxiously for further intelligence.</p> + +<p>Mr. Froggatt's letter came first. Redstone, fond of dabbling in +editorship, had taken reproof in great dudgeon, affecting great +surprise at being blamed for inserting a letter from a respectable +gentleman without submitting it to Mr. Froggatt, who had entirely +dropped the editorship, or delaying it to another issue by sending +it to Ewmouth. The respectable gentleman was young Jackman, who was +no doubt delighted to have such a firebrand to cast. It was a great +grief and annoyance to Mr. Froggatt, who had always steered clear of +personalities, and been inoffensive if sometimes dull; and both assault +and defence were distressing to him—<i>i.e.</i> if defence were possible, +for he seemed doubtful whether silence would not lead to the least +scandal. Even Wilmet wrote: 'Every one seems to think Mr. Smith is to +blame; and he is so huffy, that it looks only too much as if he were +afraid of inquiry.'</p> + +<p>This was too true a character of his replies. That intended for the +paper had not a line of real defence, but was a mere tirade on the +dignity of his office, and the impudence of the charges. Felix dashed +it away, enraged at its useless folly; nor was the private one more +satisfactory. It was but a half acceptance of Felix's total disclaimer; +and the resentful wording made it difficult to discern whether the +imputation were <i>bonâ fide</i>, regarded as not worth refuting, or whether +indignation were made an excuse for denial instead of proof. A separate +sheet seemed to have been added. 'The whole is to be subjected to +the scrutiny of a parish meeting on Tuesday, when, though the minute +accuracy of a professional accountant is not to be expected of one +whose province is not to serve tables, it will be evident that only +malignity to the Church could have devised the attack to which your +paper has given currency.'</p> + +<p>'Well,' broke out Lance, as Felix with a voice of ineffable disgust +read the final sentence, 'if that is not being a knave, it is very like +a long-eared animal!'</p> + +<p>'I'll tell you what, Lance, they'll take him between their teeth, and +worry him till there's not an inch left whole of him. Jackman and his +pack will tear him down; and even Bruce and Jones, and our own good old +Froggy, will give him up when they see his books won't balance.'</p> + +<p>'Serve him right!' cried Lance. 'What fun to see his airs taken down, +when he's served with the sauce he's so fond of for other people! I +only wish they'd got my Lady too!'</p> + +<p>'I must go home, that's all,' said Felix. 'If I got there on Wednesday, +I might see if I could not get his accounts into presentable order.'</p> + +<p>'What?'</p> + +<p>'If I don't, I am afraid no one else will.'</p> + +<p>'He will not let you.'</p> + +<p>'I think I can make him.'</p> + +<p>'But such a cur as he has always been to you!'</p> + +<p>'I don't think he will object now. I know he can't do the thing +himself; and if little Bisset could, depend upon it his mother would +not let him stir a finger for fear of being implicated. Now I do know +the ways of those accounts. I've done them with my father and with Mr. +Audley. Any way, I must be at home for the meeting. Imagine Redstone +reporting it! But you can stay out the week, and come home in the +yacht.'</p> + +<p>For Captain Audley had promised to take the brothers round to Dearport; +but Lance could not bear to be left behind; and it ended in their +walking up to the Tudor cottage to make their excuses, when the +good-natured captain declared that he could put to sea that very night +and land them at Dearport in good time.</p> + +<p>So after a hurried grateful farewell to the Staples family, the holiday +closed with a voyage that both were able to enjoy to the utmost before +they sailed into the harbour at Dearport, and walked up to St. Faith's. +Captain Audley, who had not seen Sister Constance since her husband's +death, had an access of shyness and would not encounter the 'Lady +Abbess,' as he called her; but his last words to Felix were a promise +that if Bernard went to Stoneborough, he would have him out now and +then for a holiday with his own boy.</p> + +<p>There had been time to send notice to Geraldine, and her brothers had +hoped to have taken her home with them; but though she looked clear and +bright, she was not out of the doctor's hands, and was under orders to +stay another week. The sight of her brothers made her very homesick, +in spite of being the spoilt child of the Sisterhood, in the pleasant +matted room, with its sea view, its prints, and photographs; but then +she wanted to have her way prepared with Wilmet. Her vision had been +to walk in imposingly, and take them all by surprise; but that notion +had vanished as the time drew nearer, and she found that her new art +required practice, while the dread of making a sensation grew upon her. +She was ashamed of having even thought of compensating for Wilmet's +absence, and entreated Felix to communicate the fact, without a word of +the presumption that had nerved her courage.</p> + +<p>The three looked over one another, as if each had undergone much since +the last meeting; but the sight of Felix greatly relieved Cherry. He +was sunburnt and vigorous, and his voice had resumed its depth of quiet +content, instead of having that unconsciously weary sound of patience +and exertion that had often gone to her heart. Lance, whom she had not +seen since Easter, had assumed a look of rapid growth; his features had +lost their childish form, and were disproportionate; and his complexion +still had the fitful colouring of convalescence; but his eyes were +dancing, and his talk ecstatic as to Vale Leston and the Kittiwake, +where he was ready, at that moment, to become a cabin-boy.</p> + +<p>'O Cherry! Cherry! you never dreamt of anything so delicious as that +night's fishing!'</p> + +<p>'That, I will answer for, she never did,' said Felix. 'When I saw the +exquisite delight it afforded, not only to this Lance but to Captain +Audley, to fill the boat with slimy, flapping, uncomfortable, dying +fishes, I felt that I was never made for a gentleman.'</p> + +<p>'Do you mean that you didn't like it?' exclaimed Lance, turning round +aghast.</p> + +<p>'I should have been much happier balancing the books.'</p> + +<p>'And he wasn't even sick!' said Lance, holding up his hands.</p> + +<p>'He hadn't that excuse,' laughed Cherry. 'However, midnight fishing is +not indispensable! I should like to have seen how he looked at Vale +Leston.'</p> + +<p>Lance was in great hopes that Felix would betray the possibilities, and +mayhap but for his presence, prudence might have evaporated beneath the +warm breath of Cherry's sympathy; but the answer was only a discreet +laugh and reply, 'Like a man who wanted his sister! I wish I could just +fill your eyes with the loveliness of it, Cherry;' and in the midst of +his description, in came Sister Constance, bringing with her Sister +Emmeline (sister in blood as well as religion,) wanting to hear about +the nephews, and the Kitten's Tail adventure, and amused to find Lance +a little shy about it—certainly not disposed to dwell on it with his +usual unceremonious drollery of narrative. They would not let Felix +go without an inspection by Dr. Lee, which was perfectly satisfactory +as to the rally of the constitution from the depression that had +threatened disease, though it was impressed both on him and on Cherry +that he must be careful next winter, and never neglect a cold; and with +this promise the brothers took the train, and in half an hour were +at home—rather an empty home, for the schools were all in operation +again, and Wilmet was not at liberty for some little time after their +arrival.</p> + +<p>When she did come in, she was disappointed not to find Geraldine, and +that Felix had become so absorbed in the business that had brought +him home, that he only sent in word that he was obliged to go into +the town, and tea must not wait for him. Lance remained, but the +burthen of two secrets rendered him uncommunicative, when Wilmet tried +to understand the cause of Cherry's delay at St. Faith's; and Alda +was curious about Vale Leston and Mrs. Fulbert, whom she had seen at +Kensington Palace Gardens. It did not take much acumen to exclaim, +'Still no children! Then there must be a chance for us!'</p> + +<p>'That is not likely,' said Wilmet: 'it must be all in their own power; +and the Vicar must be quite a young man. Is he not, Lance?'</p> + +<p>'How should I know?'</p> + +<p>'Didn't you see him?'</p> + +<p>'I saw his wife, and that was enough.'</p> + +<p>'About five-and-thirty,' said Alda. 'Of course it will all go to Uncle +Tom. Money always goes to money.'</p> + +<p>'How flushed you are, Lance!' said Wilmet. 'Are you tired?'</p> + +<p>'Rather. I am going out into the garden.'</p> + +<p>There, however, he was pursued by Bernard with a war-whoop, and by +Theodore with his concertina; and Stella presently reported that he was +gone up to bed.</p> + +<p>'And I am afraid his room is very hot and noisy,' sighed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'He is only tired and cross after his two nights at sea,' said Alda.</p> + +<p>'Lance cross!'</p> + +<p>'My dear Wilmet, it is very bad taste in families always to maintain +each other's impeccability!'</p> + +<p>Alda was still the only person capable of defeating Wilmet, and she +managed to render her very uncomfortable before the end of the evening, +when hours passed and still Felix did not come in; and Alda suggested, +in the intervals of yawning, that Wilmet would soon learn how green it +was to sit up, now that Felix had got out of leading-strings, and set +up bachelor habits.</p> + +<p>At first, Wilmet was highly indignant; but when Alda persisted that +she was rather glad to see Felix like other young men, and that Wilmet +would know better when she was married, and then yawned herself off to +bed, there was a sense of great discomfort to accompany the solitary +vigil, which not only involved fancies of possible accidents, but was +harassed by this assault on faith in the virtue and sincerity of man. +Could it really be the part of a wise woman to wink at being deceived +as an inferior creature, with impossible expectations of truth and +purity? Yet Alda knew the world!</p> + +<p>How much heart-sickness was darned into Lance's impossible heel before +the clock chimed two! A step, and not a policeman's, came along the +pavement and paused at the door, as, while the bell was cautiously +pulled, down she flew!</p> + +<p>'My dear Mettie, I am so sorry, so ashamed, of not having sent home +to tell you; but if I had made the least move, it might have upset +everything!'</p> + +<p>'What <i>have</i> you been about?'</p> + +<p>'Going over Mowbray Smith's accounts.'</p> + +<p>'Oh!'</p> + +<p>'I am very sorry! How tired you must be! I was vexed not to be able to +give you notice, but you know what poor Smith is.'</p> + +<p>'I don't know why you had to do it all, and at this time of night,' +said Wilmet, still a little hurt.</p> + +<p>'It is the only chance for him to-morrow at the meeting to have his +accounts clear; so I called under the plea of seeing about the letter +in Pur, and with much ado got him to realise a little more of his +position, and let me look at the books. That was at five.'</p> + +<p>'And you have been at it ever since? O Felix!' as he stretched his arms +and gave a vast yawn.</p> + +<p>'Ay! If I had shown any consciousness of the time, he would have shut +up at once; and he would not let me take them home to do to-morrow +morning.'</p> + +<p>'It <i>is</i> to-morrow morning!'</p> + +<p>'So it is! I must make haste, for I must try to see Mr. Ryder and Jones +before the meeting. Good-night, dear old W. W. I meant to have had +other talk.'</p> + +<p>'But oh! you must have some supper!'</p> + +<p>'I've had it—sumptuous! Stilton cheese!'</p> + +<p>So Wilmet's faith in masculine nature rebounded as high as Alda had +striven to sink it!</p> + +<p>Patience was a good deal needed the next day; for Felix had to rush +away from breakfast, and never appeared at all at dinner. He had to +be present at the very stormy meeting, though only to take notes, and +thus had the annoyance of seeing Mr. Smith destroying his own cause +by his incapacity to understand the statement so carefully drawn up, +until Mr. Ryder (on whom the enemy had reckoned as a champion) took +the papers out of the helpless hand, comprehended Felix's figures at a +glance, and set them lucidly forth, such as they were; but even then +there were blots which there were plenty of persons ready to hit. The +truth was, that between Lady Price's economies, and the unwillingness +to call vestry-meetings, moneys intended for one purpose had been used +for another, and articles not within the denomination of charities had +been charged on funds raised for that exclusive object.</p> + +<p>The assembly comprised the usual variety: the malicious foes of +religion, headed by Jackman; the more numerous enemies, not of what +they supposed religion, but of the Church; the adversaries, not of +the Church, but of the Curate; and the few loyally unwilling to +condemn a clergyman, but disgusted at the affair, and staggered by his +management. Perhaps the rabid and ribald violence of the hostile party +did Mr. Smith good with the respectable; and there were many, too, +whose dictum was—'Felix Underwood says it is all right!' At any rate, +though the Bishop was memorialized, it was in a much better spirit than +had been likely at first; and it was not to be done without notice to +the Rector. And when this was over, every one, as usual, went to their +rendezvous at 'Froggatt's,' either to discuss or inquire; and the +release of both partners on that summer evening was later than ever it +had been before.</p> + +<p>But then what a welcome upstairs! what a clamour of happy tongues! +what an ecstatic humming of The Hardy Norseman! what a clinging to +and climbing on him! If he had the cares, he had much of the joys, of +the goodman of the house! But presently he missed the voice usually +blithest of all, and asked for Lance.</p> + +<p>'He was here a little while ago,' said Wilmet, 'drinking his tea. He +must have gone up to bed.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Bernard; 'I've just been up to the barrack, and he isn't +there.'</p> + +<p>'You've not let him sleep in the attic!' exclaimed Felix. 'Why, under +the leads it is like an oven!'</p> + +<p>'I am very sorry,' said Wilmet, 'but I could not see how to help it. +Your room is worse, with the glare of the setting sun; and so is +Cherry's at this time of the evening.'</p> + +<p>'Then he must have Mr. Froggatt's.'</p> + +<p>'I thought,' said Alda, 'that you never took liberties with Mr. +Froggatt?'</p> + +<p>'Nonsense!' said Felix. 'There are only two bedrooms in this house fit +for that boy in his present state—yours and Mr. Froggatt's. Which +shall we have, Wilmet?'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Froggatt's,' she answered at once. 'If you will not have another +cup, I'll get it ready for him at once.'</p> + +<p>'I've just done. I'll come and help you. But where can the boy be? In +the garden?'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Wilmet, taking a survey from the window.</p> + +<p>'I have hardly seen him all day,' added Alda. 'I suppose he has +pursuits of his own.'</p> + +<p>'Pursuits!' said Felix, looking really anxious; 'poor little chap, he +can't do without constant care and quiet!'</p> + +<p>Wilmet made no answer, but rose and left the room; Alda muttered +something about his looking quite well, which Felix did not stay to +hear, following his sister out with a word about looking for him. At +the same moment a little soft hand was thrust into his, and Stella, as +soon as the door was shut, said, 'Please, I know where Lance is, but +it's a secret.'</p> + +<p>'Not from me, I hope?' said Felix, catching her up in his arms.</p> + +<p>'I <i>think</i> not,' said Stella meditatively. 'He only told me not to let +Bear and Tedo know, because they make a row. He is only up over the +back warehouse, where he used to play the fiddle to us last Easter.'</p> + +<p>'The only cool quiet place he could find!' said Felix, with more of a +look of reproach than he had ever given Wilmet.</p> + +<p>It went to her heart. 'I did not know what to do,' she said meekly. 'I +wanted very much to go into the barrack ourselves, but Alda said it +would kill her; and you know it has always been a sore subject that we +would not let her have Mr. Froggatt's room. I ought not to have given +way.'</p> + +<p>'Alda's selfishness is a great power,' muttered Felix; and Wilmet was +too much ashamed to contradict him, except by 'She is vexed because she +has not heard from Ferdinand,' as they hastily made their way to the +warehouse, which, being on the north side of higher buildings, never +did get scorched through.</p> + +<p>Felix went up a step-ladder, Wilmet following; and there, sure enough, +was Lance, lying in a nest of paper shavings, with head on his +air-pillow. 'Oh, you've unearthed me, have you? I wish you'd let me +stay here all night!' he said, with some weary fretfulness; but the +next moment burst into a peal of laughter, as Wilmet's head appeared +above the floor. 'Pallas Athene ascends! Oh! what a place it would be +to act a play—only then all the fry would find it out! I hope they +haven't! I told the Star not to tell!'</p> + +<p>'My poor dear Lance, is this the only quiet place you could find? and +you let us all neglect you, and never complained!' exclaimed Wilmet, +kissing his hot forehead.</p> + +<p>'Why, it's only my stupidity,' said Lance, wearily but gratefully; 'and +you can't make places quiet or cool! If you would just let me sleep +here!'