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diff --git a/7191-h/7191-h.htm b/7191-h/7191-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..062457a --- /dev/null +++ b/7191-h/7191-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9522 @@ +<!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" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Modern Broods, by Charlotte Mary Yonge</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Modern Broods, by Charlotte Mary Yonge + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Modern Broods + or Developments Unlooked For + + +Author: Charlotte Mary Yonge + + + +Release Date: December 24, 2014 [eBook #7191] +[This file was first posted on March 26, 2003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN BROODS*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1900 Macmillan and Co. edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>MODERN BROODS,<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OR</span><br /> +<i>DEVELOPMENTS UNLOOKED FOR</i></h1> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br +/> +CHARLOTTE MARY YONGE.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<blockquote><p>“<i>Youth and age are scholars yet but in +the lower school</i>.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center">—<span +class="smcap">Tennyson</span>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><b>London</b><br /> +MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span><br +/> +1900</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall"><i>All +rights reserved</i></span></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Richard Clay +and Sons</span>, <span class="smcap">Limited</span>,<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">LONDON AND BUNGAY.</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall"><i>First +Edition</i></span><span class="GutSmall">, </span><span +class="GutSmall"><i>October</i></span><span class="GutSmall">, +1900.</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall"><i>Reprinted</i></span><span +class="GutSmall">, </span><span +class="GutSmall"><i>November</i></span><span class="GutSmall">, +1900.</span></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">PAGE</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER I</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>TORTOISES AND HARES</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page1">1</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER II</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>THE GOYLE</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page16">16</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER III</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>THE FIRST SUNDAY</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page23">23</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER IV</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>CYCLES</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page34">34</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER V</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>CLIPSTONE FRIENDS</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page45">45</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VI</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>THE FRESCOES OF ST. KENELM’S</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page57">57</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VII</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>SISTER AND SISTERS</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page67">67</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VIII</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>SNOBBISHNESS</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page75">75</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER IX</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>GONE OVER TO THE ENEMY</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page80">80</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER X</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>FLOWN</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page93">93</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XI</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>ADRIFT</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page103">103</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XII</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>“THE KITTIWAKE”</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page108">108</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XIII</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>CHIMERAS DIRE</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page119">119</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XIV</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page128">128</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XV</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>BROODS ASTRAY</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page135">135</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XVI</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>THE REGIMENT OF WOMEN</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page146">146</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XVII</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>FOXGLOVES AND FLIRTATIONS</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page158">158</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XVIII</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>PALACES OR CHURCHES</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page165">165</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XIX</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>TWO WEDDINGS</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page179">179</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XX</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>FLEETING</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page194">194</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXI</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>THE ELECTRICIANS</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page204">204</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXII</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>ANGEL AND BEAR</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page213">213</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXIII</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>WILLOW WIDOWS</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page224">224</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXIV</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>CRUEL LAWYERS</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page237">237</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXV</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>BEAR AS ADVISER</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page245">245</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXVI</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>NEW PATHS</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page258">258</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXVII</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A SENTENCE</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page266">266</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXVIII</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>SUMMONED</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page274">274</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXIX</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>SAFE</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page284">284</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXX</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>THE MAIDEN ROCKS</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page293">293</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXXI</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>THE WRECK</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page300">300</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXXII</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>ANCHORED</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page306">306</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XXXIII</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>FAREWELL</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page310">310</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 1</span>CHAPTER +I—TORTOISES AND HARES</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Whate’er is good to wish, ask that of +Heaven,<br /> +Though it be what thou canst not hope to see.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span class="smcap">Hartley +Coleridge</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> scene was a drawing-room, with +old-fashioned heavy sash windows opening on a narrow brick-walled +town-garden sloping down to a river, and neatly kept. The +same might be said of the room, where heavy old-fashioned +furniture, handsome but not new, was concealed by various flimsy +modernisms, knicknacks, fans, brackets, china photographs and +water-colours, a canary singing loud in the window in the winter +sunshine.</p> +<p>“Miss Prescott,” announced the maid; but, finding +no auditor save the canary, she retreated, and Miss Prescott +looked round her with a half sigh of recognition of the +surroundings. She was herself a quiet-looking, gentle lady, +rather small, with a sweet mouth and eyes of hazel, in a rather +worn face, dressed in a soft woollen and grey fur, with headgear +to suit, and there was an air of glad expectation, a little +flush, that did not look permanent, on her thin cheeks.</p> +<p>“Is it you, my dear Miss Prescott?” was the +greeting of the older hostess as she entered, her grey hair rough +and uncovered, and her dress of well-used black silk, her +complexion of the red that shows wear and care. “Then +it is true?” she asked, as the kiss and double shake of the +hand was exchanged.</p> +<p>“May I ask? Is it true? May I congratulate +you?”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, it is true!” said Miss Prescott, +breathlessly. “I suppose the girls are at the High +School?”</p> +<p>“Yes, they will be at home at one. Or shall I send +for them?”</p> +<p>“No, thank you, Mrs. Best. I shall like to have a +little time with you first. I can stay till a quarter-past +three.”</p> +<p>“Then come and take off your things. I do not know +when I have been so glad!”</p> +<p>“Do the girls know?” asked Miss Prescott, +following upstairs to a comfortable bedroom, evidently serving +also the purposes of a private room, for writing table and +account books stood near the fire.</p> +<p>“They know something; Kate Bell heard a report from her +cousins, and they have been watching anxiously for news from +you.”</p> +<p>“I would not write till I knew more. I hope they +have not raised their expectations too high; for though it is +enough to be an immense relief, it is not exactly +affluence. I have been with Mr. Bell going into the matter +and seeing the place,” said Miss Prescott, sitting +comfortably down in the arm-chair Mrs. Best placed for her, while +she herself sat down in another, disposing themselves for a talk +over the fire.</p> +<p>“Mr. Bell reckons it at about £600 a +year.”</p> +<p>“And an estate?”</p> +<p>“A very pretty cottage in a Devonshire valley, with the +furniture and three acres of land.”</p> +<p>“Oh! I believe the girls fancy that it is at least +as large as Lord Coldhurst’s.”</p> +<p>“Yes, I was in hopes that they would have heard nothing +about it.”</p> +<p>“It came through some of their schoolfellows; one cannot +help things getting into the air.”</p> +<p>“And there getting inflated like bubbles,” said +Miss Prescott, smiling. “Well, their expectations +will have a fall, poor dears!”</p> +<p>“And it does not come from their side of the +family,” said Mrs. Best. “Of course not! +And it was wholly unexpected, was it not?”</p> +<p>“Yes, I had my name of Magdalen from my great aunt +Tremlett; but she had never really forgiven my mother’s +marriage, though she consented to be my godmother. She +offered to adopt me on my mother’s death, and once when my +father married again, and when we lost him, she wrote to propose +my coming to live with her; but there would have been no payment, +and so—”</p> +<p>“Yes, you dear good thing, you thought it your duty to +go and work for your poor little stepmother and her +children!”</p> +<p>“What else was my education good for, which has been a +costly thing to poor father? And then the old lady was +affronted for good, and never took any more notice of me, nor +answered my letters. I did not even know she was dead, till +I heard from Mr. Bell, who had learnt it from his +lawyers!”</p> +<p>“It was quite right of her. Dear Magdalen, I am so +glad,” said Mrs. Best, crossing over to kiss her; for the +first stiffness had worn off, and they were together again, as +had been the solicitor’s daughter and the chemist’s +daughter, who went to the same school till Magdalen had been sent +away to be finished in Germany.</p> +<p>“Dear Sophy, I wish you had the good fortune, +too!”</p> +<p>“Oh! my galleons are coming when George has prospered a +little more in Queensland, and comes to fetch me. Sophia +and he say they shall fight for me,” said Mrs. Best, who +had been bravely presiding over a high-school boarding-house ever +since her husband, a railway engineer, had been killed by an +accident, and left her with two children to bring up. +“Dear children, they are very good to me.”</p> +<p>“I am sure you have been goodness itself to us,” +said Magdalen, “in taking the care of these poor little +ones when their mother died. I don’t know how to be +thankful enough to you and for all the blessings we have +had! And that this should have come just now, especially +when my life with Lady Milsom is coming to an end.”</p> +<p>“Indeed!”</p> +<p>“Yes, the little boys are old enough for school, and the +Colonel is going to take a house at Shrewsbury, where his mother +will live with them, and want me no longer.”</p> +<p>“You have been there seven years.”</p> +<p>“Yes, and very happy. When Fanny married, Lady +Milsom was left alone, and would not part with me, and then came +the two little boys from India, so that she had an excuse for +retaining me; but that is over now, or will be in a few weeks +time. I had been trying for an engagement, and finding that +beside your high-school diploma young ladies I am considered +quite passée—”</p> +<p>“My dear! With your art, and music, and +all!”</p> +<p>“Too true! And while I was digesting a polite hint +that my terms were too high, and therewith Agatha’s earnest +appeal to be sent to Girton, there comes this inheritance! +Taking my burthen off my back, and making me ready to throw up my +heels like a young colt.”</p> +<p>“Ah! you will be taking another burthen, +perhaps.”</p> +<p>“No doubt, I suppose so, but let me find it out by +degrees. I can only think as yet of having my dear girls to +myself, <i>moi</i>, as the French would say, after having seen so +little of them.”</p> +<p>“It has been very unfortunate. Epidemics have been +strangely inconvenient.”</p> +<p>“Yes. First there was whooping cough here to +destroy the summer holidays; then came the Milsoms’ +measles, and I could not go and carry infection. Oh! and +then Freddy broke his leg, and his grandmother was too nervous to +be left with him. And by and by some one told her the +scarlatina was in the town.”</p> +<p>“It really was, you know.”</p> +<p>“Any way, it would have been sheer selfish inhumanity to +leave her, and then she had a real illness, which frightened us +all very much. Next came influenza to every one. And +these last holidays! What should the newly-come little one +from India do, but catch a fever in the Red Sea, and I had to +keep guard over the brothers at Weymouth till she was reported +safe, and I don’t believe it was infectious after +all! Still, I am tired of ‘other people’s +stairs.’”</p> +<p>“It is nearly five years since you have been with them, +except for that one peep you took at Weston.”</p> +<p>“And that is a great deal at their age. Agatha was +a vehement reader; she would hardly look at me, so absorbed was +she in ‘The York and Lancaster Rose’ which I had +brought her.”</p> +<p>“She is rather like that now. I conclude that you +will wish to take them away?”</p> +<p>“Not this time, at any rate till the house is fit to put +over their heads. Besides, you have so mothered them, dear +Sophy, that I could not bear to make a sudden parting.”</p> +<p>“There will be pain, especially over little Thekla and +Polly. But if George comes home this spring, and I go out +to Queensland with him, perhaps I should have asked you to take +this house off my hands. May be it would be prudent in you +to do so even now, considering all things; only I believe that +transplanting would be good for them all.”</p> +<p>“I am glad you think so, for I have a perfect longing +for that little house of my own.”</p> +<p>“You will be able to give them a superior kind of +society to what they have had access to here. There is a +good deal that I should like to talk over with you before they +come in.”</p> +<p>“Agatha seems to be in despair at her +failure.”</p> +<p>“So is all the house, for we were very proud of her, +and, of course, we all thought it a fad of the examiners, but +perhaps our headmistress might not say the same. She is a +good, hardworking girl though, and ambitious, and quite worth +further training.”</p> +<p>“I am glad of being able to secure it to her at least, +and by the time her course is finished I shall be able to judge +about the others.”</p> +<p>“You thought of taking them in hand yourself?”</p> +<p>“Certainly; how nice it will be to teach my own kin, and +not endless strangers, lovable as they have been!”</p> +<p>“It will be very good for them all to see something of +life and manners superior to what I can give them here. You +will take them into a fresh sphere, and—as things +were—besides that, I could not—I did not know whether +their lives would not lie among our people here.”</p> +<p>“Dear Sophy, don’t concern yourself. I am +quite certain you would never let them fall in with anything +hurtful.”</p> +<p>“Why, no! I hope not; but if I had known what was +coming, I don’t think I should have asked you to consent to +Vera and Thekla’s spending their holidays at Mr. +Waring’s country house.”</p> +<p>“Very worthy people, you said. I remember Tom +Waring, a very nice boy; and Jessie Dale went to school with +us—I liked her. Fancy them having a country +house.”</p> +<p>“Waring Grange they call it. He has got on +wonderfully as upholsterer, decorator, and auctioneer. It +is a very handsome one, with a garden that gets the prizes at the +horticultural shows. They are thoroughly good people, but I +was afraid afterwards that there had been a good deal of +noisiness among the young folks at Christmas. Hubert Delrio +was there, and I fancy there was some nonsense going +on.”</p> +<p>“Ah, the Delrios! Are they here?”</p> +<p>“Yes, poor Fred did not make his art succeed when he had +a family to provide for, and he is the head of the Art School +here. His son has a good deal of talent, and very prudently +has got taken on by the firm of Eccles and Co., who do a great +deal of architectural decoration. The boy is doing very +well, but there have been giggles and whispers that make me +rejoice that Vera should be out of the neighbourhood.”</p> +<p>“Is she not very pretty?”</p> +<p>“You will be very much struck with her, I think; and +Paulina is pretty too, and more thoughtful. She would not +go with Thekla, because Waring Grange is far from church, and she +would not disturb her Christmas and Epiphany. She is the +most religious of them all, and puts me in mind of our old +missionary castles in the air.”</p> +<p>“Ah, what castles they were! And they seem further +off than ever! Or perhaps you will fulfil them, and go and +teach the Australian blacks!”</p> +<p>“A very unpromising field,” said Mrs. Best, +“though I hear there is a Sister Angela at the station who +does wonders with them. I hear the quarter +striking—they will be back directly.”</p> +<p>“Ah! before they come, we ought to talk over +means! Something is owing for these last holidays. +Oh! Sophy, I cannot find words to say how thankful I am to you +for having helped me through this time, even to your own +loss! It has made our life possible.”</p> +<p>“Indeed, I was most thankful to do all I could for poor +Agnes’ children; and though I did not gain by them like my +other boarders, I never <i>lost</i>, and they have been a great +joy to me, yes, and a help, by giving my house a +character.”</p> +<p>“When I recollect how utterly crushed down I felt, seven +years ago, when their mother died, and Aunt Magdalen refused +help, and how despairingly I prayed, I feel all the more that +there is an answer to even feeble almost worldly +prayer.”</p> +<p>“That it could not be when it was that you might be +enabled to do the duty that was laid on you, my dear.”</p> +<p>And with the exchange of a kiss, the two good women set +themselves to practical pounds, shillings, and pence, which was +just concluded when the patter of feet up the stone steps and +voices in the hall announced the return of Mrs. Best’s +boarders.</p> +<p>Just as Magdalen was opening the door, there darted up, with +the air of a privileged favourite, a little person of ten years +old, with flying brown hair and round rosy cheeks, exclaiming +breathlessly, “Is she come?”</p> +<p>The answer was to take her up with a motherly hug, and +“My dear little Thekla!” There was not time for +more than a hurried glance and embrace of the three on the steps +of the stair, in their sailor hats and blue serge; but when in +ten minutes more, the whole party, twenty in number, were seated +round the dining table, observation was possible. Agatha, +as senior scholar, sat at the foot of the table, fully occupied +in dispensing Irish stew. She had a sensible face, to which +projecting teeth gave a character, and a brow that would have +shown itself finer but for the overhanging mass of hair. +Vera and Paulina were so much alike and so nearly of the same age +that they were often taken for twins, but on closer inspection +Vera proved to be the prettiest, with a more delicately cut nose, +clearer complexion, and bluer eyes; but Paulina, with paler +cheeks, had softer eyes, and more pencilled brows, as well as a +prettier lip and chin, though she would not strike the eye so +much as her sister. Little Thekla was a round-faced, rosy +little thing, childish for her nearly eleven years, smiling +broadly and displaying enough white teeth to make Magdalen +forebode that they would need much attention if they were not to +be a desight like Agatha’s.</p> +<p>She sat between Mrs. Best and Magdalen; and in the first +pause, when the first course had just been distributed, she +looked up with a great pair of grey eyes, and asked, in a shrill, +clear little voice, “Sister, may I have a +bicycle?”</p> +<p>“We will see about it, my dear,” returned +Magdalen, unwilling to pledge herself.</p> +<p>“But haven’t you got a fortune?” undauntedly +demanded Thekla.</p> +<p>“Something like it, Thekla. You shall hear about +it after dinner.” And Magdalen felt her colour +flushing up under all those young eyes.</p> +<p>“Kitty Best said—”</p> +<p>But here Mrs. Best interposed. “We don’t +talk over such things at table, Thekla. Take care with the +gravy. Did Mr. Jones give a lesson, this +morning?”</p> +<p>“Yes, a very long one,” said Vera.</p> +<p>“It was about the exact force of the words in the +Revised Version,” added Agatha, “compared with the +Greek.”</p> +<p>“That must have been very interesting!” said +Magdalen.</p> +<p>Vera and her neighbour looked at one another and shrugged +their shoulders; while some one else broke in with the news that +another girl had not come back because she was down with +influenza; and Magdalen, suspecting that “shop” was +not talked at table, and also that the Scripture passage could +not well be discussed there, saw that it was wise to let the +conversation drift off, by Mrs. Best’s leading, into +anecdotes of the influenza.</p> +<p>All were glad when grace was chanted, and the five sisters +could retreat into the drawing-room, which Mrs. Best let them +have to themselves for the half hour before Magdalen’s +train, and the young ones’ return to the High School. +She was at once established with Thekla on her lap, and the +others perched round on chairs and footstools. Of course +the first question was, “And is it really true?”</p> +<p>“It is true, my dears, that my old great aunt has left +me a house and some money; but you must not flatter yourselves +that it is a great estate.”</p> +<p>“Only mayn’t I have a bicycle?” began Thekla +again.</p> +<p>“Child, I believe you have bicycles on the brain,” +said Agatha. “But, sister, you do mean that we shall +be better off, and I shall be able to go on with my +education?”</p> +<p>“Yes, my dear, I think I can promise you so much,” +said Magdalen, caressing the serge shoulder.</p> +<p>“O thanks! Girton?” cried Agatha.</p> +<p>“There is much that I must inquire about before I +decide—”</p> +<p>Again came, “Elsie Warner has a bicycle, and she is no +older than me! Please, sister!”</p> +<p>“Hush now, my little Thekla,” said the sister +kindly; “I will talk to Mrs. Best, and see whether she +thinks it will be good for you.”</p> +<p>Thekla subsided with a pout, and Magdalen was able to explain +her circumstances and plans a little more in detail; seeing +however that the girls had no idea of the value of money, Paulina +asked whether it meant being as well off as the Colonel and Lady +Mary—</p> +<p>“Who keep a carriage and pair, and a butler,” +interposed Vera.</p> +<p>“Oh no, my dear. If I keep any kind of carriage it +will be only a basket or governess cart, and a pony or +donkey.”</p> +<p>“That’s all right,” said Agatha. +“I would not be rich and stupid for the world.”</p> +<p>“Small fear of that!” said Magdalen, +laughing. “Our home, the Goyle, is not more than a +cottage, in a beautiful Devonshire valley—”</p> +<p>“What’s the name of it?”</p> +<p>“The Goyle. I believe it is a diminutive of Gully, +a narrow ravine. It is lovely even now, and will be +delightful when you come to me in April—”</p> +<p>“Shall I leave school?” asked Vera. “I +shall be seventeen in May.”</p> +<p>“You will all leave school. Mrs. Best has made it +easy to me by her wonderful goodness in keeping you on cheaper +terms; but if Agatha goes to the University you must be content +to work for a time with me.”</p> +<p>“Oh!” cried Thekla. “Shall I have +always holidays? My bicycle!”</p> +<p>Everybody burst out laughing at this—not a very trained +cachinnation, but more of the giggle, even in Agatha; and +Magdalen answered:</p> +<p>“You will have plenty of time for bicycling if the hills +are not too steep, but I hope to make your lessons pleasant to +you.” She did not know whether to mention Mrs. +Best’s intention of soon giving up her house, which would +have much increased her difficulties but for her legacy; and +Agatha said, “You know, I think, that Vera and Polly both +ought to make a real study of music. They both have talent, +and cultivation would do a great deal for it.”</p> +<p>Agatha spoke in a dogmatic way that amused Magdalen, and she +said, “Well, I shall be able to judge when we are at the +Goyle. Vera, I think you sing—”</p> +<p>Vera looked shy, and Agatha said, “She has a good voice, +and Madame Lardner thinks it would answer to send her to some +superior Conservatoire in process of time.”</p> +<p>Vera did not commit herself as to her wishes, and Mrs. Best +returned to say that if Miss Prescott wished to see the +headmistress it was time to set out for the school; and +accordingly the whole party walked up together to the school, +Magdalen with Agatha, who was chiefly occupied in explaining how +entirely it was owing to the one-sidedness of the examiners that +she had not gained the scholarship. Magdalen had heard of +such examiners before from the mothers of her pupils.</p> +<p>She had to wish her sisters good-bye for the next three +months, not having gathered very much about them, except their +personal appearance. She administered a sovereign to each +of them as they parted. Agatha thanked her in a tone as if +afraid to betray what a boon it was; Vera, with an eager kiss, +asking if she could spend it as she liked; Paulina, with a +certain grave propriety; and Thekla, of course, wanted to know +whether it would buy a bicycle, or, if not, how many rides could +be purchased from it.</p> +<p>When they were absorbed in the routine of the day, the +interview with the head mistress disclosed, what Magdalen had +expected, that Agatha, was an industrious, ambitious girl, with +very good abilities quite worth cultivating, though not +extraordinary; that Vera had a certain sort of cleverness, but no +application and not much taste for anything but music; and that +Paulina was a good, dutiful, plodding girl, who surpassed +brighter powers by dint of diligence. The little one was a +mere child, who had not yet come much under notice from the +higher authorities.</p> +<p>On the whole, Magdalen went away with pleasant hopes, and the +affectionate impulses of kindred blood rising within her, to +complete her term with Lady Milsom, by whom she could not well be +spared till towards Easter; while, in the meantime, her house was +being repaired.</p> +<h2><a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +16</span>CHAPTER II—THE GOYLE</h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">“A poor thing, +but mine own.”—<span +class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">“Thaay stwuns, thaay stwuns, +thaay stwuns, thaay stwuns.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—T. <span +class="smcap">Hughes</span>, <i>Scouring of the White +Horse</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Magdalen Prescott</span> stood on her own +little terrace. Her house was, like many Devonian ones, +built high on the slope of a steep hill, running down into a +narrow valley, and her abode was almost at the narrowest part, +where a little lively brawling stream descended from the moor +amid rocks and brushwood. If the history of the place were +told, it had been built for a shooting box, then inherited by a +lawyer who had embellished and spent his holidays there, and +afterwards, his youngest daughter, a lonely and retiring woman, +had spent her latter years there.</p> +<p>The house was low, stone built, and roofed with rough slate, +with a narrow verandah in front, and creepers in bud covering +it. Then came a terrace just wide enough for a carriage to +drive up; and below, flower-beds bordered with stones found what +vantage ground they could between the steep slopes of grass that +led almost precipitously down to the stream, where the ground +rose equally rapidly on the other side. Moss, ivy, +rhododendrons, primroses, anemones, and the promise of ferns were +there, and the adjacent beds had their full share of hepaticas +and all the early daffodil kinds. Behind and on the +southern side, lay the kitchen garden, also a succession of +steps, and beyond as the ravine widened were small meadows, each +with a big stone in the midst. The gulley, (or goyle) +narrowed as it rose, and there was a disused limestone quarry, +all wreathed over with creeping plants, a birch tree growing up +all white and silvery in the middle, and above the house and +garden was wood, not of fine trees, and interspersed with rocks, +but giving shade and shelter. The opposite side had +likewise fields below, with one grey farm house peeping in sight, +and red cattle feeding in one, and above the same rocky woodland, +meeting the other at the quarry; and then after a little cascade +had tumbled down from the steeper ground, giving place to the +heathery peaty moor, which ended, more than two miles off in a +torr like a small sphinx. This could not be seen from +Magdalen’s territory, but from the highest walk in her +kitchen garden, she could see the square tower of Arnscombe, her +parish church; and on a clear day, the glittering water of +Rockstone bay.</p> +<p>To Magdalen it was a delightful view, and delightful too had +been the arranging of her house, and preparing for her +sisters. All the furniture and contents of the abode had +been left to her. It was solid and handsome of its kind, +belonging to the days of the retired Q.C., and some of it would +have been displaced for what was more fresh and tasteful if +Magdalen had not consulted economy. So she depended on +basket-chairs, screens, brackets and drapery to enliven the +ancient mahagony and rosewood, and she had accumulated a good +many water colours, vases and knick-knacks. The old grand +piano was found to be past its work, so that she went the length +of purchasing a cottage one for the drawing-room, and another for +the sitting-room that was to be the girls’ own property, +and on which she expended much care and contrivance. It +opened into the drawing-room, and like it, had glass doors into +the verandah, as well as another door into the little hall. +The drawing-room had a bow window looking over the fields towards +the South, and this way too looked the dining-room, in which +Magdalen bestowed whatever was least interesting, such as the +“Hume and Smollett” and “Gibbon” of her +grandfather’s library and her own school books, from which +she hoped to teach Thekla.</p> +<p>Her upstairs arrangements had for the moment been rather +disturbed by Mrs. Best’s wishing to come with her pupils; +but she decided that Agatha should at once take possession of her +own pretty room, and the two next sisters of theirs, while she +herself would sleep in the dressing room which she destined to +Thekla, giving up her own chamber to Mrs. Best for these few +days, and sending Thekla’s little bed to Agatha’s +room.</p> +<p>And there she stood, on the little terrace, thinking how +lovely the purple light on the moor was, and how all the +newcomers would enjoy such a treat.</p> +<p>She had abstained from meeting them at the station, having +respect to the capacities of the horse, even upon his native +hills, and she had hired a farmer’s cart to meet them and +bring their luggage. Already she had a glimpse of the +carriage, toiling up one hill, then disappearing between the +hedges, and it was long before her gate, already open, was +reached, and at her own <i>own</i> door, she received her little +sister, followed by the others. And the first word she +heard even before she had time to pay the driver was, “My +dear Magdalen, what a road!”</p> +<p>Poor Mrs. Best! as the payment was put into the man’s +hand, Magdalen looked round and saw she looked quite worn +out.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Paulina, “bumped to pieces and +tired to death.”</p> +<p>“I was afraid they had been mending the roads,” +said Magdalen.</p> +<p>“Mending! Strewing them with rocks, if you +please,” said Agatha.</p> +<p>“And such a distance!” added Paulina.</p> +<p>“Not quite three miles,” replied Magdalen. +“Here is some tea to repair you.”</p> +<p>“My dear Magdalen”—in a +chorus—“that really is quite impossible. It +must be five, at least.”</p> +<p>“Your nearest town ten miles off!” sighed +Vera.</p> +<p>“Your nearest church,” cried Paulina.</p> +<p>“Up in the wilds,” said Agatha.</p> +<p>Magdalen felt as if these speeches were so many drops of water +in her face and that of her beautiful Goyle, but she rose in its +defence.</p> +<p>“It actually is less than three miles,” she +said. “I have walked it several times, and the cabs +only charge three.”</p> +<p>“That is testimony,” said Mrs. Best, smiling; +“but hills, perhaps, reckon for miles in one’s +feelings!”</p> +<p>“Particularly before you are rested,” said +Magdalen, setting her down in a comfortable wicker chair. +“You will think little of it on your own feet, Vera, and +the church is much nearer, Paulina, only on the other side of the +hill.”</p> +<p>“May I have a bicycle of my own?” burst in Thekla, +again; while every one began laughing, and Agatha told her that +Sister would think her brains were cycling.</p> +<blockquote><p>“With centric and concentric scribbled +o’er<br /> +Cycle and epicycle orb in orb.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“Epicycle?” cried Vera. “I saw it +advertised in the <i>Queen</i>. A splendid one.”</p> +<p>“Ah! Magdalen, you will think I have not taught +them their Milton,” said Mrs. Best, as both elders burst +out laughing; and Agatha said, in an undertone, +“Don’t make yourself such a goose, Vera.”</p> +<p>“I should think it rather rough sailing for +bikes,” said Paulina.</p> +<p>“I should have thought so, myself,” returned +Magdalen; “but the Clipstone girls do not seem to think +so. I see them sailing merrily into Rockstone.”</p> +<p>“You have neighbours, then?” said Vera.</p> +<p>“Certainly. Rockstone supplies a good deal. +Here are various cards of people whose visits are yet to be +returned. Clipstone is further off; but the daughters will +be nice friends for you. I met one of them before, when she +was staying at Lord Rotherwood’s. But I am afraid +your boxes are hardly come yet. Still, you will like to +take off your things before dinner, even if you cannot +unpack.”</p> +<p>She led the way, and disposed of each girl in her new +quarters, explaining to Agatha that her’s and her little +lodger were only temporary; but it struck upon her rather +painfully that the only word of approbation or comfort came from +Mrs. Best, and there were no notes at all of admiration of the +scenery.</p> +<p>“Well,” she said to herself, “much is not to +be expected from people who have been tired and shaken up in a +station cab over newly-mended roads! Were they as bad when +I came? But then I could look out, and did not hear poor +Sophy’s groans all the way. I rather wish she had not +come with them, though I am glad to see her again for this last +time.”</p> +<p>Meantime the four girls had congregated in the room +appropriated to Vera and Paulina. “Here are the +necessaries of life,” said Agatha, handing out a brush and +comb. “That slow wain may roll its course in utter +darkness before it comes here.”</p> +<p>“To the other end of nowhere,” said Vera.</p> +<p>“And I am so tired,” whined Thekla. +“These tight boots do hurt me so! I want to go to +bed.”</p> +<p>Paulina was already on her knees, removing the boots and +accommodating a pair of slippers to the little feet.</p> +<p>“We might as well be in a desert island,” +continued Vera, “shut up from everything with an old +frump.”</p> +<p>“Take care,” said Agatha, in warning, signing +towards Thekla.</p> +<p>“I am sure she looks jolly and good-natured,” said +Paulina.</p> +<p>“But did you hear what Elsie Lee always calls her, +‘our maiden aunt’?”</p> +<p>All three laughed, and Vera added, “All the girls say +she can’t be less than fifty.”</p> +<p>“Topsy! You know she is only sixteen years older +than I am.”</p> +<p>“Well, that’s half a hundred!”</p> +<p>“Sixteen and nineteen, what do they make?”</p> +<p>“Oh, never mind your sums. She has got the face +and look of half a hundred!”</p> +<p>“Now, I thought her face and her dress like a +girl’s,” said Paulina.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Vera, “that’s just the way +with old maids. They dress themselves up youthfully and +affect girlish airs, and are all the more horrid.”</p> +<p>“That’s your experience!” said Agatha. +“But there’s the waggon creeping up at a +snail’s pace. Let us run down and see after our +things.”</p> +<h2><a name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +23</span>CHAPTER III—THE FIRST SUNDAY</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Speed on, speed on, the footpath way,<br /> + And merrily hunt the stile-a;<br /> +A merry heart goes all the way,<br /> + A sad tires in a mile-a.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span +class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Sunday</span> morning rose with new and +bright hopes. The girls looked out at their window, and saw +that it was a beautiful morning, and that the spring sunshine +glowed upon the purple summits of the hills. Agatha +supposed there would be a pleasant walk to church; Paulina said +she had heard good accounts of the services in that part of the +country; Vera hoped that they would see what their neighbours +were like, and Thekla was delighted with the jolly garden and +places to scramble in.</p> +<p>On this first Sunday they were let alone to explore the garden +before the walk to church, which Magdalen foresaw would be a long +affair with Mrs. Best. After their decorous stillness at +breakfast, it was a contrast to hear the merry voices and +laughter outside, but it subsided as soon as she approached, +though she did not hear the murmured ripple, “Here comes +maiden aunt! Behold—Quite a spicy hat!”</p> +<p>In truth, Magdalen’s hat was a pretty new one, not by +any means unsuitable to her age and appearance, and altogether +her air was more stylish than the country town breeding was +accustomed to; her dress perfectly plain, but well made.</p> +<p>Vera was perhaps the most sensible of the perfection of the +turn-out; Agatha chiefly felt that her more decorated skirt and +mantle had their inconveniences in walking through the red mud of +the lanes, impeded by books and umbrella, which left no leisure +to admire the primroses that studded the deep banks and which +delighted Thekla in the freedom of short skirts.</p> +<p>Magdalen herself had enough to do in steering along such a +substantial craft as poor Mrs. Best, used to church-going along a +street, and shrouded under a squirrel mantle of many pounds +weight.</p> +<p>Barely in time was the convoy when at last the exhausted lady +was helped over the stone stile that led to the churchyard. +Highly picturesque was the grey structure outside, but within +modernism had not done much; the chancel was feebly fitted after +the ideas of the “fifties,” but the faded woodwork of +the nave was intact, and Magdalen still had to sit in the grim +pew of her predecessors.</p> +<p>The girls’ looks at each other might have suited the +entrance to a condemned cell, and the pulpit towered above them +with a faded green cushion, that seemed in danger of tumbling +down over their heads.</p> +<p>The service was a plain one, but reverent and careful; the +music had a considerable element of harmonium mixed with +schoolchild voices, and the sermon from an elderly man was a good +one; but when the move to go out was made, and the young ones +were beyond ear-shot of their elders, the exclamations were, +“Well, I never thought to have gone back to Georgian +era.”</p> +<p>“Exactly the element of our maiden aunt.”</p> +<p>“And nobody to be seen.”</p> +<p>“Naggie, why do they shut one up in boxes?”</p> +<p>“Just to daunt Flapsy’s roving eye, Tickle, my +dear.”</p> +<p>“Don’t, Polly. There was nobody to be seen +if we hadn’t been in a box. Of course no one comes +there but stately old farmers and their smart daughters. I +saw one with a Gainsborough hat, and a bunch of cock’s +feathers, with a scarlet cactus cocking it up behind.”</p> +<p>“Flapsy made use of her opportunities, you see. +Being ‘emparocked in a pew’ cannot daunt her spirit +of research.”</p> +<p>“Now, Nag, I only meant to show you what impossible +people they are.”</p> +<p>“Natives who will repay the study perhaps,” +continued Agatha, reading as though from a book of travels. +“We were able to observe a group of the aborigines at their +devotions. Conspicuous was a not ungraceful young female, +whose head, ornamented with a plume of feathers, towered above +the enclosure in which she was secluded, while an aged fakir, +hakem or medicine man pronounced from a loftier structure +resembling a sentry box.”</p> +<p>“Children, children, that’s the wrong way,” +came Magdalen’s voice from behind. “You must +turn into that lane. Wait a moment.”</p> +<p>They waited till Mrs. Best’s lagging steps allowed +Magdalen to come up with them, but dead silence fell on them when +Mrs. Best observed, “You were very merry.” They +could not speak of the cause. Perhaps Magdalen divined +something, for she said, “We hope to make some +improvements, and so indeed does Mr. Earl, but he is very +poor. Besides, newcomers must work slowly.”</p> +<p>The doubt whether she had heard Agatha’s speech made the +girls conscious enough to keep from responding, as she meant them +to do, by cheerful criticisms, and indeed the task of cheering +and dragging on Mrs. Best was quite enough to occupy her. +There was only three years difference in their ages, but this +seemed to have made a great interval between one whose +<i>métier</i> had been to be youthful and active, and her +who had to be staid and dignified.</p> +<p>The early dinner passed in all demureness and formality, and +the poor visitor was too much tired for any more services to be +thought of for her. Magdalen explained that when the days +would be longer, she thought of walking to Rockstone for +evensong, but now the best way was to go to the chapel at +Clipstone, which was nearer than either of the others.</p> +<p>“There is a lovely little chapel there, beautifully +fitted up by Lord Rotherwood and Sir Jasper Merrifield, for the +hamlet,” she said.</p> +<p>“How far?” asked Mrs. Best.</p> +<p>“About a mile and a half across the fields; further by +the road. You will find your bicycles available when you +know the way.”</p> +<p>“Don’t we go to Rockstone?” asked +Paulina. “I am sure there is a really satisfactory +church there.”</p> +<p>“St. Kenelm’s, do you mean? That is not so +near as St. Andrew’s Church, but that is very satisfactory, +and I go to one or other of them on week-days. It is too +late to come back on these spring Sundays.”</p> +<p>“I should not like to live among so many +churches,” said Mrs. Best, “and so far from them +all!”</p> +<p>“You love your old parish church, like a faithful old +churchwoman,” said Magdalen. “Well, you see, I +am faithful enough to go to my parish in the morning, but I think +we may be discursive afterwards. There is a Sunday school +in which I was waiting to offer help till our party was made +up.”</p> +<p>Magdalen had looked twice for a responding smile, first from +Agatha, and then from Paulina, but none was awakened. The +girls clustered together in the bedroom, and the word +“Goody” passed between them.</p> +<p>“Tempered by respect for my Lord and Sir Jasper,” +added Agatha.</p> +<p>“And avoiding St. Kenelm’s because it is the real +correct church,” said Paulina.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes!” cried Vera. “Mr. Hubert +Delrio went to see it in case Eccles and Beamster should have an +order. We must go there.”</p> +<p>“Of course,” said Paulina, with a sympathetic +nod.</p> +<p>“But,” said Agatha, “there will be an +embargo on all acquaintance except the grandees at +Clipstone.”</p> +<p>“I shall never drop old friends,” cried +Vera. “I am a rock of crystal as regards them, +whatever swells may require, if they burst themselves like the +frog and the ox.”</p> +<p>“Well done, crystal rock; but suppose the old friends +slide off and drop you?” laughed Agatha.</p> +<p>Vera tossed her head; and Thekla ran in to say that Sister was +ready.</p> +<p>The walk was shorter and pleasanter than that in the morning, +over moorland, but with a good road; but all Magdalen discovered +on the walk was that though the girls had attended botanical +classes, they did not recognise spear-wort when they saw it, and +Agatha thought the old catalogue fashions of botany were quite +exploded. This was a sentiment, and it gave hopes of +something like an argument and a conversation, but they were at +that moment overtaken by the neighbouring farmer’s wife, +who wanted to give Miss Prescott some information about a setting +of eggs, which she did at some length, and with a rapid utterance +of dialect that amused, while it puzzled, Magdalen, and her +inquiries and comments were decided to be “thoroughly +good-wife” by all save Thekla, who hailed the possible +ownership of a hen and chicken as almost equal to that of a +bicycle.</p> +<p>Magdalen further discovered that Thekla’s name in common +use was “Tickle,” or else “Tick-tick”; +Paulina was, of course, Paula or Polly; Vera had her old baby +title of Flapsy, which somehow suited her restless nervous +motions, and Agatha had become Nag. Well, it was the +fashion of the day, though not a pretty one; but Magdalen +recollected, with some pain, her father’s pleasure in the +selection of saintly names for his little daughters, and she +wondered how he would have liked to hear them thus +transmuted. There had been something bordering on sentiment +in her father’s character, and something in Paulina’s +expression made her hope to see it repeated by inheritance. +She saw the countenance brighten out of the morning’s +antagonistic air when they entered the little chapel at +Clipstone, and saw the altar adorned and carefully decked with +white narcissus and golden daffodils.</p> +<p>The little chapel was old and plain, very small, but +reverently cared for. There was no choir, but the chairs of +those who could sing were placed near the harmonium, which was +played by one of the young ladies from the large gabled house to +which the chapel was attached, and the singing had the refined +tones that belong to the music of cultivated people. The +congregation was evidently of poor folks from the hamlet, +dependants of the great house, and the family itself, a +grey-haired, fine-looking general, a tall dark-eyed lady, a tall +youth, a schoolboy, and four girls—one of whom was +musician, and the other presided over the school children. +The service was reverent, the catechising good and effective, the +sermon brief, and summing up in a spiritual and devotional +manner; Magdalen was happy, and trusted that Paulina was so +likewise.</p> +<p>She expected to hear some commendation as they walked home, +but Vera alone kept with her, to examine her on the names and +standing of the persons she had seen, on which there was as yet +little to tell, for the first move towards acquaintance had not +yet been made. All that was known was that there were Sir +Jasper and Lady Merrifield, connections of Lord Rotherwood, who +owned most of the Rockstone property, and who with his family had +once been staying in the country house where Magdalen had been +governess; but it was a long time ago, and she only recollected +that there were some nice little girls. At least she said +no more, but her friend thought the more.</p> +<p>“I suppose they will call?” said Vera.</p> +<p>“Most likely they will.”</p> +<p>“Has nobody called?”</p> +<p>“Mr. Earl, the Vicar of Arnscombe. He has promised +to tell me how we can be of use here. I believe there is +great want of a lady at the Sunday school.”</p> +<p>This did not interest Vera—and she went on asking +questions about the neighbourhood, and whether any of the +Rockstone people had left cards, and whether there were any +parties, garden or evening, at Rockstone—more than Magdalen +could yet answer, though she was glad to promote any sort of +conversation with either of the girls who did not stand aloof +from her.</p> +<p>“I say, the M.A. (maiden aunt) knows nobody but that old +clergyman, who wants her to teach his Sunday school.”</p> +<p>“I’m out of that, thank goodness,” said +Agatha.</p> +<p>“And Sunday schools are a delusion, only hindering the +children from going to church with their parents,” said +Paulina.</p> +<p>“And if nobody calls, and they all think her no better +than an old governess, how awfully slow it will be,” +continued Vera.</p> +<p>“I do not suppose that will last,” said +Agatha. “There is Rockstone, remember.”</p> +<p>“Ten miles off,” said Vera disconsolately. +“Oh, Nag, Nag, isn’t it horrid! We shall be +just smart enough to be taken for swells, and know nobody; and +the swells won’t have us because she is a governess. +We might as well be upon a desert island at once.”</p> +<p>Agatha could not help laughing and repeating—</p> +<blockquote><p>“I am out of humanity’s reach,<br /> + I must finish my journey alone—<br /> +Never hear the sweet music of speech,<br /> + I start at the sound of my own.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“But really, Nag,” broke in Paulina, “it is +horrid. Here we are equidistant from three or four +churches, and condemned to the most behind the world of them all, +and then to the one where there is this distant fragrance of +swells, instead of the only Catholic one.”</p> +<p>Agatha had a little more common sense than the other two, and +she responded—</p> +<p>“After all, you know, you are better off than if you +were still at school; and the M.A. is a good old soul at the +bottom, and you may manage her, depend on it. Though I wish +she had let me go to Girton.”</p> +<p>Magdalen and Mrs. Best meantime were going over future +prospects and old times. Mrs. Best’s destination was +Albertstown, in Queensland, where her son George had a good +practice as a doctor, and where he assured her she would find +church privileges—even a cathedral, so-called, and a +bishop—though Bishop Fulmort was always out on some +expedition among the colonists or the natives, but among his +clergy there was always Sunday service. In fact, Magdalen +thought the good old lady expected to find a town more like +Filsted than the Goyle. There was a sisterhood located +there too, which tried, mostly in vain, to train the wild native +women—an attempt at which George Best laughed, though he +allowed that the sisters were splendid nurses, especially Sister +Angela, who had a wonderful way of bringing cases round.</p> +<p>Magdalen could feel secure that her old friend would be near +kind people; and presently Mrs. Best, returning to the actual +neighbourhood, observed—</p> +<p>“Merrifield! It is not a common name.”</p> +<p>“No; but I do not think this is the same family. +This is a retired general, living in a house of Lord +Rotherwood’s. I once met one of his little girls, who +came to Castle Towers with the Rotherwood party, and though she +had a brother of the name, he was evidently not the same +person.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Best asked no more, for tell-tale colour had arisen in +Magdalen’s cheeks; and she had been the confidante of an +engagement with a certain Henry Merrifield, who had been employed +in the bank at Filsted when Magdalen was a very young girl. +His father had come down suddenly, had found debt and +dissipation, had broken all off decidedly, and no more had been +heard of the young man. It was many years previously; but +those cheeks and the tone of the reply made her suspect that +there was still poignancy in the remembrance.</p> +<h2><a name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +34</span>CHAPTER IV—CYCLES</h2> +<blockquote><p>“What flowers grow in my field wherewith to +dress thee.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—E. <span +class="smcap">Barrett Browning</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. Best</span> departed early the next +morning. It was probably a parting for life between the two +old friends; and Magdalen keenly felt the severance from the one +person whom she had always known, and on whose sympathy she could +rely. Their conversations had been very precious to her, +and she felt desolate without the entire companionship. +Yet, on the other hand, she felt as if she could have begun +better with her sisters if Sophy Best had not come with them, to +hand them over, as it were, when she wanted to start on the same +level with them, and be more like their contemporary than their +authority.</p> +<p>They all stood on the terrace, watching the fly go down the +hill, and she turned to them and said—</p> +<p>“We will all settle ourselves this morning, and you will +see how the land lies, so that to-morrow we can arrange our day +and see what work to do. Thekla, when you have had a run +round the garden, you might bring your books to the dining-room +and let me see how far you have gone.”</p> +<p>“Oh, sister, it is holidays!”</p> +<p>“Well, my dear, you have had a week, and your holiday +time cannot last for ever. Looking at your books cannot +spoil it.”</p> +<p>“Yes, it will; they are so nasty.”</p> +<p>“Perhaps you will not always think so; but now you had +better put on your hat and your thick boots, for the grass is +still very wet, and explore the country. The same advice to +you,” she added, turning to the others; “it is warm +here, but the dew lies long on the slopes.”</p> +<p>“We have got a great deal too much to do,” said +Agatha, “for dawdling about just now.”</p> +<p>Really, she was chiefly prompted by the satisfaction of not +being ordered about; and the other two followed suit, while +Magdalen turned away to her household business.</p> +<p>They found the housemaid in possession of the bedrooms, so +that the unpacking plans could not conveniently be begun; and +while Agatha was struggling with the straps of a book box, Thekla +burst in upon them.</p> +<p>“Oh, Nag, Nag, there is the loveliest angel of a bicycle +in the stable, and a dear little pony besides! ‘New +tyre wheels,’ he says.”</p> +<p>“A bicycle! Well, if she has got it for us, she is +an angel indeed,” said Vera.</p> +<p>“It is a big one,” said Thekla, “but the +pony is a dear little thing; Pixy is his name, and I can ride +him! Do come, Flapsy, and see! Earwaker will show +you. It is he that does the oiling of Pixy and harnessing +the bicycle. I mean—”</p> +<p>“Tick, Tick, which does he oil and which does he +harness?” said Paula.