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diff --git a/old/mdbr10h.htm b/old/mdbr10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7394248 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mdbr10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7800 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Modern Broods</title> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Modern Broods, by Charlotte Mary Yonge</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Modern Broods, by Charlotte Mary Yonge + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Modern Broods + +Author: Charlotte Mary Yonge + +Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7191] +[This file was first posted on March 26, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1900 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<h1>MODERN BROODS, or DEVELOPMENTS UNLOOKED FOR</h1> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER I - TORTOISES AND HARES</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“Whate’er is good to wish, ask that of Heaven,<br />Though +it be what thou canst not hope to see.”<br />- HARTLEY COLERIDGE.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER II - THE GOYLE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“A poor thing, but mine own.” - SHAKESPEARE.</p> +<p>“Thaay stwuns, thaay stwuns, thaay stwuns, thaay stwuns.”<br /> - +T. HUGHES, <i>Scouring of the White Horse.</i></p> +<p>Magdalen Prescott 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“With centric and concentric scribbled o’er<br />Cycle +and epicycle orb in orb.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER III - THE FIRST SUNDAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<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.”<br />- SHAKESPEARE.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Sunday 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER IV - CYCLES</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“What flowers grow in my field wherewith to dress thee.”<br />- +E. BARRETT BROWNING.</p> +<p>Mrs. Best 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“I thought it was a crazy bull<br /> Firing +a blunderbuss - ”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>She paused for recollection, and Magdalen went on -</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER V - CLIPSTONE FRIENDS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“What idle progeny succeed<br />To chase the rolling circle’s +speed,<br />Or urge the flying ball.” - GRAY.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER VI - THE FRESCOES OF ST. KENELM’S</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Earn well the thrifty months, nor wed<br />Raw Haste, half-sister +to Delay. - TENNYSON.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER VII - SISTER AND SISTERS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<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.”<br />ADELAIDE PROCTER.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Agatha 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII - SNOBBISHNESS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“Why then should vain repinings rise,<br />That to thy lover +fate denies<br />A nobler name, a wide domain?” - SCOTT.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER IX - GONE OVER TO THE ENEMY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“Can I teach thee, my beloved? can I teach thee?”<br />E. +B. BROWNING.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Agatha 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER X - FLOWN</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“Till now thy soul hath been all glad and gay,<br />Bid it +arise and look on grief to-day.”<br />ADELAIDE PROCTOR.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>There 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">{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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XI - ADRIFT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“She splashed, and she dashed, and she turned herself round,<br />And +heartily wished herself safe on the ground.”<br />JANE TAYLOR.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>And 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XII - “THE KITTIWAKE”</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“Good luck to your fishing! Whom watch ye to-night?<br />A +man of mean, or a man of might?” - SCOTT.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Something 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII - CHIMERAS DIRE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“Qu’allait-il faire dans cette galère?”<br />FRENCH +COMEDY.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Vera’s 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV - PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“I marry without more ado,<br />My dear Dick Red Cap, what +say you?”<br />COWPER.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XV - BROODS ASTRAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<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.”<br />- TENNYSON.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Man 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI - THE REGIMENT OF WOMEN</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“And happier than the merriest games<br />Is the joy of our +new and nobler aims.”<br />F. R. HAVERGAL.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Miss Mohun 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII - FOXGLOVES AND FLIRTATIONS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“With her venturous climbings, and tumbles, and childish escapes.”<br />TENNYSON.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Hubert Delrio, 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“For all ran to see,<br />For they took him to be<br /> An +Egyptian porcupig,”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII - PALACES OR CHURCHES</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<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.”<br />- +MACDONALD.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Those 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX - TWO WEDDINGS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<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.”<br />ANSTICE <i>(from the Greek).</i></p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Epidemics 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XX - FLEETING</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“And variable as the shade<br />By the light quivering aspen +made.”<br />- SCOTT.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI - THE ELECTRICIANS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p> “Thou shalt have the air<br />Of freedom. +Follow and do me service.”<br />- “THE TEMPEST.”</p> +<p>“Is 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII - ANGEL AND BEAR</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<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.”<br />- WORDSWORTH.</p> +<p>A telegram 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“His sister she went beyond the seas,<br />And died an old +maid among black savagees.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII - WILLOW WIDOWS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p> “Set your heart at rest.<br />The fairyland +buys not that child of me.<br />- “MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.”</p> +<p>An 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV - CRUEL LAWYERS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<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.”<br />- LOWELL.</p> +<p>There 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV - BEAR AS ADVISER</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“Weary soul and burthened sore<br />Labouring with thy secret +load.”<br />- KEBLE.</p> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI - NEW PATHS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“I’ll put a girdle round the earth<br />In forty minutes.”<br />- +SHAKESPEARE.</p> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII - A SENTENCE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“What should we give for our beloved?”<br />- E. B. BROWNING.</p> +<p>No 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII - SUMMONED</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“What would we give to our beloved?”<br />- E. B. BROWNING.</p> +<p>“I wish 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“That in mine age as cheerful I might be,<br />Like the green +winter of the holly tree.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX - SAFE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“Rest beyond all grief and pain,<br />Death to thee is truest +gain.”<br />KEBLE.</p> +<p>Angela’s 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX - THE MAIDEN ROCKS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“What need we more if hearts be true,<br />Our voyage safe, +our port in view.”<br />- KEBLE.</p> +<p>A telegram 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“CORNCASTLE, LARNE, CO. ANTRIM, IRELAND,<br /><i>October</i> +12.</p> +<p>“DEAREST AUNT LILY, -</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>“Your most loving niece,</p> +<p>“D. M. MOHUN.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI - THE WRECK</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“How purer were earth, if all its martyrdoms,<br />If all its +struggling sighs of sacrifice<br />Were swept away!”<br />E. HAMILTON +KING.</p> +<p>No 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p><i>Muriel Ellen</i>, Ewmouth Harbour, October 14th. Blaine +to Rev. Underwood. Brother here. Come to infirmary.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII - ANCHORED</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<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> +<p>Safe 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII - FAREWELL</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>“Nay, your pardon! Cry you, ‘Forward.’ +Yours are youth, we hope - but I?”<br />- BROWNING.</p> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<p><a name="footnote100"></a><a href="#citation100">{100}</a> +It is Russian, and means Faith.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<p>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, MODERN BROODS ***</p> +<pre> + +******This file should be named mdbr10h.htm or mdbr10h.zip****** +Corrected EDITIONS of our EBooks get a new NUMBER, mdbr11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, mdbr10ah.htm + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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