</p> + +<p>'No; but you shall have Mr. Froggatt's room. He will not want it now. +Come along, Lance, we'll bring your things down. The barrack is a great +deal too hot for you to go into!'</p> + +<p>He did not make any resistance; but as they landed from the ladder, +threw his arm round Wilmet, and leant against her with a sort of +lazy mischievous tenderness, as he said, 'Isn't the Froggery wanted +for—somebody else?' and tried to look up in her face.</p> + +<p>'Ferdinand always goes to the Fortinbras Arms,' answered Wilmet, with +admirable composure.</p> + +<p>'Oh! that's a precedent,' said Lance, ostentatiously winking at Felix, +who was very glad the ice was broken. 'When is he coming, Mettie?'</p> + +<p>'I think Alda hoped he might have run down to-night, on hearing of your +return.'</p> + +<p>There they paused while entering the house and going upstairs; but no +sooner were they in the barrack, which was certainly insufferably hot, +than Lance returned to the charge.</p> + +<p>'But when is <i>he</i> coming? Not Fernan—he's an old story!'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Felix, walking up to Wilmet to fold together the corners +of the sheets they were stripping from Lance's bed, and looking into +her eyes so archly as to bring up an incarnadine blush, 'I want +particularly to improve my acquaintance, if you don't.—What shall we +do, Lance?'</p> + +<p>'Advertise in Pur,' suggested Lance. 'The editor returned. Young men +may apply!'</p> + +<p>'Don't, boys!' exclaimed Wilmet, in tones belonging to bygone days, +when neither she nor Felix had been too serious to tease or be teased. +'He is much better than you,' she added, with a pretty confused +petulance, when Felix put on a pleading inquisitive face. 'When he +found we didn't like it, he went away to visit his uncle.'</p> + +<p>'Better than we! There, Lance!' said Felix, in a gratified provoking +tone of discovery.</p> + +<p>'In one sense,' said Wilmet, walking down before him.</p> + +<p>'I am very glad you have found it out,' added Felix, as they entered +Mr. Froggatt's cool well-blinded bedroom, the only well-furnished one +in the house.</p> + +<p>'It is no laughing matter,' said Wilmet seriously.</p> + +<p>'That's well,' was the dry answer.</p> + +<p>But there Felix perceived that she was on the verge of tears, and he +kindly and quietly helped her to despatch her arrangements for Lance +before any more was said; only as they turned to bid the tired boy +good-night, he said, 'Where does the uncle live? I shall telegraph +to-morrow, you cruel person!'</p> + +<p>'Hush! silly boy—good-night,' said Wilmet, with a quivering voice; +then, as she shut the door, 'Please don't go on this way, Felix—I +wouldn't have had it happen for any consideration.'</p> + +<p>'I suppose not,' said Felix, as they returned to the twilight garden; +'but as it has—Why, my Mettie, dear!' as she pressed close to him, and +hid her face on his shoulder, with a strong craving for the help and +sympathy from which the motherless girl had hitherto been debarred.</p> + +<p>'O Felix! I wish he would not be so good and kind! I wish you would not +try to make me give in!'</p> + +<p>'My dear girl!' said Felix, with his arm round her. 'You know I would +not if I did not see that you had given in!'</p> + +<p>'No, I haven't!' she cried. 'Why should you want to persuade me? Isn't +it very cruel and hard to let him give all himself to one that can't +come to him? He will have to go out and live all dreary and lonely +for years and years, and come home to find nothing but a stupid old +worn-out drudge, with all these pretty looks gone off! Felix, be +reasonable, <i>please!</i> Can't you see that I ought not to let things go +that way?'</p> + +<p>'Do you mean,' said Felix, 'that you would be quite content to put an +end to all this—let Harewood go away believing you indifferent, and +never see him again?'</p> + +<p>'Felix, why do you—?' with tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>'Because I am quite sure that the consideration you want to show him +would be no kindness. The pain of having his affection thrown over' +(he spoke with a spasm in the throat) 'would be greater than you would +<i>like</i> to inflict, if you were forced by truth to own you did not care +for him; and if he be what I think, the carrying away security of your +feeling for him will be gladness enough. And as for the looks, I have +a better opinion of yours than to think they won't wear! Any way, +dearest, it seems to me that you have won the heart of a good man, +and that if you like him, it is your duty to give him the comfort of +knowing it without thinking about to-morrows.'</p> + +<p>'But I know so much more would come if I did just allow that much! And +I might get to wish to leave you all,' she said in an appalled voice. +'And there seems to me not the slightest chance. You see Alda and +Cherry never will get on together; and Cherry seems glad of an excuse +to stay from home. I thought she would have cared to come back when you +did.'</p> + +<p>'Poor Cherry!' said Felix, hesitating, with a little of her own nervous +awe of broaching the subject.</p> + +<p>'You don't mean that there is anything seriously amiss?' she cried, +startled.</p> + +<p>'Wilmet, do you remember what Rugg said would be the very best thing +for that poor child?'</p> + +<p>She stood still, dismayed and angered. 'They aren't tormenting the poor +little thing about that?'</p> + +<p>'It is not their doing.'</p> + +<p>'It can't have become necessary! Sister Constance would have told me! +Felix say she is not worse!'</p> + +<p>'No, much better. But, Wilmet, what we could not bear to think of, she +thought of for herself, and begged to have it done.'</p> + +<p>'Then I must go to her.'</p> + +<p>'There is no occasion. She knew you could not be spared. It was done +on the 10th, and she will soon walk better than she has done all these +years.'</p> + +<p>'Done! without our knowledge?'</p> + +<p>'She wished to spare us all, but that was not allowed. I was written +to, and told that her strong desire was such a favourable condition, +that I had better consent, so as not to protract the strain of spirits. +She made a point of no one else knowing except Clement.'</p> + +<p>'Ah!' Wilmet spoke as if under a weight, 'that was the day Clement went +down to Dearport, and came home so late! How could Sister Constance +consent not to tell me?'</p> + +<p>'You must forgive her, for it was the little one's desire. Of course we +should have been fetched if anything had gone wrong; but she has done +perfectly well; and there she is, very happy, and so full of fun, that +the Sisters say she keeps them all alive.'</p> + +<p>'Done? I cannot fancy it!' said Wilmet. 'Do you know, I believe it has +been my bugbear for years past to think I might have to persuade her to +this?'</p> + +<p>'To tell you the truth, so it has to me.'</p> + +<p>'Little nervous timid thing, I can't even understand her thinking of +it!'</p> + +<p>'She wanted me not to tell you, but I would not promise. She could not +rest without trying not to be an obstacle to—'</p> + +<p>Wilmet interrupted with a cry of pain.</p> + +<p>'Isn't it a noble little thing?'</p> + +<p>'But it is so silly!' broke out Wilmet, not choosing her words amid her +tears.</p> + +<p>'So she thinks now, poor child: she is quite ashamed of the +presumptuous notion that <i>did</i> brace and carry her through.'</p> + +<p>'I don't like her to be disappointed,' said Wilmet; 'but it is quite +ridiculous.'</p> + +<p>'Only comfort her a little, Mettie dear, for she is very much afraid +you will think she has taken a great liberty with your property.'</p> + +<p>'I only wish I could kiss her this moment!'</p> + +<p>'Well, run down by the train to-morrow. They would all be delighted.'</p> + +<p>'No, no, Felix, impossible. Think of the cost!'</p> + +<p>'Half a crown! Sinful waste!' said Felix, in a tone of alarming levity.</p> + +<p>'Felix, if you only knew what the housekeeping mounted up in that +unhappy month that I was away! I did not like to tell you before, but—'</p> + +<p>'Well!' at the dreadful pause.</p> + +<p>'I had to get fifteen pounds from Mr. Froggatt's; and Alda finds, after +all, that she cannot advance the money for Lance's journey.'</p> + +<p>'So you are pinching it out by pence, my poor W. W.!'</p> + +<p>'Nothing extra must be done till this is made up.'</p> + +<p>'Yet it seems needful that Bernard should go to school. I wrote about—'</p> + +<p>'No,' she resolutely interrupted. 'Bernard must wait over this year. +Thirty pounds. Utterly out of the question!'</p> + +<p>Her tone gave Felix an unusual sense of chill penury, and brought Vale +Leston before his eyes. He laughed rather bitterly, saying, 'Perhaps +some day neither thirty pence nor thirty pounds may have so direful a +sound!'</p> + +<p>'I never mean to learn to waste.'</p> + +<p>'You may have to learn to spend.'</p> + +<p>'That's enough to set me against it!' she exclaimed, with a good deal +of pain; and he found how nearly he had broken his resolution, and how +her application of his words to herself had saved him. He followed the +lead.</p> + +<p>'Nay; you were glad of Alda's prosperity?'</p> + +<p>'Oh yes; but poor Alda has been hindered from being like one of us,' +she said. 'We have fought it out together. And I should not mind so +much if <i>he</i> were poor, like us, and had to wait on his own account.'</p> + +<p>'I appreciate that,' said Felix; 'but at least you will let the poor +fellow come and judge for himself?'</p> + +<p>'If—if only, Felix, you will promise not to try to tempt me into +deserting you all, when I know it would be wrong.'</p> + +<p>'If I will promise you not to cut my own throat, eh? Come, W. W., put +out of your head "what it may lead to," confess that you are afraid of +getting connected with such a mad harum-scarum set!'</p> + +<p>'It isn't,' broke out Wilmet. 'I never saw any one so thoughtful and +considerate. They are all so kind and warm-hearted, that I grew quite +ashamed of my own fidgetiness; and he—he always knew the right thing +at the right time. You can't think how his look seemed to hold me up, +when poor Lance was moaning and talking nonsense!'</p> + +<p>Having thus let herself out as she had never dared, nor indeed been +tempted to do, since the first dawn of the courtship, Wilmet at last +relieved herself of some of the vast sense of emotion that she had been +forcing back for the last month. Hitherto the mistress of the house +had seemed older than the master; but now the elder brother took the +place of both parents—ay, and of sister—as, all her fencing over, +she poured out her heart, and let him sympathize, cheer, soothe, and +encourage, more by kind tones than actual words. The harvest-moon +shone over the house-tops, as a month before she had shone by the +river-side; and the Pillars of the House walked up and down till Alda +grew desperate, and sallied out to tell them that it was past eleven.</p> + +<p>It was only such snatches of time that Felix could give to home +affairs, for his hands were full of arrears of business, and the +excitement respecting Mr. Smith necessarily occupied him. Pending the +arrival of letters from the Rector, every tongue was in commotion, and +the reading-room was a focus of debate and centre of intelligence. +So many letters, either in assault or defence, were addressed to the +editor of the Pursuivant, that only a supplement as big as the <i>Times</i> +could have contained them. Every poor person who had not had every +demand supplied from the charities was running about, adding to the +grievance at every encounter with tender-hearted lady or justice-loving +gentleman, whose blood boiled over into a letter for the Pursuivant, +which, when sifted and refused, was transferred to the Dearport Hermes, +or Erms, as most of its supporters termed it.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a></h4> + +<h3>THE REAL THING AND NO MISTAKE.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +'With asses all his time he spent,<br /> +Their club's perpetual president,<br /> +He caught their manners, looks, and airs—<br /> +An ass in everything but ears.'<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 35%;"><i>Gay.</i></span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>The master of the house was unable to contribute much more than his +name to the propriety of the arrival of the suitors, and this made +Wilmet the more determined that Geraldine should precede them. Nor, +since the half-crown must be disbursed on an escort for her, did the +housewifely conscience object to the expedition; for Wilmet could not +but long to thank the Superior and Sister Constance, and to obtain +Dr. Lee's advice as to future management. Her coming was great joy +to Cherry, who had dreaded the meeting almost with a sense of guilt, +though still hoping Felix had been silent on her motive; and Wilmet did +not betray him, but only treated her sister with a mixture of almost +shy tenderness and reverence. Nor did Cherry dare to ask a question +as to Wilmet's own affairs, nor even about Ferdinand Travis, lest she +should seem to be leading in that direction. However, Wilmet, in a +persuasive tone, communicated that Ferdinand had been long without +writing, and though Cherry tried to be sorry for Alda, her spirit +quailed at the state of temper her sister evidently meant to prepare +her for.</p> + +<p>But fate was more kind than she expected. That very Saturday brought +both gentlemen, and by the same train. They made each other out as they +were leaving their bags at the Fortinbras Arms, and arrived together +in marked contrast—the tall, dark, regular-featured, soft-eyed +Life-guardsman, and the little sandy freckled sun-dried engineer; +and thus two courtships had to be carried on in the two rooms, only +supplemented by the narrow parallelogram of a garden! For Ferdinand +Travis was back again, rather amused at the family astonishment at the +rapidity of his journey to America, which to his Transatlantic notions +of travel was as nothing, and indeed had been chiefly performed in a +big steamer, where he could smoke to his heart's content.</p> + +<p>For the first few days there was a good deal of restraint: Wilmet was +more shy than in the unconscious days of Bexley; while John Harewood +was devoid of his family's assurance and bonhomie, and so thoroughly +modest and diffident as to risk nothing by precipitation in begging +for a decision. Felix, inexperienced, and strongly sensible of his +office as guardian of his sister's dignity, would not hint at the +result of his investigations into Wilmet's sentiments; and it was to +Geraldine that Captain Harewood's attentions were chiefly paid. Knowing +Alda's resolute monopoly of her Cacique, Cherry at first held back, +and restrained her keen enjoyment of real conversation; but she found +Wilmet thankful to have the talk done for her, and content to sit at +work, listening almost in silence, but proud that her Captain should +be interested in her sister, and pleased to see Cherry's expressive +face flash and sparkle all over for him. While Wilmet was at Miss +Pearson's, Cherry was his chief resource; they read, drew, and talked, +and in that half-hour's out-of-door exercise, which Dr. Lee had so +strongly enjoined, his arm was at her service. They were soon on the +borders of confidence, though never quite plunging over them. Perhaps +the broad open-mouthed raillery at his home made the gentle reticence +of the Underwoods the more agreeable to him; at any rate, he did not +try to break through it, nor to presume beyond the step he had gained. +Alda, who could best perhaps have acted as helper, had her own affairs +to attend to; and they were evidently unsatisfactory, for Ferdinand +was more than ever the silent melancholy Don, and she was to domestic +eyes visibly cross, and her half-year at home had rendered her much +less capable of concealing ill-humour. Something was owing to wear and +suspense, together with the effects of the summer heat and confined +monotonous life without change or luxury; but much was chargeable on +the manifestations of temper to which she had given way in the home +circle. She told Wilmet the trouble, which Ferdinand wished to have +kept from open discussion till he had received a final statement of his +means to lay before Felix. He had received no remittances since the +spring, and on demanding his own share of the capital and investments, +had found it, instead of the lion's, a ridiculously small portion. The +whole fortunes of the house of Travis had been built on his mother's +inheritance; but the accounts laid before him represented all the +unprosperous speculations undertaken by his father, William, while the +small ventures of his Uncle Alfred had, alongside of them, swelled into +the huge wealth of which Ferdinand had been bred to believe himself +the heir! So palpably outrageous was this representation, that he +had persuaded himself that personal investigation on the spot would +clear it up, or perhaps more truly, his blood was up, and he could not +bear to be inactive. He had rushed over to New York, and of course he +had been baffled. Exposure was of no use where sympathy was for the +lucky rather than the duped and luckless, and where the Anglicised +Life-guardsman could expect it least of all—at a time, too, when all +business affairs were convulsed by the uncertainties of civil war. Alda +could not believe at first that he had done his utmost, and seemed to +have reproached him with weakness and mismanagement; but by her own +account she had roused the innate lion. He would not tell her what +had passed in the interview with his uncle, but he had shuddered over +the remembrance; and when she upbraided him with not having gone far +enough, he terrified her by the fierceness with which he had turned +upon her, bidding her never recur to what she knew nothing about, and +muttering to himself, 'Far enough—thank God I went no further, or +I should not be here now!' and then falling into deep gloom. He had +certainly made Alda afraid of him, and she burst into tears as she told +Wilmet, declaring herself the most miserable girl in the world.