</p> +<p>“That little tongue wants both,” said Agatha.</p> +<p>“But do, do come and see,” said Thekla, not at all +disconcerted by being laughed at; and Vera came, only asserting +her independence by not putting on either hat or boots.</p> +<p>Thekla led the way to the stable, tucked under the hill at the +back, and presiding over a linhay, as she had already learnt to +call the tiny farm-court, containing accommodation for two cows, +a pig, and sundry fowls. There was a shed attached with a +wicker pony carriage and the bicycle, a handsome modern one, with +all the newest appendages, including the +“Nevertires,” as Thekla had translated them.</p> +<p>But disappointment was in store for Vera. Magdalen came +out during the inspection, and was received with—</p> +<p>“Sister, you never told us of this beauty.”</p> +<p>“It was a parting present from General Mansell,” +she said, “and he took great pains to get me a very good +one.”</p> +<p>“And you bike!”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes; I learnt to go out with the Colvins. But +I do not venture to use it much here, unless the road is +good. Those rocks, freshly laid towards Rockstone, would +make regular havoc of the pneumatic tyres.”</p> +<p>Vera saw that this was prohibitive, and felt too much vexed to +mention Thekla’s version of the same; but Magdalen asked, +“Have you learnt?”</p> +<p>“They were always going to teach me at Warner Grange, +but it always snowed, or rained, or skated, I mean we skated, or +something, whenever Hubert had time; but I am perfectly dying to +learn.”</p> +<p>“Well, before you expire, we may teach you a little on +these smoother paths; and hire one perhaps, by the time the +stones are passable. Just at present, I think our own legs +and Pixy’s are safer for that descent.”</p> +<p>Vera was pacified enough to look on with a certain degree of +complacency, while Thekla was enraptured at being set to take out +the eggs from the hens’ nests.</p> +<p>But the conclave in the sitting-room on Vera’s report +decided, “Selfish old thing, it is only an excuse! Of +course we should take care not to spoil it. It shows what +will be the way with everything.”</p> +<p>No one knew of a still more secret conclave within +Magdalen’s own breast, one of those held at times by many +an elder, between the claims of loyalty to the keepsakes of +affection and old association and the gratification of present +desires. Magdalen thought of the rules of convents +forbidding the appropriation of personal trifles, and wondered if +it were wise, if stern; but for the present she decided that it +could not be her duty to risk what had been carefully and kindly +selected for her in unpractised and careless hands; and she +further compromised the matter by reckoning whether her funds, +which were not excessive, would admit of the hire or purchase of +machines that might allay the burning aspirations of her young +people.</p> +<p>The upshot of her reckoning was that when they all met at the +early dinner, she announced, “I think we might go to Rock +Quay this afternoon, between the pony carriage and Shanks’s +mare. I want to ask about some lessons, and we could see +about the hire of a bicycle for you to learn upon.”</p> +<p>It was only Agatha who answered, “Thank you, but it is +not worth while for me, I shall be away so soon.”</p> +<p>Thekla cried out, “Me too!”—and Paulina +mumbled something. In truth, besides the thought of the +bicycle in the stable, the other two had lived enough in the +country-town atmosphere to be foolishly disgusted at being +obliged to dine early. That they had always been used to it +made them only think it beneath their age as well as their +dignity, and, “What a horrid nuisance!” had been on +their tongues when the bell was ringing.</p> +<p>Moreover, they had enough of silly prejudice about them to +feel aggrieved at the sight of hash, nice as it was with fresh +vegetables, and they were not disposed to good temper when they +sat down to their meal. “They” perhaps properly +means the middle pair, for Agatha had more notion of manners and +of respect, and Thekla had an endless store of chatter about her +discoveries.</p> +<p>The pony-carriage was brought round in due time, but just then +another vehicle of the same kind, only prettier and with two +ponies, was seen at the gate, too late for the barbarian instinct +of rushing away to hide from morning visitors to be carried out, +before Lady Merrifield and a daughter, were up the slope and on +the levelled road before the verandah.</p> +<p>“I think this is an old acquaintance,” said Lady +Merrifield as she shook hands, “though perhaps Mysie is +grown out of remembrance.”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes,” said an honest open-faced maiden, +eagerly putting out her hand. “Don’t you +remember, Miss Prescott, our all staying at Castle Towers? +I came with Phyllis Devereux, and she and I took poor Betty +Bernard out after blackberries, and she thought it was a mad bull +when it was a railway whistle, and ran into a cow-pond, and +Cousin Rotherwood came and Captain Grantley and got her +out.”</p> +<p>Magdalen was smiling and nodding recollection, and added, +“It was really one of the boys.”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes.”</p> +<blockquote><p>“I thought it was a crazy bull<br /> + Firing a blunderbuss—”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>She paused for recollection, and Magdalen went on—</p> +<blockquote><p>“I thought it was a crazy bull<br /> + Firing a blunderbuss;<br /> +I looked again, and, lo, it was<br /> + A water polypus.<br /> +‘Oh, guard my life,’ I said, ‘for she<br /> + Will make an awful fuss.’”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“Ah! do you remember that?” cried Mysie. +“I have so often tried to recollect what it really was when +she looked again. Captain Grantley made it, you know, when +we were trying to comfort Betty.”</p> +<p>“I remember you and Lady Phyllis said you would go and +confess to Mrs. Bernard and take all the blame, and Lord +Rotherwood said he would escort you!”</p> +<p>“Yes, and Betty said it was no good, for if her mother +forgave her ten times over, still that spiteful French maid would +put her to bed and say she had no <i>robe convenable</i>,” +went on Mysie. “But then you took her to your own +room, and washed her and mended her, so that she came out all +right at luncheon, and nobody knew anything, but she thought that +horrid woman guessed and tweaked her hair all the harder for +it.”</p> +<p>“Poor child, she looked as if she were under a +tyranny.”</p> +<p>“Have you seen her since?”</p> +<p>“No; but Phyllis tells me she has burst forth into +liberty, bicycles, and wild doings that would drive her parents +to distraction if she dreamt of them.”</p> +<p>“How is Lady Phyllis? Did I not hear that the +family had gone abroad for her health?”</p> +<p>“Oh yes, and I went with them. They all had +influenza, and were frightened, but it ended in our meeting with +Franceska Vanderkist, the very most charming looking being I ever +did see; and Ivinghoe had fallen in love with her when she was +Miranda, and he married her like a real old hero. Do you +remember Ivinghoe?”</p> +<p>“No; I suppose he was one of an indistinguishable troop +of schoolboys.”</p> +<p>“I remember Lord Rotherwood’s good nature and fun +when he met the bedraggled party,” said Magdalen, +smiling.</p> +<p>“That is what every one remembers about him,” said +Lady Merrifield, smiling. “You have imported a large +party of youth, Miss Prescott.”</p> +<p>“My young sisters,” responded Magdalen; “but +I shall soon part with Agatha; she is going to Oxford.”</p> +<p>“Indeed! To which College? I have a daughter +at Oxford, and a niece just leaving Cambridge. Such is our +lot in these days. No, not this one, but her elder sister +Gillian is at Lady Catharine’s.”</p> +<p>“I am going to St. Robert’s,” said Agatha, +abruptly.</p> +<p>“Close to Lady Catharine’s! Gillian will be +glad to tell her anything she would like to ask about it. +You had better come over to tea some afternoon.”</p> +<p>The time was fixed, and then Magdalen showed some of the +advertisements of tuition in art, music, languages, and +everything imaginable, which had begun to pour in upon her, and +was very glad of a little counsel on the reputation of each +professor. Lady Merrifield saying, however, that her +experience was small, as her young people in general were not +musical, with the single exception of her son Wilfred, who was at +home, reading to go up for the Civil Service, and recreating +himself with the Choral Society and lessons on the violin. +“My youngest is fifteen,” she said, “and we +provide for her lessons amongst us, except for the School of Art, +and calisthenics at the High School, which is under superior +management now, and very much improved.”</p> +<p>Mysie echoed, “Oh, calisthenics are such fun!” and +took the reins to drive away.</p> +<p>“Oh! she is very nice,” exclaimed Mysie, as they +drove down the hill.</p> +<p>“Yes, there is something very charming about her. +I wonder whether Sam made a great mistake.”</p> +<p>“Mamma, what do you mean?”</p> +<p>“Have I been meditating aloud? You said when you +met her at Castle Towers, she asked you whether you had a brother +Harry.”</p> +<p>“Yes, she did. I only said yes, but he was going +to be a clergyman, and when she heard his age, she said he was +not the one she had known; I did not speak of cousin Henry +because you said we were not to mention him. What was it, +if I may know, mamma?”</p> +<p>“There is no reason that you should not, except that it +is a painful matter to mention to Bessie or any of the Stokesley +cousins. Harry was never like the rest, I believe, but I +had never seen him since he was almost a baby. He never +would work, and was not fit for any examination.”</p> +<p>“Our Harry used to say that Bessie and David had carried +off all the brains of the family.”</p> +<p>“The others have sense and principle, though. +Well, they put their Hal into a Bank at Filsted, and by and by +they found he was in a great scrape, with gambling debts; and I +believe that but for the forbearance of the partners, he might +have been prosecuted for embezzling a sum—or at least he +was very near it; besides which he had engaged himself to an +attorney’s daughter, very young, and with a very +disagreeable mother or stepmother. The Admiral came down in +great indignation, thought these Prescotts had inveigled poor +Henry, broke everything hastily off, and shipped him off to +Canada to his brothers, George and John. They found some +employment for him, but Susan and Bessie doubt whether they were +very kind to him, and in a few years more he was in fresh +scrapes, and with worse stains and questions of his +integrity. It ended in his running away to the States, and +no trace has been found of him since. I am afraid he took +away money of his brothers.”</p> +<p>“How long ago was it, mamma?”</p> +<p>“At least twenty years. It was while we were in +Malta.”</p> +<p>“Who would have thought of those dear Stokesley cousins +having such a skeleton in their cupboard?”</p> +<p>“Ah! my dear, no one knows the secrets of others’ +hearts.”</p> +<p>“And you really think that this Miss Prescott was his +love?”</p> +<p>“I know it was the same name, and Bessie told me that he +used to talk to her of his Magdalen, or Maidie; and when I heard +of your meeting her at Castle Towers I wondered if it were the +same. And now I see what she is, and what she is +undertaking for these young sisters; I have wondered whether your +uncle was wise to insist on the utter break, and whether she +might not have been an anchor to hold him fast to his +moorings.”</p> +<p>“Only,” said Mysie, “if he had really cared, +would he have let his father break it off so entirely?”</p> +<p>“I think your uncle expected implicit +obedience.”</p> +<p>“But—,” said Mysie, and left the rest +unsaid, while both she and her mother went off into meditations +on different lines on the exigencies of parental discipline and +of the requirements of full-grown hearts.</p> +<p>And, on the whole, the younger one was the most for strict +obedience, the experienced parent in favour of liberty. But +then Mysie was old-fashioned and dutiful.</p> +<h2><a name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +45</span>CHAPTER V—CLIPSTONE FRIENDS</h2> +<blockquote><p>“What idle progeny succeed<br /> +To chase the rolling circle’s speed,<br /> +Or urge the flying ball.”—<span +class="smcap">Gray</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> afternoon at Clipstone was a +success. Gillian was at home, and every one found +congeners. Lady Merrifield’s sister, Miss Mohun, +pounced upon Miss Prescott as a coadjutor in the alphabet of good +works needed in the neglected district of Arnscombe, where Mr. +Earl was wifeless, and the farm ladies heedless; but they were +interrupted by Mysie running up to claim Miss Prescott for a game +at croquet. “Uncle Redgie was so glad to see the +hoops come into fashion again,” and Vera and Paula hardly +knew the game, they had always played at lawn tennis; but they +were delighted to learn, for Uncle Redgie proved to be a very +fine-looking retired General, and there was a lad besides, grown +to manly height; and one boy, at home for Easter, who, caring not +for croquet, went with Primrose to exhibit to Thekla the tame +menagerie, where a mungoose, called of course Raki raki, was the +last acquisition. She was also shown the kittens of the +beloved Begum, and presented with Phœbus, a tabby with a +wise face and a head marked like a Greek lyre, to be transplanted +to the Goyle in due time.</p> +<p>“If Sister will let me have it,” said Thekla.</p> +<p>“Of course she will,” said Primrose. +“Mysie says she is so jolly.”</p> +<p>“Dear me! all the girls at our school said she was a +regular Old Maid.”</p> +<p>“What shocking bad form!” exclaimed +Primrose. “Just like cads of girls,” muttered +Fergus, unheard; for Thekla continued—“Why, they said +she must be our maiden aunt, instead of our sister.”</p> +<p>“The best thing going!” said Fergus.</p> +<p>“Maiden aunts in books are always horrid,” said +Thekla.</p> +<p>“Then the books ought to be hung, drawn, and quartered, +and spifflicated besides,” said Fergus.</p> +<p>“Fergus doesn’t like anybody so well as Aunt +Jane,” said Primrose, “because nobody else +understands his machines.”</p> +<p>Thekla made a grimace.</p> +<p>“Ah!” said Primrose. “I see it is just +as mamma and Mysie said when they came home, that Miss Prescott +was very nice indeed, and it was famous that she should make a +home for you all, only they were afraid you seemed as +if—you might be—tiresome,” ended Primrose, +looking for a word.</p> +<p>“Well, you know she wants to be our governess,” +said Thekla.</p> +<p>“Well?” repeated Primrose.</p> +<p>“And of course no one ever likes their +governess.”</p> +<p>This aphorism, so uttered by Thekla, provoked a yell from +Primrose, echoed by Fergus; and Primrose, getting her breath, +declared that dear Miss Winter was a great darling, and since she +had gone away, more’s the pity, mamma was real governess to +herself, Valetta, and Mysie, and she always looked at their +translations and heard their reading if Gillian was not at +home.</p> +<p>“And they are quite grown-up young ladies!”</p> +<p>“Mysie is; but I don’t know about Val. Only +I don’t see why any one should be silly and do nothing if +one is grown up ever so much,” said Primrose.</p> +<p>“As the Eiffel Tower,” put in Fergus.</p> +<p>“Nonsense!” said Primrose, bent on being +improving. “Don’t you know what that old book +of mamma’s says, ‘When will Miss Rosamond’s +education be finished?’ She answered +‘Never.’”</p> +<p>Thekla gave a groan, whether of pity for Rosamond or for +herself might be doubted; and a lop-eared rabbit was a favourable +diversion.</p> +<p>There was a triad who seemed to be of Rosamond’s opinion +regarding education, for Agatha was eagerly availing herself of +the counsel of Gillian, and the books shown to her; with the +further assistance of the cousin, Dolores Mohun, now an +accredited lecturer in technical classes, though making her home +and headquarters at Clipstone.</p> +<p>Thekla’s views of young ladyhood were a good deal more +fulfilled by the lessons on cycling which were going on among the +other young people after the game of croquet had ended. +Every size and variety seemed to exist among the Clipstone +population, under certain regulations of not coasting down the +hills, the girls not going out alone, and never into the town, +but always “putting up” at Aunt Jane’s.</p> +<p>Vera and Paulina were in ecstasy, and there was a continual +mounting, attempting and nearly falling, or turning anywhere but +the right, little screams, and much laughter, Jasper attending +upon Vera, who, in spite of her failures, looked remarkably +pretty and graceful upon Valetta’s machine; while Paula, +whom Mysie and Valetta were both assisting, learnt more easily +and steadily, but looked on with a few qualms as to the entire +crystal rock constancy that Vera had professed, more especially +when Jasper volunteered to come over to the Goyle and give +another lesson.</p> +<p>Magdalen, after her game at croquet, had spent a very pleasant +time with Lady Merrifield and her brother and sister, till they +were imperiously summoned by Primrose to come and give consent to +the transfer of Phœbus, or to choose between him and the +Mufti, to whom Thekla had begun to incline.</p> +<p>The whole party adjourned to the back settlements, where +Magdalen was edified by the antics of the mungoose, and admired +the Begum and her progeny with a heartiness that would have won +Thekla’s heart, save that she remembered hearing Vera say, +over the domestic cat in the morning, that M.A.’s were +always devoted to cats. But, on the whole, the visit had +done much to reconcile the young sisters to their new +surroundings; books, bicycles, and kitten had reconciled them +even to the intimacy with “swells.”</p> +<p>The hired bicycle and tricycle had arrived in their absence, +and the moment breakfast was over the next morning, the three +younger ones all rushed off to the enjoyment, and, at ten minutes +past the appointed hour for the early reading and study, Agatha +felt obliged to go out and tell them that the M.A. was sitting +like Patience on a monument, waiting for them; on which three +tongues said “Bother,” and “She ought to let us +off till the proper end of the holidays.”</p> +<p>“Then you should have propitiated her by asking leave +after the Scripture was done,” said Agatha; “you +might have known she would not let you off that.”</p> +<p>“Bother,” said Vera again; “just like an +M.A.”</p> +<p>“I did forget,” said Paula; “and you know it +was only just going through a lesson for form’s sake, like +the old superlative.”</p> +<p>They had, in fact, read the day before; when Thekla had made +such frightful work of every unaccustomed word, and the elders by +one or two observations had betrayed so much ignorance alike of +Samuel’s history and of the Gospel of St. Luke, that she +had resolved to endeavour at a thorough teaching of the Old and +New Testaments for the first hour on alternate days, giving one +day in the week to Catechism and Prayer Book.</p> +<p>She asked what they had done before.</p> +<p>“Mrs. Best always read something at prayers.”</p> +<p>“Something?”</p> +<p>“Something out of the Bible.”</p> +<p>“No, the Testament.”</p> +<p>“I am sure it was the Bible, it was so fat.”</p> +<p>“And Saul was in it, and we had him +yesterday.”</p> +<p>“That was St. Paul before he was converted,” said +Paula.</p> +<p>There their knowledge seemed to end, and it further appeared +that Mrs. Best heard the Catechism and Collect on Sundays from +the unconfirmed, and had tried to get the Gospel repeated by +heart, but had not succeeded.</p> +<p>“We did not think it fair,” said Vera. +“None of the other houses did.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Agatha, “Miss Ferris’s +did.”</p> +<p>“Oh, she is a regular old Prot,” said Paula, +“almost a Dissenter, and it is not the Gospel either, only +texts out of her own head.”</p> +<p>“Polly!” said Agatha. “Texts out of +her own head!”</p> +<p>“It is Bible, of course, only what she fancies; and they +have to work out the sermon, and if they can’t do the +sermon, a text. They might as well be Dissenters at +once!” said Paula.</p> +<p>“Janet M’Leod is,” said Vera. +“It was really Dissentish.”</p> +<p>Magdalen could not help saying, “So you would not learn +the Gospel because Dissenters learnt pieces of Scripture! +You seem to me like the Roman Catholic child, who said there were +five sacraments, there ought to be seven, but the Protestants had +got two of them.”</p> +<p>She was sorry she had said it, for though Agatha laughed, the +other two drew into themselves, as if their feelings were +hurt. “These are the boarding-house habits,” +she said. “What is done at the High School +itself?”</p> +<p>“The Vicar comes when he has time, and gives a lecture +on an Epistle,” said Agatha, “or a curate, if he +doesn’t; but I was working for the exam., and didn’t +go this last term. What was it, Polly?”</p> +<p>“On the—on the Apollonians,” answered +Paulina, hesitating.</p> +<p>“My dear, where did he find it?”</p> +<p>“I know it was something about Apollo,” said +Vera.</p> +<p>“It was Corinthians,” said Paula. “I +ought to have recollected, but the lectures are very dull and +disjointed; you said so yourself, Nag, and the Rector is very low +church.”</p> +<p>“So you could not learn from him!”</p> +<p>“Really, sister,” said Agatha, “the lectures +are not well managed, they are in too many hands, and too +uncertain, and it is not easy to learn much from them.”</p> +<p>“Well, that being the case, I think we had better begin +at the beginning. Suppose I ask you to say the first answer +in the Catechism.”</p> +<p>On which Vera said they had all been confirmed except Thekla, +and passed it on to her.</p> +<p>However, the endeavours of that half-hour need not be +recounted, and the moment half-past ten chimed out the young +ladies jumped up, and would have been off to the bicycles, if +Magdalen had not felt that the time was come for asserting +authority, and said, “Not yet, if you please. We +cannot waste whole days. You know Herr Gnadiger is coming +to-morrow, and it would be well to practise that sonata +beforehand; you ought each to practise it; Paula, you had better +begin, and Vera, you prepare this first scene of Marie Stuart to +read with me when Thekla’s lessons are over. Change +over when Paula has done.”</p> +<p>“It is of no use my doing anything while anyone is +playing,” said Vera.</p> +<p>“Nonsense,” Agatha muttered; but Magdalen said, +“You can sit in the drawing-room or your own room. +Come, Tick-tick, where’s your slate? Come +along.”</p> +<p>“Don’t sulk, Flapsy,” said the elder sister, +“it is of no use. The M.A. means to be minded, and +will be, and you know it is all for your good.”</p> +<p>“I hate my good,” said naughty Vera.</p> +<p>“So does every one when it is against the grain,” +said Agatha; “but remember it is a preparation for a free +life of our own.”</p> +<p>“It is our cross,” said Paula, as she placed +herself on the music stool with a look of resignation almost +comical.</p> +<p>Nor did her performance interfere with the equations which +Agatha was diligently working out; but Vera, though refusing to +take refuge from the piano, to which, in fact, she was perfectly +inured, worried her elder as much as she durst, by inquiries +after the meaning of words, or what horrid verb to look out in +the dictionary; and it was a pleasing change when Paula proceeded +to work the same scene out for herself without having recourse to +explanations, so that Agatha was undisturbed except by the +careless notes, which almost equally worried Magdalen in the more +distant dining-room.</p> +<p>This was really the crisis of the battle of study. As +the girls were accustomed to it, and knew that they were of an +age to be ground down, they followed Agatha’s advice, and +submitted without further open struggle, though there was a good +deal of low murmur, and the foreman’s work was not +essentially disagreeable, even while Vera maintained, what she +believed to be an axiom, that governesses were detestable, and +that the M.A. must incur the penalty of acting as such.</p> +<p>Very soon after luncheon appeared three figures on +bicycles. Wilfred Merrifield, with Mysie and Valetta, come +to give another lesson on the “flying circle’s +speed.”</p> +<p>Magdalen came out with her young people to enjoy their +amusement, as well as to watch over her own precious machine, as +Vera said. It was admired, as became connoisseurs in the +article; and she soon saw that Wilfred was to be trusted with the +care of it, so she consented to its being ridden in the practice, +provided it was not taken out into the lanes.</p> +<p>Mysie turned off from the practising, where she was not +wanted, and joined Miss Prescott in walking through the garden +terraces, and planning what would best adorn them, talking over +favourite books, and enjoying themselves very much; then going on +to the quarry, where Mysie looked about with a critical eye to +see if it displayed any fresh geological treasures to send Fergus +in quest of. She began eagerly to pour forth the +sister’s never-ending tale of her brother’s +cleverness, and thus they came down the outside lane to the lower +gate, seeing beforehand the sparkle of bicycles in its immediate +proximity.</p> +<p>It was not open, but Vera might be seen standing with one hand +on the latch, the other on Magdalen’s bicycle, her face +lifted with imploring, enticing smiles to Wilfred, who had fallen +a little back, while Paula had decidedly drawn away.</p> +<p>None of them had seen Magdalen and Mysie till they were round +the low stone wall and close upon them. There was a general +start, and Vera exclaimed, “We haven’t been +outside! No, we haven’t! And it is not the +Rockquay Road either, sister! I only wanted a run down that +lane up above.”</p> +<p>Wilfred laughed a little oddly. It was quite plain that +he had been withstanding the temptress, only how long would the +resistance have lasted?</p> +<p>Downright Mysie exclaimed, “It would have been a great +shame if you had, and I am glad Wilfred hindered you.”</p> +<p>“Thank you,” said Magdalen, smiling to him. +“You know better than my sisters what Devon lanes and +pneumatic tyres are!”</p> +<p>Perhaps Wilfred was a little vexed, though he had resisted, +for he was ready to agree with Mysie that they could not stay and +drink tea.</p> +<p>But he did not escape his sister’s displeasure, for +Mysie began at once, “How lucky it was that we came in +time. I do believe that naughty little thing was just going +to talk you over into doing what her sister had +forbidden.”</p> +<p>“A savage, old, selfish bear. It was only the +lane.”</p> +<p>“Full of crystals as sharp as needles, enough to cut any +tyre in two,” said Mysie.</p> +<p>“Like your tongue, eh, Mysie?”</p> +<p>“Well, you did not do it! That is a comfort. +You would not let her transgress, and ruin her sister’s +good bicycle.”</p> +<p>“She is an uncommonly pretty little sprite, and the +selfish hag of a sister only left orders that I was to take care +of the bike! I could see where there was a stone as well as +anybody else.”</p> +<p>“Hag!” angrily cried Mysie, “she is the only +nice one of the whole lot. Vera is a nasty little thing, or +she would never think of meddling with what does not belong to +her, or trying to persuade you to allow it.”</p> +<p>“I call it abominable selfishness, dog in the mangerish, +to shut up such a machine as that, and condemn her sisters to one +great lumbering one.”</p> +<p>“That’s one account,” said Valetta. +“Paula said it was only till they had learnt to ride +properly, and till the stones have a little worn in.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Mysie, “I could see Vera is an +exaggerating monkey, just talking over and deluding Will, just as +men like when they get a silly fit.”</p> +<p>By this time Wilfred had thought it expedient to put his +bicycle to greater speed, and indulge in a long whistle to show +how contemptible he thought his sisters as he went out of +hearing.</p> +<p>“Paulina is nice and good,” said Valetta, +“she has heard all about St. Kenelm’s, and wants to +go there. Yes, and she means to be a Sister of Charity, +only she is afraid her sister is narrow and low +church.”</p> +<p>“That is stuff and nonsense,” said Mysie. +“I have had a great deal of talk with Miss Prescott. +She loves all the same books that we do. She is going to +have G. F. S. and Mothers’ Union, and all at poor +Arnscombe, and she told me to call her Magdalen.”</p> +<p>With which proofs of congeniality Valetta could not choose but +be impressed.</p> +<h2><a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +57</span>CHAPTER VI—THE FRESCOES OF ST. KENELM’S</h2> +<blockquote><p>Earn well the thrifty months, nor wed<br /> +Raw Haste, half-sister to Delay.—<span +class="smcap">Tennyson</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> deferred expedition to Rockquay +also began, Magdalen driving Vera and Thekla. She was +pleased with her visitors, and hoped that the girls would feel +the same, but Vera began by declaring that <i>that</i> Miss +Merrifield was not pretty.</p> +<p>“Not exactly, but it is an honest, winning +face.”</p> +<p>“So broad, and such a wide mouth, and no style at all, +as I should have expected after all that about lords and +ladies! An old blue serge and sailor hat!”</p> +<p>“You don’t expect people to drive about the +country in silk attire?”</p> +<p>“Well, perhaps she is not out! Sister, do you know +I am seventeen?”</p> +<p>“Yes, my dear, certainly.”</p> +<p>“Oh, look, look, there’s a dear little +calf!” broke in Thekla, “and, oh! what horns the cows +have. I shall be afraid to go near them! Was it only +a sham mad bull when the little girl ran into the +pond?”</p> +<p>“It was the railway whistle, and she had never heard it +in the fields. She rushed away in a great fright and ran +into the pond, full of horrible black mud. The gentlemen +heard the scream and dragged her out, and it would have all been +fun and a good story if she had not been so much afraid of the +French lady’s maid. It is curious how the sight of +those brown eyes brought the whole scene back to me. We all +grew so fond of Mysie Merrifield in the few days we spent +together, and she is very little altered.”</p> +<p>“Is she out?” asked Vera once more.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, she cannot be less than twenty.”</p> +<p>“And I am seventeen,” said Vera, returning to the +charge. “I ought to be out.”</p> +<p>“If there are nice invitations, I shall be quite ready +to accept them for you.”</p> +<p>“But I am too old for the schoolroom and lessons and +masters.”</p> +<p>“Too old or too wise?” said Magdalen laughing.</p> +<p>“I have got into the highest form in everything. +Every one at Filston of my age is leaving off all the +bother.”</p> +<p>“Not Agatha.”</p> +<p>“Oh, but Agatha is—!”</p> +<p>“Is what?</p> +<p>“Agatha is awfully clever, and wants to be +something!”</p> +<p>“Something? But do you want to evaporate? To +be nothing at all, I mean,” said Magdalen, seeing her first +word was bewildering, and Thekla put in—</p> +<p>“Flapsy couldn’t go off in steam, could she? +Isn’t that evaporating?”</p> +<p>“I think what she wants is to be a young lady at +large! Eh, Vera? Only I don’t quite see how +that is to be managed, even if it is quite a worthy +ambition. But we will talk that over another time. Do +you see how pretty those sails are crossing the bay?”</p> +<p>Neither girl seemed to have eyes for the lovely blue of the +sea in the spring sunshine, nor the striking forms of ruddy peaks +of rock that enclosed it. Uneducated eyes, she thought, as +she slowly manœuvred the pony down the steep hill before +coming to the Rockstone Cliff Road. The other two girls +were following her direction across field and road, and making +their observations.</p> +<p>“A dose of lords and ladies,” said Agatha.</p> +<p>“I thought they were rather nice,” said Paula.</p> +<p>“I see how it will be,” said Agatha. +“They will patronise the M.A. as Lady Somebody’s old +governess, and she will fawn upon them and run after them, and we +shall be on those terms.”</p> +<p>“But I thought you meant to be a governess?”</p> +<p>“I shall make my own line. I know how swells look +on a governess of the <i>ancien régime</i>, and how they +will introduce her as the kindly old goody who mends my little +lady’s frock!”</p> +<p>“The girl had not any airs,” said Paula. +“She told me about the churches down there in the +town—not the ones we went to on Sunday; but there’s +one that is very low indeed, and St. Andrew’s, which is +their parish church, was suiting the moderate high church folk; +and there is St. Kenelm’s, very high indeed, Mr. +Flight’s, I think I have heard of him, and it is just the +right thing, I am sure.”</p> +<p>“Don’t flatter yourself that the M.A. will let you +have much pleasure in it. It is just what people of her +sort think dangerous.”</p> +<p>“But do you know, Nag, I do believe that it is the +church that Hubert Delrio was sent down to study and make a +design for.”</p> +<p>“Whew! There will be a pretty kettle of fish if he +comes down about it! That is, if he and Flapsy have not +forgotten all about the ice and the forfeits at Warner’s +Grange, as is devoutly to be hoped.”</p> +<p>“Do you hope it really, Nag, for Flapsy really was very +much—did care very much.”</p> +<p>“I have no great faith in Flapsy’s affections +surviving the contact with greater swells.”</p> +<p>“Poor Hubert!”</p> +<p>“Perhaps his will not survive common sense. I am +sure I hope not for both their sakes.”</p> +<p>“But, Nag, it would be very horrid of them if they had +no constancy,” declared the more romantic Paula.</p> +<p>“It will be a regular mess if they do have it, and bring +on horrid scrapes with the M.A. Just think. It is all +very well to say she has known Hubert all his life; but she +can’t treat him as a gentleman, or she won’t. +She has a position to keep up with all these swells, and he will +be only the man who paints the church! I only hope he will +not come. There will be nothing but bother if he does, +unless they both have more sense and less constancy than you +expect. Well, this really is a splendid view. Old Mr. +Delrio would be wild about it.”</p> +<p>Here the steep and stony hill brought them into contact with +the pony carriage, nor were there any more confidential +conversations. The pony was put up at the top of the hill +leading from Rockstone to Rockquay, and thence the party walked +down for Miss Prescott to make a few purchases, and, moreover, to +begin by gratifying Thekla’s reiterated entreaty for a +bicycle, though, as she was unpractised and growing so fast, it +was decided to be better to hire a tricycle for practice, and one +bicycle on which Vera and Paula might learn the art.</p> +<p>The choice was a long one, and left only just time for a peep +into the two churches and a study of the hours of their +services. St. Kenelm’s was decided to be a +“perfect gem,” ornaments, beauty, and all, a little +overdone, perhaps, in Magdalen’s opinion, but perfectly +“the thing” in her sisters’.</p> +<p>This St. Andrew’s fulfilled to her mind, being handsome, +reverent, and decorous in all the arrangements, while to the +younger folk it was “all very well,” but quite of the +old times. Little did they know of “old times” +beyond the quarter century of their birth! Poor old +Arnscombe might feebly represent them, but even that had +struggled out of the modern “dark ages.” +Magdalen had decided on talking to Agatha and seeing how far she +understood the situation, and she came to her room to put her in +possession now that Mrs. Best had left the guest chamber +free.</p> +<p>“This is your home when you are here. You must put +up any belongings that you do not want to take to St. +Robert’s.”</p> +<p>“Thank you; it is a nice pleasant room.”</p> +<p>“And, my dear, may I stay a few minutes? I think +we had better have a talk, and quite understand one +another.”</p> +<p>“Very well.”</p> +<p>It was not quite encouraging, but Agatha really wished to +hear, and she advanced a wicker chair for her elder sister, and +sat down on the window seat.</p> +<p>“Thank you, my dear; I do not know how much Mrs. Best +has told you.”</p> +<p>“She told us that you had always been very good to us, +and that you had been our guardian ever since we lost our +mother.”</p> +<p>“Did she tell you what we have of our own that our +father could leave us?”</p> +<p>“No.”</p> +<p>“What amounts to about £40 a year apiece. +Mrs. Best in her very great goodness has taken you four for that +amount, though her proper charge is eighty.”</p> +<p>“And she never let any one guess it,” said Agatha, +more warmly, “for fear we might feel the difference. +How very good of her.”</p> +<p>She seemed more impressed by Mrs. Best’s bounty than by +Magdalen’s, but probably she took the latter as a matter of +course and obligation; besides, the sense of it involved a sum in +subtraction. However, this was not observed by her sister, +who did not want to feel obliged.</p> +<p>“Now that this property has come in,” continued +Magdalen, “we can live comfortably together upon it for the +present, and your expenses at Oxford can be paid, as well as +masters in what may be needful for the others, and an allowance +for dress. I suppose you will want the £40 while you +are at St. Robert’s, besides the regular +expenses?”</p> +<p>“Thank you,” warmly said.</p> +<p>“But I want you to understand, as I think you do, about +the future, for you must be prepared to be +independent.”</p> +<p>“I should have wished for a career if I had been a +millionaire,” said Agatha.</p> +<p>“I believe you would, and it is well that you should +have every advantage. But the others. If I left you +all this property, it would not be a comfortable maintenance +divided among four; and you would not like to be dependent, or to +leave the last who might not marry to a pittance +alone.”</p> +<p>“Certainly not,” said Agatha, with flashing +eyes.</p> +<p>“Then you see that it is needful that you should be able +to do something for yourselves. I can give one of you at a +time the power of going to the University.”</p> +<p>“I don’t think Vera or Polly would wish for +that,” said Agatha.</p> +<p>“Well, what would they wish for? I can do +something towards preparing them, and I can teach Thekla, but I +should like to know what you think would be best for +them.”</p> +<p>“Vera’s strong point is music,” said +Agatha. “She cares for that more than anything else, +and Mr. Selby thought she had talent and might sing, only she +must not strain her voice. I don’t believe she will +do much in any other line. And Polly—she is very +good, and always does her best because it is right, but I +don’t think anything is any particular pleasure to her, +except needlework. She is always wanting to make things for +the church. She really has a better voice than Flapsy, and +can play better, but that is because she is so much +steadier.”</p> +<p>“Seventeen and sixteen, are they not?”</p> +<p>“Yes; but Polly seems ever so much older than +Flapsy.”</p> +<p>“Mrs. Best showed me that she had higher marks. +She must be a thoroughly good girl.”</p> +<p>“That she is,” cried Agatha, warmly. +“She never had any task for getting into +mischief.”</p> +<p>“Well, they are both so young that a little study with +me will be good for them, and there will be time to judge what +they are fit for. In art I think they are not much +interested.”</p> +<p>“Paula draws pretty well, but Vera hates it. Old +Mr. Delrio is always cross to her now; but—” Agatha +stopped short, remembering that there might be a reason why the +drawing master no longer made her a favourite pupil.</p> +<p>“Do you think him a good judge?”</p> +<p>“Yes; Mrs. Best thinks much of him. He had an +artist’s education, and sometimes has a picture in the +Water Colour Exhibition; but I believe he did not find it answer, +and so he took our school of art.”</p> +<p>Agatha had talked sensibly throughout the conference, but not +confidentially; much, in fact, as she would have discussed her +sisters with Mrs. Best. She was glad that at the moment the +sound of the piano set them listening. She did not feel +bound to mention to “sister” any more than she would +to the head mistress, that when staying at Mr. Waring’s +country house a sort of semi-flirtation had begun with Hubert +Delrio, a young man to whose education his father had sacrificed +a great deal, and who was a well-informed and intelligent +gentleman in all his ways. He had engaged himself to the +great firm of Eccles and Beamster, ecclesiastical decorators, and +might be employed upon the intended frescoes of St. +Kenelm’s Church.</p> +<p>Ought “Sister” to be told?</p> +<p>But Agatha thought it would be betraying confidence to +“set on the dragon”; and besides nobody ever could +tell how much Vera’s descriptions meant. She knew +already that the sweetest countenance in the world and the +loveliest dark eyes belonged to a fairly good-looking young man, +and she could also suspect that the “squeeze of my +hand” might be an ordinary shake, and the kneeling before +the one he loved best might have been only the customary +forfeit. On the whole, it would be better to let things +take their course; it was not likely that either was seriously +smitten, and it was more than probable that Hubert Delrio would +be too busy to look after a young lady now in a different +stratum, and that Vera would have found another sweetest +countenance in the world.</p> +<p>All this passed through her mind while Magdalen listened, and +pronounced—</p> +<p>“That is brilliant—a clever +touch—only—”</p> +<p>“Yes, that is Vera—I know what you are noticing, +but this is only amusement; she is not taking pains.”</p> +<p>“It is very clever—especially as probably she has +no music. But there—”</p> +<p>“Polly’s? Oh, yes; she is really +steady-going. That is just what you will find her. +This is a charming room, sister; thank you very much.”</p> +<p>“Make it your home, my dear.”</p> +<p>But in reality they were not much nearer together than before +the conference.</p> +<h2><a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +67</span>CHAPTER VII—SISTER AND SISTERS</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Have we not all, amid earth’s petty +strife,<br /> +Some pure ideal of a nobler life?<br /> +We lost it in the daily jar and fact,<br /> +And now live idly in a vain regret.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Adelaide +Procter</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Agatha</span> was so much absorbed in her +preparation for St. Robert’s that she did not pay very much +heed to her younger sisters or their relations with +Magdalen. She had induced them to submit to the regulation +of their studies with her pretty much as if she had been Mrs. +Best, looking upon her, however, as something out of date, and +hardly up to recent opinions, not realising that, of late, +Magdalen’s world had been a wide one.</p> +<p>Perhaps, in Agatha’s feelings, there was an undercurrent +inherited from her mother, who had always felt the better +connected, better educated step-daughter, a sort of alien +element, exciting jealousy by her companionship to her father, +and after his death, apt to be regarded as a scarcely willing, +and perhaps censorious pay-master.</p> +<p>“Your sister might call it too expensive.” +“I must ask your sister.” “No, your +sister does not think she can afford it. I am sure she +might. Her expenses must be nothing.” All this +had been no preparation for full sisterly confidence with +“Sister,” even when a sort of grudging gratitude was +extracted, and Agatha had been quite old enough to imbibe an +undefined antagonism, though, being a sensible girl, she +repressed the manifestations, kept her sisters in order and +taught them not to love but to submit, and herself remained in a +state of civil coolness, without an approach beyond formal signs +of affection, and such confidence.</p> +<p>It was the more disappointing to Magdalen, because Agatha and +Paulina both showed so much unconscious likeness to their father, +not only in features, but in little touches of gesture and +manner. She longed to pet them, and say, “Oh, my +dears, how like papa!” but the only time she attempted it, +she was met by a severe, uncomprehending look and manner.</p> +<p>And Agatha went away to Oxford without any thawing on her +part.</p> +<p>The only real ground that had been gained was with little +Thekla, who was soon very fond of “Sister,” and +depended on her more and more for sympathy and amusement. +Girls of seventeen and sixteen do not delight in the sports of +nine-year-olds, except in the case of special pets and +<i>protégées</i>, and Thekla was snubbed when a +partner was required to assist in doll’s dramas, or in +evening games. Only “Sister” would play +unreservedly with her, unaware or unheeding that this was looked +on as keeping up the <i>métier</i> of governess. +Indeed, Thekla’s reports of schoolroom murmurs and sneers +about the M.A. had to be silenced. Peace and good will +could best be guarded by closed ears. Yet, even then, +Thekla missed child companionship, and, even more, competition, +the lack of which rendered her dull and listless over her +lessons, and when reproved, she would beg to be sent to school, +or, at least, to attend the High School on her bicycle. Not +admiring the manners or the attainments of the specimens before +her, Magdalen felt bound to refuse, and the sisters’ pity +kept alive the grievance.</p> +<p>She had, however, decided on granting the bicycles. She +had found plenty of use for her own, for it was possible with +prudent use of it, avoiding the worst parts of the road, to be at +early celebration at St. Andrew’s, and get to the Sunday +school at Arnscombe afterwards; and Paulina, with a little demur, +decided on giving her assistance there.</p> +<p>At a Propagation of the Gospel meeting at the town hall, the +Misses Prescott were introduced to the Reverend Augustine Flight, +of St. Kenelm’s, and his mother, Lady Flight, who sat next +to Magdalen, and began to talk eagerly of the designs for the +ceiling of their church, and the very promising young artist who +was coming down from Eccles and Beamster to undertake the +work.</p> +<p>The church had not yet been seen, and the conversation ended +in the sisters coming back to tea, at which Paula was very happy, +for the talk had something of the rather exclusive High Church +tone that was her ideal. She had seen it in books, but had +never heard it before in real life, and Vera was in a restless +state, longing to hear whether the promising young artist was +really Hubert Delrio, and hoping, while she believed that she +feared, that she should blush when she heard his name. +However, she did not, though Mr. Flight unfolded his rough plans +for the frescoes, which were to be of virgin and child martyrs, +Magdalen hesitating a little over those that seemed too +legendary; while old Lady Flight, portly and sentimental, +declared them so sweet and touching. After tea, they went +on to the church. Just at the entrance of the porch, Vera +clutched at Paula, with the whisper, “Wasn’t that +Wilfred Merrifield? There, crossing?”</p> +<p>“Nonsense,” was Paula’s reply, as she +lingered over the illuminated list of the hours of services +displayed at the door, and feeling as if she had attained +dreamland, as she saw two fully habited Sisters enter, and bend +low as they did so.</p> +<p>The church was very elaborately ornamented, small, but showing +that no expense had been spared, though there was something that +did not quite accord with Magdalen’s ideas of the best +taste; so that when they went out she answered Paula’s +raptures of admiration somewhat coldly, or what so appeared to +the enthusiastic girl.</p> +<p>The next day, meeting Miss Mohun over cutting out for a +working party, Magdalen asked her about the Flights and St. +Kenelm’s.</p> +<p>“He is an excellent good man,” said Jane Mohun, +“and has laid out immense sums on the church and +parish.”</p> +<p>“All his own? Not subscription?”</p> +<p>“No. He is the only son of a very rich City man, a +brewer, and came here with his mother as a curate, as a good +place for health. They found a miserable little +corrugated-iron place, called the Kennel Chapel, and worked it +up, raising the people, and doing no end of good till it came to +be a district, as St. Kenelm’s.”</p> +<p>“Very ornamental?”</p> +<p>“Oh, very,” said Jane, warming out of caution, as +she felt she might venture showing city gorgeousness all +over. “But it is infinitely to his credit. He +had a Fortunatus’ purse, and was a spoilt child—not +in the bad sense—but with an utterly idolising mother, and +he tried a good many experiments that made our hair stand on end; +but he has sobered down, and is a much wiser man now—though +I would not be bound to admire all he does.”</p> +<p>“I see there are Sisters? Do they belong to his +arrangements?”</p> +<p>“Yes. They are what my brother calls Cousins of +Mercy. The elder one has tried two or three Sisterhoods, +and being dissatisfied with all the rules, I fancy she has some +notion of trying to set up one on her own account at Mr. +Flight’s. They are both relations of his mother, and +are really one of his experiments—fancy names and fancy +rules, of course. I believe the young one wanted to call +herself Sister Philomena, but that he could not stand. So +they act as parish women here, and they do it very well. I +liked Sister Beata when I have come in contact with her, and I am +sure she is an excellent nurse. They will do your nieces no +harm, though I don’t like the irregular.”</p> +<p>Of this assurance Magdalen felt very glad, when at the door of +the parish room, where the ladies were to hold a working party +for the missions, Carrigaboola Missions at Albertstown, she and +her nieces were introduced to the two ladies in hoods and veils; +and Paula’s eyes sparkled with delight as she settled into +a chair next to Sister Mena. She looked as happy as Vera +looked bored! Conversation was not possible while a +missionary memoir was being read aloud, but the history of Mother +Constance, once Lady Herbert Somerville, but then head at +Dearport, and founder of the Daughter Sisterhood at +Carrigaboola. To the Merrifields it was intensely +interesting, and also to Magdalen; but all the time she could see +demonstrations passing between Paula and Sister Mena, a +nice-looking girl, much embellished by the setting of the hood +and veil, as if the lending of a pair of scissors or the turning +of a hem were an act of tender admiration. So sweet a look +came out on Paula’s face that she longed to awaken the +like. Vera meantime looked as if her only consolation lay +in the neighbourhood of a window, whence she could see up the +street, as soon as she had found whispers to Mysie Merrifield +treated as impossible.</p> +<p>The party at the Goyle had begun to fall into regular habits, +and struggles were infrequent. There was study in the +forenoon, walks or cycle expeditions in the afternoon, varied by +the lessons in music and in art, which Vera and Paula attended on +Wednesdays and Fridays, the one in the morning, the other after +dinner. It was possible to go to St. Andrew’s matins +at ten o’clock before the drawing class, and to St. +Kenelm’s at five, after the music was over. Magdalen, +whenever it was possible, went with her sisters on their bicycles +to St. Andrew’s, and sometimes devised errands that she +might join them at St. Kenelm’s, but neither could always +be done by the head of the household. And she could +perceive that her company was not specially welcome.</p> +<p>Valetta, the only one of the Clipstone family whose drawing +was worth cultivating, used to ride into Rockstone, escorted by +her brother Wilfred, who was in course of “cramming” +with a curate on his way to his tutor, and Vera found in casual +but well-cultivated meetings and partings, abundant excitement in +“nods and becks and wreathed smiles,” and now and +then in the gift of a flower.</p> +<p>Paula on the other hand found equal interest and delight in +meetings with Sister Mena, especially after a thunderstorm had +driven the two to take refuge at what the Sisters called +“the cell of St. Kenelm,” and tea had unfolded their +young simple hearts to one another! Magdalen had called on +the Sisters and asked them to tea at the Goyle, and there had +come to the conclusion that Sister Beata was an admirable, +religious, hardworking woman, of strong opinions, and not much +cultivated, with a certain provincial twang in her voice. +She had a vehement desire for self-devotion and consecration, but +perhaps not the same for obedience. She sharply criticised +all the regulations of the Sisterhoods with which she was +acquainted, wore a dress of her own device, and with Sister Mena, +a young cousin of her own, meant to make St. Kenelm’s a +nucleus for a Sisterhood of her own invention.</p> +<p>Sister Mena had been bred up in a Sisterhood’s school, +from five years old and upwards, and had no near relatives. +Mr. Flight was Saint, Pope and hero to both, and Mena knew little +beyond the horizon of St. Kenelm’s, but she and Paula were +fascinated with one another; and Magdalen saw more danger in +interfering than in acquiescing, though she gave no consent to +Paulina’s aspirations after admission into the perfect +Sisterhood that was to be.</p> +<h2><a name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +75</span>CHAPTER VIII—SNOBBISHNESS</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Why then should vain repinings rise,<br /> +That to thy lover fate denies<br /> +A nobler name, a wide domain?”—<span +class="smcap">Scott</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> friendship with the Sisters was +about three weeks old when, one morning, scaffold poles were +being erected in the new side aisle of St. Kenelm’s Church, +and superintending them was a tall dark-haired young man. +There was a start of mutual recognition; and by and by he met +Paula and Vera in the porch, and there were eager hand-clasps and +greetings, as befitted old friends meeting in a strange +place.</p> +<p>“Mr. Hubert! I heard you were coming!”</p> +<p>“Miss Vera! Miss Paula! This is a +pleasure.”</p> +<p>Then followed an introduction of Sister Mena, whose elder +companion was away, attending a sick person.</p> +<p>“May I ask whether you are living here?”</p> +<p>“Two miles off at the Goyle, at Arnscombe, with our +sister.”</p> +<p>“So I heard! I shall see you again.” +And he turned aside to give an order, bowing as he did so.</p> +<p>“Is he the artist of those sweet designs?” asked +Sister Mena.</p> +<p>“Did we not tell you?”</p> +<p>“And now he is going to execute them? How +delicious!”</p> +<p>“I trust so! We must see him again. We have +not heard of Edie and Nellie, nor any one.”</p> +<p>“He will call on you?” said Sister Mena.</p> +<p>“I do not think so,” said Paula. “At +least his father is really an artist, but he is drawing-master at +the High School, and Hubert works for this firm. They are +not what you call in society, and our sister is all for getting +in with Lady Merrifield and General Mohun and all the swells, so +it would never do for him to call.”</p> +<p>“She would first be stiff and stuck up,” said +Vera, “and I could not stand that.”</p> +<p>“I thought she was so kind,” said Mena.</p> +<p>“You don’t understand,” said Vera. +“She would be kind to a workman in a fever; but this +sort—oh, no.”</p> +<p>“To be on an equality with the man painting the +church?” said Paula. “No, indeed! not if he +were Fra Angelico and Ary Scheffer and Michelangelo rolled into +one.”</p> +<p>At that moment the subject referred to in that mighty +conglomeration reappeared. He was a handsome young man, his +touch of Italian blood showing just enough to give him a romantic +air; and Sister Philomena listened, much impressed by the +interchange of question and answer about “Edie and +Nellie,” and the dear Warings, and the happy Christmas at +the Grange; and Vera blushed again, and Paula coloured in +sympathy, as it appeared that Mr. Delrio had never had such a +splendid time.</p> +<p>The colloquy was ended by Mr. Flight being descried, +approaching with his mother, whereupon the two girls fled away +like guilty creatures.</p> +<p>Presently Vera exclaimed, “Oh, Polly dear, what a +complication! Poor dear fellow! he cares for me as much as +ever.”</p> +<p>“And you will be staunch to him in spite of all the +worldly allurements,” said Paula.</p> +<p>“Well, I mean Mr. Wilfred Merrifield is not half so +handsome,” returned Vera.</p> +<p>“Nor is he engaged in sacred work; only bent on +frivolity,” said Paula; “yet see how the M.A. +encourages him with tennis and games and nonsense.”</p> +<p>Poor M.A., when the encouragement had only been some general +merriment, and a few games on the lawn Paulina, who had heard +many confidences when Vera returned from Waring Grange, believed +altogether in the true love of the damsel and Hubert Delrio, who +had been wont to single out the prettiest of the girls at +Filstead, and she was resolved to do all she could in their +cause, being schoolgirl enough to have no scruple as to secrecy +towards Magdalen, though on the next opportunity she poured out +all to Sister Philomena’s by no means unwilling ears.