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diff --git a/21229.txt b/21229.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ec031e --- /dev/null +++ b/21229.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4426 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Thistle and Rose, by Amy Walton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Thistle and Rose + A Story for Girls + +Author: Amy Walton + +Illustrator: R. Barnes + +Release Date: April 27, 2007 [EBook #21229] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THISTLE AND ROSE *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Thistle and Rose +A Story for Girls + +By Amy Walton +________________________________________________________________________ +A gently moving story for girls. Anna is aged fifteen, and her father +needs to go abroad on business for a while. Her mother had died before +Anna could remember. Anna is to go to Dornton to stay while her father +is away, and she is looking forward to meeting her relatives, including +her grandfather, who had been estranged from her father for many years. + +The grandfather is living quietly in a small house "with no servants" +and has a job as organist in Dornton church. He is well-known as an +excellent teacher of music, especially the violin. + +The story goes on from there. The book is not a long one, and the +audiobook takes a little over four hours. NH +________________________________________________________________________ + +THISTLE AND ROSE +A STORY FOR GIRLS + +BY AMY WALTON + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +THE PICTURE. + + A countenance in which did meet + Sweet records, promises as sweet. + + Wordsworth. + +"And so, my dear Anna, you really leave London to-morrow!" + +"By the ten o'clock train," added an eager voice, "and I shan't get to +Dornton until nearly five. Father will go with me to Paddington, and +then I shall be alone all the way. My very first journey by myself--and +such a long one!" + +"You don't seem to mind the idea," said the governess, with a glance at +her pupil's bright, smiling face. "You don't mind leaving all the +people and things you have been used to all your life?" + +Anna tried to look grave. "I see so little of father, you know," she +said, "and I'm sure I shall like the country better than London. I +shall miss _you_, of course, dear Miss Milverton," she added quickly, +bending forward to kiss her governess. + +Miss Milverton gave a little shake of the head, as she returned the +kiss; perhaps she did not believe in being very much missed. + +"You are going to new scenes and new people," she said, "and at your +age, Anna, it is easier to forget than to remember. I should like to +think, though, that some of our talks and lessons during the last seven +years might stay in your mind." + +She spoke wistfully, and her face looked rather sad. As she saw it, +Anna felt ungrateful to be so glad to go away, and was ready to promise +anything. "Oh, of course they will," she exclaimed. "Indeed, I will +never forget what you have told me. I couldn't." + +"You have lived so very quietly hitherto," continued Miss Milverton, +"that it will be a new thing for you to be thrown with other people. +They will be nearly all strangers to you at Waverley, I think?" + +"There will be Aunt Sarah and Uncle John at the Rectory," said Anna. +"Aunt Sarah, of course, I know; but I've never seen Uncle John. He's +father's brother, you know. Then there's Dornton; that's just a little +town near. I don't know any one there, but I suppose Aunt Sarah does. +Waverley's quite in the country, with a lovely garden--oh, I do so long +to see it!" + +"You will make friends, too, of your own age, I daresay," said Miss +Milverton. + +"Oh, I hope so," said Anna earnestly. "It has been so dull here +sometimes! After you go away in the afternoon there's nothing to do, +and when father dines out there's no one to talk to all the evening. +You can't think how tired I get of reading." + +"Well, it will be more cheerful and amusing for you at Waverley, no +doubt," said Miss Milverton, "and I hope you will be very happy there; +but what I want to say to you is this: Try, whether you are at Waverley +or wherever you are, to value the best things in yourself and others." + +Anna's bright eyes were gazing over the blind into the street, where a +man with a basket of flowers on his head was crying, "All a-blowing and +a-growing." In the country she would be able to pick flowers instead of +buying them. She smiled at the thought, and said absently, "Yes, Miss +Milverton." Miss Milverton's voice, which always had a regretful sound +in it, went steadily on, while Anna's bright fancies danced about gaily. + +"It is so easy to value the wrong things most. They often look so +attractive, and the best things lie so deeply hidden from us. And yet, +to find them out and treasure them, and be true to them, makes the +difference between a worthy and an unworthy life. If you look for them, +my dear Anna, you will find them. My last wish before we part is, that +you may be quick to see, and ready to do them honour, and to prize them +as they should be prized. Bless you, my dear!" + +Miss Milverton had felt what she said so deeply, that the tears stood in +her eyes, as she finished her speech and kissed her pupil for the last +time. + +Anna returned the kiss affectionately, and as she followed her governess +out into the hall and opened the door for her, she was quite sorry to +think that she had so often been tiresome at her lessons. Perhaps she +had helped to make Miss Milverton's face so grave and her voice so sad. +Now she should not see her any more, and there was no chance of doing +better. + +For full five minutes after she had waved a last good-bye, Anna remained +in a sober mood, looking thoughtfully at all the familiar, dingy objects +in the schoolroom, where she and Miss Milverton had passed so many +hours. It was not a cheerful room. Carpet, curtains, paper, everything +in it had become of one brownish-yellow hue, as though the London fog +had been shut up in it, and never escaped again. Even the large globes, +which stood one on each side of the fireplace, had the prevailing tinge +over their polished, cracked surfaces; but as Anna's eye fell on these, +her heart gave a sudden bound of joy. She would never have to do +problems again! She would never have to pass any more dull hours in +this room, with Miss Milverton's grave face opposite to her, and the +merest glimpses of sunshine peering in now and then over the brown +blinds. No more sober walks in Kensington Gardens, where she had so +often envied the ragged children, who could play about, and laugh, and +run, and do as they liked. There would be freedom now, green fields, +flowers, companions perhaps of her own age. Everything new, everything +gay and bright, no more dullness, no more tedious days--after all, she +was glad, very glad! + +It was so pleasant to think of, that she could not help dancing round +and round the big table all alone, snapping her fingers at the globes as +she passed them. When she was tired, she flung herself into Miss +Milverton's brown leather chair, and looked up at the clock, which had +gone soberly on its way as though nothing were to be changed in Anna's +life. She felt provoked with its placid face. "To-morrow at this +time," she said to it, half aloud, "I shan't be here, and Miss Milverton +won't be here, and I shall be seeing new places and new people, and--oh, +I do wonder what it will all be like!" + +The clock ticked steadily on, regardless of anything but its own +business. Half-past six! Miss Milverton had stayed longer than usual. +Anna began to wonder what time her father would be home. They were to +dine together on this, their last evening, but Mr Forrest was so +absorbed in his preparations for leaving England that he was likely to +be very late. Perhaps he would not be in till eight o'clock, and even +then would have his mind too full of business to talk much at dinner, +and would spend the evening in writing letters. Anna sighed. There +were some questions she very much wanted to ask him, and this would be +her only chance. To-morrow she was to go to Waverley, and the next day +Mr Forrest started for America, and she would not see him again for two +whole years. + +It was strange to think of, but not altogether sad from Anna's point of +view, for her father was almost a stranger to her. He lived a life +apart, into which she had never entered: his friends, his business, his +frequent journeys abroad, occupied him fully, and he was quite content +that Anna's welfare should be left in the hands of Miss Milverton, her +daily governess. It was Aunt Sarah who recommended Miss Milverton to +the post, which she had now filled, with ceaseless kindness and +devotion, for seven years. "You will find her invaluable," Mrs Forrest +had said to her brother-in-law, and so she was. When Anna was ill, she +nursed her; when she wanted change of air, she took her to the sea-side; +she looked after her both in body and mind, with the utmost +conscientiousness. But there was one thing she could not do: she could +not be an amusing companion for a girl of fifteen, and Anna had often +been lonely and dull. + +Now that was all over. A sudden change had come into her life. The +London house was to be given up, her father was going away, and she was +to be committed to Aunt Sarah's instruction and care for two whole +years. Waverley and Aunt Sarah, instead of London and Miss Milverton! +It was a change indeed, in more than one way, for although Anna was +nearly fifteen, she had never yet stayed in the country; her ideas of it +were gathered from books, and from what she could see from a railway +carriage, as Miss Milverton and she were carried swiftly on their way to +the sea-side for their annual change of air. She thought of it all now, +as she sat musing in the old brown chair. + +It had often seemed strange that Aunt Sarah, who arranged everything, +and to whom appeal was always made in matters which concerned Anna, +should never have asked her to stay at Waverley before. Certainly there +were no children at the Rectory, but still it would have been natural, +she thought, for was not Uncle John her father's own brother, and she +had never even seen him! + +Aunt Sarah came to London occasionally and stayed the night, and had +long talks with Mr Forrest and Miss Milverton, but she had never hinted +at a visit from Anna. + +When, a little later, her father came bustling in, with a preoccupied +pucker on his brow, and his most absent manner, she almost gave up all +idea of asking questions. Dinner passed in perfect silence, and she was +startled when Mr Forrest suddenly mentioned the very place that was in +her mind. + +"Well, Anna," he said, "I've been to Waverley to-day." + +"Oh, father, have you?" she answered eagerly. + +Mr Forrest sipped his wine reflectively. + +"How old are you?" he asked. + +"Fifteen next August," replied Anna. + +"Then," he continued, half to himself, "it must be over sixteen years +since I saw Waverley and Dornton." + +"Are they just the same?" asked his daughter; "are they pretty places?" + +"Waverley's pretty enough. Your Uncle John has built another room, and +spoilt the look of the old house, but that's the only change I can see." + +"And Dornton," said Anna, "what is that like?" + +"Dornton," said Mr Forrest absently--"Dornton is the same dull little +hole of a town I remember it then." + +"Oh," said Anna in a disappointed voice. + +"There's a fine old church, though, and the river's nice enough. I used +to know every turn in that river.--Well," rising abruptly and leaning +his arm against the mantel-piece, "it's a long while ago--a long while +ago--it's like another life." + +"Used you to stay often at Waverley?" Anna ventured to ask presently. + +Mr Forrest had fallen into a day-dream, with his eyes fixed on the +ground. He looked up when Anna spoke as though he had forgotten her +presence. + +"It was there I first met your mother," he said, "or rather, at Dornton. +We were married in Dornton church." + +"Oh," said Anna, very much interested, "did mother live at Dornton? I +never knew that." + +"And that reminds me," said Mr Forrest, taking a leather case out of +his pocket, and speaking with an effort, "I've something I want to give +you before you go away. You may as well have it now. To-morrow we +shall be both in a hurry. Come here." + +He opened the case and showed her a small round portrait painted on +ivory. It was the head of a girl of eighteen, exquisitely fair, with +sweet, modest-looking eyes. "Your mother," he said briefly. + +Anna almost held her breath. She had never seen a picture of her mother +before, and had very seldom heard her mentioned. + +"How lovely!" she exclaimed. "May I really have it to keep?" + +"I had it copied for you from the original," said Mr Forrest. + +"Oh, father, thank you so much," said Anna earnestly. "I do so love to +have it." + +Mr Forrest turned away suddenly, and walked to the window. He was +silent for some minutes, and Anna stood with the case in her hand, not +daring to speak to him. She had an instinct that it was a painful +subject. + +"Well," he said at last, "I need not tell you to take care of it. When +I come back you'll be nearly as old as she was when that was painted. I +can't hope more than that you may be half as good and beautiful." + +Anna gazed earnestly at the portrait. There were some words in tiny +letters beneath it: "Priscilla Goodwin," she read, "aged eighteen." + +Priscilla! A soft, gentle sort of name, which seemed to suit the face. + +If father wanted me to look like this, she thought to herself, he +shouldn't have called me "Anna." How could any one named Anna grow so +pretty! + +"Why was I named Anna?" she asked. + +"It was your mother's wish," replied Mr Forrest. "I believe it was her +mother's name." + +"Is my grandmother alive?" said Anna. + +"No; she died years before I ever saw your mother. Your grandfather, +old Mr Goodwin, is living still--at Dornton." + +"At Dornton!" exclaimed Anna in extreme surprise. "Then why don't I go +to stay with him while you're away, instead of at Waverley?" + +"Because," said Mr Forrest, turning from the window to face his +daughter, "it has been otherwise arranged." + +Anna knew that tone of her father's well; it meant that she had asked an +undesirable question. She was silent, but her eager face showed that +she longed to hear more. + +"Your grandfather and I have not been very good friends," said Mr +Forrest at length, "and have not met for a good many years--but you're +too young to understand all that. He lives in a very quiet sort of way. +Once, if he had chosen, he might have risen to a different position. +But he didn't choose, and he remains what he has been for the last +twenty years--organist of Dornton church. He has great musical talent, +I've always been told, but I'm no judge of that." + +These new things were quite confusing to Anna; it was difficult to +realise them all at once. The beautiful, fair-haired mother, whose +picture she held in her hand, was not so strange. But her grandfather! +She had never even heard of his existence, and now she would very soon +see him and talk to him. Her thoughts, hitherto occupied with Waverley +and the Rectory, began to busy themselves with the town of Dornton, the +church where her mother had been married, and the house where she had +lived. + +"Aunt Sarah knows my grandfather, of course," she said aloud. "He will +come to Waverley, and I shall go sometimes to see him at Dornton?" + +"Oh, no doubt, no doubt, your aunt will arrange all that," said Mr +Forrest wearily. "And now you must leave me, Anna; I've no time to +answer any more questions. Tell Mary to take a lamp into the study, and +bring me coffee. I have heaps of letters to write, and people to see +this evening." + +"Your aunt will arrange all that!" What a familiar sentence that was. +Anna had heard it so often that she had come to look upon Aunt Sarah as +a person whose whole office in life was to arrange and settle the +affairs of other people, and who was sure to do it in the best possible +way. + +When she opened her eyes the next morning, her first movement was to +feel under her pillow for the case which held the picture of her mother. +She had a half fear that she might have dreamt all that her father had +told her. No. It was real. The picture was there. The gentle face +seemed to smile at her as she opened the case. How nice to have such a +beautiful mother! As she dressed, she made up her mind that she would +go to see her grandfather directly she got to Waverley. What would he +be like? Her father had spoken of his musical talent in a half-pitying +sort of way. Anna was not fond of music, and she very much hoped that +her grandfather would not be too much wrapped up in it to answer all her +questions. Well, she would soon find out everything about him. Her +reflections were hurried away by the bustle of departure, for Mr +Forrest, though he travelled so much, could never start on a journey +without agitation and fuss, and fears as to losing his train. So, for +the next hour, until Anna was safely settled in a through carriage for +Dornton, with her ticket in her purse, a benevolent old lady opposite to +her, and the guard prepared to give her every attention, there was no +time to realise anything, except that she must make haste. + +"Well, I think you're all right now," said Mr Forrest, with a sigh of +relief, as he rested from his exertions. "Look out for your aunt on the +platform at Dornton; she said she would meet you herself.--Why," looking +at his watch, "you don't start for six minutes. We needn't have hurried +after all. Well, there's no object in waiting, as I'm so busy; so I'll +say good-bye now. Remember to write when you get down. Take care of +yourself." + +He kissed his daughter, and was soon out of sight in the crowded +station. Anna had now really begun her first journey out into the +world. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +DORNTON. + +A bird of the air shall carry the matter. + +On the same afternoon as that on which Anna was travelling towards +Waverley, Mrs Hunt, the doctor's wife in Dornton, held one of her +working parties. This was not at all an unusual event, for the ladies +of Dornton and the neighbourhood had undertaken to embroider some +curtains for their beautiful old church, and this necessitated a weekly +meeting of two hours, followed by the refreshment of tea, and +conversation. The people of Dornton were fond of meeting in each +other's houses, and very sociably inclined. They met to work, they met +to read Shakespeare, they met to sing and to play the piano, they met to +discuss interesting questions, and they met to talk. It was not, +perhaps, so much what they met to do that was the important thing, as +the fact of meeting. + +"So pleasant to _meet_, isn't it?" one lady would say to the other. +"I'm not very musical, you know, but I've joined the glee society, +because it's an excuse for _meeting_." + +And, certainly, of all the houses in Dornton where these meetings were +held, Dr Hunt's was the favourite. Mrs Hunt was so amiable and +pleasant, the tea was so excellent, and the conversation of a most +superior flavour. There was always the chance, too, that the doctor +might look in for a moment at tea-time, and though he was discretion +itself, and never gossiped about his patients, it was interesting to +gather from his face whether he was anxious, or the reverse, as to any +special case. + +This afternoon, therefore, Mrs Hunt's drawing-room presented a busy and +animated scene. It was a long, low room, with French windows, through +which a pleasant old garden, with a wide lawn and shady trees, glimpses +of red roofs beyond, and a church tower, could be seen. Little tables +were placed at convenient intervals, holding silk, scissors, cushions +full of needles and pins, and all that could be wanted for the work in +hand, which was to be embroidered in separate strips; over these many +ladies were already deeply engaged, though it was quite early, and there +were still some empty seats. + +"Shall we see Mrs Forrest this afternoon?" asked one of those who sat +near the hostess at the end of the room. + +"I think not," replied Mrs Hunt, as she greeted a new-comer; "she told +me she had to drive out to Losenick about the character of a +maid-servant." + +"Oh, well," returned the other with a little shake of the head, "even +Mrs Forrest can't manage to be in two places at once, can she?" + +Mrs Hunt smiled, and looked pleasantly round on her assembled guests, +but did not make any other answer. + +"Although I was only saying this morning, there's very little Mrs +Forrest can't do if she makes up her mind to it," resumed Miss Gibbins, +the lady who had first spoken. "Look at all her arrangements at +Waverley! It's well known that she manages the schools almost +entirely--and then her house--so elegant, so orderly--and such a way +with her maids! _Some_ people consider her a little stiff in her +manner, but I don't _know_ that I should call her that." + +She glanced inquiringly at Mrs Hunt, who still smiled and said nothing. + +"It's not such a very difficult thing," said Mrs Hurst, the wife of the +curate of Dornton, "to be a good manager, or to have good servants, if +you have plenty of money." She pressed her lips together rather +bitterly, as she bent over her work. + +"There was one thing, though," pursued Miss Gibbins, dropping her voice +a little, "that Mrs Forrest was not able to prevent, and that was her +brother-in-law's marriage. I happen to know that she felt that very +much. And it _was_ a sad mistake altogether, wasn't it?" + +She addressed herself pointedly to Mrs Hunt, who was gazing serenely +out into the garden, and that lady murmured in a soft tone: + +"Poor Prissy Goodwin! How pretty and nice she was!" + +"Oh, as to that, dear Mrs Hunt," broke in a stout lady with round eyes +and a very deep voice, who had newly arrived, "that's not quite the +question. Poor Prissy was very pretty, and very nice and refined, and +as good as gold. We all know that. But _was_ it the right marriage for +Mr Bernard Forrest? An organist's daughter! or you might even say, a +music-master's daughter!" + +"Old Mr Goodwin has aged very much lately," remarked Mrs Hunt. "I met +him this morning, looking so tired, that I made him come in and rest a +little. He had been giving a lesson to Mrs Palmer's children out at +Pynes." + +"How kind and thoughtful of you, dear Mrs Hunt," said Miss Gibbins. +"That's very far for him to walk. I wonder he doesn't give it up. I +suppose, though, he can't afford to do that." + +"I don't think he has ever been the same man since Prissy's marriage," +said Mrs Hunt, "though he plays the organ more beautifully than ever." + +With her spectacles perched upon her nose, her hands crossed comfortably +on her lap, and a most beaming smile on her face, Mrs Hunt looked the +picture of contented idleness, while her guests stitched away busily, +with flying fingers, and heads bent over their work. She had done about +half an inch of the pattern on her strip, and now, her needle being +unthreaded, made no attempt to continue it. + +"Delia's coming in presently," she remarked placidly, meeting Miss +Gibbins' sharp glance as it rested on her idle hands; "she will take my +work a little while--ah, here she is," as the door opened. + +A girl of about sixteen came towards them, stopping to speak to the +ladies as she passed them on her way up the room. She was short for her +age, and rather squarely built, holding herself very upright, and +walking with calmness and decision. + +Everything about Delia Hunt seemed to express determination, from her +firm chin to her dark curly hair, which would always look rough, +although it was brushed back from her forehead and fastened up securely +in a knot at the back of her head. Nothing could make it lie flat and +smooth, however, and in spite of all Delia's efforts, it curled and +twisted itself defiantly wherever it had a chance. Perhaps, by doing +so, it helped to soften a face which would have been a little hard +without the good-tempered expression which generally filled the bright +brown eyes. + +"That sort of marriage never answers," said Mrs Winn, as Delia reached +her mother's side. "Just see what unhappiness it caused. It was a +bitter blow to Mr and Mrs Forrest; it made poor old Mr Goodwin +miserable, and separated him from his only child; and as to Prissy +herself--well, the poor thing didn't live to find out her mistake, and +left her little daughter to feel the consequences of it." + +"Poor little motherless darling," murmured Mrs Hunt.