</p> + +<p>'No, that you can't be, Alda, while he is so good and true.'</p> + +<p>'But he says he must sell out! Think of that! Never was anybody so +taken in as I have been!'</p> + +<p>'Don't talk so, Alda. It is just as if you had engaged yourself to a +Life-guardsman and nothing else.'</p> + +<p>'I wonder how you would like to be buried in some horrid wild place in +America, where you would never see anybody!'</p> + +<p>'One would not want to see anybody but him.'</p> + +<p>'That's your nonsense! How tired of it one would be!'</p> + +<p>'There would be no time. It would be so nice to do everything for him +oneself!'</p> + +<p>'In some horrid uncivilized place, with no servants! I'm not going +to be a drudge. It is all very well for you, who like it, and have +no notion of society, but for me—! And there he is furious to take +me out. Men grow so wild and rough too in such places. You never saw +anything blaze like his eyes!'</p> + +<p>'I don't understand you. Could not you trust yourself anywhere with +him?'</p> + +<p>'You have no right to say such things,' pouted Alda, 'only because I +have a little common prudence. Some one must have it!'</p> + +<p>There was no denying that life in the far west would be a foolish thing +either for or with Alda; and Felix thought so when Ferdinand came to +him for consultation over the letters that made it finally clear that +Alfred Travis had appropriated everything available but half a block +of unreclaimed land on the wrong side of America, and a few thousands +invested in Peter Brown's firm; and what was worse, the sudden failure +of the supplies had occasioned serious debts. Ferdinand's own plan was +to clear these off with the price of his commission, and take Alda out +with him to rule in American luxury over the unbounded resources of the +magnificent land, the very name and scent of which had awakened in him +his old prairie-land instincts, and her absolute refusal and even alarm +at his enjoyment had greatly mortified him. 'She should not even have +to rough it,' he said. 'I could make her like a queen out there, if she +would only believe it.'</p> + +<p>Felix could not but think Alda might be wise, though it was not pretty +wisdom. Go out alone and make the fortune? Ferdinand did not seem to +think the separation possible. He said he would rather go to work in +Peter Brown's office, where he had already a hold; and his familiarity +with Spanish would secure him usefulness and promotion, and five or six +years would bring him into a position to marry. He did not look fit for +desk-work in London, but his mind was made up to any privation, so that +he could be in reach of Alda, and hope to give her what he had once +thought easily within his grasp.</p> + +<p>Hearing this, Felix propounded an old longing of his—namely, to +make the Pursuivant a daily paper, and use means for promptitude +of intelligence, such as might neutralize the unpopularity it was +incurring on behalf of Mr. Smith. Rumours of a rival paper were afloat; +but if Ferdinand would throw in his capital, and undertake the joint +editorship and proprietorship, the hold that the Pursuivant already +had warranted quite success enough to permit an immediate marriage. +There would be no need to be concerned with the shop; they might take a +cottage in the country, and he need not ride in so often as every day. +In fact, it was his capital rather than his personal assistance that +was wanted. He caught at the notion. He was too Transatlantic to have +any dignities to stand upon, and he said almost with tears in his eyes +that he could never be so happy as in working with Felix; and he went +off to the Fortinbras Arms, only lamenting that it was too late to tell +Alda; while Felix, on his side, could not help knocking at Geraldine's +door. Within he found another auditor, Wilmet, who still always +helped Cherry to bed. 'It will be the making of the Pursuivant,' he +said. How often I have sighed, "If I had but capital, or Mr. Froggatt +enterprise!"'</p> + +<p>'Ah, Felicissimo mio, that Pursuivant is as dear to you as any brother +or sister of us all!'</p> + +<p>'So it ought to be, for it has been the making of us.—Come Cherry, +confess that you had rather see Pur triumph, than—'</p> + +<p>'Than you at Vale Leston,' said Cherry, not knowing what a bolt she +shot. 'It would be grand to steal a march on the enemy!'</p> + +<p>'And safe?' asked Wilmet.</p> + +<p>Felix demonstrated to the comprehending ears of his sisters the +circulation that he could securely reckon upon.</p> + +<p>'There would be an immense deal more to do,' said Cherry; but at that +he smiled, full of vigour.</p> + +<p>'True; but we should have a larger staff. There would be Fernan—'</p> + +<p>'For the racing articles,' said Cherry dryly.</p> + +<p>'And a good deal besides, which only needs application; and that he +has.'</p> + +<p>'He has great resolution,' said Cherry, 'but he always seems to me a +sort of Christian panther of the wilderness; and you seem to be getting +him into a cage.'</p> + +<p>'Not such a cage as Peter Brown's office; and besides it is only when +he is lashed up that the panther leaps about his den. Generally he is +a quiet determined animal, with the practical Yankee element strong in +him. It may be true, as Edgar says, that he does not see an inch on +either side of his nose, but that only makes him go right away in the +line he does see. I know he will work well.'</p> + +<p>'If Alda—' said Cherry.</p> + +<p>'Oh, she will be willing. A cottage in the country! Besides, it is the +only reasonable possibility.'</p> + +<p>'I should think it would satisfy her,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'And then—'</p> + +<p>Everybody understood that 'And then.' It was Alda's pretension to be +at the head of the family that was the chief obstacle to Wilmet's +abdicating that post. Without her, Geraldine, stronger and less lame, +might undertake the charge of the comparatively few permanently at +home. <i>Might</i> indeed hardly expressed the amount of uncertainty as to +her capability; and yet but for that 'And then,' Wilmet would hardly +have yielded as she did the next day.</p> + +<p>Stella had a blackberry fever. Possibly Wilmet's frugal regimen +engendered a hankering for fruit, or it might have been the mere love +of enterprise that rendered her eagerly desirous of an expedition to a +lane where splendid blackberries were reported to grow. Since the day +she had been lost, she had never been allowed to go out with Bernard; +but in Lance she had acquired a much more complaisant play-fellow, +who not only promised his escort to the lane, but the purchase of the +sugar, and aid in the concoction of the jam; but he durst not venture +till late in the day, and thereupon John Harewood suggested, 'Would not +your sister be at liberty by that time?'</p> + +<p>'Lance can take care of me,' said Stella; but in her eyes the whole +romance of the expedition was destroyed by his acquiescence. 'We'll +catch her as she comes out, and make her go with us.'</p> + +<p>'Among all the girls?' laughed Cherry; and Captain Harewood coloured, +shook his head, and shuddered.</p> + +<p>'The girls won't hurt me,' said Lance, 'not if there were twenty +hundred. I'll bring her from the very teeth of them. Jack may wait +round the corner if he likes.'</p> + +<p>The party waited, till their patience was worn to a thread, for the +opening of the tall olive door, until Lance valiantly resolved on a +single-handed assault, and had just mounted the steps, when it suddenly +opened, and he found himself obstructing the path of a swarm of little +girls and big, who all stared, most giggled, and some greeted him. To +the least of these he confided that he wanted his sister, when she +innocently piloted him to the school-room, where Wilmet, with her hat +on, was keeping guard over three victims detained by unfinished tasks. +Every one gazed at him as if he had been a sort of Actćon; but nothing +daunted, he answered his sister's anxious exclamation. 'Nothing is the +matter; but we are going for a walk, and want you.—Miss Maria,' he +cried, as the sound of the unfeminine step and voice brought in one of +the heads, '<i>please</i> do let off these impositions, we do so want her!'</p> + +<p>'What, you here! This is an invasion!' she added good-humouredly. 'Am I +to take it as a convalescent's privilege?'</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Ma'am,' said Lance, bowing with his audacious sweetness; +'and please let me have Wilmet. I'd do the impositions myself, only I +don't know French.'</p> + +<p>The victims tittered uncontrollably, and Miss Maria laughed, as one +who, like her neighbours, descried why Wilmet was in request. 'I will +attend to these exercises, Miss Underwood,' she said. 'You must not +lose this fine evening for the idleness of these young ladies.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed, Ma'am!' began Wilmet, in a blaze of colour. 'I never thought +of such a thing.'</p> + +<p>'I daresay not, my dear,' said Miss Maria; 'but now you had better do +it. I wish you a pleasant walk.'</p> + +<p>'Lance, how could you?' broke out Wilmet, as they descended the steps. +'I never was so ashamed in my life.'</p> + +<p>'Never mind. We are going to get blackberries at Mile End Lane, and I +shall lose Stella to a dead certainty if you don't come and look after +her.'</p> + +<p>'My dear Lance, I can't go all that way without their knowing it at +home.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! that's all settled with Cherry.'</p> + +<p>'And where's Alda?'</p> + +<p>'Off somewhere with her Don. Come, W. W., or who knows whether Stel and +I shall ever come home?'</p> + +<p>By this time they had reached the corner where Captain Harewood and +Stella were lying perdu, and Wilmet made no more resistance, only +keeping the little girl's not altogether willing hand till they came to +the stile leading to the field and woodland, and then Stella's durance +ended, and her adventures with Lance became as free as though no grave +'sister' had been near.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, since Wilmet had perceived that surrender was her fate, she +was willing that the summons should be over and a mutual understanding +reached, so as to waste no more of the time already so short. However +that might be, though the talk began with Lance's health and Cherry's +talents, there was a tendency towards topics closer still; nor did she +start aside, but rather listened pensively as to a strain that touched +her quiet soul more deeply than she showed in word or gesture.</p> + +<p>The blackberry lane was deep and hollow, the brambles outstretching +their arching wreaths, laden with heavy clusters of shining fruit, +glossy black, scarlet or green, sometimes with a lingering pearly +flower. A step-ladder stile led down into it from the field, and on the +topmost step, her back against the rail, sat Wilmet. On the lowest, +turned at right angles to the first, was John Harewood, looking up to +her; while scrambling on the bank, contending with the brambles, were +the younger ones; Lance, unable to help now and then sending a furtive +glance through the tangle.</p> + +<p>It was a pretty sight. Sitting aloft, Wilmet was framed by an archway +of meeting branches, with nothing but the pale opal of the evening +sky behind the beautifully shaped head and shoulders, and the clear +cut features, drooping just enough to enhance her own peculiar modest +dignity, and give it a soft graciousness that had once been wanting. +Her dress was the same in which Captain Harewood had first seen her—a +plain black hat, a pale fawn-coloured skirt, and a loose open jacket +over a white cambric vest and sleeves, only that now there had been +a budding forth of dainty fresh knots of rose-coloured ribbon at the +throat and down the front, as though a slight sensibility to the +vanities as well as the cares of life had begun to dawn on the grave +young house-mother.</p> + +<p>Leaning back against the rough rail to assist the hand of the climber, +John Harewood looked up with as much worship in his countenance as ever +good man feels for the being he loves in all her maiden glory. Thus +they had been for some moments, only broken by the children's distant +calls, till the fervent words broke from him, 'May I not speak now?'</p> + +<p>No word of reply sounded, but the delicate lips quivered and parted; +the eyes were cast down, and seemed to swim in a soft mist of +brightness; the queenly head bent, and the roseate tint on the cheek +deepened and spread, while something came over the face that caused the +low glad exclamation, 'You sweetest, I do believe you can love me!'</p> + +<p>A tremulous smile, a glitter of tears on the eye-lashes—a whisper, +'You won't let me be able to help it!'</p> + +<p>Then the hands were clasped, and no words but 'Thank you' would come to +the young man's lips; and then, and the sound reminded him, he bowed +his head, adding, 'Thank God!'</p> + +<p>'Thank God!' echoed Wilmet softly. 'For indeed,' she added, as she let +her eyes fully meet his ardent gaze, 'I know you will help me to do +whatever may be His Will.'</p> + +<p>'He helping me,' said John Harewood; and there was a reverent silence +of untold peace and bliss, first interrupted by his long sigh of +infinite relief and joy; and then, as he looked and looked with all +his soul in his eyes, an exclamation, almost in spite of himself, 'You +beautiful creature, you are mine indeed!'</p> + +<p>Her colour deepened, but her lips moved into an odd little smile, out +of which came the words, 'Isn't that rather foolish?'</p> + +<p>'I couldn't help it—I beg your pardon,' said he, reddening. 'You do +look so lovely! but indeed it is not the externals only, but what looks +through.'</p> + +<p>'And that is what makes me afraid,' said Wilmet, as the dew gathered on +her eye-lashes. 'I don't think I'm so nice as you take me for.'</p> + +<p>'Probably you don't,' he said, smiling.</p> + +<p>'But just hear me,' she said, laying her hand on his, as if to silence +him. 'You ought to know what all the others would tell you if they +were not too kind. I know they all feel me strict, and managing, and +domineering! Yes, it makes you laugh, but I really am. I don't think +you would have liked me at all if you had not seen me out of my usual +life, with only Lance—' and as all she said only made him press her +hand the closer—'You see, I've always had to do <i>things</i>. Ever since I +was a little girl I have had to keep order, great boys and all, and I +know it has made me disagreeable;' then, in answer to some sound more +incredulously negative than words, 'Yes indeed! Felix and all go to +Cherry with whatever comes very near them. She hasn't been hardened and +sharpened and dried up like me, and wasn't stupid to begin with.'</p> + +<p>'Cherry is very clever, but she is—not—'</p> + +<p>'Now don't. I know how it is. I know I'm horribly pretty, and I've been +a wonder always for keeping the house going, and doing for them all, +and so you fancy me everything charming; but I do so wish you could +really know, as my brothers do, how it takes out of one all that is +nice and sweet, and that people like.'</p> + +<p>'People?' said John, smiling; but seeing that a mirthful even though +a loving answer was not what she wanted, he gravely said, 'I do +understand, dearest, that you have had to be too much of an authority +to be altogether the companion and confidante that Geraldine is free to +be, but perhaps I feel that this renders you more wholly and altogether +my own.'</p> + +<p>'Oh!'—a strange half sob—'do you know, I had just begun to know how +solitary I was when Lance was so happy to get Robina, when you—'</p> + +<p>'And if I told you all, you would know that I was feeling a certain +loneliness at home, and that if you had asked my sisters, they would +have said that Jack was not the harmonious element he appeared. +There—there's a pleasing prospect!'</p> + +<p>'But you'll not let me be masterful?' said Wilmet earnestly.</p> + +<p>'Just as much as is good for me—for us,' he said, smiling. Then after +a moment's silence, he took out of his pocket a little box, and making +a table of her lap, took out a ring of twined ruby and diamonds, such +as could not but startle the instincts of Wilmet's soul.</p> + +<p>'Oh, it is a great deal too beautiful! Please, I couldn't—'</p> + +<p>'You must. It was my mother's.'</p> + +<p>'Then she cannot like to part with it.'</p> + +<p>'Did you not know that she died when I was five years old? Look!' and +he showed where within the lid of the box was written, 'For my Little +Johnny's Wife. August 1839. L. H.'</p> + +<p>'Ought you not to keep it till—' faltered Wilmet, growing crimson as +she found what she was saying.</p> + +<p>'No,' he said decidedly, 'not after this. When I spoke to my father +that Sunday evening, he unlocked his desk and gave me this, which I had +not seen since I remember playing with it on my mother's bed. You will +wear it, dearest. You will let me have the pleasure of knowing you have +it on.'</p> + +<p>The answer was the drawing off of her glove; and he fitted it on, but +it was rather loose. 'I am afraid it will want a guard,' he said.