</p> +<p>Lovers had never fallen within the young Sister’s +experience, either personally or through friends; and they had +only been revealed to her in a few very carefully-selected tales, +where they were more the necessary machinery than the main +interest, for she had been bred up in an orphanage by Sister +Beata, and had never seen beyond it. So to her +Paula’s story, little as there was of it, was a perfect +romance, and it gained in colour when she related it to her +senior.</p> +<p>Sister Beata hesitated a little, having rather more knowledge +of the world, remembering that Vera Prescott was not eighteen +years old, and doubting whether an underhand intimacy ought to be +encouraged; but then Mr. Flight had spoken of Mr. Delrio as a +highly praiseworthy young man, of decided Catholic principles; he +was regular at Church services, and had dined or supped at the +Vicarage. The intercourse, as the girls had explained, had +been sanctioned by Mrs. Best in their native town, where all +parties were well known, and thus there could be no harm in +letting it continue. While as to the elder Miss Prescott, +she was understood to be unduly bent on county and titled +society, and to be exclusive towards inferiors. Moreover, +she was an attendant at St. Andrew’s Church, and thus +regarded as out of the pale of sympathy of the St. Kenelm’s +flock.</p> +<p>So no obstacle was put in the way of the gossips, for they +were really nothing more, except that there was admiration of the +designs for the side chapel, which were of the Scripture children +on one side, and on the other of child martyrs. Now and +then there was a reference to the chilliness and hardship of +living with an unsympathising sister, and being obliged to go to +churches of which they did not approve. Sometimes too there +were airy castles of a distant future to be shared by the +magnificent architect, together with Vera, while Paula nursed in +the convent with Mother Beata and Sister Philomena.</p> +<p>But all this did not prevent an excitement and eager laughter +and chatter whenever Wilfred Merrifield came in the way, and he +certainly was enough attracted by Vera’s pretty face and +lively graces to make his sisters think him very absurd; but his +mother had seen so many passing fancies among her elder sons as +to hold that blindness was better than serious treatment.</p> +<p>There was the further effect that Magdalen had no suspicion +that the vehement attraction to St. Kenelm’s went beyond +the harmless quarter of the two nursing Sisters and some hero +worship of Mr. Flight. Miss Mohun, who knew everything, had +indeed hinted that something foolish might be going on there; but +Magdalen had not decided on the mutual fairness of the two +congregations, and deferred investigation till Agatha should come +home, when she would have a reasonable, if cold, person to deal +with. Nor did Thekla’s chatter excite any suspicion; +for the only time when she had been present at a meeting with Mr. +Delrio, she had been half bribed, half threatened into silence, +and she was quite schoolgirl enough to feel that such was the +natural treatment of authority, though she had become really fond +of “sister.”</p> +<h2><a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +80</span>CHAPTER IX—GONE OVER TO THE ENEMY</h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">“Can I teach +thee, my beloved? can I teach thee?”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">E. B. <span +class="smcap">Browning</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Agatha</span> came home in due time, and +Magdalen sent her sister to meet her at the station, where they +found a merry Clipstone party in the waggonette waiting for +Gillian, who was to come home at the same time. There was +so much discussion of the new golf ground, that Vera had hardly a +hand or a glance to bestow on Mr. Delrio, who jumped out of the +same train, shook hands with Agatha, and bestirred himself in +finding her luggage and calling a cab.</p> +<p>“How he is improved! What a pleasing, gentlemanly +fellow he looks!” she exclaimed, as she waved her thanks, +while driving off in the cab.</p> +<p>“Is he not?” said Paula, while Vera bridled and +blushed. “You will be delighted with his work. +I never saw anything more lovely than little St. Cyriac the +martyr.”</p> +<p>“He is taken from Mrs. Henderson’s little +boy,” added Vera; “such a dear little +darling.”</p> +<p>“And his mother is to be done; indeed, he has sketched +her for St. Juliet.”</p> +<p>“Flapsy! St. Romeo, too, I suppose?”</p> +<p>“Nonsense, Nag! There really was a St. Juliet or +Julitta, and she was his mother, and they both were +martyrs. I will tell you all the history,” began +Paula; but Agatha interposed.</p> +<p>“You must like having him down here. Sister must +be much pleased with him. She used to like old Mr. +Delrio.”</p> +<p>“Well, we have not said much about him,” owned +Paula. “He does not seem to wish it, or expect to be +in with swells.”</p> +<p>“We could not stand his being treated like a common +house-painter and upholsterer,” added Vera.</p> +<p>“Surely no one does so,” said Agatha.</p> +<p>“Not exactly,” said Paula; “at least, he has +had supper at St. Kenelm’s Vicarage with Lady Flight, and +luncheon at Carrara with Captain and Mrs. Henderson.”</p> +<p>“Because he was <i>doing</i> the child,” +interposed Vera; “and Thekla says that Primrose Merrifield +says that her Aunt Jane—that is, old Miss Mohun—says +that Lady Flight is not a gentlewoman.”</p> +<p>“What has that to do with Magdalen?”</p> +<p>“Why, she is so taken up with those swells of hers, +especially now that there is a talk of Lord Somebody’s +yacht coming in, that she would never treat him as on equal +terms, but just keep him at a distance, like a mere +decorator.”</p> +<p>“That seemed to me just what you were doing,” said +Agatha, “when he was so kind and helpful about my +box.”</p> +<p>“Oh, <i>they</i> were all there, and we did not want to +be talked of,” said Vera, blushing. “He +understands.”</p> +<p>“He understands,” repeated Paula. “We +do see him at the church and at the Sisters’. Those +dear Sisters! There is no nonsense about them. You +will love them, Nag.”</p> +<p>“Well, it does not seem to me to be treating our own +sister Magdalen fairly.”</p> +<p>“The M.A.!” said Vera, in a tone of wonder.</p> +<p>“No; not to be intimate with a person you do not +introduce to her, because you do not think she would consider him +as on equal terms.”</p> +<p>“Sister Beata quite approves,” added Paula, +sincerely, not guessing how little Sister Beata knew of the +situation, of which she only heard through the medium of her own +representations to Sister Mena.</p> +<p>The two girls rushed into the charms of these two Sisters, and +the plan for an entertainment for the maidens of the Guild of St. +Milburgha, at which they were to assist. It lasted up to +the gate of the Goyle, where Magdalen and Thekla were ready to +meet them; and they trooped merrily up the hill, Agatha keeping +to Magdalen’s side in a way that struck her as friendly and +affectionate. It seemed to be more truly coming <i>home</i> +than the elder sister had dared to anticipate; nor, indeed, did +she feel the veiled antagonism to herself that had previously +disappointed her.</p> +<p>The talk was about St. Robert’s, about Oxford in +general, the new friends, the principal, the games, the debates, +the lectures, the sermons, the celebrities, the undergraduates, +the concerts, the chapels, the boats, the architecture; all were +touched on for further discussion by and by as they sat at the +evening meal, and then on the chairs and cushions in the +verandah; and through all there was no exclusion of the elder +sister, but rather she was the one who could appreciate the +interest of what Agatha had seen and heard; and even she was +allowed to enter into the amusement of an Oxford <i>bon mot</i>, +sometimes, indeed, when it was far beyond Paula and Vera.</p> +<p>There was no doubt that the term had much improved Agatha even +in appearance and manner. She held herself better, +pronounced better, uttered no slangish expressions, and twice she +repressed little discourtesies on the part of her sisters, and +neglects such as were not the offspring of tender familiarity, +but of an indifference akin to rudeness. Magdalen had +endured, knowing how bad it was for their manners, but unwilling +to become more of an annoyance than could be helped. The +indescribable difference in Agatha’s whole manner sent +Magdalen to bed happier than she had been since the arrival of +her sisters, and feeling as if Agatha had come to her own side of +a barrier.</p> +<p>Perhaps it was quite true; for the last two months had been a +time of growth with the maiden, changing her from a schoolgirl to +a student, from the “brook to the river.” She +had, indeed, studied hard, but that she had always done, as being +clever, intellectual and ambitious. The difference had been +from her intercourse with persons slightly her elders, but who +did not look on authorities as natural enemies, to be tolerated +for one’s own good. There had been a development of +the conscience and soul even in this first term that made her +regard her elder sister not merely with a sense of compulsory +gratitude and duty, but with sympathy and fellow feeling, which +were the more excited when she saw her own chilliness of last +spring carried further by the two young girls.</p> +<p>So breakfast went off merrily; and after the round of the +garden and the pets, Agatha promised to come, when summoned, to +hear how well Thekla could read French. In the meantime she +waited in the morning-room, looking at her sisters’ books; +Vera pushed aside the Venetian blind.</p> +<p>“Don’t come in that way, Flapsy!” called +Paula. “You’ll be heard in the dining-room, and +the M.A. will tremble at your dusty feet.”</p> +<p>“They aren’t dusty,” said Vera, pulling up +the blind with a clatter.</p> +<p>“Aren’t they?” laughed Paula, pointing.</p> +<p>“You had better go and wipe them,” said +Agatha.</p> +<p>“I don’t believe in M.A.’s fidgets,” +returned Vera.</p> +<p>“But I do, in proper deference to the head of the +house,” said Agatha, gravely.</p> +<p>“Murder in Irish!” cried Vera, bouncing away, +while Paula argued, “Really, Nag, life is not long enough +to attend to all the M.A.’s little worries.”</p> +<p>“Polly, dear, I am afraid we have been on a wrong tack +with our sister. I don’t like calling her by that +name.”</p> +<p>“You began it!” exclaimed Vera, dashing in by the +door as she spoke.</p> +<p>“I could not have meant it as a nickname to be always in +use.”</p> +<p>“Oh yes, you did, I remember”—and an +argument was beginning, which Agatha cut short by saying, +“Any way, it is bad taste.”</p> +<p>“Nag has been so much among the real M.A. that she is +tender about their title.”</p> +<p>“She wants to be one herself,” said Vera; +“and so she will if she goes on getting learned and +faddy.”</p> +<p>“In both senses?” said Paula.</p> +<p>Agatha laughed a little, but added, “No, Polly, the +thing is that it is hardly kind or right to put that sort of +label upon a person like Magdalen—who has done so much for +us—and—”</p> +<p>The perverse young hearts could not bear a touch on the chord +of gratitude; and Paula burst in, “Label or libel, do you +mean?”</p> +<p>“It becomes a libel as you use it.”</p> +<p>“Do you want us to call her sister or Magdalen, the +whole scriptural mouthful at once?”</p> +<p>“I believe that to call her Magdalen or Maidie, as my +father did, would make her feel nearer to us than the formal way +of saying ‘Sister.’”</p> +<p>“I don’t mind about changing,” said +Paula. “She can never be the same to us as dear +Sister Mena.”</p> +<p>“She is so tiresome,” added Vera. “She +bothers so over my music; calling out if I make ever so small a +slip, and making me go over all again.”</p> +<p>“Well she may,” said Paula. “She is +making little Tick play so nicely. Just listen! But I +can’t bear her dragging us off to that horrid old Arnscombe +Church and the nasty stuffy Sunday school.”</p> +<p>“That reminds me,” said Agatha; “Gillian +Merrifield met a relation of Mr. Earl’s, who said that Miss +Prescott had brought quite new life and spirit to the poor old +man, who had been getting quite out of heart for want of any one +to help and sympathise with him.”</p> +<p>“Then he ought to make his services more +Catholic,” said Paula. “But nothing will wean +her from the old parochial idea. Why, she would not let me +give my winter stockings to Sister Beata’s poor girls, but +made me darn them and put them by.”</p> +<p>“Yes, and mine, which were bad enough to give away, she +made me darn first,” cried Vera. “She is ever +so much worse than the superlative about mending one’s +clothes.”</p> +<p>“There ought to be another degree of comparison,” +said Paula,—“Botheratissima!”</p> +<p>“For, only think!” said Vera. “She +won’t let us have new hats, but only did up the old ones, +and not with feathers, though there is such a love at +Tebbitts’s at Rockstone.”</p> +<p>“She says it is cruel,” said Paula.</p> +<p>“Cruel to me, I am sure; and what difference does it +make when the birds are once killed?”</p> +<p>“Well, she did give us those lovely wreaths of +lilies,” said Paula.</p> +<p>“Of course, but nothing to make them stylish! +What’s the good of being out if one is to have nothing +<i>chic</i>? And she won’t let me have a hockey +outfit. She says she must see more of it to be able to +judge whether to let us play!”</p> +<p>“That just means seeing whether her dear Merrifields +do,” said Paula.</p> +<p>“Gillian did at St. Catherine’s. But you +will know soon. Did I not hear something about a garden +party?”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes; she is talking of one, but it will be all +swells and croquet, and deadly dull.”</p> +<p>“I thought you seemed to be getting on well with the +swells, if you mean the Merrifields, especially Wilfred, if that +is his name.”</p> +<p>“Bil—Bil! Oh, he is all very well,” +said Vera, “if he would not be always so silly and come +after me! As if I cared!”</p> +<p>“And only think,” said Paula, “that she was +going to have it on the very day that St. Milburga’s Guild +has their festival! Just as if it was on +purpose!”</p> +<p>“Did you ask her to keep clear of your +engagements?”</p> +<p>“I told her, but I don’t think she +listened.” And as another grievance suggested itself +to Vera, she declared, “And she won’t let us join the +Girls’ Magazine Club, because she saw one she didn’t +like on somebody’s table. As if we were little +babies!”</p> +<p>“She won’t let us order books at the library, but +gets such awfully slow ones,” chimed in Paula, “or +only baby stories fit for Thekla. She made me return that +book dear Sister Mena lent me, because she said it was Roman +Catholic.”</p> +<p>“And hasn’t she got Thomas à Kempis on her +table? and I’m sure he was Roman Catholic. +There’s consistency!”</p> +<p>“You don’t understand,” began Agatha. +“He was a great Saint before the Catholics became so +Roman.”</p> +<p>“Oh, never mind! It is anything to thwart +us,” cried Vera. “It is ever so much worse than +school.”</p> +<p>“But,” began Agatha, and the tone of consideration +to that one conjunction caused an outburst. “Oh, Nag, +Nag, if you are gone over to the enemy, what will life be +worth?”</p> +<p>As that terrible question was propounded, in burst Thekla +with, “Oh, Nag, Nag, they are cutting the hay in the high +torr field, and sister says we may go and see them before I read +my French.”</p> +<p>“Oh!” cried Vera, with a prolongation into a +groan, “is she going to be tiresome?”</p> +<p>“She has come to be quite a don,” said Paula; +“but never mind, we will soon make her all right +again.”</p> +<p>The two sisters had to go to their different classes in the +afternoon, and wanted Agatha to go with them; but it was a very +warm day, and she preferred resting in the garden, and, to +Magdalen’s surprise and pleasure, conversation with +her. At first it was about Oxford matters, very +interesting, but public and external to the home, and it did not +draw the cords materially closer; but when Thekla had privately +decided that even hanging upon the newly recovered Nag was not +worth the endurance of anything so tedious, and had gone off to +assist her beloved old gardener in gathering green gooseberries, +Magdalen observed that she was a very pleasant little pupil, and +was getting on very well, especially with arithmetic.</p> +<p>“That was the strong point in the junior classes,” +said Agatha; “better taught than it was in my +time.”</p> +<p>“I wish she could have more playfellows,” said +Magdalen. “She would like to go to the High School at +Rockquay, but there are foundations I should wish to lay before +having her out of my own hands.”</p> +<p>“I should think you were her best playfellow. She +seems very fond of you, and very happy.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Magdalen, rather wistfully. +“I think she generally is so.”</p> +<p>“Maidie! may I call you by the old home +name?” And as Magdalen answered with a kiss and +tearful smile, “Do tell me, please, if Polly and Flapsy are +nice to you?”</p> +<p>Magdalen was taken by surprise at the pressure of the hand and +the eyes that gazed into her face full of expression.</p> +<p>She could not keep the drops from rushing to her own eyes, +though she smiled through them and said, “As nice as they +know how.”</p> +<p>“I am afraid I know what that means,” said +Agatha.</p> +<p>“If I only knew how to prevent their looking on me as +their governess,” continued Magdalen; “but I must +have got into the groove, and I suppose I do not always remember +how much must be tolerated if love has to be won; and Paula is a +thoroughly good girl.”</p> +<p>“Yes, I am sure she wishes to be,” said +Agatha. “Are those Sisters nice that she talks of so +eagerly?”</p> +<p>“They are very excellent women, but somehow I should +have had more confidence in them if they were not unattached, or +belonged to some regular Sisterhood. I wish she had taken +instead to Mysie Merrifield, who is more of my sort; but no one +can control those likings.”</p> +<p>“I don’t think Gillian very attractive; she is so +wrapped up in her work,” confessed Agatha.</p> +<p>“You will see them all, I hope, for I am giving a garden +party next week, perhaps. Have not they told +you?”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes; but Polly seemed bent on its not clashing with +some festival at St. Kenelm’s.”</p> +<p>“Therefore I had not fixed the day till I had heard what +is settled. I have invited people for Thursday, which will +hardly interfere.”</p> +<p>“Did you know that the young man who is painting the +ceiling at St. Kenelm’s Church is old Mr. Delrio’s +son Hubert?”</p> +<p>“Indeed! Is he staying here? We must ask him +to come up to luncheon or to tea. I am glad he is doing so +well. I heard Eccles and Beamster were to do the +decorations; I suppose they employ him. I should think it +was a very good line to get into.”</p> +<p>This was on a Friday; and the next day Magdalen proposed +driving down in the cool of the evening to see the decorations at +St. Kenelm’s and their artist; but it turned out that he +was gone to spend Sunday at the Cathedral city, and all that +could be done was to admire the designs, and listen to +Paula’s enthusiastic explanation.</p> +<p>Magdalen consulted Agatha whether to send young Delrio a card +for the garden party; but they decided that it was too late for +an invitation to be sent, though a spoken one might have been +possible. Besides, it was not likely to be pleasant to a +stranger who knew no one but the Flights and Hendersons, and +those professionally. Agatha told her sisters, and with one +voice they declared that they would not see him patronised; while +Agatha’s acute senses doubted whether Vera’s +objection was not secretly based on the embarrassment of a double +flirtation with him and with Wilfred Merrifield.</p> +<p>Indeed, Vera told her gaily: “Only think, Nag, I did +have a jolly ride on the M.A.’s bike after all.”</p> +<p>“Indeed! Then she lent it to you.”</p> +<p>“Not she! But she and the little kid were safe +gone to Avoncester, and Paula was with her dear Sisters, so Will +and I took a jolly spin along the cliff road; and it was such +screaming fun. Only once we thought we saw old Sir Jasper +coming, and we got behind a barn, but it turned out to be only a +tripper, and we had such a laugh.”</p> +<p>“Paula does not know?”</p> +<p>“What would be the good of telling her, with her little +nun’s schoolgirl mind? She would only make no end of +a fuss about a mere bit of fun and nonsense.”</p> +<p>“I think if Wilfred Merrifield was afraid to meet his +father, it showed a sense of wrong.”</p> +<p>“Sir Jasper is a horrid old martineau, who never gives +them any peace at home, but is always after them.”</p> +<p>“A martinet, I suppose you mean. I don’t +think that makes it any better. I should not be happy till +Magdalen knew.”</p> +<p>“Why, no harm was done! There’s her precious +machine all safe! It was just for the fun of the thing, and +to try how it goes. One can’t be kept in like a +blessed baby! She never has guessed it. That’s +the fun of it.”</p> +<p>“I would not return her kindness in such an unladylike +way when she is trusting you, Vera.”</p> +<p>Did Magdalen know what had been done? She did guess, for +there was a mark on the wheel that she did not remember to have +known before, and it cost her a bitter pang of mistrust; but she +abstained from inquiries, thinking that they might only do +harm. But she bought a chain for her bicycle; and Agatha +felt more shame than did Vera, who tried to believe herself +amused by her tacit sense of emancipation.</p> +<h2><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +93</span>CHAPTER X—FLOWN</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Till now thy soul hath been all glad and +gay,<br /> +Bid it arise and look on grief to-day.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Adelaide +Proctor</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">There</span> was a Guild at St. +Kenelm’s which was considered by the promoters to be +superior to the Girls’ Friendly Society, and which +comprised about a dozen young women, who attended classes held by +Sister Beata, and occasional modest entertainments given by Lady +Flight.</p> +<p>One of these was to take place the day before Miss +Prescott’s garden party. It was to be given at +Carrara, the very pretty grounds on the top of the cliff, +belonging to Captain Henderson, the managing partner in the +extensive marble works of Mr. White, who lived at Rocca Marina, +in the Riviera. Mrs. Henderson had resided in Mr. +Flight’s parish, and been a member of his congregation, and +while he was absent for a day or two she had put her garden at +the service of the Guild of St. Milburga’s for the day.</p> +<p>Of course Vera and Paula were delighted to assist; but Thekla +was too young for the amusements of grown-up maidens, and was +much better pleased to help her two elder sisters in preparations +for the next day, placing tennis nets, arranging croquet hoops, +mustering chairs by the verandah, and adorning tables with +flowers. Agatha’s assistance was heartily given, as +making it her own concern, and, for that reason above all others, +it was a happy day, though a very tiring one, to Magdalen, in +spite of the sultry atmosphere and the sight of lurid-looking +clouds over the moors, which did not augur well for the next +day’s weather, and caused all the arrangement of chairs and +rugs to be prudently broken up and deposited under the +verandah.</p> +<p>This was done, and the evening meal had been taken, and Thekla +had gone to bed before some flashes of lightning made the two +sisters wish to see the other pair at home, especially as Vera +was much afraid of lightning, and Paula apt to be made quite ill +by it.</p> +<p>The storm rolled on, bringing violent gusts of wind and hail, +though not at the very nearest, and such a hurricane of wind and +rain ensued that the two watchers concluded that the two girls +must have been housed for the night by some of the friends at +Rock Quay, and it was near midnight, when just as they had gone +to their rooms, a carriage was heard ascending the hill, and they +had reached the door before Paulina sprang out with the cry, +“Is she come home?” Then at sight of the blank +faces of dismay, she seized hold of Agatha’s hands and +began to sob. Mr. Flight had stepped out of the car at the +same moment, and answered the incoherent questions and +exclamations.</p> +<p>“Young Delrio offered to take photographs of the party, +and that was the last time she was seen.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” sobbed Paula, “Sister Mena saw her +there. We were trying to get up croquet, and then I missed +her. I tried to find her when the lightning began, but I +could not find her anywhere, though I looked in all the +summer-houses!”</p> +<p>“At Mrs. Henderson’s? or Miss Mohun’s? or +the Sisters’?” asked Magdalen, catching alarm from +each denial. “She might have gone home with one of +the girls.”</p> +<p>“She would be wild in such a storm,” said Agatha, +“and not know what she was about.”</p> +<p>“Sister Beata and I have gone to each house,” said +Mr. Flight.</p> +<p>“When did you say you saw her last?”</p> +<p>“I saw her when we were grouped,” said Paula; +“Sister Mena, when she was helping him to put up his +photos.”</p> +<p>“The strange thing is,” said Mr. Flight, +“though no doubt it will be explained, that Delrio is +missing too.”</p> +<p>“Hubert Delrio!” exclaimed Agatha. +“Impossible! He must have taken her into the church +to be out of the storm.”</p> +<p>“We have tried,” said the clergyman. And as +the round of suggestions began to be despairingly reiterated, he +said, hesitating, “Miss Mohun told me that she thought she +had seen a boat, Captain Henderson’s, she believed, in the +cave with some one rocking in it; and certainly that little boat +was there, when on the hope, if it can be called a hope, I ran +down the steps to look.”</p> +<p>“Would it not have been put into the boathouse out of +the rain?” said Agatha.</p> +<p>“The gardener was gone home, out of reach round the +point, but we shall know to-morrow.”</p> +<p>“He thinks they may have rowed out and been caught in +the storm,” cried Paula, bursting into fresh weeping; and +Magdalen saw the conjecture confirmed by Mr. Flight’s +countenance.</p> +<p>“I am afraid it is the least distressing—the least +unsatisfactory idea,” said he, in much agitation. +“I thought Mr. Delrio an excellent young man; and +she,” indicating his companion, “tells me you know +him and his family well.”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes,” said Agatha and Magdalen in one +breath. “We have known his father all our +lives. Nothing can be more respectable.”</p> +<p>“And Hubert is as steady and good as possible,” +continued Agatha. “His mother used to come to Mrs. +Best and praise him, till we were quite tired of his name; I am +sure he is all right.”</p> +<p>“Or I should be much deceived in him,” said the +clergyman.</p> +<p>Yet there was an idea in Paulina’s mind. Could +Vera have poured out such an exaggerated tale of oppression and +unhappiness as to have induced her old playfellow to carry her +off to his mother at Filsted? She had given some such hint +to Mr. Flight on the way; but he had not seemed to hear or +attend, and he was now promising to let the sisters know as soon +as possible in the morning whether anything had been discovered, +and to telegraph to Filsted and to the office in London if he +should see occasion.</p> +<p>Then he drove off, in what would have been almost daylight but +for the pelting of the storm; and after a vain attempt to make +Paula swallow some nourishment, Magdalen thought it kinder to let +Agatha carry her off to bed, and then she confessed, what really +gave a certain hope, that the pair had been in the habit of +murmuring against “sister” so much that, considering +poor Vera’s propensity to strong language, it was quite +possible that Hubert might think her cruelly oppressed, and for a +freak carry her off to his mother to be consoled.</p> +<p>Agatha tried to believe it, for the sake of hushing the +exhausted Paula, who almost went into hysterics, as she laughed +at the notion of to-morrow’s telegram that Vera was safe at +Filsted; and then allowed herself to be calmed enough to sleep, +while Agatha revolved the notion, but found herself unable +seriously to believe, that sufficient grievance could be brought +against sister to induce any man in his senses to take such a +step. But then Paula had inferred that he was a lover, and +Agatha did not know of what lovers might be capable, and she +could not but blame herself for not having given more importance +to the semi-confidences of her sisters on the first day of her +arrival. It was all misery; and the two poor girls could +find no solace in the morning, save in talking to Magdalen, +though that involved the confession of all the murmurs against +her, the distrust of her kindness, and the explanation of the +interviews, which, as far as Paula had ever witnessed them, were +absolutely harmless, the only pity being in their +concealment.</p> +<p>Magdalen was manifestly as wretched as they, or even more so, +being convinced of her own shortcoming in not having won the +affection or confidence that would have made all open between +them. She could not understand why Hubert Delrio should not +have been made known to her.</p> +<p>“We thought,” said Paula, “we thought you +might not think him enough—enough—of a gentleman for +your sort of society.”</p> +<p>“I think you might have trusted me to know what was due +to an old friend,” said Magdalen “but, oh, I ought to +have made you feel that we could think together.”</p> +<p>“Perhaps,” said Agatha, “there was a little +consciousness on poor dear Vera’s part that she did not +want you to know the terms she was on.”</p> +<p>They had tried only to let Thekla know that they were much +alarmed because Vera had gone out in a boat and not +returned. It was observable that, on the principle that +where there is life there is hope, Paula clung to the notion that +Vera’s having fled to Filsted; while the two elder sisters, +perhaps because they better knew what such a flight might seem to +others, would almost have preferred to suppose there had been a +fatal accident in the midst of youthful, innocent sport.</p> +<p>The two were lingering sadly over their uneaten breakfast, +talking more freely when they had sent Thekla to feed her pets, +when Mr. Flight came up on his bicycle; but it was plain at the +first moment that he had no good news.</p> +<p>Nothing had been heard. It only appeared that one of the +young gardeners at Carrara had taken Captain Henderson’s +boat without leave, to fetch one of the girls, but on entering +the cove had found the boathouse locked. He had moored the +boat to a stake for want of the ring that secured it +within. When the storm threatened he ran down to recover +it, but it was gone, and he had concluded that the gardeners had +put it into the boathouse. It now appeared that they had +not seen it, and were very angry at its having been meddled +with. An oar had drifted up with the morning tide, and had +been recognised as belonging to the boat; but such a gale was +blowing that it was impossible to put out to sea or make any +search round the coast. Words could hardly describe the +distress of Mr. Flight or of his ladies at not having better +looked after the young girl; Sister Beata for never having +thoroughly attended to the matter; and Sister Mena for having +accepted confidences which, if she had only guessed it, told her +more than there really was to be known. Both these two were +inclined to the elopement idea, partly because it was the least +shocking, and partly because they had looked at Vera’s +grievances through her own spectacles, and partly from their +unlimited notions of young men’s wickedness. Their +vicar was not of the same opinion, knowing Hubert better, and +besides having found his work, his orders to his subordinates, +and the belongings at the lodgings in a state that showed that +whatever he had done had been unpremeditated. Sending off +notes to stop the garden party was a sort of occupation, broken +by many signs, much listening, and much sorrowful discussion, not +quite vain, since it made Paulina more one with Magdalen than +ever before. Poor old Mr. Delrio arrived in the afternoon, +a thin, grey-haired and bearded old man, who could only make it +too certain that Paula’s theory of the innocent flight to +Filsted was impossible. Moreover, he was as certain as a +father could be, intimate with, and therefore confident of, his +eldest son, that though Hubert might indulge in a little lively +flirtation, it could never be otherwise than perfectly +harmless. In the terrible suspense and restlessness, he +went vibrating about in the torrents of moorland rain between +Rock Quay and the Goyle, on the watch for telegrams from the +office in London or his wife at home, or for the discovery of +anything from the sea, or searching in his son’s lodgings, +where nothing was found that did not show him to have been a +pure-hearted young man, devoted to his art, and fond of +poetry. Sundry compositions were in the blotting-book, one, +indeed, to Vera’s name, under the supposition (a wrong one) +<a name="citation100"></a><a href="#footnote100" +class="citation">[100]</a> that it meant “true,” but +mostly rough copies of a poem about the Saints Julitta and her +child Cyriac. Hope sank as another stormy day rose; and +still the poor old artist lingered in hopes of news by some +returning craft which might have picked up the derelict. +His chief comfort was in walking about between the showers with +Magdalen, as an old friend, and trying to think of the two as +innocent creatures, engulfed like mayflies in the stream.</p> +<p>Sister Mena came over, wanting to join Paula in bewailing +entreaties; but Paula, in youthful hard-hearted wilfulness, +declared that it was impossible to see her; and it fell to +Magdalen to try to discuss the grief with her.</p> +<p>It turned out that Mr. Flight had spoken severely to her and +to the far less implicated Sister Beata, declaring his confidence +in them destroyed, so that they had begun to consider of throwing +up their work in his parish. “And it was all my +fault,” said Mena; “Sister Beata really knew nothing, +or hardly anything of what Vera told me.”</p> +<p>“Indeed, I can quite understand that you had hardly +experience enough to know that it might be wiser not to encourage +what was not quite open.”</p> +<p>“But I thought,—I thought you—”</p> +<p>“That I was unkind and unsympathising.”</p> +<p>“Oh, you never could have been—”</p> +<p>“Indeed I never meant to be, but I am afraid it seemed +so to my young sisters. I can quite see how you thought you +were acting kindly.”</p> +<p>“Oh, that is so good of you.”</p> +<p>“And perhaps I, being only an elder sister, you would +not feel that I was the only authority the poor girls have to +look to; and that it would have been kinder to help them to be +content with me.”</p> +<p>“I did not know what you could be,” said Mena, +greatly soothed and surprised by her caresses.</p> +<p>“We often do go on in ignorance, and get on a wrong +tack; but you know God pardons our mistakes, and I do believe +that you will be wiser for all this sorrow, and better able to +rise to your work. I am sure, however it ends, that is the +reason that such blows are sent to us.”</p> +<p>Mena went back sorrowful and chastened, but tenderly +hopeful. If Miss Prescott could forgive, surely Mr. Flight +could, and One still greater.</p> +<h2><a name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +103</span>CHAPTER XI—ADRIFT</h2> +<blockquote><p>“She splashed, and she dashed, and she +turned herself round,<br /> +And heartily wished herself safe on the ground.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Jane +Taylor</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">And</span> where were the missing +pair?</p> +<p>Vera had lingered about, fancying she was helping to pack the +photographic apparatus, while the others dispersed. +Presently, seeing no one near, Hubert Delrio said, in a gentle +diffident voice, “It would be a great pleasure to me if I +might ask you to listen to the verses on St. Cyriac and his +mother that the design brought with it.”</p> +<p>“I should love it better than anything,” said +Vera, highly flattered.</p> +<p>“If you would come down this way, there is a charming +secluded cove, where we should be free from +interruption.”</p> +<p>“How deliciously romantic! Quite stunning!” +cried Vera, as her cavalier conducted her down a steep path along +the side of the cliff to the stony beach, where a few red rocks +had been manipulated into a tiny harbour, with a boathouse for +the little skiff in which Captain Henderson was wont to go round +to the marble works on the other side of the headland. The +boat looked very inviting as it lay swinging gently in the +sluggish waves in the advancing shade of the tall cliff; and Vera +exclaimed with delight as she was assisted into it, and placed +herself comfortably on the cushion, with one hand dabbling in the +cool translucent wave. Hubert Delrio opened his manuscript +and began to read his ballad, if so it was to be called, being +the history of the little boy of four years old, who, being taken +with his mother before the tribunal at Tarsus, was lifted on the +proprætor’s knee, but struggled, crying out, “I +am a Christian!” till the proprætor, in a rage, +hurled him down. His skull was fractured on the marble +pavement, and his mother gave thanks for his soul’s safety, +when she too was sentenced to be beheaded. Great pains had +been taken with the noble-minded tale; and the verses had +considerable merit, more, perhaps, than Vera could +appreciate. But to read such a production of his own, in +such surroundings, to the auditor whom youthful fancy most +preferred, was such luxury to both that it was no wonder that +under the broad shady hat with the lily wreath she was nodding in +the gentle breeze, the lapping of the waves, and the soft cadence +of the poetry, till at an effective passage on the mother’s +death, the poet looked up, expecting to receive a responsive +glance from those blue eyes.</p> +<p>Not only were they hidden, but the cliff was farther +off. The mooring rope and the stake were dragging behind in +the water. The tide had turned, and the boat was already +out of reach of the rock where it had been drawn up. His +exclamation of dismay awoke Vera, who would have started up with +a little shriek, but for his, “Don’t! +Don’t! I’ll row back.”</p> +<p>But he was a landsman, whose only knowledge of the water was +in an occasional bathe, or in a river steamer; and his first +attempt at placing the oars in the rowlocks resulted in one +falling overboard, while he helplessly grasped the other; and +Vera screamed again.</p> +<p>“Don’t be frightened, my dear! Dearest, +don’t! We must be seen. Some one will come out +and help us.”</p> +<p>“Can’t you get on with one oar? They do in +pictures.”</p> +<p>“Punting? Yes, but there must be a bottom. +No, don’t move, whatever you do. There can’t be +any danger. Fishermen must be about. Or we shall be +seen from the cliffs.”</p> +<p>“They are getting farther off! Can’t you +shout?”</p> +<p>Hubert shouted, and Vera added her shriller cries; but all in +vain, and the outgoing tide was carrying them, not towards the +quay and marble rocks, but farther to sea. The waves grew +rougher and had crests of foam, and discomfort began. Once +the feather of a steamer was seen on the horizon. They +waved handkerchiefs and redoubled their shouts, and Hubert had to +hold his companion to prevent her from leaping up; but they never +were within the vessel’s ken, and she went on her way, +while the sea bore them farther and farther.</p> +<p>The shore was growing dim and indistinct, the sun was sinking, +and the cloud, that had at first shown only a golden border, was +lifting tall perpendicular masses, while the tossing of the +little boat became more and more distressing. Anxiety and +sense of responsibility kept Hubert from feeling physical +discomfort; but Vera began to cry, and to declare that it would +be the death of her if she were not landed immediately.</p> +<p>“If it were only possible!” sighed Delrio.</p> +<p>“There must be some way! You are so stupid! +Oh! There was a flash of lightning.”</p> +<p>“Summer lightning.”</p> +<p>“No such thing! There will be a storm, and we +shall be drowned. Oh, I wish I had never listened to your +nonsense, and got into this horrible boat.” She was +in a state for scolding, and scold she did, as the clouds rose +higher, and sheets of lightning more decided. “How +could you? You, who know nothing about boats, and going on, +on, with those horrid tiresome verses—not minding +anything—I wish I had never come near you!”</p> +<p>Vainly the poor young fellow tried to get in a word of +consolation; it only made her scold the more, till there was no +question that the storm was raging overhead; the hail rattled and +splashed, the waves raised them to a height, then subsided into +endless depths; the thunder pealed, and she clung to Hubert, too +frightened for screaming. His fear was that the cockleshell +of a boat should fill and founder; he tried to bale out the water +with his hat, and to make her assist, but she seemed incapable, +and he could only devise laying her down in the bottom of the +boat with his coat over her, hiding her face in terror. Her +hat had long ago been blown away, and her hair was flapping +about. Ejaculations were in his heart, if not on his lips, +and once or twice she cried out something like, “Save +me!” but in general it was, “We are sinking! +Hold me! We are going! Paula! Nag!” +clutching at his legs, so as to hamper him in the baling out the +water.</p> +<p>The hail passed, but there was a solid sheet of rain +descending on them, undistinguishable from the foam that rushed +over them as they went down, down, down. Vera was silenced; +and Hubert, drenched and nearly beaten out of life, almost +welcomed every downward plunge as the last, tried to commend his +spirit, and was amazed to find his little boat lifted up again, +and the black darkness not so absolute.</p> +<h2><a name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +108</span>CHAPTER XII—“THE KITTIWAKE”</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Good luck to your fishing! Whom watch +ye to-night?<br /> +A man of mean, or a man of might?”—<span +class="smcap">Scott</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Something</span> black was before the +tossed boat! Yes, and light, not lightning. A human +voice seemed to be on the blast. Hubert Delrio essayed to +shout, but his voice was gone, or was blown away. He +understood that a vessel must be above him. Would it finish +all by running him down? He perceived that he was bidden to +catch something. A rope! His benumbed hands and the +heaving of the boat made him fail once, twice, and he was being +swept away as at last he did grasp a rope, and was drawn, as it +ground his hands, close to the dark wall that rose above, with +lights visible.</p> +<p>“Cheer up! cheer up!” he cried to Vera. +“Thank God, we are saved!”</p> +<p>Response from her there was none; but he could hear the yell +of inquiry from ahead, and answered, “Here! +Two! A woman!”</p> +<p>A second rope was lowered. “Lash her to +it.” But as it was evident that Delrio could do +nothing but hold on, and that his companion was helpless, a +sailor descended from no great elevation, and, in another moment, +the senseless girl was hoisted up and received on deck; and, with +some assistance, Hubert was also on board, thinking of nothing +but the breathless question, “Is she safe?”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes! She will soon come round! +Here! They will see to her.” As she was carried +away, and Hubert had a perception that she was received by female +hands, but he was utterly exhausted, and unable to see or speak, +till some stimulant had been poured down his throat, and even +then he could hardly ask, “Is she safe?</p> +<p>“Yes, yes! All right! Reviving fast! +Here! Take some more! Bed is ready! Get rid of +those clothes!” It was an elderly, grey-haired man +who spoke, and Hubert was in no condition to resist, as the yacht +was pitching considerably, though after the boat the motion was +almost rest. He instinctively shook his head at the glass, +but swallowed what was forced upon him, and managed to say, +“Thanks—sitting in boat—drifted off—Rock +Quay.”</p> +<p>“All right! Never mind. Take him down. +My berth, Ivy—Jephson. Tuck him in. Don’t +let him speak! Never mind, my lad! We will hear all +about it to-morrow!”</p> +<p>Meantime, Vera, though reviving, was conscious of very little, +save a soft pillow, tender hands, and warm drink that choked her; +and then she fell asleep, though still she was aware of a strange +tossing going on all night, and by and by she found herself +secured into a sort of narrow shelf, and murmuring female voices +were at hand. As she moved, she heard, “There, you +are better now. You can take this, then you will be more +comfortable.”</p> +<p>Her eyes had opened to a curious sort of twilight, and there +was a fair girlish head over her, with a sweet smiling +face. An elderly weather-beaten face in a hood next +appeared, and a brown hand holding a cup closed over the top, in +invalid fashion, and a kind strong arm slightly raised her with, +“There, there, poor dear! The spirit, my lady dear, +the spirit! That’s right, now then.”</p> +<p>“You <i>must</i> be a baby;” and a merry +reassuring smile broke out as the draught was administered. +Vera tasted, thanked, swallowed, felt giddy, and lay down, +hearing a lively bit of self-gratulation. “There, +Mrs. Griggs, I’m getting my sea legs!” followed by an +ignominious stumble as Mrs. Griggs caught the cup in good time as +the vessel gave a lurch which completed Vera’s awakening in +the fear of being shaken out on the floor.</p> +<p>She looked round to find herself in a tiny room, cushioned +throughout, with strange dancing confused light coming in, and +the few articles of furniture carefully secured. Two young +figures were there, both dressed in stout blue serge, with white +trimmings; one, the darker, beside her bed, had a face full of +kindness and solicitude, yet of fun dimpling over continually; +the other, even in that dim light, striking Vera as something out +of the loveliest visions of romance, so fair and beautiful was +the countenance.</p> +<p>A man’s voice was at the door. “Fly! +Francie! How is she?”</p> +<p>“Much better! Nearly well! Good morning, +Papa dear. Is he all right?”</p> +<p>“As sound as a bell! Ha!” As the door +escaped, the curtain over it shook, and he nearly fell against +it, saving himself with his hands. “That was +exercise!” As the young girls came tumbling up and +disappeared behind the curtain, where, however, the voices could +be plainly heard, “Had any sleep to-night or this +morning?”</p> +<p>“Between whiles! O yes! All our bones are +still whole, as I hope yours and Ivy’s are.”</p> +<p>“Come and see. Griggs is getting breakfast under +difficulties insurmountable to any one but a +sea-grasshopper! I came to call you damsels, and present my +inquiries to Miss Prescott.”</p> +<p>“She will soon be all right! Francie and I are so +proud of having had a real downright adventure.”</p> +<p>“I trust she will not be the worse, and +will—excuse me, and regard me as incognito.”</p> +<p>This was said as another lurch drove the grizzled head into +the cabin; and recovering in another upheaval they all +disappeared, leaving Vera in a dreaming state, whence she was +only half roused when Mrs. Griggs returned to administer +breakfast, so far as she could taste it, under exhortations, +pettings, and scoldings; and she very soon fell asleep again, and +was thus left, sensible all the time of tossings and buffetings, +but so worn out by the five hours of the boat, and so liable to +be made ill by the motion of the vessel, that it was thought best +to leave her to sleep in her berth.</p> +<p>She was only aware of voices above talking and laughing, or +sailor calls being shouted out, or now and then of some one +coming to look at her, and insisting on her taking food.</p> +<p>It was not till late in the afternoon that she awoke from what +seemed like a strange long uneasy dream, and found one of the +girls sitting by her and telling her she was better now.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Vera, trying to raise herself, finding +something over her head, and falling back on the pillow; +“but what is it? Where is this?”</p> +<p>“<i>This</i> is somewhere out in the Channel, near off +Guernsey, Griggs says, but we cannot put in anywhere till the +gale goes down.”</p> +<p>“What is it? Is it a ship, then?”</p> +<p>“O yes,” said the girl, laughing; “a yacht, +the <i>Kittiwake</i>. Sir Robert Audley has lent it to my +brother, and we are all going to see the Hebrides and Staffa and +Iona.”</p> +<p>“Not to take me all up there?” groaned poor Vera, +in horror. “Can’t you put me out somewhere, +anywhere?”</p> +<p>“Don’t be afraid,” was the much-amused +reply. “As soon as ever we can put in anywhere, we +can telegraph to Rock Quay and put you ashore to go home; but we +can only run before the wind while the sea is so high. I +wish you could come on deck, it is so jolly!”</p> +<p>“Oh! it was too dreadful!”</p> +<p>“Beating about in the boat! It must have been, Mr. +Delrio told us.”</p> +<p>“It was so stupid in him never to see that we had got +loose, and were drifting off,” said Vera, who had never +thought of inquiring after him.</p> +<p>“My father and Griggs think he behaved quite like a +hero,” was the answer. “He must have managed +very well to keep you afloat, and saved you all this +time.”</p> +<p>“I suppose so,” said Vera. “We always +did know him, or I should not have let him get me into that boat, +when he minded nothing but his verses.”</p> +<p>“Those verses, they came all limp and wet out of his +pocket, and Francie made him let her dry them and copy them out; +and she is so delighted with them. It really is well it is +too late to call the baby Cyriac.”</p> +<p>“The baby?”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes. We had to leave him behind, though +Francie was ready to break her heart over it; but they said that +nothing would do for Ivinghoe—after this second +influenza—but a sea voyage, so she had to make up her mind +to leave him to my mother.”</p> +<p>Vera was in a state of bewilderment, caring a great deal more +for herself and her own sensations than for any of her +surroundings; and her next question was, “When do you think +we shall be out of this?”</p> +<p>“We shall put into harbour somewhere as soon as the wind +lulls. We cannot venture yet, though we do steam; and then +we can telegraph. I am longing to relieve Miss +Prescott. We can take you home all the way. We were +on our way into Rock Quay to take up Mysie Merrifield if she can +go. It really was a wonderful and most merciful thing that +we made you out just as it was getting light before running you +down. My father saw you first, and old Griggs would hardly +believe it, but then we heard Mr. Delrio’s hail! But +it was a terrible business getting you up the ship’s +side.”</p> +<p>“I did not know anything about it. It was so +dreadful in the lightning. And my new hat was blown +away. And what is become of all my clothes?”</p> +<p>“Mrs. Griggs has them, and is drying them. We will +lend you a hat to land in.”</p> +<p>“Oh, when we do! I wish I had never got into that +boat, but Hubert Delrio did persuade me so.”</p> +<p>“And he is an old friend?”</p> +<p>“Yes, he is come to paint the roof of St. Kenelm’s +Church, and we want to be attentive to him because my eldest +sister would be sure to be cross and keep him at a distance, +being only that sort of wall painter, you know, and his father a +drawing master.”</p> +<p>“My father is very much pleased with him, and thinks him +a very superior young man. They have been sitting on deck +together, talking as much as they could about architecture and +Italy, with their breath all blown away every moment. +There! You are really getting better! If you would +eat something and come on deck you would be well! I will +call the sea gnat, and see what we have.”</p> +<p>It was all very wonderful to Vera; and she began to be +interested and to forget her troubles. A slice of very salt +ham was brought to her and a glass of something, she did not know +what, and asked if she could have some tea.</p> +<p>“You could have tea if you like, but there’s no +milk. You see, we ought to have been in at Rock Quay +yesterday evening, and our stores were not adapted to hold out +any longer! We shall have another curious experience, +though Mrs. Griggs says it won’t be so bad as once when +they were off the coast of Ireland, and when they put into a bay +with a queer name, all Kill and Bally, they could get nothing but +potatoes and goat’s milk.”</p> +<p>“Who is Mrs. Griggs?”</p> +<p>“She is wife to the sailing master; and, like the +Norsemen, her home is on the wave, at least in the yacht, for she +always lives in it, and her cabin is quite a sight; she is great +fun, she cooks when there is anything to cook, and is stewardess +and everything. Francie and I knew a maid would be a vain +encumbrance, so we are taking care of ourselves, and, if you will +let me, I will try and set your hair to rights.”</p> +<p>It was in a fearful tangle, after five hours at sea, and many +more in the berth in the cabin; but Vera was able to sit up in a +dainty dressing-gown, and submit to treatment not quite that of a +hairdresser, but made as lively as could be by little jokes and +kindly apologies at any extra hard pull at the knots, which +really seemed “as if a witch had twined them;” and +the two began to feel well acquainted with each other over the +operation, though Vera was somewhat impressed when she observed +that the brush was ivory handled.</p> +<p>Her bicycling skirt was in tolerable condition, but her once +delicate blue blouse was past renovation, so she was invested +with a borrowed white one, and led in triumph to the saloon, just +as the beautiful “Francie” came to call +“Phyllis,” and give a helping hand. There were +two gentlemen besides Hubert Delrio, and there was a general +rejoicing welcome; but Vera did not think Hubert made half enough +inquiries or apologies, before she was seated at the table, where +everything was secured, and the fare was not very sumptuous or +various, being chiefly some concoction of rice and scraps of salt +beef, which Francie said was a shame, eating up the poor +sailors’ fare; also there was potted meat, and cheese, but +all the fresh bread was gone, and they praised Mrs. Griggs’ +construction of ham and rice with all the warmth and drollery +each could contribute. Vera began to be puzzled as to who +every one was, for no names except Phyl, Fly, Francie and Ivy +were heard, and the merry grey-haired head of the family was +“Father” or “Papa” to every one, except +of course Mr. Delrio, who, however, seemed at his ease, and took +a fair share in the talk, and once or twice Vera thought he said, +“my lord,” but she did not believe it.</p> +<p>“I find you are a friend of a special pet of mine, Mysie +Merrifield,” said the father.</p> +<p>“I know her a little,” stammered Vera, “but +Primrose best.”</p> +<p>“Nearer your age, eh? But Mysie is our gem! +It looks fit for going on deck.”</p> +<p>After the apology for a dinner, the young married pair went +their way, he to endeavour to add a fish to their provisions, she +to look on; the father and Delrio went where the latter could +best study the wonderful tints of sunset over the purple +retreating clouds, and the still agitated foaming +sea,—sights that seemed to be filling him with enchantment, +and revealing effects in colour, while his delight was evidently +a new pleasure to his companion.</p> +<p>Vera was afraid to move, and sat on a deck chair, with her +back to the sunset, while Phyllis, who perhaps would have liked +to share in the admiration, sat by her, so that Vera began to +accept her as a special friend, and to pour out the explanation +of how she came to be tossing in an open boat with this one +companion.</p> +<p>“You see, poor fellow,” she said, simpering, +“he has been always so devoted to me. Everybody +observed it, and I could not help just gratifying him a +little.”</p> +<p>“He does seem to be very full of promise,” said +Phyllis. “I suppose Miss Prescott is much pleased +with him.”</p> +<p>“My sister Magdalen, do you mean? Well, we have +not introduced him to her yet. You see, he is <i>only</i> +painting the church, and she is so devoted to swells, and makes +such a fuss about our manners.”</p> +<p>“Indeed! But surely you could not go out with him +without her knowing it.”</p> +<p>“She was not at this St. Milburgha’s Guild, you +know, and Sisters Beata and Mena knew all about it. Oh, +yes, she lets us go to them at St. Kenelm’s, but they are +not swells enough for her.”</p> +<p>“Mr. Flight’s Sisterhood, are not they?”</p> +<p>“And Primrose Merrifield says that Wilfred declares that +they are not ladies; but that’s all jealousy, you know, +because Will doesn’t like my friends, and Magdalen is +altogether gone upon grandees.”</p> +<p>“Fancy!” was all that Phyllis managed to say.</p> +<p>“She doesn’t want us to be friends with anybody +who don’t belong to some one with a handle to her +name. So foolish and stuck up! So we knew she would +not be kind to Hubert.”</p> +<p>“I think you had better have tried. I thought her +one of the kindest people in the world.”