--"Del, my love, go +on with my work a little, while I say a few words to old Mrs Crow." + +Delia took her mother's place, threaded her needle, raised her eyebrows +with an amused air, as she examined the work accomplished, and bent her +head industriously over it. + +"Doesn't it seem quite impossible," said Miss Gibbins, "to realise that +Prissy's daughter is really coming to Waverley to-morrow! Why, it seems +the other day that I saw Prissy married in Dornton church!" + +"It must be fifteen years ago at the least," said Mrs Winn, in such +deep tones that they seemed to roll round the room. "The child must be +fourteen years old." + +"She wore grey cashmere," said Miss Gibbins, reflectively, "and a little +white bonnet. And the sun streamed in upon her through the painted +window. I remember thinking she looked like a dove. I wonder if the +child is like her." + +"The Forrests have never taken much notice of Mr Goodwin, since the +marriage," said Mrs Hurst, "but I suppose, now his grandchild is to +live there, all that will be altered." + +Delia looked quickly up at the speaker, but checked the words on her +lips, and said nothing. + +"You can't do away with the ties of blood," said Mrs Winn; "the child's +his grandchild. You can't ignore that." + +"Why should you want to ignore it?" asked Delia, suddenly raising her +eyes and looking straight at her. + +The attack was so unexpected that Mrs Winn had no answer ready. She +remained speechless, with her large grey eyes wider open than usual, for +quite a minute before she said, "These are matters, Delia, which you are +too young to understand." + +"Perhaps I am," answered Delia; "but I can understand one thing very +well, and that is, that Mr Goodwin is a grandfather that any one ought +to be proud of, and that, if his relations are not proud of him, it is +because they're not worthy of him." + +"Oh, well," said Miss Gibbins, shaking her head rather nervously as she +looked at Delia, "we all know what a champion Mr Goodwin has in you, +Delia. `Music with its silver sound' draws you together, as Shakespeare +says. And, of course, we're all proud of our organist in Dornton, and, +of course, he has great talent. Still, you know, when all's said and +done, he _is_ a music-master, and in quite a different position from the +Forrests." + +"Socially," said Mrs Winn, placing her large, white hand flat on the +table beside her, to emphasise her words, "Mr Goodwin is not on the +same footing. When Delia is older she will know what that means." + +"I know it now," replied Delia. "I never consider them on the same +footing at all. There are plenty of clergymen everywhere, but where +could you find any one who can play the violin like Mr Goodwin?" + +She fixed her eyes with innocent inquiry on Mrs Winn. Mrs Hurst +bridled a little. + +"I do think," she said, "that clergymen occupy a position quite apart. +I like Mr Goodwin very much. I've always thought him a nice old +gentleman, and Herbert admires his playing, but--" + +"Of course, of course," said Mrs Winn, "we must be all agreed as to +that.--You're too fond, my dear Delia, of giving your opinion on +subjects where ignorance should keep you silent. A girl of your age +should try to behave herself, lowly and reverently, to all her betters." + +"So I do," said Delia, with a smile; "in fact, I feel so lowly and +reverent sometimes, that I could almost worship Mr Goodwin. I am ready +to humble myself to the dust, when I hear him playing the violin." + +Mrs Winn was preparing to make a severe answer to this, when Miss +Gibbins, who was tired of being silent, broke adroitly in, and changed +the subject. + +"You missed a treat last Thursday, Mrs Winn, by losing the Shakespeare +reading. It was rather far to get out to Pynes, to be sure, but it was +worth the trouble, to hear Mrs Hurst read `Arthur.'" + +The curate's wife gave a little smile, which quickly faded as Miss +Gibbins continued: "I had no idea there was anything so touching in +Shakespeare. Positively melting! And then Mrs Palmer looked so well! +She wore that rich plum-coloured silk, you know, with handsome lace, and +a row of most beautiful lockets. I thought to myself, as she stood up +to read in that sumptuous drawing-room, that the effect was regal. +`Regal,' I said afterwards, is the only word to express Mrs Palmer's +appearance this afternoon." + +"What part did Mrs Palmer read?" asked Delia, as Miss Gibbins looked +round for sympathy. + +"Let me see. Dear me, it's quite escaped my memory. Ah, I have it. It +was the mother of the poor little boy, but I forget her name.--You will +know, Mrs Hurst; you have such a memory!" + +"It was Constance," said the curate's wife. "Mrs Palmer didn't do +justice to the part. It was rather too much for her. Indeed, I don't +consider that they arranged the parts well last time. They gave my +husband nothing but `messengers,' and the Vicar had `King John.' Now, I +don't want to be partial, but I think most people would agree that +Herbert reads Shakespeare _rather_ better than the Vicar." + +"I wonder," said Miss Gibbins, turning to Delia, as the murmur of assent +to this speech died away, "that you haven't joined us yet, but I suppose +your studies occupy you at present." + +"But I couldn't read aloud, in any case, before a lot of people," said +Delia, "and Shakespeare must be so very difficult." + +"You'd get used to it," said Miss Gibbins. "I remember," with a little +laugh, "how nervous _I_ felt the first time I stood up to read. My +heart beat so fast I thought it would choke me. The first sentence I +had to say was, `Cut him in pieces!' and the words came out quite in a +whisper. But now I can read long speeches without losing my breath or +feeling at all uncomfortable." + +"I like the readings," said Mrs Hurst, "because they keep up one's +knowledge of Shakespeare, and that _must_ be refining and elevating, as +Herbert says." + +"So pleasant, too, that the clergy can join," added Miss Gibbins. + +"Mrs Crow objects to that," said Mrs Hurst. "She told me once she +considered it wrong, because they might be called straight away from +reading plays to attend a deathbed. Herbert, of course, doesn't agree +with her, or he wouldn't have helped to get them up. He has a great +opinion of Shakespeare as an elevating influence, and though he _did_ +write plays, they're hardly ever acted. He doesn't seem, somehow, to +have much to do with the theatre." + +"Between ourselves," said Miss Gibbins, sinking her voice and glancing +to the other end of the room, where Mrs Crow's black bonnet was nodding +confidentially at Mrs Hunt, "dear old Mrs Crow is _rather_ +narrow-minded. I should think the presence of the Vicar at the readings +might satisfy her that all was right." + +"The presence of _any_ clergyman," began Mrs Hurst, "ought to be +sufficient warrant that--" + +But her sentence was not finished, for at this moment a little general +rustle at the further end of the room, the sudden ceasing of +conversation, and the door set wide open, showed that it was time to +adjourn for tea. Work was rolled up, thimbles and scissors put away in +work-bags, and very soon the whole assembly had floated across the hall +into the dining-room, and was pleasantly engaged upon Mrs Hunt's +hospitable preparations for refreshment. Brisk little remarks filled +the air as they stood about with their teacups in their hands. + +"I never can resist your delicious scones, Mrs Hunt.--Home-made? You +don't say so. I wish my cook could make them."--"Thank you, Delia; I +_will_ take another cup of coffee: yours is always so good."--"Such a +pleasant afternoon! Dear me, nearly five o'clock? How time +flies."--"Dr Hunt very busy? Fever in Back Row? So sorry. But +decreasing? So glad."--"Good-bye, _dear_ Mrs Hunt. We meet next +Thursday, I hope?"--and so on, until the last lady had said farewell and +smiled affectionately at her hostess, and a sudden silence fell on the +room, left in the possession of Delia and her mother. + +"Del, my love," said the latter caressingly, "go and put the +drawing-room straight, and see that all those things are cleared away. +I will try to get a little nap. Dear old Mrs Crow had so much to tell +me that my head quite aches." + +Delia went into the deserted drawing-room, where the chairs and tables, +standing about in the little groups left by their late occupiers, still +seemed to have a confidential air, as though they were telling each +other interesting bits of news. She moved about with a preoccupied +frown on her brow, picking up morsels of silk from the floor, rolling up +strips of serge, and pushing back chairs and tables, until the room had +regained its ordinary look. Then she stretched her arms above her head, +gave a sigh of relief, and strolled out of the open French windows into +the garden. The air was very calm and still, so that various mingled +noises from the town could be plainly heard, though not loudly enough to +produce more than a subdued hum, which was rather soothing than +otherwise. Amongst them the deep recurring tones of the church bell, +ringing for evening prayers, fell upon Delia's ear as she wandered +slowly up the gravel path, her head full of busy thoughts. + +They were not wholly pleasant thoughts, and they had to do chiefly with +two people, one very well known to her, and the other quite a stranger-- +Mr Goodwin, and his grandchild, Anna Forrest. Delia could hardly make +up her mind whether she were pleased or annoyed at the idea of Anna's +arrival. Of course she was glad, she told herself, of anything that +would please the "Professor," as she always called Mr Goodwin; and she +was curious and anxious to see what the new-comer would be like, for +perhaps they might be companions and friends, though Anna was two years +younger than herself. She could not, however, prevent a sort of +suspicion that made her feel uneasy. Anna might be proud. She might +even speak of the Professor in the condescending tone which so many +people used in Dornton. Mrs Forrest at Waverley always looked proud, +Delia thought. Perhaps Anna would be like her. + +"If she is," said Delia to herself, suddenly stopping to snap off the +head of a snapdragon which grew in an angle of the old red wall--"if she +is--if she dares--if she doesn't see that the Professor is worth more +than all the people in Dornton--_I will_ despise her--I will--" + +She stopped and shook her head. + +"And if it's the other way, and she loves and honours him as she ought, +and is everything to him, and, and, takes my place, what shall I do +then? Why, then, I will try not to detest her." + +She laughed a little as she stooped to gather some white pinks which +bordered the path, and fastened them in her dress. + +"Pretty she is sure to be," she continued to herself, "like her mother, +whom they never mention without praise--and she is almost certain to +love music. Dear old Professor, how pleased he will be! I will try not +to mind, but I do hope she can't play the violin as well as I do. After +all, it would be rather unfair if she had a beautiful face and a musical +soul as well." + +The bell stopped, and the succeeding silence was harshly broken by the +shrill whistle of a train. + +"There's the five o'clock train," said Delia to herself; "to-morrow by +this time she will be here." + +Mrs Winn and Miss Gibbins meanwhile had pursued their way home +together, for they lived close to each other. + +"It's a pity Delia Hunt has such blunt manners, isn't it?" said the +latter regretfully, "and such very decided opinions for a young girl? +It's not at all becoming. I felt quite uncomfortable just now." + +"She'll know better by-and-by," said Mrs Winn. "There's a great deal +of good in Delia, but she is conceited and self-willed, like all young +people." + +Miss Gibbins sighed. "She'll never be so amiable as her dear mother," +she said.--"Why!" suddenly changing her tone to one of surprise, "isn't +that Mr Oswald?" + +"Yes, I think so," said Mrs Winn, gazing after the spring-cart which +had passed them rapidly. "What then?" + +"He had a _child_ with him," said Miss Gibbins impressively. "A child +with fair hair, like Prissy Goodwin's, and they came from the station. +Something tells me it was Prissy's daughter." + +"Nonsense, Julia," replied Mrs Winn; "she's not expected till +to-morrow. Mrs Forrest told Mrs Hunt so herself. Besides, how should +Mr Oswald have anything to do with meeting her? That was his own +little girl with him, I daresay." + +"Daisy Oswald has close-cropped, black hair," replied Miss Gibbins, +quite unshaken in her opinion. "This child was older, and her hair +shone like gold. I feel sure it was Prissy's daughter." + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +WAVERLEY. + + Meadows trim with daisies pied, + Shallow brooks and rivers wide. + + Milton. + +While this went on at Dornton, Anna was getting nearer and nearer to her +new home. At first she was pleased and excited at setting forth on a +journey all by herself, and found plenty to occupy her with all she saw +from the carriage windows, and with wondering which of the villages and +towns she passed so rapidly were like Dornton and Waverley. It was +surprising that the old lady sitting opposite to her could look so +placid and calm. Perhaps, however, she was not going to a strange place +amongst new people, and most likely had taken a great many journeys +already in her life. Anna was glad this was not her own ease: it must +be very dull, she thought, to be old, and to have got used to +everything, and to have almost nothing to look forward to. + +As the day wore on, and the hot afternoon sun streamed in at the +windows, the old lady, who was her only companion, fell fast asleep, and +Anna began to grow rather weary. She took the case with her mother's +picture in it out of her pocket and studied it again attentively. The +gentle, sweet face seemed to smile back kindly at her. "If you are half +as beautiful and a quarter as good," her father had said. Was she at +all like the picture now? Anna wondered. Surely her hair was rather +the same colour. She pulled a piece of it round to the front--it was +certainly yellow, but hardly so bright. Well, her grandfather would +tell her--she would ask him on the very first opportunity. Her +grandfather! It was wonderful to think she should really see him soon, +and ask him all sorts of questions about her mother. He lived at +Dornton, but that was only two miles from Waverley, and, no doubt, she +should often be able to go there. He was an organist. + +Her father's tone, half-pitying, half-disapproving, came back to her +with the word. She tried to think of what she knew about organists. It +was not much. There was an organist in the church in London to which +she had gone every Sunday with Miss Milverton, but he was always +concealed behind red curtains, so that she did not even know what he +looked like. The organist must certainly be an important person in a +church. Anna did not see how the service could get on without him. +What a pity that her grandfather did not play the organ in her Uncle +John's church, instead of at Dornton! + +She made a great many resolves as she sat there, with her mother's +portrait in her hand: she would be very fond of her grandfather, and, of +course, he would be very fond of her; and as he lived all alone, there +would be a great many things she could do to make him happier. She +pictured herself becoming very soon his chief comforter and companion, +and began to wonder how he had done without her so long. + +Lost in these thoughts, she hardly noticed that the train had begun to +slacken its pace; presently, it stopped at a large station. The old +lady roused herself, tied her bonnet strings, and evidently prepared for +a move. + +"You're going farther, my dear," she said kindly. "Dornton is the next +station but one. You won't mind being alone a little while?" + +She nodded and smiled from the platform. Anna handed out her numerous +parcels and baskets: the train moved on, and she was now quite alone. +She might really begin to look out for Dornton, which must be quite +near. It seemed a long time coming, however, and she had made a good +many false starts, grasping her rugs and umbrella, before there was an +unmistakable shout of "Dornton!" She got out and looked up and down the +platform, but it was easy to see that Mrs Forrest was not there. Two +porters, a newspaper boy, and one or two farmers, were moving about in +the small station, but no one in the least like Aunt Sarah. Anna stood +irresolute. She had been so certain that Aunt Sarah would be there, +that she had not even wondered what she should do in any other case. +Mrs Forrest had promised to come herself, and Anna could not remember +that she had ever failed to carry out her arrangements at exactly the +time named. + +"If it had been father, now," she said to herself in her perplexity, "he +would perhaps have forgotten, but Aunt Sarah--" + +"Any luggage, miss?" asked the red-faced young porter. + +"Oh yes, please," said Anna; "and I expected some one to meet me--a +lady." + +She looked anxiously at him. + +"Do 'ee want to go into the town?" he asked, as Anna pointed out her +trunks. "There's a omnibus outside." + +"No; I want to go to Waverley Vicarage," said Anna, feeling very +deserted. "How can I get there?" + +She followed the porter as he wheeled the boxes outside the station, +where a small omnibus was waiting, and also a high spring-cart, in which +sat a well-to-do-looking farmer. + +"You ain't seen no one from Waverley, Mr Oswald?" said the porter. +"This 'ere young lady expects some one to meet her." + +The farmer looked thoughtfully at Anna. + +"Waverley, eh," he repeated, "Vicarage?" + +"Ah," said the porter, nodding. + +Another long gaze. + +"Well, I'm going by the gate myself," he said at last. "I reckon Molly +wouldn't make much odds of the lot," glancing at the luggage, "if the +young lady would like a lift." + +"Perhaps," said Anna, hesitatingly, "I'd better have a cab, as Mrs +Forrest is not here." + +"I could order you a fly at the Blue Boar," said the porter. +"'Twouldn't be ready, not for a half-hour or so. Mr Oswald 'd get yer +over a deal quicker." + +No cabs! What a strange place, and how unlike London! Anna glanced +uncertainly at the high cart, the tall strawberry horse stamping +impatiently, and the good-natured, brown face of the farmer. It would +be an odd way of arriving at Waverley, and she was not at all sure that +Aunt Sarah would approve of it; but what was she to do? It was very +kind of the farmer; would he expect to be paid? + +"Better come along, missie," said Mr Oswald, as these thoughts passed +rapidly through her mind. "You'll be over in a brace of shakes.--Hoist +them things in at the back, Jim." + +Almost before she knew it, Anna had taken the broad hand held out to +help her, had mounted the high step, and was seated by the farmer's +side. + +"Any port in a storm, eh?" he said, good-naturedly, as he put the rug +over her knees.--"All right at the back, Jim?" + +A shake of the reins, and Molly dashed forward with a bound that almost +threw Anna off her seat, and whirled the cart out of the station-yard at +what seemed to her a fearful pace. + +"She'll quiet down directly," said Mr Oswald; "she's fretted a bit +standing at the station. Don't ye be nervous, missie; there's not a +morsel of harm in her." + +Nevertheless, Anna felt obliged to grasp the side of the cart tightly as +Molly turned into the principal street of Dornton, which was wide, and, +fortunately, nearly empty. What a quiet, dull-looking street it was, +after the noisy rattle of London, and how low and small the shops and +houses looked! If only Molly would go a little slower! + +"Yonder's the church," said Mr Oswald, pointing up a steep side-street +with his whip; "and yonder's the river," waving it in the opposite +direction. + +Anna turned her head quickly, and caught a hurried glimpse of a grey +tower on one side, and a thin white streak in the distant, low-lying +meadows on the other. + +"And here's the new bank," continued Mr Oswald, with some pride, as +they passed a tall, red brick building which seemed to stare the other +houses out of countenance; "and the house inside the double white gates +is Dr Hunt's." + +"I suppose you know Dornton very well?" Anna said as he paused. + +"Been here, man and boy, a matter of forty years--leastways, in the +neighbourhood," replied the farmer. + +"Then you know where Mr Goodwin lives, I suppose?" said Anna. + +"Which of 'em?" said the farmer. "There's Mr Goodwin, the baker; and +Mr Goodwin, the organist at Saint Mary's." + +"Oh, the organist," said Anna. + +"To be sure I do. He lives in Number 4 Back Row. You can't see it from +here; it's an ancient part of Dornton, in between High Street and Market +Street. He's been here a sight of years--every one knows Mr Goodwin-- +he's as well known as the parish church is." + +Anna felt pleased to hear that. It convinced her that her grandfather +must be an important person, although Back Row did not sound a very +important place. + +"How fast your horse goes," she said, by way of continuing the +conversation, for, after her long silence in the train, it was quite +pleasant to talk to somebody. + +"Ah, steps out, doesn't she?" said the farmer, with a gratified chuckle. +"You won't beat her for pace _this_ side of the county. She was bred +at Leas Farm, and she's a credit to it." + +They were now clear of the town, and had turned off the dusty high-road +into a lane, with high hedges on either side. + +"Oh, how pretty!" cried Anna. + +She could see over these hedges, across the straggling wreaths of +dog-roses and clematis, to the meadows on either hand, where the tall +grass, sprinkled with silvery ox-eyed daisies, stood ready for hay. +Beyond these again came the deep brown of some ploughed land, and now +and then bits of upland pasture, with cows and sheep feeding. The river +Dorn, which Mr Oswald had pointed out from the town, wound its zigzag +course along the valley, which they were now leaving behind them. As +they mounted a steep hill, Molly had considerably slackened her speed, +so that Anna could look about at her ease and observe all this. + +"What a beautiful place this is!" she exclaimed with delight. + +"Well enough," said the farmer; "nice open country. Yonder pasture, +where the cows are, belongs to me; if you're stopping at Waverley, +missie, I can show you a goodish lot of cows at Leas Farm." + +"Oh, I should love to see them!" said Anna. + +"My little daughter 'll be proud to show 'em yer; she's just twelve +years old, Daisy is. Now, you wouldn't guess what I gave her as a +birthday present?" + +"No," said Anna; "I can't guess at all." + +"'Twas as pretty a calf as you ever saw, with a white star on its +forehead. Nothing would do after that but I must buy her a collar for +it. `Puppa,' she says, `when you go into Dornton, you must get me a +collar and a bell, like there is in my picture-book.' My word!" said +the farmer, slapping his knee, "how all the beasts carried on when they +first heard that bell in the farmyard! You never saw such antics! It +was like as if they were clean mad!" + +He threw back his head and gave a jolly laugh at the bare recollection; +it was so hearty and full of enjoyment, that Anna felt obliged to laugh +a little too. + +"Here you are, my lass," he said, touching Molly lightly with the whip +as they reached the top of the hill. "All level ground now between here +and Waverley.