</p> + +<p>'I'll ask Felix whether I may take one of Mamma's,' she said. For the +shapely notable fingers had never worn a ring before this almost sacred +pledge; and the few jewels either too valuable or not valuable enough +for the parents to have parted with in times of need had never been +touched.</p> + +<p>'Do,' he said; 'I shall like that. The year 1839. Was not that the year +a certain little girl was born?'</p> + +<p>'The month. Our birth-day is on the 19th.' And the coincidence gave all +the foolish delight such facts do under the circumstances.</p> + +<p>'Was this long before she died?' asked Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'The last day of that August. You never saw her brass in the cloister?'</p> + +<p>'No; I never guessed that you were not Mrs. Harewood's son, though I +wondered at your being so unlike the rest.'</p> + +<p>'She has been kindness itself,' he warmly said. 'My father did well +both for himself and me in marrying.'</p> + +<p>'Tell me of your own mother,' said Wilmet, looking from the sparkling +stones to the initials. 'L.— What was her name?'</p> + +<p>'Lucy. Lucy Oglandby. My father was tutor at Oglandby Hall. There was +a long attachment, through much opposition; and even when he was made +priest-vicar after waiting six years, her father could not consent. +After six years more, when her health was failing, he gave a sort of +sanction on his death-bed. The rest of the family contrived to get her +fortune so tied up that after her death it was of no use to any one +till I came of age. She only lived seven years after her marriage, and +then the Oglandbys wanted to take possession of me, and I fancy that +drove my father into marrying.'</p> + +<p>'Was it with them you went to stay?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, my father makes a point of it; and they have a turn for +patronizing me, if I would turn my back on home.'</p> + +<p>'Now I understand better,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'You understand how much you were wanting to me,' he said, rightly +interpreting the words. 'After five years' absence, while my sisters +were growing up, you can perceive that dear, fond, and hearty as +our house is, it did not fulfil all that perhaps I had been rather +unreasonable in expecting. O Wilmet, this time of leave would have been +very different if you had not come to the precincts!'</p> + +<p>And so they fell back on the exquisite time present, which neither +wished to disturb by looking beyond; and perhaps John felt as though +his bird had scarcely perched, and any endeavours to hold it might make +it flutter loose, while she was too glad of the calm and repose to +renew the struggle between conflicting claims.</p> + +<p>At last, with basket laden with dark fruit, and lips vying with the +babes in the wood, Stella was launched on them by Lance, when his +sense of time overpowered his half shy, half diverted respect for +their bliss. He was very curious, but had to be satisfied with Captain +Harewood's manner of tossing Stella over the stile, and bright look at +himself.</p> + +<p>They did not get into the town till the chimes of half-past seven were +pealing. Captain Harewood hurried into the hotel, to prepare for the +evening; and Wilmet was mounting the stairs, still under the spell of +her newly-found joy, when she was startled by Alda's voice in a key of +querulous anger.</p> + +<p>'Exactly like you, always laying out for attention.'</p> + +<p>'What's this?' said Wilmet, as she saw Alda in her habit, standing +with her back to the open door, and Geraldine leaning on the table, +trembling and tearful, crimson and burning even to passion in her +panting reply, 'I don't know—except that he helped me in from the +garden.'</p> + +<p>'That's what I say,' retorted Alda. 'She is always putting herself +forward, to be interesting, and get waited on. All affectation. I don't +know such a flirt anywhere.'</p> + +<p>'Hush, Alda! you are insulting Cherry,' said Wilmet, in her tone of +command.</p> + +<p>'Take care of yourself, Wilmet,' cried Alda; 'it is the way she goes on +all day with Captain Harewood—reading poetry, and drawing, and all.'</p> + +<p>'Captain Harewood knows,' said Wilmet, coming to the support of the +quivering Geraldine, 'that the kinder he is to Cherry the better I like +it.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, if you do, it is your own concern. I only spoke for your sake.' +And Alda marched off, while Wilmet's strong tender arms helped +Cherry into her own room, and tended her through one of those gusts, +part repentant, part hysterical, which had belonged to her earlier +girlhood, though the present was now enhanced by the tumult of insulted +maidenliness. Formerly, Wilmet had not treated these attacks on the +soft system, but now all her bracing severity was gone. Greatly +incensed with Alda, she gave her whole self to sympathy with the +victim, showing herself so ineffably sweet and loving, that Cherry felt +a thrill of delicious surprise; and as her eye lit on the glittering +ring, a little ecstatic cry, still slightly hysterical, welcomed the +token.</p> + +<p>'O Wilmet, oh! You have! You have—'</p> + +<p>'To be sure I have,' answered Wilmet, not in the least heeding what she +said, in her anxiety to calm her sister. 'It is all right, if only you +will not go and be silly about it.'</p> + +<p>The woman was so much more than her words, that their odd simplicity, +coming from the grand-looking figure bending over her in tender +solicitude, touched Cherry the more, and she threw her arms round her +sister's neck, whispering, 'Oh! I am so glad!'</p> + +<p>Poor Wilmet! At that moment all her gladness had gone into a weight +like lead on her heart, though it only made her more gentle. 'Dear +Cherry,' she softly said, 'don't talk of anything to upset you. Will +you be good and lie quite still while I take off my things, and then +I'll come and dress you? You must not be knocked up to-night.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! I had much rather stay here!'</p> + +<p>'No indeed! John would be so disappointed. He does like you so much, +and I always depend on you to make it pleasant for him. You can't send +word that Alda has been scolding you.'</p> + +<p>'Oh dear! why can't I behave decently to her the moment we are alone +together?'</p> + +<p>'Don't begin on that, for pity's sake, or you'll get crying again,' +broke out Wilmet, in her natural voice. ''Tis she can't behave properly +to anybody—that's all; so don't think any more about anything, like a +good child, but lie still till I come back.'</p> + +<p>So up went Wilmet, not rejoicing in her room-mate, whom she found, as +usual, all injured innocence and self-justification.</p> + +<p>'You have been petting Cherry all this time! She is quite spoilt among +you! It is quite true what I said, though she didn't like it. In +society, I never saw a more arrant flirt, with her pathetic ill-used +airs. Why, Ferdinand actually found fault to-day with my manner to her!'</p> + +<p>Save for the effects, Wilmet was glad to hear it. 'Well, Alda, it is +not always kind.'</p> + +<p>'I only don't fuss and coax her; I see through her better than you do. +She is the sharp one. As I told Ferdinand, it is I who have reason to +complain of his manner to her, only I know it is not his fault. If +there were no other objection to this preposterous scheme of Felix's, +she would be a reason against it.'</p> + +<p>'For shame, Alda! You don't consider what you are saying of your +sister.'</p> + +<p>'I do!' said Alda. 'I have been more in the world than you, Wilmet, +and I know what comes of sticking oneself down close to one's family, +especially when there is that sort of spoilt invalid, backed up in all +kinds of unreasonable expectations. I advise you to take care, Wilmet; +you don't know what goes on in your absence. I should not wonder if it +never came to an engagement after all.'</p> + +<p>At that moment Felix's step and knock were at the door. Wilmet went to +it, and both her hands were clasped in her brother's. 'My Wilmet, my +dear, this is well!'</p> + +<p>Then Alda turned from her glass and understood. 'What? He has spoken? O +Wilmet, and you never told me!'</p> + +<p>'I had not time.'</p> + +<p>'And what a splendid ring! but it is not a proper engaged-ring. You +can't wear it.'</p> + +<p>'I must! He wishes it. It was his mother's.—Felix, may I have one of +Mamma's for a guard?'</p> + +<p>'May you!' said Felix, smiling.</p> + +<p>'I should like you to give it to me. Come in.'</p> + +<p>He came to inspect the unlocking of the ponderous old inlaid +dressing-case, with velvet-lined compartments mostly empty, or only +with little labelled papers of first curls, down as far as 'Edward +Clement, 1842,' after which stern reality had absorbed sentiment—a +sad declension from the blue enamel shrine with a pearl cypher, where +Felix's downy flax reposed.</p> + +<p>To do Alda justice, there was no greed in her nature, and she even +offered Wilmet a turquoise hoop of her own, instead of a little +battered ring of three plaited strands of gold, which their mother +had worn till her widowhood, and they believed to be the ring of her +betrothal. And when Wilmet suggested that the locket would delight +Cherry, Alda's ready assent inspired the hope that she felt some +compunction for her jealous unkindness.</p> + +<p>The locket did prove a soothing charm, coupled with the little +consultation as to the ribbon, and the capture of a smooth brown lock +of the present to add to the original. And as the manly fingers dealt +with the hasp, and the kind smile welcomed her pleasure, Cherry's heart +felt that while she had her Felix, Alda need little comprehend her +craving for attention from any one.</p> + +<p>Yet her greeting to John Harewood was shy, tame, and frightened, +compared with Alda's pretty graceful cordiality, as she told him that +she was delighted, and envied Lance his powers of diplomacy. In fact, +it was Alda who kept up the conversation, and made things pleasant, +with the ease of society; while Felix was shy, Wilmet longed for +silence, and Ferdinand looked like a picture of Spanish melancholy, +such as had almost infected the whole table.</p> + +<p>'I believe I must ask you to bestow a little time on me,' he said, as +soon as the meal was over; and Alda made it evident that she meant to +be in the conclave, which took place in the back drawing-room. It was +at once made evident that the Pursuivant proposal was abhorrent to her; +not that she behaved to Felix, nor indeed did she ever do so to any of +his sex, as she permitted herself to do to Geraldine, but she showed +great displeasure at the idea having been started.</p> + +<p>'Things are unfortunate enough already,' she said, with something like +Wilmet's dignity; 'but I should never forgive such hopeless ruin to +dear Ferdinand's prospects.'</p> + +<p>'Have I not told you that no prospect is anything to me if you can only +be mine?'</p> + +<p>'We know all that,' said Alda, drawing herself away rather sharply from +the caressing hand, 'and therefore I must think for you, and I will not +be the means of lowering your position in life.'</p> + +<p>'Alda, dearest!' cried Ferdinand, glancing at Felix in such genuine +distress as made him interfere in pity.</p> + +<p>'We understand about position, Ferdinand; and you and Alda have been +able to observe how far life is enjoyable in this lowered position.'</p> + +<p>'Felix,' said Alda, who had evidently wound herself up for this crisis, +'you know very well that you stand quite out of common rules; but I am +sure you can see that however valuable your work may be, it would be +wrong to draw Ferdinand to the same level.'</p> + +<p>'As for that,' said Ferdinand moodily, yet with the air of a banished +prince, 'Felix knows what my father was; and if I knew that my +grandfather was an honest man, it would be well. A stray wanderer, cast +up at your door, has no right to talk of levels.'</p> + +<p>'You are not to talk,' said Alda, more affectionately. 'You are too +generous to be allowed to think.'</p> + +<p>'In plain English, Alda,' said her brother, 'the objection is yours.'</p> + +<p>'I cannot see him sacrifice himself for my sake,' said Alda.</p> + +<p>'As though it could be a sacrifice!' exclaimed Ferdinand, 'when it +opens the way to make you my own at once, my peerless beauty! If you—'</p> + +<p>'Come, we have had all this over before,' said Alda, shrinking a little +petulantly as he hovered over her, speaking with the fervour of his +Mexican nature, and his eyes glowing with eagerness; 'if you will not +have common sense, I must.'</p> + +<p>'Common sense! It is not common sense I want! It is love!'</p> + +<p>'If you doubt my affection—' said Alda, with dignity, drawing back.</p> + +<p>'No! no! no! I never was so profane. Only it drives me frantic to hear +you so coolly willing to keep us apart for—'</p> + +<p>'Because my affection is less selfish and narrow than yours,' said +Alda, raising her voice as his became like a roll of distant thunder. +'I tell you, I will not be the means of binding you to a petty +provincial paper, that may give an immediate pittance, but will lead to +nothing. Would that be love worth having? I appeal to Felix, his scheme +though it was.'</p> + +<p>Felix was a very uncomfortable third party, especially as Alda's appeal +implied a certain accusation of himself. 'I own,' he said, 'that +this situation is not likely to lead to promotion, but it would be +competence. Ferdinand would be satisfied, but you—'</p> + +<p>'I, who know what he is used to, cannot be satisfied for him.'</p> + +<p>'As if you—' gasped the lover; but Alda would not let him go on.</p> + +<p>'No,' she said, 'we must be patient. For him to remain in the +Life-guards would be madness; but a few years at Mr. Brown's, with the +interest he already has in the business, will open a career to him.'</p> + +<p>'And I can run down every Sunday,' said Ferdinand. 'It is her +determination; I suppose she is right, Felix, but I wish— If I could +wish her otherwise, she should be less prudent!'</p> + +<p>'I cannot see that she has any right to ask it of you,' indignantly +exclaimed Felix.</p> + +<p>But he found this was putting his head into a hornet's nest. Ferdinand +would not have contested her right to send him down among the lions, +and would never have given her back her troth, like Knight Des Lorges. +No, he hotly contended that Alda had a perfect right to make her own +terms, and still more hotly, though most inconsistently, that to work +at Peter Brown's was his own free choice.</p> + +<p>It was incontestable that a South American merchant's career offered +more possibilities of rising into opulence and consideration than the +proprietorship of a country paper; and though Felix privately doubted +whether desk-work would suit Ferdinand half as well as the work where +he himself could have contributed wits, he could say no more. Ferdinand +was greatly disappointed; but there was no sacrifice that he would not +make, and persist in with his silent Spanish perseverance, for Alda's +sake. Indeed, he could not bear not to begin at once. He would return +at once to his regiment, send in his papers, and dispose of his horses +and equipments, making arrangements with Peter Brown to enter his +house. He seemed to be in a fever till the matter was in train, and was +entirely past remonstrance. And Felix recognised that the lovers must +act for themselves, and could only feel thoroughly vexed with Alda, and +equally vexed with himself for the consternation with which he thought +of having her at home three years longer!</p> + +<p>It was the next evening; and not only had Alda's own lover departed, +but Captain Harewood was missing, and with him Lance, and the only +explanation was from Bernard, that they were gone to Minsterham. No +doubt Wilmet was sensible of a blank when she came home, though she +would not allow it, and stoutly defended her Captain's right of going +where and when he pleased without notice. She had to fight his battles, +till late in the evening he walked in. 'Here we are! It is later than I +expected.'</p> + +<p>'Where's Lance?'</p> + +<p>'He came in with me. Gone to his room, then.—Here, Geraldine, this +little gentleman requests the honour of your leaning on him.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, what a beauty! What a dear little ivory monster! Turbaned head, +serpent's tail, and such a fascinating face!'</p> + +<p>'Is the cane the right length? I measured yours.'</p> + +<p>'You don't mean that he is for me? So smooth and so steady! Where does +he come from?'</p> + +<p>'From Benares—I bought him at the great fair; and from the moment I +saw you, it was plain that in the eternal fitness of things he was +destined to you.'</p> + +<p>'To make a Pagan of her,' said Felix. 'See her worshipping her little +idol!'</p> + +<p>'Not my idol, but my prop and companion for life.'</p> + +<p>'Your Lord Gerald,' laughed Felix, as she walked triumphantly round the +room, perhaps her first unnecessary promenade since she was seven years +old.</p> + +<p>'This is just the time I didn't expect you,' said Wilmet; 'is the seven +o'clock train put on again?'</p> + +<p>'We didn't come by the train.' And Felix and Cherry smiled at one +another as they detected that Wilmet's economical soul was vexed. 'I +wanted Lance to see his doctor again, and the railway seems so bad for +his head, that I drove.'</p> + +<p>'How very kind!' exclaimed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'I am afraid I have not managed it well. I would not make an +appointment, lest it should be a glaring day; so Manby was out, and we +could only leave a message before going to the precincts. Lance was in +wild spirits, and the boys gave him such an uproarious welcome, that +old Canon Burley sent in to know what was the matter, and was told it +was only little Underwood come back. He dined with us, but I am afraid +I was off guard, for I never thought of his going and taking a place in +the Cathedral.'