</p> +<p>“Ah! but, you know, unfortunately she has been a +governess, and that teaches toadying.”</p> +<p>At that moment “Phyl” was called to see the first +star over the sea, and ran up to her father, so as to conceal how +nearly she was laughing. Hubert Delrio came towards +Vera.</p> +<p>“Can you forgive me, Vera?” he said. +“I shall speak to your sister as soon as I am at home, and +ask her forgiveness, and—”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes! yes! But do tell me who these people +are.”</p> +<p>“Did you not know? That most kind of men, is Lord +Rotherwood. Those are Lord and Lady Ivinghoe, +and—”</p> +<p>“Lady Phyllis! Oh!”</p> +<h2><a name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +119</span>CHAPTER XIII—CHIMERAS DIRE</h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: +center">“Qu’allait-il faire dans cette +galère?”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">French +Comedy</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Vera’s</span> first thorough +awakening the next morning was to hear outside the door, +“Are you up, Fly?”</p> +<p>“I shall be in a minute or two. Do you want +me?”</p> +<p>“You are a dab at <i>parlez-vous</i>. I want you +to come ashore with me and cater for the starving +crew.”</p> +<p>“What fun! Anon, anon, Sir!”</p> +<p>Vera then perceived that she had been bestowed in Lady +Phyllis’ cabin, and that the proper owner was dressing +herself in haste before the little shelf of a toilette +table. So great had been the confusion of last +night’s discovery that the poor silly child had only +thought of hurrying out of sight and tumbling into bed without +speaking to any one, and she had not distinctly known, when Lady +Phyllis came down a good deal later and disposed of herself on +the sofa, that Mrs. Griggs had made ready for her. And now +the only thing she could think of was to say, “Oh! +Lady Phyllis, I didn’t know.”</p> +<p>“Take care! Don’t knock your head! We +ought to have remembered that Boreas, or whichever it was, was +hardly a sufficient introduction. Are you all right +now? You had better go to sleep again till I bring +something to eat. We are lying to off some little Breton +fishing village, and I am going with my brother to get some +provisions, and telegraph if we can.”</p> +<p>It was long before they came back. Vera had another nap, +dressed herself, grew very hungry, and came out to find Lord +Rotherwood fishing, and his daughter-in-law watching for the boat +to put out from the white houses with grey roofs, which, +clustered round their church-tower, seemed descending to the +water’s edge. They were equally famished, though Mrs. +Griggs stewed up the poor remnants of last night’s banquet; +but at last the little boat appeared, gaily dancing over the +waves, and Phyllis making signals of success.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, you may be thankful, you poor starving +beings! Here, Mrs. Griggs! Accept, and do all you +can! Here are eggs, and some milk and fresh water, four +<i>poulets</i>, such as they are, and a huge monster of a crab; +but all the bread is leavened, and you little guess what Ivy and +I had to go through before we were allowed to buy anything. +We were had up to the Mayor, and had to <i>constater</i> all +manner of things about our ship, to prove that we were no +smugglers.”</p> +<p>“I thought the fat old rogue would have come out to +visit the yacht before he would have allowed us a morsel,” +said Lord Ivinghoe.</p> +<p>“In which case you might have been found a skeleton, +father, like Sir Hugh Willoughby! And as to our telegrams, +they won’t go till the diligence gets to St. Malo, and what +they will make of them there is another question. I did not +dare to send more than one, for fear they should get mixed +up.”</p> +<p>Vera heard the joyous chaff as it fluttered round her, not +half understanding it any more than if it had been a strange +tongue, and not always guessing the cause of the fits of +laughter, chiefly at Lord Ivinghoe’s misadventures, over +which his little sister and his father were well pleased to tease +his correctness, and his young wife looked a little hurt at his +being tormented. He could not remember that +<i>braconnier</i> was a poacher by land, not by sea, and very +unnecessarily disclaimed to the Maire being such a thing. +His father, he said, “was <i>gentilhomme anglais +en</i>—what’s a yacht?—<i>yac</i>. +(Nonsense! that’s a long-haired ox. No!) <i>Non +point contrabandiste</i>, <i>mais galérien dans +galère</i>.” “And there I +interposed,” said Phyllis, “for fear we should be +boarded as escaped <i>galériens</i>.”</p> +<p>“Why, galley was a pleasure-boat sometimes,” said +Ivinghoe, and his wife supported him with +“Cleopatra’s galley.”</p> +<p>“Well done, Francie! To your oars for Ivy’s +defence,” said Lord Rotherwood. “How did you +defend us, Fly, from being towed into harbour at Brest as runaway +convicts?”</p> +<p>“She gabbled away most eloquently to the Maire, almost +as fluently as a born French-woman,” said Ivinghoe, +“and persuaded him at last that it was not necessary to +come on board to inspect us, nor even to detain us till he had +sent for instructions to St. Malo.”</p> +<p>“As Ivy managed matters, I thought we might be kept as +hostages,” said Phyllis.</p> +<p>“But, thanks to her blandishments, the solemn official +vouchsafed to send off a messenger for us with a +telegram.”</p> +<p>“I do not think he sent directions to pursue our +suspicious <i>galère</i>,” added Phyllis; “but +I own I shall be glad to be under the lee of old England +again.”</p> +<p>“What was your telegram?”</p> +<p>“Brevity was safest, nor had we money enough for two; so +all I attempted was, ‘Delrio to Flight, Rock Quay. +Both safe. Picked up by <i>Kittiwake</i>.’ I +thought that would be the quickest means of relieving anxiety, as +we were not sure of other addresses; and as to +‘home,’ Mamma probably hardly was aware of the storm, +or, if she were, she knew the capabilities of yachts and of +Griggs.”</p> +<p>“Right!” returned his father. “Poor +Miss Prescott! she must have given you up for lost. Have +you been improving your mind with French telegrams?” he +added, turning to Delrio.</p> +<p>“No, my lord, I found my way to the church, a wonderful +piece of old Norman!—if it may so be called.”</p> +<p>“I see you have been sketching.”</p> +<p>Griggs here interposed with tidings that eggs and coffee were +ready in the saloon, the worthy pair having had respect to the +general famine, and prepared what could be made ready in +haste. Those who had eaten ashore sat by, making an amusing +account of their reception, and difficulties with language and +peasants, for, this not being an ordinary place of call, nothing +was ready for sale.</p> +<p>Vera, finding herself for the first time in distinguished +company, which desired to set her at ease, began to be at ease, +and to desire to shine, so she giggled whenever she perceived the +slightest excuse, even when Lord Ivinghoe handed her the eggs, +and, hoped she had not too British an appetite for French eggs; +and Lady Ivinghoe asked if she had seen the fowls, and whether +their feathers were ruffled up like a hen’s that had been +given to Aunt Cherry. Her little sister Joan, she added, +had asked whether eating the eggs would make her hair curl.</p> +<p>“Or stand on end,” said Phyllis.</p> +<p>“As I am afraid Miss Prescott’s is doing till your +telegram reaches her. Did you say it was to go from St. +Malo?”</p> +<p>“Yes. I thought that the safest place to have a +comprehensible message copied.”</p> +<p>“To whom did you say?” asked Lady Ivinghoe.</p> +<p>“‘Delrio to Flight.’ Oh, they will +know his name and address fast enough when it gets to Rock +Quay.”</p> +<p>“He is the clergyman at St. Kenelm’s,” put +in Vera, in explanation; “very very advanced Ritualist, you +know.”</p> +<p>“Indeed!” was the answer.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, that he is. My sister Polly is perfectly +devoted to him; but we don’t go to his church, except now +and then, because my eldest sister is just one of those very +old-fashioned people, you know, who want everything horrid and +dull.”</p> +<p>“That is hardly what our cousins think of Miss +Prescott,” said Phyllis. “I am so sorry for her +anxiety! But I was not sure of the name of her +place.”</p> +<p>“The Goyle! Isn’t it frightful?” said +Vera.</p> +<p>“You say she was unprepared for your +adventure?”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, quite. Her notions are so dreadfully +proper and old fashioned. She hasn’t got any +sympathy, has she, Hubert?”</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” he said gravely. +“I have always had the greatest respect for her.”</p> +<p>“Respect! So you ought. That’s just +the thing one has for a slow dear old fogey,” she said, +laughing, “Oh, Hubert!” There was a silence, +and Lord Rotherwood made an observation upon the wind.</p> +<p>Vera perceived an awkwardness, and, by way of repairing it, +afterwards thought it expedient to communicate to Lady Phyllis +that it might be a pity she had said “Hubert.” +It was so awkward, only he was such an old acquaintance.</p> +<p>“I should have thought the awkwardness was incurred long +ago,” said Lady Phyllis. “Come, you will have +no more concealments from Miss Prescott, will you? You will +be ever so much more comfortable, and find out how kind she +is.”</p> +<p>“Oh, but!—” Vera wanted to talk over all her +grievances for the pleasure of talking, saying very much what she +had said before, and Phyllis tried to endure and put in as much +sense as she could, without lecturing the girl, who struck her as +the very silliest she had ever encountered; but she was +continually called off to admire the receding French coast, or to +look at the creatures brought up by dredging. She always +took care to call Vera, and not let her feel herself left out; +but Vera, if in solitude for a moment, reflected on the neglect +shown of little people by great ones; and when called up to see +uncanny slimy creatures, or even transparent balls like watery +umbrellas, only was disgusted and horrified.</p> +<p>She began to guess, rather truly, that Lady Phyllis wanted to +hinder a <i>tête-à-tête</i> between her and +Hubert Delrio. In fact, Lord Rotherwood, who was much more +of a sympathetic, confidence-inviting personage than his stiffer, +much older seeming son, had said to his daughter, +“Don’t let that poor lad and the girl get together +alone, Fly; the boy thinks he is bound to make her an +offer.”</p> +<p>“Oh, father! Surely not!”</p> +<p>“No more than if they had been two babies in a walnut +shell. So I told him, but people don’t see what +infants they are themselves, and I want to hinder him from +putting his foot in it before he has seen her +aunt—cousin—sister, or whoever it is that has the +charge of her; and she has depicted to him a Gorgon, with +Medusa’s hair, claws and all—a fancy sketch, +isn’t it?”</p> +<p>“Of course, sentimental schoolgirl colours! Mysie +thinks her delightful.”</p> +<p>“At any rate, let him get a dose of common sense before +committing himself. He is a capital fellow, sure to rise; +has the soul and head and hands for it, but he ought not to +weight himself with a drag.”</p> +<p>“Do you think he is really in love with her?”</p> +<p>Lord Rotherwood waved his hands. “He thinks so, +but nobody knows with those boys! I had to tell him at last +that I would not have any philandering on board <i>my</i> ship; +and whatever he might think it his duty to say, must be put off +for aunt—sister—Gorgon—Medusa or what +not. And I don’t think he’s very bad, Fly, for +he modestly asked permission to sketch Francie’s head for +St. Mildred, or Milburg, or somebody; and was ready to run crazy +about the tints on that dogfish. The young fellow is in the +queerest state between the artist and the lover! delight and +shame! I should like to take him north with us; the colours +of the cliffs in the Isles would soon drive out Miss +Victoria—what’s her name?”</p> +<p>“You don’t think him like Stephen in the <i>Mill +on the Floss</i>, who ought to have married Maggie +Tulliver.”</p> +<p>“I believe that is his precedent—but it is sheer +stuff—pure accident—as a respectable old householder +like me is ready to testify to the Gorgons and Chimeras +dire—Grundys and all. We must encounter Rock Quay, +Fly, if it is only to rescue this unlucky youth.”</p> +<p>“What is he doing now? Oh, I see; drawing Francie, +who sits as stiff as a Saint of Burne-Jones! Well, +I’ll have an eye to them! Vera! Have you +finished <i>Rudder Grange</i>?”</p> +<p>“Not quite. I can’t make out who Lord Edward +was.”</p> +<p>“Why, the big dog! Did you think he was +Pomona’s hero?”</p> +<p>“I don’t know. Wasn’t Pomona very +silly?”</p> +<p>“If life was to be taken from story-books,” said +Phyllis, in a very didactic mood; “but you see she imbibed +the best side, what they really taught her of good.”</p> +<p>“I thought, when you gave me the book, it was to be an +adventure like mine, not all standing still in an old +river. What do you think Hubert Delrio ought to do after +persuading me into such an awful predicament?”</p> +<p>“Tell your sister he is very sorry that you two foolish +children got into such a scrape, and very thankful that you were +saved.”</p> +<p>“We are very thankful to Lord Rotherwood.”</p> +<p>“I didn’t mean to him. To some One +else,” said Phyllis, reverently.</p> +<p>“Oh, of course,” said Vera. “But what +<i>do</i> you think, Lady Phyllis?” (Since her +discovery of the title she made a liberal use of it.) +“What do you think people will say?”</p> +<p>“That a little girl has had a dangerous adventure and a +happy escape.”</p> +<p>“I am seventeen, Lady Phyllis!”</p> +<p>“One is nothing like grown up at seventeen! I +declare there’s a big steamer coming into sight. I +wonder if it belongs to the Channel Fleet!”</p> +<p>Nothing more sentimental could be extracted for the rest of +the voyage.</p> +<h2><a name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +128</span>CHAPTER XIV—PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED</h2> +<blockquote><p>“I marry without more ado,<br /> +My dear Dick Red Cap, what say you?”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Cowper</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> telegram had been received +about mid-day; and Mr. Flight rushed up with it to the Goyle, +just in time to prevent poor old Mr. Delrio from starting +hopelessly home. It had suffered a good deal in spelling +and precision, in spite of Lady Phyllis’s precautions; but +“both safe” was understood, as it was known in Rock +Quay that “Lord Rotherwood and family,” as the papers +had it, were yachting in the <i>Kittiwake</i> and might be +expected in the bay.</p> +<p>Agatha and Paula threw their arms round one another and cried; +Magdalen, with a choke in her voice, struggled to ask Mr. Flight +to lead them in a few words of thanksgiving; and as soon as these +were over, Thekla expressed her hopes that they had been cast on +a desert island and would bring home Man Friday.</p> +<p>The Goyle ladies walked over to Clipstone with the good news, +and the whole party went down afterwards to Rockstone to look out +for yachts, and inquire about possibilities. The +<i>Kittiwake</i> being a steamer, light and swift, might be +expected in harbour in the course of the night, and Mr. Delrio +meant to wait for her at his son’s lodgings. The +ladies wished they could do the same; and Paula was allowed to +accept Sister Beata’s humble entreaty to house her. +But they did not know how long before the telegraph from St. Malo +the <i>Kittiwake</i> from St. Cadoc had spread her wings and +hoisted her feather, for, happily, her coals had held out better +than her provisions. So, as they were looking their last +look from the cliffs of Beechcroft Miss Mohun exclaimed, “A +steamer! a yacht! <i>Kittiwake</i>!”</p> +<p>Glasses were rushed for, and unaccustomed eyes could trace the +graceful course through the gentle evening waves towards the +quay.</p> +<p>Every one was on the quay in time to receive the boat, which, +rowed by four smart sailors, was seen with the party of six, two +sailor hats, and one red cap being at once spied out among the +female figures. Then two hats were waved and answered by +cheers of welcome; and the figures were recognised, and +unnecessarily numerous hands stretched out to assist the landing +from the plank extended to the boat.</p> +<p>Vera was put first by her kind rescuers, Lord +Rotherwood’s hand guiding her to the rail, and, after an +insecure step or so, she found herself in the arms of Paulina, +sobbing for joy; and the little cluster of sisters seemed to know +nothing else, except Thekla, who presently, in the confusion of +the greetings, was found by Lord Rotherwood looking about +vaguely, and saying, “But where’s their man +Friday?”</p> +<p>“You must accept me for him,” said he. +“’Tis Friday, unless we have lost our +reckoning! I hope you think me something promising in the +way of savages!”</p> +<p>Young Delrio’s first proceeding, even while his father +was wringing his hand in speechless welcome and thankfulness, was +to turn to Captain Henderson. “Sir, your boat is +safe, it will be brought in to-morrow. I am much concerned, +and beg your forgiveness, but I had no idea that it was yours +till Griggs found your name. Only one oar is lost, and a +cushion, which I will replace.”</p> +<p>“Say no more, pray,” said Captain Henderson. +“The fault was my servant’s, who took it without +leave, and left it out. He must repair the very slight +damage.”</p> +<p>Miss Mohun wanted the whole troop to come up to Beechcroft to +drink tea, and her relations consented; but the hearts of the +Prescotts were a great deal too full for them not to wish to be +alone together; and after Magdalen had given her hand to Lord +Rotherwood with a fervent, “You know what I would say, my +lord—beyond all words,” they turned homewards; but +Mr. Flight ran after them to say in a low voice, “Can we +meet to-morrow at eight for a service of +thanksgiving?” And this was gladly accepted.</p> +<p>Hubert was dragged off by his father.</p> +<p>“Nonsense! they don’t want your apologies and +explanations. It would only be besetting them. Come +home with me, and don’t be a fool! But write a few +lines to your poor mother, after the intolerable fright you have +given her; meddling and presuming where you had no +business. A Providence it is that you are not half across +the Atlantic, if not at the bottom of it.”</p> +<p>Of course this was the reaction of great anxiety; but however +meekly Hubert submitted to the queer outpouring of affection, and +however thankful they both were, and glad and content over the +particulars of the youth’s work and progress, still he was +not to be withheld from laying hand and heart at Vera +Prescott’s feet, as he insisted was due to her and her +family after the compromising situation in which he had placed +her. His father said it was talking novels and folly; but +he was a man of three and twenty, and could not well be stopped, +as he was earning his own livelihood, and had always been +irreproachable. So Mr. Delrio had to leave the matter, only +expressing discouragement, and insisting that it must be no more +than an engagement.</p> +<p>The thanksgiving took place as arranged, and Lord Rotherwood, +his daughter, and Mysie were there. For indeed there had +been danger enough during the thunderstorm to make the safety of +the <i>Kittiwake</i> a matter of thankfulness, though the rescue +of the boat had caused it to be almost forgotten in the history +of the night.</p> +<p>Lady Flight had begged that all would come to breakfast with +her, and this was accepted by the Goyle party; but the Clipstone +pony-carriage was waiting for the others, and they could not +accede to Lady Flight’s impromptu, and rather nervous, +invitation. But before they started Lord Rotherwood managed +to say a few words aside to Miss Prescott of the impression he +had divined from his voyage with Hubert Delrio, whom he thought a +young man of great ability and promise, and of excellent +principles, but with a chivalry it was quite refreshing to see in +youth, perhaps ready to strain honourable scruples almost too far +for his own good or that of others.</p> +<p>Magdalen thought she perceived what had been in the +marquis’s mind when, immediately after her return home, +Hubert and Vera came up, hand in hand, and he informed her of +their mutual attachment.</p> +<p>“I am afraid, Miss Prescott,” he said, “that +we may not have acted rightly or squarely by you; and this last +adventure was a most unhappy result of my careless awkwardness +and preoccupation.”</p> +<p>“It was the merest accident. We all quite +understand. It is not to be thought of.”</p> +<p>“You are very good to say so, but—”</p> +<p>Both he and Magdalen wished that Vera had not been present, +blushing and smiling, or rather simpering; and as Hubert +hesitated over his “but,” Magdalen said:</p> +<p>“Vera, my dear, Hubert and I can talk over this better +without you. You had better go and find Paula.”</p> +<p>“Only, sister, please do understand that I care for +Hubert with all my heart,” said Vera, much less childishly +than Magdalen had expected.</p> +<p>However, she went, while Magdalen succeeded in saying what she +had intended—that Hubert must not consider himself in the +smallest degree bound by what had been accident, entirely +unintentional and innocent.</p> +<p>“You are generous, Miss Prescott. You +understand! But the world! It was public.”</p> +<p>“Never mind the world. You see what sensible +people think.”</p> +<p>“But, indeed, Miss Prescott, I cannot leave you to +suppose I am only actuated by the fact of that awkward +situation. Of course that would never have been if I did +not deeply, entirely love your sister. It has only +precipitated matters. I entreat of you to give her to me, +as one who is—who is devoted to her! If my station is +inferior I will work—”</p> +<p>“That is not the point. Vera is too young for such +things. What does your father say?”</p> +<p>“My father sees that I am right.”</p> +<p>“I see what that means,” said Magdalen, +smiling. “But where is he? I should like to +talk to him.”</p> +<p>Mr. Delrio, pretty well knowing what was going on, was found +endeavouring to distract his mind by sketching the Goyle. +He and Magdalen walked up and down the drive together, perfectly +agreeing that it would be senseless cruelty to permit an early +marriage between these two young people, and that it was a pity +there should be an engagement; but this could hardly be +prevented, since Mr. Delrio could only give advice, and leave a +self-supporting worthy son to judge for himself; but the elder +sister and the trustee could stipulate for delay till Vera should +be of age.</p> +<p>So Hubert was called, and acquiesced, cheerfully observing +that he trusted that four years would make him able to render +Vera’s life an easy and pleasant one; and after heartily +thanking both Miss Prescott and his father, he went off to +rejoice the heart of the maiden, who was sitting under the +pear-tree, watching with anxious eyes.</p> +<h2><a name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +135</span>CHAPTER XV—BROODS ASTRAY</h2> +<blockquote><p>“But ill for him who, bettering not with +time,<br /> +Corrupts the strength of Heaven-descended will,<br /> +And ever weaker grows through acted crime,<br /> +Or seeming genial venial fault.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span +class="smcap">Tennyson</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“<span class="smcap">Man</span> Friday hope piccaniny +live well—bring her buckra fish from sea!” Such +was the greeting from Lord Rotherwood to Thekla when the whole +party walked over in time for tea on the lawn, before church at +Clipstone, as he presented her with a facsimile oyster which he +had hunted up in a sweet shop, making an absurd bow and +scrape.</p> +<p>Poor Thekla coloured, and mumbled a shy, “Thank you, +my—my—” having had a lecture from Vera on +treating a marquis with over familiarity and it was left to +Primrose to ask where Friday learnt nigger language. +“By nature, Missy buckra,” he responded; “all +same nigger everywhere.” And he repeated his bow so +drolly that Primrose’s laugh carried Thekla’s along +with it, as Lady Phyllis walked up with, “Come, father, you +are wanted to congratulate.”</p> +<p>“Eh! Am I? So they have perpetrated it, have +they? More’s the pity is what I should say in the +Palace of Truth; but the maiden has landed a better fish than she +knows—that is, if she have landed him.”</p> +<p>“There! take care, don’t be tiresome, Papa!” +admonished Lady Phyllis, drawing him on, when he met Vera with a +courtly manner, and, “I hope I see you recovered, Miss +Prescott, and able to rejoice in the pleasant consequences of +your adventure.”</p> +<p>Vera blushed, and looked very pretty and modest, making not +much answer as she retreated among her contemporaries to show +them her ring, a hoop of pearls, which Wilfred insisted were +Roman pearls, fishes’ eyes, most appropriate; but Flapsy +felt immeasurably older than Wilfred to-day, and able to despise +his teasing, though Hubert Delrio was not present, and indeed +Wilfred was not disposed to bestow much of his attention upon +her, having much more inclination to beset his cousin, Lady +Phyllis, who surely ought to perceive that he had attained at +least the same height as his brother Jasper, and could, in his +absence, pose as the young man of the household.</p> +<p>Phyllis had not much to say to him, nor after the first to +Vera, though she duly admired the ring so exultantly shown, and +accepted the assurance that Hubert was the dearest fellow in the +world. But there was no getting any condolence out of her +upon the misery of having to wait four whole years. She +said, “It was a very good thing! There was her cousin +Gillian, who had insisted on waiting three years to finish her +education.”</p> +<p>“Oh, but dear Hubert likes me as I am,” simpered +Vera.</p> +<p>“You might wish that he should find more in you to +like. Gillian,” said Phyllis, coming up to her and +Agatha, “I want you to assure Vera that four years is not +such a great trial in waiting.”</p> +<p>“It is what I have been trying to persuade her,” +said Agatha; “she is hardly seventeen.”</p> +<p>“And I would not have been married at seventeen for +anything,” said Gillian to the pouting Vera. “I +want to be more worth having.”</p> +<p>Vera did not like it, she had heard the like at home, and she +fell back upon Valetta, while the others walked on. +“Poor little Flapsy!” said Agatha, “I do hope +this engagement may make more of a woman of her.”</p> +<p>“My father was very much struck by Mr. Delrio,” +said Phyllis, “both as artist and personally.”</p> +<p>“You must be glad of the time for putting her up to his +level,” said Gillian.</p> +<p>“Do you think such things are to be done?” asked +Agatha.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Phyllis stoutly. “You may +not make her able to be a Senior Wrangler—(Oh you are +Oxford!)—or capable of it, like this Gillyflower; but you +can get the stuff into her that makes a sound sensible +wife.”</p> +<p>Gillian caught a little hopeless sigh of +“<i>can</i>,” and answered it with, “When all +this effervescence is blown off, then will be the time for +working at the substance, and she may be all the better +wife—especially for the artist temperament, if she is of +the homely sort.”</p> +<p>“How angry she would be if she heard you say so!” +returned Agatha. “Yet certainly I do feel relieved +that wifehood is to be my poor Flapsy’s portion, for she is +not of the sort that can stand alone and make her own +way.”</p> +<p>“There will always be plenty of such women in the +world,” said Gillian.</p> +<p>“So much the better for the world,” retorted +Phyllis, who had never shown any symptoms of exclusive devotion +to any one of the other sex, except her father.</p> +<p>One thing Agatha wanted to know, and dared not ask, namely, +what impression Vera had made in the <i>Kittiwake</i> and what +Hubert had said about her; for she and Paula had begun to remark +that, lover as he was, not a word about her heroism had escaped +him. And it was as well that she did not hear what the +extra plain spoken Primrose did not spare the boasting +Thekla. “Cousin Rotherwood and Fly both say they +can’t think how Mr. Delrio got on with such a silly little +hysterical goose upon his hands; and that it is a foolish +romantic unlucky notion that he ought to be engaged to her. +I think Mamma will tell Miss Prescott so.”</p> +<p>The <i>Kittiwake</i>, having arrived three days later than had +been expected, there had been an amount of revolution in the +general arrangements. The break up of the High School was +to be on an early day of the next week. It had become a +much more extensive and public matter than in the days of Valetta +and Maura, though these were not so very long ago, and there was +a great day of exhibitions and speeches to the parents and +neighbourhood generally. Two ladies had been secured for +the purpose, Elizabeth Merrifield and Miss Arthuret, and the +former arrived on the Saturday afternoon, but as the Rotherwood +party almost overflowed Clipstone, she was transferred to Miss +Mohun.</p> +<p>After the death of their parents, about three years +previously, Susan and Elizabeth had gone to live at Coalham, and +to be useful to their brother David’s parish; Susan +betaking herself to the poor, and Bessie finding herself +specially available in the various forms of improvement +undertaken by ladies in modern days. To her own surprise, +and her sister’s discomfiture, her talent as a public +speaker had become developed. With a little assistance from +her sister-in-law Agnes’s unwilling stage experience, and +entreaties, not easily to be withstood, came from various +quarters that she would come and advocate the good cause.</p> +<p>Of course she was ever welcome at Clipstone, and she walked up +thither with General Mohun, arriving just after the others from +the Goyle; and in the general confusion of greetings, and the +Babel of cousinly tongues, there were no introductions nor naming +of names. Bessie declared herself delighted with the chance +of seeing Lady Ivinghoe, whom she considered more to realise the +beauty of women than any one she had hitherto beheld, and the +fair face had not lost its simplicity, but rather gained in +loveliness by the sweetness of early motherhood, as she and +Phyllis sat by Mysie, regaling her with tales of what they +regarded as the remarkable precocity of the infant Claude, +reluctantly left to his grandmother.</p> +<p>“But where’s Dolores?” asked Bessie. +“I miss her among the swarm of mice!”</p> +<p>“Dolores is at Vale Leston,” answered +Gillian. “She has been a long time making up her mind +to go there, to Gerald’s home; and now she is there, they +will not let her go till some birthday is over.”</p> +<p>“Uncle Felix’s!” whispered Franceska to +Mysie. “You know it was dear Gerald’s +place. She had never seen it.”</p> +<p>Another voice was now raised, asking, “What had become +of Miss Arthuret?”</p> +<p>“She only comes down on Monday,” said +Bessie. “Just in time for the meeting. She is +too valuable to come for more than one meeting.”</p> +<p>“But who is she?”</p> +<p>“Arthurine Arthuret? She is a girl, or rather +woman, who has some property at Stokesley. In fact, she is +one of those magnets that seem to attract inheritance without +effort—like the Hapsburgs, though happily she makes a most +beneficent, though, sometimes, original use of them.”</p> +<p>“Is not that very dangerous?” said Aunt Lily.</p> +<p>“The first came to her early, and coming into it very +young, and overflowing with new ideas, she began rather +grotesquely; but she has tamed down a good deal since, and really +has done an immense deal of good in finding employment for +people, making improvements and the like, though she is +Sam’s pet aversion, a tremendous Liberal, almost a +Socialist. They are so like cat and dog that Susan and I +were really glad to be away from Stokesley, especially at +election times; but altogether she is an admirable +person.”</p> +<p>Lady Merrifield thought she detected a start of Miss Prescott +at the name Stokesley, and that her eyes looked anxiously at the +speaker. Bessie was not of the sandy part of the +family. Was the unattractive schoolboy, once seen, like his +sisters? All that was observable was startling similitudes +to her own children, though in them the elements of the handsome +dark Mohun generally predominated.</p> +<p>But by and by, in a quiet moment, Bessie suddenly asked, +“Did you say her name was Magdalen?”</p> +<p>Lady Merrifield laughed. “Four years <i>may</i> do +a good deal at that time of life,” she said. “I +suppose no time ever so changes—changes—what shall I +say?—eyes—views—characters. Only +constancy in absence is the dangerous thing. There are +distinguished examples of—of the mischief of being constant +without knowing what one is constant to. Virulent +constancy, as Mrs. Malaprop has it.”</p> +<p>Magdalen thanked and smiled. Perhaps there was a certain +virulent constancy in a remote corner of her heart which had been +revived by a certain indescribable look in the eyes and contour +of Bessie Merrifield.</p> +<p>And Bessie herself, while sitting under the verandah with Lady +Merrifield, while all the others were walking down to embark Lord +and Lady Ivinghoe in the yacht, suddenly repeated, “Did you +say that her name was Magdalen?”</p> +<p>“Yes; I saw it startled you, my dear.”</p> +<p>“It revived an old, old story. I do not know +whether there was anything in it. Who or what is she, Aunt +Lily? I only know her as the sister of the girl that the +Ivinghoes picked up.”</p> +<p>“She is the owner of a little property at Arnscombe, and +has taken home her four young half-sisters to live with her, +after having slaved for them as a governess till she came into +this inheritance. She is an excellent person.”</p> +<p>“Ah! Was her house at Filsted?”</p> +<p>“I am not sure. Yes, I think the young ones were +at school there. You think—”</p> +<p>“I feel certain. May I tell you, Aunt Lily? +Some of the others cannot bear to mention my poor Hal; but to me +the worst of the sting is gone, since I know he +repented.”</p> +<p>“My dear, I should be very glad to hear. Your +father and mother never mention your brother, and we were away at +the time.”</p> +<p>“Poor Hal! I am afraid there was a weakness in +him. He never had that determination that carried all the +others on. He never could get through an examination, and +my father put him into a bank at Filsted. By and by, after +some years, came a letter telling my father he was gambling very +seriously, getting into temptation, and engaging himself to an +attorney’s daughter. It was while I was living with +grandmamma, and he used sometimes to look in on me, and talk to +me about this Magdalen. Once he showed me her photograph +and I thought I knew her face again. But my father went +off, very angry. I have always feared he found poor Hal on +the verge of tampering with the bank money, but he never would +say a word. He broke everything up, put an end to the +engagement if there was one, and sent Hal off to John and George, +who had just got their farm in Manitoba, and were getting on by +dint of hard work.”</p> +<p>“They have done very well, have they not?”</p> +<p>“Yes, by working and living harder than any day labourer +at Stokesley. Hal could not stand it, and—and +I’m afraid the boys were not very merciful to him, poor +fellow, and he got something to do in Winnipeg. There he +fell in with a speculator called Golding, they all did in fact; +he was a plausible man, whom they all liked, and used to put up +at his house when they took waggons in with their produce. +He had a daughter, and Johnnie got engaged to her, or thought he +was. They all were persuaded to put money into a horrid +building speculation,—Henry, what he had brought out, the +other two what they had realised. Well, suddenly it all +ended. They were all gone, Golding, daughter, Hal and +all—yes, all—the money the other boys had put in the +thing, off to the States, as we suppose! No trace ever +found.”</p> +<p>“Really no trace?”</p> +<p>“None! The poor boys lost all they had, and were +obliged to begin over again.”</p> +<p>“And has really nothing been heard of this unfortunate +Hal?”</p> +<p>“There is one thing that does give me a hope. +There did come to Stokesley a letter from a Brisbane bank, +addressed to J. and G. Merrifield, to the care of Rear-Admiral +Merrifield, and in it were bank bills up to the value of what the +boys had been robbed of, about two hundred and fifty +pounds. Poor Henry must have repented, and wished to make +restitution.”</p> +<p>“Was there no name, no clue?”</p> +<p>“None at all. We know no more.”</p> +<p>“But was there no inquiry made at Brisbane?”</p> +<p>“It was when my father was very ill. The parcel +was not opened at first. I have been always sorry he never +heard of it; but after all there was no asking of forgiveness, +nor anything that could be answered. The boys got it with +the tidings of our dear father’s death. John came +home to see about things, George stayed to look after his +Stokesley. They were well over their troubles by that time, +and they gave the restored money to David for his +churches.”</p> +<p>“And no more was done, not even by David?” said +Lady Merrifield, thinking over what she had heard from Geraldine +Grinstead, and how the Underwoods would have accepted such a +token from their lost sheep.</p> +<p>“David did write to Brisbane to the bank, but there +never was any answer. There is no knowing how it might have +been, if any one had gone out and done his best; but you see we +were all much taken up with home duties and cares, and I am +afraid we have not dwelt enough upon our poor boy, and he had +much against him. The discipline from my dear father, that +all the elders responded to with a sort of loyal exultation, only +frightened him and made him shifty. They despised him, and +I do not think any of us were as kind to him as we ought to have +been; though on the whole he liked me the best, for he cared for +books and quiet pursuits, such as all laughed at, except +David. I wish he could have seen more of David.”</p> +<p>“Did your mother hear of this ray of hope?”</p> +<p>“Susan thought it best not to tell her. We used to +hear her murmuring his name among all ours in her prayers, Susie, +Sam, Hal, Bessie, and so on; but she never was herself enough to +understand, and they thought it might only stir her up to expect +to see him. Oh, Aunt Lily, I don’t think +you—any of you—would have gone on so; but you are all +much more affectionate and demonstrative than our branch of the +family.”</p> +<p>“Ah, my dear, I am sure there was a pang in your +mother’s heart that she never durst mention,” said +Lady Merrifield, her imagination dwelling in terror on her +Wilfred, the one child in whom she could not help detecting the +weakness of character of his unhappy cousin. “Depend +upon it, Bessie, her prayers were hovering round him all the +time, and bringing that act of restitution, though she was not +allowed to hear of it.”</p> +<p>“I had not thought of that,” said Bessie, in a low +tone, “though I think David has. I have heard his +voice choke over an intercession for the absent.”</p> +<p>“Think of it now, my dear, and do not let habitual +reserve hinder you from speaking of it to Susan and David, though +most likely they have the habit already. Who knows what +united prayer may do with Him who deviseth means to bring home +His banished?”</p> +<p>Steps returning, Bessie wiped away her tears in haste, +actually the first she had shed for the lost Hal, though there +was a heartache too deep for tears.</p> +<h2><a name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +146</span>CHAPTER XVI—THE REGIMENT OF WOMEN</h2> +<blockquote><p>“And happier than the merriest games<br /> +Is the joy of our new and nobler aims.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">F. R. <span +class="smcap">Havergal</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Miss Mohun</span> and Miss Merrifield +encountered Miss Prescott and Agatha among a perfect herd of +cycles, making Bessie laugh over the recollections of the horror +caused at Stokesley by the arrival of Arthurine Arthuret on a +tricycle twelve years previously.</p> +<p>The place was the Town Hall, the High School having proved too +small for the number of the intended audience, and Lord +Rotherwood having been captured, in spite of the <i>Kittiwake</i> +being pronounced ready to sail, and all the younger passengers +being actually on board, entertaining a party from +Clipstone. There he sat enthroned on the platform, with +portraits of himself, his Elizabethan ancestor, and the Prince of +Wales overhead, and, in <i>propria persona</i> on either side, +the Mayor of Rockstone, Captain Henderson, and a sprinkling of +the committee, Jane, of course, being one; while in the space +beneath was a sea of hats, more or less beflowered and +befeathered.</p> +<p>Lord Rotherwood began by complaining of an act of +piracy! After being exposed to a tempest and forced to put +in for supplies, here he was captured, and called upon to +distribute prizes! He perceived that it was a new act of +aggression on the part of the ladies, proving to what lengths +they were coming. Tyrants they had always been, but to find +them wreckers to boot was a novelty. However, prizes were +the natural sequence of a maritime exploit, and he was happy to +distribute them to the maidens about to start on the voyage of +life, hoping that these dainty logbooks would prove a stimulus +and a compass to steer by even into unexplored seas, such as he +believed the better-informed ladies were about to describe to +them.</p> +<p>Rockstone was used to its Marquis’s speeches, and always +enjoyed them; and he handed the prize-books to the recipients +with a shake of the hand, and a word or two of congratulation +appropriate to each, especially when he knew their names; and +then he declared that they were about to hear what education was +good for, much better than from himself, from such noted examples +as Miss Arthuret and Miss Merrifield, better known to them as +Mesa. Wherewith he waved forward Miss Arthuret, a slight, +youthful-looking lady, fashionably attired, and made his escape +with rapid foot and hasty nods, almost furtively, while the +audience were clapping her.</p> +<p>She spoke with voice and utterance notably superior to his +well-known halting periods, scarcely saved by long training and +use from being a stutter. The female population eagerly +listened, while she painted in vivid colours the aim of +education, in raising the status of women, and extending their +spheres not only of influence in the occult manner which had +hitherto been their way of working through others, but in an open +manner, which compelled attention; and she dwelt on certain +brilliant achievements of women, and of others which stood before +them, and towards which their education, passing out of the old +grooves, was preparing them to take their place among men, and +temper their harshness and indifference to suffering with the +laws of mercy and humanity, speaking with an authority and +equality such as should ensure attention, no longer in home and +nursery whispering alone, but with open face asserting and +claiming justice for the weakest.</p> +<p>It was a powerful and effective speech; and Agatha’s eye +lighted with enthusiasm, as did those of several others of the +elder scholars and younger teachers, as these high aims were +unfolded to them.</p> +<p>Then followed Elizabeth Merrifield, not contradictory, but +recognising what wide fields had been opened to womanhood, +dwelling on such being the work of Christianity, which had always +tended to repress the power of brute animal strength and +jealousy, and to give preponderance to the force of character and +the just influence of sweet homely affection. Exceptional +flashes, even in heathen lands, and still more under the Divine +guidance of the Israelites, showed what women were capable of; +and ever since a woman had been the chosen instrument of the +mystery of the Incarnation, the Church, the chosen emblem of the +union of humanity with her Lord, had gradually purified and +exalted the sex by training them through the duties of mercy, of +wifehood and motherhood, to be capable of undertaking and +fulfilling higher and more extensive tasks, always by the +appointment and with the help of Him who had increased their +outside powers, for the sake of the weaker ones of His +flock. What might, by His will, in the government and +politics of the country, be put into their hands, no one could +tell; but it was right to be prepared for it, by extending their +intellectual ability and knowledge of the past, as well as of the +laws of physical nature—all, in short, that modern +education aimed at opening young minds to pursue with growing +faculties. This was what made her rejoice in the studies +here followed with good success, as the prizes testified so +pleasantly; and she trusted that the cultivation, which here went +on so prosperously, was leading—if she might use old +well-accustomed words—to the advancement of God’s +glory, the good of His Church, aye! and to the safety, honour, +and welfare of our Sovereign and her dominions.</p> +<p>The words brought tears of feeling into the eyes of some; but +Jane Mohun could not help observing, “Ah! I was +afraid you were going to hold up to us the example of the ants +and bees, where the old maids do all the working and fighting and +governing! Don’t make Gillian regret that she is +falling away from the spinsterhood.”</p> +<p>“Come, Aunt Jane, Bessie never did make it the praise of +spinsters. I am sure married women can do as much as +spinsters, and have more weight,” said Gillian, facing +round gallantly, and winning the approval of her aunt and of +Bessie. There was no doubt but that since her engagement +she had been much quieter and less opinionative.</p> +<p>With what different sensations the same occasion may be +attended! To Bessie Merrifield, the primary object was, as +ever, woman’s work, especially her own, for the Church; and +the actual business absorbed her. In spite of her +evenings’ talk to her Aunt Lilias, and the sad and painful +recollections it had aroused, still her only look at Magdalen +Prescott’s face was one half of curiosity half of sorrow, +as of the object of the brief calf-love of one of many brothers, +and who had been now lost sight of, with the passing wonder +whether, if the affection had survived and been encouraged, it +might have led him to better things.</p> +<p>While Magdalen felt the poignant renewal of the one romance of +a lifetime, as she caught tones, watched little gestures and +recognised those indescribable hereditary similarities which more +and more bore in upon her the fraternal connection of the bright +earnest woman with the lively pleasant young man who had brought +the attraction of a higher tone of manners and cultivation into +the country town. No more had been heard of him since his +promise to write, a promise that had been only once remembered, +so that she had tried to take refuge in the supposition, unlikely +as it was, that her stepmother had confiscated his letters. +All was a blank since that last stolen kiss; and the wonder +whether she could by any means discover anything further from +Lady Merrifield or Gillian, so occupied her that she hardly heard +the tenor of the two speeches, and did not observe Agatha’s +glowing cheeks and burning eyes, which might have told her that +this was one of the moments which direct the current of life.</p> +<p>When Hubert Delrio came up in the evening he was curious to +hear about the meeting. His young landlady, who had been a +High School girl for a short time, thought Miss Arthuret’s +speech the most beautiful discourse that ever was spoken; while +other reports said that Lady Flight and Miss Mohun were very much +shocked, and thought it unwholesome, not to say dangerous; and he +wanted to know the meaning of it. Magdalen was quite +dismayed to find how entirely her attention had been absent, and +how little account she could give of what had passed by her like +the wind; but she need not have been at a loss, for Agatha, with +sparkling eyes and clasped hands, burst out into a very able and +spirited abstract of the speech, and the future it portrayed, +showing perhaps more enthusiasm than the practised public speaker +thought it prudent to manifest.</p> +<p>“I see,” said Hubert with something of a smile, +“you ladies are charmed with the great future opened to +you.”</p> +<p>“I’m sure,” said Vera, perhaps a little +nettled by attention paid so long to Agatha, “I can’t +see the sense of it all; I think a woman is made just to love her +husband, and be his pet, without all that fuss about societies, +and speeches and learning and fuss!” And she gave a +little caress to Hubert’s hand, which was returned, as he +said, “She may well be loved, but, without publicly coming +forward, she may become the more valuable to her home.”</p> +<p>“Of course she may, at home or abroad. She +ought—” began Agatha, but Vera snapped her off. +“Well, it only comes to being one of a lot of horrid old +maids; and you don’t want me to be one of them, do you, +darling? Come and look at my doves!”</p> +<p>“What do you think of it all, sister?” asked +Paulina.</p> +<p>“So far as I grasp the subject,” said Magdalen, to +whom, of course, this was not new, “I think that if a +larger scope is to be given to women, it is for the sake and +under the direction of the Church that it can be rightly and +safely used.”</p> +<p>She knew she was speaking by rote, and was not surprised that +Agatha said, “That is just what one has heard so often, and +what Miss Merrifield harped upon! I want to breathe in a +fresh atmosphere beyond the old traditions, and know which are +Divine and which are only the superstructure of those who have +always had the dominion and justified it in their own +way!”</p> +<p>“Who gave them that dominion?” said Magdalen.</p> +<p>“Brute strength,” began Agatha.</p> +<p>“Nag, Nag!” cried Paula. “Surely you +believe—”</p> +<p>“I did not say—I did not mean—I only meant +to think it out, and understand what is Divine and what is in the +eternal fitness of things.”</p> +<p>Here came an interruption, leaving Magdalen conscious of the +want of preparation for guiding the thought of these young +things, and of self-reproach too, for having let herself be so +absorbed in the thought of “her broken reed of earth +beneath,” as not to have dwelt on what might be the deep +impressions of the young sisters under her charge.</p> +<p>A few days later, as Agatha sat reading in the garden, two +figures appeared on the drive, wheeling up their bicycles. +One was Gillian, the other had a general air of the family, but +much darker, and not one of the old acquaintances. +Advancing to meet them, she said, “I am the only one at +home. My sisters are all at lessons or in the +village.”</p> +<p>“I’ll leave a message,” said Gillian. +“My mother wants you all to come up to picnic tea to see +the foxgloves in the dell, on Monday, and to bring Mr. +Delrio—”</p> +<p>“Oh! thank you.”</p> +<p>“I forgot, you had not seen my cousin Dolores Mohun +before. Mysie calls her a cousin-twin, if you know what +that is.”</p> +<p>Agatha thought the newcomer’s great pensive dark eyes +and overhanging brow under very black hair made her look older +than Mysie, or indeed than Gillian herself; and when the message +had been disposed of, the latter continued, “Dolores wanted +to know about Miss Arthuret’s lecture, being rather in that +line herself. She could not get home in time for it, and I +was seeing the <i>Kittiwake</i> party on board, and only crept in +at the other end of the hall in time for Bessie’s faint +echoes.”</p> +<p>“I was in the very antipodes,” said Dolores, +“in a haunt of ancient peace, whence they would not let me +come away soon enough.”</p> +<p>“And, Agatha, Aunt Jane says she saw you devouring Miss +Arthuret with your eyes,” said Gillian.</p> +<p>“It gave one a sense of new life,” said Agatha; +and she related again Miss Arthuret’s speech, broken only +by appreciative questions and comments from Dolores’ +auditor, to whom, in the true fashion of nineteen, Agatha +straightway lost her heart. Dolores, who had seen much more +of the outer world than her cousins, and had had besides a deeply +felt inward experience which might well render her far more +responsive, and able to comprehend the questions working in the +girl’s mind, and which found expression in, “I went +to St. Robert’s only wanting to get my education carried on +so that I might be a better governess; but I see now there are +much farther on, much greater things to aim at, than I ever +thought of.”</p> +<p>“Alps on Alps arise!” said Dolores. +“Yes—till they lose themselves—and +where?”</p> +<p>“Miss Merrifield would say in Heaven, by way of the +Church.”</p> +<p>“The all things in earth or under the earth rising up in +circles of praise to the Cherubim and the Great White +Throne,” said Dolores, her dark eyes raised in a +moment’s contemplation.</p> +<p>“Ah! One knows. But is that thought the one +to be brought home to every one, as if they could bear it +always? Are not we to do +something—something—for the helping people here in +this life, not always going on to the other +life—”</p> +<p>“Temporal or spiritual?” said Dolores; “or +spiritual through temporal?”</p> +<p>“And our part in helping,” said Agatha.</p> +<p>“There is an immense deal to be thought out,” said +Dolores. “I feel only at the beginning of the +questions, and there is study and experience to go to +them.”</p> +<p>“You mean what one gets at Oxford?”</p> +<p>“Partly. Thorough—at least, as thorough as +one can—of the physical and material nature of things, then +of the precedent which then results, also of +reasoning.”</p> +<p>“Metaphysical, do you mean, or logical?”</p> +<p>“That comes in; but I was thinking of mathematical in +the indirect training of the mind. It all works into +needful equipment, and so does actual life.”</p> +<p>“It takes one’s breath away.”</p> +<p>“Well, we have begun our training,” said Dolores, +with a sweet sad smile. “At least, I hope +so.”</p> +<p>“At St. Robert’s, you mean?”</p> +<p>“You have, I think. But I believe my aunt will be +expecting us.”</p> +<p>“Oh! And then they talk about modesty and +womanliness and retiring! What do you think about all +that?”</p> +<p>“That we never shall do any good without it.”</p> +<p>They were interrupted by the hasty rushing up of Paula, who +had committed her bicycle to Vera, and came dashing up the steep +slope, crying, “O Nag, Nag, they are going away!”</p> +<p>The announcement was interrupted as she perceived the presence +of the visitor, and they rose to meet her, but saw that there +were tears in her eyes, and she had rushed up so fast that she +was panting and could hardly speak, though she gave her hand, as +Agatha, after naming the two cousins, asked, “Who are +going?”</p> +<p>“The Sisters—Sister Mena—” with +another overflow of tears which made Dolores and Gillian think +they had better retreat and leave her to her sister’s +consolation; so they took leave hastily, Agatha however, coming +as far as their machines, and confiding to them, “Poor +Polly, it is a great blow to her, but I believe it is very good +for her.”</p> +<p>“There’s stuff in that girl,” said Dolores, +as soon as they were out of reach. “She has the +faculty of hearkening as well as of hearing.”</p> +<p>“You would say so if you saw her at a lecture; and she +is also gaining power of expressing and reproducing,” said +Gillian.</p> +<p>“She will be a power by and by, unless some blight comes +across her.”</p> +<p>“Will me, will me, it seems as if we <i>had</i> to do +it. Even Mamma, whose ideal was chivalry, Church and home, +has to be drawn out to take a certain public part; Aunt Jane, who +only wished to live to potter about among neighbours, poor and +rich, must needs come out of her traditional conventions, and +relate her experiences, and you—”</p> +<p>“Oh, I am only trying to do the work Gerald aimed +at!”</p> +<p>“Any way we have our work before us, whether we call it +for the Church or mankind.”</p> +<p>“Charity or Altruism,” said Dolores.</p> +<p>“May not altruism lead to charity?” said +Gillian.</p> +<p>“Sometimes, but sometimes disappointment leads only to +intolerance of those whose methods differ. Altruism will +not stand without a foundation,” said Dolores.</p> +<p>“Mysie has been impressing on me, with what she heard +from Phyllis Devereux, of the work Sister Angela has been doing +at Albertstown—the most utter self-abnegation, through +bitter disappointment in her most promising pupils—only the +charity that is rooted could endure. It is just the old +difference Tennyson points out between Wisdom and +Knowledge.”</p> +<p>“And with wisdom come those feminine attributes that +Agatha began asking about.”</p> +<p>“Yes, softening, gentleness, tact. If people have +not grown up to them, they must be taught as parts of +wisdom.”</p> +<p>Gillian sighed. “I wonder what Ernley Armitage +will say when he comes home?”</p> +<p>“He won’t want you to throw up +everything.”</p> +<p>“I don’t think he will! But if he +did—No, I think he will be a staff to guide a silly, +priggish heart to the deeper wisdom.”</p> +<h2><a name="page258"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +258</span>CHAPTER XVII—FOXGLOVES AND FLIRTATIONS</h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">“With her +venturous climbings, and tumbles, and childish +escapes.