--Now, what are you shying at?" as Molly swerved away from +a stile in the hedge. + +It was at an old man who was climbing slowly over it into the steep +lane. He wore shabby, black clothes: his shoulders were bent, and his +grey hair rather long; in his hand he carried a violin-case. + +"That's the Mr Goodwin you were asking after, missie," said the farmer, +touching his hat with his whip, as they passed quickly by. "Looks +tired, poor old gentleman; hot day for a long walk." + +Anna started and looked eagerly back, but Molly's long stride had +already placed a good distance between herself and the figure which was +descending the hill. That her grandfather! Was it possible? He looked +so poor, so dusty, so old, such a contrast to the merry June evening, as +he tramped wearily down the flowery lane, a little bent to one side by +the weight of his violin-case. Not an important or remarkable person, +such as she had pictured to herself, but a tired old man, of whom the +farmer spoke in a tone of pity. Her father had done so too, she +remembered. Did every one pity her grandfather? There was all the more +need, certainly, that she should help and cheer him, yet Anna felt +vaguely disappointed, she hardly knew why. + +These thoughts chased away her smiles completely, and such a grave +expression took their place that the farmer noticed the change. + +"Tired, missie, eh?" he inquired. "Well, we're there now, so to speak. +Yonder's the spire of Waverley church, and the Vicarage is close against +it--steady then, lass," as Molly objected to turning in at a white gate. + +"It's a terrible business is travelling by rail," he continued, "to take +the spirit out of you; I'd sooner myself ride on horseback for a whole +day, than sit in a train half a one." + +A long, narrow road, with iron railings on either side, dividing it from +broad meadows, brought them to another gate, which the farmer got down +to open, and then led Molly up to the porch of the Vicarage. + +A boy running out from the stable-yard close by stood at the horse's +head while Mr Oswald carefully helped Anna down from her high seat, +took out her trunks from the back of the cart, and rang the bell. Again +the question of payment troubled her, but he did not leave her long to +consider it. + +"Well, you're landed now, missie," he said with his good-natured smile, +as he took the reins and turned the impatient Molly towards the gate; +"so I'll say good-day to you, and my respects to Mr and Mrs Forrest." + +Molly seemed to Anna to make but one bound from the door to the gate, +and to carry the cart and the farmer out of sight, while she was still +murmuring her thanks. + +She turned to the maid-servant, who had opened the door and was gazing +at her and her boxes with some surprise. + +"Yes, miss," she said, in answer to Anna's inquiry; "Mrs Forrest is at +home; she's in the garden, if you'll please to come this way; we didn't +expect you till to-morrow." + +Through the door opposite, Anna could see a lawn, a tea-table under a +large tree, a gentleman in a wicker chair, and a lady, in a +broad-brimmed hat, sauntering about with a watering-pot in her hand. +When she saw Anna following the maid, the lady dropped her watering-pot, +and stood rooted to the ground in an attitude of intense surprise. + +"Why, Anna!" she exclaimed. + +"Didn't you expect me, Aunt Sarah?" said Anna. "Father said you would +meet me to-day." + +"Now," said Mrs Forrest, turning round to her husband in the wicker +chair, "isn't that exactly like your brother Bernard?" + +"Well, in the meantime, here is Anna, safe and sound," he replied; "so +there's no harm done.--Come and sit down in the shade, my dear; you've +had a hot journey." + +"Where's your luggage?" continued Mrs Forrest, as she kissed her niece. +"Did you walk up from the station, and leave it there?" + +"Oh no, aunt; I didn't know the way," said Anna. + +She began to feel afraid she had done quite the wrong thing in coming +with Mr Oswald. + +"Oh, you had to take a fly," said Mrs Forrest. "It's a most provoking +thing altogether." + +"It doesn't really matter much, my dear, does it?" said Mr Forrest, as +he placed a chair for his niece. "She's managed to get here without any +accident, although you did not meet her.--Suppose you give us some tea." + +"I took the trouble to make a note of the train and day," continued Mrs +Forrest, "and I repeated them twice to Bernard, so that there should be +no mistake." + +"Well, you couldn't have done more," said Mr Forrest, soothingly. +"Bernard always was a forgetful fellow, you know." + +"Such a very unsuitable thing for the child to arrive quite alone at the +station, and no one to meet her there! And I had made all my +arrangements for to-morrow so carefully." + +As Anna drank her tea, she listened to all this, and intended every +moment to mention that Mr Oswald had driven her from the station, but +she was held back by a mixture of shyness and fear of what her aunt +would say; perhaps she had done something very silly, and what Mrs +Forrest would call unsuitable! At any rate, it was easier just now to +leave her under the impression that she had taken a fly; but, of course, +directly she got a chance, she would tell her all about it. For some +time, however, Mrs Forrest continued to lament that her arrangements +had not been properly carried out, and when the conversation did change, +Anna had a great many questions to answer about her father and his +intended journey. Then a message was brought out to her uncle, over +which he and Mrs Forrest bent in grave consultation. She had now +leisure to look about her. How pretty it all was! The long, low front +of the Vicarage stood facing her, with the smooth green lawn between +them, and up the supports of the veranda there were masses of climbing +plants in full bloom. The old part of the house had a very deep, +red-tiled roof, with little windows poking out of it here and there, and +the wing which the present Vicar had built stood at right angles to it. +Anna thought her father was right in not admiring the new bit as much as +the old, but, nevertheless, with the evening light resting on it, it all +looked very pretty and peaceful just now. + +"And how do you like the look of Waverley, Anna?" asked Mrs Forrest. + +Anna could answer with great sincerity that she thought it was a lovely +place, and she said it so heartily that her aunt was evidently pleased. +She kissed her. + +"I hope you will be happy whilst you are with us, my dear," she said, +"and that Waverley may always be full of pleasant recollections to you." + +Anna was wakened next morning from a very sound sleep by a little +tapping noise at her window, which she heard for some time in a sort of +half-dream, without being quite roused by it; it was so persistent, +however, that at last she felt she must open her eyes to find out what +it was. Where was she? For the first few minutes she looked round the +room in puzzled surprise, and could not make out at all. It was so +quiet, and clear, and bright, with sunbeams dancing about on the walls, +so different altogether from the dingy, grey colour of a morning in +London. Soon, however, she remembered she was in the country at +Waverley; and her mother's picture on the toilet-table brought back to +her mind all that had passed yesterday--her journey, her drive with the +farmer, her grandfather in the lane. + +There were two things she must certainly do to-day, she told herself, as +she watched the quivering shadows on the wall. First, she must ask her +aunt to let her go at once and see her grandfather; and then she must +tell her all about her arrival at the station yesterday, and how kindly +Farmer Oswald had come to her help. It was strange that, now she had +actually got to Waverley, and was only two miles away from her +grandfather, that she did not feel nearly so eager to talk to him as she +had while she was on her journey. However, she need not think about +that now. Here she was at Waverley, where it was all sunny and +delightful; she should not see smoky London, or have any more walks in +the Park with her governess, for a long while, perhaps never again. She +meant to enjoy herself, and be very happy, and nothing disagreeable or +tiresome could happen in this beautiful place. + +There was the little tapping noise again! What could it be? Anna +jumped out of bed, went softly to the window, and drew up the blind. +Her bedroom was over the veranda, up which some cluster-roses had +climbed, flung themselves in masses on the roof, and reached out some of +their branches as far as the window-sill. One bold little bunch had +pressed itself close up against the pane, and the tight pink buds +clattered against it whenever they were stirred by the breeze. The +tapping noise was fully accounted for, but Anna could not turn away, it +was all so beautiful and so new to her. + +She pushed up the window, and leaned out. What a lovely smell! There +was a long bed of mignonette and heliotrope just below, but, besides the +fragrance from this, the air was full of all the sweet scents which +belong to an early summer morning in the country. What nice, curious +noises, too, all mixed up together! The bees buzzing in the flowers +beneath, the little winds rustling in the leaves, the cheerful chirps +and scraps of song from the birds, the crow of a distant cock, the deep, +low cooing of the pigeons in the stable-yard near. Anna longed to be +out-of-doors, among these pleasant sights and sounds; she suddenly +turned away, and began to dress herself quickly. The stable clock +struck seven just as she was ready, and she ran down-stairs into the +garden with a delightful sense of freedom. The sunshine was splendid; +this was indeed different from walking in a London park; how happy she +should be in this beautiful place! On exploring a little, she found +that the garden was not nearly so large as it looked, for the end of it +was hidden by a great walnut tree which stood on the lawn. Behind this +came a square piece of kitchen garden, divided from the fields by a sunk +fence, with a little wooden foot-bridge across it. + +Anna danced along by the side of the border, where the flowers stood in +blooming luxuriance and the most perfect order. Aunt Sarah was justly +proud of her garden, and at present it was in brilliant perfection. +Anna knew hardly any of their names, and indeed, except the roses, they +were strange to her; she had not thought there could be so many kinds, +and all so beautiful. Reaching the kitchen garden, however, she found +some old friends--a long row of sweet-peas, fluttering on their stems, +like many-coloured butterflies poised for flight; these were familiar, +for she had seen them in greengrocers' shops in London, tied up in +tight, close bunches. How different they looked at Waverley! The +colours were twice as bright. + +"I like these best of all," she said aloud, and as she spoke, a step +sounded on the gravel, and there was Aunt Sarah, in her garden hat, with +a basket, and scissors in her hand. + +"You admire my sweet-peas, Anna," she said, kissing her. "I came out to +gather some. I find it is so much better to get my flowers before the +sun is too hot. Now, you can help me." + +They walked slowly along the hedge of sweet-peas together, picking them +as they went. + +"What a beautiful garden yours is, Aunt Sarah," cried Anna. + +Mrs Forrest looked pleased. + +"There are many larger ones about here," she said, "but I certainly +think my flowers do me credit. I attend to them a great deal myself, +but, of course, I cannot give them as much time as I should like. Now +you are come, we shall be busier than ever, because we must give some +time every day to your studies." + +"Miss Milverton said she would write to you about the lessons I have +been doing, aunt," said Anna. + +"I have arranged," continued Aunt Sarah, "to read with you for an hour +every morning; it is difficult to squeeze it in, but I have managed it. +And then I am hoping that you will join in some lessons with the +Palmers--girls of your own age, who live near. If their governess will +allow you to learn French and German with them, it would be a good plan, +and would give you companions besides.--By the way, Anna, Miss Milverton +says in her letter that you don't make any progress in your music. How +is that?" + +"I don't care very much for music," said Anna. "I would much rather not +go on with it, unless you want me to." + +She thought that her aunt looked rather relieved, as she remarked that +it was useless for people who were not musical to waste their time in +learning to play, and that she should not make a point of music-lessons +at present. + +"Now I must cut some roses," added Mrs Forrest, as she put the glowing +bunches of sweet-peas into her basket. "Come this way." + +Anna followed to a little nursery of standard rose-trees near the +foot-bridge. + +"What are those chimneys I can just see straight over the fields?" she +asked her aunt. + +"Leas Farm," she replied. "It belongs to Mr Oswald, a very respectable +farmer, who owns a good deal of land round here. We have our milk and +butter from him. Your uncle used to keep his own cows, but he found +them a trouble, and Mrs Oswald is an excellent dairy woman." + +Here was an opportunity for Anna's explanation. The words were on her +lips, when they were interrupted by the loud sound of a bell from the +house. + +"The breakfast bell!" said Mrs Forrest, abruptly turning away from her +roses, and beginning to hasten towards the house, without pausing a +moment. "I hope you will always be particular in one point, my dear +Anna, and that is punctuality. More hangs upon it than most people +recognise: the comfort of a household certainly does. If you are late +for one thing, you are late for the next, and so on, until the whole day +is thrown into disorder. I am obliged to map my day carefully out to +get through my business, and I expect others to do the same. I speak +seriously, because your father is one of the most unpunctual men I ever +knew; and if you have inherited his failing, you cannot begin to +struggle against it too soon." + +Anna had not been many days at the Vicarage before she found that +punctuality was Aunt Sarah's idol, and that nothing offended her more +than want of respect to it from others. Certainly everything went like +clockwork at Waverley, and though Anna fancied that Mr Forrest inwardly +rebelled a little, he was outwardly quite submissive. All Aunt Sarah's +arrangements and plans were so neatly fitted into each other that the +least transgression in one upset the next, and the effect of this was +that she had no odds and ends of leisure to spare. Anna even found it +difficult to put all the questions she had in her mind. + +"Not now, my dear, I am engaged," was the frequent reply. She managed +to learn, however, that a visit to her grandfather had already been +planned for that week, and that Mrs Forrest intended to leave her at +his house at Dornton and fetch her again after driving farther on to +make a call. + +With this she was obliged to be satisfied, and it was quite strange how, +after a few days, the new surroundings and rules and pleasures of +Waverley seemed to make much that had filled her mind on her arrival +fade and grow less important. She still wished to see her grandfather +again; but the idea of being his chief comforter and support now seemed +impossible, and rather foolish, and she would not have hinted it to Aunt +Sarah on any account. Neither did it seem necessary, as the days went +on, to mention her drive with Mr Oswald and the accident of passing her +grandfather in the lane. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +THE PROFESSOR. + + ...I have heard a grave divine say that God has two dwellings--one in + heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.--_Izaak Walton_. + +"Del, my love," said Mrs Hunt, "I feel one of my worst headaches coming +on. Will you go this afternoon to see Mrs Winn, instead of me?" Delia +stood under the medlar tree on the lawn, ready to go out, with a bunch +of roses in her hand, and her violin-case. She looked at her mother +inquiringly, for Mrs Hunt had not just then any appearance of +discomfort. She was sitting in an easy canvas chair, a broad-brimmed +hat upon her head, and a newspaper in her hands; her slippered feet +rested on a little wooden stool, and on a table by her side were a cup +of tea, a nicely buttered roll, and a few very ripe strawberries. + +"Hadn't you better wait," said Delia, after a moment's pause, "until you +can go yourself? Mrs Winn would much rather see you. Besides--it is +my music afternoon." + +Mrs Hunt was looking up and down the columns of the paper while her +daughter spoke: she did not answer at once, and when she did, it was +scarcely an answer so much as a continuation of her own train of +thoughts. + +"She has had a tickling cough for so many nights. She can hardly sleep +for it, and I promised her a pot of my own black currant jelly." + +"It's a great deal out of my way," said Delia. + +"If you go," continued Mrs Hunt, without raising her eyes, "you will +find the row of little pots on the top shelf of the storeroom cupboard." + +Delia bit her lip. + +"If I go," she said, "I must shorten my music-lesson." + +Mrs Hunt said nothing, but looked as amiable as ever. A frown gathered +on Delia's forehead: she stood irresolute for a minute, and then, with a +sudden effort, turned and went quickly into the house. Mrs Hunt +stirred her tea, tasted a strawberry, and leant back in her chair with a +gentle sigh of comfort. In a few minutes Delia reappeared hurriedly. + +"There is _no_ black currant jelly in the storeroom," she said, with an +air of exasperation. + +Mrs Hunt looked up in mild surprise. + +"How strange!" she said. "Could I have moved those pots? Ah, now I +remember! I had a dream that all the jam was mouldy, and so I moved it +into that cupboard in the kitchen. That was why cook left. She didn't +like me to use that cupboard for the jam." + +"And, meanwhile, where is it?" said Delia. + +"Such a wicked mother to give you so much trouble!" murmured Mrs Hunt, +with a sweet smile. "But, Del, my love, you must try not to look so +morose for trifles--it gives _such_ an ugly turn to the features. +You'll find the jelly in that nice corner cupboard in the kitchen. +Here's the key"--feeling in her pocket--"no; it is not here--where did I +leave my keys? Oh, you'll find them in the pocket of my black serge +dress--and if they're not there, they are sure to be in the pocket of my +gardening apron. My kind love to Mrs Winn. Tell her to take it +constantly in the night. And don't hurry, love, it's _so_ warm; you +look heated already." + +In spite of this last advice, it was almost at a run that Delia, having +at last found the keys and the jam, set forth on her errand. Perhaps, +if she were very quick, she need not lose much time with the Professor, +after all, but she felt ruffled and rather cross at the delay. It was +not an unusual frame of mind, for she was not naturally of a patient +temper, and did not bear very well the little daily frets and jars of +her life. She chafed inwardly as she went quickly on her way, that her +music, which seemed to her the most important thing in the world, should +be sacrificed to anything so uninteresting and dull as Mrs Winn's black +currant jam. It was all the more trying this afternoon, because, since +Anna Forrest's arrival, she had purposely kept away from the Professor, +and had not seen him for a whole fortnight. A mixed feeling of jealousy +and pride had made her determined that Anna should have every +opportunity of making Mr Goodwin's acquaintance without any +interference from herself. It was only just and right that his +grandchild should have the first place in his affections, the place +which hitherto had been her own. Well, now she must take the second +place, and if Anna made the Professor happier, it would not matter. At +any rate, no one should know, however keenly she felt it. + +Mrs Winn, who was a widow, lived in an old-fashioned, red brick house +facing the High Street; it had a respectable, dignified appearance, +suggesting solid comfort, like the person of its owner. Mrs Winn, +however, was a lady not anxious for her own well-being only, but most +charitably disposed towards others who were not so prosperous as +herself. She was the Vicar's right hand in all the various methods for +helping the poor of his parish: clothing clubs, Dorcas meetings, coal +clubs, lending library, were all indebted to Mrs Winn for substantial +aid, both in the form of money and personal help. + +She was looked up to as a power in Dornton, and her house was much +frequented by all those interested in parish matters, so that she was +seldom to be found alone. Perhaps, also, the fact that the delightful +bow-window of her usual up-stairs sitting-room looked straight across to +Appleby's, the post-office and stationer, increased its attractions. +"It makes it so lively," Mrs Winn was wont to observe. "I seldom pass +a day, even if I don't go out, without seeing Mr Field, or Mr Hurst, +or some of the country clergy, going in and out of Appleby's. I never +feel dull." + +To-day, to her great relief, Delia found Mrs Winn quite alone. She was +sitting at a table drawn up into the bow-window, busily engaged in +covering books with whitey-brown paper. On her right was a pile of +gaily bound volumes, blue, red, and purple, which were quickly reduced +to a pale brown, unattractive appearance in her practised hands, and +placed in a pile on her left. Delia thought Mrs Winn looked +whitey-brown as well as the books, for there was no decided colour about +her: her eyes were pale, as well as the narrow line of hair which showed +beneath the border of her white cap; and her dresses were always of a +doubtful shade, between brown and grey. + +She welcomed Delia kindly, but with the repressed air of severity which +she always reserved for her. + +"How like your dear mother!" she exclaimed, on receiving the pot of +jelly.--"Yes; my cough is a little better, tell her, but I thought I +would keep indoors to-day--and, you see, I've all these books to get +through, so it's just as well. Mr Field got them in London for the +library the other day." + +"What a pity they must be covered," said Delia, glancing from one pile +to the other; "the children would like the bright colours so much +better." + +"A nice state they would be in, in a week," said Mrs Winn, stolidly, as +she folded, and snipped, and turned a book about in her large, capable +hands. "Besides, it's better to teach the children not to care for +pretty things." + +"Is it?" said Delia. "I should have thought that was just what they +ought to learn." + +"The love of pretty things," said Mrs Winn, sternly, "is like the love +of money, the root of all evil; and has led quite as many people +astray.--All these books have to be labelled and numbered," she added, +after a pause. "You might do some, Delia, if you're not in a hurry." + +"Oh, but I am," said Delia, glancing at the clock. "I am going to Mr +Goodwin for a lesson, and I am late already." + +Mrs Winn had, however, some information to give about Mr Goodwin. +Julia Gibbins, who had just looked in, had met him on the way to give a +lesson at Pynes. + +"So," she added, "he can't possibly be home for another half-hour at +least, you know; and you may just as well spend the time in doing +something useful." + +With a little sigh of disappointment, Delia took off her gloves and +seated herself opposite to Mrs Winn. Everything seemed against her +to-day. + +"And how," said that lady, having supplied her with scissors and paper, +"do you get on with Anna Forrest? You're with Mr Goodwin so much, I +suppose you know her quite well by this time." + +"Indeed, I don't," said Delia. "I haven't even seen her yet; have you?" + +"I've seen her twice," said Mrs Winn. "She's pretty enough, though not +to be compared to her mother; more like the Forrests, and has her +father's pleasant manners. If _looks_ were the only things to consider, +she would do very well." + +"What's the matter with her?" asked Delia, bluntly, for Mrs Winn spoke +as though she knew much more than she expressed. + +"Why, I've every reason to suppose," she began deliberately--then +breaking off--"Take care, Delia," she exclaimed; "you're cutting that +cover too narrow. Let me show you. You must leave a good bit to tuck +under, don't you see, or it will be off again directly." + +Delia had never in her life been so anxious for Mrs Winn to finish a +sentence, but she tried to control her impatience, and bent her +attention to the brown paper cover. + +"It only shows," continued Mrs Winn, when her instructions were ended, +"that I was right in what I said the other day about Mr Bernard +Forrest's marriage. That sort of thing never answers. That child has +evidently been brought up without a strict regard for truth." + +"What has she done?" asked Delia. + +"Not, of course," said Mrs Winn, "that poor Prissy could have had +anything to do with that." + +The book Delia held slipped from her impatient fingers, and fell to the +ground flat on its face. + +"My _dear_ Delia," said Mrs Winn, picking it up, and smoothing the +leaves, with a shocked look, "the books get worn out quite soon enough, +without being tossed about like that." + +"I'm very sorry," said Delia, humbly.