</p> + +<p>'I should think not!' said Wilmet, 'except that it is in the nature of +boys to be provoking, even about Church-going. Then it has knocked him +up.'</p> + +<p>'He was forced to come out in the Psalms; and Poulter, one of the +lay-vicars, got anxious about him, and went after him when the Lesson +began, found him with his head down on the table in the sacristy, and +thought he had fainted, but he was only crying and entirely done up. +Manby came just as Poulter brought him in, and gave him a proper good +lecture.'</p> + +<p>'A very good thing,' said Wilmet, 'if one could only get him to believe +there is any need of care when his head is not actually painful. What +did Mr. Manby think of him?'</p> + +<p>'He says he is as well as could reasonably be hoped—quite recovered +from the fever; but the sun-stroke was as severe as any he has seen +in England, and coming on the top of all that overwork, both study +and music, it has left an amount of irritability and excitability of +brain that must not be trifled with. He made poor Lance confess all the +little experiments he has been trying on himself, and ordered him to +leave off whatever he is about at the first threatening of dizziness or +pain.'</p> + +<p>'Then there's not much chance of his going back?'</p> + +<p>'Not before Christmas at soonest. One would think the poor little +fellow must have been aware of that; but the verdict cut him up very +much. I thought he had better be quiet till the heat of the day was +past, so he lay on my bed till six o'clock, and then he said he was +better; but he hardly spoke all the way home.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet went at once to see after him, and found him already in bed; but +whether sleepy, suffering, or sorrowful, she could not make out, for +he hid his eyes from the candle, and only muttered 'No, thank you,' in +reply to whatever she offered, till she yielded to his evident longing +for darkness and silence.</p> + +<p>He was up and about in the morning; but when at noon Bernard rushed in +from school, he was neither in the drawing-room, garden, nor office, +and the door of his—or rather Mr. Froggatt's—bed-room was locked. +Bernard bounced at it, calling, 'Let me in, I say; I'll not make a row.'</p> + +<p>'There aren't any more of you?' parleyed Lance.</p> + +<p>'No! Let me in, I say!'—kicking at the panels—'I must speak to you!'</p> + +<p>'I'm coming; hold your din!' And Lance revealed himself without coat or +boots.</p> + +<p>'Holloa—how dark! You were never asleep? I came, because one can never +catch you without a string of girls and babies after you.'</p> + +<p>'Cut on,' said Lance resignedly, shaking up his horse-hair pillow: +while Bernard seated himself on the table, and in the half-light of the +shuttered room, began to disentangle some knotted twine.</p> + +<p>'Did you come here to do that?' said Lance, wanting to finish his nap, +and chiefly restrained by the trouble of the thing from kicking the +intruder out.</p> + +<p>'Only, I say, Lance, have you any tin?'</p> + +<p>'Not the valley of a brass farthing!' (The last pence of the Vale +Leston sovereign had gone into Stella's jam.)</p> + +<p>'Wouldn't Felix give you some?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know.' (Very gruffly.)</p> + +<p>'I wish you'd ask.'</p> + +<p>'You have as many tongues as I.'</p> + +<p>'Well, you see Felix is not half a bad fellow for one's governor, but +he doesn't know what's what; and Sims says he'll go to him if I don't +come down with something before to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>'Sims! Sims in Smoke-jack Alley? Is that your sort?' demanded Lance, in +ineffable disgust.</p> + +<p>'He's been keeping a dog for me,' said Bernard sulkily.</p> + +<p>'A dog!' Lance sat up in astonishment immeasurable.</p> + +<p>'Yes. It's the thing, and no mistake,' said Bernard eagerly. 'His name +is Stingo; only we are not quite sure whether he is a bull-terrier or a +short-haired King Charles.'</p> + +<p>Lance dropped back, wriggling in suppressed convulsions, as he +demanded, 'Where did you steal this unmistakeable animal?'</p> + +<p>'I bought him,' said Bernard, with a certain magnificence intended to +be overawing.</p> + +<p>'Then where did you steal the money?'</p> + +<p>'Travis,' said Bernard, who considered Christian names unworthy of +male lips. 'He always used to tip me a sovereign; and Ben Bowyer, the +dog-fancier, said Stingo was worth thirty shillings any day, only he +let me have him for eight and six, because he wanted to sell off his +stock.'</p> + +<p>'I thought as much. And Sims keeps him for you?'</p> + +<p>'At ninepence a week; but the brute is at me for ever, and says it is +twelve weeks.'</p> + +<p>'Pray, how were you to raise ninepence a week? By waiting on Providence +or turning coach-wheels?'</p> + +<p>'I had some then; and Froggy sometimes gives one half-a-crown, but the +old beast hasn't lately, just because I wanted it—nor Travis either, +bad luck to him!' quoth this grateful young man. 'I put them all off, +making sure of him; and now he's cut, and never tipped me at all! It's +an abominable sell, and they are all at me.'</p> + +<p>'All! what more? Have it out,' grunted Lance, with a sound of bodily +pain in his tone such as would have silenced any one above ten years +old, and a bored contemptuous manner that would have crushed any +attempt at confidence—if he had been the right person to confess to.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Bernard mumbled, 'Shooting-gallery. And Mother Goldie +vowed she would lug me up to Wilmet if I don't fork out!'</p> + +<p>'Mother Goldie! You little disgusting ape! You've been tucking in what +you owed in pies and tarts!' cried Lance, who was too constitutionally +heedless of the palate to have any charity for its temptations.</p> + +<p>'It's all Wilmet's fault,' said Bernard. 'She never gives one anything +fit to eat. There was that beastly lamp out there went and got broke, +and what does she do but crib it out of our grub! Now, Lance, was any +living soul served like that before? She gave us only that beastly +stir-about at breakfast,' (Bernard worked his single adjective hard,) +'no butter nor sugar at tea, and no pudding, except when there's that +beastly mess of rice.'</p> + +<p>'I'm sure I've seen pudding.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! she came round when Felix came home. She knew he wouldn't stand +it. Alda used to buy marmalade and anchovy on her own hook, so I don't +see why I shouldn't.'</p> + +<p>'Alda didn't go on tick, I suppose.'</p> + +<p>'Serve Wilmet right if we all did. I don't believe there's a beggar so +badly fed. Nares says—'</p> + +<p>'You unnatural little sneak, you haven't been and gone and complained +to him!'</p> + +<p>'No; but all the town is crying out upon her shabbiness. They say it is +a perfect shame how little butcher's meat she gets. Nares's mother and +sisters do nothing but laugh at it, and Nares says nothing will make us +comfortable but a bankruptcy. Hollo!'</p> + +<p>For a well-aimed swing of the bolster laid him sprawling on the floor.</p> + +<p>'Take that for mentioning such a word!'</p> + +<p>'My eyes, Lance, is it swearing?' said Bernard, with a little +affectation of innocence. 'How you have been and bumped my knees;' and +he sat on the floor, pulling up his trousers to gain a view; 'there'll +be a bruise as big as half-a-crown! Well, but Nares says it was a real +blessing to them; for before it old Nares was always in a rage, and his +mother boohooing; and now it is over they live like fighting-cocks, +on champagne, and lobster-salad, and mulli—what's his name?—first +chop; and the women dress in silks and velvets and feathers, no end of +swells! and they say it is regular stoopid to pinch like that, for no +one will believe we ain't going to smash while she is such a screw!'</p> + +<p>'If you weren't nothing but a little donkey,' said Lance, sitting +coiled up with his head on his knee, grimly contemplating him, 'you'd +be a show specimen of precocious depravity.'</p> + +<p>'I declare,' persisted Bernard, 'Nares says it is coming as sure as +fate; for his governor, and Jackman, and Collis are going to stump up +the old Pursuivant with their new Bexley Tribune, and Redstone is to be +sub-editor.'</p> + +<p>'The black-hearted rascal!' cried Lance, bounding on his feet in a +rage. 'He ought to be kicked out of the shop this instant!'</p> + +<p>'Now don't, Lance,' entreated Bernard, 'for Nares will pitch into me +for telling. He says they've got an opening through the Pur backing up +that mean beggar Smith; and Collis and Jackman will find the cash, and +Nares's father is to be editor, and they vow Froggatt and Underwood +will be beat out of the field.'</p> + +<p>'Catch them,' said Lance, and he stood leaning against the solid old +carved bed-post in silence, till Bernard returned to the insolvency at +present far more pressing.</p> + +<p>'Won't you help me about Stingo?' he said.</p> + +<p>'Do you want me to send him to the dog-show, ticketted "The Real Animal +and no mistake"?'</p> + +<p>'Don't, Lance,' said the boy peevishly. 'I thought you were +good-natured, and would lend me some tin, or at least stop the +blackguard from being such a baboon. He's found out that Travis has +cut, and he says he'll come to Felix this very day,' ended he, not far +from crying.</p> + +<p>'I can't anyhow, to-day, Bear,' said Lance, more kindly. 'My head is +very bad, and you've not mended it.'</p> + +<p>'It was well enough when you broke my knees,' grumbled Bernard. 'Come, +Lance, you used to be a fellow to help one.'</p> + +<p>'I can't, I tell you,' said Lance, hastily throwing himself back on +the bed, and shutting his eyes. 'It isn't that I won't, but I can't. I +couldn't walk straight down the street for giddiness; and if I did, I +don't suppose I could talk sense.'</p> + +<p>Bernard was startled by the tone as well as the words; but he had not +arrived at much pity for any one but himself, and he whined, 'But +what shall I do, then?' repeating it dolefully, as Lance lay for some +moments silent and with closed eyes.</p> + +<p>'Bother!' he broke out angrily at last. 'Look here. Tell the +blackguard—let me see—I don't well know what I'm saying. Tell him +you've spoken to me—no, to your brother—mind, you needn't say +which—and that he'll come and see about it. Now give me that bolster, +and take yourself off. Tell them I want no dinner, and don't let any +one come! Get along, and shut the door.'</p> + +<p>Bernard could extract no more, and departed as the dinner-bell rang, +leaving him without energy even to lock the door. Presently Felix was +standing anxiously over him; but he reiterated that he could not bear +to think of food, and only wanted to be left alone; but just as his +brother was leaving him, he said, 'Fee, do you know that Redstone is +going over to the enemy?'</p> + +<p>'The opposition paper? Nothing more likely. How did you hear?'</p> + +<p>'Bear picked it up. I say, wasn't that little beggar to have gone to +Stoneborough?'</p> + +<p>'Not possible, Lance; I've gone into it with Wilmet. She is in trouble +about household expenses, as it is; and with this rival paper on our +hands, I can't undertake anything extra. Has he been bothering you? I'm +very sorry, but we must keep him here.'</p> + +<p>Lance shut his eyes without reply; but no sooner was he left alone +than he rolled over, gave vent to a heavy groan from the bottom of his +heart, and clenched his hands as he lay. Then followed some heavy sobs, +and a few great tears; but gradually a look of purpose and hope came +over his face, and he slept. He was lying between sleeping and waking, +when a quiet step and cautious knock made him call out, 'Come in, Jack.'</p> + +<p>'Your sister wants to know if you are better, and ready for some tea.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you, I'm mending. Is Wilmet come home?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, but only to become the prey of an ancient female.'</p> + +<p>'Mrs. Bisset! Come to inspect you!'</p> + +<p>'She won't, then! Shall I get you some tea?'</p> + +<p>'No, thank you. But, I say, Jack, do you see my big box that we brought +home yesterday? Would you just dig into it for me?'</p> + +<p>John Harewood applied himself to disentangle a frightful knot, +observing, 'This looks like Bill's handiwork.'</p> + +<p>'Ay! Bill put all my traps together when our other fellows came back.'</p> + +<p>'Together indeed!' said the Captain, looking at the heterogeneous +collection.</p> + +<p>'There's nothing to hurt,' said Lance. 'Do you see a green box?'</p> + +<p>'A fiddle-case, you boy?'</p> + +<p>'A violin-case,' said Lance, with dignity. 'Give it me.' And taking out +his purse, he produced its only contents—namely, the key—tried to +sit up to unlock his treasure, but was forced by giddiness to lie back +again with a gasp, and hold out the key to his friend.</p> + +<p>'Come, I should think a fiddle the last thing you could want just now,' +said John.</p> + +<p>'Just so. I'm afraid it is. Only, just let me see if she is all right. +Ay!' and then, after a gaze, a fond touch or two, an irrepressible sigh +strangled in the midst, 'lock her up again! You ain't by any chance +going home to-morrow?'</p> + +<p>'Do you want anything?'</p> + +<p>'Why, when I got her at old Spicer's sale for twenty-two and sixpence, +Poulter was beside himself at my luck, and said she was worth double +that any day, and he would give it me if I got tired of her. Now, if +I'd only known yesterday, I could have done it myself; but I can't go, +and I can't write—but if you could but send or take it to Poulter, and +get the money for me!'</p> + +<p>'Do you feel bound to give Poulter the refusal? for if it is really a +good instrument, it ought to be worth more than that.'</p> + +<p>'Poulter has been very good to me. He taught me to play on it,' said +Lance; 'that is, he showed me a little; but Robin made me lock it up +and give her the key all last spring, for fear of hindering my mugging; +and I can't touch her now, so she has been very little use to me. I +promised Poulter, and I think he should have her. Besides, I want the +money slick at once. It's no good sticking it in a window to wait for +some one to give what it is worth.'</p> + +<p>John marvelled what need of money could have come upon the boy in +the last twenty-four hours, but he was too discreet a friend to take +advantage of necessity to ask questions, and said, 'The fact was, I was +thinking of running up to town to get a sewing-machine for your sister, +but if I start by the earlier train, I can see Poulter on the way, and +if he does not want it himself, he can tell me where to dispose of it +to the best advantage.'</p> + +<p>'Only it must be ready money,' said Lance; it must be owned with +scarcely the alacrity of gratitude John deserved. 'If it didn't make +much difference, I wish Poulter could have her, for then I should +sometimes see her and handle her again, and I think he would use her +well.'</p> + +<p>'Very well, I'll tell him.'</p> + +<p>'And don't tell any one here,' added Lance. 'You don't go and tell W. +W. everything, do you?' he added, wistful and perplexed.</p> + +<p>'Not other people's secrets,' said John. 'Now I am going to fetch you +some food; you are looking quite faint, you have had nothing since +yesterday's dinner.'</p> + +<p>Poor Lance! when John was gone, he turned with another groan, once more +took the violin in his arms, laid it on his shoulder, and made the +motions of playing, then kissed it, and whispering, 'Poulter will be +good to you, my pretty. It's not for that little beggar of a Bear! It's +for Felix, for Felix—' and then at a sound of steps, hastily replaced +it, shut the box, and fell back again, dizzy and exhausted.</p> + +<p>The next day, he betook himself to a refuge more impregnable to Bernard +than even Mr. Froggatt's bed-room, namely the office, which suited his +sociable nature, and where he was always welcome. He found employment +there, too, in cutting out extracts from newspapers, labelling library +books, and packing parcels, and sometimes also, it must be owned, in +drawing caricatures of the figures he spied through the chinks of the +door.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></h4> + +<h3>SMOKE-JACK ALLEY.</h3> +<hr class="r5" /> +<p style="margin-left: 25%;"><i>Launce.</i> It is no matter if the ty'd were lost, for it is the +unkindest ty'd that ever man ty'd.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 25%;"><i>Panthino.</i> What's the unkindest ty'd?</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 25%;"><i>Launce.</i> Why, he that's ty'd here—Crab, my +dog.—<i>Shakespeare.</i></p> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p>John Harewood returned, bringing with him what Alda took for a +dressing-case, and Cherry for a drawing-box, but which proved to +contain a wonderful genie to save the well-worn fingers many a prick. +To Lance he first administered the magical words, 'All right,' and then +making an opportunity, he put five sovereigns into his hand. Lance's +first impulse was, however, not to thank, but to exclaim, 'Then Poulter +has not got it?'</p> + +<p>No, Poulter's conscience had forbidden him to purchase 'little +Underwood's' treasure at what he knew to be so much beneath its value; +but he had given Captain Harewood his best advice and recommendations, +and by that means the violin had been taken at a London shop, still at +a price beneath his estimate, but the utmost that could be expected +where ready money was the point. Lance ought to have been delighted, +and his native politeness made him repeat, 'Thank you;' but he could +not quite keep down his regret—'Now I shall never see or hear her +again.'