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Tennyson</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Hubert Delrio</span>, pleased and +gratified, but very shy, joined the ladies from the Goyle in +their walk to Clipstone, expecting perhaps a good deal of +stiffness and constraint, since every one at St. Kenelm’s +told him what a severe and formidable person Sir Jasper +Merrifield was, and that all Lady Merrifield’s surroundings +were “so very clever.” “They did want +<i>such</i> books ordered in the library.”</p> +<p>Magdalen laughed, and said her only chance of seeing a book +she wanted was that Lady Merrifield should have asked for +it. At Clipstone, they were directed to the dell where the +foxgloves were unusually fine that year, covering one of the +banks of the ravine with a perfect cloud of close-grown spikes, +nodding with thick clustered bells, spotted withinside, and +without, of that indescribable light crimson or purple, +enchanting in reality but impossible to reproduce. It was +like a dream of fairy land to Hubert to wander thither with his +Vera, count the tiers of bells, admire the rings of purple and +the crooked stamens, measure the height of the tall ones, some +almost equal to himself in stature, and recall the fairy lore and +poetry connected with them, while Vera listened and thought she +enjoyed, but kept herself entertained by surreptitiously popping +the blossoms, and trying to wreath her hat with wild roses.</p> +<p>Thekla meantime admired from the opposite bank, in a state of +much elevation at acquiring a dear delicious brother-in-law, and +insisted on Primrose sharing her sentiments till her boasting at +last provoked the exclamation, “I wouldn’t be so +cocky! I don’t make such a fuss if my sisters do go +and fall in love. I have two brothers-in-law out in India, +and Gillian has a captain, an Egyptian hero, with a medal, a post +captain out at sea in the <i>Nivelle</i>. You shall see his +photograph coloured in his lovely uniform, with his sword and +all! Your Flapsy’s man isn’t even an +officer!”</p> +<p>“He is a poet, and that’s better!”</p> +<p>“Better! why, if you <i>will</i> have it, Wilfred and +Fergus always call him that ‘painter cad,’” +broke out Primrose, who had not outgrown her childish power of +rudeness, especially out of hearing of her elders.</p> +<p>“Then it is very wicked of them,” exclaimed +Thekla, “when the Marquis of Rotherwood himself said that +Hubert Delrio is a very superior young man” (each syllable +triumphantly rounded off).</p> +<p>Primrose was equal to the occasion. “Oh, they all +laugh at Cousin Rotherwood; and, besides, a superior young man +does not mean a gentleman.”</p> +<p>Thekla burst into angry tears and sobs, which brought Gillian, +and a grave, dark young lady from the other side of a rock to +inquire what was the matter—there was a confession on the +two tongues of “she did,” and “I +didn’t” of “painter cad, superior young man and +no gentleman,” but at last it cleared itself into Primrose +allowing that, to take down Thekla’s conceit, she had +declared that a very superior young man did not mean a +gentleman.</p> +<p>“I could not have believed that you could have been so +abominably ill-mannered,” said Gillian gravely; “you +ought to apologise to Thekla.”</p> +<p>“Oh, never mind,” began Thekla ashamed; and at +that moment a frantic barking was heard in the depths, and +Valetta, Wilfred, Fergus and a dog or two darted headlong past, +calling out, “Hedgehogs, hedgehogs! Run! +come!” And Primrose, giving a hand to Thekla, joined +in the general rush down the glade.</p> +<p>“A situation relieved!” said the newcomer.</p> +<blockquote><p>“For all ran to see,<br /> +For they took him to be<br /> + An Egyptian porcupig,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>quoted Gillian. “They have wanted such a beast for +some time for their menagerie; but really Primrose is getting +much too old to indulge in such babyish incivility to a guest, +true though the speech was, ‘a superior young man,’ +not necessarily a gentleman.”</p> +<p>“I am colonial enough to like him the better for the +absence of a hall mark.”</p> +<p>“Should you have missed it? He is very good +looking, and has a sensible refined countenance, poor +man!”</p> +<p>“He is a little too point device, too obviously got up +for the occasion!”</p> +<p>“Too like the best electroplate! No; that is not +fair, for it is not pretence, at least, I should think there was +sound material below, and that never would brighten instead of +dimming it.”</p> +<p>“According to Mysie and Fly, there is plenty of good +taste; and his principle is vouched for. Mysie is quite +furious at any lady-love having gone to sleep to the sound of +original verses from a lover!”</p> +<p>“Dear old Mysie! No, she would not. She has +a practical vein in her! Would you?”</p> +<p>“I’m not likely to be tried!” said Gillian +merrily. “Catch Ernley either practising or not +minding his boat! But come! Mamma will want me, I +feel only deputy daughter, with Mysie away.”</p> +<p>The two girls rose from the mossy bank, and proceeded across +the paddock to the opening of the glade.</p> +<p>On the turf Lady Merrifield sat enthroned; making a nucleus to +the festivities and delicacies of all sorts, from sandwiches and +cakes down to strawberries, cherries and Devonshire cream, were +displayed before her; and the others drifted up gradually, Miss +Mohun first. “I am later than I meant to be,” +she said, “but I was delayed by a talk with Sister +Beata. I never saw a woman more knocked down than she is by +that adventure of Vera’s.”</p> +<p>“I know,” said Magdalen, rousing herself. +“It has made her look ten years older, and she could not +talk it over or let a word be said to comfort her. She says +it was all her fault, and I should have thought it was that silly +little Sister Mena’s, if that is her name.</p> +<p>“She considers it her fault for objecting to strict +discipline in things of which she did not see the use,” +said Jane Mohun, “and so getting absorbed in her own work, +and having no fixed rule by which to train Mena.”</p> +<p>“I see,” said Lady Merrifield; “it reminds +me of a story told in Madame de Chantal’s life, how, when, +<i>par mortification</i>, a Sister quietly ate up a rotten apple +without complaint and another made signs of amusement, a rule was +made that no one should raise her eyes at meals. It shows +that some rules which seem unreasonable may have a +foundation.”</p> +<p>“It is an unnatural life altogether,” said +Dolores. “Why should the rotten apple have been +swallowed? or, if it was, I should think a joke over it might +have been wholesome.”</p> +<p>“Hindering priggishness in the mortified Sister,” +said Gillian.</p> +<p>“The fact is,” said Lady Merrifield, “that +if you vow yourself to an unnatural life, so to speak, you must +submit to the rules that have been found best to work for +it.”</p> +<p>“And poor Sister Beata did neither the one nor the +other, by her own account,” said Jane. “She +called herself a Sister, but disliked each rule, and chose to go +her own way, like any other benevolent woman, doing very +admirable work herself, but letting little Mena have the prestige +of a Sister, while too busy to look after her, and without rules +to restrain her.”</p> +<p>“But surely there has been no harm!” exclaimed +Lady Merrifield.</p> +<p>“No harm, only a little incipient flirtation with the +organist, nothing in any one else, but not quite like a convent +maid.”</p> +<p>“Ah! I rather suspected,” said Agatha.</p> +<p>“I should think the best thing for Sister Mena would be +to go to a good school, leave off her veil, in which she looks so +pretty, and be treated like an ordinary girl,” said Lady +Merrifield.</p> +<p>“That is just what Sister Beata intends,” said +Miss Mohun. “She is to sink down into Miss Marian +Jenkins, to wear a straw hat and blue frock, and go to school +with the other girls, the pupils, while Sister Beata begins life +as a probationer at Dearport.”</p> +<p>“Poor Sister Beata!”</p> +<p>“She says she has experienced that it is best to learn +to obey before one begins to rule. It is most touching to +see how humble she is. Such a real good woman too! I +doubt whether she gets a night’s rest three days in a week, +and she looks quite haggard with this distress,” said +Jane.</p> +<p>“She will be a great power by and by! But what +will Mr. Flight and St. Kenelm’s do without her?”</p> +<p>“He is promised relays of Sisters from Dearport, which +has stood so many years that they have a supply. You see, +he, like Sister Beata, tried a little too much to be original and +stand aloof.”</p> +<p>“Ah!” said Lady Merrifield, “that is the +benefit of institutions. They hinder works from dying away +with the original clergyman or the wonderful woman.”</p> +<p>“But, Aunt Lily,” put in Dolores, +“institutions get slack?”</p> +<p>“They have their <i>downs</i>, but they also have their +ups. There is something to fall back upon with public +schools.”</p> +<p>“Yes, like croquet,” laughed Aunt Jane. +“We saw it rise and saw it fall; and here come all the +players, the revival. Well, how went the game?”</p> +<p>So the party collected, and the two Generals came in from some +vanity of inspection to grumble a little merrily at the open air +banquet, but to take their places in all good humour, and the +lively meal began with all the home witticisms, yet not such as +to exclude strangers. Indeed, Hubert Delrio was treated +with something like distinction, and was evidently very happy, +with Vera by his side. Perhaps Magdalen perceived that +there was not the perfect ease of absolute equality and +familiarity; but his poetical and chivalrous nature was gratified +by the notice of a Crimean hero, and he infinitely admired the +dignity and courtesy of Lady Merrifield, and the grace and ease +of her daughters, finding himself in a new world of exquisite +charm for him.</p> +<p>And before they broke up, Magdalen had a quiet time with Lady +Merrifield, in which she was able, not without a tell-tale blush +even at her years, to ascertain that there were two Henry +Merrifields, and that, alas! there was nothing good known of the +son of Stokesley, except that anonymous attempt at restitution +which gave hopes of repentance.</p> +<h2><a name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +165</span>CHAPTER XVIII—PALACES OR CHURCHES</h2> +<blockquote><p>“And if I leave the thing that lieth +next,<br /> +To go and do the thing that is afar,<br /> +I take the very strength out of my deed.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span +class="smcap">Macdonald</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Those</span> were happy days that +succeeded Vera’s engagement. It had made her more +womanly, or at least less childish; and the intercourse with +Hubert Delrio became an increasing delight to her sisters, who +had never known anything so like a brother.</p> +<p>He was at first shy and not at ease with Magdalen, who, on her +side, perceived the lack of public school and university +training; but in grain he was so completely a good man, a +churchman, and a gentleman, and had so much right sense as well +as talent, that she liked him thoroughly and began to rely on +him, as a woman with unaccustomed property is glad to do with a +male relation.</p> +<p>And to him, the society of the Goyle was a new charm. He +had been brought up to the technicalities and the business +relations of art, and had a cultivated taste; but to be with a +thoughtful, highly educated lady, able to enter into its higher +and deeper associations, was an unspeakable delight and +improvement to him. Vera was fairly satisfied as long as he +sketched her in various attitudes, and held her hand while he +talked; though she did grudge having so much time spent on +“taste, Shakespeare and the musical glasses.” +Paula had various ecclesiastical interests in common with him, +and began to expand and enter more into realities, while Thekla +had in him a dear delightful delicious brother, who petted her, +bantered her, mended her rabbit hutch, caught her hedgehog, +taught her to guide her bicycle, drew picture games for her, and +taught her to sketch.</p> +<p>Agatha had endless discussions with him on his various +aspirations, in some of which Magdalen took her share, sometimes +thinking with a pang of regret and self-reproach that that brief +time of intercourse with Hal Merrifield had been spent in +youthful nonsense that could have left no permanent influence for +good.</p> +<p>In fact, whether through Hubert or through Agatha, a certain +intellectual waft had breathed upon the Goyle. Hubert was +eager for assistance in learning German and Italian, and read and +discussed books of interest; and even when he had left Rockstone, +and his work at St. Kenelm’s being finished, the stimulus +was kept up by his letters, comments and questions; and the +younger girls had entirely ceased to form an opposite camp, or to +view “sister” as a taskmistress, even when Agatha had +returned to St. Robert’s.</p> +<p>Mysie had come home, very brown, fuller of Scott than ever for +her mother, and of Hugh Miller for Fergus, for whom she had +brought so many specimens that Cousin Rotherwood declared that +she would sink the <i>Kittiwake</i>. Over the sketches and +photographs of Iona, she and Paulina became great friends, and +Paula was admitted to hear accounts of the modern missions that +had come from the other Harry Merrifield among the Karens in +Burmah, or again through Franciska Ivinghoe, of her Aunt Angela +Underwood, who was considered to have a peculiar faculty for +dealing with those very unpromising natives, the Australian +gins. Franciska remembered her tender nursing and bright +manner in the days of fever at Vale Leston, and had a longing +hope that she would take a holiday and come home; but at present +she was bound to the couch of her slowly declining old friend, +Sister Constance, the Mother of Dearport. It was another +bond of interest with Magdalen, to whom missions to the heathens +had always been a dream.</p> +<p>Thus had passed a year uneventful and peaceable, with visits +from Hubert whenever he had a day or two to spare. They +were looked forward to with delight; but if there were a drawback +it was in Vera’s viewing him partly as one who held her in +a sort of chain, and partly as one whom it was pleasant to tease +by allowing little casual civilities from Wilfred Merrifield.</p> +<p>For Wilfred was an embarrassment to his family. He had +never been strong, his public school career had been shortened by +failure in health, and headaches in the summer, and coughs in the +winter made it needful to keep him at home, and trust to cramming +at Rockstone, enforced by his father’s stern discipline and +his mother’s authoritative influence.</p> +<p>Thus he was always within reach of the mild social gaieties in +which each family indulged, and Vera was not quite so ready as +were his sisters to contrast unfavourably his hatred of all +self-improvement with Hubert Delrio’s eagerness to pick up +every crumb of information, thus deservedly getting on well in +his profession.</p> +<p>One morning, at breakfast, Hubert opened a letter and made a +sudden exclamation; and in answer to Vera’s vehement +inquiry said, “It seems that the great millionaire swell, +Pettifer—is that his name?”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, he was at Rock Quay.”</p> +<p>“Well, he went to see St. Kenelm’s, fell in love +with the ceiling, and offered Pratt and Pavis any sum they like +to decorate a huge new hall he is building in the same +style. So they write to propose to me to come and do it, +with a promise of future work, at any terms I like to +ask.”</p> +<p>“Oh! but that’s jolly,” cried Vera. +“Can’t you?”</p> +<p>“No,” he said; “this is immediate, and I +have two churches, reredos and walls, on my hands, enough to last +me all the year. Nor could I throw over Eccles and +Beamster.”</p> +<p>“Is there an agreement with them?” asked +Magdalen.</p> +<p>“Not regularly; but Mr. Eccles has been very kind to me, +and promised me employment for four years to come; in fact, he +has made engagements on that understanding.”</p> +<p>“I see,” said Magdalen. “You could not +break with them.”</p> +<p>“Certainly not. Nor do I entirely like the line of +this other house. It is a good deal more +secular.”</p> +<p>“And you have dedicated your talents to the +Church!” cried Paulina.</p> +<p>“Not that exactly, Paula,” he said, smiling; +“but I had rather work for the Church, so I am glad the +matter is definitely settled for me.”</p> +<p>To that he kept, though he had a very kind letter from Mr. +Eccles, who had evidently been applied to, wishing not to stand +in his light, especially as he was engaged to be married, and +telling him how it might be possible to fairly compensate for the +loss to the firm. Between the lines, however, it was plain +that it would be a great blow, only possible because the +agreement had been neglected; and Hubert was only the more +determined, out of gratitude for the generosity, not to break +what he felt to be an implied pledge; and all the sisters +sympathised with his determination.</p> +<p>He adhered to it even after his return to London, though his +father thought it a pity to lose the chance, if it could be +accepted without discourtesy to Mr. Eccles; and he had been +interviewed by various parties concerned, and there had been an +attempt to dazzle him by the prospects held out to him by an +enthusiastic young member of the firm. Perhaps he was too +shrewd entirely to trust them, but at any rate he felt his good +faith to Eccles and Beamster a bond to hold him fast from the +temptation; and his heart was really set on the consecration of +the higher uses of his art; so that regard to the simple rule of +honour was an absolute relief to him.</p> +<p>So he wrote to Vera, who, if there were a secret wish on her +part, did not dare to give it shape; while all her sisters, to +whom she showed the letters that she scarcely comprehended, were +open-mouthed in their admiration. Thekla, who had been +seized with a fit of hagiology, went the length of comparing him +to St. Barbara; even Paula pronounced it a far-fetched +resemblance.</p> +<p>It was some months later that Sir Ferdinand Travis Underwood +had decided on building a magnificent cathedral-like church for +the population rising around him in the Rocky Mountains; and +meeting Lord Rotherwood in London heard of the work at St. +Kenelm’s, and resorted to Eccles and Beamster as the +employers of young Delrio. There would be plenty of +varieties of beautiful material to be found near at hand in the +mountains; but Hubert was sent first for a short journey in Italy +to study the effect of the old mosaics as well as the frescoes, +and then to go out to America to the work that would last a +considerable time.</p> +<p>Vera was much excited by the notion of the Italian journey, +and thought she ought to have been married at once and have +shared it, including as it did a short visit to Rocca +Marina. But she was scarcely eighteen, and neither her +trustee nor her elder sister thought it advisable to dispense +with the decision that her twenty-first birthday must be waited +for, at which she pouted. Hubert came for two nights on his +return, and was exceedingly full of his tour, talking over +Italian scenes and churches with Magdalen, who had never seen +them, but had the descriptions and the history at her +fingers’ ends, and listened with delight to all the +impressions of a mind full of feeling and poetry. The time +was only too short to discuss or look out everything, and much +was left to be copied and sent after him, with many promises on +Vera’s part of writing everything for him, and translating +the books that Magdalen would refer to. He was allowed to +take Vera and Paulina to Filsted for a hurried visit to his +parents. When they came home again, it soon became plain +that it had not been a success. “I am glad to be at +home again,” said Paula, as the pony carriage turned up the +steep drive, and the girls jumped out to walk. “I am +quite glad to feel the stones under my feet again!”</p> +<p>Magdalen laughed. “A new sentiment!” she +said.</p> +<p>“I don’t like the stones,” said Vera, +“but I did not know Filsted was such a poky +place.”</p> +<p>“A dead flat!” added Paula. “No sea, +no torrs! one wanted something to look at! and <i>such</i> a +church!”</p> +<p>“Did you see Minnie Maitland?” put in Thekla.</p> +<p>“I saw all the Maitlands in a hurry,” said +Vera. “I don’t remember which was which. +They were all dressed alike in horrid colours. Hubert said +they set his teeth on edge!”</p> +<p>“How was old Mrs. Delrio?”</p> +<p>“Just the same as ever, lean and pinched.”</p> +<p>“But so kind!” added Paula. “She could +not make enough of Flapsy.”</p> +<p>“I should think not!” ejaculated Vera. +“Enough! aye, and too much! just fancy, no dinner napkins! +and Edith went away and made the scones herself!”</p> +<p>“Very praiseworthy,” said Magdalen. +“Don’t you know how Hubert always tells us what a +dear devoted good girl she is?”</p> +<p>“Well, I only hope Hubert does not expect me to live in +that way,” said Vera. “His mother looks like a +half-starved hare, and Edith is giving lessons as a daily +governess!</p> +<p>“Edith is very nice,” said Paula; “and I +never understood before how excellent old Mr. Delrio’s +pictures are! Do you remember his ‘Country +Lane’? What a pity it did not sell!”</p> +<p>“Poor man!” said Magdalen. “He married +too soon, and that has kept him down.”</p> +<p>“It is beautiful to see how proud they are of +Hubert,” said Paula, “and his pretty gentle attention +and deference to them both. Mr. Delrio is really a +gentleman, I am sure; but, Maidie,” she said, falling back +with her, while Vera and Thekla mounted faster, “it was +very odd to see how different things looked to us from what they +seemed when we were at Mrs. Best’s. Filsted High +Street has grown so small, and one could hardly breathe in Mrs. +Delrio’s stuffy drawing-room. And as to Waring +Grange, which we used to think just perfect, it was all so +pretentious and in such bad taste. Hubert saw it as much as +we did, but I could see he was on thorns to hinder Flapsy from +making observations.”</p> +<p>Certainly the visit had not done much good, except in making +the girls appreciate the refinement of their surroundings at the +Goyle.</p> +<p>And when letters arrived from Hubert at the American Vale +Leston, asking questions requiring some research in books, either +Magdalen’s or at the Rock Quay library, Vera dawdled and +sighed over them; and when the more zealous Magdalen or Paula +took all the trouble, and left nothing for her to do but to copy +their notes, and write the letters, she grew cross. +“It was for Hubert, and she did not want any one else to +meddle! So stupid! If he had only taken Pratt and +Pavis’s offer, there would not have been all this +bother!”</p> +<p>That, of course, she only ventured to utter before Paula and +Thekla, and it made them both so furious that she declared she +was only in joke, and did not mean it.</p> +<p>She was indulging in reflections on the general dulness of her +lot, and the lack of sympathy in her sisters, as she lingered by +the confectioner’s window, with her eyes fixed on a +gorgeous combination of coloured bonbons, when Wilfred Merrifield +sauntered out. “Fresh from Paris!” he +said. “Going to choose some?”</p> +<p>“Oh no, I haven’t got any cash. M. A. keeps +us horribly short.”</p> +<p>“As usual with governors! But look here! +Pocket this. Sweets to the sweet, from an old +chum!”</p> +<p>“Oh, Will, how jolly! Such a love of a +box.”</p> +<p>“Make haste! Some of the girls are lurking about, +and if there is any mischief to be made, trust Gill for doing +it.”</p> +<p>“Mischief!—” but before the words were out +of her mouth, Gillian and Mysie appeared from the next shop, a +bootmaker’s, and Mysie stood aghast with, “What +<i>are</i> you doing? Buying goodies! How very +ridiculous!”</p> +<p>“The proper thing between chums, isn’t it, +Vera?” said Wilfred, with an indifferent air. +“We aren’t unlucky Sunday scholars, Mysie, to be +jumped upon! Good-bye, Vera, <i>au revoir</i>!”</p> +<p>He sauntered away with his hands in his pockets; while +Gillian, from her eldership of two years, and her engagement, +gravely said, “Vera, perhaps you do not fully know, but I +should say this is not quite the thing.”</p> +<p>“He told you we are just chums!” exclaimed +Vera. “As if there were any harm in it! +You’ve not got a sweet tooth yourself, so you need not +grudge me just a few goodies.”</p> +<p>Gillian saw that it was of no use to prolong the dispute +either for the place or the time, and she hushed Mysie, who was +about to expostulate farther, and made her go away with a brief +parting, such as she hoped would impress on Vera that the sisters +thought very badly of her discretion and loyalty. They +could not hear the reflection, “They need not be so +particular and so cross. Hubert never thought of giving me +anything nice like this. Why should not my chum? Such +a sweet little box too, with a dear girl’s head on +it! Would Polly fuss about it, and set on Sister? I +shall put it into my own drawer, and then if they notice it, they +may think somebody at Filsted gave it! No one has any +business to worry me about Hubert, and Wilfred being civil to +me. He <i>is</i> a gentleman.”</p> +<p>The gentleman had been overtaken by his sisters. He was +walking his bicycle up the hill rather breathlessly and +slowly. Mysie indignantly began, “Of all the stupid +things to do, to give goodies to that girl, like a +baby!”</p> +<p>“I have been wishing to speak to you,” said +Gillian. “You are going the way to get that foolish +girl into a scrape.”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, of course. Sisters uniformly object to a +little civility to a pretty girl,” carelessly answered +Wilfred.</p> +<p>“Nonsense!” returned Mysie, hotly. “We +don’t care! only it is not fair on Mr. Delrio.”</p> +<p>“The painter cad! A very good thing too! The +sacrifice ought to be prevented. Is not that the general +sentiment?”</p> +<p>“Wilfred!” cried the scandalised Mysie, +“when it is all the other way, and he is ever so much too +good for her.”</p> +<p>“Consummate prig! The cheek of him pretending to a +lady!”</p> +<p>“But, Wilfred,” went on downright Mysie, “is +it only mischief, or do you want to marry her +yourself?”</p> +<p>“Draw your own conclusions,” responded Wilfred, +mounting his machine, and spinning down the hill faster than they +could follow on foot.</p> +<p>“What is to be done, Gill?” sighed Mysie. +“Ought we to get mamma to speak to him?”</p> +<p>“Better not,” said Gillian, with more +experience. “It would only make it worse to take it +seriously. Half of it is play—and half to tease +you.”</p> +<p>“And,” said Mysie, with due deference to the +engaged sister, “how about Mr. Delrio? Will it make +him unhappy?”</p> +<p>“If he finds out in time what a horrid little thing it +is, I should say it would be very well for him; but I don’t +want Will to be the means.”</p> +<p>“Oh! when his examination is over, and he gets an +appointment, he will go away, and it will be safe.”</p> +<p>“I have not much hopes of his getting in!”</p> +<p>“Oh, Gill, none of us ever failed before.”</p> +<p>On the side of the Goyle not much was known or cared about +Wilfred’s little attentions, which were generally out of +sight of Magdalen, and did not amount to much; but Paula saw +enough of them to consult Agatha on, and to observe that Flapsy +was going on just as she used to at Filsted, and she thought +Hubert would not like it.</p> +<p>“I believe Flapsy can’t live without it,” +sighed Agatha.</p> +<p>“But would you speak to her? I don’t think +she ought to let him give her boxes of bonbons—to keep up +in her room, and never give a hint to Maidie.”</p> +<p>Agatha did speak but the effect was to set Vera into crying +out at every one being so intolerably cross about such a trifle, +Gillian Merrifield and all!</p> +<p>“Did Gillian speak to you?”</p> +<p>“Yes, as if she had any business to do so!”</p> +<p>“I am sure it is not the way she would treat Captain +Armitage.”</p> +<p>“I don’t believe she cares for Captain Armitage +one bit! You said yourself that all the girls at Oxford +thought she cared much more for her horrid examination! I +wouldn’t be a dry, cold-hearted, insensible stick like her +for the world.”</p> +<p>“Perhaps she is the more quietly in earnest,” said +Agatha, repenting a little that she had told before Vera the +college jokes over what had leaked out of Gillian’s +reception of Ernley Armitage when he had hastened up to Oxford as +soon as his ship was paid off, and she had been called down to +him in the Lady Principal’s room. Report said that +she had only prayed him to keep out of the way, and not to upset +her brain, and that he had meekly obeyed—as one who knew +what it was to have promotion depending on it.</p> +<p>It was a half truth, exaggerated, but it had not a happy +effect on Vera. Nevertheless, the finishing push of +preparation brought on such a succession of violent headaches as +quite to disable the really delicate boy. Moreover, the +tutor declared that there had been little chance of his success, +and Dr. Dagger said that he had much better not try again. +The best hope for his health, and even for his life, was to keep +him at home for a few years, and give him light work.</p> +<p>He had never been the pleasantest element in the household; +and if his parents were glad of the avoidance of the risk of a +launch into the world, and his mother’s love rejoiced in +the power of watching over him, there were others who felt his +temper a continual trial, while his career was a perplexity.</p> +<p>However, Captain Henderson offered a clerkship at the Marble +Works, subject to Mr. White’s approval; and this was +gratefully accepted. Nor did Agatha come home again at the +Long Vacation for more than two days, in which there was no time +for consultation with her sisters on matters of uncertain +import.</p> +<p>Miss Arthuret and Elizabeth Merrifield had arranged together +to take the old roomy farmhouse on Penbeacon for three or four +months, and there receive parties of young women in need of rest, +fresh air, and, in some cases, of classes, or time for +study. It was to be a sort of Holiday House, though not +altogether of idleness; and Dolores undertook to be a kind of +vice-president, with Agatha to pursue her reading under her +superintendence, and to assist in helping others, governesses, +students, schoolmistresses from Coalham, in whose behalf indeed +the scheme had been first started, and it was extremely +delightful to Agatha, among many others.</p> +<h2><a name="page179"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +179</span>CHAPTER XIX—TWO WEDDINGS</h2> +<blockquote><p>“How happy by my mother’s side<br /> +When some dear friend became a bride!<br /> +To shine beyond the rest I was<br /> + In gay embroidery drest.<br /> +Vain of my drapery’s rich brocade,<br /> +I held my flowing locks to braid.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Anstice</span> +(<i>from the Greek</i>).</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“<span class="smcap">Epidemics</span> of marriage set in +from time to time,” said Jane Mohun. “Gillian +has set the fashion.”</p> +<p>For the Rock Quay neighbourhood was in a state of excitement +over a letter from Mrs. White, of Rocca Marina, announcing the +approaching marriage of Mr. White’s niece, Maura, with Lord +Roger Grey, a nephew of dear Emily’s husband, and heir to +the Dukedom. The White family were coming home for the +wedding, and the interest entirely eclipsed that of Gillian +Merrifield’s. In fact, though that young lady +somewhat justified the Oxford stories, she was in a state of much +inward agitation between real love for Ernley, and pain in +leaving home, so she put on an absolutely imperturbable +demeanour. Her reserve and dread of comments made her so +undemonstrative and repressive to her Captain that there were +those who doubted whether she cared for him at all, or only +looked on her wedding as a mediæval maiden might have done, +as coming naturally a few years after she had grown up. +Ernley Armytage knew better, and so did her parents. The +wedding was hurried on by Captain Armytage’s appointment to +a frigate on the coast of Southern America, where he had to join +at once, in lieu of a captain invalided home; and Gillian +accepted the arrangements, which would take her to Rio, “as +much a matter of course,” said her aunt, “as if she +had been a wife for ten years.” Her uncle, Mr. Mohun, +was anxious that the marriage of his sister Lily’s daughter +should take place at the family home, Beechcroft. If there +had been scruples, chiefly founded on the largeness of the party, +and the trouble to Mrs. Mohun, these were forgotten in the +convenience of being out of the way of Rockstone gossip, as well +as for other reasons.</p> +<p>“I should certainly have escaped,” said General +Mohun. “I have no notion of meeting that unmitigated +scamp.”</p> +<p>“Mr. White ought to be warned,” said Jane.</p> +<p>“You’ll do so, I suppose; and much good it will +be.”</p> +<p>“I do not imagine that it will. It will be too +charming to surpass Franciska and Ivinghoe; but if neither you +nor Jasper will speak to old Tom, I shall deliver my conscience +to Ada.”</p> +<p>“And be advised to mind your own business.”</p> +<p>Nevertheless, Jane Mohun did deliver her conscience, when, on +the day after the arrival, there had been loud lamentations over +the intended absence of the Merrifield family. “It +would have looked well to make it a double wedding, all in the +family,” said Mr. White.</p> +<p>To which Miss Mohun only answered by a silence which Mrs. +White was unwilling to break, but Maura exclaimed—</p> +<p>“But I thought Valetta would be sure to be my +bridesmaid. Such friends as we were at the High +School!”</p> +<p>It did not strike Miss Mohun that the friendship had been very +close or very beneficial; but Adeline added, “We thought +she would pair so well with Vera Prescott, and then uncle will +give all the dresses—white silk with cerise +trimmings. We ordered them in Paris.”</p> +<p>“Uncle Tom is so generous!” said Maura. +“There is no end to his kindness. I’ll go and +unpack some of the patterns, that Miss Mohun may see +them.”</p> +<p>She tripped out of the room, and Jane exclaimed, “Poor +child! Has Emily written to you, Ada?”</p> +<p>“Yes, rather stiffly. Mr. White thinks it +aristocratic pride.”</p> +<p>“Ada, you know it is not that.”</p> +<p>“Well, I suppose the Greys are hardly gratified by the +connection, though Mr. White will make it worth their +while. You see the Duke leaves everything in his power to +his daughters, so poor Roger will be very badly off.”</p> +<p>“But—” There was so much expressed in +that “but” that Adeline began to answer one of the +sentiments she supposed it to convey. “He can do it +easily—for all the rest are provided for by the Marble +Works—except the two eldest brothers. Richard has +gone away, and Alexis—oh, you know he has notions of his +own that Mr. White does not like.”</p> +<p>“Does Mr. White know all about Lord Roger, or why the +Duke should cut him off as far as possible?”</p> +<p>“My dear Jane, it is not charitable to bring things up +against young men’s follies.”</p> +<p>“It is a pretty considerable folly to have done what +compelled him to retire. Reginald was called in at the +inquiry, and knows all about it.”</p> +<p>“But that was ages ago, and he has been quite +distinguished in the Turkish army.”</p> +<p>“Yes; and I also know that English gentlemen have +associated with him as little as possible. I should call it +a fatal thing to let Maura marry him. What does Captain +Henderson say?”</p> +<p>“Mr. White thinks that it is all jealousy. And +really, Jenny, I do not in the least believe that he will make +her unhappy. He is old enough to have quite outgrown all +his wild ways, and he has quite gentlemanly manners and +ways. Besides, Maura likes him, and is quite bent upon +it.”</p> +<p>Still there was a dissatisfied look on Jane’s face, and +Adeline went on answering it, with tears in her eyes. +“My dear Jane, I know what you would say, and what Reginald +and all the rest feel, that it is not what we should like! +But, my dear, don’t let the whole family rise up in +arms! It would be of no use, only make it painful for +me. Maura is quite bent upon it, and she has arrived at +turning her uncle round her finger so much that I am sometimes +hardly mistress of the house! Oh, I don’t tell any +one, not Lily nor any one, but it will really be a relief to me +when she is gone, with her Greek coaxing ways. Her uncle is +wrapped up in her, and so proud of her being a Duchess that he +would condone anything. Indeed, I am always afraid of her +putting it into his head to suppose that her disappointment about +Ivinghoe was in any way owing to my family pride.”</p> +<p>Jane was sorry for Adeline, and able to perceive how the +wifely feelings, which she had taken on herself, by choosing a +man of inferior breeding and nature clashed with her hereditary +character and principles.</p> +<p>“You are absolutely relieved that the Beechcroft wedding +takes all of us out of the way naturally and without +offence,” she said so kindly that Ada laid her head on her +sisterly shoulder, and allowed herself to shed a few tears.</p> +<p>“Yes, yes,” she said; “I am glad to have so +good a reason to mention. Only I do hope Jasper will not +object to Valetta’s coming back to be bridesmaid. +That would really be a blow and give offence, and it would make +difficulties with others—even James Henderson, who swears +by Jasper. I have often wished they would have done as I +advised, and have had this wedding at Rocca Marina, out of the +way of everybody! I sometimes think it will be the death of +me. Do come home to help me through it.”</p> +<p>She spoke so like the Ada of old that it went to Jane’s +heart.</p> +<p>She promised that she would return in time to give the very +substantial assistance in which all believed, and the more +sentimental support in which nobody believed, though her distaste +arose tenfold after seeing the bridegroom, who looked like an old +satyr, all the more because Maura was like a Greek nymph. +Mrs. Henderson was much grieved, and had tried remonstrance with +her sister, but found her quite impervious.</p> +<p>Glad were all the Merrifields to escape to the quiet +atmosphere of Beechcroft, where the relations were able to +congregate between the Court, the Vicarage, and the more-distant +Rotherwood; and the wedding was an ideal one in ecclesiastical +beauty, and the festivities of those who had known and loved Lady +Merrifield as Miss Lily in early youth, grandmothers who had been +her schoolchildren, and were pleased to hear that she was a +grandmother herself, and hoped in a year or two to welcome her +grandchildren.</p> +<p>Alethea and her little Somervilles she had seen <i>en +route</i> to Canada, and Phyllis was to come in due time when +Bernard Underwood could be spared from the bank in Colombo, and +they would bring their little pair.</p> +<p>In the matter of bridesmaids Gillian certainly had the +advantage, for she was amply provided with sisters and cousins, +Dolores coming for a few days for the wedding; whereas the six +whom Maura had provided for beforehand in Paris were only, as +Miss Jane said, “scraped up” with difficulty from +former schoolfellows. Lord Roger’s nieces would not +hear of being present. Paulina was unwillingly pressed into +the service, as well as the more willing Vera; but Mysie +Merrifield was not to be persuaded to give up her visit to Lady +Phyllis, and Aunt Jane could only carry home Valetta, who held +the whole as “capital fun,” and liked the acquisition +of the white silk and lace and cerise ribbons. Dolores had +negotiated that No. 6 of the Vanderkist girls should spend a year +with Miss Mohun for a final polish at the High School at Rock +Quay, so as to be with her brother Adrian, who was completing his +term at the preparatory school before his launch at +Winchester.</p> +<p>Wilfred also returned, father and uncle having decided that he +did not merit a game licence, nor to attack the partridges of +Beechcroft, and the prospect of the gaieties of Cliffe House +consoled him.</p> +<p>Adeline had to endure her husband’s mortification at +other disappointments. The Ducal family was wholly +unrepresented. Even Emily, the connecting link, would not +venture on the journey; and the clerical nephew was not +sufficiently gratified by Lord Roger’s intention to <i>se +ranger</i> to undertake to officiate; and a Bishop, who had +enjoyed the hospitality of Rocca Marina, proved to have other +engagements. No clergyman could be imported except +Maura’s brother Alexis, who had been two years at work at +Coalham under Mr. Richard Burnet, and had just been appointed by +the newly-chosen Bishop of Onomootka, and both were to go out +with him as chaplains. In the meantime, while the Bishop +was preparing, by tours in England, Alexis undertook the duties +of Mr. Flight’s curate, rejoicing in the opportunity of +seeing his elder sister, and the old friends with whom he had +never been since his unlucky troubles with Gillian Merrifield, +now no more.</p> +<p>The delight of receiving him compensated to Kalliope Henderson +for much that was distressing to both in Maura’s +choice. The seven years that had passed had made him into a +noble-looking man, with a handsome classical countenance, lighted +up by earnestness and devotion, a fine voice and much musical +skill, together with a bright attractive manner that, all +unconsciously on his part, had turned the heads of half the young +womanhood of Coalham, and soon had the same effect at Rock +Quay.</p> +<p>Vera and Paulina were in a state of much excitement over their +white silks, in which the three other sisters took great pleasure +in arraying them, and Thekla only wished that Hubert could see +them. She should send him out a photograph, buying it +herself with her own money.</p> +<p>She was, of course, to see the wedding, in her Sunday white +and broad pink sash, of the appropriateness of which she was +satisfied when, at Beechcroft, they met Miss Mohun’s young +friend, Miss Vanderkist, in the same garb. She and her +brother had been put under Magdalen’s protection, as Miss +Mohun was too much wanted at Cliffe House to look after them; but +Sir Adrian, a big boy of twelve, wanted to go his own way, and +only handed her over with “Hallo, Miss Prescott! +you’ll look after this pussy-cat of ours while Aunt Jane is +dosing Aunt Ada with salts and sal volatile. +She—I’ll introduce you! Miss Prescott, Miss +Felicia Vanderkist! She wants to be looked after, she is a +little kitten that has never seen anything! I’m off +to Martin’s.”</p> +<p>The stranger did look very shy. She was a slight +creature, not yet seventeen, with an abundant mass of long golden +silk hair tied loosely, and a very lovely face and complexion, so +small that she was a miniature edition of Lady Ivinghoe.</p> +<p>Her name was Wilmet Felicia, but the latter half had been +always used in the family, and there was something in the kitten +grace that suited the arbitrary contractions well. In fact, +Jane Mohun had been rather startled to find that she had the +charge of such a little beauty, when she saw how people turned +around at the station to look, certainly not at Valetta, who was +a dark bright damsel of no special mark.</p> +<p>At church, however, every one was in much too anxious a state +to gaze at the coming procession to have any eyes to spare for a +childish girl in a quiet white frock. St. Andrew’s +had never seen such a crowded congregation, for it was a wedding +after Mr. White’s own heart, in which nobody dared to +interfere, not even his wife, whatever her good taste might +think. So the church was filled, and more than filled, by +all who considered a wedding as legitimate gape seed, and +themselves as not bound to fit behaviour in church. On such +an occasion Magdalen, being a regular attendant, and connected +with the bridesmaids, was marshalled by a churchwarden into a +reserved seat; but there they were dismayed by the voices and the +scrambling behind them, which, in the long waiting, the Vicar +from the vestry vainly tried to subdue by severe looks; and +Felicia, whose notions of wedding behaviour were moulded on Vale +Lecton and Beechcroft, looked as if she thought she had got into +the house of Duessa, amid all Pride’s procession, as in the +prints in the large-volumed “Faërie Queene.”</p> +<p>And when, on the sounds of an arrival, the bridegroom stood +forth, the resemblance to Sans Foy was only too striking, while +the party swept up the church, the bride in the glories of cobweb +veil, white satin, &c., becomingly drooping on her +uncle’s arm, while he beamed forth, expansive in figure and +countenance, with delight. Little Jasper Henderson, anxious +and patronising to his tiny brother Alexis, both in white +pages’ dresses picked out with cerise, did his best to +support the endless glistening train.</p> +<p>The bridesmaids’ costumes taxed the descriptive powers +of the milliners in splendour and were scarcely eclipsed by the +rich brocade and lace of Mrs. White, as she sailed in on Captain +Henderson’s arm; but her elaborate veil and feathery bonnet +hardly concealed the weary tedium of her face, though to the +shame, well nigh horror, of her sister, she was rouged. +“I must, I must,” she said; “he would be vexed +if I looked pale.”</p> +<p>It was true that “he” loved her heartily, and that +he put all the world at her service; but she had learnt where he +must not be offended, and was on her guard. Hers had been +the last wedding that Jane had attended in St. +Andrew’s. “Did she repent?” was +Jane’s thought. No, probably not. She had the +outward luxuries she had craved for, and her husband was +essentially a good man, though not of the caste to which her +instincts belonged—very superior in nature and conscience +to him to whom his blinded vanity was now giving his beautiful +niece, a willing sacrifice.</p> +<p>It was over! More indecorous whispering and thronging; +and the procession came down the aisle, to be greeted outside by +a hail of confetti and rice; the schoolboys, profiting by the +dinner interval, and headed by Adrian, had jostled themselves +into the foreground, and they ran headlong to the portico of +Cliffe House to renew the shower.</p> +<p>And there, unluckily, Mr. White recognised the boy, and, +pleased to have anything with a title to show, turned him round +to the bridegroom, with, “Here, Lord Roger, let me +introduce a guest, Sir Adrian Vanderkist.”</p> +<p>“Ha, I didn’t know poor Van had left a son. +I knew your father, my boy. Where was it I saw him +last? Poor old chap!”</p> +<p>“You must come in to taste the cake, my boy,” +began Mr. White.</p> +<p>“Thank you, Mr. White, I must get back to +Edgar’s. Late already. The others are +off.”</p> +<p>“Not a holiday! For shame! He’ll +excuse you. I’ll send a note down to say you must +stay to drink the health of your father’s old +friend.”</p> +<p>Those words settled the matter with Adrian. The holiday +was enticing, and might have overpowered the chances of a +scholarship, for which he was working; but he had begun to know +that there were perplexities from which it was safer to retreat; +and that he had never transgressed his Uncle Clement’s +warning might be read in the clear open face that showed already +the benefits, not only of discipline, but of self-control. +So obedience answered the question; though, as he again thanked +and refused, he looked so dogged as he turned and walked off, +that Ethel Varney whispered to Vera that at school he was called, +“the Dutchman, if not the Boer.”</p> +<p>Nor did he ever mention the temptation or his own +resistance. Only Mr. White asked Miss Mohun to bring him to +the dance which was to be given in the evening, telling her of +his refusal of the invitation to wedding cake and champagne and +she—mindful of her duty to her charge as hinted by Clement +Underwood—had not granted the honour of his presence on the +score of his school obligations.</p> +<p>The afternoon was spent in desultory wanderings about the +gardens, Magdalen and her sisters being invited guests, and Vera +in a continual state of agitated expectation. Had not +Wilfred Merrifield always been a cavalier of her own? And +here he was, paying no attention to her, with all the +embellishment of her bridesmaid’s adornments, and squiring +instead that little insignificant Felicia, in a simple hat, and +hair still on her shoulders; whilst she had to put up with +nothing better than a young Varney, who was very shy, and had +never probably mastered croquet.</p> +<p>She was an ill-used mortal; and why had she not Hubert to show +how superior she was to them all, in having a piece of property +of her own to show off?</p> +<p>There was Paula, too, playing animated tennis with that +clerical brother of the bride, who had been talking to Magdalen +about the frescoes of St. Kenelm’s (as if she, Vera, had +not the greatest right to know all about those frescoes!). +Even little Thekla was better off, for she was reigning over a +merry party of the little ones, which had been got up for the +benefit of the small Hendersons, and of which Theodore White had +constituted himself the leader, being a young man passionately +devoted to little children.</p> +<p>So when the guests dispersed to eat their dinner at their +homes and dress for the dance, Vera was extremely cross. +Each of the other three had some delightful experiences to talk +over; but whether it was Mr. Theodore’s fun in acting ogre +behind the great aloe, or Mr. Alexis’s achievements with +the croquet ball, or his information about the Red Indians and +Onomootka, she was equally ungracious to all; she scolded Thekla +for crumpling her skirt, and was quite sure that Paula had on the +wrong <i>fichu</i> that was meant for her. Each bridesmaid +had been presented with a bracelet, like a snake with ruby eyes; +but Vera, fingering hers with fidgeting petulance, seemed to have +managed to loosen the clasp, and when arranging her dress for the +evening thought that her snake had escaped.</p> +<p>Upstairs and downstairs she rushed in hopes of finding +it. The cab in which they had returned was gone home to +come again, and there was the chance that it might be there or in +the Cliffe House gardens; and then the others tried to console +her, but they were not able to hinder a violent burst of crying, +which scandalised Thekla.</p> +<p>“I am sure you couldn’t cry more if you had lost +Hubert’s, and that would be something worth crying +about.”</p> +<p>Hubert’s was an ingeniously worked circle of scales of +Californian gold, the first ornament that Vera had ever +possessed, and that all the sisters had set great store by. +But with an outcry of joy Vera exclaimed, “Here’s the +snake all safe! I pushed the other up my arm because it +looked so plain and dull, and it was that which came +off.”</p> +<p>“That is a great deal worse than losing the +snake,” said Thekla. “He has a nasty face, and +I don’t like him, with his red eyes.”</p> +<p>“Don’t be silly,” returned Vera; “this +is a great deal more valuable.”</p> +<p>“Surely the value is in the giver,” said Paula; to +which Vera returned in the same vein, “Don’t be silly +and sentimental, Polly.”</p> +<p>She was so much cheered by the recovery of the snake that they +brought her off to the evening dance without a fresh fit of +ill-humour, and she sprang out under the portico of Cliffe House, +with her spirits raised to expectation pitch.</p> +<p>But disappointment was in store for her. It was not +disappointment in other eyes. Paula had all the attention +she expected or desired, she danced almost every time and did not +reckon greatly on who might be her partner. What pleased +and honoured her most was being asked to dance by Captain +Henderson himself.</p> +<p>What was it to Vera, however, that partners came to her, young +men of Rock Quay whom she knew already and did not care +about? And she never once had the pleasure of saying that +she was keeping the next dance for Wilfred Merrifield! To +her perceptions, he was always figuring away with Felicia +Vanderkist, her golden hair seemed always gleaming with him; and +though this was not always the case, as the nephew of the house +was one of those who had duties to guests and was not allowed by +his aunts to be remiss, yet whenever he was not ordered about by +them, he was sure to be found by Felicia’s side.</p> +<p>Vera’s one consolation was that Alexis White took her to +supper. To be sure he was a clergyman, and had stood +talking to Lady Flight half the time, and his conversation turned +at once to Hubert Delrio’s frescoes; but then he was very +handsome, and graceful in manner, and he sympathised with her on +the loss of her bracelet, and promised to have a search for it by +daylight in the gardens.</p> +<h2><a name="page194"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +194</span>CHAPTER XX—FLEETING</h2> +<blockquote><p>“And variable as the shade<br /> +By the light quivering aspen made.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span +class="smcap">Scott</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> bracelet came to light in the +gardens of Cliffe House the next morning, and Alexis White walked +over to the Goyle to return it safely, little guessing, when he +set forth to enjoy the sight of the purple moors, and to renew +old recollections, what a flutter of gratified vanity would be +excited in one silly little breast, though he only stayed ten +minutes, and casually asked whether the sisters were coming to +Lady Flight’s garden party. Everybody was going +there. Miss Mohun even took Felicia, as it was on a +Saturday’s holiday; and, unwittingly, she renewed all the +agitation caused by Wilfred’s admiration, and that of +others, to the all-unconscious girl. Vera could no longer +think herself the reigning belle of Rock Quay, though she talked +of Felicia as a schoolgirl or a baby, or a horrid little forward +chit! Her excitement was, however, divided between Wilfred +and Mr. Alexis White, who could not look in her direction without +putting her in a state of eagerness.</p> +<p>In this, however, she was not alone. Half the ladies +were interested about him; his manners were charming, his voice +in church beautiful, and his destination as chaplain to a +missionary bishop made him doubly interesting; while he himself, +even though his mind was set on higher things, was really +enjoying his brief holiday, and his sister, Mrs. Henderson, was +delighted to promote his pleasure, and garden parties and the +like flourished as long as weather permitted; and as Vera was a +champion player, she was sure to be asked to the tournaments, and +to have to practise for them.</p> +<p>Inopportunely there arrived a letter from Hubert, requiring an +answer about the form of ornament in the moulding of the +fourteenth century! Paula dutifully went to the library, +looked out and traced two or three examples, French and +English. Nothing remained but for Vera to write the letter +after the early dinner. However, she went to sleep in a +hammock, and only roused herself to recollect that there was to +be tea and lawn tennis at Carrara.</p> +<p>“Won’t you just write to Hubert first?”</p> +<p>“Oh, bother, how can I now? Don’t worry +so!”</p> +<p>“But, Flapsy, he really needs it without loss of +time.”</p> +<p>“I’m sure he has no right to make me his clerk in +that horrid peremptory way, as if one had nothing else to do but +wait on his fads.”</p> +<p>“Flapsy, how can you?” broke out even Thekla.</p> +<p>“Surely it is the greatest honour,” said +Paula.</p> +<p>“Well, do it yourself then, I’m not going to be +bothered for ever.”</p> +<p>Thekla went off, in great indignation, to beg +“sister” to speak to Flapsy, and beg her not to use +dear Hubert so very very badly, which of course Magdalen refused +to do, and Thekla had her first lesson on the futility of +interfering with engaged folk; Paula meanwhile sent off the +despatch, with one line to say that Vera was too busy to write +that day.</p> +<p>There had been two or three letters from Hubert, over which +Vera had looked cross, but had said nothing; and at last she came +down from her own room, and announced passionately, +“There! I have done with Mr. Hubert Delrio, and have +written to tell him so!”</p> +<p>“Vera, what have you done?”</p> +<p>“Written to tell him I have no notion of a man being so +tiresome and dictatorial! I don’t want a schoolmaster +to lecture me, and expect me to drudge over his work as if I was +his clerk.”</p> +<p>“My dear,” said Magdalen, “have you had a +letter that vexed you? Had you not better wait a little to +think it over?”</p> +<p>“No! Nonsense, Maidie! He has been provoking +ever so long, and I won’t bear it any longer!” and +she flounced into a chair.</p> +<p>“Provoking! Hubert!” was all Paulina could +utter, in her amazement and horror.</p> +<p>“Oh, I daresay you would like it well enough! +Always at me to slave for him with stupid architectural drawings +and stuff, as if I was only a sort of clerk or fag! And +boring me to read great dull books, and preaching to me about +them, expecting to know what I think! Dear me!”</p> +<p>“Those nice letters!” sighed Paula.</p> +<p>“Nice! As if any one that was one bit in love +would write such as that! No, I don’t want to marry a +schoolmaster or a tyrant!”</p> +<p>“How can you, Flapsy?” went on Paula, so +vehemently that Magdalen left the defence thus far to her; +“when he only wishes for your sympathy and +improvement.”