--"But do tell me what it is you +mean about Anna Forrest." + +"It's nothing at all pleasant," said Mrs Winn, "but as you're likely to +see something of her, you ought to know that I've every reason to +believe that she's not quite straightforward. Now, with all your +faults, Delia--and you've plenty of them--I never found you untruthful." + +She fixed her large, round eyes on her companion for a moment, but as +Delia made no remark, resumed-- + +"On the evening of your last working party but one, Julia Gibbins and I +saw Mr Oswald of Leas Farm driving Anna Forrest from the station. Of +course, we didn't know her then. But Julia felt sure it was Anna, and +it turned out she was right. Curiously enough, we met Mrs Forrest and +the child in Appleby's shortly after, and Mrs Forrest said how unlucky +it had been that there was a confusion about the day of her niece's +arrival, and no one to meet her at the station; but, fortunately, she +said, Anna was sensible enough to take a fly, so that was all right. +Now, you see, my dear Delia, she _didn't_ take a fly," added Mrs Winn, +solemnly, "so she must have deceived her aunt." + +Mrs Winn's most important stories had so often turned out to be founded +on mistakes, that Delia was not much impressed by this one, nor disposed +to think worse of Anna because of it. + +"Oh, I daresay there's a mistake somewhere," she said, lightly, rising +and picking up her flowers and her violin-case. "I must go now, Mrs +Winn; the Professor will be back by the time I get there--good-bye." + +She hurried out of the room before Mrs Winn could begin another +sentence; for long experience had taught her that the subject would not +be exhausted for a long while, and that a sudden departure was the only +way of escape. + +A quarter of an hour's quick walk brought her to Number 4 Back Row, and +looking in at the sitting-room window, as her custom was, she saw that +the Professor had indeed arrived before her. + +His dwelling was a contrast in every way to that of Mrs Winn. For one +thing, instead of standing boldly out before the world of Dornton High +Street, it was smuggled away, with a row of little houses like itself, +in a narrow sort of passage, enclosed between two wide streets. This +passage ended in a blank wall, and was, besides, too narrow for any but +foot-passengers to pass up it, so that it would have been hard to find a +quieter or more retired spot. The little, old houses in it were only +one storey high, and very solidly built, with thick walls, and the +windows in deep recesses; before each a strip of garden, and a gravel +walk stretched down to a small gate. Back Row was the very oldest part +of Dornton, and though the houses were small, they had always been lived +in by respectable people, and preserved a certain air of gentility. + +Without waiting to knock, Delia hurried in at the door of Number 4, +which led straight into the sitting-room. The Professor was leaning +back in his easy-chair, his boots white with dust, and an expression of +fatigue and dejection over his whole person. + +"Oh, Professor," was her first remark, as she threw down her +violin-case, "you _do_ look tired! Have you had your tea?" + +"I believe, my dear," he replied, rather faintly, "Mrs Cooper has not +come in yet." + +Mrs Cooper was a charwoman, who came in at uncertain intervals to cook +the Professor's meals and clean his rooms: as he was not exacting, the +claims of her other employers were always satisfied first, and if she +were at all busier than usual, he often got scanty attention. + +Without waiting to hear more, Delia made her way to the little kitchen, +and set about her preparations in a very business-like manner. She was +evidently well acquainted with the resources of the household, for she +bustled about, opening cupboards, and setting tea-things on a tray, as +though she were quite at home. In a wonderfully short time she had +prepared a tempting meal, and carried it into the sitting-room, so that, +when the Professor came back from changing his boots, he found +everything quite ready. His little round table, cleared of the litter +of manuscripts and music-books, was drawn up to the open window, and +covered with a white cloth. On it there was some steaming coffee, eggs, +and bread and butter, a bunch of roses in the middle, and his arm-chair +placed before it invitingly. + +He sank into it with a sigh of comfort and relief. + +"How very good your coffee smells, Delia!" he said; "quite different +from Mrs Cooper's." + +"I daresay, if the truth were known," said Delia, carefully pouring it +out, "that you had no dinner to speak of before you walked up to Pynes +and back again." + +"I had a sandwich," answered Mr Goodwin, meekly, for Delia was bending +a searching and severe look upon him. + +"Then Mrs Cooper didn't come!" she exclaimed. "Really we ought to look +out for some one else: I believe she does it on purpose." + +"Now I beg of you, Delia," said the Professor, leaning forward +earnestly, "not to send Mrs Cooper away. She's a very poor woman, and +would miss the money. She told me only the last time she was here that +the doctor had ordered cod-liver oil for the twins, and she couldn't +afford to give it them." + +"Oh, the twins!" said Delia, with a little scorn. + +"Well, my dear, she _has_ twins; she brought them here once in a +perambulator." + +"But that's no reason at all she should not attend properly to you," +said Delia. + +Mr Goodwin put down his cup of coffee, which he had begun to drink with +great relish, and looked thoroughly cast down. + +Delia laughed a little. + +"Well, I won't, then," she said. "Mrs Cooper shall stay, and neglect +her duties, and spoil your food as long as you like." + +"Thank you, my dear," said the Professor, brightening up again, "she +really does extremely well, though, of course, she doesn't"--glancing at +the table--"make things look so nice as you do." + +Delia blamed herself for staying away so long, when she saw with what +contented relish her old friend applied himself to the simple fare she +had prepared; it made her thoroughly ashamed to think that he should +have suffered neglect through her small feelings of jealousy and pride. +He should not be left for a whole fortnight again to Mrs Cooper's +tender mercies. + +"We are to have a lesson to-night, I hope," said Mr Goodwin presently; +"it must be a long time since we had one, Delia, isn't it?" + +"A whole fortnight," she answered, "but"--glancing wistfully at her +violin-case--"you've had such hard work to-day, I know, if you've been +to Pynes; perhaps it would be better to put it off." + +But Mr Goodwin would not hear of this: it would refresh him; it would +put the other lessons out of his head; they would try over the last +sonata he had given Delia to practise. + +"Did you make anything of it?" he asked. "It is rather difficult." + +Delia's face, which until now had been full of smiles and happiness, +clouded over mournfully. + +"Oh, Professor," she cried, "I'm in despair about my practising. If I +could get some more clear time to it, I know I could get on. But it's +always the same; the days get frittered up into tiny bits with things +which don't seem to matter, and I feel I don't make any way; just as I +am getting a hard passage right, I have to break off." + +This was evidently not a new complaint to Mr Goodwin. + +"Well, well, my dear," he said, kindly, "we will try it over together, +and see how we get on; I daresay it is better than you think." + +Delia quickly collected the tea-things and carried them into the +kitchen, to prevent any chance of Mrs Cooper clattering and banging +about the room during the lesson; then she took out her violin, put her +music on the stand, and began to play, without more ado; the Professor +leaning back in his chair meanwhile, with closed eyes, and ears on the +alert to detect faults or passages wrongly rendered. As he sat there, +perfectly still, a calm expression came into his face, which made him +for the time look much younger than was usually the case. He was not a +very old man, but past troubles had left their traces in deep lines and +wrinkles, and his hair was quite white; only his eyes preserved that +look of eternal youth which is sometimes granted to those whose thoughts +have always been unselfish, kindly, and generous. Delia played on, +halting a little over difficult passages, and as she played, the +Professor's face changed with the music, showing sometimes an agony of +anxiety during an intricate bit, and relaxing into a calm smile when she +got to smooth water again. + +Once, as though urged by some sudden impulse, he rose and began to +stride up and down the room; but when she saw this, Delia dropped her +bow, and said in a warning voice, "Now, Professor!" when he at once +resumed his seat, and waited patiently until she had finished. + +"It won't do, Delia," he said; "you've got the idea, but you can't carry +it out." + +"Oh, I know," she replied, mournfully. "I know how bad it is, and the +worst of it is, that I can hear how it ought to be all the time." + +"No," he said, quickly, "that's not the worst of it; that's the best of +it. If you were satisfied with it as it is, you would be a hopeless +pupil. But you've something of the true artist in you, Delia. The true +artist, you know, is never satisfied." + +"I believe, though," said Delia, "that if I could shut myself up alone +somewhere for a time with my violin, and no one to disturb me, I should +be able to do something. I might not be satisfied, but oh, how happy I +should be! As it is--" + +"As it is, you must do as greater souls have done before you," put in +the Professor--"win your way towards your ideal through troubles and +hindrances." + +"I don't get far, though," said Delia, mournfully. + +"Do you think you would get far by shutting yourself away from the +common duties of your life?" said Mr Goodwin, in a kind voice. "It's a +very poor sort of talent that wants petting and coaxing like that. +Those great souls in the past who have taught us most, have done it +while reaching painfully up to their vision through much that thwarted +and baffled them. Their lives teach us as well as their art, and +believe me, Delia, when the artist's life fails in duty and devotion, +his art fails too in some way." + +"It is so hard to remember that all those dusty, little, everyday things +matter," said Delia. + +"But if you think of what they stand for, they do matter very much. +Call them self-discipline, and patience, and they are very important, +above all, to an artist. I have heard people say," continued Mr +Goodwin, reflectively, "that certain failings of temper and self-control +are to be excused in artists, because their natures are sensitive. Now, +that seems to me the very reason that they should be better than other +people--more open to good influences. And I believe, when this has not +been so, it has been owing rather to a smallness of character than to +their artistic temperament." + +Delia smiled. + +"I don't know," she said, "if I have anything of an artist in me, but I +have a small character, for I am always losing my temper--except when I +am with you, Professor. If I talked to you every day, and had plenty of +time to practise, I should have the good temper of an angel." + +"But not of a human being. That must come, not from outward things +being pleasant, but from inward things being right. Believe an old man, +my dear, who has had some trials and disappointments in his life, the +best sort of happiness is his-- + + "Whose high endeavours are an inward light + Which makes the path before him always bright. + +"Those endeavours may not bring fame or success, but they do bring light +to shine on all those everyday things you call dusty, and turn them to +gold." + +Delia stood by her music-stand, her eyes fixed with a far-away gaze on +the window, and a rebellious little frown on her brow. + +"But I should _love_ to be famous," she suddenly exclaimed, reaching up +her arms and clasping her hands behind her head. "Professor, I should +_love_ it! Fancy being able to play so as to speak to thousands of +people, and make them hear what you say; to make them glad one moment +and sorry the next; to have it in your power to move a whole crowd, as +some musicians have! It must be a splendid life. Shouldn't _you_ like +it?" + +Mr Goodwin's glance rested on his enthusiastic pupil with a little +amusement. + +"It's rather late in the day for me to consider the question, isn't it?" +he said. + +"Didn't you ever want to go away from Dornton and play to people who +understand what you mean," asked Delia, impatiently. "Instead of +playing the organ in Saint Mary's and teaching me, you might be a famous +musician in London, with crowds of people flocking to hear you." + +"Perhaps," said the Professor, quietly; "who knows?" + +"Then," she continued, dropping her arms and turning to him with sudden +determination, "then, oh, Professor, why _didn't_ you go?" + +The question had been in her mind a very long time: now it was out, and +she was almost frightened by her own rashness. Mr Goodwin, however, +seemed neither surprised nor annoyed. + +"Well, Delia," he answered, with a gentle shake of the head, "I suppose +two things have kept me in Dornton--two very strong things--poverty and +pride. I had my chance once, but it came in a shape I couldn't bring +myself to accept. `There is a tide in the affairs of men,' you know, +and if one neglects it--" + +He broke off and bent over his violin, which he had taken up from the +ground. + +"Of course," said Delia, looking at him with great affection, "I'm glad +you didn't go, for my own sake. You and music make Dornton bearable." + +"You always speak so disdainfully of poor Dornton," said Mr Goodwin, +drawing his bow softly across his violin. "Now, I've known it longer +than you, and really, when I look back, I've been very happy. Dornton +has given me the best any place has to give--people to love and care +for. After Prissy's marriage, there were some lonely days, to be sure. +I could not feel very happy about that, for she seemed to be taken out +of my life altogether, and there came sadder days still when she died. +You were only a little toddling child then, Delia, and yet it seemed a +short while before we began to be friends; and"--holding out his hand to +her--"we've been friends ever since, haven't we? So, you see, I ought +not to be ungrateful to Dornton." + +"And now," added Delia, with an effort, "there is Anna, your grandchild; +perhaps you will make her famous, though you wouldn't be famous +yourself." + +Mr Goodwin shook his head. + +"Anna will never be famous in that way," he said. "She has a sweet, +affectionate manner, but there's nothing that reminds me of her mother +at all, or of our family. It's quite an effort to realise that she is +Prissy's child. It's a very curious feeling." + +"Have you seen her often?" asked Delia. + +"Only twice. I don't at all suppose, as matters stand, that I shall +ever see much of her. I am so busy, you see, and she tells me her aunt +has all sorts of plans for her--lessons, and so on." + +"But," said Delia, rather indignantly, "she _ought_ to come and see you +often." + +"I shall not complain if she doesn't, and I shall not be surprised. +There was a matter, years ago, in which I differed from Mrs Forrest, +and I have never been to Waverley since: we are quite friendly when we +meet, but there can never be really cordial relations between us." + +"If I were Anna," began Delia, impetuously-- + +"But you are _not_ Anna," interrupted Mr Goodwin, with a smile; "you +are Delia Hunt, and you are made of different materials. If I am not +mistaken, Anna is affectionate and yielding, and will be influenced by +those she is with. And then she's very young, you see; she could not +oppose her aunt and uncle, and I'm sure I do not wish it. I shall not +interfere with her life at Waverley: the Forrests are kind people, and I +feel sure she will be very happy there. She will do very well without +me." + +He turned towards his pupil and added, rather wistfully, "I should like +_you_ to be friends with her, though, Delia; it would be a comfort to +me." + +"Indeed, I will try my best, Professor," she exclaimed, earnestly. Her +jealousy of Anna seemed very small and mean, and she felt anxious to +atone for it. + +"That's well," said Mr Goodwin, with a contented air. "I know you will +do what you promise; and now it's my turn to play the sonata, and yours +to listen." + +As the first plaintive notes of the violin filled the little room, Delia +threw herself into the window-seat, leaned back her head, and gave +herself up to enjoyment. + +The Professor's playing meant many things to her. It meant a journey +into another country where all good and noble things were possible; +where vexations and petty cares could not enter, nor anything that +thwarted and baffled. It meant a sure refuge for a while from the small +details of her life in Dornton, which she sometimes found so wearisome. +The warning tones of the church clock checked her flight through these +happy regions, and brought her down to earth just as the Professor's +last note died away. + +"Oh, how late it is?" she exclaimed, as she started up and put on her +hat. "Good-bye, Professor. Oh, if I could only make it speak like +that!" + +"Patience, patience," he said, with his kind smile; "we all hear and see +better things than we can express, you know, but that will come to us +all some day." + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +ANNA MAKES FRIENDS. + + Sweet language will multiply friends; and a fair-speaking tongue will + increase kind greetings.--_Ecclesiasticus_. + +Delia kept her promise in mind through all the various duties and +occupations of the next few days, and wondered how she should carry it +out. She began, apart from the wish to please the Professor, to have a +great desire to know Anna for her own sake. Would they be friends? and +what sort of girl was she? Mr Goodwin had told her so very little. +Affectionate, sweet-tempered, yielding. She might be all that without +being very interesting. Still she hoped they might be able to like each +other; for although the Hunts had a wide acquaintance, Delia had few +friends of her own age, nor any one with whom she felt in entire +sympathy, except the Professor. Delia was not popular in Dornton, and +people regretted that such a "sweet" woman as Mrs Hunt should have a +daughter who was often so blunt in her manners, and so indisposed to +make herself pleasant. Her life, therefore, though full of busy +matters, was rather lonely, and she would have made it still more so, if +possible, by shutting herself up with her violin and her books. The +bustling sociabilities of her home, however, prevented this, and she was +constantly obliged, with inward revolt, to leave the things she loved +for some social occasion, or to pick up the dropped stitches of Mrs +Hunt's household affairs. + +There were endless little matters from morning till night for Delia to +attend to, and it was only by getting up very early that she found any +time at all for her studies and her music. In winter this was hard +work, and progress with her violin almost impossible for stiff, cold +fingers; but no one at her home took Delia's music seriously: it was an +accomplishment, a harmless amusement, but by no means to be allowed to +take time from more important affairs. It did not matter whether she +practised or not, but it did matter that she should be ready to make +calls with her mother, or to carry soup to someone in Mrs Hunt's +district who had been overlooked. She would have given up her music +altogether if her courage had not been revived from time to time by Mr +Goodwin, and her ambition rekindled by hearing him play; as it was, she +always came back to it with fresh heart and hope after seeing him. + +For nearly a week after her last visit, Delia awoke every morning with a +determination to walk over to Waverley, and each day passed without her +having done so. At last, however, chance arranged her meeting with +Anna. Coming into the drawing-room one afternoon in search of her +mother, she found, not Mrs Hunt, but a tall girl of fourteen, with +light yellow hair, sitting in the window, with a patient expression, as +though she had been waiting there some time. Delia advanced +uncertainly: she knew who it was; there was only one stranger likely to +appear just now. It must be Anna Forrest. But it was so odd to find +her there, just when she had been thinking of her so much, that for a +moment she hardly knew what to say. + +The girl, however, was quite at her ease. + +"I am Anna Forrest," she said; "Mrs Hunt asked me to come in--she went +to find you. You are Delia, are you not?" + +She had a bright, frank manner, with an entire absence of shyness, which +attracted Delia immediately. She found, on inquiry, that Mrs Hunt had +met Anna in the town with her aunt, and had asked her to come in. Mrs +Forrest had driven home, and Anna was to walk back after tea. + +"And have you been waiting long?" asked Delia. + +"It must have been an hour, I think," said Anna, "because I heard the +church clock. But it hasn't seemed long," she added, hastily; "I've +been looking out at the pigeons in the garden." + +Delia felt no doubt whatever that Mrs Hunt had been called off in some +other direction, and had completely forgotten her guest. However, here +was Anna at last. + +"Come up-stairs and take off your hat in my room," she said. + +Delia's room was at the top of the house--a garret with a window looking +across the red-tiled roofs of the town to the distant meadows, through +which glistened the crooked silver line of the river Dorn. She was fond +of standing at this window in her few idle moments, with her arms +crossed on the high ledge, and her gaze directed far-away: to it were +confided all the hopes, and wishes, and dreams, which were, as a rule, +carefully locked up in her own breast, and of which only one person in +Dornton even guessed the existence. + +Anna glanced curiously round as she entered. The room had rather a bare +look, after the bright prettiness of Waverley, though it contained all +Delia's most cherished possessions--a shelf of books, a battered old +brown desk, her music-stand, and her violin. + +"Oh," she exclaimed, as her eye fell on the last, "can you play the +violin? Will you play to me?" + +Delia hesitated: she was not fond of playing to people who did not care +for music, though she was often obliged to do so; but Anna pressed her +so earnestly that she did not like to be ungracious, and, taking up her +violin, played a short German air, which she thought might please her +visitor. + +Anna meanwhile paid more attention to her new acquaintance than to her +performance, and looked at her with great interest. There was something +about Delia's short, compact figure; her firm chin; the crisp, wavy hair +which rose from her broad, low forehead like a sort of halo, which gave +an impression of strength and reliability not unmingled with self-will. +This last quality, however, was not so marked while she was playing. +Her face then was at its best, and its usual somewhat defiant air +softened into a wistfulness which was almost beauty. Before the tune +was finished, Anna was quite ready to rush into a close friendship, if +Delia would respond to it, but of this she felt rather in doubt. + +"How beautifully you play!" she exclaimed, as Delia dropped her bow, and +shut up her music-book. + +A very little smile curled Delia's lips. + +"That shows one thing," she answered, "you don't know much about music, +or you would not call my playing beautiful." + +"Well, it sounds so to me," said Anna, a little abashed by this +directness of speech, "but I certainly don't know much about music; Aunt +Sarah says I need not go on with it while I am here." + +"I play very badly," said Delia; "if you wish to hear beautiful playing, +you must listen to your grandfather." + +"Must I?" said Anna, vaguely. "I thought," she added, "that he played +the organ in Dornton church." + +"So he does," said Delia, "but he plays the violin too. And he gives +lessons. He taught me." + +She looked searchingly at her companion, whose fair face reddened a +little. + +"I owe everything to him," continued Delia; "without what he has done +for me my life would be dark. He brought light into it when he taught +me to play and to love music." + +"Did he?" said Anna, wonderingly. + +She began to feel that she did not understand Delia; she was speaking a +strange language, which evidently meant something to her, for her eyes +sparkled, and her brown cheek glowed with excitement. + +"We ought to be proud in Dornton," Delia went on, "to have your +grandfather living here, but we're not worthy of him. His genius would +place him in a high position among people who could understand him. +Here it's just taken for granted." + +Anna grew more puzzled and surprised still. Delia's tone upset the idea +she began to have that her grandfather was a person to be pitied. This +was a different way of speaking of him, and it was impossible to get +used to it all at once. At Waverley he was hardly mentioned at all, and +she had come to avoid doing so also, from a feeling that her aunt +disliked it. She could not suddenly bring herself to look upon him as a +genius, and be proud of him, though she had every wish to please Delia. + +"What a pity," she said, hesitatingly, "that he is so poor, and has to +live in such a very little house, if he is so clever!" + +"Poor?" exclaimed Delia, indignantly; then, checking herself, she