</p> + +<p>However, the next day, when Bernard flew upon him at twelve o'clock, +asseverating that there was shade all the way, he allowed himself to be +persuaded, prudently carrying with him only ten shillings, and trusting +to his blue umbrella rather than to Bernard's shade, which could hardly +have been obtained by sidling against the walls.</p> + +<p>Bernard did not seem to have enjoyed much more of Stingo's society than +Lance of his violin's—the produce of the same bounty. He confessed +that he had only ventured on taking the dog out three times in a +string, and on one of these occasions he had broken loose after a cat, +on another had fought with Nares's dog, and on the third had snapped at +Angela.</p> + +<p>'You didn't take Angel into these places!'</p> + +<p>'No, she came to meet me.'</p> + +<p>'That's a sign of grace; but, Bear, I can't stand these diggings at +all. I've a great mind to turn back.'</p> + +<p>'You won't!' cried Bernard. 'You must have been here often when you +were a grammar-school fellow.'</p> + +<p>'Not we! This is a cut below us! Fulbert would never have been caught +here!'</p> + +<p>'But you are going to get me out of this fix?'</p> + +<p>'Haven't I said I will? only hold your tongue, and let me alone to +manage the rascal. If you open your mouth, I've done with it.'</p> + +<p>Bernard was forced to acquiesce, though Lance's manner vexed and +irritated him. Popular and valuable as Lance had been with the +choristers, he was not dealing as well with his brother, perhaps partly +because he was more consciously trying to influence him; and likewise +because the state of his health and his prospects so far affected +his manner, that though never ill-humoured, it had lost some of the +easy careless sweetness of high spirits, and assumed an ironical +tone, exasperating to a child who could not brook ridicule. He was +ashamed and dismayed at the place where Bernard was leading him, so +low and disreputable that the boys of his time had never haunted it, +and his own <i>gamin</i> propensities had never extended so far. It was a +tumble-down quarter; the houses, deplorable hovels, run up hastily for +the workmen at the potteries, and every third or fourth a beer-shop; +and in the midst dwelt Mr. Sims, a maimed poacher, who kept a large +live-stock with which to trade on the sporting tastes of the youth of +Bexley.</p> + +<p>Probably he was gratified to see that 'my brother' meant nothing +more imposing than the chorister; but Lance had so cultivated his +opportunities at Dick Graeme's home, as to be more knowing on the +subject than Felix would have been. Indeed, it did not take much +science to estimate the value of the 'real animal,' whose market price +seemed to have fallen considerably. Lance, as he looked at the pied, +bandy-legged, long-nosed cur, felt it impossible to set his cost +against his keep, nor was he designed by nature for driving bargains; +but Sims' expectations were founded on the probable, and the debt was +annulled for three-and-sixpence and Stingo himself. Much civility was +expended on Lance; dogs, rabbits, and other curiosities were exhibited, +and an invitation given to come with the other young gents to admire +the favourite terrier's exploits upon a cage of rats shortly expected, +admission free.</p> + +<p>'You will come, won't you?' cried Bernard eagerly, as they went out.</p> + +<p>'What? To all the vilest sports in the place!'</p> + +<p>'But Lance, you told me about the rat hunt at Mr. Graeme's.'</p> + +<p>'What? Turning out the barn, with Mr. Graeme himself, and Bill, and all +the rest? Do you think that's like letting a lot of wretched beasts out +of a trap to be snapped up by a cur of a dog, with no end of drinking +foul-mouthed blackguards betting on him?'</p> + +<p>'You are always so savage, Lance; and now you've gone and paid away all +the money.'</p> + +<p>'What more?'</p> + +<p>'There's the shooting-gallery, you see.'</p> + +<p>Lance did see a public-house called the Flying Stag, where Bernard had +contrived to incur a debt of a few shillings under Nares's patronage. +While inquiring after the amount, he saw Mr. Mowbray Smith coming along +the alley, and was more amused than shocked at the amazement his own +presence there would cause the Curate; but just then he perceived that +men were standing scowling at their doors, and slovenly women thronging +out like ants when their hill is disturbed: and asking an explanation +from the damsel in ear-rings who attended to him, he heard that 'the +chaps are determined that that there Smith shall not have the impudence +to show his face here again, for a hypocrite, defrauding of the poor. +You'd best be away, young gents, there will be a fracaw!'</p> + +<p>'A row!' cried Bernard, between excitement and alarm. 'Shall we stay +and see it? Won't Smith spy us?'</p> + +<p>Lance deigned no reply, but seeing the rough-looking men gathering as +if to obstruct the Curate's way, he shot across the street to shake +hands with him.</p> + +<p>'You! I am sorry to see you!' said Mr. Smith severely: at which Lance +gave what under other circumstances would have been an impudent smile, +and asked, 'Have you anywhere here to go?'</p> + +<p>'I am just come away from a sick man. But you know how wrong it is to +bring your little brother here. Take him away,' he added, trying to +prevent them from joining him, and at the same time a voice shouted, +'Let him alone, young gents, he aint your sort;' and a hissing and +hooting broke out all round, 'A parson as ought to have his gown pulled +over his head!' 'What's gone of the coals?' 'How about the blankets?'</p> + +<p>Bernard got a tight grip, out of sight, of Lance's coat; Mr. Smith grew +red and bit his lips; but Lance walked close to him, and as they began +to be jostled, took his arm, holding the blue sun-shade over both their +heads. Unsavoury missiles began to fly; but a woman screeched, 'Bad +luck to ye, ye vagabone! ye've ruinated the young gentleman's purty +blue umberella!'</p> + +<p>'Down with it, young chap,' called another, 'or ye'll be served with +the same sauce!'</p> + +<p>'Serve un right too!' was the rejoinder. ''Tis they Underwoods, as +never stands up for poor men's rights, and is all for the tyrants.' +(All this full of abusive epithets.)</p> + +<p>'Who said that?' broke out Lance, beginning hastily to close his +umbrella, and trying to wrench his arm from Mr. Smith; 'I'm ready for +him.'</p> + +<p>But Mr. Smith, with an angry 'Are you mad?' held him fast; and his +struggles provoked a good-humoured laugh at the little champion, still +so white and slight.</p> + +<p>'No, no,' said a big powerful man, collaring a great lad who had been +thrusting forward at Lance's defiance, 'we don't have no mills with +natomies like you! Go home and mind yer own business. Your father was +another guess sort of parson, and I'll not see a finger laid on you. Be +off, till we've given that other bad lot a bit of our mind.'</p> + +<p>'Not I!' growled Lance. 'I'll have it out with that rascal +there.—Nonsense, Mr. Smith; I can, I say—and I will!'</p> + +<p>But the big man and Mr. Smith were perfectly in accordance this time; +and without a word between them, the impulse of the coal-heaver's +weight somehow opened a path, where, shoved by the one, and dragged by +the other, Lance was at the corner—then round it—the crowd followed +no farther.</p> + +<p>'A plucky little chap that!' quoth the coal-heaver to Mr. Smith. 'You +may thank your stars that he's his father's son, or it would have been +the worse for you! And if ever you show the face of you here again, you +know what to expect.'</p> + +<p>'I expect nothing but what I am willing to receive in my Master's +service,' said Mr. Smith, firmly meeting his eyes. 'Meantime, thank you +for the help you have given me with these boys. Good morning. You will +judge me more fairly another time.'</p> + +<p>The man added another contemptuous oath to those with which he had +freely laden his discourse; but Lance paused a moment to say, 'Thank +you too, you meant it well; but I wish you'd have let me have it out +with that foul-mouthed cad.'</p> + +<p>'Wait till ye're a match for him, and welcome,' said the man. 'Bless +ye! what could that fist do with Black Bill?'</p> + +<p>'For shame, boys! come away,' said the infinitely disgusted Curate; +and not a word was spoken down the first street; Bernard was still +trembling with excitement, and Lance, conscious perhaps that though his +interference had answered his purpose, he had been betrayed into what +he now saw to have been absurd.</p> + +<p>At last the Curate spoke, his naturally harsh voice wavering a little +between reproach and acknowledgment. 'I am very sorry for all this, +Lancelot Underwood. I believe you joined me out of a kind and generous +feeling, of which I am sensible; otherwise, I should feel it my duty to +report to your brother where I met you.'</p> + +<p>'You are quite welcome,' said Lance, coolly.</p> + +<p>'And I must say,' continued Mr. Smith, 'that if your whole training, +as well as your recent severe illness, do not withhold you from such +associations, at least I entreat you to pause before leading your +little brother into them.'</p> + +<p>Lance made no answer, except to halt at a public drinking fountain, +to wash away the damage his umbrella had sustained; and there, with a +serious 'Take care!' the Curate left the brothers.</p> + +<p>'Catch me going to his help again!' exclaimed Bernard, entirely +unconscious that his own gratitude to Lance was on a par with Mr. +Smith's. 'He may get out of the next row as he can!'</p> + +<p>'Ah! Bear! You see how you are corrupting my innocent youth!'</p> + +<p>'A meddling donkey! I wish he had a rotten egg in each eye! Now it will +all come out.'</p> + +<p>'What will?'</p> + +<p>'Where we have been.'</p> + +<p>'That's the best thing that could happen.'</p> + +<p>'You don't mean that you mean to let it out?'</p> + +<p>'If you expect me to tell lies for you, you are out there.'</p> + +<p>'But, Lance, Lance,' in an agony, 'you wouldn't be such a sneak, when I +trusted you?'</p> + +<p>Lance laughed. The bare idea of betrayal seemed so absurd, that he +scarcely thought it worth removing.</p> + +<p>The two were slackening their pace as they saw Felix at the +carriage-door of a lady customer; and Lance said gravely, 'I'll see to +Mother Goldie; but now, Bear, that you are out of this scrape, I give +you fair warning, that if I find you grubbing your nose into that sort +of thing again, I'll put a stop to it, one way or another.'</p> + +<p>'I'm not a bit worse than the rest. All the other fellows do it.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I suppose, if you think Stingo the right thing in dogs, you think +Nares the right thing in fellows!'</p> + +<p>At that moment the customer drove off, and Felix having spied the blue +sun-shade, tarried at the door to administer a remonstrance to Lance +on being so foolish as to venture into the noon-day sun. He was not +able to come in to dinner till it was half over, and then it was with a +merry look and question, 'What's this, boys, about Mowbray Smith being +mobbed in Smoke-jack Alley and your making in to the rescue?'</p> + +<p>'Oh,' said Lance, 'there was an attempt at getting up a shindy, but it +was of the meanest description. No one knew how to set about it. There +was only one Irishman there, and he was a woman.' (This with a wink to +Sibby.)</p> + +<p>'And you didn't offer to fight big Ben Blake?'</p> + +<p>'Ben Blake, on the contrary, elbowed us all safe out, because my father +was another guess sort of parson!'</p> + +<p>'And there was a horrible little cad making faces,' exclaimed Bernard, +unable to resist claiming part of the glory, 'and I was just going to +have pitched into him——'</p> + +<p>'What—you saw the row getting up, and went to stand by Smith?' said +Felix.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Bernard boldly; 'and nobody durst lay a finger on him when +we were on each side of him!'</p> + +<p>At which everybody burst out laughing, including Mr. Froggatt, and +Lance most of all. 'Who was it, then,' he struggled to say gravely, +'that pulled so hard at the back of my coat? I suppose it must have +been some little cad. I thought it had been you.'</p> + +<p>'Well, it was time to hold you back, when you were going to fight that +great lout!'</p> + +<p>'For my part,' said Lance, 'I think it must have been Smith and I that +were holding the Great Bear back by his tail from fighting big Ben +Blake. Eh?'</p> + +<p>Bernard, never able to bear being laughed at, looked intensely sulky; +and a true description of the affair being asked by Mr. Froggatt, +Lance gave it, exactly enough, but with so much of the comic side +that every one was in fits of merriment, all of which, in his present +mood, the younger boy imagined to be aimed at him. He was too full of +angry self-consequence really to attend, so as to see how entirely +disconnected with himself the laughter was; all he cared for was that +Lance should not betray him; and to assure himself on this head, it +must be confessed that he hovered on the upper stairs out of sight, +while Felix was lingering on the lower to say to Lance, 'Of course it +was only Smith's affair that took you into Smoke-jack Alley?'</p> + +<p>'Not exactly,' said Lance.</p> + +<p>Bernard trembled with resentment and alarm.</p> + +<p>'I don't want to ask questions, but you know it is not a nice place for +yourself or for Bernard.'</p> + +<p>'My dear governor, I know that as well or better than you do, and it +won't be my fault if I go there again.'</p> + +<p>'Don't let it be anybody's fault,' returned Felix, and vanished through +the office door; while Lance, sighing wearily, was heard repairing +to his refuge in his own room, and Bernard grimly and moodily swung +himself down-stairs, on his way to afternoon school, believing himself +a much aggrieved party. Here was Lance, whom he had believed a +fellow-inhabitant of the Alsatia of boyhood, turned into one of those +natural enemies, moral police, who wanted to do him good! True, Lance +had helped him out of his scrape, and guarded his secret; but Bernard +could not forgive either his own alarm, or the 'not exactly;' and the +terms of confidence so evident between him and Felix seemed to place +them in the same hateful category. Worse than all, Lance had laughed +at him, and Bernard was far too proud and self-important not to feel +every joke like so many nettle-stings. He had expected an easy careless +helper; he had found what he could not comprehend, whether boy or man, +but at any rate a thing with that intolerable possession, a conscience, +and a strong purpose of keeping him out of mischief.</p> + +<p>To detect which purpose was to be resolved on thwarting it. Nor, it +must be allowed, was Lance's management perfect. He wanted to make +himself a companion such as would content the boy instead of the +Nareses; but to cross the interval of amusement between sixteen and ten +required condescension, that could not but be perceived and rejected, +nor did he perceive that ridicule was an engine most fatal in dealing +with Bernard. Of course nothing like all this passed through the +boy's mind. Lance simply saw that his little brother was getting into +mischief, and tried to play with him to keep him out of it, but was +neither well nor happy enough to do so naturally, and therefore did not +succeed. Yet if he had abstained from showing Bernard a picture in the +style of Punch, of the real animal and no mistake, and Bernard himself +pointing to Felix and observing that the governor didn't know what's +what, he might have prevailed to prevent the boy from eluding him and +going to Mr. Sims' rat-hunt.</p> + +<p>Of all this Felix knew nothing. He still had much lee-way to make up, +in consequence of his absence, and the excitement in the town told upon +the business.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bevan's reply had been a timid endeavour at peace-making which +foes called shuffling, and friends could only call weakness, so that +it added to the general exasperation. Then came the Archdeacon's +investigation, which elucidated the Curate's moral integrity, but +showed how money subscribed for charity had gone in the church +expenses, that ought to have been otherwise provided for. It was +allowed that the Rector had been only to blame in leaving the whole +administration to the Curate under his wife's dominion, and as the lady +could not be put forward, Mr. Smith was left to bear the whole brunt of +the storm.</p> + +<p>His obsequiousness to Lady Price had alienated his brother clergy, and +his fellow-curate allowed himself to be kept aloof by his mother, in a +manner that became ungenerous. Half petulant, and wholly ungracious, as +Mr. Smith's manner was in receiving assistance, only strong principle +could lead any one to befriend him; and his few advisers found it +difficult to hinder him from making a public exposure of 'my Lady,' or +from throwing up his work suddenly and leaving the town, which would of +course have been fatal to his prospects.