</p> +<p>The worst plea she could have used, thought the elder sister, +as Vera broke out with, “Improvement, indeed! If he +cared for me, he would not think I wanted any +<i>improving</i>! But he never did! Or he would have +taken Pratt and Povis’ offer, and I should have been living +in London and keeping my carriage! Or he would have taken +me to Italy! But that horrid home of his, and his mother +just like a half-starved hare! I might have seen then it +was not fit for me; but I was a child, and over-persuaded among +you all! But I know better now, and I know my own mind, as +I didn’t then. So you need not talk! I have +done with him.”</p> +<p>“Oh, Flapsy, Flapsy, how can you grieve him so? +You don’t know what you are throwing away!” +incoherently cried Paula, collapsing in a burst of tears. +“Maidie, Maidie, why don’t you speak to her, and tell +her how wicked it +is—and—and—and—”</p> +<p>The rest was cut short by sobs.</p> +<p>“No, Paula, authority or reasoning of mine would not +touch such a mood as this. We must leave it to Hubert +himself. If she really cares for him, she will have +recovered from her fit of temper by the time his letter can come, +and it may have an effect upon her, if our tongues have not +increased her spirit of opposition. I strongly advise you +to say nothing.”</p> +<p>Paula tried to take her sister’s advice, and would have +adhered to it, but that Vera would talk and try to make her +declare the rupture to have been justified; and this produced an +amount of wrangling which did good to no one. Magdalen +really rejoiced when the frequent golf and tennis parties carried +Vera on her bicycle out of reach of arguing, even if it took her +into the alternative of flirtation.</p> +<p>Thekla cried bitterly, and declared that she should never +speak to Flapsy again; but in half an hour’s time was heard +chattering about the hedgehog’s meal of cockroaches. +In another week the excitement was over. The Bishop of +Onomootka had come and gone, after holding meetings and preaching +sermons at Rock Quay and all the villages round, and had carried +off Alexis White with him.</p> +<p>Nothing had come of the intercourse of the latter with his +rich uncle, nor of the varieties of encounters with the damsels +of Rock Quay, except that society was declared by more than one +to have become horridly flat and slow.</p> +<p>Vera was one of these, and the letters received from Hubert +Delrio did not stir up a fresh excitement. There were no +persuasions to revoke her decision, no urgent entreaties, no +declaration of being heart-broken. He acquiesced in her +assurance that the engagement had been a mistake; and he wrote at +more length to Magdalen, avowing that he had for some time past +traced discontent in Vera’s letters, and fearing that he +had been too didactic and peremptory in writing to her. He +relinquished the engagement with much regret, and should always +regard it as having been a fair summer dream—but, though +undeserving, he hoped still to retain Miss Prescott’s +kindness and friendship, which had been of untold value to +him.</p> +<p>A little more zeal and distress would have been much more +pleasing to Vera; and she began to be what Agatha and Thekla +called cross, and Paula called drooping, and even excited alarm +in her, lest Flapsy should be going into a decline. But a +note came to the Goyle which Magdalen read alone, and likewise +she cycled alone to Rockstone.</p> +<p>“Miss Mohun, can you give me a few minutes?” said +she, as the trim little figure emerged from beneath the copper +beeches, basket in hand.</p> +<p>“By all means; I shall not be due at the cutting-out +meeting till three o’clock.”</p> +<p>“I wanted to consult you about an invitation that Mrs. +White has been so very kind as to give my little sister, +Vera.”</p> +<p>“Oh!” quoth Jane Mohun, in a dry sort of tone.</p> +<p>“I know that she had wished to take out one of her own +nieces to Rocca Marina, but that Sir Jasper did not wish it, and +I thought perhaps it would be easier for you than for Lady +Merrifield to tell me whether there is any objection that would +apply to Vera.”</p> +<p>“I suppose Vera wishes to go?”</p> +<p>“She is so wild with delight that it would be a serious +thing to disappoint her. Mrs. White is very kind and good, +and has thought that she has flagged of late, and has supposed it +might be due to poor Hubert Delrio, but, indeed, it was no fault +of his.”</p> +<p>“None at all, except for out-growing her.”</p> +<p>“The offer was hinted at to go with Valetta even before +we knew it was declined at Clipstone, and that made me anxious to +know whether it would be well for me to send Vera. I +suppose she would pick up pronunciation of languages, which would +be a great advantage, as she will have to earn her own living, +and Mrs. White is so good as to promise lessons in arts and +music. I hear, too, it is quite an English colony, with a +church and schools.”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, Mr. White is a very good and careful man about +his workmen. I have been there at the Henderson’s +wedding, and it is a charming place, a castle fit for Mrs. +Radclyffe, with English comforts, and an Italian garden and an +English village on the mountain side. My sister would do +all that she promises, and would look after any young girl very +well; you may quite trust her.”</p> +<p>“Then is there any fear of Italian society?—not +that poor Vera has any attraction <i>of that kind</i>,” +hesitated Magdalen.</p> +<p>“None at all. All the society they have is of +English travellers coming with introductions. I fancy it is +very dull at times, and that Adeline wants a young person about +her. You need have no fears. Ah! I see you +still want to know why the Merrifields don’t consent. +It is not their way. They would not let the Rotherwoods +have Mysie to bring up with Phyllis, and—and Val is just +the being that needs a mother’s eye over her. But I +really and honestly think that your Vera may quite safely be put +under Adeline’s care, and that she is likely to be all the +better for it.”</p> +<p>“One thing more,” added Magdalen, with a little +hesitation; “is your nephew, Wilfred, likely to be one of +the party?”</p> +<p>“None at all. His father wants to keep him under +his own eye, and his mother is anxious about his health; nor do I +think Mr. White wants him, having his own two nephews, who are +useful, so he will remain under Captain Henderson +here.”</p> +<p>“Thank you! That settles it in my mind. I am +sure the change to a fresh home will be an excellent thing for my +poor Vera, and that the training of imitation of one to whom she +looks up is what she most needs.”</p> +<p>“Very true,” said Miss Mohun.</p> +<p>And as she afterwards said to Lady Merrifield, “It was +in all sincerity and honesty that I gave the advice to Magdalen, +who is very sensible in the matter. In plain English, Ada +can’t do without a lady in waiting, and Vera probably +fancies that Lords, young or old, start from every wave like the +spirits of our fathers, at Rocca Marina, in which she will +probably be disappointed; but Ada will be a very dragon as to her +manners and discretion, and not being his own niece, old Tom +White will not be deluded by his ambition and any blandishments +of hers. As people go, they are very safe guardians, and +Vera—Flapsy as they call her—is just of the +composition to be improved, and not disimproved, by living with +Ada.”</p> +<p>“Probably, though I do not like the foolish little puss +to be rewarded for throwing over young Delrio.”</p> +<p>“He was so much too good for her that I am more inclined +to reward her for doing so!”</p> +<p>Agatha, however, came home somewhat annoyed by the whole +arrangement. She supposed the rupture with Hubert might +have been inevitable; but she was very sorry for it, thinking +that Vera might have grown up to him, and regretting the losing +him as a brother. Nor did she like the atmosphere of the +Whites and Rocca Marina for her feather-brained young +sister. “Dolores had no great opinion of her Aunt +Adeline,” she said.</p> +<p>“My dear,” said Magdalen, as they sat over their +early fire, “I have talked it over with Lady Merrifield and +Miss Mohun, and they both tell me that Mrs. White is very +sensible, and sure to be discreet for any girl in her +charge—probably better for Flapsy than a more intellectual +woman.”</p> +<p>“But—! Such a marriage as this one!” +said Agatha.</p> +<p>“It was Mr. White’s own niece, and taken out of +Mrs. White’s hands,” said Magdalen. +“Besides,” as Agatha still looked unconvinced, +“one thing that made me think the invitation desirable was +that it would break off any foolishness with Wilfred +Merrifield—I think it was in their minds too.”</p> +<p>“Wilfred! Oh, there was a little +nonsense.”</p> +<p>“Less on his side, since Felicia Vanderkist has been +here; but I think Vera has been all the more disposed +to—to—”</p> +<p>“Run after him,” said Agatha. “I could +fancy it in Flapsy; but he is such a boy, and not half so +nice-looking as the rest of them either.”</p> +<p>“My dear Agatha, I must tell you he reminds me strangely +of a young Mr. Merrifield whom I knew at Filsted when I was +younger than you.”</p> +<p>“A brother of Bessie?”</p> +<p>“Even so. He got into some kind of trouble at +Filsted, his father came and broke it off, and sent him out to +Canada, where I fear he did not do well, and nothing has been +heard of him since, except—”</p> +<p>She spoke with a catch in her voice which made Agatha look up +at her, and detect a rising colour.</p> +<p>“Nothing!” she repeated.</p> +<p>“Except an anonymous parcel, returning to the brothers +in Canada the sum he had taken with him. Strangely, the +clue was not followed up, and he is lost sight of! But +Wilfred’s air, and still more his manner, is always +recalling his cousin to me, and, Nag, dear, I could not bear to +see Vera go through the same trial by my exposing her to the +intercourse. Not that I know any harm of Wilfred, but his +parents could not like anything of the kind.”</p> +<p>“Certainly not! Yes, I suppose you are right, dear +old Maidie.” But Agatha pondered over those words +that had slipped out, “the same trial.”</p> +<h2><a name="page204"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +204</span>CHAPTER XXI—THE ELECTRICIANS</h2> +<blockquote><p> “Thou shalt have the +air<br /> +Of freedom. Follow and do me service.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—“<span +class="smcap">The Tempest</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“<span class="smcap">Is</span> Agatha in?” asked +Dolores Mohun, jumping off her bicycle as she saw Magdalen, on a +frosty day the next Christmas vacation, in her garden.</p> +<p>“She is doing scientific arithmetic with Thekla; giving +me a holiday, in fact! You University maidens quite take +the shine out of us poor old teachers.”</p> +<p>“Ah! if we can give shine we can’t give +substance. But I want to borrow Nag, if you have no +objection.”</p> +<p>“Borrow her! I am sure it is something she will +like.”</p> +<p>“It is in the way of business, but she will like it all +the same. They want me to give a course of lectures on +electricity at Bexley to the Institute and the two High Schools, +and I particularly want a skilled assistant, whom I can depend +upon; not masters, nor boys! Now Nag is just what I should +like. We should stay at Lancelot Underwood’s, a very +charming place to be at.”</p> +<p>“Isn’t he some connection?”</p> +<p>“Connection all round. Phyllis Merrifield married +his brother, banking in Ceylon, and may come home any day on a +visit; and Ivinghoe’s pretty wife is Lancelot’s +niece. He edits what is really the crack newspaper of the +county, in spite of its being true blue Conservative, Church and +all.”</p> +<p>“The <i>Pursuivant</i>? It has such good literary +articles.”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes! Mrs. Grinstead and Canon Harewood write +them. His wife is a daughter of old Dr. May—rather a +peculiar person, but very jolly in her way.”</p> +<p>“But would they like to have Agatha imposed upon +them?”</p> +<p>“Certainly; they are just the people to like nothing +better, and it will only be for a fortnight. I have settled +it all with them.”</p> +<p>At which Magdalen looked a little doubtful, but Dolores +reiterated that there need be no scruple, she might ask Aunt Lily +if she liked; but Lance Underwood was Mayor, and member of all +the committees, and the most open-hearted man in the world +besides, and it was all right.</p> +<p>To the further demur as to safety, Dolores answered that to +light a candle or sit by the fire might be dangerous, but as long +as people were careful, it was all right, and Agatha had already +assisted in some experiments at Rock Quay, which had shown her to +be thoroughly understanding and trustworthy, and capable of +keeping off the amateur—the great bugbear.</p> +<p>So Magdalen consented, after rapturous desires on the part of +Agatha, and assurances from General Mohun that Dolores had it in +her by inheritance and by training to meddle with the lightning +as safely as human being might; and Lady Merrifield owned with a +sigh that she must accept as a fact that what even the heathens +owned as a Divine mystery and awful attribute, had come to be +treated as a commonplace business messenger and scientific toy, +though (as Mrs. Gatty puts it) the mystery had only gone +deeper. So much for the peril; and for the other scruple, +it was set at rest by a hospitable letter from Mrs. Underwood, +heartily inviting Miss Agatha Prescott, as an Oxford friend of +Gillian.</p> +<p>So off the two electricians set, and after two days of +business and sight-seeing in London, went down to Bexley. +In the third-class carriage in which they travelled they were +struck by the sight of a tall lady in mourning—a sort of +compromise between a conventual and a secular bonnet over short +fair hair, and holding on her lap a tiny little girl of about six +years old, with a small, pinched, delicate face and slightly red +hair, to whom she pointed out by name each spot they passed, +herself wearing an earnest absorbed look of recognition as she +pointed out familiar landmark after landmark till the darkness +came down. Also there were two cages—one with a small +pink cockatoo, and another with two budgerigars.</p> +<p>As the train began slackening Dolores exclaimed:</p> +<p>“There he is! Lance—!”</p> +<p>“Lance! Oh, Lance!” was echoed; and setting +the child down, her companion almost fell across Agatha, and was +at the window as the train stopped.</p> +<p>What happened in the next moment no one could quite tell; but +as the door was torn open there was a mingled cry of +“Angel!” and of “Lance!” and the +traveller was in his arms, turning the next moment to lift out +the frightened little girl, who clung tight round her neck; while +Lance held out his hand with, “Dolores! Yes. +This is Dolores, Angel, whom you have never seen.”</p> +<p>Each knew who the other was in a moment, and clasped hands in +greeting, as well as they could with the one, and the other +receiving bird-cages, handbags, umbrellas, and rugs from Agatha, +whom, however, Lance relieved of them with a courteous, +“Miss Prescott! You have come in for the arrival of +my Australian sister! What luggage have you?” +Wherewith all was absorbed in the recognition of boxes, and +therewith a word or two to an old railway official, “My +sister Angela.”</p> +<p>“Miss Angela! this is an unexpected pleasure!”</p> +<p>“Tom Lightfoot! is it you? You are not much +altered. Mr. Dane, I should have known you anywhere!” +with corresponding shakes of the hand.</p> +<p>“Yes, that’s ours. Oh, the birds! +There they are! All right! Oh! not the omnibus, +Lance! Let the traps go in that! Then Lena will like +to stretch her legs, and I must revel in the old +street.”</p> +<p>Dolores and Agatha felt it advisable to squeeze themselves +with the bird-cages into the omnibus, and leave the brother and +sister to walk down together, though the little girl still +adhered closely to her protector’s hand.</p> +<p>“Poor Field’s little one? Yes, of +course.”</p> +<p>“But tell me! tell me of them all!”</p> +<p>“All well! all right! But how—”</p> +<p>“The <i>Mozambique</i> was out of coal and had to put in +at Falmouth. You know, I came by her because they said the +long sea voyage would be best for this child, and it was so long +since I had heard of any one that I durst not send anywhere till +I knew—and I knew Froggatt’s would be in its own +place. Oh! there’s the new hotel! the gas looks just +the same! There’s the tower of St. Oswald’s, +all shadowy against the sky. Look, Lena! Oh! this is +home! I know the lamps. I’ve dreamt of +them! Tired, Lena, dear? cold? Shall I carry +you?”</p> +<p>“No, no; let me!” and he lifted her up, not +unwillingly on her part, though she did not speak. +“You are a light weight,” he said.</p> +<p>“I am afraid so,” answered Angel. “Oh! +there’s the bus stopping at Mr. Pratt’s +door.”</p> +<p>“Mine, now. We have annexed it.”</p> +<p>“But let me go in by the dear old shop. The window +is as of old, I see. Ernest Lamb! don’t you know +me?” as a respectable tradesman came forward. +“And Achille, is it? You are as much changed as this +old shop is transmogrified! And they are all well? Do +you mean Bernard?”</p> +<p>“Bernard and Phyllis may come home any day to deposit a +child. They lost their boy, and hope to save the elder +one. But come, Angel! if you have taken in enough we must +go up to those electrical girls. Dolores is come to give a +lecture, with the other girl to assist, Miss Prescott.”</p> +<p>“Dolores! Yes, poor Gerald’s love! +They are almost myths to me. Ah!” as Lancelot opened +his office-door, “now I know where I am! And +there’s the old staircase! This is the real thing, +and no mistake.”</p> +<p>“Angel, Angel, come to tea!” And Gertrude, +comfortable and substantial, in loving greeting threw arms round +the new comers, Lance still carrying the child, who clung round +his neck as he brought her into the room, full of his late fellow +travellers, and also of a group of children.</p> +<p>“It is as if we had gone back thirty years or +more,” was Angela’s cry, as she looked forth on what +had been as little altered as possible from the old family +centre; and Lance, setting down the child, spoke as the pretty +little blue-eyed girls advanced to exchange kisses with their new +aunt.</p> +<p>“Margaret, or Pearl, whom you knew as a baby; Etheldred, +or Awdrey, and Dickie! Fely is at Marlborough. There, +take little Lena—is that her name—to your table, and +give her some tea.”</p> +<p>“Her name is Magdalen,” said Angela, removing the +little black hat and smoothing the hair; but Lena backed against +her, and let her hand hang limp in Pearl’s patronising +clasp. Nor would she amalgamate with the children, nor even +eat or drink except still beside “Sister,” as she +called Angela. In fact, she was so thoroughly worn out and +tired, as well as shy and frightened, that Angela’s +attention was wholly given to her and she could only be put to +bed, but not in the nursery, which, as Angel said, seemed to her +like a den of little wild beasts. So she was deposited in +the chamber and bed hastily prepared for the unexpected guest; +and even there, being wakeful and feverish from over-fatigue, +there was no leaving her alone, and Gertrude, after seeing her +safely installed, could only go down with the hope that she would +be able to spare her slave or nurse, which was it? by +dinner-time.</p> +<p>“Who is that child so like?” said Dolores, in +their own room.</p> +<p>“Very like somebody, but I can’t tell whom,” +said Agatha. “Who did you say she is?”</p> +<p>“I cannot say I exactly know,” said Dolores. +“I believe she is the daughter of Fulbert Underwood’s +mate, on a sheep-farm in Queensland, and that as her mother died +when she was born, she has been always under the care of this +Angela, living in the Sisterhood there.”</p> +<p>“Not a Sister?”</p> +<p>“Not under vows, certainly. I never saw her +before, but I believe she is rather a funny flighty person, and +that Fulbert was afraid at one time that she would marry this +child’s father.”</p> +<p>“Is he alive?”</p> +<p>“Which? Fulbert died four or five years ago, and I +think the little girl’s father must be dead, for she is in +mourning.”</p> +<p>“There’s something very charming about +her—Miss Underwood.”</p> +<p>“Yes there is. They all seem to be very fond of +her, and yet to laugh about her, and never to be quite sure what +she will do next.”</p> +<p>“Did I not hear of her being so useful among the +Australian black women?”</p> +<p>“No one has ever managed those very queer gins so well; +and she is an admirable nurse too, they say. I am very glad +to have come in her way.”</p> +<p>They did not, however, see much of her that evening. The +head master of the Grammar School and his wife, the head mistress +of the High School, and a few others had been invited to meet +them; and Angela could only just appear at dinner, trusting to a +slumber of her charge, but, on coming out of the dining-room, a +wail summoned her upstairs at once, and she was seen no more that +night.</p> +<p>However, with morning freshness, Lena showed herself much less +<i>farouche</i>, and willing to accept the attentions of Mr. +Underwood first, and, later, of his little daughter Pearl—a +gentle, elder sisterly person, who knew how to avert the too +rough advances of Dick—and made warm friends over the pink +cockatoo; while Awdrey was entranced by the beauties of the +budgerigars.</p> +<p>Robina had been informed by telegram, and came up from +Minsterham with her husband, looking just like his own father, +and grown very broad. He was greatly interested in the +lecture, and went off to it, to consider whether it would be +desirable for the Choristers’ School. Lancelot had, +of course, to go, and Angela declared that she must be brought up +to date, and rejoiced that Lena was able to submit to be left +with the other children under the protection of Mrs. Underwood, +who averred that she abhorred electricity in all its forms, and +that if Lance were induced to light the town, or even the shop by +that means, he must begin by disposing of her by a shock.</p> +<p>It was an excellent lecture, only the two sisters hardly heard +it. They could think of nothing but that they were once +more sitting side by side in the old hall, where they had heard +and shared in so many concerts, on the gala days of their home +life.</p> +<p>The two lecturers, as well as the rest of the party, were +urgently entreated to stay to tea at the High School; but when +the interest of the new arrival was explained, the sisters and +brother were released to go home, Canon Harewood remaining to +content their hostesses.</p> +<h2><a name="page213"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +213</span>CHAPTER XXII—ANGEL AND BEAR</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Enough of science and of art!<br /> + Close up those barren leaves,<br /> +Come forth, and bring with you a heart<br /> + That watches and receives.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span +class="smcap">Wordsworth</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A <span class="smcap">telegram</span> had been handed to Mr. +Mayor, which he kept to himself, smiling over it, and he—at +least—was not taken utterly by surprise at the sight of a +tall handsome man, who stepped forward with something like a +shout.</p> +<p>“Angel! Lance! Why, is it Robin, +too?”</p> +<p>“Bear, Bear, old Bear, how did you come?”</p> +<p>“I couldn’t stop when I heard at Clipstone that +Angel was here, so I left Phyllis and the kid with her +mother. Oh, Angel, Angel, to meet at Bexley after +all!”</p> +<p>They clung together almost as they had done when they were the +riotous elements of the household, while Lance opened the front +door, and Robina, mindful of appearances, impelled them into the +hall, Bernard exclaiming, “Pratt’s room! Whose +teeth is it?”</p> +<p>“Don’t you want Wilmet to hold your hands and make +you open your mouth?” said Lance, laughing.</p> +<p>Gertrude, who had already received the Indian arrival, met +Angela, who was bounding up to see to her charge, with, +“Not come in yet! She is gone out with the children +quite happily, with Awdrey’s doll in her arms. Come +and enjoy each other in peace.”</p> +<p>“In the office, please,” said Angela. +“That is home. We shall be our four old +selves.”</p> +<p>Lance opened the office door, and gave a hint to Mr. Lamb, +while they looked at each other by the fire.</p> +<p>Bernard was by far the most altered. The others were +slightly changed, but still their “old selves,” while +he was a grave responsible man, looking older than Lancelot, +partly from the effects of climate; but Angela saw enough to make +her exclaim, “Here we are! Don’t you feel as if +we were had down to Felix to be blown up?”</p> +<p>“Not a bit altered,” said Bernard, looking at the +desks and shelves of ledgers, with the photographs over the +mantelpiece—Felix, Mr. Froggatt, the old foreman, and a +print of Garofalo’s Vision of St. Augustine, hung up long +ago by Felix, as Lance explained, as a token of the faith to +which all human science and learning should be subordinated.</p> +<p>“A declaration of the <i>Pursuivant</i>,” said +Angela. “How Fulbert did look out for +<i>Pur</i>! I believe it was his only +literature.”</p> +<p>“Phyllis declares,” said Bernard, “that +nothing so upsets me as a failure in <i>Pur’s</i> +arrival.”</p> +<p>“And this is <i>Pur’s</i> heart and centre!” +said Robina.</p> +<p>“Only,” added Angela, “I miss the smell of +burnt clay that used to pervade the place, and that Alda so +hated.”</p> +<p>“Happily the clay is used up,” said Lance. +“I could not have brought Gertrude and the children here if +the ceramic art, as they call it, had not departed. Cherry +was so delighted at our coming to live here. She loved the +old struggling days.”</p> +<p>“Fulbert said he never felt as if he had been at home +till he came here. He never <i>took</i> to Vale +Leston.”</p> +<p>“Clement and Cherry have settled in very happily,” +said Robina, “with convalescent clergy in the +Vicarage.”</p> +<p>“I say, Angel, let us have a run over there,” +cried Bernard, “you and I together, for a bit of +mischief.”</p> +<p>“Do, <i>do</i> let us! Though this is real home, +our first waking to perception and naughtiness, it is more than +Vale Leston. We seem to have been up in a balloon all those +five happy years.”</p> +<p>“A balloon?” said Bernard. “Nay, it +seems to me that till they were over, I never thought at all +except how to get the most rollicking and the finest rowing out +of life. It seems to me that I had about as much sense as a +green monkey.”</p> +<p>“Something sank in, though,” said Lance; +“you did not drift off like poor Edgar.”</p> +<p>“Some one must have done so,” said Angela. +“I wanted to ask you, Lancey, about advertising for my +little Lena’s people; the Bishop said I ought.”</p> +<p>“I say,” exclaimed Bernard, “was it her +father that was Fulbert’s mate? I thought he was +afraid of your taking up with him. You +didn’t?”</p> +<p>“No, no. Let me tell you, I want you to +know. Field and a little wife came over from Melbourne +prospecting for a place to sit down in. They had capital, +but the poor wife was worn out and ill, and after taking them in +for a night, Fulbert liked them. Field was an educated man +and a gentleman, and Ful offered them to stay there in +partnership. So they stayed, and by and by this child was +born, and the poor mother died. The two great bearded men +came galloping over to Albertstown from Carrigaboola, with this +new born baby, smaller than even Theodore was, and I had the care +of her from the very first, and Field used to ride over and see +the little thing.”</p> +<p>“And—?” said Bernard, in a rather teasing +voice, as his eyes actually looked at Angela’s left +hand.</p> +<p>“I’ll own it <i>did</i> tempt me. I had had +some great disappointments with my native women, running wild +again, and I could not bear my child having a horrid stepmother; +and there was the glorious free bush life, and the horses and the +sheep! But then I thought of you all saying Angel had +broken out again; and by and by Fulbert came and told me that he +was sure there was some ugly mystery, and spoke to Mother +Constance, and they made me promise not to take him unless it was +cleared up. Then, as you know, dear Ful’s horse fell +with him; Field came and fetched me to their hut, and I was there +to the last. Ful told each of us again that all must be +plain and explained before we thought of anything in the +future. He, Henry Field, said he had great hopes that he +should be able to set it right. Then, as you know, there +was no saving dear Fulbert, and after that Mother +Constance’s illness began. Oh! Bear, do you recollect +her coming in and mothering us in the little sitting-room? +I could not stir from her, of course, while she was with +us. And after that, Harry Field came and said he had +written a letter to England, and when the answer came, he would +tell me all, and I should judge! But I don’t think +the answer ever did come, and he went to Brisbane to see if it +was at the bank; and there he caught a delirious fever, and there +was an end of it!”</p> +<p>At that moment something between a whine or a call of +“sister” was heard. Up leapt Angela and hurried +away, while Lance observed, “Well! That’s +averted, but I am sorry for her.”</p> +<p>“It was not love,” said Robina.</p> +<p>“Or only for the child,” said Bernard; “and +that would have been a dangerous speculation.”</p> +<p>“The child or something else has been very good for +her,” said Lance; “I never saw her so gentle and +quiet.”</p> +<p>“And with the same charm about her as ever,” said +Bernard. “I don’t wonder that all the fellows +fall in love with her. I hope she won’t make havoc +among Clement’s sick clergy.”</p> +<p>“I suppose we ought to go up and fulfil the duties of +society,” said Robina, rising. “But first, +Bear, tell me how is Phyllis?”</p> +<p>“Pretty fair,” he answered. “Resting +with her mother, but she has never been quite the thing of +late. I almost hope Sir Ferdinand will see his way to +keeping us at home, or we shall have to leave our little +Lily.”</p> +<p>Interruption occurred as a necessary summons to “Mr. +Mayor,” and the paternal conclave was broken up, and had to +adjourn to Gertrude’s tea in the old sitting-room.</p> +<p>“I see!” exclaimed Agatha, as she looked at the +party of children at their supplementary table. “I +see what the likeness is in that child. Don’t you, +Dolores? Is it not to Wilfred Merrifield?”</p> +<p>“There is very apt to be a likeness between sandy +people, begging your pardon, Angel,” said Gertrude.</p> +<p>“Yes, the carroty strain is apt to crop up in +families,” said Lance, “like golden tabbies, as you +ladies call your stable cats.”</p> +<p>“All the Mohuns are dark,” said Dolores, +“and all Aunt Lily’s children, except Wilfred; and is +not your Phyllis of that colour?”</p> +<p>“Phyllis’s hair is not red, but dark +auburn,” said Bernard, in a tone like offence.</p> +<p>“I never saw Phyllis,” said dark-browed Dolores, +“but I have heard the aunts talk over the source of +the—the fair variety, and trace it to the +Merrifields. Uncle Jasper is brown, and so is Bessie; but +Susan is, to put it politely, just a golden tabby, and +David’s baby promises to be, to her great delight, as she +says he will be a real Merrifield. So much for family +feeling!”</p> +<p>“Sister, Sister!” came in a bright tone, +“may I go with Pearl and get a stick for Ben? He +wants something to play with! He is eating his +perch.”</p> +<p>Ben, it appeared, was the pink cockatoo, who was biting his +perch with his hooked beak. The children had finished their +meal, and consent was given. “Only, Lena, come +here,” said Angela, fastening a silk handkerchief round her +neck, and adding, “Don’t let Lena go on the dew, +Pearl; she is not used to early English autumn, I must get her a +pair of thicker boots.”</p> +<p>“What is her name?” asked Agatha, catching the +sound.</p> +<p>“Magdalen Susanna. Her father made a point of it, +instead of his wife’s name, which, I think, was +Caroline.”</p> +<p>“I don’t think I ever knew a Magdalen except my +own elder sister,” said Agatha, “and Susanna! +Did you say Miss Merrifield had a sister Susan?”</p> +<p>“An excellent, sober-sided, dear old Susan! Yes, +Susanna was their mother’s name,” said Dolores +“and now that you have put it into my head, little Lena, +when she is animated, puts me more in mind of Bessie than even of +Wilfred, though the colouring is different. Why?”</p> +<p>“Did you never hear,” said Agatha, “that +there was one of the brothers who was a bad lot, and ran +away. My sister says Wilfred is like him. I +believe,” she added, “that he was her +romance!”</p> +<p>“Ha!” exclaimed Bernard, “that’s +queer! We had a clerk in the bank who gave his name as +Meriton, and who cut and ran the very day he heard that Sir +Jasper Merrifield was coming out as Commandant. Yes, he was +carroty. I rarely saw Wilfred at Clipstone, but this might +very well have been the fellow, afraid to face his +uncle.”</p> +<p>Angela did not look delighted. “She is not +destitute, you know,” she said, “I am her guardian, +and she will have about two hundred a year.”</p> +<p>“Is there a will?” asked Lance.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, I have it upstairs! It is all +right. It was at the bank at Brisbane, and they kept a +copy. I brought her because the Bishop said it was my duty +to find out whether there were any relations.”</p> +<p>“Certainly,” said Bernard. “In our own +case, remember what joy Travis’s letter was!”</p> +<p>Angela was silent, and presently said, “You shall see +the will when I have unpacked it, but there is no doubt about my +being guardian.”</p> +<p>“Probably not,” said Bernard, rather drily.</p> +<p>“If it be a valid will, signed by his proper +name,” said Lance.</p> +<p>Whereupon the two brothers fell into a discussion on points of +law, not unlike the editor of the <i>Pursuivant</i>, as he had +become known to his family, but most unlike the Bernard they had +known before his departure for the East. At any rate it +dissipated the emotional tone of the party; and by and by, when +Bernard and Angela had agreed to make a bicycle rush to +Minsterham the next day, “that is,” said Angela +“if Lena is happy enough to spare me,” the Harewoods +took leave.</p> +<p>When the children had gone to bed, and Angela had stayed +upstairs so long that Gertrude augured that she was waiting till +her charge had gone to sleep, and that they should have no more +of her henceforth but “Lena’s baulked +stepmother,” she came down, bringing a document with her, +which she displayed before her brothers.</p> +<p>There was no question but that it was a will drawn up in due +form, and very short, bequeathing his property at Carrigaboola, +Queensland, to his daughter, Magdalen Susanna, and appointing +Fulbert Underwood and Angela Margaret Underwood and “my +brother Samuel” her guardian. It was dated the year +after his daughter’s birth, and was signed Henry Field, +with a word interposed, which, as Lance said, might be anything, +but was certainly the right length for the first syllables of +Merrifield. Bernard looked at it, and declared it was, to +the best of his belief, the same signature as his former clerk +used to write.</p> +<p>“And this,” he said, looking at the seal, +“is the crest of the Merrifield’s—the demi +lion. I know it well on Sir Jasper’s seal +ring.”</p> +<p>“Have you nothing else, Angel?” asked Lance.</p> +<p>“Here is the certificate of her baptism, but that will +tell you nothing.”</p> +<p>No more it did, it only called the child the daughter of Henry +and Caroline Field, and the surname was omitted in the +bequest.</p> +<p>“Who was the mother?” asked Lance.</p> +<p>“I never exactly knew. Fulbert thought she had +been a person whom Field had met in America or somewhere, and +married in a hurry. Fulbert said she was rather pretty, but +she was a poor helpless, bewildered thing, and very poorly. +He wanted to bring her to Albertstown for fit help and nursing; +but she cried so much at the idea of either horse or wagon over +the-no-roads, that it was put off and off and she had only his +shepherd’s housekeeper, so it was no wonder she did not +live! Field was dreadfully cut up, and blamed himself +extremely for having given way to her; but it is as likely as not +the journey would have been just as fatal.”</p> +<p>“Poor thing!”</p> +<p>“You never heard her surname?”</p> +<p>“No, it did not signify.”</p> +<p>“He did not name his child after her?”</p> +<p>“No. I remember Fulbert saying he supposed she +should be called Caroline; and he exclaimed, ‘No, no, I +always said it should be Magdalen and Susanna.’”</p> +<p>“My sister’s name,” repeated Agatha.</p> +<p>“And Susan Merrifield,” added Dolores.</p> +<p>“But she is mine, mine!” cried Angela, with a tone +like herself, of a sort of triumphant jealousy. “They +can’t take her away from me!”</p> +<p>“Gently, Angela, my dear,” said Lance, in a tone +so like Felix of old, that it almost startled her. +“Tell me what arrangement is this about the property. +Your share of Fulbert’s has never been taken out, I +think?”</p> +<p>“No, Macpherson, the purchaser, you know, of +Fulbert’s share, pays me my amount out of it, and agreed to +do the same by Lena. I don’t think the value is quite +what it used to be. It rather went down under Field; but +Macpherson is all there, and it has been a better season. I +could sell it all to him, hers and mine both; but I have thought +how it would be, as it is her native country, and I have not +parted with my own to go out again to Carrigaboola, and bring her +up there. I assure you I am up to it,” she added, +meeting an amused look. “I know a good deal more +about sheep farming than either of you gentlemen. I can +ride anything but a buckjumper, and boss the shepherds, and I do +love the life, no stifling in fields and copses! I only +wish you would come too, Bear; it would do you ever so much good +to get a little red paint on those white banker’s hands of +yours.”</p> +<p>“Well done, sister Angel!” And the brothers +both burst out laughing.</p> +<p>“But really,” proceeded Angela, “it is by +far the best hope of keeping up Christianity among those +hands. Fulbert had a sort of little hut for a chapel, and +once a month one of the clergy from Albertstown came over there; +I used to ride with him when I could, and if I were there, I +could keep a good deal going till the place is more peopled, and +we can get a cleric. It is a great opportunity, not to be +thrown away. I can catch those cockatoos better than a +parson. And there are the blacks.”</p> +<p>The brothers had not the least doubt of it. Angela was +Angela still, for better or for worse. Or was it for +worse? Yet she went up to bed chanting—</p> +<blockquote><p>“His sister she went beyond the seas,<br /> +And died an old maid among black savagees.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><a name="page224"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +224</span>CHAPTER XXIII—WILLOW WIDOWS</h2> + +<blockquote><p> “Set +your heart at rest.<br /> +The fairyland buys not that child of me.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—“<span +class="smcap">Midsummer Night’s Dream</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">An</span> expedition to Minsterham +finished the visit of Dolores and her faithful “Nag,” +whose abilities as an assistant were highly appreciated, and who +came home brilliantly happy to keep her remaining holiday with +Magdalen; while Dolores repaired to Clipstone. Bernard had +been obliged to go to London, to report himself to Sir Ferdinand +Travis Underwood, but his wife and little girl were the reigning +joy at Clipstone. Phyllis looked very white, much changed +from the buxom girl who had gone out with her father two years +ago. She had never recovered the loss of the little boy, +and suffered the more from her husband’s inability to bear +expression, and it was an immense comfort to her to speak freely +of her little one to her mother.</p> +<p>The little Lilias looked frail, but was healthy, happy, and as +advanced as a well-trained companion child of six could well be, +and the darling of the young aunts, who expected Dolores to echo +their raptures, and declare the infinite superiority of the +Ceylonese to “that little cornstalk,” as Valetta +said.</p> +<p>“There’s no difficulty as to that,” said +Dolores, laughing. “The poor little cornstalk looks +as if she had grown up under a blight.”</p> +<p>“It is a grand romance though,” said Mysie; +“only I wish that Cousin Harry had had any constancy in +him.”</p> +<p>“I wonder if Magdalen will adopt her!” was +Valetta’s bold suggestion.</p> +<p>“Poor Magdalen has had quite adopting enough to +do,” said Mysie.</p> +<p>“Besides,” said Dolores, “Sister Angela will +never let her go. And certainly I never saw any one more +<i>taking</i> than Sister Angela. She is so full of life, +and of a certain unexpectedness, and one knows she has done such +noble work. I want to see more of her.”</p> +<p>“You will,” said Mysie. “Mamma is +going to ask her to come, for Phyllis says there is no one that +Bernard cares for so much. She was his own companion +sister.”</p> +<p>“Magdalen might have the little cornstalk,” said +Valetta.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Mysie, “it is rather funny to +have two—what shall I say?—willow widows, and a child +that is neither of theirs! How will they settle +it?”</p> +<p>Magdalen had heard from Agatha on the first evening of the +arrival of the sister, and the probability of the identification +of little Lena’s father with the Henry Merrifield of her +former years, and she was deeply touched by the bestowal of her +name—so much that Nag avoided saying more, but only kissed +her and went to bed.</p> +<p>The Merrifields discussed the subject dispassionately.</p> +<p>Sir Jasper recollected what his brother had written to him of +his anxieties and disappointment in his son Henry, and of his +absconding from Manitoba, since which time all trace of him had +been lost, except in the restoration to the two brothers in +Canada. To the surprise and indignation of Sir Jasper, +there had been no attempt to follow it up.</p> +<p>“If my poor brother Edgar had done anything of the +kind,” said Bernard, “none of us would have +rested.”</p> +<p>So far as they could put recollections together this act of +restitution must have been made soon after the connection with +Fulbert Underwood began, perhaps at the time of the wife’s +death. If there had been another letter, as Sister Angela +thought, it was more recent, certainly within the last two +years.</p> +<p>Captain Samuel Merrifield, of Stokesley, had been on a voyage +for four years, and had not long been at home. His wife had +been charged with the forwarding of the letters that she thought +of immediate interest, and there was an accumulation of those +that had been left for his return, as yet not looked over.</p> +<p>Of course, Sir Jasper impelled him to plunge into these, and +by and by one came to light, which Mrs. Merrifield had taken +“for only some Australian gold mines,” and left to +wait, especially as it was directed to his father instead of +himself.</p> +<p>It was a letter full of repentance, and entreaties for +forgiveness, describing in part poor Henry’s past life, and +adding that the best thing that had ever befallen him was his +association with “such a fellow as Underwood.”</p> +<p>It was to be gathered that Fulbert’s uprightness of mind +had led him to the first impulse of restitution, and he went on +to mention his first hasty marriage and the loss of his wife, +with the kindness of the Carrigaboola Sisterhood; above all, of +Sister Angela, and declaring his love and admiration for her, and +his sense that she was the one person who could keep him straight +now that her brother was gone.</p> +<p>He had more than once offered to her, but he found that her +brother had solemnly charged her not to accept him till he had +made all his past clear before her, and could show her that he +was acknowledged by his family, and had his father’s +forgiveness, and for this he humbly craved, as one deeply +sensible of his own demerits.</p> +<p>It was piteous to think of the poor fellow waiting and hoping +for an answer to such a letter as this, and dying without one, +while all the time it was lying unread in the Captain’s +desk, and no one even knew of the changed life and fresh +hopes. Sir Jasper was much moved by it; but Sam said, +“Ay, ay! poor Harry always was a plausible fellow!” +and his wife was chiefly concerned to show that the suppression +was not by her fault. Sir Jasper had brought the will with +him, and the certificate of the child’s baptism.</p> +<p>Both were met with a little hesitation. So little had +been said in the letter about the marriage that the Captain +wanted to know more, and also whether the will had been properly +proved in Australia, and whether it had force in England. +In that case he was surely the right person to have the custody +of his brother’s child. His wife, who had been bred +up in a different school, was not by any means satisfied that she +should be consigned to a member of a Sisterhood.</p> +<p>David came to Stokesley, saw the letter, and agreed with his +brother on the expediency of obtaining full proof of the validity +of the will in both Queensland and England, and put in hand the +writing of inquiries for the purpose, from the legal authorities +at Brisbane, for which purpose Angela had to be consulted.</p> +<p>She had been (having left the budgerigars to the delight of +Pearl and Awdrey), in the meantime, at Vale Leston, enjoying the +atmosphere of peace that prevailed wherever were Clement and +Geraldine, and hailed with delight by all her old village +friends, as well as Lady Vanderkist and her somewhat thinned +flock.</p> +<p>She won Adrian’s heart by skating or golfing with him, +and even, on one or two hunting days, joining in his pursuit of +the chase, being altogether, as he said, ever so much better a +fellow than even his youngest sister Joan, and entrancing them +all with tales of kangaroos. Lena had really a tame +kangaroo at Carrigaboola. Oh, why did they not bring it +home as well as Ben, the polly? She quite pined for it, and +had tears in her eyes when it was spoken of.</p> +<p>Indeed the joyous young Vanderkists were too much for the +delicate little girl, and sorry as Angela was to leave Vale +Leston, she was not ungrateful for an invitation to the Goyle, +where there was more room for them than at Clipstone in the +holidays, and with the Bernard Underwoods making it their +headquarters.</p> +<p>Lena and she were much better and happier with +“Sister” always at her service, and Paula and Thekla +were delighted to amuse her. Paula was in a state of +delight with Sister Angela, only a little puzzled by the +irregularity of her course, though it was carefully explained +that she had never been under any vows. To hear of her +doings among the Australian women was a romance, often as there +had been disappointment. “Paula is a born +Sister,” said Angela, “a much truer one than I have +ever been, for there does not seem to be any demon of waywardness +to drive her wild.”</p> +<p>These talks with Magdalen, often prolonged hours after the +young people had gone to bed, were a great solace to both the +elders. Girls like Mysie Merrifield and Phyllis Devereux +thought sitting up to converse a propensity peculiar to +themselves, and to their own age, of new experiences and +speculations; but the two “old girls,” whose +experiences were not new, and whose speculations had a certain +material foundation, they were equally fascinating.</p> +<p>There were no small jealousies in either of +them—“willow widows”—though Mysie’s +name stuck. There was nothing but comfort to Magdalen in +the certainty of the ultimate “coming home” of one +who had finished a delusive dream of her younger days, and been +yearned after with a heartache now quenched; and Angela, who had +never been the least in love with Henry Merrifield, could quite +afford her interest in the scanty records of his younger days, +and fill up all she knew of the measure of the latter and better +days. There was another bond, for Mrs. Best’s +daughter was, “as distances go,” a neighbour to +Carrigaboola, and resorted thither on great occasions.</p> +<p>Angela’s vision began to be, to take Magdalen and her +sisters out to Carrigaboola, where a superior school for +colonists’ daughters was much needed, and where Paula might +enter the Sisterhood. She longed all the more when she saw +how much better Magdalen could deal with Lena as to teaching and +restraint than she could. The child was very backward, and +could hardly read words of one syllable, though she knew any +amount of Scripture history and legends of Saints, and was very +fairly intelligent; but though she was devoted to +“Sister,” always hanging on her, and never quite +happy when out of sight of her, she had hardly any notion of +prompt obedience or of giving up her own way.</p> +<p>Angela’s visit to Vale Leston had been partly spoilt by +the little girl’s fretful worry at the elder children, and +by the somewhat uncalled for fears that all the Vanderkists were +hard on the poor little colonial damsel; but whether it was the +air of Rock Quay, or the quiet influence of Miss Prescott, Lena +certainly improved in health at the Goyle, and was much more +amenable, and less rudely shy. But her guardian trembled at +hearing that, pending Captain Merrifield’s correspondence +with Brisbane, the sisters, Susan and Elizabeth, were coming to +Miss Mohun’s to see their niece, there being no room for +them at Clipstone.</p> +<p>They came—Susan, plump, comfortable and good-natured +looking, as like an apricot as ever, with an air many years more +than three above her sister Bessie, who as ever was brisk and +bright, scarcely middle aged in face, dress or demeanour. +They arrived too late for visiting, and only dined at Clipstone +to be introduced to Bernard Underwood, and see their cousin +Phyllis, whom they had once met when all were small +children. Dolores was much amused, as she told her Aunt +Jane, to see how gratified they were at the +“sanguine” colouring of Phyllis and Wilfred, quite +Merrifields, they said, though Phyllis with auburn eyes and hair +was far handsomer than any other of the clan had ever been; and +Wilfred had simply commonplace carrots and freckles.</p> +<p>“The fun is,” said Jane, “to remember how +some of us Mohuns have sighed at Lily’s having any yellow +children, and, till we saw Stokesley specimens, wondering where +the strain came from! As if it signified!”</p> +<p>“It does in some degree,” said Dolores; +“something hereditary goes with the complexion.”</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” said Jane. “I +believe too much is made in these days of heredity, and by those +who believe least in the Bible indications on the effect, +forgetting the counteracting grace.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Dolores, “Wilfred was always a +<i>bête noire</i> to me—no, not <i>noire</i>—in +my younger days, and I can’t help being glad he is not of +our strain! Though you know the likeness was the first step +to identifying that poor little girl.”</p> +<p>“Poor child! I am afraid she will be a bone of +contention.”</p> +<p>The two aunts were at Clipstone early; and might be satisfied +with the true Merrifield tints of Magdalen Susanna, but perhaps +she had been over much warned to be gracious, for the very +contrary was the effect. She had been very civil to her +great-aunt Lilias, and had allowed both her uncles to take her up +in their arms; but she retreated upon Angela, planted an elbow on +the well-known lap, turned her back, and put a skinny little +finger in her mouth by way of answer to Susan’s advances, +advances which had hardly ever before been repelled even by the +most untamable of infants.</p> +<p>Angela tried to coax, lift her up and turn her round; but this +only led to the shoulder being the hiding-place, and it might be +suspected that there was a lurking perception that these +strangers asserted a closer claim than the beloved +“Sister.” She would not even respond to +Susan’s doll or Bessie’s picture book; and Bessie +advised leaving her alone, and turned to the window with Agatha, +who was nothing loth to tell of her Bexley and Minsterham +experiences.</p> +<p>Angela tried to talk about the voyage, or any thing that might +save the child from being discussed or courted; but Susan’s +heart was in the subject, and she had not enough tact or +knowledge of the world to turn away from it. Regret for the +past was strong within her, and she could not keep from asking +how much “little Magdalen” (at full length) +remembered of her father, how much she had been with him, whether +he had much altered, whether there were a photograph of him, and +a great deal more, with tears in her eyes and a trembling in her +voice which made Angela feel much for her, even while vexed at +her pertinacity, for the child was by no means the baby she +looked like, but perfectly well able to listen and understand, +and this consciousness made her own communications much briefer +and more reserved than otherwise they would have been.</p> +<p>Bessie, with more perception, saw the embarrassment, turned +round from Agatha, went up to the cockatoo in his cage, and asked +in a pleasant voice if Magdalen would show him to her, and tell +her his name. Angela was glad enough to break off poor +Susan’s questioning, and come forward, with the child still +clinging, to incite the bird to display the rose colour under his +crest, put up a grey claw to shake hands, and show off his +vocabulary, laughing herself and acting merriment as she did so, +in hopes to inspire Lena.</p> +<p>“Come, Ben, tell how you were picked up under a gum +tree, quite a baby, a little grey ball, and brought over in the +shepherd’s pocket for a present to the little Boss, and how +we fed you and nursed you till you turned all rose-colour and +lovely! There! put up your crest and make red +revelations. Can’t you speak? Fetch him a +banana, Lena. That will open his mouth.”</p> +<p>At sight of the banana, the bird put his head on one side and +croaked in a hoarse whisper, “Yo ho!”</p> +<p>“No, you need not be afraid of any more sailors’ +language,” said Angela. “They were as careful +as possible on board. I overheard once, ‘Hold hard, +Tom, Polly Pink is up there, and she’s a regular lady +born!”</p> +<p>Whereupon Polly indulged in a ridiculous chuckle, holding the +banana cleverly in one foot, while Angela laughed and chattered +more and more nervously, but only succeeded in disgusting the +visitors by what Susan at least took for unbecoming +flippancy.</p> +<p>“<i>That</i> Sister,” said Susan, as they drove +away, “does not seem to me at all the person to have the +charge of Henry’s poor little girl!”</p> +<p>“I wish she had not thrust herself in,” said +Bessie, “to prevent me from getting on with the child over +the cockatoo.”</p> +<p>“She calls herself a Sister! I don’t +understand it, for she seems to have been bent on marrying poor +Henry.”</p> +<p>“She never took any vows.”</p> +<p>“Then why does she wear a ridiculous cap over all that +hair?”</p> +<p>By and by they were met by Bernard Underwood striding +along. “Holloa! have you seen Angel and her +darling? She is a perfect slave to the little thing, and +one only gets fragments of her.”</p> +<p>“She seems very fond of her,” said Bessie.</p> +<p>“Just kept her alive, you see. Poor old +Angel! She is all for one thing at a time! Are you +going up to Clipstone?”</p> +<p>“I think we shall find Phyllis at Beechcroft.”</p> +<p>“Yes, she is driving there to lunch, and Angel is to +bring the little cornstalk over to make friends with our +Lily! I trust the creature goes to sleep now, and I may get +a word out of Angel!” Wherewith he dashed on, and the +two ladies agreed that “those Underwoods seemed to be +curiously impulsive.”</p> +<p>They were, however, much better satisfied with the Ceylonese +Lily, who was a very well trained civilised specimen, conversing +very prettily over one of Aunt Jane’s picture books, which +Bessie looked at with her, and showing herself fully able to read +the titles beneath, a feat of which Lena was quite incapable, +though she was less on the defensive than she had shown herself +at the Goyle, and Angela was far more at her ease than when she +was conscious that “Field’s” original love was +watching the introduction to his sisters. Besides, +Bernard’s presence was sunshine to her, and the two +expanded into bright reminiscences and merry comparisons of their +two lives, absolutely delightful to themselves, and to Phyllis +and her Aunt Jane, and which would have been the same to +Elizabeth, if she had not been worried at Susan’s evident +misunderstanding of—and displeasure at—the quips and +cranks of the happy brother and sister; also she was bent on +promoting an intercourse between Lily and Lena, over the doll she +had brought for the former. She was a little hurt that Lena +had not been accompanied by the blue-eyed article with +preposterously long eyelashes that had been bestowed on her at +the Goyle; but the little Australian had no opinion of dolls, and +had let the one bought for her at Sydney be thrown overboard by +the ship’s monkey.</p> +<p>“That was cruel!” said Lily, fondling her +black-eyed specimen.</p> +<p>“She could not feel,” reasoned Lena, with +contempt.