added, +quietly, "It depends on what you call poor. What the Professor +possesses is worth all the silver and gold and big houses in the world. +And that's just what the Dornton people don't understand. Why, the rich +ones actually _patronise_ him, and think he is fortunate in giving their +children music-lessons." + +Delia began to look so wrathful as she went on, that Anna longed to +change the subject to one which might be more soothing. She could not +at all understand why her companion was so angry. It was certainly a +pity that Mr Goodwin was obliged to give lessons, but if he must, it +was surely a good thing that people were willing to employ him. While +she was pondering this in silence, she was relieved by a welcome +proposal from Delia that they should go down-stairs, and have tea in the +garden. "Afterwards," she added, "I will show you the way to Waverley +over the fields." + +In the garden it was pleasant and peaceful enough. Tea was ready, under +the shade of the medlar tree. The pigeons whirled and fluttered about +over the red roofs all around, settling sometimes on the lawn for a few +moments, bowing and cooing to each other. Mrs Hunt, meanwhile, chatted +on in a comfortable way, hardly settling longer on one spot in her talk +than the pigeons; from the affairs of her district to the affairs of the +nation, from an anecdote about the rector to a receipt for scones, she +rambled gently on; but at last coming to a favourite topic, she made a +longer rest. Anna was glad of it, for it dealt with people of whom she +had been wishing to hear--her mother and her grandfather. Mrs Hunt had +much to tell of the former, whom she had known from the time when she +had been a girl of Anna's age until her marriage with Mr Bernard +Forrest. She became quite enthusiastic as one recollection after the +other followed. + +"A sweeter face and a sweeter character than Prissy Goodwin's could not +be imagined," she said. "We were all sorry when she left Dornton, and +every one felt for Mr Goodwin. Poor man, he's aged a great deal during +the last few years. I remember him as upright as a dart, and always in +such good spirits!" + +"I have a portrait of my mother," said Anna, "a miniature, painted just +after her marriage. It's very pretty indeed." + +"It should be, if it's a good likeness," said Mrs Hunt. "There's never +been such a pretty girl in Dornton since your mother went away. I +should like to see that portrait. When you come over again, which I +hope will be soon, you must bring it with you, and then we will have +some more talk about your dear mother." + +Anna readily promised, and as she walked up the High Street by Delia's +side, her mind was full of all that she had heard that afternoon. It +had interested and pleased her very much, but somehow it was difficult +to connect Mr Goodwin and his dusty, little house with the picture +formed in her mind of her beautiful mother. If only she were alive now! + +"I suppose you were a baby when my mother married," she said, suddenly +turning to her companion. + +"I was two years old," replied Delia, smiling, "but though I can't +remember your mother, I can remember your grandfather when I was quite a +little girl. He was always so good to me. Long before he began to +teach me to play, I used to toddle by his side to church, and wait there +while he practised on the organ. I think it was that which made me +first love music." + +"It seems so odd," said Anna, hesitatingly, "that I should be his +grandchild, and yet that he should be almost a stranger to me; while +you--" + +"But," put in Delia, quickly, for she thought that Anna was naturally +feeling jealous, "you won't be strangers long now; you will come over +often, and soon you will feel as though you'd known him always. To tell +you the truth," she added, lightly, "I felt dreadfully jealous of you +when I first heard you were coming." + +Jealous! How strange that sounded to Anna; she glanced quickly at her +companion, and saw that she was evidently in earnest. + +"I don't know, I'm sure, about coming to Dornton often," she said, +"because, you see, Aunt Sarah is so tremendously busy, and she likes to +do certain things on certain days; but, of course, I shall come as often +as I can. I do hope," she added, earnestly, "I shall be able to see you +sometimes, and that you will often come over to Waverley." + +Delia was silent. + +"You see," continued Anna, "I like being at Waverley very much, and +they're very kind indeed; but it _is_ a little lonely, and if you don't +mind, I should be _so_ glad to have you for a friend." + +She turned to her companion with a bright blush, and an appealing look +that was almost humble. Delia was touched. She had begun to think Anna +rather cold and indifferent in the way she had talked about coming to +Dornton; but, after all, it was unreasonable to expect her to feel warm +affection for a grandfather who was almost a stranger. When she knew +him she would not be able to help loving him, and, meanwhile, she +herself must not forget that she had promised the Professor to be Anna's +friend; no doubt she had said truly that, she was lonely at Waverley. +She met Anna's advances cordially, therefore, and by the time they had +turned off the high-road into the fields, the two girls were chatting +gaily, and quite at their ease with each other. Everything in this +field-walk was new and delightful to Anna, and her pleasure increased by +feeling that she had made a friend of her own age. The commonest +wild-flowers on her path were wonderful to her unaccustomed eyes. Delia +must tell their names. She must stop to pick some. They were prettier +even than Aunt Sarah's flowers at Waverley. What were those growing in +the hedge? She ran about admiring and exclaiming until, near the end of +the last field, the outbuildings of Leas Farm came in sight, which stood +in a lane dividing the farmer's property from Mr Forrest's. + +"There's Mr Oswald," said Delia, suddenly. + +Anna looked up. Across the field towards them, mounted on a stout, grey +cob, came the farmer at a slow jog-trot. So much had happened since her +arrival at Waverley, that she had now almost forgotten the events of +that first evening, and all idea of telling her aunt of her acquaintance +with Mr Oswald had passed from her mind. As he stopped to greet the +girls, however, and make a few leisurely remarks about the weather, it +all came freshly to her memory. + +"Not been over to see my cows yet, missie," he said, checking his pony +again, after he had started, and leaning back in his saddle. "My +Daisy's been looking for you every day. You'd be more welcome than +ever, now I know who 'twas I had the pleasure of driving the other day-- +for your mother's sake, as well as your own." + +Delia turned an inquiring glance on her companion, as they continued +their way. Would she say anything? Recollecting Mrs Winn's story, she +rather hoped she would. But Anna, her gay spirits quite checked, walked +soberly on in perfect silence. It made her uncomfortable to remember +that she had never undeceived Aunt Sarah about that fly. What a stupid +little mistake it had been! Nothing wrong in what she had done at all, +if she had only been quite open about it. What would Delia think of it, +she wondered. She glanced sideways at her. What a very firm, decided +mouth and chin she had: she looked as though she were never afraid of +anything, and always quite sure to do right. Perhaps, if she knew of +this, she would look as scornful and angry as she had that afternoon, in +speaking of the Dornton people. That would be dreadful. Anna could not +risk that. She wanted Delia to like and admire her very much, and on no +account to think badly of her. So she checked the faint impulse she had +had towards the confession of her foolishness, and was almost relieved +when they reached the point where Delia was to turn back to Dornton. +They parted affectionately, with many hopes and promises as to their +meeting again soon, and Anna stood at the white gate watching her new +friend until she was out of sight. + +Then she looked round her. She was in quite a strange land, for +although she had now been some weeks at Waverley, she had not yet +explored the fields between the village and Dornton. On her right, a +little way down the grassy lane, stood Mr Oswald's house, a solid, +square building, of old, red brick, pleasantly surrounded by barns, +cattle-sheds, and outbuildings, all of a substantial, prosperous +appearance. It crossed Anna's mind that she should very much like to +see the farmer's cows, as he had proposed, but she had not the courage +to present herself at the house and ask for Daisy. She must content +herself by looking in at the farmyard gate as she passed it. A little +farther on, Delia had pointed out another gate, on the other side of the +lane, which led straight into the Vicarage field, and towards this she +now made her way. + +She was unusually thoughtful as she sauntered slowly down the lane, for +her visit to Dornton had brought back thoughts of her mother and +grandfather, which had lately been kept in the background. She had +to-day heard them spoken of with affection and admiration, instead of +being passed over in silence. Waverley was very pleasant. Aunt Sarah +was kind, and her Uncle John indulgent, but about her relations in +Dornton there was scarcely a word spoken. It was strange. She +remembered Delia's sparkling eyes as she talked of Mr Goodwin. That +was stranger still. In the two visits Anna had paid to him, she had not +discovered much to admire, and she had not been pleased with the +appearance of Number 4 Back Row. It had seemed to her then that people +called him "poor Mr Goodwin" with reason: he was poor, evidently, or he +would not live all alone in such a very little house, with no servants, +and work so hard, and get so tired and dusty as he had looked on that +first evening she had seen him. Yet, perhaps, when she knew him as well +as Delia did, she should be able to feel proud of him; and, at any rate, +he stood in need of love and attention. + +She felt drawn to the Hunts and the Dornton people, who had known and +loved her mother, and she resolved to make more efforts to go there +frequently, and to risk displeasing Aunt Sarah and upsetting her +arrangements. It would be very disagreeable, for she knew well that +neither Mr Goodwin nor Dornton were favourite subjects at Waverley; and +when things were going smoothly and pleasantly, it was so much nicer to +leave them alone. However, she would try, and just then arriving at the +farmyard gate, she dismissed those tiresome thoughts, and leaned over to +look with great interest at the creatures within. As she did so, a +little girl came out of the farmhouse and came slowly down the lane +towards her. She was about twelve years old, very childish-looking for +her age, and dressed in a fresh, yellow cotton frock, nearly covered by +a big, white pinafore. Her little, round head was bare, and her black +hair closely cropped like a boy's. She came on with very careful steps, +her whole attention fixed on a plate she held firmly with both hands, +which had a mug on it full of something she was evidently afraid to +spill. Her eyes were so closely bent on this, that until she was near +Anna she did not see her; and then, with a start, she came suddenly to a +stand-still, not forgetting to preserve the balance of the mug and +plate. It was a very nice, open, little face she raised towards Anna, +with a childish and innocent expression, peppered thickly with freckles +like a bird's egg, especially over the blunt, round nose. + +"Did you come from the Vicarage?" she inquired, gravely. + +"I'm staying there," replied Anna, "but I came over the fields just now +from Dornton." + +"Those are puppa's fields," said the child, "and this is puppa's farm." + +"You are Daisy Oswald, I suppose?" said Anna. "Your father asked me to +come and see your cows." The little girl nodded. + +"I know what your name is," she said. "You're Miss Anna Forrest. Puppa +fetched you over from the station. You came quick. Puppa was driving +Strawberry Molly that day. No one can do it as quick as her." Then, +with a critical glance, "I can ride her. Can you ride?" + +"No, indeed, I can't," replied Anna. "But won't you show me your cows?" + +"Why, it isn't milking-time!" said Daisy, lifting her brows with a +little surprise; "they're all out in the field." She considered Anna +thoughtfully for a moment, and then added, jerking her head towards the +next gate, "Won't you come and sit on that gate? I often sit on that +gate. Most every evening." + +The invitation was made with so much friendliness that Anna could not +refuse it. + +"I can't stay long," she said, "but I don't mind a little while." + +Arrived at the gate, Daisy pushed mug and plate into Anna's hands. + +"Hold 'em a minute," she said, as she climbed nimbly up and disposed +herself comfortably on the top bar. "Now"--smoothing her pinafore +tightly over her knees--"give 'em to me, and come up and sit alongside, +and we'll have 'em together. That'll be fine." + +Anna was by no means so active and neat in her movements as her +companion, for she was not used to climbing gates; but after some +struggles, watched by Daisy with a chuckle of amusement, she succeeded +in placing herself at her side. In this position they sat facing the +Vicarage garden at the end of the field. It looked quite near, and Anna +hoped that Aunt Sarah might not happen to come this way just at present. + +"How nice it is to sit on a gate!" she said; "I never climbed a gate +before." + +Daisy stared. + +"Never climbed a gate before!" she repeated; "why ever not?" + +"Well, you see, I've always lived in a town," said Anna, "where you +don't need to climb gates." + +Daisy nodded. + +"I know," she said, "like Dornton. Now there's two lots of bread and +butter, one for me and one for you, and we must take turns to drink. +You first." + +"But I've had tea, thank you," said Anna. "I won't take any of yours." + +Daisy looked a little cast down at this refusal, but soon set to work +heartily on her simple meal alone, stopping in the intervals of her +bites and sups to ask and answer questions. + +"Was the town you lived in _nicer_ than Dornton?" she asked. + +"It was not a bit like it," replied Anna. "Much, much larger. And +always full of carts, and carriages, and people." + +"My!" exclaimed Daisy. "Any shops?" + +"Lots and lots. And at night, when they were all lighted up, and the +lamps in the streets too, it was as light as day." + +"That must have been fine," said Daisy, "I like shops. Were you sorry +to come away?" + +Anna shook her head. + +"Do you like being at Waverley?" pursued the inquiring Daisy, tilting up +the mug so that her brown eyes came just above the rim; "there's no one +to play with there, but I s'pose you don't mind. I haven't any brothers +and sisters either. There's only me. But then there's all the animals. +Do you like animals?" + +"I think I should very much," answered Anna, "but you can't have many +animals in London." + +"Well," said Daisy, who had now finished the last crumb of bread and the +last drop of milk, "if you like, I'll show you my very own calf!" + +"I'm afraid it's getting late," said Anna, hesitatingly. + +"'Twon't take you not five minutes altogether," said Daisy, scrambling +hastily down from the gate. "Come along." + +Anna followed her back to the farmyard, where she pushed open the door +of a shed, and beckoned her companion in. All was dim and shadowy, and +there was a smell of new milk and hay. At first Anna could see nothing, +but soon she made out, penned into a corner, a little, brown calf, with +a white star on its forehead; it turned its dewy, dark eyes +reproachfully upon them as they entered. + +"You can stroke its nose," said its owner, patronisingly. + +"Shall you call it Daisy?" asked Anna, reaching over the hurdles to pat +the soft, velvety muzzle. + +"Mother says we mustn't have no more Daisies," said its mistress, +shaking her little, round head gravely. "You see puppa called all the +cows Daisy, after me, for ever so long. There was Old Daisy, and Young +Daisy, and Red Daisy, and White Daisy, and Big Daisy, and Little Daisy, +and a whole lot more. So this one is to be called something different. +Mother say Stars would be best." + +As she spoke, a distant clock began to tell out the hour. Anna counted +the strokes with anxiety. Actually seven! The dinner hour at Waverley, +and whatever haste she made, she must be terribly late. + +"Ah, I must go," she said, "I ought not to have stayed so long. +Good-bye. Thank you." + +"Come over again," said Daisy, calling after her as she ran to the gate. +"Come at milking-time, and I'll show you all the lot." + +Anna nodded and smiled, and ran off as fast as she could. This was her +first transgression at the Vicarage. What would Aunt Sarah say? + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +DIFFICULTIES. + + No man can serve two masters. + +Anna found her life at Waverley bright and pleasant as the time went on, +in spite of Aunt Sarah's strict rules and regulations. There was only +one matter which did not become easy, and that was her nearer +acquaintance with her grandfather. Somehow, when she asked to go to +Dornton, there was always a difficulty of some kind--Mrs Forrest could +not spare the time to go with her, or the pony-cart to take her, or a +maid to walk so far, and she must not go alone. At first, mindful of +her resolves, she made efforts to overcome those objections, but being +always repulsed, she soon ceased them, and found it easier and far more +pleasant to leave her aunt to arrange the visits herself. + +In this way they became very rare, and when they did take place, they +were not very satisfactory, for Anna and her grandfather were seldom +left alone. She did not, therefore, grow to be any fonder of Back Row, +or to associate her visits there with anything pleasant. Indeed, few as +they were, she soon began to find them rather irksome, and to be +relieved when they were over. This was the only subject on which she +was not perfectly confidential to her new friend, Delia, who was now her +constant companion, for although Anna went very seldom to Dornton, Mrs +Forrest made no objection to their meeting often elsewhere. + +So Delia would run over to the Vicarage whenever she could spare time, +or join Anna in long country rambles, and on these occasions it was she +who listened, and Anna who did most of the talking. Delia heard all +about her life in London, and how much better she liked the country; all +about Aunt Sarah's punctuality, and how difficult it was to go to +Dornton; but about the Professor she heard very little. Always on the +lookout for slights on his behalf, and jealous for his dignity, she soon +began to feel a little sore on his account, and to have a suspicion that +Anna's heart was not in the matter. For her own part, she knew that not +all the aunts and rules in the world would have kept her from paying him +the attention that was his due. As the visits became fewer this feeling +increased, and sometimes gave a severity to her manner which Anna found +hard to bear, and it finally led to their first disagreement. + +"Can you come over to church at Dornton with me this evening?" asked +Delia one afternoon, as she and Anna met at the stile half-way across +the fields. + +"I should like to," said Anna, readily, "very much indeed, if Aunt Sarah +doesn't mind." + +"I'll walk back with you as far as this afterwards," said Delia. "You +would see your grandfather. You've never heard him play the organ yet." + +"I don't _suppose_ aunt would mind," said Anna, hesitatingly, her fair +face flushing a little. + +"Well," said Delia, "you can run back and ask her. I'll wait for you +here. You will just have time." + +The bells of Saint Mary's church began to sound as she spoke. + +"Only you must go at once," she added, "or we shall be too late." + +Still Anna hesitated. She hated the idea of asking Aunt Sarah, and +seeing her mouth stiffen into that hard line which was so disagreeable; +but it was almost as bad to face Delia, standing there, bolt upright, +with her dark eyes fixed so unflinchingly upon her. + +"I know," she said, appealingly, "that Aunt Sarah _has_ arranged for me +to go to Dornton next week." + +"Oh," said Delia, coldly. + +"And," pursued Anna, turning away from her companion and stooping to +pick a flower, "she does like me, you know, to go to the service at +Waverley with her. She says uncle prefers it." + +Delia's glance rested for a moment in silence on the bending figure, +with the pale yellow hair outspread on the shoulders gleaming in the +sunshine; then she said in rather a hard voice: + +"The fact is, I suppose, you don't _want_ to go. If so, you had better +have said so at first." + +Anna rose quickly, and faced her friend: + +"It's unkind, Delia," she exclaimed, "to say that. I _do_ want to go. +You know I like to be with you--and I should like to go to Dornton +church much better than Waverley." + +"Then why don't you ask Mrs Forrest?" said Delia, calmly. "She can't +mind your going if I walk back with you. It's worth the trouble, if you +want to see your grandfather." + +Anna cast down her eyes and fidgeted with the flowers in her belt. + +"You don't understand," she began, rather nervously, "how difficult it +is to ask Aunt Sarah some things--" + +"But this is quite a right, reasonable thing," interrupted Delia; +"there's nothing wrong in wishing to see your grandfather sometimes. Of +course, if you never ask Mrs Forrest, she thinks you don't care about +it." + +"I do ask," said Anna. "I have often asked; but, you know I told you, +Delia, Aunt Sarah never likes me to go to Dornton." + +"Then you mean to give it up, I suppose," said Delia, coldly. + +"If I'm staying with Aunt Sarah, I suppose I ought to do as she wishes," +said Anna; "but, of course, I shan't give it up entirely. She doesn't +wish me to do that." + +Delia stood for a moment in silence, her eyes fixed on Anna's pretty, +downcast face. The sound of the church bells came softly to them over +the fields from Dornton, and "Well," she said, with a little sigh, "I +mustn't stay, or I shall be late, and I promised to meet the Professor +after church. He half expects to see you with me. What shall I say to +him?" + +"Oh, Delia!" cried Anna, looking up into her companion's face, "I _do_ +wish I could go with you." + +"It's too late now," said Delia, turning away. "Good-bye." + +Anna lingered at the stile. Would not Delia turn round once and nod +kindly to her, as she always did when they parted? No. Her compact +figure went steadily on its way, the shoulders very square, the head +held high and defiantly. Anna could not bear it. She jumped over the +stile and ran after her friend. "Delia!" she called out. Delia turned +and waited. "Don't be cross with me," pleaded Anna. "After all, it +isn't my fault; and I _should_ like to go with you so much. And--and +give my love to grandfather, please. I'm going to see him next week." + +She took hold of Delia's reluctant hand and kissed her cheek. Delia +allowed the embrace, but did not return it. Her heart was hot within +her. Mrs Winn had said that Anna was not straightforward. Was it +true? + +Anna had not much time for any sort of reflection, for she had to get +back to Waverley as fast as she could, and, in spite of her haste, the +bell stopped just as she reached the garden gate, and she knew that her +aunt would have started for church without her. It was barely five +minutes' walk, but she had to smooth her hair, and find some gloves, and +make herself fit for Mrs Forrest's critical eye, and all this took some +time. When she pushed open the heavy door and entered timidly, her +footfall sounding unnaturally loud, the usual sprinkling of evening +worshippers was already collected, and her uncle had begun to read the +service. Anna crept into a seat. She knew that she had committed a +very grave fault in Mrs Forrest's sight, and she half wished that she +had made up her mind to go to Dornton with Delia. She wanted to please +every one, and she had pleased no one; it was very hard. As she walked +back to the Vicarage with her aunt after service, she was quite prepared +for the grave voice in which she began to speak. + +"How was it you were late this evening, Anna?" + +"I'm very sorry, aunt," she answered. "I was talking to Delia Hunt in +the field, and until we heard the bell, we didn't know how late it was." + +"If you must be unpunctual at all," said Mrs Forrest--"and I suppose +young people will be thoughtless sometimes--I must beg that you will at +least be careful not to let it occur at church time. Nothing displeases +your uncle more than the irreverence of coming in late as you did +to-day. It is a