</p> + +<p>The Pursuivant had a difficult course to steer. Mr. Froggatt would +fain have ignored the strife altogether, but the original note of +defiance having been sounded by his trumpet, this was not possible, +and the border line between justice and partizanship was not easy +to keep. Whether the young editor did keep it was a question. To +Mr. Smith, he seemed a tame, lukewarm supporter; to Mr. Froggatt, a +dangerously conscientious and incautious champion; and the vociferous +public despised the dull propriety, and narrow partizanship, of the +old country paper. Finally, on the first Saturday in October, there +appeared the first sheet of the Bexley Tribune, with a cutting article +on bloated dignitaries and blood-sucking parasites, and an equally +personal review of all the Proudie literature. On the Monday morning +one hundred and twenty-nine Pursuivants remained on hand. Redstone +took the trouble to count them, and to look into the office to ask Mr. +Underwood where they should be stowed away.</p> + +<p>'I wish he was smothered in them, the malicious brute!' said Lance, +grinding his teeth, when Felix had given a summary answer. 'What a +blessing to see the ugly back of him on the 1st of November!'</p> + +<p>'I'm not so sure of that,' said Felix, as he sorted the letters of the +Sunday post.</p> + +<p>'Do you think he can do us any harm?'</p> + +<p>'No; but he seems a specimen of an article hard to supply at the same +price.'</p> + +<p>'Are those answers to your advertisement?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, and very unpromising.'</p> + +<p>Lance came to look them over with him, and to put aside those worth +showing to Mr. Froggatt; but it seemed that an assistant suitable +in appearance and intelligence was so costly as to alarm their +old-fashioned notions. He must be efficient, for Mr. Froggatt was +equal to little exertion, and never came in on bad days; and to give +an increased salary when the paper was struggling with a rival was +serious; yet the only moderate proposal was from a father at Dearport, +who wanted his son boarded, lodged, and treated as one of the family.</p> + +<p>'That is impossible,' said Felix, 'unless the Froggatts would do it.'</p> + +<p>'Eighteen!' said Lance. 'I'm sixteen, and up to the ways of the place! +Why don't you set me to work before I have eaten my head off?'</p> + +<p>'It would not do for you afterwards,' said Felix; 'I don't like your +rushing out to serve.'</p> + +<p>'But really, Felix, I mean it. I can do all Redstone does, except +lifting some of the weights; and I am as old as you when you began.'</p> + +<p>'No, no, Lance; your line is cut out for you.'</p> + +<p>'It was,' said Lance, 'but I'm off it, and no good as I am; and if you +could save Redstone's salary, you might send Bear to Stoneborough, +instead of letting him stay here and go to the dogs.'</p> + +<p>'Ah!' groaned Felix, 'it is hard that all this should come to upset his +chances!'</p> + +<p>'Are you really afraid those rascals can do us much harm?'</p> + +<p>'We have a sound county circulation beyond their reach, but every +copy they sell is so much out of our pockets; and there are so many +people possessed with a love of the low and scurrilous, as well as so +many who differ in politics, that it must thrive unless they stultify +themselves. Don't look so appalled, Lancey boy; we aint coming to +grief, only it will be a close shave at home this winter.'</p> + +<p>'Then, Felix, let me help! You don't know the comfort it would be.'</p> + +<p>'Not so loud,' said Felix, stepping into the shop. Lance stood +thoughtful, then hearing more footsteps, ran out, and found two or +three boys come for school materials, and some maids waiting to change +volumes for their ladies. He gave his ready help; and there ensued +a lull, for it was a wet day, such as to make Mr. Froggatt's coming +doubtful. Felix took a second survey of the applications.</p> + +<p>'Now, Fee, do think about this; I am in earnest.'</p> + +<p>'So am I, Lance; I am very thankful to you, but it is not to be thought +of.'</p> + +<p>'Why not? Am I too small? For that's mending. There's one good thing in +being ill, it sets one growing. My thick go-to-meeting trousers that I +left at Minsterham, are gone up to my ankles; I must ask Wilmet if Clem +hasn't left a pair that have got too seedy for Cambridge.'</p> + +<p>'It is not that, Lance, but the disadvantage it might be to you in +after-life.'</p> + +<p>'If I took to it for good?'</p> + +<p>'No, no, Lance; one is enough.'</p> + +<p>'Stay. Don't shut me up that way. Recollect what this horrid +donothingness is doing for me. I am losing all chance of the +exhibition, and they can't keep me on at the Cathedral without, for my +voice has got like an old crow's; and besides, if I can't read, what's +the good of standing for scholarships?'</p> + +<p>'You will feel very differently when your head is stronger. Besides, if +there should be anything in what we were told at Ewmouth, it would be a +pity to get more involved with trade.'</p> + +<p>'I thought that was never to be spoken of.'</p> + +<p>'And this is my first time. Don't take it as a licence.'</p> + +<p>'I could see the sense of that, if it were you,' said Lance, 'but not +for No. 5.'</p> + +<p>'No. 1 would have his place and work found for him, but No. 5 might not +find it easy to turn to something else.'</p> + +<p>'Well!' said Lance, considering, 'you said that possibility was not +to make any difference to us. Wouldn't it be making the wrong sort +of difference to let it keep a great lout like me in idleness while +Bernard is going to the bad?'</p> + +<p>'What do you mean about Bernard?' said Felix, now thoroughly roused. +'Is it worse than you and Fulbert were in your <i>gamin</i> days?'</p> + +<p>'I am afraid so,' said Lance. 'Ful took better care of himself than he +seemed to do, and his friends were decent fellows, not like the lot +that have hooked in poor little Bear.'</p> + +<p>'I suppose it was some scrape of his that took you into Smoke-jack +Alley. I thought you would get him out best without me.'</p> + +<p>'The little dog, he was always after me when I didn't want him, but now +I can't get at him. In short, there's nothing for it but cutting the +connection between him and Jem Nares.'</p> + +<p>'Just tell me how far it goes. What has he been doing with him?'</p> + +<p>'Taking him to see rat-killing at Sims' in Smoke-jack Alley.'</p> + +<p>'You couldn't hinder it?'</p> + +<p>'No. Indeed, Felix, I did my best,' and the tears sprang into the boy's +eyes; 'I did all but go after him, for I knew that would be worse than +no good.'</p> + +<p>'You need not apologize to me,' said Felix, laying down his pen; 'I +have been very wrong. Between this business of Smith's and all the rest +of it, I have hardly known which way to turn. I knew that I had not +taken the right line with Fulbert, and interference made him worse, and +I thought you had taken Bear in hand. Why, Lancey, I never meant to +upset you. You have done all you could.'</p> + +<p>'I <i>did</i> think I was good for that,' said Lance ruefully, 'after all +our old swells at Minsterham said about influence on the choir and +bosh. That when it comes to one's own brother—'</p> + +<p>The tears were almost girl-like, and Felix's comfort was in the tone +that suited them. 'Indeed, Lance, you may be doing him more good than +you know. I thank you with all my heart; you are a much more real help +and comfort to us all than you guess.'</p> + +<p>'That's what you say to Cherry!' said Lance, impatiently. 'Now I can be +real help, if you would only let me, and then Bernard could go out of +the way of these fellows.'</p> + +<p>'That he shall do, if I have to dip into the Chester legacy again.'</p> + +<p>'Better take my way,' said Lance, reviving; 'a young man with good +references only wants board and lodging.'</p> + +<p>'It is not possible, Lance. It would not be respectful to the Bishop +or the Dean, who have strained a point to keep you. There—I hear Mr. +Kenyon's voice in the shop. I must go.'</p> + +<p>'Only one thing, Felix. Will you hear what Jack Harewood says to it?'</p> + +<p>To this Felix readily assented. He was hurried and harassed nearly +to the extent of his time and capacity; he could not pause to give +full consideration to his young brother's project, and was glad that +the ungracious task of silencing it should be imposed on one less +immediately interested.</p> + +<p>John Harewood was always at Wilmet's side after four o'clock. Before +that time he sometimes went to his home; he often spent the afternoon +with Geraldine, but he was not usually about the house in the morning. +So Lance, in a fever of impatience, wandered till he hunted him down +writing letters in the coffee-room at the Fortinbras Arms.</p> + +<p>'Jack, I say, come and have a walk.'</p> + +<p>'Pleasant weather!'</p> + +<p>'You want to be watered, after all that parching in India. It isn't +raining now, and such a jolly cool day!'</p> + +<p>'Jollier for you than a finer day, mayhap,' said the good-natured +soldier, who greatly commiserated Lance's enforced idleness, and only +wondered at his not making it a greater misery to every one else. He +also understood what the inured ears of the family never guessed, since +Lance never complained, the distress of Theodore's constant hum and +concertina to sensitive ears and excited nerves; and had observed that +Lance had flagged ever since the journey to Minsterham, with less of +vigour and more of sharpness. Sure that something was preying on the +boy, he deferred his least important letters, to splash away with him +in mud and mist, and hear him explain his views, with the fullness +often more possible towards friend than family.</p> + +<p>John was greatly surprised, but did not make any crushing objection, +and listened with thorough sympathy. He doubted, however, whether Lance +would be doing any real good, and not only throwing more, instead of +less work upon Felix. Sensibly enough the boy went into the matter. +He said that when Felix began, the staff had also consisted of Mr. +Froggatt, Redstone, a lad called Stubbs, and a boy. Now Felix did much +more than Mr. Froggatt had then done, and Stubbs was a useful piece +of mechanism without a head, and Lance believed himself quite able to +fill the place Felix had taken at the same age; indeed, he had far less +either to learn or to overcome, and though his arithmetical powers were +still in abeyance, he had rather excelled in that line at the Cathedral +school.</p> + +<p>'I know, of course,' said Lance, 'that a man from a London house would +be of more use; but there's this awful salary, and he would never care +to look after Felix.'</p> + +<p>'I allow that; but even if you can be of much present use, is it not at +the expense of greater usefulness by-and-by?'</p> + +<p>'I am sick of that! Edgar and Clem both mean to be of use by-and-by, +and what comes of it? Edgar has spent Felix's two hundred pounds that +he borrowed, and now has got his own, all to repay when he is a great +painter. And he is six years older than I am! Now if I earned my guinea +a week, as Felix did, it would be real good now, and I should be +learning the trade for the future.'</p> + +<p>'That's the question. First, would the guinea a week make so much +appreciable difference?'</p> + +<p>'Is that all you know about it, Jack? First, I should be earning my +keep, not eating my head off; and then Bernard might be sent safe off +to school.'</p> + +<p>'You don't mean to say that otherwise he could not?'</p> + +<p>'It has been a terribly costly year. There's Edgar. Then Clem couldn't +settle in at Cambridge for nothing; there's been Alda turned back +on Felix's hands; there's been illness, and goodness knows what the +doctors may charge; and there's Felix's outing and mine!'</p> + +<p>John answered by opening his pocket-book and showing Dr. Manby's +account receipted.</p> + +<p>'O Jack! You don't mean—'</p> + +<p>'Considering that Will was the sole cause of the doctor being wanted at +all, we could only wish to bear the damages.'</p> + +<p>'I hope you have told Wilmet. It would be a ton weight off her mind.'</p> + +<p>'I hope she would think the Chapter did it; but if you think she is +anxious, let her know that it is all right.'</p> + +<p>'You are a brick, John! But Felix himself said it would be a close +shave. I wish I could throttle that Bexley Tribune, and all its dirty +supporters!'</p> + +<p>'Do you know, Lance, I am very much struck with your brother's—ay, and +old Froggatt's conduct in this matter.'</p> + +<p>Lance flushed with pleasure. 'Go ahead, Jack!'</p> + +<p>'Of course, for a paper to keep its politics is nothing; but to take up +the cause of an unpopular man, whose slights have been marked—'</p> + +<p>'Who has been a malicious little cad,' chimed in the chorister.</p> + +<p>'To take up his cause, simply as a matter of justice, and therewith of +the Church, without truckling to public opinion, at absolute risk and +loss, seems to me generosity and principle quite out of the common way.'</p> + +<p>'You're about right there,' said Lance, intensely gratified; 'and +doesn't it make one burn to help the old fellow?'</p> + +<p>'Quite true. The question is, which way to help him; and while I grant +you that the being idle at home just now is a terrible trial, whether +it might not be better to be patient under it, than to disqualify +yourself for a line in which you might do more—that is if it does +disqualify you.'</p> + +<p>'What line do you mean?' said Lance.</p> + +<p>'Scholarship, the University.'</p> + +<p>'That wasn't what I wanted most,' said Lance; 'and as for that, I'm +disqualified enough by all this waste of time.'</p> + +<p>'What was your wish, then?'</p> + +<p>'I'll tell you,' said Lance, with lowered voice. 'When I used to lie +catching notes of the chanting, and knowing that the organ was quiet +for me, I used to feel that if I got well, I must give up my life +to it, and study music in full earnest, so as to be a real lift to +people's praise, perhaps in our own Cathedral. I thought maybe I could +get in as a lay-vicar when my year is up, and work at harmony under +Miles, and take a musical degree. But then came that day when the organ +seemed to be crushing and grinding my head to bits—and of all Psalms +in the world it was the forty-second! and Manby telling me on my life +not to try to do anything for I can't tell how long.'</p> + +<p>'Was that the reason you sold your violin?'</p> + +<p>'No, of course not; except that it was a sin and a shame to keep it for +no good, when I thought a pound might pull that little ape Bernard out +of the mire. And I've been asking questions, and find it would take +huge time and cost to study music so as to be worth anything; and here +am I, a great lout, not doing that or any other good on the face of the +earth—as much worse than Theodore as I am bigger. So if I can help +Felix, when he is fighting the fight in the Pursuivant for God's honour +and good and right, wouldn't that be a sort of service?'</p> + +<p>'So undertaken,' said John, with a huskiness in his voice. 'Well, +Lance, I will talk it over with Felix, if you like.'</p> + +<p>For John Harewood, not having any strong musical bias, did not greatly +appreciate the career that Lance had chalked out for himself; and +while thrilled by the boy's devotional feeling, thought it tinged +by enthusiasm, and had seen enough of Cathedral singing-men to have +no wish to see him among them. If the loss of time was to prevent +a University career, he thought book-selling under Felix's eye the +preferable occupation.</p> + +<p>Discussion was, however, deferred by the arrival of a home friend, who +had sought him out at the hotel; and Lance had to go home without him, +and wear through the day between dawdling, drawing, and playing with +Stella, as best he might, till after school-hours; when, eager to turn +to the account of his wardrobe these moments when Wilmet was free from +her Captain, he drew her into his room.</p> + +<p>Presently after, Felix heard the most amazing noises to which his +family had ever treated him, and thankful that the wet day had reduced +the denizens of the reading-room to one deaf old gentleman, he hurried +upstairs, and beheld through the open door of Mr. Froggatt's room, +Bernard raving, roaring, dancing, and stamping, in an over-mastering +passion, and tearing some paper up with teeth and hands. Just then +Lance grasped his collar, and tried in vain to rescue the paper; but +he fought with fists, bites, and kicks, like something frantic, until +Felix, with a bound forward, suddenly captured him, and dragged him +back, still tearing and crunching the paper.</p> + +<p>'For shame! Be quiet! You are heard all over the place.—Shut the door.'</p> + +<p>The door was shut by Wilmet, while Bernard stood quailing under the +stern face, strong hand, and tone of displeasure in which Felix +demanded, 'What is the meaning of this?'</p> + +<p>'That Bernard refuses to wear Lance's outgrown clothes,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Do you mean that this is the cause of this disgraceful outbreak?'</p> + +<p>'I—I don't see why—' growled Bernard, 'why I should wear everybody's +beastly old things.'</p> + +<p>'It is right you should hear the whole, Felix,' said Wilmet. 'When +I showed him that Lance would have some still shabbier clothes of +Clement's altered for him, he said if Lance chose to be a snob, he +would not. Lance answered that it was a choice between that and +petticoats; and then he fell into this extraordinary state, when I can +only hope he did not know what he was saying or doing.'</p> + +<p>'He was drawing me,' bellowed Bernard, 'drawing me in his brute of a +book!' and he was so infuriated, that words never before heard by his +sister followed, as he quivered and stamped even under Felix's grasp, +which at length forced him into desisting; but the command, 'Go up +to your room this instant,' could only be carried out by main force, +amid tremendous kicking and struggling, Felix carrying him, and Wilmet +following to unfasten the hands that clutched at the rail; while Lance +stood aghast at one door, and Cherry in an agony at another, and Stella +crept into a corner, and hid her face in terror.