</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” said Lily, knitting her +brows. “It’s not <i>all</i> make believe! +I do love my Rosamunda Rowena, and she loves me, and I shall tell +her not to be jealous of this dear Betsinda. For, do you +know, when Rosamunda was ill in the Red Sea, father carried her +up and down on deck, and made her a dear little deck +chair.”</p> +<p>“But she is not alive. She <i>couldn’t</i> +be,” sighed Lena. “I like my Ben and my +kangaroo! Oh, I do want to go back to my +kangaroo!”</p> +<p>“And does Lily want to go back to her riki-tiki?” +asked Lily’s father, lifting a little girl on each knee, so +that they might be <i>vis-à-vis</i>, when certainly his +own had the advantage in beauty, as she answered, leaning against +him, “Granny’s better than riki-tiki!”</p> +<p>For which pretty speech some of the ladies gave her much +credit; but her father, with a tender arm round her, said, +“Ah! you are a sentimental little pussy-cat! Is +anything here as good as Carrigaboola? Eh, Lena?”</p> +<p>But Lena resolutely shook her carrots; but kept silence, while +Bernard turned over the leaves of a great book of natural +history, till as a page was displayed with a large kangaroo under +a blue-gum tree, with a yellow wattle tree beside him, her lips +quivered, her face puckered, and she burst into an uncontrollable +fit of crying; “Oh! I want to go home, home! +Sister, Sister, take me home!”</p> +<p>Angela was in a minute beside her, took her within loving +arms, and carried her off.</p> +<h2><a name="page237"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +237</span>CHAPTER XXIV—CRUEL LAWYERS</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Tender companions of our serious days,<br +/> + Who colour with your kisses, smiles and tears,<br /> +Life’s worn web woven over wasted ways.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span +class="smcap">Lowell</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">There</span> was a good deal of worry and +anxiety for some little time, while correspondence was going on +about Henry Merrifield’s will, and in the meantime Angela +decided to board with Miss Prescott, since her charge was +certainly much better in health there; and besides, as Mrs. +Bernard Merrifield was naturally at Clipstone, it became the head +quarters of her husband, though he made many excursions to his +own people, and on business affairs to Sir Ferdinand Travis +Underwood in London.</p> +<p>And Clipstone suited him well for his holiday. Sir +Jasper had, of course, a certain amount of intercourse with the +garrison at Avoncester, and the officers stationed there at +present had already some acquaintance with Bernard Underwood, who +was known to be a champion in Ceylon in all athletic sports, +especially polo and cricket. Tall and well made, he had +been devoted to all such games in his youth, and they had kept up +his health in his sedentary occupation. Now, in his leisure +time, his prowess did much to efface the fame of the much younger +and slighter Alexis White, and, so far as might be, Angela +enjoyed the games with him, keeping well within bounds, but +always feeling activity a wholesome outlet for her superfluous +strength, and, above all, delighting in an interval of being a +child again with her Bear of old times; and her superabundant +life, energy, and fun amazed all, especially by the contrast with +her poor little languid charge, who seemed, as Jane Mohun said, +centuries older.</p> +<p>The Merrifield lads were also devoted to him. Even +Fergus was somewhat distracted from his allegiance to Dolores and +her experiments, and in the very few days that Christmas afforded +for skating, could think of nothing else.</p> +<p>And as to Wilfred, his whole mind seemed to be set on sports, +and marble works to be only an incident thrown in. Bernard, +whom he followed assiduously, and who took him to Avoncester, and +introduced him to young officers, began to have doubts whether he +had done wisely. Bernard had, in his time, vexed +Felix’s soul by idleness and amusement, but he had been one +betted upon, not himself given to betting. He loved +football and cricket for their bodily excitement, not the +fictitious one of a looker on, or reader of papers, and it struck +him that Wilfred knew a good deal too much about this more +dangerous side of races and athletics.</p> +<p>He said so to Angela, and she answered, “Oh, +nonsense! Young men are out of it if they don’t know +the winning horse. Even <i>Pur</i> had to be up to the +Derby.”</p> +<p>And Angela had her own bitter trial in the decision of the +lawyers. Not only was the signature of the will +unsatisfactory, from the confusion between Field and Merrifield, +but the two witnesses failed to be traced, John Shepherd and +George Jones were not to be identified, and though Brisbane might +accept wills easily, an English court of law required more +certainty. The little daughter being the only child and +natural heiress, this was not felt to be doing her any injury; +but the decision deprived her of the guardian her father had +chosen, and Angela was in despair. She was ready to write +to the <i>Pursuivant</i>, to the Bishop of Albertstown, to the +Lord Chancellor, with an exposition of the wicked injustice and +hardness of heart of lawyers, and the inexpedience of taking the +poor child from her earliest motherly friend, expressly chosen by +her father. All Bernard’s common sense and +Magdalen’s soothing were needed to make her hold her peace, +when correspondence made it plain that the guardianship being +assumed by the uncles, Captain Merrifield would not hear for a +moment of the scheme of taking the child out to +Carrigaboola. In his opinion, and his sister Susan’s, +the only fit thing to be done with her was to place her with the +two aunts at Coalham to be educated. He came down to Rock +Quay to inspect her. It was a cold, raw day, with the moors +wrapped in mist, and the poor little maid looked small, peaky and +pinched. He was sure that the dry winds of the north were +what she needed, wanted to carry her off immediately, and looked +regardless of Angela’s opinion, though backed by Miss +Prescott, that it would be highly dangerous to take the delicate +child of a semi-tropical climate off in the depth of winter to a +northerly town. Angela walked off to ask Dr. Dagger to +inspect the child and give his opinion, while Captain Sam +repaired to Clipstone to visit his relations and lunch with +them.</p> +<p>He did not meet with all the sympathy he expected. Lady +Merrifield said that Coalham had not agreed with her own son +Harry, and that little Lena ought not to be taken there till +after the cold winds of spring were over; and her daughters all +chimed in with a declaration that Angela Underwood was perfectly +devoted to the little one, and that no one else could make her +happy.</p> +<p>“Petting her! spoiling her!” scoffed the +Captain. “Why, Susan and Bessie were full of the +contrast with your little girl.”</p> +<p>“Health,” began Phyllis.</p> +<p>“An Indian child too!” he went on. +“Just showing what a little good sense in the training can +do! No, indeed! Since I am to be her guardian, I have +no notion of swerving from my duty, and letting poor Hal’s +child be bred up to Sisterhoods and all that flummery.”</p> +<p>“It will just break Angela’s heart,” cried +Valetta, with tears in her eyes, at which the Captain looked +contemptuous.</p> +<p>“I must say,” added Bernard, “that I should +think it little short of murderous to take that unlucky child +from the one woman who understands her up into the bleak north at +this time of year.”</p> +<p>“Decidedly!” added Sir Jasper. “Miss +Underwood deserves every consideration in dealing with the child +who has been always her sole charge.”</p> +<p>Wherewith he changed the conversation by a question about +Stokesley; but he held to his dictum when alone with his nephew, +and as he was the only person for whose opinion Captain Sam had +any respect, it had its effect, though there was a sense that he +might be biassed by his son-in-law and his herd of womanfolk, and +that he did not partake Mrs. Samuel Merrifield’s dislike to +the very name of Sister or of anything not commonplace.</p> +<p>Angela obtained Dr. Dagger’s opinion to reinforce her +own and Lady Merrifield’s, and the Captain was obliged to +give way so far as to consent to Magdalen, as he insisted on +calling her, being allowed to remain at Arnscombe till after +Easter, when her aunts were to fetch her to Coalham, there to +send her to the kindergarten.</p> +<p>After Angela’s period of raging against law and lawyers +and all the Stokesley family, and being on the verge of +impertinence to Captain Merrifield, she submitted to the prospect +more quietly than her friends had dared to hope. Lance had +almost expected her to deport her charge, parrot and all, +suddenly and secretly by an Australian liner, and had advised +Bernard, on a fleeting meeting at Bexley, to be on his guard if +she hinted at anything so preposterous; but Bernard shook his +head, and said Angel was more to be trusted than her elders +thought. “Waves and storms don’t go over us for +nothing, I hope,” he said.</p> +<p>And he found himself right on his return. Angela had +bowed her head to the inevitable, and was quietly trying to +prepare her little charge for the change, accustoming her to more +discipline and less petting. When Angela proposed to walk +over to Clipstone with her brother on his return, and the whine +was set up, “Let me go, Sister,” it was answered, +“No, my dear, it is too far for you. You must stay +and walk with Paula.”</p> +<p>“I want to go with Sister.”</p> +<p>“You must be a good child, and do as Sister tells +you. No, I can’t have any fretting. Paula will +show you how to drive your hoop. Keep her moving fast, +Paula, don’t let her fret and get cold.”</p> +<p>And Angela actually detached the clinging hand, and put it +into Paulina’s, and, holding up her finger, silenced the +burst of weeping, though tears sprang to her own eyes as she +resolutely turned away, and, after running out and shutting the +back gate after her, put her arm with a clinging gesture into +Bernard’s.</p> +<p>“That’s right!” he said, pressing her +hand.</p> +<p>“Cruel,” she said, “but better by and by for +her. Oh, Bear, if one could but learn to lie still and say, +‘Thou didst it,’ when it is human agency that takes +away the desire of one’s eyes with a stroke.”</p> +<p>“The desire of thine eyes!” repeated +Bernard. “How often I thought of that last +February.”</p> +<p>It was the only time he had referred to the loss of his little +boy. His wife had told her mother that he could not bear to +mention it, and had poured out all her own feelings of sorrow and +her struggle for cheerfulness and resignation alone with her or +with Mysie; but he had shrunk from the least allusion to the +little two year old Felix, who slept beneath a palm tree at +Colombo.</p> +<p>Now, however, still holding his sister’s hand, he +drifted into all the particulars of the little ways, the baby +language, the dawning understanding, and the very sudden sharp +illness carrying the beautiful boy away almost before they were +aware of danger; and he took out the photograph from his breast, +and showed her the little face, so recalling old fond +remembrances. “Forbear to cry, make no mourning for +the dead,” he repeated. “Yes, the boy is saved +the wear and tear and heat and burthen of the day, but it is very +hard to be thankful.”</p> +<p>“Ah, and it is all the harder if you have to leave your +Lily.”</p> +<p>“If—yes; but Travis <i>may</i> so arrange that we +can stay, or I make only one voyage out to settle matters and +then come home for good. If you are still bent on +Carrigaboola you might come as far as Frisco with me. I may +have to go there about the Californian affairs.”</p> +<p>“That would be jolly. Yes, I think it will clench +the matter, for I believe I am of more good at Carriga than +anywhere else, though the heart of it is taken out of it for me; +but one lives on and gets on somehow without a heart, or a heart +set where I suppose it ought not to be entirely at least! +And, indeed, I think that little one taught me better than ever +before how to love.”</p> +<p>“That’s what the creatures are sent us for,” +said Bernard, in a low voice. “And here are, looming +in the distance, all the posse of girls to meet us.”</p> +<p>“Ah-h!” breathed Angela, withdrawing her +arm. “Well, Bear, you have given me something to look +forward to, whether it comes to anything or not. It will +help me to be thankful. I know they are good people, and +the child will do well when once the pining and bracing are +over. They are her own people, and it is right.”</p> +<p>“Right you are, Angel!” said Bernard, with a fresh +squeeze of the hand, as he resumed his own cheerful, resolute +voice ere joining his sisters-in-law.</p> +<p>“What! Angela without her satellite!” cried +Primrose.</p> +<p>“Too far,” murmured Angela; but Mysie tried to +hush her sister, perceiving the weaning process, and respecting +Angela for it.</p> +<p>And the next moment Angela was challenging Bernard to a game +at golf.</p> +<h2><a name="page245"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +245</span>CHAPTER XXV—BEAR AS ADVISER</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Weary soul and burthened sore<br /> +Labouring with thy secret load.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span +class="smcap">Keble</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> early spring brought a new +development. Thekla, who attended classes at the High +School, came home with unmistakable tokens of measles, and +Primrose did the same, in common with most of their +contemporaries at Rockstone. Nor was there any chance that +either Lily Underwood at Clipstone or Lena Merrifield at the +Goyle would escape; indeed, they both showed an amount of +discomfort that made it safer to keep them where they were, than +to try to escape in the sharp east wind and frost.</p> +<p>No one was much dismayed at what all regarded as a trifling +ailment, even if dignified as German. Angela owned that she +regarded it as a relief, since infection might last till the +summer, and the only person who was—as he +owned—trying to laugh at himself with Angela, was Bernard, +who could not keep out of his mind’s eye a little grave at +Colombo. As he walked home, at the turning he saw a figure +wearily toiling upwards, which proved to be Wilfred. +“Holloa! you are at home early!”</p> +<p>“I had an intolerable headache!”</p> +<p>“Measles, eh?”</p> +<p>“No such thing! Once when I was a kid in +Malta. But I say, Bear,” he added, coming up with +quickened pace, “you could do me no end of a favour if you +would advance me twenty pounds.”</p> +<p>“Whew!” Bernard whistled.</p> +<p>“There is Lady Day coming, and I can pay you +then—most assuredly.” And an asseveration or +two was beginning.</p> +<p>“Twenty pounds don’t fly promiscuously about the +country,” muttered Bernard, chiefly for the sake of giving +himself time.</p> +<p>“But I tell you I shall have a quarter from the works, +and a quarter from my father (with his hand to his head). +That’s—that’s—. Awful skinflints +both of them! How is a man to do, so cramped up as +that?”</p> +<p>“Oh! and how is a man to do if he spends it all +beforehand?”</p> +<p>“I tell you, Bernard, I must have it, or—or it +will break my mother’s heart! And as to my father, +I’d—I’d cut my throat—I’d go to sea +before he knew! Advance it to me, Bear! You know what +it is to be in an awful scrape. Get me through this once +and I’ll never—”</p> +<p>Bernard did not observe that the scrape of his boyhood over +the drowned Stingo had hardly been of the magnitude that besought +for twenty pounds. He waived the personal appeal, and +asked, “What is the scrape?”</p> +<p>“Why, that intolerable swindler and ruffian, Hart, +deceived me about Racket, and—”</p> +<p>“A horse at Avoncester?” said Bernard, light +beginning to dawn on him.</p> +<p>“I made sure it was the only way out of it all, and they +said Racket was as sure as death, and now the brute has come in +third. Hart swears there was foul play, but what’s +that to me? I’m done for unless you will help me +over.”</p> +<p>“If it is a betting debt, the only safe way is to have +it out with your father, and have done with it.”</p> +<p>“You don’t know what my father is! Just made +of iron. You might as well put your hand under a +Nasmyth’s hammer.” And as he saw that his +hearer was unconvinced, “Besides, it is ever so much more +than what I put upon Racket! That was only the way out of +it! It is all up with me if he hears of it. You might +as well pitch me over the cliff at once!”</p> +<p>“Well, what is it then?”</p> +<p>Incoherently, Wilfred stammered out what Bernard understood at +last to mean that he had got into the habit of betting at the +billiard table, surreptitiously kept up in Ivinghoe Terrace in a +house of Richard White’s, not for any excessive sums, and +with luck at first on his side than otherwise; but at last he had +become involved for a sum not in itself very terrible to elder +years, and his creditor was in great dread of pressure from his +employers, and insisted on payment. Wilfred, who seemed to +have a mortal terror of his father, beyond what Bernard could +understand, had been unable to believe that the offence for so +slight a sum might be forgiven if voluntarily confessed, had done +the worst thing he could, he had paid the debt with a cheque +which had, unfortunately, passed through his hands at the office, +trusting in a few days to recover the amount by a bet upon the +horse, in full security of success! And now!</p> +<p>Before the predicament was made clear, Wilfred reeled, and +would have fallen if Bernard had not supported him, and he +mumbled something about giddiness and dazzling, insisting at the +same time that it was nothing but the miserable pickle, and that +if Bernard would not see him out of it, he might as well let him +lie there and have done with it.</p> +<p>Happily they were in the immediate neighbourhood of the house, +and it was possible to get him into the hall before he entirely +collapsed upon a chair; but seeming to recover fresh vigour from +alarm at the sound of voices, he rushed at the stairs and dashed +up rapidly the two flights to his own room, only throwing back +the words, “Dead secret, mind!”</p> +<p>Bernard was glad to have made no promise, and, indeed, +Wilfred’s physical condition chiefly occupied him at the +moment, for one or two of the girls were hurrying in, asking what +was the matter, and at the answer, “He is gone up to his +room with a bad headache,” Valetta declared with +satisfaction, “Then he has got it! We told him +so! But he would go to the office! and, Bernard, so has +Lily.”</p> +<p>“Pleasing information!” said Bernard, nettled and +amused at the tone of triumph, while Mysie, throwing behind her +the words, “It may be nothing,” went off to call Mrs. +Halfpenny, who was in a state of importance and something very +like pleasure. Bernard strode up to his wife’s room, +leaving Valetta half-way in her exposition that when all the +family had been laid low by measles at Malta, Wilfred had been a +very young infant, and it had always been doubtful whether he had +been franked or not; and how he had been reproached with looking +ill in the morning, but had fiercely insisted on going down to +the office, which he was usually glad to avoid on any excuse.</p> +<p>By the time the household met at dinner, it was plain that +they had to resign themselves to being an infected family, though +there were not many probable victims, and they were likely only +to have the disorder favourably, with the exception of Wilfred, +who had evidently got a severe chill, and could only be reported +as very ill, though still he vehemently resented any suspicion of +being subject to such a babyish complaint. But when the +break up for the night was just over, Lady Merrifield came in +search of Bernard, entreating him to come to speak to Wilfred, +who was more and more feverish, almost light-headed, and +insisting that he must speak to Bear, “Bear had not +promised,” reiterating the summons, so that there was no +choice but to comply with it.</p> +<p>He found Wilfred flushed with fever, and violently restless, +starting up in bed as he entered, and crying out, “Bear, +Bear, will you? will you? You did not promise!”</p> +<p>“I will see about it! Lie down now! +There’s nothing to be done to-night.”</p> +<p>“But promise! promise! And not a word!”</p> +<p>All this was reiterated till Wilfred at last was exhausted for +the time, and to a certain degree pacified by the reassuring +voice in which Bernard soothed him and undertook to take the +matter in hand, hardly knowing what he undertook, and only +feeling the necessity of quieting the perilous excitement, and of +helping the mother to bring a certain amount of tranquillity.</p> +<p>His own little girl was going on well, and quite capable of +being amused in the morning by being compared to a lobster or a +tiger lily; and Primrose was reported in an equally satisfactory +state, ready either for sleep or continuous reading by her +sisters. Only Wilfred was in the same, or a more anxious, +state of fever; and as soon as Bernard had satisfied himself that +there was no special use in his remaining in the house, he set +out for the marble works office, having made up his mind as to +one part of what he had expressed as “seeing about +it.”</p> +<p>He had hardly turned into the Cliffe road before he met +Captain Henderson walking up, and they exchanged distant +inquiries and answers as to whether each might be thought +dangerous to the other’s home; after which they +forgathered, and compared notes as to invalids. The Captain +had heard of Wilfred’s going home ill, and was coming, he +said, to inquire.</p> +<p>“He seems very seriously ill,” was the +answer. “I imagine there has been a chill, and a +check. I was coming to speak to you about him.”</p> +<p>“He has spoken to you?”</p> +<p>Both could now consult freely. “It is a very +anxious matter—not so much for the actual amount as for the +habits that it shows.”</p> +<p>“The amount? Oh, I have made up that as regards +the firm. I could not let it come before Sir Jasper, +especially in the present state of things! I meant to give +the young chap a desperate fright and rowing, but that will have +to be deferred.”</p> +<p>“You must let me take it!”</p> +<p>“No, no. Remember, Sir Jasper was my commanding +officer, and I and my wife owe everything to him. I could +supply the amount, so that no one would guess from the accounts +that anything had been amiss.”</p> +<p>Bernard could hardly allow himself to be thus relieved, but +there was the comfort of knowing that Wilfred’s name was +safe, and that the unstained family honour would not have to +suffer shame. Still the other debts remained, of which +Captain Henderson had been only vaguely suspicious, till the two +took counsel on them. Wilfred had not given up the name of +the person for whom he had meant to borrow from the office; but +Captain Henderson had very little doubt who it was, and it was +agreed that he should receive the amount through a cheque of +Bernard on Brown and Travis Underwood, from Captain +Henderson’s hands, with a scathing rebuke and peremptory +assurance of exposure to Mr. White, and consequent dismissal, if +anything more of the same kind among the younger men were +detected. The man was a clever artist in his first youth, +and had always been something of a favourite with the +authorities, and had a highly respectable father; so Captain +Henderson meant to spare him as much as possible, and endeavour +to ascertain how far the mischief had gone among the young men +connected with the marble works, also to consult Mr. White on the +amount of stringency in the measures used to put a stop to +it. All this, of course, passed out of Bernard +Underwood’s hands and knowledge, but a sad and anxious day +was before him. All the young girls were going on well, but +Wilfred was increasingly ill all day, and continually calling for +Bernard. Being told, “I have settled the +matter” did not satisfy him. He looked eagerly about +the room to find whether his mother were present, and fancying +she was absent demanded, “Does he know? Do they +know?” reiterating again and again. It was necessary +to tell Lady Merrifield that there was an entanglement about +money matters on his mind, which had been settled; but towards +evening he grew worse and more light-headed, apparently under the +impression that only Bernard could guard him from something +unknown, or conceal, whenever he was conscious of the presence of +his mother; and on his father’s entrance he hid his face in +the pillows and trembled, of course to their exceeding distress +and perplexity; and when he believed no one present but Bernard +and Mrs. Halfpenny, he became more and more rambling, sometimes +insisting that his father must not know, sometimes abusing all +connected with the racing bet, and more often fancying that he +was going to be arrested for robbing the firm, the enormity of +the sum and of the danger increasing with the fever, and +therewith his horror of his father’s knowing. It was +of no use for his mother to hang over him, hold his hands, and +assure him that she knew (as, in fact, she did, for Bernard had +been obliged to make a cursory explanation), and that nothing +could hinder her loving him still; he forgot it in the next +interruption, and turned from her with terror and dismay, and +once he nearly flung himself out of bed, fancying that the +policeman was coming.</p> +<p>Bernard held him on this occasion, and told him, +“Nothing will do you good, Willie, but to tell your father, +and he will keep all from you. Let him know, and it will be +all right.”</p> +<p>It only seemed to add to his misery and terror. +Something that passed in his hearing, gave him the impression +that he was in great danger, if not actually dying; but his cry +was still for Bernard, who had not ventured to go to bed; but it +was still, “Oh, Bear, save me! Don’t let me die +with this upon my name! I can’t go to God!”</p> +<p>“There’s nothing for it, Wilfred, but to tell your +father. He will pardon you. Your mother has, you +see. Tell him, and when he forgives, you will know that God +does. It will come right. Let me call him!”</p> +<p>“Let me bring him, my boy, my dear boy!” entreated +his mother. “You know he will.”</p> +<p>Wilfred seemed as if he did not know, but still held fast by +Bernard’s strong hands, as though there were support in +them; and when in a few moments Sir Jasper entered the room, +there was the same clinging gesture and endeavour to hide, in +spite of the gentle sweetness of the tone of, “Well, my +poor boy.”</p> +<p>It was Bernard who was obliged to say, turning the poor +flushed face towards him, “Wilfred wishes to +say—”</p> +<p>“Father,” it came with a gasp at last, +“I’ve done it. I’ve disgraced us +all. Forgive!”</p> +<p>He was repeating his own exaggerated ideas of what his crime +had been, and what Sir Jasper would have said to him if all had +been discovered in any other way.</p> +<p>“Do not think of it now, my boy. I forgive you, +whatever it is.”</p> +<p>Thereupon Dr. Dagger entered. He turned every one out +except Mrs. Halfpenny, and gave a draught, which silenced the +patient and put him to sleep in a few minutes. While +Bernard hastily satisfied the parents that a good deal was +exaggerated feeling, and that an old soldier must have known of a +good many worse things in his time, though not so near home.</p> +<p>There was a general sense of relief in the morning, for +Wilfred’s attack had become an ordinary, though severe one, +and the other cases were going on well. But Sir Jasper, who +had not been able to grasp the extent of Wilfred’s +delinquency, and had been persuaded by his despair that it was +much more serious than it really was, called his son-in-law into +council, and demanded whether the whole could have been told.</p> +<p>Bernard was certain that it was so, and related his +transactions with Captain Henderson, much of course to the +father’s relief, so far as the outer world was concerned; +but what principally grieved him, besides the habits thus +discovered, was his son’s abject terror of him, not only in +the exaggeration of illness, but in his mode of speaking of +him.</p> +<p>It had never been thus with any of his sons before.</p> +<p>Claude, the soldier, had always been satisfactory, so had +Harry the clergyman, though often widely separated from the +parents in their wandering life; but the bond of confidence had +never been broken. Jasper had never teased any one but his +sisters. Fergus, too, the youngest of all the sons, and of +an individual, rather peculiar nature, was growing up in straight +grooves of his own; but Wilfred, who from delicate health, had +been the most at home, had never seemed to open to his +father. The family discipline of the General seemed only to +oppress and terrify him, and the irregularities and subterfuges +that had from time to time been detected had been met with just +anger, never received in such a manner as to call forth the +tenderness of forgiveness. Each discovery of a misdemeanour +had only been the prelude to fresh and worse concealments and +hardening.</p> +<p>And experience of mankind did not give any decided hope that +even the last day’s agony of repentance would be the +turning over of a new leaf, when convalescence should bring the +same surroundings and temptations, and perhaps the like +disproportionate indignation and impatience in dealing with +errors and constitutional weakness. “And the example +of my brother’s poor son is not encouraging,” he +added. “He who seems to have owed everything to your +brother and sister.”</p> +<p>“Yet poor Fulbert and I were to our homes, perhaps not +the black sheep, but at any rate the vagrant ones.”</p> +<p>“And what made a difference to you, may I +ask?”</p> +<p>“Strong infusion by character and example of +principle,” said Bernard thoughtfully; “then, real +life, and having to be one’s own safeguard, with nothing to +fall back on. As my brother told me at his last, I should +swim when my plank was gone.”</p> +<p>“Yes, but, plainly, you were never weak,” and as +Bernard did not answer at once, “Old-fashioned severity +used to be the rule with lads, but it seems only to alienate them +now and make them think themselves unjustly treated. What +is one to do with these boys?”</p> +<p>A question which Bernard could not answer, though it carried +him back with a strange yearning, yet resignation, to the little +figure that had curled round on his knee, and the hopes connected +with the hands that had caressed his cheek.</p> +<p>He thought over it the more the next week, when he was called +to sit by Wilfred, who was getting better and anxious to +talk.</p> +<p>“My father is very kind,” he said. +“Oh, yes, very kind now; but it will be all the same when I +get well. You see, Bear, how can a man be always dawdling +about with a lot of girls? There’s Dolores bothering +with her science, and Fergus every bit as bad; and Mysie after +her disgusting schoolchildren; and Val and Prim horrid little +empty chatterboxes; and if one does turn to a jolly girl for a +bit of fun, their tongues all go to work, so that you would think +the skies were going to fall; and if one goes in for a bit of a +spree, down comes the General like a sledge-hammer! I wish +you would take me out with you, Bear.”</p> +<p>The same idea had already been undeveloped in Bernard’s +mind, and ever on his tongue when alone with his wife; but he +kept it to himself, and only committed himself to, “You +would not find an office in Colombo much more +enlivening.”</p> +<p>“There would be something to see—something to +do. It would not be all as dull as ditch-water—just +driving one to do something to get away from the girls and their +fads.”</p> +<p>This was nearly a fortnight from the night of crisis, when +Wilfred, very weak, was still in bed; when Primrose and Lily were +up and about, but threatened with whooping cough. Thekla +much in the same case, and very cross; and little Lena weak, +caressing and dependant, but angelically good and patient, so +much so that Magdalen and Angela were quite anxious about +her.</p> +<h2><a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +158</span>CHAPTER XXVI—NEW PATHS</h2> +<blockquote><p>“I’ll put a girdle round the earth<br +/> +In forty minutes.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span +class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> visitation had not been +confined to the High School. The little cheaply-built rows +for workmen and fishermen had suffered much more severely, owing +chiefly to the parents’ callous indifference to +infection. “Kismet,” as they think it, said +Jane Mohun, and still more to their want of care. Chills +were caught, fevers and diphtheria ensued, and there was an +actual mortality among the children at the works and at +Arnscombe. Mr. Flight begged for help from the Nursing +Sisterhood at Dearport, and, to her great joy, Sister Beata was +sent down to him, with another who was of the same standing as +Angela, and delighted to have a glimpse of her; though Angela +thought it due to her delicate charge, and the Merrifields, not +to plunge into actual nursing while Lena needed her hourly +attention, and was not yet in a state for the training to do +without it to continue. Paulina, however, being regarded as +infection proof, was permitted to be an attendant and messenger +of her dear Sister Beata, to her own great joy. She was now +nineteen, and her desire to devote herself to a Sisterhood had +never wavered, and intercourse with Sister Angela had only +strengthened it.</p> +<p>“Oh, Maidie!” she said, “I do not think +there can be any life so good or so happy as being really given +up to our Lord and His work among the sick and poor.”</p> +<p>“My dear, He can be served if you are in the world, +provided you are not <i>of</i> the world, and if you keep +yourself from the evil.”</p> +<p>“Yes; but why should I run into the world? It is +not evil, I know, so far as you and all your friends can manage; +but it stirs up the evil in one’s self.”</p> +<p>“And so would a Sisterhood. That is a world, +too.”</p> +<p>“I suppose it is, and that there would be temptation; +but there is a great deal to help one to keep right. And, +oh! to have one’s work in real good to Christ’s poor, +or in missions, instead of in all these outside silly nonsensical +diversions that one doubts about all the time. If you would +only let me go back with dear Sister Beata and Sister Elfleda as +a probationer!”</p> +<p>“You could not be any more yet,” said Magdalen; +“but I will think about it, and talk it over with Sister +Angela. You know your friend Sister Mena, as she called +herself, does not mean to be a Sister, but a +governess.”</p> +<p>“Yes; she wrote to me. She has never seen or known +anything outside the Convent, and it is all new and turns her +head,” said Paulina, wisely. “I know she helped +me to be all the more silly about Vera and poor Hubert +Delrio.”</p> +<p>Magdalen promised to talk the matter over with Sister +Angela.</p> +<p>“I should call it a vocation,” said Angela. +“I have watched her ever since I have been here, and I am +sure her soul is set on these best things, in a steady, earnest +way.”</p> +<p>“She has always been an exceedingly good girl ever since +I have had to do with her,” said Magdalen. “I +have hardly had a fault to find with her, except a little +exaggeration in the direction of St. Kenelm’s.”</p> +<p>“A steady, not a fitful flame,” said Angela.</p> +<p>“But she is so young.”</p> +<p>“If you will believe me, Magdalen, such a home as that +Dearport Sisterhood is a precious thing—I have not been +worthy of it. I have been a wild colt, carried about by all +manner of passing excitements. Oh, dear! love of sheer fun +and daring enterprise, and amusement, in shocking every one, even +my very dearest, whom I loved best. I have done things too +dreadful to think of, and been utterly unreasonable and +unmanageable, and proud of it; but always that Sisterhood has +been like a cord drawing me! I never quite got free of it, +even when I sent back my medal, and fancied it had been playing +at superstition. I was there for a month as almost a baby, +and the atmosphere has brought peace ever since. That, and +my brother, and Sister Constance, and Bishop Fulmort, have been +the saving of me, if anything has. I mean, if they will +have me, to spend a little time at Dearport after all this +perplexity is over, and I know how it is with Lena, and I could +see how it is with Paula if you liked.”</p> +<p>Magdalen accepted the suggestion, perhaps the more readily +because of a fleeting visit from Hubert Delrio, who had finished +his frescoes at the American Vale Leston, and came for a day or +two to Mr. Flight’s. She had sometimes doubted +whether the supposed love of Vera had not been a good deal +diffused among the young ladies, and might not so far awaken in +Paulina as to render her vocation doubtful; but there were no +such symptoms. Paula was quiet and cheerful, with a +friendly welcome, but no excitement; but it was Thekla, now +fifteen, who was all blushes whenever Hubert looked or spoke to +her, all her forwardness gone; and shyness, or decidedly +awkwardness, set in, resulting chiefly in giggle.</p> +<p>Hubert looked more manly and substantial, and he had just had +an order for an important London church, which pleased him much, +and involved another journey to Italy to study some of the +designs in the Lombardic churches.</p> +<p>Not that there was any chance of meeting Vera. Mr. and +Mrs. White had spent the last summer at Baden; and Vera, who had +many pretty little drawing-room talents, and was always obliging, +had been very acceptable there. This winter an attack of +rheumatism had made them decide on trying Algiers, with a view to +the Atlas marbles, and then German baths again might claim them +for the summer.</p> +<p>In fact, the fear of infection had rendered Rock Quay a +deserted place during the Easter vacation. Fergus +Merrifield might not come near Primrose and Lily, and was charmed +to accept an invitation from his friend and admirer, Adrian +Vanderkist, to Vale Leston, where he would be able to explore the +geology of Penbeacon, to say nothing of the coast; while his +sister Felicia, who had been one of the victims, remained to be +disinfected with Miss Mohun. Dolores was at Vale Leston +Priory, and Agatha Prescott with her, so as to have a clean bill +of health for her return to Oxford for her last term.</p> +<p>The Holy Week was calm and grave; and the two girls, with Anna +Vanderkist and her little sisters, were very happy over their +primroses and anemones on Easter Eve, with the beautiful Altar +Cross that no one could manage like Aunt Cherry, whose work was +confined to that, and to the two crosses on the graves.</p> +<p>Another notion soon occupied them. There was a vague +idea that a sort of convalescent or children’s hospital +might be established for the training of women intending to study +medicine or nursing, chiefly at Miss Arthuret’s expense, +and Dolores was anxious to consider the possibility of placing it +in the sweet mountain air, tempered by the sea breezes of +Penbeacon.</p> +<p>It was an idea to make Mrs. Grinstead shudder; but neither she +nor her niece, Anna Vanderkist, could forget Gerald’s view +that Penbeacon was not only to be the playground of Vale Leston, +and they always felt as if Dolores had a certain widow’s +right to influence any decision. So she cheerfully +acquiesced in what, in her secret heart, seemed only a feeble +echo of the past, though, to the young generations it was a very +happy hopeful present when all the youthful party, under the +steerage of Mary and Anna, and the escort of Sir Adrian and +Fergus, started off with ponies, donkeys, cycles and sturdy feet +to picnic on Penbeacon, if possible in the March winds—well +out of the way of the clay works.</p> +<p>How Fergus divided his cares between the strata and +Dolores’ kodak, how even his photography could not spoil +Aunt Alda; how charming a group of sisters Dolores contrived to +produce; how Adrian was the proud pioneer into a coach adorned +with stalactites and antediluvian bones; how Anna collected +milkwort and violets for Aunt Cherry; how a sly push sent little +Joan in a headlong career down a slope that might have resulted +in a terrible fall, but did only cause a tumble and great fright, +and a severe reprimand from the elder sisters; how Agatha was +entranced by the glorious view in the clearness of spring, how +they ate their sandwiches and tried to think it was not cold; how +grey east wind mist came over the distance and warned them it was +time to trot down,—all this must belong to the annals of +later Vale Leston; and of those years of youth which in each +generation leave impressions as of sunbeams for life. And +on their return, Dolores found a letter which filled her with a +fresh idea. It was from her father in New Zealand, telling +her that there was an opening for her to come and give a course +of lectures on electricity at Canterbury, Auckland and the other +towns, and proposing to her to come out with her lady assistant, +when she might very probably extend her tour to Australia.</p> +<p>“Would you come, Naggie?” asked Dolores.</p> +<p>“Oh! I should like nothing half so well. If +you could only wait till my turn is over, and the +exam!”</p> +<p>“Of course! Why, we shall not have finished the +correspondence till after the examination! How capital it +will be! My father will like your bright face, and you will +think him like Fergus grown older. Will your sister +consent?”</p> +<p>“Oh! Magdalen will be glad enough to have me off +on a career. We will write and prepare her mind. I +believe I am not to go home, so as to bring a clean bill of +health to St. Robert’s.”</p> +<p>“I really think,” added Dolores, “that +Magdalen would make an admirable head matron, or whatever you +call it!”</p> +<p>“Dear old thing! She is very fond of her +Goyle.”</p> +<p>“True, but Sophy’s engineer husband tells us that +a new line is projected to Rock Quay, through the very heart of +the Goyle, Act of Parliament, compulsory sale and all.”</p> +<p>“Well! work might console her for being uprooted, and +she is quite youthful enough to take to it with +spirit.”</p> +<p>“Besides that she would greatly console Clement and +Cherry for the profanation of their Penbeacon. I declare I +will suggest it to Arthurine!”</p> +<p>So the two young people resolved, not without a consciousness +that what was to them a fresh and inspiring gale, to the elder +generation was “winds have rent thy sheltering +bowers.”</p> +<h2><a name="page266"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +266</span>CHAPTER XXVII—A SENTENCE</h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">“What should we +give for our beloved?”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—E. B. <span +class="smcap">Browning</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">No</span> sooner had the visitors departed +than the others now out of quarantine appeared at Vale +Leston. Angela was anxious to spend a little time there, +and likewise to have Lena overhauled by Tom May. The child +had never really recovered, and was always weakly; and whereas on +the journey, Lily, now in high health, was delighted with all she +saw, though she could not compare Penbeacon to Adam’s Peak, +Lena lay back in Sister Angela’s arms, almost a dead +weight, hardly enduring the bustle of the train, though she tried +not to whine, as long as she saw her pink Ben looking happy in +his cage.</p> +<p>Angela was an experienced nurse, and was alarmed at some of +the symptoms that others made light of. Mrs. Grinstead had +thought things might be made easier to her if the Miss +Merrifields came to meet her and hear the doctor’s opinion; +and Elizabeth accepted her invitation, arriving to see the lovely +peaceful world in the sweet blossoming of an early May, the +hedges spangled with primroses, and the hawthorns showing sheets +of snow; while the pear trees lifted their snowy pyramids, and +Lily in her white frock darted about the lawn in joyous play with +her father under the tree, and the grey cloister was gay with +wisteria.</p> +<p>Angela was sitting in the boat, safely moored, with a book in +her hand, the pink cockatoo on the gunwale, nibbling at a stick, +and the girl lying on a rug, partly on her lap. Phyllis and +Anna, who had come out on the lawn, made Elizabeth pause.</p> +<p>“That’s the way they go on!” said +Phyllis. “All day long Angela is reading to the child +either the ‘Water Babies’ or the history of +Joseph.”</p> +<p>“Or crooning to her the story of the Cross,” said +Anna; “and as soon as one is ended she begins it again, and +Lena will not let her miss or alter a single word.”</p> +<p>“They go on more than half the night,” added +Phyllis. “Bear sat up long over his letters and +accounts, and as he went up he heard the crooning, and looked in; +and the very moment Angela paused, there came the little +plaintive voice, ‘Go on, please.’ ‘Women +are following’—”</p> +<p>“But is not that spoiling her?” asked Bessie.</p> +<p>A look of sad meaning passed between her two companions. +Phyllis shook her head slightly, and, instead of answering, +conducted Bessie on to the bank, when Angela looked up and made a +sign that she could not move or speak, for the child was +asleep. The yellow head was shaded by Angela’s +parasol, the thin hair lying ruffled on the black dress, and the +small face looked more pinched than when the aunt had last seen +it, nearly a year previously. She had watched the decay of +aged folks, but she was unused to the illnesses of children; and +she recoiled with a little shock, as she looked down at the +little wasted face, with a slight flush of sleep. +“Recovery from measles,” she said.</p> +<p>Phyllis smiled a little pitifully as her own little girl, all +radiant with health and joy, came skipping up, performing antics +over her father’s hand. “Take care, Lily, +don’t wake poor little Lena,” was murmured +quietly.</p> +<p>“Northern breezes—” began Bessie, but the +voices had broken the light slumber; and as Angela began, +“See, Lena, here is Aunt Bessie,” the effect was to +make her throw herself over Angela’s shoulder and hide her +face; and when her protector tried to turn her round and reason +her into courtesy, she began to cry in a feeble manner.</p> +<p>“She has had a bad night,” said motherly Phyllis; +“let her alone.”</p> +<p>“May not I get down into the boat?” asked +Lily. “I’ll be very good.”</p> +<p>There would have been a little hesitation, but at the voice +Lena looked up and called “Lily, Lily!” Bernard +lifted his small daughter down, Elizabeth was not sorry to be led +away for the present, and when, after a turn in the rose garden, +she came back, the two children were sitting with arms round one +another, holding a conversation with Ben, the cockatoo, and +making him dance on one of the benches of the boat, under +Angela’s supervision, lest he should end by dancing +overboard. The rich fair hair, shining dark blue eyes, and +plump glowing cheeks of Lily were a contrast to the wan wasted +colouring of her little cousin; but Lena was more herself now +than when just awake, and let Lily lead her up and introduce her, +as it might be called, to Cousin Bessie as Lily called her, a +less formidable sound than “Aunt Elizabeth.” +They were both kissed, and she endured it. Angela was, as +her brothers and sisters said, “very good,” and +scrupulously abstained from absorbing the child all the evening, +letting Elizabeth show her pictures and tell her stories, to +which, by Lily’s example, she listened quietly enough and +with interest.</p> +<p>When the two children went off, hand in hand, to their beds, +Elizabeth said, “Really, Magdalen is improved. If you +leave Lily with her, Phyllis, I think we should get on +beautifully. The bracing air will do wonders for them +both.”</p> +<p>“Thank you,” said poor Phyllis forbearingly; +“we have not made our plans about Lily yet.”</p> +<p>But Elizabeth thought out a beautiful scheme of discipline and +study in the long light hours of the morning, and began to feel +herself drawn towards her delicate little niece, feeling sure +that the little thing would soon be Susan’s darling, if +Susan could be brought to endure the cockatoo walking loose about +the house.</p> +<p>Early in the day Professor May appeared, and was hailed as an +old friend by all the Underwoods. He rejoiced to see +Clement looking well and active; and “as to this +fellow,” he said, looking at Bernard, “it shows what +development will do.”</p> +<p>“Not quite the young Bear of Stoneborough,” said +Clement, leaning affectionately on his broad shoulder; “our +skittish pair are grown very sober-minded. But you have not +told us of your father.”</p> +<p>“My father is very well. He walks down every day +to sit with my wife, and visits a selection of his old patients, +who are getting few enough now. This is not my patient, I +suppose?”</p> +<p>“Unless you are ready to prescribe only laughing and +good Jersey cows’ milk,” said Bernard, pulling the +long silky brown hair. “Where’s mother, little +one?”</p> +<p>“Mother sent me to say Aunt Angel is ready, if Dr. May +will come up to Aunt Cherry’s room. Lena is +frightened, and they did not like to leave her.”</p> +<p>It was a long visit, after Phyllis had come down; and, walking +up and down the cloister with Bessie Merrifield, listened to her +schemes of education for the little maidens. Lily she liked +and admired, and she was convinced that Magdalen’s weak +health and spirits were the result of the spoiling system. +Phyllis trembled a little as she heard of the knocking about, +out-of-doors ways that had certainly produced fine strong healthy +frames and upright characters, but she forbore to say that if her +little girl had to be left, it would be to her mother and +Mysie.</p> +<p>By and by Tom came down, and finding Geraldine alone in the +drawing-room, he answered her inquiry with a very grave +look. “Poor little thing! You do not think well +of her! Is it as Angel feared?”</p> +<p>“Confirmed disease, from original want of development of +heart. Measles accelerated it. I doubt her lasting +six months, though it may be longer or less.”</p> +<p>“Have you told Angel?”</p> +<p>“She knew it, more or less. She is ready to bear +it, though one can see how her soul is wrapped up in the child, +and the child in her.”</p> +<p>“One thing, Tom, will you tell Miss Merrifield yourself, +and alone, and make her feel that it is an independent +opinion? It may save both the poor child and Angel a great +deal.”</p> +<p>“Are you prepared to keep her here?”</p> +<p>“Of course we are. It is Angel’s natural +home. Clement and I could think of nothing else.”</p> +<p>“I knew you would say so. If I understand rightly +there is something like a jealousy of her case in the +Merrifields, prompted greatly by their wish to expiate any +neglect of her father.”</p> +<p>“That is what I gather from what Phyllis tells +me.”</p> +<p>“What a lovely countenance hers is in expression! +No wonder Bernard has softened down. There is strength and +solidity as well as sweetness in her face. Ah, there they +are!”</p> +<p>“I will call Phyllis in. Bessie Merrifield has +almost walked her to death by this time.”</p> +<p>So Phyllis was called and told. What she said was, +“I only hope he will make her understand that it could not +be helped, and it was not Angela’s fault.”</p> +<p>Tom May had wisdom enough to make this clear in what was a +greater shock to Elizabeth than it was to Angela, who had +suspected enough to be prepared for the sentence, and had besides +a good deal of hospital experience, which enabled her thoroughly +to understand the Professor’s explanations. So, +indeed, did it seem to Elizabeth at the time he was speaking; but +she had lived a good deal in London, and had a great idea that a +London physician must be superior to a man who had lived in the +country, and, moreover, whom all the household called Tom, and +she asked Mrs. Grinstead if he were really so clever.</p> +<p>“Indeed, I think he is; and I have seen a great deal of +his treatment. You may quite trust him. He lives down +here at Stoneborough for his father’s sake, or he would be +quite at the head of his profession.”</p> +<p>“Superior to the two Doctors Brownlow?”</p> +<p>“I should not say superior, but quite equal.”</p> +<p>“The Brownlows,” said Clement, looking up from his +paper, “helped me through an ordinary malarial fever. +John Lucas is a brilliant specialist in such cases, but +certifying an affection of the heart. Tom May latterly has +treated me better. As far as I understand the case of your +little niece, I should say both that it was more in the line of +Tom May, and likewise that it would be very hurtful to her to +take her about and subject her to more examinations.”</p> +<p>“Poor little thing! no doubt it would be a terrible +distress,” acquiesced Bessie; “but still, if it is +bracing that she needs—northern air might make all the +difference.”</p> +<p>Clement sighed a little hopelessly over making a woman +understand or give way, and returned to his newspaper; while +Geraldine tried to argue that air could not make much difference, +speaking in the interest of the child herself and of her +sister. Elizabeth listened and agreed; but there was in the +Merrifield family a fervour of almost jealous expiation of their +neglect of Henry, inattention to his daughter, and desire to +appropriate her, and to restore her to health, strength, and +wisdom, in spite of her would-be stepmother.</p> +<p>“They hate me as much as if I were her +stepmother!” cried Angela. “I wish I was, to +have a right to protect her! No, Clem; I’ll not break +out, if I can help it, as long as they don’t worry her; and +I think Bessie does see the rights of it.”</p> +<p>Yes; the peaceful, thoughtful atmosphere of Vale Leston, +unlike the active bustle of Coalham, had an insensible influence +on Elizabeth’s mind; and she saw that Angela’s +treatment of the child, always cheerful though tender, was right, +and that it would be sheer cruelty to separate them. She +promised to use all her power to prevent any such step, and +finally left Vale Leston, perfectly satisfied that it was +impossible to take Lena with her.</p> +<p>But her family did not see it thus, especially Mrs. Samuel +Merrifield, the child’s guardian. She insisted that +it was her husband’s duty to bring the little one to London +for advice, and to remove her from all the weakening, morbid +influences of Vale Leston.</p> +<h2><a name="page274"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +274</span>CHAPTER XXVIII—SUMMONED</h2> +<blockquote><p>“What would we give to our +beloved?”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—E. B. <span +class="smcap">Browning</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“I <span class="smcap">wish</span> they all would not go +so very fast,” said little Lena, hiding her face against +him from the whirl of cabs and omnibuses.</p> +<p>“They bewilder us savages,” said Angela, +smiling. “Remember we are from the wilds.”</p> +<p>“She shall have her tea, and a good rest,” said +Marilda; “and then I have asked her uncle and aunts to meet +you at dinner, and Fernan hopes to bring home another old +friend. Whom do you think, Angel?”</p> +<p>“Oh! Not our Bishop?”</p> +<p>“Yes, the Bishop of Albertstown! He is actually in +town; Fernan saw him yesterday at the Church House.”</p> +<p>“Oh! that is joy!” cried Angela; and Lena raised +her head, with, “Is it mine—mine own +Bishop?”</p> +<p>“Mine own, mine own Bishop and godfather, my +sweet!” said Angela; “more to us in our own way than +any one else. Oh! it is joy! How happy Clement will +be!”</p> +<p>It was with much feeling, almost akin to shame, that Bessie +wrote to Angela this decision of her brother, that a London +authority must be consulted—not Dr. Brownlow, but one whom +Mrs. Sam had heard highly spoken of.</p> +<p>“That man!” cried Angela. “I have +heard of him! He is a regular mealy-mouthed old woman of a +doctor! And she is so well just now! How horrid to +shake her up again! Oh, Bear! if I could only sail away +with her to Queensland!”</p> +<p>“You would if it was ten years ago,” said +Bernard.</p> +<p>“Yes! Is it the way of the world, or learning +resignation, that makes one know one must submit? Giving up +an idol is a worse thing when the idol is made of flesh and +blood.”</p> +<p>Bernard wanted to see Sir Ferdinand, so made it an excuse for +helping his sister on the way; and he did so effectively, for his +knee and broad breast were Lena’s great resting-place; and +his stories of monkeys and elephants were almost as good as +kangaroos. Was there not a kangaroo to be seen in London, +which she apparently thought would be a place of about the size +of Albertstown?</p> +<p>Lady Underwood had insisted on receiving the travellers from +Vale Leston in her house in Kensington; and there was her broad, +kindly face looking out for them at the station, and her likewise +broad and kindly carriage ready to carry them from it. How +natural all looked to Angela, with all her associations of being +a naughty, wild, mischievous schoolgirl, the general plague and +problem!</p> +<p>“But always a dear,” said Marilda, with her habit +of forgetting everybody’s faults. “Why +didn’t you bring your wife, Bernard, and your little girl +for this darling’s playfellow?”</p> +<p>“She is her best playfellow,” said Angela; +“Adela’s Joan is too rough, and fitter for +Adrian’s companion.”