bad example to the whole village, besides being very +wrong in itself. As a whole," she continued, after a pause, "I have +very little fault to find with your behaviour; you try to please me, I +think, in every respect, but in this matter of punctuality, Anna, there +is room for improvement. Now, you were a quarter of an hour late for +dinner one night. You had been with Delia Hunt then too. I begin to +think you run about too much with her: it seems to make you forgetful +and careless." + +"But," said Anna, impulsively, "my being late had nothing at all to do +with Delia this time. I was with Daisy Oswald." + +"Daisy Oswald!" repeated Mrs Forrest, in a tone of surprise. "When did +you make Daisy Oswald's acquaintance?" + +She turned sharply to her niece with a searching glance. Anna blushed +and hesitated a little. + +"I--we--Delia and I met her father as we were walking home from Dornton. +He asked me to go and see his cows; and then, after Delia had left me, +I met his little girl in the lane just near the farm." + +Mrs Forrest was silent. She could not exactly say that there was +anything wrong in all this, but she highly disapproved of it. It was +most undesirable that her niece should be running about the fields and +lanes, and picking up acquaintances in this way. Daisy Oswald was a +very nice little girl, and there was no harm done at present, but it +must not continue. The thing to do, she silently concluded, was to +provide Anna with suitable occupations and companions which would make +so much liberty impossible for the future. + +To her relief, Anna heard no more of the matter, but it was easy to see +that Aunt Sarah had not liked the idea of her being with Daisy. It was +uncomfortable to remember that she had not been quite open about it. +Somehow, since that first foolish concealment, she had constantly been +forced into little crooked paths where she could not walk quite +straight, but she consoled herself by the reflection that she had not +told any untruth. + +A few days later Mrs Forrest, returning from a drive with her face full +of satisfaction, called Anna to her in her sitting-room. She had been +able, she said, to make a very nice arrangement for her to have some +lessons in German and French with the Palmers. Miss Wilson, their +governess, had been most kind about it, and it was settled that Anna +should go to Pynes twice every week for a couple of hours. + +"It will be an immense advantage to you," concluded Mrs Forrest, "to +learn with other girls, and I hope, beside the interest of the lessons, +that you will make friendships which will be both useful and pleasant. +Isabel Palmer is about your own age, and her sister a little older. +They will be nice companions for you, and I hope you will see a good +deal of them." + +From this time Anna's life was very much altered. Gradually, as her +interests and amusements became connected with the Palmers and all that +went on at their house, she saw less and less of Delia, and it was now +Mrs Forrest who had to remind her when a visit to Dornton was due. +There were no more country rambles, or meetings at the stile, and no +more confidential chats. Anna had other matters to attend to, and if +she were not occupied with lessons, there was always some engagement at +Pynes which must be kept. And yet, she often thought, with a regretful +sigh, there was really no one like Delia! Isabel Palmer was very +pleasant, and there was a great deal she enjoyed very much at Pynes, but +in her heart she remained true to her first friend. If only it had been +possible to please every one! If only Delia would be kind and agreeable +when they did meet, instead of looking so cold and proud! By degrees +Anna grew to dread seeing her, instead of looking forward to it as one +of her greatest pleasures at Waverley. Everything connected with Pynes, +on the contrary, was made so easy and pleasant. Aunt Sarah's lips never +looked straight and thin when she asked to go there, and Isabel Palmer +was sure of a welcome at any time. The pony-cart could nearly always be +had if it were wanted in that direction, though it seemed so +inconvenient for it to take the road to Dornton. And then, with the +Palmers there was no chance of severe looks on the subject of Mr +Goodwin. Did they know, Anna wondered, that he was her grandfather? +Perhaps not, for they had lived at Pynes only a short time. There was +no risk of meeting him there, for Saturday, when he gave Clara a +music-lesson, was a specially busy day with Mrs Forrest, and she always +wanted Anna at the Vicarage. + +It was strange that Anna should have come to calling it a "risk" to meet +her grandfather, but it was true. Not all at once, but little by +little, since her separation from Delia, the habit of dismissing him +from her thoughts, as well as keeping silence about him, had grown +strong within her. At first Delia's scornful face often seemed to flash +before her in the midst of some gaiety or enjoyment. "You are not +worthy of him," it seemed to say. But it had been so often driven away +that it now came very seldom, and when it did, it looked so pale and +shadowy that it had no reality about it. Anna threw herself into the +amusements which her new friends put in her way, and determined to be +happy in spite of uncomfortable recollections. + +On her side, Delia had now come to the swift decision natural to her age +and character. Anna was unworthy. She had been tried and found +wanting. Gold had been offered to her, and she had chosen tinsel. It +was not surprising that the Palmers should be preferred to herself, but +that any one related to the Professor, able to see and know him, should +be capable of turning aside and neglecting him for others, was a thing +she could neither understand nor bear with patience. She ceased to +speak of it when she met Anna, and preserved a haughty silence on the +subject, but her manner and looks expressed disapproval plainly enough. +The disapproval grew stronger as time went on, for although no word of +complaint ever passed Mr Goodwin's lips, Delia soon felt sure that he +longed to see more of his grandchild. They often talked of Anna, the +Professor listening eagerly to any news of her or account of her doings. +No hint of disappointment was ever given, but affection has quick +instincts, and Delia was able to understand her old friend's silence as +well as his speech. She ran in to Number 4 Back Row one afternoon, and +found him looking rather uncertainly and nervously at his tea-table, +which Mrs Cooper had just prepared in her usual hurried manner-- +slapping down the cups and plates with a sort of spiteful emphasis, and +leaving the cloth awry. He looked relieved to see Delia. + +"You would perhaps put things a little straight, and make it look +nicer," he said. "I don't know how it is, but Mrs Cooper seems to +spoil the look of things so." + +"You expect a visitor?" said Delia, as she began to alter the +arrangement of the little meal, and noticed two cups and plates. + +"Yes," said the Professor, half shyly. "I got some water-cresses and +some fresh eggs. And that kind Mrs Winn sent me some trout this +morning. Mrs Cooper promised to come in presently and cook them." + +Delia observed that the room had quite a holiday air of neatness. There +was no dust to be seen anywhere, and a special, high-backed arm-chair, +which was not in general use, was now drawn up to one side of the +tea-table. + +"That was Prissy's chair," he continued, looking at it affectionately; +"she always sat there, and I thought I should like to see Anna in it." + +"Oh, is Anna coming to tea with you?" exclaimed Delia. "I _am_ glad. +Is she coming alone?" + +The Professor nodded. There was a faint pink flush of excitement on his +cheek. His hand trembled a little as he touched the bunch of mignonette +which he had put on the table. + +"My flowers never do very well," he said, trying to speak in an off-hand +tone; "they don't get enough sun. And then, the other day I had to pour +my coffee out of the window, and I forgot that the border was just +underneath. I daresay it didn't agree with them." + +"I suppose Mrs Cooper made it so badly that even you could not drink +it?" said Delia; "but it's certainly hard that she should poison your +flowers as well. Why don't you tell her about it?" + +"Oh, she does her best, she does her best," said the Professor, quickly; +"I wouldn't hurt her feelings for the world." + +"Well, she won't improve at that rate," said Delia; "it's a good thing +every one is not so patient as you are. Now"--surveying her +arrangements--"I think it all looks very nice, and as I go home I'll +call in at Mrs Cooper's and remind her about the fish. Perhaps I shall +have time to bring you a few more flowers before Anna comes." + +Quite excited at the idea of the Professor's pleasure at having Anna all +to himself for a little while, she quickly performed her errands, and +finally left him in a state of complete preparation, with roses upon his +table, and the trout cooking in the kitchen; he himself, stationed at +the window, meanwhile pulling his watch out of his pocket every two or +three minutes to see if it were time for his guest to arrive. + +During the week which followed, Delia thought more kindly of Anna than +she had done for some time past. Perhaps, after all, she had judged her +too hastily; perhaps she had been hard and unjust; very likely this +meeting would be the beginning of a happier state of things between Mr +Goodwin and his grandchild. + +"Did you have a pleasant evening on Saturday?" she asked, when they next +met. + +Anna was sitting in the Palmers' pony-cart, outside a shop in the town, +waiting for Isabel: she blushed brightly when she saw Delia, and looked +rather puzzled at her question. + +"Where?" she said, vaguely. "Oh, I remember. I was to have had tea +with grandfather, but aunt made another engagement for me, and I didn't +go." + +Delia's face clouded over with the disapproving expression Anna knew so +well. + +"He didn't mind a bit," she said, leaning forward and speaking +earnestly. "He said another evening would do just as well for him." + +"I daresay he did," replied Delia, coldly. + +"And, you see, it was a cricket match at Holmbury," Anna continued, in +an apologetic voice; "such a lovely place! and the Palmers offered to +drive me, and another day wouldn't have done for that, and Aunt Sarah +thought--" + +"Oh, naturally," said Delia, lightly, "the cricket match was far more +important. And, of course, the Professor wouldn't mind. Why should +he?" + +She nodded and passed on, just as Isabel came out of the shop. + +"Wasn't that Delia Hunt?" said Isabel, as she got into the pony-cart; +"what is the matter? Her face looked like the sky when thunder is +coming." + +Delia felt as she looked, as though a storm were rising within her. She +thought of the Professor's little feast prepared so carefully, the +flowers, the high-backed chair standing ready for the guest who never +came. She could not bear to imagine his disappointment. How could Anna +be so blind, so insensible? All her hard feelings towards her returned, +and they were the more intense because she could speak of them to no +one--a storm without the relief of thunder. She had a half-dread of her +next meeting with Mr Goodwin, for with this resentment in her heart it +would be difficult to talk about Anna with patience, and yet the meeting +must come very soon. + +The next day was Wednesday, on which evening it was his custom to stay +in the church after service and play the organ for some time. Delia, +who was generally his only listener, would wait for him, and they would +either stroll home together, or, if it were warm weather, sit for a +little while under a certain tree near the church. They both looked +forward to those meetings, but this week, when the time came, and Delia +mounted the steep street which led up to the church, she almost wished +that the Professor might not be there. + +Dornton church was perched upon a little hill, so that, though it was in +the town, it stood high above it, and its tall, grey spire made a +landmark for miles round. The churchyard, carefully planted with +flowers, and kept in good order, sloped sharply down to old gabled +houses on one side, and on the other to open meadows, across which the +tower of Waverley church could be just seen amongst the trees. On this +side a wooden bench, shadowed by a great ash, had been let into the low +wall, and it was to this that Delia and the Professor were in the habit +of repairing after the Wednesday evening services. + +Mr Goodwin's music had always power to soothe Delia, and to raise her +thoughts above her daily troubles; but to-night, as she sat listening to +him in the empty church, she felt even more than usual as if a mighty +and comforting voice were speaking to her. As long as the resounding +notes of the organ continued, she forgot the little bustle of Dornton, +and her anger against Anna, and even when the Professor had finished and +joined her in the porch, the calming influence remained. + +"Can you stay a little this evening?" he asked, as they walked through +the churchyard together; "if you can spare time I should like a talk. +It's about Anna," he continued, when they were seated under the +flickering shadow of the ash tree; "I didn't see her the other evening, +after all--" + +"So I heard," said Delia. + +"No--I didn't see her," repeated Mr Goodwin, poking the ground +reflectively with his stick. "She went to some cricket match with her +friends; she's to come to me another time. It's very kind of Mrs +Palmer to give her so much pleasure. I suppose Anna enjoys it very +much? I hear of her going about with them a good deal." + +"I think she does," said Delia. + +"It's always such a comfort to me," he continued, his kind eyes beaming +upon his companion from beneath the brim of his wide-awake, "to think +that you are her friend. I don't see much of her. I told you I should +not be able to, when she first came, but the next best thing is to know +that you do." + +Delia was silent. She did not meet his glance, but pressed her lips +together and frowned a little. + +"Anna wants a friend," pursued the Professor, thoughtfully. "Little as +I see of her, I can tell that. She has the sort of nature which depends +greatly on influence--every one does, I suppose, but some of us can +stand alone better than others." + +"Anna seems to get on very well," said Delia. "People always like her." + +"Yes, yes, yes," said the Professor, nodding his head gently, "so I +should think--so I should think. But when I say a `friend,' Delia, I +don't mean that sort of thing; I mean some one who's willing to take a +little trouble." + +"I don't see how you can be a friend to a person that doesn't want you," +said Delia, impatiently. "If Anna wanted me--" + +"You're not displeased with her about anything, I hope?" said the +Professor, anxiously; "she has not offended you?" + +Delia hesitated. She could not bear to disappoint him, as he waited +eagerly for her answer. + +"The fact is," she said at length, "I don't understand Anna. She +doesn't look at things in the same way as I do. She gets on better with +the Palmers than with me." + +"I'm sorry for that," said the Professor, with a discouraged air, "but +Anna's very young, you know, in years and character too. I daresay she +needs patience." + +"I'm afraid I've not been patient," said Delia, humbly. + +Mr Goodwin was the only person in the world to whom she was always +ready to own herself in the wrong. + +"Oh, well, patience comes with years," he said; "you're too young yet to +know much about it. It's often hard enough, even after a long life, to +bear with the failings of others, and to understand our own. People are +so different. Some are strong, and some are weak. And the strong ones +are always expecting the weak ones to stand upright as they do, and go +straight on their way without earing for praise or blame. And, of +course they can't--it's not in them--they stumble and turn aside at +little things that the others wouldn't notice. And the weak ones, to +whom, perhaps, it is natural to be sweet-tempered, and yielding, and +forgiving, expect those virtues from the strong--and they don't find +them--and then they wonder how it is that they find it hard to forgive +and impossible to forget, and call them harsh and unbearable. And so we +go on misunderstanding instead of helping each other." + +Delia's face softened. Perhaps she had been too hasty with Anna--too +quick to blame. + +"Listen," said the Professor, "I was reading this while I waited for +service to begin this evening." + +He had taken out of his pocket a stumpy, and very shabby little brown +volume of Thomas a Kempis, which was very familiar to her. + +"But now, God hath thus ordered it, that we may learn to bear one +another's burdens, for no man is without fault; no man but hath his +burden; no man is self-sufficient; no man has wisdom enough for himself +alone. But we ought to bear with one another, comfort, help, instruct, +and admonish one another." + +He shut the little book, and turned his eyes absently across the broad, +green meadows. Delia knew that absent look of the Professor's well. It +meant that he was travelling back into the past, seeing and hearing +things of which she knew nothing. Yet, though he did not seem to be +speaking to her, every word he said sank into her mind. + +"It's very hard for strong people to bear with weakness. It's such a +disappointing, puzzling thing to them. They are always expecting +impossibilities. Yet they are bound to help. It is a sin to turn +aside. To leave weakness to trail along in the mire when they might be +a prop for it to lean on and climb upwards by. The strong have a duty +to the weak, and lessons to learn from them. But they are hard +lessons--hard lessons." + +Long after he had finished, Mr Goodwin sat with his eyes fixed musingly +on the distance, and Delia would not disturb his thoughts by a single +word. Even when they walked home together they had very little to say, +and were both in a silent mood. When they parted at the turning to Back +Row, Delia spoke almost for the first time. + +"I'm not going to be cross to Anna any more, Professor. You may feel +quite happy about that." + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +THE PALMERS' PICNIC. + + Faithful are the wounds of a friend. + +One very hot afternoon a little later, there had been a glee-practising +at the Hunts' house, a meeting which, of all others, was most +distasteful to Delia. The last guest had taken leave, and her mother +being on the edge of a comfortable nap in the shaded drawing-room, she +was just stealing away to her garret, when the bell rang. + +"Don't go away, my love," murmured Mrs Hunt, half-asleep, and as she +spoke Mrs Winn's solid figure advanced into the room. + +Delia resigned herself to listen to the disjointed chat which went on +between the two ladies for a little while, but soon the visitor, taking +pity on Mrs Hunt's brave efforts to keep her eyes from closing, turned +her attention in another direction. + +"I'm afraid," she said, moving her chair nearer to Delia, "that poor, +old Mr Goodwin must be sadly disappointed about his grandchild, isn't +he?" + +It always vexed Delia to hear the Professor called "poor and old." + +"Why?" she asked, shortly. + +"Well, because he evidently sees so little of her," said Mrs Winn. "It +has turned out exactly as I said it would. I said from the very first, +that sort of marriage never answers. It always creates discord. Of +course, it's a difficult position for Mrs Forrest, but she ought to +remember that the child owes duties and respect to Mr Goodwin. `Honour +thy father and mother,' and, of course, that applies to a grandfather +too." + +"I believe Mr Goodwin is quite satisfied," answered Delia. + +"Oh, I daresay," said Mrs Winn. "We all know he's a dear, meek, old +man, who could never say boo to a goose. But that doesn't make it +right. Now, I know for a fact that he expected Anna Forrest to tea with +him one evening, and she never came. I know all about it, because I +happened to send him some trout that morning, and Mrs Cooper went in to +cook them. Mrs Cooper chars for me, you know. `I was quite sorry, +ma'am,' she said, when she came the next day, `to see the poor, old +gentleman standing at the window with his watch in his hand, and the +trout done to a turn, and his flowers and all. It's hard on the old to +be disappointed.'" + +Mrs Winn rolled out these sentences steadily, keeping her eyes firmly +fixed on Delia all the while. Now she waited for a reply. + +"I heard about it," she said. "Anna was not able to go." + +"Then she should have sent word sooner, or her aunt should have done so. +It was a great want of respect. I'm surprised, Delia, you should take +it so coolly, when you think so much of Mr Goodwin. Now, if _I_ should +see Anna Forrest, I shall make a point of putting her conduct in a right +light to her. I daresay no one has done so yet--and she is but a +child." + +Delia shivered inwardly. She knew that Mrs Winn was quite capable of +doing as she said. How the Professor would shrink from such +interference! Yet she did not feel equal to saying much against it, for +Mrs Winn had always kept her and every one else in Dornton in order. +Her right to rebuke and admonish was taken as a matter of course. + +"You don't know, you see," she began, "how it was that Anna was +prevented. Perhaps--" + +Mrs Winn had now risen, and stood ready to depart, with her umbrella +planted firmly on the ground. + +"My dear," she interrupted, raising one hand, "I know _this_. Wrong is +wrong, and right is right. That's enough for me, and always has been. +Now, I won't disturb your dear mother to say good-bye, for I think she's +just dropped off. I'll go softly out." + +She moved with ponderous care out of the room, followed by Delia, but +came to a stand again in the hall. + +"You heard about this picnic of the Palmers?" she said, inquiringly. +"You're going, of course. It seems to be a large affair." + +"I'm not quite sure," said Delia. + +"Julia Gibbins came in this morning," continued Mrs Winn, "quite +excited about her invitation. She wanted to know what I meant to wear. +Julia's so absurdly frivolous, she thinks as much of her dress as a girl +of sixteen. `At our age, my dear Julia,' I said to her, `we need not +trouble ourselves about that. You may depend on it, no one will notice +what we have on. For myself, I shall put on my Paisley shawl and my +thickest boots. Picnics are always draughty and damp.' I don't think +she quite liked it. Now, do you suppose the Palmers have asked Mr +Goodwin? Anna Forrest's so much there, that I should _almost_ think +they would." + +"Why not, as well as other people in Dornton?" asked Delia. + +"He never goes to Waverley," said Mrs Winn. + +"That is by his own wish," said Delia, quickly. "He has told me about +that." + +"Oh, indeed, by his own wish," repeated Mrs Winn, her wide open grey +eyes resting thoughtfully upon Delia; "that's strange, with his +grandchild staying there. However," with a parting nod, as she moved +slowly out, "we shall soon see about the picnic." + +Delia smiled to herself as she watched her visitor's portly form out of +sight. How very little it would matter to the Professor whether the +Palmers sent him an invitation or not! He would not even notice the +absence of one. He had never cultivated the habit of feeling himself +injured, and was happily placed far above the miseries of fancied +slights and neglect. Nevertheless she resented, as she always did, the +tone of condescension with which Mrs Winn had mentioned him, and +returned to the drawing-room with a ruffled brow and a vexed spirit. + +Mrs Hunt still slumbered peacefully, quite undisturbed by the little +agitations of Dornton. As her daughter entered, she gently opened her +eyes. + +"Del, my love," she murmured, "I meant to ask you to go and inquire how +Mrs Hurst's little boy is this morning. Did I?" + +"No, mother," said Delia. + +"There's a beautiful jelly made for him," said Mrs Hunt, closing her +eyes again, and folding her hands in front of her comfortable person. +"I thought you might take it." + +"I passed the door this morning," said Delia. "I could easily have +taken it if you had remembered to ask me. It's so late now." + +"It won't keep firm this hot weather," continued Mrs Hunt's sweet, low +voice. "He ought to have it to-day." + +Delia did not answer. She was tired. It was hot. Mrs Winn's visit +had come at the close of a most irksome afternoon. She was longing for +a little quiet time for her music. + +"Poor Mrs Hurst!" pursued her mother. "So many children, and so few to +help her. Johnnie's been worse the last day or two." + +As usual on such occasions, Delia