</p> + +<p>'Well, we never had the like of this before!' said Felix, coming down, +having locked him in, and heard him begin to bounce about the barrack, +like prisoners in the breaking-out frenzy. 'Can it be all about the +clothes?'</p> + +<p>'I don't think you know what a grievance the having to take to old ones +has always been to him, poor little boy!' said Cherry, very nearly +crying, for Bernard was so much her own child, that in spite of his +having cast her off, she was in full instinct of defence; 'and he +dislikes Lance's most of all, because of the Cathedral peculiarities.'</p> + +<p>'Ah! you have always humoured him by taking off that chorister's +frill,' said Wilmet; 'but there <i>could</i> be no objection to those +trousers. They were almost new when Fulbert left them, and Lance has +only had them for best one winter.'</p> + +<p>Felix could not help laughing. 'Long had she worn, and now Belinda +wears,' he quoted. 'My dear Mettie, the effect is better than the +detail. You should spare us the pedigree, however respectable.'</p> + +<p>'Well, I said nothing about it,' said Wilmet. 'Was it what you said +about petticoats, Lance?'</p> + +<p>'Lance does tease and aggravate that child unbearably!' exclaimed +Cherry, too much vexed not to be relieved to turn her blame upon +somebody; 'and it is very unkind of him, for he knows Bernard cannot +bear to be laughed at.'</p> + +<p>'Hush! Cherry,' said Wilmet; 'if Lance did, he didn't mean it. It has +been quite too much—'</p> + +<p>'Indeed it has, said Felix. 'You had better lie down at once, Lance.'</p> + +<p>A good deal more than Bernard's outbreak had gone to the pain and +dizziness that prevented Lance from even attempting to reply to +Cherry's accusation, but made him turn quietly back into his room; +while Felix was obliged to hurry downstairs again; and Alda made her +frequent remark that 'those boys were really unbearable.'</p> + +<p>'Poor Lance! it was not his fault,' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'You don't know, Wilmet!' said Cherry indignantly. 'I did hope that +when he came home, my poor little Bernard might get better managed—he +used to be so fond of him; but he has done nothing but worry and laugh +at him, and I don't at all wonder it has come to this. I shall go up +and see about the poor little fellow.'</p> + +<p>'Do you mean to let her go and pet him after such outrageous +naughtiness?' asked Alda, as Cherry moved to begin the difficult ascent.</p> + +<p>'I should not do it myself,' said Wilmet; 'but I daresay she will do +him good.'</p> + +<p>Alda held up her hands in wonder. How many quarrels might have been +going on at that moment, if three of the family at least had not +exercised the forbearance she so little understood.</p> + +<p>Cherry and her Lord Gerald mounted the attic stairs. It was for the +first time in her life, and she was so imperfect in the geography of +the upper floor, that she had to open one or two doors before she found +'the barrack,' with Bernard lying kicking his heels fiercely at the +beam across the low room. The amazing presence of Geraldine suspended +this occupation. 'How did you come here?' he gasped.</p> + +<p>'I came to see you, Bear. My poor Bear! I am so sorry!' said Cherry, +sitting down on one of the beds; 'how could you go on so?'</p> + +<p>There was rebuke and pain in her voice, and Bernard resented it. +'They've no business to bait me,' he said. 'I've no peace in my life!'</p> + +<p>'But that doesn't make it right to fly into such dreadful passions.'</p> + +<p>'I wouldn't do it if they'd let me alone. I don't see why I should be +the one to wear every one's nasty old clothes.'</p> + +<p>'Why, Felix and Clement couldn't well wear yours!'</p> + +<p>'It was all Lance's doing. Lance has bothered me out of existence ever +since he came home.'</p> + +<p>'But you should try to bear it, if he <i>is</i> a little cross and tiresome. +You know he is not at all well yet, and all this has quite knocked him +up.'</p> + +<p>'I'm glad of it!' said Bernard viciously. 'Served him right for setting +Wilmet on, and then drawing his abominable pictures; as if it wasn't +enough to have spoilt all my pleasure, and sold Stingo!'</p> + +<p>'What was Stingo?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, just a dog—'</p> + +<p>'A dog!'</p> + +<p>'Yes, my dog; and Lance went and sold him, and then drew a beastly +picture of him and me.'</p> + +<p>'But, Bernard, how could you have a dog?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I bought him with some money Travis gave me, and a cad down in the +town kept him for me; but then Travis didn't give me any more—'</p> + +<p>'But, Bernard, you must have known you ought not. Did you get into +debt?'</p> + +<p>'Ay, just for a few shillings; and the brute threatened me so that I +just asked Lance—'</p> + +<p>'Was he such a dangerous dog? O Bear!'</p> + +<p>'No, no—the man that kept him. I thought Lance would tackle him +without making a row.'</p> + +<p>'And did he?'</p> + +<p>'Ay. He said he hadn't got a penny, and he kept me waiting ever so +long; but I fancy he got it from Harewood. He might as well have let me +keep Stingo!'</p> + +<p>Cherry's views of the relations between Lance and Bernard had begun +to adjust themselves, and she began to reason on the impropriety of +keeping the dog; but she soon perceived that this was only ranging +herself on the side of the enemy, and exciting the obduracy of her +favourite, who was determined to be a victim. In truth, Bernard was +not repentant enough to treat her with confidence, and his world was +so entirely beyond her knowledge, that she did not possess the threads +that would have led to it. All that she did perceive was, that much of +Bernard's irritation was at the endeavour to keep him out of mischief, +and that her own gentle persuasions were almost as distasteful as +Lance's jests. She sat on, arguing, talking, entreating, till it had +long been quite dark; and Wilmet at last came up to say that she must +not stay any longer in the cold, and to ask Bernard whether he would +say he was sorry.</p> + +<p>'I didn't want her to come here bothering,' was Bernard's grateful +remark.</p> + +<p>'Well, I advise you to take care you are in a better mood before Felix +comes,' said Wilmet.—'Come, Cherry, it is not safe for you to go down +alone.'</p> + +<p>Cherry could only entreat, 'Do, Bear, do,' and try to kiss the averted +cheek.</p> + +<p>She did not know that as soon as the door was shut on him and the +little flicker of gas, Bernard fell into an anguish of sobs and tears, +the work of her persevering love, softening and lessening the obstinate +pride so far that the next visitors met with a much better reception +than they might have done. The first came stumbling up with a weary +step, and pushed open the door, saying, 'Here, Bear, don't bear malice. +I'm awfully sorry I ever drew that thing! I'll never do you again. So +shake hands, and have done with it.'</p> + +<p>'All right,' returned Bernard, outstretching his hand as one who felt +that amends were made him, but could not receive them graciously; and +Lance's weary and confused senses were satisfied. He never perceived +hard lumps of offence unless he ran his head very hard against them, +and even now little guessed the amount of annoyance his raillery had +given.</p> + +<p>And next came a quick, resolute tread that made the little fellow +shiver with apprehension, never guessing at his brother's self-debate +whether obstinate impenitence ought not to bring the rod, and wondering +recollection of his own displeasure when Mr. Audley recommended its +disuse in the fatherless household. Felix held by the spirit rather +than the letter, and had decided that unless he found submission, +signal punishment must ensue.</p> + +<p>It was an immense relief to him to detect by eye and ear that the child +had been crying, and to be able to say that seeing that he was sorry +made it possible to attend to Lance's kind entreaty not to be hard upon +him. Absolute words of penitence Felix did not try to exact; but after +a few words of sympathy, which Bernard had by no means expected, on the +hardship of the second-hand wardrobe, and a reminder of the necessity, +he proceeded to rebuke for the passionate behaviour, and above all +for the language Bernard had used; expressing to the full how much it +had shocked and appalled him, by showing what sort of associates the +boy must have chosen since he had learnt such words at all, and what +a shame and disgrace he felt it that one of the brothers should ever +have uttered them. And Bernard—who had learnt that Satanic primer +with a certain shame and repugnance, under the strong desire to show +himself neither girl, muff, nor choir-boy, and certainly would never +in his right senses have betrayed his proficiency at home—was a good +deal impressed, and finally began to cry again, and to promise to cure +himself.</p> + +<p>Believed to have thus fulfilled the least pleasing of all his duties, +Felix went down to his long-delayed evening meal, and therewith to a +family council. Lance was gone to bed, and his proposal was the more +freely discussed, as well as his relations with Bernard.</p> + +<p>'That boy must go at once to Stoneborough,' said Felix. 'I shall write +to Dr. Cheviot to-night.'</p> + +<p>Wilmet sighed. 'I suppose I ought not to have objected,' she said; 'but +I did think Lance would have kept him in order.'</p> + +<p>'He has tried,' said Felix.</p> + +<p>'O Felix!' cried Cherry, turning to him with tears in her eyes, 'I am +afraid I was unjust to Lance just now, and I am so sorry! Do you know, +the naughty little fellow had been keeping a dog and got into debt; and +Lance paid all—I can't think how!'</p> + +<p>'That I believe I can tell,' said John Harewood, 'though I am afraid it +is a breach of confidence. He sold his violin.'</p> + +<p>'That violin that I was so angry with him for buying!' said Wilmet. +'Well, he is a dear little fellow!'</p> + +<p>'And I scolded him for being unkind!' cried Cherry, in despair. 'Oh, is +he asleep? I should like to beg his pardon,' and her hand clasped Lord +Gerald.</p> + +<p>'About the worst thing you could do to the poor boy, Cherry,' said +Felix, 'when he is only lying there trying to get his head quiet enough +to let him sleep.'</p> + +<p>'Nor must you betray me,' added John, smiling at poor +conscience-stricken Cherry.</p> + +<p>'And it is a mercy the fiddle is gone!' said Alda. 'I used to hear him +playing it somewhere among the out-houses in the spring, and it was +enough to distract one, added to Theodore's dronings.'</p> + +<p>'It must have been like parting with a bit of his life,' sighed Cherry; +'and yet Bernard would not mind him, and they <i>did</i> quarrel!'</p> + +<p>'Boys who deal well with juniors at school do sometimes fail with +little brothers,' said John. 'Besides, I observe that where there is +pride there is always a distaste and dread of those who have much power +of ridicule.'</p> + +<p>'I suspect, too,' said Felix, 'that Lance has made the turn in life +when one gets superfluously earnest, and nothing so upsets influence. I +have felt it myself.'</p> + +<p>'So all this trouble and vexation has been weighing on the dear little +fellow,' said Wilmet. 'No wonder he is not half so well as when he came +home!'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Felix; 'I wonder whether the Froggatts would let him come to +them for a week or two, or whether it would be too dull to be good for +him.'</p> + +<p>'If his mind were settled about the future, it would be rest rather +than dullness,' said John; 'but I think a good deal of his trouble is +caused by Manby's verdict, and for that perhaps the best cure would be +letting him have his wish.'</p> + +<p>'You, John!' exclaimed Felix; 'I thought you would have put that out of +his head!'</p> + +<p>'On the contrary, he made me think there was a good deal in his +arguments. First, as regards you, would he be of any real use?'</p> + +<p>'Never mind that,' said Felix. 'I heard something to-day that would +make it practicable; but I can't have that boy wasted.'</p> + +<p>'The point is, what is waste? Now his strongest aptitude never was for +classical work; and if he is not to touch a Latin book till Christmas, +and then only cautiously, I do not see what chance he would have, even +if Will were out of the way.'</p> + +<p>'And if not at Minsterham, so much the less anywhere else,' said +Wilmet. 'Besides, it might be a dreadful risk if his head were to be +overstrained.'</p> + +<p>'And in the meantime, the being kept here doing nothing, and vexing +himself, is wearing his spirits, and hurting him more than any light +occupation, especially what he felt to be a labour of love.'</p> + +<p>'That is quite true again,' said Felix. 'I quite believe he would be +much happier if he began working with me to-morrow; but it might be +letting a mere fit of impatience and despondency fix him for life in an +uncongenial business.'</p> + +<p>'I thought you preferred it!' exclaimed Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Oh yes,' said Felix, with a sort of half contempt in his tone; 'but +these boys of ours are a different sort of stuff, and we have seen that +it will never answer to pin them down to plod.'</p> + +<p>'Lance would never be like Edgar!' exclaimed Wilmet; 'as if Edgar ever +thought of doing anything so unselfish in his life!'</p> + +<p>'O Wilmet! indeed he <i>thought!</i>' cried Cherry.</p> + +<p>'Yes, but always of five or six years hence!' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'Lance is very like Edgar,' said Felix. 'He has what I believe belongs +to the artist temperament; and that he is the bravest, the most +uncomplaining little fellow I ever came across, and probably would +never break off what he had begun, makes me the more anxious not to let +this access of generosity—ay, and tedium—lead to taking any decided +step while he is so young.'</p> + +<p>'When you come to artist temperament, I don't understand,' said Wilmet. +'Lance doesn't even draw anything like Cherry or Edgar—much good does +that do! and as to his music, it would not be much of a living.'</p> + +<p>'I believe he thinks that the alternative,' said John.</p> + +<p>'For goodness' sake!' cried Alda, 'he doesn't want to get taken on +in London! To have him singing and fiddling in public would be worse +than anything. You put that out of his head, I hope, John. Even if he +changed his name—'</p> + +<p>'It never was in his head,' said John. 'He never thought of anything +but his old line—Cathedral music: and the sacrifice to him is of that, +not of the chance of the University.'</p> + +<p>'That's not so bad,' said Alda, 'because it is a great chance whether +any one ever heard of it.'</p> + +<p>'But I doubt if it be a very desirable life, as things are at present +constituted,' said John. 'I am not sure that it is not better to give +the musical talent freely for that service, than to make it one's trade +and livelihood.'</p> + +<p>'I think you are right there,' said Felix. 'I suppose there is always +some degree of disenchantment.'</p> + +<p>'What did you say made his notion practicable?' said Wilmet.</p> + +<p>'I've had Mr. Lamb with me this evening—'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Bruce's managing clerk,' explained Wilmet to the Captain. 'Does he +want you to have Ernest?'</p> + +<p>'Yes. He has missed the exhibition from the grammar-school; and as he +can't go to Oxford, fancies (deluded youth!) that he will get more +reading in this line than any other. He is ready to give a premium with +him, and spoke what Mr. Froggatt would call very handsomely about our +house being one where he could trust him. I believe Mr. Froggatt will +be gratified, and accept him.'</p> + +<p>'Ernest Lamb—Serious mutton,' repeated Cherry; 'doesn't he look very +heavy?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; he is bookish without being quick. I don't expect he will be of +much use just yet, but he is as steady as old Time; and though he and +Lance would neither of them do alone, yet together I think we could get +on.'</p> + +<p>'Then,' said John, 'does it not seem to you, Wilmet, that it would be +a greater positive benefit to accept Lance's offer for the present—on +trial, as one may say—than to leave him to the depression that is +certainly doing him harm?'</p> + +<p>'And if Lance was there,' said Wilmet, 'I should have some comfort that +Felix would be properly looked after.'</p> + +<p>'Whatever happens,' said Felix, 'I shall send Lance out to Marshlands +for a fortnight, and see if he is in the same mind when he comes back. +After all, it depends on Mr. Froggatt: and he will be afraid people +will say we have turned in the whole Grammar-school behind the counter. +I wonder if Lance is safe not to laugh in the old ladies' faces when +they ask—What number of what magazine, how many years ago, had a +receipt for washing anti-macassars?'</p> + +<p>By which they knew him to be very much exhilarated.</p> + +<p>That fortnight at Marshlands was not wasted. Lance had faculties +for never being dull. He pottered about with Mr. or Mrs. Froggatt, +fed their chickens, gathered their apples and nuts, petted their +cats, tried to teach words to their parrot and tricks to their dogs, +played cribbage and back-gammon with them in the evening, never had a +head-ache, never was at a loss or upon their hands, gained their hearts +completely, and came home wonderfully benefited by the respite from +noise and harass, and quite decided to stand by his proposal, to which +the partners, with some hesitation, had finally acceded.</p> + +<h4>END OF VOL. I.</h4> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PILLARS OF THE HOUSE, VOL. 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