</p> +<p>“She is my playfellow,” said Bernard, holding her +up. “Look out, Lena. Here’s Father Thames +to go over.”</p> +<p>“And Fernan is so glad,” added Marilda.</p> +<p>For Bishop Robert Fulmort had, when Vicar of St. +Wulstan’s, been the guide and helper of Ferdinand +Travis’s time of trial and disappointment, as well as the +spiritual father of Clement Underwood; he had known and dealt +with Angela in her wayward girlhood, and aided her bitter +repentance; and in these later days in Australia had been her +true fatherly friend, counsellor and comforter in the trials and +perplexities that had befallen her. Bernard read, in her +lifted head and brightened eye, that she felt the meeting him +almost a compensation for the distress and perplexity of this +journey to London.</p> +<p>Bernard carried the little girl up to the room and laid her +down to sleep off her fatigue, while Marilda waited on her and +Angela with her wonted bustling affection, extremely happy to +have two of her best beloved cousins under her roof.</p> +<p>Bernard went off to find Sir Ferdinand at his office, and +quiet prevailed till nearly dinner time, when Lena awoke and +would not be denied one sight of her godfather. So Angela +dressed her in her white frock, and smoothed her thin yellow +hair, and took her down to the great stiff handsome room that all +Emilia’s efforts had never made to look liveable. +Emilia Brown was there, very fashionably attired, but eager for +news of Vale Leston, and the Merrifields soon arrived with, +“Oh! here she is!” from the Captain, “Well! she +looks better than I expected!”</p> +<p>“Poor little dear!” observed his wife, dressed in +a low dress and thin fringe on her forehead in honour of what, to +the country mind, was a grand dinner party, at which +Angela’s plain black dress and tight white cap were an +unbecoming sight. Elizabeth was there, kissing Angela with +real sympathy; and Lena, who had grown a good deal more +accustomed to strange relations, endured the various embraces +without discourtesy.</p> +<p>But when the door opened and the grey-headed Bishop came in +there was a low half scream of “Oh! oh!” and with one +leap she was in his arms, as he knelt on one knee, and clasped +her, holding out a hand to Angela, whose eyes were full of tears +of relief and trust. Marilda gave a glad welcome, but they +were startled by perceiving that the joy of meeting had brought +on a spasm of choking on Lena, who was gasping in a strange sort +of agony. Angela took her in her arms and carried her out +of the room. Marilda presently following, came back +reporting that the little girl had been relieved by a shower of +tears, but was still faint and agitated, and that Angela could +not leave her, but begged that they would not wait dinner.</p> +<p>“Such sensitiveness needs anxious care,” said +Elizabeth.</p> +<p>“If it be not the effect of spoiling. Just +affectation!” replied the sister-in-law in a decided voice, +which made Bessie glad that the poor child’s home was not +to be among the rough boys at Stokesley, who were not credited +with any particular feelings.</p> +<p>Angela’s absence gave the Bishop the opportunity of +telling what she had been during her years at Albertstown, what a +wonderful power among the natives, though not without +disappointment, and she had been still more effective among the +settlers and their daughters. Carrigaboola, Fulbert’s +farm, had been an oasis of hope and rest to the few clergy of his +scanty staff, and Fulbert himself had been a tower of strength +for influence over the settlers who had fallen in his way, by his +unswerving uprightness and honour, with the deeper principles of +religion, little talked of but never belied. Even after his +death, the power he had been told over all with whom he had come +in contact.</p> +<p>Bernard heard it with immense pleasure, as did the faithful +Ferdinand and Marilda; while Elizabeth felt more and more that +Sister Angela was not to be treated, as she feared Sam and his +wife were inclined to do, as a mere interloper in their family +affairs, but as one to be not merely considered with gratitude, +but even reverenced.</p> +<p>Indeed, Sam began to feel it, as he saw how the other men, +both practical business men, listened, and were impressed; but it +was not quite the case with his wife, who did not particularly +esteem colonial Bishops, and still less Sisterhoods or devotion +to missionary efforts, especially among the Australian blacks, +whom her old geography book had told her were the most degraded +and hopeless of natives, scarcely removed from mere animals.</p> +<p>When Angela appeared half through dinner time and said that +Lena was safely asleep, and Marilda sat her down to be happy in +exchange of Carrigaboola tidings with her Bishop, Fernando +greeted her with a reverence not undeserved, though perhaps all +the more from the contrast to the mischievous little sprite who +used to disturb the days of his philandering with Alda.</p> +<p>How much shocked Mrs. Samuel was, when the magnificent Sir +Ferdinand, whom she regarded with awe as a millionaire, was +flippantly answered by this extraordinary Sister, “Thank +you, Fernan, I should like to have a sight of the old +office. I hope you have a descendant of the old cat, +Betty. Didn’t she come from your grandmother, +Marilda? Do you remember her being found playing tricks +with the nugget, just come from Victoria?”</p> +<p>“That was in her kitten days,” said Ferdinand.</p> +<p>“Is that personal, Fernan?”</p> +<p>“A compliment, Angel,” said the Bishop. +“Kittens alter a good deal.”</p> +<p>“Not much for the better,” said Angela. +“If you only could see Mrs. Lamb, who used to be the very +moral of a kitten, scratchiness and all!”</p> +<p>“I thought her very much improved,” said Lady +Underwood gravely.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes; grown into a sleek and personable tabby, able +to wave her tail at the tip and tuck her paws—her velvet +paws—well under her; and lick her lips over the—oh, +dear!—what do you call it?—your <i>menu</i> is quite +too much for us poor savages, Marilda. A bit of damper is +quite enough for us, isn’t it, Bishop?”</p> +<p>“Varied with opossum and fern root,” he said +smiling; “but that’s only when we have lost our +way.”</p> +<p>The talk drifted off to the history of a shepherd’s +child, who had strayed into the bush, and after much searching, +in which the Bishop and Fulbert had been half starved, had +finally been found and carried home by Angela’s +“crack gin,” as she told it to Bernard; and as +Marilda thought the poor child was in a trap, it had to be +translated into “favourite pupil,” though Bernard +carried on the joke by asking Marilda if she thought the natives +cannibals given to the snaring of mankind.</p> +<p>Altogether it was a thoroughly merry evening, such as comes to +pass in the meeting of old friends and comrades in too large +numbers for grave discourse, but with habits of close intercourse +and associations of all kinds. Emilia and her husband tried +in all courtesy not to let the Merrifields feel themselves +neglected; and indeed Bessie was only too glad to listen and join +at times in the talk; but it all went outside Mrs. Sam, who was +on the whole scandalised at the laughter of a Bishop, and a +Sister. Indeed, it was true that Bishop Fulmort, naturally +a grave man, very much so in his early days, comported himself on +this occasion as if he realised Southey’s wish—</p> +<blockquote><p>“That in mine age as cheerful I might be,<br +/> +Like the green winter of the holly tree.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>At any rate, that evening was long a bright remembrance. +Lena slept all night, and was so fresh and well in the morning +that Angela foreboded that the examination might not detect her +delicacy. They met Mrs. Merrifield, and took her with them +to the doctor’s, Lady Underwood Travis having placed her +carriages at their disposal.</p> +<p>It was very much as Angela had expected, knowing by hospital +reputation what the doctor was supposed to be to old ladies and +fanciful mothers, while perhaps he had also heard of her +<i>fracas</i> long ago at the hospital. For he was not more +courteous to her than could be helped, treating her much as if +she were only the nursery maid, and hardly looking at the opinion +which she had made Professor May write out for him.</p> +<p>To her mind, it was a very cursory examination that he made; +and the upshot of his opinion, triumphantly accepted by Mrs. +Merrifield, was that there was nothing seriously amiss with the +child, that she only needed care, regularity and bracing, and +that the stifling, gasping spasms were simply the effect of +hysteria.</p> +<p>Hysteria! Angela felt as if she should run wild as she +heard Mrs. Merrifield’s complacent remarks on having always +thought so, and being sure that a few weeks of good air and good +management would make an immense difference. The need of +not alarming or prejudicing the poor little victim was all that +kept Angela in any restraint; and Mrs. Merrifield went on to say +that she had promised her youngest boy, who was with her in +London, to take him to the Zoological Gardens, and it would be a +good opportunity for Magdalen to see them.</p> +<p>“Is that where there is a kangaroo?” asked Lena, +so eagerly that Angela, though thinking that morning’s work +enough for the feeble strength, could not withstand her. +Besides, if the Merrifields were to have her wholly in another +day, what was the use of standing out for one afternoon? +One comfort was that Elizabeth, who would really have the charge +of the child, had much more good sense and knowledge of the world +than her sister-in-law.</p> +<p>Still Angela felt the only way of bearing it was that after +setting Mrs. Merrifield down, she stopped the carriage at a +church she knew to have a noon-tide Litany, knelt there, with the +little girl beside her, and tried to say, “Thy will be +done! To Thy keeping I commit her.” Her +“hours” came to help her.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Quench Thou the fires of hate and +strife,<br /> + The wasting fever of the heart,<br /> +From perils guard her feeble life,<br /> + And to our souls Thy help impart.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>She was able to be calm, and to utter none of her rage when +they came back to luncheon; and Marilda, declaring she liked +nothing so well as seeing children at the Zoo, wished to go with +the party. All, save Mrs. Merrifield and her boy, had gone +different ways in London, so there was plenty of room in the +barouche.</p> +<p>The boy’s mind was set on riding on the elephant, and +they walked on that way, turning aside, however, to the yard +where towered the kangaroo, tall, gentle, graceful and +gracious. Lena sprang forward with a cry of joy, and +clasped her hands; but in one moment the same spasm, at first of +ecstasy then of overpowering feeling, becoming agony, came over +her, and gasping and choking, Angela held her in her arms and +carried her to a seat, holding her up, loosening her clothes; but +still she did not come round. Her aunt tried to say, +“hysteric.” Some one brought water, but it was +of no use—there were still the labouring gasps, and the +convulsive motion. “Let us take her home,” +Marilda said.</p> +<p>“Nothing but hysterics!” repeated the aunt. +“I will stay with Jackie.”</p> +<p>Marilda found her servant and the carriage, and in the long +drive, a few drops of strong stimulant at a chemist’s +brought a little relief though scarcely consciousness; and when +Angela had carried her up to her room, there was a blueness about +the lips, a coldness about the fingers, that told much. +Marilda had at once sent for Dr. Brownlow as the nearest, and he +was at home; but he could only look and do nothing, but attempt +to revive circulation, all in vain; and with Marilda standing by, +with one convulsive clutch of Angela’s hand, the true +mother of her orphaned life, little Lena sank to a peaceful rest +from the tribulations that awaited her here.</p> +<h2><a name="page284"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +284</span>CHAPTER XXIX—SAFE</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Rest beyond all grief and pain,<br /> +Death to thee is truest gain.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Keble</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Angela’s</span> nearest and best +friends had anticipated that the peaceful climax of all her cares +would be a relief to her; and so indeed in the long run it would +be to her higher sense, and she would be thankful. But even +those who knew her most thoroughly had not estimated the pangs of +personal affection and deprivation of the child she had fostered +with a mother’s tenderness for seven years, and the +absolute suffering of the sudden parting, even though it was to +security of bliss, instead of doubt and uneasiness.</p> +<p>She was quite broken and really ill with neuralgia and +exhaustion, unable to attend the funeral, which the Merrifields +wished to have at Stokesley, and unfit for anything but lying +still with the pink parrot on the rail below, kindly watched over +by good Marilda. The strain of many disturbed nights, the +perplexities, the struggle for resignation, all coming after a +succession of trying events in Australia, had told heavily upon +her. Indeed, no one guessed how much she had undergone, +physically as well as spiritually, till Marilda would not be +denied the consulting Dr. Brownlow, who questioned her closely, +and extorted confessions of the long continued strain of +exertion. Rest was all she needed; and Marilda took care +that she had it, bringing Robina up from Minsterham to make it +more effectual, and letting her have visits from her Bishop and +from Bernard as they could afford the time, both being very and +variously busy.</p> +<p>Angela had made up her mind to go out to Australia again, and +to make Carrigaboola an endowment for the Sisterhood; but the +means of doing this could best be arranged there, and she +intended to go out when her Bishop should return in the autumn, +feeling that her vocation was there, though there was a blank in +all she had most cared for on earth in that home.</p> +<p>As soon as she had recovered, she wished to spend a fortnight +at Dearport, beginning with a retreat that was held there. +Remembering her old career there, and the abrupt close of her +novitiate, she felt and spoke as if she was to be received as in +penitence, but to the Sisters who surrounded her it was more as +if they were receiving a saint.</p> +<p>When she came back to Vale Leston, she had recovered +cheerfulness, more equable than it had ever been, and Cherry and +Alda found her a charming companion. There was much going +on at Vale Leston just then. Miss Arthuret and Dolores were +at Penbeacon, seriously considering of the scheme of converting +the old farm house into a kind of place of study for girls who +wanted to work at various technicalities, and to fit themselves +for usefulness or for self-maintenance. There was to be +more or less of the Convalescent Home or House of Rest in +combination, and it had occurred to Dolores that there could +hardly be a better head of such an establishment than Magdalen +Prescott.</p> +<p>Magdalen had been asked to the Priory to meet Angela, to whom +it was now a comfort and pleasure to talk of her treasure, so +much less lost to her than in the uncongenial surroundings +threatened at Coalham. And the invitation, followed by the +proposal, came at a not unpropitious moment. A railway +company, after much surveying, much disputing, and many +heartburnings, were actually obtaining an Act of Parliament, +empowering it to lay its cruel hands upon the Goyle, running its +viaducts down the ravine of Arnscombe, and destroy all the peace +and privacy! It did much, as Agatha had said, to make the +new scheme of Penbeacon acceptable though.</p> +<p>“That comes of making one’s nest,” she +sighed, “and thinking one’s self secure in it for +life! Oh! it is worse and more changeable in this latter +century than in any other! Does the world go round +faster?”</p> +<p>“Of course it does,” said Geraldine. +“Think how many fashions, how many styles, how many ways of +thinking, have passed away, even in our own time.”</p> +<p>“And what have they left behind them?”</p> +<p>“Something good, I trust. Coral cells, stones for +the next generation of zoophytes to stand upon to reach up +higher.”</p> +<p>“Is it higher?”</p> +<p>“In one sense, I hope. The same foundation, +remember, and each cell forms a rock for the future—a white +and beautiful cell, remember, as it grows unconsciously, beneath +this creature.”</p> +<p>Magdalen smiled, delighted with the illustration.</p> +<p>“It forms into the rocks, the strong foundations of the +earth,” she said.</p> +<p>“When it has undergone its baptism beneath the +sea,” added Geraldine. “But practically and +unpoetically, perhaps—how the young folk mount upon all our +little achievements in Church matters, and think them nearly as +old-fashioned and despicable as we did pews and black +gowns! Or how attempts like the schools that brought up +Robina and Angela have shot out into High Schools, colleges, +professions, and I know not what besides.”</p> +<p>“Ah! we come to my old notions for my sisters. I +thought they would have been governesses like myself, but they +married; and now tell me, what do you think of this scheme of +Miss Mohun and Agatha?”</p> +<p>“You know Dolores is going to her father first. I +never saw him, but Lady Merrifield and Jane tell me he is a very +wise, highly-principled person, perfectly to be trusted; and they +like all that they have heard of his young wife. I should +think if Agatha is to become a scientific lecturer, she could not +begin her career under better training.”</p> +<p>“Career, exactly! People used not to talk of +careers.”</p> +<p>“Life and career! Tortoise and hare, eh? But +the hare may and ought still to reach the goal, and have her cell +built, even if she does have her <i>wander yahr</i>, like the +young barnacles, before becoming attached! No! she need not +become the barnacle goose. That is fabulous,” said +Mrs. Grinstead, laughing off a little of her seriousness, and +adding, “Tell me of the other girls. I think Vera did +not come home last year.”</p> +<p>“No; nor the year before. She has a good many +pretty little talents, and is very obliging. Mrs. White +seems to be very fond of her, and did not want to spare her when +they went to Gastein for the summer. And this year, when +there was so much infection about, I could not press +it.”</p> +<p>“Is it true that there is anything between her and +Petros White?”</p> +<p>“I know Miss Mohun—Jane—infers it, but I +don’t like to build upon it.”</p> +<p>“I should build on most inferences that Jane Mohun +ventured to make known,” said Geraldine, smiling; +“and Paulina’s fate is pretty well fixed, I +suppose!”</p> +<p>“Dear child, she has never had any other purpose since I +first knew her thoroughly, and I do not think her present stay at +Dearport will disenchant her. I think she is really +devoted, not to the theoretical romance of a Sisterhood, but to +the deeper full purpose of self-devotion.”</p> +<p>“I can fully believe it of her. Hers have not been +the ups and downs of my Angela, though indeed, after all she has +gone through, there is something in her face that brings to my +mind, ‘After that ye have suffered awhile, stablish, +strengthen, settle you.’”</p> +<p>“It is a lovely countenance—so patient, and yet so +bright.”</p> +<p>“I do not think anything in all her life has tried her +so much as the distress about little Lena; and after knowing her +wildness—to use a weak word for it—under other +troubles, I see what grace and self-control have done for +her. You still keep your Thekla!” she added, as the +girl flashed by, in company with a coeval Vanderkist.</p> +<p>“For a few years to come, though I am beginning to feel +like the old hens who do but bring their children up to launch +them on the waters.”</p> +<p>“Well, it is happy if the launch can be made with hope +present as well as faith; and to see what Angel has become after +many vicissitudes, not confined to her first years of youth, is +an immense encouragement.”</p> +<p>To Angela’s great delight, the affairs of Brown and +Underwood were found to require inspection at San Francisco, as +well as at Colombo, where Bernard was to put the firm into the +hands of one of the Browns, who was to meet him there, and he +would then be able to come home to the central office in +England.</p> +<p>It was not expedient for Phyllis to make the voyage for so +brief a stay, so it was decided that she should remain with her +mother, and she declared that she should be happy about Bernard +being taken care of if Angela, before settling in at +Carrigaboola, would go and stay with him at Ceylon. +“No one can tell the pleasure it is,” she said to +Magdalen, “to borrow one’s own especial brother from +his wife for a little while. Oh, yes, I know it goes +against the grain with him, and it is right it should; but the +poor old sister enjoys her treat nevertheless and +notwithstanding.”</p> +<p>There was a great family gathering at Vale Leston, including +both the Harewoods; and the Bishop of Albertstown came to spend +that last fortnight in England with Clement, the boy who had been +committed to him as a chorister, then trained as a young deacon, +and almost driven out in his inexperience to the critical charge +of the neglected parish and the old squire, only to be recalled +after seven years to the more important charge in London on the +Bishop’s appointment, there to serve till strength gave +way, and he must perforce return to his former home. There +was a farewell picnic of the elders at Penbeacon, merry and yet +wistful in its hopeful auguries that the loved play place would +be a glad and beneficial home.</p> +<p>It was a strange retrospect, talked over by the two old +friends in deep thankfulness, yet humility over their own +shortcomings and failures, and no less strange were the +recollections of the wild noisy insubordinate schoolgirl whom the +Bishop’s sister had failed to tame, and who had to both +seemed to live only on sensation, whether religious or secular, +and who had been one continual care and perplexity to each. +By turns they had thought that the full Church system acted as a +hotbed on her peculiar temperament, and at others they had +thought it only an alternative to the amusements of vanity and +flirtation. Each had felt himself a failure with regard to +her, and had hoped for a fresh start from each crisis of +repentance, notably, from the death of Felix, only to be +disappointed by some fresh aberration.</p> +<p>However, in Queensland, her work had been noble, and +thoroughly effective in many cases; it had involved much +self-denial and even danger, and though these might agree with +her native spirit of adventure, there had likewise been not +fitful, but steadily earnest devotion in her convent life, as +well as the tenderest reverent care of Mother Constance in a long +and painful decline, and therewith a steady cheerful influence +which had immensely assisted the growth of Fulbert’s +character. For some years past, Sister Angela had been not +a care, but a trusty helper to the Bishop; and the later trials +and difficulties, especially the sore rending of the tie with the +being she had come to love with all the force of her strong +nature, had been borne in a manner that bore witness to the +subduing of that over-rebellious and vehement spirit.</p> +<p>And, as she said to Geraldine on the last evening as they bade +good-night, “This has been the very happiest time I ever +spent here—yes, happier than in those exultant days of new +possession and liberty. Oh, yes, all experiments, as it +were, bold ventures, self-reproach and failure, defiance and fun, +and then—oh, the ache I would not confess, the glory of +being provoking, and, oh, the final anguish I brought on myself +and on you all; and I went on, when it began to wear away, still +stifling the sting which revived whenever I came home, and all +was renewed! Really, whenever I shammed it was only +remorse. I don’t think that real repentance, and the +peace after it, began till those quiet days with dear Mother +Constance.”</p> +<p>“And is it peace now?”</p> +<p>“Yes, I think so. Even the parting with my child +has not torn me up. I can say it is well—far better +than leaving her, far better, indeed! And Felix is what he +meant to be, my treasure, not my accuser. Oh, I am glad to +have been at home, and made it all up, to bear away—and +leave with you the sense of Peace.”</p> +<p>All who had loved and feared for her were very happy over her +when all joined in that farewell service on her own birthday, St. +Michael and All Angels’ Day.</p> +<p>The party were joined by Dolores and Wilfred at Liverpool; +Bernard having undertaken to establish the latter at Colombo in +hands as safe as might be.</p> +<h2><a name="page293"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +293</span>CHAPTER XXX—THE MAIDEN ROCKS</h2> +<blockquote><p>“What need we more if hearts be true,<br /> +Our voyage safe, our port in view.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span +class="smcap">Keble</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A <span class="smcap">telegram</span> that a steamer had been +wrecked on the Maiden Rocks filled three homes with dismay. +The rocks were sought out in maps, and found to be specks lying +between County Antrim and Scotland—no doubt terrible in +their reality.</p> +<p>Another day brought something more definite. It +<i>was</i> the <i>Afra</i>,—“wrecked in the fog of +October 11th. Boats got off.”</p> +<p>That was all; but a day’s post brought letters, of which +the fullest was from Dolores:</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right">“<span +class="smcap">Corncastle</span>, <span +class="smcap">Larne</span>, <span class="smcap">co</span>. <span +class="smcap">Antrim</span>, <span +class="smcap">Ireland</span>,<br /> +<i>October</i> 12.</p> +<p>“<span class="smcap">Dearest Aunt +Lily</span>,—</p> +<p>“I trust Phyllis has by this time heard from Bernard, as +I heard him called on, as a good oarsman, to go in the first +boat, and we saw Angela’s bonnet. We—that is +Wilfred, Nag, and the Bishop—are all safe here, with eight +or nine others. Will will do well, I trust. He quite +owes his life to Nag. This is how it was: We had not long +been out of the Mersey before an impenetrable fog came down upon +us, and we could not see across the deck; but on we went, on what +proved to be our blind way, till, after a night and day, just as +we were getting up from dinner, there came a hideous shock and +concussion, throwing us all about the room; and in less than a +minute it was repeated, with horrible crackings, tearings, yells +and shouts. No one needed to tell us what it meant, and +down came the call, ‘Don’t wait to save your things, +only wraps, ladies! Up on deck! Life-belts if you +can!’ I remember Bernard standing at the top of the +ladder, helping us up, and somehow, I understand from him, that +we were on a reef, and might either remain there, and sink, or be +washed off. The fog was clearing, and there was a dim light +up high, somewhere, one of the lighthouses, I believe. I +don’t quite know how it all went; I think we kept in the +background, round the Bishop, and that a boat full of emigrant +women was put off. I know there were only about half a +dozen women left, who had been crying and refusing to leave their +husbands; and about thirty altogether, men and women, were +somehow got into our boat with the chief mate; the Bishop all +consolation and prayer; poor Wilfred limp, cold and trembling, +for he had been very seasick till the last moment, when Bernard +pulled him out of his berth, and put him into a lifebelt. +The sea was not very rough, with an east wind; but the mate said +the current was so strong he could make no way against it. +It would bring us on to the Irish cliffs, and then, God help +us! Knowing what that coast is, I thought there was no +hope; and as it was beginning to grow light there rose an awful +wall, all black and white, ready to close upon us; but just as I +set my teeth and tried to recollect prayers, or follow the +Bishop’s, but I could only squeeze Agatha harder and +harder, there was a fresh shouting among the men, and the boat +was heaved up in a fearful way, then down. It was tide, and +we were near upon breakers; but there were answering shouts, or +so they said—I believe a line was thrown, and a light +shown. But as the boat rose again, Nag and I expected to be +hurled on the rocks the next moment, and clung together. +But instead—though the waves had almost torn us +asunder—we were lying on a stony beach, and human hands +were dragging at us—voices calling and shouting about our +not being dead. God had helped us! We had been +carried into a clift where there is a coastguard station; and the +good men had come down and were helping us on shore. But +before I well knew anything, Agatha was on her feet; I heard her +cry ‘Wilfred, Wilfred!’ and then I saw her dragging +him, quite like a dead thing, out of the surf, just in time +before another great wave rushed in which would have washed them +both back, if a man had not grappled her at the very moment, +calling out, ‘Let go, let go, he’s a dead +man!’ She did not let go; when the wave broke, +happily, just short of them, and another came to help, and saved +them from being sucked back. Then the Bishop came and +assured us that he was alive, and got the men to carry him up to +the coastguard cottages; indeed, it was an awful escape; for of +our boatload most were lost altogether, three lie dead, dashed +against the rock, and two more, the mate one of them, have broken +limbs. Wilfred was unconscious for a long time, at least an +hour; but by the help of spoonfuls of whiskey he came round to a +dreamy kind of state, and he does not seem to suffer much; and +the Bishop, the Preventive man and Nag all are sure no limbs are +broken, but he seems incapable of movement except his +hands. It may be only jar upon the spine, and go off in +another day or two; but we do not dare to send for a doctor, or +anything else, indeed, till we have some money; for we all of us +have lost everything except five shillings in my pocket and two +in Nag’s. Even our wraps were washed off—I +believe Agatha gave hers to a shivering woman in the boat. +The Bishop, too, gave away his coat, forgetting to secure his +purse. But the people are very kind to us—North, or +Scotch Irish Presbyterians, I think—for they don’t +seem to know what to make of his being a Bishop when they found +he was not R.C., though they call him His Reverence. Please +send us an order to get cashed, at Larne, six miles off, where +this is posted. Wilfred lies on the good Preventive +woman’s bed, clean and fairly comfortable, and they have +made a shake-down in their parlour for Nag and me. The +Bishop <i>says</i> he is well off, but I believe he is always +looking after the mate and the other man in the other house, and +sleeps, if at all, in a chair. Nag is <i>the</i> +nurse. She had ambulance lessons, you know, when at the +High School, and profited by them more than I ever did, and +Wilfred likes to have her about him, and when he is dazed, as he +always is at first waking, he calls her Vera. But +don’t be uneasy about him, dear Aunt Lily. Deadly +sea-sickness, a night of tossing and cold, and then this terrible +landing may well upset him, and probably he will be on his legs +by the time you get this letter.</p> +<p>“I find our disaster was on the Maiden Rocks, a horrible +group, I only wonder that any one gets past them. There are +five of them, the wicked Sirens, and three have lighthouses, but +not very efficient ones, and apt to disappear in the fog, and +there are reefs beneath on one of which we came to grief. +The folk here think a wreck on these Maidens absolutely fatal, so +we cannot be but most thankful for being alive, though it is a +worse experience than the Rotuma earthquake.</p> +<p>“Fergus would think the place worth all we have +undergone. The crags are wonderful, chalk at the bottom, +basalt above, and of course all round to the Giant’s +Causeway it is finer still. Well may we, as the Bishop is +always doing, give thanks that we were taken, by the Divine Hand +guiding tide and current, to this milder and less inhospitable +opening.</p> +<p>“We can afford to dispense with less majesty, for one of +those finer cliffs would have been our destruction.</p> +<p>“This is going to Larne, where there is a railway +station and something of a town, and the Bishop has written to +the doctor of the place. I will write again when he has +been here. I hope to send you another and more cheery +account to-morrow, or whenever post goes.</p> +<p>“Nag is writing to her sister. I trust you will +have heard of Bernard and Angela. Their boat was a better +one than ours, and certainly got off safely. Let us know as +soon you can.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“Your most loving niece,<br /> +“D. M. <span class="smcap">Mohun</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Agatha had also written to Magdalen, very briefly, to assure +her of her safety and thankfulness, and to say she could not +leave Wilfred till more efficient care arrived, or till she had +means to come back with. She was evidently too busy over +her patient to have much possibility of writing, even if she had +paper, which seemed to be scarce at Corncastle.</p> +<p>The Bishop also wrote to Clement, and to Sir Jasper and +others; but he also could say little, only that he trusted that +Angela and Bernard were safe elsewhere, having heard them called, +and, as he believed, seen them off in the first boat, so that +probably they had been already heard of before these letters +arrived. Their own party had been spared from being dashed +against the rocks almost by a miracle; and Agatha +Prescott’s courage and readiness, as now her nursing +faculties, were beyond all praise, as indeed was the brave +patience of Miss Mohun. He could only look on and be +thankful, and hope for tidings of those who were as his own +children. The next day’s letters spoke of the doctor +as so much perplexed about Wilfred, and nothing had been heard at +Larne of the other boats.</p> +<p>But no tidings came; there was too much cause to fear that the +first boat had been borne away by the currents and swamped. +Lady Merrifield could not leave Phyllis in such a crisis of +suspense, and Sir Jasper was hardly fit for such a journey, so +that his wife was much relieved when her brother, General Mohun, +came to Clipstone, and undertook to hasten out to Corncastle, +with money and appliances, including a nurse.</p> +<p>“Oh, Reggie, always good at need! I hardly dare to +send my good old Halfpenny—!”</p> +<p>“No, Mamma, send me. You know I had the ambulance +lessons with Nag,” said Mysie, “and we could get a +real nurse from Belfast or Dublin, if it was wanted.”</p> +<p>So it was arranged, and uncle and niece started, but hope +faded more and more! Were those two precious young lives so +early quenched?</p> +<h2><a name="page300"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +300</span>CHAPTER XXXI—THE WRECK</h2> +<blockquote><p>“How purer were earth, if all its +martyrdoms,<br /> +If all its struggling sighs of sacrifice<br /> +Were swept away!”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">E. <span class="smcap">Hamilton +King</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">No</span> tidings of Bernard and +Angela. The suspense began to diminish into +“wanhope” or despair; and the brothers and sisters +continued to say that they were sorry above all for Phyllis, +whose gentle sweetness had made her one with them.</p> +<p>But at last, one forenoon, a telegram was put into +Clement’s hand, dated from Ewmouth:</p> +<blockquote><p><i>Muriel Ellen</i>, Ewmouth Harbour, October +14th. Blaine to Rev. Underwood. Brother here. +Come to infirmary.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Clement and Geraldine lost no time in driving to the +infirmary, too anxious to speak to one another. +Blaine’s name was known to them as a Gwenworth lad, who had +gone to sea, and risen to be sailing master of the <i>Muriel +Ellen</i>, a trader plying between Londonderry and Bristol. +He, with another, who proved to be the American captain of the +<i>Afra</i>, were at the gate of the hospital, where an ambulance +had just entered.</p> +<p>“Oh! Sir,” as Clement held out his hand, +“I could not save her. I’d have given my +life!”</p> +<p>“My brother?” as Clement returned his grasp +fervently.</p> +<p>“We’ve just got him in here, Sir. I +hope! I hope! And here’s the doctor.”</p> +<p>The house surgeon, who, of course, knew the Rector of Vale +Leston, met him with, “Best see him before we touch him, it +will set his mind at rest—You must be prepared, +Sir—No, better not you, Mrs. Grinstead.”</p> +<p>Clement followed in silence, leaving Geraldine to the care of +the matron. All he was allowed to see was a ghastly, +death-like face and form, covered with rugs, lying prostrate on a +mattress; but as he came in, at the sound of his step, there was +a quiver of recognition, the eyes opened and looked up, the lips +moved, and as Clement bent down with a kiss, there was a faint +sound gasped out, “Telegraph to Clipstone.”</p> +<p>“I will, I will at once.”</p> +<p>“It was noble!” Then was added, “She +gave herself for the Bishop, for me.” Then the eyes +closed, and unconsciousness seemed to prevail. Some one +came and put Clement aside, saying—</p> +<p>“Go now, Sir; you shall hear!”</p> +<p>Clement, who thought it might be death, would have stayed at +hand; but he was turned away, and could only murmur an +inarticulate blessing and prayer, as he meant to fulfil the +earnest desire that was thought to have been conned over and over +again by Bernard, as these half sentences recurred again and +again in semi-consciousness. His telegram despatched, +Clement returned to his sister, to hear from the two masters all +they had to tell. Captain Miller, of the <i>Afra</i>, had +slight hurts, which had been looked to before he should take the +train for London; and Blaine had waited to tell his story before +pursuing his voyage to Bristol, both, indeed, to hear the report +of the patient, and likewise to collect the news of the few who +had been landed at Corncastle, to the great relief of Captain +Miller; but of the first boat there were no tidings, and Blaine +thought there was little probability that it had not sunk or been +dashed against the crags of the savage coast.</p> +<p>Captain Miller’s account was, that not long after +leaving the Mersey, there had set in an impenetrable fog, lasting +for a night and a day. There was perhaps some confusion as +to charts, and the scarcely visible lights upon the +Maidens. At any rate, the <i>Afra</i> had suddenly struck +on a reef, and, shifting at once, had been hopelessly rent, so as +to leave no hope save in the boats. Every one seemed to +have behaved with the resolute fortitude and unselfishness +generally shown by English and Americans in the like +circumstances. The sea was not in a dangerous state, and +there was a steady east wind, so that the boats were lowered +without much difficulty, and most of the women disposed of in the +first.</p> +<p>Before the second could be put off however, the water had +reached the fires; there was a violent lurch, the ship had heeled +completely over, washing many overboard, and of course causing a +great confusion among those who had been steady before, and +making the deck almost perpendicular. The captain, however, +succeeded in lowering another boat, and putting into it, as he +trusted, the few remaining women, the Bishop, and most of the +men. This was, of course, that which had safely reached +Corncastle, and of which he only now heard. The last boat +was so overcrowded that he, with three of his crew, had thought +it best to remain for the almost desperate chance of being picked +up before they sank.</p> +<p>He had supposed Mr. Underwood had been washed overboard in the +heeling over of the ship, and that his sister had been put into +the first boat; but presently he heard a call.</p> +<p>“Oh, help me, please!” And he became aware +that Sister Angela was hanging over her brother, who lay crushed +by a heavy chest which had fallen on him, and thrown him against +the gunwale, though a moan or two showed him to be still +alive. The remaining sailors removed the weight, lifted +him, and laid him in the best place and position they could, +while his sister hung over him and supported his head. To +Miller’s dismayed exclamation at finding a woman still on +board, she replied—</p> +<p>“It was no fault of yours. I hid below. +Other lives—the Bishop’s—were what +mattered! I am glad to be here!”</p> +<p>He believed that Mr. Underwood had revived enough to know his +sister, for he had heard her voice talking to him. Yes, and +singing; but it was not for very long. The wreck was in +motion, being carried by current and tide along the Channel, and +if it did not sink, might be perceived now that daylight had +come, and a signal of distress might be seen by some passing +vessel.</p> +<p>Seen it was, in fact, and that there were persons to be +rescued; and Blaine, who was on his way from Londonderry to +Bristol, in the <i>Muriel Ellen</i>, a cattle-boat, possessed a +boat in which to attempt a rescue.</p> +<p>All that experienced sailors could do in transferring the +helpless and unconscious form to the boat first, and then to the +sloop had been done; but it was no wonder that in the transit +Angela, more heedful of her brother’s safety than her own, +had fallen between, and been lost in the waves, to the extreme +grief of Tom Blaine, who had been one of her scholars, and +devoted to her, as all the boys of Vale Leston were.</p> +<p>The cattle-boat had few facilities for comfort, and all he +could do was to let Mr. Bernard Underwood lie, as softly as could +be contrived, on deck, and make sail for Ewmouth, so as to land +him as near home as possible. How far he had been conscious +it was impossible to say, though once he had asked for Angela, +but had seemed to understand from an evasion, that she was +missing, and had said no more, but muttered parts of these +requests, as if afraid of not being capable of them.</p> +<p>All this had been told or implied, while messages came down +that the surgeons did not think the injuries need be mortal, +provided the exhaustion and exposure had not fatal +consequences. The left arm, two ribs, and the leg had been +broken, and were reduced before the doctors ventured on a hopeful +report with which to send home the brother and sister. One +sight, Clement was allowed of a more unconscious, but much less +distressed face, and one murmur, “Noble! +Phyllis!” and he was promised a telegram later in the +day. The two hardly knew which to feel most; grief or +thankfulness, the loss or the mercy, and yet—and +yet—after the fitful, wayward, yet always devout life, with +all its strains, there was a sense of wistful acceptance of such +a close.</p> +<p>They felt it all the more deeply when, a day or two later, +Bernard was able to say, at intervals, for the injury rendered +speech difficult and almost dangerous, as Clement leant over +him—</p> +<p>“Yes! I woke to see her face over me, all bright +in wavy hair just as when we were children, and she said, +‘Bear! Bear! we are going together!’ Then +somehow she tried to help me to trust for Phyllis and +Lily.”</p> +<p>Then his voice sank, but presently he added, “There was +more, but it is like a dream. She was singing in her own, +own voice. There was ‘Lead, kindly Light!’ and +when it came to ‘Angel faces smile’ there was a +cry—quite glad—‘There! there on the +water! Felix! Coming for us! Oh! and another +One! Lord, into Thy hands.’ That is all I +know—a kiss here, and ‘Yes! thanks! For +me!’ But the lifting hurt so much that I lost all +sense, when she must have fallen between the wreck and the +boat. You are glad for her! Mine own! mine +Angel!”</p> +<p>“Safe home!” said Clement. “Oh, +thankworthy!”</p> +<h2><a name="page306"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +306</span>CHAPTER XXXII—ANCHORED</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Safe home, safe home in port,<br /> + Rent cordage, shattered deck;<br /> +Torn sails, provision short,<br /> + And only not a wreck;<br /> +But all the joy upon the shore,<br /> +To tell our voyage the perils o’er!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Safe</span> home! It might be said +in another sense for Bernard, for he was naturally so strong and +healthy that the effects of exposure and exhaustion were not long +in passing off, the injury to the chest proved to be only +temporary; and having cased him like a statue in plaster of +Paris, the surgeons decided, to the joy of his family, that the +more serious injuries would be better recovered from in the fresh +air of Vale Leston, than in the fishy, muddy atmosphere of +Ewmouth.</p> +<p>So he was transported thither, and installed in Felix’s +study, among the familiar sights and sounds, and where another +joy awaited him, and where he lay in happy stillness.</p> +<p>Phyllis had borne up bravely through the suspense, never +relinquishing a strong assurance of hope; but when that hope was +actually crowned by the first telegram, the reaction set in, and +she had broken down so entirely that her mother durst not let her +move at first, and indeed accompanied her and her little girl as +far as the junction, being herself on the way to Larne.</p> +<p>And Geraldine’s heart was at peace when she saw Phyllis +sitting by the bed, her hand in his, content to see and not to +speak. Another visitor appeared the following day, namely, +the Bishop of Albertstown, who had remained at Larne till he +could see his fellow passengers in safe hands. Then he had +crossed to Bristol, and before his hurried visit to his sisters +he could not but come to see his beloved old pupil, Clement, and +share with him those reminiscences of her, who, as he had only +now learnt, had given her young superabundant life for him, a man +growing into age, whose work might be nearly done.</p> +<p>He only saw Bernard in silence, but heard from Clement the +account of those last moments, which showed how entirely Angela +had been conscious of what she was doing, and how willingly she +had devoted herself to save those whom she loved and valued.</p> +<p>While yet they talked, there was a fresh arrival. Sir +Ferdinand Travis Underwood, who could not forbear the running +down to hear perfectly all that was to be heard, and to make +arrangements that might relieve Bernard’s mind, if he were +indeed on the way of recovery.</p> +<p>In fact, almost the first thought after that of the wife and +child had been the security of the drenched, stained, and soiled +pocket-book; nor would the patient be satisfied till he had been +allowed himself to hand it over to the head of his firm, with, +“There, Fernan, safe, though smashed with me. Tell +Brown.”</p> +<p>“Never mind Brown or anything else but getting well, +Bernard. I have taken our passage for next week. I +shall get things arranged so that you need not think of being +wanted again out there. We will find a berth for you in the +office in town, as soon as you are about again.”</p> +<p>Bernard’s eye lightened. “I +hope—”</p> +<p>But Ferdinand would not let him either thank or hope, scarcely +even allow any words from Phyllis, who could not be grateful +enough for the relief. To Alda, who had received her old +companion, since Marilda seemed unable to let her husband out of +her sight; it was explained that she was going too, happen what +would. Oh, yes, it was true she was a shocking bad sailor, +but she was not going to have Fernan’s ships running upon +rocks or getting on fire, or anything of that sort, without +her. She wanted to see about Ludmilla Schmetterling, who +was reported to have found a lover while studying at a class in +the States, and she also meant to settle her own especial niece +Emilia, whose husband was to take Bernard’s place in Ceylon +and who had become heartily tired of London’s second-rate +gaieties.</p> +<p>Those thus concerned met at the memorial service in the +morning before the Bishop quitted them, where many parishioners +gathered who had been spellbound in Angela’s freakish days +of early girlhood, and who were greatly touched when the +committal to the deep was inserted from the Forms of Prayer to be +used at Sea.</p> +<p>It brought a deep sense of awe and thankfulness to those who +had feared and wondered through the stormy uncertain life, and +now could exult in what was almost a martyrdom, and had brought +their beloved one to the great pure grave, as her Baptism for +eternity.</p> +<p>Some months later, while Bernard still lay on his couch, but +could speak and be glad, he rejoiced indeed, for a sore in his +heart was healed, when two fair babes were brought to +him,—a boy who would be as another firstborn son, and a +little maiden who would bear that name which had become dear and +saintly in the peculiar calendar of Vale Leston.</p> +<h2><a name="page310"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +310</span>CHAPTER XXXIII—FAREWELL</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Nay, your pardon! Cry you, +‘Forward.’ Yours are youth, we hope—but +I?”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span +class="smcap">Browning</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> visit of the Bishop of +Albertstown had, in fact, been deferred till he could quit his +fellow-sufferers, especially Wilfred, who could not well be left +to the charge of the two girls, with the Larne doctor evidently +in difficulty about his case.</p> +<p>It was with great joy that a telegram was received with +tidings that General Mohun and Mysie were on the way, and also +Magdalen Prescott, who met them at Liverpool, being unable to +stay away from Agatha under such circumstances. At Belfast +they obtained a trained nurse, and a doctor was to follow +them.</p> +<p>The joy of the meeting between Magdalen and Agatha was almost +that of mother and daughter, and nothing could be more entirely +convincing that they were one.</p> +<p>Indeed, Agatha was thoroughly worn out; for the main strain of +attendance had fallen upon her, since the Bishop was fully +occupied with some of the seriously hurt in other cottages; and +though Dolores tried to be helpful, it was chiefly in outside +work, and attempts at sick cookery, in which she was rather too +scientific, and found the lack of appliances very +inconvenient. Besides, cousin though she was, or perhaps +for that very reason, Wilfred was far less amenable to her voice +than Agatha’s; and if she attempted authority it was sure +to rouse all the resistance left in him. Agatha had been +constantly on the alert, liable to be called on every half-hour, +to soothe fretful distress over impossible impatience at delay, +anger at want of comforts, and dolefulness over the chances of +improvements, and abuse, whether just or not, of the only +accessible doctor.</p> +<p>In fact, Magdalen, on seeing how utterly worn out she was, and +how little space the cottages afforded, thought it best, now that +the patient was in the hands of sister, uncle, and nurse, to +carry her off at once by the return car to Larne; and Dolores +thought it best to accompany them, after Mysie had hung on her as +one restored from death. But Mysie was absorbed in her +brother, and Dolores had a strong yearning to be with her father, +so strong that she decided not to return to England, but to +procure a second outfit at Belfast, and to set forth again from +thence, nothing daunted, for, as she said (not carelessly), such +things did not happen immediately after, in a second +voyage. In fact, though thankful and impressed by the loss +of the others, she had gone through the crisis of the life of her +heart and affections, and she had likewise been once in imminent +peril through a convulsion of nature. Thus she was inclined +to look on the wreck and the Irish cliffs as an experience in the +way of business, so she was resolved to see the Giant’s +Causeway, and to make notes upon it for her lectures.</p> +<p>But it was a different thing with Agatha. She had been +brought face to face with death; and though the actual time had +been spent in hurry and bustle, and even the subsequent tossing +in the boat had been not so much waiting and thinking as +attending to others more terrified and injured than herself, and +there followed the incessant waiting on Wilfred; still the +experiences had worked in. She rested very silently, +dwelling little to Magdalen on her thoughts; but each word she +said, and her very countenance, showed that she had made a great +step in life and realised the spiritual world, which hitherto had +been outside her life—not disbelieved, but almost matter of +speculation and study.</p> +<p>She was not at all desirous of falling back from Dolores, +whose grave steadiness and fortitude, the result of a truly brave +and deep trust, had given her a sense of confidence and +protection. So they wrote, and arranged for their passage, +and, with Magdalen, spent the intermediate time in needful +preparations at Belfast, and in an expedition to the Causeway, +where they laid in a stock of notes and observations, all in a +spirit that made Magdalen feel that she knew both in a manner she +had never done before, and loved them with a deep value and +confidence.</p> +<p>Wilfred meanwhile made very slow, if any, progress.</p> +<p>They took him to Belfast as soon as it was possible, and his +mother came to him. He was gentle and quiet, with little +power of movement, and scarcely any of thought; and in a +consultation of doctors, the verdict was given that he must be +carefully tended for months, if not for years to come; and though +there might finally be full recovery, yet it would depend on the +most tender and careful treatment of body and mind. London +doctors, when he could be moved thither, confirmed the decision, +and he began a helpless invalid life, in which a certain +indifference and dulness made him a much less peevish and trying +patient than would have been anticipated. Mysie was his +willing, but intelligent slave; and his mother was not only +thankful to have him brought back to her at any price, but +really—though she would not have confessed it even to +herself—was less troubled and anxious about him than she +had been since he had begun to “roam in youth’s +uncertain wilds.” Indeed, there were hopes that slow +recovery might find him a much changed person in character.</p> +<p>He had become so uninterested in his former predilections that +he heard with little emotion that Vera was to marry Petros +White.</p> +<p>“I thought she would take up with some cad,” he +said. But his family were really glad that this wedding was +to take place at Rocca Marina, whither the two sisters and +Magdalen were invited.</p> +<p>Paulina would not go. She still resented the treatment +of Hubert Delrio, and she was devoted to her study of nursing at +the Dearport Sisterhood; but Magdalen thought it right to take +Thekla, and give her the advantages of improvement in languages, +and the sight of fine scenery.</p> +<p>And certainly Rocca Marina was a wonderful place for +marriages. Vera, handsome and happy and likely to turn into +a fairly good commonplace wife, had no sooner been sent off on a +honeymoon tour to Greece and Egypt, and Mrs. White had begged the +other two to prolong their visit, considering, perhaps, if one or +the other aunt or niece could not be promoted to the vacant post +of lady-in-waiting, than Hubert Delrio came to secure specimens +of marble for some mosaic work on which he was engaged. He +was fast becoming a man of mark, whom the Whites were delighted +to receive and entertain, and who was delighted to be with the +old friends who had had so great an influence on his life. +And was it Magdalen alone to whom he chiefly looked up as his +helper and guide? So he thought; but before the time of +separation had come, he had found out that Thekla was far +prettier than ever Vera had been, and with a mind and +principle—no Flapsy, but a real sympathetic and poetic +nature, which had grown up in these years. Young as she +was, their destinies were fixed.</p> +<p>And Magdalen? The railroad had obtained authority to +pass through the Goyle, and thus break up her home and +shelter. Still she was not tempted by Adeline White’s +desire to make her a companion; but rather she accepted the plan +on which Dolores had first started, and on which Elizabeth +Merrifield and Miss Arthuret were set, of making her the head of +their home at Penbeacon, partly a convalescent home, and partly a +training college for young women in need of technical instruction +in nursing or other possible feminine avocations. Tom May +was delighted with all it might set on foot, and Clement saw in +her leading the hopes that a high and pure spirit might inspire +it.</p> +<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> +<p><a name="footnote100"></a><a href="#citation100" +class="footnote">[100]</a> It is Russian, and means +Faith.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN BROODS***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 7191-h.htm or 7191-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/7/1/9/7191 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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