shortly found herself, basket in hand, +making her way along the dusty High Street to Mrs Hurst's house. +Dornton and the Dornton people seemed to her at that moment almost +unbearable. Should she ever get away from them? she wondered. Would +her life be spent within the hearing of Mrs Winn's sententious remarks, +the tedious discussions of tiny details, the eternal chatter and gossip, +which still seemed to buzz in her ears, from the meeting that afternoon? +Then her thoughts turned to their usual refuge, the Professor, and she +began to plan a visit to Anna at Waverley. Since her last talk with +him, she had made up her mind that she would do her very utmost to renew +their old friendliness. She would not take offence so easily, or be so +quick to resent it, when Anna did not see things as she did. She would +be patient, and she would keep her promise to the Professor. She would +try to understand. For his sake she would humble herself to make the +first advance, and this, for Delia's somewhat stubborn spirit, was a +greater effort than might be supposed. + +Anna, meanwhile, was quite as much interested as the Dornton people +about the picnic which the Palmers intended to give. All country +pleasures were new to her, and her companions at Pynes were _very_ much +amused to hear that she had never been to a picnic in her life, and had +most confused ideas as to what it meant. + +"It will be a very large one," said Isabel Palmer to her one morning. +"Mother thinks it will be such a good way of entertaining the Dornton +people. We thought of a garden-party, but if it's fine a picnic will be +much more fun." + +The three girls were alone in the schoolroom, their lessons just over, +and Anna was lingering for a chat before going back to Waverley. + +"Have you settled on the place yet?" she asked. + +"Alderbury," replied Isabel, "because it's near, and there's a jolly +little wood to make the fire in." + +"How delightful it will be!" exclaimed Anna. "How I wish it was going +to be to-morrow, I'm so afraid something will prevent it." + +"Bother this list!" put in Clara's voice, from the table where she sat +writing; "you might help me, Isabel." + +"What do you want?" asked her sister. + +"Well--Mr Goodwin, for instance--am I to put him down?" + +Anna gave a little start, and gazed earnestly out of the window at which +she stood, as Isabel went up to the table and looked over Clara's +shoulder. Then they did not know! Aunt Sarah had not told them. How +strange it seemed! + +"W-well, I don't know," said Isabel, reflectively. "We never have asked +him to anything; but a picnic's different. He's a very nice old man, +isn't he?" + +"He's an old dear," replied her sister, heartily, "but he's an organist. +We shouldn't ask the organist of the church here." + +"Mr Goodwin's different, somehow," said Isabel; "he's so clever, and +then he's a great friend of the Hunts, you know, and, of course, we +shall ask them." + +"Well, what am I to do?" repeated Clara. + +"Put him down, and put a query against him," decided Isabel, "and when +mother sees the list, she can alter it if she likes." + +Anna expected every moment during this discussion that her opinion would +be asked. She stood quite still, her back turned to her companions, a +bright flush on her cheek, her heart beating fast. When all chance of +being appealed to was over, and the girls had gone on to other names, +she drew a deep breath, as if she had escaped a danger. + +"I must go now," she said, turning towards them, "Aunt Sarah wants me +early to-day;" and in a few moments she was out of the house and on the +way home. + +It was not until she was half-way down the long hill which led from +Pynes to Waverley, that she began to realise what difficulties she had +prepared for herself by her silence. If Mr Goodwin were asked, and if +he came to the picnic, the relationship between them must be known. +That would not matter so much, but it would matter that she had seemed +to be ashamed of it. Why had she not told them long ago? Why had she +not spoken just now, at the first mention of his name? What a foolish, +foolish girl she had been! What should she do now? Turning it over in +her mind, she came to the conclusion that she must make some excuse to +her Aunt, and stay away from the picnic. She could not face what might +happen there. The Palmers' surprise, Delia's scorn. Why did you not +tell us? she heard them saying, and what could she answer? As she +thought of how much she had looked forward to this pleasure, a few tears +rolled down Anna's cheek, but they were not tears of repentance. She +was only sorry for her own disappointment, and because things did not go +smoothly. It was very hard, she said to herself, and the hardest part +was that she was forced continually into crooked ways. She did not want +to be deceitful; she would much rather be brave and open like Delia, +only things were too strong for her. As she thought this, Delia's face +seemed suddenly to appear before her: it did not look angry or scornful, +but had a gentle, almost pleading expression on it: she was speaking, +and what she said sounded quite clearly in Anna's ears: "Go back and +tell them now. Go back and tell them now," over and over again. + +Anna stopped uncertainly, and turned her head to where, over the tops of +the trees, she could still catch a glimpse of the chimneys of Pynes: she +even took two or three steps up the hill again, the voice still sounding +entreatingly and loud. But now it was joined by another, louder and +bolder, which tried to drown it. This one told her that, after all, +there was no need. Things would go well. The Palmers might never know. +Soon they would go to Scotland, and after that--well, that was a long +way off. Anna turned again, this time with decision, and finished the +rest of her journey to Waverley almost at a run, without stopping to +think any more. + +As the days went on without any further mention of Mr Goodwin, she +began to hope that, after all, she might be able to go to the picnic. +How should she find out? She had not courage to ask the Palmers, and +though it would have been a simple matter to ask her grandfather +himself, she shrank from facing him and his gentle kindliness just now. +If only some visitor from Dornton would come over! This wish was at +last realised in a very unexpected way, and one which was not altogether +pleasant. It was the day on which her visit to Mr Goodwin was usually +made, and she had begged her aunt to allow her to remain at home. The +heat had given her a headache, and she would rather go to Dornton some +other day. Mrs Forrest received the excuse indulgently. + +"I will call in and leave a message with Mr Goodwin," she said, "and +you had better lie down quietly in your own room. By the time I get +back you will be better, I hope." + +But Aunt Sarah had hardly been gone ten minutes before there was a knock +at Anna's door: + +"Mrs Winn would like to speak to you, miss. I told her you were not +well, but she says she will only keep you a few minutes." + +Anna did not know much of Mrs Winn, and thought, as she went +down-stairs, that she had most likely some message for Mrs Forrest to +leave with her. Would she say anything about the picnic, or the people +who were going to it? + +Mrs Winn had taken up a determined position on a stiff, straight-backed +chair in the middle of the room. There was severity in her glance as +she replied to Anna's greeting, and remarked that she was sorry to miss +Mrs Forrest. + +"Aunt Sarah's only just started to drive into Dornton," said Anna; "I +wonder you did not meet her." + +"I came by the fields," replied Mrs Winn shortly. "You were not well +enough to go out, I hear?" + +"I had a headache," said Anna, with her pretty blush; "aunt thought I +had better stay at home." + +"You don't look much the worse for it," said Mrs Winn, without removing +her unblinking gaze. "Girls in my young days didn't have headaches, or +if they did, they put up with them, and did their duty in spite of them. +Things are turned topsy-turvy now, and it's the old who give way to the +young." + +Surprised at this tone of reproof, for which she was quite unprepared, +Anna's usually ready speech deserted her. She said nothing, and hoped +that Mrs Winn would soon go away. But that was evidently not her +intention just yet: she had come prepared to say what was on her mind, +and she would sit there until it was said. + +"But, perhaps," she continued, "it's just as well you didn't go out, for +I've been wanting an opportunity to speak to you for some days." + +"To me?" said Anna, faintly. + +"I never shrink from my duty," went on Mrs Winn, "whether it's +unpleasant or not, and I don't like to see other people doing so. Now, +you're only a child, and when you neglect to do what's right, you ought +to be told of it." + +Anna gazed in open-eyed alarm at her visitor. What could be coming? + +"I don't suppose you know, and, therefore, I think it my duty to tell +you, that your grandfather, old Mr Goodwin, was extremely disappointed +the other day when you failed to keep your promise. I hear that he +waited for you until quite late." + +"Aunt Sarah wished me to go out with the Palmers," said Anna. +"Grandfather said he didn't mind at all--" + +"I knew your mother well," proceeded Mrs Winn, rolling on her way +without noticing this remark, "and a sweet, young creature she was, +though she made one mistake that I always regretted. And I know Mr +Goodwin, of course, and respect him, though he's not made of the stuff +that gets on in the world. Still, whatever his position is, you owe him +duty and reverence; and let me tell you, young lady, there may come a +time when you'll be sorry you've not given it. It's all very well, and +very natural, I daresay, to enjoy frolicking about with your gay young +friends now. But youth passes, and pleasure passes, and then we all +have time to remember the duties we didn't stoop to pick up when they +lay at our door." + +Anna sat in sulky silence during this long speech, with her eyes cast +down, and a pout on her lips. What right had Mrs Winn to scold her? + +Sullen looks, however, had no sort of effect on that lady, and when she +had taken breath, she proceeded to finish her lecture: + +"I keep my eyes open, and my ears too, and I know very well, that though +your grandfather says nothing, and is the sort of man to bear any +neglect without complaint, that he feels hurt at your going so seldom to +see him. And, knowing this, it was my duty to come and tell you, as +there was no one else to do it. Your aunt and uncle are not intimate +with him, and Delia Hunt's too young to speak with any weight.--There's +another thing, too, I wanted to mention. Up to yesterday Mr Goodwin +had received no invitation to the Palmers' picnic." + +Anna's heart gave a sudden leap of joy. Then she could go to the +picnic! + +"I fancy, if she knew this, that Mrs Forrest would neither go herself +nor allow you to do so," continued Mrs Winn. "Considering his +connection with this family, it's a slight to her and her husband as +well as to him. It's extremely strange of the Palmers, when they take +so much notice of you. I almost feel inclined to go on to Pynes this +afternoon and point it out to them!" + +She waited, looking at Anna for a reply, but none came, for she was +partly stunned by the force and suddenness of Mrs Winn's attack, and +also filled with alarm at the idea of her going to Pynes. That would +spoil everything. So she sat in silence, nervously twisting her fingers +in her lap, her downcast face strangely unlike that of the usually +bright, self-possessed Anna. + +"After all," concluded Mrs Winn, "I'm rather tired, and it's a good +mile farther, so I'll go back over the fields as I came, though the +stiles do try me a good deal. You know how matters stand now, and you +can't say you've not been openly dealt with. So we'll shake hands, and +bear no malice." + +Anna went with her visitor as far as the garden door, and watched her +until she was hidden from sight by the great walnut tree on the lawn. +What a tiresome, interfering old lady she was, and how angry Aunt Sarah +would be! Her head really ached now. It felt as though some one had +been battering it on each side with large, strong hands, and she was +quite confused and giddy; but through it all one triumphant thought came +uppermost. She could go to the picnic! Presently she strolled out into +the garden, fanning her hot face with her hat, as she turned things over +in her mind. On the whole, she would not mention Mrs Winn's visit to +her aunt, and, of course, she must not know that Mr Goodwin had not +been asked to the picnic. It was very near now, and as Mrs Forrest was +not fond of listening to Dornton gossip, she was not likely to hear of +it in any other way. To go to the picnic had now taken such full +possession of Anna's mind that nothing else seemed of much importance. +She was ready to bend and twist everything that came in her way to make +the road to it straight. A small reproving voice, which still sounded +sometimes, was getting less and less troublesome. "Afterwards," Anna +said to it, "after the picnic, I will behave differently. I will never +conceal anything, and I will go often to see grandfather--but I _must_ +go to the picnic." + +The stable clock sounding five disturbed her reflections. Aunt Sarah +would be home soon without fail, for at a quarter past there would be a +mothers' meeting at the schoolroom, at which she always presided. Anna +went too, sometimes, and helped to measure out calico and flannel, but +she hoped she should be excused this afternoon. The schoolroom was hot, +and she did not find the books Aunt Sarah read aloud to the mothers very +interesting. + +There was the pony-cart in the distance! But who was the second figure +sitting beside Mrs Forrest? Could it be Delia? Anna ran through the +house and into the porch, from which she could see the long approach to +the Rectory gate. There had been a time when Delia's coming had meant +unmixed rejoicing, but that was over. She seemed to come now not so +much as a friend as a severe young judge, whose looks condemned, even +when she did not speak. + +Mrs Winn had only put into words what Delia's face had said for some +time past, and, with the sound of them still in her ears, Anna felt more +alarmed than pleased, as she saw that it really was her old friend. Had +she, too, come to point out her duty? + +With the mothers' meeting on her mind, Mrs Forrest descended quickly +from the pony-cart, and passed Anna in the porch without looking at her. + +"Is your headache better?" she said, as she went straight into the +drawing-room, where tea was ready. "I overtook Delia on her way to see +you, and brought her on with me. You must take care of yourselves, for +I must start almost immediately. Please pour me out a cup of tea at +once." + +When Mrs Forrest had drunk her tea, and set forth at a leisurely pace +for the schoolroom, provided with work-basket and book, the two girls +were alone together. There was a pause of embarrassment, which Delia +was the first to break. + +"I was coming over," she said, "to ask if you would care to go and get +water-lilies down at the river this evening. You said you would like +some rushes too." + +Her voice sounded kind, almost as it used to long ago, although there +was a sort of shyness in her manner. Anna was greatly relieved. Surely +Delia would not have begun like this if she intended to reprove her. + +"Mrs Forrest said you might go, if your head was better," continued +Delia. + +Anna replied eagerly that her headache was nearly gone, a walk would do +it good, she should like it immensely; and a few minutes later the girls +started on their expedition. It was one which had been planned in the +first days of their acquaintance, when Anna had thought no pleasure +could compare to a ramble in the country with Delia. Fresh from the +rattle and noise of London, its stony pavements, and the stiff +brilliancy of the flowers in the parks, it had been a sort of rapture to +her to wander freely over the fields and through the woods. Aunt +Sarah's garden was beautiful, but this was better still. All the +flowers found here might be gathered, and Delia knew exactly where they +all grew in their different seasons, and the best way of getting to +them. Anna had begun, under her guidance, to make a collection of +wild-flowers, but though started with great energy, it had not gone far. +It had ceased, together with the walks, shortly after her acquaintance +with the Palmers had filled her mind with other things. Yet those +rambles with Delia had never been forgotten. Anna thought of them +often, and knew in her heart that she had never been so really happy +since. This evening, as she walked along swinging her basket, she felt +as though the old days had come back, and the old Delia too. It could +not be so, really. If she knew--but she did not know. Meanwhile the +sky was blue, Delia was kind, the meadows were gay and pleasant, she +would forget everything disagreeable, and enjoy herself. + +Their way lay for a short distance along the high-road, then over a +stile, and down through the rich flat water-meadows which spread out on +each side of the river. The Dorn was neither a rapid nor a majestic +stream, but took its leisurely course between its sloping banks, with a +contented ripple, disturbing no one. This course was a very winding +one, making all kinds of little creeks, and shallows, and islands on its +way, and these were full of delightful plants for any one who cared to +gather them. Tall families of bulrushes and reeds swaying to the wind +whistling through them; water-lilies, holding up their flat, green hands +to make a table for their white blossoms; forests of willow-herb on the +banks, wild peppermint and comfrey, and the blue eyes of forget-me-nots +peeping out here and there with modest confidence. + +"There's an old punt fastened just about here," said Delia, as they +reached the river, "so we can get right out amongst the lilies, and then +we can reach the rushes too." + +Delia was always the leader on such occasions, and Anna was used to +following her with perfect confidence, but when they came to the old +punt, a little higher up, she eyed it with some misgivings. It looked +very insecure, and shaky, and rotten. + +"Oh, Delia," she cried, as her companion jumped lightly on to it and +waited for her to follow, "it's leaking--I can see the water through it. +Do you think it will bear us both?" + +Delia laughed as Anna crept cautiously down the bank. It reminded her +of the time when she had had to encourage and help her to climb gates +and scramble through hedges. + +"Come along," she said, holding out her hand, "it's as safe as dry land. +Why, I've seen four great boys on it at once." + +"How beautiful!" cried Anna, as, after a little more encouragement, she +found herself safely on the punt by Delia's side, surrounded by +water-lilies and bulrushes. They set to work to fill their basket with +these, and when it was done there were always finer ones still almost +out of reach. These must be had at any cost. Delia would lie flat on +the punt, and while Anna held the skirt of her dress, would manage to +get hold of them with the handle of a stick. There was both excitement +and triumph in these captures, and while they were going on the girls +forgot that any coolness had come between them, or that the world held +much beyond water-lilies and bulrushes. When, however, they climbed out +of the punt with their dripping prizes, and sat down on the bank to rest +a little, recollections returned. + +"What a pity," thought Anna, with a sigh, "that things are not always +pleasant. Delia is nicer than any one when she is kind." + +Delia, on her side, as she packed the lilies into the basket, reminded +herself that there was something she had to say to Anna, and wondered +how she should begin. + +As usual, she plunged straight into the matter of which her mind was +full, and said suddenly: + +"Do you ever meet your grandfather at Pynes?" + +Here was the tiresome subject again! All pleasure was over now. + +"No, never," replied Anna. "He gives Clara lessons on Saturdays, and +Aunt Sarah always wants me at home then." + +"You are going to this picnic, I suppose?" said Delia. "Does Mrs +Forrest know that the Professor has not been asked?" + +"I don't know," murmured Anna. + +She glanced quickly at her companion, and saw the severe look coming +back which she always dreaded. + +"Of course," continued Delia. "It does not in the least matter, as far +as he is concerned, for he would not, in any case, go; but I should have +thought his relations would have felt it a slight; and I can't +understand Mrs Palmer." + +Anna was silent. She wished now that Delia had not come, though she had +enjoyed the walk so much. + +"But I didn't mean to talk about that," resumed Delia, with an effort. +"What I wanted to say has nothing to do with the picnic. It's about +you, Anna, and myself." + +"About me?" repeated Anna. + +After all, Delia _was_ going to be angry, yet her voice sounded quite +soft and kind. + +"Yes. At first I didn't mean to say anything to you, because I thought +you ought to be able to see it for yourself. And when you didn't, I was +angry, and that kept me silent. But I know now, it was wrong. People +can't see things just alike, and I ought to have been kinder, and tried +to help you more." + +At this new tone of humility Anna's heart softened at once to her +friend. When she spoke like that, she felt for the moment that she +would do anything she asked--even give up the picnic. + +"Oh, Delia," she exclaimed, impulsively, "you've always been very kind. +Kinder than I deserve." + +"That's nothing to do with it," answered Delia. "People can do without +friends when they deserve them. The thing is, that I promised the +Professor to be your friend, and I haven't carried it out." + +"It's been my fault," said Anna, in a penitent voice, "but really and +truly, Delia, you may not believe me, but I _do_ like you better than +Isabel Palmer--or any one. I do indeed." + +She spoke the truth. At that moment she felt that she would rather have +Delia for a friend than any one in the world. Yet she was conscious +that, if Delia knew all, she would find it hard to forgive her. What a +pity it all was! + +"So, what I want to tell you," continued Delia, "and what I ought to +have told you before, is this. I've let you think that your grandfather +doesn't mind your going so seldom to see him--but I know that he does." + +She paused and looked earnestly at Anna. + +"Grandfather never says anything about it," Anna murmured. + +"That's just it," said Delia. "He's so unselfish and good, he wouldn't +let you or any one know it for the world. He thinks so little of +himself, it would be impossible to offend him. It's not what he _says_. +Oh, Anna, if you really knew, and loved him, you _couldn't_ let +anything else come before him! Not all the Palmers, and Waverleys, and +Aunt Sarahs in the world. You _couldn't_ give him a minute's pain or +disappointment." + +She was so moved by her subject, that the tears stood in her dark eyes +as she turned them upon Anna. + +"I'll try, Delia; I really will," said the latter, "but it _is_ hard. +Harder than you think. It makes Aunt Sarah different for days +afterwards." + +Delia snapped off the head of a water-lily in her impatient fingers. + +"Aunt Sarah!" she repeated. Then more gently: "You see, Anna, you must +choose whether you'll pain the Professor or displease Mrs Forrest. You +can't possibly please both of them. You must choose which you think +right, and stick to it. You can't serve God and mammon." + +How dreadfully earnest Delia was! It almost frightened Anna to hear her +talk like that. + +"I will try," she repeated. "I will do my best, Delia, if only you +won't be angry any longer." + +She put her hand softly into her companion's, and Delia's fingers closed +over it in a warm clasp. For the time, the old feelings of confidence +and affection had returned, and when, a little later, Anna walked back +to the Vicarage alone, she was full of good resolves. She would try to +deserve Delia's friendship. She would go often to Dornton, and be very +loving to her grandfather. She would turn over a new leaf. + +"My dear Anna," cried Mrs Forrest, meeting her in the porch with her +basket of wet, shining river-plants, "do you know the time? Miss Stiles +has been waiting to try on your dress for the picnic. Dear me! what +dripping things! Let Mary take them." + +The picnic! Anna had really for the moment forgotten the picnic. All +the good resolves trooped into the background again while she tried on +the new dress. But only till _after_ the picnic! When that was over +she would make a fresh start, and never, never, conceal anything again. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +THE BEST THINGS. + + A rose which falleth from the hand, which fadeth in the breast, + Until in grieving for the worst, we learn what is the best. + + Mrs Browning. + +Everything went on quite smoothly until the day fixed for the picnic +came. Aunt Sarah gave no hint of any objection; the weather was +gloriously hot and fine; Anna's new white dress was very pretty--there +was nothing wanting to her long-desired enjoyment. + +She stood amongst the nodding roses in the porch, waiting for the +Palmers to call for her in their carriage, on the way to Alderbury. +Aunt Sarah was, perhaps, to drive over and join the party later. Anna +had dismissed all troublesome thoughts. She felt sure she was going to +be very happy, and that nothing unlucky would happen to spoil her +pleasure. She was in gay spirits, as she fastened a bunch of the little +cluster-roses in her dress. Isabel had once told her that she looked +very pretty in white, and she was glad to feel that she suited the +beauty of the bright summer day. + +"Anna!" said Mrs Forrest's voice from the hall within. + +Anna turned. The hall looked dark and shadowy after the sunshine, but +it was easy to see that there was vexation on her aunt's face as she +studied the letter in her hand. + +"I have just had a note from Dr Hunt," she said. "Mr Goodwin, your +grandfather, is not very well." + +"What is the matter?" asked Anna. + +She left the porch and went up to her aunt's side. + +"Why, I can't quite make out. Dr Hunt talks of fever, but says there +is nothing infectious. Brought on by over-exertion in the heat, he +thinks. He says you may safely go to see him--" + +There was a pause. Mrs Forrest and Anna looked at each other: each +waited for the other to speak. Must I give up the picnic after all? +thought Anna. + +"I don't gather that it's anything serious," said Mrs Forrest at +length. "I think the best plan will be for me to go over to Dornton, +after you've started, and see Dr Hunt. Then, if there's really no +danger of infection, you can go there early to-morrow," She looked +inquiringly at Anna, as though half-expecting her to make some other +suggestion. The sound of wheels on the gravel, and the tramp of horses, +told that the Palmers were approaching: the wagonette, full of gay young +people, drove up to the porch. + +"Are you ready, Anna?" called out Isabel's voice. + +"Will that satisfy you?" said Mrs Forrest; "you must decide now." + +"We're late, Anna," said Isabel again, "why don't you come?" + +Anna hesitated. She looked out at the bright sunshine, where her +companions called her to gaiety and pleasure, and then at the letter in +her aunt's hand. + +"Here's your cloak, Miss Anna," said the maid waiting at the door. + +In another moment, it seemed almost without any will of her own, she was +squeezed into the carriage amongst her laughing companions, had waved a +farewell to Mrs Forrest standing smiling in the porch, and was whirled +away to the picnic. + +The hours of the sunny day, filled with delight for Anna amongst the +pleasant woods of Alderbury, did not pass so quickly at Number 4 Back +Row. The Professor was ill. He had had a slight feverish attack to +begin with, which passed off, and seemed of no importance, but it had +left him in a state of nervous weakness and prostration, at which Dr +Hunt looked grave. Mr Goodwin must have been over-exerting himself for +some time past, he declared, and this breakdown was the result. It +would probably be some time before he could do any work. Perfect rest, +and freedom from all care and agitation, were the only remedies. + +"Don't let him know, Delia," he said to his daughter as he left the +house, "that he's likely to be laid up long. Keep him as quiet and +cheerful as possible. I'll send a line to Mrs Forrest, and let her +know that his grandchild may be with him as much as she likes." + +Delia prepared to spend the rest of the day with her old friend, and +having persuaded him to lie down on the hard little couch, and made him +as comfortable as she could with pillows, she sat down in the window +with her sewing. From here she could watch the little gate, and prevent +any one from entering too suddenly. Of course Anna would come soon. +The Professor was very quiet, but she thought he turned his eyes towards +the door now and then, as though looking for some one. Was it Anna? At +last she was thankful to see him fall into a doze which lasted some +while, and she was just thinking for the hundredth time that Anna _must_ +come now, when she was startled by his voice: + +"Prissy," it said, quite clearly. + +Delia went up to the sofa. Mr Goodwin gazed at her for a moment +without recognition. + +"You've had a nice sleep, Professor," she said, smiling, "and now you +are going to have some tea with me." + +But in spite of his sleep, the Professor's face looked anxious, and he +hardly tasted the tea which Delia prepared. As she took his cup, he +said wistfully: + +"Did Dr Hunt write to Mrs Forrest?" + +Delia nodded. + +"Did--did Anna happen to come while I was asleep?" was his next +question. + +"She's not been yet," said Delia, "but they may not have had the letter +till late. She will come soon." + +"I should like to see her," said the Professor. + +Why did not Anna come? As the weary hours went by, and the sun got +lower and lower, he became very restless, looked first at his watch and +then at the door, and no longer tried to conceal how much he wanted to +see his grandchild. Delia tried in vain to divert his mind by reading +his favourite books, but it was evident that he was not listening to +her. He was listening for the click of the gate, and the footsteps +outside. Every subject in which she tried to interest him came back to +the same thing, Anna, and Anna's doings. Delia could not help one throb +of jealous pain, as she recognised how powerless she was to take her +place, a place she seemed to value so little. But it was only for one +moment; the next she put all thought of herself aside. Anna belonged to +the dearest memories of the Professor's life. She had a place in his +heart which would always be kept for her, whatever she had done or left +undone. To bring peace and comfort into his face again, Delia would +have been willing at that moment to give up her own place in his +affections entirely. If only Anna would come! + +"I suppose it's too late to expect her now, my dear, isn't it?" said the +patient voice again. + +Delia could not bear it any longer. + +"I think," she said, as cheerfully as she could, "if you don't mind +being alone a little while, I'll just run over to Waverley. Mrs +Cooper's here, if you want anything, you know." + +"Will you really?" said the Professor, with hope in his voice. + +"There's perhaps been some mistake about that letter," said Delia. +"You'd like to see Anna to-night, wouldn't you?" + +"Well, I _should_," said Mr Goodwin. "It's very absurd, I know, but I +had such a strange dream just now about her and Prissy, and I can't get +it out of my head. I suppose being not quite up to the mark makes one +unreasonable, but I really don't think I could sleep without seeing her. +It's very good of you to go, my dear." + +"I'll be back in no time, and bring her with me," said Delia. + +She spoke with confidence, but half-way across the fields she stopped +her rapid pace, checked by a sudden thought--the picnic! + +In her anxiety she had forgotten it. Anna might have started before Dr +Hunt's note got to Waverley. Even then, though, she said to herself, +she must be home by now. So she ran on again, and half an hour later +she was on her way back over the darkening fields--without Anna. She +had gone to the picnic, and she knew the Professor was ill! Once Delia +would have felt angry; now there was only room in her heart for one +thought: "He will be disappointed, and he will not sleep to-night." + +The church clock struck nine as she entered the High Street in Dornton, +and the same sound fell faintly on Anna's ears on her way back from +Alderbury. The picnic had been over long ago, but, shortly after the +party started to return, one of the horses lost a shoe; the carriage in +which Anna was had to proceed at a slow walk for the rest of the +distance, and it would be very late before she could reach Waverley. + +No accident, however, could damp her spirits, or those of her +companions. It was all turned into amusement and fun. The whole day +had been more delightful than any Anna had known. It was over now, that +delightful day, and she gave a little sigh of regret to think that she +was at the end of it instead of at the beginning. The one shadow which +had fallen across the brightness of it, had been cast by the substantial +figure of Mrs Winn, whom she had seen in the distance now and then. +Once she had noticed her in earnest conversation with Mrs Palmer, and +thought that they had both looked in her direction, but it had been easy +to avoid contact with her amongst so many people. It had not spoiled +her enjoyment then; but now, her excitement a little cooled down, +unpleasant thoughts began to make themselves heard. + +Here was the Rectory at last! Anna burst into the drawing-room, her +fair hair falling in confusion over her shoulders, a large bundle of +foxgloves in her arms, her cheeks bright with the cool night breeze. + +"Oh, aunt!" she exclaimed, "we've had such a lovely, lovely day. Why +didn't you come?" + +"You're very late, my dear Anna," said Mrs Forrest, gravely. "I +expected you more than an hour ago." + +Anna explained the reason of her delay. + +"Alderbury is the most perfect place," she repeated. "Why didn't you +come?" + +"It's very unlucky that you should be late," said Mrs Forrest. "Delia +has been over asking for you." + +Anna's face fell. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "My grandfather! Is he worse?" + +"I don't think so. And from what I learned from Dr Hunt, he is not at +all seriously ill. But he was restless, Delia said, and wanted to see +you to-night." + +"To see me," said Anna. She let her flowers fall in a heap on the +ground. "Oh, Aunt Sarah, I wish I had not gone to the picnic!" + +"Now, my dear Anna, that is foolish. You shall go to Dornton early +to-morrow, and no doubt you will find Mr Goodwin better. Remember that +there is no cause for anxiety, and though the accident of your being +late was very unfortunate, it could not be avoided." + +Aunt Sarah's composed words were reassuring. Probably her grandfather +was not very ill, Anna thought; but oh, why had she gone to the picnic, +and what would Delia say? + +These last words were in her mind again next morning, as she arrived at +Number 4 Back Row, and stood waiting to be let in. The little house +looked very sad and silent, as though it knew its master was ill. +Presently the door opened a very little way, and the long, mournful face +of Mrs Cooper appeared. When she saw who it was she put her finger on +her lip, and then said in a loud, hoarse whisper, "I'll call Miss +Delia." + +Anna was left outside. She felt frightened. Why did Mrs Cooper look +so grave? Perhaps grandfather was very ill after all! + +It seemed ages before the door opened again, and when it did, it was +Delia who stood there. She did not look at all angry, but her face was +very sad. + +"He has had a very bad night," she whispered, "but now he is sleeping. +He must not be disturbed. You had better come later." + +That was all. The door was gently shut again, and Anna stood outside. +As she turned away, her eyes filled with tears. Yesterday her +grandfather had wanted her, and she had not gone--to-day the door was +shut. He must be very ill, she felt sure, whatever Aunt Sarah might +say. His kind, gentle face came before her, as she made her way along-- +always kind, never with any reproach in it. How could she have gone to +the picnic, and left him to ask for her in vain? + +As she reached the place where the pony-cart waited for her, Isabel +Palmer came out of a shop. She looked at her with a sort of cold +surprise. + +"Oh, Anna," she said, "how is Mr Goodwin? We only heard yesterday he +was ill. I was going to his house to ask after him." + +"Dr Hunt says there is no cause for anxiety," said Anna, repeating the +sentence she had so often heard from Aunt Sarah. + +"It was Mrs Winn who told mother he was ill," continued Isabel, +observing Anna's downcast face curiously, "and--she said another thing +which surprised us all very much. Why didn't you tell us long ago that +Mr Goodwin is your grandfather?" + +Anna was silent. + +"We can't understand it at all," continued Isabel. "Mother says it +might have caused great unpleasantness. She's quite vexed." + +She waited a moment with her eyes fixed on Anna, and then said, with a +little toss of her head: + +"Well--good-bye. I suppose we shan't meet again before we go to +Scotland. Mother has written to tell Mrs Forrest that we're not going +on with lessons." + +They parted with a careless shake of the hands, and Anna was driven away +in the pony-cart. Her friendship with Isabel, her pleasant visits to +Pynes, were over now. She was humbled and disgraced before every one, +and Delia would know it too. It would have been a wounding thought +once, but now there was no room in her heart for any feeling but dread +of what might happen to Mr Goodwin. + +"Oh, Aunt Sarah," she cried, when she reached Waverley, and found her +aunt in the garden, "I'm sure my grandfather is worse--I'm sure he's +very ill. I did not see him." + +Mrs Forrest was tying up a rebellious creeper, which wished to climb in +its own way instead of hers. She finished binding down one of the +unruly tendrils before she turned to look at her niece. Anna was +flushed. Her eyelids were red and swollen. + +"Why didn't you see him?" she asked. "Does Dr Hunt think him worse?" + +"I don't know," said Anna. "I only saw Delia for a minute. He was +asleep. I am to go again. Oh, Aunt Sarah," with a burst of sobs, "I do +wish I had not gone to the picnic. I wish I had behaved better to my +grandfather. I wish--" + +Mrs Forrest laid her hand kindly on Anna's shoulder. + +"My dear," she said, "you distress yourself without reason. We can rely +on Dr Hunt's opinion that your grandfather only needs rest. Sleep is +the very best thing for him. When you go this evening, you will see how +foolish you have been. Meanwhile, try to exercise some self-control; +occupy yourself, and the time will soon pass." + +She turned to her gardening again, and Anna wandered off alone. Aunt +Sarah's calm words had no comfort in them. Delia's severest rebuke, +even Mrs Winn's plain speech, would have been better. She went +restlessly up to her bedroom, seeking she hardly knew what. Her eye +fell on the little brown case, long unopened, which held her mother's +portrait. Words, long unthought of, came back to her as she looked at +it. + +"If you are half as good and beautiful," her father had said; and on the +same day what had been Miss Milverton's last warning? "Try to value the +best things." + +"Oh," cried Anna to herself as she looked at the pure, truthful eyes of +the picture, "if I only could begin again! But now it's all got so +wrong, it can never, never be put right!" + +After a while, she went into the garden again, and avoiding Mrs +Forrest, crossed the little foot-bridge leading into the field, and sat +down on the gate. The chimneys of Leas Farm in the distance made her +think of Daisy, and the old days when they had first met, and she had +been so full of good resolves. Daisy, and the good resolves, and Delia +too, seemed all to have vanished together. She had no friends now. +Every one had deserted her, and she had deserved it! + +She was sitting during those reflections with her face buried in her +hands, and presently was startled by the sound of a little voice behind +her. + +"What's the matter?" it said. + +It was Daisy Oswald, who had come through the garden, and now stood on +the bridge close to her, a basket of eggs in her hand, and her childish, +freckled face full of wonder and sympathy. + +Generally, Anna would have been ashamed to be seen in distress, and +would have tried to hide it, but now she was too miserable to mind +anything. She hid her face in her hands again, without answering +Daisy's question. + +"Has some one been cross?" inquired Daisy at last. + +Anna shook her head. Her heart ached for sympathy even from Daisy, +though she could not speak to her, and she hoped she would not go away +just yet. + +"Have you hurt yourself?" proceeded Daisy. + +Again the same sign. + +"Have you done something naughty? I did something very naughty once." + +Seeing that Anna did not shake her head this time, she added, in her +condescending little tone: + +"If you like, I'll come and sit beside you, and tell you all about it." + +She put her basket of eggs very carefully on the ground, and placed +herself comfortably by Anna's side. + +"It was a very naughty thing _I_ did," she began, in a voice of some +enjoyment, "worse than yours, I expect. It was a year ago, and one of +our geese was sitting, and mother said she wasn't to be meddled with +nohow. And the white Cochin-china hen was sitting too, and"--Daisy +paused to give full weight to the importance of the crime, and opened +her eyes very wide, "and--I changed 'em! I carried the goose and put +her on the hen's nest, and she forsook it, and the hen forsook hers, and +the eggs were all addled! Mother _was_ angry! She said it wasn't the +eggs she minded so much as the disobedience. Was yours worse than +that?" + +"Much, much worse," murmured Anna. + +Daisy made a click with her tongue to express how shocked she felt at +this idea. + +"Have you said you're sorry, and you won't do it any more?" she asked. +"When you're sorry, people are kind." + +"I don't deserve that they should be kind," said Anna, looking up +mournfully at her little adviser. + +"Father and mother were kind afterwards," said Daisy. "I had to be +punished though. I didn't have eggs for breakfast for a whole month +after I changed the goose. I like eggs for breakfast," she added, +thoughtfully. Then glancing at her basket, as she got down from the +gate, "Mother sent those to Mrs Forrest. I came through the garden to +find you, but I'm going back over the field. You haven't been to see +Star for ever so long. She's growing a real beauty." + +Long after Daisy was out of sight her simple words lingered in Anna's +mind. They had made her feel less miserable, though nothing was +altered. "When you're sorry, people are kind," she repeated. If her +grandfather knew the very worst, if he knew that she had actually been +ashamed of him, would he possibly forgive her? would he ever look kindly +at her again? Anna sat up and dried her tears. She lifted her head +with a sudden resolve. "I will tell him," she said to herself, "every +bit about it, from the very beginning, and then I must bear whatever he +says, and whatever Delia says." + +It was easy to make this brave resolve, with no one to hear it but the +quiet cows feeding in the field, but when the evening came, and she +stood for the second time at Number 4 Back Row, her heart beat quickly +with fear. When she thought of her grandfather's kind face her courage +rose a little, but when she thought of what she had to tell him, it fell +so low that she was almost inclined to run away. The door opened, but +this time Mrs Cooper did not leave her outside. She flung open the +door of the sitting-room with her other hand, and said in a loud voice, +"Miss Forrest, sir." + +Anna entered, half afraid as to what she should see, for she had made up +her mind that her grandfather was really very ill. To her relief, the +Professor and his shabby little room looked unaltered. He was sitting +in his arm-chair by the window, tired and worn, as she had often found +him before, after one of his long walks, and held out his kind hand to +welcome her as usual. + +"Oh my dear Anna," he said, "you've come to see me. That's right. Come +and sit here." + +There was a chair close to him, and as she took it, Anna noticed a piece +of half-finished knitting on the table, which she knew belonged to +Delia. "If Delia comes in," she thought to herself, "I _can't_ do it." + +"Are you better, grandfather?" she managed to ask, in a very subdued +voice. + +"Oh, I'm getting on splendidly!" he answered, "with such a good nurse, +and so much care and attention, I shall soon be better than ever I was +before." + +There was no mistaking the expression in his face as he turned it +towards her. Not only welcome and kindness, but love, shone from it +brightly. In the midst of her confusion Anna wondered how it was that +she had never felt so sure of her grandfather's affection before. And +now, perhaps, she was to lose it. + +"You can't think how wonderfully kind every one is," he continued. "I +really might almost think myself an important person in Dornton. They +send messages and presents, and are ready to do anything to help me. +Mr Hurst came in just now to tell me that he has arranged to fill my +place as organist for a whole month, so that I may have a rest. They're +very nice, good people in Dornton. That kind Mrs Winn offered to come +and read to me, and then Delia is like another grand-daughter, you +know." + +Anna's heart was full as he chatted on. Must she tell him? Might she +not put it off a little? + +"And so you went to a picnic yesterday?" he went on, as she sat silently +by him. "Was it very pleasant? Let me see, did the sun shine? You +must tell me all about it. I am to be an idle man now, you know, and +shall want every one to amuse me with gossip." + +"Grandfather," cried Anna, with a sudden burst of courage, "I want to +tell you--I've done something very wrong." + +The Professor turned his gentle glance upon her. + +"We all have to say that, my dear," he answered, "very often. But I'm +sure you're sorry for it, whatever it is." + +"It's something very bad," murmured Anna, "Delia knows. She won't +forgive me, I know, but I thought perhaps you would." + +"Is it to Delia you have done wrong?" asked Mr Goodwin. + +"No. To you," replied Anna, gaining courage as she went on, "I--" + +The Professor stroked her fair hair gently. It was just the same colour +as Prissy's, he thought. + +"Then I don't want to hear any more, my dear," he said, "for I know all +about it already." + +The relief was so great, after the effort of speaking, that Anna burst +into tears, but they were tears full of comfort, and had no bitterness +in them. + +"Oh, grandfather," she sobbed, "you _are_ good. Better than any one. I +will never, never--" + +"Hush, my dear, hush," said the Professor, patting her hand gently, and +trying to console her by all the means in his power. + +"I wonder where Delia is!" he said at last, finding that his efforts +were useless. + +Anna sat up straight in her chair at the name, and dried her tears. She +dreaded seeing Delia, but it must be faced. + +"She was here the moment before you came in," he continued. "Call her, +my dear." + +It was not possible to be very far off in Mr Goodwin's house, and +Delia's voice answered from the kitchen, when Anna opened the door and +called her. A few minutes afterwards she came into the room carrying a +tray full of tea-things; her quick glance rested first on Anna's +tear-stained face, and then on the Professor. + +"Anna and I have had a nice talk, my dear Delia," he said, with an +appealing look, "and now we should all like some tea." + +Delia understood the look. She put down her tray, went promptly up to +Anna, and kissed her: + +"Come and help me to get the tea ready," she said; "it's quite time the +Professor had something to eat." + +So Anna was forgiven, and it was in this way that, during her visit to +Waverley, she began dimly to see what the best things are, and to see it +through sorrow and failure. It was a lesson she had to go on learning, +like the rest of us, all through her life--not an easy lesson, or one to +be quickly known. Sometimes we put it from us impatiently, and choose +something which looks more enticing, and not so dull, and for a time we +go on our way gaily--and then, a sorrow, or perhaps a sin, brings home +to us that everything is worthless compared to Love, Truth, and +Faithfulness to Duty, and that if we have been false to them, there is +no comfort anywhere until we return to serve them with tears of +repentance. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Thistle and Rose, by Amy Walton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THISTLE AND ROSE *** + +***** This file should be named 21229.txt or 21229.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/2/21229/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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